Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1921-05-20

and was marrying him like the dickens
for letting an engine 60 out with one
Of her truck safety chains hanging
loose.
Ever since we had gone together on
the rescue run to Timber Mountain,
Mart and l had been sort of chummy,
and after the foreman had gone away
with his foot In his hand, joshed
kirgan little about the way he had
hammered the round-house man.
bad medicine" told him. TITS
worrying the bosses. too. What's do
ing it, Mart7"
'Maybe you can TELL" he growled.
"It's a hoodoo-that's what it is.
Seven engines in the shops in the last
nine days, and three more that haven't
been fished out-a the ditch yet I wish
Mr.. Van Britt d flre the whole jumpy
outfit"
II didn't seem as though firing was
needed so much as a dose of nerve
tonic Of some sort. Tarbell was work.
ing hard on the problem. quietly, and
without making any talk about 1t. and
Kirgan was giving him all the men he
asked for from the shops; quick-witted
fellows who were up In all the me
chanical details, and who made bet.
ter spoilers then outsiders would be-
cause they knew the road and the
ropes. But it was no use. saw
some Of Tarbell's reports, and they
didn't show any crookedness. It
seemed to be Just bad luck-one land
slide after another Of 1t.
Meanwhile, New York had walked up
again. President Dunton had been OF
the Job somewhere. guess, but now
he was back, and the things he wired
to the boss were enough to make your
hair stand on end. looked every day
to see Mr.. Norcross pitch the whole
shooting-match into the fire and quit.
cold.
He'd never taken anything like Mr..
Dunton's abuse from anybody before,
and he couldn't seem to get hardened
to 1t. But he was loyal to Mr.. Chad
wick; and. Of course. he knew that
Mr.. Dunton's hot wires were meant
to nag him into resigning. Then there
was Mrs. Sheila. I sort of suspected
she was holding him up to the rack,
every day and every minute Of the
day.
1t was one evening after he had
been out to the majors for Just a
little while. and had come back to the
Office, that he sent for Mr.. Van Britt.
who was also working late. There was
blood on the moon, and saw 1t in the
way the boss jaw was working.
"Upton." he began. as short as pie
crust, "have you thought Of any way to
break this wreck hoodoo yet?'
Mr.. Van Britt sat down and crossed
his solid little legs.
IF I had. shouldn't be losing sleep
at the rate Of Ave or six hours a
night" he rasped.
there's one thing that we haven't
tried" the boss shot back. "We've
been advertising 1t as bad luck, keep
Ing our own suspicious to ourselves
For the first time In all the weeks
and months I'd been knowing bin, the
boss lodged; lodged just like any Of
us might.
i've been talking to Major Ken
drick," he said HE Is a wise old
man, Upton. and he hears good many
things that don't get printed in the
newspapers"
I could see that this excuse didn't
fool Mr.. Van Britt for single In.
slant, and there was a look in his
eye that I couldn't quite understand.
Neither could make much out Of what
he said.
well go into that a little deeper
some day, Graham-after this epilep-
tic attack has been fought of. This
idea-which you confess isn't your
OWLS a pretty shrewd one, and I
shouldn't wonder II 1t would work,
If we can get it In motion before the
hoodoo breaks us wide open. And, as
you say. the accusation Is justifable,
even If we can't prove up against the
Hatch outfit. That turned-over rail in
Petrolite Canyon. for EXAMPLE might