The Benson signal., 1917-05-05
CHAPTER vi.
The Failure.

In spite of himself and his confidence
In the bridge, Abbott felt a little un-
easy the next morning. At bottom ne
had more respect for Meade's teen
nical knowledge than he had displayed
or even admitted to himself. Tne
Younger engineers terrified alarm, his
ntter forgetfulness of the amenities be-
tween them, his frantic but futile er-
forts to telephone, Of which the op-
orator told Abbott in the morning, MS
hurried departure to New YORK, Were'
to say the least, somewhat dlsqWetlng,
much more so than he was fain to ad-
NIT to himself.
Although it involved a hard and
somewhat dangerous climb downward
and took upwards Of half hour OF his
valuable time, the first thing the erect
ing engineer did in the morning was to
go down to the pier head and make
thorough and careful examination OF
the buckled member. C-10-R was, of
course. a part Of the great lower chord
of the huge diamond-shaped truss,
which, with it's parallel sixty feet away
on the other side Of the bridge and its
two opposites across the river, support
ed the whole structure. If anything
were wrong, seriously, irreparably
wrong, with the member and 1t gave
way the whole truss would go. Inc
othe+ truss would inevitably follow
suit, and the cantilever would immedl-
ately collapse. Abbott realized that,
of course, as he climbed carefully
down to the pier head and stood on the
shoe.
Abbott. as he stood by the member
and surveyed it throughout its length,
could easily see that it had buckled, al
though the deviation was slight, about
two inches at it's maximum in sixty
feet. He brought with him line and,
with infinite care and pains, he drew
it taut across the slight cOncavity like
a bow-string. He had estimated the
Gambler, or the distance between the
center of the bow and the string, at
one and a half inches. AS he made
more careful measurements, he discov-
cred that it was slightly over one and
three-uuarter inches. In seven hun
dred and twenty that was scarcely no
ticeable, and it did not seem very
much to Abbott. AS he stood there
feeling himself an insignificant figure
amid this great interviewer mass of
steel. again the sense Of its strength
and stability came to him overpowering-
ly. so much so that he laughed aloud
in a rather grim fashion at the un-
wonted nervousness which had been
induced in his mind by Meade's words
and actions.
But he was conscientious man, so
he pursued his Investigations further.
He climbed up on top Of the member,
which was easy enough by means OF
the criss-crossed lacing, and carefully
inspected the lacings at the center OF
tie eancavity, or sidewise spring from
the right line.
He noticed, by getting down on his
face aud surveying the lacing bars
closely, a number of fine hair-lne
cracks in the paint, surface tracerieS
apparently, running here and there
from the rivet holes. The rivets them
selves had rather q strained look. Some
Of the outer rivets seemed Slightly
loose, where before they must have
been tight, for the members, like all
other parts of the bridge, had been
carefully inspected at the shop and
any looseness of the rivetS would GER
tainly have been noticed there. But
Abbott's obsession as to the strength
of the bridge had grown stronger. Lin
ing it out, crawling over it, feeling It's
rigidity, he decided that these evident
strains were to be expected. OF course
the lacings that held the webs together
would have to take up terrific stress
They had been designed for that pur-
pose. Largely because he did not lind
anything very glaring, and because he
wanted to believe what he believed, the
chief of construction left the pier head
and clambered up to the floor with
more satisfaction in his heart than his
sou.ewhat surprising anticipation
vilich had so unwillingly grown under
the stimulus Of Meade's persistence
had led him to expect.
The whistle was just blowing for the
commencement of work when he got
back to the bridge floor. He could not
but reflect, as the men came swarming
along the tracks to begin their days
work, that the responsibility for their
Nves lay with him. Well, Abbott was
q big man in his way, he had assumed
responsibilities before and was per
fectiy willing to DO so again. both fol-