Show srmr esrar C A h SYNOPSIS Murray Sim lulr utul his RUHR of wreckers wreck-ers were call il nut to clear the railroad J j tracks nt Smoky Creek McCloud n J young roiul superintendent riiURlit Sin clair anil his meu In tho net of looting till wreckrd trnln Sinclair plpndid Innocence In-nocence iledlarlnK It only nmeinted to a mirill Rlirnll tram for the men McCloud discharged the whole outllt and ordered the wreckage burned 1 MeClond become ucqunlntuil with Dlckslo DunntnR a girl of the went who came to look at the wreck i CHAPTER III Continued from the divide it looked llko a inountnlti on fire Im sorry Mr Sin clair Is not here Why Indeed yes so am I Because 1 know him You are one of his men I presume I Not exactly but Is there anything I can do Oh thank you nothing except that the pretty bay colt he sent over to us has sprung his shoulder I He will be sorry to hear It Im sure sureHut Hut we arc doing everything possible pos-sible for him Ho la going to make a perfectly lovely horse And whom may I say the message is from 1 Though disconcerted Mc Cloud was regaining his wits He felt perfectly certain there was no danger dan-ger If she knew Sinclair and lived In tho mountains but that she would sometime find out ho was not a conductor con-ductor When ho asked his question she appeared slightly surprised and answered easily Mr Sinclair will know It Is from Dlcksle Dunning McCloud know her then Everyone Every-one knew Dlcksle Dunning In the high country This was Dlckslo Dun J acing of the great Crawling Stone 1 ranch most widely known of nil the mountain ranches While his stupidity in not guessing her Identity before r < overwhelmed him ho resolved to ex I liaust tho last effort to win her inter cat I dont know Just when I shall see lUr Sinclair ho answered gravely but he shall certainly have your message A doubt seemed to steal over Dick i ale at the change in McClouds man iier Oh pardon meI thought you were working for tho company You are quite right I am but Mr Sinclair is not Her eyebrows rose a little I think you are mistaken arent you It Is possible I am but If I he is working for tho company it is pretty certain that I am not he continued r4 Tieaplng mystification on her However How-ever that will not prevent my doll erlng the message By the way may 1 ask which shoulder Shoulder Which shoulder is sprung Oh of course Tho right shoulder and It Is sprung pretty badly too r Cousin Lance says How very stupid of me to ride over hero for u freight 3 wreck McCloud felt humiliated at having nothing better worth while to offer It was n very bad one ho ventured Dut not of the kind I can bo of any help at I fear McCloud smlled Wo are certainly short of help > Dlckslo brought her horses head I F around She felt again of the girth as she replied Not such as 1 cant can-t supply Im afraid And with the words she stepped away as If I preparing prepar-ing to mount McCloud intervened I hope you > wont go away without resting your r horse The sun Is so hot Maynt 1 offer you some sort of refreshment Dlckslo Dunning thought not t The sun is very warm persisted I McCloud Dlcksle smoothed her gauntlet In I tho assured manner natural to her I 401 am pretty well used to It I Hut McCloud Held on Several curs of fruit wore destroyed In tho wreck 1 can offer you any quantity of grapes crates of them are spoiling over I there and pears Thank you I am Just from luncheon lunch-eon And I have cooled water In tho car 1 hope you wont refuse that so far out In tho desert c k Dloksiii laughed a little Do rOil call this far I dont and I dim call tills desert any means Thank you ever so much for tho water but Im not In tho least thirsty Jt was kind of you oven to thlnl of extending help I wish you woult let mo Bond some fruit over to you ranch It Is only spoiling hero V Dlcksle stroked tho neck of her v horse It is about IS miles to thee the-e ranch house I I dont call that far Oh it Isnt she loturned hastily 1 professing not to notice the look that went with tho words except for per lahable things Then us it I acknowledging acknowl-edging her disadvantage she addei twinging her bridle rein around I um under obligations for the offer Just tho same At least wont you lot your hors drink McCloud throw tho force of an appeal into his words and Dicks stopped her preparations and aj l poured to waver Jim IB pretty thirsty I suppose Have you plenty of water A tender full Had I better lead I him down while you wait up on tho hill In the shndi rrorr rrere irur s irrsnrars er p1Ij1vsN B mANKftSPEAUMAN ILLUSTRATIONS DY fNDUt BOWLCS 1 COPYRICHr 906 Y CiSI7s5CRIONER tSoNoS Cant I ride him down It would bo pretty rough riding Oh Jim goes anywhere she said with her attractive indifference to sit nations if you dont mind helping mil mount With pleasure Sho stood waiting for his