Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1909-07-03

10y CONN. Tney nau II ordered. ana
IL being a small size and 'onhar6y. as
the undertaken said. I paid for II and
told him TO store Il for me. Well. do
yoa think i ever could forget either
OF those men. Farrell?"
In ali the group of young Esen then
on the mountain division, obscure and
unknown at the time. but destined
within a few years 10 be scattered far
and wide as constructionists with
records MADE 81 the rebuilding opera
tons through the Rocky mountains.
none was less likely to attract atten-
ton than McCloud. Bucks, who, In
deed. could hardly be reckoned so
much OF the company as its head, was
a man of commanding proportions
physically. Like Glover. Bucks was a
giant in stature. and the two men.
when together. could nowhere escape
notice; they looked, in a word. their
part, fitted to cope with the ire
mendous undertakings that had fallen
to their lot Callahan. the chess-play-
er on the Overland lines, the man who
could hold large combinations of traf-
fic movement constantly In his head
and by intuition reach the result of a
given problem before other men could
work it out, was. like Morris Blood.
the master OF tonnage, OF middle age.
But McCloud. when he went 20 the
mountain division, in youthfulness of
features was boyish, and when he left
he was still boy. bronzed, but young
of face In spite of ufetime's pressure
and worry crowded into three years.
He himself counted this physical
makeup as a disadvantage. ut has
embroiled me in no end OF trouble, be
cause ] couldn't convince men 1 was
in earnest until l made good in some
hard way" he complained once TO
Whispering Smith. Il never could &C
Quire even a successful habit OF swear
ing, so had to learn TO fight"
When, one day in Boney street ia
Medicine Bend. he threw open the
door Of Marion Sinclair's shop. flung
his hat sailing along the show case
with his war cry. and called TO her I'm
the back rooms. she thought he had
merely run in to say he was in town.
How do you do? What do you
Think You're going To have an old
-
10 Medicine Bend. superintendent OF
the dlvision!"
Mr.. McCloud." Marion Sinclair
clasped her hands and dropped into a
chair. Have they made you superin-
tendent already?"
We'll. / like that Do you want
them to wait til I'm gray-headedf"
/ Marion threw her hands TO her own
head. "Oh. don't say anything about
gray hairs. My head won't bear In
! spection. But can't get over this
} promotion coming so soon-this whole
J big divisionl Wei. I congratulate you
very sincerely"
oh but that isn't e! I suppose
anybody will congratulate me. But
where am 90 board2 Have you
cook? You know how I went from bad
20 worse after you left Cold Springs.
May ! have my meals here with you
as I used 10 there?''
They laughed as they bantered.
Marion Sinclair wore gold spectacles,
but they did not hide the delightful
| good-nature in her eyes. On the third
finger OF her slender left hand she
/
the gray In her hair at 20.
This was the wife OF Murray Sin
clair. whom he had brought TO the
mountains from her far-away wiscon-
sin home. Within a year he had
broken her heart so far as Il lay in
/ him TO do Il. but be could not break
her charm nor her spirit She was too
I proud 20 so back. when forced to
leave him. and had set about earning
her own living In the country TO which
she had come as a bride. She put on
spectacies. she mutilated her heavy
brown hair and TO escape notice and
secure the obscurity that she crayed,
her name. Marion. became. over the
door OF her millinery shop and in her
business. only M. Sinclair"
Cold Springs. where Sinclair had
! first brought her when he had head.
quarters there as foreman OF bridges
had proved hopeless place for the
! millinery business-at least, in the
way that Marion ran it. She could
however. cook extraordinarily well
and, with the aid of a servant-maid
could always provide for a boarder or
]
mine superintendent to whom she
could serve meals, and who. like all
mountain men. were more than gener-
Gus In their accounting with women
| Among these standbys OF hers was
McCloud. McCloud had always been
her friend. and when she left Cold
Springs and moved to Medicine Bend
| 10 set up her little shop in Boney
street near Fort, she had lost him.
Yet, somehow. to compensate Marion
for other cruel things in the noun
tains. Providence seemed 10 raise I'D a
new friend for her wherever she went
In Medicine Bend she did not know
| soul, but almost the first customer
that walked into her shop-and she
was customer worth while-was
Dicksie Cunning OF the Crawling
| Stone.
CHAPTER v.