Cheyenne record., 1917-05-24
CHAPTER iv-contlnusd.

CHAPTER iv-contlnued.
81
But Meade was out Of the house. It
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 1t looked as substantial as
the Rock of Gibraltar, and 1t 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 a better
trained engineer than rough-and-ready
Abbott. What appeared to the latter
as a slight detection. Meade saw in its
true relation. There was variation
in the center of the member of an
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 1t had to be to sustain 80 long a
span, the longest in the world. And
the load. continuous and increasing,
had brought about this, to the layman
trifling. to the engineer mighty, bend. II
It bent that way under that much Of a
load. what would 1t do when the whole
great span was completed and 1t had
to carry Its transitory loads of traffic
besidef
When two different views meet 1t Is
natural that age. experience, reputa-
hon 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 its
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 ADLER 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. It 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
.,hysical shock He was weak still
rom the tonsi.itis. He leaned against
tho diagonal at the end of C-10-R,
inging to ir tightly to keep from fall
ing. Abbott, who had followed more
slowly. stopped by him. somewhat sur
prised. somewhat amused. more indig-
SAINT than both.
abbott" said Meade fiercely rs the
erecting engineer Joined him on the
pierhead. 'if you put another pound of
load on that cnntileter I will not be
snswerable fr- the consequences"
"What do you mean7"
That detection Is nearly two inches
''ecp now and every ounce or pound of
added weight you put upon 1t will make
It greater. Its limit will be reached
mighty soon. II 1t collapses-" he
threw up his hands-"the whole thing
win CO."
"Yes. II 1t 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
at Il. That buckle doesn't amount to
enyshinG II u only In one truss any.