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About The Red Cloud chief. (Red Cloud, Webster Co., Neb.) 1873-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 1917)
RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA, CHIEF i i m w " i i.. . .----. .i -ir . i i : it - i i l " ' Jf WEB OF STEEL :By CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY and CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY, Jr. Author and Clergyman Civil Engineer Copjrifht b? Fleming II. fUvatl Co. TRY AS HE WILL TO CONCEAL HIS EXPERT KNOWLEDGE OF ENGINEERING, MEADE FAILS AND PROMOTION COMES TO HIM RAPIDLY AT THE DAM Following the collnpso of n great bridge which his father, n noted engineer, hnd plnnned, and the old man's sudden death from disgrace and shock, Bertram Meade takes the blame for the disaster which cost many Uvea and disappears from his home In New York. He goes to the Southwest, gets u Job under the name of Roberts on an Irrigation dam project and makes good. Meanwhllo Helen Illlngworth, Meade's sweetheart, and Rodney, an old friend, re quietly working to clear the young man's name und to learn his whereabouts. They aro par ticularly anxious to get possession of a letter written by the elder Mcado to assume responsibility for tho accident. This paper is secret ly held by Shurtllff, who hud been the old man's devoted private sec retary for muny years. CHAPTER XII Continued. "I believe you are right," said Rod ney, leaning back In his chair and staring at her through his glasses. "IT we can only rnako him speak But vrbero Is ho?" "Working for my father." "What do you mean?" "I mean that I suspected him from the first, and as there was an opening for a private confidential man, who un derstood engineering a vacancy made by tho promotion of my father's pri vate secretary I prevailed upon him to give the position to Shurtllff. Fa ther hates tho nnmo of Meade, but h'o worships efficiency and ho knows that Shurtllff is the very Incarnation of the particular kind of ability that ho de sires, so ho is with my father con stantly and I havo him always under my cyo. When wo go nway In tho car, be goes along." "What aro yon going to do?" "Win his confidence, his affection If I can, appeal to him, and" "By Jove," said Rodney, "I bellevo you can do it. You can't drlvo that old man." "I know it," said tho woman. "You haven't told him that you thought it wns his fault?" "No." "I couldn't do anything with a man Ilka Shurtllff. You can. You can win his devotion, you can let- him see how much tho reinstatement of Bert Mcude In honor again means to you. You can do It" "Meanwhile you will help me, won't you?" "In any way, in every way. Do you know whero ho has goncY" "I haven't tho slightest Idcn. no might bo In Africa, or South America, or out West, or up North. Do you seo thoso flowers?" she pointed to u great bunch of American Ileyuty roses, which had been forced for her appar ently, and which she hnd received on that very day "Dards, you know, the Madison nvenuo florist, sends mo n box of magnificent blossoms roses, vio lets, orchids, always different every week. They speak to me of him." "Havo you ever tried to trnco them?" "No. I know whenco they como and that Is all. Wo will hear from him somo day, somewhere, somehow. vr1 - He Had a Natural Instinct for Topog raphy. Meanwhllo wo will work, work, work l" "And you will allow mo to sny be fore I go that slnco I havo hud this conversation with you I do not see bow even lovo for his futhcr or his family namo would havo led Mcado to do it" "Don't say anything against him," said Helen Illlngworth quickly. "Ho was mad witli anxiety, shame, regret Whatever ho did, I lovo him just tho same." CHAPTER XIII. Working Up. The autumn went by as a dream. Winter, warm and mild In that far southern clime, was at hand boforo Meade realized It An ordinary engi neer of half tho ability of Bertram Meude, so suddenly reduced to the ranks, would have chafed against tho position of subordination und would have resented the humble duties with which he was rhnrged. But Meade was happy to be following, even In this extremely modest way, tho profession that ho loved. And ho did his unim portant work with zeal and enrc. It Is not much to say, but ho was tho most efficient of tho Junior engineering forco on the dam. It was not because Meade was un social that ho kept to himself not at all. From his own galvanlzed-Iron quarters ho used to staro longingly at the men grouped around tho big enrap fires, for tho nights woro growing chill, smoklug and laughing, exchanging ex periences and telling stories. Nothing would havo pleased