The Dolores star., 1921-12-23

eehd them In" was the cur, cor,
muhu' ana minute later tho ,n,au
Office was about tbree-forr,hs am
up with shuffling crowd OF p ST
men. .. L..
ne chlef looked the crowd ov.r
ihefe was bunch Of train and engine
men. a squad from the sbons ond
oigger one from the yards. Also t,a
wire service had turned out gang
Vi mnemen and half dozen operators
wen, men. let's have IT." said AZ,
Norcross, not too sharply. INV din.
ners getting cold"
"Well not be keepIn Won obovo ,h.
ho''ow half OF minute, Mister Nor
cross said the big, bearded freight
conductor who acted as spokesman
About this c. S. & w. STRIKE ,h.t
went on today: we amt got no kicL
comm with you, mr. with the com
pahS, Mister Norcross, but IT locke
IKE IT'S up to us TO do somethin', md
we didn't want TO do 1t without hIttin,
square out from the shoulder. There
amt nobody knows yet what's yoIn,
10 be done, but whatever IT is we
want you to know that it amt done
ag'inst you mr. the railroad coroponv "
The boss had handled wage earners
100 long not to be able to suspect
what was In the wind.
You men don't want to let your
sympathies carry you too far"
ne cautioned. when you take up
another fellows quarrel you want to
be pretty sure that you're not going
10 nit your friends In the scrap"
Hoskins grinned understandingly,
and l guess the boss was a little puz-
zled by the mods and winks that went
around among the silent members of
the delegation; at least, l know was.
Thats all right" Hoskins said. "Be-
In the big boss. you've got to talk
that way. But what was amin to
say Is that there'll be a train-load r
TWO OF strike-breakers a-careerln' along
here In day r So and we amt fig
urin' on lettin' 'em get past Portal
City. II that far"
That's up to you," said Mr.. Nor
cross brusQuely. "If you start any
thing In the way Of riot"
Excuse me. There amt goin' to
be no riotin', and no company prop
erty mashed up. Mr.. Van Britt, he"
1t was right here that an odd thing
happened. Con COrrlgan, a big two
hsted freight engineer standing direct
ly behind Hoskins, reached an arm
around the speakers neck and choked
him SO suddenly that Hoskins' sentence
ended In gasping chuckle. When the
garroting arm was withdrawn the con-
ductor looked around sort Of foolishly
and said: I'm thinking that's about all
we wanted to say. aln't 1t, boys?" and
the deputatlon filed out as solemnly
as II had come In.
l guess Mr.. Norcross wasn't left
wholly In the dark when the tramp
Ing footballs of the committee died
away In the corridor. That uninten-
tional mention of Mr.. Van Britt's name
looked as II II might open up some
more possibilities, though what they
were l couldn't imagine, and l don't
believe the general manager could,
either.
After that, things rocked along pret-
ty easy until after dinner. Instead Of
going right back to the office from
the club, Mr.. Norcross drifted into
the smoking-room and filled pipe.
In the course Of a few minutes. Major
KendrIck dropped in and pulled up
chair. don't know what they talked
about, but after little while. when
the boss got up to go. l heard him
say something that gave the key to
the most of what had gone before, !
guess.
Have you seen or heard anything
of Collingwood since yesterday?
The good old major shook his head.
They're tellin' me that he's oveh In
his rooms at the Bullard, drinkin' him
self to death. II he wasn't altogetheh
past redemption. sub, he would have
had the decency to get out OF town
befo' he turned loose all holts that
way: he would, for fact, Graham"
AL tnat, MT. NOTCTOss tApihihSu ~
Just a few words why Collingwood
hadn't gone-why he couldn't go.
Whereupon the old Kentuckian looked
graver than ever.
"That thah spells trouble. Graham.
Hatch is simply invitin' the unde'-
takeh. Howie isn't what you'd call
dangerous man. but he Is totally ir-
responsible, even when he's sobeh.
1--WE ought to get him away from
here" was the boss decision. HE
is an added menace while he stays.
I didn't hear what the major said
to that, because little Rags, Mr.. Per
kins' once boy. had Just come IN Win
a note which he was asking me 10
dive to Mr.. Norcross. did 1t; ana
after the note had been glanced at, the
chief said, kind of bitterly. to the
major:
"You can never fall SO far that you
can't fall a little farther; have you
ever remarked that. major7" And then