Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1921-07-21

tnln8. Bart n008ln0 70 doing the talk.
Ing for them"
sSend them IN" was the curt COM
mand, and Z minute later the inner
goAices was about : three.fourths flied
mp with . shuftling crowd Of p. s. Z.
men.
The chief looked the crowd over.
There was a bunch Of train and engine
men, = squad from the shops, and a
bigger one from the yards. Also, the
wire service bad turned out gang
Of linemen and half a dozen operators.
swell. men, let's have it." said Mr..
Norcrpss. not too sharply. "My dim
ner's getting cold.'
''yWe'll not be ;keepip' yous above the
hollow half Of a minute. Mister Nor
cross" said the big, bearded freight
conductor who acted az spokesman.
about this G. IS. & w. strike that
went on today: we amt got no kick
comm with you. mr. with the COM
pany, Mister Norcross. but 1t looks
like it's up to us to do somethin'. and
we didn't wvant to do 1t without hittin'
square out from the shoulder. There
amt nobody knows yet what's goin'
to be done, but whatever It Is, we
wnnt you to know that It amt done
ag'inst you mr. the railroad company"
The boss had handled wage earners
too long not to be able to suspect
what was in the wind.
you men don't want to let your
sympathies carry you too far"
he cautioned. .Wllen you take up
another fellows quarrel you want to
be pretty sure that you're not going
to hit your friends In the scrap"
Hoskins grinned Understandings.
and I guess the boss was q little puz-
zled BY the mods and winks that went
around among the silent members Of
the delegation; at least, know I was.
''That's all right, !" Hoskins said. ''Be-
In the big boss. you've got to talk
that way. But what was amin to
say is that there'll be a train-load r
two of strike breakers a-careerin' along
here In day r so. and we afn't flg-
urin' on lettin' 'em get past Portal
City, II that far"
that's up to you." said Mr.. Nor
cross brusquely. "1f you start any
thing in the way Of riot"
Excuse me. There amt goin' to
be no riotin', and no company prop
erty mashed up. Mr.. Van Britt, he !"
It was right here that an odd thing
happened. Con Corrigan, q big two
listed freight engineer standing direct
~ behind Hoskips. reached an arm
around the speakers neck and choked
him SO suddenly that Hoskins' sentence
ended in gasplng chuckle. When the
garr0tingS arm was withdrawn the con-
ductOr looked around sort OF foolishly
and said: "rm thinking that's about all
we wanted to say, amt It, boys?" and
the Reputation, filed out as solemnly
5as II had come in.
/ guess Mr.. N6rcross wasn't left
wholly in the dark when the tramp
ing footballs of the committee died
away In the corridor. That uninten-
tfonal mention of Mr.. Van Britt's name
looked as il It might open up some
more possibilities. though what they
were i couldn't imagine. and I don't
believe the general manager could.
either.
After that things rocked along pref.
ty- easy until after dinner. Instead Of
going right back to the Office from
the club. Mr.. Norcross drtfted into
the smoking-room and filed a pipe.
In the course OF few minutes, Major
Kendrick dropped lii and pulled up a
chair. I don't know what they talked
about, but after little while, when
the boss got up to go. heard him
say something that gave the key. to
the most Of what had gone before. I
guess. sa1s3
"Have you seen or heard anything
Of Collingwood since yesterday y
The good old major shook his head.
They're tellin' me that he's oveh in
his. rooms at the Billiard. tlrinkin' him
self to death. II he wasn't altogether
past redemption. sub, lie would have
had the decency to get out of town,
befO' he turned loose all hOlts that
way; he would. for a fact, Graham"
AT that. Mr.. Norcross explained in
just a few words why Collingwood
hadn't gone why he couldn't 60.
Whereupon the old Kentuck looked
graver than ever. 81. 81,
'4That than spells trouble. Graham.
Hatch is simply inyitin' the unle'-
taken. HOWE isn't what you'd call q,
dangerous man, but he Is totally ir-
responsible, even when he's ssobeh. ~.
1--WE ought to get him away from
here. :" was the boss decision. HE
Is an added menace while he stays"
xa / didn't hear what the major said
to that. because little Rags Nj. Per-
kins' Office boy. had just come in with
d note which he was asking me to
give to Mr.: Norcross. / did It; and
after tile note had been glanced at. the
chief said. kind Of bitterly, to the
major: ys ss
aYou can never fall 90 far that you
can Z fall a little farther /; have you
ever remark that. major9" And then
n 4 ~ ~