Show wr 0 EMILIE LORING NI e t law arab wnm i SYNOPSIS THC 1119 STORY SO FAR 1 AR bruce liar alaska entin c er on a rare vs visit court S new york w to confer with alth heill heads of 01 to anas a ladys lady slipper black company pany blo U coBi itan bu buckled IWO with brilliants brilliantz brilli ants in the mid 61 of clifta inn 1 avenue atau lie ile Is 13 leaving the text for the north ile e trie to find bd secretary for or the camp but I 1 none one ol of the me men inen interviewed wanted to to 0 o to ask ile he answers answer an ad asking for or me be return ot of the lne slipper ill to his amaze meat the orl firl who lott lost it Is jal janace trent tnt sister of a college caum whom he knew idd jacce Is to be married to ned as i a paxton paston rich but a bit too gay with the tidies ladies janice and ned quarreled in an about to leave but auto uto and the she was mind the slipper however her cha chahid aid C had bad dropped off bruce impulsively asks her to break off the marriage but the she leads him oil to 1 talk ot of alaska tow nw continue with the story CHAPTER 11 II what had janice meant by that but bruce kept blithely on 1 I referred to the breaking up of the winter ice weve been building a bridge it spans a river which flows between living glaciers it makes my teeth chatter it sounds horribly colda colda ill say it was cold snow storms were continuous but it always like that in winter there are days when the banks of streams are vague and misty with young green and you can smell spring in in th the air I 1 r the summers or aie e glorious sunshiny do days ys birds singing long twilights ferns and brilliant flowers fruits and vegetables double the size of those grown here do you live in a tent when when on location by on location do you mean when im at headquarters A gentl im a house owner three years ago a young youn g architect joined the outfit as a draftsman someone h had ad fooled him into thinking that the experience peri e r ien ence c e in in the frozen north would lengthen n g then his life he came with an outfit suitable for winter sports and a pair of pearl handled revolvers to keep him cheerful and occupied I 1 suggested that he draw plans for a log house tor for me he was not physically fit for anything else what is is it like im all excited he called it an H house it is is built of logs chinked with moss there is is a long room in m the middle with the length of the rooms at elther either end going the other way with a pencil he drew the letter on a card like that stone chimneys at each end of the living room provide fireplaces for the other two rooms we use those in summer in winter good old yukon stoves are the only things which will keep us warm having gone so far in our plans we lost our heads went cuckoo and added a model kitchenette anda bath for each bedroom sent for oodles of price lists and catalogues cataloguer catal of fittings the boy architect and I 1 had the time of our lives selecting them I 1 spent money like a drunken sailor did the boy architect get well no a tough break for him he was the nephew of the samp sisters your H house sounds marvelous 1 I have believed it could mean so much to me when I 1 mush into headquarters behind my dog team I 1 can see perhaps through falling failing snow smoke curling upward from the chimney the glow from lighted windows sets the icicles which fringe the eaves agleam snow piled almost to the roof sparkles like an old fashioned christmas card although I 1 know that only my husky tong end and my houseboy house boy pasca are waiting for me a sense of homecoming home coming warms me to the marrow into the silence which followed boomed the voice of a tower clock she rose quickly ive kept you here talking and talking if you dont hurry you will miss your train I 1 wish I 1 wish I 1 dared cared make you miss it ile he caught the glint of tears in in her eyes as he laid the costly wrap across her shoulders deis A tide of passionate desire to pick her up in in his arms and run away with her possessed him at her door he said unsteadily youve given me a wonderful memory to carry back to alaska the quick almost frightened clutch c of her fingers touched his mood blood with flame dont marry him jan dont she twisted tv isted one hand free to press a against ainest his lips dont say it thel i en never be sorry goodnight he kissed the slim fingers fervent ly goodby good by he whispered 0 4 0 from a spur on an alaskan moun ta inside bru bruce ce harcourt regarded jie recently completed bridge which straddled radd led the river the breakup was ascue due any hour any minute it wont be long now before we know ow how go good ad we are he told himself he turned at a hall hail A man an almost broad his as as long in akimo parka which hung down to meet beet th tops top of his skin boots was toward him tubby 1 back so soon boy but lm in glad to see youl you 1 theodore if teodore grant juniors green ayes s responded respond ed to the affection in in the e greeting his face was rough frore lack ot of a shave but his teeth hn d beautifully dutifully auti fully white as he pr grinned eri nned r ot alf IV I 1 Y 4 1 2 your 11 II house sounds marvelous ive got him ba goehl got who got who has your memory frozen up the secretary an assist antior ant for myself theodore grant jun i or accountant extraordinary for this branch of the alaskan eppedi force to crack a way through the great northwest how did you get him from an agency in in seattle they sent him on the first boat ill bet the old tub had to plow and crush its way through ice ice and keep your shirt on bruce I 1 brought the samp girls the samp girls have you gone plumb crazy now li steril listen Liste nl I 1 look here does hale know halel he got to say about it considering that hes chief of this outfit considerable chieft chos had to take his place most of the time this winter you he open opened e d up high wide and I 1 handsome while you were away he got the indians indian on their ears driving them likes like slaves when he e was sober and chucking their squaws squads under the chin when he was plastered ili just the same why the dickens did those two women leave the waffle shop at headquarters which is is remote enough to come ou out here there to this wilderness of snow and ice