HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1928-05-18, Page 7The CanLepQA .Qil,(d C0,9. 114g4ut
Teti
:I ; cl Iii IIIIaIIa i 11.UTU4L
FERE IliNgpANCE (C097o
/HEAD OF1Fl[CIE -a` 1E' QD$B,�CIBI QA1kT':
O&"F1C S,
Connolly, Goderieh - Presi dint
3os. Evans, Beechwood, Vice -President
IID, F. l)geGregor, Seaforth, Sec.-Treas.
•
AGENTS:
'Alex. Leitch, R. R. No. 1, Clinton ;
W. E. Hinchley, Seaforth; John Mur-
ray, Egmondville; J. W. Yeo, Gode-
rich; r.; G. Jarmuth, Brodhage .
DIRECTORS;
William Rinn, R. R. No. 2, Seaforth;
John Bennewies, Brodhagen ; James
Evans, Beechwood; M. McEwen, Clin-
ton; James Connolly, Goderich; Alex.
Broadfoot, No. 3, Seaforth; J. G.
Grieve, No. 4, Walton; Robert Ferris,
19[arlock; George McCartney, No. 3,
Seaforth; Murray Gibson, Brucefield.
LONDON- AND WINGRAM
North.
a.m. p.m.
Centralia 10.36 5.51
Exeter 10.49 6.04
Hensall 11.03 6.18
10.08 6.23
11.17 6.32
11.53 6.62
12.13 7.12
i, lyth 12.22 7.21
12.34 7.33
12.50 7.55
Hipper' -.
Brucefield
Clinton
Londesboro
)Bellgrave
Wingham
South.
Wingham
lBelgrave
lyth
Londesboro
Clinton
Brucefield
Kippen -.-..
Hensall
Exeter
Centralia -
1:'
C. N. R. TIMIE
/East.
Goderich
Holmesville . - ......
Clinton
Seaforth
St. Columban
Dublin
West.
a.m.
Dublin 11.17
St. Columban11.22
Seaforth 11.33
Clinton 11.6&
olmesville 12.01
Goderich 12.20
a.m.
6.55
7.15
7.27
7.35
7.56
8.15
8.22
8.32
8.47
8.59
TABLE
a.m.
6.20
6.36
6.44
6.59
'7.06
7.11
p.m.
3.05
3.25
3.38
3.47
4.10
4.30
4.38
4.48
5.05
5.17
p.m.
2.20
2.37
2.50
3.08
3.15
3.22
p.m. p.m.
5.38 9.37
5.44
5.53 9.50
6.08-6.53 10.04
7.03 10.13
7.20 10.30
C. P. B. TEME TA
LIE
Heist.
Goderich
Thlenset
McGaw
Auburn
lyth
Walton
McNaught
Toronto
West.
Toronto
McNaught
Walton
Blyth
Auburn
1lIIcGaw
I'fieneset
Goderich
(Oontinn '"', fro 'last was)
"That's Where you're wrong, Spud."
Blainey smiled. "-As a matter of fact
one Qt thein did •and said se,"
"Reb?ry' said Spud! irferedulously.
`aerlio was it?"''
"His ' name was' Blainey, Fred
1,1
on1a1: Stop,
lr ro�'b •rno ei . d
O.. d '�'be ooso1 Rkver veS bunit,darend
:et Caelays• into eternity And No.
a0 woo. sure 'r out net:.. EPA
he neat Station west, . 11,4.1* 'Mew
miles Way. And there _wasn't much
time, perhaps not even eaaough Jeft
new -only Fred: la}aaejr "vaslying.
there, .hardly breathing, ant -rand- -•-
pegi, with a Wring, was across the
room, and for an instant. he Pruett at
]Fred Blainey's side.
"I gotto .Bog Fred," he told the un
conseeaous•'anan-end dug We knuckles
into `his .eyes to brush away a rush of
blinding tears. "1 got ;tq go. I
wouldn't leave you, Fred, . it I could
)kelp it. You know that, don't you ?
But ,I got to go. I got to go."
And in the dispatcher's room at
Big Cloud, Regan and 'Spence and
Carleton looked into each other's eyes
Blainey," said . Blainey-and: coughed.. and read the doom that each ' knew
"Ave you going to throw me cold, too, was in his own -because there was
Spud -as well as yourself? It was
Regan that I said it to. I told Regan
you had the makings of a railroad
man in you. You owe me something
for Regan's laugh, Spud; you owe-"
But Fred Blainey never finished his
sentence. Over the racketing of the
storm, silencing the howl of the wind,
and the pelting water, and the rat-
tling sash, there came a terrific crash
that seemed to ehake the station to
its foundations and then a prolong-
ed roar, punctuated by a succession of
minor crashes that in themselves
were like the firing of big guns.
