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PAGE 8IX - THE ATHENS DAILY BANNER, ATHENS, OA. FRIDAY MORNING,-JULY* 82, 1921. 9H CRITTER L-Oraiiam > Norcros*. r*U* rood manager, ana nli secretary, Jlmmla Dodda. art marooned at Sand Creek rid* tag with a young lady. Sheila and her small cousin, unseen, they r __ullar train holdup," £2 car Is carried off. ~CH H.-TTortross redhgnttes -THl as John Chadwick’s, financial whom he was to meet at Portal City. He and Dodds rescue Chadwick. The fetter offers Nor cross the manager ship of the Pioneer Short Line,, which Is tn the* hftnds of eastern speculators, hhadeg by Breckenrldge Dunton, presi dent of the line. Norcross, learning that Sheila Macrae is stopping at Ported City* ctfAptfiR fit-Botts dv^rtTekrt cOT- which, they admit complicity In Chadwick kidnaping, their object being to keep Chadwick from attending a meeting of directors to reorganise the Pioneer Short lice, which would Jeopardise their Intar- ...... .orporatiom fs or cross forms the dtisens' storage and WarthouM com pany. He begins to manifest a deep In terest In Sheila Macrae. Dodds learns that fhelfe is married, but living apart from her husband. Norcross doss not CHJ&TER V. — Hatch, aware that Doddjrh&a knowledge of his end. Handl ers participation In the Chadwick kid naping, offers him inducements to leave Norcross. Dodds refuses. Leaving the office, he Is knocked senseless.. Recov ering consciousness, he learns that Nor- cross Has disappeared and Is bedtveft to have resigned and gont east. CHAPTER VI.-D< cross’ disappearance of- H*tah and Henckel, ing strength sets out to • solve the my#- « CHABTBn VII. -with _JBrg*n, JUS ro.d'11 master mechanic, Dodd. get* ft Ho. oa Norcro,,’ disappearance, ThftT follow .a clue ftlr.n {Site shroiith tr mtsaln* locomotive. CHAHTER VIIl.-TIii rsscu* party'Bud* •ad rslsases Norcross from captivity to which he had bscn lured. Norcro,* rs- lum.a control of the l’luneer Ehort Lino, rofualnc to give placo to man whom Dunton ha* sent to tak* chare*. i IX.—Dodd* follow* an *ml*- R«d Tow.r poople, spying on , to a coal yard, where ho over- . plot to put Norcro** out of tin,**, and at the risk of hi* Ufa frus trate* It. CHAPTER X.—At the nemo or esnena ... §g£ oTT'Jl 12'BMf K ; Whte. Bobby Kr!*o .hot «*na on tb* Ilf* of hi* fri.nd and hoaa oa wo all made a quick He prepare, to defend him. CHAPTER XL-The eudden return of ■holla'o unci, driven tho Intruder away. rerrmf***"—— — ' nephew of itlve Then grinned like a good-natured little Chinese god. ‘'Whd gave yon this idea of taking the pay-roll Into your confidence, Gra ham?” ha aaked softly. For the flrat time In all the week* and month* I'd been knowing him. the brag dodged; dodged Juat Hie any of ns might “I've been talking to Major Ren. drlck,” he said. “He I* a wise old man, Upton, and he hear* a good many things that don't get printed In the newspaper*.' I could aee that this exense didn’t fool Mi. Tan Britt for a single lb atant, and there was a look In his eye that I couldn't quite understand. Neither could 1 make ffiuch out of what he said. “We'll go into that a little deeper some day, Graham—after this" epilep tic attack has been fought off. This Idea—which' you confess Isn't your own—Is a pretty shrewd one, and I shouldn't wonder If It would Work, If we can get It In motion before the hoodoo breaks ns wide open. And. aa you say, the accusation Is Justifiable, even If wo can't prove op against tho Haleb outfit That turned-over rail In Petrollte Canyon, for oxample, might 1*4* Men helped along It was Kelso, Mr. Van Britt’s sten ographer, smashed in with the Inter ruption. He was . In his shirt-sleeves, ad if he’d Just got np from his type writer, and he rushed In with his mohth open and his eyes like saucers. “They—they want you in the dis patcher’s office!" he panted. Jerking the wonts out at Mr. Van Britt "Dor- gin has let Number Five get by for a heedeader whit the 'Flyer,' end he's gone craby!" 1 j C. . && CHAP XII tha Pioneer Short Lino. icka oil tho lino, Impoootbto to ox- , causa alarm to tho management. TER XII.—Dunrtn. night dlo- wenor. route* paoooncor and freight train* to moot on a single track. Dlo- aoter la narrowly averted. Durgln com mit* suicide. leaving evidence that he waa bribed to bring about collision. CHATTER XIII.