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Show MispTbanr HSpearman. : r-v- r jm. If . E- - v r ; ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDRE BOWLES - er Cms Jcsvft& 6ws .t. V "No man that has ever played me you. I was attending to a customer fied, Rooney, and Reed and Brill dirt can say here while 1 stay." "Sin and had to ask him to watt a mo- Young, and get up a train. Smoky Creek bridge! By heavens, we are with a hand on the portiere, was ment." Murray BlnrlHlr and hi gang Of wreckers were culled out to clear the rail road clair, cusa the "Dun't into for the from ripped up the back now! What can having apologize doorway moving a tracks at Hmoky Creek.- McCloud, SYNOPSIS. young road superintendent, caught Sinclair ami his men in the act of looting the wrecked truln. Blnelulr pleaded declaring It only amounted to a mall aum a treat (or the men. McCloud discharged the whole outfit and ordered the wreckage burned. MuCluuil bwca me with IMcksle Dunning, a girl acquainted f the west, who came to look at the r. Btie wreck. gave him a message for Sin-rlal- "WhlHperlng" Gordon Bmlth told President ilucke of the railroad, of brave fight againat gang of erased miners and that was the reason for the superintendent's appointment to tils high office. MuCloud arranged to board at the boarding house of Mrs. Sindeserted wife. the clair, CHAPTER V. Continued. Betty came with only her colored maid, old Puss Dunning, who had taken her from the nurse's arms when she was born and taken care of her ever since. The two the tall Kentucky girl and the bent mammy at the Stone ranch one day in June, and Richard, done then with bridges and looking after his ranch Interests, had already fallen violently In love with Betty. She was delicate, but. if those In Medicine Bend who remembered ber said true, a lovely creature. Remaining in the mountains was the last thing' Petty had ever thought of, but no one, man or woman,1 could withstand Dick Dunning. She fell quite In love with him the first time she set eyes on him, in Medicine Bend, for he was' very handuume in the saddle, and Betty was fatriy wild about ' horses. So Dick Punning wooed, a fond mistress and married her and burled ber, and all within tiardly more than a year. But In that year they we're very happy, never two happier; and when she slept away her suffering she left him, as a legacy, a tiny baby girl. Puss brought the mite of a creature in its swaddling clothes to the sick mother very, very sick then and poor Betty turned ber dark eyes on It, Visaed It, looked at her husband anrt whispered "Dlcksle," and died. Dicksle bad been Betty's pet name for her mountain lover, so the father said the child's name should be D!.ksle and nothing else; and his heart broke and soon he died. Nothing el'e. storm or flood, death or disaster had ever moved- - Dick Dunning' then a sin gle blow,, killed rim.,, He - rode once In a while ovar the ranch, a great tract by th-4- t time of 20,000 acres, all In one body, all under fence, up and down both sides of the big river. In part Irrigated, swarming with cattle none of it stirred Dick! and with little Jicksle In his arms he slept away nls suffering. So Dicksle was left, as ber mother Had bean, to Puss, while Lance looked after the ranch, swore at the price of cat'.le, and played cards at Medicine Bend.: At ten, Dicksle, as thoroughly polled as a pet baby could be by a fool mammy, a fond cousin, and a galaxy of devoted cowboys, was sent, In spite of cry ing and flinging, to a ton vent her father , had planned everything where In many tears she learned that there were otb er things in the world besides cattle and mountains and sunshine and tall, troad hatted horsemen to swing from their stirrups and pick her bat from the ground just to see little Dicksle laugh when they swooped past the louse to the corrals. When she came toack from Kentucky, her grandmother dead and her schooldays flnlahed. all the land she could see In the valley was hers. d -- nected through a curtained door with the shop, McCloud sat one day alone eating his dinner. Marion was in front serving a customer. McCloud heard voices in the shop, but gave no heed till a man walked through the curtained doorway and he saw Murray Sinclair standing before him. A stormy Interview with Callahan and Blood at the Wickiup bad taken place Just a week before, and McCloud after what ' Sinclair had then 'threatened, (though not prepared, felt as he saw him that anything might occur. McCloud being in possession of the little room, however, the Initiative fell on Sinclair, iho, , looking his best, snatched his hat from bis bead and bowed Ironically. "My mistake," he ' said blandly. "Come right in," returned McCloud, not knowing whether Marlon bad . a possible band in her husband's unexpected appearance. "Do you want to . see me?" ., "I don't." smiled Sinclair; "and to be perfectly frank," be added with studied consideration, "I wish to God I never had seen you. Well you've thrown me, McCloud." "You've thrown yourself, haven't