Show A from flom vu x nider the M man j by HAROLD TITUS service copyright lr ams V harold CHAPTER VII continued 11 elliott had her wide open now and the loads on that grade ran easily despite the binding cold la in their journals the rock and pitch of the engine were beyond belief it seemed as though its we weight lit must carry cat rry the light steel from its spikes as the careening threw tons of strain first one way and then the other the curve at the trestles approach rushed up the valley toward him and through alliotts elliotts Ell Elli lotta otts mind swam all manner of misgivings it seemed at the moment that it by any freak chance the wheels should stay on the rails then those rails must surely give before the strain that the trains flight would exert as it took that curve ile he threw one quick glance backward to see eee tim jeffers crouched on his high perch as a circus rider might stand on his boldly galloping steed the old man chewed briskly and as he caught a flash cash of bens face spat and made one impressive gesture with a band bidding the younger man get outside ben had bad done all that he be could do tn la the cab nothing within lits power would be of avail 1 if they left the track and inside he be would have no do chance at all should the wild run come to its end in the smoking waters of the river and so he backed into the gangway between tank and engine and slid down to the step clinging to the hand rails staring ahead 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 ben thought he felt her tipping tilting filling the step beneath his feet rising as the force that strove them olt off at a tangent asserted itself ile de 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 had not functioned elliott looked back again tims knees were bent still lower he 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 deiy laid track but she slammed back to balance and her tires chewed the frost and they were e over and charging the rise beyond I 1 ben clambered back into the cab and tugged at the throttle cursing because it would not open wider tie he strained as though by his very posture to help the machinery meet that demand upon it nobly kobly the little locomotive breasted the rise bravely she lunged into that hill with the exhaust roaring fit to beat the rusted burned stack from her she spat cinders and smoke high into the air and the steam clouds from leaking gaskets enveloped elliott El llott curling about him shutting off his bis view they were slowing now the roaring drum of the exhaust had dropped now to a sharp panting they were halfway half halt way up before he touched the reserve lever he let it down slowly a notch at a time using every last inch of the momentum momen turn he be had gained up now three quarters of the way ben could see the rails on the bit of level going at the top up another trains length slowing with each toot foot gained afar off across the snow blanketed cou country a plume of white vapor trailed a break in the forests that was the local crossing the river swinging in toward his bis siding elding go it girl gurll I 1 go it girl I 1 he yelled ft at the engine swinging one fist she shoved her nose over the crest teeming seeming to weave it from side as in distress her drivers slipped and spun a half turn caught on sand held she began a stuttering dying puff the sound bound wavered she seemed to stop and cleared het her cylinders with a short belch she was on top her last breath had bad turned the trick nold hold to it old timer 1 hold to iti it 1 ben croaked the first car gained the crest the locomotive was on the down grade now the second car coming across the peak the third car rumbled over tile the top and tim jeffers dropping his big 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 swing of one arm yanked on the whistle cord to set her voice screaming back on the last car tim clubbed brake wheels out on the first ben drove the shoe home the an ment locomotive dug her heels to in and fettled back down and down they went on the frost slick steel gathering speed that was as alarming as the slowing lowing of their pace had been a mo ment blueni before iut but with every train length traveled tim jeffers was geltin gelting ting more hrubes the humming a heels lie slid she she squealed alit and clattered her way dmn that final mile they had her and r entres ol 01 last and slowly lowly I 1 edged around the curve at the millpond out onto the siding and to a full stop ben dropping down ran across to the main line and held up his band halt half a mile down the track the local puffed in toward him the whistle se gent of up its cloud of steam at his signal he heard the engineer shutting awand off and to in minutes the train slid gild in brakes grinding that stuff go the conductor called sw swinging ginging down from the way car that stuff goehr goes I 1 ben said bald almost reverently and turned to face tim who was filling his pipe with unsteady hands it was a moment tor for the right word but tim jeffers was not a man of words not of many words well you done it he said simply yeah with your help still a camp boss badly I 1 spose id do dol do I 1 lord tim if all right im hired hire to get out logs rg again aln guess ill hit mr buller tor for a cuppa caffee ive rode trains now rid nd again ben but bur of all the rides ive ever took that was what you might call th dang dest I 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 in a AlInne sota 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 narrator not the kid I 1 know brandon rid nd I 1 know tim jeffers Jel lers top loaded for him three winters it if tims back theres a hot scrap on and gosh goehl I 1 but I 1 like scraps alcan youre pulling for tincup ill say I 1 am ami I 1 the bearded man cleared his throat you tou 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 pocket knife and pulled at the lobe of his left ear with his right hand ive heard beard of the place he be said quietly better berter hoist your turkey and come along with me likely he could find a place tor for a good bookkeeper martin smiled oddly but made no other response in far flung camps and will mill towns the story was being repeated just such men were leaving jobs and turning their faces toward tincup known through the lake states for the tyranny that nicholas brandon had exercised there so many years ben sitting with his bis feet on ables desk in the justices office grinned broadly as he told of the latest developments on the job sixty four men in camp this morn you say nice dice wings ben Fillo 1 how can anyone help saying nice things to nice people pe opla site she in maide tide a playful mouth at him and pen ben watching tier lier as site she advanced to ables desk thought again that he never had supposed women grew to such loveliness her errand with the old justice wis brief she and ben went out together dawn davin on her ber way homed home ben to finish his errands in town at the corner where their ways parted they stopped and dawn hesitated in what she had been saying then looking into his face she asked does