diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-0.txt | 7123 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-0.zip | bin | 127032 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h.zip | bin | 735479 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/62830-h.htm | 7039 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/admark.jpg | bin | 1167 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 109484 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/facing044.jpg | bin | 78894 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/facing054.jpg | bin | 79833 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/facing112.jpg | bin | 86989 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/facing128.jpg | bin | 81740 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/facing246.jpg | bin | 82683 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 81851 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62830-h/images/title.jpg | bin | 5680 -> 0 bytes |
16 files changed, 17 insertions, 14162 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e14cdea --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62830 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62830) diff --git a/old/62830-0.txt b/old/62830-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5fa3a08..0000000 --- a/old/62830-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7123 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Young Section-Hand, by Burton Egbert Stevenson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Young Section-Hand - -Author: Burton Egbert Stevenson - -Illustrator: L. J. Bridgman - -Release Date: August 3, 2020 [EBook #62830] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND *** - - - - -Produced by D A Alexander and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by the -Library of Congress) - - - - - - - - - - THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND - - - - -[Illustration: “CAUGHT THE CHILD FROM UNDER THE VERY WHEELS OF THE -ENGINE”] - - - - - THE YOUNG - SECTION-HAND - - By BURTON E. STEVENSON - - Author of “The Holladay Case,” “Tommy - Remington’s Battle,” etc. - - ILLUSTRATED BY - L. J. BRIDGMAN - - Boston - L. C. PAGE & COMPANY - Mdccccv - - - - - Copyright, 1905 - By L. C. Page & Company - (INCORPORATED) - - All rights reserved - - Published July, 1905 - - COLONIAL PRESS - Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. - Boston, U. S. A. - - - - - TO - E. B. S., G. W. P - AND THE OTHER “BOYS” OF YARD - AND SHOP AND OFFICE - IN MEMORY - OF THAT FAR-OFF TIME - WHEN I “COVERED” THE RAILROAD - - - - - CONTENTS - - I. The Bottom Round - II. A New Experience - III. An Adventure and a Story - IV. Allan Meets an Enemy - V. Allan Proves His Metal - VI. Reddy to the Rescue - VII. The Irish Brigade - VIII. Good News and Bad - IX. Reddy’s Exploit - X. A Summons in the Night - XI. Clearing the Track - XII. Unsung Heroes - XIII. A New Danger - XIV. Allan Makes a Discovery - XV. A Shot from Behind - XVI. A Call to Duty - XVII. A Night of Danger - XVIII. The Signal in the Night - XIX. Reddy Redivivus - XX. The Road’s Gratitude - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - “Caught the child from under the very wheels of the engine” - - “Near at hand it was even more terrifying than at a distance” - - “He struck suddenly and viciously at the boy’s face” - - “Snatched the little one into the air just as the engine bore - down upon it” - - “Just in time to escape a large boulder” - - “He stepped to one side, and ... brought down his club upon - the other’s head” - - - - - THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - THE BOTTOM ROUND - - -“Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?” - -Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of -the P. & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and -inspected the speaker for a moment. - -“A man, yes,” he said, at last. “But not a boy. This ain’t boy’s -work.” - -And he bent over again to sight along the rail and make sure that -the track was quite level. - -“Up a little!” he shouted to the gang who had their crowbars under -the ties some distance ahead. - -They heaved at their bars painfully, growing red in the face under -the strain. - -“That’ll do! Now keep it there!” - -Some of the men braced themselves and held on to their bars, while -others hastened to tamp some gravel solidly under the ties to keep -them in place. The foreman, at leisure for a moment, turned again to -the boy, who had stood by with downcast face, plainly undecided what -to do. Welsh had a kindly Irish heart, which not even the -irksomeness of section work could sour, and he had noted the boy’s -fresh face and honest eyes. It was not an especially handsome face, -yet one worth looking twice at, if only for its frankness. - -“What’s yer name, sonny?” he asked. - -“Allan West.” - -“An’ where’d y’ come from?” - -“From Cincinnati.” - -The foreman looked the boy over again. His clothes were good, but -the worn, dusty shoes told that the journey of nearly a hundred -miles had been made on foot. He glanced again at the face—no, the -boy was not a tramp; it was easy to see he was ambitious and had -ideals; he was no idler—he would work if he had the chance. - -“What made y’ come all that way?” asked Welsh, at last. - -“I couldn’t find any work at Cincinnati,” said the boy, and it was -evident that he was speaking the truth. “There’s too many people -there out of work now. So I came on to Loveland and Midland City and -Greenfield, but it’s the same story everywhere. I got some little -jobs here and there, but nothing permanent. I thought perhaps at -Wadsworth—” - -“No,” interrupted the foreman. “No, Wadsworth’s th’ same way—dead as -a doornail. How old’re you?” he asked, suddenly. - -“Seventeen. And indeed I’m very strong,” added the boy, eagerly, as -he caught a gleam of relenting in the other’s eye. “I’m sure I could -do the work.” - -He wanted work desperately; he felt that he had to have it, and he -straightened instinctively and drew a long breath of hope as he saw -the foreman examining him more carefully. He had always been glad -that he was muscular and well-built, but never quite so glad as at -this moment. - -“It’s mighty hard work,” added Jack, reflectively. “Mighty hard. Do -y’ think y’ could stand it?” - -“I’m sure I could, sir,” answered Allan, his face glowing. “Just let -me try.” - -“An’ th’ pay’s only a dollar an’ a quarter a day.” - -The boy drew a quick breath. - -“That’s more than I’ve ever made regularly, sir,” he said. “I’ve -always thought myself lucky if I could earn a dollar a day.” - -Jack smiled grimly. - -“You’ll earn your dollar an’ a quarter all right at this work,” he -said. “An’ you’ll find it’s mighty little when it comes t’ feedin’ -an’ clothin’ an’ lodgin’ yerself. But you’d like t’ try, would y’?” - -“Yes, indeed!” said Allan. - -There could be no doubting his eagerness, and as he looked at him, -Jack smiled again. - -“I don’t know what th’ road-master’ll say; mebbe he won’t let me -keep you—I know he won’t if he sees you can’t do th’ work.” He -looked down the line toward the gang, who stood leaning on their -tools, enjoying the unusual privilege of a moment’s rest. “But I’m a -man short,” he added. “I had t’ fire one this mornin’. We’ll try -you, anyway. Put your coat an’ vest on th’ hand-car over there, git -a pick an’ shovel an’ go up there with th’ gang.” - -The boy flushed with pleasure and hurried away toward the hand-car, -taking off his coat and vest as he went. He was back again in a -moment, armed with the tools. - -“Reddy, you show him the ropes!” shouted the foreman to one of the -men. - -“All roight, sir!” answered Reddy, easily distinguishable by the -colour of his hair. “Come over here, youngster,” he added, as Allan -joined the group. “Now you watch me, an’ you’ll soon be as good a -section-man as they is on th’ road.” - -The others laughed good-naturedly, then bent to work again, -straightening the track. For this thing of steel and oak which bound -the East to the West, and which, at first glance, would seem to have -been built, like the Roman roads of old, to last for ever, was in -constant need of attention. The great rails were of the toughest -steel that forge could make; the ties were of the best and soundest -oak; the gravel which served as ballast lay under them a foot deep -and extended a foot on either side; the road-bed was as solid as the -art of man could make it, pounded, tamped, and rolled, until it -seemed strong as the eternal hills. - -Yet it did not endure. For every hour of the day there swept over -it, pounding at it, the monstrous freight locomotives, weighing a -hundred tons, marvels of strength and power, pulling long lines of -heavy cars, laden with coal and iron and grain, hurrying to give the -Old World of the abundance of the New. And every hour, too, there -flashed over it, at a speed almost lightning-like, the through -passenger trains—the engines slim, supple, panting, thoroughbred; -the lumbering mail-cars and day coaches; the luxurious Pullmans far -heavier than any freight-car. - -Day and night these thousands of tons hurled themselves along the -rails, tearing at them at every curve, pounding them at every joint. -Small wonder that they sometimes gave and spread, or broke short -off, especially in zero weather, under the great pressure. Then, -too, the thaws of spring loosened the road-bed and softened it; -freshets undermined it and sapped the foundations of bridge and -culvert. A red-hot cinder from the firebox, dropped on a wooden -trestle, might start a disastrous blaze. And the least defect meant, -perhaps, the loss of a score of lives. - -So every day, over the whole length of the line, gangs of -section-men went up and down, putting in a new tie here, replacing a -defective rail there, tightening bolts, straightening the track, -clearing the ditches along the road of water lest it seep under the -road-bed and soften it; doing a thousand and one things that only a -section-foreman would think needful. And all this that passengers -and freight alike might go in safety to their destinations; that the -road, at the year’s end, might declare a dividend. - -There was nothing spectacular about their work; there was no romance -connected with it. The passengers who caught a glimpse of them, as -the train flashed by, never gave them a second thought. Their -clothes were always tom and soiled; their hands hard and rough; the -tugging at the bars had pulled their shoulders over into an -ungraceful stoop; almost always they had the haggard, patient look -of men who labour beyond their strength. But they were cogs in the -great machine, just as important, in their way, as the big fly-wheel -of a superintendent in the general offices; more important, -sometimes, for the superintendent took frequent vacations, but the -section work could not be neglected for a single day. - -Allan West soon discovered what soul-racking work it was. To raise -the rigid track a fraction of an inch required that muscles be -strained to bursting. To replace a tie was a task that tried every -nerve and sinew. The sun beat down upon them mercilessly, bringing -out the sweat in streams. But the boy kept at it bravely, determined -to do his part and hold the place if he could. He was under a good -teacher, for Reddy, otherwise Timothy Magraw, was a thorough-going -section-hand. He knew his work inside and out, and it was only a -characteristic Irish carelessness, a certain unreliability, that -kept him in the ranks, where, indeed, he was quite content to stay. - -“Oi d’ want nothin’ else,” he would say. “Oi does me wor-rk, an’ -draws me pay, an’ goes home an’ goes t’ sleep, with niver a thing t’ -worrit me; while Welsh there’s a tossin’ aroun’ thinkin’ o’ what’s -before him. Reespons’bility—that’s th’ thing Oi can’t stand.” - -On the wages he drew as section-hand—and with the assistance, in -summer, of a little “truck-patch” back of his house—he managed to -keep himself and his wife and numerous children clothed; they had -enough to eat and a place to sleep, and they were all as happy as -possible. So that, in this case, Reddy’s philosophy seemed not a -half-bad one. Certainly this freedom from responsibility left him in -perpetual good-humour that lightened the work for the whole gang and -made the hours pass more swiftly. Under his direction, the boy soon -learned just what was expected of him, and even drew a word of -commendation from his teacher. - -“But don’t try to do the work all by yourself, me b’y,” he -cautioned, noting Allan’s eagerness. “We’re all willing t’ help a -little. If y’ try t’ lift that track by yerself, ye’ll wrinch y’r -back, an’ll be laid up fer a week.” - -Allan laughed and coloured a little at this good-natured raillery. - -“I’ll try not to do more than my share,” he said. - -“That’s roight!” approved Reddy, with a nod. “Whin each man does his -share, why, th’ wor-rk goes along stiddy an’ aisy. It’s whin we gits -a shirker on th’ gang like that there Dan Nolan—” - -A chorus of low growls from the other men interrupted him. Nolan, -evidently, was not a popular person. - -“Who was he?” asked Allan, at the next breathing-spell. - -“He’s th’ lazy hound that Jack fired from th’ gang this mornin’,” -answered Reddy, his blue eyes blazing with unaccustomed wrath. “He’s -a reg’lar bad ’un, he is. We used t’ think he was workin’ like -anything, he’d git so red in th’ face, but come t’ find out he had a -trick o’ holdin’ his breath t’ make hisself look that way. He was -allers shirkin’, an’ when he had it in fer a feller, no trick was -too mean or dir-rty fer him t’ try. Y’ remimber, boys, whin he -dropped that rail on poor Tom Collins’s foot?” - -The gang murmured an angry assent, and bent to their work again. Rod -by rod they worked their way down the track, lifting, straining, -tamping down the gravel. Occasionally a train thundered past, and -they stood aside, leaning on their tools, glad of the moment’s rest. -At last, away in the distance, Allan caught the faint sound of -blowing whistles and ringing bells. The foreman took out his watch, -looked at it, and closed it with a snap. - -“Come on, boys,” he said. “It’s dinner-time!” - -They went back together to the hand-car at the side of the road, -which was their base of supplies, and slowly got out their -dinner-pails. Allan was sent with a bucket to a farmhouse a quarter -of a mile away to get some fresh water, and, when he returned, he -found the men already busy with their food. They drank the cool -water eagerly, for the hot sun had given them a burning thirst. - -“Set down here,” said the foreman, “an’ dip in with me. I’ve got -enough fer three men.” - -And Allan sat down right willingly, for his stomach was protesting -loudly against its continued state of emptiness. Never did cheese, -fried ham, boiled eggs, bread, butter, and apple pie taste better. -The compartment in the top of the dinner-pail was filled with -coffee, but a share of this the boy declined, for he had never -acquired a taste for that beverage. At last he settled back with a -long sigh of content. - -“That went t’ th’ right place, didn’t it?” asked Jack, with -twinkling eyes. - -“That it did!” assented Allan, heartily. “I don’t know what I’d have -done if you hadn’t taken pity on me,” he added. “I was simply -starving.” - -“You had your breakfast this mornin’, didn’t y’?” demanded Jack, -sharply. - -Allan coloured a little under his fierce gaze. - -“No, sir, I didn’t,” he said, rather hoarsely. “I couldn’t find any -work to do, and I—I couldn’t beg!” - -Jack looked at him without speaking, but his eyes were suspiciously -bright. - -“So you see, I just had to have this job,” Allan went on. “And now -that I’ve got it, I’m going to do my best to keep it!” - -Jack turned away for a moment, before he could trust himself to -speak. - -“I like your grit,” he said, at last. “It’s th’ right kind. An’ you -won’t have any trouble keepin’ your job. But, man alive, why didn’t -y’ tell me y’ was hungry? Jest a hint would ’a’ been enough! Why, -th’ wife’ll never fergive me when she hears about it!” - -“Oh,” protested Allan, “I couldn’t—” - -He stopped without finishing the sentence. - -“Well, I’ll fergive y’ this time,” said Jack. “Are y’ sure y’ve ate -all y’ kin hold?” - -“Every mite,” Allan assured him, his heart warming toward the -friendly, weather-beaten face that looked at him so kindly. “I -couldn’t eat another morsel!” - -“All right, then; we’ll see that it don’t occur ag’in,” said Jack, -putting the cover on his pail, and then stretching out in an easier -position. “Now, d’ y’ want a stiddy job here?” he asked. - -“If I can get it.” - -“I guess y’ kin git it, all right. But how about your home?” - -“I haven’t any home,” and the boy gazed out across the fields, his -lips quivering a little despite his efforts to keep them still. - -The foreman looked at him for a moment. There was something in the -face that moved him, and he held out his hand impulsively. - -“Here, shake!” he said. “I’m your friend.” - -The boy put his hand in the great, rough palm extended to him, but -he did not speak—his throat was too full for that. - -“Now, if you’re goin’ t’ stay,” went on the other, “you’ve got t’ -have some place t’ board. I’ll board an’ room y’ fer three dollars a -week. It won’t be like Delmonicer’s, but y’ won’t starve—y’ll git -yer three square meals a day. That’ll leave y’ four-fifty a week fer -clothes an’ things. How’ll that suit y’?” - -The boy looked at him gratefully. - -“You are very kind,” he said, huskily. “I’m sure it’s worth more -than three dollars a week.” - -“No, it ain’t—not a cent more. Well, that’s settled. Some day, -maybe, you’ll feel like tellin’ me about yerself. I’d like to hear -it. But not now—wait till y’ git used t’ me.” - -A freight-train, flying two dirty white flags, to show that it was -running extra and not on a definite schedule, rumbled by, and the -train-crew waved their caps at the section-men, who responded in -kind. The engineer leaned far out the cab window and shouted -something, but his voice was lost in the roar of the train. - -“That’s Bill Morrison,” observed Jack, when the train was past. -“There ain’t a finer engineer on th’ road. Two year ago he run into -a washout down here at Oak Furnace. He seen it in time t’ jump, but -he told his fireman t’ jump instead, and he stuck to her an’ tried -to stop her. They found him in th’ ditch under th’ engine, with his -leg mashed an’ his arm broke an’ his head cut open. He opened his -eyes fer a minute as they was draggin’ him out, an’ what d’ y’ think -he says?” - -Jack paused a moment, while Allan listened breathlessly, with -fast-beating heart. - -“He says, ‘Flag Number Three!’ says he, an’ then dropped off -senseless ag’in. They’d forgot all about Number Three, th’ fastest -passenger-train on th’ road, an’ she’d have run into them as sure as -shootin’, if it hadn’t been fer Bill. Well, sir, they hurried out a -flagman an’ stopped her jest in time, an’ you ort t’ seen them -passengers when they heard about Bill! They all went up t’ him where -he was layin’ pale-like an’ bleedin’ on th’ ground, an’ they was -mighty few of th’ men but what was blowin’ their noses; an’ as fer -the women, they jest naturally slopped over! Well, they thought Bill -was goin’ t’ die, but he pulled through. Yes, he’s still runnin’ -freight—he’s got t’ wait his turn fer promotion; that’s th’ rule o’ -th’ road. But he’s got th’ finest gold watch y’ ever seen; them -passengers sent it t’ him; an’ right in th’ middle of th’ case it -says, ‘Flag Number Three.’” - -Jack stopped and looked out over the landscape, more affected by his -own story than he cared to show. - -As for Allan, he gazed after the fast disappearing train as though -it were an emperor’s triumphal car. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - A NEW EXPERIENCE - - -“When I was a kid,” continued Welsh, reminiscently, after a moment, -“I was foolish, like all other kids. I thought they wasn’t nothin’ -in th’ world so much fun as railroadin’. I made up my mind t’ be a -brakeman, fer I thought all a brakeman had t’ do was t’ set out on -top of a car, with his legs a-hangin’ over, an’ see th’ country, an’ -wave his hat at th’ girls, an’ chase th’ boys off th’ platform, an’ -order th’ engineer around by shakin’ his hand at him. Gee whiz!” and -he laughed and slapped his leg. “It tickles me even yet t’ think -what an ijit I was!” - -“Did you try braking?” asked Allan. - -“Yes—I tried it,” and Welsh’s eyes twinkled; “but I soon got enough. -Them wasn’t th’ days of air-brakes, an’ I tell you they was mighty -little fun in runnin’ along th’ top of a train in th’ dead o’ winter -when th’ cars was covered with ice an’ th’ wind blowin’ fifty mile -an hour. They wasn’t no automatic couplers, neither; a man had t’ go -right in between th’ cars t’ drop in th’ pin, an’ th’ engineer never -seemed t’ care how hard he backed down on a feller. After about six -months of it, I come t’ th’ conclusion that section-work was nearer -my size. It ain’t so excitin’, an’ a man don’t make quite so much -money; but he’s sure o’ gettin’ home t’ his wife when th’ day’s -work’s over, an’ of havin’ all his legs an’ arms with him. That -counts fer a whole lot, I tell yer!” - -He had got out a little black pipe as he talked, and filled it with -tobacco from a paper sack. Then he applied a lighted match to the -bowl and sent a long whiff of purple smoke circling upwards. - -“There!” he said, leaning back with a sigh of ineffable content. -“That’s better—that’s jest th’ dessert a man wants. You don’t smoke, -I guess?” - -“No,” and Allan shook his head. - -“Well, I reckon you’re as well off—better off, maybe; but I begun -smokin’ when I was knee high to a duck.” - -“You were telling me about that engineer,” prompted Allan, hoping -for another story. “Are there any more like him?” - -“Plenty more!” answered Jack, vigorously. “Why, nine engineers out -o’ ten would ’a’ done jest what he done. It comes nat’ral, after a -feller’s worked on th’ road awhile. Th’ road comes t’ be more t’ him -than wife ’r childer—it gits t’ be a kind o’ big idol thet he bows -down an’ worships; an’ his engine’s a little idol thet he thinks -more of than he does of his home. When he ain’t workin’, instead of -stayin’ at home an’ weedin’ his garden, or playin’ with his childer, -he’ll come down t’ th’ roundhouse an’ pet his engine, an’ polish her -up, an’ walk around her an’ look at her, an’ try her valves an’ -watch th’ stokers t’ see thet they clean her out proper. An’ when -she wears out ’r breaks down, why, you’d think he’d lost his best -friend. There was old Cliff Gudgeon. He had a swell passenger run on -th’ east end; but when they got t’ puttin’ four ’r five sleepers on -his train, his old engine was too light t’ git over th’ road on -time, so they give him a new one—a great big one—a beauty. An’ what -did Cliff do? Well, sir, he said he was too old t’ learn th’ tricks -of another engine, an’ he’d stick to his old one, an’ he’s runnin’ a -little accommodation train up here on th’ Hillsboro branch at -seventy-five a month, when he might ’a’ been makin’ twict that -a-handlin’ th’ Royal Blue. Then, there’s Reddy Magraw—now, t’ look -at Reddy, y’ wouldn’t think he was anything but a chuckle-headed -Irishman. Yet, six year ago—” - -Reddy had caught the sound of his name, and looked up suddenly. - -“Hey, Jack, cut it out!” he called. - -Welsh laughed good-naturedly. - -“All right!” he said. “He’s th’ most modest man in th’ world, is -Reddy. But they ain’t all that way. There’s Dan Nolan,” and Jack’s -face darkened. “I had him on th’ gang up till this mornin’, but I -couldn’t stan’ him no longer, so I jest fired him. That’s th’ reason -there was a place fer you, m’ boy.” - -“Yes,” said Allan, “Reddy was telling me about him. What was it he -did?” - -“He didn’t do anything,” laughed Jack. “That was th’ trouble. He was -jest naturally lazy—sneakin’ lazy an’ mean. There’s jest two things -a railroad asks of its men—you might as well learn it now as any -time—they must be on hand when they’re needed, an’ they must be -willin’ t’ work. As long as y’re stiddy an’ willin’ t’ work, y’ -won’t have no trouble holdin’ a job on a railroad.” - -Allan looked out across the fields and determined that in these two -respects, at least, he would not be found wanting. He glanced at the -other group, gossiping together in the shade of a tree. They were -not attractive-looking, certainly, but he was beginning to learn -already that a man may be brave and honest, whatever his appearance. -They were laughing at one of Reddy’s jokes, and Allan looked at him -with a new respect, wondering what it was he had done. The foreman -watched the boy’s face with a little smile, reading his thoughts. - -“He ain’t much t’ look at, is he?” he said. “But you’ll soon -learn—if you ain’t learnt already—that you can’t judge a man’s -inside by his outside. There’s no place you’ll learn it quicker than -on a railroad. Railroad men, barrin’ th’ passenger train crews, who -have t’ keep themselves spruced up t’ hold their jobs, ain’t much t’ -look at, as a rule, but down at th’ bottom of most of them there -allers seems t’ be a _man_—a real man—a man who don’t lose his head -when he sees death a-starin’ him in th’ face, but jest grits his -teeth an’ sticks to his post an’ does his duty. Railroad men ain’t -little tin gods nor plaster saints—fur from it!—but they’re worth a -mighty sight more than either. There was Jim Blakeson, th’ -skinniest, lankest, most woe-begone-lookin’ feller I ever see -outside of a circus. He was brakin’ front-end one night on third -ninety-eight, an’—” - -From afar off came the faint blowing of whistles, telling that, in -the town of Wadsworth, the wheels in the factories had started up -again, that men and women were bending again to their tasks, after -the brief noon hour. Welsh stopped abruptly, much to Allan’s -disappointment, knocked out his pipe against his boot-heel, and rose -quickly to his feet. If there was one article in Welsh’s code of -honour which stood before all the rest, it was this: That the -railroad which employed him should have the full use of the ten -hours a day for which it paid. To waste any part of that time was to -steal the railroad’s money. It is a good principle for any man—or -for any boy—to cling to. - -“One o’clock!” he cried. “Come on, boys! We’ve got a good stretch o’ -track to finish up down there.” - -The dinner-pails were replaced on the hand-car and it was run down -the road about half a mile and then derailed again. The straining -work began; tugging at the bars, tamping gravel under the ties, -driving new spikes, replacing a fish-plate here and there. And the -new hand learned many things. - -He learned that with the advent of the great, modern, ten-wheeled -freight locomotives, all the rails on the line had been replaced -with heavier ones weighing eighty-five pounds to the yard,—850 -pounds to their thirty feet of length,—the old ones being too light -to carry such enormous weights with safety. They were called -T-rails, because, in cross-section, they somewhat resembled that -letter. The top of the rail is the “head”; the thinner stem, the -“web”; and the wide, flat bottom, the “base.” Besides being spiked -down to the ties, which are first firmly bedded in gravel or crushed -stone, the rails are bolted together at the ends with iron bars -called “fish-plates.” These are fitted to the web, one on each side -of the junction of two rails, and bolts are then passed through them -and nuts screwed on tightly. - -This work of joining the rails is done with such nicety, and the -road-bed built so solidly, that there is no longer such a great -rattle and bang as the trains pass over them—a rattle and bang -formerly as destructive to the track as to the nerves of the -passenger. It is the duty of the section-foreman to see that the six -or eight miles of track which is under his supervision is kept in -the best possible shape, and to inspect it from end to end twice -daily, to guard against any possibility of accident. - -As the hours passed, Allan’s muscles began to ache sadly, but there -were few chances to rest. At last the foreman perceived that he was -overworking himself, and sent him and Reddy back to bring up the -hand-car and prepare for the homeward trip. They walked back to -where it stood, rolled it out upon the track, and pumped it down to -the spot where the others were working, Reddy giving Allan his first -lesson in how to work the levers, for there is a right and wrong way -of managing a hand-car, just as there is a right and wrong way of -doing everything else. - -“That’s about all we kin do to-day,” and Jack took out his watch and -looked at it reflectively, as the car came rolling up. “I guess we -kin git in before Number Six comes along. What y’ think?” and he -looked at Reddy. - -“How much time we got?” asked the latter, for only the foreman of -the gang could afford to carry a watch. - -“Twelve minutes.” - -“That’s aisy! We kin make it in eight without half-tryin’!” - -“All right!” and Jack thrust the watch back into his pocket. “Pile -on, boys!” - -And pile on they did, bringing their tools with them. They seized -the levers, and in a moment the car was spinning down the track. -There was something fascinating and invigorating in the motion. As -they pumped up and down, Allan could see the fields, fences, and -telegraph-poles rushing past them. It seemed to him that they were -going faster even than the “flier.” The wind whistled against him -and the car jolted back and forth in an alarming way. - -“Hold tight!” yelled Reddy, and they flashed around a curve, across -a high trestle, through a deep cut, and down a long grade on the -other side. Away ahead he could see the chimneys of the town -nestling among the trees. They were down the grade in a moment, and -whirling along an embankment that bordered a wide and placid river, -when the car gave a sudden, violent jolt, ran for fifty feet on -three wheels, and then settled down