Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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By CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY and CYRUS TOWNSfcND~BRADY. Jr. Author abiul Clergyman Civil Engineer This is a Thrilling Siovy of American Life as Strong, Courageous Men Live ft . * Copyright by, Fleming H. Revell Co. * X- I ' — ,> v .X r—”? i ■ e. BERTRAM MEADE CUTS QFF HIS OLD LIFE ENTIRELY AND . GOES FORTH INTO STRANGE COUNTRYtO MAKE r A NEW CAREER ‘ =3— JL" 2 Bertram Meade, Sr., plans a great International bridge for'the. Mart let Conduction c0ni|1aiiy7 11 is son, Bertram Meade.-Jr., resident - T*nyiw , **r'' , Tr»» < » i he"bridge site, and HHawIMingwoFth. daughter wf■Owhinpl 1 ' Illingworth, president of the Martlet concern, are engaged to marry aS soon as the work is finished. The young engineer had questioned his “father's judgment-oil certain calculations and was laughed at for liis •fears. The, bridge collhpses and TfVO workmen . are killed. Meade, ■. unninr, (bops' dbndatbd 1 pT'Tirjg dWlfH 'rUlfUFA fflhh!d f)Wia(T& 5 public, The orders are not carried out. Young Meade takes the- -blame and releases Helen from her engagement T oreftt, prospectors and adventurers, j who sought what they craved in the wild hills.. There were one hr two good hotels for tourists, unusually extensive general - stores of the better class, where hunting and prospecting partiei could be outfitted, and the high-living, ish Mesa another higher trestle had al ready been replaced by' a splendfd steel arch. A siding lmd been built near thp ravine, a path made to tile foot of~ the mesa, and arrangements were being made to run, u local.train extravagant cattle ranchers could get" up from the town when all was com- what they demanded. Besides. -pleted to give The ixsqde an oppdr- these there-were the {widest homes of h, CHAPTER I X—Continued. “Oh,. ray God,” said Meade, more than I can ’bear.” ‘this is and health-giving life-of the Rocky mountains. Of course there .Were nu merous saloons and gambling halls, j. ajtd the town was the haunt of,cow- Mor s.Tmfters,'tn (11 ahs-^thf bl d frontier with a few r touches of civiliza tion adde’d!. ' TS • What was left of the river, which had made the valley—and during the infrequent periods of rain too brief to he known os the rainy season, it really lived up to the name of river—flowed gorge past the other side of the Span| In line of pfcoumtion hasbteen given the level; One qf the men wqnt East last night. You can hqye the job, Which Is - ~ 1 „• “I don’t care anything about the de tails,"* said Hie man quickly und gladly, “It’s the work I want,’*' “Well, you’ll get what the rest do," said Vandeventer. “Now, as yY>u Just- ly^remnTteedr^™hnTvr-fmmd ■wot polite out hero 4o-4equire-4oo etese tun tt y to-ride -up The gorgesnd see the great 'pile ef roekr-en ■■whreh.eoh»rimso was already planning the desecration ly into a man’s antecedents mid I have of a summer hotel, the blasphemy of learned to respect local customs, but an amusement park' we must have sniotrnnme.by. which to Up the valley of the Picket wire one fdentify you, nmke out your pay check, Yndr'iil5S"ir'eaVly - TsrrrcatiuPTTdCfiig ~. ■>*. , ■J And t^e letter had ntflbec^ Ififruror^l anyway, lie did not ?.ven regret the bold falsehood he had uttered or tbo- prnctlcal subornation , of perjury Of „ which he had been guilty In drawing out and accepting an§ emphasizing Short 1 ifTs fektimonyT^ There had been ho inquest over his father's death. The autopsy .had showed clearly heart fallurej He had not been compelled to go on the witness stand and under oath as to that! Al- though, If that Ymd-boen demanded, ha must .pi! trrr^x^-ith TtT~ Ipdeed r so prompt nnd pubUg.liad been his avowals-of responsibility that be had not - been seriously questioned thereon.. He had left nothing uncer tain. There was nothing coficealCa. He had Inherited a competence from his father. It was Indeed much nagte than fie or anyone had expected. *He_ had realized enough ready inor^y from the sale of certain securities for his present needs. The remainder he placed in ShurtllfTs care and few days after Tha-funeralt having settled’ ■saible, he took a — ‘ s)ic.rtli}lV’- said the young engineer,, j, “I don’t want to force you to dp any the mound had hern lieuiw**! up' thing you'don’t want to do and you ■ merrily through tin* town, when It iped up .and covered with .soHs and strewn with Powers snd the*\vorkmeB had gone, "2 have left everything I possess in vour 'CTiTtfge.