hand and McCloud stood not knowing Just what 10 do She glanced at him expectantly expectant-ly Tho sun grew Intensely hot You will have to show me how he stammered at last Dont you know He mentally cursed the technical education that left him helpless at such n moment but it was useless to iretend Frankly I dont Just give mo your hand Oh not In that way But never mind Ill 11k she suggested catching up her BklrtThe The rocks will cut your boots all to pieces Suppose you tell mo what to do this once he said assuming some confidence Ill never forget Why If you will Just give mo your hand for my foot I can manage you know = Ho did not know but she lifted her I skirt graciously and her crushed boot I rested easily for a moment In his hand She rose In the air above him before he could well comprehend Ho I felt tho quick spring from his supporting sup-porting hand and it was an Instant of exhilaration Then she balanced herself her-self with a flushed laugh In the sad die and he guided her ahead among the looso rocks the horse nosing at his elbow as they picked their way Crossing the track they gained better bet-ter ground As they reached tho switch and passed a box car Jim allied and Dlcksle spoke sharply to him McCloud turned In tho shade of the car lay the tramp That man lying there frightened him explained Dlcksle Oh she exclaimed suddenly he has been hurl She turned away her head Is that the man who was In the wreck Yes Do something for him Ho must be suffering terribly The men gave him some water awhile ago and when we moved him Into the shade we thought ho was deadHe He Isnt dead yet Dlcksies face still averted had grown white I saw him move Cant you do something some-thing for him 1 She reined up at a little distance McCloud bent over tho man a moment mo-ment and spoke to him When he rose he called to tho men oil tho track You are right ho said rejoining Dlcksle ho Is very much alive His i name is Wickwlre he Is a cowboy I A cowboy A tramp cowboy What can you do with him 1 Ill have the men put him in the cabooso and send him to Barnhardts hospital at Medicine Bend when the engine comes back Ho may live yet If he does he can thank you for It CHAPTER IV George McCloud McCloud was nu exception to every tradition that goes to make up a mountain moun-tain railroad man lie was from New England with a mild voice and a hand that roughened very slowly McCloud was a classmate of Morris Bloods at the Boston Tech and the acquaint ante begun there contlnlled after the I two left school with a scattering tire of letters between the mountains and New England as few and as tar between be-tween as mens letters usually scatter after an ardent school acquaintance There were just two boys in the Mc Cloud family John and George One hail always been Intended for the church the other for science Somehow Some-how the boys got mixed In their cradles + cra-dles and John got Into the churcll For I George who ought to have been I a eleigyman nothing was left but a long eiiKlneeilng course for which after he got It he appeared to have no use I However II seemed 1 a little late to shift the life alignments John had I the pulpit and appealed disposed to I keep It and George was left like aNew a-New England farm to wonder what I had become of himself i It Is nevertheless odd how mutters come about John McCloud a prosperous pros-perous young clergyman stopped on a I California trip at Medicine Bend to I see brother Georges classmate and something of a real western town Ho saw nothing sensational was there but he did not see Ithnt he found both hospitality and gentlemen and If I surprised was too wellbred to w mlt It His oneday stop ran on to several days In leavlngJohnMcClbud In a seventh heaven of enthusiasm over tho high country asked Morris Blood why ho could not find something some-thing for George out there and Blood not oven knowing tho boy wanted to come wrote for him and asked Bucks tu give him a Job Possibly being nersollcltaiiB George was nervous when he talked to Bucks possibly the Impression left by l his big strong bluff brother John made against tho I boy at all events Uncles after ho talked with George shook his head 1 could mako a firstclass railroad Mans out of tho preacher Morris but lot out of the brother Yes Ive asked with him He cant do anything but figure elevations and by heaven we cant feed our own engineers hero now So George found himself stranded in the mountains Morris Blood was cut up over it but George McCloud took It quietly Im no worse oft hero than I was back there Morris Blood at that plucked up courage to ask George to take a job in the Cold Springs mines and George Jumped at it It was Impossible Impos-sible to get a white man to live at Cold Springs after he could save money enough to get away so George was welcomed as assistant