"Sly God!" whispered Blainey.
"What's that?"1-and, snatching up a
lantern, dashed out of the door.
Spud, half undressed, his face a
little white, followed as far as the
window, and glued his eyes to the
pane.' He couldn't see anything in
the blackness except the glimmer of
Fred Blainey's lantern, that seemed
to bob queerly through the curtain of
water that ran down on the outside of
the window. He watched the light
until it disappeared around the curve
down the track, and then he went
back to the heater to wait. There
wasn't anything else to do. He de-
bated with himself whether he would
dress again, or complete his undress-
ing; but he couldn't see any reason
why he should do the former, and,
equally, he wasn't going to get into
his bunk, of course, until Fred Blain-
ey got back and he, Spud, found out
what the matter was, so there wasn't
any use in taking off the rest of his
clothes. So he just waited the way
he was.
The minutes passed -five, ten of
them. Spud's eyes kept straying to
the clock. Fifteen minutes went by,
and then Spud went to the window
again. Yes, there it was! He could
see Fred Blainey's light coming back
again, but it didn't seem to be coming
very fast, and at times it didn't y-
en seem to move at all.
Spud watched. And after a long
time, Fred Blainey, head down, buf-
feting the wind that swept the plat-
form like a tornado, went by the win-
dow, and th- door opened, and Fred
Blainey staggered in -and the wind
swirled in after the operator, and the
lamps went to smoking and flickering
`badly, because Fred• Blainey didn't
shut the door after him.
And then something cold clutched
at 'Spud'Is heart, and fear came to
him. Fred Blainey was as white as
a ghost, and the water ran from him
and pooled on the floor; and Fred
Blainey didn't seem to see him, Spud,
and didn't say a word -but just lurch-
ed like a. drunken rnan, for the table,
and his fingers, pawing for the key,
began pounding the Big Cloud call.
One of the lamps went out then.
And Spud remembered the door, and
shut it. And then he listened to the
stamnnering wire. He could read it,
all right -Fred Blainey, wasn't send-
ing very fast. Mitre Rock had crash-
ed -the tons upon tons of it that
made the bluff -carrying the right of
way int the Moosehead River five
hundred feet below. The track was
out in the middle of the curve. The
track was out. Blainey kept repeat-
ing that in a queer way. The track
was out. And then Fred Blainey's
hand sort of jerked itself from the
key, and went to his lips, and stain-
ed suddenly to a bright crimson -and
Fred Blainey went down over the
table.
There was nothing hazy now about
Spud's idea of what a hemorrhage
was, and, half wild with fear and
grief, he got his arms around the op-
erator's shoulders, and half -dragged,
half -carried Fred Blainey back to one
of the bunks. Only Fred Blainey
didn't speak. It was more than a
hemorrhage -the man had gone a
long way past his strength.
Spud got some of the wet things off
the other, and stirred up the heater,
and kept begging Fred Blainey to
speak to him. Only Fred didn't
speak.
It was only the sounder there that
talked: It talked insanely. It 'kept
calling 'Mitre Rock, calling, calking,
calling-withthe seventeen now the
life and death. It was Spence back
there calling -calling with the sev-
enteen. Spence's s'encl'ing was quick
as the tattoo of a snare drum, but in
a curiously de'tac'hed way -Spud got
the gist of the message because it
was repeated so often, over and over
again: The Mitre Rock call, then the
a.m.
6.50
555
6.04
6.11
6.25
6.40
6.52
10.25
7.40
11.48
12.01
12.12
12.23
12.34
12.41
12.45
A IIIAIEGATIN
FOR SALE. -Five acres,one mile
from Seaforth; modern house errith
furnace, bath and toilet; small barn;
R. -od orchard. • Taxes, $15. Splendid
• chance to start chicken farm, beeor
etc. Apply to
R. S. HAYS,
Semffortln, Ont.
