Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-12
towards" she said. after the reflective

interval 0 'e"ocuNe
But they are all equally despicable?
he suggested.
Inc real ones are, perhaps. But our
uleMnitions are often careless. Ny grand
,atuer' VINO was q captain of volunteers
In the civil war, used to saw that real
cowardice is either a psychological cor
oltion or soul disease. and that what
We we can the physical symptoms of 1t are
For example?" said Lidgerwood.
grandfather used to be fond of con-
trastIng the campfire bully and bragcart
a. as one extreme with the soldier who was
lrshkiy AFRAID of getting killed. as the
other 1t was his theory that the man
who lodged the first few bullets In a
battle was quite likely To turn out TO be
the real hero
Lidgerwood could not resist the temn,a
ton TO probe the old wound
suppose, under some, sudden stress,
some totally unexpected trial. a man who
was very much afraid of being afraid
found himself morally and physically nm
able to do the courageous thing. Wouldn C.
he be, to all intents and purposes, a real
coward?''
She took time to think
NO, she said, finally Il wouldn't say
that j should wait until I had seen the
| same man tried under conditions that
would give nm time; time to think first
Would you really do that he asked,
doubtfully.
Yes, l should. trial of the Kind
you describe isn't quite fair Acute pres
ence of mind i'm an emergency IS NOT a
supreme test OF anything except of itself:
Ieast OF all, perhaps, is it a test of cour-
age mean courage of that ouality
mhich endures today and faces without
hlnching the threatening tomorrow,
Aliu you mink the man who might he
urprtsed INTO doing something very dis
graceful on the spur of the monoent 49,.
Miss Faith2'' VI outrage
~, SS ,fn She was far enough from
making any personal appIicaTion az IN
test case sug2ested by the superintandar,
put IA world which took its l,evno,
from the harsh discords of the PED de-
mo-, 49, 49, ntde thoughtful talks with a
| .Lah VINO was most emphatically nor of
the Red desert were refreshing And sh',
couid scarcely have been Martha Dsw-
| soh daughter or Frederic Dawson's sis
mind 'oSt VI
Ltdgerwocd rose and felt in his poc,,e,s
for his after-dinner cigar
GU are certainly more charitable than
most women. Miss Dawson" he SAID
gravely; after which he left ahr,.n.i.,
Nest. " e Nio"
AS we have seen. this bit of confidential
taith Dawson fell in the period of fhs
Jesting horse-laugh: fell. as il Glanced
on day when the horse-laugh was at
ITS helsht. Later. after the storm broke.
there We're no more quiet evenings ON
the cottage porch for a harassed super-
ihtenueht. l-ldgerwood came and went
dS before. when the pidly recurring
wrecks ala not keep him out on the line.
but lie scrupulously left his troubles be-
hind him when lac climbed TO the cot
tage on the mesa.
Quite naturally. his silence on the one
topic which was stirring the Red desert
Qflr lie
canyon was poor mask The increas-
ing gravity of the situation wrote itself
plainly enough in his face. and Faith
Dawson was sorry for him. giving him
silent sympathy. unasked, il not wholly
unexpected. The town talk OF Angels,
what little of it reached the cottage, was
harshly condemnatory OF the new super
intendent; and public opinion, standing
for what it was worth, feared no denial
when ii asserted that Lidgerwood was do
ing what he could to earn his newer repu-
tation.
After the mysterious disappearance OF
the switching engine-mystery still I'M
solved and apparently unsoivable - he
struck fast and hard. searching painstak-
ingly for the leaders in the rebellion. rep
rimanding. suspending and discharging
until McCloskey warned him that. i'm ad-
dition to the evil of short-handing the
road. he was filling Angels with grow
ing army of ex-employes. desperate and
ripe for anything.
Il can't help 1t, Mac" was his inva-
riable reply. Unless they put me out OF
the fight i shall go on as 1 have begun,
staying with il until we have a railroad
I'm factor a forfeited charter. Do the
best you can. but let it be plainly and dis
tinctly understood that the man who isn't
with us is against US, and the man who
is against US is going to get a chance to
hunt for a new job every time"
Whereupon the trainmaster's homely
face would take on added furrowings OF
distress.
That's all right. Mr.. Lidgerwood; that
is stout, two-fisted talk all right. and I'm
not doubling that you mean every word
OF it. But-they'll murder you
THAT is neither here nor there-what
they will do to me. | handled them with
gloves at first, but they wanted the bars
fist. They've got IL now, and as / have
said before, we are going to night this
thing through to q complete and artistic
finish. Who goes east on 202 today?"
1T is Judson's run, but he Is laying
on"
what is the matter with him-sick?'
mo; just plain drunk.
Fire him. / won't have a single soii-
tary man in the train service who gets
drunk. Tell him So"
'All right: one more stick of dynamite.
under foot" prophesied McCloskey.
gloomily. "Judson goes
Never mind the dynamite. Now, what
has been done with Johnston. that con-
ductor who turned in three dollars as the
total cash collections for hundred-and-
fifty mile run?"
i've had him up. He grinned and said
everybody had tickets"
You don't believe it,
CTo be continued tomorrow