The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1921-07-01

aglnst yOu mr. the railroad company
The hoss had handled wage earners
too long not 20 be able to suspect
what was IN the wind.
You men don't want to let your
sympathIes carry you too far"
he cautioned. "When you take up
another fellows quarrel you want to
be pretty sure that you're not going
TO hit your friends In the scrap"
Hoskins grlnned Understandings.
and 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, know / was.
"That's all right" Hoskins said. Pc
In the big boss, you've got to talk
that way. But what Iewas aimin' to
say Is that therell be a train-load r
two Of strike-breakers a-careern' along
here IN n day r So and We amt fig-
URN 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 goln' to
be no riOtln', and no company prop
erty mashed up. Mr.. Van Britt, he"
II was right here that an odd thing
happened. Con Corrlgan, big two
listed freight engineer standing direct
ly behind Hloslyins reached an arm
around the speakers neck and chOked
him SO suddenly that HosEins sentence.
ended in gasping chuckle. When the
garroting arm was Withdrawn the con-.
ductor looked around sort Of fOOlishly
and said: "l'm thinking that's about all
we wanted 10 say, amt it, boysY' and
the dcputati0n filed out as solemnly
as il had come in.
| guess Mr.. NorcroSs wasn't left
wholly i'm the dark when the tramp
ing footballs Of the committee died
away in the corridor. That unlnten-
tional mention of Mr.. Van Britt's name
looked as( If 1t might open up some
more possibilities though what they
were | couldn't imagine and l don't
believe the general manager could,
either
After that, things rocked along pref
ty easy until after dinner. Instead OF
going right hack to the Office from
the club, Mr. NorcrOss drifted into
the smokingrOom and filled pipe.
In the course of few minutes, Major
KendricS dropped in and pulled up a
chair. l don't know what they talked
about, but after a little while, when
! the boss got up to go, | heard him
say something that gave the key to
the most of what had gone before, /
guess.
"IIave you seen or heard anything
of Collingwood since yesterday"
The good old major shook his head.
'They're telin' me that he's oven in
his rooms at the Billiard drinkin' him
self to death If he wasn't altogether
past redemption, sub, he would have
had the decency to get out of town
befo he turned loose all hollis that
way; he would, for fact, Graham"
At that, Mr. Norcross explained in
just a few words why CoIlingwOod
hadn't gone-why he couldn't go.
Whereupon the old Kentuckian looked
grayer than ever.
"That thah spells trouble, Graham.
Hatch is simply invitin' the unde'
takch HOWE isn't what you'd call
dangerous man, but he Is totally ir-
responsible, even when he's sObeh."
I'VE ought to get him away from
here" was the boss decision. HE
is an added menace while he stays"
didn't hear what the major said
to that, because little Rags, Mr.. Per
kins' office boy had just come in with i.
note which he was asking me to I
give TO Mr.. Norcross. I did 1t; and
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 Il little farther; have you
ever remarked that, major? And then
he went on to explain: Perkins, our
Desert Division superintendent, says
that the locals of the various rail-
road labor unions have Just notified
him of the unanimous passage of a
strike vote-the strike to go into eff
feet ut midnight"
"a Strille?-on the railroad? Why,
Graham, son, YOU don't mean 1t"
1.-THE men seem to mean it-which
is much more to the purpose. They
are striking in sympathy with the
C. S. &. w. employees. fancy that
settles our little experiment in good
raihoading definitely, major. Dunton
doesn't want a receiverShip, but he'll
have TO take one now. The bottom
will drop ont of the stock and break
the market when this strike news gets
on the wire, and that will end it. / |
wish to God there We're some way In
which l could save Mr.. Chadwick he |
has trusted me, major, and 1--we |
failed him !"
CHAPTER XVII