2058-tia
no answer from Mitre Rock; and they
did not think of Spud who had dis-
appeared; and Hauch less did they un-
derstand that Spud, not 'being an
adept with the key, was not wasting
priceless =panel -its to •practise with it
now; and they could not see a little
half -:clad figure, with a bobbing light,
staggering down the right of way on
that mountain stretch of track, sluic-
ed by the rain, fighting with every
step to hold itsown against the mer-
ciless gusts of storm. And so, while
Spence still called, called indespera-
tion, with hope already gone, Carle-
ton spoke, gray -lipped, and turned his
face away to 'hide a brave man's ag-
ora Clear the line, Spence," he said.
"Tommy, see that the wreckers are
,called -and McTurk. There's nothing
else that we can do."
And while Flannigan, the wrecking
boss, marshalled his crew, and, in the
yards, 'they loaded a coach with vol-
unteer nurses and coupled it on "be
hind the derrick and the tool -car,
Spud battered his way down the
track. It was cold, bitterly cold, and
the rain cut through his • thin shirt,
and stung like sharp needles; and it
was black, pitch-black, and the lan-
tern hardly served to show any more
than the great, grotesque, looming
shapes of the fallen boulders that
blocked his way ans he reached the
spot, in the middle of the curve,
where once in scenic grandeur Mitre
Rock had over -hung the right of way.
There wasn't any way around -
only a drop to the river below on one
side, only the mountain wall on the
other; and linking the two, in valleys
and !peaks and gaping holes, was
strewn the tons of granite that they
had temporized with too bong, for the
road men had been right, and the fis-
sure had opened clear to a strata of
sand and gravel, which, with the tor-
rents of water pouring upon it as
though a funnel, had washed out and
shifted for all time the center of
gravity of Mitre Rock.
There wasn't any way around. Spud
began to scramble over the debris. But
it wasn't easy. He couldn't see very
well, and the rocks were slippery with
the rain, and he kept stumbling, and
the edges were sharp and jagged and
cut into his hand, and he had to safe-
guard the lantern -with his other
hand. And there wasn't any time.
And fear came again to Spud because
they wasn't any time. He didn't
know how long age it was that No.
40 had pulled out of Pilot Head. Her
running time over the grades from
Pilot Head to Mitre Rock was twenty
mingites-mut hei did'n'`tl kiaow (how
long ago it was since she had pulled
out of Pilot Head.
And there were tons and tons of
these great rocks, like mountains in
themselves, and great holes like ridg-
es, and he couldoet see. And he
could only feel his way, and climb up
one and down another, and there was
hold neither for foot nor hand because
the rocks were as slippery as grease
with the rain..
And then, almost through to the
far side, at least Spud told hh self
he must be almost through, he slip-
ped suddenly from the top of a boul-
der.,, and, quick, before he could re-
cover 'himself, his feet shot out from
under him, and he plunged downward
for some great distance, it seemed,
and his body twisted and struck -and
he lay still, half stunned, dazed.
When he moved again, it wrung a
cry of agony from his lips. His leg,
at the least movement, brought tor-
ture and pain that was unendurable,
and brought beads of sweat out on
his forehead to mingle with the rain
that already ran streaming down it
He lifted his head to look around
him -but the lantern, though he still
clasped it, was out, shattered to piec-
es in his fall. He did not know how
far he had fallen. He was lying oil -
what seemed like a great flat rock -
he could feel rock, nothing but rock,
around him. Re raised his hand to
clear -the rain away from his face -
but it wasn't rain, was it, that was
blinding him now in that stream?
Rain wasn't hot! It must be some-
thing else, and-
No.
ndNo. 40 is out of Pilot Head. The
words droned in •a sing -son way
through• his head at first, aid then
they seemed to act like some galvan-
ic shock and clear his brain. And
he drew himself forward over the
rock on "which he lay, dnd moaned,
and fell iagain-but not far this time,
only a foot or so -and his hand touch-
ed a steel rail. He was through. He
had only to go en now just a hundred
yards .or so, just far enough to get
around the bend, and get into the
clear.
He lay still for a moment, because
he v+ras sick and dizzy, and his head
was ewiinming, and he thought he
could mase the pain a. little that w:.y.
