Show M aa rom ot n d by HAROLD TITUS service cop copyright right harold tatu CHAPTER VII continued 11 elliott had her wide open now and the loads on that grade ran easily tic des spite tilte the binding cold in their lour jour cala the rock reek and pitch of the engine were beyond belief it seemed as though its weight must carry the light steel from its spikes as the careening threw tons of strain first one wt way ty and then the other the curve at the trestles approach rushed up the valley toward him and through 1 ra Il lotts mind swam till nil manlier of misgivings it seemed at the moment that if by any freak chance the wheels should stay on the rails then those ralls rails must surely give before the strain that the trains flight would exert esert as it took that curve ile he threw one quick glance backward to tee see tim jeffers crouched on his high perch as a circus rider might stand on bis boldly galloping steed the old can chewed briskly and as lie caught a flash of bens face spat and made one bone impressive gesture with a band bidding the younger man get outside ben had bad done all that he could do to in the cab nothing within tits his power would be of avail if they left the track and inside lie he would have no DO chance at all should the wild run come to its end nd in the smoking waters of the river and so he be backed into the gangway between tank and engine and slid down to the step clinging to the hand rails staring ahead abend ready to let 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 den ben thought he be felt her tipping tilting the ftp beneath his feet rising as the force that strove strode them off at a tangent asserted itself lie ile swung far out to give her that much more balance and they were straightening out with the loads thundering and clanking and leaping behind and he be breathed deeply realizing that for the interval his lungs tad bad not functioned elliott looked back again tims knees fences were bent beat still lower lie ile 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 engine bounced and quivered and seemed to stumble as she took the bevly laid track rut but she slammed back to balance and her tires chewed the trost frost and they were over and charging the rise beyond 1 ben clambered back into the cab and td tugged ged at the throttle cursing because tt it would not dot open wider ider lie 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 hill bill with the exhaust roaring fit to beat the rusted burned stack from her she spat cinders and smoke high into the air and the oie steam clouds from leaking gaskets enveloped elliott El llott curling about him shutting off his view they were slowing now the roaring drum of the exhaust had dropped now to a sharp panting they were halfway half way up dp before he touched the reserve lever ile he let it down slowly a notch at a time using usan every last inch of the momentum he had bad gained up now three quarters of the way den ben could see the rails on the bit of level going at the top up another trains length slowing with each foot gained afar off across the snow blanketed country a plume of white vapor trailed a break in the to forests rests that was the local crossing the river swinging in toward his siding rig go it girl I 1 go it girl I 1 he be yelled it at the engine swinging one fist she shoved her nose dose over the crest seeming to weave it from side as in it distress her drivers slipped and spun a half turn caught on sand held she began a stuttering dying puff the sound U wavered she seemed to stop end and cleared her cylinders with a sll or t belch she was on top ncr last breath had bad turned the trick hold to it old timer 1 hold to it ipen iben croaked the first car gained tile the crest the locomotive was on the down grade now the second car coming across the peak the third car tumbled rumbled over the llie top aud and tim jeffers Jel dropping his bla peavey wormed along the logs and flopped down to the brake wheel as ben shut her oft off set the brakes and with a boyish sn swing ing of one arm yanked on the whistle cord to set her voice lier creaming earnIng back on the last car tim clubbed brake wheels out on the first ben drove the shoe home the an neat locomotive dug her heels in and fettled bak back down and down they deot neot ent on the frost stick slick steel gathering ng speed that was as alarming as the of their puce pace lind had peen a mo before but with every train length traveled tim jeffers was set ing more brakes against the humming wheels she slid she slipped she squealed kod compIn complained ined and clattered tier her way town alwn hint flint final mile they had her loder control at ai last and slowly their edged around the curve at the millpond out onto the siding and to a full stop den ben dropping down ran across to the main line and hold held up his hand half a mile down tile the track the local puffed in toward him the whistle sent up its cloud of steam at his signal he heard the engineer shutting olt off and in minutes minute s the train slid in ID brakes