Show W EB fl TE pe L ef s MUS CYRUS TOWSEND TOWNSEND DRADY BRADY AUTHOR 1 ahr or cf alir 13 ULAND AD of ITC ETC AND CYRUS CIVIL 3 SYNOPSIS CItA ITEn I dmd is IB consulting engineer representing ms rather father the treat great meade who mho Is the aL degl sIgner gner the international bridge the greatest cantilever structure the world orld has ever heard of in the shadow of the uncompleted d triage bridge young ung meade receives colonel illin gvore p president res ident of the arld 0 company the constructors and the colon els tl daughter livien 11 clen whom lie hs loves CIT chaiten A TITER 11 II at dinner tho possible weak weakness aleas of the compression members of the bridge Is tallied talked of 0 and meads defends lils ills fathers calculations CHAPTER III Meade and helen clelen eq out v izelen upon on the brigge bridge in the moonlight and helen narrowly only escapes a fall all to the river below meade tells efti love and they hey KO go to the colonel colon e 1 who approves their I 1 marriage mari allm e when t the it bridge Is finished you must wait here sho she said d deeply touched as they had now reached the steps of the car until I 1 have changed change my dress father would natice anybody would flint tear when I 1 have finished I 1 will come boino back to you and then we will seek seeh film and tell him accordingly meade stood obediently waiting outside tile the cur car in tile lie shadow it cast there was am no one about the servants had gone to bed the porter of the car was waa nodding in ills his quarters wait waiting rig for the time to turn out the lights the engineer hit had the llie long platform all to lillus himself elf after it a time he choso chose to walk quietly up and down the future looked very fair to him bert a sweet voice came to him out of the darkness lie ile turned to discover her standing in the door of the car dressed us as site she should have been beef for such an excursion lull had site she nt at first followed her fathers wise suggestion ills his heart thrilled to the use of the fa iti lilar name bert im coming down don to you hand in hand build they walked to the rear of the car where the observation platform was still brightly lighted aab abbott had conle gone and aad the other three men irien were on their feet they were about to separate for the night although it was still rather early father said his daughter out of the darkness oil oh youre there answered tile colonel 1 I wondered when you were corning coining back I 1 was just th thinking laking of going to fetch you sou Is mr meade tin im here sir good night gentlemen said the colonel ns as tile the others turned way leaving him alone on the platform ife he came to the edge and leaned over the brass railing are you two going to make a night A of tt lie ho asked jocosely colonel illingworth began At aterine eride father said his daughter tit nt the same time we have something to say to you colonel illingworth opened the gate lifted the platform and descended the steps here I 1 am lie said its as ho he stopped by the two i ills daughter took him by the arm jand and they walked down the platform rift so I 1 C when ewhen the bridge Is finished ns as to be out of any possible hearing hearin front rom the car now she said to monde meade who followed her ills heart was beating alil almost lost ns as rapidly ns as it had on the bridge and for exactly the same reason fear of losing lier her lie ile tried to well young roan man illingworth nicking flicking the ashes from ills his elgar and wishing to get it over you said you had something to say to me ile its a very hard thing to say sir ne lie boob looked ca helplessly lit tale girl but site she was speechless it was ills his task if she were not worth asking for site she was not worth having she might have said bald well sir lie he began desperately 1 I love your daughter helen I 1 want to marry her kniph 1 said the colonel 1 I supposed na as much dow long have you and helen known each other over a year sir hut but I 1 loved her from the very verg y moment I 1 saw her I 1 did not dare hope I 1 dream I 1 I 1 never imagined find and strange ns as it may peelie sir she seems to love loe me file of course I 1 do da mid bielen re rifle BY H n company ins ing that hint n was ras biow for to come to III the i a rescue of her ter lover all and so would hotl d n anny ly other woman you linon know of course that while I 1 iiii not rich I 1 inn atil not ifo poor or and I 1 can support my wife in every comfor t SI sir r urged the mail greatly relieved rille cd by y t tho be womans comans prompt IS shell 1 need a few luxuries besides 1 im at thinking yes of courso course sir ill see that tha t she bho pots gets them this bridge is going to make us nil 1111 famous and I 1 shall have my fathers I 1 0 and when the bridge Is finished sold bald the lie colonel decisively come to me e nad and you shall have my laughter daughter oil oh fr ither tha bridge wont bo be ila islieb for began bogan the girl 1 I understand sir answered the engineer too happy nt at her fathers con sent to make any difficulties over any reasonable conditions he ha might impose yes helen its till nil right your father Is right i tills jobs got