The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1911-08-23
CHAPTER VIII.

gate that Benson, lately arrived
Il from the west on train 2O4. came
into the superintendent Office with
the light Of discovery in his eye. But
the discovery was made to wait
whats this they were telling me
down at the lunch counter just now
about somebody taking a pot shot at
you last nightY' he asked Dough
erty said it was Bart Rufford Was
it?''
Lidgerwood confirmed the gossip
with a nod. Eyes, it was Rufford, so
Dawson says. l didn't recognize him.
though. 1t was too dark"
well, I'm mighty glad to see that
he didn't get you. What was the
row?"
II don't know definitely. 1 suppose
1t was because told McCloskev to
discharge his brother awhile back
"a pretty close call. wasn't it. or
was Dougherty only putting on a few
frills to 60 with my cup of coffee?''
ut was close enough" admitted
Lidgerwood, half absently He was
thinking not so much of the narrow
escape as of the fresh and humiliating
evidence it had afforded of his own
wretched unreadiness.
"An right; you'll come around to my
way Of thinking after awhile 1 tell
you, Lidgerwood. you've got to heel
yourself when you live in gun coun-
try. 1 said 1 wouldn't do it, but I
have done it. and I'll tell you right
now when anybody in this blasted
desert makes monkey motions at me
I'm going to blow the top of his head
OF quick"
Hasn't it ever occurred to you.
Jack, that am the one man in the
desert who cannot afford to go arm
ed? I am supposed to stand for law
and order. What would my example
be worth If 1t should be noised around
that 1. too. had become a gun toter?"
"Oh, I'm not going to argue with
you" laughed Benson. But I didn't
come up here to wrangle with you
about your theoretical notions of law
| and order. came to tell you that
have been hunting for those bridge
timbers Of mine"
well" queried Lidgerwood. have
| you found them?'
"No. and don't believe. anybody
will ever find them"
"But you. have discovered some
thing?"
"Partly yes and partly no. / think
1 told you at the time that they van
ished between two days like a puff
| Of smoke. leaving no trace behind
1 them. How it was done couldn't
4 imagine. There is a wagon road par
i alleling the river over there at the
siding, as you know, and the first
thing did the next morning was to
look for wagon tracks. No set OF
wheels carrying anything as heavy as
those IL by IL twenty-fours had gone
over the road"
"How were they taken then? They
couldn't have been floated down the
river, could theyT'
1T was possible. but not at all prob
able" said the engineer. "My theory
was that they were taken away on
somebody's railroad car. There were
only two sources of information al
frst-the night operator at Little
Butte. twelve miles west, and the
trackwalker at Point Of Rocks. whose
beat goes down to within two or three
miles of the Gloria bridge. Goodloe
at Little Butte. reports that there was
nothing moving on the main line after
the passing of the midnight freigh,
east. and Shaughnessy. the trackwalk
er, Is just a plain. unvarnished liar
He knows lot more than he will tell.
"Still. you are looking a good BIZ
] more cheerful than you were las
week." was Lidgerwood's suggestion.
Eyes After I got the work started
I again with a new set of timbers
spent three or four days on the grount
digging for information like a dog aft
, or a woodchuck There are some pros
pectors panning on the bar three mile
up the Gloria. but they knew nothing
or II they knew they wouldn't tell
That was the case with every man
talked to on our side of the river Blu
over across the Tmanyoni, nearly op
posite the mouth of the Gloria, there i
a little creek coming in from tn,
north, and on this creek l found
lone prospector, queer old chap VIII
halls from my neck of woods up il
Michigan"
go on" said Lidgerwood when tn
engineer stopped to light his pipe.
1.-The old man told me fairy tale
| all right" Benson went on. He wa
as full Of fancies as a fig is of seeds
have been trying to believe that wha
he told me isn't altogether pip
dream, but 1t sounds nightly like one
| He says that about 2 O'Clock in tn
| morning of Saturday, two weeks age
| an engine and q single car backe
down from the west to the Glori
| bridge and a crowd Of men swarme
of the train. loaded those bridge tin
bers and ran away with them. goin
i back up the line to the west. He tell
1t all very circumstantially, though b
neglected to explain how he happene
to be awake and on guard at any sue
unearthly hour"
where was he when he saw a
this?"
ION his own side Of the river, {
course 1t was a dark night, and til
engine had no headlight. But tt
loading gang had plenty of lantern
and he says they made plenty {
- noise"
You didn't let it rest at that?'' sal
the superintendent.
"Oh. no, indeed. 1 put in the enti