him better thnn to linvo Joined in, and ho could havo told stories and related experiences that would have been unique even In that gay crowd of young adventurers. But he did not dare. Ho feared to betray himself. What ho wanted above ev erything wus to preserve his Incognito. It would be fatnl to his chances of ever working up to anything worth whllo If they found out who ho wns. And he hnd a tremendous pride to sustain him. They respected him now. As a matter of fact, they put his with drawal of himself down to vngurles of temperament or causes they could not Imagine, und they grew rather to like htm even as they left him nlone. And a few of tho men of tho humbler sort to whom ho hnd been kind on occasion, nnd helpful, wero Btoutly devoted to him. Tho Idleness of tin nlmless life did not appeal to him even In his off-duty periods. Doing nothing hnd no attrac tion. Ho could not get relief that way. Even rumbling nlone nbout tho hills would not serve. So quick nnd active a mau, so vigorous und buoyant n spirit, so strong a body and mind wero not calculated for aimless wandering. Meatlo was u very accomplished en gineer Indeed. There wus no branch of tho art about which he did not know a little, although hydraulics und struc tural steel were the things thnt most appealed to him. Ho got relief In tho duality of his affections for theso branches of his profession. Neither ono of them ever palled on him because ho did not work monotonously nt either of them. Ho hud a natural Instinct for topography, und Instead of purpose lessly strolling about tho country, ho mndo a careful Inspection of tho valley which wus to bo converted Into n hugo reservoir by tho dum. Tho dum itself wns, perhaps, an eighth of u mile long at tho bottom and touched the receding hill on one side and tho spur of Spanish mesa on tho other at the top u hugo mound of enrth with u cluy core extending from side to side ut tho narrowest part of tho valley. When completed It would bo 123 feet high nbovo thu old river bed, with n roudway 20 feet broad on top of It. Below the hun nnd on tho low ground between tho mesa nnd Baldwin's knob tho camp, with Its gal vanized Iron shops, bunkhouscs, dining halls, kitchens and officers' quarters, hnd been erected. Tho configuration of tho ground was suclt that, although It was unusual to put them there, con venience had rendered it deslrublo In this case. It was Intended to complcto tho dnm beforo tho early spring of next year, which wns, If nny tlmo in tho country could bo so characterized, tho rainy season. Of course, just ns soon as tho dnm hnd begun to rise, tho How of tho Picket Wlro below It hud been stopped, except when au occasional freshet hnd been allowed to pass tho underslulce. It was known that tho run-off of tho river In tho rainy season of somo years wus so small as scarcely to All the res ervoir, and It had been decided to store all tho flow of tho autumn nnd winter so that even if the spring rainy season wero deficient, tho beginning of tho next summer would find tho reservoir full and tho now irrigation system could commence operations success fully. Vandevcntcr, like tho lost Abbott of tho International, was also a driver, who spared neither his men nor him self. ' Tho work had proceeded with as tonishing rapidity, ulthough this wus partially uccounted for by tho fuct that tho spillway, which should have occupied their attention, bail as yet been only partially excavated. Now, to those Ignorant of engineering, an earth dam may seem n temporary ex pedient, although most of the great Ir rigation dams of the world aro of that rharactcr; and everybody knows that If the water should rlso high enough to overflow an earth dam it would not last longer than it tukes to describo Its utter giving way. A flood would sweep It out of tho way at once. The device whereby possible floods uro controlled nnd such dangers avert ed, consists of a broad channel nt one sldo of the dam, and at such a dls tanco below Its crest that If, through any mtschuncc or natural happening, such ns the failure of tho sluice gates, excessive rains, cloudbursts, or floods, the height of tho water Is increased until It promises to overflow the dam, this opening will carry off the surplus harmlessly. An earth dam without a spillway would presage almost certutn destruction to all who lived in the val ley below it In the case of the Picket Wire dam, the spillway had to be cut and, in part, blasted out of the mountain side that Is, through the spur of the mesa, which reached down from its high wall towards tho narrows. There had been a series of blunders and mishaps, which