Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-04-21

down here to do it. The Lord only
knows why they didn't do it; p'raps
there wasn't time enough. after they'd
got the Sixteen in on the gravel
track"
/ only just about half heard what
he was saying. He had the lantern,
and its light fell squarely upon a
cross-tie a foot or two beyond where
we were standing. 1t. was the last
tie in the empty string from which
the two rails had been taken up to
break the connection with the lighter
saw-mill track steel, and what / was
looking at was a fresh spike hole;
fresh beyond all question Of doubt
because there was a clean new splinter
of the wood sticking up beside it-a
splinter that had been broken out
when the spike was pulled.
I took the lantern from Kirgan in
my one good hand, and he stood there
waiting for me while l walked on
out to the chopped-off end of the saw
mill track, examining the loose ties
as 1 went along. There were fresh
spike holes in some of the others;
just here and there. But that was
enough. After 1 had knelt to hold
the lantern close to the rails of the
rusty timber track I knew my bunch
was all right.
"Come here, Mart!" I called, and
when he came, 1 showed him the new
holes and new wheel-marks on the
old rusty rails of the timber track
that proved as clear as daylight that
an engine or a train had been e
them away this side of the rains and
the SHOWS that had rusted them. =.
Kirgan didn't say a word-not to
me. He just took one look at the
rubbed rails and then yelled back to
Gorcher to run out on the "Y." What
followed went like clockwork. There
were tools, a spike-puller and a driv-
ing-maul, on the light engines tender,
and while the two fremen were throw
ing them off, Kirgan made a couple
of swift measurements with his pocket
tape.
'"These two, right here, boys" he
ordered, indicating a pair of rails in
the other leg Of the "Y," and in less
than no time the two rails were up
and relaid to bridge the gap of the
broken connections.
I suppose we poked along into the
black heart of the Timber range for
as much as five or six miles before
the engine headlight showed us the
remains of the old saw-mill camp ly-
ing in a little p~ocket-like valley from
the sides OF which all the mill timber
had been cut. The camp had been
long deserted. There were perhaps a
dozen shacks of all sizes and shapes,
and with a single exception they were
all dilapidated and dismantled, some
with the roofs falling in.
The n exception was the stout log
building which had probably served as
the mill-gang commissary and store.
The ties at this end of the line were
so rotten with age that our engine
was grinding a good half Of them to
powder as she edged up. and a little
below the switch that had formerly
led in to the mill, Kirgan gave Gorcher
the stop signal.
After We had piled off, there wasn't
any question raised as TO what we
should do. Kirgan had taken a ham.
me from Gorcher's tool-box, and he
was the one who led the way straight
across the little creek and up the hill
to the commissary.
When we reached the building we
found the windows all boarded up and
the door fastened with a strong hasp
and a bright new brass padlock-the
only new thing in sight. Kirgan swung
his hammer just once and the lock
vent spinning off down the slope and
tell witt. /. splash into the creek. Then
ne pushed the door open with his foot,
II showed in; and for just one half
second | was afraid to follow-afraid
OF what we might find in that gloomy
looking log warehouse. With it's blinded
windows and locked annl.
While was nerving myself and
stumbling over the threshold behind
klrgan with the lantern, / heard the
boss voice. and It wasn't the voice of
any dead man. not by a long shot!
From what he said. and the way he
was trimming it up with hot ones,
it was evident that he took us for
some other crowd that he'd been
cussing out before.
The light of the lantern showed is
a long room. bare of furnishings. and
dark and musty from having been
shut up SO tight. In the far end there