The Arvada enterprise., 1917-05-10
CHAPT n VI.
The Failure.


In spite OF himself and his confidence
In the bridge, Abbott felt little un-
easy the next morning. At bottom ne
had more respect for Mcade's tech
0ical knowledge than he had displayed
or even admitted to himself. The
Younger engineers terrified alarm, his
utter forgetfulncss OF the amenities be-
tween them, his frantic but futile ef-
forts to telephone, of which the op-
erntor told Abbott in the morning, his
hurried departure to New YORK, WERE
to sny the least. somewhat disQuieung,
much more 50 than he was faln to ad-
mit to himself.
Although II involved hard and
.omev hat dangerous climb downward
and took upwards OF n half hour OF his
valuable time the first thing the erect
lnr engineer did In the morning was to
60 down 20 the pier head and make a
thorough and careful examination OF
the buckled member. C-l0R was, OF
course. z part Of the great lower chord
of the huge diamond-shapei truss,
which. with its parallel sixty feet away
on the other side OF the bridge and Its
two oppo-!tes across the river, support
ed the whole structure. IT anythini:
were wrong, seriously. irrcparably
wrong. with the member md 1t gave
WAY the whole truss would 90. The
othar truss would inevitably follow
suit. Aad the cantilcver would immedl-
ately collapse. Abbott realized that
Of course. ns he climbed carefully
down to the pier head and stood on the
shoe.
Abbott, as he stood by the member
and surveyed II throughout It's length,
could easily see thnt 1t had bucklcd, nj
though the deviation was slight, about
two inches mt It's maximum IN sixty
feet. He brought with him line and
with infinite care and pains, he drew
II taut across the slight concavlty like
a bow-strng. lie had estimated the
Gambler, or the distance between the
center OF the bow and the string, mt
one and a half inches. As he made
more careful measurements, he dlScOV-
cred that It was slightly over one and
three quarter inches. In seven hun
drcd aud twenty that was scarcely mo-
ticcnblc, and 1t did not seem very
much to Abbott. As he stood there
feeling himself an Insignificant figure
amid this great interviewer mass of
steel, ngnin the sense Of Its strength
and stability came to him ovcrpowcring-
ly. so much SO that he laughed aloud
In n rather grim fashion NJ the un-
wontcd nervousness which had been
Induced Ia his mind by Mcndc's words
and actions
But he was conscientious man, so
ne pursued his Investigations further.
He climbed up on top Of the member,
which was cnsv enough by means or
the crss-crosscd luclng. und carefully
inspected the lnCIngS nj the center OF
t,-r -"ucnvty, or sldcwisc spring from
the right line.
lie noticed by getting down on his
face aud surveying the luclng bars
closely. number Of lin" huir.ln"
cracks In the paint. surface trnccrirs
apparently. running here and there
from the rivot holes. The rlvcts them
selves had rather n strained look, some
Of the outer rlvcts seemed slightly
loose. where before they must have
been tight. for the members, like nll
other parts of the bridge. hnd been
carefully inspected at the shop ANA
any looscncss OF the rivotS would Ger
tninly have been noticed there. Hui
Abbotts obsoEsIon ms 10 the strength
OF the bridc, had grown stronger. I'm
Ing II out crawling over II, feeling Its
rigidity. he decided that thcs" evident
strains were to be expected. OF course
the luClngs that held the webs together
would have to take up terrific stress,
They had been designed for that pur.
pose. Largely because Il" did not nnd
anything very glarlug, aud because he
wanted TO believe what he believed, the
chief OF construction left the pier head
and clnmhorcd UP to the floor with
more satisfaction In his heart thun his
souswhnt surprising anticipation
~hich had so unwIlllngly grown under
the stimulus Of Mcndc's persistence,
had led him to expect.
The whistle was just blowing for tho
commencement OF work when he got
back to the bridge floor. He could not
but reflect, ns the men came swnrmine
along the tracks 10 begin their days
work. tina, the responsibility for their
Hvcs lny with him. Well Abbott was
big iu.n In his wny. he had assumed
rrsrop-, p-,bll,i,s before and was per
hriI, ',IllInR 10 dS 30 ngnlu. both tOi