The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-04-28
CHAPTER VIII
A Close Call

out going on to the gravel track where
Gorcher had seen the lost 1O16-and
Kirgan and / got off with a lantern.
This was because, on the way down,
had managed to tell the big master
mechanic about the Cantrell talk.
though l hadn't succeeded in making
him believe that 1t accounted for Mr..
Norcross' drop-out. Just the same he
humored me by having Billy Gorcher
stop, and now he was trying to make
me take 1t sort of slow and easy as
we stumbled out toward the stem of
the "Y." That was Kirgan's way. He
was as hard as nails with gang of
men, but he could be as soft-hearted
as any woman when a fellow was all
in. And he knew / wasn't, half "at
myself" yet, physically.
Don't get too much hope up, jim
mie," he was saying. as we bumped
along around the crooking track Of
the "Y." "We amt goin' to find any
thing out yonder but a rusty loggin'
track and that broken rail con-
nection. You see, I've been here be-
fore, and know"
He was as right as could be. When
we reached the end Of the ~" there
was the broken connection, just as
he'd said. The old saw-mill track was
still there, leading of in the dark up
the gulch, but the two switch rails
had been taken out and the switch
itself was as rusty as II 1t hadn't been
used In years.
"What you heard from Mr.. Cantrell
may have been all true enough" Kir-
gan said, while 1 stood swallowing
hard and staring down at the broken
rail connection, "only it didn't have
anything to do with the big boss. Them
thugs was probably plannin to wreck
the Mail. all right. and they came
down here to do it. The Lord only
knows why they didn't do 1t; p'raps
there wasn't time enough. after they'd
got the Sixteen in on the gravel
track"
I only just about half heard what
he was saying. He had the lantern.
and its light fell squarely upon a
cross-tie foot or two beyond where
we were standing, 1t was the last
tie in the empty string from which
tiiC tNO idiiS DCCh uP ~
break the connection with the lighter
saw-mill track steel, and what I was
looking at was fresh spike hole /;
fresh beyond all question of doubt
because there was clean new splinter
of the wood sticking up beside it-a
splinter that hsd been broken out
when the spike was pulled.
took the lantern from Kirgan in
my one good hand, and he stood there
waiting for me while walked on
out to the chopped-off end of the saw
mill track, examining the loose ties
as l went along. There were fresh
spike holes in some of the others;
just one here and there. But that was
enough. After 1 had knelt to hold
the lantern close to the rails of the
rusty timber track knew my hunch
was all right.
"Come here, Marti" called, and
when he came, l 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 over
them away this side Of the rains and
the SHOWS that had rusted them.
Kirgan didn't say 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, spike-puller and driv-
ing-maul, on the light engines tender,
and while the two firemen were throw
ing them on. Kirgan made 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 connection.
suppose we poked along into the
black heart of the Timber range for
as much as Ave or six miles before
the engine headlight showed us the
remains of the old saw-mill camp ly-
ing In little pocket-like valley from
the sides Of which all the mill timber
had been cut. The camp had been
long deserted. There were perhaps
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 one 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 good half of them to
powder as she edged up. and little
below the switch that had formerly
led In to the mill, Kirgan gave Gorcher
the stop signal.
After We had piled of, there wasn't
any question raised as to what we
should do. Kirgan had taken ham,
mer from Gorcher's tool-box. and he
was the one who led the way straight