It was the pain''that wos robbing him
of his strength, But he lay still only
for a rtroment. There wasn't any
time to lay Still. He Must go on,
And Spud went on. Trailing a
broken ltctabi creeping his way along,
clawing from tie to Co, arntil the tor-
ture of it t'in'ted him ai& and rinuseat•*
tad' Ma' Stoti Vint t auto1,
7
f2
spe i i2 ro , For ev
treat
sS
re
ryf 00,0
OM% nag
PAW
for aider,WY
of inFariot
/1r hra dwood
floors
NU TQQ (!1
the ilawsh-
able paint
os r
VAENVAEON
for 01 Ml/
frlimatettro
$tai )andfidoi
ori"
sI aSil1l:' ca Jt
er
tSo�,
➢1 TTAJ O
"It doesn't matter," whispered Spud
and in the agony of it bit at his lips
until his teeth sank into them and
they bled. "It doesn't raa1 ter," whis-
pered Spud -and won forward yard
after yard: •
And then dizziness and faintness
came, and a queer delirium, and queer VIII
fancies, for there wast a great, round SPITZER
light gleaming in the distance ahead Spitzer was just naturally born dif-
of 'nim, and it struck upon the drip- fident. Sometimes that sort of thing
ping steel rails and made them gleam wears off as one grows older, some -
and sparkle like polished ribbons of times it doesn't. When it doesn't, it
silver, and-+- No. It wasn't delir- is worse than the most virulent dis-
ium. It was No. 40''s• headlight com- ease -it had been virulent with Spit-
ing up the stretch. But his own lamp zer for all of his twenty-four years.
was gone, and they wouldn't be able Spitzer wasn't much to look at,
to see him in time to do any good if neither was he of much account on
he lay here with his face -on the ties. the Hill Division. Some men rise to
Spud got up -first on his.a good occasions, others don't; as for Spitzer I chronometors didn't tally -that is,
knee -and then on 'his good leg -and : -well, he was a snubby -nosed, peak- I tally with Spitzer -and the meteorolo-
stood there -and waved his arms and, ed -faced, tousled -haired little fellow gical crowd put Spitzer first across
screamed once because he couldn't !with washed-out blue eyes that al- the tape every shot.
help it, for, with the movement of his � ways .seemed to carry around in their It was just the same at night, only
arms, the dangling leg would not hold depths an apology for their owner's then Spitzer went by the six o'clock
still. And the light grew brighter, existence, and this idea was backed whistle. Ten hours a day, Sundays
bigger, playing up the right of way,' up 'a good bit by Spitzer's voice. Spit- off -sometimes -wiping, sweeping,
and Spud stood there -land waved his I zer had a weak voice and that =Mat- sweeping, wiping, from his boarding
arms. And then the shriek of a . ed against him. The ordinary yoice I house to the round house in the
whistle rang through the gorge -and
Spud quit then. He fainted.
When they picked him up, Spud got
his senses back long enough to tell erybody crawled over him. Nobody innocuous, modest Spitzer.,
them the track was out, and to beg thought anything of Spitzer. They l Night times? Spitzer didn't ex -
for help for Fred Blainey-and then ' all knew him, of course, that is, those ist, there was no Spitzer -it wasn't
he fainted again. But Spud need not whose duties brought them within , expected of him! If any one had
have worried about Fred Blainey. , the zone of Spitzer's orbit, which was been asked they would have looked
Fred Blainey got into good hands -he restricted to Big Oloud, or, rather, to I their amazement, but then on one
had a carload of seolunteer nurses to the roundhouse at Big Cloud. No- • ever was asked -or asked, whit i is
look after him when the wrecker DI* 1 body ever gave him credit for courage the same, thing the other way around.
led in, and they pulled Fred Blainey S enough to call his could his own. Ev- ;Spitzer was like a tool laid away af-
through. - en when it came to pay day he took ter the day's work and forgotten abso-
And when the light came, Regan, I his check as though it was a mistake lutely and profoundly until the fol -
who had come up with 'Flannagan's and that it really wasn't meant for lowing morning. No one knew any -
men, looked the ground over, and look-
ed Spud over, but he didn't say any-
thing then because Spud was raving
in a fever. But that night, back at
Big CIoud, with Carleton as an audi-
ence, Spud didn't lose anything be-
cause it was Tommy Regan who told
his story. Tommy Regan covered the
boy with :glory before he was through.
gets around again?"'
"Do with him!" ejaculated Regan -
and -blinked fast. "How do I know?
He can have any job he likes, can't
he? Well, then -Wen? It doesn't
matter."
full-fledged regulars on the righthand
side of the cabs, men that had start-
ed after he did; but Spitzer still wip-
ed
ip
ed and swept out the roundhouse.
Carleton, the super, called him a
landmark, and that hit the bull's eye.
