i crVMOra pMatma.

Abbott faA been

d hlv to expect. i outer tad of the caatUerer mad be from the hundred end fifty wiio bed oLKUo wm Juit bVmtng tor tte | turned end walked toward the beak, gone down with the bridge. The 200taumil.re leant of wort: wheat be got | The pnenmatic rivet ere were rat-tat- foot fall would have killed them wlthback to the bridge floor. He could not tatting on the rivet heads with a per- out the smashing and battering and but reflect, as the men came swarming fectly damnable Iteration of Insistent crashing of the great girders that had along the tracks to begin their day’s sound. A confused babel of vplcea. the fallen upon them or driven them from woefc, that the fespoosIMMty for their clatter of hammers, ringing sounds of the floor and hurled them, crushed and

Uvea lay with him. Well, Aboott was swinging steel grating against steel, broken. Into the river,

a Mg man In his way. he had assumed clanking of trucks, grinding of wheels. Meade had been right Abbott had responsibilities before and waa per- the deep breathing of locomotlvee. one swift flash of acknowledgment, one factly willing to do eo again, both for mingled In an unhannoolons diapason swift moment packed with such remen and bridge. ITie workmen at! of horrid sound. grets as might fill a lifetime—an eteiteaixIunipKlinorpmm^aoo.: ubett wu n,bi .bor, U>. pin t*.d »itT lb . b.U of te. nrrt—tgr. _ now. He looked down at It through Uk ^ the rest had gone down with the

WUehlnga, the chief erecting fore- ^ aD{1 v--, bridge! man, knew about the cambei. It had j f^tenlng hU case on the questioned

not bothered him. As he approached u , toal nt iafactorll}-. CHAPTER VII.

tlj ** wo exchanged greetings. of cn Unc , T«, something t-wpeiid him — Z™:™ 0m “'*»• Abbott *" ^ to walk o^ «Te S^siCr For the Son.

to the extreme edge of the truss and The message was received in ghastlook down at It once more, leaning far ly silence. No one spoke for a moment, out to see It better. Be could get a None moved. Colonel Illingworth’s i better view of It with nothing between face was fiery red. Bertram Meade It still stood bravely. It w »» whiter than any other man In the

*T ,

Wllchlngs.

“Tea, I’ve been down to

O-IO-R."

Wllchlngs laughed.

“That little spring Is nothing.”

ud Helen go out

» —ina Bsm aad ly escapss a fall to th» rlvsr > tails his love sod they so

CHAPTER IV—Abbott, the construction *“**~»sr. telle Mead* there Is a deflect!

tuber C-10-R. but makes IlsM ef A after vainly trying to atop t , wires his father and follows t

“—*o New Tork.

CHAPTER V—At the great engine*

father and son try to pre~-* * r u hut young Meade only rea*

an. Is In the river.

Mtvi, uu; juuns mi onel Illingworth as,

CHAPTER VI.

The Failure.

In Spite of himself and his confidence in the bridge, Abbott felt a little uneasy the next morning. At bottom be had more respect for Meades techMoel knowledge than he had displayed or even admitted to himself. Thi younger engineer's terrified alarm. Ms utter forgetfulness of the amenities between them, his frantic but futile efforts to telephone, of whit* the operator told Abbott In the morning, hit hurried departure to New York. were, to aay the least, somewhat disquieting much more so than he was fain to ad-

mit to himself.

Although H Involved a hard and

somewhat dangerous climb downward . . , . , - -

and took upward, of , half boor of hi, i f bb ° ,t

valuable time, the first thing the e ' "*

... . ■ - II UIIU. 11 BUU BWOU OlWTWy. II - —“ -.-ira UMU uuj UUICI UU1U Hi U« ° T " “* tT *.* Di was all right, of course. Be wished room. Be was thinking of his father, mase cf bracing at the member. “It that be had never aald a word about It The girl moved first. Her father .* p .. romewhere we could to aDJPOne He did no t see why he could “d the young engineer were the two

