Show he e mm M all from W V by HAROLD TITUS copyright t 1923 harold totua service L CHAPTER VII continued 11 ll elliott had tier wide open now and the loads on that grade ran easily despite the binding cold to in their journals the rock and pitch of the engine were beyond belief it seemed as though its weight roust must carry the light steel from rom its spikes as the careening threw tons of strain first one way and then the other the curve at the trestles approach rushed up the valley toward him and through Ei ElU otts notts mind swarn swam all manner of musj misgivings aings it seemed at the moment that if by any freak chance the wheels should stay on the rails then those rails must surely give before the strain that the trains flight would exert esert as it took that curve ue he threw one quick glance backward to see tim jeffers crouched on his high perch as a circus rider might stand on hla his boldly galloping steed the old man chewed briskly and as he be caught a flash of bens face spat and made one impressive gesture gesta re with a hand band bidding the younger man get outside ben had done all that he could do tn in the cab nothing within his power would be of avail if they left the track and inside be would have no chance nt at all should the wild run come to its end in the smoking waters of the river and so he backed into the gangway between tank and engine and slid down to the step clinging to the hand rails staring ahead ready to ler go it if the worst and the highly probable happened the curve was there a trains length beyond it was there the length of their locomotive ahead the trucks took it with a screech and a bounce and a grind she turned sharply and cen ben thought he felt her tipping tilting 1 I the step beneath his feet rising as the force that strove them oft off at a tangent asserted itself he swung far out to give her that touch much more balance and they were straightening out with the loads thundering find and clanking and leaping behind and he breathed deeply realizing that for the interval his lungs had not functioned elliott looked back again tims knees were bent still lower ile he was leaning far to the right and he be nodded sharply as if in triumph and now they charged at the bridge at that rough new crossing of hoot owl the en engine ine bounced and quivered and seemed to stumble as she took the newly laid track brutshe but she slammed back to balance and her tires che chewed wed the frost and they were over and charging the rise beyo beyond noll ben clambered back into the cab and tugged at the throttle cursing because it would not open wider ile he strained as though by his very posture to help the machinery meet that demand upon it nobly the little locomotive breasted the rise bravely she lunged into that bill with tile exhaust roaring fit ct to beat the rusted burned stack from her she spat cinders and smoke high into the air and the steam clouds from leaking gaskets enveloped elliott curling about him shutting off his view they were slowing now the roaring drum of the exhaust had dropped now low to a sharp panting they were halfway half way up op before he be touched the reserve lever ile he let it down slowly a notch at a time using every last inch of the momentum he had gained up now three quarters of the way eon ben could see the rails on the bit of level going at the top up another trains length slowing with each foot gained afar olt off across the snow blanketed country a plume of white vapor trailed a break in the forests that was the local crossing the river swinging in toward his siding go it girl I 1 go it girl he yelled bt at the engine swinging one fist she shoved shored her nose over the crest seeming to weave it from side as la in distress tier her drivers slipped and spun a half turn caught on sand held she began a stuttering dying puff the sound wavered she seemed to stop and cleared her cylinders with a short belch she was on top her last breath lad had burned the trick hold to it old timer 1 told hold to ill it hen ben croaked the first car gained the crest the locomotive was on the down grade now the second car corning across the peak the third car tumbled over the llie top and tim jeffers Jel dropping his peavey wormed along the logs and lopped flopped down to the brake wheel as isen ben shut tier glicr oft off set the brakes and with a boyish swing of one arm yanked on the whistle cord to set tier her voice back on the last car tim clubbed tub bed krake wheels out on oil the first lien ben tillott drove tile shoe home the an lent hent locomotive dug ill her heels in and nettled bak baik do w a and down they went vent on the frost slick steel gathering speed sliced that was as alarming as the slowing of their pace had been a nio mo before hut ith every train length traveled tim jeffers was set get ting ini more brakes against tile lie humming anels ln els she slid blid ilie fhe islip slipped led she squealed que aled nd ini compin ined and cluttered her way wa rin that filial rolle mile abey had hei alfr alj iut t and bowly they edged around the curve at ac the millpond out onto the siding and to a full stop ken ben dropping down ran across to the main line and held up his hand half a mile down the track the local puffed in toward him the whistle sent up tip its cloud of steam