-- You have a power of attor ney to rereive and pay out all moneys; Tv'depr.sd. tr.wsTv and* carry on my fa ther’s eswity.* The 'office is to he closed and the house is to be sold. My will, in whjf;h I hnve everything to Mfss 11- You n re Revenue man roughly, dressed like the average cow-puUcher from tin* ranches further north. He rode-welt, yet with a cer tain attention to detail and a niceness that bet rayed him to tin* real rough- rider of the range, just as the clothes he wore, although they, were the or dinary cattleman’s outfit, were worn The whole world was before him, and lie was measurably familiar with mafiy porttaas of It. *-He could have buried himself In out-of-thc-wgy jfpft “Do you pay in checks?” “No, but you have to sign a check.?’ “Well, call me Smith.” Vandeventer threw* hnck his head amt laughed. The other ’man turned a 1 little red... The ^hief engineer observed the glint in his new friend’s eye. “I’m not exactly laughing at you,” he' In a little different way that again he- explained, “hut at the singular lack of frayed him. -Tdno look intake face of Inventiveness, of the ..American. We the man, ally if his mustache and hearjl have at lefist thirty Smiths' out of fwo 1 He stretched out his hands toward the hope of finding a.pfactlcable^wny hid the revealing -outltnes of J niouTh j lTundreil men On* our pay roll, and it is! her over the grave. ” | <»¥«*r the mountains, but the ravine on find chin; sufficed to show that- hefe a bit confusing. Would you-mind st*-^ are not in any-mood to discuss these flowed at all, under the name of Picket things,” she said in quick compassion.. ^Yi ro - t\hi*n the railroad came’ the "Some day you Will come hack to ~^Yire had been-first Studied tn he cried, “I dare ln.v'.wori h. i s. i n vouF hands. empowered' to drawjfroin ' ^ \ ir “I don’t knoWj not hope.” . "With love like ours,” ^he answered, “ail Tbings are possible.*-* “I can’t bind.you. You mustbe.free,’ r , ^ rill> H foE 4?’"'^ its narrows, 'was Ip* sakl felowiy, turning his heud. known ns the “Kicking. Horse.” 1 "You ..il^frl i III, mih IIH lieiiililnil 1 the other side of the mesa had been ; was no ordinary cow-imncher. He rode found to offer a shorter and more prac ticable route. Anti, by the .way.* tbls rayuie, taking. Its name from the little dial! liVe and figfit on for love and pi.” b»d bless you.” “Yobjure going away?” she asked at last. I must 'break with everything, was about Tilth siune of the qulet^conr]__ “^.hagh.mimtuwe of ■ uH-pf Thmeg ; Sn the-railroad inn up the rayiiih fidenruTti'giil 'Ivr'flCTiTeXTYiiTnfXsome of too.” the power which knowledge brings mid and the Picket Wire was left still vir gin, to the assahlts of man. But the day came when it was despoiled of its hitherto long standing, uhrnvished in- .1 noceiice. Shouts of men, cracking of 11 whips, trampling of horses, groaning or-wheels, wordless but vocal'protests must give yob^your chance of free dom.” r 7 of beasts of burden mingled with the “Very well,” saifTThe* woman..“Now ringing of axes, the detonations of dy- hear me. You can’t gXso^ far on this nainite. The wMxtle of engines artd earth or hide yourself thorny so* cup- the roar of steam filled the valley. Un- ; nlngly hut that:*I ciin flnd\you and <le“the dir(*ction f>? engineers, a huge maybe follow you. And I willK Now,; mound of ei^rth arose across its nar- r must go,. I left my car-down\{het rowest part, nearpsL_a. shoulder,, or boldly enough among the rocks of the Trail and along the rough road, which locting some other name?’.’ -r “If It’s nil the.sand? to you,’.’ nth; nounced the newcomer amusedly—the had been made by the wheels of the chiof’s laughtec was infectious—“I’m wagiins and h« •» ds- of'the Tiorses. There ^agreeable to Jones, or .Brown, or—•** which “access emphasizes, yet there were uncertainty and hesitation, ‘ too, ns If all had hot been plain sailing on his course. '1 To be th.e resident engineer charged with the construction of'a great earth dam like that across the Picket Wire, requires knowledge of a great -many tilings beside the technicalities of the profession, chief among them being a knowledge of men. As tin* newcomer threw his leg over the saddle-horn, road yonder. Will you go with met* The innn shook his head qnd knelt dowhrh'pfore her suddenly and caught herjskirt in his grasp. Ills arms swept around her knees.' She- yielded one hand to the presstfre~bf. his lips and laid the other upon his head. “Go now,” he whispered, “for God’s Make. If I look at' you I must follow.” CHAPTER X. The Neyv Rodman. Want to Stay Here a Little While by Myself." \. T~ 7 “of the estate your present salary so There are no more beautiful vaTTeyS' anywhere than those cut by the waters of jirjmeval floods through the foothills of the great snow-covered,Rocky moun tains; The erosions and washings ef Tong ns you live. If unytldng happens UI d°Id centuries have .filing out in front to me you will have -the''will probated granite ramparts of succession and lie governed accordingly.” lowen-eleiafiohs like the bastions of "M r. Meade,” s*ald the old-man, and u ^ ortr ‘' ss ; scarcely. ta be dis- ■paMtiMI 1-edn buried beneath the sod on that long mound..before him, to the younger man. H<* had loved jind served a Meaih- ail. his lif? and he began to see fTiaf he could not stop now, nor could lie-lavish what he had to give merely on a remembrance, "Mr, Meade,” he said, “where are you. going and what do you intend to doT* -—“I don't know" where^Ii shall go, or wli it I shall undertake - eventually." saH the mbti. “I’m going to lea ye and escarpments gradually decrease in altitude and size until tliey turn into a series of more or less disconnected, ; running softly rounded hills, like outflung earthworks, finally,merging themselves by gradual slopes into the distant plains overlooked by the great peaks of the mountains. The monotony spur, of the mesa reaching westward. No more should the silver Picket Wire nbw unvexed on Its way to the sea. It was xo be dammed. All that the huge, hot Inferno of baked plalm where sage brush and buffalo grasXnlone grow, needed to make it burgeohswith wheat and corn was water. TheNBtle Picket Wire, which had meanderbd and sparkled and chattered on at Its o*yn sweet jyrill was now to be held untiXit filled a great lakelike reservoir In The hills back of the new earth dam.NThen through skillfully located irrigation ditches the water was to be givenrf the {pillions of hungry little wheatletsj and cornlets, which would clamor for a drink. The fierce sun wns no longer*to work its unthwarted-will in burning up the praifie. _.j IVjth the promise of water oi> the gigttraBS.Hfe “ixb stepped lightly to the ground, drop ping file reins of his pony to the soil at the same time, ‘Vandeventer, the en gineer In question, looked u>Tiim with approval. Som0TroMlfc;$ebognltlon of the mtm’s qpRlity came into his mind. Here was one who seemed .distinctly. gi m > er . worth while, one who stood out above the ordinary applicant for JM>s who cable in contact with Vaifdeventer, as “Really,” said the man hesitatingly, “I haven’t' glvefi the. subject any thought.” , • * “What about "Sotne of your family names? J ’- “That gives me an idea,”, said the newcomer, who , decided to use his mother’s name, “you can call me Rob erts.” l * - “And I suppose John for the prefix.?** “John will do as well as any, I am sure.” “We have ahojjt fifty Johns. Every Smith appears to huve been born John" “How did you arrange It?” asked the other with daring froedom, for a r6d- man does not anter conversation on terms of equality with the-chief en- “I got a little pocket dictionary down at the town with a list of names and I L v . - .vk , went through that list with the Smiths,, the- big mesa rose above the foothill, , hem out ln order> Well> that However the chief kept these things wlll ; >for your nume ,” he said, mak- to himself as he stood locking and ^ a rn «.inoTandum In the little book waiting for the Other