—Evidence accumulate* Norcro**' enemies are plotting hi* but against all advJc*.h* oa a trip on a special train over *, pilot engine, traveling ahead* CHJ drain; on a i . . • A pilot engine, trave displaced roll which the special down a i cross hear* for the l ___ Macrae l* married. He^faae* to I agalnT President Duntonbad been o# the Job somewhere, I gue»4 but now h* waa back, and the tblngf. he wired to the boat were enough to make-your hair stand on end. I looked every day to ape Mr. Norcross pitch the whole abootlng-match into the fire end quit, - mdj . He'd never taken anything like Mr. Dunton'a abuse from anybody before, r and be couldn’t seem to get hardened to It. But he was loyal to Mr. Chad wick; and, of coune, he knew that Mr. Dunton'a hot wires were meant to nag him Into resigning. Then there . was Mrs. Sheila. I sort of suspected C yras holding him up to the rack, ry day and every minute of the day. It was one evening after he had been out to the major's for Just a little while, and had come back to tbs office, that he sent for Mr. Van Britt, who was also working late. There was blood on the moon, and I saw It In the way the boss' Jaw waa working. “Upton,” he began, aa short as pie- erntt, “have yon thought of any way to break this wreck hoodoo yetT’i Ur. Van Britt sat dowp and crossed bis solid little legs. “If I had, I shouldn't bo losing deep at the rate of five or six bonrs a sight," he rasped. “There's one thing that wa haven't tried,” the boss shot back. “We'v* leeo advertising It as bad Inek, keep ing our own suspicions to onrfkelvi and letting the men believe what t! ideated. We’ll change all ttffit want yon to call your trainmen In aa as you can get at them. Tell -from me. If you want to—that that* Isn't any bad Inck about it; that the enemies of this management at* making an organized raid on the property Itself for the purpose of pot ting us out of the fight Tell them the whole story. If you want to: bow we're trying our beat to make a spoon -out of a spoiled boat, and how there 1* an army of grafters and wreckers In this state which la doing Its wont to knock us out of the box. “If yon give the farce something tangible to lay bold ot It will w*rk the needed miracle.' It Is oply the., mysterious that terrifies Railroad em ployes, at a whole, are perfectly In telligent human beings; (Open to con- vlction. The management which doesn't profit by that fact ls-Jame. If yon <to this and appeal to the loyalty of thfe' men, yon will make a private detec tive out of every man in the train qrrriee, and every one of them keen tp be the lint to catch the wreckers. Tow ran add a Mt of a reward too thafc If ion like, sad m pay It The Helpless Wires hi* news at quick break for the dispatcher’s office, the boas In the .lead. Durgln, the night dispatcher, fkgfclMgDr|kno on fjm qgp ijesk, and the only other operators on duty were the car-record man and the young fel low who acted as a relief on the com mercial wire. When we got there, we found that Tarbelt bad happened to be In the office when Dnrgln blew up. He was sitting In at the train key, trying to get Crow Gulch, ^he one Intermediate wire station between the two trains that had failed to get their “meet" order*, and this wa* tho flrat I knew t)iat he really -was the expert telegraph- operator that lilt ' pay-roll description said ha wsi. Dnrgln looked like a tortured ghost H* was a thin, dark man with a sort of‘scattering beard and limp black hair; one of the clearest-headed dis patchers In the bunch, and the very laat man, you’d say, to gat rattled in a tangle-up. Yet here he was hunched In a chair at the car-record table In the comer, a staring-eyed, pallid faced wreck, with the sweat standing In big drops on his forehead and his hands shaking as It ho had the palsy. Morris, the relief man, gave us the particulars, such as they were, speak ing In a hushed voice as If he was afraid of breaking In on Tarbell'a steady rattling of the key In the Crow Gnlch station calL “Number Fopr”—Four wag the ee*t- bond “Flysrf'—“it fire bimh off km time,” be explained. “Aa near aa I can get It, Durgln waa going to make her ‘meet’‘with. Number Five at the blind aiding at Sand Creek tank. She ought to have had her orders some