Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1921-09-30
CHAPTER Xxx
p. S. i. Comes Home

soon as I'd swallowed hurried bite
Of breakfast in the grill-room swiped
@ camp-stOOl and a magazine out of
the lounge and trotted upstairs to
| plant myself before the boss door, de-
termined that nobody should disturb
| him until he was good and ready to
| get up.
| He turned out q little before twelve,
looking sort of haggard and drawn, of
course, and having some pretty bad
burns on the side of his neck and on
| the backs of both hands. But he was
! all there, as usual, and he laid good,
! brotherly hand on my shoulder when
he saw what l was doing.
| "They don't make many of them like
| you, Jimmie" he said. And then:
| Have you any newsY'
] had, little, and gave 1t to him.
| Fred May had come tip-toeing up into
my sentry corridor about ten o'clock
to tell me that Mr.. Perkins had ar
ranged with the strikers to have spe-
! cfal go east with the major and Mrs.
Sheila and Collingwood's body to
catch the Overland at Sedgwick; and l
told the boss this, and that the train
had been gone for an hour or more.
Also, / gave him a sealed package
| that a strange boy had brought up
! just little while after May went
away. We took the elevator to the
grill-room for something to eat, and
at table Mr.. Norcross opened the pack
age. 1t contained bunch of affida-
! Wits, eleven of them In all, and there
i was no letter or anything to tell where
| they had come FROM
] He handed the papers over to me,
/ after he had seen what they were
! sort of frowned across the table at me
and said: do you know what it
| means-this surrender of those bride
| affidavits, JimmieY
/ said I guessed | did; that Hatch
being dead, and Collingwood, too, there
wasn't nerve enough left in the Red
Tower outfit to keep up the fight; that
the surrender of the affidavits was a
kind Of a plea for let-up on our
part.
well begin to show them, in just
about fifteen minutes, Jimmie" was
the short comment Reach over and
and Mr.. Billoughby that | want them
to meet me at my Office at half-past
twelve. Any news from the striker
Nothing" / told him, while Gen
trail" was getting me Mr.. Ripley's num-
Der. Erred May said it was going on
Just the same; everything quiet and
nothing doing, except that the wreck
ing train had gone out to pick up the
scraps at Timber Mountain " Kir-
gan is bossing it, and the strikers
manned it for him.
i Nothing more was SAID until after
had sent the two phone messages, and
then the boss broke out In a new spot.
"Has anything been heard from Mr..
Van Britt?" he asked.
mot that / know Of"
/ Again he gave me that queer little
scowl across the table.
Jimmie, have you found out yet
why Mr.. Van Britt insisted on quit
ting the service?"
| guess I grinned a little. though
I tried not to.
.'Mr. Van Britt is one of the best
friends you've got" said. "He thought
you needed this strike, and he wanted
to go out among the payroll men and
sort Of help it along. He couldn't dc
a thing like that while he was an of
ficer Of the company and drawing his
pay like the rest of u.s."
81 might have known-he as good as
told me-" was the reply, made kind
of half-absently: and then, short and
quick: "Hows the stock market? Have
you seen a paper?"
1 had seen both papers, at break
fast-time, but of course they had moth
ing startling in them except a last
minute account Of the wreck at Tim
Der mountain ~" grabbed off just
before they went to press. They
couldn't have anything later from New
York than the day before. But Fred
May had tipped me off when he came
up to tell me about the Major Ken.
| Or1CK Sp6Cldl. Lie newspaper OFFICES
were putting out bulletins by thai
time.
/ told Mr.. Norcross about the bull.
letins and was brash enough to add
"We're headed for the receivership al
right, i guess; our stock has tumbleC
to twenty-nine, and there's regular
dog-fight going on over 1t at the rail
road post in the Exchange. Wal
Streets afire and burning up, so they
say"
The chief hadn't eaten enough tt
keep cat alive, but at that he pushed
his chair back and reached for his
hat.
Come on Jimmie" he snapped
"We've got to get busy. And there
isn't going to be any receivership."
We reached the railroad headquar
ters-which were as dead and quiet al
a graveyard-a little before Mr.. Rip
ley and Billoughby got down. Blu
Mr.. Editor Cantrell was there, waiting
to shoot an anxious question at the
boss.
WELL Norcross, are you ready t.