man to hejglpj ho nnlb*d »n» nf hlaHunnel cblrt nnnltof "Are you the resident engineer?” He turned to. a man whoTMid come up asked the newcomer quietly, ypt there the level. “Smith," he said—“by the Smith, Mr. Roh- new rodman. You know your job, Roberts. Get to work." might come when a man is And that ls hx)W BerU!am M(iade) a Ngnter upon n course of action, few iponths aftt!r the failure of th e great 'bridge, once again entered the ranks'of engineers, beginning, as was was a certain nervous uotirtn his voice, t AVJlv thills'Mr. Claude \hich the alert and observant engineer orts here’s your new fiuhid himself, wondering at, such a know vour toh. Roberts sti-aic about to take a s' n little shiver L.or.perilous step, such his speech as a-naked He Debated With Himself Whether It Would Not Be Better to End It Than to Live. ners of far countries, ln strange conti nents. These possibilities did not at tract him- He wanted to get away from, out of touch with, the life he had led. He wished to go to some place where he could be practically alone, where he could have tlitte to recover his poise, to think things out, to pfaa his future, to try to devise a means for rehabilitation, If It were possible. He could do that Just as well, perhaps bet ter, in America than in any place else. * And there was another reason that held him tfrhti* WDUld still tread the same soil, breathe the same air, with the woman. He did not desire to put seas between them. ; iTe 'gjyore to himself that the free dom he haihoffered hp, that he had In deed forced upon'bej’unwllllng and re jecting It, should be nonempty thing so far as he was concerned. He would leave her absolutely untrammeied. He s branch mountains and ■S'. V these*'pine-clad, language of the West it “boomed.” The railroad had boon a forlorn up into the, ending nowhere. Its first builders had been daunted by difficulties and lack of money, but as soon as the great dam was projected, which would open sev eral^ hundred thousand aeres<tfor culti vation and serve as' an inspiration in nchers wind-swept slopes. Is^kfT.ken even in I its practical results fp other similirr tin* low hills by ouMnrustings of stone. wintry sea. “I am.” “I’d like a job. “We have no use for row-1 on this dam.”. “I’m hot exactly a cow-puncher, “What are you?” “Look here," said tin* man, -smiling a little, “I’ve been out iu this country long enough to learn that all that it is everything behind now and try Jp get a ’little rest at first.’’.'" . “And you will- keep me advised of --your whereabouts?”. , “1‘rrhnps—I don’t :j;u(iw. last “foal, h;;vX’ : injuin tion: you aVe-nptft the ti vth." t'orhi<h“Xaid Shurtliff, "we lied “j^presprve tin* honor and fsi ie oXhmi we loved who lies here.” oii.'t render Our perjuries of non- et<?* ". . • * I will hot, ^ir. ITmveu’t-fouud that ]»ain rr'T" gupss tC was'Ylestroyed.” ”1 presume so. And now,'good-by.” sometimes f^-^fiard igneous ro?kf the Rranitepf^xhe mountains, more fn>- qu(“Ry the softer red sandstone of a •iod later, yet Ineffably old. These r Tffs,^hnttes, hills and mesas, have been weathered'into strange and-fan- X- “Arenll V<i.u coming with me?” _“1 want to stay.here a little while by ,myself.”. : Shurttiff turned, and ‘walked away. When he reached the road, down which he,must giT he stopped and fucetit^out again. Mead*? was standing wlieye he ha 1 been. The old man took off his hat in reverent farewell. •Mi 'iTde was trot left alone. Beyond' the Jdllside wliere his father had'been l iried rose a clump of trees. Bushes grow at their feet. - A„woman—should nn»u be buried without.woman’s tears? —had stood concealed there waiting. Helene Illingworth had wept over the rfPFariness, the mournfulness of It all. She hrtdhhqped that^Meade might stay after The other hyenL^and now thdt he* was iilone she came to him. S|ie laid her hand .upon his'arnu-He turned and at her, attempts, people came {Swarming Into necessary to know about a man is ‘Will the country buyitig tfp. the land, the ; rnu ^ f * good?’ Let us say that I arp price for acr«*ag*‘ steadily mounting, j nothing and Yet it go,at -that. The railroad' accordingly found it j CHAPTER XI.