* tn,t J ov not regard It with the Indifference that deeply touched. They were both

dldn t find out anything, did your u merlt(K L as he stared down at It ln agony, both In need of her. Unhesli* ,k ^ . e ^ Cn> over the edge of the trust the whistle tatingly she stepped to the side of the ^ Quitting blew. younger. And the father aaw and una heavv U |Sno^k?^ W Thm hrilT^ Every sound of wort Ceased after dersiood even In the midst of his suf- * „ ' . J? t «*• briefest of IntervalA except here feriD c. She had chosen.

ttnd to*™ * few riveters driving home “ We •** ruined." gasped the colo-

evwy man on it has quit work foe a riTet kept gt It for a few sec- ne l. tugging at his colUr. “We could Now Wllrhinra . m . n nf -vr-H I ond * but odI T for 1 f * w *ocoo(1h. Then, toe financial loss, but our reputa>ce and' ahnirv ! ,or a rnom " ,f » silence like death it- tkm! ^'ell never get another conne^ded anv ^ Intervened. It seemed as If the ^ lrt - * ml *bt ** well close the works.

ew Wowln * wlnd ^ momen- And It Is your father’s fault It’s up to turtUr sailed. That ehrill whlsUe and Wnl T 1 ** blood of those men Is upon

rtJL .o ■ * e ?, d . tot consequent ensabon of the wort ^ b «‘ d - Well. air. HI let the whole rantllever on the sJwsys affected everybody the same « , ° rld know ^ firoasly Incompetent

wWrt wort hsd^Ln wv ’ was Inevitably and In- ^ Is. how-"

Inc ahlnmems of ateeTwdrtl^Mto ▼srlably a pause. The contrast be- “Sir." said yonng Meade, standing reLIrtS Ihbt U ^"aU riS^.hh+ tWe *° the nol,,e “ d “> rod ' 1 «» ^P- Te °' erect wU,er ^ <nrer -

i | page waa so great that the men in- f“ nlt I s mine. I made the calculations. stlm-avely waited a few seconds and 1 charted and rechecked them. Nodrew a breath before they began to could know with absolute certainlight their pipes, close their tool boxes, if ^ ability of the lower chord mempirt up their coats and dinner palls. I*™ to resist compression. But whatand resume their conversation aa they f ' Tpr the fault It Is mine. My father strolled along the roadway to the >u| d absolutely nothing to do with it

Shore. He Is—“

It seemed to Abbott that It had never “ He '* *ot *o bear the reaponalblUty been so silent on the bridge before. ! f r1pd ,,le colonel P»««lonately. It has

.There was almost alwayt a breese, | W * "““t - ” „

sometimes a gale, blowing down or up J ' 0, 1 **“ f 00 - thundered the the gorge through which the rive* Jr ° un£ ' er m “- “ For TU proclaim my flowed, but that afternoon not a breath 0,11 rosponalbllity. The fault is all waa stirring. I mlne * nd Ell publish the fact from one Abbott found himself welting ^ 1 «i dof ^ world to the other." strained and unwonted suspense for 118 * load 1 wouldn't want to have the next second oi two. his eyes fixed on m7 conscience." said Colonel Dllng-

on the member. The long warm rays '*'"**'

was whs! h*- expected, of course, and this also added to Abbott's confidence. The day was an unusualIv bard one. A great quantity of structural steel that had been delayed and which had threatened to bold up the wort, arrived that day ond the chief of conatructlop was busier than be bad ever been. Be waa driving the men with furious energy. Even under the best condition* it would be well-rlgh Impossible to complete the bridge on time. Abbott had pride in carrying out the contract and the financial question was a considerable one. Bad It not b$en for that, perhapa, he would have paid more attention to Meade's appeal. So he hurried on the wort at top speed. Late In the afternoon, without saying anything to Wllchlngs, who had resumed his regular work, or to --nybody

go down to the pier bead and make a thorough and careful examination of the buckled member. C-10-R course, a pert of the great lower chord of the huge diamond-shaped truss, which, with Its parallel sixty feet away on the other side of the bridge rnd it* two cppoaltes across the river, supported the whole structure. If anything were wrong, seriously. Irreparably wrong, with the member and it gave way, the whole truss would go. The other truss would Inevitably follow suit, and the cantilever would Immediately collapse. AMott realised that, of course, as v cUmbed carefully down to the pier bead and stood on the

shoe.

