The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-07-17
CHAPTER VIII.
BENsoN's BRIDGE TIMERS


I II was on the morning following the
startling episode ut the Dawsons'
gate that Benson, lately arrived
- from the west on train 2O4, came
into the superintendent Office with
the light of discovery in his eye. But
the discovery was made to wait
Whats this they were telling me
down Mt the lunch counter just now
about somebody taking n pot shot mt
you last night?" he asked. Dough
erty said 1t was Bart Rufford. Was
| it"
Lidgerwood confirmed the gossip
with nod. "Yes, it was Rufford. so
Dawson says. l didn't recognize him,
though. 1t was too dark"
well, I'm mighty glad to see that
he didn't get you. What was the
row?"
Il don't know definitely. I suppose
1t was because 1 told McCloskey to
discharge his brother awhile back"
"A pretty close call, wasn't Il. or
was Dougherty only putting on a few
frills to go with my cup OF coffeeP"
1T was close enough" admitted
Lidgerwood. half absently. He was
thinking not so much Of the narrow
escape as of the fresh and humiliating
evidence it had afforded of his own
wretched unreadiness
"All right; you'll come around to my
way OF thinking after awhile. / tell
you. Lidgerwood, you've got to heel
yourself when you live in gun coun-
try. 1 said L wouldn't do IL, but I
have done 1t. and I'll tell you right
now when anybody In this blasted
desert makes monkey motions at me
I'm going to blow the top of his head
off quick"
Hasn't 1t ever occurred to you,
Jack. that l am the one man in the
desert who cannot afford to go arm
ed? 1 am supposed to stand for law
and order. What would my example
be worth If 1t should be noised around
that i. too, had become n gun toter?"
"Oh, Pm not going to argue with
YOU" laughed Benson. "But / didn't
come up here to wrangle with you
about your theoretical notions of law
and order. 1 came to tell you that I
have been hunting for those bridge
timbers Of mine"
WELL" Queried Lidgerwood, "have
you found them?"
"No, and don't believe anybody
will ever find them"
but you have discovered some
thing%
Partly yes and partly no. think
told you at the time that they van
ished between two days like n puff
OF smoke. leaving no trace behind
them. How 1t was done couldn't
Imagine. There is n wagon road par
alleling the river over there ut the
siding, as you know, and the first
thing / did the next morning was to
look FOR wagon tracks. No set of
wheels carrying anything as heavy as
those II by II twenty-fours had gone
over the road
"How were they taken then? They
couldn't have been floated down the
river, could they?'
1T was possible. but not Mt all prob
able," said the engineer. my theory
was that they were taken away on
somebody's railroad car. There were
only two sources Of information Mt
hrst-the night operator ut Little
Butte. twelve miles west, and the
trackwalker ut Point Of Rocks. whose
beat goes down to within two or three
miles OF the Gloria bridge. Goodloe.
mt Little Butte, reports that there was
nothing moving on the main line after
the passing OF the midnight freight
east, and Shaughnessy. the trackwalk-
or. is Just plain. unvarnished liar
lie knows lot more than he will tell"
still. you are looking a good bit
more cheerful than you were last
week. was Lidgerwoods suggestion.
Yes. After I got the work started
again with new set Of timbers I
spent three or four days on the ground
digging for information like n dog aft
er woodchuck. There are some pros
pectors panning on the bar three miles
up the Gloria, but they knew nothing,
or II they knew they wouldn't tell.
Ihat was the case with every man I
talked to on our side Of the river. But
over across the Timanyoni, nearly Cd
posite the mouth Of the Gloria, there is
littie creek coming I'm from the
north, and on this creek found n
zone prospector, queer old chip who
nails from my neck Of woods I'D in
Michigan"
20 on said Lidgerwood when the
engineer stopped to light his pipe.
Inc old man told me fairy tale.
All right Benson went on. "He was
Us rull OF fancies as a fig is of seeds.