The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1921-02-11
The Wreckers
Francis Lynde
Continued From Yesterday,

lCcntinuci From Yesterday
At this the boss went a step
farther, saying; "He does. indeed.
Upton. happen to know the
young woman"
That was when Mr.. Van Britt
fired his own little bomb.sheli. $50
do T." he answered quietly.
but you said you had forgotten
hor nameg'
80 have--hcr married name.
And what's more. mean TO keep
on forgetting It."
There was no mistake about the
boss frown this time.
That won't do. upton.- he said.
kind OF warnlngly.
1T viii DO well enough for the
present ia marry her tomorrow,
Graham. II she were free. and there
were no obstacles. Unhapplly. there
Guilty: she doesn't care for my mon
ey--having a little OF her own. and
she happens to DO in love with the
other fellow"
guess the boss was remember
ing what Mrs. Sheiia had told him
in that confidence before the back.
parlor fire. about its being all Off
between her and Collingwood. for
he said; Il think you are mistaken
as 90 that last"
No, I'm not mistaken But
that's neither here nor there. Net
Their you nor can send colling.
wood 20 the penitentlary-that's a
cinch. wherefore. I'm advising you
10 quit. walk out. jump the Job"
brace. righting his swing chair with
n snap.
You know very little about me
Upton. II You think I'm going 10
throw up my hands now. when the
real pinch has come. A while back
| might have done II. but now III
fight untIi I'm permanently killed.
| have a scheme-lf ~ could only
be worked. But IL can't be worked
on rising market. suppose you
have seen the mornings quotations.
by some trick or other. the punton
people are boosting the stock again
II went up three points yesterday
Mr.. Van Britt grinncd. They're
dlscounting the effect OF this little
political deai--which will at least
rope your reform scheme down. II
4, doesn't DO anything else. What
you need IL a good. old fashioned
cataclysn OF some sort. something
that would fairly knock the tar
out OF r. & l.. securities and send
them skltterlng down tho toboRwan
slide IN spite OF anything Uncle
Brcckenridge could do TO stop them.
down TO where they could be safely
and profitabiy picked up by the
dear public Unfortunately. those
things don't happen outside Of the
story books. IL they did. II the
earthquake should happen along
our way Just now. I don't know
but I'd be dlsloyai enough to get
out and help Il shake things up
Bit
After Mr.. Van Brit. hsd gone.
the boss put In the remainder Of
the day like a werkingman. skip
ping the noon luncheon as he some
times did when the work drive was
extra heavy. Meanwhile. as you'd
suppose. rumor was plentifuily busy.
on the railroad. and also In town.
BY noon IL was well understood
that there had been n radical change
In the management Of c. s. & W.
and that there was going 20 be n
general strike in answer to the
alashing cut In wages. slipped
uptown TO get a bite while Fred
May was spelling me At the dicta'
ton desk. and I heard some OF the
talk. IL was pretty straight. most
of (which shows how useless II
Is 10 try &c keep any business Sc
crets. nowadays
For example: The three men at
my table In the Billiard grill room
they didn't know me or who
was-knew that a council Of war
had been called In the railroad
headquarters. and that Ripley had
been pulled in by wire from Lester.
burg. and that we were rushing
around hurrisdly 70 provide storage
room for the wheat shippers in case
Of tie.up. and that we were ar.
ranging 20 distribute railroad com.
pany coal IN case the ue.up should
bring on a fuel famine-knew all
these things and talked about them.
They were facts as far as they
went-these things The boss hadn't
been idle during the forenoon. and
he kept up the drive straight thru
10 quitting time. Word was brought
in during the afternoon by Tarbell
that the Hatch people were wiring
the Kansas City and Omaha EN-.
ployment agencies and placing hur.
~ orders for strikebreakers. The
boss answer 70 this was n percmp.
tory wire 20 our passenger agents
at both points to make no rate con
the transportation OF laborers un.
der contract. II was a EhresTd lit.
tie knock. Labor OF that kind Is
mighty hard TO move unleas II can
get free transportation or low
rate OF fare. and I could see that
Mr.. Norcross was hoping to keep
the strikebreakers away.
when sir o'clock came. the boss
asked May to stay and keep the
office open while could go down.
stairs and get my dinner in the sta
ton restaurant. and he went off up
town-to the club. I suppose. After
I'd had my bite. | let May go.
Everything was moving along all
right. 80 far as anybody could see.
We had five extra fuel trains load.
ing at the company's chutes at
Coalville. and the dispatcher was
Instructed to work them out on the