Abbott, as he stood by the member and surveyed It throughout Its length, could easily nee that It had buckled, although the deviation was slight, about two Inches at Us maximum In sixty fee* He brought with him a line and. with Infinite care and pains, he drew it taut across the slight concavity like a bow-string. Hr had estimated the camber, or the distance between the center of the bow and the string, at one and a half Inches. As he made more careful measurements, be discovered that It was slightly over one and three-quarter Inches. la seven hundred and twenty that was scarcely noticeable. and It did not seem very much to Abbott. As he rtoud the>e feeling himself an Insignificant figure

amid this great Interwoven

The girt to the Hudson limdail in the dty. The newsboys no the street were already crying the loss of the bridge. She saw the story displayed In lurid red headlines ns As sprang Into the taxi and bads the rknsfflwiT harry her to the Uplift building downtown. The bill aha handed him lu advance him recklessly break the speed limit Bertram Meade, 8r„ had not left the office during the whole long afternoon. He sat alone, quietly waiting for the end. As to the drowning Ufa unrolls to rapid review, so pictures of the past took form and shape to his mind. He

of, the afternoon sun Illuminated It clearly. In that second Immediately below him, far down toward the pier head he saw a sudden flash as of breaking steel Low, but dear enough to the

Intense silence, he heard a

modi valuable time, for ha had net passed so busy a day as that one sines the bridge begun. Everything was exactly as It had been. Those hair-line

•1. again the sense of Its strength ^ troub ' ed ““ • «ttle despite and stability came to him overpowering- W,lrh,n ^“ r * m * rl: H " **“— •

ly. so much so that he laughed u ;..ud to s rather grim fashion at the unwonted nervousness which had been Induced in his mind by Meade's words

and actions.

Bnt he was a conscientious man. so he pursued bis investigations further. He t limbed up on top of the tuemlx-r. which was easy enough by means of th* criss-crossed U.i lng, and carefully *”*1 the ’«c!ags at the center of the concavity, or sidewise spring from

the right line.

He ooilced. by getting do*a on his fax- and surveying lb* lacing barn fltosely, r. number of fins halHioe cracks in the mint, surface traceries apparently, running here and thara from the rivet liuies. The rivets ther--aelves had rather a strained loo*. Some *uter rivets seemed slightly

Witching's remark. Be studied them a second time. They were just as they had been, so far as he could tell, no larger, no more numerous. The lacings rang exactly the asms nnder his ham-

mer

He climbed back to tbs floor of the

bridge and spent ths next half hour Inspecting the progress of ths work. Ths suspended span had already bam pushed out far beyond the end of the cantilever. The wort on the other side of tha river had been stopped. As won aa they got tha suspended spaa halfway over they would transfer the workmen and finish the opposite centllaver. A* jott calculated that perhaps to another ~eak they could get it out tf be drove the men. He looked at hlfl watch, grudgingly observing that It wss almost fire o'clock. Th* men wire nothing to Abbott. The bridge was J"*' everything. That Is not to jay he was 1

heartless, but the bridge and lu tlon were supreme in his mind.

Then tbs bright gleam of freshly broken metal caught his ex died glance. The lacing waa glvtoc way. Meads was right The member would go with It— The first pop or two was succeeded by a little rattle as of revolver shots beard from a distance, as the lacings gave way It quirt succession. Abbott waa a man with a powerful voice and

be raised It to lt% limit

The Idle workmen. Just beginning to laugh and Jest heard a great cry: “Off tha bridge, for God's anker Two or three, among them Wllcbtoga, who happened to be within a few feet of the landward end, without understanding why, bnt Impelled by the agony, the appeal, tha horror to the great shout of tha master builder, leaped for the shore. On the bridge ttaatf some stepped forward, some stood still staring, others peered downward The great sixty-foot webs of steal wavered like ribbons to the wind. The bridge shook ms If in an earthquake. There was a heavy, shuddering, swaying movement and then the 600foot cantilever arm plunged downward. as s great ship falls into the trough of s mighty era. Sharp-keyed sounds cracked out overhead as the truss parted at tha apex, tho outward half inclining to tha water, the toward

half sinking straight down.

Shouta. oaths, screams rose, heard faintly above the mighty bell-llke requiem of great girder*, emits and dvs •mltin* other members and ringing In

worth.