you, Murray?" , . "From your point of view, of course. But, McCloud, this is a small country for two points of view. Do you want to get out of it, or do you want me to?" "The country suits me, Sinclair." ' ; - tomer." "He lives over beyond the Stone ranch, you know, and is taking some He things out for the Dunnlngs likes an excuse to come in here because it annoys me. Finish your dinner, Mr. McCloud." . "Thank you, I'm done." "But you haven't eaten anything. Isn't your steak right?" "It's fine, but that man well, you know how I like him and how he likes me. ; I'll content myself with' digesting my. temper." ; CHAPTER VII. Smoky Creek Bridge. It was not alone tbat a defiance makes a bad dinner sauce; there was more than this for McCloud to feed on. He was forced to confess to himself as he walked back to the Wickiup that the most annoying feature of the Incident was the least important, namely, that his only enemy In the country should be Intrusted with commissions from the Stone ranch and be carrying packages for Dicksle Dunning. It was Sinclair's trick to do things for people, and to make himself so useful that they must like first his obligingness and afterward himself. Sinclair, McCloud knew, was close In many ways to Lance Dunning. It was said to have been his influence that won Dunnlng's consent to sell a right of way across the ranch for the new start." Ten hours later and many hundreds of miles from the mountain division, President Bucks and a companion were riding in the peace of a June morning down tho beautiful Mohawk valley with an earlier and Illustrious ruilroad man, William C. Brown. The three men ; were at breakfast In Brown's car. A message was brought in for Bucks. He read it and passed it to his companion, WhlBpering Smith, who sat at Brown'a left hand. The message was from Callahan with the news of the burning of Smoky Creek bridge. Details were few, because no one oh the west end could suggest a plausible cause for the fire. "What do you think of It, Gordon?" demanded Buci i, bluntly. Whispering tsnith seemed at all sur times bordering on prise, and in that normal condition he read Callahan's message. ' He was laughing under Bucks' scrutiny when he handed the message back." "Why, I don't know a thing about it, not a thing; but taking a long shot and speaking by and far, I should say It looks something like first blood for Sinclair," he suggested, and to change the subject lifted his cup of coffee. "Then it looks like you for the instead of for mountains Weber and Fields'," retorted Bucks, reaching for a cigar. "Brown, why have you never learned to smoke?" good-nature- d ' The Misunderstanding. attempt was made to minimize the truth that the blow to the division was a staggering one. The loss of CHAPTER VI. "Here Is the Silk, Mr. Sinclair." one-stor- t. No far-awa- y y for it on God's earth but switchbacks and grades down to the bottom of the creek and cribbing across it till the new line is ready. Wire Callahan and Morris Blood, and get everything you can for me before CHAPTER VIII. ' In Marlon's Shop. I In Boney street, Medicine Bend, row of .stands an early-dabuildings; they once nrade up a pros perous block, which has long since fallen Into the decay of paintless days There Is In Boney street a livery store, a laundry, stable, a second-hana bakery, a moribund grocery, and a bicycle shop, and at the time of this story there was also Marion Sinclair's millinery shop; but the better class of Medicine Bend business, such as the gambling houses, saloons, pawnshops, restaurants, barber shops, and those and alert es sensitive, clean-shavetabllshments known as "gents' stores," bad deserted Boney street for many years. Bats fly In the, dark of Boney street while Front street at the same hour is a blaze of electricity and frontier hilarity. The millinery ,store stood next to the corner of Fort street The lot lay In an "L," and at the rear of the store the first owner tad built a small connecting cottage to live In. This faced on Fort street, o tbat 'Marlon had her shop and living rooms communicating, and yet apart. The store building Is still pointed out as the' former shop of Marlon Sinclair, where George Mc Cloud boarded when the ".Crawling Stone line was built, where Whispering Smith might often; have been seen, where Sinclair himself was last seen alive In Medicine Bend, where Dicksle Dunnlng's horse dragged her senseless ine wild mountain night, and whero, for a time the affairs of the . Indeed, whole mountain division seemed to tangle In very hard knots. t In her "lining room, which con- - we do there, Rooney?" He was talk' ing to himself. "There lHn't a thing wa bridge was sent back for feed and water by my orders. 