Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-05-12

hammered the round-house man.
bad medicine" I told him. cts
worrying the bosses, too. What's do
ing it, Mart?"
maybe you can TELL" he growled.
"It's a hoodoo-that's what it is.
Seven engines in the shops in the last
nine days, and three more that haven't
!, been .fished out7a the ditch yet. I wish
Mr.. Van Britt d fire the whole jumpy
outfit"
1t didn't seem as though firing was
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 it, and
Kirgan was giving him all the men he
asked for from the shops quick-witted
fellows who were up in all the me-
chanical details, and who made bet
ter spoilers than outsiders would be-
cause they knew the road and the
ropes. But 1t was no use. l saw
some Of Tarbell's reports. and they
didn't show any crookedness. 1t
seemed to be just bad luck-one land
slide after another Of it.
Meanwhile, New York had walked up
again. President Dunton had been off
the job somewhere, I guess, but now
he was back, and the things he wired
to the boss were enough to make your
hair stand on end. I 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
to it. But he was loyal to Mr.. Chad
wick; and, Of course, he knew that
Mr.. Dunton's hot wires were meant
to nag him into resigning. Then there
was Mrs. Sheila. 1 sort of suspected
she was holding him up to the rack,
every day and every minute of the
day.
| 1t was one evening after he had
been out to the majors for just a
little while, and had come back to the
Office, that he sent for Mr.. Van Britt,
who was also working late. There was
DlOOu jill Vie llOOu, anu l SAW IL III lIlS
way the boss jaw was working.
"Upton," ne began, as short as pie
crust, shave you thought of any way to
break this wreck hoodoo yet?"
Mr.. Van Britt sat down and crossed
his solid little legs.
IF I had, l shouldn't be losing sleep
at the rate of five or six hours a
night" he rasped.
There's n thing that we haven't
tried" the boss shot back. "We've
been advertising it as bad luck. keep
ing our own suspicious to ourselves
and letting the men believe what they
o 'sed. Well change all that.
want you to call your trainmen in as
fast as YOU can get at them. Tel
them-from me, If you want to-that
there isn't any bad luck about it
that the enemies Of this management
are making an organized raid on the
property itself for the purpose of put
ting us out Of the fight. Tell them
the whole story, if you want to-: how
we're trying our best to make a spoon
ouI VI a SUollCu fOllI, LIZ INV thSi
is an aruy of %grafters and wreckers
in this state which is doing it's worst
to knock us out of the box.
"If you give the force something
tangible to lay hold of, it will work
the needed miracle. 1t is only the
mysterious that terriies. Railroad EN-,
ployes, as a whole, are perfectly in
telligent human beings, open to con
victiOn. The management which doeSn'1
profit by that fact is lame. If you dc
this and appeal to the loyalty of the
men, you will make a private detec
tive III of every man in the trair
service. and every one of them keel
to be the first to catch the wreckers
You can add a-hit Of a reward fol
that, if you like, and I'll pay it on
of my own bank account"
For a full minute our captive mil
lionaire didn't say a word. Then he
grinned like a good-natured littl'
Chinese god.
'NTho gave you this idea of taking
the payroll into your confidence, Ora
ham?" he asked softly.
For the first time in all the weeks
and months I'd been knowing him. the
boss lodged; lodged just like any ot
us might.
I've been talking to Major Ken
drick," he said. Gle is a wise OLE
man. Upton, and he hears a good many
things that don't get printed in thu
newspapers"
I could see that this excuse didn'
fool Mr.. Van Britt for a single in
slant. and there was a look in hi:
eye that / couldn't quite understand
Neither could l make much out of wha
he said.
We'll so into that a little deeper
some day, Graham-after this epilep
tic attack lFas been fought off. Thi:
idea-which you confess isn't you
OWNS a pretty shrewd one, and
shouldn't wonder if it would work
il we can get it in motion before the
hoodoo breaks us wide open. And, a:
you say, the accusation is justifable
even if we can't prove up against thu