He went up suddenly with the effortless, rhythmical movement of a skilled lineman. As he climbed, his body scraped off the snow from the pole, and at the shaking of the pole loose snow cascaded from the wires. It deluged him in its passing, but almost before it had hit the ground he was at the lowest cross-arm.

There were four cross-arms, and the broken wire belonged on the highest one. Rick snapped on his safety-belt. To get the broken wire upward he unfastened its loosely twisted ends, raised it above the lowest arm, and rejoined it. Then he unsnapped his safety-belt, raised it also above the cross-arm, climbed up through the wires, and re-snapped the belt. Methodically he repeated the process until he arrived at the highest cross-arm.

Detaching from his belt a little block-and-tackle, he fastened its ropes to the two parts of the broken wire, and tugged with all his strength. By means of this added mechanical power he was able to pull the wire almost to the tautness of the others. He snipped off the excess length, and by the aid of another copper sleeve joined the two ends permanently. Then he unfastened the block-and-tackle, and again attached it to his belt. With some of the extra wire he fastened the mended wire to the insulator. The short length which remained he dropped carefully to the ground, taking care that it did not tangle with the other wires. The work was done.

He shook off the accumulated snow, and rested for a moment. From its position he judged that the broken wire had been one of those leased by the radio companies for their transcontinental programs. Well, he thought to himself, I guess some girl can start squawking over that one again. For to Rick the wires were all-important, and to keep them working he would labor through any storm that blew, but for the messages which the wires carried he had a curious contempt.

But the thought of a girl who might be singing over the radio brought to mind the other girl, and for a moment still he rested in contemplation. Then he worked down through the wires and the cross-arms, and rapidly descended the pole.

11

“Sure, Bob, check the oil too. Say—you seen Max Arnim today?”

“No. No reason why I should, though. Why?”

“He wasn’t at the office this morning. Didn’t get back from Frisco, I guess. I tried to smooth things over, but I think the old man is sore.”

“Oh, yes I filled Max up with ethyl—Friday, I guess it was. He said Jen was ridin’ down with him.”

“Say! I didn’t know that. Is Jen back?”

“Come to think of it, I know the answer to that one. Jen’s roommate, Marge, was in here, and she said Jen hadn’t got back yet.”

“Well—”