The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1921-05-20

l ~ ike n kuUu mhut " hht VII
ers. Nobody seems TO know. Brock
man put the freight pAgipe crew on
the rack, and they shy there was .
small boulder on the tfaek-that II
rolled down the canyon slope just
ahead Of them as they were turning 4
curve. They struck 1t, and both men
say that the engine knocked II on
into the river apparently without hurt
Ing anything. But two seconds later
the entire train left the track and
piled up all over the right-of-way."
The boss was sitting back In bis
chair and making little rings on the
desk blotter with the point OF his
lettsr-opener.
upton, thess knOck-Outs have got
to be stopped"
Good Lord" exclaimed the little
millionaire; "you don't have to tell
me thati II we can't stop 'em, Uncle
Dunton will have plenty Of good rea-
sons for cleaning us all out, lock,
stock, and barrel was talking with
Carter. In the claim Office, this morn
ing. Our loss and damage account
for the past month is something
frightful"
ut Is" said the boss gravely. And
then Upton, we're not altogether as
bright as we might be. Has 1t never
occurred to you that we are having
too much bad luck to warrant us In
charging 1t all up to the chapter OF
| accidents7"
Mr.. Van Britt blew his cheeks out
until the stubby, cropped mustache
bristled like pOrcuplne quilts.
$50 you've been getting your point
err, too, have you?" he threw in.
Mr.. Norcross didn't answer the ques-
ton directly.
"Put Tarbell on the job, and II he
needs help, let him pick his own men"
he directed. 1--WE want to know why
that boulder turnbled down ahead Of
Number Seventeen, and want 10 see
Tarbell's report on 1t. Keep at it
night and day, Upton. The infection
is getting into the rank and file and
it's spreading like sickness. II 1t
becomes psychological, we shall have
all the trouble we need"
II know" nodded the superinten-
| dent. II went through siege OF that
kind on the Great Southwestern, one
winter. 1t was horrible. Men who
had been running trains year In and
year out, and never knowing that they
had any nerves, went to pieces II
you'd snap your fingers at them"
THAT'S it," said the boss. I'VE
don't want to fall into that ditch.
| Things are quite bad enough, as they
are"
This ended 1t for the time. The
Petrolite 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 case Of NERVES"
Kirgan, Izirgan the cold-blooded,
showed 1t one afternoon when / went
over to his Office to return bunch OF
blue-prints sent In for the boss APP
prevail. 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 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" told him. "It's
worrying the bosses, too. What's do
ing 1t, MartT'
Maybe you can TELL" he growled.
"Its hoodoo-thats what 1t is.
Seven engines in the shops in the last
nine days, and three more that haven't
been ashed out-a the ditch yet. wish
Mr.. Van Britt d fire the whole jumpy
outfit"
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 it, and
Klrgan 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 it was no use. 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, 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,
L.. owarxy v,,fOrfo Of tho