The Grit-advocate., 1906-05-11

| bit his lips. Pshaw! II couldn't, He
understood little Of railroading, and
ii did seem risky, having the rails so
near the brook: and they had squeezed
every penny that went into the raad.
But the engineers must have known
their business; the tracks were sats
enough.
Aad then came his answer. emphatic
and final. Out in the yards, rising
family above the voice of Little Fes tn
er, startled shouts were audible, the
heavy pufhng OF locomotive. thud.
a scream Of escaping steam. Casey
left by one door. his fireman by the
other. Another roar. as water found
the tre-tox, great crashing spla h
then silence. The rails had spread, and
the road was effectually out OF COM
mission Low.
Engineers came at dawn. The driz-
zle Of the night had settled to a steady,
soaking dOwnpour when their buck
board drew up beside the Greer Merrill
works.
They went with Barker and looked
over the disaster. A quarter-mile or
more had Little Feather taken to the
! tracks, it whir!ed along cheerily. the
irons boot deep below the surface.
They prodded at the submerged rails
and smiled dryly.
The private spur was wreck!
Could they repair 1t Immediately In
week, perhaps. or a month.
| The proposition was absolutely. vt
terly unfeasible; the fact that Gre er-
Merrill's shipments positively must go
out did not alter that a particle. The
very best one could hope for was so ne
spot down the line, where a temporary
platform could be knocked together
and cars run in from Broadbury to
| take aboard the Champlin Mills ma
chinery.
They found that spot five miles Oe-
| low the works, and Barker. With
sigh, half relief, half anger, accepted
the situation. 1t meant at least a
| days delay, for he would have to drag
out The discarded trucks and beg. buy.
borrow or stea! mules to haul them
which meant more expense.
Naturally. he came face TO face " tn
the mule problem. Barker sent for alf
a dozen OF his minor executives snd
instructed them to sally forth snd
gather such mules and work horsts-
rare things in that locality-as mi.a
| be obtained, on any terms.
One of the six was Abner Green, AID
as they filed out Barker detained hi:n.
"Er-Green. The superintendent
snapped his fingers impatiently. Sac
here. somebody or other said tA71
! you've got TWO Or three mules"
Few"
"Ail right We want to hire ~.
| How many are there"
Amer braced himself
''Sixty-one, sir"
"Hey? How many, Green?" Pa.
ker'$' chair whir!ed about.
"s:Xty-one."
"SiNty-one mules?'
Yes, sir"
Sly" Barker stopped and shrus Eed
| his shoulders. We'll, it's rather a
happy chance. Green, although didn't
know you hal gone in for mlle
ranching. How much do you wans to
hire them out by the day."
II amt anxious to hire EN-. Mr..
Barker. They're for sale"
For sale, eh? Well-how much for
the lot, them
Three thousand dollars"
What"
Three thousand dollars, sir"
You want too much altogether,
Green" Barker stiffened. We dent
need them. That's all
mules were already gone. The cay
wore onward rapidly-the first of th.se
fifteen hundred dollar days.
| AT eventide the five returned-fve
men, three mules and an anaemic horse.
! They had secured Broadbury; they
had descended upon Red Eagle; they
/ had searched the country in between.
| 1t was rather staggerer for Bar
/ ker. Doubtless there were more mules
! in the state. But the price seemed to
| be racing along with the demand, and
60 or 70 mules would total tremen-
dous figure. Meanwhile, the fifteen
hundred Per day
Barker choked down his feelings
and sent for Green. who WAS working
| in the finishing room.
Il find that it is going to take a good
deal of time to buy the mules we
need, Green. We have decided to take
yours
But you know" said Abner mules
have riz since mornin"
"Eh?"
"You can have EN- for five thousand,
| sir
Barker was on his feet. Dull purple
| surged into his cheeks. Infrequent as
such an occurrence was, the general
superintendent was losing his temper
Green. you 60 to the devil" shout
| ed the other Il won't be bled, and |
won't allow this firm to be bled, by
any such trick of an employe as that.
| Get out Of here!"
Abner trudged homeward through
| the rain. serene and elated
Barker had been wiring details In
| termittenily to the home office. A
message from there overlook Merrill
| himself in his parlor car. as he sped
| westward On "A little unannounced visit
| to Greeryille, to superintend in person
the monster Champlin Mills delivery.
| He arrived ut twC o'clock IN Tues
day morning and listened silently 10
| Barker'S full ra0ort He took pencil