mr pen ben elliott ever take tea with a young woman you know I 1 am to think that I 1 like to talk to youl you I 1 then tile risk of it reported that im a lounge lizard Is as nothing the house where dawn lived was the house in which she had been born a sprawling white frame structure beneath whispering hemlocks she led ben into a long low room with wide low windows where a fire bre burned on an open hearth the fine odor of baking bread permeated the place and as they entered dawn lifted her voice in a light hall oh ho bo 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 a checked apron her face flushed as by stove heat heal entered hastily yes dearle dearie well belll 1 stopping in surprise aunt em this Is mr air elliott El llott how try dy do dol I 1 her voice was full and deep like a mans ive seen you young man and if I 1 was a hand to say what most folks say id tell you yoo that I 1 feel like were old mends friends she shook hands bands vigorously youre a big young feller ben elleott 1 eyeing him up and down dann dan a laughed again as she drew off her coat dont you tell a soul aunt em but we are going to have teal it if his shanty boys ever heard about it they might think he was too much civilized for them pshaw shawl I I 1 A As 4 it if what other folks think counts count sl 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 belll I 1 you two set and ill get ua tea she hurried out and ben drew up a comfortable chair before the fire in the naif hour that elapsed before the older woman returned ben learned much about dawn this was tier her house her home aunt em then a young woman had bad 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 arrives at the lumbering town of tincup with don stuart old very tick sick man whom he has befriended he defeat bull duval king of 0 the river and town bully in a log birling contest nicholas brandon the towns town leading citizen resents resent stuarts stuart presence trying to force him to leave town and elliott El llott resenting the act knocks knock 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 10 dawn mcmanus lIc Manin cholle whose father has ha disappeared with a murder charge hanging over hi his head crandon brandon sends send duval to beat up ben and ben w him in a list fight and throws him out of camp don stuart dies die leaving a letter for 1111 bilott lott to be used when the going becomes too tough ben refuses to open the letter believing he can win the fight by his hi own efforts effort fire breaks thou out t in the hlll ben leading the victorious fight fleat against the names flames discovers the t lre lire was started with gasoline elliott elleott gets an offer of spot cash tor for logs that will provide money to tide him over but a definite time limit Is set ben meets dawn mcmanus and discovers she Is not a child as he be had supposed but a beautiful young woman the railroad bridge over which the hoot owl lumber m must ius t pa pass alsa and at once to meet the time limit imposed in the contract Is blown blow up u p by y superhuman efforts ben builds a new blidge bildne overnight ing he 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 be had been holding anil and with the milwaukee people ata standing alding ready to finance us it looks as it if you might mabe perhaps be getting ready to find it all down till hill and shady ben I 1 till 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 were doing they cant lose with the lumber behind their notes unless brandon finds a way youve got to watch every loophole benny and youve got too much for one man to do oh its not that bad things are straightening out tims a wonder buller missing a bet we coughr to keep right on stepping ben rose to go and as he be did so BO the door opened and dawn stepped in ID out of the lightly falling snow ohl she cried in surprise it was waa the first time she had seen ben since that morning a month ft ago 0 o when he took the veneer logs on theli thele mad alde to save tile the loot hoot owl operation from immediate Inso insolvency hency am I 1 interrupting rup ting conor comp in dawn sold salil able rising and elliott said bald if you are its ita nice to be interrupted she looked at him and at first her eyes held that coolness wits was almost hostility but this shift pirl vl md ind she smiled 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 doia who are not no ill put it the other way im not congenial company for many people in this country it t their fault its wholly mine her manner which had been easy began to stiffen a bit ben thought as though she steeled herself for an ordeal people eople 1 have a right to their opinions of course evidence was strong against my father but he was no killer he 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 I 1 youve heard beard about my father of course naturally you would they talked after that of personal tastes of the glories of big country of the rhe limited recreations offered by little towns just the movie I 1 now and then theres a dance the girl said but none of the boys seem to want to take like me it Is my fault she was staring moodily into the ire fire 1 I frighten them away sir grandon brandon asks me to go to the movie now and then but I 1 dont know so brandon wants to amuse you yon does doea lie yes iles hes been awfully kind to me always of course I 1 know that able abla and a lot of people think hes after the loot owl and Is quite ruthless about it but they can prove nothing ile he was so BO good to me when I 1 was little and talks so reasonably to me now that I 1 cant believe their suspicions are well founded things do seem to happen at hoot owl sir mr brandond Bran dung dons explanation of the fire and dynamiting Is that you made an enemy of bull desal and his friends and that they are striking back for spite that sounds reasonable it yes said lien unwilling to argue any such point with her at this juncture aunt em came in with food that was surpassingly fine and for an hour they sat gat and talked alle while darkness fell ben was rising to RO go when the doorbell rang aunt ern em went to answer the summons and as a mans voice sounded in the hallway dawn broke short what she had started to say A moment later inter nicholas brandon entered the room the mans face as he crossed the threshold and saw ben was a study lights flickered in his black eyes a faint flush whipped up over his dead half a mile down the track the local puffed in toward him white cheeks and he opened his ups lips as in a light gasp of surprise or else preparatory to sharp speech but he gathered himself on the instant moved directly to dawn and with an even kindly tone greeted her the girl turned as brandon still held her hand band and cen ben thought she was moving it gently for release mr elliott 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 brandon did an amazing thing which went far in explaining dawns skepticism of the towns attitude toward him to elleott El llott tie he laughed he ie laughed easily naturally and in the laughter was an admission of embarrassment barras which rang true indeed we |