The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-10-05

how for days and weeks he had
nearly starved, how he had sold
papers at first, and then, by lucky
chance, became errand boy in a
big drafting establishment. 1t
was there that the ambition was
born in him. He saw great engi-
neers come and go-men who
were greater than presidents to
him, and who sought out the
ends of the earth in the follow
ing of their vocations. He made
slave of himself in the nurtur-
ing and strengthening of his am
bition to become one of them
to be builder of railroads and
bridges, a tunneler of mountains,
a creator of new things in new
lands. His slavery had not les
sened as his years increased. Vol
UNFAIRLY he had kept himself in
bondage, fighting ceaselessly the
obstacles in his way, triumphing
over his handicaps as few other
men had triumphed, rising, slow
ly, steadily, resistlessly, until
now He flung back his head
and the pulse of his heart quick
ened as he heard again the words
of Van Horn, president of the
greatest engineering company on
the continent.
Rowland, we've decided to put
you in charge of the building of
the Hudson Bay Railroad. It's
one of the widest jobs we've ever
had, and Gregson and Thorne
don't seem to catch on. They're
bridge builders and not wilder
ness men. We've got to lay sin
gle line of steel through three
hundred miles of the widest
country in North America, and
from this hour your motto is DO
it or bust,' You can report at LIE
Pas as soon as you get your traps
together."
Those words had broken the
slavedom for Rowland. He had
been fighting for an opportunity,
and now that the opportunity had
come he was sure that he would
succeed. Swiftly, with his hands
thrust deep in his pockets, he
walked down the one main street
of Prince Albert, putting out
odorous clouds of smoke from his
cigar, every fiber in him tingling
with the new joy that had come
into his life. Another night would
see him in LIE Pas, the little out
post sixty miles farther east on
the Saskatchewan. Then a hun
dred miles by dog-sledge and he
would be in the big wilderness
camp where three hundred men
were already at work clearing a.
way to the great bay to the north.
What a glorious achievement that
road would bel 1t would remain
for all time as a cenotaph to his
ability, his courage and indomi-
table persistence.
1t was past nine o'clock when
Rowland entered the little old
Windsor Hotel. The big room,
through the windows of which he
could look out on the street and
across the frozen Saskatchewan,
was almost empty. The clerk had
ioShCu LIS Slbdi- anu udu
gone to bed. In one corner,
partly shrouded in gloom, sat a.
half-breed trapper who had come
in that day from the Lac la Ronge
country, and at his feet crouched
one of his wolfish sledge-dogs.
Both were wide-awake and stared
curiously at Rowland as he came
in. In front of the two large
windows sat half a dozen men, as
silent as the half-breed, clad in
moccasins and thick caribou skin
coats. One of them was the fac
tor from Hudson Bay post at
Lac Balm who had not been down
to the edge of civilization for
three years; the others, includ-
ing two Crees and a Chippewa
yam, were hunters and Post men
who had driven in their furs from
hundred miles to the north.
For a moment Rowland paused
in the middle of the room and
looked about him. Ordinarily
he would have liked this quiet,
and would have gone to one of
the two rude tables to write a.
letter or work out a problem of
some sort, for he always carried
a pocketful of problems about
with him. His fifteen years of
study and unceasing slavery to
his ambition had made him natur-
ally as taciturn as these grim
men of the North who were born
to silence. But tonight there had
come a change oyer him. He want
ed to talk. He wanted to ask
questions. He longed for human
companionship for some kind oil
mental exhiliration beyond thatI
furnished by his own thoughts.
Feeling in his pocket for a cigarf
he seated himself before one of
the windows and proffered it toll
the factor from La Balm.
"You smoker" he asked COM
81 was born in a wigwam," said
the factor slowly, taking the cigar. |
Thank you"
"Deuced polite for a man Who'll
hasn't seen civilization for threel
years." thought Rowland, seat
Ing hinaalf eoua fort q hIv NTH It'll