Evening star., 1921-06-12
Pug and Darlington
B Mildred Cram.
illustrated by F. C. Yohn.

On MS threatened "
overthrow the pretty work of en-.
gineers, bankers, mining experts and
political psychologists. as q child de-
stroys a house of blocks. Old man
Fairchild wired: Hold on" but by
the time the cable companies had
marillos army had had its first en-:
counter with Fairchild's men at the
canon bridge.
The labor. contractors and work
men were all natives. but the burden
OF the undertaking had fallen on that
down from the north to assume enor-
nous responsibility and unremitting
toll for two years. There had been
no glory about the work and much
slung across the wide. nearly dry bed
of the canon river. The canon walls
were SCARED and pitted. reinforced.
burdened with the great arch OF iron
and steel Cranes shrieked and snort
ed. lifting plates and girders into
the Christmas echoed to the devilish
clatter of riveters. stone dumps. dom
key engines. screeching tackle, pull
leys and steam drills. The village
which sprang up in the river bed was
responsible both for the strength Of
the piers, the resistance of the spurs,
the endurance of the span and the
morals and welfare Of the workers.
There had been riots and strikes. epi-
try the patience and break the heart.
The sun was red-hot; the white river
bed steamed; the choked forest. dwell
ing place Of brilliant birds, outlandish
apes and snakes, hemnied the little
settlement about like rnoat. Often
the men were sick for home But there
was no limit to the work that had to
be done. no limit to endurance. pa
thence. faith, determination. Now and
then some man was brought to head
quarters with his arm snapped in two
places. or his skull neatly cracked.
But the legs of the great bridge
grew under it until the river bed was
straddled. Then, and only then. did
the engineers dare to take a deep
breath and to smile.
practically" said Cammarillo to
his officers. as they loped down the
seaboard trail toward Magella, "the
thing Is done. We nave only to at
tack the bridge at the head of the
Indian trail. know a way into the
] strosins 'ih the ' bridge settlement' aa n n the
Liberia will put our 1000 men ashore
at Magella. They will prepare the
city for us. Eth. nico mio?" CARING
ton. nieknamed the ragazzo. shifted
his gufn-cud from one cheek to the
other. but he said nothing.
THE iberator smiled. I'VE shall
= have no trouble with the work.
men. since they have been too long
under the heel Of those damned op-
pressors Of free people. those damn
ed stealers of land. thos-a thou
sand pardons-damned compatriots Of
yours, Car-r-ington."
The raeazza's ewes narrowed. what
had been ice-blue became strangely
like two small flames burning in the
dark brown Of his face. He touched
the sorrel with his spurs and the old
the struggling line Of nationalists.
Going north" Darlington thought.
But the madness passed. He paused.
laughed. wiped his streaming face,
and trotted back to the liberator's
side.
8 you were sayins-those compa-
triots Of mine
we viii have their bridge before
noon tomorrow"
That night Cammarillo's army Of
picturesque ragmu uffins turned away
from the coast and entered the mouth
of the canon where the shallow river.
freed of the confining wallis spread
fan-wise and sought the sea Scouts
from Columbia creeping alnog the
roof of the canon. saw the flicker Of
ing back to the mines. broke the news
to Mccarthy. What Mccarthy said
stunG the souls and the wills Of his
workmen. The village hummed: flares
and lanterns stabbed the darkness
with cratic flashes. there was a sub
fiing Of bare feet. McCarthy's men
followed him down the mountains to
the great bridge, leaving their women
with old Padre Antonio in the church.
So it happened that when Gamma
rillo struck the first blow he found
theirs. built inch by inch. foot by
foot, for the glory of the Job and the
honor Of that composite relative who
listens to no excuses and recognizes
no extenuating circumstances. 1t was
all but finished. In few weeks Pres
ident Diego was to have opened the
railroad. breaking his Latin eloquence
against the PROV OF the undertaking.
Thereafter locomotives would thun-
der across the canon. and the names
gotten. But the bridge itself would
endure. an ugly monument to fidelity.
I'll dynamite the piers," the chief
said, smuggling his rifle against his
shoulder, before TIL let any half
breed bandit scare me into surrender
ing"
He was spared the trouble. A Ma
tionalist bullet caught him as he hur-
ried along one of the temporary foot
paths Of his bridge and he toppled
into the white river bed stin clutching
his rifle.
McCarthy's men crouched in the
side work, hung in the tro1leys, the
overhead cranes, the towers: two of
them. nervous in that storm Of bull
lets, took refuge in one Of the loco
fully from the cab windows: The en-
gineers. rather appalled, by the chiefs
sacrifice, scattered to the eastern
bank. where they tried to hold their
conglomerate army together. Cam
mar9 ma as aaVrs s. MS way guta
went up in a cloud OF, oily smoke: the
tool sheds followed; then the Ameri-
can quarter-the chiefs house. the
offices, the barracks. From the bridge
the Liberator was plainly visible,
a White horse. 4 tall fellow in a red
shirt-carrington, the ragazza-led
the attack against the eastern bank.
That's no Dago." Mccarthy re-
marked. taking careful aim. The shot
It drilled clean through the palm.
"Injun," he said bitterly. bad In
diam"
nNE by one the native workmen
~ dropped away. Theirs was nei-
ther the honor nor the glory Of the
bridge. They were tired Of sweat and
toll, the everlasting vigilance of con-
tractors and fofemen. The work was
all but finished. Ebbene! It belong
ed to Magelia. Better that the Amer
leans were told hands or and sent
back whence they came. Filters and
riveters dropped their rifles and rush
ed by hundreds into the burning viii