grinding g that stuff go the conductor called swinging down from the way car that stuff goes ben said almost reverently and turned to face tim who was filling his pipe unsteady hands bands it was wag a moment for the right word but tim jeffers was not a nan man of words not of many words well jou done it he said simply yenh yeah with your help still a camp boss badly P 1 spose id do do loid tim lf if w all right im hired to ret get out ont logs again guess ill hit mr buller tor for a cuppa caffee ive rude trains now nd again ben but bur of all the rides ive ever tool took that hint was what you might call fit dang dest I 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 in a minnesota lumber town a bearded man sat near the stove in a small hotel and heard the story of what was happening in distant tincup know him another listener asked the Dar narrator not the kid I 1 know brandon nd I 1 know tim jeffers top loaded for him three winters if tims back theres a liot hot scrap on and gosh 1 but I 1 like scraps mean youre putting pulling for tincup ill say I 1 am ami I 1 the bearded man cleared his throat you think then that the lads got a chance of making it against brandon he asked it sure looks as it if he had a chance with old tincup shanty boys hitting back for their stamping grounds his bis chances are getting better ever been in tincup martin the other closed the blade of his bis pocket knife and pulled at the lobe of his left ear with his right hand ive heard beard of the place he said quietly better hoist your turkey and come along with me likely he could find bad a place for a good bookkeeper martin smiled oddly but made no other response in tar far flung camps and mill towns the story was being repeated just such men were leaving jobs and turning their faces aces toward tincup known through the lake states for the tyranny that nicholas brandon had exercised there so many years den ben sitting with his feet on ables dek in the justices office grinned broadly a as s he be told ot of the latest developments on the job sixty four men in camp this morn ing he sald said over thirty of em new and the best looking bunch of 0 loggers ive seen since I 1 was a kid able glanced at a letter he had bad been holding hoi ill ng and with the milwaukee people standing ready to finance us it looks as it if you might perhaps be getting ready to find it all down hill bill and shady een den I 1 think that interesting this particular bank Is the best piece of work youve done yet nothing able all I 1 had to show was what we ve were doing they cant loe lobe with the lumber behind their notes unless brandon finds a way youve got to watch every loophole denny benny and youve got too much for one man to do oh its not that bad things are straightening out tims a wonder culler buller missing a bet we ought to keep right on stepping tig ben rose to go and as he did so the door opened and dawn mcmanus stepped in out of the lightly falling snow ohl she cried in surprise it was the first time she had seen ben since that thai morning a manth ago when lie he took the veneer logs OD an the theli mad ride to save tile the hoot owl operation from immediate Inso insolvency hency am I 1 interrupting rup ting corn como in down dawn sold said able rising and elliott said gald it if you yon are its nice to be interrupted she jonlich at him and at first her eyes held that coolness which was almost hostility but this relli d laid she smil smiled leA you say nice tunings ben I 1 II IottI ilow how can anyone help saying nice things to nice people site she mado a playful mouth at him and ami lien ben watching her as she advanced to ables desk thought again that he never lind had supposed women grew to such loveliness her errand with the old justice wis brief she and lien ben went out together pawn daun on lier her way home hime ben to finish his errands in town at the lie corner where their ways parted they stopped and dawn hesitated in what hat she had been saying then looking into tits his face she asked does daes mr pen ben elliott ever take tea with a joung woman you know I 1 am beginning to think that I 1 like to talk to youl then the rita flik of 0 having it reported that im a lounge lizard Is as nothing the house houe where dawn lived was the house in which she had been born a white frame structure beneath whispering hemlocks she led ben I 1 cn into a long low room with wide low windows In dos where a fire burned on an open hearth the fine odor of baking bread permeated the place and as they entered dawn lifted tier her voice in a light hall ball oh ho aunt deml sounds came from the rear a door opened and closed and then another door opened which gave into the room where they stood and an ample woman in ID a checked apron tier her face flushed as by stove heat entered hastily yes dearle dearie well belll I 1 stopping in surprise aunt era em this Is mr elliott elleott El llott how dy dol her voice was full and deep like a mans ive seen you young man and if I 1 was a hand to say what bat most folks say id tell you that