The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-21
CHAPTER I.
"coLLAEsSA SAND CUFFS. :"

''coLLAEssAND CUFFS"
 rHE windows of the division
 headQGGfters of ], the Pacific
 Southwestern at Copah look
 ' northwAfd over bald, brown mesas and across the Panntkin to the Ieroded cliffs of the Uintah hills. The prospect, lacking vegetation, artistic atmosphere and color. is crude and rather harshly aggressive, and to Lid lgerwood, glooming thoughtfully out upon it through the weather worn Ipanes scratched and bedfmmed by many desert sandstorms; it was pecul- 1arly depressing.
 "No, Ford; Ishate to disappoint you, but I'm not tHes man you are looking for" he said. sturning back to things present and in suspense and speaking as one who woxilds add aireason to un- iuualified refusal. E"I've been looking over the groundswhile you were com ing on from New York. It isn't in me Ito fiog the Red Butte Western into well behaved division of the P. S. w."
 The grave eyed ndan who had bor- rowed Superintendent Leckhard's pivot lchair nodded Intelligence.
 ''That is what you have been saying, with variations, for the last half hour. EWhyY
 "Because the job asks for gifts that T don't possess. At the present mo- lment the Red Butte Western is the most hopelessly- demoralized 300 miles of railroad west of the Rockies. There, As no system, no discipline. no respect for authority. The men run the road as if it were a.huge joke. Add to these conditions the fact, that the Red desert tis a country where the large calibered revolver is"-
 "Yes, know all+ that" interrupted the man in the chair. "e'The road and the region need ci9iiizing-need it bad lly. That is one of the reasons why I am trying to persnade you to take hold. You reTlong on civilization, Howard" I
 ''Not on thes kind which has to be Anculcated by main strength and & cheerful disregard for consequences. u'm no scrapper."
 To the eye of appraisal Lidgerwood's personal appearance bore out the Ipeaceable assertion to the final well lgroomed detail. Compactly built and lne&,y, brawn and d.bulk were conspic- Iuously lacking, and the thin, intel 1ectual face was made to appear still thinner by the pointed cut of the closely trimmed brown beard A phys 1ognomist would have classified him as a man of studious habit with the leisure to indulge in it, and uncon- sciously he dressed the part.
 In his outspoken moments, which were rare, he was given to railing against the fate. which had made him a round peg in. a square hole, a tech inical engineer and a man of action when his earlier tastes and inclina- ltios had drawn him in other direc- itions. But the e9temperamental quail ;ties-the niceties, the exactness, the 'thoroughness-which finding no outlet in an artistic calling, had made him master in his unchosen profession were well known to MT. Stuart Ford, first vice president of the Pacific Southwestern system. And it was largely for the sake of these qualities that Ford locked his hands over one iAAcG dAu EPOAC as d Adu dAu a GUILT rade.
 'Let me tell you, Howard, you've no idea what a savage fight we've had fin New York absorbing these same de moralfssd 300 miles. You know why we were obliged to have them. If the ' ranscontinental had beaten us it meant that our competitor would build over here from Jacks Canyon, divide the Copah business with us and have a line 300 miles nearer to the Nevada gold fields than ours.
 President Brewster has a copper property somewhere in the vicinity of Angels. and he knows the road. He contended that we were buying two streaks of rust and right of way in the Red desert More than that. he asserted that the executive officer didn't live who could bring order out of the chaos into which bad manage iment and a peculiarly tough environ ment had plunged the Red Butte West ern. That's where I had him bested, Howard. All through the hot fight kept saying over and over to myself that knew the man."
 put yOu uOH kiOW HILL, that is the weak link in the chain. If it were merely a matter of technical fitness I suppose I might go over to Angels and do what you want done with the 900 miles of demoralizatior But the Red Butte proposition asl for more. for something that I car give it. Stuart. there is a yellow strea m me mat you seem neEer te hG~e dis covered. am a coward"
 The ghost Of ah incredulous smils wrinkled about the tired eyes of the big man in the pivot chair.
 You forget that I have known you pretty much all your life, Howard. Let me recall one of the boyhood pic lures that have never faded It was just after school one hot day in the H. linois September. Our crowd had gone down to the pond back of the school house, and two of us were padding