“ The Valley of Decision. Mueh water had run under the bridges -of the world and incidentally or the wreck of the International, sifKe that bitter'- farewell between Ilortrstra*Meade and Helen Illingworth over tmKgravo of the old engineer. Life had se^inXl t>> hotd ahsolutely noth-'' He knew exactly ^’bere hu wdulff gbw —•• ell anyone ; tastic shapes which diversify the land scape and add charm to the country. The narrow canons in which the stmwTjcd streams take their rise grad ually widen as the water follows its tortuous coufse^down the. mountains^ through the suhshTlhg^rauges and out among the foothills to tln*^sandy, arid, windy jilains beyond. At the erftraj of one of tin* loveliest of these - hri and vehlanXValleys. a, short distance, above 1 “Confluence with a narrower, more rugged ravine through the hills, lay the thriving Mttle town of Coro- nado’ s Some twenty, miles back from the town at a place where the valley was narrowed to a quarter of a mile, and separating it from the paralleling rn- vtjTo. ms,* a huge sandstone rock caTIed Spanish Mesa. Its top, some hundreds, of feet, higher than the tree-clad base of the hills, was mainly level. From sits high elevation the country .could seen for many miles, mountains on oue hand, plains pn the other. It stood like an island in a sea of verdure. Lit tle spurs and ridges ran from It. To ward the range it descended and Con tracted into a narrow saddle, vulgar known as a “hog-back,” where the granite \}t Jhe mountains was hidden : worth .while to take tip the luqg-ahan-, doped construction work of mounting the range and crossing it. .Men suiT* denly*. observed that it was, the short- othing comes,” engineer, ^genuinely ing for Mea<n\as h»* knelt by that low moitnd *ahd wiiXhod the wohmn walk slowly away witnNmany a backward glance, with many Xmiuse, obviously r(*lnctnnt. lit* realized That the lifting a hand would have calmd her bfick. npw TmriT it was for. him f\renmin quiet; and“Tkinlly f before sheNfisai>- peared and h(*fore^sJie took her last lookut him, to. turn hisTrack resolutel ■ ns if to 1 , mark the termination of the situation. . ' • Fatlfef-, fame, reputatihn, love, taken awn “at one and the same moment! A weakerman nTght have sent life--to fol- “I knew that you'would be here,” he under a deep covering Qf £rass-grQwn A Yourt^ Mih Roughly Dressed. said ”Did you see. me?” ' • , “I felt your presence.^'' , “*>7“ ' “Listen,” said the woman. *Tou are wrecking your' Htk for yhur father’s earth, which formed.the only division between the valley and the gorge or ravine, before the land^ widening, rose into the next hill, . The people from miles away Inteieating and curtmrk est distance between polflts, and one of the tinental railways bought it a to replace its ori^ rather unsatisfactory line ThC lohjf whTcE fame. A man has a right perhaps to^tO- do with his own life ^hat he will, but mesa, much more striking In its-ap-Ycrossed the broad, sandy depression In, whm he loves a woman and when he pearance than Baldwin’s knob, the lac^front of the town, the bed of the nn- Uns^ toW her so and she has given him foothill below It. Transcontinental dent river, through which the Picket her heart did It ever occuXtb' yon travelers even broke journey to visit Wire and further down IU sfflnent the i hat when he wrecks his life he Wrecks P * ' “ “Out of s no laughed the flniused.'' . Some men would have been angry, hut Vandeventer rather enjoyed tins. ‘T didn’t say 1 was good for noth ing,” answered the other man, smiting in turn, though' he was evidently seri ous pnough in his application,-.. • “Well, what cuu_you do? Are you an engtirperT* ~ “We’ll-pass-over the last question, too, if you please. I think I could •carry a rod if I had a chance and-there low. j n the troubled days after the wris a vacancy.” ; • . falUof the h/ldg**, his falher’s death, umph, said Vafideventer, “you the' inquests, his testimouy . and evl- tlunk ymi could?” , denee freely given, and that parting, “Yes,-Jsir. Give me a trial:” something.. like .