'It bus all been taken cure of. You should have been notified, certainly; it Is the business Of the stock agent to see to that. Iet me luqulre about it while you are here, Mr, Dunning," (suggested McCloud. ringing for his clerk. Dunning lost no time in expressing himself. "I don't want my cattle held at Point of Rocks!" he said, angrily. "Your Point of Rocks yards are infected. My cattle shouldn't have been ' sent there." . no! where The old they "Oh, yards had a touch of fever were burned off the face of the earth a year ago, The new yards are perfectly sanitary. The loss of the bridge has crippled us, you know. Your cattle are being well cared for, Mr. Dunning, and If you doubt it you may go up and give our iff n any orders you like in the matter at our expense." "You're taking altogether too much on yourself when you run my stock over the country In this way," ex claimed Dunning, refusing to be placated. "How am I to get to Point of Rocks walk there?" "Not at all," returned McCloud, ring lng up his clerk and asking for a pass, hlcn was brought back in a moment and handed to Dunning. "The cattle," continued McCloud, "can be run down, unloaded, and driven around the break tomorrow with the loss of only two . days." "And In the meantime I lose my room, McCloud In a leisurely way rose, though with a slightly flushed face, and at that Juncture Marlon ran into the room and spoke abruptly. "Here Is the silk, Mr. Sinclair," she exclaimed, handing to him a package she had not finished wrapping. "I meant you to wait In the other room." "It was an accidental Intrusion," returned Sinclair, maintaining his Irony. "I have apologUed, and Mr. McCloud and I understand one another better than ever." i'Tleitse say to Miss Dunning," continued Marlon, nervous and Insistent, "that the' band for ber riding-ha- t hasn't come yet, but It should be here Crawling Stone line. But McCloud felt it useless to, disguise the fact to himself that he now liad a second keen Interest In the Crawling Stone country not alone a dream of a line, but a dream of a girl. Sitting moodily in his ofllce, with his feet on the desk, t few nights after his encounter with Sinclair, he recalled her nod as she said good-by- . It had seemed the least bit encouraging, and he meditated anew on the only 20 minutes of real pleasurable excitement he had ever felt In his life, the 20 minutes with Dicksle Dunning at Smoky creek. Her Intimates, he had heard, called her DickBie, and he was vaguely envying her intimates when the night dispatchtomorrow." er, Rooney Lee, opened the door and across leaned McCloud she At spoke the table, resolved to take advantage disturbed his reflections "How Is Number One, Rooney?" of the opening, It it cost him his life. And by the way, Mr. Sinclair, Miss called McCloud, as If nothing but the Dunning wished me to say to you that f thought of a train movement ever en the lovely, bay colt you sent her had tered his head, Rooney Lee paused. In his hand he sprung hts shoulder badly, the hind they are doing held a message, and he faced McCloud shoulder, I'thlukv-bueverything possible for It and they with evident uneasiness. "Holy smoke, Mr. McCloud, here's a ripper! We've think it will make a,' great horse." Sinclair's snort at the Information lost Smoky Creek bridge." "Lost Smoky Creek bridge?" echoed was a marvel of Indecision. Was he draw he McCloud, of? Should fun made rising in amazement being "Burned Seventy-seveand end It? But Marlon faced him tonight. resolutely as he stood, and talking was flagged by the man at the pump In the most business like way she station. "That's a tie-ufor your life!" ex backed htm out of the room and to the shop door. Balked of his oppor- claimed McCloud, reaching for tbo tunity, he retreated stubbornly but message. "How could it catch fire? with the utmost politeness, and left Is It bumed up?" "I can't get anything on that yet: with a grin, lashing his tall, bo to this came from Canby, I'll have a good speak. Coming back, Marlon tried to hide wire In a few minutes and get It all her uneasiness under even tones to for you." "Have Phil Ilalley and Hyde noti McCloud. "I'm sorry he dtNturbed n p ' Smoky creek bridge put almost 1,000 miles of. the mountain division out of business. Perishable freight and time freight were diverted to. other line's. Passengers were transferred; lunches were served to them in the deep valley, and they were supplied by an In genuous advertising department with pictures of the historic bridge as It had long stood, and their addresses were taken with the promise of a pie ture of the ruins. The engineering de partment and the operating depart ment united in a tremendous effort to bring about a resumption of traffic. Glover's men, pulled off construction, were sent forward In tralnloads. Dan clng's linemen strung arc lights along the creek until the canyon twinkled at night like a mountain village, and men In three shifts worked elbow to elbow unceasingly to run the switch backs down to the creek bed. There, by cribbing across the bottom, they got In a temporary line. McCloud spent his days at the creek and his nights at Medicine Bend with his assistant and his chief dispatcher, advising, counseling, studying out trouble reports, and steadying wher ever he could the weakened lines of his operating forces. He was getting his first taste of the trials of the hard est worked