The Lamar register., 1922-07-05
...E~ L1..s1 ]
ChAPT ER I.
A Bolt From the Blue.

December In New Manitoba. Wnere the
forest, though II chills the soil I'LL
midsummer. yet shuts out the razor
edge Of the winds that make the prai-
ries. farther south, an icy inferno.
Here the bush. which had seemed
10 stretch out illimitably. thinned into
bedraggled patches among the up
cropping rocks. A little farther and
h began once more; the break was like
q great, curying arm thrust into the
heart OF II, as II 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 imprint- Of the
great fnger-tips.
These fnger-tips were huge sink
holes, sometimes filed with water, so
that they formed clear lakes: more
often sodden spOnges Of decayed veg
etsble matter, oozy. treach-rous and
unstable. The fnger-line- were the
circular ridges marking the subsidenc-
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 mile across, was everywhere of
unsounded depth. It curved and wound,
d 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 Missetibi railroad.
The Missatibi was a branch line.
feeding the new road that WAS push
ing northward toward the ports-to-be
on Hudson bay. II linked with II at
Clayton. whence IT was being extended
eastward into virgin wilderness
Even In the days when half 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 nnanciers.
Those other lines that were being
built into Clayton passed through the
wheat-lhnds; Joe's line ran east out Of
Clayton into Il wilderness Joe Bostuck
had secured his capital, but he had no
competitors.
And slowly Aissatibi. with Its small
shareholders and limited means. had
gone ahead The first location par
ties had cleared 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.
In
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 Papil-
Ion, the one In charge OF the dogs. the
other carrying the transit-compass
They had camped seven miles back on
the preceding evening. and had set out
at dsybreak TO survey the swamp
lands from the ridge. For the prob
lem which had suddenly risen up to
confront them clamored for solution
before construction could he carried
forward. and on It's solution depended
the future of the Missatibi.
with the physical eve neither Joe
n6f Carruthers could hope TO accom-
plish anything Wilton was seeking
inspiration. though he did not know II.
Theoretically he was endeavorfng to
discern some place where foundation
might be coaxed above the unstable,
Quaking surface with trestling and
crib-work, crossing that combined
the least possible deviation OF route
with no more than four -fifths Of one
per cent OF grade and four degrees Of
curve.
Actually and unconsciously he was
seeking to interpret the natural con-
yulsion which had, In time immeasur-
ably remote, cloveD the ridge of the
land and set the swamp seepins into
the fissure.
II he could read the meaning OF that
convuIsion. understand the mind and
mood of the great Architect. he could
see, as If clairvoyantly, just where the
Muskeg lay thinnest on the roots OF