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diff --git a/28292.txt b/28292.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..22a59cd --- /dev/null +++ b/28292.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7281 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ralph on the Engine, by Allen Chapman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ralph on the Engine + The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail + +Author: Allen Chapman + +Release Date: March 9, 2009 [EBook #28292] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RALPH ON THE ENGINE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE LOCOMOTIVE SETTLED BACK ON A SLANT. +_Ralph on the Engine. Frontispiece (Page 10.)_] + + + + +RALPH ON THE ENGINE + +OR + +THE YOUNG FIREMAN OF THE LIMITED MAIL + +BY + +ALLEN CHAPMAN + +AUTHOR OF "RALPH OF THE ROUNDHOUSE," "RALPH IN THE +SWITCH TOWER," "THE YOUNG EXPRESS AGENT," +"TWO BOY PUBLISHERS," "THE DAREWELL CHUMS," ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED + +NEW YORK +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +PUBLISHERS + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +THE RAILROAD SERIES +BY ALLEN CHAPMAN + +12mo, Cloth, Illustrated. + +RALPH OF THE ROUNDHOUSE +Or, Bound to Become a Railroad Man + +RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER +Or, Clearing the Track + +RALPH ON THE ENGINE +Or, The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail + +(Other volumes in preparation.) + +GROSSET & DUNLAP +PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK + +Copyright, 1909, by +GROSSET & DUNLAP + +Ralph on the Engine + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Night Run 1 + II. The Landslide 9 + III. Everybody's Friend 19 + IV. An Old-Time Enemy 27 + V. On Special Duty 35 + VI. Zeph 43 + VII. Limpy Joe's Railroad Restaurant 50 + VIII. The Hidden Plunder 58 + IX. A Suspicious Proceeding 66 + X. The Special 73 + XI. Kidnapped 82 + XII. The Railroad President 89 + XIII. The Short Line Railway 97 + XIV. A Railroad Strike 106 + XV. The Runaway Trains 116 + XVI. Car No. 9176 124 + XVII. Under Sealed Orders 132 + XVIII. The Strike Leader 142 + XIX. The Wire Tappers 150 + XX. In Peril 159 + XXI. A Friend in Need 165 + XXII. The Limited Mail 173 + XXIII. The Picnic Train 181 + XXIV. In "The Barrens" 190 + XXV. Too Late 197 + XXVI. The Mad Engineer 205 + XXVII. A New Mystery 213 + XXVIII. The Freight Thieves 219 + XXIX. A Prisoner 226 + XXX. The Lost Diamonds 235 + XXXI. Justice at Last--Conclusion 241 + + + + +RALPH ON THE ENGINE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE NIGHT RUN + + +"Ralph Fairbanks." + +"On hand, sir." + +"You are to relieve Fireman Cooper on the Dover slow freight." + +"All right, sir." + +Ralph Fairbanks arose from the bench on which he was seated in the +roundhouse at Stanley Junction. + +Over a dozen men had been his companions for the past hour. There were +engineers waiting for their runs, firemen resting after getting their +locomotives in order, and "extras," who, like the young railroader +himself, were so far on the substitute list only. + +Ralph was glad of his appointment. This was his second month of +service as a fireman. It had been by no means regular employment, and, +as he was industrious and ambitious, he was glad to get at work with +the prospect of a steady run. + +The foreman of the roundhouse had just turned from his desk after +marking Ralph's name on the list when a man hurriedly entered the +place. He was rather unsteady in his gait, his face was flushed, and +he looked dissolute and unreliable. + +"Give me the slow freight run, Forgan," he panted. "I'm listed next." + +"Two minutes late," observed the foreman, in a business-like way. + +"That don't count on a stormy night like this." + +"System counts in this establishment always, Jim Evans," said Mr. +Forgan. + +"I ran all the way." + +"Stopped too long at the corner saloon, then," put in Dave Adams, a +veteran engineer of the road. + +Evans glared at the man who spoke, but recognizing a privileged +character, stared down the row of loiterers and demanded: + +"Who's got my run?" + +"Do you own any particular run, Jim?" inquired Adams, with a grin. + +"Well, Griscom's was due me." + +"Young Fairbanks was on hand, so it's his run now." + +"That kid's," sneered Evans, turning on Ralph with angry eyes. "See +here, young fellow, do you think it's square cutting in on a regular +man this way?" + +"I'll answer that," interposed Tim Forgan sharply. "He was here, you +weren't. He holds the run till a better man comes along." + +Evans stood glaring at Ralph for a few minutes. Then he moved to the +youth's side. + +"See here, kid," he observed, "I want this run specially. It'll be a +regular, for Cooper is going with another road. I'm a man and must +earn a man's wages. You're only a kid. I've got a family. Come, give +me the run and I'll treat you handsomely," and the speaker extended a +cigar. + +"Thank you, I don't smoke," said Ralph. Then looking the man squarely +in the eyes, he said: "Mr. Evans, I'll give up the run on one +condition." + +"What's that?" inquired Evans eagerly. + +"If you will sign the pledge, work steadily, and give your wages to +your family as you should do." + +"I'll do it!" shouted Evans, not a whit shame-facedly. + +"No, you won't," announced Forgan. "Fairbanks, kindness is kindness, +but business is business. If you drop this run, it goes to the next +extra on the list according to routine." + +"Bah, you're all down on me!" flared out Evans, and left the place in +a rage. + +"It would do no good, Fairbanks, to help that man," observed Dave +Adams. "He would sign anything to secure a personal advantage and +never keep his word. He squanders all his money and won't last long in +the Great Northern, I can tell you." + +Ralph went outside as he heard a whistle down the rails. Evans was +standing near a switch. + +"Some kind of a plot, eh, you and your friend?" he sneered at Ralph. + +"I don't know what you mean, Mr. Evans," replied Ralph. + +"Oh, yes, you do. Forgan is partial to you. The others don't like me +because I'm a crack man in my line. One word, though; I'll pay you off +for this some time or other," and Evans left the spot shaking his fist +at Ralph menacingly. + +"One of the bad kind," mused Ralph, looking after the fellow, "not at +all fit for duty half the time. Here comes one of the good kind," he +added as a freight engine with a long train of cars attached steamed +up at the roundhouse. "It's my run, Mr. Griscom." + +"That's famous news," cried old John Griscom, genuinely pleased. + +"Good evening, Mr. Cooper," said Ralph, as the fireman leaped from the +cab. + +"Hello," responded the latter. "You got the run? Well, it's a good man +in a good man's place." + +"That's right," said Griscom. "None better. In to report, Sam? +Good-bye. Shovel in the coal, lad," the speaker directed Ralph. "It's +a bad night for railroading, and we'll have a hard run to Dover." + +Ralph applied himself to his duties at once. He opened the fire door, +and as the ruddy glow illuminated his face he was a picture pleasant +to behold. + +Muscular, healthy, in love with his work, friendly, earnest and +accommodating, Ralph Fairbanks was a favorite with every fair-minded +railroad man on the Great Northern who knew him. + +Ralph had lived at Stanley Junction nearly all of his life. His early +experiences in railroading have been related in the first volume of +the present series, entitled "Ralph of the Roundhouse." + +Ralph's father had been one of the pioneers who helped to build the +Great Northern. When he died, however, it was found that the twenty +thousand dollars' worth of stock in the road he was supposed to own +had mysteriously disappeared. + +Further, his home was mortgaged to old Gasper Farrington, a wealthy +magnate of the village. This person seemed to have but one object in +life; to drive the widow Fairbanks and her son from Stanley Junction. + +Ralph one day overheard Farrington threaten to foreclose a mortgage, +and the youth suddenly realized his responsibilities. Leaving school, +he secured a job in the roundhouse at Stanley Junction. Here, +notwithstanding the plots, hatred and malice of a worthless, +good-for-nothing fellow named Ike Slump, whose place he took, Ralph +made fine progress. He saved the railroad shops from wholesale +destruction, by assisting John Griscom to run an engine into the +flames and drive a car of powder out of the way. For this brave deed +Ralph secured the friendship of the master mechanic of the road and +was promoted to the position of junior leverman. + +In the second volume of this series, entitled "Ralph in the Switch +Tower," another vivid phase of his ability and merit has been +depicted. He rendered signal service in saving a special from disaster +and prevented a treasure train from being looted by thieves. + +Among the thieves was his old-time enemy, Ike Slump, and a crony of +his named Mort Bemis. They had been hired by Farrington to harass +Ralph in every way possible. Ralph had searched for the motive to the +old man's animosity. + +He learned that Farrington had appropriated his father's railroad +stock on an illegal technicality, and that the mortgage on their +homestead had once been paid by Mr. Fairbanks. + +Once knowing this, Ralph undertook the task of proving it. It required +some clever work to unmask the villainous miser, but Ralph succeeded, +and Farrington, to escape facing disgrace, left the town, ostensibly +for Europe. + +In unmasking the old man Ralph was assisted by one Van Sherwin, a poor +boy whom he had befriended. Van and a former partner of Gasper +Farrington, named Farwell Gibson, had secured a charter to build a +short line railroad near Dover, in which project Ralph was very much +interested. + +As has been said, Ralph had now been a fireman for two months, but +heretofore employed in yard service only. + +"It's the chance of my life," he cried cheerily, as he piled in the +coal, "and what a famous partner is dear, bluff, honest old John +Griscom!" + +"Won't have me for a partner long, lad," replied the veteran engineer +with a slight sigh, as he moved the lever. + +"Why not, Mr. Griscom?" inquired Ralph. + +"Eyes giving out. Had to drop the Daylight Express. I'm going down +the ladder, you are going up the ladder. Stick to your principles, +lad, for they are good ones, as I well know, and you'll surely reach +the top." + +"I hope so." said Ralph. + +The locomotive gave a sharp signal whistle, and the slow freight +started on its night run for Dover. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LANDSLIDE + + +"Trouble ahead!" + +"What's that, Fairbanks?" + +"And danger. Quick! slow down, or we're in for a wreck." + +Ralph Fairbanks spoke with suddenness. As he did so he leaped past the +engineer in a flash, clearing the open window space at the side. + +Two minutes previous the old engineer had asked him to go out on the +locomotive to adjust some fault in the air gauge. Ralph had just +attended to this when he made a startling discovery. + +In an instant he was in action and landed on the floor of the cab. He +sprang to his own side of the engine, and leaning far out peered +keenly ahead. + +They were now in a deep cut which ended a steep climb, and the engine +had full steam on and was making fairly good speed. + +"My bad eyes--" began Griscom, and then he quivered in every nerve, +for a tremendous shock nearly sent him off his seat. + +"Just in time," cried Ralph, and then he held his breath. + +Slowing down, the train had come to a crashing halt. The locomotive +reared upon its forward wheels and then settled back on a slant, +creaking at every joint. Ralph had swung the air lever or there would +have been a catastrophe. + +"What was it?" gasped Griscom, clearing his old eyes and peering +ahead, but Ralph was gone. Seizing a lantern, he had jumped to the +ground and was at the front of the locomotive now. The engineer shut +off all steam after sounding the danger signal, a series of several +sharp whistles, and quickly joined his assistant. + +In front of the locomotive, obstructing the rails completely, was a +great mass of dirt, gravel and rocks. + +"A landslide," spoke Griscom, glancing up one steep side of the cut. + +"If we had struck that big rock full force," observed Ralph, "it would +have been a bad wreck." + +"You saved us just in time," cried the old engineer. "I've often +wondered if some day there wouldn't be just such a drop as this of +some of these overhanging cliffs. Company ought to see to it. It's +been a fierce rain all the evening, perhaps that loosened the mass." + +"Hardly," said Ralph thoughtfully, and then, inspecting a glazed piece +of paper with some printing on it he had just picked up, he looked +queerly at his companion. + +"Give them the trouble signal in the caboose, please, Mr. Griscom," +said the young fireman. "I think I had better get back there at once. +Have you a revolver?" + +"Always carry one," responded Griscom. + +"Keep it handy, then." + +"Eh!" cried the engineer with a stare. "What you getting at, lad?" + +"That is no landslide," replied Ralph, pointing at the obstruction. + +"What is it then?" + +"Train wreckers--or worse," declared Ralph promptly. "There is no time +to lose, Mr. Griscom," he continued in rapid tones. + +"Of course, if not an accident, there was a purpose in it," muttered +Griscom, reaching into his tool box for a weapon, "but what makes you +think it wasn't an accident?" + +Ralph did not reply, for he was gone. Springing across the coal heaped +up in the tender, he climbed to the top of the first freight car and +started on a swift run the length of the train. + +The young fireman was considerably excited. He would not have been a +spirited, wide-awake boy had he been otherwise. The paper he had found +among the debris of the obstruction on the rails had an ominous +sentence across it, namely, "_Handle With Care, Dynamite_." + +This, taken in connection with what had at first startled him, made +Ralph feel pretty sure that he had not missed his guess in attributing +the landslide to some agency outside of nature. + +While adjusting the air gauge Ralph had noticed a flare ahead, then a +lantern light up the side of the embankment, and then, in the blaze of +a wild flash of lightning, he had witnessed the descent of a great +tearing, tossing mass, landing in the railroad cut. + +"It can mean only a hold-up," theorized Ralph. "Yes, I am quite +right." + +He slowed down in his wild dash over the car tops, and proceeded with +caution. Down at the end of the train he saw lights that he knew did +not belong to the train hands. + +Ralph neared the caboose and then dropped flat to the top of the car +he was on. Peering past its edge, he made out a wagon, half-a-dozen +men, and the train hands backed to the side of the cut and held +captive there by two of the strangers, who menaced them with +revolvers. + +Then two others of the marauding gang took crowbars from the wagon, +and one, carrying a lantern, proceeded along the side of the cars +inspecting the freight cards. + +"They must know of some valuable goods on the train," reflected +Ralph. + +It was an ideal spot for a train robbery, between two stations, and no +train was due for several hours. + +Ralph was in a quandary as to his best course of procedure. For a +moment he considered going for Griscom and arming himself with a bar +of rod. + +"It would be six to two and we would get the worst of it," he decided. +"There is only one thing to do--get back to Brocton. It's less than a +mile. Can I make it before these fellows get away with their plunder? +Good! a patent coupler." + +The boy fireman had crept to the end of the car next to the caboose. +Glancing down, he discovered that the couplings were operated by a +lever bar. Otherwise, he could never have forced up the coupling pin. + +The cars were on a sharp incline, in fact, one of the steepest on the +road. Ralph relied on simple gravity to escape the robbers and hasten +for relief. + +"There's some one!" + +Careful as Ralph was, he was discovered. A voice rang out in warning. +Then with a quick, bold snap, Ralph lifted the coupler and the pin +shot out. He sprang to the forward platform of the caboose. As the car +began to recede, he dashed through its open door. + +"Just in time. Whew!" ejaculated Ralph, "those fellows are desperate +men and doing this in true, wild western style." + +The caboose, once started, began a rapid backward rush. Ralph feared +that its momentum might carry the car from the track. + +A curve turned, and the lights of Brocton were in sight. Before the +runaway caboose slowed down entirely it must have gone fully +three-quarters of a mile. + +Ralph jumped from the car, and ran down the tracks at his best speed. +He was breathless as he reached the little depot. It was dark and +deserted, but opposite it was the one business street of the town. + +Ralph left the tracks finally and made a dash for the open entrance of +the general store of the village. The usual crowd of loiterers was +gathered there. + +"Hello! what's this?" cried the proprietor, as the young fireman +rushed wildly into the store. + +"Fireman on the Dover freight," explained Ralph breathlessly. + +"What's the trouble--a wreck?" + +"No, a hold-up. Men! get weapons, a handcar, if there is one here, and +we may head off the robbers." + +It took some urging to get that slow crowd into action, but finally +half-a-dozen men armed with shotguns were running down the tracks +following Ralph's lead. + +It was a steep climb and several fell behind, out of breath. One big +fellow kept pace with Ralph. + +"There they are," spoke the latter as they rounded a curve. + +Lights showed in the near distance. A flash of lightning momentarily +revealed a stirring scene. The robbers were removing packages from a +car they had broken into, and these they were loading into their wagon +at the side of the train. + +"Hurry up, hurry up!" Ralph's companion shouted back to his comrades. +"Now, then, for a dash, and we'll bag those rogues, plunder, rig and +all." + +"Wait," ordered Ralph sharply. + +He was too late. The impetuous villager was greatly excited and he ran +ahead and fired off his gun, two of the others following his example. + +Ralph was very sorry for this, for almost instantly the robbers took +the alarm and all lights near the caboose were extinguished. The echo +of rapid orders reached the ears of the relief party. Fairly upon the +scene, a flash of lightning showed the wagon being driven rapidly up a +road leading from the cut. + +"Look out for yourselves," suggested Ralph. "Those men are armed." + +"So are we, now!" sharply sounded the voice of one of the men from +Brocton, and another flash of lightning showed the enemy still in +view. + +"Up the road after them!" came a second order. + +Ralph ran up to the side of the caboose. + +"All safe?" he inquired anxiously. + +"All but one of us," responded the conductor. + +Ralph lit a lantern, noticing one of the train hands lying on the +ground motionless. + +"He's a fighter, Tom is," said the conductor. "He resisted and +grappled with one of the robbers, and another of them knocked him +senseless." + +"What's this in his hand?" inquired Ralph. "Oh, I see--a cap. Snatched +it from the head of his assailant, I suppose. Hark! they are shooting +up there." + +Shots rang out along the cut road. In a few minutes, however, the men +from Brocton reappeared in the cut. + +"No use wasting our lives recklessly," said one of them. "They have +bullets, we only small shot. The wagon got away. We'll hurry back to +Brocton, get a regular posse armed with rifles, and search the country +for the rascals." + +"What's the damage?" inquired Ralph of the conductor, going to the +side of the car that had been broken open. + +"Pretty big, I should say," responded the conductor. "That car had a +consignment of valuable silks from Brown & Banks, in the city, and +they piled a fair load of it into their wagon. You have saved a +wholesale plundering of the car." + +The men from Brocton departed. Ralph helped the train crew revive the +poor fellow who had been knocked insensible. They carried him into the +caboose, applied cold water to his head, and soon had him restored to +consciousness. + +"Fix the red lights," ordered the conductor to a brakeman, "and then +hurry to Brocton and have them telegraph the train dispatcher. What's +the trouble ahead, Fairbanks?" + +Ralph explained. Shovels and crowbars were brought from the caboose, +and two of the train crew accompanied him back to the locomotive. + +Ralph thought of the cap he had stuck in his pocket. He looked it over +carefully in the light of the lantern he carried. + +On the leather band inside of the cap were two initials in red +ink--"I. S." + +"Ike Slump," murmured Ralph. + +An old-time enemy had appeared on the scene, and the young fireman of +the Great Northern knew that he would have to keep a sharp lookout or +there would be more trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EVERYBODY'S FRIEND + + +"Stand back there, you fellows!" + +"Scatter, boys--it's Ralph Fairbanks!" + +It was two days after the landslide near Brocton. The young fireman +had just left the roundhouse at Stanley Junction in a decidedly +pleasant mood. His cheering thoughts were, however, rudely disturbed +by a spectacle that at once appealed to his manly nature. + +Ralph, making a short cut for home, had come across a farmer's wagon +standing in an alley at the side of a cheap hotel. The place was a +resort for dissolute, good-for-nothing railway employes, and one of +its victims was now seated, or rather propped up, on the seat of the +wagon in question. + +He was a big, loutish boy, and had apparently come into town with a +load to deliver. The wagon was filled with bags of apples. Around the +vehicle was gathered a crowd of boys. Each one of them had his pockets +bulging with the fruit stolen from one of the bags in the wagon. + +Standing near by, Jim Evans in their midst, was an idle crowd of +railroad men, enjoying and commenting on the scene. + +The farmer's boy was seemingly asleep or unconscious. He had been set +up on the seat by the mob, and one side of his face blackened up. +Apples stuck all over the harness of the horses and on every available +part of the vehicle. A big board lying across the bags had chalked +upon it, "Take One." + +The crowd was just about to start this spectacle through the public +streets of Stanley Junction when Ralph appeared. The young fireman +brushed them aside quickly, removed the adornments from the horses and +wagon, sprang to the vehicle, threw the sign overboard, and, lifting +up the unconscious driver, placed him out of view under the wagon +seat. As he did so, Ralph noticed the taint of liquor on the breath of +the country lad. + +"Too bad," he murmured to himself. "This doesn't look right--more like +a piece of malice or mischief. Stand back, there!" + +Ralph took up the reins, and also seized the whip. Many of the crowd +he had known as school chums, and most of them drew back shamefacedly +as he appeared. + +There were four or five regular young loafers, however, who led the +mob. Among them Ralph recognized Ted Evans, a son of the fireman he +had encountered at the roundhouse two days previous. With him was a +fellow named Hemp Gaston, an old associate of Mort Bemis. + +"Hold on, there!" sang out Gaston, grabbing the bridles of the horses. +"What you spoiling our fun for?" + +"Yes," added Ted Evans, springing to the wagon step and seizing +Ralph's arm. "Get off that wagon, or we'll pull you off." + +Ralph swung the fellow free of the vehicle with a vigorous push. + +"See here, you interfere with my boy and I'll take a hand in this +affair myself," growled Jim Evans, advancing from the crowd of men. + +"You'll whip me first, if you do," answered one of them. "This is a +boys' squabble, Jim Evans, and don't you forget it." + +"Humph! he struck my boy." + +"Then let them fight it out." + +"Yes," shouted young Evans angrily, "come down here and show that you +are no coward." + +"Very well," said Ralph promptly. "There's one for you!" + +Ralph Fairbanks had acted in a flash on an impulse. He had leaped from +the wagon, dealt young Evans one blow and sent him half-stunned to +the ground. Regaining the wagon he drove quickly into the street +before his astonished enemies could act any further. + +"Poor fellow," said Ralph, looking at the lad in the wagon. "Now, what +am I ever going to do with him?" + +Ralph reflected for a moment or two. Then he started in the direction +of home. He was sleepy and tired out, and he realized that the present +episode might interfere with some of his plans for the day, but he was +a whole-hearted, sympathetic boy and could not resist the promptings +of his generous nature. + +The young fireman soon reached the pretty little cottage that was his +home, so recently rescued from the sordid clutches of old Gasper +Farrington. He halted the team in front of the place and entered the +house at once. + +"Here I am, mother," he said cheerily. + +Mrs. Fairbanks greeted him with a smile of glad welcome. + +"I was quite anxious about you when I heard of the wreck, Ralph," she +said with solicitude. He had not been home since that happening. + +"It was not a wreck, mother," corrected Ralph. Then he briefly recited +the incidents of the hold-up. + +"It seems as though you were destined to meet with all kinds of +danger in your railroad life," said the widow. "You were delayed +considerably." + +"Yes," answered Ralph, "we had to remove the landslide debris. That +took us six hours and threw us off our schedule, so we had to lay over +at Dover all day yesterday. One pleasant thing, though." + +"What is that, Ralph?" + +"The master mechanic congratulated me this morning on what he called, +'saving the train.'" + +"Which you certainly did, Ralph. Why, whose wagon is that in front of +the house?" inquired Mrs. Fairbanks, observing the vehicle outside for +the first time. + +Ralph explained the circumstances of his rescue of the vehicle to his +mother. + +"What are you going to do with the farmer's boy?" she inquired. + +"I want to bring him in the house until he recovers." + +"Very well, I will make up a bed on the lounge for him," said the +woman. "It is too bad, poor fellow! and shameful--the mischief of +those men at the hotel." + +Ralph carried the farmer's boy into the house. Then he ate his +breakfast. After the meal was finished, he glanced at his watch. + +"I shall have to lose a little sleep, mother," he said. "I am anxious +to help the poor fellow out, and I think I see a way to do it." + +The young fireman had noticed a small blank book under the cushion of +the wagon seat. He now inspected it for the first time. All of its +written pages were crossed out except one. This contained a list of +names of storekeepers in Stanley Junction. + +Ralph drove to the store first named in the list. Within two hours he +had delivered all of the apples. It seemed that the storekeepers named +in the account book ordered certain fruits and vegetables regularly +from the owner of the team, the farmer himself coming to town to +collect for the same twice each month. + +When Ralph got back home he unhitched the horses, tied them up near +the woodshed, and fed them from a bag of grain he found under the +wagon seat. + +"What is this, I wonder?" he said, discovering a small flat parcel +under the wagon seat. The package resembled a store purchase of some +kind, so, for safe keeping, Ralph placed it inside the shed. + +His mother had gone to visit a sick neighbor. The farmer boy was +sleeping heavily. + +"Wake me before the boy leaves," he wrote on a card, leaving this for +his mother on the kitchen table. Then, pretty well tired out, Ralph +went to bed. + +It was late in the afternoon when he awoke. He went down stairs and +glanced into the sitting room. + +"Why, mother," he exclaimed, "where is the farmer boy?" + +"He left two hours ago, Ralph." + +"Is that so? Then why didn't you wake me up? I left a card for you on +the kitchen table." + +"I did not find it," said the widow, and then a search revealed the +card where the wind had blown it under the stove. + +"What did the boy say?" inquired Ralph. + +"He told me his name was Zeph Dallas. I talked to him about his +misfortunes of the morning, and he broke down and cried. Then he went +out to the wagon. He found an account book there, and said you must +have delivered his load for him, and that he would never forget your +kindness." + +"There was a package in the wagon," said Ralph. + +"He spoke of that, and said some one must have stolen it." + +"You are sure he didn't find it later?" inquired Ralph. "It was in +the woodshed, where I placed it for safe keeping." + +Ralph went out to the shed, and found the package where he had left +it. He returned to the house with it, ate a hurried meal, and hastened +down town. He learned that Zeph had called at several stores. The +farmer boy appeared to have discovered Ralph's interest in his behalf, +and had driven home. + +"I wonder what there is in the package?" mused Ralph, when he again +reached the cottage. "I had better open it and find out." + +The young fireman was quite startled as he untied the parcel and +glanced at its contents. The package contained two bolts of silk, and +the tags on them bore the name of the firm which, Ralph had learned at +Dover, had shipped the goods stolen from the slow freight two nights +previous. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN OLD-TIME ENEMY + + +"New engine, lad?" + +"Not at all, Mr. Griscom, as you well know," answered Ralph. + +The veteran engineer chuckled, but he continued looking over the +locomotive with admiring eyes. + +The young fireman had come to work early that afternoon. The +roundhouse men were careless and he decided to show them what "elbow +grease" and industry could do. In an hour he had the old freight +locomotive looking indeed like a new engine. + +They steamed out of the roundhouse and were soon at the head of their +freight train. + +"I wish I had a little time to spare," said Ralph. + +"Half-an-hour before we have to leave, you know, lad," said Griscom. +"What's troubling you?" + +"I wanted to see Bob Adair, the road detective." + +"About the silk robbery?" inquired the engineer with interest. + +"Yes." + +"Something new?" + +"Considerable, I think." + +"You might find him in the depot offices. Run down and see. I'll +attend to things here." + +"Thanks, Mr. Griscom." + +Ralph hurried away from the freight train. He wished to report about +the discovery of the silk, and hunt up Zeph Dallas at once. + +"I hardly believe the farmer boy a thief," mused Ralph, "but he must +explain his possession of that silk." + +The young fireman did not find Adair at the depot, and came back to +the engine to discover Jim Evans lounging in the cab. + +"Been helping Griscom out," grinned the man. + +"Well, get out, now," growled Griscom. "Time to start up. There's the +signal from the conductor. That man has been hanging around the engine +ever since you left," the old engineer continued to Ralph, "and he is +too good-natured to suit me." + +"Nothing out of order," reported the youth, looking about the cab. + +"Now, lad, for a run on time," said Griscom. "This run has been late +a good deal, and I don't want to get a bad name. When I ran the +Daylight Express it was my pride and boast that we were always on time +to the minute." + +They made good time out of Stanley Junction to Afton. Ten miles +beyond, however, there was a jolt, a slide and difficult progress on a +bit of upgrade rails. + +So serious was the difficulty that Griscom stopped the train and got +out to investigate. He returned to the cab with a set, grim face. + +"Grease," he reported; "some one has been tampering with the rails. +Spite work, too." + +There was fully an hour's delay, but a liberal application of sand to +the rails helped them out. Five miles later on the locomotive began to +puff and jerk. With full steam on, the engine did only half duty. + +"Water gauge all right," said Ralph. "I don't understand it." + +"I do," said Griscom, "and I can tell it in two words--Jim Evans." + +"Why, what do you mean, Mr. Griscom?" + +"He didn't come into the cab for nothing. Yes, we are victims of the +old trick--soap in the water and the valves are clogged." + +"What are we going to do about it?" inquired Ralph anxiously. + +"Pump out the water at the next tank and take a new supply on." + +There was a further delay of nearly two hours. Once more they started +up. Ten miles from Dover, a few seconds after Ralph had thrown in +coal, a terrible explosion threw the fire cover open and singed and +burned both engineer and fireman. + +Griscom looked angry, for the fire now needed mending. + +"Lad," he said grimly, "these tricks are done to scare you and delay +the train." + +"I am not scared one particle," retorted Ralph, "only this strikes me +as a dangerous piece of mischief--putting explosives in among the +coal." + +"Jim Evans did it," positively asserted Griscom. "That's what he +sneaked into the cab for, and he has confederates along the line." + +Ralph said nothing but he resolved to call Evans to account when he +returned to Stanley Junction. + +They were over an hour late on the run. Returning to Stanley Junction, +they were delayed by a wreck and the time record was bad at both ends +of the line. + +"I don't like it," said Griscom. + +"We'll mend it, Mr. Griscom," declared the young fireman, and he did +not go home when they reached Stanley Junction, but proceeded at once +to the home of Jim Evans. + +Ralph knocked at the open door, but no one answered the summons and he +stepped to the door of the sitting room. + +"Any one here?" he called out through the house. + +"Eh? oh--no," answered a muffled voice, and a man in the adjoining +room got up quickly and fairly ran out through the rear door. + +"That's queer," commented Ralph. "That man actually ran away from +me." + +"Ma has gone after pa," lisped a little urchin in the kitchen. "Man +wants to see him. What for funny man run away?" + +Ralph hurried past the infantile questioner and after the object of +his curiosity. + +"Yes, the man did look funny, for a fact," said Ralph. "He was +disguised. There he is. Hey, there! whoever you are, a word with +you." + +He was now in close pursuit of a scurrying figure. The object of his +curiosity turned to look at him, stumbled, and went headlong into a +ditch. + +Ralph came to the spot. The man lay groaning where he had fallen. + +"Help me," he muttered--"I'm nearly stunned." + +"Why!" exclaimed Ralph as he assisted the man to his feet, "it is +Gasper Farrington." + +It was the village magnate, disguised. He stood regarding Ralph with +savage eyes. + +"I thought you had gone to Europe, Mr. Farrington," said Ralph. + +"Did you? Well, I haven't," growled Farrington, nursing a bruise on +his face. + +"Are you going to stay in Stanley Junction, then?" + +"None of your business." + +"Oh, yes, it is," retorted Ralph quickly. "You owe us thousands of +dollars, and we want it." + +"You'll collect by law, then. I'll never give you a cent willingly." + +Ralph regarded the man thoughtfully for a minute or two. + +"Mr. Farrington," he said, "I have come to the conclusion that you are +trying to make me more trouble. This man Evans is up to mischief, and +I believe that you have incited him to it." + +The magnate was silent, regarding Ralph with menacing eyes. + +"I warn you that it won't pay, and that you won't succeed," continued +Ralph. "What do you hope to accomplish by persecuting me?" + +The old man glanced all about him. Then he spoke out. + +"Fairbanks," he said, "I give you one last chance--get out of Stanley +Junction." + +"Why should I?" demanded Ralph. + +"Because you have humiliated me and we can't live in the same town +together, that's why." + +"You deserved humiliation," responded Ralph steadily. + +"All right, take your own view of the case. I will settle your claim +for five thousand dollars and pay you the money at once, if you will +leave Stanley Junction." + +"We will not take one cent less than the full twenty thousand dollars +due us," announced Ralph staunchly, "and I shall not leave Stanley +Junction as long as my mother wants to live here." + +"Then," said Gasper Farrington, venomously, as he walked from the +spot, "look out for yourself." + +Ralph went back to the Evans home, but found only the little child +there. He concluded he would not wait for Evans that evening. The +discovery of his old-time enemy, Farrington, had been enlightening. + +"I will have a talk with mother about this," he mused. + +When Ralph reached home a surprise greeted him. The little parlor was +lighted up, indicating a visitor. He glanced in through the open +windows. + +The visitor was Zeph Dallas, the farmer boy. