Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1921-10-13
CHAPTER xl-contlnued.

"Good Lordr" exclaimed the littl'
millionaire; "you don't have TO tel
me that! II we can't stop 'em. Uncle
Runton will have plenty Of good rea
Bons for cleaning us all out, lock
stock, and barrel! / was talking witt
Garter. In the claim office, this morn
Ing. Our loss and damage account
for the past month is something
frlghtful -.
at is said the boss gravely. And
then: Upton. we're not altogether as
bright as we might be. Has IT never
occurred to you that we are having
too much bad luck to warrant us In
charging 1t all up to the chapter of
accidents?"
Mr.. Van Britt blew his cheeks out
until the stubby, cropped mustache
brIstIed like %porcuplne quilts.
$50 you've been getting your point
er. too, have yeu1" he threw in
Mr.. Norcross didn't answer the ques-
tIOn directly.
Put farbeff o n the job and IL he
needs help. let him pick his " men,
he directed. ave want TO know why
that boulder tumbled down ahead of
Number Seventeen, and l want TO see
Tarbell,s report IN II. Keep at II
night and day, Upton. The Infection
is getting into the rank and file and
It's spreading like a sickness. IL II
becomes psychological, we shall have
all the trouble we need"
4f t.,-a.D ,oIJaI tba cpparfpfap-
dent. II went through a siege of that
kind on the Great Southwestern. n
winter. II was horrible. Men who
had been running trains year In and
year out, and never knowing that they
had any nerves, went 10 pieces IL
you'd snap our fingers at hem"
"That's It," snid the boss. I'VE
don't want to fall into that ditch.
Things are quite bad enough, as they
are"
This ended it for the time. The
Petrollte 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 q case of nerves"
kirgah, Kirgan the cold-blooded,
showed 1t one afternoon when | went
over to his office to return a bunch OF
blue-prints sent In for the boss ap-
prosal. The big master-meehanic had
a round-house foreman ION the carpet
and Neas marrying him like the dickens
for lafting an engine go out with n
OF hsr truck safety chains hanging
IoeHa.
kser since we had gone together on
the rescue ur TO Timber Mountain,
Mart and had been sort of chummy,
and after the foreman had gone away
With his foot In his hand. ] joshed
II lrgan a little about the way he had
hammered the round-house man.
bad medicine" | told him. ITS
q 4 rrying the bosses. too. What's do
ihg II, Mart?"
Maybe you can TELL" he growled.
skfsB u fnoedOe~thatas WANT isl
seyen engines In the shops In the last
pine days, and three more that haven't
hpen hsied out-a the ditch yet. | wish
MIR. Van Britt d fire the whole jumpy
onlfitf !"
IL didn't seem as though firing was
seeded 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
klrgan was giving him all the men he
enKeI for from rhe shops; qUfck-wttted
Z fellows who were up In all the me-
.chanical details, and who made bet
tar spoilers than outsiders would be
they knew the road and the
ropes. But IL was no use. / saw
some of zTarbelrs reports.and they
didn't show any c%rookedness. 1t
seemed 10 he just bad luck-one land
slide after another of It.
Meanwhile, New Fork had vHked up
again. President Dunton had been off
the job somewhere. guess, but now
WIS back, and the things he wired
b. the boss were enough to make your
hair stand on end. looked every day
fo-eee MIR. Norcross pitch the whole
snpofIng-match into the fire and quit,
cold.
He'd never taken anything like Mr..
abuse from anybody before,
end he ropSdn't seem TO get hardened
% IL. Pit he was loyal TO Mr.. Chad
xick nnd, OF course. he knew that
-. Dsnton's hot wires we're meant