Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-10-24
Copyright, 1907, by ]. P: Lippincott Cob
CHAPTER vII.-continued.

he inquired, mildly.
Il don't know. But there was an
explosion; l heard it. Surely Uncle
Somerville wouldn't"
The secretary shook his head.
mo; think you may exonerate Mr..
Darrah, personally; in fact 1 am quite
. sure you may"
But someone planned It. You
: knew 1t was going to happen-you
were out here watching for it."
WAS II" The secretary's smile was
q mere barring of the teeth. His blood
was the sycophantic lymph which
flows in the veins Of those who do
murder at a great mans nod.
at is horribly unfair" she went on.
Il understand the sheriff is here.
Couldn't he have prevented this?"
Jastrow's reply was an evasion.
"Oh. it's all legal enough. That bare
place up there is placer claim. Sup
posing the owners found 1t necessary
to put in few sticks Of dynamite to
loosen the frozen ground. It is Mr..
Winton's misfortune if his railroad
happens to be in the way, don't you
think?"
But 1t was planned beforehand, and
you knew of it," she insisted. Her
eyes were flashing, and the secretary's
desire for possession warmed into
something like admiration.
Did II"
Yes, you did"
1T would be impolite to contradict
you"
1T is more impolite not to answer
my question. Couldn't the sheriff
have prevented it?"
'Supposfng he didn't want to pre-
vent it? Surprising he brought the
men who did it over on his train last
night?"
Then say again it is horribly I'M
fair"
The secretary's rejoinder was
platitude: Everything is fair in love
or war"
But this is neither" she retorted.
Think not?" he said, coolly. wait
and you'll see. And a word in your
ear, Miss Carteret: you are one of US,
you know, and you mustn't be dis
loyal. know what you did yesterday
after you read those kilograms"
Virginias face became suddenly
wooden. Until that moment it had
not occurred to her that Jastrow's mo-
tive in showing her the two kilograms
might have been carefully calculated.
Il have never given you the right
to speak to me that way, Mr. Jas
strow,' she said, with the faintest pos
sible emphasis on the courtesy prefix;
and with that she turned from him
to focus her field glass on the con-
struction camp below
At the Utah stronghold all was ac-
tivity Of the iercest. Winton had
raced back with his news of the catas
trophe, and the camp was alive with
men clustering like bees and swarm
Ing upon the fiat cars of the material
train to be taken to the front.
While she looked, studiously ignor-
Ing the man behind her, Virginia saw
the big octopod engine come clamor-
Ing up the grade, showing the flats be-
fore it, losing itself quickly in the
doubling of the gulch loop to reappear
presently on the scene of the disaster.
In twinkling the men were off and
at work, and the frosty morning air
rang with the battle shout of labor
triumphant-or meaning to be.
Virginia's color rose and the brown
eyes filed swiftly. One part of her
ideal-her masculine ideal-was cour-
age OF the sort that rises the higher
for reverses. So the prompt counter
stroke filled her with joy, and at the
moment Winton was as near gaining a
partisan as the Rajah was to losing
one.
In the open compartment Of the
Rosemary the waiter was laying the
plates for the early breakfast, and
Bessie and the Reverend " llliam were
at the window, watching the stirring
industry battle now in full swing on
the opposite slope. Virginia Joined
them.
isn't it shamei" she said. "Of
course, l want our side to win; but it
seems such a pity that we can't fight
fairly"
The flaxen-haired cousin looked her
entire lack of understanding, and Cal
vert said: "Isn't what @ shame?"'
thereby eliciting a crisp explanation
from Virgini in which she set we'll
founded suspicion in the light of fact
touching the cause of the landslide.
The Reverend Billy shook his head
1T was his meter to deprecate vio-
lence, and he did it.
Such things may be within the law
of business; but they will surely
breed bad blood and LEAD to reprisals
II hope"
The interruption was the Rajah in
his proper person, bustling out fierce.
ly to a conference with his myrmi.
dons. BY tacit consent the three a
the window fell silent. There wa,
battle and murder and sudden deatf
in the Rajah's eye.
The event for which they waited die
not linger. There was a hasty muster