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ON SPECIAL DUTY + + +Ralph entered the house glad of an opportunity to interview the farmer +boy, who had been in his thoughts considerably during the day. + +"Mr. Dallas, this is my son, Ralph," said Mrs. Fairbanks, as the young +fireman came into the parlor. + +The visitor arose from his chair in an awkward, embarrassed fashion. +He flushed and stammered as he grasped Ralph's extended hand. + +"Brought you a sack of potatoes and some apples," he said. "Neighbor +gave me a lift in his wagon." + +"Is that so?" returned Ralph with a friendly smile. "Well, Mr. Dallas, +I am very glad to see you." + +"Gladder than you were last time, I reckon," said Zeph. "Say, I--I +want to say I am ashamed of myself, and I want to thank you for all +you did for me. It's made me your friend for life, so I came to ask a +favor of you." + +This was rather a queer way of putting the case, thought Ralph, and +the fellow blundered on. + +"You see, Mr. Ames, that's the man who hired me, found out about my +doings down here at Stanley Junction, and he has set me adrift." + +"That is too bad," observed Ralph. + +"No, it ain't, for I deserve better work," dissented Zeph. "They say +you're dreadfully smart and everybody's friend, and I want you to help +me get where I want to get." + +"All right, I am willing to try to assist you." + +"I don't know exactly which I had better do," proceeded Zeph--"become +a chief of police or a railroad conductor. Of course, the man who +speaks quickest and will pay the most money gets me." + +Ralph concealed a smile, for Zeph was entirely in earnest. + +"Well, you see," remarked the young fireman, "it is somewhat difficult +to get just the position you want without some experience." + +"Oh, that's all right," declared the farmer boy confidently. "I've +thought it all out. I once watched a conductor go through a train. +Why, it's no work at all. I could do it easily. And as to being a +detective I've read lots of books on the subject, and I've even got +some disguises I made up, in my satchel here." + +"Oh, brought your satchel, too, did you?" observed Ralph. + +"Why, yes, I thought maybe you'd house me for a day or two till I +closed a contract with somebody." + +The fellow was so simple-minded that Mrs. Fairbanks pitied him, and, +observing this, Ralph said: + +"You are welcome, Zeph, and I will later talk over with you the +prospects of a situation." + +The visitor was soon completely at home. He ate a hearty supper, and, +after the meal, took some home-made disguises from his satchel. The +poor fellow strutted around proudly as he put these on in turn. + +"Old peddler," he announced, donning a skull cap, a white beard made +out of rope, and a big pair of goggles. "Tramp," and he put on a +ragged coat and a torn cap, and acted out the appearance of a typical +tramp quite naturally. There were several other representations, but +all so crude and funny that Ralph with difficulty restrained his +merriment. + +"How will it do?" inquired Zeph, at the conclusion of the +performance. + +"You have got the elements of the profession in mind," said Ralph +guardedly, "but there is the practical end of the business to +learn." + +Then Ralph seriously and earnestly told his visitor the real facts of +the case. He devoted a full hour to correcting Zeph's wrong +impressions of detective and railroad work. By the time he got +through, Zeph's face was glum. + +"Why, if what you say is true," he remarked dejectedly, "I'm next to +being good for nothing." + +"Oh, no," said Ralph, "don't you be discouraged at all. You have the +starting point of every ambition--an idea. I myself do not think much +of the detective line for one as young as you are. As to railroading, +I can tell you one fact." + +"What's that?" interrogated Zeph dreamily. + +"You must begin at the bottom of the ladder and take one step at a +time--slow steps, sure steps, to reach the top." + +"You're a fireman, aren't you?" asked Zeph, admiringly. + +Ralph answered that he was, and this led to his relating to the +curious and interested Zeph the story of his career from roundhouse +worker and switch tower man to the present position. + +"It's fascinating, ain't it?" said Zeph, with a long-drawn breath, +when Ralph concluded his recital. "I reckon I'll give up the detective +idea. Can you help me get a position in the roundhouse?" + +"I am willing to try," assented Ralph. "You are strong and used to +hard work, and that means a good deal in the roundhouse service." + +Ralph suggested a stroll before bedtime. Zeph was glad for the +exercise. Once they were outside, Ralph broached a subject he had been +thinking over all the evening. + +"Zeph," he said, "I want to ask you a very important question." + +"What is that?" + +"You remember the day I kept your team for you?" + +"I'll never forget it." + +"You missed a package that had been under the feed bags when you came +to leave town?" + +"Yes, and that's why I am here," said Zeph. "Old Ames was almost ready +to discharge me for letting those men at the hotel give me drink I had +never tasted before and getting in that fix you found me in, and for +losing some of the apples, but when he found out that I had lost that +package, he was nearly wild." + +"Was there something so valuable in it, then?" + +"I dunno. I only know I was told to be sure I kept it hidden and safe +till it was delivered to a fellow named Evans in town here." + +"Jim Evans?" + +"Yes, that's the full name." + +Ralph looked pretty serious. + +"You see, old Ames himself didn't send the package," went on Zeph. "It +was brought to the house by a fellow who had hired a team from Ames +one day last week. Dunno who he is, dunno where he lives, but I can +describe him, if you are interested." + +"I am interested, very much so," assented Ralph. + +Zeph went on to describe the person he had alluded to. By the time he +had concluded, it was evident to Ralph that the sender of the package +was Ike Slump. + +The young fireman took Zeph back to the house but did not enter it +himself. + +"I will be back soon, Zeph," he said, "I have some business down +town." + +Ralph went at once to the home of Bob Adair. + +"Want to see me, Fairbanks?" questioned the brisk, wide-awake railroad +detective, as Ralph was shown into the room where he was busily +engaged in packing a satchel. + +"Yes, Mr. Adair, about the silk robbery." + +"Oh, that mystery," nodded the detective. "I spent two days on it, and +didn't find a clew." + +"I had one, but failed to find you," explained Ralph. "I'll tell you +all about it now." + +"Quick work, then, Fairbanks," went on Adair, "for I'm due for a +special to the city. Big case from the General Superintendent." + +Ralph rapidly related all he had learned. Adair listened intently. He +reflected for a moment or two after the young fireman had finished his +recital. Then he said: + +"Fairbanks, this is of great importance, but I can't neglect the city +case. You helped me on another similar case once." + +"Yes," said Ralph. + +"Also aided me in running down those switch tower wreckers." + +Ralph nodded. + +"Good work, and you did nobly in those affairs. Let me think. Yes, +I'll do it! Here, I want you to go straight to the Assistant +Superintendent at Afton." + +"You mean to-night?" + +"Right away. I will give you a letter. No, hold on, I've got a better +plan." + +Again Adair consulted his watch. Bustlingly he hurried through with +his preparations for departure. Then he left the house, swung down the +street briskly, and, Ralph accompanying him, proceeded to the railroad +depot. + +He wrote out a long telegram and handed it to the night operator. Then +he came back to Ralph. + +"See here, Fairbanks," he remarked. "I've fixed this thing as I want +it, and you are one of the few persons I would trust in a matter like +this." + +"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Adair." + +"I know your ability from past experience. It won't do to neglect +following this clew to the silk robbers. I have wired the assistant +superintendent for an official request that you be detailed on special +duty in my department. Wait here for the reply. Then start out on the +trail of those thieves, and report to me day after to-morrow, when I +shall return to Stanley Junction." + +"All right," said Ralph, "I may be able to accomplish something." + +"I think you will, judging from your present success in assisting me," +said Adair. + +Ralph had to wait nearly an hour after Adair had left on a special. +Then a reply came to the telegram. The operator, as instructed by +Adair, handed the message to Ralph. It read: + + * * * * * + +"Fairbanks, freight fireman, detailed for special work in another +department." + + * * * * * + +"It's all right," said Ralph to himself, as he started homewards. "Now +to trace down Ike Slump and the other train robbers." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ZEPH + + +The young fireman reported at the roundhouse early in the morning, +showing the telegram to Jim Forgan, but not until the foreman had got +out of sight and hearing of the other men in the place. + +"H'm!" commented Forgan laconically, "I don't like this." + +"Indeed, Mr. Forgan?" smiled Ralph. + +"I don't, and that's the truth of it--for two reasons." + +"What are they, Mr. Forgan?" + +"First, it interrupts a regular run for you." + +"But I may not be away two days." + +"Next, it gives that Jim Evans a chance to take your place, and I +don't trust the man." + +"Neither do I," said Ralph pointedly, "and I may have something +important to tell you about him when I return." + +Ralph found Zeph industriously chopping kindling wood when he got back +home again. The young fireman went into the house, explained his new +employment to his mother, and then called to Zeph. + +"You wanted some work, Zeph," he said to the farmer boy. + +"Sure, I do," cried Zeph with unction. + +"Very well, I think I am authorized to offer you a dollar a day." + +"Steady job?" inquired Zeph eagerly. + +"No, it may not last, but it is in the railroad service, and may lead +to your further employment." + +"Good," commented Zeph. "What do they want me to do--engineer?" + +"Scarcely, Zeph," said Ralph, smiling. "I simply want you to take me +back to the Ames farm and direct me about the locality." + +Zeph looked disappointed. + +"Why, what's that kind of work got to do with railroading?" he said. + +"You shall know later." + +"All right. You're too smart to make any mistakes and too friendly to +do anything but good for me, so I'm your man." + +"Very well. First, then, tell me the location of the Ames farm." + +Zeph did this, and Ralph ascertained that it was about five miles west +of Brocton. + +Ralph secured some money, and in an hour he and Zeph stepped aboard +the cab of a locomotive attached to a load of empties due to run down +the line in a few minutes. + +They reached Brocton about noon. Ralph proceeded down the tracks +towards the railroad cut which had been the scene of the landslide. + +He turned off at the wagon road and soon, with his companion, was +started westward in the direction of the Ames farm. + +"Zeph," he said, "did you hear anything of a train robbery here the +other night?" + +No, Zeph had not heard of it. Then Ralph questioned him closely as to +the night Ames had loaned his wagon to strangers and gained a few more +particulars relating to the silk robbers. + +"There is the Ames farm," reported Zeph at last. + +Ralph had already planned out what he would do, and proceeded to +instruct his assistant as to his share in the affair. + +"Zeph," he said, "I do not wish to be seen by Ames, nor must he know +that you came here with a stranger." + +"Am I to see him?" + +"Yes," answered Ralph, taking a package from under his coat. + +"Why, that's the package I lost!" cried Zeph. + +"The same." + +"And you had it all the time?" + +"I did, Zeph, yes. No mystery about it--I simply don't care to explain +to you anything about it till a little later on." + +"All right." + +"I want you to take it and go up to the farmhouse. I will keep out of +sight. You go to Ames and tell him it was returned to you, and you +want to give it back to the person it belongs to with a message." + +"Whose message?" + +"Nobody's," answered Ralph, "but you need not say that." + +"What shall I say, then?" + +"Tell him you want to advise the person who sent the parcel that it +isn't safe to send such goods to any one at the present time." + +"Very well," said Zeph. "Suppose Ames tells me where to find the +fellow who sent the package?" + +"Come back and report to me." + +Zeph started for the farmhouse. Ralph watched him enter it, the +package in his hand. He came out in a very few minutes without the +parcel. + +He was rather glum-faced when he rejoined Ralph. + +"Say," he observed, "I've found out nothing, and old Ames took the +package away from me." + +"What did he say?" asked the young fireman. + +"He told me he would see that it was returned to the person who sent +it." + +"That delays matters," thought Ralph, "and I don't know whether Ames +will take it back to the silk thieves, or wait for some of them to +visit him." + +Then the young fireman formed a sudden resolution. He regarded his +companion thoughtfully, and said: + +"Zeph, I am going to trust you with what is known as an official +secret in the railroad line." + +The farmer boy looked pleased and interested. + +"I believe you are too square and friendly to betray that secret." + +"Try me, and see!" cried Zeph with ardor. + +"Well," said Ralph, "there was a silk robbery of the Dover night +freight last week, the train I am fireman on. From what you have told +me, I feel sure that the thieves hired their rig from Ames. That +package you had was part of the stolen plunder. I am acting for the +road detective of the Great Northern, and I must locate those +robbers." + +"Then," cried Zeph delightedly, "I am helping you do detective +work." + +"Yes, Zeph, genuine detective work." + +"Oh! how I wish I had my disguises here!" + +"You are of more use to me as you are, because the thieves know you +worked for Ames, and they seem to trust him." + +"That's so," said Zeph thoughtfully. "What you going to do?" + +"I want to locate the thieves," responded Ralph. "You must know the +district about here pretty well. Can't you think of any spot where +they would be likely to hide?" + +"None in particular. But I know every foot of the woods, swamps and +creek. If the men you are looking for are anywhere in the +neighborhood, I am sure we will find a trace of them." + +"You pilot the way, then, Zeph. Go with caution if you find any traces +of the men, for I am sure that at least two of the party know me." + +For three hours they made a tour of the district, taking in nearly +four miles to the south. The swamp lands they could not traverse. +Finally they came out of the woods almost directly on a town. + +"Why," said Ralph in some surprise, "here is Millville, the next +station to Brocton." + +"That's so," nodded Zeph. "I hardly think those fellows are in the +woods. We have made a pretty thorough search." + +"There's the swamp and the high cliffs we haven't visited," said +Ralph. "I suppose you are hungry?" + +"Moderately," answered Zeph. + +"Then we will go and have something to eat. I have a friend just on +the edge of Millville, who keeps a very unique restaurant." + +Ralph smiled pleasantly, for the restaurant in question was quite a +feature with railroad men. + +Two lines of railroad crossed at Millville, a great deal of switching +was done outside of the town, and there was a shanty there to shelter +the men. + +A little off from the junction was a very queer-looking house, if it +could be called such. Its main structure was an old freight car, to +which there had been additions made from time to time. Across its +front was a sign reading, "Limpy Joe's Railroad Restaurant." + +"Ever taken a meal here?" inquired Ralph, as they approached the +place. + +"No." + +"Ever heard of Limpy Joe?" + +"Don't think I have." + +"Then," said Ralph, "I am going to introduce you to the most +interesting boy you ever met." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LIMPY JOE'S RAILROAD RESTAURANT + + +Zeph Dallas stared about him in profound bewilderment and interest as +Ralph led the way towards Limpy Joe's Railroad Restaurant. + +It was certainly an odd-appearing place. Additions had been built onto +the freight car until the same were longer than the original +structure. + +A square of about two hundred feet was enclosed by a barbed wire +fence, and this space was quite as interesting as the restaurant +building. + +There was a rude shack, which seemed to answer for a barn, a haystack +beside it, and a well-appearing vegetable garden. Then, in one corner +of the yard, was a heap of old lumber, stone, brick, doors, window +sash, in fact, it looked as if some one had been gathering all the +unmated parts of various houses he could find. + +The restaurant was neatly painted a regular, dark-red freight-car +color outside. Into it many windows had been cut, and a glance through +the open doorway showed an interior scrupulously neat and clean. + +"Tell me about it," said Zeph. "Limpy Joe--who is he? Does he run the +place alone?" + +"Yes," answered Ralph. "He is an orphan, and was hurt by the cars a +few years ago. The railroad settled with him for two hundred dollars, +an old freight car and a free pass for life over the road, including, +Limpy Joe stipulated, locomotives and cabooses." + +"Wish I had that," said Zeph--"I'd be riding all the time." + +"You would soon get tired of it," Ralph asserted. "Well, Joe invested +part of his money in a horse and wagon, located in that old freight +car, which the company moved here for him from a wreck in the creek, +and became a squatter on that little patch of ground. Then the +restaurant idea came along, and the railroad hands encouraged him. +Before that, however, Joe had driven all over the country, picking up +old lumber and the like, and the result is the place as you see it." + +"Well, he must be an ambitious, industrious fellow." + +"He is," affirmed Ralph, "and everybody likes him. He's ready at any +time of the night to get up and give a tired-out railroad hand a hot +cup of coffee or a lunch. His meals are famous, too, for he is a fine +cook." + +"Hello, Ralph Fairbanks," piped a happy little voice as Ralph and Zeph +entered the restaurant. + +Ralph shook hands with the speaker, a boy hobbling about the place on +a crutch. + +"What's it going to be?" asked Limpy Joe, "full dinner or a lunch?" + +"Both, best you've got," smiled Ralph. "The railroad is paying for +this." + +"That so? Then we'll reduce the rates. Railroad has been too good to +me to overcharge the company." + +"This is my friend, Zeph Dallas," introduced Ralph. + +"Glad to know you," said Joe. "Sit down at the counter, fellows, and +I'll soon have you served." + +"Well, well," said Zeph, staring around the place one way, then the +other, and then repeating the performance. "This strikes me." + +"Interesting to you, is it?" asked Ralph. + +"It's wonderful. Fixed this up all alone out of odds and ends? I tell +you, I'd like to be a partner in a business like this." + +"Want a partner here, Joe?" called out Ralph to his friend in a +jocular way. + +"I want a helper," answered the cripple, busy among the shining +cooking ware on a kitchen stove at one end of the restaurant. + +"Mean that?" asked Zeph. + +"I do. I have some new plans I want to carry out, and I need some one +to attend to the place half of the time." + +Again Zeph glanced all about the place. + +"Say, it fascinates me," he observed to Ralph. "Upon my word, I +believe I'll come to work here when I get through with this work for +you." + +"Tell you what," said Limpy Joe with a shrewd glance at Zeph, as he +placed the smoking dishes before his customers. "I'll make it worth +the while of an honest, active fellow to come in here with me. I have +some grand ideas." + +"You had some good ones when you fitted up the place," declared Zeph. + +"You think it over. I like your looks," continued Joe. "I'm in +earnest, and I might make it a partnership after a while." + +The boys ate a hearty meal, and the young fireman paid for it. + +"Business good, Joe?" he inquired, as they were about to leave. + +"Famous. I've got some new customers, too. Don't know who they are." + +"What's that?" + +"I don't, for a fact." + +"That sounds puzzling," observed Ralph. + +"Well, it's considerable of a puzzle to me--all except the double pay +I get," responded Joe. "For nearly a week I've had a funny order. One +dark night some one pushed up a window here and threw in a card. It +contained instructions and a ten-dollar bill." + +"That's pretty mysterious," said the interested Zeph. + +"The card told me that if I wanted to continue a good trade, I would +say nothing about it, but every night at dark drive to a certain point +in the timber yonder with a basket containing a good solid day's feed +for half-a-dozen men." + +"Well, well," murmured Zeph, while Ralph gave quite a start, but +remained silent, though strictly attentive. + +"Well, I have acted on orders given, and haven't said a word about it +to anybody but you, Ralph. The reason I tell you is, because I think +you are interested in some of the persons who are buying meals from me +in this strange way. It's all right for me to speak out before your +friend here?" + +"Oh, certainly," assented Ralph. + +"Well, Ike Slump is one of the party in the woods, and Mort Bemis is +another." + +"I guessed that the moment you began your story," said Ralph, "and I +am looking for those very persons." + +"I thought you would be interested. They are wanted for that +attempted treasure-train robbery, aren't they?" + +"Yes, and for a more recent occurrence," answered Ralph--"the looting +of the Dover freight the other night." + +"I never thought of that, though I should have done so," said Joe. +"The way I know that Slump and Bemis are in the woods yonder, is that +one night I had a breakdown, and was delayed a little, and saw them +come for the food basket where I had left it." + +Ralph's mind was soon made up. He told Joe all about their plans. + +"You've got to help us out, Joe," he added. + +"You mean take you up into the woods in the wagon to-night?" + +"Yes." + +"Say," said Joe, his shrewd eyes sparkling with excitement, "I'll do +it in fine style. Ask no questions. I've got a plan. I'll have another +breakdown, not a sham one, this time. I'll have you two well covered +up in the wagon box, and you can lie there until some one comes after +the basket." + +"Good," approved Ralph, "you are a genuine friend, Joe." + +Ralph and Zeph had to wait around the restaurant all the afternoon. +There was only an occasional customer, and Joe had plenty of time to +spare. He took a rare delight in showing his friends his treasures, as +he called them. + +About dusk Joe got the food supply ready for the party in the woods. +He hitched up the horse to a wagon, arranged some blankets and hay in +the bottom of the vehicle, so that his friends could hide themselves, +and soon all was ready for the drive into the timber. + +Ralph managed to look out as they proceeded into the woods. The wagon +was driven about a mile. Then Joe got out and set the basket under a +tree. + +A little distance from it he got out again, took off a wheel, left it +lying on the ground, unhitched the horse, and rode away on the back of +the animal. The vehicle, to a casual observer, would suggest the +appearance of a genuine breakdown. + +"Now, Zeph," said Ralph as both arranged their coverings so they could +view tree and basket clearly, "no rash moves." + +"If anybody comes, what then?" inquired the farmer boy. + +"We shall follow them, but with great caution. Keep close to me, so +that I can give you special instructions, if it becomes necessary." + +"Good," said Zeph. "That will be soon, for there they are!" + +Two figures had appeared at the tree. One took up the basket, the +other glanced around stealthily. Ralph recognized both of them, even +in the dim twilight, at some distance away. One was Ike Slump, the +other his old-time crony and accomplice, Mort Bemis. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HIDDEN PLUNDER + + +"That's the fellow who brought the package of silk to old Ames," +whispered Zeph, staring hard from under covert at Slump. + +"Yes, I recognize him," responded Ralph in quite as guarded a tone. +"Quiet, now, Zeph." + +Ike Slump and Mort Bemis continued to linger at the tree. They were +looking at the wagon and beyond it. + +"Say," spoke the former to his companion, "what's wrong?" + +"How wrong?" inquired Mort. + +"Why, some way our plans appear to have slipped a cog. There's the +wagon broken down and the boy has gone with the horse. Two of our men +were to stop him, you know, and keep him here while we used the +wagon." + +"Maybe they're behind time. What's the matter with our holding the boy +till they come?" + +"The very thing," responded Ike, and, leaving the basket where it +was, he and Mort ran after Limpy Joe and the horse. + +"Get out of here, quick," ordered Ralph to Zeph. "If we don't, we +shall probably be carried into the camp of the enemy." + +"Isn't that just exactly the place that you want to reach?" inquired +the farmer boy coolly. + +"Not in this way. Out with you, and into the bushes. Don't delay, +Zeph, drop flat, some one else is coming." + +It was a wonder they were not discovered, for almost immediately two +men came running towards the spot. They were doubtless the persons Ike +Slump had referred to, for they gave a series of signal whistles, +responded to by their youthful accomplices, who, a minute later, came +into view leading the horse of which Limpy Joe was astride. + +"We were late," panted one of the men. + +"Should think you were," retorted Ike Slump. "This boy nearly got +away. Say, if you wasn't a cripple," he continued to the young +restaurant keeper, "I'd give you something for whacking me with that +crutch of yours." + +"I'd whack you again, if it would do any good," said the plucky +fellow. "You're a nice crowd, you are, bothering me this way after +I've probably saved you from starvation the last week." + +"That's all right, sonny," drawled out one of the men. "We paid you +for what you've done for us, and we will pay you still better for +simply coming to our camp and staying there a prisoner, until we use +that rig of yours for a few hours." + +"If you wanted to borrow the rig, why didn't you do so in a decent +fashion?" demanded Joe indignantly. + +"You keep quiet, now," advised the man who carried on the +conversation. "We know our business. Here, Slump, you and Mort help +get this wheel on the wagon and hitch up the horse." + +They forced Joe into the wagon bottom and proceeded to get ready for a +drive into the woods. + +"Bet Joe is wondering how we came to get out of that wagon," observed +Zeph to Ralph. + +"Don't talk," said Ralph. "Now, when they start away, I will follow, +you remain here." + +"Right here?" + +"Yes, so that I may find you when I come back, and so that you can +follow the wagon when it comes out of the woods again if I am not on +hand." + +"You think they are going to move some of their plunder in the +wagon?" + +"Exactly," replied the young fireman. + +"Well, so do I. They won't get far with it, though, if I am after +them," boasted Zeph. "Wish I had a detective star and some weapons." + +"The safest way to do is to follow them until they get near a town or +settlement, and then go for assistance and arrest them," advised +Ralph. "Now, then, Zeph, make no false moves." + +"No, I will follow your orders strictly," pledged the farmer boy. + +The basket was lifted into the wagon by Ike, who, with Mort, led the +horse through the intricate timber and brushwood. Progress was +difficult and they proceeded slowly. As soon as it was safe to do so, +Ralph left Zeph. The two men had taken up the trail of the wagon, +guarding its rear so that Joe could not escape. + +Ralph kept sight of them for half-an-hour and was led deeper and +deeper into the woods. These lined the railroad cut, and he wondered +that the gang of robbers had dared to camp so near to the recent scene +of their thieving operations. + +At last the young fireman was following only two men, for he could no +longer see the wagon. + +"Perhaps they have left Ike and Bemis to go ahead with the wagon and +they are reaching the camp by a short cut," reflected Ralph. "Why, +no," he suddenly exclaimed, as the men turned aside to take a new +path. "These are not the same men at all who were with the wagon. I am +off the trail, I am following some one else." + +Ralph made this discovery with some surprise. Certainly he had got +mixed up in cautiously trailing the enemy at a distance. He wondered +if the two men he was now following belonged to Ike Slump's crowd. + +"I must assume they do," ruminated Ralph, "at least for the present. +They are bound for some point in the woods, of course, and I shall +soon know their destination." + +The two men proceeded for over a mile. They commenced an ascent where +the cliffs lining the railroad cut began. The place was thick with +underbrush and quite rocky in places, wild and desolate in the +extreme, and the path they pursued so tortuous and winding that Ralph +at length lost sight of them. + +"Where have they disappeared to?" he asked himself, bending his ear, +keeping a sharp lookout, and with difficulty penetrating the worst +jungle of bushes and stunted trees he had yet encountered. "I hear +voices." + +These guided Ralph, and he followed their indication. At last he came +to a halt near an open space, where the men he was following had +stopped. + +"Here we are, Ames," were the first distinct words that Ralph heard +spoken. + +"Why, one of these men must be the farmer that Zeph worked for," +decided Ralph. + +"All right, you're safe enough up here. Got the plunder here, have +you?" was asked. + +"Yes. I will show you the exact spot, and you come here after we have +got the bulk of the stuff to a new hiding place, take it as you can, +dispose of it, and keep us in ready money until we feel safe to ship +our goods to some distant city and realize on them." + +"I'll do just that," was replied. "What are you leaving here for?" + +"Adair, the road detective, is after us, we understand, and this is +too dangerously near the railroad." + +"That's so," replied the person Ralph supposed to be Ames. "All right, +I'll not miss on my end of the case. Only, don't send any more +packages of the silk to friends. The one Slump sent might have got you +into trouble." + +"I never knew he did it at the time," was responded. "I raised a big +row when I found out. You see, Evans, the man he sent it to, is in +with us in a way, and is a particular friend of Ike Slump, but it was +a big risk to send him goods that might be traced right back to us. +Safe hiding place, eh?" + +The speaker had proceeded to some bushes guarding the entrance to a +cave-like depression in the dirt, gravel and rocks. He re-appeared +with some packages for his companion. Then both went away from the +spot. + +"Why," said Ralph, with considerable satisfaction, "this is the hiding +place of the plunder. I am in possession, and what am I going to do +about it?" + +The discovery had come about so easily that the young fireman could +scarcely plan out a next intelligent move all in a moment. + +"Ames is an accomplice of the thieves," he decided, "who are going to +use Joe's wagon to remove the bulk of this plunder. They will soon be +here. What had I better do--what can I do?" + +Ralph went in among the bushes as the men had done. He took a glance +at a great heap of packages lying in a depression in the rocks. Then +he advanced a few steps towards the edge of the cliff. + +Ralph looked down fully two hundred feet into the railroad cut. This +was almost the spot where the landslide had stopped the Dover night +freight. The main tracks were clear now, but on a gravel pit siding +were several cars. + +"Why," exclaimed Ralph suddenly, "if I only have the time to do it in, +I have got the whole affair right in my own hands." + +A plan to deprive the railroad thieves of their booty had come into +the mind of the young fireman. Ralph filled his arms with the +packages of silk, advanced to the edge of the cliff, threw them over, +and continued his operation until he had removed the last parcel from +its hiding place. + +"Something more to do yet," he told himself, when this task was +completed. "When the thieves discover that their plunder is gone, they +may surmise that it disappeared this way. Can I make a safe descent?" + +Ralph had a hard time getting down into the railroad cut. Once there, +he hastily threw the silk packages into a half-filled gravel car, with +a shovel covered them all over with sand and gravel, and then started +on a run for Brocton. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A SUSPICIOUS PROCEEDING + + +"Mr. Griscom, this is life!" + +Ralph Fairbanks spoke with all the ardor of a lively, ambitious boy in +love with the work in hand. He sat in the cab of the locomotive that +drew the Limited Mail, and he almost felt as if he owned the splendid +engine, the finest in the service of the Great Northern. + +Two weeks had passed by since the young fireman had baffled the +railroad thieves. Ralph had made brief work of his special duty for +Adair, the road detective, and there had come to him a reward for +doing his duty that was beyond his fondest expectations. This was a +promotion that most beginners in his line would not have earned in any +such brief space of time. The recovery of the stolen silk, however, +had made Bob Adair a better friend than ever. The road detective had +influence, and Ralph was promoted to the proud position of fireman of +the Limited Mail. + +This was his first trip in the passenger service, and naturally Ralph +was anxious and excited. Griscom had been made engineer, his eyes +having mended, and Ralph was very glad that the veteran railroader +would continue as his partner. + +Regarding the silk robbery, that was now ancient history, but for +several days the occurrence had been one of interest all along the +line. Adair had made public the circumstances of the case, and Ralph +became quite a hero. + +The night he had managed to get the plunder into the gravel car he had +instantly secured assistance at Brocton. The valuable goods were +guarded all night, and a party of men made a search for the thieves, +but they had taken the alarm and had escaped. + +Zeph Dallas had gone back to Millville with Limpy Joe, and went to +work there. A further search was made for Ike Slump, Mort Bemis and +their accomplices, but they could not be found. Jim Evans had been +discharged from the railroad service. Nothing more was heard of Gasper +Farrington, and it seemed to Ralph as if at last his enemies had been +fully routed and there was nothing but a clear track ahead. + +"It feels as if I was beginning life all over again," Ralph had told +his mother that morning. "Fireman of the Limited Mail--just think of +it, mother! one of the best positions on the road." + +Ralph decided that the position demanded very honorable treatment, and +he looked neat and quite dressed up, even in his working clothes, as +he now sat in the engine cab. + +Griscom proceeded to give him lots of suggestions and information +regarding his new duties. + +There had been a change in the old time schedule of the Limited Mail. +Originally it had started from the city terminus in the early morning. +Now the run was reversed, and the train left Stanley Junction at 10:15 +A.M. + +Ralph proceeded to get everything in order for the prospective run, +but everything was so handy, it was a pleasure to contemplate his +duties. + +Just before train time a boy came running up to the engine. He was an +old schoolmate and a neighbor. + +"Ralph! Ralph!" he called breathlessly to the young fireman. "Your +mother sent me with a letter that she got at the post-office." + +"For me? Thank you, Ned," said Ralph. + +He glanced at the address. The handwriting was unfamiliar. There was +no time left to inspect the enclosure, so Ralph slipped the letter in +his pocket and proceeded to attend to the fire. + +He quite forgot the letter after that, finding the duties of a +first-class fireman to be extremely arduous. There was plenty of coal +to shovel, and he was pretty well tired out when they reached the +city terminus. + +"There, lad," said Griscom proudly, as they steamed into the depot on +time to a second. "This makes me feel like old times once more." + +There was a wait of four hours in the city, during which period the +train hands were at liberty to spend their time as they chose. Griscom +took Ralph to a neat little hotel, where they had a meal and the +privileges of a reading room. It was there that Ralph suddenly +remembered the letter sent to him that morning by his mother. + +As he opened it he was somewhat puzzled, for the signature was strange +to him. The missive stated that the writer "was acting for a former +resident of Stanley Junction who wished to settle up certain +obligations, if a satisfactory arrangement could be made." Further the +writer, as agent of the party in question, would meet Ralph at a +certain hotel at a certain time and impart to him his instructions. + +The young fireman was about to consult Griscom as to this mysterious +missive, but found the old engineer engaged in conversation with some +fellow railroaders, and, leaving the place, he proceeded to the hotel +named in the letter. + +He was an hour ahead of the time appointed in the communication and +waited patiently for developments, thinking a good deal and wondering +what would come of the affair. + +Finally a man came into the place, acting as if he was looking for +somebody. He was an under-sized person with a mean and crafty face. He +glanced at Ralph, hesitated somewhat, and then advanced towards him. + +"Is your name Fairbanks?" he questioned. + +"Yes," answered Ralph promptly. + +"Wrote you a letter." + +"I received one, yes," said Ralph. "May I ask its meaning?" + +"Well, there is nothing gained by beating about the bush. I represent, +as an attorney, Mr. Gasper Farrington." + +"I thought that when I read your letter," said Ralph. + +"Then we understand each other," pursued the attorney. "Now then, see +here, Farrington wants to do the square thing by you." + +"He ought to," answered Ralph. "He owes us twenty thousand dollars and +he has got to pay it." + +"Oh, yes, you can undoubtedly collect it in time," admitted the man. + +"But why all this mystery?" asked Ralph abruptly. "In an important +matter like this, it appears to me some regular attorney might +consult our attorneys at Stanley Junction." + +"Farrington won't do that. He don't feel the kindest in the world +towards your people. Here is his simple proposition: This affair is to +be settled up quietly between the parties directly interested. I am to +give you certain papers for your mother to sign. You get them attended +to. You will be later advised where and when to deliver them and get +your money." + +"Twenty thousand dollars?" said Ralph. + +"Yes." + +Ralph did not like the looks of things, but he kept his own counsel, +and simply said: + +"Very well, give me the documents you speak of and I will act upon +them as my mother decides." + +"And keep the business strictly to yourselves." + +This looked reasonable to Ralph. He knew that Farrington felt deeply +the disgrace already attached to his name for past misdeeds of which +he had been guilty. + +"We have no desire to humiliate Mr. Farrington any further," he said. +"We simply insist upon our rights. This strikes me as a mysterious and +uncalled-for method of settling up a claim purely business-like in its +character." + +"That is the way of old Farrington, you know," suggested the man, with +a coarse laugh. + +"Yes, he seems to be given to dark ways," said Ralph. + +"Then it is all arranged?" questioned the "lawyer" eagerly. + +"So far as it can be arranged for the time being." + +"Very well, you shall hear from us in a few days." + +Ralph left the hotel with one fixed conviction in his mind--that old +Gasper Farrington was up to some new scheme and that it would be wise +to look out for him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SPECIAL + + +Within a week the young fireman of the Limited Mail was in full swing +as a trusted and valued employe of the Great Northern. Engineer +Griscom had got the time schedule down to a system of which he was +proud. They made successful runs without a break or accident, and +Ralph loved the life for its variety, experience and promise of sure +promotion. + +The documents given to him for his mother by the agent of Gasper +Farrington in the city were apparently all regular and business-like. +They covered receipt for twenty thousand dollars, designating certain +numbered bonds indicated, but one phrase which exonerated the village +magnate from blame or crooked dealing in the affair Ralph did not at +all like. He believed that there was some specious scheme under this +matter and he awaited developments. + +One blustering night he and Griscom had just run the engine into the +roundhouse, when Tim Forgan, the foreman, came hastening towards them, +a paper fluttering in his hand and accompanied by a young fellow about +twenty years of age. The latter was handsome and manly-looking, very +well dressed, and Ralph liked him on sight. + +"The very men," spoke Forgan, showing an unusual excitement of manner. +"Griscom, Fairbanks, let me introduce you to Mr. Trevor." + +Engineer and fireman bowed, but the young man insisted on shaking +hands cordially with his new acquaintances. + +"Glad to meet you, gentlemen," he said briskly. "I have heard nothing +but regrets as to your absence and praises for your ability in the +railroad line from Forgan here. Tell your story, Mr. Forgan. You know +time is money to me, just at present," and the speaker consulted an +elegant timepiece in a hurried, anxious way. + +"Why, it's just this," said Forgan. "Mr. Trevor, who is a nephew of +the president of the road, came to me with a telegram directing us to +send him through to the city on the quickest time on record." + +"A special, eh?" said Griscom, eyeing the young man speculatively. + +"About that, only there is no time to waste in making up a train, and +he inclines to riding on the locomotive. The train dispatcher will +give clear tracks to terminus. We were just picking out an engine when +you arrived. How is it, Griscom?" + +"You mean, will we undertake the job?" inquired the veteran engineer +in his practical, matter-of-fact way. + +"Exactly," nodded Trevor eagerly. + +"After a hard double run?" insinuated Griscom. + +"That's so; it isn't right to ask them, Forgan. Give me some other +engine." + +"Won't you wait till I answer?" demanded Griscom. "Yes, we will, and +glad to show you the courtesy. Is that right, Fairbanks?" + +"Certainly," replied Ralph. "Is it a matter of a great deal of +urgency, Mr. Trevor?" + +"Particularly so. I have come five hundred miles on other roads on +specials. I must connect with a train in the city at a certain time, +or I miss Europe and important business." + +Old Griscom took out his greasy, well-worn train schedule. He looked +it over and pointing to the regular time made, said: + +"We can discount that exactly seventy-two minutes." + +"And that will bring me to terminus exactly on time," said the young +man brightly. "Do it, my friends, and you shall have a hundred +dollars between you." + +"That isn't at all necessary"--began Griscom. + +"I beg pardon, but in this case it is," broke in Trevor. "It's all +arranged. Thanks. I will put on a rain coat, and if you will stow me +in some corner of the tender I shall enjoy the run." + +Forgan bustled about. Through the call boy of the roundhouse Ralph +sent word to his mother of the extra trip. Then he worked like a +beaver on the locomotive. Trevor watched him in a pleased and admiring +way. + +They ran the locomotive out on the turn table. Griscom consulted his +watch, talked a few moments with Forgan, and said to Ralph: + +"Tracks clear in twelve minutes, lad. Just time enough to get a bite +at the nearest restaurant." + +When they returned, Trevor stood near the engine glancing all around +him in a very animated way. + +"Looking for Forgan?" inquired the old engineer. + +"Oh, no. I was wondering where a fellow disappeared to who was hanging +around the tender a few minutes ago. He and a companion have been +following me ever since I arrived." + +"Then they have given up the job," observed Griscom, glancing keenly +about. "Why should they follow you, Mr. Trevor?" + +"That I cannot tell. Probably thought I looked prosperous, and were +bent on waylaying me. Anyhow, they kept close to me down the tracks +from the depot. Ready?" + +"In precisely one minute. There is the Dover Accommodation now," +announced the engineer, as a headlight came around a curve. "All +right. We'll have to coal up at the limits. Then we will make you a +comfortable seat, Mr. Trevor." + +"Don't you give yourselves any concern about me," replied Trevor. "I +am used to railroad life." + +They coaled up at the limits, but did not stop for water, the tank +being three-quarters full. Ralph made tests of air valve and water +pump, shook down the furnace, and the locomotive quivered under +high-steam pressure as they started on their special run. + +A flagman shouted something at them as they passed a switch. + +"What was he saying?" inquired Griscom. + +"I couldn't hear him," said Ralph. + +"Thought he pointed at the engine--at the cow-catcher," remarked +Trevor. + +"Everything all right there," assured Ralph, and in the brisk action +of the hour the circumstance was forgotten. + +Twenty, thirty, forty miles made, and as they slowed down Griscom +turned to Trevor, a proud glitter in his eye. + +"How is that, sir?" he inquired. + +"Famous!" cried the young man cheerily. "Badly shaken up, and this +seat up here is rather bumpy, but I enjoy it, just the same. Going to +stop?" + +"Yes, crossing. Only for half-a-minute, though." + +The engine halted on regular signal. Griscom got down and ran about a +bit, explaining that he was subject to cramps when seated long in one +position. Two men came up to the locomotive. + +"Give us a lift?" demanded one of them. + +"Couldn't do it, partner," responded Ralph. "Under special orders." + +"Plenty of room up there on the tender." + +"Not for you," answered the young fireman. + +Both men regarded Trevor very keenly. Then they disappeared in the +darkness. Ralph got the signal from the crossing's switch tower to go +ahead. + +"Mr. Griscom," he called out from his window. + +"Why, where is he?--I don't see him," said Trevor in surprise. "I saw +him out there not a minute ago." + +Ralph jumped to the ground in amazement. Nowhere in sight was +Griscom; nowhere within hearing either, it seemed. Like the two rough +fellows who had just approached the engine, Griscom has disappeared. + +"Why, this is mysterious," declared the young fireman in an anxious +tone of concern. "Where can he have disappeared to?" + +"I don't like the looks of things," spoke Trevor. "Something is wrong, +Fairbanks," he continued. "Look ahead there--I just saw a man on the +cowcatcher." + +Now Ralph was more than mystified, he was alarmed. He seized a rod and +jumped again to the ground. Sure enough, on the cowcatcher sat a man, +huddled up comfortably. + +"Who are you?" demanded Ralph, keeping his distance and eyeing the +intruder suspiciously. + +"Call me a tramp, if you like," laughed the fellow. + +"You must get off of that cowcatcher." + +"Who says so?" + +"I do--against the rules. Come, move on." + +"You try to put me off, youngster," drawled the fellow, with an ugly +look in his eyes, "and I'll use this," and he drew a revolver from his +pocket. "I want a free ride, and I intend to have it." + +"Will you make me stop at the tower to get you put off?" threatened +Ralph. + +"You won't. There's no one there but the towerman, and he can't leave +duty, and you won't stop because you're on a fast run. Take it easy, +sonny. I don't weigh much, and I won't hurt your old locomotive." + +Ralph could do nothing better than submit to the imposition for the +time being. He returned to the cab. His face was quite anxious. He +called again to Griscom. + +"I can't understand it," he said. "What can have befallen him? Keep a +close watch here for a few minutes, will you?" he asked of his +passenger. + +Ralph took a lantern and ran down the tracks, flashed the light across +the empty freights lining the tracks, and returned to the locomotive +more anxious than ever. + +"I can't think what to do, Mr. Trevor," he said. + +The young man consulted his watch nervously. + +"Tell you, Fairbanks, we mustn't lose time. You can't find your +partner. Run to the tower and have the man there telegraph the +circumstances and get someone to look for Griscom. We will have to run +on without him." + +"Without Griscom!" cried Ralph. "Why, we cannot possibly secure a +substitute this side of Dover." + +"Don't need one--you know how to run an engine, don't you?" + +"In a fashion, probably, but I am worried about Mr. Griscom." + +"The towerman can attend to that. I don't want to appear selfish, +Fairbanks, but you must get this special through on time or get to +some point where we can find another engineer." + +"I don't like it," said Ralph. "Without a fireman, too." + +"I'll attend to that department," said Trevor, briskly throwing off +his coat. "Now then, the tower, your word to the operator there, and +make up for lost time, Fairbanks, if you want to earn that hundred +dollars." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +KIDNAPPED + + +Ralph climbed to the engineer's seat with many misgivings and very +anxious concerning his missing partner. He knew how to run an engine, +for the young fireman had watched Griscom at his duties, had studied +every separate piece of machinery thoroughly, and more than once had +relieved the veteran engineer for brief periods of time between +stations. + +"That was all well enough on a regular run," thought Ralph, "but a +special is a different thing." + +Then, coming to the switch tower, he called up to the operator there, +who was at the open window. He explained hurriedly about the +disappearance of Griscom. He also asked the towerman to telegraph +ahead to Dover for a substitute engineer. The operator said he would +have some men come down from the first station back on the route on a +handcar to search for the missing rail-roader. + +"Man on your cowcatcher there," he called down as Ralph started up the +engine. + +"No time to bother with him now. Let him ride to Dover, if he wants +to," advised Trevor. "Now, Fairbanks, you to the throttle, me to the +furnace. Just give me a word of direction when I need it, won't you?" + +But for his anxiety concerning his missing partner, the young fireman +would have enjoyed the run of the next two hours immensely. There was +a clear track--he had only to look out for signals. He was entirely +familiar with the route, and Trevor proved a capable, practical +assistant. + +"Don't look much like the man who left a palace car to step into a +locomotive at Stanley Junction, eh?" laughed the young man, reeking +with perspiration, and greasy and grimed. "How do I do--all right?" + +"You must have had experience in the fireman line," submitted Ralph. + +"Why, yes," acknowledged Trevor. "My uncle made me work in a +roundhouse for a year. Once I believe I could run an engine, but I've +forgotten a good deal. Fairbanks, look ahead!" + +There was no occasion for the warning. Already the young fireman had +discovered what his companion announced. As the locomotive glided +around a sharp curve a great glare confronted them. + +Not two hundred yards ahead was a mass of flames shooting skywards. +The bridge crossing a creek that was located at this part of the route +was on fire. + +Ralph started to slow down. Then, discerning the impossibility of +doing so this side of the burning structure, he set full speed. + +"It's make or break," he said, in a kind of gasp. + +"Put her through--take the risk," ordered Trevor sharply. + +Swish! crackle! crash!--it was an eventful moment in the career of the +young fireman. There was a blinding glow, a rain of fire swayed +through the locomotive cab, then, just as they cleared the bridge, the +structure went down to midstream. + +"We must get this news to Dover quick," said Ralph, applying himself +anew to lever and throttle. "We have ten minutes to make up then." + +Clink!--snap!--a terrific jar shook the locomotive. Contrary to signal +given at the nearest switch ahead, the engine veered to a siding. + +"What does this mean?" demanded Trevor sharply. + +"Mischief--malice, perhaps," said Ralph quickly. "Freights ahead--we +shall have to stop." + +"Don't do it," directed Trevor. "Drive into them and push them ahead +to the main line again. I'll stand all damage." + +"They are empties, I noticed them on the afternoon run," said the +young fireman. "Mr. Trevor, all this complication, all these +happenings are suspicious. We will have to slow down to the +freights." + +"Slow down entirely," growled a sudden voice. "Do it, or I'll have it +done by my partner, who is aboard all right." + +Both Ralph and Trevor turned sharply. Standing on the coal of the +tender was a man. He was dripping with water, and in one hand held a +revolver. + +"No delay, Fairbanks," he cautioned sternly. "We've taken too much +trouble to miss this last chance to get you and your passenger." + +Ralph stopped the engine. Then calmly, but with a certain sense of +peril and defeat, he faced the man. + +"Where did you come from?" demanded Trevor in amazement. + +"Only from inside the water tank," responded the stranger coolly. +"Been there since we left Stanley Junction." + +"Why, you are one of the fellows who were following me at the depot!" +cried Trevor. + +"Correct, boss," chuckled the stranger. "Here's my partner," he +announced, as the man Ralph had discovered on the cowcatcher appeared +at the side of the cab. "We'll relieve you two now," continued the +speaker to Ralph and Trevor. "Move back on that coal. We'll try a bit +of engineering ourselves." + +"See here, my man," called out Trevor sharply. "What is the object of +all this?" + +"Object?" grinned the man. "You'll know later. Important, for it took +four men on the route, lots of inquiring before you came to Stanley +Junction, two of us here now, others waiting for us somewhere else, to +get you dead right." + +"Me!" exclaimed Trevor in amazement. "You mean me?" + +"Nobody else." + +"Why, how are you interested in me?" + +"You'll know soon." + +"But----" + +"Stand back, do as we say, or we'll use force," declared the speaker +gruffly. + +His companion guarded Ralph and Trevor while he took the engineer's +seat. He reversed the engine, ran back to the main tracks, from there, +first setting a switch, onto a spur, and, after following this for +nearly a mile, shut off steam and the locomotive came to a stop. + +Then the fellow applied a whistle to his lips. Several men approached +the engine. He consulted with them, and came back to Ralph carrying a +piece of rope. + +"Fairbanks," he said, "we'll have to tie you for safe keeping for a +while." + +"Won't you explain this?" inquired Trevor, in a troubled way. "See +here, men, I am due in the city. I will pay you handsomely to let us +proceed on our trip." + +"How much?" inquired the man who had acted as engineer. + +"I have several hundred dollars with me." + +"Not enough," retorted the man. "We want several thousand, seeing you +are worth it." + +"I haven't a thousand dollars in the world," declared Trevor. + +"You are worth twenty thousand," insisted the man confidently. "We'll +prove it to you a little later. Here," to his companion, "tie +Fairbanks, leave the letter with him, and let us get out of this +before anybody is missed." + +"One word," said Ralph. "Are you people responsible for the +disappearance of Mr. Griscom?" + +"Perhaps," said the man. "He's all safe and sound--only out of the way +of mischief for a spell. One other word, Fairbanks, we didn't fire +the bridge." + +Trevor looked the picture of distress and uncertainty as he was forced +from the locomotive cab. + +"You people will regret this high-handed outrage," he cried. "My uncle +is president of the Great Northern." + +"That is just exactly why you are worth twenty thousand dollars," +coolly announced the man who had acted as engineer. "Plain and square, +gentlemen, kindly call this a bit of kidnapping scientifically worked +at some care and expense. You come with us. Fairbanks will do the +rest. Got him tied up?" to his companion. "All right, now put the +letter in his pocket." + +And, leaving the young fireman bound and helpless on the floor of the +cab, the men with Trevor left the scene. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE RAILROAD PRESIDENT + + +The young fireman had a good deal to think of as he lay in the +locomotive cab, unable to help himself in any way. All the smooth +sailing of the past week was remembered in strong contrast to the +anxieties of the present moment. + +Ralph had not recognized any of the crowd who had appeared about the +engine during the evening. The leader, however, seemed to know his +name. This inclined Ralph to the belief that some one of the party did +know him, and naturally he thought of Ike Slump and his associates. + +"They are desperate men, whoever they are," he decided, "and they must +have planned out this scheme to perfection to keep track of Mr. Trevor +and follow us up along the line. That man in the water tank is a +daring fellow. He must have had a pleasant time in there. It was an +original move, anyhow." + +It was in vain that Ralph endeavored to release himself. He was +stoutly tied. All he could do was to wriggle about and wonder how +soon he would be set free by his captors or discovered by others. + +It must have been fully three hours before there was any break in the +monotony of his situation. Ralph heard some one whistling a tune and +approaching rapidly. Soon a man appeared on the cab step, looked Ralph +over coolly, and observed: + +"Tired of waiting for me, kid?" + +"Naturally," responded Ralph. "Are you going to set me free?" + +"That's the orders, seeing that our party is safe at a distance. Got +enough steam on to run the engine?" + +"Yes," replied Ralph. "There was full pressure when you people stopped +us, and the steam lasts about six hours." + +"All right. You will have a great story to tell the railroad folks, +eh? Don't forget the letter we put in your pocket. There you are. Now +then, go about your business and don't say we did not treat you like a +gentleman. Oh--ooh! What's this?" + +The man had cut the ropes that held Ralph captive, and carelessly +swung to the step. In a flash the young fireman was on his mettle. +Springing to his feet, Ralph snatched at a hooked rod. Reaching out, +he caught the man by the coat collar and pulled him back flat across +the cab floor where he had just lain. + +"You lie still, or I shall use harsh measures," declared Ralph, +springing upon his captive and menacing him with the rod. "Hold up +your hands, folded, and let me tie you." + +"Well, I guess not!" + +"Yes, you shall!" cried Ralph. + +In a second the situation changed. The man was much stronger than his +opponent. He managed to throw Ralph off, and got to his knees. The +young fireman decided, as the fellow reached for a weapon, to strike +out with the iron rod. It landed heavily on the man's temple, and he +fell back senseless on the coal of the tender with a groan. + +Ralph securely tied his captive. Then he reversed the lever and opened +the throttle. In a minute he was speeding back over the spur the way +the locomotive had come four hours previous. + +"We have one of the kidnappers, at least," he said with satisfaction. +"Ah, there is some one at the bridge," he added, as he ran down the +main tracks. + +Signals of danger were set on both sides of the creek, and Ralph could +make out men in the distance moving about. He was soon on the scene. + +A track-walker had discovered the burning bridge and had summoned +assistance. + +There was only one thing to do with the locomotive, to run on to +Dover, and this Ralph did at once. He reported the occurrences of the +evening to the assistant superintendent, whom he found getting a +wrecking crew together. + +"Well, this is a serious and amazing piece of business," commented +that official. "Here, men," he called to his assistants on the +wrecking car, "fetch this fellow into the shanty yonder." + +The man Ralph had knocked down in the locomotive cab had recovered +consciousness. He was brought into the shanty and questioned, but was +sullen and silent. + +"Won't tell anything, eh?" said the assistant superintendent. + +"The letter says all there is to say," remarked the captive coolly, +"but that twenty thousand dollars will never find young Trevor if you +keep me a prisoner." + +"A prisoner safe and tight you shall be," declared the railroad +official with determination. "Take him to the town jail, men," he +added. "I must wire for the president of the road at once, and to +Adair at Stanley Junction. What's your plan, Fairbanks?" he asked of +Ralph. + +"I hardly know," responded the young fireman. "I don't see that I can +be of any assistance here." + +The letter the kidnappers had left with Ralph was terse and clear as +to its directions. The writer demanded twenty thousand dollars for the +return of young Trevor, and indicated how his friends might get in +correspondence with his captors through an advertisement in the city +newspapers. + +"The wrecking car is going to the bridge, Fairbanks," said the +official. "You can cross the creek some way and use a handcar, if they +have one. Tell the men there I say so. As to your prisoner, I will see +that he is taken care of." + +It was just daylight when Ralph reached the switch tower where Griscom +had disappeared. The towerman had just been relieved from duty, and +met Ralph with eager welcome as he was approaching the place. + +"Glad to see you," he said. "We just found Griscom." + +"Where is he?" inquired Ralph quickly. + +"In the tower, all safe and comfortable now, but he had a hard time of +it lying all night in a freight car, gagged and tied. He is fighting +mad, don't understand the affair, and worried to death about you." + +"Oh, I am all right," said Ralph. + +"I see you are. But what has happened, anyhow? You'll want to tell +Griscom, won't you? Well, I'll go back with you to hear your story, +too." + +It was an interesting scene, the meeting of the engineer and the young +fireman. Griscom fretted and fumed over the mishaps to his pet +locomotive. He was furious at the gang who had worked out such +mischief. + +"I'll wire my resignation when we reach Stanley Junction," he +declared. "I'll do no more railroad work until I find those scoundrels +and rescue young Trevor." + +"Don't be rash, Mr. Griscom," advised Ralph. "The railroad detective +force will soon be on the trail. The nephew of a railroad president +doesn't disappear in this fashion every day in the year." + +When they got back to Stanley Junction they were interviewed at once +by Bob Adair. Both were worn out with double duty and got to bed as +quickly as possible. + +Ralph reported at the roundhouse late in the afternoon, but learned +that there would be no through trains out until a temporary bridge was +erected over the creek near Dover. + +He returned to the house, and was pleased with the thought of having a +social evening at home and a good night's rest. + +It was shortly after dark, and Ralph was reading a book in the cozy +sitting room of the home cottage, when the door bell rang. + +The young fireman answered the summons. A stranger stood at the +threshold. He was a dignified, well-dressed gentleman, but seemed to +be laboring under some severe mental strain, for he acted nervous and +agitated. + +"Mr. Fairbanks--Ralph Fairbanks?" he inquired in a tone of voice that +quivered slightly. + +"Yes," replied the young fireman. + +"I am very anxious to have a talk with you," said the stranger +hurriedly. "I have been down the line, and have just arrived at +Stanley Junction. My name is Grant, Robert Grant, and I am the +president of the Great Northern Railroad." + +"Come in, sir," said Ralph cordially, deeply impressed with welcoming +so important a visitor, but maintaining his usual manly pose. He +showed the official into the house and introduced him to his mother. + +Mr. Grant was soon in the midst of his story. He had been for many +hours at Dover trying to discover a trace of his missing nephew, and +had signally failed. + +"Mr. Adair, the road detective, advised me to see you," said Mr. +Grant, "for you saw the men who captured my nephew. Would you know +them again?" + +"Some of them," responded Ralph. + +"Very well, then. I ask you as a special favor to return with me to +Dover and assist me in my task." + +"I will do so gladly," said Ralph. + +One hour later a special conveyed the president of the Great Northern +and Ralph Fairbanks down the line to Dover. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SHORT LINE RAILWAY + + +Ralph attracted a good deal of attention when he arrived at Dover, and +fully realized the honor of being treated as a companion by the +president of the great railroad of which he was an employe. Mr. Grant +was pleasant and friendly. He learned Ralph's story, and discussed +railroad experience in a way that was enlightening and encouraging to +the young fireman. + +"About these kidnappers," he said, "I will never give them a dollar, +but I will spend all I have to rescue my nephew. It is needless to say +that you shall be richly rewarded if you assist me successfully." + +"I will do my best, sir," pledged Ralph. + +At Dover they were met by Adair. They went into the depot and sat down +on a bench in a remote corner. + +"I have not discovered the kidnappers nor the faintest clew to them, +Mr. Grant," said Adair. + +The railroad president sighed deeply. He showed in his face and +manner the care and anxiety he was suffering. + +"Can you suggest anything, Fairbanks?" continued Adair. "You know the +district fairly well. What is your idea about these men?" + +Ralph astonished his companions by suddenly arising to his feet and +hurrying towards a boy who had just entered the depot and had taken up +a pen and a telegraph pad on the counter outside the ticket office. + +It was Van Sherwin, the old-time friend of Ralph, and pleasure at +recognizing him had caused the young fireman to act on an impulse. + +"Why, Van!" he cried, "I am glad to see you." + +"Eh?" spoke the other. "Ralph! well, the gladness is mutual," and the +pair shook hands cordially. + +"What brought you here?" asked Ralph. + +"Came down from headquarters in the timber on important business," +replied Van. "Just sending a telegram." + +"Why!" almost shouted Ralph, glancing at the blank upon which his +friend had just written a name, "to Mr. Grant, to the president of the +Great Northern!" + +"Yes," answered Van. "Does that startle you?" + +"It does. What are you wiring him for?" + +"About his nephew, Dudley Trevor." + +Ralph was fairly taken off his feet, as the saying goes. He grasped +Van's arm excitedly. + +"See here, Van Sherwin," he cried. "What do you know of Mr. Trevor?" + +"Only that he is at our headquarters with a broken arm, and he sent me +here to wire his uncle the fact." + +Ralph was delighted. He could scarcely credit the glad news. He led +Van up to the railroad president and the road detective with the +words: + +"Gentlemen, I am very happy to tell you that Mr. Trevor is in safe +hands, and my friend here will explain. Van Sherwin, this is Mr. +Grant, the president of the Great Northern." + +Van nodded in his crisp, off-hand way to Adair, whom he knew, and took +off his cap to his dignified companion. + +His story was to his auditors most remarkable and exciting, but to Van +only the narration of a perfectly natural occurrence. Early that +morning there had come into "headquarters," as Van termed it, a young +man in an almost exhausted condition. His attire was all torn with +brambles and bushes and one arm was broken. + +"He told us his name, and said that he had escaped from kidnappers. +Mr. Gibson attended to his arm, and sent me to Dover here to +telegraph to you, sir," explained Van to the railroad president. + +Mr. Grant was so glad and excited he could not sit still. + +"Take me to him at once!" he cried. "My dear lad, you have brought +happy news to me." + +"I don't know about going to see him," said Van. "It is over twenty +miles away in the woods." + +"Allow me to explain, Mr. Grant," said Adair. "Between here and Wilmer +is a wild, wooded stretch of land known as The Barrens." + +"I know of it," nodded Mr. Grant. "The Great Northern once surveyed +two miles into the section, but abandoned the route as impracticable. +There are only about twenty houses in the district, and the +difficulties of clearing and grading were discouraging." + +"Well," said Adair, "it appears that a man named Farwell Gibson +secured a charter to build a short line through The Barrens from +Wilmer across the desolate tract to connect with the Midland +Central." + +"I heard of that, too," nodded the railroad president. + +"This Gibson is an odd genius. He has been working for two years on +his scheme, terming the road the Dover & Springfield Short Line. Just +half way across The Barrens he has a house, which he calls +'headquarters.' He is an erratic hermit, and adopted this boy here, +Van Sherwin, who has been helping him. Every day, the law requires, he +must do some grading work on the prospective railroad line. This he +has done, and you would be surprised to know the progress they have +made." + +"Especially lately," said Van, with sparkling eyes. "Even you, Ralph, +would be astonished. Mrs. Gibson got some money recently--five +thousand dollars from old Gasper Farrington--and we have hired a lot +of men. Oh, that railroad is going through, and don't you forget it." + +"We realized our mistake after this Gibson got hold of the franchise," +said Mr. Grant. "Once the road is built, it practically dominates +passenger and freight business north and south." + +"That is right," said Van, "for it becomes a bee-line, saving twenty +to thirty miles distance, besides opening up a new district. Well, +sir, your nephew is now at our headquarters. To reach the place you +will have to get a very heavy wagon and go pretty slow and sure, for +there are no roads." + +"I must go at all hazards," cried the railroad president insistently, +"and you, my friends, must accompany me," he added to Adair and +Ralph. "Why, those villains from whom my nephew escaped may undertake +to recapture him." + +A little later the party, in charge of a sturdy fellow driving a +strong team of horses attached to a heavy wagon, started out under the +direction of Van Sherwin. + +The district was a wild jungle, interspersed with sweeps of hill and +dales, and numerous creeks. Finally they reached a hill surmounted by +a dense grove of trees. A road led up here to a rambling log house. + +Here and on the other side of the hill a ten-foot avenue was visible, +neat and clean. The brush had been cleared away, the ground leveled, +here and there some rudely cut ties set in place, and for an extended +stretch there was a presentable graded roadbed. + +As they drove up to the cabin the railroad president almost forgot his +nephew from interest in his surroundings. Across the front of the +building was a sign reading: "Headquarters of the Dover & Springfield +Short Line Railroad." To the south there was a singular sight +presented. Some twenty men and boys were working on a roadbed, which +had been cut for over two miles. A telegraph wire ran from the +building over the tops of trees, and Ralph was fairly astonished at +the progress made since he had first visited Farwell Gibson in this +place. + +"Come in," said Van, as Mr. Grant alighted from the wagon. + +"Well, this is decidedly a railroady place," observed the president of +the Great Northern with a faint smile. + +One half of the rambling place was a depot and railway offices +combined. There were benches for passengers. In one corner was a +partitioned off space, labeled: "President's Office." On the wall hung +a bunch of blank baggage checks, and there was a chart of a zigzag +railway line, indicating bridges, water tanks and switch towers. + +"Mr. Gibson," called out Van to a man seated at a desk, "this is Mr. +Grant, the president of the Great Northern." + +"Eh? what! My dear sir, I am glad to see you," said the eccentric +hermit. "You came about your nephew, I presume? Take the gentleman to +his room, Van," directed Farwell. "I am something of a doctor and he +is resting quite comfortably." + +Mr. Gibson greeted Ralph very cordially. When Van returned, he +insisted on the young fireman inspecting the work on the railroad. + +"Does that look like business?" he inquired, as they proceeded down +the roadbed. "We have ten men and eight boys working for us." + +"Eight boys--where did they come from?" inquired Ralph. + +"An orphan asylum burned down and we engaged to care for them," +replied Van. + +"But what are they doing in those trees?" + +"Stringing a telegraph wire. We expect within a month to have the +telegraph through to Springfield, and later to Dover." + +"Why, Van," said Ralph, "it seems incredible, the progress you have +made." + +"That five thousand dollars we made old Farrington pay Mrs. Gibson was +a great help," replied Van. "We have quite a construction crew here +now. I help Mrs. Gibson do the cooking, and we get on famously." + +Mr. Grant was with his nephew for over an hour. Then Ralph was sent +for, and Trevor welcomed him with a glad smile. The young man +described how he had been taken to a lonely building in the woods, how +he had escaped from his enemies, breaking his arm in a runaway flight, +and telling Ralph that he intended to remain where he was for a month, +to which his uncle had agreed. + +"Confidentially, Fairbanks," he said, "I have taken a great interest +in this Short Cut Railroad scheme, and as soon as I am well I am +coming to see you at Stanley Junction." + +"Regarding this railroad?" inquired Ralph. + +"Exactly," responded Trevor. "I see a great future in it. I shall not +go to Europe. There is a practical business chance here, and I intend +to help Mr. Gibson get the enterprise through." + +"It will take a lot of money," suggested Ralph. + +"Yes," assented Trevor, "and I know how to raise it. In fact, I have +almost agreed to market one hundred thousand dollars' worth of bonds +of the Dover & Springfield Short Line Railroad, and I want you to help +me do it." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A RAILROAD STRIKE + + +"It's a bad outlook, lad," said old John Griscom. + +The veteran engineer was serious and anxious as he pronounced the +words. He and Ralph were proceeding down the tracks beyond the +round-house, just returned from their regular run from the city. + +"It's a strike, is it?" inquired Ralph. + +"Worse than a strike," replied Griscom. "The railroad men's union is +in a squabble among themselves and a fight is on. That means trouble +and damage all around." + +It was two weeks after the kidnapping of young Trevor, and affairs had +subsided to regular routine for the engineer and fireman of the +Limited Mail. The president of the Great Northern had sent a check for +one hundred dollars to Ralph, which he divided with Griscom, both +making up twenty-five dollars for Van Sherwin. From the actions of +their superiors they knew that their being in close touch with Mr. +Grant had helped them considerably, and both felt secure and contented +in their positions, when a new disturbing element appeared. + +For several days there had been trouble on both the Great Northern and +the Midland Central. As Ralph understood it, the discharge of an +irresponsible engineer on the latter line of railroad had led to a +demand for his reinstatement. This the railway officials refused. A +strike was at once ordered. + +Two days later a man named Delmay, a strike agent, came to Stanley +Junction. He demanded that the men on the Great Northern engage in a +sympathetic strike until the other road was brought to terms. The +older, wiser hands laughed at him. Jim Evans had returned to Stanley +Junction, and at once joined in a movement to disrupt the local union +by favoring the strike in question. + +Evans had done a good deal of swaggering and threatening around the +roundhouse that day, Ralph had just learned, and had intimidated some +of the new hands into joining in the strike movement. He had left word +that, as men came in from their runs, they were to report at a hall +where the strikers met and announce which side of the contest they +favored. + +"Here we are, lad," said the veteran engineer, as they started up the +stairs of a building on Railroad Street. "Don't look very +business-like, those pails of beer going into that hall yonder and +that cloud of tobacco smoke. I wouldn't stir a foot, only it's quite +regular according to union rules to call and report in a matter like +this." + +"What are you going to do, Mr. Griscom?" asked Ralph. + +"Short and sweet, give my sentiments and leave these loafers to fight +it out among themselves." + +"Include mine," said Ralph. "I do not understand these strike +complications and I know you do, so I shall follow your guidance." + +When they entered the hall they found a noisy crowd, smoking, playing +cards and lounging about. On a platform sat Jim Evans, looking +profoundly important. He sat at a table with a heap of papers before +him. Griscom approached him, Ralph by his side. + +"Who's in charge here?" demanded the old engineer gruffly. + +"I am," announced Evans, in a somewhat unsteady tone. "Head of the +movement." + +"That so?" muttered Griscom. "Movement can't amount to much, then. Now +then, Jim Evans, just one word. We came here out of courtesy to the +union. We are members in good standing, and we represent the +majority. At the meeting last night we voted you out as seceders. I am +authorized to inform you that from now on no attention whatever will +be paid to your crowd here." + +"Is that so?" sneered Evans. "I reckon we'll attract some attention +when we get in action. We have started our own union. We are going to +break up the old one. Whoever comes in now to help us holds his job. +Whoever don't, will get downed somewhere along the line, and don't you +forget it." + +"Being in the wrong," predicted Griscom steadily, "you won't +succeed." + +"Will you sign the roll?" + +"No." + +"Nor Fairbanks?" + +"Let the lad speak for himself," said Griscom. + +"I know little about these complications, Mr. Evans," said Ralph. "I +pay my dues, and we are upheld in our positions by the central union. +In the present instance I stand by the regular men." + +Evans angrily picked up a sheet of paper. He scribbled upon it +hastily. + +"Know what that means?" he demanded. + +"We don't, and are not at all anxious to know," retorted Griscom, +turning to leave the hall. + +"It means that you are blacklisted!" shouted Evans, rising to his +feet. "As to you, Fairbanks, I owe you one, and the time has come when +I am in power. Think twice--join us, or it will be the worse for +you." + +"Come on, lad," directed Griscom. + +"Men," roared Evans to his mob of friends, "those two are on the black +list. Notice them particularly, and hit hard when you strike." + +Ralph went home somewhat disturbed by the episode, but not at all +alarmed. He knew that such complications were frequent among the +unions. His mother, however, was quite worried over the affair. + +"That fellow Evans is a bad man, and has a personal hatred for you, +Ralph," she said. "Besides that, as we know, he has been incited to +make you trouble by Mr. Farrington. Be careful of yourself, my son, +for I fear he may try to do you some mischief." + +"I can only go on in the clear path of duty," said Ralph sturdily. + +The next morning the roundhouse was in quite a tumult. Its vicinity +was picketed by the strikers. Ralph entered the place to find Tim +Forgan, the foreman, in a state of great excitement and worry. There +were not men enough for the regular runs. + +"Take out your regular train," he said to Griscom, "but I believe it +will be annulled and new orders issued at the city end of the line. +We're in for trouble, I can tell you. The strikers make some pretty +bad threats, and you want to watch every foot of the route until this +strike is settled one way or the other." + +"There is no other way except to oppose these loafers boldly," +pronounced Griscom. "The union has expelled them, and they are on the +basis of rioters." + +"Well, the railroad company will make some move to protect its +property," said Forgan. "They must give us more men, though, or we +will have to annul half the daily trains." + +The Limited Mail got out of the yards with some difficulty. They had a +spiked switch to look out for, and a missile from an old building +smashed the headlight glass. At the limits a man tossed a folded paper +into the locomotive cab. It was a poor scrawl containing direful +threats to anyone opposing the new union. + +When they reached the terminus Griscom found a committee of men from +the central union waiting for him. They held a consultation. Then a +messenger from the railway office came after him. It was a busy day +for the veteran rail-roader. + +"I don't like the looks of things," he said to Ralph, as they started +on the homeward run. "The central union backs us, and the company is +bound to fight the strikers to a finish. A lot of men are going down +to take the places of the strikers. We are carrying them on this +train, and serious trouble will begin as soon as the new men go to +work." + +Two days later the freight traffic of the Great Northern was +practically tied up. The situation had become positively alarming. The +strikers had gathered strength of numbers through intimidation, and +the coming of new workers had aroused animosity. + +Car loads of perishable fruits and the like were rotting in the yards, +men were beaten, engines crippled, orders mixed up, crown sheets +burned and cars smashed on open switches. + +The Limited Mail was annulled as a regular train, and Griscom and +Ralph and all other passenger employes placed on the irregular list. +One day a man would take out the Mail, the next day he would be +running freight empties to the city. + +Some cars on siding along the route had been set on fire, and Griscom +and Ralph were ordered down the line to pick up freight strays and +haul them to the yards at Dover. It proved an unpleasant task. +Strikers annoyed them in every way possible. Finally with a mixed +train of about twenty cars they arrived at Afton, and took the sidings +to gather in half-a-dozen gondolas. + +The spot was remote from the main tracks. Ralph had to do the +coupling. He had run back, bound on this duty in the present instance, +when, just as he reached the end of their train, three ill-appearing +men stepped into view from a dismantled switch shanty. + +"Drop your signaling," spoke one of the three, advancing menacingly +towards Ralph. + +"Hardly," responded Ralph calmly, "seeing we want these cars." + +"You don't take them," retorted the man, placing himself between the +halted train and the cars beyond. + +Ralph calmly gave the signal to the engine. The train backed. The man +had to jump quickly out of the way. Ralph set the coupling pin, gave a +quick signal and sprang into the first empty car. The man who had +spoken to him followed him through the opposite open doorway. + +"Fetch him out!" cried his two companions, running along the side of +the car. "Maul him, and send him back to Stanley Junction as a lesson +to the others." + +The man attempted to seize Ralph and the latter resisted. The fellow +called to his companions, and they sprang into the car. Ralph, trying +to reach the doorway to leap out, was tripped up, and he fell quite +heavily. + +"Toss him out!" growled his first assailant, but Ralph recovered +himself, managed to gain his feet, and leaped to the ground outside. + +The three men followed. Ralph ran behind a pile of railroad ties. His +pursuers gained upon him. He stumbled, fell flat, and they pounced +upon him. + +"Hold on there," suddenly spoke a new voice. "Get back and stay back, +or I'll know the reason why." + +Something whizzed through the air. It was a heavy cudgel. Whack! +whack! whack! the three fellows retreated as their shoulders were +assailed good and hard. + +Ralph in some surprise regarded his new friend. He was a queer-looking +old man, carrying a formidable cudgel, and this he now brandished +recklessly in the faces of his adversaries, beating them back step by +step. + +"Now, you mind your own business," he warned the men. "Pitching onto a +boy--three big loafers that you are!" + +The men were cowards and sneaked sullenly away. Ralph's rescuer went +back to the pile of ties and took up a little open memorandum book +lying there. + +Ralph noticed that its pages bore a list of numbers, as of cars. + +"I am very grateful to you," said the young fireman. + +"That's all right," responded the stranger, and ran his eye over the +cars as they passed by as if looking at their numbers. Ralph concluded +that he had some business on the spot. + +"Are you in the service of the railroad?" he asked. + +"Yes," nodded the man--"of many railroads. I am a professional car +finder." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE RUNAWAY TRAINS + + +Ralph and his companion followed the train till it left the siding, +when the young fireman set the switch and they stood by the side of +the track until the locomotive backed down to where they were. + +"Going into Dover?" inquired the man who had rendered Ralph such +signal service. + +"Yes," nodded Griscom, looking the questioner over suspiciously, as +was his custom with all strangers recently since the strike began. + +"Give me a lift, will you? I am through with my work here," observed +the man. "My name is Drury. I am a car finder." + +"Indeed?" said the old engineer with some interest of manner. "I've +heard of you fellows. Often thought I'd like the job." + +"You wouldn't, if you knew its troubles and difficulties," asserted +Drury with a laugh, as he climbed into the tender. "You think it's +just riding around and asking a few questions. Why, say, I have spent +a whole month tracing down two strays alone." + +"That so?" said Griscom. + +"Yes, it is true. You see, cars get on a line shy of them, and they +keep them purposely. Then, again, cars are lost in wrecks, burned up, +or thrown on a siding and neglected. You would be surprised to know +how many cars disappear and are never heard of again." + +This was a new phase in railroad life to Ralph, and he was greatly +interested. He plied the man with questions, and gained a good deal of +information from him. + +"Switch off here, Fairbanks," ordered Griscom, as they neared a +siding. + +"Is your name Fairbanks?" asked the carfinder of Ralph. + +"It is." + +"Heard of you," said Drury, glancing keenly at the young fireman. "It +was down at Millville, last week. They seem to think a good deal of +you, the railroad men there." + +"I hope I deserve it," said Ralph modestly. + +"Took a meal at a restaurant kept by a friend of yours," continued the +carfinder. + +"You mean Limpy Joe?" + +"Exactly. Original little fellow--spry, handy and accommodating. Met +another genius there--Dallas." + +"Zeph? Yes," said Ralph. "He has got lots to learn, but he has the +making of a man in him." + +"He has. He was greatly interested in my position. Wanted me to hire +him right away. Said he knew he could find any car that was ever lost. +I gave him a job," and Drury smiled queerly. + +"What kind of a job?" inquired Ralph. + +"Oh, you ask him when you see him," said Drury mysteriously. "I +promised to keep it a secret," and he smiled again. "Good-bye, I leave +you here." + +"Now then," said Griscom to his young assistant, "orders are to run to +Ridgeton and start out in the morning picking up strays between there +and Stanley Junction." + +When they got to Ridgeton, it had begun to rain. It was a lonely +station with a telegraph operator, and a few houses quite a distance +away. The operator was not on duty nights since the strike. The engine +was sidetracked. They got a meal at the nearest house, and the +operator gave them the key to the depot, where he said they could +sleep all night on the benches. This Griscom insisted on doing, in +order that they might keep an eye on the locomotive. + +They sat up until about nine o'clock. Then, tired out with a hard +day's work, both soon sank into profound sleep. It was some time later +when both, always vigilant and easily aroused, awoke together. + +"Oh," said the old engineer drowsily, "only the ticker." + +"Yes, some one is telegraphing," answered Ralph, "but it is a hurry +call." + +"Understand the code, do you?" + +"Yes," answered Ralph. "Quiet, please, for a moment. Mr. Griscom, this +is urgent," and Ralph arose and hurried to the next room, where the +instrument was located. + +He listened to the sharp ticking of the little machine. There was the +double-hurry call. Then came some sharp, nervous clicks. + +"R-u-n-a-w-a-y," he spelled out. + +"What's that?" cried Griscom, springing to his feet. + +"J-u-s-t p-a-s-s-e-d W-i-l-m-e-r, s-i-x f-r-e-i-g-h-t c-a-r-s. S-t-o-p +t-h-e-m a-t R-i-d-g-e-t-o-n, o-r t-h-e-y w-i-l-l m-e-e-t N-o. +f-o-r-t-y-e-i-g-h-t." + +Ralph looked up excitedly. Griscom stood by his side. His eyes were +wide awake enough now. + +"Repeat that message--quick, lad!" he said in a suppressed tone. "Can +you signal for repeat?" + +Ralph did so, once more spelling out the message as it came over the +wire. + +"No. 48?" spoke Griscom rapidly. "That is the special passenger they +have been sending out from Stanley Junction since the strike. What is +the next station north? Act! Wire north to stop the train." + +Ralph got the next station with some difficulty. A depressing reply +came. No. 48 had passed that point. + +"Then she's somewhere on the thirty-mile stretch between there and +here," said Griscom. "Lad, it is quick action--wind blowing a +hurricane, and those freights thundering down a one per cent. grade. +Bring the lantern. Don't lose a moment. Hurry!" + +Ralph took the lead, and they rushed for their locomotive. The young +fireman got a red lantern and ran down the track, set the light, and +was back to the engine quickly. + +"This is bad, very bad," said Griscom. "Nothing but this siding, +ending at a big ravine, the only track besides the main. The runaway +must have a fearful momentum on that grade. What can we do?" + +Ralph tested the valves. He found sufficient steam on to run the +engine. + +"I can suggest only one thing, Mr. Griscom," he said. + +"Out with it, lad, there is not a moment to lose," hurriedly directed +the old engineer. + +"Get onto the main, back down north, set the switch here to turn the +runaways onto the siding." + +"But suppose No. 48 gets here first?" + +"Then we must take the risk, start south till she reaches the danger +signals, and sacrifice our engine, that is all," said Ralph plainly. + +It was a moment of intense importance and strain. In any event, unless +the unexpected happened, No. 48 or their own locomotive would be +destroyed. On the coming passenger were men, women and children. + +"Duty, lad," said Griscom, in a kind of desperate gasp. "We must not +hesitate. Pile in the black diamonds and hope for the best. If we can +reach the creek before the runaways, we can switch them onto a spur. +It means a smash into the freights there. But anything to save the +precious lives aboard the night passenger from Stanley Junction." + +They ran on slowly, then, gaining speed, got a full head of steam on +the cylinders. At a curve the bridge lights came into view. + +"What do you see?" demanded Griscom, his band trembling on the +throttle, wide open now. + +"She's coming," cried Ralph. "I caught the glint of the bridge lights. +She's not six hundred yards away." + +It was a desperate situation now. Both engineer and fireman realized +this. The backward swing was caught, and down the course they had just +come their locomotive sped with frightful velocity. + +It was a mad race, but they had the advantage. One mile, two miles, +three miles, the depot, down the main, and before the engine had +stopped, Ralph was on the ground. He ran to the switch, set it, and +then both listened, watched and waited. + +"There are the runaways," said Ralph. + +Yes, there they were, speeding like phantoms over the rain-glistening +steel. Nearer and nearer they came, passed the siding, struck the +switch, ran its length, and then a crash--and the night passenger from +Stanley Junction was saved! + +"I don't know what the damage will be," muttered Griscom in a +long-drawn breath of relief, "but we have done our duty as we saw +it." + +They got back on the siding and removed the red lights before No. 48 +arrived. The night passenger sped tranquilly by, her train crew little +dreaming of the peril they had escaped. + +The next afternoon, when they arrived at Stanley Junction, the +assistant superintendent of the road highly commended their action in +regard to the runaway freights. + +Ralph went home tired out from strain of work and excitement. As he +neared the house he noticed a wagon in the yard and a horse browsing +beside it. + +"Why," he said, "that rig belongs to Limpy Joe." + +Ralph hurried into the house. He found both Joe and Zeph in the +sitting room. They were conversing with his mother, with whom the +cripple boy had always been a great favorite. + +"Well, fellows, I am glad to see you," said Ralph heartily, "but what +brought you here?" + +"Plainly," replied Limpy Joe--"Ike Slump." + +"Why, what do you mean?" inquired the young fireman. + +"I mean that we have been burned out," said Joe, "and Ike Slump did +it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CAR NO. 9176 + + +"Burned out!" exclaimed Ralph, deeply concerned. + +"Yes," nodded Joe, a trifle dolefully. "Labors of years in +ashes--Limpy Joe's Railroad Restaurant a thing of the past." + +"How did it happen?" + +"Spite work. Three nights ago, late in the evening, Ike Slump appeared +at the restaurant and demanded a free meal. I gave it to him. Then he +demanded some money, and I refused it. He became bold and ugly, and +told us how his crowd had it in for us, that they knew I had some hand +in helping you get that stolen plunder, and would fix us sooner or +later. He advised me to buy them off. I sent him away. Last night we +discovered the place on fire, and it was burned to the ground." + +Ralph was deeply distressed over his friend's misfortune. The lame +fellow, however, was undaunted. He deplored his loss, but he was by +no means discouraged. + +"Thankful to have the horse and wagon left," he said. "I can always +earn a living with that. Besides that, we saw Van Sherwin the other +day. He is getting on finely, and I think we could get work on the +Short Line Railroad. For the present, though, I am going to stay at +Stanley Junction. I have a dozen plans for getting a little money +together. Will you try us as boarders for a week or two, Ralph?" + +"I answered that question a few minutes ago," reminded Mrs. Fairbanks, +"and if you two will sleep in the same room, you will cause no +inconvenience whatever." + +"And you, Zeph?" said Ralph, turning to the farmer boy. + +Zeph had been strangely silent. He appeared to be trying to look very +dignified and much absorbed in thought. + +"Oh, me?" he said now. "Why, I'm already at work. Commence to-night. +Call boy at the roundhouse. Old one is with the strikers. Mr. Forgan +engaged me this afternoon." + +"Why, that is fine," said Ralph. "A start in the right direction. Look +out for the strikers, though, Zeph." + +"Don't fret about me," advised Zeph. "I'm a fighter when aroused. +See, here is my list to call in the morning," and he showed Ralph a +slip of paper containing about a dozen names. + +Ralph read it over, and after a meal went out with Zeph and showed him +the location of the homes of those named in the list. + +"This job is all right," said Zeph, as they returned to the house, +"but it is only a sort of side line with me." + +"Indeed?" smiled Ralph, amused at the off-hand, yet self-important +manner of his companion. + +"Oh, yes." + +"How is that?" + +"Simply want to get into the service so as to have the privilege of +riding around on engines when I want to. It sort of introduces me, you +see." + +"What do you want to ride around on engines for?" asked Ralph. "You +can't afford to waste your time that way." + +"Waste my time? waste my time?" repeated Zeph. "Huh, guess you don't +know what you're talking about! I'm on the trail