to be done dome before I 1 oil dont say before you trickle tackle tin nn other protested the girl half alsap pointed and yet iet seeing the reasonableness of both men while the colonel laughed gri grimly nily about tile the size of it said th tho old ir no matter how you ou put it one ming mt at a alme ailine mende meade I 1 dont know anybody on earth eaith I 1 would rattler ant ier have for ray my son in ln law than a clean li honest onest able american with lah n record like yours A man who can look me in ili the eye ee and grasp me by the hand like tills this lie III put out his hand as he spoke mcaden own palm palin met it and the two roen men shook hands unemotionally but firmly after the manner of tho the self restrained practical american who Is always fearful of a scene and does not wear his heart upon his Is sleeve the colonel threw away ill his clear slipped ills arm around ills his daughters waist kissed hissed her softly on the fore forehead licad 1 I late hate to lose you helen izelen I 1 hate to give you up to anyone we ve have neen very happy to together since your mother tiled died leaving you a little girl to me hut but it had to come collie I 1 suppose and perhaps trips I 1 shall be glad lit bi the end good night blonde you will be coming in presently helen if iio and walked awny ns as they answered him they watched him go slowly with bended beaded head they watched him film climb rather heavily up tho the steps to tho the car that lie he was an all old man scenic rather suddenly borne in ili upon them lie he stood for a moment I 1 in 11 the light smiling remembering and then turned and marched within the tha cor car ile ho switched tile the light out is as ha passed down the corridor he splendid said helen when she had time to breathe and freedom to speak one olle of the finest old men on earth lie ile and father would make a grent great team 1 I was interested in the bridge he be aire anre said the woman but think low I 1 dball watch it now you roust must write me file every day and tell me t very inch bilat alint you yott have gained trust me ril ill measure it in millimeters and now sweet love good night site she whispered and she laughed as she looked bock back tit at him through tho the door CHAPTER IV the deflection in the member three T tree lays after the departure departs e of the illingworth party the young engineer fell ill with follicular lItts which Is about the meanest small thing that can lay it strong man low lie ile fretted over his enforced absence from the work and in the end lind had to any for that very fretting for lie got up tip too soon son and went out too quickly and was promptly forced to bed again as a consequence of ills impatience now after a weeks confinement in his chibin lie felt strong enough to venture out again and to attack his problems they were personal probles now flow much more intimate than before for lie he was building not only the lie bridge but weaving in its web of steel ills his own fatur future happiness of course lie ho had been able to got get out ont on the rough porch of ills his galvanized iron shack where he had tile the bridge in full view and tile tho day before lie ho had even walked uns unsteadily down clown to the lie river hank anti where lie he had find item been equally equall surprised and delighted tit at tho the progress that had been made abbott was waa it a driver after ills own heart ilea ly things seemed to have gone on just as well without him as if lip find been on oil the lie job lie iio had not been lonely in his illness for till nil of the lie chief men connected with tile the construction lind done their best to beguile lie gullo tile the tedium of ills his hours by visiting him whenever they could spare the time abbott lint been especially kind in a ills his goine what dougli ond ready way the me big construction superintendent was fond of meade although lie he un er valued liliu him ile he regarded him more as a theoretical theoretIc ill than a practical ann and the inevitable between the theorist and the ho practical man when they aro are not combined in one personality sona lity was intent in abbotts henrt nightly he brought to mende meade details of the progress of tire work that eve binl si just before lelly ing lie S remarked lit in the most casual manner tu in the world us as it if it were a matter mattec of little or no importance that C 10 it II ans a trifle out of 1 lue hue I 1 1 now aw C 10 it was the biggest member I 1 of 0 the grout great right hand truss trusa on the side ot of the river it consisted or of four part illel composite webs each forli formed led of if several plates of steel riveted together these webs were connected across their heir upper and lower edges edge by dingo wil latt latticing leing dinatle f if steel angle burs bars C 10 it II and its parallel companion member 1010 C 10 L lit in the lefthand truss curried carried flip DIP entire weight of the cantilever aprin sprin to the shoe resting on the pier these nr members embers were sixty feet long anti ive five feet wide tile the wens weri over four feet deep find tri in size and responsibility re tile grent great struts were tile the most lost important of