The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-08-07
CHAPTER I.
"COILARS AND CUFFS.

"HE windows of the division
headquarters of the Pacific
Southwestern at Copah look
L northward over bald, brown
mesas and across the Pannikin to the
eroded cliffs of the Uintah hills. The
prospect. lacking vegetation. artistic
atmosphere and color, is crude and
rather harshly aggressive, and to Lid
gerwood. glooming thoughtfully out
upon it through the weather worn
panes scratched and bediNmed by
many desert sandstorms, twas peeul-
no. Ford; 1 hate to Msappoint you,
but I'm not the ma< you are looking
for he said. turxfng back to things
present and in Suspense and speaking
as one who kwpnld add reason to I'M
qualified refusal. I've been looking
over the gfo&nd while you were COM
ing on tom New York. 1t isn't in me
to fogbfhe Rei Butte Western into a
we'll behaved division of the P. s. w"
The grave EYED man who had Dor
rowed superintendent Leckhard's pivot
chair nodded intelligence
THAT is what yPu have been saying.
Why?"
Because the job asks for, gifts that
l don't possess. AtN the present mo-
ment the Red Butte\ Western is the
most hopelessly demoralized 800 miles
of railroad west of the Rockies There
is no system, no discipline, no respect
for authority The men run the road
as If 1t were huge joke. Add to these
conditions the fact that the Red desert
Is a country where the large calibered
revolver is
ayes. l know all that interrupted
the man in the chair. The road and
the region need civilTzing-need it bad
~. That is one .of the reasons why l
am trying to persuade you to take
hold You are long on civilization,
Howard"
mot on the kind which has to be
inculcated by main strength and a
cheerful disregard for consequences.
I'm no scrapper.
To the eye Of appraisal Lidgerwood's
personal appearance bore out the
peaceableS assertion to the Anal well
groomed detail Compactly built and
neatly. bfawn and bulk were conspic'
uously dacking, and the thin, intel
lectuaI face was made to appear still
thinper by Ne pointed cut of the
closely trimmed brown beard. A phys
ECONOMIST wouA have classified him
as a man of stAdious habit with the
leisure to INDULGE in it. and uncon
sciously he dressed the part.
In his outspokeA moments, which
were rare. he Nas\ given to railing
against the fate whieb had made hin
a round peg in squaye hole, tech
| nieal engineer and man OF actor
/ when his earlier tastes and inclina
| tios had drawn, him in other direc
tons. But the temperamental quail
ties-the niceties, the exactness, th'
thoroughuess-whi finding no Quite
In an artistic calling, had made him I
master In his unchosen profession
were well known to Mr.. Stuart Ford
first vice president of the Pacifi'
| Southwestern system. And it was
| kdEkely 1OI Tie SAKE VI tncSC NoaiitAO
| that Ford locked his hands over on
| knee and spoke as a man and a com
rade.
Let me tell you, Howard, you'v'
no idea what savage fight we've ha'
In New York absorbing these same de
moralized 800 miles. You know VIII,
we were obliged to have them. If tn
|
meant that our competitor would buil'
over here from Jacks Canyon, divid
the Copah business with us and hav
a line 800 miles nearer to the Nevad
gold fields than ours.
president Brewster has a cope
property somewhere in the vicinity o
Angels. Nand he knows the road. II
contended. that we were buying tw
streaksf Of >rust and a right Of way 1
the Red deAert. More than that, b
asserted that the executive Office
didn't live wha could bring order on
Of the chaos into which bad manage
ment and a peculiarly tough environ
ment had plunged the Red Butte Yves
ern That's where I had him bestet
Howard All through. the hot fight
kept saying over and over to mysel
that knew the man"
"But you don't know him, Stuar
that is the weak link in the chain
1t were merely a matter of technics
fitness suppose l might GO over
Angels and do what you want don
with the 800 miles of demoralizatio1
But the Red Butte proposition ask
for more. for something that | can
give it. Stuart. there is ayellow strea
in me that you seem never 10 have di
covered. l am coward
The ghost Of an incredulous smil
wrinkled about the tired eyes of tn
big man in the pivot chair.
You forget that | have known 20
pretty much all your life. Howar'
Let me recall one Of the boyhood phi
lures that have never faded 1t Wa