The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-26


 know, because I was junior in Car negie at the time. But Fred took it hard: let it spoil his life. He threw up everything, left college between two days and came to bury himself out here. For two years he never let his mother and sister. know where he was; made remittances to them through. a bank in Omaha so they shouldn't be able to trace him. Care to hear any more?"
 srYes; go on," said the superintend- ent
 "I found him." chuckled Benson,
 "and I took the liberty of piping his little game off to the narrowed women.
 Next thing he knew they dropped in on him, and he is just crazy enough
 to stay here and to keep them here That wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't
 for Gridley, Fred's boss. You won't believe it, but he has actually got the nerve to make love to Dawson's sister.
 And he widow man, old enough to be
 her fathery'
 Lidgerwood smiled It is the privilege
 of youth to be intolerant of age in its rival. GridleyNwas, possibly, forty two
 or three, but Benson was still on the
 sunny slope of twenty-five. You are prejudiced, Jack" he criticised. 'Grid-
 ley is still young enough to marry
 again if he wants to-and to live long enough to spoil his grandchildren"
 "But he doesn't begin to be good enough for Faith Dawson" countered the young engineer stubbornly. "Isn't he? Or>fs that another bit of your personal grudge? What do you know against him?'' Pressed thus sharply against the un- yielding fact, Benson was obliged to confess that he knew nothing at all
 against the master mechanic, nothing
 that could be pinned down to day and date. Gridley was well known to be a
 hard hitter, and now and then, when the blows fell rather mereNessly, the railroad colony called him a tyrant and hinted that. he, too, had past that would not bear inspection. But even Benson admitted that this was mere gossip.
 'Where do I come in on all this, Jack? You have an ax to grind, I take it." said Lidgerwood 'T have. Mrs. Dawson wants me to take my meals at the house. I'm in- clined to believe that she is bit shy of Gridley, and maybe she thinks I could do the buffer act. But as get between I'd be chiefly conspicuous by my absence"
 Sorry I can't give you an office job," said the superintendent in mock sympathy.
 "So am I, but you can do the next
 best thing. Get Fred to take you home
 with him some of these fine evenings, and you'll never go back to the Celes-
 tial, not if you can persuade Mrs, Dawson to feed you. The alternative is to fire Gridley out of his job" 'Thiss time you are trying to make the tail wag the dog" said Lidger-
 wood. "Gridley has twice my back ing in the P. s. W. board of directors. Besides, he's good fellow, and if go up on the mesa and try to stand him off for you it will be only because I
 hope you are a better fellow" Drop it up on any leg you like, only go," said Benson simply. ''I'H take it as personal favor and do as much for you some time. I suppose don't
 have to warn you not to fall in love
 with Faith Dawson yourself-or, on
 second thought, perhaps had better" This time Lidgerwood's laugh was mirthless
 "No, you don't have to, Jack. You
 can safely deputize me, I guess" "All right, and many thanks, Here's
 POP coming in, and I'm going over to
 Navajo on 1t. Don't wait too long be- fore you make up to Dawson. You'll
 find him well worth while after you've broken through his shell'' When Lidgerwood began the draw ing of the net a new. time card was strung with McCloskey's cooperation, and when it went into effect a notice on all bulletin boards announced the
 adoption of the standard Book of Rules" and promised penalties in
 rising scale for unauthorized departure therefrom.
 Promptly the horse laugh died away, and the trouble storm was evoked.
 Grievance committees haunted the
 Crows Nest, and the insurrectionary faction, starting with the trainmen and spreading to the track force, threatened to involve the telegraph operators-threatened to become a pro-
 test unanimous and in the mass.
 Worse than this. the service, haphaz-
 ard enough before, now became a
 nladdening chaos. Orders were mis-
 understood. whether willfully or not
 no court of inquiry could determine;
 wrecks were of almost daily occur
 renee, and the shop track was speedily filled to the switches with crippled en- zines and cars.
 In the pandemonium of untoward events McCloskey was Lidgerwood's right hand, toiling, smiting, striving and otherwise proving himself a good soldier. But close behind him