on the track again. - -“Stop her!” yelled the foreman. “Stop her!” - -They strained at the levers, but the car seemed alive and sprang -away from them. Twice she almost shook them off, then sullenly -succumbed, and finally stopped. - -“Somethin’s th’ matter back there!” panted Jack. “Give her a shove, -Reddy!” - -Reddy jumped off and started her back up the track. In a moment the -levers caught, and they were soon at the place where the jolt had -occurred. - -The foreman sprang off and for an instant bent over the track. Then -he straightened up with stern face. - -“Quick!” he cried. “Jerk that car off th’ track and bring two -fish-plates an’ some spikes. West, take that flag, run up th’ track -as far as y’ kin, an’ flag Number Six. Mind, don’t stop runnin’ till -y’ see her. She’ll have her hands full stoppin’ on that grade.” - -With beating heart Allan seized the flag and ran up the track as -fast as his legs would carry him. The thought that the lives of -perhaps a hundred human beings depended upon him set his hands to -trembling and his heart to beating wildly. On and on he went, until -his breath came in gasps and his head sang. It seemed that he must -have covered a mile at least, yet it was only a few hundred feet. -And then, away ahead, he saw the train flash into sight around the -curve and come hurtling down the grade toward him. - -He shook loose the flag and waved it wildly over his head, still -running forward. He even shouted, not realizing how puny his voice -was. The engine grew larger and larger with amazing swiftness. He -could hear the roar of the wheels; a shaft of steam leaped into the -air, and, an instant later, the wind brought him the sound of a -shrill whistle. He saw the engineer leaning from his window, and, -with a great sob of relief, knew that he had been seen. He had just -presence of mind to spring from the track, and the train passed him, -the wheels grinding and shrieking under the pressure of the -air-brakes, the drivers of the engine whirling madly backwards. He -caught a glimpse of startled passengers peering from the windows, -and then the train was past. But it was going slower and slower, and -stopped at last with a jerk. - -When he reached the place, he found Jack explaining to the conductor -about the broken fish-plates and the loose rail. What had caused it -could not be told with certainty—the expansion from the heat, -perhaps, or the vibration from a heavy freight that had passed half -an hour before, or a defect in the plates, which inspection had not -revealed. Allan sat weakly down upon the overturned hand-car. No one -paid any heed to him, and he was astonished that they treated the -occurrence so lightly. Jack and the engineer were joking together. -Only the conductor seemed worried, and that was because the delay -would throw his train a few minutes late. - -Half a dozen of the passengers, who had been almost hurled from -their seats by the suddenness of the stop, came hurrying up. All -along the line of coaches windows had been raised, and white, -anxious faces were peering out. Inside the coaches, brakemen and -porters were busy picking up the packages that had been thrown from -the racks, and reassuring the frightened people. - -“What’s the matter?” gasped one of the passengers, a tall, thin, -nervous-looking man, as soon as he reached the conductor’s side. -“Nothing serious, I hope? There’s no danger, is there? My wife and -children are back there—” - -The conductor smiled at him indulgently. - -“There’s no danger at all, my dear sir,” he interrupted. “The -section-gang here flagged us until they could bolt this rail down. -That is all.” - -“But,” protested the man, looking around for sympathy, and obviously -anxious not to appear unduly alarmed, “do you usually throw things -about that way when you stop?” - -“No,” said the conductor, smiling again; “but you see we were on a -heavy down-grade, and going pretty fast. I’d advise you gentlemen to -get back into the train at once,” he added, glancing at his watch -again. “We’ll be starting in a minute or two.” - -The little group of passengers walked slowly back and disappeared -into the train. Allan, looking after them, caught his first glimpse -of one side of railroad policy—a policy which minimizes every -danger, which does its utmost to keep every peril from the knowledge -of its patrons—a wise policy, since nervousness will never add to -safety. Away up the track he saw the brakeman, who had been sent -back as soon as the train stopped, to prevent the possibility of a -rear-end collision, and he understood dimly something of the -wonderful system which guards the safety of the trains. - -Then, suddenly, he realized that he was not working, that his place -was with that little group labouring to repair the track, and he -sprang to his feet, but at that instant Jack stood back with a sigh -of relief and turned to the conductor. - -“All right,” he said. - -The conductor raised his hand, a sharp whistle recalled the -brakeman, who came down the track on a run; the engineer opened his -throttle; there was a long hiss of escaping steam, and the train -started slowly. As it passed him, Allan could see the passengers -settling back contentedly in their seats, the episode already -forgotten. In a moment the train was gone, growing rapidly smaller -away down the track ahead of them. A few extra spikes were driven in -to further strengthen the place, and the hand-car was run out on the -track again. - -“Y’ made pretty good time,” said Jack to the boy; and then, as he -saw his white face, he added, “Kind o’ winded y’, didn’t it?” - -Allan nodded, and climbed silently to his place on the car. - -“Shook y’r nerve a little, too, I reckon,” added Jack, as the car -started slowly. “But y’ mustn’t mind a little thing like that, m’ -boy. It’s all in th’ day’s work.” - -All in the day’s work! The flagging of a train was an ordinary -incident in the lives of these men. There had, perhaps, been no -great danger, yet the boy caught his breath as he recalled that -fearful moment when the train rushed down upon him. All in the day’s -work—for which the road paid a dollar and a quarter! - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - AN ADVENTURE AND A STORY - - -Jack Welsh, section-foreman, lived in a little frame house perched -high on an embankment just back of the railroad yards. The bank had -been left there when the yards had been levelled down, and the -railroad company, always anxious to promote habits of sobriety and -industry in its men, and knowing that no influence makes for such -habits as does the possession of a home, had erected a row of -cottages along the top of the embankment, and offered them on easy -terms to its employés. They weren’t palatial—they weren’t even -particularly attractive—but they were homes. - -In front, the bank dropped steeply down to the level of the yards, -but behind they sloped more gently, so that each of the cottages had -a yard ample for a vegetable garden. To attend to this was the work -of the wife and the children—a work which always yielded a bountiful -reward. - -There were six cottages in the row, but one was distinguished from -the others in summer by a mass of vines which clambered over it, and -a garden of sweet-scented flowers which occupied the little front -yard. This was Welsh’s, and he never mounted toward it without a -feeling of pride and a quick rush of affection for the little woman -who found time, amid all her household duties, to add her mite to -the world’s beauty. As he glanced at the other yards, with their -litter of trash and broken playthings, he realized, more keenly -perhaps than most of us do, what a splendid thing it is to render -our little corner of the world more beautiful, instead of making it -uglier, as human beings have a way of doing. - -It was toward this little vine-embowered cottage that Jack and Allan -turned their steps, as soon as the hand-car and tools had been -deposited safely in the little section shanty. As they neared the -house, a midget in blue calico came running down the path toward -them. - -“It’s Mamie,” said Welsh, his face alight with tenderness; and, as -the child swept down upon him, he seized her, kissed her, and swung -her to his shoulder, where she sat screaming in triumph. - -They mounted the path so, and, at the door, Mrs. Welsh, a little, -plump, black-eyed woman, met them. - -“I’ve brought you a boarder, Mary,” said Welsh, setting Mamie down -upon her sturdy little legs. “Allan West’s his name. I took him on -th’ gang to-day, an’ told him he might come here till he found some -place he liked better.” - -“That’s right!” and Mrs. Welsh held out her hand in hearty welcome, -pleased with the boy’s frank face. “We’ll try t’ make you -comf’terble,” she added. “You’re a little late, Jack.” - -“Yes, we had t’ stop t’ fix a break,” he answered; and he told her -in a few words the story of the broken fish-plates. “It don’t happen -often,” he added, “but y’ never know when t’ expect it.” - -“No, y’ never do,” agreed Mary, her face clouding for an instant, -then clearing with true Irish optimism. “You’ll find th’ wash-basin -out there on th’ back porch, m’ boy,” she added to Allan, and he -hastened away to cleanse himself, so far as soap and water could do -it, of the marks of the day’s toil. - -Mrs. Welsh turned again to her husband as soon as the boy was out of -ear-shot. - -“Where’d you pick him up, Jack?” she asked. “He ain’t no common -tramp.” - -“Not a bit of it,” agreed her husband. “He looks like a nice boy. He -jest come along an’ wanted a job. He said he’d come from Cincinnati, -an’ hadn’t any home; but he didn’t seem t’ want t’ talk about -hisself.” - -“No home!” repeated Mary, her heart warming with instant sympathy. -“Poor boy! We’ll have t’ look out fer him, Jack.” - -“I knew you’d say that, darlint!” cried her husband, and gave her a -hearty hug. - -“Go ’long with you!” cried Mary, trying in vain to speak sternly. “I -smell th’ meat a-burnin’!” and she disappeared into the kitchen, -while Jack joined Allan on the back porch. - -How good the cool, clean water felt, splashed over hands and face; -what a luxury it was to scrub with the thick lather of the soap, and -then rinse off in a brimming basin of clear water; how delicious it -was to be clean again! Jack dipped his whole head deep into the -basin, and then, after a vigorous rubbing with the towel, took his -station before a little glass and brushed his black hair until it -presented a surface almost as polished as the mirror’s own. - -Then Mamie came with the summons to supper, and they hurried in to -it, for ten hours’ work on section will make even a confirmed -dyspeptic hungry—yes, and give him power properly to digest his -food. - -How pretty the table looked, with its white cloth and shining -dishes! For Mary was a true Irish housewife, with a passion for -cleanliness and a pride in her home. It was growing dark, and a lamp -had been lighted and placed in the middle of the board, making it -look bright and cosy. - -“You set over there, m’ boy,” said Mary, herself taking the -housewife’s inevitable place behind the coffee-pot, with her husband -opposite. “Now, Mamie, you behave yourself,” she added, for Mamie -was peeping around the lamp at Allan with roguish eyes. “We’re all -hungry, Jack, so don’t keep us waitin’.” - -And Jack didn’t. - -How good the food smelt, and how good it tasted! Allan relished it -more than he would have done any dinner of “Delmonicer’s,” for Mary -was one of the best of cooks, and only the jaded palate relishes the -sauces and fripperies of French chefs. - -“A girl as can’t cook ain’t fit t’ marry,” Mary often said; a maxim -which she had inherited from her mother, and would doubtless hand -down to Mamie. “There’s nothin’ that’ll break up a home quicker ’n a -bad cook, an’ nothin’ that’ll make a man happier ’n a good one.” - -Certainly, if cooking were a test, this supper was proof enough of -her fitness for the state of matrimony. There was a great platter of -ham and eggs, fluffy biscuits, and the sweetest of yellow butter. -And, since he did not drink coffee, Allan was given a big glass of -fragrant milk to match Mamie’s. They were tasting one of the best -sweets of toil—to sit down with appetite to a table well-laden. - -After supper, they gathered on the front porch, and sat looking down -over the busy, noisy yards. The switch-lamps gleamed in long rows, -red and green and white, telling which tracks were open and which -closed. The yard-engines ran fussily up and down, shifting the -freight-cars back and forth, and arranging them in trains to be sent -east or west. Over by the roundhouse, engines were being run in on -the big turntable and from there into the stalls, where they would -be furbished up and overhauled for the next trip. Others were being -brought out, tanks filled with water, and tenders heaped high with -coal, ready for the run to Parkersburg or Cincinnati. They seemed -almost human in their impatience to be off—breathing deeply in loud -pants, the steam now and then throwing up the safety-valve and -“popping off” with a great noise. - -The clamour, the hurry, the rush of work, never ceasing from dawn to -dawn, gave the boy a dim understanding of the importance of this -great corporation which he had just begun to serve. He was only a -very little cog in the vast machine, to be sure, but the smoothness -of its running depended upon the little cogs no less than on the big -ones. - -A man’s figure, indistinct in the twilight, stopped at the gate -below and whistled. - -“There’s Reddy Magraw,” said Jack, with a laugh. “I’d forgot—it was -so hot t’-day, we thought we’d go over t’ th’ river an’ take a dip -t’-night. Do you know how t’ swim, Allan?” - -“Just a little,” answered Allan; “all I know about it was picked up -in the swimming-pool at the gymnasium at Cincinnati.” - -“Well, it’s time y’ learned more,” said Jack. “Every boy ought t’ -know how t’ swim—mebbe some day not only his own life but the lives -o’ some o’ his women-folks’ll depend on him. Come along, an’ we’ll -give y’ a lesson.” - -“I’ll be glad to!” Allan cried, and ran indoors for his hat. - -Reddy whistled again. - -“We’re comin’,” called Jack. “We won’t be gone long,” he added to -his wife, as they started down the path. - -“All right, dear,” she answered. “An’ take good care o’ th’ boy.” - -Reddy greeted Allan warmly, and thoroughly agreed with Jack that it -was every boy’s duty to learn how to swim. Together they started off -briskly toward the river—across the yards, picking their way -carefully over the maze of tracks, then along the railroad -embankment which skirted the stream, and finally through a -corn-field to the water’s edge. The river looked very wide and still -in the semidarkness, and Allan shivered a little as he looked at it; -but the feeling passed in a moment. Reddy had his clothes off first, -and dived in with a splash; Jack waded in to show Allan the depth. -The boy followed, with sudden exhilaration, as he felt the cool -water