The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-09
Our Daily Sport Story

men were working. The LOOKS or these men in nowise belied the unsavory reputation they had gained. There were brawn Scotsmen and big-chested, hard-fisted Welshmen; there were red headed sons of Erin, grinning openly as Cumnock passed them, and evident ly taking his measure to their satis- faction. Cumnock, holding affably right and left, climbed the ledge and watched the work for a time. Then he went back to the little shack of an office to look over the specifications more carefully.
 1 It was II o'clock before he had read through the last of the typewrit- ten pages. He locked them in a draw CT and went out to the ledge. The drills were silent. He saw the men placing the blasting cartridges in the tiers of holes. The red signals for blast were already set.
 As he neared the top of the ledge, one of the men stood up, and with @ wink. which he made no attempt to conceal from Cumnock, raised a bottle to his lips. Cumnock took a quick step forward.
 Put that down." he said sharply. job"
 The man turned and g1ared at him savagely. He was a big, bull necked man, and his face, as he low cred at Cumnock, was not good to look upon.
 Who says so? he growled. l T say so." said Cumnock. I The man laughed coarsely.
 ''Ut's you says so, is ut?" he sneered. GO ask Andy McCune whether Terry Malone takes drink whin he's wantin' ut. or whether he don'tT
 He winked again at the men. who had gathered about at this hint of trouble, and once more raised the bot tie to his lips. But Cumnock, with white, set face, sprang forward; his right arm shot out and the bottle went flying from Malone's hand to fall with a tinkle of broken glass on the ledge.
 Malones face was like a thunder cloud
 'Ye little scutw he roared, and rush. ed at Cumnock. The latter struck out in defense as best he could. One or two of the first sledge-hammer blows he managed to duck. Then something like a battering ram caught him on the jaw and lifted him from his feet; the whole earth seemed to fly up ward to meet him. and the shock of that meeting stunned him. Dazed and blinded. he heard the voices of the men nearby.
 Served him right! "BIamed little upstart!" wen stand by ye, Terryr' Here's another. Have a pull at this"
 Cumnock got painfully to his feet. Another bottle had been produced. and Malone was refreshing himself with many gurgles and grunts of sat- isfaction. Cumnock lurched crazily towards the drinking man. .s.-
 When I said ther'd, be no whis- key on this job I meant it," said he.
 He sprang at Malone with all the fury of a panther. He tugged. he tNWTR bod LA Ia the crash of glass told of the destruc- tion of the second bottle did he re- lax his efforts. Then something crashed into his right eye; a thousand sparks danced before it, he felt him self reeling giddily.
 When he came to himself he was half lying. half sitting, in a chair in ing on the desk. Strange pains shot through his temples and his eye balls burned and throbbed. He lifted himself slowly to his feet: he was quite alone In one corner of the shack wero two fire buckets filled with water. He made his way pain fully to them and began to lave his bruised face. ..* ..-.- +
 The door of the office was pushed opened and Malone strode in sullenly. Cumnock turned and looked at him out of one eye-the other was closed by great purple swelling.
 "Well?" he said sharply.
 I'm wantin' me two days pay" said Malone
 T ain't waitin' to be reported to the main office," he said craftily, nor ter be pinched for 'sault an battry."
 Whose going to report you or have you pulled in?'' said Cumnock He was grasping the side of the shack for support, for his head was still whirling wildly. Whose going to? I'm not. This affair is yours and mine. Get back to your Job and you can stay there, so long as you don't try any more funny business"
 Malone started to leave. At the door he turned He shuffled uneasily and lcoughed. &
 Say" he said "@s-.
 "Well?" said Cumnock again.
 Say" Malone was looking at his feet, say, you're game and you're you're white. all right
 Things seem to be going better at 10" said the manager to the chief engineer some three weeks later. How did your man Cumnock man. age it7"
 The chief engineer lighted a cigar and blew out a cloud of smoke. | T was out there a week ago." said he. He says 1t is sometmies bet ter to take a thrashing properly than to give one. Perhaps he's learned that bit of wisdom from experience. He had a beautiful black eye"
 SUSPECT ARRESTED.