, 1911-07-27

of flame shot out of the sea Of smoke
climbing higher and higher in light
ming ashes until the lurid tongues
licked the air n quarter of a mile above
the startled wilderness. Explosion fol
lowed explosion. some of them coming
in hollow. reverberating booms. others
sounding as If in midair. The heav-
ems were filed with hurtling rocks:
solid masses of granite ten feet square
were thrown a hundred feet away
rocks weighing a ton were hurled still
farther. as IL they were no more than
stones flung by the hand OF a giant:
chunks that would have crashed from
the roof to the basement of a sky
scraper dropped a third and nearly n
half a mile away. For three minutes
the frightful commissions continued.
Then the lurid lights died o of the
pail of smoke. and the pail itself be
gan to settle. Rowland felt a grip on
his arm. Dumbly he turned n look
ed into the white. staring face OF the
superintendent. His ears tingled. ev-
cry fiber in him seemed unstrunc.
MacDonald's voice came to him
strange and weird.
"What do you think Of that, How
land?"
The two men gripped hands. and
when they looked again they saw dim
ly through dust and smoke only torn
and shattered masses of rock where
had been the giant ridge that barred
the path Of the new road to the bay.
Howland talked but little on their
wov ho oil IN ramn Tho oonnQ fhot hn
had Just witnessed affected him
strangely. 1t stirred once more with
In him all Of his old ambition, all of
his old enthusiasm. and vet neither
found voice In words. He was glad
when the dinner was over at Thorne's.
and. with the going of the mail sledge
and the senior engineer. there came
over him a still deeper of Joy.
Now he was in charge. 1t was his
road from that hour on. He was in
charge-in charge of the greatest rail
road building job oil earth-he, Jack
Rowland. who less than twenty years
ago was a barefooted. half starved
urchin peddling papers in the streets
where he was now famous! And now
what was this black thing hat had
come up to threaten his chances just
as he had about won his great ightf
He clinched his hands as he thought
again of what had already happened
the cowardly attempt on his life. the
warnings, and his blood boiled to. fever
heat. That night. after he had seen
But he would not re driven away as
Gregson and Thorne had been driven.
He was determined on that.
The gloom of night falls early in the
great northern m%idwinter, and II was
already growing dusk when there came
the sound of a voice outside Howland's
cabin. followed a moment later by a
loud knock at the door. AT Howiand's
invitation the door opened. and the
head and shoulders of n man appeared.
Something has one wrong out at
the north coyote. sir. and Mr.. MacDon-
aid ants you just as fast as you can
get out there" he said. HE sent me
down for you with a sledge."
macdonald told me the thing was
ready for firing said Rowland. put
ting on his hat and coat. whats
the matter?"
"Bad packing. l guess. Heard him
swearing about 1t. He's in n terrible
sweat to set you"
Half an hour later the sledge drew
l up close to the place where Rowland
had seen a score of men packing bags
of powder and dynamite earlier In the
! day. Half a dozen lanterns were
burning among the rocks, but there
was no sign of movement or life. The
engineers companion gave a sudden
sharp crack of his long whip. and in
response to II there came a muffied
"Hello!' from out of the gloom.
That's Macdonald. sir. You'll find
him right up there near that second
grilling the life out of half a dozen
men in the chamber, where he found
the dynamite on top of the powder in
stead of under it."
"All rightr' called back Rowland,
starting up among the rocks. Hardly
had he taken a dozen steps when a
dark object shot out behind him and
fell with crushing force on his head.
With a grooming cry he fell forward
On his face. For a few moments he
was conscious of voices about him.
He knew that he was being lifted In
the arms of men and that after a
time they were carrying him so that
his feet dragged on the ground. After
that he seemed to be sinking down
dOwn-down-until he lost all sense
of existence in a chaos of inky black