The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-07-11

Kitchen before he turned his own little
handspring into the ditch"
"That kind OF sand Is all right I'm
Gods country. Andy. but out here
You got 10 know how to fight with
pitchforks and such other tools as
come handy. The new boss may be
that kind of scrapper. but he sure
don't look IT,"
NO" agreed Bradford. Illuminating
thoughtfully.
williams. brawny and broad chested,
leaned against his box.
"TIe'd better have nerve or get
some" he commented. "Tother ways
it's him for an early wooden overcoat
and trip back home in the express
car"
| The special was now on the siding.
Back I'm the service car Lidgerwood
was sitting quietly I'm the doorway
smoking his delayed after breakfast
cigar and timing the upcoming passen-
ger train, watch In hand. Carter was
ten minutes. to the exact second, be-
hind his schedule time when the train
Numbered past on the main track. and
Lidgerwood pocketed his watch with
smile Of satisfaction. It was the first
small victory I'm the campaign for re-
form.
Later, however, when the special
was once more in motion westward,
the desert laid hold upon him with the
grip which first benumbs, then breeds
dull rage and finally makes men mad.
There were no signs OF life. no cat
tie upon the distant hills. no loungers
on the station platforms. Lidgerwood
had crossed this arid, lifeless plain
twice within the week on his prelim-
mary tour of inspection. but both
times he had been in the Pullman,
with fellow passengers to fill the near
er field of vision and to temper the
awful loneliness of the waste. Now,
however. the desert with its heat, its
stiffness, its vacancy, its pitiless bar
renness, claimed him as its own. Tie
wondered that he had been impatient
with the men II bred
It was past noon when the shrill
whistle of the locomotive signaled the
approach TO the division headquarters.
and he was thankful that the builders
Of Angels had pitched their tents and
driven their stakes in the deserts
edge rather than in it's heart.
Truly. Angels was not much TO be
thankful for. as the exile from the east
regretfully admitted when he looked
out upon II from the windows OF his
office in the second story Of the Crows
Nest. A many tracked railroad yard,
flanked on one side by the repair shops,
roundhouse and coal chutes and on
the other by n struggling town of bare
and commonplace eXteriors, implanted.
unfenced, treeless and windswept. An
gels stood BADLY for what It was-a
mere stopping place In transit for the
Red Butte Western.
The new superintendent turned his
back upon the depressing outlook and
laid his hand upon the latch of the
door opening into the adjoining room.
There was thing to be said about tho
reckless punching of trains out Of
reach of the wires, and IL might ne
well be said now ms later, he deter:
mined. But at the moment OF door
opening he was made to realize that a
tall, boxlike continuance In one cornSv
or the Office was desk and that Il
was inhabited.
The man who rose up to greet him
was bearded, heavy shouldered and
hollow eyed. and he was past middle
age. Green cardboard cones protecting
his shirt sleeves and n shade of the
same material vlsoring the sunken
eyes were the only clerkly suggestions
about him.
You are Mr. Hallock? Lidgerwood
made the guess without Offering To
shake hands. the high, boxlike desk
forbidding the attempt.
Yes" The answer was neither an
tagonistic nor placatory; 1t was mere
ly colorless.
My name is Lidgerwood. You have
heard of my appointments"
Again the coorless yes"
MT. Ford spoke TO me about Won
Iast night. He told me that you had
been Mr.. Cumberley's chief clerk and
that since Cumberley's resignation Won
nave been acting superintendent of the
lied Butte Western. Do you want TO
stay on as my lieutenant?
hor the long minute that Hallock
look before replying the loose lipped
mouth under the shaggy mustache
seemed to have lost the power of
speech. But when the words finally
came they were shorn of all eupbe-
mism
suppose ought to put on nv coat
ina walk out" said this most Singh
ar or all railway subordinates. "Bv
III the rules Of the game this lob he
ongs to me. You'd better give me n
line check and let me GO"
Lidgerwood walked to the window
ina once more stared out upon the
ireary prospect. bounded by the bluffs
VI the second mesa. When he Turned
'ack to the man in the rifle pit desk
re could not have told why the words
u regret and dismissal which he had
nade up his mind to say refused IN
ONE. But fhpy Ii1 roS,,.~