tit at his signal he heard the engineer shur shutting ting off and in minutes the train slid to ID brakes g grinding that stuff go the conductor called s winging swinging down from the way car that stuff goes ben said almost reverently and turned to face tim who was filling his pipe with unsteady hands it was a moment for the right word but tim jeffers was not a man of words not of many words well you done it he said simply yeah with your help still a camp boss badly VI spose id do dot do lord tim if all right im hired to get out logs again guess rii ill hit mr ir buller for a cuppa cerfee ive rode trains now nd ind again ben but bur of all the rides ive ever took that was what you might call th liber I 1 in a aln minnesota bot 11 lumber town a boarded bearded man sat near the stove store in a small hotel and heard the story of what was happening in distant tincup know him another listener asked the narrator not the kid I 1 know brandon nd ind I 1 know tim jeffers top loaded tor for him three winters if tims back theres a hot scrap on and gosh but I 1 like scraps mean ilean youre pulling tor for tincup ill say I 1 am ami III the bearded man cleared its his throat you think then that the lads got a chance of making it against brandon he be asked it sure looks as it if he had a chance with old tincup shanty boys hitting back for their stamping grounds his chances are getting better ever been in tincup martin the other closed the blade of his pocket knife and pulled at the lobe of his left ear with his right hand ive heard of the place he be said quietly better berter hoist your turkey and come along with me likely lie he could find a place for a good bookkeeper martin smiled oddly but made no 0 ther other response in far flung camps and mill towns the story was being repeated just such men were leaving jobs and turning their faces toward tincup known through the lake states for the tyranny that nicholas brandon had exercised there so many years ben sitting with his feet on ables desk in the justices office grinned broadly as he told of the latest developments on the job sixty four men la in camp this morn ing be said over thirty of 0 em new and the best bear looking bunch of loggers ii seen since I 1 was a kid ae able glanced at a letter lie he had been holding A and dil with the milwaukee people standing ready to finance us it looks as it if you might maa haibe maibe be perhaps be getting tin aready ready to find it all down hill and grafly s alzy leu ben I 1 think that interesting this particular bank is the best piece of work youre youe doue done yet nothing able all I 1 had to show was what we were doing they cant lose with the lumber behind their notes unless brandon bluds a way youve got to watch every loophole benny and youve got too much for one man to do oh its not that bad things are straightening out tims a wonder buller missing a bet we to keep right on stepping ben rose to go arid and as he did so the door opened and dawn SIc Manus stepped in out of the lightly falling snow oh she cried in surprise it was the first time she had seen ben since that morning a month ago when lie he took the veneer logs on their mad ride to save the loot owl operation from immediate insolvency aru am I 1 interrupting rup ting corn in dawn said able rising and elliott said if you are its nice to be interrupted she looked at him and at first her eyes held that coolness aich which was almost hostility but this quelled fuelled mid she smiled you yon say nice filings pen ben elliott V ilow how can anyone help saying baying wee rice bilings s to nice people she made a playful mouth at him and ben watching tier her ns as she advanced to ables desk thought again that flint he never had supposed women grew to such lo loveliness cliness tier her errand with the old justice wis brier brief she and ben went out together dawn dav a on tier her vay home bome ben to finish his errands in town at the corner where their ways parted they stopped and dawn hesitated in what she hid had been saying then looking into his face she asked does docs clr ben elliott eiliott ever take tea with a young woman you know I 1 am beginning to ro think that flint I 1 like to talk to youl you then the risk of having it reported that im a lounge e lizard Is as nothing the houe where dawn lived was the house in which she had been born a sprawling white frame fraine structure beneath whispering hemlocks she led beu ben into a long iong low room with wide low windows where a tire burned on an open hearth the line fine odor of baking bread permeated the place and as they entered dawn lifted tier her voice in a light hall oh ho aunt em sounds came from the rear a door opened and closed and then another door opened which gave into the room where they stood find and an ample woman in a checked apron tier her face flushed as by stove heat hear entered hastily yes dearle dearie well 1 1 stopping in surprise aunt em cm this Is 13 clr elliott ilow how dy do her voice was full and deep like a mans ive seen you young man and if I 1 was a hand to say what most folks say id tell you that I 1 feel like were old fri friends eDds 11 she shoot shook hands vigorously youre a lit big young feller ben elliott I 1 eyeing him up and down dawn laughed again as she drew oil off her coat dont you tell a soul