of a big fortune." + +"You don't say so." + +"I do. Ralph Fairbanks, I'll let you into the secret. You've been a +good friend to me, and you shall help me." + +"What ridiculous nonsense are you talking, Zeph?" + +"You'll see whether it's nonsense or not when some day I walk in on +you with a fortune. Now, this is on the dead quiet, Fairbanks?" + +"Oh, sure," laughed Ralph. + +"Very well. I met a fellow the other day, who is a car finder." + +"Mr. Drury, you mean?" asked Ralph. + +"How did you know?" questioned Zeph in surprise. + +"He told me he had met you, and agreed with me that you were a pretty +fair kind of a fellow." + +"Did he?" said Zeph, very much pleased at the double compliment. +"Well, I got interested in his business and he finally gave me +a--a--well a job, you might call it." + +"Salary big, Zeph?" + +"No salary at all," responded Zeph. "It's a partnership deal. If I +find certain property, I am to have a big reward to divide with him." + +"What kind of property?" + +"Diamonds." + +"Oh, going digging for them?" + +"Don't make fun of me, Fairbanks," said Zeph in a slightly offended +tone. "This is a fair and square business proposition. About five +years ago a car was lost, presumably on the Great Northern. At least, +it can be traced no farther than the terminus of the Midland Central, +where it was switched onto this line here. There all trace of it was +lost." + +"Valuable freight aboard?" + +"No, on the contrary, it was empty, but, all the same, between sealed +boards and the rough ones a pocketbook containing a lot of valuable +diamonds was hidden." + +"Who by?" + +"A traveling jewelry salesman named Isaacs." + +"What did he hide it there for?" + +"He had to. You see, he was on another railroad line and crossing some +tracks when some footpads assaulted him. He managed to escape and got +into the empty car I told you about. Then he heard them coming to +search for him, and hid the diamonds in a break of the boards at one +side of the car." + +"I see." + +"They dragged him out, beat him into insensibility and stole all his +money. He woke up in a hospital a month later, after a siege of fever. +The first thing he thought of was the diamonds and the car. He had +taken particular pains to note the number of the car." + +"What was it, may I ask?" + +"Confidentially?" + +"Of course." + +"It belonged to the Southern Air Line Road, and its number was 9176." + +"Why, you are telling a very interesting story," declared Ralph, now +really interested in the same. "He searched for the car, of course?" + +"At once. He telegraphed everywhere; he advertised; he employed +detectives. It was no use. During the month of his illness, car No. +9176 had disappeared." + +"That looks mysterious." + +"The car finder says not at all. Such things happen frequently. But it +went somewhere, didn't it? It may be lying on some old siding, in some +creek after a wreck, stolen by gravel pit men, or in service still on +some line. One thing is sure, if in existence still, it must be on one +of four railroad lines, and the Great Northern is one of those +roads." + +"What do you propose to do?" inquired Ralph. + +"Go over every one of those lines carefully." + +"But Mr. Drury has done that already, has he not?" + +"What of it? A first search doesn't always bring results. He has given +me full details as to the car, and, according to the records, it was +lost on the Great Northern. In a day or two I am going to have a look +at the transfer records at Dover. Then I am going to look up the +trainmen who probably hauled the car. Oh, I have a theory and a plan. +If I find the car I shall be almost rich." + +"Not a bad prospect, Zeph," said Ralph, "but if I were you I would +stick at regular work and make the search for that car a secondary +matter." + +"You'll remember it and help me out if you can?" asked Zeph. + +"Surely I will," and Ralph made a note of the number of the car in his +memorandum book. + +When the young fireman arose the next morning, he found Zeph seated on +the front porch lounging back in an easy chair and his face all +bandaged up. Mrs. Fairbanks stood near by, regarding her guest +solicitously. + +"Why, what is the matter, Zeph?" inquired Ralph in profound surprise. + +"Whipped four men, that's all," answered Zeph with a smile that was +almost ghastly, for his lips were all cut and swollen up, one eye +disfigured and two teeth gone. "I went on my rounds this morning. I +made sure to wake up the fellows on call, and one of them threatened +to kill me if I ever came to his door again with that 'fog-horn +holler' of mine, as he called it. The night watch-man said he'd arrest +me for disturbing the peace. I didn't mind that. Then I ran across +four strikers. They wanted me to join them. I refused, and--that's +all, except that I'll bet they are worse off than I am, if it was four +to one." + +"Going to keep right on at your job?" inquired Ralph. + +"Am I?" cried the undaunted Zeph. "Well, if anything would make me it +would be this attack on me. Tell you, Fairbanks, hot times are coming. +Forgan was on duty all night, and he told me this morning to advise +you to be extra cautious in coming to work. The strikers are in an +ugly mood, and they are going to make a bold break to smash up things +to-day, they threaten." + +"Yes," sighed Ralph, "affairs must come to a crisis sooner or later, I +fear. Duty is plain, though. I shall stick to Griscom, and Griscom +insists that he will stick to the road." + +Mrs. Fairbanks looked anxious and frightened. Turning to enter the +house, the young fireman started violently and his mother and Zeph +uttered exclamations of excitement. + +A terrific explosion had rent the air. Its echoes rang out far and +wide, and its source seemed to be the railroad depot. + +"Oh, Ralph! what does that mean?" cried Mrs. Fairbanks. + +"I fear," said Ralph seriously, "the strikers are rioting and the +trouble has begun." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +UNDER SEALED ORDERS + + +The young fireman was soon headed for the railroad yards. A good many +people were bound hurriedly in the same direction, for the explosion +had aroused the town. + +As he neared the place, he could hear considerable shouting. He came +to the tracks at a point where there was a switch shanty. The man on +duty looked worried and scared. + +"What is the trouble?" inquired Ralph. + +"The strikers have blown up a freight car with dynamite," replied the +flagman. "They have threatened me, old and feeble as I am. I'm afraid +I'll have to lay off till this trouble is over." + +In the distance Ralph saw the mere skeleton of a freight car. It was +in flames, and a number of men were pushing other cars from its +vicinity to prevent them from catching on fire. A man tapped him on +the shoulder. Turning, Ralph recognized one of the strikers. + +"See here, Fairbanks," he said, "I'm of the decent sort, as you know, +but I think our position is right." + +"Does that look like it?" demanded the young fireman, pointing to the +burning car. + +"I'm not responsible for that," said the man, "and I can't prevent the +hot-headed ones from violence. I know you won't join us, but I'm just +friendly enough to give you a warning. Don't go on duty to-day." + +"I certainly shall, if I am needed," replied Ralph. "Your union is in +bad hands, and can't last." + +The man shrugged his shoulders and Ralph passed on his way. A piece of +coal came whizzing through the air a few minutes later from the +vicinity of a crowd of loiterers. It knocked off the young fireman's +cap. He picked it up and walked slowly on. + +When he came to the roundhouse, he found the doors shut. Most of the +windows in the place were broken in. Several target rods near by lay +on the ground, and at a glance Ralph saw that considerable damage had +been wrought during the night. + +"There must be a crisis soon," he said, and went to the roundhouse +door. Before he was admitted several stones rained about him, thrown +from behind a pile of ties. Inside, Ralph found Griscom and several +others among the older engineers and firemen. All hands looked +serious, the foreman particularly so. + +"Glad you came," said Forgan. "There's bad trouble brewing. The strike +has reached the danger point. We can't run any regulars from the depot +and won't try to to-day, but the Limited Mail must go to terminus. +Griscom is ready for the run; are you? The regular engineer and +fireman say they won't risk their lives." + +"I did not see the train anywhere," observed Ralph. + +"There is to be no regular train, only one postal and one express car. +They will back down here in half-an-hour from the limits. Here is a +wire for you. Came early this morning." + +With some surprise Ralph read a brief telegram. It came from the +headquarters of the Great Northern in the city, was signed by the +president of the road, and read: + +"Come to my office immediately on reaching terminus." + +Ralph showed this to Griscom. The situation was discussed by the men +in the roundhouse, and the time passed by until a sharp whistle +announced the arrival of the Limited Mail. + +As Griscom and Ralph went outside to relieve those temporarily in +charge of the locomotive, they were pelted from several points with +pieces of dirt, iron and coal. A crowd surged up to the engine. Then a +startling thing occurred that dispersed them more quickly than they +had gathered. + +As if by magic there appeared on the platforms of the two coaches +fully a dozen guards armed with rifles. The train now proceeded on its +way without molestation. At the limits the guards left it to protect +other railroad property. + +The only trouble experienced during the run was between Afton and +Dover, when some missiles were thrown and two switches found spiked. +When they reached the city, Ralph tidied up and went to see the +president of the road. + +Mr. Grant received him with a pleasant smile, beckoned him to a +comfortable seat, and, closing the door of his private office, said: + +"Fairbanks, we think a good deal of you, and I know you deserve that +favorable opinion. There are many trusted and reliable men in our +service, but they do not think as quickly as you do. You are familiar +with people at Stanley Junction, and on that account I wish you to do +an important service for us." + +"I shall be pleased to," said Ralph. + +"It is this: Some one is working against us, some one is undermining +us. We now believe that the sympathetic strike, as it is called, is +more the result of some plot than a genuine sentiment of unionism. A +man named Delmay, from the Midland Central, and a man named Evans, a +discharged employe of our road, are at the head of the movement. Both +are persons of bad record in every way." + +"I know that," murmured Ralph. + +"We believe that these men are hired to promote the strike." + +"Why, by whom, Mr. Grant?" inquired Ralph in considerable surprise. + +"That we wish you to find out. All we suspect is that some outside +party is inciting them to the strike to carry out some selfish +personal ends. You must find out who he is. You must discover his +motives." + +Ralph was perplexed. He could not understand the situation at all. + +"I will do all I can in the line you suggest, sir," he said, "although +I hardly know where to begin." + +"You will find a way to make your investigation," declared the +president of the Great Northern. "I rely a great deal upon your +ability already displayed in ferreting out mysteries, and on your +good, solid, common sense in going to work cautiously and +intelligently on a proposition. You can tell Forgan you are relieved +on special service and wire me personally when you make any +discoveries." + +Ralph arose to leave the room. + +"Wait a moment," continued Mr. Grant, taking up an envelope. "I wish +you to hand this to Griscom. The Limited Mail will not make any return +trip to-night. Instead, a special will be ready for you. You need +mention this to no one. That envelope contains sealed orders and is +not to be opened until you start on your trip. The superintendent of +the road will see you leave and will give you all further instructions +needed." + +There was a certain air of mystery to this situation that perplexed +Ralph. He reported to Griscom, who took the letter with a curious +smile. + +"Must be something extra going on down the road," he observed. "Wonder +what? Start after dark, too. Hello, I say--the pay car." + +They had come to the depot to observe an engine, two cars attached, +and the superintendent standing on the platform conversing with a man +attired in the garb of a fireman. + +The latter was a sturdy man of middle age, one of the best firemen on +the road, as Ralph knew. He nodded to Griscom and Ralph, while the +superintendent said: + +"Fairbanks, this man will relieve you on the run." + +Ralph looked surprised. + +"Why," he said, "then I am not to go on this trip?" + +"Oh, yes," answered the official with a grim smile,--"that is, if you +are willing, but it must be as a passenger." + +Ralph glanced at the passenger coach. Inside were half-a-dozen +guards. + +"Not in there," replied the superintendent, "We want you to occupy the +pay car here. Everything is ready for you." + +"All right," said Ralph. + +"Come on, then." + +The superintendent unlocked the heavy rear door of the pay car, led +the way to the tightly sealed front compartment, and there Ralph found +a table, chair, cot, a pail of drinking water and some eatables. + +"You can make yourself comfortable," said the official. "There will +probably be no trouble, but if there is, operate this wire." + +The speaker pointed to a wire running parallel with the bell rope to +both ends of the train. On the table lay a rifle. The only openings in +the car were small grated windows at either end. + +The official left the car, locking in Ralph. The young fireman +observed a small safe at one end of the car. + +"Probably contains a good many thousands of dollars," he reflected. +"Well, here is a newspaper, and I shall try to pass the time +comfortably." + +By getting on a chair and peering through the front ventilator, Ralph +could obtain a fair view of the locomotive. The train started up, and +made good time the first thirty miles. Then Ralph knew from a halt and +considerable switching that they were off the main rails. + +"Why," he said, peering through the grating, "they have switched onto +the old cut-off between Dover and Afton." + +That had really occurred, as the young fireman learned later. The +officials of the road, it appeared, feared most an attack between +those two points, and the sealed orders had directed Griscom to take +the old, unused route, making a long circuit to the main line again. + +Ralph remembered going over this route once--rusted rails, sinking +roadbed, watery wastes at places flooding the tracks. He kept at the +grating most of the time now, wondering if Griscom could pilot them +through in safety. + +Finally there was a whistle as if in response to a signal, then a +sudden stop and then a terrible jar. Ralph ran to the rear grating. + +"Why," he cried, "the guard car has been detached, there are Mr. +Griscom and the engineer in the ditch, and the locomotive and pay car +running away." + +He could look along the tracks and observe all this. Engineer and +fireman had apparently been knocked from the cab. Some one was on the +rear platform of the pay car, a man who was now clambering to its +roof. The guards ran out of the detached coach and fired after the +stolen train, but were too late. + +Rapidly the train sped along. Ralph ran to the front grating. The +locomotive was in strange hands and the tender crowded with strange +men. + +"It's a plain case," said Ralph. "These men have succeeded in stealing +the pay car, and that little safe in the corner is what they are +after." + +The train ran on through a desolate waste, then across a trestle built +over a swampy stretch of land. At its center there was a jog, a +rattle, the tracks gave way, and almost with a crash, the train came +to a halt. + +It took some time to get righted again, and the train proceeded very +slowly. Ralph had done a good deal of thinking. He knew that soon the +robbers would reach some spot where they would attack the pay car. + +"I must defeat their purpose," he said to himself. "I can't let +myself out, but--the safe! A good idea." + +Ralph settled upon a plan of action. He was busily engaged during the +next half hour. When the train came to a final stop, there was an +active scene about it. + +Half-a-dozen men, securing tools from the locomotive, started to break +in the door of the pay car. In this they soon succeeded. + +They went inside. The safe was the object of all their plotting and +planning, but the safe was gone, and Ralph Fairbanks was nowhere in +the pay car. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE STRIKE LEADER + + +Ralph felt that he had done a decidedly timely and clever act in +outwitting the train robbers. He had left the car almost as it +stopped, and under the cover of the dark night had gained the shelter +of the timber lining the track. + +The young fireman waited until the men came rushing out of the car. +They were dismayed and furious, and, leaving them in a noisy and +excited consultation, Ralph started back towards the trestle work. + +"They won't get the safe, that is sure," said the young railroader in +tones of great satisfaction, as he hurried along in the pelting storm. +"They will scarcely pursue me. It is pretty certain, however, that +they will be pursued, and I may meet an engine before I reach Dover." + +Just as he neared the end of the trestle Ralph saw at some distance +the glint of a headlight. It was unsteady, indicating the uncertain +character of the roadbed. + +"About two miles away," decided the young fireman. "I must manage to +stop them." + +With considerable difficulty, Ralph secured sufficient dry wood and +leaves in among some bushes to start a fire between the rails and soon +had a brisk blaze going. The headlight came nearer and nearer. A +locomotive halted. Ralph ran up to the cab. + +It contained Griscom, the city fireman and two men armed with rifles. +The old engineer peered keenly at the figure, quickly springing to the +step of the engine. + +"You, lad?" he cried heartily. "I'm glad of that. Where is the +train?" + +"About two miles further on beyond the trestle." + +"And the pay car?" + +"The robbers were in possession when I left them." + +"Then they will get away with the safe!" cried the engineer +excitedly. + +"Hardly," observed Ralph, with a smile. + +"Eh, lad, what do you mean?" + +"What I say. Truth is, I saw what was coming. There was only one thing +to do. There were tools in the car. I sawed a hole through the floor +of the car, rolled the safe to it, and dumped it through. It went +between two rotten ties, and lies in the swamp--safe." + +With a shout of delight old John Griscom slapped his young assistant +admiringly on the shoulder. + +"Fairbanks," he cried, "you're a jewel! Mate," to the fireman, "this +is glad news." + +"It is, indeed," said his companion. "I wouldn't like the record of +losing that safe. Can you locate the spot, Fairbanks?" + +"It may take some trouble," answered Ralph. "The best thing to do is +to get a wrecking car here; meantime, the trestle should be guarded." + +They ran on and up to the spot where the stolen train was halted, but +found the vicinity deserted. It seemed that whatever the robbers had +guessed out as to the mystery of the safe, they did not consider there +was any chance of recovering it. + +The two men armed with rifles remained at the trestle, while the +others took the stolen pay car back to Dover. Once there, Griscom kept +the wires busy for a time. About daylight a wrecking crew was made up. +Ralph accompanied them to the scene of the attempted robbery. + +He could fairly estimate the locality of the sunken safe, and some +abrasions of the ties finally indicated the exact spot where the safe +had gone through into the water below. It was grappled for, found, +and before noon that day the pay car train arrived at Stanley Junction +with the safe aboard. + +Affairs at the terminal town were still in an unsettled condition. The +presence of armed guards prevented wholesale attacks on the railroad +property, but there were many assaults on workmen at lonely spots, +switches tampered with and shanty windows broken in. + +Ralph reported to Tim Forgan and then went home. He went to sleep at +once, awoke refreshed about the middle of the afternoon, and then told +his mother all the occurrences of that day and the preceding one. + +While Mrs. Fairbanks was pleased at the confidence reposed in her son +by the railroad authorities, she was considerably worried at the +constant turmoil and dangers of the present railroad situation. Ralph, +however, assured her that he would take care of himself, and left the +house trying to form some plan to follow out the instructions of the +president of the Great Northern. + +He could not go among the strikers, and without doing so, or sending a +spy among them, it would be difficult to ascertain their motives and +projects. Coming around a street corner, the young fireman halted +abruptly. + +A procession of strikers was coming down the street. They were a +noisy, turbulent mob, cheered on by like rowdyish sympathizers lining +the pavements. + +"Why, impossible!" exclaimed Ralph, as he noticed by the side of Jim +Evans, the leader of the crowd, his young friend, Zeph Dallas. + +The latter seemed to share the excitement of the paraders. He acted as +if he gloried in being a striker, and the familiar way Evans treated +him indicated that the latter regarded him as a genuine, first-class +recruit. + +Zeph caught Ralph's eye and then looked quickly away. The young +fireman was dreadfully disappointed in the farmer boy. He went at once +to the roundhouse, where the foreman told him that Zeph had deserted +the afternoon previous. + +"I don't understand it," said Forgan. "The lad seemed to hate the +strikers for attacking him the other night. I suppose, though, it's +with him like a good many others--there's lots of 'relief money' being +given out, and that's the bait that catches them." + +"I must manage to see Zeph," mused Ralph. "I declare, I can hardly +believe he is really on their side. I wonder how near I dare venture +to the headquarters of that mob." + +The young fireman went to the vicinity of the hall occupied by the +strikers, but he did not meet Zeph. Then Ralph proceeded to the +business portion of Stanley Junction. He visited the bank and several +other leading local business institutions. He made a great many +inquiries and he felt that he was on the edge of some important +discoveries. + +When he got home he found Zeph sitting on the porch, smiling as ever. +Ralph nodded seriously to him. Zeph grinned outright. + +"What's that kind of a welcome for, eh?" he demanded. + +"Sorry to see you in the ranks of the strikers to-day, Zeph," observed +Ralph. + +"Ought to be glad." + +"What?" + +"I suppose a fellow is free to follow out his convictions, isn't he?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well, I'm following out mine," declared Zeph--"the conviction that of +all the mean rascals in this burg, Jim Evans is the meanest. See here, +Fairbanks, have you lost your wits? Do you really for one minute +suppose I sympathize with those fellows?" + +"You seemed pretty close to Evans." + +"Grand!" chuckled Zeph. "That's just what I was working for. See +here, I made up my mind that those fellows were up to more mischief +than what they have already done. I concluded there was something +under the surface of this pretended strike. I wanted to find out. I +have." + +Ralph looked very much interested now. He began to see the light. + +"Go on, Zeph," he said. + +"Well, I found out just what I suspected--some one is furnishing the +strikers with money, and lots of it." + +"Do you know who it is?" + +"I don't, but I do know one thing: every day Evans goes to the office +of a certain lawyer in town here. They have a long consultation. Evans +always comes away very much satisfied and with more money." + +"What's the lawyer's name, Zeph?" inquired Ralph. + +"Bartlett." + +Just then they were called in to supper by Mrs. Fairbanks. Ralph was +silent and thoughtful during most of the meal. + +The young fireman had learned that afternoon that a stranger named +Bartlett had been buying up all the stock of the railroad he could +secure. The man was not in good repute at Stanley Junction. He had +come there only the week previous, Ralph was told, and occupied a +mean little room in the main office building of the town. + +After supper Ralph strolled down town. He entered the building in +question and ascended its stairs. He knew the occupants of most of the +offices, and finally located a room which contained a light but had no +sign on the door. + +Footsteps ascending the stairs caused the young fireman to draw back +into the shadow. A man came into view and knocked noisily at the +closed door. + +"Here I am, Bartlett," said the fellow, lurching about in an unsteady +way. + +"I see you are," responded the man inside the room, "primed for work, +too, it seems to me." + +Ralph could not repress some excitement. The man Bartlett he instantly +recognized as the person who had delivered to him in the city the +papers from Gasper Farrington. His visitor he knew to be a discharged +telegraph operator of the Great Northern. + +"Yes," said the latter, as the door closed on him, "I'm ready for +work, so bring on your wire-tapping scheme soon as you like." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE WIRE TAPPERS + + +When the door of the office that Ralph was watching closed again and +was locked, the young fireman approached the room. He was very sure +that some important move against the railroad was meditated by the two +men he had just seen, and he was anxious to overhear their +conversation if possible. + +To his intense satisfaction Ralph found that a coal box rested under +the clouded-glass window of the office looking into the hallway. This +window was down from the top some inches. Ralph clambered up on the +coal box, got to the side of the window, fixed his eye at a small +space where the glass was broken, and prepared to listen to the words +of the two men he had in view. + +Both sat in chairs now. Bartlett looked brisk and pleased; the +ex-telegraph operator was unkempt, rather sullen, and acted like a man +under orders on some unpleasant duty. + +"Well, Morris," said the former, "all ready, are you? Tools and wire +in that bag?" + +"Batteries and all, complete outfit," responded the other. "What's the +programme?" + +"You haven't mentioned about my employing you to any one?" + +"Certainly not." + +"And have arranged to stay away from town for several days?" + +"A week, if you like, at ten dollars a day you promised me," answered +Morris. + +"Very good. Let me see. There's a train about 10 o'clock." + +"There is, if the strikers will let it run out," said Morris. + +"Oh, they will. I have arranged all that," chuckled Bartlett. "They'll +even help it on, knowing I'm aboard." + +"That so?" muttered Morris. "You must have a pull somewhere." + +"I have, or at least money has, and I control the money," grinned +Bartlett. "You are to come with me down the line about twenty miles. +You'll be told then about this special job." + +Bartlett got up and bustled about. He packed a great many papers in a +satchel, and finally announced that they had better be starting for +the depot. + +"Any little by-play you see on the train," said Bartlett, "help along, +mind you." + +"Why, what do you mean?" inquired Morris. + +"You'll see when we get there," replied Bartlett enigmatically. + +When they reached the depot the two men got aboard the one passenger +coach of the night accommodation. There was a combination express car +ahead. Ralph went to the messenger in charge and arranged to have free +access to do as he desired. + +When the train started up, he opened the rear door of the car and +commanded a clear view into the passenger coach. The men he was +watching sat side by side, engaged in conversation. There were only a +few passengers aboard. + +Ralph kept his eye on the two men. He noticed that Bartlett consulted +his watch frequently and glanced as often from the car window. +Finally, when the brakeman was out on the rear platform and the +conductor at the front of the coach, the young fireman saw Bartlett +quickly draw a small screwdriver from his pocket. Hiding its handle in +his palm and letting the blade run along one finger, he dropped his +arm down the seat rail into the middle of the aisle. + +Morris watched towards the rear platform, Bartlett kept his eye on the +conductor. His hand worked against the floor of the car. Finally he +drew up his arm, put the screwdriver in his pocket and once more +resumed his watch on the outside landscape. + +There was a sharp signal, and the train gave a jerk. Bartlett arose to +his feet. The next instant he fell flat headlong, and lay apparently +insensible on the floor of the coach. + +The conductor ran outside. The train started up again. Ralph, from the +open doorway, heard the engineer shout back something about a false +signal, presumably the work of the strikers. The train proceeded on +its way. + +It was not until then, as he re-entered the coach, that the conductor +became aware of the prostrate man on the floor and Morris and other +passengers gathering around him in excitement and solicitude. Ralph +ventured across the platform near to the door of the passenger coach. + +Bartlett, seemingly unconscious, was lifted to a seat. He soon opened +his eyes, but feigned intense pain in his side, and acted the injured +man to perfection. He began to explain, pointing to the floor. The +conductor investigated. Ralph saw him draw a long brass screw into +sight. + +"A clever game," murmured the young fireman. "What a rascal the fellow +is! He is laying the foundation for a damage suit." + +Morris made himself busy, taking the names of witnesses. When the +train stopped, Bartlett had to be almost lifted from the coach. Ralph +alighted, too, and kept in the shadow. As soon as the train left, +Bartlett was able to walk about unassisted. + +The little town they had arrived at was dark and silent, and the two +men met no one as they proceeded down its principal street. Then they +turned to the south and walked a distance of about a mile. There was a +kind of a grove lining the railroad. At its center they reached a +lonely hut. + +"Open up, there!" shouted Bartlett, pounding on its door with a stick +he had picked up. + +A light soon showed through the cracks of the board shutters. + +"Who is there?" demanded a voice from the inside. + +"Bartlett." + +"All right--come in." + +"Gasper Farrington," murmured Ralph, as he recognized the occupant of +the hut. + +It was the magnate of Stanley Junction, still disguised, just as he +had been the last night Ralph had seen him at the home of Jim Evans. +The three men disappeared within the house. Ralph approached and went +cautiously about the place. He could not find a single point where he +could look into the hut. + +The young fireman felt that it was very important that he should learn +what was going on within the house. He at length discovered a way of +gaining access to at least one part of it. This was at the rear where +a high stack of old hay stood. It almost touched the hut, and its top +was very near to a sashless aperture in the attic. + +Ralph scaled the stack with some difficulty and reached its top. In +another moment he was inside the attic. It was low, the rafters were +few and far between, and, as he crept over these, they began to sway +and creak in an alarming way. + +"This won't do at all," murmured the youth in some dismay, for it +seemed that one more movement would carry down the entire ceiling +below. He tried to retreat. There was a great cracking sound, and +before he could help himself the young fireman went sprawling into the +room below in the midst of a shower of plaster and laths. + +"Hello!" shouted Bartlett, jumping up from a chair in consternation. + +"I should say so," exclaimed Morris, dodging about out of the way of +falling bits of plaster from the ceiling. + +"A spy!" cried Farrington, "a spy! Why, it's Ralph Fairbanks!" + +The young fireman stood surrounded by the three men, trying to clear +his half-blinded eyes. He was seized and hustled about, thrown into a +chair, and regained his wonted composure to find Gasper Farrington +confronting him with an angry face. + +"So, it's you, is it--you, again?" spoke the latter, gazing at Ralph +with a glance full of ill will. + +"Yes," responded the youth. "I can't deny it very well, can I?" + +"How do you come to be up in that attic? How long have you been there? +What are you up to, anyway?" shouted the excited Farrington. + +"Don't ask me any questions for I shall not answer them," retorted +Ralph nervily. "Here I am. Make the best of it." + +"See here," said Bartlett, a deep frown on his face. "This looks bad +for us. Morris, watch that young fellow a minute or two." + +He and Farrington went into the next room. There was a low-toned +consultation. When they came back the lawyer carried a piece of rope +in his hand. It was useless for Ralph to resist, and the three men +soon had him securely bound. He was carried into a small adjoining +room, thrown on a rude mattress, and locked in. + +For nearly half-an-hour he could hear the drone of low voices in the +adjoining room. Then the door was unlocked, and Farrington came in +with a light and made sure that the captive was securely bound. + +"You are going to leave here, then?" asked Bartlett. + +"Don't I have to?" demanded Farrington. "This fellow has located us. +I'll take you and Morris to the place I told you about, and move my +traps out of here early in the morning." + +"What are you going to do with Fairbanks?" inquired Bartlett. + +"I'm thinking about that," retorted Farrington in a grim way. "It's +the chance of a lifetime to settle with him. You leave that to me." + +The speakers, shortly after this, left the hut with Morris. Ralph +found he could not release himself, and patiently awaited +developments. His captors had left the light in the next room and the +door open, and he could see on a table the satchel the lawyer had +brought with him from his office. + +The sight of it caused Ralph to make renewed efforts for freedom. He +strained at his bonds strenuously. Finally a strand gave way. + +It was just as he began to take hope that he might acquire his liberty +before his captors returned, that a sudden disaster occurred that +made the young fireman fear for his life. + +Some more of the ceiling plastering fell. It struck the lamp on the +table, upset it, and in an instant the room was ablaze. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +IN PERIL + + +The young fireman gave a great shout of distress and excitement as he +realized that he was in a decidedly perilous predicament. The oil of +the lamp had ignited and the hut seemed doomed. + +Ralph tugged at his bonds in a frenzy. Another strand of the rope gave +way, then another, and still another. He trembled with mingled +surprise and hope. Could he get free in time? It seemed not, for the +flames were spreading fast and furiously. + +Suddenly there was a shout outside of the hut. It was repeated, and +then there came a great crash at the door. Ralph wondered at this, for +he could think only of Farrington and his accomplices returning to the +rescue. The loud pounding on the door, however, indicated that the +persons engaged in it had no key. There was more than one person; +Ralph ascertained this from the sound of mingled voices. + +Suddenly the door gave way. It was burst bodily from its hinges and +went crashing against the blazing table, upsetting it. At just that +moment Ralph got one arm free. He was about to shout for assistance +when he recognized the intruders. + +They were Ike Slump and Mort Bemis. Both dashed into the blazing room. +One found a pail of water and threw it in among the flames. This +subdued the blaze partially. + +"Be quick!" cried Slump to his companion. "Grab all you can. You have +been watching the place, and say you know where old Farrington is +likely to hide his valuables." + +"Right here," replied Bemis, tearing open the door of a cupboard. +"Here's a satchel." + +"And here's another one," said Ike Slump, picking up the one that +Bartlett had brought to the place. "Look sharp, now. They may come +back at any moment." + +The two marauders ransacked the room. Ralph refrained from calling out +to them. He could now reach his pocket knife, and just as Slump and +Bemis, pretty well singed by the flames, ran out of the hut, he +hurried to a rear door and darted outside as well. + +The young fireman peered around the corner of the hut. He saw Slump +and Bemis making for the nearest timber. Ralph put after them, and as +he gained the cover of the woods, looking back, he made out three +figures dashing towards the blazing hut. + +"Farrington and the others," decided Ralph. "This is an exciting +business. Now to keep track of Slump and Bemis. I can hardly figure +out, though, how they came to rob the hut, for Farrington was once +their friend." + +The precious pair of thieves scurried along through the woods, +laughing and talking gleefully over the plunder they had secured. They +must have gone over three miles before they halted. It was at a spot +in among high bushes. Here they had evidently been camping previously, +for there was a lot of hay on the ground, the signs of a recent +campfire, and a sort of roof of bark overhead for shelter from rain +and dew. They sat down on the ground and Slump proceeded to light a +lantern. + +"Your watching has amounted to something at last, Mort," said Slump. +"Farrington went back on us in a measly way. Why, after all we did for +him he took up with Jim Evans and others, and even refused me a few +dollars when we were in hiding and trouble after that silk robbery. +Here's our revenge. He's been up to some deep game for a week. He'll +never know who stole this plunder." + +"Find how much of it there is," suggested Bemis. + +Each took up a satchel to investigate the contents. Ralph was +intensely interested. He peered from a safe covert near at hand. + +"Well, well, well!" exclaimed Slump as he opened the satchel taken +from the cupboard of the old hut. "Why, there's a fortune here, if we +can only handle it. Bonds of the Great Northern, stock in the Great +Northern. See? some money--notes, mortgages, deeds! This is a big +find." + +"Same here, except the money," reported Bemis, investigating the +documents in the satchel brought from Stanley Junction by Bartlett. +"Mostly railroad stock in the Great Northern. Private letters, lists +of names of the strikers. Memoranda about some wire-tapping scheme. +Say, these papers are enough to send the old skeesicks to the +penitentiary. He'll pay a fortune to get them back." + +Slump pocketed the ready cash in the satchel. Then he was silently +thoughtful for a few moments. + +"See here, I have my scheme," he said finally. "We'll carry these +satchels down to the old barge at the creek, and hide them there. Then +we'll block out some plan to work Farrington for their return." + +"All right," said Bemis. "Come ahead." + +They took up the satchels and started on again, and Ralph followed +them as before. They came to a creek, and, after lining its shore for +nearly a mile, to a large roughly-made scow. Both boarded the craft, +disappeared in its hold, reappeared, and came to the shore again. + +"We'll just enjoy the ready cash for the time being," said Slump, "and +later find out a safe way to deal with Farrington." + +When they had gone, Ralph went aboard the scow. A scuttle led down +into its hold. Its cover was closed with a strong spring bolt. Ralph +drew this back and sat over the edge of the scuttle. + +He peered down, prepared to push the cover clear back, when he slipped +and went below head-long. The cover fell tightly shut, and he was a +prisoner. + +Ralph did not mind this much at the time. He believed he could readily +force up the cover in some way when he wanted to leave the scow. He +lit some matches and proceeded to search for the two satchels. He +found them in a remote corner of the hold. + +It was when he prepared to leave the hold that the young fireman +discovered himself in a decided quandary. He could barely reach the +scuttle cover, and there was not an object in the hold that he could +use to force it open. Finally Ralph decided that he could not hope for +escape in that direction. + +There was a little window at one end of the scow, but it was too small +to escape by. Ralph was compelled to accept the situation, at least +until daylight. He tried to sleep, and at dawn looked out from the +window. + +"I will simply have to wait here until some one passes by," he told +himself. "In the meantime, though, Slump and Bemis may return. Can I +reach the rope holding the scow to the shore?" + +This was secured around a tree stump. Ralph reached with his pocket +knife through the window, and began cutting at the scow end of the +rope, which ran just above it. + +In a few minutes the strands gave way and the scow floated down the +creek. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A FRIEND IN NEED + + +There was a sluggish current to the creek and as soon as the scow got +into midstream, it proceeded steadily on its voyage. + +"This is better than staying at the old mooring place," reasoned +Ralph. "Of course, Slump and Bemis will return there and search for +the scow. Before they do, I hope I will have drifted past some house +or settlement where I can call out for assistance." + +Ralph, however, was not destined to meet with ready relief. The scow +floated along banks wild and timbered, and, during a vigilant watch at +the little window of over two hours, he saw no human being or +habitation. + +Finally the scow slowed up, its course became irregular, it bumped +into some obstacle, turned around, and Ralph discovered the cause of +the stoppage. A mass of logs and other debris had formed clear across +the creek at one point. This the scow lined, edging slowly along as +if drawn by some counter-current. + +In a few minutes the craft had worked its way into a cut-off from the +creek. It floated slowly in among a swampy wilderness of reeds and +stunted trees, came to halt at a shallow, and there remained +stationary. + +"Why, this is worse than being in the creek," ruminated Ralph, with +some concern. "There was a chance of hailing some one there sooner or +later, but in this isolated spot I stand the risk of starving to +death." + +The young fireman was both hungry and thirsty. He made another +desperate attempt to force the scuttle, but found it an utter +impossibility. Then he took out his pocket knife. There was one last +chance of escape in sight. If he could cut the wood away around the +bolt of the scuttle cover, he might force it open. + +Ralph could not work to any advantage, for the top of the hold was +fully a foot above his head. However, patiently and hopefully he began +his task. Bit by bit, the splinters and shavings of wood dropped about +him. + +"Too bad, that ends it," he exclaimed suddenly, as there was a sharp +snap and the knife blade broke in two. + +The situation was now a very serious one. Ralph tried to view things +calmly, but he was considerably worried. He was somewhat encouraged, +however, a little later, as he noticed that along the dry land lining +the swampy cut-off there were signs of a rough wagon road. + +"All I can do now is to watch and wait," he declared. "I guess I will +take a look over the contents of those satchels." + +Once started at the task, Ralph became greatly interested. He was +amazed at what the documents before him revealed of the plans and +villainies of old Gasper Farrington. There was evidence enough, +indeed, as Slump had said, to send the village magnate to the +penitentiary. + +"This information will be of great value to the railroad people," said +Ralph. "It would enable them to at once break the strike." + +"Whoa!" + +Ralph gave utterance to a cry of delight and surprise. He ran to the +little window of the scow. Not fifty feet away was a horse and wagon. +Its driver had shouted out the word to halt. Now he dismounted and was +arranging a part of the harness where it had come loose. + +"Hello, there! Joe! Joe! hurry this way!" fairly shouted Ralph. + +"Hi, who's that, where are you?" demanded the person hailed. + +"In the scow. Ralph! Locked in! Get me out!" + +"I declare! It can't be Ralph. Well! well!" + +Nimbly as his crutches would allow him, Limpy Joe came towards the +scow. He halted as he neared the window where he could make out the +anxious face of his friend. + +"What are you ever doing there? How did you get in there? Why, this is +wonderful, my finding you in this way," cried the cripple. + +"I'll tell you all that when I get out," promised Ralph. "All you have +to do is to spring back the bolt catch on the cover to the hold +scuttle." + +"I'll soon have you out then," said Joe, and with alacrity he waded +into the water, got aboard the old craft, and in another minute Ralph +had lifted himself free of his prison place. + +"Whew! what a relief," aspirated the young fireman joyfully. "Joe, it +is easy explaining how I came to be here--the natural sequence of +events--but for you to be on hand to save me is marvelous." + +"I don't see why," said Joe. "I have been coming here for the last +three days." + +"What for?" inquired Ralph. + +"Business, strictly." + +"Mother told me you had taken the horse and wagon and had gone off on +a peddling trip," said Ralph. + +"Yes, I sold out a lot of cheap shoes to farmers which I got at a +bargain at an auction," explained Joe. "Then I struck a fine new +scheme. It brought me here. I'll explain to you later. Your story is +the one that interests me. Tell me how you came to be in that scow, +Ralph." + +The young fireman brought up the two satchels from the hold of the old +craft, and briefly related to Joe the incidents of his experience with +Farrington, Slump and the others. + +"I say, you have done a big thing in getting those satchels," said +Joe, "and you want to place them in safe hands at once. Come ashore, +and I'll drive you to the nearest railroad town. You don't want to +risk meeting any of your enemies until you have those papers out of +their reach." + +When they came up to the wagon, Ralph gazed at its piled-up contents +in surprise. The wagon bottom was filled with walnuts and butternuts. +There must have been over twelve bushels of them. On top of them was +spread a lot of damp rushes and all kinds of wild flowers, mosses and +grasses. Two large mud turtles lay under the wagon seat. + +"Why, what does all that layout mean?" exclaimed Ralph, in +amazement. + +"That," said little Joe, with sparkling eyes, "is an advertising +scheme. Some time ago I discovered the finest nut grove in the timber +yonder you ever saw. I suppose I could in time have gathered up a +hundred wagon loads of them. I intend to make a heap of money out of +them. A couple of days ago, though, I thought out a great idea. You +know Woods, the dry goods man at the Junction?" + +"Yes," nodded Ralph. + +"He is a wide-awake, enterprising fellow, and I told him of my scheme. +It caught his fancy at once. The plan was this: every week, I am to +trim up his show window with what we call 'a nature feature.' We keep +pace with vegetation. This week we show a swamp outfit; next week +pumpkins and the like; the following week autumn leaves. We work in +live objects like turtles to give motion to the scene. Do you catch +on?" + +"It is an excellent idea and will attract lots of attention," declared +Ralph. + +"You bet it will," assented his comrade with enthusiasm. "Anyhow, my +pay is fine and I expect to work other towns in the same way. I will +show you the most artistic display window you ever saw when I get this +load of truck to town." + +In about two hours they reached a railroad station, and somewhat later +Ralph caught a train for the city. He went at once to the office of +the president of the Great Northern. There was a long interview. As +Ralph left the railroad magnate his face was pleased and his heart +light and hopeful. + +"Fairbanks," said Mr. Grant, "I cannot express my satisfaction at your +discoveries. It is as we supposed--some individual has been +encouraging the strikers. There are ample proofs among these papers of +the fact that Gasper Farrington has hired the strikers to commit all +kinds of misdeeds to scare stockholders of the road. He has thus been +enabled to buy up their stock at a reduced figure, to make an enormous +profit when the strike is over. He had a scheme to tap our wires and +cause further complications and trouble. Within a week the backbone of +the strike will be broken, and we shall not forget your agency in +assisting us to win out." + +Ralph went back to Stanley Junction that same day. He related all his +varied adventures to his mother that evening. + +"One thing I discovered from those documents in the satchels," said +Ralph. "Farrington has transferred all his property to Bartlett so we +could not collect the money he owes us." + +"Then we shall lose our twenty thousand dollars after all," said Mrs. +Fairbanks anxiously. + +"Wait and see," replied Ralph, with a mysterious smile. "I am not yet +through with Gasper Farrington." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE LIMITED MAIL + + +"All aboard!" + +The conductor of the Limited Mail gave the signal cheerily. Ralph +swung in from his side of the cab on the crack locomotive of the road. +Old John Griscom gave a chuckle of delight and the trip to the city +began. + +It was ten days after the adventure in the scow--ten days full of +activity and progress in the railroad interests of the Great Northern. +This was the morning when old-time schedules were resumed and every +part of the machinery of the line went back to routine. + +"I tell you, lad, it feels good to start out with clear tracks and the +regular system again. I'm proud of you, Fairbanks. You did up those +strikers in fine style, and it will be a long time before we shall +have any more trouble in that line." + +"I hope so, Mr. Griscom," said Ralph. "The company seems determined to +teach the strikers a lesson." + +This was true. Immediately after the visit of Ralph to the city, the +railroad people had set at work to make the most of the evidence in +their hands. A statement of the facts they had discovered was given to +the public, a series of indictments found against Gasper Farrington, +Bartlett, Jim Evans and others, and a vigorous prosecution for +conspiracy was begun. Among the most important witnesses against them +was Zeph Dallas. Farrington and Bartlett disappeared. Evans and the +others were sent to jail. + +A great revulsion in popular sentiment occurred when the true details +of the strike movement were made known. The respectable element of the +old union had scored a great victory, and work was resumed with many +undesirable employes on the blacklist. + +It seemed to Ralph now as though all unfavorable obstacles in the way +of his success had been removed. He believed that Slump and Bemis were +powerless to trouble him farther. As to Farrington, Ralph expected at +some time to see that wily old schemer again, for the railroad was in +possession of papers of value to the discredited railroad magnate. + +Ralph had now become quite an expert at his work as a fireman. There +was no grumbling at any time from the veteran engineer, for Ralph had +a system in his work which showed always in even, favorable results. +The locomotive was in splendid order and a finer train never left +Stanley Junction. At many stations cheers greeted this practical +announcement of the end of the strike. + +There was no jar nor break on the route until they reached a station +near Afton. The engine was going very fast, when, turning a curve, +Griscom uttered a shout and turned the throttle swiftly. + +"Too late!" he gasped hoarsely. + +The young fireman had seen what Griscom saw. It was an alarming sight. +At a street crossing a baby carriage was slowly moving down an +incline. A careless nurse was at some distance conversing with a +companion. The shrill shriek of the whistle caused her to discover the +impending disaster, but she had become too terrified to move. + +Ralph readily saw that speed would not be greatly diminished by the +time the locomotive overtook the child in the baby carriage, and in a +flash he acted. He was out on the running board and onto the +cowcatcher so quickly that he seemed fairly to fly. Grasping a +bracket, the young fireman poised for a move that meant life or death +for the imperiled child. + +The locomotive pounded the rails and shivered under the pressure of +the powerful air brakes. Ralph swung far down, one hand extended. The +baby carriage had rolled directly between the rails and stood there +motionless. + +It contained a beautiful child, who, with an innocent smile, greeted +the approaching monster of destruction as if it were some great, +pleasing toy. Ralph's heart was in his throat. + +"Grab out!" yelled Griscom, fairly beside himself with fear and +suspense. + +The young fireman's eyes were dilated, his whole frame trembled. Quick +as lightning his hand shot out. It met in a bunch of the clothing of +the child. He lifted; the vehicle lifted, too, for a strap held in its +occupant. + +There was a terrific tension on the arm of the young railroader. The +lower part of the vehicle was crunched under the cowcatcher and the +child was almost borne away with it. Then the pressure lightened. With +a great breath of relief and joy Ralph drew the child towards him, +tangled up in the wreckage of the baby carriage. + +The train stopped. Griscom did not say a word as they backed down. His +face was white, his eyes startled, his breath came hard, but he gave +his intrepid young assistant a look of approbation and devotion that +thrilled Ralph to the heart. + +A crowd had gathered around the distracted nurse at the street +crossing. She was hysterical as the rescued child was placed in safety +in her arms. Other women were crying. A big policeman arrived on the +scene. Griscom gave the particulars of the occurrence. + +"Name, please?" said the officer to Ralph. + +"Oh, that isn't necessary at all," said Ralph. + +"Isn't it? Do you know whose child that is?" + +"No," said Ralph. + +"The father is Judge Graham, the richest man in the town. Why, he'd +hunt the world over to find you. A lucky fellow you are." + +Ralph gave his name and the train proceeded on its way amid the cheers +of the passengers, who had learned of the brave act of the young +fireman. When terminus was reached, a fine-looking old lady approached +the locomotive. + +"Mr. Fairbanks," she said to Ralph, "the passengers desire you to +accept a slight testimonial of their appreciation of your bravery in +saving that young child." + +Ralph flushed modestly. + +"This looks like being paid for doing a simple duty," he said, as the +lady extended an envelope. + +"Not at all, Mr. Fairbanks. It was a noble act, and we all love you +for it." + +"I think more of that sentiment than this money," declared Ralph. + +The envelope contained fifty dollars. Griscom told the story of the +rescue all over Stanley Junction next day, and the local newspapers +made quite an article of it. + +The next morning Ralph had just completed his breakfast, when his +mother went to the front door to answer the bell. She showed some one +into the parlor and told Ralph that a gentleman wished to see him. + +The young fireman was somewhat astonished, upon entering the parlor, +to be grasped by the hand and almost embraced by a stranger. + +"I am Judge Graham," spoke the latter, in a trembling, excited tone. +"Young man, you saved the life of my only child." + +"I was glad to," said Ralph modestly. + +The judge went on with a description of the joy and gratitude of the +mother of the child, of his sentiments towards Ralph, and concluded +with the words: + +"And now, Mr. Fairbanks, I wish to reward you." + +"That has been done already," said Ralph, "in your gracious words to +me." + +"Not at all, not at all," declared the judge. "Come, don't be modest. +I am a rich man." + +"And I a rich mother in having so noble a son," spoke Mrs. Fairbanks, +with deep emotion. "You must not think of a reward, sir. He will not +take it." + +After a while the judge left the house, but he did so with an +insistent and significant declaration that "he would not forget" +Ralph. + +The young fireman was surprised to see him returning a few minutes +later, in the company of two of his own friends, Mr. Trevor, the +nephew of the president of the Great Northern, and Van Sherwin. + +"Well, this is a queer meeting," cried Van with enthusiasm, as they +entered the house. "Here we met Judge Graham, who is a great friend of +Mr. Trevor, and the very man we wished to see." + +This statement was soon explained. It appeared that Mr. Trevor had +fully recovered his health, and had come to Stanley Junction with Van +to make preparations to issue and sell the bonds of the Short Cut +Railroad. The judge was one of the friends he had intended to +interview about buying some bonds. + +For an hour young Trevor recited to Judge Graham the prospects of the +little railway line and their plans regarding the same. Ralph was +fascinated at his glowing descriptions of its great future. + +Ralph's visitors went away, but in a short time Van returned to the +cottage. + +"I say, Ralph," he remarked, "Judge Graham is going to invest in those +bonds." + +"That's good," said Ralph. + +"And I heard him tell Mr. Trevor to put down an extra block of them in +the name of Ralph Fairbanks." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE PICNIC TRAIN + + +Zeph Dallas had returned to work. His connection with the strikers had +been fully explained to the railroad people by Ralph, and the farmer +boy was readily taken back into the service of the company. Zeph +boarded with Mrs. Fairbanks, and Limpy Joe did, too, when he was in +Stanley Junction. + +The enterprising Joe was winning his way famously. His advertising +scheme was a grand success, and the nuts he gathered brought in a good +many dollars. One day he came to town to announce that he was going to +move his traps, thanking Mrs. Fairbanks for her great kindness to him +in the past. + +"Are you going to leave the Junction permanently, Joe?" asked Ralph. + +"I think so," answered the cripple. "You see, I have been up to the +headquarters of the Short Line Railroad. They can use my horse and +wagon. They offer me a good salary to cook for them, and the +concession of running a restaurant when their line is completed." + +"A good opportunity, that, Joe," said Ralph, "although the main +prospect you mention is far in the future, isn't it?" + +"Not at all," declared Joe. "I guess you haven't kept track of +proceedings in The Barrens. Their telegraph line is clear through, +both ways from headquarters now. The bonds are nearly all sold, and +they expect to begin to lay the rails in earnest next week." + +"I noticed a good deal of activity at our end of the line," said +Ralph. "I think the scheme is going to be a success. I almost wish I +was going to work with you fellows." + +It was now drawing on towards late fall. For several weeks the young +fireman had not been disturbed by his enemies. Work had gone on +smoothly. He was learning more and more every day, and his savings +amounted to quite a pretentious sum. + +The only outside issue that troubled Ralph was the fact that they had +not yet recovered the twenty thousand dollars due his mother from old +Gasper Farrington. That individual had disappeared. Ralph kept a sharp +lookout, for upon finding the magnate and bringing him to terms +depended the last chance of getting the money. + +There was the last picnic of the season one day, and Ralph had been +assigned to duty to look after things generally. He was surprised when +Forgan took him off the run of the Limited Mail. + +"It will be a sort of vacation holiday for you, lad," said the +roundhouse foreman. "We want somebody reliable to look after the +train, with so many women and children aboard. You will be boss over +the engineer, fireman and the whole train crew for the day." + +"Quite an important commission," said Ralph, "but what will the train +crew say about it?" + +"Oh, they will be glad to work with the responsibility on somebody +else. Here is the schedule. Be careful of your running time, +Fairbanks. I wouldn't have anything happen to the picnic train for +worlds." + +Ralph studied out the situation. When the train left Stanley Junction +he took a position in the locomotive, attended to reports at all +stations they passed, and the train reached the picnic grounds in +safety and was run on the siding. + +Ralph gave himself up to the enjoyment of a real holiday. He knew +nearly everybody on the picnic grounds and nearly everybody there knew +him. About the middle of the afternoon a boy living at the Junction +came up to him. + +"Say, Ralph," he remarked, tendering the young fireman a note. "A +fellow out in the woods gave me this for you." + +Ralph took the missive, and, opening it, read its contents with +mingled surprise and suspicion. The note ran: + +"If R. F. wants to hear of something to his advantage, come to the old +railroad bridge right away." + +There was no signature to the scrawl, but Ralph quite naturally +thought of Ike Slump and his crowd. That did not, however, deter him +from going to keep the appointment. He cut a stout cudgel and +proceeded to the old railroad bridge named in the note. + +The young fireman glanced keenly about him, but for some time did not +get a view of anybody in the vicinity. Finally from a clump of bushes +up the incline a handkerchief waved. Ralph climbed the embankment to +find himself facing Ike Slump. + +The latter was ragged and starved-looking. To Ralph it appeared that +the ex-roundhouse boy had been having a decidedly hard time of it +recently. + +"You needn't carry any stick around here," said Slump, sullenly. "You +needn't be afraid of me." + +"Not at all," answered Ralph, "although your actions in the past +would warrant my having a whole battery around me." + +"That's done with," asserted Slump, quite meekly. "Bemis is up there a +little ways. You needn't be afraid of him, either." + +"What are you getting at with all this talk, Ike?" inquired Ralph. + +"Why, we want to be friends." + +"What for?" + +"Because--because we're tired of starving and being hunted and the +like," said Slump. "You have won out, we are beaten. We want to work +together." + +"I declare I don't understand what you are driving at," said Ralph. +"Come, Ike Slump, play no more crafty games. It don't pay. Be honest +and straight. What did you bring me here for?" + +"To make some money for both of us." + +"In what way?" + +"You would give a good deal to find Gasper Farrington, wouldn't you, +now?" + +"I certainly am anxious to locate that man, yes," answered Ralph +frankly. + +"All right, we know where he is." + +"And you are willing to make amends, I suppose, for your past +misconduct by telling me where Farrington is to be found, so that I +can have him arrested." + +"Well, I guess not!" cried Mort Bemis, coming upon the scene. "We want +pay for what we do. We want a hundred dollars to begin with. A lot +more when you get that money he owes you." + +"My friends," said Ralph, promptly turning from the spot. "Not a cent. +I don't believe you know how to act square. You don't show it by your +present proposition. If you really want to be helped, and if you are +sorry for your past wrong doing, come back to Stanley Junction, tell +the truth, take your punishment like men, and I will be your good +friend." + +"Well, you're a bold one," sneered Slump, getting very angry. "You +won't help us out, then?" + +"With money--on your promise? No. I shall find Gasper Farrington +finally without your aid, and, if you have nothing further to say, I +shall return to the picnic grounds." + +"I don't think you will," said Bemis, roughly placing himself in +Ralph's path. + +"Why not?" inquired the young fireman calmly, grasping his cudgel with +a closer grip. + +"Because--say, Ike, grab him, quick! If he won't deal with us and we +can get him a prisoner, Farrington will pay us. You know he always +wanted to get rid of him." + +Ralph prepared to meet the enemy squarely. Slump and Bemis rushed +towards him. Before they could begin the fight, however, a man burst +through the underbrush whom Ralph recognized as a Stanley Junction +police officer detailed on picnic duty. + +"Found you, my friends, have I?" he hailed the two fellows. "Grab one +of them, Fairbanks, I've got the other. I was on the lookout for them. +They stole a purse from the basket of an old lady in the picnic +grounds a few hours ago. Slump? Bemis? Well, you are a fine pair, you +are!" + +The officer insisted on arresting them, the more so that upon +recognizing them now he suddenly remembered that a reward had been +offered for their apprehension by the railroad company. The +crestfallen plotters were taken to the train and locked up in one end +of the express car. + +Ralph went to them after a spell and tried to learn something more +from them, but they were now sullen and vengeful. + +In due time the train was backed down to the main track, the engine +detached made a run for water, and, returning, stood some little +distance from the cars. + +The fireman and engineer left the engine to help their families gather +up their traps and take them aboard the train. Ralph was busy in the +cab. He was looking over the gauges when a sudden blow from behind +stretched him insensible on the coal of the tender. + +As he slowly opened his eyes Ralph saw Slump and Bemis in the cab. In +some way they had escaped, had stolen the locomotive, and were +speeding away to liberty. + +"Just heard a whistle. It must be the Dover Accommodation," Slump was +remarking. "Get off and open the siding switch, Mort." + +This Bemis did, and the engine started up again. Ralph thrilled at the +words Slump had spoken. He was weak and dizzy-headed, but he made a +desperate effort, staggered to his feet and sprang from the cab. + +Had the locomotive remained at the picnic grounds, the train would +have been switched to the siding again until the Accommodation passed. +As it was, unwarned, the Accommodation would crash into the train. + +Ralph heard its whistle dangerously near. He looked up and down the +tracks. Ahead, a bridge crossed the tracks, and near it was a +framework with leather pendants to warn freight brakemen in the night +time. Towards this Ralph ran swiftly. Weak as he was, he managed to +scale the framework, gained its center, and sat there panting, poised +for