rise about him. - -“This is different from a swimmin’-pool, ain’t it?” said Jack. - -“Indeed it is!” agreed Allan; “and a thousand times nicer!” - -“Now,” added Jack, “let me give you a lesson,” and he proceeded to -instruct Allan in the intricacies of the broad and powerful breast -stroke. - -The boy was an apt pupil, and at the end of twenty minutes had -mastered it sufficiently to be able to make fair progress through -the water. He would have kept on practising, but Jack stopped him. - -“We’ve been in long enough,” he said; “you mustn’t overdo it. Come -along, Reddy,” he called to that worthy, who was disporting himself -out in the middle of the current. - -As they turned toward the shore the full moon peeped suddenly over a -little hill on the eastern horizon, and cast a broad stream of -silver light across the water, touching every ripple and little wave -with magic beauty. - -“Oh, look!” cried Allan. “Look!” - -They stood and watched the moon until it sailed proudly above the -hill, and then waded to the bank, rubbed themselves down briskly, -and resumed their clothes, cleansed and purified in spirit as well -as body. They made their way back through the corn-field, but just -as they reached the embankment, Reddy stopped them with a quick, -stifled cry. - -“Whist!” he said, hoarsely. “Look there! What’s that?” - -Straining his eyes through the darkness, Allan saw, far down the -track ahead of them, a dim, white figure. It seemed to be going -through some sort of pantomime, waving its arms wildly above its -head. - -“It’s a ghost!” whispered Reddy, breathing heavily. “It’s Tim -Dorsey’s ghost! D’ y’ raymimber, Jack, it was jist there thet th’ -poor feller was killed last month! That’s his ghost, sure as I’m -standin’ here!” - -“Oh, nonsense!” retorted Jack, with a little laugh, but his heart -was beating faster than usual, as he peered through the darkness at -the strange figure. What could it be that would stand there and wave -its arms in that unearthly fashion? - -“It’s his ghost!” repeated Reddy. “Come on, Jack; Oi’m a-goin’ -back!” - -“Well, I’m not!” said Jack. “I’m not afraid of a ghost, are you, -Allan?” - -“I don’t believe in ghosts,” said Allan, but it must be confessed -that his nerves were not wholly steady as he kept his eyes on the -strange figure dancing there in the moonlight. - -“If it ain’t a ghost, what is it?” demanded Reddy, hoarsely. - -“That’s just what we’re goin’ t’ find out,” answered Jack, and -started forward, resolutely. - -Allan went with him, but Reddy kept discreetly in the rear. He was -no coward,—he was as brave as any man in facing a danger which he -knew the nature of,—but all the superstition of his untutored Irish -heart held him back from this unearthly apparition. - -As they drew near, its lines became more clearly defined; it was -undoubtedly of human shape, but apparently it had no head, only a -pair of short, stubby arms, which waved wildly in the air, and a -pair of legs that danced frantically. Near at hand it was even more -terrifying than at a distance, and their pace grew slower and -slower, while Reddy stopped short where he was, his teeth -chattering, his eyes staring. They could hear what seemed to be a -human voice proceeding from the figure, raised in a sort of weird -incantation, now high, now low. Was it really a ghost? Allan asked -himself; was it really the spirit of the poor fellow whose life had -been crushed out a few weeks before? could it be.... - -[Illustration: “NEAR AT HAND IT WAS EVEN MORE TERRIFYING THAN AT A -DISTANCE”] - -Suddenly Jack laughed aloud with relief, and hurried forward. - -“Come on,” he called. “It’s no ghost!” - -And in a moment Allan saw him reach the figure and pull the white -garment down over its head, disclosing a flushed and wrathful, but -very human, face. - -“Thankee, sir,” said a hoarse voice to Jack. “A lady in th’ house -back there give me a clean shirt, an’ I was jest puttin’ it on when -I got stuck in th’ durn thing, an’ couldn’t git it either way. I -reckon I’d ’a’ suffocated if you hadn’t come along!” - -Jack laughed again. - -“We thought you was a ghost!” he said. “You scared Reddy, there, out -of a year’s growth, I reckon. Come here, Reddy,” he called, “an’ -take a look at yer ghost!” - -Reddy came cautiously forward and examined the released tramp. - -“Well,” he said, at last, “if you ain’t a ghost, you ought t’ be! I -never seed anything that looked more loike one!” - -“No, an’ you never will!” retorted Jack. “Come along; it’s time we -was home,” and leaving the tramp to complete his toilet, they -hurried away. - -They found Mary sitting on the front porch, crooning softly to -herself as she rocked Mamie to sleep. They bade Reddy good night, -and sat down beside her. - -“Well, did y’ have a nice time?” she asked. - -“Yes,” laughed Jack, and told her the story of the ghost. - -They sat silent for a time after that, looking down over the busy -yards, breathing in the cool night air, watching the moon as it -sailed slowly up the heavens. Allan felt utterly at rest; for the -first time in many days he felt that he had a home, that there were -people in the world who loved him. The thought brought the quick -tears to his eyes; an impulse to confide in these new friends surged -up within him. - -“I want to tell you something about myself,” he said, turning to -them quickly. “It’s only right that you should know.” - -Mrs. Welsh stopped the lullaby she had been humming, and sat quietly -waiting. - -“Just as y’ please,” said Jack, but the boy knew he would be glad to -hear the story. - -“It’s not a very long one,” said Allan, his lips trembling, “nor an -unusual one, for that matter. Father was a carpenter, and we lived -in a little home just out of Cincinnati—he and mother and I. We were -very happy, and I went to school every day, while father went in to -the city to his work. But one day I was called from school, and when -I got home I found that father had fallen from a scaffolding he had -been working on, and was so badly injured that he had been taken to -a hospital. We thought for a long time that he would die, but he got -better slowly, and at last we were able to take him home. But he was -never able to work any more,—his spine had been injured so that he -could scarcely move himself,—and our little savings grew smaller and -smaller.” - -Allan stopped, and looked off across the yards, gripping his hands -together to preserve his self-control. - -“Father worried about it,” he went on, at last; “worried so much -that he grew worse and worse, until—until—he brought on a fever. He -hadn’t any strength to fight with. He just sank under it, and died. -I was fifteen years old then—but boys don’t understand at the time -how hard things are. After he was gone—well, it seems now, looking -back, that I could have done something more to help than I did.” - -“There, now, don’t be a-blamin’ yerself,” said Jack, consolingly. - -The little woman in the rocking-chair leaned over and touched his -arm softly, caressingly. - -“No; don’t be blamin’ yerself,” she said. “I know y’ did th’ best y’ -could. They ain’t so very much a boy kin do, when it’s money that’s -needed.” - -“No,” and Allan drew a deep breath; “nor a woman, either. Though it -wasn’t only that; I’d have worked on; I wouldn’t have given -up—but—but—” - -“Yes,” said Mary, understanding with quick, unfailing sympathy; “it -was th’ mother.” - -“She did the best she could,” went on Allan, falteringly. “She tried -to bear up for my sake; but after father was gone she was never -quite the same again; she never seemed to rally from the shock of -it. She was never strong to start with, and I saw that she grew -weaker and weaker every day.” He stopped and cleared his voice. -“That’s about all there is to the story,” he added. “I got a little -from the furniture and paid off some of the debts, but I couldn’t do -much. I tried to get work there, but there didn’t seem to be anybody -who wanted me. There were some distant relatives, but I had never -known them—and besides, I didn’t want to seem a beggar. There wasn’t -anything to keep me in Cincinnati, so I struck out.” - -“And y’ did well,” said Welsh. “I’m mighty glad y’ come along jest -when y’ did. Y’ll find enough to do here, if y’ will keep a willin’ -hand. Section work ain’t much, but maybe y’ can git out of it after -awhile. Y’ might git a place in th’ yard office if ye’re good at -figgers. Ye’ve got more eddication than some. It’s them that git -lifted.” - -“You’d better talk!” said the wife. “’Tain’t every man with an -eddication that gits t’ be foreman at your age.” - -“No more it ain’t,” and Jack smiled. “Come on; it’s time t’ go t’ -bed. Say good night t’ th’ boy, Mamie.” - -“Night,” murmured Mamie, sleepily, and held out her moist, red lips. - -With a quick warmth at his heart, Allan stooped and kissed them. It -was the first kiss he had given or received since his mother’s -death, and, after he had got to bed in the little hot attic room, -with its single window looking out upon the yards, he lay for a long -time thinking over the events of the day, and his great good fortune -in falling in with these kindly people. Sometime, perhaps, he might -be able to prove how much their kindness meant to him. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - ALLAN MEETS AN ENEMY - - -It was not until morning that Allan realized how unaccustomed he was -to real labour. As he tried to spring from bed in answer to Jack’s -call, he found every muscle in revolt. How they ached! It was all he -could do to slip his arms into his shirt, and, when he bent over to -put on his shoes, he almost cried out at the twinge it cost him. He -hobbled painfully down-stairs, and Jack saw in a moment what was the -matter. - -“Yer muscles ain’t used t’ tuggin’ at crowbars an’ shovellin’ -gravel,” he said, laughing. “It’ll wear off in a day or two, but -till then ye’ll have t’ grin an’ bear it, fer they ain’t no cure fer -it. But y’ ain’t goin’ t’ work in them clothes!” - -“They’re all I have here,” answered Allan, reddening. “I have a -trunk at Cincinnati with a lot more in, and I thought I’d write for -it to-day.” - -“But I reckon ye ain’t got any clothes tough enough fer this work. -I’ll fix y’ out,” said Welsh, good-naturedly. - -So, after breakfast, he led Allan over to a railroad outfitting shop -and secured him a canvas jumper, a pair of heavy overalls, and a -pair of rough, strong, cowhide shoes. - -“There!” he said, viewing his purchases with satisfaction. “Y’ kin -pay fer ’em when y’ git yer first month’s wages. Y’ kin put ’em on -over in th’ section shanty. You go along over there; I’ve got t’ -stop an’ see th’ roadmaster a minute.” - -Allan walked on quickly, his bundle under his arm, past the long -passenger station and across the maze of tracks in the lower yards. -Here lines of freight-cars were side-tracked, waiting their turn to -be taken east or west; and, as he hurried past, a man came suddenly -out from behind one of them and laid a strong hand on his arm. - -“Here, wait a minute!” he said, roughly. “I’ve got somethin’ t’ say -t’ you. Come in here!” And before Allan could think of resistance, -he was pulled behind the row of cars. - -Allan found himself looking up into a pair of small, glittering -black eyes, deeply set in a face of which the most prominent -features were a large nose, covered with freckles, and a -thick-lipped mouth, which concealed the jagged teeth beneath but -imperfectly. He saw, too, that his captor was not much older than -himself, but that he was considerably larger and no doubt stronger. - -“Ye’re th’ new man on Twenty-one, ain’t you?” he asked, after a -moment’s fierce examination of Allan’s face. - -“Yes, I went to work yesterday,” said Allan. - -“Well, y’ want t’ quit th’ job mighty quick, d’ y’ see? I’m Dan -Nolan, an’ it’s my job y’ve got. I’d ’a’ got took back if ye hadn’t -come along. So ye’re got t’ git out, d’ y’ hear?” - -“Yes, I hear,” answered Allan, quietly, reddening a little; and his -heart began to beat faster at the prospect of trouble ahead. - -“If y’ know what’s good fer y’, y’ll git out!” said Nolan, savagely, -clenching his fists. “When’ll y’ quit?” - -“As soon as Mr. Welsh discharges me,” answered Allan, still more -quietly. - -Nolan glared at him for a moment, seemingly unable to speak. - -“D’ y’ mean t’ say y’ won’t git out when I tells you to? I’ll show -y’!” And he struck suddenly and viciously at the boy’s face. - -But Allan had been expecting the onslaught, and sprang quickly to -one side. Before Nolan could recover himself, he had ducked under -one of the freight-cars and come up on the other side. Nolan ran -around the end of the car, but the boy was well out of reach. - -“I’ll ketch y’!” he cried after him, shaking his fists. “An’ when I -do ketch y’—” - -He stopped abruptly and dived back among the cars, for he had caught -sight of Jack Welsh coming across the yards. Allan saw him, too, and -waited for him. - -“Wasn’t that Dan Nolan?” he asked, as he came up. - -“Yes, it was Nolan,” answered Allan. - -“Was he threatenin’ you?” - -[Illustration: “HE STRUCK SUDDENLY AND VICIOUSLY AT THE BOY’S FACE”] - -“Yes; he told me to get out or he’d lay for me.” - -“He did, eh?” and Jack’s lips tightened ominously. “What did y’ tell -him?” - -“I told him I’d get out when you discharged me.” - -“Y’ did?” and Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “Good fer you! Let -me git my hands on him once, an’ he’ll lave ye alone! But y’ want t’ -look out fer him, m’ boy. If he’d fight fair, y’ could lick him; but -he’s a big, overgrown brute, an’ ’ll try t’ hit y’ from behind -sometime, mebbe. That’s his style, fer he’s a coward.” - -“I’ll look out for him,” said Allan; and walked on with beating -heart to the section shanty. Here, while Jack told the story of the -encounter with Nolan, Allan donned his new garments and laid his -other ones aside. The new ones were not beautiful, but at least they -were comfortable, and could defy even the wear and tear of work on -section. - -The spin on the hand-car out into the open country was full of -exhilaration, and, after an hour’s work, Allan almost forgot his -sore muscles. He found that to-day there was a different class of -work to do. The fences along the right of way were to be repaired, -and the right of way itself placed in order—the grass cut back from -the road-bed, the gravel piled neatly along it, weeds trimmed out, -rubbish gathered up, cattle-guards, posts, and fences at crossings -whitewashed. All this, too, was a revelation to the new hand. He had -never thought that a railroad required so much attention. Rod after -rod was gone over in this way, until it seemed that not a stone was -out of place. It was not until the noon-hour, when he was eating his -portion of the lunch Mrs. Welsh had prepared for them, that he -learned the reason for all this. - -“Y’ see we’re puttin’ on a few extry touches,” remarked Jack. “Th’ -Irish Brigade goes over th’ road next week.” - -“The Irish Brigade?” questioned Allan; and he had a vision of some -crack military organization. - -“Yes, th’ Irish Brigade. Twict a year, all th’ section foremen on -th’ road ’r’ taken over it t’ look at th’ other sections, an’ see -which man keeps his in th’ best shape. Each man’s section’s graded, -an’ th’ one that gits th’ highest grade gits a prize o’ fifty -dollars. We’re goin’ t’ try fer that prize. So’s every other -section-gang on th’ line.” - -“But what is the Irish Brigade?” questioned the boy. - -“The foremen of the section-men. There’s about a hundred, and the -officers give us that name. There’s many a good Irishman like myself -among the foremen;” and a gleam of humour was in Jack’s eyes. “They -say I’m puttin’ my Irish back of me in my talk, but the others stick -to it, more or less. It’s a great time when the Irish Brigade takes -its inspection tour.” - -Allan worked with a new interest after that, for he, too, was -anxious that Jack’s section should win the fifty dollars. He could -guess how much such a sum would mean to him. He confided his hopes -to Reddy, while they were working together cutting out some weeds -that had sprung up along the track, but the latter was not -enthusiastic. - -“Oi don’t know,” he said. “They’s some mighty good section-men on -this road. Why, last year, when Flaherty, o’ Section Tin, got th’ -prize, his grass looked like it ’ud been gone over with a lawnmower, -an’ he’d aven scrubbed th’ black gr’ase from th’ ingines off th’ -toies. Oh, it looked foine; but thin, so did all th’ rist.” - -But Allan was full of hope. As he looked back over the mile they had -covered since morning, he told himself that no stretch of track -could possibly be in better order. But, to the foreman’s more -critical and experienced eye, there were still many things wanting, -and he promised himself to go over it again before inspection-day -came around. - -Every train that passed left some mark behind. From the freights -came great pieces of greasy waste, which littered up the ties, or -piles of ashes sifted down from the fire-box; while with the -passengers it was even worse. The people threw from the coach -windows papers, banana peelings, boxes and bags containing remnants -of lunch, bottles, and every kind of trash. They did not realize -that all this must be patiently gathered up again, in order that the -road-bed might be quite free from litter. Not many of them would -have greatly cared. - -“It’s amazin’,” remarked Reddy, in the course of the afternoon, “how -little people r’ally know about railroadin’, an’ thin think they -know ’t all. They think that whin th’ road’s built, that’s all they -is to it, an’ all th’ expinse th’ company’s got’s fer runnin’ th’ -trains. Why, on this one division, from Cincinnati t’ Parkersburg, -they’s more’n two hunderd men a-workin’ ivery day jest kapin’ up th’ -track. Back there in th’ shops, they’s foive hundred more, repairin’ -an’ rebuildin’ ingines an’ cars. At ivery little crossroads they’s -an operator, an’ at ivery little station they’s six or eight people -busy at work. Out east, they tell me, they’s a flagman at ivery -crossin’. Think o’ what all that costs!” - -“But what’s the use of keeping the road-bed so clean?” asked Allan. -“Nobody ever sees it.” - -“What’s th’ use o’ doin’ anything roight?” retorted Reddy. “I tell -you ivery little thing counts in favour of a road, or agin it. This -here road’s spendin’ thousands o’ dollars straightenin’ out curves -over there in th’ mountings, so’s th’ passengers won’t git shook up -so much, an’ th’ trains kin make a little better toime. Why, I’ve -heerd thet some roads even sprinkle th’ road-bed with ile t’ lay th’ -dust! - -“Human natur’ ’s a funny thing,” he added, shaking his head -philosophically, “’specially when it comes t’ railroads. Many’s th’ -man Oi’ve seen nearly break his neck t’ git acrost th’ track in -front of a train, an’ thin stop t’ watch th’ train go by; an’ many -another loafer, who never does anything but kill toime, ’ll worrit -hisself sick if th’ train he’s on happens t’ be tin minutes late. -It’s th’ man who ain’t got no business that’s always lettin’ on t’ -have th’ most. Here comes th’ flier,” he added, as a shrill whistle -sounded from afar up the road. - -They stood aside to watch the train shoot past with a rush and roar, -to draw into the station at Wadsworth on time to the minute. - -“That was Jem Spurling on th’ ingine,” observed Reddy, as they went -back to work. “Th’ oldest ingineer on th’ road—an’ th’ nerviest. -Thet’s th’ reason he’s got th’ flier. Most fellers loses their nerve -after they’ve been runnin’ an ingine a long time, an’ a year ’r two -back, Jem got sort o’ shaky fer awhile—slowed down when they wasn’t -no need of it, y’ know; imagined he saw things on th’ track ahead, -an’ lost time. Well, th’ company wouldn’t stand fer thet, ’specially -with th’ flier, an’ finally th’ train-master told him thet if he -couldn’t bring his train in on time, he’d have t’ go back t’ -freight. Well, sir, it purty nigh broke Jem’s heart. - -“‘Oi tell y’, Mister Schofield,’ he says t’ th’ train-master, ‘Oi’ll -bring th’ train in on toime if they’s a brick house on th’ track.’ - -“‘All right,’ says Mr. Schofield; ‘thet’s all we ask,’ an’ Jem went -down to his ingine. - -“Th’ next day Jem come into th’ office t’ report, an’ looked aroun’ -kind o’ inquirin’ like. - -“‘Any of it got here yet?’ he asks. - -“‘Any o’ what?’ asks Mr. Schofield. - -“‘Any o’ thet coal,’ says Jem. - -“‘What coal?’ asks Mr. Schofield. - -“‘Somebody left a loaded coal-car on th’ track down here by th’ -chute,’ says Jem. - -“‘They did?’ - -“‘Yes,’ says Jem; ‘thought they’d throw me late, most likely; but -they didn’t. Oi’m not loike a man what’s lost his nerve—not by a -good deal.’ - -“‘But th’ car—how’d y’ git around it?’ asks Mr. Schofield. - -“‘Oh, Oi didn’t try t’ git around it,’ says Jem. ‘Oi jest pulled her -wide open an’ come through. They’s about a ton o’ coal on top o’ th’ -rear coach, an’ Oi thought maybe I’d find th’ rest of it up here. I -guess it ain’t come down yit.’ - -“‘But, great Scott, man!’ says Mr. Schofield, ‘that was an awful -risk.’ - -“‘Oi guess Oi’d better run my ingine down t’ th’ repair shop,’ went -on Jem, cool as a cucumber. ‘Her stack’s gone, an’ the pilot, an’ -th’ winders o’ th’ cab are busted. But Oi got in on toime.’ - -“Well, they laid Jem off fer a month,” concluded Reddy, “but they’ve -niver said anything since about his losin’ his nerve.” - -So, through the afternoon, Reddy discoursed of the life of the rail, -and told stories grave and gay, related tragedies and comedies, -described hair-breadth escapes, and with it all managed to impart to -his hearer many valuable hints concerning section work. - -“Though,” he added, echoing Jack, “it’s not on section you’ll be -workin’ all your life! You’ve got too good a head fer that.” - -“I don’t know,” said Allan, modestly. “This takes a pretty good -head, too, doesn’t it?” - -“It takes a good head in a way; but it’s soon learnt, an’ after -thet, all a man has t’ do is t’ keep sober. But this is a, b, c, -compared t’ th’ work of runnin’ th’ road. Ever been up in th’ -despatcher’s office?” - -“No,” said Allan. “I never have.” - -“Well, y’ want t’ git Jack t’ take y’ up there some day; then y’ll -see where head-work comes in. I know thet all the trainmen swear at -th’ despatchers; but jest th’ same, it takes a mighty good man t’ -hold down th’ job.” - -“I’ll ask Jack to take me,” said Allan; and he resolved to get all -the insight possible into the workings of this great engine of -industry, of which he had become a part. - -Quitting-time came at last, and they loaded their tools wearily upon -the car and started on the five-mile run home. This time there was -no disturbing incident. The regular click, click of the wheels over -the rails told of a track in perfect condition. At last they rattled -over the switches in the yards and pushed the car into its place in -the section-house. - -“You run along,” said Jack to Allan. “I’ve got t’ make out a report -to-night. It’ll take me maybe five minutes. Tell Mary I’ll be home -by then.” - -“All right!” and Allan picked up his bundle of clothes and started -across the yards. He could see the little house that he called home -perched high on its bank of clay. Apparently they were watching for -him, for he saw a tiny figure running down the path, and knew that -Mamie was coming to meet him. She did not stop at the gate, but ran -across the narrow street and into the yards toward him. He quickened -his steps at the thought that some harm might befall her among this -maze of tracks. He could see her mother standing on the porch, -looking down at them, shading her eyes with her hand. - -And then, in an instant, a yard-engine whirled out from behind the -roundhouse. Mamie looked around as she heard it coming, and stopped -short in the middle of the track, confused and terrified in presence -of this unexpected danger. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - ALLAN PROVES HIS METAL - - -As Allan dashed forward toward the child, he saw the engineer, his -face livid, reverse his engine and jerk open the sand-box; the sand -spurted forth under the drivers, whirling madly backwards in the -midst of a shower of sparks, but sliding relentlessly down upon the -terror-stricken child. It was over in an instant—afterward, the boy -could never tell how it happened—he knew only that he stooped and -caught the child from under the very wheels of the engine, just as -something struck him a terrific blow on the leg and hurled him to -one side. - -He was dimly conscious of holding the little one close in his arms -that she might not be injured, then he struck the ground with a -crash that left him dazed and shaken. When he struggled to his feet, -the engineer had jumped down from his cab and Welsh was speeding -toward them across the tracks. - -“Hurt?” asked the engineer. - -“I guess not—not much;” and Allan stooped to rub his leg. “Something -hit me here.” - -“Yes—the footboard. Knocked you off the track. I had her pretty near -stopped, or they’d be another story.” - -Allan turned to Welsh, who came panting up, and placed the child in -his arms. - -“I guess she’s not hurt,” he said, with a wan little smile. - -But Jack’s emotion had quite mastered him for the moment. - -“Mamie!” he cried, gathering her to him. “My little girl!” And the -great tears shattered down over his cheeks upon the child’s dress. - -The others stood looking on, understanding, sympathetic. The fireman -even turned away to rub his sleeve furtively across his eyes, for he -was a very young man and quite new to railroading. - -The moment passed, and Welsh gripped back his self-control, as he -turned to Allan and held out his great hand. - -“You’ve got nerve,” he said. “We won’t fergit it—Mary an’ me. Come -on home—it’s your home now, as well as ours.” - -Half-way across the tracks they met Mary, who, after one shrill -scream of anguish at sight of her darling’s peril, had started -wildly down the path to the gate, though she knew she must arrive -too late. She had seen the rescue, and now, with streaming eyes, she -threw her arms around Allan and kissed him. - -“My brave boy!” she cried. “He’s our boy, now, ain’t he, Jack, as -long as he wants t’ stay?” - -“That’s jest what I was tellin’ him, Mary dear,” said Jack. - -“But he’s limpin’,” she cried. “What’s th’ matter? Y’re not hurted, -Allan?” - -“Not very badly,” answered the boy. “No bones broken—just a knock on -the leg that took the skin off.” - -“Come on home this instant,” commanded Mary, “an’ we’ll see.” - -“Ain’t y’ goin’ t’ kiss Mamie?” questioned Jack. - -“She don’t deserve t’ be kissed!” protested her mother. “She’s been -a bad girl—how often have I told her never t’ lave th’ yard?” - -Mamie was weeping bitter tears of repentance, and her mother -suddenly softened and caught her to her breast. - -“I—I won’t be bad no more!” sobbed Mamie. - -“I should hope not! An’ what d’ y’ say t’ Allan? If it hadn’t ’a’ -been fer him, you’d ’a’ been ground up under th’ wheels.” - -“I—I lubs him!” cried Mamie, with a very tender look at our hero. - -She held up her lips, and Allan bent and kissed them. - -“Well, m’ boy,” laughed Jack, as the triumphal procession moved on -again toward the house, “you seem t’ have taken this family by -storm, fer sure!” - -“Come along!” cried Mary. “Mebbe th’ poor lad’s hurted worse’n he -thinks.” - -She hurried him along before her up the path, sat him down in a -chair, and rolled up his trousers leg. - -“It’s nothing,” protested Allan. “It’s nothing—it’s not worth -worrying about.” - -“_Ain’t_ it!” retorted Mary, with compressed lips, removing shoe and -sock and deftly cutting away the blood-stained underwear. “_Ain’t_ -it? You poor boy, look at that!” - -And, indeed, it was rather an ugly-looking wound that lay revealed. -The flesh had been crushed and torn by the heavy blow, and was -bleeding and turning black. - -“It’s a mercy it didn’t break your leg!” she added. “Jack, you -loon!” she went on, with a fierceness assumed to keep herself from -bursting into tears, “don’t stand starin’ there, but bring me a -basin o’ hot water, an’ be quick about it!” - -Jack _was_ quick about it, and in a few moments the wound was washed -and nicely dressed with a cooling lotion which Mary produced from a -cupboard. - -“I keep it fer Jack,” Mary explained, as she spread it tenderly over -the wound. “He’s allers gittin’ pieces knocked off o’ him. Now how -does it feel, Allan darlint?” “It feels fine,” Allan declared. “It -doesn’t hurt a bit. It’ll be all right by morning.” - -“By mornin’!” echoed Mary, indignantly. “I reckon y’ think yer goin’ -out on th’ section t’-morrer!” - -“Why, of course. I’ve got to go. We’re getting it ready for the -Irish Brigade. We’ve got to win that prize!” - -“Prize!” cried Mary. “Much I care fer th’ prize! But there! I won’t -quarrel with y’ now. Kin y’ walk?” - -“Of course I can walk,” and Allan rose to his feet. - -“Well, then, you men git ready fer supper. I declare it’s got -cold—I’ll have t’ warm it up ag’in! An’ I reckon I’ll put on a -little somethin’ extry jest t’ celebrate!” - -She put on several things extra, and there was a regular -thanksgiving feast in the little Welsh home that evening, with Allan -in the place of honour, and Mamie looking at him adoringly from -across the table. Probably not a single one of the employés of the -road would have hesitated to do what he had done,—indeed, to risk -his life for another’s is the ordinary duty of a railroad man,—but -that did not lessen the merit of the deed in the eyes of Mamie’s -parents. And for the first time in many days, Allan was quite happy, -too. He felt that he was making himself a place in the world—and, -sweeter than all, a place in the hearts of the people with whom his -life was cast. - -But the injury was a more serious one than he had been willing to -admit. When he tried to get out of bed in the morning, he found his -leg so stiff and sore that he could scarcely move it. He set his -teeth and managed to dress himself and hobble down-stairs, but