The Dolores star., 1917-08-17
CHATTER VI.
The Failure.

CHAPTER VI.
-
The Failure.
IN spite Of himself and his confidence
ln the bridge, Abbott felt q little un-
easy the next morning. At bottom no
had more respect for Meade's tech
oical knowledge than he had displayed
or even admitted to himself. The
ypunRer engineers terrified alarms >his
utter forgetfulness Of the amenities be-
tween them. his frantic but futile ef-
forts to telephone. Of which the op-
srntor told Abbott In the morning. his
hurried departure to New York, were'
90 say the least, somewhat dlsquietng.
much more no thnn hs was fain to ad-
mit to himself.
Although It involved hard and
somewhat dangerous climb downward
and took upwards Of half hour OF his
valuable time, the nrst thing the erect
Ing engineer did In the morning was to
70 down to the pier head and make
thorough and careful examination Of
the buckled member. C-10-R was. OF
course. u part Of the great lower chord
OF the huge diamond-shaped truss.
which. with its parallel sixty feet away
ON the other side of the bridge and its
two opposites across the river. support
Cd the whole structure. II anything
were wrong. seriously. irreparably
wrong. with the member and 1t gave
way the whole truss wOdld go. The
oths- truss would inevitably follow
suit, aud the .antilever would immedi-
ateiy collapse. Abbott realized that,
of course, as he climbed carefully
down to the pier head and stood on the
shoe.
Abbott, a. he stood by the member
and surveyed Il throughout Its length,
could easily see that It had buckled, al
though the deviation was slight, nbout
two inches at Its maximum In sixty
feet. He brought with him line and.
with INFINITE care and pains. he drew
Il taut across the slight concavity like
. bow-string. He had estimated the
camber. or the distance between the
contee Of the bow and the string, at
one and O half inches. As he made
more careful measurements. he discov-
sred that II was slightly over one and
three quarter inches. In seven hum
dred and twenty that was scarcely mo-
ticsable, and II did not seem very
much to Abbott. As he stood there
feeling himself an insignihcant figure
amid this great interviewer mass Of
atesl. again the sense Of Its strength
and stability came to him overp0wering-
II, % much 90 that he laughed aloud
in . rather grim fashion at the un-
wonted nervousness which had been
Induced In his mind by Neade's words
and actions.
But he was q conscientious man, 30
he pursued his Investigations further.
He climbed up ON top Of the member.
which was easy enough by means Of
she criss-crossed lacing. and carefully
inspected the laclngs at the center of
thc esncavity, or sidewise spring from
the right line.
He aonced. BY getting down on his
face aud surveying the lacing bars
closely, q number Of fne hair-hne
cracks In the paint, surface tracerfes
apparently, running here and there
from the rivet holes. The nvets them
selves had rather strained look. Some
Of the outer rivets seemed slightly
loose. where before they must have
been tight, for the members, like all
other parts Of the bridge. had been
carefully inspected at the shop and
4 any looseness Of the rivets would GER
kainly have been noticed there. But
Abbott's obsasaion as to the strength
Of the bridge had grown stronger. Lin
ing It out, crawling over 1t, feeling Its
Figidity. he decided that these evident
strains were to be expected. OF course
the lacings that held the webs together
8 would have to take up terrific stress
They had been designed for that pur-
pose. Largely because he did not find
anything very glaring. and because he
wanted to believe what he believed. the
chief Of construction left the pier head
and clambered up to the floor with
more satisfaction In his heart than his
o0U.ewhat surprising anticipation
vaich had 70 unwillingly grown under
the stimulus Of Meade's persistence,
had led him to expect.
The whistle was just blowing for the
4 commeneehent Of work when he got
4 back to the bridge door. he could not
but rsdect, - the men came swarmins
aIOng the tracks to BERN their days
wurk, that ths responsibility for tAsiS
nv1s lay vith him. Well. Abbott waa
s sae mAnst n HI way. he had assumed
aasponssbilittss bscore and was pse.
iDel1y wllilAg y - = again. bsth -