Included the explosion of a ship ment of dynamlto on tho railroad, with very disastrous consequences to accom panying rock crushers and mixers, nnd other machinery. Tho splllwayjikd not been completed. Its opening should havo been about twelve feet below tho level of tho dam. Vundeveutcr was not responsible, of course. The chief engi neer had fumed nnd protested, but had been directed by headquarters to go abend with the other work and tackle tho spillway inter. Thero was, Indeed, llttlo reason to hold up the building of thnt particular dnm because of tho noncomplctlon of tho spillway. That was a country, so tho most de voted Inhabitants freely admitted, in which it was always snfo to bet that It would not rain, no matter how threatening might be tho uppearanco of tho sky ; for In nlnety-nlno times out of n hundred the ncgntlvo would win tho bet Suld Inhabitants did not say the hundredth time might compensuto for all tho other failures. Tho wcuther was Uko tho llttlo girl with the pro verbial curl when it did rain thero was no doubt In anybody's mind as to the fact. Sometimes tho fountulns of tho great deep, which, in Holy Scrip ture nt leust, extended overhead, would bo broken open nnd the vlolenco of tho fall and the quantity of It, and sudden ness of It, would bo such that the West erners would graphically call It a "cloudburst," which, Indeed, It seemed to be. Outside tho rainy season cloudbursts wero unhenrd.of, nnd even In thnt sea son extremely rnre. For the valley of the Picket Wlro nnd In the plain beneath cnrefully tabulated reports of tho rainfall for years hnd been consid ered by tho engineers. They hnd cho sen the right senson for the bulldintj of tho dnm, but when its crest begun to rise above tho designed level of tho splllwny tho delny In opening tho chan nel guvo cause for somo alarm. It is not tho probable or certain that is fenred. An old version thut, of "omno Ignotum pro magnlflco" It Is only tho unknown of which men are afraid, or only tho unknown to be feuredt Still there wns notldng Vnndeventer could do but obey orders nnd go ahead. Tho danger, after all, was trifling. Another conscqucnco of tho waiting wns thnt In his Inability to work on tho spill way, lip had more hands to devote to the dum und It roso tho quicker. Tho shnpo of the country behind It wns such thnt when tho Picket Wire flowed with sufficient volumo to till It, n long lnkc going back through tho val ley, or canyon, nnd twisting among tho hills for somo miles would result. In othcV words, tho dam would make u beautiful artificial sheet of wnter bor dered on ono sldo by a high rnngo of hills, on tho other by tho dnm, und on tho third by tho hills nnd tho low hog back nbovo Spanish mesa, which sepa rated tho Picket Wlro valley from tho Kicking Horso gorgo up which tho rail road rnn. Burled In his own thoughts, com muning with himself, considering cense lessly his position, dreaming of tho woman ho loved, planning a new ca reer, Meude yet explored every foot of tho valley nnd ravine. Ho climbed to tho top of Spanish mesa, nnd from Its height tho wholo country clear up tho valley to tho main rnngo wus vlslblo to him. no could look down Into tho deep rnvtno of tho Klcklug Horse, nnd noto tho marvelous beauty and airiness of tho arch brldgo for all It so solidly carried tho heavy freight trains of tho rnllwny. Ho could seo far up and around tho crooked courso of tho Picket Wire. Tho big grnss-covcrcd, but othorwlso bnro and treeless hogback, thnt run from tho upper end of, tho stono Island of tho mesa was equally vlslblo to him. As It was tlu low tldo of tho new res ervoir, ho descended to it and studied it carefully. On another occasion, hav ing said nothing to anyone about his excursion, be took udvantago of a half- fcolldny tc go out and Inspect tho Sog bnck nnd ascertain its elevation with relation to the dam. Of course the en gineers who planned the great Irriga tion works had done that, but he want ed to do it for himself. At one place, where tho distance between what might be cnlted tho edgo of the valley and the head of the rnvino was narrow estIndeed, ho estimated after pacing it thnt It meusured not over twenty feet across he discovered thnt tho rounded enrth crest wns slightly lower than the Intended level of the top of the dam. When he returned to the office, he found on examining the construction drawings that an earth dike was planned to run along the hogback so that the top level should be higher than that of tho dam. This dlko would bo only n hundred and fifty feet long and a few feet high, and could be built in a few days' time. Work on the main dnm