ice what I 1 asked them martha inveigled me into the shop to talk it over heaped my plate with the hottest cris crispest pest waffles dripping with melting brown sugar and butter bruce butter filled my cup with honest to goodness coffee and reminded mary and I 1 cant do missionary work with books but we can with food one of the biggest forces which prods men on to deviltry is is the trash they put into their stomachs that bridge youre building is is a big thing for the country ive io been talking with the men who worked on it they claim th that attwill twill stand or fall in the spring breakup 11 ashes right martha argued be here long that she and mary would like to see the interior and on and on ad lib ad infinitum that she wanted to keep our courage up lip with good food she has the missionary spirit all right waffles and brown sugar real coffeen harcourte Har courts opposition oozed now that they are arc here they will have to stay I 1 cant spare a man to take them out got your secretary located the samp girls have taken N him lim under their wings iles hes no caveman E even ven in in his parka and muk luks hes as slim as a fishing rod iles hes got a little mustache like the down on a yellow chickens back black curly hair big crimson spots spots on his cheeks checks 1 I get you T E why he was willing to leave the land of lights and movies A workman came running toward them chester he said sent mp me to t tell c 11 y you u th the L false works oris has suddenly Hir bedl harcourte Har courts face whitened the false works tile the two thousand piles which had been driven forty feet into the bottom of the diverl how much quid fifteen inc liesl sudden as the crack of wheres hale gone back to headquarters with his dog team said everything was OK need him hed take the boat out to seattle to get mrs hale said soud had your leave he hed d take ins his gonel gone without withof t letting me knowl know I 1 get every man out cut har court started on a run in the prolonged nightmare which bruce harcourt felt as fo followed lowed tho though ugh he were his own double look ng ina il at a great motion picture steam from every av available engine was tu turned arned into eve eiery ry a available ai lable feed pipe pipe men chopped seven foot thick icly ice away from the piles A stinging bedle arctic night settled n down the river rose the forest quiet nuiet was brok broken en by the chop chop of picks the i piles must be kept hundreds of cross pieces piece s were free unbolted the shifting into place began no man relaxed his lance until another stood ready to go on with his job if he thought of anything but the bringing back of the bridge into place harcourt thanked cod od for the samp sisters they were indefatigable ig a b I 1 e they made the men stop for hot coffee and waffles put together sandwich fashion with succulent brown sugar once he glimpsed a boy hovering in the background the new secretary melting chopping coaxing melt ing chopping coaxing the hours dragged on inch by slow inch the span settled back on its concrete bed haggard exhausted with a two days growth of beard on their faces the engl engi beers watched the last bolt driven in from the distance come came a faint rumble it increased in volume grant clutched harcourte Har courts arm its co he whispered through stiff lips the rumble increased to a roar the river had broken loose carrying ice ice and timber before it it swept along on its mad rush to the sea rigid tense the two men watched the wreckage and ice sweep by the bridge stood immovable against the onslaught grants eyes were unashamedly a sham edly full of tears youve done the trick bruce this day will mark a crisis in in your life and hotels hales the name of that secretary of yours tubby jimmy delevan delevan did he help during the late excitement sure he be did ile he was everywhere perhaps not so helpful in in some spots as in others one of the men found him freeing a snowshoe snow rabbit which had been snared when he explained that the rabbits were the chief source of feed for the dog teams jimmy delevan went quite white walked off without answering but with the rabbit clutched tight in in his arms like a baby 0 0 three shrieks of a small steamers titanic siren echoed and re echoed among tho the snow tipped lipped mountain tops B o a tl B o a tl tile the cry sot set in motion eskimos and indians countless uncanny echoes dogs responded with wolfish walls 1 I never watch that boat come in in but I 1 wonder what turn old fortune will give her wheel observed grant at his elbow its arrival is is packed with significance tubby so many on this last frontier have posts pasts ill ill bet the wheel turns for hale this time ile he and the mrs are coming in on this boat its six weeks since we fought to save that bridge ile he went off to seattle before he knew that it would stand the breakup im mighty sorry for his wife but our reports went by air must have reached the authorities weeks ago 1 11 I made mine mine as charitable as possible considering the fact that tha t a flaw in in construction imperils im perils hundreds of lives and wastes thousands of dollars ill bet you put on the soft PC pedal dal bruce in the interest of cool and impartial accuracy jimmy C chester ester ba gosh how he hates joe hale if ial le I 1 if he is his broth brother er in law a and nd I 1 in my capacity as account accountant ant for the outfit I 1 reported unvarnished facts here come the mail bags and stephen mallory its good to see the dominie again im glad were back on the coast even if we are hundreds of miles from civilization I 1 wonder how long well vell have to stay in this raw place until we have developed a railroad terminal the authorities have decided not only to extend the tracks north but to connect the alaskan system with seattle san francisco and ros los angeles what ive bee been n doing these last six weeks ever even got a piece of track laid as an object lesson left jimmy chester in char charge ge iles hes a human dyna dynamo mo in spite of the fact that he looks like a stage romeo part of this outfit is to scout by plane and report bridge pos pcs abilities that means that next winter well vell begin pier setting again hows the naw secretary w working irking out TO fro RE BE CONTINUED |