Summer, winter, fall, spring, good
weather, bad weather, five-foot-five-
with-hisboots-on Spitzer, lugging a
little tin dinner -pail, trudged down
Main Street in. Big Cloud as regular
as clockwork, and reported at the
roundhouse at •precisely the same hour
every morning -five minutes of seven.
Never a miss, never a slip -five min-
utes of seven. The train crews got
to setting their watches by him, and
the dispatchers wired the meteorolo-
gical observatory every time their
of the ordinary man on the Hill Di- ; morning, from the roundhouse to his
vision as not weak -it was assertive. boarding house at night -that was
Spitzer suffered thereby because ev- Spitzer, self -effaced, self -obliterated,
him. He just dubbed along, doing his thing about Spitzer after the six
work day after - day like a faithful o'clock whistle blew, no one knew and
dog, only he was a hanged sight less they, when all is said and done, were
obtrusive. Summed up in a word, Big Cloud; they owned it, ran it, ab -
Spitzer ranked as a nonentity, physi- sorbed it, and properly so, since Big
cally, mentally, professionally. ; dloud was the divisional point on the
Of course, he never got ahead. He Hill Division.
just kept on sweeping out the round- In the ineffable perversity of things
house, and puttering around playing is the spice and variety of life. Tom-
"Aind there's none like him," said .bell -boy to every Tom, Dick and Harry my Regan was a man. -not easily jolt -
the fat little master mechanic; sum- that lifted a finger at 'him. Year in, ed, not easily disturbed; but-perver-
ming up. "None! He'ls one grand year out, he swept -and wiped in the city of perversities! -it was Spitzer
little railroad man. I could sing the roundhouse. As far as seniority went who jolted the fat little master me -
doxology for the sake of him and the he was "it," but when it came to pro- chanic-not once, more than once. And
lives he's saved. I could!" asserted motion he wasn't- .Promotion and before he got through, jolted him so
Tommy Regan. "And if you want o
know it, 1 did -last night." -
' Carleton nodded.
"I know, Tommy," he said, in his
Spitzer were so obviously, so ostenta- hard that Regan hasn't got over the
tiously at variance with each other wonder of it yet.
that no one ever thought of such a "Think of it," Regan"11 say, when
thing- When there was a vacancy the sulbject is brought up. "Think of
know Spitzer, hen? Well,
it! SPITZER!"And if it's
big quiet way; and then: "What are others got it. Spitzer saw thern move it! Yo
you going to do with him when he along, firing, driving spare, up to think
summer he'll '=op hisbeady brow, aid '
if it's winter he'll twiddle his thumbs
with his fingers laced over hisemboli,
point, which is to say over the lgw=E-"
button of his waistcoat, -"
Regan's first jolt carne to him p
morning as, after a critical inspectors,
of his pets in the roundhaaseil
eight and ten -wheeled mountain. , e--
Bines -he strolled out and leant a-
gainst therpush-bar on the turntable;.
mentally debating. the respective mere.
its of a rust -joint and a straight
patch as specifically applied to °num-
ber 583 that had been 'run into the
shops the day before for repairs.
A figure emerged from the engine
doors at the far end of the round-
house and came toward him. Regan's
eyes, attracted, barely glanced in that
direction, and then went down again
in meditation, as he kicked a little hole
in the cinders with the toe of his boot.
-it was only Spitzer.
When he looked up again Spitzer
was nearer, quite near. Spitzer had
halted before him and was standing
there patiently, an embarrassed flush
on his -cheeks, wiping his hands nerv- •
ously on an exceedingly dirty piece of
packing which in his abstraction, for
Spitzer was plainly abstracted, he had
picked up for a piece of waste.
"Ruh!" said Regan, staring at Spit-
zer's hands. "What are you trying
to do? Black up for a minstrel
show?"
Spitzer dropped the packing as
though it had been a handful of
thistles, and rubbed his hands wp and _
down the legs of his overalls.
"Well ? " Regan invited.
Spitzer began to talk, rapidly, hur-
riedly -that is, his lips moved rapid-
ly, hurriedly.
Regan listened attentively and with
a strained and hopeless expression, as
he strove to catch a word and hence
the drift of Spitzer's remarks.
(Continued next week)
Nature's Own Remedy
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The safe remedy {or
'CONSTIPATION
A
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Ti: JOIE .' : EANitIN
AGENCY
Insurance of 0,11 kindle
.MAME
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A e' '> dear Vacrrni?sllll lllie saves gime
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