Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-10


sistant to the president had been an.
nulled by making North the first vice |
president with still higher authority. |
With firm ally in the president, and |
a legion of others In the MacMorroghs'
camps. North could discredit the best
engineering corps that ever took the |
field; and he was doing it-successful- |
ly, as Ford had reason to know.
More than once Ford had been on
the point Of leaving his plow in the |
furrow while he should go to New
York for one more battle with the di.
| rectory--a battle which should def
nitely abolish North and Mr.. Colbrith
or himself. Again and again he had
weighed the chances of winning such
| battle. With Brewster for leader
1t might be done. The time for the
annual stockholders meeting was ap-
preaching. and an election which
should put the burly copper magnate
Into the presidency would be an un-
mixed blessing, not only for a strug-
Cling young chief of construction, but
for the Pacific Southwestern stock
holders, who were sure to pay in the
end for the present policy of rule or
ruin.
Part OF the time it seemed to Ford
that 1t was clearly his duty to make
| this fight against the grafters in the
| Denver management. North deserved
no consideration, and while Mr.. Col
BIRTH was honest enough, his blind
prejudice and narrow mentality made
him North's unwilling accessory. Three
months earlier Ford would not have
hesitated; but in the interval woman
had come between to obscure all the
points Of view. A fight to the death
against the Colbrith administration
meant the antagonizing Of the Adalrs
I-of Alicia, at least. True, she had
spoken lightly Of her uncles peculiari-
ties; but Ford made sure she would
stand by him in the conflict, if only
for kinships sake
all this he was turning over in his
mind for the hundredth time while
the big 1912 hammered up the Plug
mountain grade under the guiding
| hand OF the giant in blue denim Ford.
blooming out upon the lighted stretch
ahead, was once more finding the
crucial question answerless SHOULD
he draw out the losing battle with
North and his fellow grafters and
thereby save his chance Of winning
Alicia Ada!r? Or should he sacrifice
his love upon the altar Of ambition
abolish Mr.. Colhrith and the crew of
buccaneers his mistaken policy was
sheltersng. and win the Industrial sue
cess and uuiated conscience?
His decision was reached by the
J. time Hector was easing the throttle
|, lever at the summit of Plug Pass.
What must be done should be done
quickly.
Right here is where you begin to
run on your nerves" he said to the big
engineer rs the heavy engine and
car lrnged over the summit OF tho pass
and began to gather gravity nomen-
; turn on the downward rush
Hector nodded ard twitched tina
handle OF the airbrake cock at shorter
. intervals. Ford glanced back at the
| following car framed in the red glow
| from the opened Are box door. 1t was
Z surging and bounding alarmingly over
the, uneven track. not without threat.
enings of derailnlent. Ford was will
!. ing to give the president the full ben
, eft of his unreasonable pertinacity:
! hut there were others to be consider.
; ed--and one above all the others.
Il Easy, man; easy' he cautioned.
5 IF you leave the steel on this goat
t track there won't be anybody left 70
) tell the story. It's thousand feet
: sheer IN some places along here. Sup
, pose you let me take her to the bottom
} OF the hill.''
-.,aa The engineer stood aside with a
good-tempered grin. He had seen the
CHIEF of construction walking the one
young lady Of the party to the top @!
Plug Pass and back, and it was not
difficult to account for his anxiety
Throughout the ten long miles Of
the mountain descent Ford crouchct
on the drivers seat and put the mind
irto the business of getting down the
slides and around the sagging curves
without having a wreck. The 1012's
brake equipment was modern, and the
Nadia's gear was in perfect orde.'
Now and then on tangent the big
engine would straighten herself for q
race or a runaway, but always the
steady hand on the air.cock brough;
ment beyond which neither brakes MOI
the steadiest nerve could avail. Thrice
in the long downward rush Fort
| checked the speed to a foot-pace Thi:
1 was In the rock cuttings where the
selves out into the white cone Of tbs
I headlight, scanting the narrow shell
| of the right-of-way to mree groove
4 in the rock. He was afraid of the GU:
4 tings. One Of the many tricks Of The
| MacMorroghs was to keep barrel,
I within the contract limits on clear
4 ance widths. and once the Nadia, sag
| ging mountainward on the roughi,
I leyeled track at the wrong momen.
| touched one OF the out-hanging rock
| in passing. Hector heard the touch
l and so did Ford: but it was the en-
l gineman who made a grim jest upo,
1 1t, saying: IF she does that more
4 once or twice, there'll be a job for tn
car painters, don't you reckon. M
| Ford? And for the carpenters"
Just below the doubling bend in tn
/ great loop they came in sight Of tn
| first of the MacMorrogh camps Sine
I the night was frosty a huge bonfir