The ruin of a great establishment like the Martlet,” added Doctor Sev-

ere nee.

"The dishonor to American tag." said Cur - Iks. "And the awful loss of life,” continued the colonel. "1 assume them sll," protested the young man. forcing his Upa to although the cumulative burdena set forth so clearly and bo mercilessly bade fair to crush him. "It was only a mistake." protested Helen Utlngwortn. drawing closer to her lover’s side, and with difficulty resisting a temptation to clasp him to

her arms.

"A mlstakel" exclaimed her lather

bitterly.

“Von said yourself." urged tha woman. turning to the chief engineer, "that you didn’t know whether the would work out, that nobody coaid know, bnt you were convinced that

they would.”

“Walt," Interrupted tha father. “Meade, there la one consequence you have got to bear that you haven't

thought of."

"What do you mean?" "Do you think I'd let my duughtsr marry- a man who had ruined me. an Incompetent engineer by his own

fession, e—"

“It to Just,” said Meade. “I have nothing further to do here, gentleman. I must go to my fathi "Just or not." cried Helen Illingworth. “I can't allow you to dispose at me In that way. father. If he la'an blatnable aa he Bays he la. and as yon say he Is, now la tha time above all others for the woman who lovea him to

nd by him.''

Miss Illingworth, you don't know

..v v . . . Too ere saying." aald Meade. of the helpless men like doom, forcing himself Into a cold formality w,,b ■ fearful crash, with a ‘ he did not feel. “I am disgraced mighty shiver, the landward halt col- shamed. There Is nothing to life for lapsed on the low shore, like a house of me. My chosen profession—my repucerds upon wMch has been laid the tatlon—everything is gone." weight of a massive hand. The river “The more need you have for me

•action, carrying tha greater load at then."

tha top and torn from Its base, plunged. -it is noble of you. I shall love you

Ilka an avalanch# of Meal, 200 fast foreve-. but-"

6 f wa . th * # /^* r ' Growing far He turned resolutely away and ,*• M V°“ * * t4m rotapult. walked doggedly out of the room. Heltho traveler or the outward and of th* M mingwortb made a step to follow

him.

suspended span and a locomotive on “Helen," Interposed her father,

the floor beneath.

W itching*, and tha few men aafa on j ditching hep almost roughly by the the shore, stood trembling, looking at arm in hi- :.j r mid r.-seotment, "tf the bare pier bead, at the awful tan- ! you go out of ihl.-i Ui*or after that man, gled mass of wreckage on the shore j Til never speak to you again." bet wean the pier and the bank; floor | “Father. I love you. I'm sorry for * md stringer, girder and strut, you. 1 would do any thing for you but

uSr.srsj* “■ ^ • n " ■»*.«.e bfldw. b.i | „„ ;r rss antuily .1 ib. d»f, bibi b-U-rUl »'•« ertrlb! .nd „„ i ““” 1 •ii. I..—.™ ,.l ,b. ri-rt, would —r i lhl “« »I“«l ou will ooob m nidi: ^ iw.o" th. j,J lTw, hi , . , , , L

tblolj b... Nwo botlurt thor. Hu I Mb bey | ^ .,ib. "--T? " Mwed look o, b»-

Abbott'* obsession as to the strength . of the bridge hud grown stronger. Un- | T!,r tog It out. crawling over it. f-ellng Us | HB J r -

rigidity, he docide,. that lh' *e evident j higher gr ides usd got the ot-

o hr expectec. Of course I to* bridge, but to moot of th.

. tangled. oth ,., ,

through constant blundering that we arrive. Be had learned to achieve by falling, as everybody Mae learns. Bnt failure* and mistakes, which were "pardonable la the beginning of hit career, could not should have taught him Be realised too late that his begot to him a kind of conviction of omnladence, a belief to his own Inf sill blllty, bad for a man. His pride had gone before, hard upon approached the fall. He had been so sure of himself that even when the poesiblUty that he might be mistaken had been pointed out and even signed, he bad laughed it to scorn. Hia son's arguments be held lightly on account of hla youth end comparative Inexperience—to hia sorrow he realized It, too late. Again came that strange feeling of pride, the only thing which could to any way alleviate his misery oi lighten hla despair. It was hla own son who had pointed oat the poaslble defect. Youth more often than not disregard* counsel of age. In this case age had made light of the warnings of youth. It waa a strange reversal, he thought, grimly recognising a touch of sardonic and terrible humor to the slt-

irion.