superintendent superin-tendent nt the Number Eight mine with no salary to speak of and all tho work One day coming down special from Bear Dance Gordon Smith who boro the nickname Whispering Smith rodo with President Bucks in the privacy of his car Tho day had been i long and tho alkali lay light on the desert Tho business in hand had been canvassed and tho troubles put aside for chicken coffee and cigars when Smith who did not smoke told the story of something ho had neon I the day before at Cold Springs that pleased him Thu men In the Number Eight mine had determined to get rid of some Italians and after a good deal of rowing had started In to catch one of thin of the men and lashed him across tho table with his tongue until tho blacksmith opened lire on him with his revolver McCloud all tho while shaking hid finger at him and abusing him like a pickpocket Tho crowd couldnt believe its eyes Gordon Smith concluded and McCloud was pushing for tho blacksmith with his cue when Kennedy and I squirmed through to the front and relieved the tension McCloud wasnt lilt What Is that mining mans name asked Bucks reaching for a message clip McCloud First name continued Bucks mechanically George Bucks looked at his companion in surprise Then ho spoke and a feeling feel-ing of selfabasement was reflected in his words George McCloud ho echoed Did you say George Why I must know that man I turned him down onco for a job Ho looked so peaceable I thought ho was too soft for us The president laid down his I cigar with a gesture of disgust And yet there really are people along thin lino that think Im clover I havent judgment enough to opcrato a trolley car Its n shame to take the money they give mo for running this system Gordon Hanged if T didnt think that fellow wns too soft Ho called tho + c f 1 1f U z r I ° I I iJIMJ111 i c I I I I I Im Coming to Medicine Bend Superintendent I I them and hang him They had chosen a time when McCloud the assistant superintendent of the mine was down with mountain fever It was he who bad put the Italians Into the mine He had already defended them from Injury and would bo likely It was Known to do so again If I ho were able On this day a mob had been chasing tho dagos and had at length captured one They were running him down the street to a telegraph pole when the assistant superintendent appeared In scant t attire and stopped thorn Taking advantage of the momentary confusion ho hustled their victim Into tho only place of refngo at hand a billiard hall The mob rushed the hall In the farthest corner the unlucky un-lucky Italian bleeding like a 1 bullock and insane with fright knelt clhigiim to McClouds shaky knees In trying i to make the back door hum two had I been cut off and I the sick boss had got into a corner behind u 11001 table I to mako his stand In his pocket he I had a pistol knowing Unit to use It meant death to him UK well us to tin wretch he was trying to save Ftty men were yelling in the room fl I i > had rope hatchets a sprinkling c runs r-uns and whisky enough to burn ihe town and In the corner behind u pool table stood the nHnlng boss with mountain fever the dago and a III olton i billiard cue Bucks took the cigar from his month leaned forward In his chair and stretched his heavy chin out of his neck as If the situation now promised a story limo leader Smith continued was the mine blacksmith n strapping Welshman from whom McCloud had taken the Italian In the street The blacksmith had a revolver revol-ver and was crazy with liquor Me loud singled him out In the crowd pointed a finger at him got tho utttn flagman over Tell Whltmyer we will sin at Cold Springs tonight I thought you were going through to Medicine Bend suggested Smith us the trainman disappeared McCloud repeated Bucks taking up his cigar and throwing buck his head In a cloud of smoke Yes assented his companion but I am going through to Medicine Dend Mr Bucks Do How am I to do it 1 Take the car and send it back tomorrow to-morrow on Number Three Thank you If I you wont need It tonight to-night I shant I nun going to stay at Cold Springs tonight and hunt up Me Cloud Hut that man Is In bed In a very bad way you cant see him Ho is going td die No ho Isnt I am going to hunt him up and have him taken cam ofTen of-Ten weeks later McCloud was sent from Medicine Bend up on tho Short Line as trainmaster and on the Short Line he learned railioadlng Thats hgw I came here said t George McCloud to Farrell Kennedy along long time afterward at Medicine Bend I had shriveled and starved three years out there In tho desert 1 lived with those cattle uido ground till I had forgotten my own people lilY own name my own face and I Bucks came alongono day with Whis lifirlnj Smith and dragged mo out of my collin They had it ordered and It being n small size and