Sudden Jim

perfectly; minor defects developed, machines ran stiffly, hot-boxes developed, belts req

e slide at the rear of the mill, and pass through a multitude of processes to emerge into the warehouse finished clothespins or dishes or bowls, he

ions of feet of pine, had the pioneer wasters availed themselves of it. Thin band-saws turned a minimum of each log into ashes; with them Jim got seven boards where old-time circular saws had been able to give but six. Resaws redeemed the slabs, took from them the finest gold of the timber which lay just under

mishaps, each mishap causing the shutdown of a department, sometimes of the whole mill. It did not abate, but continued maddeningly. The shrill toot of the littl

and his superintendent, John Beam. They

shortly, "we've lost five

very pulley, every gear, every machine. We make sure

nd it twisted off this morning. We had to shut down yesterday to fix the main driving-belt. Four rivets had come loose and she'd have pulled clean apart. There wasn

me want to roll over and howl is that we can't fix it any place. In spite of all we can do these things happen. It's just as he says about what he's s

ils?" Ji

p buckets. But a man don't expect to find 'em in beech and birch-and he don't expect to find brand-new ten-penny nails, neither. The saw-

r keep his eyes open f

carriage now he goes over it from end to end. You can't s

ounds as if you meant s

it looks to me like somebody sneaked in here and tampered with things after we get through inspectin'. I mean that the thing

se," Jim said,

But, Mr. Ashe, it's bein' done. I know it

ut the w

old mills. 'Tain't none of them

a moment, scowl

which is a small part of it. It's got to stop. I don't care whether these accidents are accidents or whether somebody is arranging them-they've got to quit, a

said N

hook h

any talk i

't hea

w clear out of here and do the best you can. Keep your eyes open. Don't get suspicious

that knows the

es

ason could anybod

picion of yours is upsetting. I want to

ed sideways at Beam. As they went

nd astonishin'. Sudden Jim!" There was a note of af

g its machinery was illogical. It affronted Jim's reason. Yet it was a theory impossible to dismiss. It mus

rievance practising sabotage. But so far as Jim knew there was no discontent; the crew were satisfied; there had been no complaints, no unrest. That possibility must be dismissed. It might be some individual

on of men who had fought upward through adverse conditions, against obstacles, side by side with his father, Jim did not believe them guilty. But organizations of honorable business men

the best position to take over the wreck and operate it? To that question there was but one answer-the Diversity Hardwood Company. Now Jim became obsessed by a real suspicion-and he would act upon it until evidence showed him he was at fault. He would move on the theor

roared an angry voic

tson, foreman of the veneer room, burst in, a huge veneer knife in his arms-no mean weight. "Look at that," h

iew a generous nick

d it?" J

ne lathe till the other knife's ground down. What land

ter with your ey

Jim, shook a gr

's easy to see 'em. Bolts come to us from the vats with the bark peeled, and mostly the peelers get the nails with their sp

o you

more bolts with a fine-tooth comb. We found one with a spot in it that looked suspicious.

about it, and tell some kind of a story

to get hurt," Wa

wly, "somebody is go

k over every bolt with ope

o is to do nothing else

, no matter what was happening to the mental department. Some men lose their appetites when things go wron

meal along till six o'clock and having a thing at noon called luncheon; to her, luncheon was something you p

here long, M

n the c

tty well acquainted

with anxiety to give you the true life history of everybody else. You kin g

ved here a long tim

was childr

and there are people in the world who would be glad to see me spill part of my load. It's a fine thing to know

sickle. He's been justice of the peace here since before Mary Whittaker was born, and Mary's got a boy of ten herself. Hain't never been nothin' more 'n just justice of the peace, but he runs the whole blessed county out of

bble whenever you meet-but you soon git to know. I've knowed him to give a man he didn't like all the best of a deal-so nobody'd accuse him of workin' a personal spite. I've knowed him to refuse things to a friend he'd 'a' done for a stranger. They say he stretches the

ery man, woman, and child in the county. But there hain't no complaints of him as a pare

that'll know what it means to lose their pa. If there's any argument when Zaanan gits to stand before the great white throne, he's got a right to say: 'Wait a minnit, Lord, till we kin git in a number of souls that's here but was bound for the other place till I got my hands

ho knew. Jim knew she would have testified in a court of law just as she had spoken to him. Nor would she

rs. Stickney, and needed advice

and go at a ga

, "is about what