what* west'of Bauxite Junction, nkd Five ought to ha to got hers at, Bants. Durgln says he stably forgot tint the 'Flyer* was running late: that the was still out and had a ‘meet’ to make somewhere with Five.' Brief as Morris’ explanation wan knew the road and the schedules. Tb* regular meeting-point for the two pas senger trains was at a point well east of Portal City, Instead of west, and so, of course, would not concern the Desert Division crew of either tralni since all crews were changed at Porfil City,. From Bants to Bauxite Junc tion, *Mhe fhlrty-Md Mile*, there was only one telegraph atatlon, namely, that at the Crow Gnlclt lumber raptp, seven mlles beyond the.Tlfober Modi tain "‘Y“ and the gravel pit where the stolen 10U had been abandoned. Unluckily, Crow Gulch waa only a day statloo, the day wires being hu- filed 'by* a young man wh< wa* < kill 'In the pay of the railroad and’ half In that-of the saw-mill company. This yppm mkn slept of, tb* mill, camp, which waa n mile back in the gnlch. whs Ofaly Ota*'lOfctg 14 * thou sand that be would be down at the tnJUond station at ttt o'clock at nlghf, and' II was On Ihat thousandth wafts “There Is a Tong-dlstanee telephone to.the Crow Gnlch aaw-mlll; have, yon tried that?" ha barked at Tarbeil. The big young fellow whd looked Ilk* a cow-boy—and had really been one. they sold—glancedup And nodded: "The r*l|’s Jp,“ he responded: “‘Cen tral’ «ay» "be can’t raise anybody.” For tlie next three or four minute* life tension wa* something fierce. The boss and Mr. Van Britt hdng over the trrtin desk, and Tarhell kept up Hi* Insistent clatter at’the fceji. I bad an eye on Durgln. He waa still hunched up. In the record-man’s chair, and to all appeafanceF* had gone stone-blind “I Couldn't Ost mid of th* Ida* That Ha Was Listening." crazy. Tet I couldn't get rid of tha Idea that lie waa listening—listening as If all of his sealed-up senses had turned in to Intensify the one of bear ing. Just about the time when the sn*- peoaa had grown so keen that It aa U- If couldn't b* borne a second longer, Morris, who waa sit ting In if the oflic* phone, called ont sharply: “Long-distance says she has Crow Gnlch lumber eampl 1 ' Mr. Van Britt Jumped to take tha phode, and. wa dot one side of the talk—opr side—Id abot-Uka sentences: “that yon, Bertram? All right; this la Van Britt, at Portal City. Take on*, of the mules and ride for your life down tb* gulph to the atatlon I Get that? Stop Number Five and make her taka aiding qnlck. Report oyer your own wire what yon do. Hurry I" By the time Mr. Van Britt got back to the train desk, the boss had.hla pencil ont and was figuring on Ber tram's time margin. It was now ten- twelve, and Five’s rime at Crow Gnlch waa ten-eighteen. The Crow Gulch operator had Jnst alx minutes in wldeb to get his mule and cover the rough mile down the gnlch. There wa* nothing to dq bnt wait, and tlie waiting waa savage. Tarbeil had a nerve of Iron, but I could see bis band shake aa It lay on the glaaa- topped table. The boas was cool enough outwardly, bnt I knew that la his brain there waa a heart-breaking picture of those two fast passenger trains rushlhg together In the night among the lillla with no hint of warn ing to help then! save themselves, Mr. Van Britt couldn't keep stilt Be had Ms hands Jammed In the side pockets of hi* coat and way pacing back and foftb In the little apace' between the train desk and the counter railing. At the different tables In tbe room the sounders were clicking away as If nothing were happening or due to happen, and above the spattering din and clatter you could.h*gy the escape ment of the big standard-time, clock on the wall, hsmtperipg.out the ses, onda that might mean life or death to two or. three hundred innocent peo ple. In horrible suspense the six minute* pulled themselves out to on eternity for that little bunch of ns In the dis patcher’s office who could do nothing bnt wait. On tbe stroke of ten-elfb- finv the time whed Five was due at Crow Gulch on her schedule, Tarbeil tuned hie relay to catch the first fatnt<, *nd Mr. Van Britt dropped Into • tappings from the distant day-station, chair ns If he had been hit by a can- Another sounder was silent. Tbeiii was hope voiced It In the delay, and Morris “He's