“Whom the gods destroy they first ake mad." Well, he had been mad enough. If he had only listened to the nothing he could do bnt wait Yes, as the long rs passed and the sun declined, and evening approached, there suddenly flashed upon him that there waa still something be could do. He had experienced some strange physical sensations daring that afternoon, unease hla breast, some sharp pains about Ms heart. He forgot them for the moment to the Idea that had come to Mm When the bridge fell he would avow the whole reaponalblUty, take all the blame. Fortunately for Ms plans, Ms son had reduced to writing his views on tho compression members, which had almost taken tha form of protest and this letter had been handed to hla father. Bis first mind had bean to tear It np after ha had read it and had overborne the objections contained therein, but on second thought he had carefully filed it away with tha original drawings. It wn* ef coarse, to the younger Meade's own handwriting. He went to Us private safe, opened the drawings and found the letter attached to tha sheet of drawings. Be pat back the other drawings and closed tha aafa without locking It. Then be went back to the desk and considered the document Be bad been blind, mad. He laid the paper down on Ms desk and put hla hand to Ms

heart

Of course he would submit those papers to the public at once. Was there

anytMng else he could doT

sat down .it the desk and drew a sheet of paper before Mm and began to write. Slowly, tremblingly, he persevered. carefully weighing Ms words before ha traced them on paper. He had not written very long before the door ?f tha outer office opened and he beard the sound of soft footsteps entering the room. Ha recognised the nowcomer. It was old 8hurtllff, a nmn who had bean hla private secretary and confidential dart for many years He stopped writing and called to him. Bhortllff was aa old bachelor, gray, tMn, tall, reticent. Be had but one imaalon—Meade, 8r.; but one glory— the reputation of the great engineer, l ea. and as there U no great passion without Jealousy, ShurtUff was filled with womanly Jealousy of Bertram Meade because Ms father loved him and was proud of Mm. ShurtUff knew all about the private affairs of the two engineers, father and son. Be knew aU about the protest of the younger Meade. The father had told Mm Just

what he Intended to do with It.

ShurtUff might have been a great man If left to himself or forced to act for Mmaelf. But pursuing a great i«aslon so long as he had, he had merged himself to the more aggressive per*«nallty of Ms employer and friend, lie had received a good engineering education. but had got Into trouble a failure, a rather bad mistake I early career, too Mg to be nvtlflei]. to be forgiven, or condoned. The older Meade bad taken him up. bud been kind to Mm. had offered to try to put Mm on Ma feet again, but his big fallarc had Incremied blx natural timidity, so he stayed on. He had become a

part of the old man’s life.

Yonng Meade had never been able

Hie secretory was greatly s as he stopped beside Ms own < hear hla name called from the Inner office. He recognized Ms employer's voice, of course, yet there was n strange note In It which somehow gave him a sense of uneasiness. He went into the room at once and stopped aghast. “Good God. Mr. Me*del" he exclaimed. Ordinarily he was the quietest and most undemonstrative of men. There was something soft and subtle about hla movements. An exclamation at that kind had hardly escaped him in the thirty years of their association. He checked himself Instantly, but Meade, Sr., understood. The day before ShurtUff had left Mm a hale, hearty, vigorous somewhat ruddy man. Now he found him old, wMte, trem-

of steel, ribboning In

„ ... , . .. every direction—for to the main the mii ... ,h- x.... Some of to* emptoyee. tf the rtm . ^ so | t was not an, defect ,n" .wuX

tf joints, but Ntructural ‘ *-

" <' p tatalng her. Now | to Tery far , uto thr personality of

L‘..^. PP T' d """ br * r ° laS d ° Wn i ShurtUff. but he liked Mm and n*p« i ■ ■ WU toe station Wkgou. M.ude had j ^ Wln He r*,,^ ^ deT .,

