The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1906-09-20

amt for her--not that there was much
to be done In such a God-forsaken
chaos as a construction camp"
"I did. And didn't hear her COM
plain of the chaos. She seemed as In
terested as a school glrl-pardcularly
in your sketches"
THAT was low-down in you, Morty.
wouldn't have shown you up that
way"
Adams chuckled reminiscently. Had
to do it to make my day-before-yester-
day lie hold water. And she was i'm
mensely taken with the scrawls, es-
pecially with one of them"
Winton flushed under the bronze.
81 suppose don't need to ask which
one"
Adams grin was measure of his
complacence. He was coming on
easier than he had anticipated.
well. hardly"
"she took it away with herr"
"Took it, or tore it up. I forget
which"
Winton,s look was that of man
distressed.
Tell me. Morty. was she very an,
gry?"
The technologian took the last hint
OF laughter out of his eyes before he
said solemnly: You'll never know
how thankful was that you were
| 20 miles away"
Winton's cup was full, and he turned
the talk abruptly to the industrial do
ings and accomplishments Of the day.
| Adams made a verbal report which led
| him by successive steps up to the
twilight hour when he had stood with
| Branagan on the brink Of the placer
| drain, but, strangely enough, there was
no stirring of memory to recall the in
cident of the upward climbing miners.
| When Winton rose he said some
| thing about mounting night guard
! on the enginesSwhich was kept under
steam at all hours; and shortly after
wards he left the dinkey ostensibly
to do 1t, declining Adams offer OF
company. But once out-of-doors he
climbed straight to the operators tent
on the snow-covered slope. Carter
had turned in. but he sat up in his
bunk at the noise of the intrusion,
blinking sleepily at the flare of Win
| tons match.
THAT you, Mr.. Winton? Want to
send something?" he asked.
mo; go to sleep. I'll write a wire
and leave 1t for you to send in the
morning"
He sat down Mt the pacl1ing-case in
strument table and wrote out brief
report OF the days progress in track
| laying for the general managers rec
| ord. But when Carriers regular breath
ing told him he was alone he pushed
! the pad aside, took down the sending
| book and searched until he had found
| the original copy of the message
which had reached him at the moment
of cataclysms in the lobby of the
Buckingham.
'Um,-' he said, and his heart grew
warm within him. Its Just about as
expected; Morty didn't have any
thing whatever to do with it-except
to sign and send 1t as she commanded
him to-" And the penciled sheet was
folded carefully and filed in perma-
nence in the inner breast pocket of
his brown duck shooting coat.
The moon was rising behind the
eastern mountain when he extin-
guished the candle and went out BE-
low lay the chaotic construction camp
buried in silence and in darkness save
for the lighted windows of the dinkey.
He was not quite ready to go back to
Adams, and after making a round of
the camp and bidding the engine
Waterman keep sharp lookout
against a possible night surprise. he
set out to walk over the newly laid
track of the day.
Another half-hour had elapsed. and
n waning moon was clearing the top
most crags of Pacific Peak when he
came out on the high embankment OPP
posite the Rosemary, having trayersed
the entire length Of the lateral loop
and inspected the trestle at the gulch
head by the light of n blazing fir
branch.
The station with it's two one-car
trains, and the shacks of the little
mining camp beyond, lay shimmering
Shost-like in the newborn light of the
moon. The engine of the sheriff's car
was humming softly with a note like
the distant swarming of bees, and
from the dance hall in Argentine the
snort of trombone and the tinkling
clang of a cracked piano floated out
upon the frosty night air.
Winton turned to go back The
windows of the Rosemary were all
dark, and there was nothing to stay
for. So he thought, at all events; but
IL he had not been musing distracted
ly upon things widely separated from
his present surroundings. he might
have remarked two tiny stars of Ian
tern light high on the placer ground
above the eubo g,;l;no