Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-05

man west of the Missouri river" was
tord's Characterization. He is stub
porn as mule. but he is honest and
outspoken. IL YOU can win him over to
! Your side YOU will have at least one lieu
tenant whom YOU can trust-and who
VIII. l think, be duly grateful for small
| favors Mac couldn't get job east Of
the Crosswater hills. I'm afraid
Lidgerwood had not incurred the rea-
son for the eastern disability He had
lived in the west long enough TO know
| that 1t is an i'll thing to pry too curious
| ly into any mans past So there should
ne present efhciency, no man in the serv-
ice should be called upon to recite in an
, cient history. much less one for whom
Ford had spoken a good word
Like all the other Offices in the Grow $
Nest that OF the trainmaster was bare
and uninviting. Lidgerwood passing be-
yond the door of communication. found
himself in dingy room. with cobwebs
festooning the ceiling, and a pair of un-
open square called. in the past and gone
day of the Angelic promoters, the rail
road plaza. Two chairs, cheap desk.
and pine table. backed by the string
board working model of the current
| time table did duty as the furnishings,
serving rather to emphasize than to re-
! leve the drearineSs of the place.
! McCloskey was at his desk at the mo-
ment of door-opening, and Lidgerwood
| instantly paid tribute to Vice President
Fords powers of characterization. The
! trainmaster was undeniably homely-and
more; his Manufactured face was a study
| in grotesques. There was fearless hon
| esty in the shrewd gray eyes. and good
promise OF capability in the strong Scotch
| jaw and long upper lip. but the grotesque
note was the one which persisted. and
| the trainmaSter seemed willfully to &C
| centuate it. His coat. in a region where
shirt sleeves predominated. was a close
! buttoned gamblers frock. and his hat. in
| the country of the sombrero and the soft
| Stetson, was a derby.
Lidgerwood was striving to estimate
the man beneath these outward eccentric
| tiles when McCloskey rose and thrust out
hand. great-jOinted and knObbed like a
laborer's.
You're Mr.. Lidgerwood. I take it,
said he. fitting the derby to the back of
! his head. Come to tell me to pack my
kit and get out?''
Not yet, Mr.. McCloskey" laughed
Lidgerwood, getting his first real meas
ure of the man in the hearty hand-grip.
| "On the contrary, I've come to thank
you for not dropping things and running
away before the new management could
get on the ground
| The trainmaster's rejoinder was out
spokenly blunt I've nowhere to run to.
Mr.. Lidgerwood. and that's no joke.
| Some Of the backcappers will be telling
you presently that i was a train dis
| patcher over in Gods country, and that
i [ put two trains together. It's your
tight to know that it's true
Thank you, Mr. McCloskey.'' said
LidgerwOod. simply: that sounds good to
ne And take this for yourself-the man
! who has done that once won't do 1t again.
| That is one thing. and another is this
I We start with q clean slate on the Red
Who will turn in and help us make q real
| railroad out of the r. B. w. need worry
| about his past record; it won't be dug
| up against him"
That's fair-more than fair said the
! trainmaster, mounting the words as If
the mere effort of speech were painful.
| land l wish 1 could promise you that the
| rank and file will meet you half way.
| But 1 can't. You'll find plucked pigeon.
Mr.. Lidgerwood-with plenty of hawks
running itself for the past two years and
more"
/ II understand" said Lidgerwood; and
then he spoke of the careless dispatching.
That will be Callahan. the day man,
McCloskey broke in, wrathfuly. But
that's the way of it, When we get
through the twenty-fOur hours without
killing somebody or smashing something.
thank God. and put red mark on that
calendar over my desk.
We'll, we won't go back of the re-
turns declared Lidgerwood meaning to
be just as he could to his predecessors
in office. But from now Oh
The door leading into the room beyond
the trainmaster's office opened squeakiiy
on dry hinges, and a chattering of tele-
graph instruments heralded the incoming
of a disreput a BILE looking Office man, with
a green patch over one eye and black
ened cob pipe between his teeth. Seeing
Underwood he ducked and turned to Nc
Closkey Bradley. reporting in. had given
his own paraphrase of the new super
intendent's structures on Red Butte West
ern dispatching and the criticism had lost
nothing in the recasting.
"Seventy-one's in the ditch at GLORIA
siding" he said, speaking pointedly to
the trainmaster "Goodloe reports 1t from
Little Butte; says both enginemen are
in the mix-up. but he doesn't know
whether they are killed or not
ITO be continued tomorrow