Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1908-03-26
CHAPTER XII.
"our Banner Shall Float R.dp

gallop over the rough path that
skirted the long string of ties-ties
that had waited many days for iron.
The noon hour was ON. At all the
camps men and beasts were feeding.
The superintendent took letters and
dispatches that met him as he dis
mounted, and, passing his bride to
the man in waiting, went to the lee
side of the dining tent to read them
before eating, One after another he
glanced over yellow slips, tore open
envelopes.
No iron yet Flora detained"
he read, and groaned as he thought of
bare ties, and the SO miles still far
from finished.
Snatches of low table talk came to
Gregory. fitful straws on gusts that
swoop along the track of labor, con-
trary to the steadier gales of capital
|, The Union Pacific amt dom
nothin' neither; failed in their con-
tracts" one voice said.
IF that company can't build q rail
road next door to cheap food, cheap
y
what do these C. p. fellers expect to
do against a wall of rock standing On
edge mile an q halt high" -
r Yes; an 40 feet Of snow On top Of
that" third added.
AN thar's the iron-not enough to
be had, no ships to tote it, an 20, 900
miles to come"
The superintendent heard, though
eye and mind were reading letters.
He though OF the delayed Flora"
and pain stabbed sharper at his tenn
pies.
intendent that the meal was nearly
finished. He moved of a little that
the men might not guess themselves
overheard; scrutinized them keenly as
they filed out and sought here or there
a sheltered spot for pipe or chew be-
fore the short respite ended
The superintendent went inside and
ate sparingly of the coarse food, di-
gestion losing its fight to the over
wrought brain. Why could not the din
ner-time critics, with all their know
ings, have gained yet a few other
facts? Land jobbers and stock specu-
lators held the Union Pacific fran
chise by the threat, dallied with the
work, cheated their contractors. These
cheated in turn, making their cuts
narrow and ragged, their fills loose
and brush padded, starving their men
and falling with their time limit. No
wonder United States commissioners
refused the road!
But the men Of pick and shovel
men upon whom, then as now, depends
the success of all contests with ma
ture-saw only the bare fact, failure.
And failure in the east meant, doubly,
failure il the west!
A second time Gregory read a San
Francisco newspaper clipping in
closed in letter from the treasurer:
"The Central Pacific company can
never build on time as long as the
present owners control the Sacra-
mento Valley road. That little link,
with it's Freeport connection, and its
arms outreached to McLane's road go
ing east from Placerville, will put the
iron horse to the state line long before
Stanford can make good his bluff at
his time limit The state and the ma
tional government should hail McLane
and his associates as their saviors
from a monstrous steal" . -
That's the cussed stuff that works
like slow poison among the men, ma
king sight crooked and brains mag
goty," Gregory. thought aloud as he
went to rude kit for paper and pen.
He wrote steadily, for An hour, handed
letters and dispatches to a messenger
and was OF again.
Riding west to the end of the rails
two hours later he rounded the elbow
Ct small hill and came upon gang
OF track-layers working alone, the fore
man being hidden by second sharp
turn. For a moment the men did not
know themselves watched. Some were
resting on their hammer handles, some
snatching a surreptitious smoke, while
low joke and dialogue ran lazily
around. Others kept up noise with
half-hearted blows at the spikes.
Take your time, boys. This is all
the iron for month O. Sundays.
Something's gone wrong with the
Flora an the last lot was shipped on
her"
The plunge of the horse, urged upon
the men with cruel spur, startled them
into rigidity. Gregory's hair bristled
under his hat. His nose lifted threat
eningly. His cheek paled and his
eyes flung burning spark to every
shirkling soul.
you hell-houndsi Call this work?
Is this what you're giving the G. r.
company for their good coin? You
think any railroad under Gods canopy
can be built a-sitting on your ham
mers? I'll break your worm-eaten
heads, TIL set men over You with
shotRuns! I'll send you into kingdom
come without wooden overcoats! I'll
-. His inyecuves tore along the line
Ike thunderbolts. Rough men. desper.