The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-06-16

on, just like that; adding that It
wouldn't be keeping faith with the
strike committee. But at that moment
Hoskins blew in again, and when he
was told what was on the cards, he
took little responsibility Of his own.
"Go to 1t, Mister Norcross. If there's
any more money In 1t fr the railroad"
he told the boss. "Tll stand FIR 1t with
the boys" And then to Donohue:
"Who'n be runnin' this chaser en-
gine?"
It'll be John Hogan and the Four
Sixteen" said Donohue. There's no
body else at that end of the branch"
The arrangement. such as 1t was.
was fixed up quickly. The man who
was putting up the money seemed to
have plenty Of 1t. He was offering FIVE
hundred dollars for the engine. and
thousand II it should overtake the spe-
cial that side of Bauxite Junction.
I guess the bleat unraveled itself
pretty clearly for all Of us; or at
least, 1t seemed plain enough. A min
ing deal Of some kind was on, and this
man who was left behind was going
to be left in another sense Of the
word II he couldn't butt In soon
enough to break whatever combination
the others were stacking up against
him.
In just few minutes we got the
word from the Strathcona operator
that the money was paid and the
chaser engine was ont and gone. Kir-
gan had come in to say that our good
natured strikers had thrown a guard
into the shops and were patroling the
yard, when Fred May showed up. max
ing signals to me. heard him when
he edged up to the boss and said:
There's a lady in the Office, wanting
to see you, Mr.. Norcross."
Holy Smoker said to myself.
knew It couldn'tb be anybody but Mrs.
Sheila. at that time of night, and I
saw seventeen different kinds Of bloody
murder looming up again when
tagged along after the boss on the
trip. down the hall to our Offices.
The guess was right, both ways
around. It was Mrs. Sheila, and she
had the major with her. And the air
Of the private office was so thick with
tragedy that It made the very cleo
tries look dim and ghostly. Mrs.
Sheila didn't have a bit Of color in
her face, and her eyes had a big hor-
ror In them that was enough to make
your flesh creep.
I won't attempt to tell all that was
said partly by the, good old major and
partly by Mrs. Sheila. But the gist Of
1t was this: Collingwood had con-
tinued his booze fight in his rooms at
the Bullard until he had worked him
self up to the crazy murder pitch.
Then he had gone on the warpath.
hunting for Hatch. He learned that
Hatch and a bunch of his Red Tower
hackers had gone to Strathcona on a
mining deal, and had started to drive
to the gold camp in an auto to get his
man. s
Before leaving Portal City he had
written a letter to Mrs. Sheila. tell
ing her what he was going to do. and
that when he got through with 1t,
she would be free. The letter, which
had been left at the hotel, had Ueen
delayed In delivery-had, in fact, just
been sent out to the majors house by
the night clerk who had found 1t.
Long before the story could get It.
self fully told. the different gaps in
1t were filling themselves up for me-
and for Mr.. Norcross. as well. guess.
When Mrs. Sheila came to the auto
drive part Of 1t. the boss whirled and
shot an order at me-
Jimmie. chase into the dispatcher's
office and find out the name Of the
man who chartered that following en-
CINE !" he snapped; and went on the
run. remembering that in the strike
excitement and hustle 1t hadn't oc-