Evening star., 1934-04-08
CHAPTER XVII.
STRAIGHT TALK.

~ 1ldllu, ouCllSC 4CL1 O1 L1lc
~ S crowd doof of e. dam NV workers ske ,t, who
had asked for speech.
"Tell me what you would like to
know?" she asked.
Our jobs E. how about our jobs?"
"Who gets Masons placer" How
long you goin' to keep operatin'?"
Again her uplifted hand. big Tom
would have had the man next in line
fill Mason's place. Well follow the
same plan. Max Larson is next in
line"
A roar Of approval greeted this.
your Jobs are safe. The new COM
pany has money to carry on the work
and keep your salaries going during
the will contest"
She stopped. Somewhere on the
outer fringe an argument was going
on. whats the trouble?" she de-
manded.
"Aw," came a voice, there's bird
back here says we ought to beat 1t
while beatin's good and get ourselves
a real job. He says the Bevins wom-
en- are goin' t. let this dam go as
soon's the Wills broke and they get
the money"
"Whatll We do with him. Miss
Judy?" asked a young voice. Shall
we ride him out on a rail2"
This emergency was one Big Tom
could not have foreseen. Judith
knew her dam workers. She had
known them all of her life. They
could be quickened to mutiny as
quickly as they could be quickened to
loyalty, and upon the turn of word
this decision might rest.
Ride him out on a rail?" echoed
Judith in derision. why give him
transportation? Let him walk"
The quick answer won. Roars Of
laughter, scuffling on the fringe, then
silence
Judith spoke again. Naturally,
you are interested in your jobs
Whether you keep these jobs or not
is up to you. 1t will depend upon
one thing, your loyalty to Big Tom
Bevins.
"As you work, remember you are
working for him. just as I am work.
ing for him. He earned the S5,000,-
600 it will take for the erection and
maintenance of this dam and he had
the right to say how it should be
spent. He left it to me with the
orders to spend it as he would have
spent it had he lived. not for my
personal use. I am working as his
secretary-his stenographer-at a
salary less than many of you are re-
| ceiving.
big Tom knew there would be an
attempt to break his will and he pre-
pared for it. There will be no dan
ger from that source but the
same influence which will try tc
break the will, will try to send spies
into camp here to cause dissension
distrust, anything to hinder the work
on the dam.
IF you listen to these spies you
will be hurting yourselves worse than
any one else
Big Tom had foresight enough to
protect your interest against oul
common enemy. Have you loyalty
enough to protect his memory and
carry out the desire of his life, the
building Of this dam?'
To Judith it seemed the shout of
assent was unanimous and shortly
afterward the crowd began dispers-
ing and she found herself surrounded
by group of foremen, engineers and
construction men, many of whom she
had worked with before.
You said the right thing, Mrs
Dale" said Larson. They were wor-
ried about working for a millionaire
stenographer. You put them straight
on that"
And what you said about loyalty,
added another.
Say, Judy" interposed Clark
Goodwin, with whom she had attend
ed college, did you mean that about
working for Salary?"
Il certainly did," she answered
Then, with a boyish grin, Where dc
pitch my tent? And say, could you
rustic a second one for my CIR
friend? This is Delphy, boys; she
decided she wasn't going to let me
come down here and eat mantillas
and holy beans. so l found her or
the train, spending her last nickel tC
take care of me-"
Good for Delphy. You bet We can
find tent for her"
They had been walking uphill and
Judy saw they were fast coming to
the queer ship-rock where the sur
veying crew had taken shelter dur
ing the storm. There in its lee was
a small house, lights cleaning
through bare windows, hammers beat
ing rapid tattoo.
They stopped before the opened
door and man in coveralls, pound
ing g final nail into the doorstep,
stood up.
welcome home, Small-Jude," he
said.