The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1921-06-02
CHAPTER xl-continued.

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"Good Lord" exclaimed the little
millionaire you don't have TO tell
me thatl IL we can't stop 'em. Uncle
Dunton will have plenty of good rea-
ons for cleaning us all out. lock,
stock, and barrel l was talking with
Carter, In the claim Office, his morn
ing. Our loss and damage account
for the past month Is something
frightful -
1T is" said the boss gravely. And
then: 'Upton, we're not altogether as
bright ms we might be. Has 1t never
occurred to you that we are having
too much bad luck to warrant us In
charging It all up to the chapter OF
a~ccidents?"
Mr.. Van Britt blew his cheeks out
until the stubby, cropped mustache
bristled like porcuplne quilts.
$50 you've been getting your point
er, too, have your he threw In.
Mr.. Norcross didn't answer the ques-
tion directly.
Put Tarbell on the Job, and IL he
needs help, let him pick his " men,
he directed. 1--WE want to know why
that boulder tumbled down ahead of
Number Seventeen, and l want TO see
Tarbell's report OF 1t. Keep Mt 1t
night and day, Upton. The infection
Is getting into the rank and file and
it's spreading like n sickness. IL 1t
becomes psychological. we shall have
all the trouble we need"
II know" nodded the %superinten-
dent. III went through n Siege of that
kind on the Great Southwestern, n
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 III
you'd snap your fingers ut them"
"That's It," said the boss. '"We
don't want to fall into that ditch.
Things are quite bad enough, as they
are"
This ended Il 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 n case of NERVES"
Kirgan. Kirgan the cold-blooded,
showed II one afternoon when l went
over to his office to return n bunch of
blue-prints sent In for the boss ap-
proval. The big master-mechanic had
Il round-house foreman ION the carpet"
and was marrying him like the dickens
for letting an engine go out with n
of her truck safety chains hanging
loose.
Ever since we had gone together on
the rescue run to Timber Mountain,
Mart and / had been sort of chummy,
and after the foreman had gone away
with his foot in his hand, l Joshed
Kirgan a little about the way he had
hammered the round-house man.
bad medicine" l told him. tits
worrying the bosses, too. What's do
ing II, Mart?'
Maybe you can tell" he growled.
Its n hoodoo-that's what II Is.
Seven engines In the shops In the last
nine days, and three more that haven't
been ished out-a the ditch yet. | wish
Mr.. Van Britt d fire the whole jumpy
outftv"
Ii didn't seem MS though firing a
needed so much as a dose of nerve
tonic OF some sort. Tarbell was work.
ing hard On the problem, quietly, and
without making any talk about II. and
Kirgan was giving him all the men he
asked for from the shops; quick-witted
fellows who were up In all the me-
chanlcal details. and who made bet.
ter spoilers thar outsiders would be-
cause they knew the road ard the
ropes. But It was no use. l saw
some of Tarbells reports, and they
didn't show any c~rookedness. II
seemed TO be just bad luck-one land.
slide after smother of 1t.
Meanwhile, New York had walked up
again. President Dunton had been or
the job somewhere, / guess, but now
he was back, and the things he wired
10 the boss were enough 10 make your
hair stand on end. / looked every day
to see Mr.. Norcross pitch the whole
shooting-match into the fire and quit,
cold,
He'd never taken anything like Mr..
Dunton's abuse from anybody before,
and he couldn't seem TO get hardened
10 II. But he was loyal 10 Mr.. Chad.
wick; and, Of course. he knew that
Mr.. Dunton's hot wires w.re meant