The Benson signal., 1917-04-28
CHAPTER lV-Continued.

But Meade was out of the house. 1t
was summer and the sun had set, but
the long twilight of the high latitude
still fingered. Before him rose the gi-
gantic structure of the bridge. For all
its airiness it looked as substantial as
the Rock of Gibraltar, and it looked
even more substantial If possible, as
the man, seizing a lantern and, for
getting his weakness, ran down be-
meath the overarching steel to the pier
head, climbed up to the shoe, and
crawled out on the lower chord as rap
idly as he could.
Meade needed but one glance to see
the DETECTION from the right line in
the important member. For all his
years of inexperience he was better
trained engineer than rough-and-ready
Abbott. What appeared to the latter
as slight detection, Meade saw in its
true relation. There was a variation
in the center of the member of an
inch and half at least, although un-
noticeable to an unframed eye. 1t had
all come in the last week. They had
extended the suspended span far out
beyond the edge Of the cantilever and,
with the heavy traveller at the end,
the downward pressure on the great
lower chord members had greatly in
creased.
1t was a terribly heavy bridge at
best. It had to be to sustain so long
span, the longest in the world. And
the load, continuous and increasing,
bad brought about this, to the layman
trifling to the engineer mighty, bend. If
1t bent that way under that much of
load, what would it do when the whole
great span was completed and 1t had
to carry it's transitory loads of traffic
beside?
When two different views meet it is
ton and authority shall carry the day.
Although Bertram Meade, Jr., had
never been persuaded in all particu-
lars of the soundness Of his fathers
design, and could not be persuaded,
that vast experience, that great repu-
tation, that undoubted ability with it's
long record Of brilliant achievement
had at last silenced him. He had ac-
cepted through loyalty that which he
could not accept in argument. Once
accepted, he acted accordingly, heart
lily seconding and carrying out the
wishes of the older and, as the world
would say, the abler man.
The thing that smote the engineer
hardest was that this weakness was
exactly what he had foreseen and
pointed out. 1t was the possibility of
the inability Of this great member to
carry the stress that young Meade had
deduced by using the formula Of
Schmidt Chemnitz. 1t was this point,
and this point particularly, that he
had dwelt upon with his father and
which they h ad argued to finish. So
strongly had he been impressed with
the possible structural weakness Of
this member that he had put himself
on record in writing to his father. The
old man had overborne him and now
the little curve, one and half to one
and three-quarter inches in sixty feet,
established the accuracy Of his un-
needed contention. Vainly now he
wished he bad not let the old habit of
affection and the little touch of awe
with which he regarded his father per-
suade him against his reason.
He stopped, feeling suddenly i'll, as
a very nervous high-strung man may
feel under the sudden and unexpected
s9hysical shock. He was weak still
4som the tonsj,itis. He leaned against
the diagonal at the end of C-1O-R,
nlinging to it tightly to keep from fall
ing. Abbott, who had followed more
slowly, stopped by him, somewhat sur
prised, somewhat amused, more indig-
Aant than both.
"Abbott," said Meade fiercely as the
erecting engineer joined him on the
pierhead, "if you put another pound of
load on that cantilever I will not be
answerable fcT the consequences"
''What do you mean?
''That DETECTION is nearly two inches
deep now and every ounce or pound OF
added weight you put upon it will make
it greater. It's limit will be reached
mighty soon. If it collapses-" he
threw up his hands-"the whole thing
will co."
Eyes, if it collapses, that's true, -
said Abbott, "but it won't"
you're mad," said Meade, taking
unfortunately the wrong course with
the older man.
"Why, boy" said Abbott, 'that bridge
will stand as long as creation. Look
Mt 1t. That buckle doesn't amount to
anything. II is only in one truss any