Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-05-27
CHAPTER XII.
The Quarrel.

The beginning Of the Crawling Stone
line marked the first determined effort
under President Bucks, while under.
taking the reconstruction Of the sys.
tenn for through trafic, to develop the
rich local territory tributary to the
mountain division. New policies in
construction dated from the same
period. Glover, with an enormous
capital staked for the new undertake.
ings, gave orders to push the building
every month in the year. and for the
first time In mountain railroad build.
ing winter was to be ignored. The
older mountain men met the innova.
ton as they met any departure from
their traditions, with curiosity and dis.
trust. On the other hand, the new and
younger blood took hold with con.
hdence, and when Glover called, "Yo
hcave ho!" at headquarters. they bent
themselves clear across the system for
. hard pull together.
i McCloud, resting the operating on
the shoulders of his assistant Ander-
son, devoted himself wholly to for
warding the construction plans, and
his first clash over winter road-build-
ing in the Rockies came with his own
nght-hand man, Mears. McCloud put
In a switch below Piedmont, opened a
material yard and began track laying
toward the lower Crawling Stone val.
ley, when Mears said 1t was time to
stop work till spring. When McCloud
told him he wanted track across the
divide and into the lower valley by
spring, Mears threw up his hands. But
there was metal In the old man, and
he was for orders all the time. He
kept up running fire of protests and
forebodings about the danger of ex-
posing men during the winter season,
but stuck to his post.
Spring found the construction of the
valley line we'll advanced, and the
grades nearing the lands of the Dun
ing ranch. Right-of-way men had been
working for months with Lance Dun
ming over the line and McCloud had
been called frequently into consulta-
ton to adjust the surveys to objec-
lions raised by Dicksie's cousin to the
crossing Of the ranch lands. Even
when the proceedings had been closed,
strong current Of discomfort set
from the managing head of the Stone
ranch. Rumors Of Lance Dunning's
dissatisfaction often reached the rail
road people. Vague talk Of an extern
sive irrigation scheme planned by Sim
clair for the Crawling Stone valley
crept into the newspapers. and it was
generally understood that Lance Dun
ming had expressed himself favorably
to the enterprise.
Dicksie gave slight heed to matters
as weighty as these. She spent much
Of her time on horseback, with Jim
under the saddle; and in Medicine
Bend, where she rode with frequency,
MaTion's shop became her favorite
abiding place. Dicksie ordered hats
until Marion's conscience rose and she
practically refused to supply any
more. But the spirited controversy
on this point, as on many others
Dicksie's haughtiness and Marion's re-
straint, quite unmoved by any show of
displeasure-ended always in drawing
the two closer to each other.
One March afternoon, coming home
from Medicine Bend, she saw at some
distance before her a party Of men on
horseback. She was riding a trail
leading from the pass road that fol-
lowed the hills, and the party was
coming up the bridge road from the
lower ranch. Dicksie had good eyes,
and something unusual in the riding
of the men was soon apparent to her.
Losing and regaining sight of them at
different turns in the trail, she made
out. as she rode among the trees, that
they were cowboys Of her own ranch,
and riding, under evident excitement,
about strange horseman. She rec
ognized in the escort Stormy German,
the ferocious foreman Of the ranch,
and Denison and Jim Baugh, two Of
the most reckless Of the men. These
three carried rifles slung across their
ipommels, and In front Of them rode
the stranger.
Fragments Of the breakfast-table
talk Of the morning came back to
Dcksie's mind. The railroad graders
we're in the valley below the ranch,
and she had heard her cousin say a
good deal on q point she cared little
about, as to where the railroad should