the most desperate action of his young career. + +The Accommodation train came into view. Ralph sat transfixed, knowing +that he would soon face death, but unmindful of the fact in the hope +that his action would save the lives of those aboard the picnic +train. + +The Accommodation neared him. The young fireman got ready to drop. He +let go, crashed past the roof of the cab, and landed between the +astonished engineer and fireman. + +"The picnic train--on the main, stop your locomotive!" he panted, and +fainted dead away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +IN "THE BARRENS" + + +Ralph Fairbanks had taken a terrible risk, and had met with his first +serious accident since he had commenced his career as a young fireman. +When he next opened his eyes he was lying in his own bed, a doctor and +his mother bending solicitously over him. + +Slowly reason returned to him. He stared wonderingly about him and +tried to arise. A terrible pain in his feet caused him to subside. +Then Ralph realized that he had suffered some serious injury from his +reckless drop into the locomotive cab near the picnic grounds. + +"What is it, doctor?" he asked faintly. + +"A bad hurt in one arm and some ugly bruises. It is a wonder you were +not crippled for life, or killed outright." + +"The train--the picnic train!" cried Ralph, clearly remembering now +the incidents of the stolen engine. + +"The Accommodation stopped in time to avert a disaster," said Mrs. +Fairbanks. + +Ralph closed his eyes with a satisfied expression on his face. He soon +sank into slumber. It was late in the day when he awoke. Gradually his +strength came back to him, and he was able to sit up in bed. + +The next day he improved still more, and within a week he was able to +walk down to the roundhouse. Forgan and all his old friends greeted +him royally. + +"I suppose you have the nerve to think you are going to report for +duty," observed Forgan. "Well, you needn't try. Orders are to sick +list you for a month's vacation." + +"I will be able to work in a week," declared Ralph. + +"Vacation on full pay," continued the roundhouse foreman. + +Ralph had to accept the situation. He told his mother the news, and +they had a long talk over affairs in general. The doctor advised rest +and a change of scene. The next day Van Sherwin called on his way back +to The Barrens. That resulted in the young fireman joining him, and +his mother urged him to remain with his friends and enjoy his +vacation. + +A recruit to the ranks of the workers of the Short Cut Railroad +presented himself as Ralph and Van left for the depot one morning to +ride as far as Wilmer. This was Zeph Dallas. + +"No use talking," said the farmer boy. "I'm lonesome here at Stanley +Junction and I'm going to join Joe." + +"All right," assented Van, "if you think it wise to leave a steady job +here." + +"Why, you'll soon be able to give me a better one, won't you?" +insisted Zeph. "It just suits me, your layout down there in The +Barrens. Take me along with you." + +When they reached Wilmer and left the train, Van pointed proudly to a +train of freight cars on the Great Northern tracks loaded with rails +and ties. + +"That's our plunder," he said cheerily. "Mr. Trevor is hustling, I +tell you. Why, Ralph, we expect to have this end of the route +completed within thirty days." + +As they traversed the proposed railroad line, Ralph was more and more +interested in the project. Little squads of men were busily employed +here and there grading a roadbed, and the telegraph line was strung +over the entire territory. + +They reached the headquarters about noon. A new sign appeared on the +house, which was the center of the new railroad system. It was +"Gibson." + +A week passed by filled with great pleasure for the young railroader. +Evenings, Mr. Gibson and his young friends discussed the progress and +prospects of the railroad. There were to be two terminal stations and +a restaurant at the Springfield end of the route. There were only two +settlements in The Barrens, and depots were to be erected there. + +"We shall have quite some passenger service," declared Mr. Gibson, +"for we shorten the travel route for all transfer passengers as well +as freight. The Great Northern people do not at all discourage the +scheme, and the Midland Central has agreed to give us some freight +contracts. Oh, we shall soon build up into a first-class, thriving, +little railroad enterprise." + +One evening a storm prevented Ralph from returning to headquarters, so +he camped in with some workmen engaged in grading an especially +difficult part of the route. The evening was passed very pleasantly, +but just before nine o'clock, when all had thought of retiring, a +great outcry came from the tent of the cook. + +"I've got him, I've caught the young thief," shouted the cook, +dragging into view a small boy who was sobbing and trembling with +grief. + +"What's the row?" inquired one of the workmen. + +"Why, I've missed eatables for a week or more at odd times, and I just +caught this young robber stealing a ham." + +"I didn't steal it," sobbed the detected youngster. "I just took it. +You'd take it, too, if you was in our fix. We're nearly starved." + +"Who is nearly starved?" asked Ralph, approaching the culprit. + +"Me and dad. We were just driven to pick up food anywhere. You've got +lots of it. You needn't miss it. Please let me go, mister." + +"No, the jail for you," threatened the cook direfully. + +"Oh, don't take me away from my father," pleaded the affrighted +youngster. "He couldn't get along without me." + +"See here, cook, let me take this little fellow in hand," suggested +Ralph. + +"All right," assented the cook, adding in an undertone, "give him a +good scare." + +Ralph took the boy to one side. His name was Ned. His father, he said, +was Amos Greenleaf, an old railroader, crippled in an accident some +years before. He had become very poor, and they had settled in an old +house in The Barrens a few miles distant. Ralph made up a basket of +food with the cook's permission. + +"Now then, Ned," said Ralph, "you lead the way to your home." + +"You won't have me arrested?" + +"Not if you have been telling me the truth." + +"I haven't," declared the young lad. "It's worse than I tell it. Dad +is sick and has no medicine. We have nearly starved." + +It was an arduous tramp to the wretched hovel they at last reached. +Ralph was shocked as he entered it. It was almost bare of furniture, +and the poor old man who lay on a miserable cot was thin, pale and +racked with pain. + +"I am Ralph Fairbanks, a fireman on the Great Northern," said the +young railroader, "and I came with your boy to see what we can do for +you." + +"A railroader?" said Greenleaf. "I am glad to see you. I was once in +that line myself. Crippled in a wreck. Got poor, poorer, bad to worse, +and here I am." + +"Too bad," said Ralph sympathizingly. "Why have you not asked some of +your old comrades to help you?" + +"They are kind-hearted men, and did help me for a time, till I became +ashamed to impose on their generosity." + +"How were you injured, Mr. Greenleaf?" asked Ralph. + +"In a wreck. It was at the river just below Big Rock. I was a +brakeman. The train struck a broken switch and three cars went into +the creek. I went with them and was crippled for life. One of them was +a car of another road and not so high as the others, or I would have +been crushed to death." + +"A car of another road?" repeated Ralph with a slight start. + +"Yes." + +"You don't know what road it belonged to?" + +"No. They recovered the other two cars. I never heard what became of +the foreign car. I guess it was all smashed up." + +"Gondola?" + +"No, box car." + +Ralph was more and more interested. + +"When did this occur, Mr. Greenleaf?" he asked. + +"Five years ago." + +"Is it possible," said Ralph to himself, "that I have at last found a +clew to the missing car Zeph Dallas and that car finder are so anxious +to locate?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +TOO LATE + + +Two days later Ralph went down the line of the little railroad to +where it met the tracks of the Great Northern. Mr. Gibson had sent him +with some instructions to the men at work there, and at the request of +the young fireman had assigned him to work at that point. + +This consisted in checking up the construction supplies delivered by +rail. Ralph had a motive in coming to this terminus of the Short Line +Route. The information he had gained from the old, crippled +railroader, Amos Greenleaf, had set him to thinking. He found Zeph +Dallas working industriously, but said nothing about his plans until +the next day. + +At the noon hour he secured temporary leave of absence from work for +Zeph and himself, and went to find his friend. + +Zeph was a good deal surprised when Ralph told him that they were to +have the afternoon for a ramble, but readily joined his comrade. + +"Saw some friends of yours hanging around here yesterday," said the +farmer boy. + +"That so?" inquired Ralph. + +"Yes, Slump and Bemis. Guess they were after work or food, and they +sloped the minute they set eyes on me. Say, where are you bound for +anyway, Ralph?" + +"For Wilmer." + +"What for?" + +"I want to look around the river near there. The truth is, Zeph, I +fancy I have discovered a clew to that missing freight car." + +"What!" cried Zeph excitedly. "You don't mean car No. 9176?" + +"I mean just that," assented Ralph. "Here, let us find a comfortable +place to sit down, and I'll tell you the whole story." + +Ralph selected a spot by a fence lining the railroad right of way. +Then he narrated the details of his interview with Amos Greenleaf. + +"Say," exclaimed Zeph, "I believe there's something to this. Every +point seems to tally somehow to what information the car finder gave +me, don't you think so? Besides, in investigating the matter, I heard +about this same wreck. And five years ago? Ralph, this is worth +looking up, don't you think so?" + +Zeph was fairly incoherent amid his excitement. He could not sit +still, and arose to his feet and began walking around restlessly. + +"You see, it is a long time since the car disappeared," said Ralph, +"and we may not be able to find any trace of it. The car finder, in +his investigations, must have heard of this wreck. Still, as you say, +it is worth following up the clew, and that is why I got a leave from +work for the afternoon." + +"Hello," said Zeph, looking in among the bushes abruptly, "some one in +there? No, I don't see anybody now, but there was a rustling there a +minute or two ago." + +"Some bird or animal, probably," said Ralph. "Come on, Zeph, we will +go to the bridge and start on our investigations." + +The river near Wilmer was a broad stream. It was quite deep and had a +swift current. The boys started down one bank, conversing and watching +out. Ralph laughed humorously after a while. + +"I fancy this is a kind of a blind hunt, Zeph," he said. "We certainly +cannot expect to find that car lying around loose." + +"Well, hardly, but we might find out where it went to if we go far +enough," declared Zeph. "I tell you, I shall never give it up now if I +have to go clear to the end of this river." + +They kept on until quite late in the afternoon, but made no +discoveries. They passed a little settlement and went some distance +beyond it. Then Ralph decided to return to the railroad camp. + +"All right," said Zeph, "only I quit work to-morrow." + +"What for?" + +"To find that car. I say, I'm thirsty. Let us get a drink of water at +that old farm house yonder." + +They went to the place in question and were drinking from the well +bucket when the apparent owner of the place approached them. + +"Won't you have a cup or a glass, my lads?" he inquired kindly. + +"Oh, no, this is all right," said Ralph. + +"On a tramp, are you?" continued the farmer, evidently glad to have +someone to talk to. + +"In a way, yes," answered Ralph, and then, a sudden idea struck him, +he added: "By the way, you are an old resident here, I suppose?" + +"Forty years or more." + +"Do you happen to remember anything of a wreck at the bridge at Wilmer +about five years ago?" + +"Let me see," mused the man. "That was the time of the big freshet. +Yes, I do remember it faintly. It's the freshet I remember most +though. Enough timber floated by here to build a barn. See that old +shed yonder?" and he pointed to a low structure. "Well, I built that +out of timber I fished ashore. Lumber yard beyond Wilmer floated into +the creek, and all of us along here got some of it." + +"What do you know about the wreck?" asked Ralph. + +"Heard about it at the time, that's all. Sort of connect the freshet +with it. That was a great washout," continued the farmer. "Even sheds +and chicken coops floated by. And say, a box car, too." + +"Oh," cried Zeph, with a start as if he was shot. + +"Indeed?" said Ralph, with a suppressed quiver of excitement in his +tone. + +"Yes. It went whirling by, big and heavy as it was." + +"Say, Mister, you don't know where that car went to, do you?" inquired +Zeph anxiously. + +"Yes, I do. I know right where it is now." + +"You do?" + +"Yes, old Jabez Kane, ten miles down the creek, got it. He is using it +now for a tool shed." + +"Oh!" again cried Zeph, trembling with suspense and hope. + +Ralph nudged him to be quiet. He asked a few more questions of the +farmer and they left the place. + +"Ralph," cried Zeph wildly, "we've found it!" + +"Maybe not," answered the young fireman. "It may not be the same +car." + +"But you're going to find out?" + +"It's pretty late. We had better make a day of it to-morrow." + +"All right, if we can't attend to it to-day," said Zeph +disappointedly; and then both returned to camp. + +Next morning early both started for the creek again. By proceeding +across the country diagonally, they saved some distance. + +It was about noon when they approached a rickety, old farmhouse which +a man had told them belonged to Jabez Kane. + +"There it is, there it is," cried Zeph, as they neared it. + +"Yes, there is an old box car in the yard near the creek, sure +enough," said Ralph. + +They entered the farm yard. The box of the car they looked at sat flat +on the ground. It had been whitewashed several times, it appeared, so +they could trace no markings on it. They approached it and stood +looking it over when a man came out of the house near by. + +"Hey," he hailed, advancing upon them. "What you trespassing for?" + +"Are we?" inquired Ralph, with a pleasant smile. "We mean no harm." + +"Dunno about that," said the farmer suspiciously. "Was you here last +night?" + +"Oh, no," answered Ralph. + +"Well, what do you want?" + +"I was sort of interested in this old car," announced Ralph. + +"Why so?" demanded Kane. + +"Well, we are looking for a car that floated down the creek here about +five years ago." + +"For the railroad?" asked the farmer. + +"In a way, yes, in a way, no." + +"Does the railroad want to take it away from me?" + +"Certainly not. They would like to know, though, if it's a car of the +Southern Air Line and numbered 9176." + +"You've got it, lad. This was just that car. What's the amazing +interest in it all of a sudden? Look here," and he took them around to +the other side of the car. "Last night two boys came here; my son saw +them hanging around here. Then they disappeared. This morning I found +the car that way." + +Ralph and Zeph stared in astonishment. A four-foot space of the +boards on the outside of the car had been torn away. At one point +there was a jagged break in the inside sheathing. In a flash the same +idea occurred to both of them. + +"Too late!" groaned poor Zeph. "Some one has been here and the +diamonds are gone." + +Ralph was stupefied. He remembered the rustling in the bushes when +they were discussing their plans the day previous. He believed that +their conversation had been overheard by some one. + +Ralph asked the man to send for his son, which he did, and Ralph +interrogated him closely. The result was a sure conviction that Ike +Slump and Mort Bemis had secured the diamonds hidden in the box car +about five years previous. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE MAD ENGINEER + + +"Well, good-bye, Zeph." + +"Good-bye, Ralph. Another of my wild dreams of wealth gone." + +"Don't fret about it, Zeph." + +"How can I help it?" + +Ralph had decided to return home. He was now fully recuperated, and +his vacation period would expire in a few days. + +It was the evening of the day when they had discovered the missing box +car only to find that others had discovered it before them. Ralph had +arranged to flag a freight at the terminus of the Short Line Route and +was down at the tracks awaiting its coming. + +The freight arrived, Ralph clambered to the cab, waved his hand in +adieu to Zeph, and was warmly welcomed by his friends on the engine. + +They had proceeded only a short distance when a boy came running down +an embankment. So rapid and reckless was his progress that Ralph +feared he would land under the locomotive. The lad, however, grasped +the step of the cab, and was dragged dangerously near to the wheels. +Ralph seized him just in time and pulled him up into the cab. + +"Well!" commented the engineer, "it's a good thing we were going slow. +Here, land out as you landed in, kid." + +"Please don't," cried the boy, gazing back with tear-filled eyes and +trembling all over. "Please let me ride with you." + +"Against the rules." + +"See, there they are!" almost shrieked the boy, pointing to two men +who came rushing down the embankment. "Oh, don't let them get me." + +"Give him a show till I learn his story," said Ralph to the engineer, +so the latter put on steam and the two men were outdistanced. + +"Oh, thank you, thank you!" panted the boy, clinging close to Ralph. + +"Come up on the water tank," said Ralph, "and I'll have a talk with +you." + +The lad, whom the young fireman had befriended, was a forlorn-looking +being. He wore no shoes, was hatless, and had on a coat many sizes too +large for him. + +"Now then, what's the trouble?" inquired Ralph, when they were both +seated on the water tank. + +"Those men were pursuing me," said the lad. + +"What for?" + +"I was running away from them. They are my uncles, and they have been +very wicked and cruel to me. They want to send me to a reform school +to get rid of me, and locked me up. I ran away this morning, but they +got trace of me again." + +"What is your name?" + +"Earl Danvers. My father died and left them my guardians. They are +after the property, I guess." + +"What do you propose to do?" + +"Oh, anything to get away from them." + +Ralph talked for quite a while with the boy and learned his entire +history. Then he said: + +"This is a case for a lawyer. Would you like to come to Stanley +Junction with me and have a lawyer look into the matter for you?" + +"No. I only want to escape from those bad men." + +"That will follow. You come with me. I will interest myself in your +case and see that you are protected." + +"How kind you are--you are the only friend I ever knew," cried the +boy, bursting into tears of gratitude. + +Ralph took Earl Danvers home with him when they reached Stanley +Junction. His kind-hearted mother was at once interested in the +forlorn refugee. They managed to fit him out with some comfortable +clothing, and Ralph told him to take a rest of a few days, when he +would have him see their lawyer and tell him his story. + +Two days later the young fireman reported at the roundhouse for duty, +and the ensuing morning started on a new term of service as fireman of +the Limited Mail. + +The first trip out Griscom was engineer. Ralph noticed that he looked +pale and worried. The run to the city was made in a way quite unusual +with the brisk and lively veteran railroader. Ralph waited until they +were on their way home from the roundhouse that evening. Then he +said: + +"Mr. Griscom, you have not been your usual self to-day." + +"That's true, lad," nodded the engineer gravely. + +"Anything the matter especially?" + +"Oh, a little extra care on my mind and under the weather a bit +besides," sighed Griscom. + +"Can I help you in any way?" inquired Ralph. + +"No, lad--we must all bear our own troubles." + +The next day Griscom did not report for duty at train time. A man +named Lyle was put on extra duty. Ralph did not know him very well nor +did he like him much. He understood that he was a fine engineer but +that he had been warned several times for drinking. + +As he came into the cab, Ralph noticed that his eyes were dull and +shifty, his hands trembled and he bore all the appearance of a man who +had been recently indulging in liquor to excess. + +As soon as they were out on the road, Lyle began to drink frequently +from a bottle he took out of his coat. He became more steady in his +movements, and, watching him, Ralph saw that he understood his +business thoroughly and was duly attentive to it. + +After the wait at the city, however, Lyle came aboard of the +locomotive in quite a muddled condition. He was talkative and boastful +now. He began to tell of the many famous special runs he had made, of +the big salaries he had earned, and of his general proficiency as a +first-class engineer. + +He ordered full steam on, and by the time they were twenty miles from +the city he kept the locomotive going at top notch speed. There was a +tremendous head on the cylinders and they ran like a racer. Frogs and +target rods were passed at a momentum that fairly frightened Ralph, +and it was a wonder to him the way the wheels ground and bounded that +they always lit on the steel. + +Lyle took frequent drinks from the bottle, which had been replenished. +His eyes were wild, his manner reckless, almost maniacal. As they +passed signals he would utter a fierce, ringing yell. Ralph crowded +over to him. + +"Mr. Lyle," he shouted, "we are ahead of time." + +"Good," roared the mad engineer, "I'm going to make the record run of +the century." + +"If any other train is off schedule, that is dangerous." + +"Let 'em look out for themselves," chuckled Lyle. "Whoop! pile in the +black diamonds." + +"Stop!" almost shrieked Ralph. + +Of a sudden he made a fearful discovery. A signal had called for a +danger stop where the Great Northern crossed the tracks of the Midland +Central. Unheeding the signal, Lyle had run directly onto a siding of +the latter railroad and was traversing it at full speed. + +"Stop, stop, I say--there's a car ahead," cried Ralph. + +Lyle gave the young fireman a violent push backwards and forged +ahead. + +Chug! bang! A frightful sound filled the air. The locomotive had +struck a light gondola car squarely, lifting it from the track and +throwing it to one side a mass of wreckage. Then on, on sped the +engine. It struck the main of the Midland Central. + +Ralph grabbed up a shovel. + +"Lower speed," he cried, "or I will strike you." + +"Get back," yelled Lyle, pulling a revolver from his pocket. "Back, I +say, or I'll shoot. Whoop! this is going." + +Ralph climbed to the top of the tender. He was powerless alone to +combat the engineer in his mad fury. A plan came into his mind. The +first car attached to the tender was a blind baggage. Ralph sprang to +its roof. Then he ran back fast as he could. + +The young fireman lost no time, dropping from the roof between +platforms. As he reached the first passenger coach he ran inside the +car. + +Passengers were on their feet, amazed and alarmed at the reckless +flight of the train. The conductor and train hands were pale and +frightened. + +"What's the trouble?" demanded the conductor, as Ralph rushed up to +him. + +"A maniac is in charge of the train. He is crazed with drink, and +armed. Who of you will join me in trying to overpower him?" + +None of the train hands shrank from duty. They followed Ralph to the +platform and thence to the top of the forward coach. At that moment +new warnings came. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A NEW MYSTERY + + +"Danger," shouted Ralph. "Quick, men. Do you see ahead there?" + +Down the rails a red signal fuse was spluttering. It was quite a +distance away, but they would reach it in less than sixty seconds if +the present fearful speed of the train was kept up. + +"Hear that?" roared the conductor in a hoarse, frightened tone. + +Under the wheels there rang out a sharp crack, audible even above the +roar of the rushing train--a track torpedo. + +Ralph ran across the top of the forward car. As he reached its front +end, Lyle turning discovered him. + +He set up a wild yell, reached into the tender, seized a big +sledgehammer lying there and braced back. + +The young fireman was amazed and fairly terrified at his movements, +for Lyle began raining blows on lever, throttle and everything in the +way of machinery inside of the cab. + +Past the red light, blotting it out, sped the train, turning a curve. +Ralph anticipated a waiting or a coming train, but, to his relief, the +rails were clear. Ahead, however, there was a great glow, and he now +understood what the warnings meant. + +The road at this point for two miles ran through a marshy forest, and +this was all on fire. Ralph gained the tender. + +"Back, back!" roared Lyle, facing him, weapon in hand. "She's fixed to +go, can't stop her now. Whoop!" + +With deep concern the young fireman noted the disabled machinery. + +Half-way between centers, the big steel bar on the engineer's side of +the locomotive had snapped in two and was tearing through the cab like +a flail, at every revolution of the driver to which it was attached. + +Just as Ralph jumped down from the tender, the locomotive entered the +fire belt--in a minute more the train was in the midst of a great +sweeping mass of fire. The train crew, blinded and singed, retreated. +Ralph trembled at a sense of the terrible peril that menaced. + +Lyle had drawn back from the lever or he would have been annihilated. +Then as the fire swept into his face, he uttered a last frightful +yell, gave a spring and landed somewhere along the side of the track. + +The young fireman was fairly appalled. Such a situation he had never +confronted before. The cab was ablaze in a dozen different places. The +tops of the cars behind had also ignited. Ralph did not know what to +do. Even if he could have stopped the train, it would be destruction +to do so now. + +Suddenly the locomotive dove through the last fire stretch. Ahead +somewhere Ralph caught the fierce blast of a locomotive shrieking for +orders. For life or death the train must be stopped. + +He flew towards the throttle but could not reach it safely. The great +bar threatened death. Twice he tried to reach the throttle and drew +back in time to escape the descending bar. At a third effort he +managed to slip the latch of the throttle, but received a fearful +graze of one hand. Then, exhausted from exertion and excitement, the +young fireman saw the locomotive slow down not a hundred yards from a +stalled train. + +The passenger coaches were soon vacated by the passengers, while the +train crew beat out the flames where the cars were on fire. + +The Limited Mail made no return trip to Stanley Junction that night. +The following morning, however, when the swamp fire had subsided, the +train was taken back to the Great Northern and then to terminus. + +Lyle, the engineer, was found badly burned and delirious in the swamp, +where he would have perished only for the water in which he landed +when he jumped from the locomotive cab. He was taken to a hospital. + +There was a great deal of talk about the latest exploit of the young +fireman of the Limited Mail, and Ralph did not suffer any in the +estimation of the railroad people and his many friends. + +One evening he came home from an interview with a local lawyer +concerning the interests of his young friend, Earl Danvers. + +Ralph felt quite sanguine that he could obtain redress for Earl from +his heartless relations, and was thinking about it when he discovered +his mother pacing up and down the front walk of the house in an +agitated, anxious way. + +"Why, mother," said Ralph, "you look very much distressed." + +"I am so, truly," replied Mrs. Fairbanks. "Ralph, we have met with a +great loss." + +"What do you mean, mother?" + +"The house has been burglarized." + +"When?" + +"Some time during the past three hours. I was on a visit to a sick +neighbor, and returned to discover the rear door open. I went inside, +and all the papers in the cabinet and some money we had there were +gone." + +"The papers?" exclaimed Ralph. + +"Yes, every document concerning our claim against Gasper Farrington is +missing." + +"But what of Earl Danvers?" inquired Ralph. "Was he away from home?" + +"He was when I left, but he must have returned during my absence." + +"How do you know that?" asked Ralph. + +"The cap he wore when he went away I found near the cabinet." + +Ralph looked serious and troubled. + +"I hope we have not been mistaken in believing Earl to be an honest +boy," he said, and his mother only sighed. + +Then Ralph began investigating. The rear door, he found, had been +forced open. All the rooms and closets had been ransacked. + +"This is pretty serious, mother," he remarked. + +Earl Danvers did not return that day. This troubled and puzzled Ralph. +He could not believe the boy to be an accomplice of Farrington, nor +could he believe that he was the thief. + +Next morning Ralph reported the loss to the town marshal. When he went +down the road, he threw off a note where the men were working on the +Short Line Route at its junction with the Great Northern. It was +directed to Zeph Dallas, and in the note Ralph asked his friend to +look up the two uncles of Earl Danvers and learn all he could about +the latter. + +It was two nights later when Mrs. Fairbanks announced to Ralph quite +an important discovery. In cleaning house she had noticed some words +penciled on the wall near the cabinet. They comprised a mere scrawl, +as if written under difficulty, and ran: + + "Earl prisoner. Two boys stealing things in house. Get the old + coat I wore." + +"Why, what can this mean?" said Ralph. "Earl certainly wrote this. A +prisoner? two boys? the thieves? Get the old coat? He means the one he +wore when he came here. What can that have to do with this business? +Mother, where is the coat?" + +"Why, Ralph," replied Mrs. Fairbanks, "I sold it to a rag man last +week." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE FREIGHT THIEVES + + +Two days later Zeph Dallas came to Stanley Junction to purchase some +supplies for Mr. Gibson's construction camp. In the evening he called +at the Fairbanks home. The farmer boy had located the relatives of +Earl Danvers, and his report verified the story of the latter, who had +disappeared from home, and, according to his uncles, his whereabouts +was unknown to them. + +Ralph related the story of the burglary, and Zeph was at once +interested. He believed that some mystery of importance was attached +to the old coat. When he had gone away Ralph got to thinking this +over. + +"Mother," he asked, "do you know the man to whom you sold that old +coat?" + +"Why, yes," replied Mrs. Fairbanks. "He is the man who goes around +with an old wagon visiting the different country towns in this +district in turn." + +Ralph made some inquiries, and ascertained that the peddler in +question made his headquarters at Dover. He resolved upon opportunity +to visit the man at a near date, although it was probable that the +coat with the rags sold with it had been sent to some mill. A few days +later Zeph came again to Stanley Junction and Ralph told him about the +peddler. + +For a time after this, affairs ran on smoothly for the Limited Mail +and her experienced crew, and Ralph had settled down to a quiet +enjoyment of congenial employment when there occurred a break in the +routine that once more placed him in a position of peril. + +One day as he returned from the city run, the roundhouse foreman +informed him that he was to report at the office of the master +mechanic. Ralph did not go home, but went at once to answer the +summons. + +The master mechanic was his good friend and received him with his +usual cordiality. + +"Fairbanks," he said, "you are pretty well known to the officers of +the road, and favorably, too, I suppose you know that." + +"It is a pleasure to have you say so," answered the young fireman. + +"They seem especially to value your ability in running down +crookedness and ferreting out criminals," pursued the master +mechanic. "The superintendent wired me today to have one road +detective start out on a certain case. I wired back that Mr. Adair was +engaged in a special case in the city. The return was to relieve you +of regular duty and have you report at Afton this afternoon." + +Ralph nodded to indicate that he understood, but he said: + +"I do not like these interruptions to routine duty, but I suppose the +company knows where it most needs a fellow." + +Ralph went down the road shortly after noon. He reached Afton and +reported at once to the assistant superintendent. + +"I have ordered a substitute fireman on the Mail for a week, +Fairbanks," said that official. "I think we shall engage your services +for that length of time." + +"Is it some particular case, sir?" asked Ralph. + +"A very important case, yes. We seem to have got rid of incompetent +employes and strikers, thanks to you and others who stood by the +company in time of trouble. There is one thing, however, that is +bothering us. It bothers every road more or less, but we won't have +it." + +Ralph waited for a further explanation. + +"Freight thieves, Fairbanks," continued the official. "Some gang is +regularly stealing from the road. When, where and how it is done we +have been unable to ascertain. A train will leave the city or the +Junction, arrive at terminus, and some valuable package will be +missing. The car seals will be all right, no one seems to have entered +the car, and yet the pilfering goes on. Will you help us run down the +thieves?" + +"I will try," answered Ralph. "What trains seem to suffer most?" + +"Always the night freights," replied the assistant superintendent. +"Now, take your time, spare no expense, and go to work on this problem +in your usual effective way." + +Ralph devoted the remainder of the day to going up and down the road +and familiarizing himself with the various freight trains and their +schedules. + +Just after dark he clambered into the cab of the night freight leaving +the city. It was a dark, sleety night, for cold weather had just set +in. + +The engineer was a tried and trusty veteran in the service. Ralph felt +that he understood him, and that he must trust him to a degree in +order to facilitate his own programme. He waited till the fireman was +busy outside on the engine, then he spoke to the old engineer. + +"Mr. Barton, I am on special duty here tonight." + +"That so, lad?" inquired the engineer. + +"Yes, I suppose you know there is a good deal of missing freight in +these night runs." + +"I heard so," answered Barton, "but you see that is the business of +the conductor, so I haven't much troubled myself about it." + +"Still, you don't care to have these things occur in your runs." + +"Should say not! Working on the case, Fairbanks?" + +"Frankly, yes, Mr. Barton, and I want you to keep it quiet, but assist +me when you can. I will be all over the train and the car tops +to-night, and wanted to explain why to you." + +"That's all right, lad. Just call on me if I can help you. Hello, you, +Woods!" bawled the engineer suddenly to a fellow who appeared near the +cab side, "what you doing there?" + +The man slunk out of view at being addressed, with a muttered remark +that it was his own business. + +"Don't like that fellow--caboose look-out," explained Barton. + +"I hope he did not overhear our conversation," spoke Ralph. + +About mid-way of the train there was a gondola oil car. It had an +elevated runway so that train hands could pass over it readily. Ralph +selected this car as a vantage point, and got aboard as the train +started on its way for Stanley Junction. + +He was dressed as a tramp, looked the character completely, and the +false moustache he wore effectually changed his face so that no +persons except familiar friends would easily recognize him. + +Ralph got down at one side of the big oil tank. For the next hour he +remained quiet. Finally, as a brakeman passed over the platform, he +climbed up and kept track of his movements. + +The man, however, simply passed up and down the train and then +returned to the caboose. Then there was a stop. Ralph leaned from the +car and looked up and down the train. + +"Why," exclaimed Ralph suddenly, "there is that fellow Woods working +at the doors of the cars a little ahead there." + +The brakeman in question now came down the length of the train. The +engine was taking water. He halted almost opposite the car Ralph was +hiding on. Suddenly he uttered a low, sharp whistle, and it was +answered. Three men appeared from the side of the track, spoke to him, +bounded up on to the oil car, and crouched down so near to Ralph that +he could almost touch them. + +Woods stood on the next track with his lantern as if waiting for the +train to start up. + +"Cars marked," he spoke. "I'll flash the glim when the coast is clear. +You'll know the cases I told you about." + +There was no response. The locomotive whistled, and the brakeman ran +back to the caboose. Ralph lay perfectly still. The three men sat up +against the railing of the car. + +"Got the keys to the car ventilators?" asked one of the men, finally. + +"Sure," was the response. "Say, fellows, we want to be wary. This is a +clever game of ours, but I hear that the railroad company is watching +out pretty close." + +"Oh, they can't reach us," declared another voice, "with Woods taking +care of the broken seals, and all kinds of duplicate keys, we can +puzzle them right along." + +Just then one of them arose to his feet. He stumbled heavily over +Ralph. + +"Hello!" he yelled, "who is this?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A PRISONER + + +The three men almost instantly confronted Ralph, and one of them +seized him, holding him firmly. + +Ralph quickly decided on his course of action. He yawned in the face +of the speaker and drawled sleepily: + +"What are you waking a fellow up for?" + +One held Ralph, another lit a match. They were rough, but shrewd +fellows. Instantly one of them said: + +"Disguised!" and he pulled off Ralph's false moustache. "That means a +spy. Fellows, how can we tell Woods?" + +"S--sh!" warned a companion--"no names. Now, young fellow, who are +you?" + +But "young fellow" was gone! In a flash Ralph comprehended that he was +in a bad fix, his usefulness on the scene gone. In a twinkling he had +jerked free from the grasp of the man who held him, had sprung to the +platform of the oil car and thence to the roof of the next box car. + +Almost immediately his recent captor was after him. It was now for +Ralph a race to the engine and his friend Barton. + +The running boards were covered with sleet and as slippery as glass, +yet Ralph forged ahead. He could hear the short gasps for breath of a +determined pursuer directly behind him. + +"Got you!" said a quick voice. Its owner stumbled, his head struck the +young fireman and Ralph was driven from the running board. + +He was going at such a momentum that in no way could he check himself, +but slid diagonally across the roof of the car. There destruction +seemed to face him. + +His pursuer had fallen flat on the running board. Ralph dropped flat +also, clutching vainly at space. His fingers tore along the thin +sheeting of ice. He reached the edge of the car roof. + +For one moment the young fireman clung there. Then quick as a flash he +slipped one hand down. It was to hook his fingers into the top slide +bar of the car's side door. The action drew back the door about an +inch. It was unlocked. Ralph dropped his other hold lightning-quick, +thrust his hand into the interstice, pushed the door still further +back, and precipitated himself forward across the floor of an empty +box car. + +There he lay, done up, almost terrified at the crowding perils of the +instant, marveling at his wonderful escape from death. + +"They must think I went clear to the ground," theorized Ralph. "I am +safe for the present, at least. What an adventure! And Woods is in +league with the freight thieves! That solves the problem for the +railroad company. + +"An empty car," he said, as he finally struggled to his feet. "I'll +wait till the train stops again and then run ahead to Barton. Hello!" +he exclaimed sharply, as moving about the car, his foot came in +contact with some object. + +Ralph stood perfectly still. He could hear deep, regular breathing, as +of some one asleep. His curiosity impelled him to investigate farther. +He took a match from his pocket, flared it, and peered down. + +Directly in one corner of the car lay a big, powerful man. He was +dressed in rags. His coat was open, and under it showed a striped +shirt. + +"Why!" exclaimed Ralph, "a convict--an escaped convict!" + +The man grasped in one hand, as if on guard with a weapon of defense, +a pair of handcuffs connected with a long, heavy steel chain. +Apparently he had in some way freed himself from these. + +Ralph flared a second match to make a still closer inspection of the +man. This aroused the sleeper. He moved, opened his eyes suddenly, saw +Ralph, and with a frightful yell sprang up. + +"I've got you!" he said, seizing Ralph. "After me, are you? Hold +still, or I'll throttle you. How near are the people who sent you on +my trail?" + +"I won't risk that," shouted the man wildly. + +In a twinkling he had slipped the handcuffs over Ralph's wrists. The +latter was a prisoner so strangely that he was more curious than +alarmed. + +"Going to stop, are they?" pursued the man, as there was some +whistling ahead. "Mind you, now, get off when I do. Don't try to call, +and don't try to run away, or I'll kill you." + +The train stopped and Ralph's companion pulled back the door. He got +out, forcing Ralph with him, and proceeded directly into the timber +lining the railroad, never pausing till he had reached a desolate spot +near a shallow creek. + +Then the man ordered a halt. He sat down on the ground and forced his +captive to follow his example. + +"Who are you?" he demanded roughly. + +"I am Ralph Fairbanks, a fireman on the Great Northern Railroad," +promptly explained the young fireman. + +"Do you know me?" + +"I infer from these handcuffs and your under uniform that you are an +escaped convict," answered Ralph. + +"Know a good many people, do you?" + +"Why, yes, I do," answered Ralph. + +"Where is Stanley Junction?" + +"About forty miles north of here. I live there." + +"You do? you do?" cried the convict, springing up in a state of +intense excitement. "Here, lad, don't think me harsh or mean, or +cruel, but you have got to stay with me. You would betray me to the +police." + +"No, I would not," declared Ralph. + +"You would, I know--it's human nature. There is a big reward out for +me. Then, too, you know people. Yes, you must stay with me." + +"I can't help you any--why should you detain me?" insisted Ralph. + +"I must find a man," cried the convict, more wildly than ever--"or you +must find him for me." + +"What man is that?" spoke Ralph. + +"Do you know a Mr. Gasper Farrington?" + +"Quite well," answered Ralph, rather startled at the question. + +"That is the man!" shouted the convict. + +"And that is singular, for I am very anxious myself to find that same +individual," said the young fireman. + +Ralph felt that he was in the midst of a series of strange adventures +and discoveries that might lead to important results, not only for the +person he had so strangely met, but for himself, as well. + +This impression was enforced as he watched his captor pace up and down +the ground, muttering wildly. He seemed to have some deep-rooted +hatred for Gasper Farrington. "Revenge," "Punishment," "Justice," were +the words that he constantly uttered. Ralph wondered what course he +could pursue to get the man down to a level of coherency and reason. +Finally the man said: + +"Come, get up, we must find some shelter." + +After an hour of arduous tramping they came to an old barn that had +been partly burned down. There was some hay in it. The convict lay +down on this, unloosed one handcuff from the wrist of his prisoner, +and attached the other to his own arm and lay as if in a daze until +daybreak. + +Now he could inspect his prisoner clearly, and Ralph could study the +worn, frenzied face of his captor. The latter had calmed down +somewhat. + +"Boy," he said, finally, "I don't dare to let you go, and I don't know +what to do." + +"See here," spoke Ralph, "you are in deep trouble. I don't want to +make you any more trouble. Suppose you tell me all about yourself and +see if I can't help you out." + +"Oh, I don't dare to trust any one," groaned the man. + +"You spoke of Gasper Farrington," suggested Ralph. "Is he an enemy of +yours?" + +"He has ruined my life," declared the convict. + +"And why do you seek him?" + +"To demand reparation, to drag him to the same fate he drove me to. +Just let me find him--that is all I wish--to meet him face to face." + +Ralph began to quietly tell the story of his own dealings with the +village magnate of Stanley Junction. It had a great effect upon his +auditor. From dark distrust and suspicion his emotions gradually +subsided to interest, and finally to confidence. + +It was only by gradations that Ralph led the man to believe that he +was his friend and could help him in his difficulties. + +The convict told a pitiful story. Ralph believed it to be a true one. +To further his own avaricious ends, Farrington had devised a +villainous plot to send the man to the penitentiary. He had escaped. +He had documents that would cause Farrington not only to disgorge his +ill-gotten gains, but would send him to jail. + +"I want to get to where those documents are hidden," said the convict. +"Then to find Farrington, and I shall right your wrongs as well as my +own." + +Ralph reflected deeply over the matter in hand. He resolved on a +course of proceedings and submitted it to his companion. + +He offered to take the convict to the isolated home of Amos Greenleaf, +where he could remain safely in retirement. Ralph promised to get him +comfortable garments and provide for his board and lodging. In a few +days he would see him again and help him to find Farrington. + +The young fireman was now released from the handcuffs. He calculated +the location of the place where Greenleaf lived. + +"It is about fifteen miles to the spot I told you of," he explained to +the convict. + +"Can we reach it without being seen by any one?" anxiously inquired +his companion. + +"Yes, I can take a route where we need not pass a single habitation." + +It was afternoon when they reached the home of old Amos Greenleaf. + +Ralph experienced no difficulty in arranging that the convict remain +there for a few days. He gave Greenleaf some money, and, promising to +see the convict very soon, proceeded to Wilmer. + +The young fireman took the first train for Afton, and reported what +had occurred to the assistant superintendent. + +Two days later Woods and his companions were in jail, and a great part +of the stolen freight plunder was recovered. + +Woods confessed that he had duplicated keys and seals for the doors +and ventilators of the freight cars, and the bold thieveries along the +Great Northern now ceased. + +Ralph obtained leave of absence for a week. He decided that it was +worth while to try and find Gasper Farrington. He went to the city, +got certain papers belonging to the magnate from Mr. Grant, and went +to Wilmer. + +He was soon at the junction of the Springfield & Dover Short Cut +Railroad and the Great Northern. That terminus was completed. A neat +depot had been erected, and on the tracks of the new railroad there +stood a handsome locomotive. + +"Oh, Ralph!" cried Zeph Dallas, rushing forward to greet his friend, +as the young fireman appeared. "Great news!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE LOST DIAMONDS + + +"Great news, eh?" said Ralph. + +"You will say so when you hear what I have got to tell you," declared +Zeph Dallas. "Say, I am going straight to headquarters. Come with me. +The news will keep till we get there." + +"All right," assented Ralph. "There is enough going on around here to +keep a fellow interested." + +"The new railroad?" spoke Zeph brightly. "I should say so. Isn't it +just famous? I tell you, some hustling work has been done here in the +past few weeks." + +Ralph was amazed and delighted at the progress made by the Short Line +Railway. As said, a new locomotive was on the rails at the terminus, +and a little depot had been built. Workmen were busy as far down the +line as he could see. In fact, everything indicated that the road +would soon be in full operation. + +"The tracks are laid both ways from headquarters, except for a little +distance on the Springfield side," said Zeph. "We expect passenger +and freight cars for the road to-day, and on Monday we open the +line." + +"And in what capacity will you appear on that grand occasion, Zeph?" +inquired the young fireman pleasantly. + +"Conductor!" exploded the farmer boy, drawing himself up proudly. "See +here;" he drew back his coat and revealed the biggest and most +elaborate "Conductor" badge manufactured. "We expect that Earl Danvers +will become our brakeman." + +"Who?" cried Ralph with a start. + +"Earl Danvers." + +"Is he here?" + +"He is at headquarters," said Zeph. "Don't bother asking me about him +now. You will soon see him, and he will tell you his own story. Then, +too, Mr. Gibson wishes to see you particularly. Here's our hand-car, +jump aboard. We'll spin along at a fine rate, I tell you, for the +roadbed is splendid." + +Ralph found it so. It was a most interesting journey to headquarters. +There was only one track, and on this the men had spent their energies +to great advantage, and commendable results followed. + +He was warmly welcomed by his friends, particularly so by Earl +Danvers. Just as soon as mutual greetings were over Ralph took Earl to +a pile of ties a little distance away. + +"Now then, young man," he said, "seeing we are alone, suppose you give +an account of yourself." + +Earl Danvers was thin and pale. He looked as if he had gone through +some recent severe hardships, but he smiled serenely as he said: + +"It's easy to tell my story, now I am out of my troubles, but I tell +you, Ralph, I have had a hard time of it." + +"With Slump and Bemis?" + +"Yes. The afternoon I left Stanley Junction, they were the fellows who +forced me to go away with them. They broke into your house, and I +found them ransacking it. They pitched on to me, and tied me up. Then +they recognized me." + +"What, had you known them before?" exclaimed Ralph, in some surprise. + +"I found out that I had. You remember the first day that you saw me?" + +"Yes," nodded Ralph. + +"Well, I had run away from my uncles that morning. I had made up a +package hurriedly, containing shoes, coat and cap, and got away +through a window in the attic. I went about five miles, when I ran +right into two fellows in the woods. They were Slump and Bemis. They +got mad at my stumbling over them, took away my parcel and began to +belabor me. I had to run to keep from being terribly beaten. Then I +sneaked around, hoping to recover my parcel. They had gone in +swimming. My parcel had disappeared. I had to have a coat. I grabbed +one and ran away with it. They yelled after me, but I outdistanced +them. Then later I ran across my uncles looking for me. The rest you +know." + +"And what about the coat?" + +"Well," related Earl, "when those fellows broke into your house, they +inquired about that coat. I at once saw that they had a great interest +in it. I told them I didn't know where it was. They insisted that I +did. They ransacked the house from top to bottom. They took me away +from town to a miserable hut where they were staying. Until yesterday +I was a prisoner there, tied up, half-starved, and every day Slump +would come and demand to know if I was going to tell him what had +become of that coat. From the first I knew that coat was what they +were after when they burglarized your house, and wrote what words I +could on the wall of your sitting room." + +"Yes," said Ralph, "we found your message there. Did you learn what +their especial interest was in the coat?" + +"Yes, I overheard some of their conversation a few days ago," replied +Earl. "That coat contained some diamonds they found in an old box +car." + +"What!" cried Ralph. "Is it possible?" + +"It seems so. I escaped yesterday. You had told me about this place, +and so I came here. Zeph Dallas was my friend at once, when I told him +my story. Here he is now." + +Zeph approached with a beaming face. + +"Fairbanks," he said, "I suppose Danvers has told you how he came +here, and his troubles with Slump and Bemis." + +"Yes," nodded Ralph. + +"Well, I went to Dover yesterday and saw the old rag man. He ransacked +his stock and we found the coat." + +"You did?" spoke Ralph, expectantly. + +"Yes, and in an inside pocket were the diamonds. Here they are." + +Zeph handed Ralph a moldy chamois skin bag. With interest the young +fireman inspected the contents. + +"This is a rich find, Zeph," he said. "You must report to the car +finder at once." + +"I am going to the city to-day to see him," explained the former +farmer boy. + +Zeph left headquarters about noon. The next morning he reappeared. He +was fairly gorgeous attired in the uniform of a conductor. + +"One thousand dollars I get as a special reward for the recovery of +the diamonds," he said, "and more when the car finder has seen their +original owner. I am to divide with you, Fairbanks." + +"Not at all," dissented Ralph. + +"Oh, yes, I shall," insisted Zeph. "And, by the way, I have some news +of importance for you." + +"Indeed?" said Ralph. + +"Yes. You know where Trafton is?" + +"On the Midland Central." + +"Exactly. Well, this morning on the platform there, I saw a man in +whom you are considerably interested." + +"Who was that?" inquired the young fireman. + +"Bartlett, the fellow who was a partner of Gasper Farrington in that +wire-tapping scheme." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +JUSTICE AT LAST--CONCLUSION + + +Ralph lost no time in making up his mind to at once go to Trafton and +endeavor to run down Bartlett. He was the friend and confidant of +Gasper Farrington, and the latter the young fireman was now determined +to find. + +He had his troubles for his pains. He got a trace of Bartlett at +Trafton, but lost it again. His final clew was that Bartlett had last +been seen driving away from town in a covered wagon. + +Ralph devoted the morning to these discoveries, then he made for the +home of Amos Greenleaf. He cut across the timber for ten miles, and +late in the afternoon reached the miserable hovel where the crippled +railroader lived. + +It was when he was within a few rods of the place that a voice hailed +him. + +"This way, Mr. Fairbanks, I have something to tell you." + +Ralph went to a copse near at hand where the speaker stood, as if in +hiding. It was the escaped convict. He was deeply excited. + +"I wanted to prepare you for a surprise before you went into the +house," said the convict. + +"Why, what do you mean?" asked Ralph. + +"I mean Farrington!" cried the convict. "He is there." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Ralph. + +"No, it is true." + +"How did he happen to come here?" + +"A man driving a covered wagon brought him. Farrington was sick, +dying. The other man carried him into the house and said he would +hurry for a doctor." + +"When was this?" asked Ralph. + +"Two hours ago. I have not shown myself to Farrington yet. The man is +certainly in a dying condition." + +"I had better investigate affairs," said Ralph, and he proceeded to +the house. + +Gasper Farrington lay on a wretched cot in a little bedroom. Ralph was +amazed at the change in the magnate since he had last seen him. +Farrington was thin, pale and weak. He was gasping painfully for +breath, and groaned wretchedly as he recognized his visitor. + +"Why, Mr. Farrington," said Ralph, "you are a very sick man." + +"I am dying, Ralph Fairbanks," moaned the stricken Farrington. "You +have your revenge." + +"I wish for no revenge--I truly am sorry to see you in this +condition." + +"Well, here I am," groaned Farrington--"a miserable wreck, dying in a +wretched hovel, the end of all my plotting, and worst of all, robbed +of everything I own." + +"By whom?" asked Ralph. + +"By Bartlett, who has abandoned me. I know it, and only this morning +he got from me the deeds conveying all my property to him. Once +recorded, I am a beggar, and can make no reparation to those whom I +have defrauded." + +"Is that true?" asked Ralph. + +"Yes. He pretended he would drive to Wilmer, record the deeds at +Stanley Junction, return and take me safely out of the country. +Instead, he has isolated me in this desolate place. Oh, to outwit him, +Fairbanks!" continued the magnate eagerly. "I can yet defeat him if +you can assist me." + +"How?" + +"Under the bed is my box of private papers. Unknown to Bartlett, last +week, suspecting his scheme to rob me, believing I was dying, I +executed deeds that distributed my property among those whom I had +wronged. One deed is for your mother to adjust that twenty thousand +dollar claim. Another is for a poor fellow I sent to jail--an innocent +man. Another places my property in trust with your lawyer. Here they +are," and Farrington took some documents from the box that Ralph had +handed him. "Now then, act quickly." + +Ralph looked over the papers. They were what the magnate described. He +went outside and saw the convict, showing him the deed containing the +name of "John Vance." + +"Is that your name?" asked Ralph. + +"It is," assented the convict. + +"Then Farrington has done you tardy justice," and he explained the +situation. + +In a few minutes the young fireman was bounding away towards Wilmer. + +Ralph caught a train just as it was moving away from the depot. He did +not venture inside the cars, for he saw that Bartlett was aboard, but +at the next station proceeded to the locomotive. + +When the train reached the limits at Stanley Junction, Ralph left it +and boarded an engine on another track bound for the depot. + +He reached it some minutes in advance of the other locomotive. A +hurried run for the office of the recorder, a swift delivery of the +deeds, and then Ralph hastened after the town marshal. + +They came upon Bartlett leaving the office of the recorder with a glum +and puzzled face. In his hand in a listless way he held some deeds +which he had evidently been told were worthless. + +The man was disguised, but Ralph knew him at once. The marshal stepped +forward and seized his arm. + +"Mr. Bartlett," he said sternly, "you are under arrest." + +"Oh, you want me? What--er--for?" stammered the plotter. + +"Conspiracy in the recent railroad strike," explained the official. +"Pretty serious, too--not to mention that so-called accident you had +on one of the cars, for which you wanted damages." + +With a scowl on his face Bartlett turned and confronted Ralph. + +"Ah, so it's you?" he growled. + +"Yes," returned the young fireman, coldly. + +"This is some of your work!" + +"If so, it is at the request of the man you robbed, Bartlett." + +"Eh?" + +"I mean Gasper Farrington," answered Ralph, and this news caused the +prisoner to turn pale and stagger back. He realized that he had come +to the end of his plotting and must now suffer the consequences of his +misdeeds. He was marched off to jail, and it may be as well to state, +was, later on, sent to prison for a term of years. + +Gasper Farrington did not linger long. Before he died, however, he had +a talk with Ralph and with the convict, and signed several papers of +importance. He acknowledged all his wrong doings, and did all in his +power to straighten matters out. His relatives came to his aid, and +his last hours on earth were made as comfortable as circumstances +permitted. + +Two days after Farrington's funeral came a surprise for Ralph. He +received word that Ike Slump and Mort Bemis had been caught in a +tavern near Dover. Both of the roughs were in rags and penniless, +having lost what money they had had. Both were turned over to the +police, and in due course of time each followed Bartlett to prison. + +"It serves them right," said Griscom, to Ralph. "My! my! What a +difference in boys! Do you remember when you and Slump were both +wipers at the roundhouse?" + +"I do indeed!" answered Ralph feelingly. "I am sorry for Ike. But he +has no one to blame but himself." + +"A holiday for us day after to-morrow, lad," went on the veteran +engineer of the Limited Mail, with a twinkle in his eye. "Guess you +know why." + +"Opening of the other line?" queried the young fireman. + +"Exactly. Special invitation for both of us," went on Griscom, with a +chuckle. + +"Well, I hope everything pans out right," said Ralph. "Our friends +have worked hard enough, goodness knows." + +The day for the opening of the new railroad came, and Ralph and the +old engineer took the early morning train for Wilmer. Not a few +friends accompanied them. + +"It's a great day for Van and for Mr. Gibson," said Ralph. "And a +great day for Zeph and Earl too," he added, with a smile. Earl's +uncles had been hailed into court, and a new guardian had been +appointed for the boy. + +A little after noon that day the formal opening of the Springfield & +Dover Railroad was celebrated. + +Two beautiful passenger coaches were filled with friends of the road +and persons living near Wilmer. The locomotive and cars were gaily +decorated with bunting. Limpy Joe was bustling around his restaurant +stand at the depot, happy and chipper. Zeph Dallas was the proud +conductor, and Earl Danvers the brakeman of the train. Mr. and Mrs. +Gibson, Mrs. Fairbanks, Mr. Trevor and some of their friends formed a +party by themselves. It was a regular gala occasion. The first trip +was a grand success. People along the line greeted the train with glad +cheers, and, returning to headquarters, a sumptuous repast was spread +for the guests of the new road. + +"Well, we are a happy family party," said Farwell Gibson with +enthusiasm, as, that evening, his employes sat around the supper table +at headquarters. + +"Yes," nodded Trevor. "To-morrow actual work begins. We have splendid +prospects, loyal employes, and the Springfield & Dover Short Line is a +grand success." + +"I cannot too deeply announce my feelings towards you, Fairbanks," +said Mr. Gibson. "It is to your friendship and co-operation that I +owe, in a measure, all my good fortune in completing the railroad." + +"A grand lad," applauded old John Griscom heartily. "His pluck and +perseverance have helped us all out of difficulties many a time." + +"Three cheers for the boy who helped to build a railroad!" cried Zeph +Dallas. + +They were given with enthusiasm, and Ralph had to respond with a +speech. + +"I believe this is the happiest moment of my life," he declared. "I +have been through some strenuous times, but all has ended well." + +And then what a cheer went up! + +Ralph imagined that now, since his enemies had been disposed of, quiet +times were ahead. But this was not to be. Adventures in plenty still +awaited him, and what some of them were will be related in another +story, to be called "Ralph on the Overland Express; or, The Trials and +Triumphs of a Young Engineer." + +"It was certainly a great day, mother," said the young fireman, when +he got home from the celebration. + +"Yes, Ralph," answered Mrs. Fairbanks. "And to think that you helped +to make that day possible. Oh, I am proud of you!" And she gave him a +fond caress. + +"And the best of it is, that we have all those thousands of dollars," +continued the young fireman. "We are not exactly rich, but we are +comfortably situated, eh?" + +"Yes, indeed, Ralph! But listen to me. Do you want to leave the +railroad? You might go into business, or go to college, or----" + +"No, no, mother! I was born to follow a railroad life--I feel it. Who +knows, some day I may be the President of some road." + +"That is true. Well, have your wish, Ralph. They tell me now you are +the best fireman in these parts. Soon you'll have your engine +then----" + +"I'll be very happy!" finished Ralph. + +And his eyes brightened as he thought of splendid opportunities the +future promised. + +THE END + + + + +THIS ISN'T ALL! + +Would you like to know what became of the good friends you have made +in this book? + +Would you like to read other stories continuing their adventures and +experiences, or other books quite as entertaining by the same author? + +On the _reverse_ side of the wrapper which comes with this book, you +will find a wonderful list of stories which you can buy at the same +store where you got this book. + +DON'T THROW AWAY THE WRAPPER + +Use it as a handy catalog of the books you want some day to have. But +in case you do mislay it, write to the Publishers for a complete +catalog. + + + + +THE RAILROAD SERIES + +By ALLEN CHAPMAN + +Author of the "Radio Boys," Etc. + +Uniform Style of Binding. Illustrated. + +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +In this line of books there is revealed the whole workings of a great +American railroad system. There are adventures in abundance--railroad +wrecks, dashes through forest fires, the pursuit of a "wildcat" +locomotive, the disappearance of a pay car with a large sum of money +on board--but there is much more than this--the intense rivalry among +railroads and railroad men, the working out of running schedules, the +getting through "on time" in spite of all obstacles, and the +manipulation of railroad securities by evil men who wish to rule or +ruin. + +RALPH OF THE ROUND HOUSE; +Or, Bound to Become a Railroad Man. + +RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER; +Or, Clearing the Track. + +RALPH ON THE ENGINE; +Or, The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail. + +RALPH ON THE OVERLAND EXPRESS; +Or, The Trials and Triumphs of a Young Engineer. + +RALPH, THE TRAIN DISPATCHER; +Or, The Mystery of the Pay Car. + +RALPH ON THE ARMY TRAIN; +Or, The Young Railroader's Most Daring Exploit. + +RALPH ON THE MIDNIGHT FLYER; +Or, The Wreck at Shadow Valley. + +RALPH AND THE MISSING MAIL POUCH; +Or, The Stolen Government Bonds. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ralph on the Engine, by Allen Chapman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RALPH ON THE ENGINE *** + +***** This file should be named 28292.txt or 28292.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/2/9/28292/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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