I 1 feel like were old friends she shook hands vigorously youre a big young feller ben elliott I 1 eyeing him up and down davin dann laughed again as she drew off her coat dont you tell a soul aunt em but we are going to have teat teal it his shanty boys ever heard about it they might think he was too ruch much civilized for them Is pshaw liaw I 1 As it 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 anybody else thinks well you two sit and ill get tea she hurried out find and ben drew up a comfortable chair before the fire in the calf balf hour that elapsed before the older woman returned hen ben learned much about dawn mcmanus this was tier lier house her home aunt era em then a young woman had licen been housekeeper there after dawns mother died she had stayed on keeping the place up through the years that dawn was away at school making a living for SYNOPSIS ben elleott from yonder sir arrives rives at the lumbering town of tincup with don stuart old very sick man whom he be has haa befriended lie he defeats bull duval king of the river and town bully in a log birling contest nicholas brandon the towns leading citizen resents Stu stuarts arla presence trying to force him to leave town and elliott El llott resenting the act knocks him down elliott Is arrested and 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 banging over his head bead brandon sends duval to beat up ben and den ben him lit in a list fight and throws him out of camp don stuart dies leaving a letter for Pl llott to be used when the going becomes too tough ben refuses to open the lotter letter believing he can win the fight by his own efforts fire breaks out in the will mill ben leading the victorious fight against the flames discovers the fire was st started arted with gasoline allott gets an offer of spot cash for logs that will provide money to tide him over but a definite time limit Is set ben meets dawn mcmanus and discovers she la Is not a child as he had supposed but a beautiful young woman the railroad bridge over which the hoot owl lumber mutt pass and a at t on once c e to meet the time limit imposed in the contract la Is blown up by super superhuman h um a n efforts ben builds a now bridge overnight herself by baking and now that pawn dawn was home again she was the girls closest friend and only confidant there are so many people here now koiv who are not no ill put it the other way im not congenial company for many people in this country it their tault fault its wholly mine iler her manner which had bad been easy began to stiffen a bit hen ben thought as though she steeled herself for an ordeal people have a right to their opinions of course courm evidence was strong against my father but he was no killer lie ile never harmed anyone im sure of that when people think of him as alive 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 flint of personal tastes of tile the glories of big country of the he limited recreations offered by little towns just the movie 1 now and then theres a lance dance the girl said but none of the boys seem to want to take me it la Is toy my fault likely she was staring moodily into the ore fire 1 I frighten them away mr crandon brandon asks me to go to the movie now and then but I 1 dont know so brandon branded wants to amuse you does he yes hes been awfully kind to me always of course I 1 know that able and a lot of people think lies hes after the hoot owl and Is quite ruthless about it but they can prove nothing tie was so BO good food to me when I 1 was wag little and I 1 talks so reasonably to me now that I 1 cant bellee their suspicions are well founded still thin things do seem to happen at hoot ai owl mr brandona Bran dons explanation of the alre and dynamiting la Is that you made nn an enemy ot of bull duval dural find and his friends and that they are striking back for spite that sounds reasonable it yes said ben unwilling to argue any such point with tier her at this juncture aunt km im came in with food that was surpassingly fine and for on an hour they bat ant and talked while title dir darkness kness fell beri ben was rising to go when the doorbell rang aunt im em went to answer the summons ions and as a mans voice sounded in the hallway dawn broke short what she had started to say A moment inter nicholas brandon en cerad the room the mans face as he crossed the threshold find and saw cen ben was a study lights flickered in his black eyes a faint flush whipped ahl ped up over tits ills dead 7 n VIC 17 halt half a mile down the track the local puffed in toward him white cheeks checks and he opened his lips as in a light gasp of surprise or else preparatory to sharp speech cut but he gathered himself on the instant a moved directly to dawn and with an even kindly tone greeted her the girl turned as brandon still held her hand and den cen thought she was wag moving it gently for release mr elleott El llott I 1 think you must know sir mr brandon ben bowed a bit stiffly yes he said yes I 1 met him once then nicholas crandon brandon did an amazing thing which |