Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-04-28

days. Ripley, / was made to realize
had my pocket-knife, but I couldn't
white my way out. The floor punch
eon were spiked down, and 1 couldn't
dig out. They had taken all my
matches, and / couldn't burn the place.
1 tried the stick-rubbing, and all those
things you read about: they're fakes;
I couldn't get even the smell Of smoke"
'The chimneyW
"There wasn't any. They had heated
the place, when it was a commissary,
with a stove, and the pipe hole through
the ceiling had a piece of sheet iron
nailed over it. And I couldn't get to
the roof at all. They had me-"
Ripley nodded and said, snappy-
like: "Well we've got them now-any
time you give the word. Tarbell has a
pinch on one of the Clanahan men and
he will turn states evidence. We can
railroad every one of those fellows
who carried you off"
"And the men higher up?' queried
the boss.
"No; not yet"
Then We'll drop it right where it is.
I don't want the hired tools; no one
of them, unless you can get the devil
that crippled Jimmie Dodds, here"
They went on, talking about my
. burn-up. Listening in, 1 learned for
the first time just how it had been
done. Tarbell, through his hold upon
the welshing Clanahan striker. had
got the details at secondhand. A lead
had been taken from a power wire
at the corner of the street and hooked
we the outer door-knob. And inside
[ had been given a. sheet of copper to
stand on for a good ground" the
copper itself being wired to a water
pipe running up through the hall. Tar
bell had afterward proved up on all
this, it seemed finding the insulated
wire and the copper sheet with it's
connections hidden in a small rubbish
closet under the hall stair, just where
a fellow in a hurry might chuck them.
"Tarbell is a striking success Mr..
Norcross put in, along at the end Of
things. Wen keep him on with us,
Ripley
Past this there was q little more
talk about the c. S. & W. deal, and
about what the Hatch crowd would be
likely to try next; and when it was
finished, and Ripley vas reaching for
his hat, the boss said. "There is no
change in the orders: we've got 'em
going now, and we'll keep 'em going.
Drive 1t. Ripley; drive it for every
ounce there is in you. Never mind the
election talk or the stock quotations.
This railroad is going to be honest, if
it never earns another net dollar.
Well VIM
Its beginning 10 look a little that
way, now" the lawyer admitted, with
his hand on the door knob. Just the
same, No%rcross. there is safety in num-
bers, and our numbers are precisely
one n man"-holding up a single
finger. "As before, the pyramid is
standing On its head-and you are the
head. For Gods sake, be CAREFUL !"
1t was late in the afternoon when
Ripley made his visit, and pretty soon
after he went away the boss and
closed up our end of the shop and
left May pecking away at his type
writer on a lot Of routine stuff. l
don't know what made me do it, but
as l was passing .Fred's desk on the
way out, stringing along behind the
boss, l stopped and jerked open one
of the drawers. l knew beforehand
what was in the drawer, and pointed
to it-a new .3S automatic. Fred
nodded, and l slipped the gun into
my left-hand pocket, wondering as
did it, if l could make out to hit the
broad side Of a barn, shooting with
that hand, if I had to.
A half-minute later l had caught UP
with Mr.. Norcross. and together we
left the building and went up to The
Billiard for dinner.