Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1916-12-19

enough to take care of my share of il.
Have Won got that? Very well. And now
lgo back to Your melodrama if Won want to.
Steal hi~ men ii he will let Won. Fight him
every inch of his con~truction-that l.
your job-and I'll insist that il i his fault
if he istardy on the 1st of May. But its
YOU and 0'Mara from now on, Archie. I'll
be a spectator now. And, by CAD. Ion
you ever come near me again with 4 re-
quest that don't YOU ever let me hear
you threaten that YOU
Allison'S face was suffused before he
finished. and Wickersham. a~tounded past
utterance. slid from his chair away from
that ilourishing hand which had become 4
fist. 1t was no scene TO take place between
a man and his prospective son-in-law.
Realizing that. Allison tried TO laugh de-
precatiigly 1T hiS temper.
"Go on and get him. Archie" he invited.
"IT be watching. don't YOU doubt that. And
! know how much YOU want to win. It's n
bigger stake than most folks realize
The same day that more than half Of
OAiara'~ men went on strike and desert
ed 10 the Reserve company's payroll the
news reached Allison hat Il trainload Of Ia
borer~ had been shot in To take their place
those very types of laborerS which Steve
himself had warned Elliott would not last
an hour in the event Of trouble. For n
week Allison wondered that there was no
clash between the displaced men who be-
llievpd that the river was theirs alone and
that new corps which Garry Devcreau was
Handling III the lower end Of construction.
not by physical prowess, a. Fat Joe had
ruled. but Just as surely and all because
n Joe himself put it, he could damn \
man merely by bidding him rood morning.
"IIonev crossed north today 10 have \
look at his winter cut" Joe would observe
to his chief at supper ut Thirty Mile. and
before the night was many hours elder Al
Ili-on. too. in Manhattan, would have learn
cd BY wire in less picturesque phrascology
that Archie Wickersham was missing no
chances.
"They have row fipished hauling their
logs to the river Joe told Steve one night
after 4 prolonged scouting trip They are
turning their attention IL their float dams
now"
And when that news was relayed to the
big man who never ceased To watch he un-
der~tood why there had been no violence
when the rivermen went on strike.
II was the Interest January that the hill
country had known in twenty years, hut
mile by mile that month the twin line Of
steel crept steadily into the north under the
uryinrS of Garry's smooth voice. The
snowfall for February broke All records
for half that period. bat Steve. with his
handful of men ai Thirty Mile, put hiS pIi-
ing down. And then il rained-it rained
until small brooks ran torrents and The nv
er tumbled white and thundcrous IT. en-
tire length.
The snow went cf the last of March that
spring. and the georges could not carry
away the wrter. The ~un turned summer
hot. 1t burned the higher ridge dry while
Ithe valleys ~till lay hidden in flood. II was
Aaea-t temperature the third Sunday IN
Auril. when Stephen OMara stood and
watched beneath the glare Of kerosene
torches III. bridge at Thirty Mile 70 into
position between lark and dawn
There was no man among them that day
who did not show upon his face the strain
they had been under. They were few. they
were un-haven and dirty and lean a. bun
cry hounds. but they were the men whom