The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-05-12

PetroIite Canyon wreck-5was picked
up, the track was cleared. and once
7 more our trains were moving on time.
But anybody could see that the entire
/ Short Line had a case of NERVES"
Kirgan, Kirgan the cold-blooded,
showed 1t one afternoon when l went
over to his Office to return bunch Of
blue-prints sent In for the boss ap-
proval. The big master-mechanic had
a round-house foreman ION the carpet"
and was marrying him like the dickens
for letting an engine go out with one
of her truck safety chains hanging
loose.
Ever since we had gone together on
the rescue run to Timber Mountain,
Mart and l had been sort of chummy.
and after the foreman had gone away
with his foot in his hand, l joshed
Kirgan a little about the way he had
hammered the round-house man.
bad medicine" I told him. "It's
worrying the bosses. too. What's do
ing it, Martr'
'Afaybe you can tell." he growled.
TITS hoodoo-that's what 1t is.
Seven engines in the shops In the last
nine days, and three more that haven't
been fished out-a the ditch yet. wish
Mr.. Van Britt d fire the whole jumpy
outfitr
1t didn't seem as though firing was
needed SO much as dose of nerve
tonic Of some sort. Tarbell was work.
ing hard on the problem. quietly, and
without making any talk about 1t. and
<xtxv 1T oil ha h,
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. saw
some OF Tarbelrs 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, l guess but now
he was back, and the things he wired
to the boss were enough to make your
hair stand on end. 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 1t. 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. / 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
blood on the moon, and saw 1t in the
way the boss jaw was working.
"Upton," he began, as short as pie
crust, shave you thought of any way to
break this wreck hoodoo yetr'
Mr.. Van Britt sat down and crossed
his solid little legs
"If had, shouldn't be losing sleep
night" he rasped.
There's one thing that we haven't
tried" the boss shot back. We've
been advertising 1t as bad luck, keep
ing our own suspicious to ourselves
and letting the men believe what they
pleased Wen change all that. I
want you to call your trainmen in as
fast as you cnn get at them. Tell
them-froIp 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 cur best to make . spoon
out Of spoiled horn, and how there
is an army of grafters and wreckers
in this state which is doing its worst
to knock us out Of the box.
'If you give the force something
tangible to lay hold OF. 1t will work
the needed miracle. 1t is only the
mysterious that terrifies. Railroad en-
ployes, as whole. are perfectly In
telligent human beings. open to con-
viction. The management which doesn't
PVht ny thdt iuct 10 ihhic. IL yOu w
this and appeal to the loyalty OF the
men. you will make a private detec-
tive out of every man in the train
service. and every one of them keen
to be the first to catch the wreckers.
You can add bit of a reward for
that. If you like, and I'll pay 1t out
of my own bank account"
For full minute our captive mil
lionaire didn't say a word. Then he
grinned like good-natured little
Chinese god.
'Who 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 bim. the
boss lodged; lodged just like any of
us might.