<h*spa!r T had filled the . “4» right, take that rdtl uver there young-engineer’s heart. Life held nnth- nnd go out oq the edge of the darn ing. lie debated with himself Whether it^ethat stake shows, and I'll take a It would not be better to end if th^vrY sight ofr-it^ ~: s y- ' to live It. lie envied his father'his • Now there dreHwo wavs-^-n hundred broken ju'art. Singularly enough, the p<rhaps—of holdiniXH rod; one right thing that made;Ufe'atTtCasf value way ajpd all the others wrTing. A h<?vv- the thing • thaf kept him from comer invariably grasps it' tiglJtfjLjln 1 throwing it avyay—The woman, his fist anil Jams it down, conceiving!^Striving to Tfinalyze the complex'. that the.only way to get it plumb und emottowr that centered about his losses L hold it steady. Tin* exper^tn'ced man he was fcirced 4a* ailfitHt although it“ strives to balance-it erect on its own seemed a sign of weakiiess. That lpYe duise and holds it with the tips of liis -of woman wrfs greater than love of .fingers on either side in an uprigRt.-po- fame? that in the balance one. girl out- -rsiti'on, swaying it very olightly hack- weighed bridge slid, father. That the ward and forward. He does tt : unc‘on- romance J was ended was what mad** iously, tooy j '^^ lif*“ insuriportahle.-Yef-the faifit, vague Tafidcvehfei had heeh staridfng^b^a rsYssl^ilffy fhat ift iplghf ¥e resumeo ilF level alrea^ sv*t up when the new- Jlie could find some'way to show his two cardinal comer arrived^, a.pdijie rod was Tying wqfthlness wusvvhut made him cling ‘ tr^nscon- , on the ground beside 1L The latter to it. - ■ ^ ^ . egan picked It up without; a word, wgJIkiHl Of course he cotric bfcvesbowed rapidly to-the stake, loosened tfaelari “ ithotit aioch difficulty and^ beyond »od balanced the rod OPon the mTndventnre nt tiie, inqiu-vf n\- f r ak. waj. nT not even seek her.to hear About her and of course as she would not know whither he had gone or where he w T a® she could not communicate with him. The silence that had fallen between them should not be broken even for ever unless and unW*- Ah, yes, he • could not see any wuy lo complete that, “unless and until” at first, but perhaps after a while he might. Y < ■ Dick Winters, nnother classmate and devoted friend at Cambridge, had gone out West shortly after graduation. He had a big cattle ranch miles from & railroad in a young southwestern state. Winters,Hike the other member of the youthful triumvirate, Rodney, “was a bachelor. He could”to'jihsolutely de pended upon. He had often begged Meade to visit him The engineer Id do It liojv. He knew Wintej would respect his mqisls, that he would let hlhi severely alone, That h« cou?d get on a^mrse and ride Into the hills and do'whaKhe pToasedvihink out his thoughts undisturbed To Wjnters, therefore, ‘fee had gone, lie had an ijdea that his future would he 'outside'of engineering. Indeed hs Tiad putfiill thought o r his chosen pro- fe>rfoB-nut of^his mind and heart r at cast sq hi? fancied. Yet, spending an Idle forenoon in Chicago waiting for the departure-of the western train, hm found himself irrosistlMy *drii\CTi tfthld great steel-framed stmetures, the sky- scrapers rising gaunt and rigid abovs the other buildings of the city. mwwhI h* rs. and - ^ — i ■ 1 ■ aW The- town s« accordingly, Kicking' Horse, flowed humbly, and his hand, beckonlngly. ““ ^ ^ "*■ “ Lr ‘ stakeXAs ^oon as Vandeventer, oh- |*ott and-The' Investigation. into the served thatTilanew keeker after work cause of the failure of the bridge—unL held tbe rod infheright wayT&e did fortunateTdiut^ t*)b Obvious—thal the not trouble to takeTh^ sight . He frightful ant^foiai errorib^the design raised was not his and that he had pr<Tested ^ * against the accepted plan. It®! ly he in fbe^right threw his head backward A man of Meade's ability will soon find a place Tor himself in any environment, and so it la with the young engineer. ~~Mj(e new start in life is described in the next installment TTO BE CONTINUED.) Sweet Young Thing. - In a Jocal theater, one evening re cently, a powerful spotlight revealed s house fly crawling over the powders* ace ef a pretty girl’a back;—“©hr looklc,” whispered a little girt ln tones that could ^bejicard all about bac; “lookle at the flyX “Hush, dear,” ths child’s mother cmntlwtM. There wns a moment’s