his -white face showed the agony he was suffering. - -“Oh, Allan!” cried Mary, flying to him and helping him to a chair. -“What did y’ want t’ come down fer? Why didn’t y’ call me?” - -“I don’t want to be such a nuisance as all that!” the boy protested. -“But I’m afraid I can’t go to work to-day.” - -Mary sniffed scornfully. - -“No—nor to-morrer!” she said. “You’re goin’ t’ stay right in that -chair!” - -She flew around, making him more comfortable, and Allan was coddled -that day as he had not been for a long time. Whether it was the -nursing or the magic qualities of Mary’s lotion, his leg was very -much better by night, and the next morning was scarcely sore at all. -The quickness of the healing—for it was quite well again in three or -four days—was due in no small part to Allan’s healthy young blood, -but he persisted in giving all the credit to Mary. - -After that, Allan noticed a shade of difference in the treatment -accorded him by the other men. Heretofore he had been a stranger—an -outsider. Now he was so no longer. He had proved his right to -consideration and respect. He was “th’ boy that saved Jack Welsh’s -kid.” Report of the deed penetrated even to the offices where dwelt -the men who ruled the destinies of the division, and the -superintendent made a mental note of the name for future reference. -The train-master, too, got out from his desk a many-paged, -much-thumbed book, indexed from first to last, and, under the letter -“W,” wrote a few lines. The records of nearly a thousand men, for -good and bad, were in that book, and many a one, hauled up “on the -carpet” to be disciplined, had been astonished and dismayed by the -train-master’s familiarity with his career. - -Of all the men in the gang, after the foreman, Allan found Reddy -Magraw the most lovable, and the merry, big-hearted Irishman took a -great liking to the boy. He lived in a little house not far from the -Welshes, and he took Allan home with him one evening to introduce -him to Mrs. Magraw and the “childer.” The former was a somewhat -faded little woman, worn down by hard work and ceaseless -self-denial, but happy despite it all, and the children were as -healthy and merry a set of young scalawags as ever rolled about upon -a sanded floor. There were no carpets and only the most necessary -furniture,—a stove, two beds, a table, and some chairs, for there -was little money left after feeding and clothing that ever hungry -swarm,—but everywhere there was a scrupulous, almost painful, -cleanliness. And one thing the boy learned from this visit and -succeeding ones—that what he had considered poverty was not poverty -at all, and that brave and cheerful hearts can light up any home. - -His trunk arrived from the storage house at Cincinnati in due time, -affording him a welcome change of clothing, while Mrs. Welsh set -herself to work at once sewing on missing buttons, darning socks, -patching trousers—doing the hundred and one things which always need -to be done to the clothing of a motherless boy. Indeed, it might be -fairly said that he was motherless no longer, so closely had she -taken him to her heart. - -Sunday came at last, with its welcome relief from toil. They lay -late in bed that morning, making up lost rest, revelling in the -unaccustomed luxury of leisure, and in the afternoon Jack took the -boy for a tour through the shops, swarming with busy life on -week-days, but now deserted, save for an occasional watchman. And -here Allan got, for the first time, a glimpse of one great -department of a railroad’s management which most people know nothing -of. In the first great room, the “long shop,” half a dozen disabled -engines were hoisted on trucks and were being rebuilt. Back of this -was the foundry, where all the needed castings were made, from the -tiniest bolt to the massive frame upon which the engine-boiler -rests. Then there was the blacksmith shop, with its score of forges -and great steam-hammer, that could deliver a blow of many tons; and -next to this the lathe-room, where the castings from the foundry -were shaved and planed and polished to exactly the required size and -shape; and still farther on was the carpenter shop, with its maze of -woodworking machinery, most wonderful of all, in its nearly human -intelligence. - -Beyond the shop was the great coal chute, where the tender of an -engine could be heaped high with coal in an instant by simply -pulling a lever; then the big water-tanks, high in air, filled with -water pumped from the river half a mile away; and last of all, the -sand-house, where the sand-boxes of the engines were carefully -replenished before each trip. How many lives had been saved by that -simple device, which enabled the wheels to grip the track and stop -the train! How many might be sacrificed if, at a critical moment, -the sand-box of the engine happened to be empty! It was a startling -reflection—that even upon this little cog in the great machine—this -thoughtless boy, who poured the sand into the boxes—so much -depended. - -Bright and early Monday morning they were out again on Twenty-one. -Wednesday was inspection, and they knew that up and down those two -hundred miles of track hand-cars were flying back and forth, and -every inch of the roadway was being examined by eyes severely -critical. They found many things to do, things which Allan would -never have thought of, but which appealed at once to the anxious -eyes of the foreman. - -About the middle of the afternoon, Welsh saw a figure emerge from a -grove of trees beside the road and come slouching toward him. As it -drew nearer, he recognized Dan Nolan. - -“Mister Welsh,” began Nolan, quite humbly, “can’t y’ give me a place -on th’ gang ag’in?” - -“No,” said Jack, curtly, “I can’t. Th’ gang’s full.” - -“That there kid’s no account,” protested Nolan, with a venomous -glance at Allan. “I’ll take his place.” - -“No, you won’t, Dan Nolan!” retorted Jack. “He’s a better man than -you are, any day.” - -“He is, is he?” sneered Nolan. “We’ll see about that!” - -“An’ if you so much as harm a hair o’ him,” continued Jack, with -clenched fists, “I’ll have it out o’ your hide, two fer one—jest -keep that in mind.” - -Nolan laughed mockingly, but he also took the precaution to retreat -to a safe distance from Jack’s threatening fists. - -“Y’ won’t give me a job, then?” he asked again. - -“Not if you was th’ last man on earth!” - -“All right!” cried Nolan, getting red in the face with anger, which -he no longer made any effort to suppress. “All right! I’ll fix you -an’ th’ kid, too! You think y’re smart; think y’ll win th’ section -prize! Ho, ho! I guess not! Not this trip! Purty section-foreman you -are! I’ll show you!” - -Jack didn’t answer, but he stopped and picked up a stone; and Nolan -dived hastily back into the grove again. - -“He’s a big coward,” said Jack, throwing down the stone disgustedly, -and turning back to his work. “Don’t let him scare y’, Allan.” - -“He didn’t scare me,” answered Allan, quietly, and determined to -give a good account of himself should Nolan ever attempt to molest -him. - -But Jack was not as easy in his mind as he pretended; he knew Nolan, -and believed him quite capable of any treacherous meanness. So he -kept Allan near him; and if Nolan was really lurking in the bushes -anywhere along the road, he had no opportunity for mischief. - -The next morning Jack took his men out directly to the western end -of the section, and came back very slowly, stopping here and there -to put a finishing touch to the work. Even Reddy was enthusiastic -over the condition of the section. - -“It’s foin as silk!” he said, looking back over the road they had -just traversed. “Ef we don’t git th’ prize this toime, it’s because -some other feller’s a lot smarter ’n we are!” - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - REDDY TO THE RESCUE - - -Engineer Lister had often been angry in his life, for, truth to -tell, running an engine is not conducive to good nerves or even -temper. It is a trying job, demanding constant alertness, and quick, -unerring judgment. But when to the usual responsibilities of the -place are added a cranky engine and a green fireman, even a saint -would lose his patience. Ellis Root was the green fireman, and -seemed to possess such a veritable genius for smothering his fire -that more than once the engineer had been compelled to clamber down -from his box and wield the rake and shovel himself. To add to this -difficulty of keeping up steam, the 226, a great ten-wheeled -aristocrat of a freight-engine, had suddenly developed a leaky -throttle, together with some minor ailments, which rendered the task -of handling her one of increasing difficulty. - -The last straw was the refusal of the despatcher at headquarters to -allow Lister to reduce his tonnage. His train happened to be an -unusually heavy one which, ordinarily, the 226 could have handled -with ease. The despatcher knew this; he knew also that Lister had an -unfortunate habit of complaining when there was nothing to complain -about; so when this last complaint came in, he wired back a terse -reply, telling Lister to “shut up, and bring in your train.” - -So Lister was raving angry by the time his engine limped feebly into -the yards at Wadsworth. He jumped off almost before she stopped, and -leaped up the stairs to the division offices two steps at a time, in -order to unburden himself without delay of his opinion of the -despatcher who had so heartlessly refused to help him out of his -difficulties. - -He burst into the office like a whirlwind, red in the face, gasping -for breath. - -“What’s the matter, Lister?” asked the train-master, looking up from -his desk. - -“Matter!” yelled Lister. “Where’s that thick-headed despatcher? He -ain’t fit to hold a job on this road!” - -“What did he do?” asked the train-master, grinning at the heads that -had been stuck in from the adjoining rooms to find out what the -noise was about. “Tell me what he did, and maybe I’ll fire him.” - -“I’ll tell you what he did! He made me handle my full train when I -wired in here an’ told him my engine was leakin’ like a sieve. What -do you think of a roundhouse foreman that’ll send an engine out in -that shape?” - -“So you want me to fire the foreman, too?” queried the train-master, -grinning more broadly. “Where is the engine?” - -“She’s down there in the yards,” said Lister. - -“What! Down in the yards! Do you mean to say you brought her in?” - -“Of course I brought her in,” said Lister. “They ain’t another -engineer on th’ road could ’a’ done it, but I did it, an’ I want to -tell you, Mr. Schofield—” - -A succession of sharp blasts from the whistle of the yard-engine -interrupted him. - -“What’s that?” cried the train-master, and threw up the window, for -the blasts meant that an accident of some sort had happened. The -other men in the office rushed to the windows, too,—they saw the -yardmen running madly about and gesticulating wildly,—and away up -the yards they saw the 226 rattling over the switches at full speed, -running wild! - -With a single bound the train-master was at the door of the -despatcher’s office. - -“Where’s Number Four?” he demanded. Number Four was the fastest -through passenger-train on the road—the east-bound flier, to which -all other trains gave precedence. - -The despatcher in charge of the west end of the road looked up from -his desk. - -“Number Four passed Anderson three minutes ago, sir,” he said. -“She’s on time—she’s due here in eight minutes.” - -The train-master’s face grew suddenly livid; a cold sweat burst out -across his forehead. - -“Good Lord!” he murmured, half to himself. “A wreck—no power on -earth can help it!” - -A vision danced before his eyes—a vision of shattered cars, of -mangled men and women. He knew where the collision must occur; he -knew that the flier would be coming down that heavy grade at full -speed—and toward the flier thundered that wild engine—with no -guiding hand upon the throttle—with nothing to hold her back from -her mad errand of destruction! - - * * * * * - -It had happened in this wise. A moment after Engineer Lister jumped -to the ground, and while his fireman, Ellis Root, was still looking -after him with a grin of relief, for the trip had been a hot one for -him in more ways than one, a yardman came along and uncoupled the -engine from the train. The fireman began to kick off his overalls, -when he became suddenly conscious that the engine was moving. The -leaky throttle did not shut off the steam completely from the -cylinders, and, released from the weight of the heavy train which -had held her back, the engine started slowly forward. - -The fireman, whose knowledge of the engine was as yet of the most -primitive description, sprang to the other side of the cab and -pushed the lever forward a notch or two. The engine’s speed -increased. - -“I can’t stop her,” he said, feverishly, half to himself. “I can’t -stop her,” and he pulled the lever back. - -The engine sprang back in answer and bumped heavily into the train -behind her. - -“Hi, there, you ijit!” yelled the yardman, who was under the first -car inspecting the air-hose. “What you mean? D’ y’ want t’ kill a -feller? Let that ingine alone!” - -Ellis, with the perspiration trickling down his face, threw the -lever forward again, and then, as the engine bounded forward in -answer, he lost his head entirely and leaped off, with a wild yell -of dismay. - -In a moment the 226 rattled over the switches westward out of the -yards, and shot out upon the main track, gathering speed with every -revolution! - -Welsh’s gang had worked its way eastward along the section as far as -the mill switch, when the foreman took out his watch and glanced at -it. - -“Git that hand-car off th’ track, boys,” he said. “Number Four’ll be -along in a minute.” - -Two of the men derailed the hand-car, while Welsh glanced up and -down the road to be sure that the track was clear, and took a look -at the mill switch, a little distance away, where they had been -working, to make certain that it had been properly closed. He -remembered that a work-train had taken a cut of cars out of the -switch a short time before, but he could tell by the way the lever -was thrown that the switch was closed. - -Far in the distance he could hear the train whistling for the curve -just beyond the cut. Then, suddenly from the other direction, he -caught a sound that brought him sharply round, and saw with horror a -great freight-engine rumbling rapidly toward him. - -“My God, she’s runnin’ wild!” he cried; and, with a yell of warning -to his men, turned and ran toward the switch. If he could only get -there in time to ditch her! - -But the engine whirled past him, and he stopped, seeing already the -horror, the destruction, which must follow in a moment. Then, far -ahead, he saw Reddy speeding toward the switch, saw him reach it, -bend above the short lever that controlled it, and throw it over. -Away up the track the “flier” flashed into view, running a mile a -minute. He could guess what was