the whole structure to say that tant C 10 R was out of lit awant that it hurl had buckled or herit 1 was springing nud and tin and departed from that lint rigid rectangularity and ism which wits necessary to ta maintain the and of tin the trum tind and tit tho strength of t tile the bridge to tile theorist nothing on oll cirth could lie be more terribly p portentous or than such a ement if it vere true to the lie arite fault who to do litin him justice hat and never dealt with such vust vast structures and lie ho wits not singular lit in that hut ie b e cause the bridge was unique on account of its size the deflection noted bennt len fit little or nothing good ond god I 1 meade aflalo 1 on I tho the instent wit with lip the night flight was warin and lie virg dressed lit in ills lin junins and lind find lioen been lying on the hie lied bed am aa if lie ho 11 and ad luen been shocked into action lip he sat up forgetful of ills his weakness Deflect deflection lon I 1 lie balry shouted nt ct abbott who regarded him with linof anent it camber in fix C 10 10 it why you tell trip ino by tills this time lime mende meade had got his bis feet into ills his slippers and was standing erect it enough to make anny difference answered abbott quickly perhaps a 0 little it makes nil all the difference on oil earth en th cried meade it means tho the ruin of the bridge lie ile reached for ills his jacket hanging at the hie foot of the bed bd lind and drugged it on him dont worry vorry about it youngster said ablott abbott rather contemptuously 1 nl I though lie he meant to be soothing ini ill going to jack it into line and here he cried ns as mcado bolted out of the door aoud better not excite yourself that lint way wa come back to bed man slid and hut but mende was out of the houie houge it was vas summer anti the lie sun had set hut but tile the long twilight of tile the high latitude still lingered before him rose the gigantic structure of the bridge for till ill its airiness atrin ess it looked as substantial sul stantin ns as the kock of gibraltar and it looked even more substantial it if possible a the man seizing n lantern and forgetting ills his weakness ran down beneath the overarching steel to the pir hoad hend climbed up IV to tile the shoe and crawled out on the lie lower chord ay rapidly us as lie ile could moade mende needed but one glance to see the deflection from the right light line in tile alio important member for all hla I 1 I 1 is years of inexperience inexpert ance lie he was a better trained mined engineer than lhnn rough tind and ready abbott what appeared to tile the latter ris as a slight deflection sieade mende saw raw in its true relation there re was as n variation arl atlon in the center of the member of tin an inch and it halt half at least ni though ill nil noticeable to tin an untrained ned pye pe it find all come collie in tile the last week they ani extended the susi spun span far nut lit beyond tile the odge edge of the lip cantilever and with th ahr heavy traveler nt at tile tho end the downward pressure pre hure on the grint lower chord members had greatly increased it irris n terribly heavy beavy bridge tit nt best it had to be to sustain so long 11 span tho the longest in tire lie world and the lond continuous and increasing lind find brought about this to the lit dmn 11 trifling to the engineer mighty bend bead if it bent that wily anor that much tl of f it load what would it do when the wi whole ac e great span was completed and it had to carry its transitory loads of frallic beside when two dIf different Terent views meet it la Is natural that age aee experience reputation and authority shall carry the day although bertram mende mcade jr lind had never been persuaded in ili all particulars of aird lie soundness of its his fathers design find could not be persuaded that vast experience that great reputation alint undoubted ability with its long lone record of brilliant lind had tit nt lost last silenced him lie ile had find accepted through loyalty that w which I 1 I 1 I 1 c 11 1 ho 1 0 could not accept in argument 0 onca n c 3 accepted lie acted accordingly heartily seconding and carrying out the wishes of the older and na as the world would say the abler man the thing abat smote the en engineer ineer hardest was dint tills this weakness was s exactly what lie he had foreseen and pointed out it the of tho the inability of this grent great mern loor to carry the atre s tant chrit 1 young meade auld deduced by using the formula of it was this point and this point particularly hat hat lie had dwelt upon with ill his father r mild which they lind had argued to a finish so strongly had lie he been impressed with the possible structural wen weakness kness of this m member that lie ho had find put himself on record in writing to ills his tho the old lid roan man lind had overborne ailta unit now the little curve one and a half to one and chrep quarter inches in sixty fet feet tho the nr ne curacy of his unheeded contention content lon vainly now flow ho wished lie he hod find not let tho the old of affection tind tho the little touch of nwe with which lie be regarded chiq hi father per a naner 0 his reason to ga da |