and poorest paid man In the operating department of a railroad the division superintendent lo tnese were added personal an noyances. A tralnload of Duck Bar steers, shipped by Lance Dunning from the Crawling Stone ranch, had been caught west of the bridge the very night of the fire. They had been loaded at Tipton and shipped to catch a good market, and under extravagant promises from the livestock agent of a quick run to Chicago. When Lance Dunning learned that his cattle had been caught, west of the break and would have to be unloaded, he swore up a horse tn hot haste and started for Medicine Bend. McCloud, who had not closed his eyes for 60 hours, had just got into1 Medicine Bend from Smoky Creek and was sitting at his desk burled In a mass of papers, but he ordered the cattleman admitted. He was, in fact," eager to meet the manager of the big ranch and the cousin of Dicksle. Lance Dunning stood above six feet In height, and was a handsome man, In spite of the hard lines around his eyes, as he walked In; but neither his manner nor his expression was amiable. "Ars you Mr. McCloud? I've been here three times this afternoon to see you," said ,he, ignoring McCloud's am.wer and a proffered chair. "This is office, Isn't It?" anMcCloud, 'a little surprised, swered again and civilly; "It certainly is; but I have been at Smoky Creek for two or throe days." "What have you dons with toy cat; tle?" 4 , "The Duck Bar train was run .back to Point of Rocks and the cattle were unloaded at the yard." Lanco Dunning spoke with increasing harshness: "By whose order was that done? Why wasn't I notified? Have they had feed or water?" "All the stock caught west of the rur v-,- nurket." "It Is too bad, certainly, but I sup pose It will be several days before we can get a line across Smoky creek." the cattle sent "Why weren't through that way yesterday?. What have they been held at Point of Rocks for? I call the thing badly managed." "We couldn't get the empty cars up fiom Piedmont for the transfer until empties are very scarce every where now." There always have been empties here when they were wanted until lately. Ti ere'e been no head or tail to anything on this division for six months.'' "I'm Fotry that you have that Im : pression." "That Impression is very general,' declared the stockman, with an oath, "and if jcu keep on discharging the only men on this division that are competent to handle a break like this it 1b likely to continue!" "Just a moment!" McCloud's finger rose pointedly. "My failure to please you in caring for your stock in an emergency may be properly a matter for comment; your opinion as to the way I am running this division Is, of course, your own; but don't attempt to criticise the retention or discharge of any man on my pay roll!" Dunning strode toward him. "I'm a shipper on this line; when It suits me to criticise you or your methods, or anybody else's, I expect to do so," he retorted In high tones. "But you cannot tell me how to run my business!" thundered McCloud, leaning over the table in front of him As the two men glared at each otb er Rooney Lee opened the door. His surprise at the situation amounted to consternation. He shuffled io the cor ner of the room, and while McCloud and Dunning engaged hotly again Rooney, from the corner, threw a shot of his own Into the quarrel. "On time!" he roared. "The angry, men turned. "What's on time?" asked McCloud, curtly. ' "Number One; she's In and chang ing engines. I told them you were declared Rooney In so deep tones that his fiction would never have been suspected. Dunning, to emphasize, without further word, his disgust for the situ ation and his contempt for the man agement, tore Into scraps the pass that had been given him, threw the scraps on the floor, took a cigar from his pocket and lighted it,' insolence could do no more. McCloud looked over at the dis patcher. "No, I am not going west, Rooney. But if you will be good enough to stay here and find out from this man just how this railroad ought to be run, I will go to bed. He can tell you; the microbe seems to' be working in his mind right now," said McCloud, slamming down the roll-toof his desk. And with Lance Dunning glaring at him, somewhat speechless he put on his hat and walked out of the room.. It was but one of many disagreeable Incidents due to the loss of the bridge Complications arising from the tie-ufollowed him at every turn. It seemed as If he could not get away from trou ble following trouble. After 40 hours further of toll, relieved by four hours of sleep, McCloud found himself, rath er dead than alive, back at Medicine Bend and in the little dining room at Marion's. Coming In at the cottage door on Fort street, he dropped Into a chair. The cottage rooms were empty. He heard Marlon's voice in the front shop; she was engaged with a customer. Putting his head on the table to wait a moment, nature as serted itself and McCloud fell asleep. He woke hearing a voice that he had heard In dreams. Perhaps no other voice could have wakened htm, for he