aunt em but we are going to have teal it if his shanty boys ever heard about it they might think he was too much civilized for them pshaw I 1 As if what other folks think counts she looked narrowly at dawn and ben saw the girls face change its what ive told dawn ever since she was little ben that its what you think about your own self that matters not what abbody an body else thinks well I 1 you two set and ill get tea she hurried flurried out and ben drew up a comfortable chair before the fire in the naif hour that elapsed before the older woman returned ben learned much about dawn mcmanus NIcI llinus this was tier her house her home aunt em then a young woman had been housekeeper there after dawns mother died she had stayed on keeping the place up through the years that dawn was away avay at school making a living for SYNOPSIS ben elliott from roin yonder arrives at the lumbering town of tincup with lion don stuart old very sick man whom he has befriended he defeats bull duval king of the river and town bully in a log birling contest nicholas brandon the tha towns leading citizen resents stuarts presence trying to force him to leave town and elliott El llott resenting the act knocks him down elliott Is arrested and rinds finds a friend in judge able armitage the judge hires him to run the one lumber camp the hoot owl that brandon has not been able to grab this belongs to dawn mcmanus whose father has disappeared with a murder charge hanging over his head brandon sends duval to beat up ben and ben him in a list fist tight fight and throws him out ot of camp don stuart dies leaving a letter for flibott to bo be used when the going becomes too tough ben refuses to open the letter believing he can win the fight by his own efforts fire breaks out in the rr rrell ill ben loading leading the victorious fight IT glit against the names flames discovers the ore fire was started with gasoline elliott gets an otter offer of spot cash for loss logs that will provide money to tide him over but a definite time limit Is set ben meets dawn mcmanus and discovers she Is not a child as he had supposed but a beautiful yung woman the railroad bridge over which the hoot owl lumber must pass and at once to meet the time limit imposed in the contract Is blown up P by au superhuman pe efforts ben builds a new bridge overnight herself by bilking baking and now cow that dawn was home again she was the lie girls closest friend and only confidant there are so many people here no now who are not no ill put it the other ay im not congenial company for or many people in this country it their fault its wholly mine ller her manner which aich had hoen been easy began begal to stiffen a bit ben tb thought ought as though slie she steeled herself for an ordeal people have a right to their opinions of course evidence was laron strung against my mv rattler father rut kut lie was no killer lie he never harmed a an j one im sure eure of that when people think of him as all alive e and a fugitive or dead and disgraced it stirs my temper 1 youve heard about my father of course naturally you would they talked after that of personal tastes of the glories of big country I 1 of tile the limited recreations offered by little towns just the movie I 1 now and then theres a dance the girl said but none of the boys seem to want to take me it Is my fault liec likay ly she was staring moodily into the ire fire 1 I frighten them away air brandon asks aska me to go to tile the movie now and then but I 1 dont know so brandon wants to amuse you does lie he yes lies iles been awfully kind to me always of course I 1 know that able und and a lot of people think lies after tile the boot owl and Is quite ruthless about it but they can prove nothing lie fie was so good to me when I 1 was little and talks so leaon reasonably ably to me now thit that I 1 cant bellee their suspicions are well rounded founded still thin things do seem to happen ut at hoot floor 01 owl mr brandone Bran Brand donn onH explanation of the fire and dyna dynamiting militia Is that you made inide tin nu enemy of 0 bull duval and ills his friends and that they are striking hack back for spite that sounds reasonable it yes said ben unwilling to argue any such point with tier lier at tills juncture aunt em came in with food that was surpassingly surpassing y f line fine and for or an hour they sat and talked ta 11 ed while hile darkness fell ben was rising to go when the doorbell rang aunt rm em went to answer tile the summons and as ft a mans voice sounded in the hallway dawn broke short what she had started to say A moment later nicholas brandon entered the room the roans face as lie he crossed the threshold and saw ben was a study lights flickered in his black eyes a faint lush flash whipped up over his dead I 1 tt 11 half a mile down the track the local puffed in toward him white cheeks and he opened his lips as in a tight light gasp of surprise or else preparatory to sharp speech but he gathered himself on the instant moved directly to dawn and with tin an even kindly tone greeted her the girl turned as brandon still held her band and ben thought she was as moving it gently for release mr elliott I 1 think you must know sir mr brandon ben bowed a bit stiffly yes ile he said yes I 1 met him once then nicholas brandon did an |