The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-28
The TdnliIlQ By FRANCIS LYNDE
(Continued.)

- 0.,t of the fight shah go on as have Segun. staying with 1t untfl we have a railroad in factor a forfeited charter Do the best you can, but let it be plainly and distinctly 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.
 'gThat's all right. Mir. Lidgerwood. That is stout, two listed talk, all right, and I'm not doubting that you mean every word of it. But-they'u murder you"
 "That is neither here nor there what they will do to me. I handled them with gloves at first, but they wanted the bare fist. They've got it now, and, as have said before, we are going to fight this thing through to a complete and artistic finish. Who goes east on POP today"
 "It is Judson's run, but he is laying off"
 "What is the matter with him sfck?"
 "No; just plain drunk"
 "F'ire him. I won't have a single solitary man in the train service who gets drunk. Tell him so."
 'An right: one more stick of dyna- mite, with a cap and fuse in 1t, turned loose under foot" prophesied McClos- key gloomily. Hudson goes."
 ''Never mind the dynamite. Now, what has been done with Johnston, that conductor who turned in $3 as the total cash collections for a hun dred and fifty mile run?''
 '1've had him up. He grinned and said that that was all the money there was; everybody had tickets"
 ''You don't believe it?"
 ''No. Grantby, the superintendent of the Ruby mine, came in on Johnston's train that morning, and he registered a kick because the Ruby Gulch station agent wasn't out of bed in time to sell him a ticket. He paid Johnston on the train, and that one fare alone was $500"
 Lidgerwood was adding another mi mute square to the penciled checker board on his desk blotter.
 Discharge Johnston and hold back his time check Then have him ar rested for stealing, and wire the legal department at Denver that want him prosecuted"
 Again McCloskey's rough cast face became the outward presentment of 8 soul in anxious trouble.
 "Call it done-,. d another stick of dynamite turned loose," he acqui- esced. 'Is there anything else?"
 "Yes. What have you found out about that missing switch engine?"
 Nothing yet. I'm hunting for proof 9
 Against the men you suspect? Who are they, and what did they do with the engine?'
 McCloskey became dumb.
 T don't dare to say part of it until I can say it all, Mir. Lidgerwood. You hit too quick and too hard. But tell me one thing-have you had to report the loss of that engine to anybody higher up"
 'I shall have to report it to General Manager Frisbie, of course, if we don't find it."
 ~'But haven't you already reported 1t"
 '.No-that is, I guess not. Wait a minute"
 A touch of the bell push brought Hallock to the door of the inner office.
 "Hallock, have you reported the dis appearance of that switching engine to MT. Frisbie?" asked the superin- tendent.
 The answer seemed reluctant, and it was given in the single word of as- sent.
 "When" asked Lidgerwood.
 "In the weekly summary for last week. You signed it," said the chief clerk.
 Did tell you to include that par ticular item in the report% Lidger- wood did not mean to give the in- quiry the tang of an implied reproof, but the fight with the outlaws was beginning to make his manner inci- sive.
 "You didn't need to tell me. know
 
 tone matched his superior's.
 Lfdgerwood looked at McCloskey and at the trainmaSter's almost i'm percepible nod, said "That's all," and Hallock disappeared and closed the door.
 "Well" queried Lidgerwood sharply when they had privacy again.
 McCloskey was shifting uneasily from one foot to the other.
 You've got man for your chief clerk who has kept this whole town guessing for two years, MT. Lidger- wood. Some say he isn't all to the bad, some say he is a woman killer, but they all agree that he's as spite full as an Indian. He wanted your job. Supposing he still wants it?"
 "Stick to the facts, Mac," said the su- perintendent. You're theorizing now, you know"
 ''Well, by gravels, willv rasped McCloskey. "Hallock puts in his day time scratching away at his desk out there. But when that desk is shut up you'll find him at the roundhouse, over in the freight yard. round the switch shanties or up at Biggs'-anywhere he can get half a dozen of the men to- gether. I haven't found a man yet that I could trust to keep tab on him, and don't know what he's doing, but I can guess"
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