being more lmportnnt, nothing had as yet been done on tho dike. Mcnde had been promoted toward tho end of the fall and in a rather unusual way. One of tho transit men, a young engineer, got n better Job and left his Instrument. Vnndeventer called Meade before hlra. "Roberts," he said, "there's a va cancy for a transit man. You've done sucli good work so far and shown such familiarity with fleldwork, that I'd give it to you If I had any Idea that you knew anything about handling In struments." "I think I may be trusted with one, sir," answered Meade, his eyes bright ening. "Yes, perhaps; but I hove watched you in odd hours. The young men around here are constantly practicing with tho transits. I've never seen you put a hand to one. How about It?" "I'm not exactly a youngster, Mr. Vandeventer," returned Meade, "and I really didn't think It necessary to practice, but If you trust mo with ono I believe I can manage it" Old Vandeventer leaned back In his chair In tho office and looked care lessly away from Meade to all appear ances. He clasped his hands back of his head nnd seemed lost In thought. Suddenly he began humming a llttlo scrap of verse about another college which Cambridge men sing with zest: 1 "Good; tho Instrument Is yours." That was tho first step nnd the next step came very shortly after, when, having further demonstrated his ca pacity in other wnys, Meude was giv en charge of the work on tho cast end of the dam, "I don't care who he Is," said Van deventer to his chief subordinate, "he knows what he's nbout, nnd if you watch him you'll rpc He's keen on handling men. The other section fore men will be hard put to keep up with him. He keeps watch on himself. He's got somo secret he won't betray. Ho doesn't mingle with the crowd, but every once In n while something slips out. What he doesn't know nbout en gineering nobody needs to know, I'll wager." "How do you account for his being out hero?" "Oh, It's the old story, I suppose; he's come a cropper somewhere down and out nnd wants to begin ngaln, nnd can't do nnythlng but this. It's not our business,' Stnfford; he does good work for us nnd we're satisfied." CHAPTER XIV. The Former and the Latter Rain. Tho work on tho dam was progress ing splendidly. Vandeventer, driving ids men hard, shared in all their furi ous efforts. He was not only their lender, but their inspiration. He hud surrounded himself with a body of ablo assistants, nnd 'his teamsters and workmen hud been culled until they had become a small army of picked men of which to bo proud. Among all these Meado stood very high. In the four months lie had been with Vundeventer ho hud shown such a grasp of things, such an ability to handle men, In one or two Instances when, with intention to try him, the resident engineer hnd given him I'm a physical wreck. From tho grand old Tech', But & h of an englnccrl He stopped abruptly, whirled nbout In his swlngchnir, and shot a quick glnnco at M&ade. It was a trap. And as ho sprang It Vandeventer surprised the ghost of a smile, repressed quickly but there, on Meade's lips. Tho chief engineer was satisfied. Beforo this, llttlo things bad betrayed a fellow alumnus, or at least a fellow student of the old Lawrence Scientific school. Vandeventer was pleased at his adroit ness. Ho did not, however, refer to It "There's a new transit in that box on tho floor there," ho said, resuming his indifferent manner. "I've had tho enso opened, but I haven't taken it out Get It, and we'll go outside and see what you can do with It." Now a transit, for all It is used In rough fleldwork, is ono of tho most expensive and delicate of Instruments. It Is cnpable of tho most accurate ad justment, and If it Is to bo of nny renl use, the refinement of these adjustments-must not be Impaired in any degrco by unskilled and reckless pack ing. The boxes in which tho Instru ments aro shipped arc very curcfully constructed " In accordance with tho principles which experience has shown to bo necessary, and each ono Is espe cially fitted to tho particular Instru ment to bo contained therein. Tho box Is a complicated thing nnd tho trnnslt cannot bo taken out or replaced except In ono way. With a knowledge of tho combination, so to speak, It Is comparatively simple to tnko a transit from the box ; without that knowledge, which none but an expert transltmnn, or tho packer himself cun have, it is rather difficult without running a risk of ruining the Instrument. This commnnd wns another of Vnn deventer's tests, therefore. Meade knew this ns well us his superior. In splto of himself, ho would hnve to be trny his familiarity. Well, ho