slept for a few minutes a death-lik- e sleep. At all events, Dicksle Dunning was In the front room and McCloud heard her. . She was talking with Marion about the burning of Smoky Creek bridge. "Every one Is talking about It yet,1 Dicksle was saying. "It I had lost my best friend I couldu't have felt worse; you know, my father built It I rode over there the day of the Ore and down Into the creek, so I could look up where , It stood. I never realized before how high and how long It was; and when I remembered how proud father always was of his work there Cousin Lance has often told me I sat down right on the ground aud cried. How times have changed in railroading, haven't they? Mr, Sinclair was over Just the other night, and he said if they kept using this new coal in the engines they would burn up everything on the dl vision. Do you know, I have been walU Ing iu town three or four hours now for Cousin Lance? I feel almost like h tramp. He is coming from the west with the stock train,' It was due hero hours ago, but they never seem to know when anything Is to gut here the way things are run on the railroad now. I want to give Cousin Lance some mail before he goes through." "The passenger, trains crossed the creek over the switchbacks hours ago, and they say the emergency grades " are said Marlon Sinclair, on the defensive. "The stock trains must have followed right along. Your cousin is sure to be here pretty soon, Prob ably Mr, McCloud will know which train he is on, and Mr. Lee telephoned that Mr. McCloud would be over here at three o'clock for his dinner. He ought to be here now." "Oh, dear, then I must go!" "But he can probably tell you Just when your cousin will be In." "I wouldn't meet him for worlds!" "You wouldn't? ' Why, Mr. McCloud Is delightful." Yoa "Oh, not for worlds, Marlon! know he is discharging all the best of the older men, the men tbat have made the road everything it Is, and ot course we can't heip sympathizing with them over our way. For my part. I think It is terrible, after a man has given all of his life to building up a railroad, thut he should be thrown out to starve In that way by. new managers, Marlon." McCloud felt himself shrinking within his weary clothes. Resentment seemed to have died. He Telt too ex first-rate,- - to-da- : p p "Oh, Mr. McCloud, Is It You?" hausted to undertake controversy, even If It were to be thought of, and " it was not. comneeded was tq Nothing further plete his humiliation. He picked up his hat and with the thought of getting out as quietly as he had come in. In rising he swept .a tumbler at his elbow from the table. The glass broke on the floor, and Marion exclaimed: "What Is that?" and started for the dining room. It was too late to get away. McCloud stepped to the portieres of the trimming room door and pushed them aside. Marion stood with a hat in hei hand, and Dicksle, sitting at the table, was looking directly at the Intruder at he appeared In the doorway. She saw In biro ber pleasant acquaintance ol the wreck at Smoky Creek, whose name she had not learned. In her sur prise, she rose to her feet and Marlon spoke quickly: "Oh, Mr. McCloud, It did not bear you come in." It you? Dicksle's face, which had lighted, became a spectacle of confusion after she heard the name. McCloud, conscious of the awkwardness of his position and the disorder of his garb, said the worst thing at once' "I fear I am Inadvertently overhearing youi conversation." He looked at Dicksle as he spoke, chiefly because he could not help It and this made matters hopeless. She flushed more deeply. "I cannot conceive why our conversation should Invito a listener." Her words did not, of course, help to steady him. "I tried to get away," he stammered, "when I realized I was a part of It." x "In any "event," she exclaimed, hastily, "if you are Mr. McCloud I think it unpardonable to do anything like, that!" "I am Mr, McCloud, though I should rather be anybody else; and I am sor ry that I was unable to help hearing I" what was said: "Marion, will you be kind enough to give me my gloves?" said Dicksle, holding out her hand. Marlon, having tried once or twice to intervene, stood between the firing lines In helpless amazement Her ex clamutlons were lost; the two before her gave no heed to ordinary Inter ventlon. McClouud flushed at being cut off, but he bowed. "Of course," he said, "it you will listen to no explanation f I can only withdraw." went back, dlnnorless, to work , He all, sight; but the switchbacks were doing capitally, and all night long trains were rolling through Medicine Bend from the west la an endless string. In the morntng the yard was tonnage. nenrly cleared of Moreover, the mall In the morning brought cotnpentmtlou. A letter cams from Glover telling him not to worry and himself to death over the tie-uone came from Ducks telling him to muko ready for the building ot the Crawling Stone line. McCloud told Rooney Lee that It anybody asked for him to report him dead, and going to bed slept 24 hours. west-boun- (TO DHl d CONTINUED.) |