onhundy us tho undertaker said I paid for It and bold him to store it for mo WtlI do vou think I ever could forget either of those men FarrtU In nil till group of young men then on tho mountain division obscure and mknown at the time but destined within a few years to bo scattered far and wide as constructionists with records made lu the rebuilding opein tlons through tho Rocky mountains lone was Jess likely to attract attention atten-tion than McCloud Bucks who Indeed In-deed could hardly he reckoned BO much of tho company as its head was n man of commanding ptoportlons physically Like Glover Bucks was a 5lant III stature and the two men when together could iiowhoro escape notice they looked in a word their part fitted to cope with tho tremendous tre-mendous undertakings that had fallen to their lot Callahan the chess player play-er on tho Overland Hues tho man who could hold largo combinations of truffle truf-fle movement constantly In his head and by i intuition reach tho result of a given problem before other men commit work it out was like Morris Blood tho master of tonnage of middle ago But McCloud when ho went to the mountain division In youthfulness of features was boyish and wluWhe left ho was still a boy bronzed but young of face in spite of a lifetimes pressure and worry crowded into three years He himself counted this physical makeup us a disadvantage U has embroiled mo In no end of trouble because be-cause I couldnt convince men I was In earnest until I made good In sonic hard way he complained onco to Whispering Smith I never could acquire ac-quire even n successful habit of swearIng swear-Ing so I had to learn to fight When ono day in buoy street In Medicine Bond ho throw open the door of Marlon Sinclairs shop flung his lint sailing along tho show case with his war cry and called to her In tho back rooms she thought ho had merely run in to nay ho was in town How do you d01 What do you think Youre going to have an old boarder back lie cried Im coming to Medicine Bend superintendent ol the division u Mr McCloudl Marlon Sinclair clasped her hands and dropped into a chair Have they made you superintendent superin-tendent already Well I like that Do you want them to wait till Im grayheaded Market throw her hands to her own Head Oh dont say anything about gray hairs My head wont bear inspection in-spection But I cant got over this promotion coming so soon this whole big division Well I congratulate you very sincerely Oh but that isnt It I suppose anybody will congratulate me But where am I to board 1 Have you a cook You know how I wont from bad to worse after you left Cold Springs May 1 have my meals here with you as 1 u ed to there They laughed ae they bantered Marlon Sinclair woro gold spectacles but they did not hide tho dollghtful goodnature In her eyes On the third linger of her slender left hand she wore tooa gold band that explained tho gray In her hair at 26 This was the wife of Murray Sin chair whom ho had brought to the mountains from her faraway Wlscon sin home Within a year ho lath broken her heart so far as It lay In him to do It but ho could not break her charm nor her spirit Sho was too proud to go hack when forced to leave him and had set about earnlni her own living In the country to which she hud come as a bride Sho put on ppctnclea she mutilated her heavy 1 brown I lair mid to waffle nntlrn rind n I secure the obscurity that sho craved I her name Marlon became over the 1 dour of her millinery shop and in her business only M Sinclair Cold Springs where Sinclair ball first brought her when ho had headquarters head-quarters there as foreman of bridges had proved a hopeless place for the millinery business at least In the way that Marion ran it She could however cook extraordinarily well and with tho aid of a servantmail could always provide for a boarder or two perhaps a 1 railroad man or amine a-mine supeilntendcnt to whom she could servo meals and who like nil mountain men woro more than goner OUH In their accounting with women Among these htundbyfl of hers wa McCloud McCloud had always been her friend and when she left Cold I Springs and moved to Medicine Bend to set up her little shop In Honey II street near Fort sho had lost him Yet somehow to compensate Marion for other cruel things In tho moun I talus Pi evidence scorned to raise up a now friend for her wherever she went I In Medicine Bond shin did not know a soul hut almost tho first customer that walked Into hor shop and she was a customer worth while was Dlckslo Dunning of the Crawling Stone I I CHAPTER V I i The Crawling Stone The valley of Crawling Stone river marked for more than a decado tho dead line between the overland route i of tho white man and tho lust country If i the Sioux It was long utter tin building of the first lino before even an