Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-09-21
CHAPTER VIII-Continued.

Kitty rose. 81 don't know now that
I've done right" she said. II hope you
won't come to have any feeling against
lire, dear. Only you didn't seem to I'M
dprStand-welI things. And what Pm
saying hasn't anything to do with Mr..
Rowyer, if you feel that you don't care
for him"
care for that beast !" said Molly.
Day by day the, trestling grew, and
the embankmcnt appeared about it I'M
I'll the first part was hidden under the
permanent way. Nhousdnds of, feet of
lNgS had gone into the building. Each
day the engine pushed the laden bal
last trucks farther out upon the Creak-
Ing, SWaying structure. Then the pres
sure Of the lever, tons of debris dis
charged through the frame of the
woodwork, and the engine went snort
Ing back toward TIE ballast pit, drag
gng the empty trucks behind it.
Kitty had gone hack TO Clayton. She
had said that she would return, but
Wilton doubted y. He still cherished
the hope Of friendship, when time had
ohIiterated their tO'nt memory of that
afternoon. He co,3}d not bear to lose
her She seemed part of Joe, and he
found it hard to Stake his mind free
of his precOnceptiOliS. For the present,
however, he recognized that her re-
manning there would prove an embar-
raaSment.
He sent her back to Clayton with An
derSen, who had proved entirely trust
worthy since the first night. and was
going in on business for him.
And he had very little time to think
of Kitty in the critical period that fol-
lowed Wilton slept only a few hours
nightly. For five duys he could not
even 20 to the portage. On the sixth
success appeared At hand. The sink
hGles had been flied in and there Yves
not the slightest subsistence of the
grade. Andersen returned that night
aud Wilton went to bed in confidence.
Chambers was as confident as he.
On the following morning, as he left
his shack, the wOrkmen came running
toward him, jabbering and gesticuat-
ing. The foreman, hurrying up behind
them, shouted and pointed in excite
nlent in the direction of the muskeg.
When Wilton reached the shore he
found that his worst fears had been
exceeded
TwO-thirds of the trestIe-wOrk had
disappeared including a great stretch
Of the foundation, over which the loco
motives and ballast trucks had passed
the day before. The subsistence was
seventy or eighty yards in length. The
top alone remained above the treacher-
Gus swamp, and the rails hung fes.
TONED in midair.
The whole embankment would have
to be reconstructed. As the mere me-
chanical process Of dumping might
serve merely to add to the weight SUI
perimpOSed upon the treacherOus bot
tom, Wilton determined to lay down a
corduroy over the sink-hOles-a mat
ireSs of tree-trunks. The depOsting of
the ballast on this would serve to COM
press the muskeg and loose rock max.
ing a firm foundation, and the trunks
rs they became water-lOgged, would
harden, increasing the strength of the
whole structure as time went by.
But for few hours he almost ahan.
doned hope At the best, it meant hold
ing up the construction of the line for
the permanent way was now only a
few miles behind. and he dared no;
start operations on the east shore until
he knew whether the muskeg could be
spanned.