happening in her cab, as her -engineer saw the danger. The heavy engine rumbled on, all too slowly -now, in upon the switch to knock the bumper at the farther end to -splinters and fight her life out in the mud beyond. He saw Reddy -throw the lever back again, only in that instant to be hurled away -to one side as the great train swept by in safety. And the engineer, -who had reversed his lever and applied the brakes, who had waited -the outcome with white face and tight-set lips,—but who, never for -an instant, had thought of saving himself by jumping,—released the -brakes and threw his lever again on the forward motion. Four minutes -later the train swept in to Wadsworth, only forty seconds behind the -schedule! - -The passengers never knew how near they had been to death—by what a -miracle they had escaped destruction! After all, a miss is as good -as a mile! - -Reddy’s comrades found him lying unconscious twenty feet from the -track. His right arm—the arm that had thrown the lever—hung limp by -his side, and there was a great gash in his head from which the -blood was pouring. In a moment Jack had torn off the sleeve of his -shirt and made an improvised bandage of it, which checked to some -extent the flow of blood. - -“We must git him home,” said Welsh, “where we kin git a doctor. He’s -hurted bad. Git th’ car on th’ track, boys.” - -In an instant it was done, and Reddy was gently lifted on. - -“Now you set down there an’ hold his head, Allan,” said Jack. “Keep -it as stiddy as y’ kin.” - -Allan sat down obediently and placed the mangled head tenderly in -his lap. As he looked at the pale face and closed eyes, it was all -he could do to keep himself from breaking down. Poor Reddy—good old -Reddy—a hero, Allan told himself, with quickening heart, a hero who -had not hesitated to risk his life for others. - -But they were off! - -And how the men worked, pumping up and down until the car fairly -flew along the track. They knew the way was clear, since the flier -had just passed, and up and down they pumped, up and down, knowing -that a few minutes might mean life or death to their comrade. Down -the grade they flashed, along the embankment by the river, through -the town and into the yards, where a dozen willing hands lifted the -inanimate form from the car and bore it tenderly into the -baggage-room. - -“How did it happen, Welsh?” asked the train-master, after a surgeon -had been summoned and an ambulance had taken the still unconscious -Reddy to his home. - -And Jack told him, while the train-master listened, with only a -little nod now and then to show that he understood. At the end he -drew a deep breath. - -“I thought the flier was gone for sure,” he said. “It would have -been the worst wreck in the history of the road. Thank God it was -spared us!” - -“Yes, thank God,” said Jack, a little hoarsely; “but don’t fergit t’ -thank Reddy Magraw, too!” - -“We won’t!” said the train-master, with another little nod. “We’ll -never forget Reddy.” - -“More especially,” added Jack, a little bitterly, “since it’s not -th’ first time he’s saved th’ road a bad wreck. He was fergot th’ -first time!” - -“Yes, I know,” agreed the train-master. “But he wouldn’t have been -if I’d had anything to do with it.” - -“I know it, sir,” said Jack, heartily. “I know it, Mr. Schofield. -You’ve always treated us square. But I couldn’t help rememberin’!” - -Half an hour later Allan and Jack intercepted the doctor as he came -out of the little house where Mrs. Magraw sat with her apron over -her head, rocking back and forth in agony. - -“He’ll be all right, won’t he, doctor?” asked Jack, anxiously. “He -ain’t a-goin’t’ die?” - -“No,” answered the doctor, “he’ll not die. But,” and he hesitated, -“he got a mighty bad crack, and it will be a long time before he’s -able to be out again.” - -“He’s come to all right, ain’t he, doctor?” questioned Jack, seeing -the doctor’s hesitation. - -“Yes, he’s conscious again, but he’s not quite himself yet. But I -think he’ll come around all right,” and the doctor walked briskly -away, while Jack and Allan, assured that they could do nothing more -for Reddy or his family, whom the neighbours had parcelled out among -themselves, went slowly home. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - THE IRISH BRIGADE - - -It was not until they were seated around the table that evening that -Allan remembered that the next day was to occur the great inspection -by the Irish Brigade, and he straightened up suddenly as he thought -of it. - -“Didn’t that engine tear things up some when she ran off the track?” -he asked of Jack. - -“Yes,” answered the foreman, “but it was only at th’ end of th’ -sidin’, an’ that won’t matter. Besides, th’ wreckin’ crew’s up there -now gittin’ th’ engine back on th’ track an’ fixin’ things up ag’in. -If th’ main line on Twenty-one ain’t in good shape, it’s because I -don’t know what good shape is,” he added, with decision. “We -couldn’t do anything more to it if we worked fer a week. I’ve asked -th’ boys t’ take a run over it t’-morrer mornin’ jest as a matter o’ -precaution. Do y’ think y’ kin git up at midnight?” he added, -suddenly, giving his wife a knowing wink. - -“At midnight?” repeated Allan. “Why, yes, of course, if you want me -to.” - -“Well, y’ll have t’ git up at midnight if y’ want t’ ketch Number -Five fer Cincinnati.” - -Allan’s face flushed with quick pleasure. - -“Am I to go, too?” he asked, eagerly. “Can you take me, too?” - -Jack laughed in sympathy with his bright eyes. - -“Yes,” he said; “that’s what I kin. I got an extry pass from th’ -superintendent. I told him I had a boy who wanted t’ see th’ road -because he was goin’ t’ be superintendent hisself, some day. He said -he guessed he knew th’ boy’s name without bein’ told, an’ wrote out -th’ pass.” - -Allan flushed high with pleasure. - -“That was nice of him,” he said. - -“Yes,” said Jack; “an’ yet I think he was figgerin’ on helpin’ th’ -road, too. Y’ see, whenever a bright feller like you comes along an’ -shows that he’s steady an’ can be depended on, he never gits t’ work -on section very long. They need boys like that up in th’ offices. -That’s where th’ brains o’ th’ road are. In fact, th’ office itself -is th’ brain o’ th’ whole system, with wires runnin’ out to every -part of it an’ bringin’ back word what’s goin’ on, jest like a -doctor told me once th’ nerves do in our bodies.” - -“Yes,” nodded Allan; “but what has that got to do with my going over -the road to-morrow?” - -“Jest this,” said Jack; “before a feller’s fit to hold a job in th’ -offices,—a job as operator or despatcher, that is,—and work one o’ -them little wires, he’s got t’ know th’ road better’n he knows th’ -path in his own back yard. He’s got t’ know every foot of it—where -th’ grades are an’ how heavy they are; where th’ curves are, an’ -whether they’re long or short; where every sidin’ is, an’ jest how -many cars it’ll hold; where th’ track runs through a cut, an’ where -it comes out on a fill; where every bridge and culvert is—in fact, -he’s got t’ know th’ road so well that when he’s ridin’ over it he -kin wake up in th’ night an’ tell by th’ way th’ wheels click an’ -th’ cars rock jest exactly where he is!” - -At the moment Allan thought that Jack was exaggerating; but he was -to learn that there was in all this not the slightest trace of -exaggeration. And he was to learn, too, that upon the accuracy of -this minute knowledge the safety of passenger and freight train -often depended. - -They sat on the porch again that evening, while Mary rocked Mamie to -sleep and Jack smoked his pipe. Always below them in the yards the -little yard-engines puffed up and down, placing the cars in position -in the trains—cars laden with coal and grain for the east; cars -laden with finished merchandise for the west; the farmer and miner -exchanging his product for that of the manufacturer. - -Only there was no Reddy to come and whistle at the gate, and after -awhile they walked over to his house to find out how he was. - -Mrs. Magraw let them in. Her stout Irish optimism had come back -again, for Reddy was better. - -“Though he’s still a little quare,” she added. “He lays there with -his oies open, but he don’t seem t’ notice much. Th’ docther says -it’ll be a day or two afore he’s hisself ag’in.” - -“Well, I’m glad it’s no worse,” said Jack. “We can’t afford to lose -Reddy.” - -“We won’t lose him this trip, thank God!” said Mrs. Magraw. “Mr. -Schofield was over jist now t’ see if they was anything he could do. -He says th’ road’ll make it all roight with Reddy.” - -“That’s good!” said Jack, heartily; “but we won’t keep you any -longer, Mrs. Magraw,” and he and Allan said good night. - -“We must be gittin’ t’ bed ourselves,” Jack added, as they mounted -the path to his home. “Remember, we have t’ git up at midnight. It’s -good an’ sleepy you’ll be, my boy!” - -“No, I won’t!” laughed Allan. “But I’ll turn in now, anyway.” - -It seemed to him that he had been asleep only a few minutes when he -heard Jack’s voice calling. But he was out of bed as soon as he got -his eyes open, and got into his clothes as quickly as he could in -the darkness. Mary had a hot lunch waiting by the time he got -down-stairs. He and Jack ate a little,—one doesn’t have much -appetite at midnight,—and together they made their way across the -yards to the station, where they caught the fast mail for the city. - -The smoking-car of the train was crowded with section-men on their -way to the rendezvous, and a jolly, good-natured lot they were. -There was no thought of sleep, for this was a holiday for -them,—besides, sleep was out of the question in that tumult,—and one -story of the rail followed another. As Allan listened, he wondered -at these tales of heroism and daring told so lightly—of engineers -sticking to their posts though certain death stared them in the -face; of crossing-flagmen saving the lives of careless men and -women, at the cost, often, of their own; of break-in-twos, washouts, -head-end collisions, of confusion of orders and mistakes of -despatchers—all the lore that gathers about the life of the rail. -And as he listened, the longing came to him to prove himself worthy -of this brotherhood. - -One story, in particular, stuck in Allan’s memory. - -“Then there was Tom Rawlinson,” began one of the men. - -“Let Pat tell that story,” interrupted another. “Come out here, Pat. -We want t’ hear about Tom Rawlinson an’ his last trip on th’ -Two-twenty-four.” - -So Pat came out, shyly, a tall, raw-boned man. As he got within the -circle of light, Allan saw that his face was frightfully scarred. - -“’Twas in th’ summer o’ ninety-two,” he began. “Rawlinson had had -th’ Two-twenty-four about a month, an’ was as proud of her as a man -is of his first baby. That day he was takin’ a big excursion train -in to Parkersburg. He was lettin’ me ride in th’ cab, which he -hadn’t any bus’ness t’ do, but Tom Rawlinson was th’ biggest-hearted -man that ever pulled a lever on this road.” - -He paused a moment, and his listeners gravely nodded their approval -of the sentiment. - -“Well, he was pullin’ up th’ hill at Torch, an’ th’ engine had on -every pound she could carry. There was a big wind whistlin’ down th’ -cut, an’ we could hear th’ fire a-roarin’ when th’ fireman pulled -open th’ door t’ throw in some more coal. Th’ minute th’ door was -open, the wind jest seemed t’ sweep int’ thet fire-box, an’ the -first thing I knew, a big sheet o’ flame was shootin’ right out in -my face. I went back over that tender like a rabbit, without -stoppin’ t’ argy th’ why an’ th’ wherefore, an’ when I got back t’ -th’ front platform o’ th’ baggage-car, I found that Tom an’ his -fireman had come, too. - -“We stood there a minute, hardly darin’ t’ breathe, a-watchin’ thet -fire. It licked out at th’ cab, an’ quicker’n I kin tell it, th’ -wood was blazin’ away in great shape. Then, all of a sudden, I -happened t’ think o’ somethin’ that sent a cold chill down my back, -an’ made me sick an’ weak. Here was we poundin’ along at forty miles -an hour, with orders t’ take th’ sidin’ fer Number Three at th’ -Junction, five mile ahead. It looked to me as though they’d be about -a thousand people killed inside of a mighty few minutes.” - -He stopped to take a fresh chew of tobacco, and Allan saw that his -hands were trembling at the memory of that fearful moment. - -“Well,” he continued, “as I was a-sayin’, I could feel my hair -a-raisin’ right up on my head. I looked around at Tom, an’ I could -tell by his set face that he was thinkin’ of th’ same thing I was. - -“‘Boys,’ he says, low-like, ‘I’m goin’ forrerd. I’ve got to shet her -off. I hadn’t no business t’ run away.’ - -“An’ without waitin’ fer either o’ us t’ answer, forrerd he went, -climbin’ over th’ coal an’ down into th’ burnin’ cab. It was like -goin’ into a furnace, but he never faltered—right on he went—right -on into th’ fire—an’ in a minute I felt th’ jerk as he reversed her -an’ threw on th’ brakes. It seemed t’ me as though we’d never come -to a stop, but we did, an’ then th’ brakeman an’ me went forrerd -over th’ coal t’ git Tom out. But it warn’t no use. He was layin’ -dead on his seat, still holdin’ to th’ throttle. - -“We lifted him down, an’ by that time th’ conductor an’ a lot o’ th’ -passengers come a-runnin’ up. An’ then folks begun tellin’ me my -face was burned,” and Pat indicated his scars with a rapid gesture. -“Till then, I’d never even felt it. When y’re in it, y’ know, y’ -only feel it fer others, not fer yourself.” - -That ended the story-telling. There was something in that tale of -sacrifice which made other tales seem idle and empty. - -The dawn was just tingeing the sky in the east when the train rushed -into the great, echoing train-shed at Cincinnati. The men got out -and hurried forward to the dining-room, where a lunch of coffee and -sandwiches awaited them. Here, too, were the train-master and -division superintendent, trim-built, well-groomed men, with alert -eyes, who knew the value of kind words and appreciative criticism -when it came to managing men. Lunch was hastily eaten, and then the -whole crowd proceeded to the special inspection train, where it -stood on the side-track ready to start on its two hundred mile trip -eastward. And a peculiar looking train it was—consisting, besides -the engine, of only one car, a tall, ungainly, boarded structure, -open at one end, and, facing the open end, tiers of seats stretching -upward to the roof. - -Into this the men poured and took their seats, so that every one -could see the long stretch of track as it slid backward under them. -Almost at once the signal came to start, and the gaily decorated -engine—draped from end to end in green, that all might know it was -the “Irish Brigade” out on its inspection tour—pulled out through -the “ditch,” as the deep cut within the city limits is called, past -the vast stock-yards and out upon the level track beyond. Instantly -silence settled upon the car, broken only by the puffing of the -engine and the clanking of the wheels over the rails. Seventy pairs -of eyes were bent upon the track, the road-bed, the right of way, -noting every detail. Seventy pairs of ears listened to the tale the -wheels were telling of the track’s condition. It was a serious and -solemn moment. - -Allan, too, looked out upon all this, and his heart fell within him. -Surely, no track could be more perfect, no road-bed better kept. It -must be this section which would win the prize. Yet, when that -section had been left behind and the next one entered on, he could -detect no difference. How could anybody rate one section higher than -another, when all alike were perfect? And what possible chance was -there for Twenty-one? - -They were side-tracked at the end of an hour to allow a through -passenger to pass, and the babel of voices arose again. But it was -silenced at once the moment they ran out to continue on the journey. -Hours passed, and at last, with a leaping heart, Allan recognized -the west end of Section Twenty-one. He glanced at Jack Welsh, and -saw how his eyes were shining, but he dared not look in his -direction a second time. He stared out at the track and wondered if -it was really here that he had laboured for the past week. - -Yes,—he recognized the landmarks,—the high trestle over the deep -ravine, the cut, the long grade, the embankment along the river. It -seemed almost that he knew every foot of the track; but he did not -know it so well as he thought, for his eyes did not detect what -Welsh’s more critical ones saw on the instant,—traces of gravel dug -out, of whitewash rubbed away, of a guard-fence broken down. The -gravel had been replaced, the whitewash touched up anew, the fence -had been repaired, but Welsh knew that the section was not as he had -left it the night before, and in a flash he understood. - -“It was some of Dan Nolan’s work,” he said to himself, and, the -moment the train stopped in the yards at Wadsworth, he called to -Allan and hurried away to the section-shanty to hear the story. