Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-03-01

80 an hour. Ragged, smokellke
clouds hung over the valley at Thirty
Mile. dragged so low by their own
weight that they not only hid the up
per peaks. but shrouded the lower
ridges as we'll. They drove by in in
terminable files of gray, making sluice
ways of every cut and drenching con
tinually the men of the construction
gang, who, in spite of the chill Of that
downfall, still sweated at their labor.
But both Steve and Fat Joe, for all
that they caught each day deeper
note in the hoarse complaints Of those
same men-a note no less ominous than
was that newer, h0arSer one Of the
swollen river-neyertheless were duly
thankful that the leaden SKY had at
least a tinsel lining IT might have
showed.
\ month earlier it had been Steye's
plan to span that mile or so OF swamp
and bridge the river before the cold
weather set in. Nor was his altered
the storm which had raised the river
and made of the alder dotted stretch
Of fat bog meadow an oOZing, Quaking
morass. 1t no longer represented mere
ly a positive not too alluring problem
in engineering-that strip of swamp
and open water. 1t had taken on Il
newer, strategic Importance. And the
change in Steves plans. SO far as the
work at Thirty Mile was concerned,
was as much due to the news which
Fat Joe brought home with him one
night toward the end of the next week
as it was the result of the interview
which he had held with Hardwick Ell
lott himself.
Joe had been a whole day absent on
the north end of the line. Alone he
had been over every foot of that all
but completed stretch which ended at
the border of swampland, there at
headquarters, troubling himself not at
all over the unevenness of the road
bed, satisfied entirely with the surety
he gained with every inspected mile
that a trainload Of logs or q dozen
trainlOads would stay on the rails
when the rails were laid aud the day
came to set wheels rolling. But the
further report he brought back with
him was far less reassuring.
81 wonder" Joe unused aloud that
night-"I wonder, now, why any man
who knows anything about handlin
timber should go to work bOtherin
himself with skidWays leadin' down to
the river when he knows, as we'll as
Harrigan should know, that it amt
comm ont that way? 1t don't seem
good sense nor logic to me, unless =
He stopped there and left his own
opinion unfinished. Since the evening
Harrigan had stepped out OF the main
bunk house and disappeared, black
rage in his face and a promise to return
upon his lips, that lumberman's red
head had been conspicuous only be
cause it was absent from the land
scape. So far Harrigan had failed to
reappear, and Fat Joe's method of ap
prising his chief of his return to the
Reserve company's payroll was dis
tinctly characteristic. But Steye's re-
ception Of the news was little more
than listless. He seemed to change
the subject entirely.
81 don't see why it wouldn't be just
as easy or easier" Steve replied, ''to
cross here on pilings practically the
whole distance as it would be to fill and
bridge too. And, if we were to look
at it in that light, then why wouldn't
it be still easier to drive those piles,
say, next February or March, while
the swamp is still crusted over and
hard? It would afford US some sort
of footing to work on then other than
black ooze and lilypads. Wouldn't it
seem SO to you?"
"We'd still have that track north of
here to lay" Fat Joe advised, when
we work in from the south with STEEL
Surely" Steve admitted. "Of course
But wouldn't that be a better bet than
to stand to see our embankment and
bridge"--
He broke off there, just as Joe had
hesitateQ moment before. The IN
dercurrent Of meaning for which the
tdlICCI > Cdlo WcIc w dltlIl5 CdII1c W LlIt
surface, however, when Steve began
again.
Suppose, joe" he pursued lazily-
suppose you had contracted with a
railroad-an infant road too young
even to be named-to move for you
more timber than either of us will ever
own, contracted in apparent good
faith, when all along in your heart you
were certain that the railroad itself
would never be able to fulfill its half
of the bargain. Granting such a state
Of affairs, Joe, what do you suppose
you would do?'
maybe I'd hire me a red headed
river dog" came JOes answer, pat.
Maybe Id hire me bully boy boss
Of white water to build me some skid
ways to the nearest food water, sos
could teach the infant railroad you
mention that business was business
contract or no contract
"Of course you would" Steve agreed