Evening star., 1922-06-08
By Arthur B. Reeve.

did with you. and bein' brought out
slowly? That's the cure; that, an
grit, an patience, an time. Mark
me wurrds. gentlemen, nell finish
that tunnel, an, begin Yer pardon,
Mr.. Orton, marry that gucrl, too.
Didn't l see her with tears in her
eyes right in this room when he
wasn't lookin', and smile when he
was? Sure. yell be all right" con-
tinued Paddy. slapping his side and
thigh. We all get the bends more
or less-all US sand-hogs. | was that
doubled up meself that l felt like a
big jack-knife. Had it in the arm. the
side and the leg all at once, that time
he was just speakin' of. He'll be all
right in couple more weeks. sure.
an down in the air again, TOO, with
the rest of his men. It's somcthin
else he has on his mOind."
Then the case has nothing to do
with your trouble. nothing to do with
bends?" asked Kennedy. keenlv show
ing his anxiety to help our cid friend
We'll it may and II may not" re-
piled Orton thcughtfully. II begin
to think it has. We have had a great
many cases of the bends among the
men, and lots of the poor fellows have
died, too. You know, of course, how
the newspapers are roasting us. We
are being called inhuman; they are
going to investigate us; perhaps in
dict me. Oh, it's an awful mess; and
now some one is trying to make Tay-
lor believe it is my fault.
''Of course" he continued. I'VE are
working under IA high air-pressure
| just now. some days as high as forty
! pounds. You see, we have struck the
very worst part of the job. 4 stretch
| of Guicksand in the river bed and if
! we can get through this we'll strike
| pebbles and rock pretty soon, and
| then We'll be all right again"
1 I,a Il IbrI1l tiN- in,
! "Eeggin' Yer pardon again. Mr.. Orton
| but we had intiTely too many cases of
the bends even when we were Wurkin
at low pressure, in the rock. before
we sthruck this sand. There's some
thin wrong, sir, or We wouldn't be
here yerself like this. The bends don't
Sthrlke the Engineers. them as don't
do the hard work. sir. anI is careful
as ye know-not often"
| It's this way. Craig" resumed Or
ton. When l took this contract fo'
the Five Borough Transit Company
they agreed to pay me literally for it
| with a big bonus if l finished ahead
| of time and a big penalty if l exceed
ed the time. You may or may not
| know it. but there is some doubt
about the validity of their franchise
| after d certain date, provided the
| tunnel is not ready for operation.
| Well. to make a long story short, you
| know there are rival companies that
! would like to see the work fail and
! the franchise revert TO the city. or
| at least get tied up in the CoIits.
| took it with the understanding that
| il was every man for h'ms-,f and
| the devil take the hindmost.
| Have you yourself seen any evil
| dences Of rival Influences hiniering
! the work?" asked kennedy.
Orton carefully weighed his reply
To begin with" he answered at
! length. while l was pushing the con-
| struction end, the Five Borough was
| working with the state legislature
to get a hill extending the tiine-limis
| Of the franchise another year. OF
| course. if it had gone through it
| would have been fine for US But
| some unseen influence blocked the
| company at every turn. 1t was subtle,
! it never came into the open. They
/ played on public opinion as only
| demagocues Of high finance can. very
| p!ausihly Of course. but from the most
selfish and Interior motives. The bill
| was defeated"
! I nodded. l knew all about that part
| of it. for it was in the article which
/, had been writing for The Star.
'Hut l had not counted on the
| extra yeav. anyhow continued Or
ton, 50 I wasn't disappointed, My
| plans were laid for the shorter time
| from the start. l built an island in
| the river SO that we could work from
each shore to it. as well as from
! the island to each shore. really from
! four points a once And then, when
| everything vas going ahead fine, and
| We were actually doubling the speed
| in this way. these contounded ac-
! eide nts''-hc was leaning eXcitedly
| forward-"and lawsuits and delays
| and deaths began to happen"
! Orton sank back as a raroNysm of
| the bends seized him, following his
! excitement.
i should like very much to go