Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-17
Umpire Bui1ders !
By FRANCIS LYNDE i
Il --------- -
Copyright 190s-By Francis Lynde. II
Copyright 19os-By Francis Lynde.

BY FRANCIS LYNDE


practicable. while the south bank is
not, | have only to say that the cost
of h two bridges would offset the
easier grading conditions, while the
danger to future traffic would remain
the same. But that is neither here
no there. You must either give us
credit for knowing our business. OF
you must discredit us entirely,
Frisbie was grinding his heel into
the hard soil of the mesa. The argu.
ment was growing rather acrid; and
Penheld and the two drivers were
Interested listeners. 1t was high time
for a diversion to be made, and the
assistant made it.
/! I'VE have used five hours getting
down here, and we'll need as many
going back" he put in. UNLESS we'd
better take the road over the hills.
It's with you, Mr.. Colbrith.''
The president signifed his assent
by climbing into his blackboard. and
the return Journey was begun with
1.-THE two engineers in the lead for
pathfnding purposes. Once safely
out OF earshot, Frisbie voiced his dis
gust.
/, "A wild goose-chase, pure and sim
pie! Stuart, that old man is in his
second childhood"
, mot at ALL" said Ford. .sHe Is
merely following out North's sugges
! tons. Dick, my name is Dennis"
NONSENSE! Things are no worse
7. than they have been all along"
My time with the Pacific South
western is shorter by Just the number
OF hour 1t has taken us to drive down
here. Mr.. Colbrith has convinced
himself that | was wrong in abandon
Ing the canyon. Tomorrow he will
convince himself that / was doubly
wrong in approving the detour. /
shal hand in my resignation tonight
SO be it," said Frisbie shortly.
That means goodby to the extension.
I'm predicting that it will never get
to Green Butte-never get beyond
Copah. And your anne will go out to
the railroad world as that Of a man
who bit off a number of large things
that he couldn't chew"
"Confound you!' said Ford; and aft
er that, Frisbie could get no more than
slngle-syllabled replies to his mono
logue Of Jobs comfortings.
The returning route was a detour.
winding, through the greater part of
1t, among and owe the. swelling
heights north of the Pannikin. On
each hilltop the vast sweep, Of the in
ter-mountain wilderness came into
view, and from the highest point in
the trail, reached when the sun was
dipping toward the western horizon,
the eyesweep took in the broken coun-
try lying between the Pannikin and
the path of the Transcontinental mar
row gauge forty miles away.
Jacks Canyon. the Transcontinental
station nearest Copah, was the begin
ming of a combined pack trail and
stage road connecting the Copah dis
trict with what had been, before the
advent Of the Southwestern Extension,
its nearest railroad outlet. Along this
trail, visible to the buckboarders as
a black speck tittuping against the
.reddening background Of the west,
galloped a solitary horseman, urging
his mount IN a way to make Frisbie.
getting his glimpse from the hilltop of
extended views, call Ford's attention.
Look at that brute, pushing his
horse like that at the end of the day!
He ought to be-
But the Fastening rider was getting
his deserts, whatever they should be,
as he went along. For three hours,
with three relays of fresh horses
picked up at the stage stations in
passing, he had been galloping south
ward, and to whatever other urging he
might confess was added the new one
of fear. the fear that in the approach
ing day's-end he would lose his way.
Seen from the nearer point of view,
the tittuping horseman SCENE cur
iously out of harmony with his en-
vironment. Instead Of the cowboy
Snaps" or overalls, he wore the
trousers of civilization, which the
rapid flight had hitched halfway to
his knees. In place of the o~pen-breast-
ed shirt with the rolled-up sleeves
there were tailor-made clothes, with |
the collar and cravat also Of civiliza-
ton, and the haiti was perhaps for
tunate for the rider that he had not
met any true denizens Of the unfet-
tered highlands on the lonely trail
Jacks Canyon. His hat was a
Derby Of the newest shape; and the
cow-men beyond the range are i'm
of such head-gear.
Recognition, after one has ridden
hard for three hours over a dusty
road. is not easy; but there are faces
one never forgets, and the features,
dust-grimed and sweat-streaked
they were. had still the South
or-Europe outline, the slightly aqui.
line nose. and the piercing black eyee
Of Mr.. Julius Eckstein, whom we saw,
On the morning of this same road
.earying day, welcoming Adair over
he counter railing in the Denver
office. How does it come that a few
'nor.. hours later we find him gallop-
ng tantivy v the dusty hills, no
less than two hundred miles, as the
fly, from the counter railing of
That is the story of another, and a
more successful special train than
Adair's. No sooner was the care-free
director safely ON his way to meet the
SO p~ainstakingly prearranged
'or him than the wires began to buzz
With a cipher message Of warning To