The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1916-07-21

ordered rte ksbe change sof the make
shift concrete handlers as fast as theJ
msterialized. sQuadding them and dirty
ing the work of wreck clearing fol
every man and minute they could
command, with Gassman and Bender
to act as foremen.
For himself, Brouillard reserved the
dents. The lower, avenue had already
become double rank of dives, saloons
and gambling dens; here, If anywhere
in the craze-depopufated town, men
might be found, and for once in their
lives they should be shown how other
men earned money.
|. Shove it for every minute of day
light there is left" he ordered, snap
ping out his commands to his staff
while he was filing the magazine OF
his Winchester. Puddle what. mate.
rial there is in, the forms, dump the
te,pher buckets where they stand, and
clean out the mixers; that's the size
Of the job, and it's got to be. done.
Jump to it, Grizzly, you and Handley,
and we'll try to fill your gangs the
best way we can,''e .u
you'll be up on the stagings your
self, won't your" asked Grislow, strug-
CLING into his working coat.
After bit. I'm going down to the
lower avenue to turn out the crooks
and diamond "wearersy It's time they
were learning how to earn an honest
dollar" -
- you'll get yourself killed up" grum-
BLEED Leshington. .eMork ia the one
thing you won't get out of that crowd"
. watch me-" rasped the chief, and
he was gone as soon as he had said it.
Strange things and strenuous hap
pened in the lower end of the Nj
oroia valley during the few hours of
daylight that remained. First, climb
ing nervously to the puddlers' staging
on the great dam, and led by Poodles
came, the Metropole quota of
walters, solutions, cooks and porters,-
willing but skill-less. After them, and
herded by Lexington, came a dapper
crew of office men and clerks to snatch
up the pudding spades and to soil
their clothes and blister, their hands
In emptying the concrete buckets. Mr.
Cortwright's contribution came as a
dropping fire; handful of tree-cutters
from the sawmills, few picked up
here and there in the deserted town,
an automobile load of power-company
employees shot down from the geners
ating plant at racing speed.
Last, but by no, means least in num-
oers, came the human derelicts from
he lower avenue; men in frock-coats;
men in cowboy jeans taking it as a
huge joke; men with foreign faces and
owering brows and with strange oaths
n their mouths; and behind the mot
ey throng and marshaling it to a
Iuickstep, Brouillard and Tig Smith, |
1t was hot work and heavy for the !
trange1y assorted crew, and Brouil-
ard drove 1t to thu limit, bribing, ca
oling or threatening, patrolling the |
ong line of staging to encourage the |
wkward puddlers, or side-stepping /
Witty to the mixers to bring back
Enactment Of skulkers at the rifles
auzzle. And by nightfall the thing
7as done, with the loss reduced to a
minimum and the makeshift laborers
ropping out in squads and groups,
ONE laughing, some swearing, and all
DO weary and toil-worn to be danger
US. "Give us job If we come back
Mr.. Brouillard?" called out
le king of the gamblers in passing;
nd the cry was taken up by others in
rim Jest. "
THUS endeth the first lesson" said
when the engineering corps
as reassembling at the headquarters
to descent upon the sup
or table. But Brouillard was dumb
nd haggard, and when he had hung
ID rifle and cartridge belt on their
egs behind his desk, he went out,
aying unbroken the silence which
I'd greeted his entrance.
ssPhe boss is taking 1t pretty-hard,"
i'd young Griffith to no one in. par
cular, and it was Leshington Who'll 7
ok him up savagely and invited him
hold his tongue. hw
1.-THE least said is the soonest /
ended-at a funeral" was the form
g first assistants rebuke took. you
ke my advice and don't mess or l
eddie with the chief until he's had
ne to, work, this thing out Of his sys- 5
M So 20 "
The shouts of the mob were ringing Il
Brouillard's ears when he strobe de- d
,tedly into the deserted maproom,
d the cries were rising with a new y
te and in fresher frenzies little II
er when Grislow came in. The n.y. l.
1grapher's blue eyes were hard and ~
voice had a tang Of bitterness in u
when he said: well, you've done it.
rec men have just come in with a ~
uble handful Of nuggets, and Mirap- !"
8 makes its bow to the world at IL
&c as the newest and richest of W
, gold camps" 81 -
3rouillard had been bumped over ~
desk, and he sprang up with q cry al
3 that OF wounded ANIMAL :.
1t can't be; Grizzly, l tell you 1t ]