U was ] u 'YTT’ T" " ""T ronnectkms with tbe'Readlnz'^xpv^oa “ 0n ,0 k ‘" r * lher ' <U>d **• und,,n,tood . lokoi,,, ! ** worked «. * wktifc! £££* IZLZXSJZ'JZ | - **— .oo,dh..,,.,.„o P .,o m ,o^!«r.v U.H, dU* k^X-ooUdk, . o.,, " They had U-*e d.-sigm-d lot that pur before had beeo Uvtog meo. | n.n hi,* r,-,, pu~ L-rr-ly brc*u~ hr did not find Tho*. who worked by the day were ^ had seen body after bod, buried ' ?cr,«* ,h* mu (Mag very staring, amt because hr •to»dy toying arid* their '**>**• *^ through the air from the outward end j ran and If .h what he Mltovod. the j Preparing far their departure. Ttw, ^ thry ^ ln horTor !,„!

here and '.here dart flgurva floated to und b. r in J. th* surface of the water. The, caught before the i.hi

The,

a left the pier head : sl»aya would set ready .so that at the i to the floor with ■IgAal all that was toft to do was to

vjttok had eo

nd admired Mol Aside from that Jealousy th* old ms a could not but Uke tbe young oue. He was too Uke hi* fatber for ShurtUff to dislike Mm. The oecretary wished him well; he wanted to see Mm a great engineer. Of couroe

hard sito could j,e could never be the engineer that rain whl.-h would (Us father was. That would not be In My a few minute* me power of man. But still, even If lover caught. Stic j i, 0 uever attained that height, be could Who 40MM1 a r»- VM rise very high. ShurtUff would not us h. had never . a dmit Uut there was anything on ourth

rr .war reached thi

»t in time to ore It de-ii.U-rcd that ten miles i.n> another railroad

“Mr. Meade, What la the Mattef-r Ming, stricken. Meade looked ut Shortllff with a luck-lustt-r eye and with a face that was dead while it waa yel

aUve.

“Mr. Meade," began the secretory a second time, “what 1* the matterT" “The International bridge." an rered the other, and the secretary noticed the r'rangenciu of Ms voice more and more. “It'* about to collapse. Per baps It has failed already." Meade passed his hand over hi* brow and then brought it down heavily on the desk. "As we sit here, maybe, It Is falling." he added somberly to a sort of doll Impersonal way. Into tbe mind of tha secretory aunt • foolish old line: ‘‘lx>ndon bridge If falling domu. falling down!" Be must be mad or Meude must be mad. “I can't beUeve It. sir. WhyT" "There's a dell.- tlon in one of th* lower chord members of one and thre» quarter* Inches. It’a bound to collapse. The boy waa right, ShurtUff,' explained Meade. “I was wrong. I am ruined.” "Don’t say that sir. You have nevet failed to anything. There must b< some means." “ShurtUff, you ought to know there to no power on earth could save that member. It's only a question of time when It will fata” The secretory leaned back again*! the doorjamb, put his hand over Mt face, and shook Uke a leaf. The old man eyed Mm. "Don't take It so hard." he said. "It’a not yonr fault you know.” “Mr. Meade " burst out the other man, "you don't ktu>'v what It means to me. A failure myself, I have glo rled to you. I—you have been everything to me. air. I can't stand It" “I know." said Meade kindly. He rose- and walked over to the man. told bis baud on hla shoulder, took bta other hand in his own. “It hurts more, perhaps, to lose your confidence in me than It would to lose the confidence tf tho world." T haven't lost any confidence, air. > all make mistake*. I made one, yon know, and yon took me tip." It’s too lute for anybody to take up. Men can't make mis taker at my age. No more of that Wo have still one thing to do, act tbe boy right before tho world." "But If I were your son, sir, aald the secretary, “rather than sec you ruined I would take the blame on my*elf. He can live It down." ‘But he Is not to blame. On the contrary, he was right and 1 was wrong. Here. ShurtUff. U Ms own totter. You know It: you saw Mm give It to me. You heard tbe conversation, and I have written out a little account •(plaining It suiting that 1 made Ught

Of Ms protest-. a r Wis right and ! w whole blame u|m.h hack her* tonight, •d to gi\. "Oh. don't do tl The tele, •’um.- |h “The bridge r . i

beta

•ilglng that he mg. taking the if. He will be are. 1 Intend-

junsl the Insistent

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