there, and. he'a too buoy to talk. Co u*." be suggest*! to a trashed voice; and Dlabrow, the car-record man,added: “That's It; It'd take a minute or two to get them In on the ounder, began- to ratue ont * f of dots ahd dash**; rigged t It wts, bnt *t* conld all road It - A- BWTSSSSaF’SKSS ■7" sad Cro» Onl<% And Fo«r, tbe "Ffyeh" had Jntf left Bauxite—with no orders whatever. Which meant that the two trains would coma together somewhere near Sand Creek. Mr. Van Britt waa aa good a wire mm as snyWsffy oo am Urn, bn; it Tbe second minute passjd, and than a flilrd,' and’yeT~Qi*te~ w«i no ward from Bertram. “Call him," snapped the boss to Tarbeil, but before the ex- cow-boy'a hand conld reach the key, the sounder, began- to . rattle out a string of dots and Mora* It " only too "Too lirte—male threw me and I- had to crawl and drag a game leg— Five pissed fall-speed at ten-nfne- tecn-*r couldn't Make ft" I saw the boss' hands shut np as though tbe Hager nails would cut Into tb$ palms. “That *ids It," be said, with a sort of sweifliff groan In Itla voice; and then to. Tarbeil: "You may as well coll Klrgan and tell blm to order out the wrecking train, ntett have Per, kins make up a relief train while yoa’re calling tbe doctors. Van Britt, you go and. notify the hospital over your ewn sffic*. ^llre. Have my private car pur Into the relief, and see to It tb*Pj()4gf ill file iiecessiry supplies. And you'd better notify tbe undertsker*,'(o*t“ Orest Joasb! but It was horrible— for ns to be basiling around and mak ; Ing arrangements for the funeral while the people who were to be gathered np and buried were still swinging along live and well, bait of them In the crooking* amooglbe Timber Moon- tain foot-hills _ «m tbq other tiff somewhere in tbe desert stretches "be low gand Creek Tirbetf bad Sent Dlsbrow. to the phone to call Klrgan. and Mr. V*h Britt was- turning away to go to Mi own office, tHirit the chair In thfe cor ner by the cac-recortL table fell over backwards With, a crash and Durgln came staggering across- the room. He wuS staring straight ahead of him aa If be had gone blind, and tlie sweat was running ifown Ids fsee to lose It self In tlih straggling beard.. When he' Spoke his voted seemed to come froin away- off somewhere, and lie was still staring it the blank wall beyond tbe counter-railing. “Did I—did I hear somebody ay yoii’r* sending for tbe undertaker*?!’ be choked, with n. dry. rittle tn hi* throat; and then, without waiting for an answer: “Willie you're nt IL you'd Belter get One' for me . . . there’s the money to pay Mm," and he tossed a thick roll of batik bills, wrapped around with a rubber hnnll, over to Tarbeil at tbe train desk. Naturally, the little grand-stand play with the bank roll made d• diversion, and thnt 1* why tb* muffled crash of n pistol shot ennie with a startling , shock to everybody. When we turned to look, the mischief was done. Dnr* gin lintl crumpled down Into a mis shapen heap on the floor and the sight wc saw was enough to make your blood run col! You see, lie had put the mnzxle of the pistol Into Ills mautli, anti—but It's no use: I can't tell about It, and the very thought of that thing that had Just a minute before been a man, ly ing there on tho floor makes me see Mack and want to keel over, Whit he hid said about sending for nn extra undertaker Wis right is right. With tile top of Ms head blown off, the poor devil didn't need anything more In this world except the burying. Somebody has sold, mighty truth fully, that even a death In the family doesn’t'stop the common routine; that the things that have to be done will go grinding on, just the same, whether all of us live-, or some of us die. Dls brow had Jumped from the telephone at tbe crash of Durgln's shot, and for Just a second or so we all siood around the dead dispatcher, nobody, making a move. , Then iff. Norcross came alive with' a Jerk, telling Dlsbrow to get back on Ms job of calling out the wreck wagon* and tbe relief train, anil directing Bobby. Kelso to gq <o another 'phone and call an undertaker to come and get Durgln's body. \Torbell tamed back to the train desk to keep things front getting into a won* tangle than they already were In, and jo wait for the dreadful news, and the boss stood by blah , Tbit second