Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1922-06-30
CHAPTER I.
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Eighteen below; fair weather for
December in New Manitoba, where the
forest, though 1t chills the soil till
midsummer, yet shuts out the razor
edge Of the winds that make the prai-
res, farther south, an icy inferno.
Here the bush, which had seemed
to stretch out illimitably, thinned into
bedraggled patches among the up
cropping rocks. A little farther and
1t began ono more the break was like
q great, curving arm thrust into the
heart Of it, as If some giant fingers
had plucked up the trees in handsful
and scooped the foundation from the
frozen soil. and then had been with
drawn, leaving the imprints Of the
great fnger-tips.
These inger-tips were huge sink
holes, sometimes filled with water, so
that they formed clear lakes; more
often sodden sponges Of decayed veg
etable matter, oozy, treacherous and
unstable. The f1nger-lines were the
circular ridges marking the subsistence
Of the mud. The thumb was Big Mus
keg, which the two men who stood on
the top Of the humpbacked ridge
could see extended beneath them.
Big Muskeg. at this point less than
half a mile across, was everywhere Of
unsounded depth. 1t curved and wound,
q river Of ooze, now broadening into
chains Of lakes, now narrowing into
gullies; here and there crossed by
trails, but never stable. nowhere Of
fering firm foundation for the perma-
nent way Of the Missatibl railroad.
The Missatibl was a branch line,
feeding the new road that was push
ing northward toward the ports-to.be
on Hudson bay. 1t linked with 1t at
Clayton, whence 1t was being extended
eastward into a virgin wilderness.
Even In the days when half a dozen
companies were pegging out ways for
lines that were to divert the wheat
north, Joe Bostock's line had been the
joke of legislatures and f1nanclers.
Those other lines that were being
built into Clayton passed through the
wheat-lands; Joe's line ran east out of
Clayton into a wilderness. Joe Bostock
had secured his capital. but he had no
competitors.
And slowly Missatibi, with Its small
shareholders and limited means, had
gone ahead. The first location par
ties had cleared a road to Big Mus.
keg. The rails had been laid half
way. But that was all. save for the
partly constructed shacks and build.
ings for the workmen there, and the
sheds for the construction material
that had not yet been freighted in.
Joe, standing with legs straddling
the top Of the ridge, turned to Wilton
Carruthers, the chief engineer Of the
company, with eyebrows arched and
humorous inquiry on his weather.
beaten old face. There was no need
for speech at that moment, because
the mind Of each man dwelt on the
Identical problem.
The two men had come east by dog.
sleigh, accompanied by two half
breeds, Jean Passepartout and Papll'
lon, the one In charge Of the dogs, the
other carrying the transit-compass
They had camped seven miles back or
the preceding evening, and had set out
at daybreak to survey the swamp
lands from the ridge. For the prob
lem which had suddenly risen up tC
confront them clamored for solution
before construction could be carried
forward, and on its solution depended
the future of the Mlssatlbi.
With the physical eye neither Joe
nor Carruthers could hope to accom-
plish anything. Wilton was seeking
Inspiration, though he did not know 1t
Theoretically he was e~ndeavoring t
discern some place where a foundation
might be coaxed above the unstable
quaking surface with trestllng anC
crib-work, q crossing that combined
the least possible deviation Of route
With no more than fovr.ffths Of on,