The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-03-17

biggest thing in the world. It's the
longest cantilever, the greatest span,
the heaviest trusses, the"
give heard all about it," interrupted
the girl, waving him into silence, ever
since you began 1t. Sometimes I think
it's beginning to O5sess me, too"
"You don't look like it," whispered
Meade, under cover of the general
laugh that greeted her remark.
"What do | look like?" she whis-
pered back quickly, in return.
But Meade had no opportunity to
tell her.
at is not exactly a subject for din
ner conversation" said the colonel with
sudden gravity, but all of us here,
even you, my dear, must realize how
much that bridge means to us. l won't
go so far as to say that its failure
would ruin us, but it would be hard for
US to survive"
"Have you ever known anything that
my father designed to fail?" asked
Meade somewhat holly.
mo, and that is why we took his
plans in spite Of"
"In spite of what, sirY'
"In spite of Curtiss here and some
Others"
"Mr. Curtiss," said Meade, turning
to the chief engineer, 'ff 1t will add
anything to your peace Of mind, will
assume my full sh are of responsibility
for the matter. You know the books
by Schmidt-C hemnitz, the great Ger
man bridge engineer|
Curtiss nodded.
cat first THAT is, we-thought that
there might possibly be weakness in
those compression members, but
checked them with the methods he ad-
vocates and then submitted the figures
| to my father, and then he went through
the whole calculation and applied CO
efficients he felt to be safe"
'I'm willing to take your fathers
| judgment in the matter rather than
| Schmidt ChemnitZ', or anybody's," said
Curtiss, $50 successful has been his ca
reer."
|
in place have no doubt that they will
stand" said the colonel.
"Sure they WILL" added Abbott with
supreme and contagious confidence, ar
assurance which helped even Meade te
believe.
"Of course we all know" said Doc
tor Severance, who had been long
enough in touch with engineering tt
learn much about 1t, "that there is al
ways more or less of experimenting III
the design of new thing like this"
"Yes," said the colonel, "but we
don't want our experiment to fail II
this instance"
"They won't" said the young mar
boldly.
He had long since persuaded himself
that he had been all wrong and hi:
father all right, so that he entered
upon his defense and the defense o.
the bridge with enthusiasm. He wal
ready to bre ak lance with anybod!
on its behalf"
"Well," began the colonel, 1--WE hav'
every confidence in your father and IL
you. I don't mind telling you, Meade
it need not go any further, that whel
this bridge is completed we shall b,
prepared to make you personally I
very advantageous offer for future re
lations with the Martlet comp any 1
you care to accept 1t. On the strength
of your probable acceptance we are al
ready planning to venture into certain
foreign fields which we have hithert'
not felt it to our interest to enter"
'That is most kind of you, Colone
nlingworth," said the young man CRATE
fully, "and 1t appeals to me yer.
strongly. have been associated witt
father latterly. He wants to retir
with the completion of this bridge, ant
before open any Office of my own
should like the advantage Of furthe
propose seems to me to be ideal, from
my point of view. No man could hav
any better backing than the Martle
Bridge company"
| well, VIC Slull AOOh W SoA W ~
worthy of it," said the colonel kindly
His glance vaguely comprehende
his daughter as he spoke. Colone
nlingworth was very rich man. Th
Martlet Bridge company was nearef'
his heart, but he had many other fn
terests. His only daughter would event
ual1y be the mistress Of a great for
tune. Meade was not poor. Of course
his means were limited compared t
Colonel Illingworth's great fortune, Blu
what he had earned, saved, and invest
ed was sufficient-yes, even for two
And he would inherit much more. OIL
Meade had not been the greatest engl
neer of his generation for nothing. In
dependent and self-respecting, youn
Meade could not be considered fol-
tune hunter by anybody. He was tn
kind of man to whom decent fathe
likes to intrust his daughter. Oh
Colonel Illingworth found himself ga2
ing wonderingly at the two.
After dinner the men sat out on tn
observation platform with their cigar
and coffee. For those that liked
there was something In tall glasses ii