w&lt promised to be the wont of all. The collision was due to happen miles from the nearest wire stntlon; the news, when we should get lt< would probably be carried back to Biuxlte Junction by the pusher en gine Which had gone out to try to overtake th* “Flyer." But even In tbit cate It might be an agoulzlng boar or more before we could hear anytMng. In a little while Dlsbrow had clicked In Ms can to Klrgan, and when the undertaker's wagon came to gather up wh*t was left of the dead dispatcher, the cir-record mttli was hurriedly writ ing off his list of doctors, nnd Mr. Van Britt had gone down to super intend the quldng up of the relief train. True to his theory, which, among - other things, laid down the broad principle that the public had * right to he given all the facts In ■ railroad disaster, Mr, Norcross was Just telling me to call np else Moun taineer office, when Tarbeil. calmly Inking time reports upon the train sheet, flung down his pen and snatch*! nt lilt key to “break” the chnttertoi sounder. Mr. Van Britt had come up-ttfilrt again, and he and the boot were both Standing over Tarbeil when the "G-8‘ break cleared the wire. Instantly there csrae a quick call, “G-S" “G-S" fol lowed by Ihe signature, "I<-J" for Bauxite Junction. Tarbeil answered, and then,we all heard what Bauxite hail to say: "Pusher overlook Number Four three miles west of Sand Creek and ha* brought her back here.' What orders for herr Somebody groined. “£>h, thank God 1' About This Time O’ Year ssts >B Under Thirty nob hall. Only the boss kept his head, (Ailing ont sharply Jo Dlsbrow to hreak off on the doctors' list and to hurry and stop Klrgan from getting aw*j *JU>. the wrecking train. When It wn* nil over, and Tnrb*H had been given charge of the dis patching while n liurry call was sent out for the night relief man. Donoliue, to come down and take the train desk, there was a little committee meeting In the general manager’s office, with the boss In the chair, and Mr. Vi ' Britt -sitting In for the. other mi i'r» dfi 1 FOR qtji ERWIN & GO. Phone 3-4-5. i ";i nt l i. tin i H .. / •’ v ‘ - JS ^. ^ .. V. 1 a »m * VQ$$AUL One six-room housg w Grady In first class repair E. CL FAMBROUGIfc^ S. Parker Gilbert has been mad* i<||f-#etreUry of the treasury, rank ing n*xl lo Secretary Mellon. A*d he it not yet JO. It’s a neydy-greated Job. Gilbert was graduated- from Rutgers In 1912 and the Harvard Law school In 1915. He served on tbe war loan board during the war. < CLOTHESLINE If you will boll the n*W clothesline before using It, yob will find It will last much longer and It will not stretch. “Of course, you'rg drawn your own conclusions, Uptoh," the boss began, when he had aaked me tp shut the door. 'I guess so,” was the grave re joinder. “Pm afraid Jt Is only too plain that Durgln was hired to do It What became of the money?” "I have It here,” said the boss, and he took the blood-money bank-roll from his pocket and removed the rob ber hand. “Count It, Jimmie," he or dered, passing It to me. I nn through tbe bunch. It ms In twenties and fifties, tad there wa* an even thousand dollars. “That Is the price of a man’s Ilf*." said Mr. Van Britt, soberly, and then Mr. Norcross said, "Who kaowt any thing about Durgln? Was he a mar ried man?" Jfr. Van Britt shook his head. “He had been married, but he sod Wi wife didn't llv* together. He bad no relatives here. 1 knew him In the southwest two years ago. He'd had domestic tronble of some kind, didn't mix or mingle much with other men. But lie .was a good palcber, apd two months ago, wb*n we hsd in opening her*, I sent tot Sf J (Conueowkliporrow) jjg Yesterday— When I log u»y purse— I was Feeling Bad— ' And mad—- r '' . Lost faith in eve: Honest Hre— I wps sore and out o’ luck— .1 Said Jack to me » “Use a Banner-HeVald Loht Ad” Andjust to kidhty*, Along . 7 I did— And what d’you suppose? 1 After all that cussing— And f 1 allet Pronto 1 Glad? * Well, I guess— te of faith ity— r-Herald Lost Vault Banner-Herald Want Ads In low shoes at our clearance sale now i- J i .nbnojl ‘n m progress at oil* Broad street stor '• ‘ , / 0<I t)C ,* ; For men* women *fid children yoif . I Attskl J ;.>/•. All) l*v ’• Prices ar^ fewer than quality aftrf style the Very hfettk. '' 1 ' .-jhia 417 Broad St. J*-A» a