The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-28

Ou IGllOWS OCu [ seem aDle 10 pEO- feet yourselves, so Doc and will have 1 to do.it for you Now listen," he con
 tinued' more gravely. .I meant it
 when I said I'd open the comm1ssary and help you out if the strike were genuine; but, nevertheless, I want you
 to know just what it would have meant to me. I haven't enough mon
 ey to complete the s. R. and N, and I can't raise enough, but I have sigAed
 an option to sell the road if the f--s,Gc is built by next spring. It's really a 1 two years job, and some engineers don't believe 1t can be built at all, but 1 know 1t can if you'll help. If we fail I'm ruined; if we sueceed"-he
 waved his hands and smiled at them cheerfuI1y-'smaybe we'll build anoth- CT railroad somewhere. That's what
 this stampede meant. Now, will you stick to me?"
 The answer roared from hundred throats:
 ssYou bet we'll stickp'
 When general good feeling was re- stored Murray attempted to make his
 way out,s but his men seemed determin- ed to thank him one by one, and he was
 delayed through a. long process of handshaking It pleased him to see that they understood from what hard ships and disappointments he had saved them, and he was doubIy grate- fuI when Walsh rounded up his crew and announced that the night shift
 would resume work at midnight.
 He escaped at last, leaving the men grouped contentedly about huge pans of smoking doughnuts and pots of cof- fee, which the cook boys had brought in- Liquor was taboo in the camp, but he gave orders that unlimited ci- l gars be distributed.
 The news of the White river f1asco reached Curtis Gordon in Seattle, whither he had gone in final attempt to bolster up the tottering fortunes of the Cortez Home railway. His disap- pointment was keen, yet O'Neil from the beginning had met his attacks with such uniform success that new failure did not really surprise him. It had been forlorn hope at best. Strangely [ enough, hef had begun to lose some thing of his assurances of late All l though lie maintained his outward ap- pearance of confidence with all his old skill, within himself he felt a grow ing uneasiness, lurking doubt of his abilities. Outwardly there was req
 son enough for discoura cement for, while his cooperative railroad scheme had begun brilliantly, it's initial sue
 cess had not been sustained As time l passed and Eliza Appletons- & exposure
 remained unrefuted he had found it
 ever more difficult to enlist support
 His own denials and explanations seemed powerIess to affect the public
 mind, and as he looked back he dated his decline from the appearance of her l first article. It had done all the mis- 1 chief he had feared. Not only were | his old stockholders dissatisfied. but
 wherever he went for aid he found a
 disconcertfng lack of response, a half \ yelled skepticism that was maddening Yet his immediate business worries
 were not all nor the worst of his l troubles. His physical powers were
 waning. To all appearances he was as strong as ever, but strange bodily
 Iassitude hnmpered him. He tired easily, and against this handicap he
 was forced to struggle continually. He had never rightly valued his amazing equipment of energy until now, when some subtle ailment had begun to sap l it. The change was less in his mus cular strength than in his nerves and his mental vigor5 He found himself growing peculiarly irritable. His fail ures excited spasms of blind fury 1 which left him weak and spent. He | l of insomnfa. At times the nerves in his face and neck twitched unaccount-
 ably, and this distressing affection
 spread.
 A week or two of disappointments i should have shown him the futility of
 further effort; at any. other time it
 would have set him to putting his
 house in order for the final crash, but
 now it merely enraged him. He re-
 doubled his activity, launching a new
 campaign of publicity so extravagant 1 and i'll timed as to repel the assistance
 he needed. He had lost his finesse;
 his nicely adjusted financial sense had l gone.
 The outcome was not long delayed; it
 came in the form of newspaper dis I patch to the effect that his Cortez bank 1 had suspended payment because of
 run started by the dissatisfied employ
 ees of the railroad, Through Gordons s
 damboyant advertising his enterprises
 were so well known by this time that
 the story was featured despite his eff
 forts to kill it. His frantic cables to
 Cortez for a denial only brought as- -surances that the ra2ort was true and
 that conditions would not mend unless