Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-02-15

II VAS broken rail, says he saw K
and saw the man that Wa> haggiu him
down, all in good time to give her the
air before he hit it,"
"What man was thatI" asked Gre
ncr, whose point of view had not rcsu
that of an ontookpr
Lidgerwood answered for himsrls
and Bradford
That is one Of the things we'd like
TO know. Groucr Just before the
smash a man, whom none OF us rcco&
nized, ran down the track and tried to
give Crawford the stop signal"
They had been walking ON down the
line, looking for the actual point of de
railment When it was found II prov
ed Cranford's assertion-in part. There
was gap in the rail on the river side
AT one of the joints the tiShplateS were
missing, and the rail ends were sprung
apart SidewiSe sufficiently to let the
wheel hangcs pass through Groner
went down on his hands and knees
with the lantern held low, and made
another discovery
This amt no happelrSo, Mr. Lid
gerwood," he said when he got up
The spikes are pulled"
I.idgerwood said nothing. There
are discoveries which are beyond
speech But he stopped to examine
for himself Groner was right. For
distance of eight or ten feet the rail
had been loosencd and the spikes were
gone out of the corresponding cross
ties. After 1t was loosencd the rail
had been sprung aside. and the bit of
rock inserted between the parted ends
to keep them from springing together
was still i'll place,
Lidgerwood's eyes were bloodshot
when he rose and said
I'D like to ask you two men as men
what devil would set trap like this
for train load of unoffending pas
sengers?"
Bradford's slow draw dispelled a
little of the mystery
1t wasn't meant for Groner and his
passenger wagons, | reckon. In the
natural run Of things 1t was the 2G6
and the service car that ought to We
hit this thing first. 20i bein' supposed
to be half hour off her schedule 1t
was aimed for us, all right enough
And it wasn't meant to throw us into
the hill neither. If we'd hit It goin'
west we'd be In the river That's why
it was sprung out instead of in"
Lidgerwood's right hand. balled into
a fist, smote the air. and his outburst
was a fierce imprecation In the midst
of it Groner said. LISTEN" and mo
ment later man walking rapidly up
the track from the direction OF Little
Butte station came into the small cir
Gle of lantern light Groner threw the
light on the newcomer. revealing a
haggard face-the face of the owner
of the Wire Silver mine
Heavens and earth. Mr.. Lidger
wood. this is awful" he exclaimed
81 heard Of il by phone and hurried
over to do what ! could My men of
the night shift are on the way, walk
ing IN the track, and the entire Wire
Silver outfit is at your disposal"
81 am afraid you are little late
Mr.. Flemister." was LidGerwood's re
ioinder unreasoning antagonism MAX
ing the words sound crisp and IN
grateful. Half an hour ago
Yes. certainly. Goodloe should
have phoncd me If he knew" cut in
the mine owner "Anybody hurt p
Half Of the number involved and
six dead" said the superintendent SO
berly Then the four of them walked
slowly and in silence up the track to
ward the two campfres. where the
unhurt survivors and the service cars
guests were fighting the chill Of the
high mountain midnight.
Lidgerwood was unpleasantly sur
prised to find that Miss Brewster knew
the man whom her father had tersely
characterized as "a born gentleman
aud born buccaneer." but the fact re
manned When he came with Flemi-
ter into the circle OF light cast by the
smaller Of the two fires Miss Rrewster
not only welcomed the mine owuer
she Immediately introduced him to her
friends and made room for him on
jte Udl stone winch served UeT TOT p
seat
But just now the gentleman bur
cancer" was not living mp TO the fu
measure Of his reputation in the daro
devil field. as Lidgerwood was uo.
slow TO observe. His replies 10 Nis.
Brewster and the others were not q.
ways coherent. and his face seen
the Pickering freight was almosf
CHASTITY. True. the talk was tow tor<t
and fracmenrary. desuItory enorci: o.
require little Of any mewhrI % 49,.
group sitting around the Smolderjrg
fire on the spur emf Aukment
Yet Tidgerwood fancied thar ~ ths
group circlin. the ar" Flenister was
the one whose ewes turned Offences
toward the sheeied h.s1frps = ross the
track. sometimes in morbid <'arings