The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-03-30

Would they unearth It? Wei, he had
done his best for his father, yet he was
glad those Two disbelieyed and were
working for him.
Meade had been the most brilliant,
Winters the most Indifferent Rodney
the most perseyering. of the trio at col
lege. He remembered that well. His
first thought was to forbid Rodney to
do anything further, although how far
his friend would respect his wishes he
could not tell. Anyway, he did not
have to decide that matter, because he
could not say a word to him. To
have allowed Winters to write would
have betrayed his whereabouts. He
was living with Winters under an as
sumed name of course. He had had
his hair cut differently and had grown
a beard and mustache. He thought it
would have taken keen eye indeed to
have recognized him with these
changes.
In the end he handed the letter back
to Winters, only charging him that If
he wrote to Rodney he must not betray
the fact that Meade was with him. He
had plenty of time to think over the
situation. He decided finally that so
long as he had been born an engineer
and trained and educated as an en-
gineer he would have to be until the
end of the chapter. He would go out
and seek work. not such work as his
ability and experience, but under some
assumed name he would begin at the
very beginning, at the foot of the lad
der as q rodman, IL he could; and
then he would work on quietly, faith
fully, obscurely, praying for his chance.
If 1t came he would strive to be equal
to the opportunity If it did not at least
he would be engaged in honest work in
an honest way.
1t was very humble program, not
at all promising or heroic or romantic,
Just a beginning. He would work on
and wait. They say that all things
come to him who waits. That is only
half true. Some things come to him
lwho waits sometimes. That is more
+ nearly accurate. Well, he could think
Iaf no better plan. So he babe Win
ers good-by, swearing him again to
i fecreey until he should lift the ban
! gainst speech, and rode away. When
ae got to the little village on the
/ Picket Wire below the dam he
stopped long time gazing at the long
bridge, or viaduct, of steel that was re-
! placing the old wooden trestle and
carrying the railroad from the hills
to the eastward over the river.
1t was not such an undertaking as
the lost International, still it was in
] teresting engineering construction. 1t
\ was work that would be intensely con-
! genial, to which he was drawn almost
irresistibly, yet he managed to hold
himself aloof. The Martlet people were
/, building this steel bridge and they had
/ just finished the arch up under the
mesa. A well-known construction COM
pany was building the great earth Gam
across the Picket Wire in the valley.
I Meade's engineering life had been
spent mainly out of the United States.
isl leyer, been c2npaHTssS99 tt 18th the
! f1en associated with his father on the
| international. He could have gone
among them with little danger of i'm
mediate discovery, since most OF the
men he had known had gone down with
/ the bridge, but he decided not to do
so. The work on the dam would be
/ simpler and he would have less Oppor-
tunity to betray himself and it would
give him more change to work up in a
plausible and reasonable way. Besides,
If Colonel nlingworth came on to in
spect the bridge, as he would probably
do, Meade would have to leave before
his arrival. The dam would be safer.
No one would ever think of looking for
him there. And no one would ever
recognize in the rough-bearded work
man the clear-cut, Smooth-faced young
engineer of other days.
The dam was twenty miles up the
valley. Yes, he would be less apt to be
observed working there than on the
bridge, Yet as he recalled that pri
vate car and that it might come there
he realized that she might be on it
His heart leaped even as it had leapet
at the sight of the viaduct then build
ing, as it had quivered to the familiar
rat-tat-tat of the pneumatic riveter'
and the clang and the clash Of thu
structural steel. But what was thu
use? He would not dare trust himself
to look at her even from distance
No, 1t was the dam that best suited hi
purpose, so he turned away from tn
bridge and rode up the valley. Their
he was fortunate in falling into pc
sition, as has been set forth.
ITO be continued)