Children of the rich -- Fiction; Industrialists -- Fiction; Michigan -- Fiction; Political fiction
“L’ave us at ’em!” bellowed the big Irishman. “Shut up and listen,” said
Jim, sharply; and the Irishman grinned delightedly. That was the way to
speak up to a man.
“The engine is in the roundhouse. Ten trucks stand on the siding near
it. There are twenty more trucks at the landings by Camp One. Can
anybody here run a locomotive?”
“Me,” said a stocky Dane.
“There’ll be nobody there but a watchman or so. Take ten men and make
for town. Land on that roundhouse at eleven o’clock. Hitch on to the
trucks and scoot for the woods with them. Pick your own men and start
now. The rest of us hike across lots to Camp One. You didn’t forget
peavey handles, I see.” Jim grinned down at them and leaped from his
buggy.
The parties separated, one moving townward, the other into the woods in
the direction of the Diversity Company’s cuttings. With the latter went
Jim.
They marched through the moonlit woods gaily as to a merrymaking, but
withal as silently as such men could march. They jostled one another,
slyly tripped one another, found delight in holding down springy
saplings so they would spring back to switch the ears of the man coming
behind. It was a picnic of big boys—which would be no picnic when they
stripped and got down to business.
For half an hour they stumbled along. An unexpected voice called from
the obscurity ahead.
“Mr. Ashe.”
“What is it?” Jim demanded. He knew here was none of his own men;
wondered who else was abroad in the woods at that time of night. “Who is
it?”
“Gilders,” said the man, stepping into view. The rifle, which seemed as
much a part of his usual costume as his floppy hat, was under his arm.
He stopped, was surrounded by Jim’s lumberjacks.
“What are you doing here at this time of night?” Jim demanded.
“I am here—many places—at what time of night is best,” said Gilders.
“Night or day—what’s the difference?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I cut
across from town to catch you. Moran’s warned. He’s got a dozen men at
the roundhouse. They’ve telephoned the camps.”
Moran warned! It seemed impossible. Who could have given warning? Jim
named over mentally those who knew what was afoot. Zaanan Frame—he had
not talked. Allen—he, too, was a safe man. Grierson—oxen could not
have drawn a word from him. Marie Ducharme? She knew. Jim had seen Moran
going to her but an hour before. Marie Ducharme. He would not believe
she could be guilty of such a betrayal of confidence. It was not in her
to commit such an act. Yet she had not seemed herself. Something had
happened. She had been afraid. Jim closed his eyes, bit his under lip.
No one else who knew could have given the warning. The opportunity had
been hers. The logic of events bore against her.
Jim turned to Gilders.
“Can you lead me to town the way you came?”
“Yes.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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