engineers reconnolsBance was f mode In the Crawlmg Stone country t Than within ten years three surveys were made two on the north sldo of ho I river and ono on tho south side h iv Interests seeking a coast outlot hreo reports mado In this way gave arylng estimates of the expense of mttlugnllnoup tho valleybut tho three olnclded In this that the cost would ho prohibitive Engineers of rcputa Ion had In this respect agreed but Hover who looked after such work for Bucks remained unconvinced and before McCloud was put Into tho operating rating department on tho Short Line he was asked by Glover to run a pro Imlnary up Crawling Stone valley Before tho date ot his report tho conclusions con-clusions reached by other engineers lad blood unchallenged Tho valley was not unknown to dcCloud Illsfirst year In the mountains moun-tains IiI which lilted as thoroughly as ho could fit himself for his profession profes-sion ho had come west and found himself him-self finable to got work had been spent hunting fishing and wandering often cold and often hungry In tho upper Crawling Stone country The Valley In Itself offers to a construe tlonlst no Insuperable obstacles tho difficulty Is presented in tho canyon whero the river bursts through tho Elbow mountains South of this can ran McCloud one day on a hunting trip found himself with two Indians pocketed in the rough country and was planning how to escape passing a night away from camp when his companions com-panions led him past u vertical wall ot rock 1000 feet high split Into a narrow defile down which they rode as It broadened out for miles They emerged upon an open country that led without a break into the valley ot tho Crawling Stono below the canyon I Afterward when ho had become a railroad rail-road man McCloud sitting at a campfire camp-fire with Glover and Morris Blood hoard them discussing the coveted and Impossible line up the valley Ho had been taken into tho circle of constructionists construc-tionists and was told of the earlier reports re-ports against tho line Ho thought he J know something about the Elbow mountains and disputed the findings offering in two days ride to take the men before him to the pass called by tho Indians tho Box and to take them through it Glover called it a find and a big ono and though more Immediate matters in tho strategy of territorial control then came before him tho preliminary pre-liminary was ordered and McClouds findings were approved McCloud himself him-self was soon afterward engrossed In the problems of operating the mountain moun-tain division but the dream ot his life was to build tho Crawling Stono line with a maximum grade of eight tenths through the Box Tho prettiest stretch of Crawling Stone valloy lies within 20 miles of Medicine Bend There It lies widest and has tho pick of water and grass between Medicine Bend and the Mission Mis-sion mountains Cattlemen went into tho Crawling Stone country before tho Indians had wholly left It The first house in tho valley was tho Stono ranch built by Richard Dunning and It still stands overlooking tho town of Dunning at tho junction of the Frenchman French-man creek and the Crawling Stone The Frenchman Is fed by unfailing springs and when by summer sun and i wind every smaller stream In tho middle mid-dle basin has been licked dry the Frenchman runs cold and swift between be-tween Its russet hills Richard Dunning Dun-ning being on limo border of the Indian In-dian country built for his ranch house a rambling stone fortress He had chosen It afterward proved the choice spot In he valley and ho stocked It with cattle when yearlings could bo picked up In Medicine Bond at ten dollars a head He got together a great body of iftilley land when it could bo hud for the asking and became be-came tho rich man ot the Long Range Tho Dunnlngs were Kcntucklans Richard was a bridge engineer and builder and under Bradle built some of the first bridges on the mountain division notably tho great wooden bridge at Smoky creek Richard brought out his nephew Lanco Dunning I Dun-ning He taught Lance bridgebuild Ho 3 Ing and Murray Sinclair who began ns a cowboy on the Stone ranch learned bridgebuilding from Hichard ti1 Dunning Tho Dunnlngs both came rf west though at different times as t young men and unmarried and as far r as western women were concerned might always have remained so But vt a Kentucky cousin Betty ono of the ° Fairfield Dunnlngs related to Richard within the sixth or eighth degree came to the mountains for her health p i Bettys mother had brought Richard I up as a boy and Betty when ho left Fairfield was a baby But Dhltas they knew him at homo and the J E I mother wroto back and forth and he persuaded her to send Betty out for a trip promising ho would send her I back in a year a well woman TO BE CONTINUKD El |