Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-05-19

Imrnl OI the Dig su-anuarU-ume CLOCK
on the wall, hammering out the sec
OndS that might mean life or death
to two or three hundred innocent peo-
pie.
In horrible suspense the six minutes
pulled themselves out to an eternity
for that little bunch of us in the dis
patcher's' office who could do nothing
but wait. On the stroke of ten-eigh-
teen, the time when Five was due at
Crow Gulch on her schedule, Tarbell
tuned his relay to catch the first faint
tappings from the distant day-station.
Another sounder was silent. There
was hope in the delay, and Morris
voiced it.
"He's there, and he's too busy TO
talk to u.s." he suggested, in a husaed
voice; and Disbrow, the car-record
man, added: "That's it; it'd take a
minute or two to get them in on the
siding"
The second minute passed, and then
a third. and vet there was no word
from Bertram. "Call him." snapped
the boss to Tarbell, but before the ex
cowboys hand could reach the key,
the sounder began to rattle out a
string of dots and dashes; ragged
Morse it was but we could all read it.
only too plainly.
"Too late-mule threw me and /
had to crawl and drag . game leg
Five passed full speed at feminine
teen-I couldn't make it,"
l saw the boss hands shut UP as
though the finger nails would cut into
the palms.
"That ends it," he said, with d sort
OF swearing groan in his voice; and
then to Tarbell: "YOu may as well
call kirgan and tell him to order out
the wrecking train. Then have Per-
kins make up u relief train while
you're calling the doctors. Van Britt,
you go and notify the hospital over
your own office wire. Have my
private a put into the relief, and
see to it that it has all the necessary
supplies. And you'd better notify the
unueftakefS, 100.
Great Joash !! but it was horrible
for us to be hustling around and max
ing arrangements for the funeral while
the people who were to be gathered
up and buried were still swinging
along live and well, half of them in
the %crookings among the Timber Noun
tain foothills and the other half
somewhere in the desert stretches be.
low Sand Greek!
Tarbell had sent Disbrow to the
phone to call Kirgan, and Mr.. Van
Britt was turning away to go to his
W office, when the chair in the cor.
ner by the car-record table fell over
backwards with a crash and Durgin
came staggering across the room. He
was staring straight ahead of him as
if he had gone blind, and the sweat
was running down his face to lose it.
self in the struggling beard. =
When he spoke his voice seemed
to come from away off somewhere,
and Ire was still staring at the blank
wall beyond the counter-railing.
did did l hear somebody say
you're sending for the un~dertakers?'
he choked. with a dry rattle in his
throat and then, without waiting for
an answer: while you're ait it, you'd
better get n for me . there's the
money to pay him." and he tossed a
thick roll of bank bills, wrapped around
with a rubber band, over to Tarbell
at the train desk.
Naturally, the little grand-stand play
with the bank roll made a diversion,
and that is why the muffled crash of
a pistol shot came with a startling
shock to everybody. When we turned
to look. the mischief was done. Dur
gin had crumpled down into a mis-
shapen heap on the floor and the sight
we saw was enough to make your
blood run cold.
You see, he had put the muzZle OF
the pistol into his mouth, and-but its
no use: / can't tell about it, and the
very thought of hat thing hat had
just a minute before been d man. ly-
ing there on the floor makes me see
black and want to keel over. What
he had said about sending for an extra
undertaken was right as right. With
the top of his head blown off, the
poor devil didn't need anything more
in this world except the burying.
Somebody has said. mighty truth
fully, that even a death in the family
doesn't stop the common routine that
the things that have to be. done will
go grinding on. just the same, whether
all of us live, or some of us die. Dis
brow had jumped from the telephone
at the crash of Durgin's shot. and for
Just a second or SO we all stood around
the dead dispatcher. nobody making a
move.
Then Mr.. Norcross came alive with
a jerk, telling Disbrow to get back on
his job of calling out the wreck wagons
and the relief train, and directing
Bobby Kelso to go to another phone
and call an undertaken to come and
get Durgin's body. TarbelI turned
back to the train desk to keep things
from getting into II worse ta.igle than
they already in. and to wait for