Charlevoix county herald., 1921-04-22

which, according to the way we had
things doped out, should have been
not more than thirteen or fourteen
miles west of Banta. There was
blind siding ten miles west, but be-
yond that, nothing east of Sand Creek,
which was twenty-one miles farther
along: at least, there was nothing that
showed up on the map. The ten-mile
siding might have served for the pass
ing point, bu. in that case the crew
of the Fast Mail would surely have
seen the 1016 waiting on the siding as
they came by. And they hadn't seen
1t; Kirgan said they had been ques-
toned promptly the following morn
ing.
Though l had been over the road
with Mr.. Norcross i'm his private car
any number Of times since we had
taken hold, | didn't recall the detail
biographies very clearly, and |
couldn't seem to remember anything
about this siding ten miles west of
Banta. So | asked Kirgan.
THAT siding isn't in any such shape
that the Fast Mail could get by with
out seeing a meet train on the side
track, is it,"
The big master-mechanic shook his
head.
Hardly, you'd think. reckon we are
up stump Jimmie. That siding is
part of an old " at the mouth OF a
gulch that runs back into the noun
tains for maybe a dozen miles or so.
They tell me the " was put in for
the Timber Mountain Lumber outfit
when they used the gulch mouth for
their shipping point. They had one
of their saw-mills up in the gulch
somewhere, but the business died out
when they got the timber all cut off,"
"Tell me this, Mart" put in quick
ly. "The Timber Mountain company
is one of the Red Tower monopolies:
did ii have a railroad track up that
gulch connecting with our Y'W
"Why, yes; l reckon so. I'm not
right sure that there amt one there
yet. But if there is, it's been dis
connected from the ~ I'm sure of
that, because l went in on that "
one day with the wrecker."
You'd think this would have settled
it. But / hung on like dog to
root.
Say, Mart" l insisted, this "
siding we're talking about is just
around where the Ten-Sixteen ought
TO have met the Mail so far as we
can tell by this map it's the only place
where it could have met it. And the
old gulch track would have been
mighty good hiding-place for the stolen
engine"
There amt any track there" said
Kirgan, shaking his head "or, least
wise, if there is, it hasn't any rail con-
nection with our siding, just as I'm
tellin' you. Wen have to look far
Their along"
Somehow, l couldn't get it out of
my head but that l was right. Our
guesses all went as straight as
string TO that ~ siding ten miles west
of Banta, and was sure that if had
been talking to Mr.. Van Britt l could
have convinced him. But Kirgan was
awfully hard-headed.
ITS supper time," he said, after
we had mulled a while longer over
the map. Tomorrow, If you like,
Wen take an engine and run down
there. But we amt goin' to find any
thing. l can tell you that, right now"
"Yes, and tomorrow we may have
the new general manager, and then
you and / and all the others will be
hunting for some other railroad to
work on" / retorted.
1 pretty nearly had him over the
edge, but l couldn't push him the
rest of the way to save my life.
IF there was the least little scrap-a
reason even to imagine that Mr. Nor
cross had gone off on that stolen
eight-wheeler, it would be different,
Jimmie" he protested. But there
aint; and you know doggoned well
there amt. Let's go uptown and
hunt up something to eat. You'll feel
heap clearer in your mind when you
| get good square meal inside o. your
clothes"
We left the shop offices together,
J and got shut out, crossing the yard,
by freight that was pulling in from
the west. There was a yard crew
shifting on the other side of the In
coming train, and rather than wait
for the double obstruction to clear itself,
we walked down the shop track, mean
ing to go around the lower end Of
things
This detour took us past the round
house, and when we reached the turn
table lead, the engine of the just
arrived freight came backing down
the skip-track. Seeing Kirgan, the
engineer swung down from the step
at the lead switch, leaving the hostler
to spot" the engine on the table. l
knew the engineer by sight. His name
was Gorcher, and he was reformed
cow-punch'-with record for getting
out of more tight places with heavy
train than any other man on the divi-
sion.
' Here's looking at you, Mr.. Kir-