Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-09-08
Copyright 1909
BY Clos Serlh,er5 sOH@

now out of a job" The two men
were facing each other across the
table in McClouds office. Personally,
] am not sorry to say it, either" added
Callahan, slowly filling the bowl Of his
pipe.
McCloud said nothing to the point,
as there seemed to be nothing to say
until he had heard more. II never
knew before that you were left
handed" he returned, evasively.
'It's a lucky thing, because it won't
do for a freight-traff1c man, nowadays,
to let his right hand know what his
left hand does" observed Callahan,
feeling for a match. II am the only
left-handed man in the traffic depart
ment, but the man that handles the re-
bates, Jimmie Black, is cross-eyed.
Bucks offered to send him to Chicago
to have Bryson straighten his eyes,
but Jimmie thinks it Is better to have
them as they are for the present, so he
can look at thing in two different
ways-one for the interstate COM
MERGE commission and one for him.
self. You haven't heard, them" con-
tinued Callahan, returning to his rid
die about McCloud's job. why, Lance
Dunning has gone into the United
States court and got an injunction
against us on the Crawling Stone line
tied us UP tighter than zero. No
more construction there for a year
at least. Dunning comes in for him
self and for a cousin who is his
ward, and three or four little ranchers
have filed bills-so it's up to the law
yers for 80 per cent. of the gate re-
ceipts and peace. Personally, I'm glad
of it. 1t gives you chance to look
after this operating for year your
self. We are going to be swamped
with freight traffic this year, and l
want it moved through the mountains
like checkers for the next six months
You know what 1 mean, George"
To McCloud the news came, in spite
of himself, as blow. The results he
had attained in building through the
lower valley had given him name
among the engineers of the whole line.
The splendid showing of the winter
construction, on which he had de-
pended to enable him to finish the
whole work within the year, was by
this news brought to naught. Those
of the railroad men who said he could
not deliver a completed line within
the year could never be answered now.
And there was some slight bitterness
In the reflection that the very STUN
bling-block to hold him back, to rob
him of his chance for a reputation
with men like Glover and Bucks,
should be the lands Of Dicksie Dun
ming.
He made no complaint. On the di-
vision he took hold with new en-
ergy and bent his faculties on the OPP
Grating problems. At Marion's he
saw Dicksie at intervals, and only to
fall more hopelessly under her spell
each time. She could be serious and
she could be volatile and she could be
something between which he could
never quite make out. She could be
serious with him when he was serious,
ana totally irresponsible the next min
ute with Marion. On the other hand,
when McCloud attempted to BE flip
grave. Once when he was bantering
with her at Marion's she tried to say
something about her regret that COM
plications over the right of way
should have arisen; but McCloud made
light of it, and waved the matter aside
as if he were cavalier. Dicksie did
not like it, but it was only that he
was afraid she would realize he was a
mere railroad superintendent with
hopes of a record for promotion quite
blasted. And as if this obstacle to
greater reputation were not enough,
Wiiier enemy threatened in the spring
to leave only shreds and patches Of
what he had already earned.
The Crawling Stone river is said to
embody, historically, all Of the de-
ceits known to mountain streams. Be
low the Box Canyon it plows through
a great bed of yielding silt, its own
deposit between the two imposing
lines of bluffs that resist its wander
ings from side to side of the wide val
ley. This fertile soil makes up the
rich lands that are the envy OF less
fortunate regions in the Great Basin;
but the Crawling Stone is not river
to give quiet title to one acre OF its
own making. The toll Of its centuries
spreads beautifully green under the
June skies, and the unsuspecting set
tier, lulled into security by many
years of the rivers repose, settles on
its level bench land and lays out his
long lines of DosseSsion: but the Sioux
will tell you in their own talk that this
man is but a tenant at will; that in
another time and at another place the
stranger will inherit his fields; and
that the Crawling Stone always comes
back for its own.
The winter had been an unusual one
even in land of winters. The sea-
sons fall of snow had not been above
an average, but it had fallen in the
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