had brought himself to tho conclusion that he could not continue his work with out very soon disclosing tho fnct thut he hnd been an engineer. And in caso of tho inevitable, the sooner tho bet ter. So long as ho had to betray him self, ho would havo nil the advantages as well as tho disadvantages, no un locked tho door of tho box, slid tho instrument out quickly, accurately, without a moment's hesitation, and rapidly unscrewed tho head from tho slide-board, and screwed It cnrefully on tno tripou. vnnueventers eyes spurkled. "Como outside," ho said, leading the way to tho sldo of tho hill, "and set It up thero over tho tack In thnt stnko nnd level It" Bcgmncrs hnvo been known to tnko ten minutes to get n trnnslt set up, leveled and centered. It Is good work If It is dono insldo of a minute; thirty seconds Is very fast. In forty-flvo sec onds Meado reported, "all rcudy, sir." Ho could havo dono it in less, but ho wns a llttlo out of practice, he said to himself. "Look here," said Vnndeventer, "you can't pull any moro bluff on me, Rob erts; you'ro nn engineer, nil right" "I know something about tho practi cal sldo of It, sir," answered Meado, turning a llttlo polo and wondering how far Vandeventer would press his questions and what ho would learn. But tho engineer was a man. "Practical, yes, and theoretical too, Til bo bound, but I don't seek to pry Into your antecedents. It's enough for me If you do good work for me here," Til do my best, air," , He Had Accompanied the Younger Man on One of His Rambles. charge of somo special work, that Vandeventer unconsciously looked to him In nny emergency. He actually found himself consulting Meado on occuslon. Ho had accompanied the younger man on one of thoso rambles which he had hitherto taken nlone. He had not broken down Meade's reserve, hut he hnd won his ndmlrntlon nnd regurd. Vnndeventer wns not unknown In en gineering circles. In earthwork he wns by way of being an authority. His experience hnd been varied and extensive. Meade's reserve nnd reti cence rather hurt tho older engineer. Ho hud invited confidence nnd hnd even given his affection. He Intimat ed delicately thut If the other were under a cloud Vandeventer might be In a position to help him. It was fortunate for Monde's pur pose of concealment, for his Incognito, thut most of his engineering work had been dbuc abroad nnd that lie hud been out of touch with American en gineering for practically the whole of his career. Vundeventer was a Har vard man, too, und thut mude it espe cially hard for Meado to keep from betraying himself. As a matter of fact, tho younger man nctuully longed to make a clenn breast c It, but he could not qulto bring himself to do It yet. That might come lutcr. Three months ought to seo tho com pletion of the dnm und the long cnnal, which was to carry tho stored wuter to tho irrlgntlon ditches below. Vnn deventer wus ulrondy making plans for another big Job, and ho had de cided, In his own mind, that among tho subordinates whom he would tako with him tho newcomer should havo tho first chance. Vandeventer felt proud nnd satisfied when ho surveyed tho work thnt hnd bepn accomplished In tho six months of labor. To bo suro the delay lu tho completion of tho spillway disquieted him a little. Tho dam bad reached the splllwny level a fortnight before, and hnd now pnssed it Indeed, on the fifth of Jun unry tho dnm builders wero within flvo feet of tho top; that is, tho crest of tho dam wns 120 feet nbovo the level of tho vnliey. They tad plnnned to run tho splllwny around tho enst- ern end of tho dnm. Tho rock drills and dynamlto which had been ordered had Anally arrived In December, and by putting as many ns posslblo to work on tho splllwny Vnndeventer hnd succeeded lu opening it for its entire width to nn averngo depth of nbout seven feet below tho Intended top of tho dam; that is, it was now about two feet deeper than tho actual crest of tho dam, but It still lacked flvo feet of Its designed depth. The rainy season, an Inspection of thp records bad shownj waa not due for a month nnd a half yet That would give him ample tlmo to com plete tho dam and the splllwny. This year, however, there hnd been some very unusual rains during tho fall and tho water back of tho dum wns now 03 feet deep, which made It 22 feet below the level to which the dnm hnd rison und 20 feet below the spillway. This was much more wnter thnn anyone had dreamed would be in the reser voir nt that time, and was perhaps more than should hnve been allowed. Still there was a safety margin of 22 feet, which Vnndeventer was suro would be ample. Tho financial promo