The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-07-21
THE TANNING OF
RED BUTTE WESTERN
BY
FRANCIS LYNDE
Copyright, 1910. by Charles Serb
ner's Sons.
CHAPTER XII.
TIE PLEAsURERs

tween law and order.
|, Thirty-two boxes. gondolas and flats
racing down the Crosswater grades II
the heart OF n fiawless, crystalline
\ summer afternoon at the heels o
Gays big ten wheeler, suddenly lief
the steel as a unit TO heap themselves
In chaotic confusion upon the righ
OF way and To round out the disaster
at the moment Of impact by exploding
a shipment OF giant powder some
where in the midst Of the debris.
LidgerwOOd was on the western divi
sion when the news Of the wreck
reached Angels, wherefore It was not
until the following morning that he
was able 10 leave the headquarters sta
ton on the second wrecking train
bringing the big 100 ton crane TO re-
enforce McCloskey, who had been on
the ground with the lighter clearing
tackle for the better part Of the night
McCloskey's men were hard at work
picking up what the fire had spared
when Lidgerwood arrived Pretty
clean sweep this time. eh, MacT' was
the superintendent greeting when he
had penetrated 10 the thick of things
where McCloskey was toiling and
sweating with his men.
$50 clean that we get nothing much
but scrap iron out of what's left"
growled McCloskey, climbing out of
the tangle OF crushed cars and bent
and twisted irOnwOrk 10 stand beside
LidgerwoOd on the main line embank-
ment Then TO the men who were
making the snatch hitch for the next
pull: "a little farther back, boys-far-
Their yet, so she won't overbalance on
You. That's about il. Now wig H."
You seem To bee getting along all
right with the outfit you've got" was
comment. IF you can
keep this up we may as well 20 back
TO Angels"
"No, don'tw protested the trainmas-
ter. I'VE can snake out these scrap
heaps after a fashion. but when II
comes 10 resurrecting the 195-did you
notice her as you came along? We
kept the fire from getting to her, but
she's dug herself into the ground like
D dog after a woodchuckw
Lidgerwood nodded. II looked her
over he said. IF she'd had little
more time and another wheel turn or
Two to spare she might have dlsap-
oeared entirely-like that switching
engine you can't find"
81 gave you all the pointers / could
ind two weeks ago" said McCloskey.
Whenever you get ready to put Hal
ock under the hydraulic press you'll
squeeze what you want TO know out of |
lim"
This was coming to be an old sub |
ect and sore one. The trainmaster |
still insisted that Hallock was the man
who was planning the robberies and |
plotting the downfall of the Iidger- |
wood management, and he wanted to |
nave the chief clerk systematically |
'hadowed. And it was Lidgerwood's |
wholly groundless prepossesslon for !
iallock that was still keeping him !
rom turning the matter over TO the |
'ompany's legal department-thls I'm
'pite of the growing accumulation Of |
evidence all pointing to Hallock's trea-
ION. Subjected TO rigid cross exam
nation, Judson had insisted that a
,art mt least Of his drunken recollec-
Ion was real--that part identifying
he voices Of the two plotters I'm Cat
8iggs' back room as those OF Rufford
md Hallock. Moreover, II was no
onger deniable that the chief clerk
vas keeping in close touch with the
discharged employees, for some pur-
bose best known to himself, and lat
erly he had been dropping out of his
'fiice without notice. disappearinp
for day at time
Lidgerwood was recalling the last of
hese disappearances when the second
vrecking train came up to go into ac-
ion. McCloskey shaded his eyes from
he suns glare and looked down the
Inc.
"Hello? he exclaimed. SCOT n new
yrecking bossT
The superintendent nodded. 81 have
me I'm the making. Dawson wanted TO
ome along and try his hand"
did Gridley send hlmr
mo; Gridley Is away somewhere.
$50 Fred's your understudy. Is he?
Veil. I've got one too. I'll show him
o you after awhile"
They were walking back over the
les toward the half buried 1875. Daw-
on had already divided his men-half
Il them TO place the huge jackbeams
ND outrlggers Of the self contained
team lifting machine to insure its sta
'ility and the other half to trench I'M
er the fallen engine and TO adjust the
hahn sings for the hitch.
It's pretty long reach, Fred" said
he superintendent. Going 10 fry II
rom hereY
Best place." said the reticent one
hortly.
Lidgerwood was looking at his
vatch
williams viii be due here before
ing with n special from Conan. n
ont want TO hold him up" he re-.
marked.
Thirty minutesT' inquired the
raftsman without taking mind or eve (
n bis problem.