The Ordway new era., 1921-07-08
CHAPTER xI-continued.


Good Lord" exclaimed the little
millionaire; you don't have to tell
me thatl If we can't stop 'em. Uncle
Dunton will have plenty of good rea-
sons for cleaning us all out, lock,
stock, and barrel l was talking with
Carter. in the claim office, this morn
ing. Our loss and damage account
for the past month is something
frighfuIi"
ut is" said the boss gravely. And
then; Upton, we're not altogether AZ
bright as we might be. Has it never
occurred to you that we are having
too much bad luck to warrant us in
charging it all up to the chapter of
accidentS7"
Mr. Van britt blew his cheeks out
until ens stubby, cropped mustacne
bristled ike porcupine quills.
''Se you've been getting your point
er. too, have you?" he threw in.
Mr. Norc.oss didn't answer the ques-
ton directly.
Put Tarbeli on the job, and if he
needs help. let him pick his own men,
Ire directed. 1--WE want to know why
that boulder tumbled down abead of
Number Seventeen, ana ] want TO see
Tarbell's report eE Il. Keep at it
night and day, Upton. The infection
is getting into the rank and file and
it's spreading like sickness. If 1t
becomes psychological. we shall have
all the trouble we need"
Il KNOW" nodded the superinten-
dent. II went through a siege of that
kind on the Great Southwestern, one
winter. 1t was horrible. Men who
had been running trains year in and
year out and never knowing that they
had any nerves, went to pieces If
you'd snap your fingers at them
That's it," said the boss. ave
don't want to fall into that ditch.
Things are quite bad enough, as they
are
This ended it for the time. The
Petrolite Canyon wreck was picked
up. the track was cleared, and once
more our trains were moving on time.
But anybody could see that the entire
Short Line had a case of nerves"
Kirgan. Kirgan the cold-blooded,
showed it one afternoon when l went
over to his office to return a bunch of
blue-prints sent in for the boss ap
provaI. The big master-mechanic had
round-house foreman ION the carpet
and was harrying him like the dickens
for letting an engine go 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 1 had been sort of chummy,
and after the foreman had gone away
with his foot in his hand, l joshed
hirgan little about the way he had
hammered the round-house man.
bad medicine" I told hiIS Its
worrying the bosses, too. What's do
tug it, Mart?"
Maybe you can TELL" he growled.
"ft's hoodoo-that's what it is.
Seven engines in the shops in the last
nine days, and three more that haven't
been fislied out-a the ditch yet. / wish
Mr.. Van l,.itt d fire the whole jumpy
outfitr
1t didn. seem as though firing was
needed 50 much as q dose of nerve
tonic of some sort Tarbell was work
ing hard on the problem, quietly. and
without making any talk about it, and
Kirgan vas giving him all the men he
asked fos from the shops; quick-witted
fellows "ho were up in all the me-
chanicaI details, and who made bet
ter spottrss than outsiders would be-
cause thay knew the road and the
ropes. Eut 1t was no use. saw
some Of Tarbell's reports, and they
didn't show any crookedness. 1t
seemed to be just bad luck-one land
slide after another of it.
Meanwhile, New York had walked up
again. President Dunton had been off
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 enc. looked every day
to see Mr.. Noreross pitch the whole
slaooting-match Tito the fire and quit,
cold.
He'd never taken anything like Mr..
Danfon's abuse from anybody before,
an1 ~ eouidn't seem to get hardened
~ q HI - MA 1syai to Mr. Chad
W1eS; -, y etanE6sy - knsW t1iat
~. nQlesn ~ sgfEp9 Weea me1lt
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