ters of the project were very anxious to hnvo the reservoir full when the Irrigating senson opened, and the en gineer's Judgment had been influenced by their eagerness to get it working. The brond sheet of water ran back into the vutlcy for many miles. In fact, the dam had transformed tho country into n beautiful lake. Some times it rained in the mountains when It did not rain down In the valley, nnd there was a constant, If very small, rise In the level. Vandeventer personally carefully gauged the water every day. Naturally he bad noted that it roso gradually, but as the dam roso proportionately more rapidly, he was not uuensy. let, as a good en gineer, ho wns watchful and largely because of the unfinished spillway be urged the men to the very limit The weatherwisc from tbo town, who sometimes rode up to luspect the work, assured Vandeventer that It could not possibly rain before March, and tho mcro fact that so much water had fallen rendered it moro improb able that any moro would come down. But at three on the afternoon of Jan unry sixth it suddenly began to rain hnrd without wnrnlng and with no premonition on tho pnrt of anybody. It wns not one of those terrible down pours known as cloudbursts, but It was an excessively hard, steady rain. The hcuvens over tho rango ' were bluck with clouds and so far as uny ono ut the dam could see, It was rain lug from the crest of the mountulna down. Thero were some anxious dis cussions in tho dining room of the res ident engineer and his American as Blstuuts. At four o'clock It wns decided to open tho underslulce gntc about hulf wuy, but when this was done the vol ume of wuter it was capable of dis charging wus too small to help very much, und on opening It to its fullest extent the velocity of tho water rush lug through wns so great that tho river bed wus rapidly scoured out. For four of undermining tho too of tho dum It wus necessary purtiuliy to close the sluice once more. Tho water wus rising, first at the rate of three or four inches tin hour, then half a foot, nnd Anally ncurly a foot. By six o'clock thnt night it i:ud risen two feet. It wns still min ing hard at thut hour, although not qulto so furiously as It had been. If It did rain until morning ut the pres ent rntc, thero would still be a mar gin of safety of perhaps fourteen or fifteen feet nt dawn. Although tho situation required watchfulness and wus somewhat alarming, It wns not desperate. The men wero advised to put In till the time in their bunks so ns to bo good nnj ready for the hnrd buttle which might come In tho morn ing, and as they were all tired out with their day's work the little group soon broko up nnd each man went to his quarters. Vundeventer, however, could not sleep. The rain kept up steadily all night. Tho resident engineer Anally got up nnd dressed himself, and pro tected by high rubber boots and a cowboy slicker nnd u sou'wester, left Ills qunrtcrs nnd went out to Inspect tho dnm. no cnrrled a lantern, of course, for it wns pitch dark and, it possible, the rain dropping from tho blnck sky mado It more difficult to see. Ho wns surprised when he got to tho dnm to see on the other sldo another lnntern. Closing tho slide of his own lnntern to prevent observation, and be ing on familiar ground, ho went straight toward the other side. Tho nolso of tho rain subdued any sound that he made, and he was able to come qulto close to tho other light without being noticed. How young Roberts, the mys terious engineer, uses his talents and knowledge to good advan tage Is told in the next Install ment he gets the opportunity to wipe out all disgrace, real or fancied. (TO DE3 CONTINUED.) Alexandria. Thero aro few cities that can look back to a past Uko that of Alexandria, and fewer still with such a past that enn contrlvo to keep up with tho times and look forward to tho future. Tho relics of 23 dead centuries of Alex andrian history havo to bo looked for lu tho guldo books. In tho city Itself they aro covered up by tho latest mod ern Improvements. A few erudite Alexandrians may nrguo about tho rcul nationality of Cleopatra, but most of them uro talking nbout tho prlco of cotton nnd tho lutest project for dredg ing thu harbor. Wanted Joy Distributed. Marlon wus given a beautiful ring Chrlstmus eve. She wus overjoyed, but changed It from ono Anger to tho other nil evening. No ono noticed It thnt evening, but sho kept it up tho next morning. Her mother, fearing Marlon would loso tho ring, said: "Why don't you put your ring on ona flngor and keep It thero, Marlon?" "Well, I don't Uko to bo mean. When I keep It on ono linger I pity tbo ota on,"1 A N