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - GOOD NEWS AND BAD - - -His men were waiting for him, as he knew they would be, and the -story was soon told. They had started out in the morning, according -to his instructions, for a last run over the section, and soon -discovered the work of the enemy. Ties which had been piled neatly -at the side of the right of way had been thrown down, whitewashed -boulders around the mile-posts had been torn up, in many places -holes had been dug in the road-bed,—in short, the section was in a -condition which not only would have lost them the prize, but would -have brought unbearable disgrace upon their foreman. - -They set to work like Trojans righting the damage, for they knew -they had only a few hours, beginning at the western end and working -slowly back toward the city. More than once it seemed that they -could not get through in time; but at last the work was done, just -as the whistle of the inspection train sounded in the distance. - -“An’ mighty well done,” said Jack, approvingly, when the story was -ended. “You’ve done noble, m’ boys, an’ I won’t fergit it! Th’ -section’s in as good shape as it was last night.” - -“But what dirty criminal tore it up?” asked one of the men. - -“I know who it was,” and Jack reddened with anger. “It was that -loafer of a Dan Nolan. He threatened he’d git even with me fer -firin’ him, but I didn’t pay no attention. I didn’t think he’d got -that low! Wait till I ketch him!” - -And his men echoed the threat in a tone that boded ill for Daniel. - -“Come on, Allan, we’ve got t’ be gittin’ back,” said Jack. “An’ -thank y’ ag’in, boys,” and together he and Allan turned back toward -the waiting train. - -Section Twenty-one was the last inspected before dinner, which was -awaiting them in the big depot dining-room at Wadsworth. The -officers came down from division headquarters to shake hands with -the men as they sat grouped about the long tables, and good-natured -chaff flew back and forth. But at last the engine-bell announced -that the green-decked train was ready to be off again eastward, over -the last hundred miles of the division, which ended at Parkersburg. - -The men swarmed into their places again, and silence fell instantly -as the train started, rattling over the switches until it was clear -of the yards, then settling into a regular click, click, as it swung -out upon the main line. It must be confessed that this portion of -the trip had little interest for Allan. The monotony of it—mile -after mile of track gliding steadily away—began to wear upon him. He -was no expert in track-construction, and one stretch of road-bed -looked to him much like every other. So, before long, he found -himself nodding, and, when he straightened up with a jerk and opened -his eyes, he found Jack looking at him with a little smile. - -They ran in upon a siding at Moonville to make way for a -passenger-train, and Jack, beckoning to Allan, climbed out upon the -track. - -“I kin see you’re gittin’ tired,” said Jack, as they walked up and -down, stretching their legs. “I ought to let you stop back there at -Wadsworth. But mebbe I kin give y’ somethin’ more interestin’ fer -th’ rest o’ th’ trip. How’d y’ like t’ ride in th’ engine?” - -Allan’s eyes sparkled. - -“Do you think I might?” he asked, eagerly. - -Jack laughed. - -“I thought that’d wake y’ up! Yes,—we’ve got Bill Higgins with us on -this end, an’ I rather think he’ll let you ride in th’ cab. Let’s -find out.” - -So they walked over to where the engineer was “oiling round,” in -railroad parlance—going slowly about his engine with a long-spouted -oil-can in one hand and a piece of waste in the other, filling the -oil-cups, wiping off the bearings, feeling them to see if they were -too hot, crawling under the boiler to inspect the link motion—in -short, petting his engine much as one might pet a horse. - -“Bill,” began Jack, “this is Allan West, th’ boy thet I took on -section with me.” - -Bill nodded, and looked at Allan with friendly eyes. - -“Yes,” he said, “I’ve heerd o’ him.” - -“Well,” continued Jack, “he’s gittin’ purty tired ridin’ back there -with nothin’ t’ do but watch th’ track, an’ I thought mebbe you’d -let him ride in th’ cab th’ rest o’ th’ trip.” - -“Why, sure!” agreed Bill, instantly. “Climb right up, sonny.” - -Allan needed no second invitation, but clambered up and took his -place on one of the long seats which ran along either side of the -cab. Right in front of him was a narrow window through which he -could see the track stretching far ahead to meet the horizon. Below -him was the door to the fire-box, into which the fireman was at that -moment shovelling coal. At his side, mounted on the end of the -boiler, was a maze of gauges, cocks, wheels, and levers, whose uses -he could not even guess. - -The engineer clambered up into the cab a moment later, glanced at -the steam and water gauges, to see that all was right, and then took -his place on his seat. He got out his “flimsy”—the thin, manifolded -telegraphic train order from headquarters, a copy of which had also -been given to the conductor—and read it carefully, noting the points -at which he was to meet certain trains and the time he was expected -to make to each. Then he passed it over to his fireman, who also -read it, according to the rules of the road. One man might forget -some point in the orders, but it was not probable that two would. - -There came a long whistle far down the line, and Allan saw the -through passenger train leap into view and came speeding toward -them. It passed with a rush and a roar, and a minute later the -conductor raised his hand. The engineer settled himself on his seat, -pushed his lever forward, and opened the throttle gently, pulling it -wider and wider as the engine gathered speed. Never for an instant -did his glance waver from the track before him—a moment’s -inattention might mean death for him and for the men entrusted to -his care. - -There was something fascinating in watching the mighty engine eat up -mile after mile of track. There were other things to watch, too. At -every crossing there was the danger of an accident, and Allan was -astonished at the chances people took in driving across the track, -without stopping to look up and down to see if there was any danger. -Deep in talk they were sometimes, until roused by a fierce blast -from the whistle; or sometimes the curtains of the buggy hid them -entirely from view. And although the right of way was private ground -and carefully fenced in on either side, there were many stragglers -along it,—a group of tramps boiling coffee in a fence corner, a -horse or cow that had managed to get across a cattle-guard, children -playing carelessly about or walking the rails in imitation of a -tight-rope performer. All these had to be watched and warned of -their danger. Never once did the engineer lift his hand from the -throttle, for that gave him the “feel” of the engine, almost as the -reins give the driver the “feel” of a spirited horse. Now and then -he glanced at the steam-gauge, but turned back instantly to watch -the track ahead. - -Nor was the fireman idle. His first duty was to keep up steam, and -he noted every variation of the needle which showed the pressure, -shaking down his fire, and coaling up, as occasion demanded; raking -the coal down from the tender, so as to have it within easy reach; -sweeping off the “deck,” as the narrow passage from engine to tender -is called; and occasionally mounting the seat-box to ring the bell, -as they passed through a little village. - -Allan began to understand the whistle signals—especially the two -long and two short toots which are the signal for a crossing, the -signal most familiar to travellers and to those who live along the -line of a railroad. And he grew accustomed to the rocking of the -engine, the roaring of the fire, the sudden, vicious hiss of steam -when the engineer tested a cock, the rush of the wind and patter of -cinders against the windows of the cab. He began to take a certain -joy in it—in the noise, the rattle, the motion. There was an -excitement in it that made his pulses leap. - -So they hummed along, between broad fields, through little hamlets -and crossroads villages, mile after mile. Operators, flagmen, and -station-agents came out to wave at them, here and there they passed -a section-gang busy at work, now and then they paused until a -freight or passenger could thunder past—on and on, on and on. Allan -looked out at field and village, catching glimpses of men and women -at work, of children at play—they would turn their faces toward him, -and in another instant were gone. The life of the whole country was -unfolded before him,—everywhere there were men and women working, -everywhere there were children playing,—everywhere there was life -and hope and happiness and sorrow. If one could only go on like this -for ever, visiting new scenes, seeing new— - -A sharp, sudden, agonized cry from the fireman startled him out of -his thoughts, and he felt the quick jolt as the engineer reversed -his engine and applied the brakes. For a moment, in the shrieking, -jolting pandemonium that followed, he thought the engine was off the -track; then, as he glanced ahead, his heart suddenly stood still. -For there, toddling down the track toward the engine, its little -hands uplifted, its face sparkling with laughter, was a baby, scarce -old enough to walk! - -As long as he lives Allan will never forget that moment. He realized -that the train could not be stopped, that that little innocent, -trusting life must be ground out beneath the wheels. He felt that he -could not bear to see it, and turned away, but just then the fireman -sprang past him, slammed open the little window, ran along the -footboard, clambered down upon the pilot, and, holding to a bolt -with one hand, leaned far over and snatched the little one into the -air just as the engine bore down upon it. Allan, who had watched it -all with bated breath, fell back upon his seat with a great gasp of -thankfulness. - -[Illustration: “SNATCHED THE LITTLE ONE INTO THE AIR JUST AS THE ENGINE -BORE DOWN UPON IT”] - -The engine stopped with a jerk, the fireman sprang to the ground -with the baby in his arms. It was still crowing and laughing, and -patting his face with its hands. Allan, looking at him, was -surprised to see the great tears raining down his cheeks and -spattering on the baby’s clothes. - -“It’s his kid,” said the engineer, hoarsely. “He lives up yonder,” -and he nodded toward a little house perched on the hillside that -sloped down to the track. “That’s th’ reason th’ kid was down -here—he come down t’ see his daddy!” - -The section-men came pouring forward to find out what was the -matter, and surrounded the baby as soon as they heard the story, -petting him, passing him around from hand to hand—until, suddenly, -the mother, who had just missed him, came flying down the hill and -snatched him to her breast. - -“Pile back in, boys,” called the conductor, cutting short the scene. -“We can’t stay here all day. We’ve got t’ make Stewart in eighteen -minutes.” - -They hurried back to their places, the engineer, stopping only to -give his fireman a hearty grip of the hand, opened the throttle. -This time they were off with a jump—lost time had to be made up, and -in a moment they were singing along at a speed which seemed -positively dangerous. The engine rocked back and forth, and seemed -fairly to leap over the rails; the wind whistled around them; the -fire roared and howled in the fire-box. Eighteen minutes later, they -pulled in to the siding at Stewart, on time to the second. - -Allan had had enough of riding in the cab, and, thanking the -engineer, and shaking hands with the fireman, he climbed down and -took his seat again in the inspection-car. But he was very tired, -and soon nodded off to sleep, and it was not until the train stopped -and a sudden clamour of talk arose that he started fully awake. - -The men were handing in their reports to the superintendent, who, -with the assistance of the train-master, was going over them rapidly -to find out which section had received the most points. Zero was -very bad; ten was perfection. There were no zeros on any of the -seventy reports, however; and, let it be added, not many tens. - -The moments passed as the train-master set down in a column under -each section the number of points it had received. Then he added up -the columns, the superintendent looking over his shoulder. They -compared the totals for a moment, and then, with a smile, the -superintendent took from his pocket a check upon which the name only -was lacking, and filled it in. Then he turned to the expectant men. - -“Gentlemen,” he began, “I think this company has cause to be -congratulated on the condition of its road-bed. A vote of seven -hundred, as you know, would mean perfection, and yet, not a single -section has fallen below six hundred. The highest vote for any one -section is 673, and that vote is given for Section Twenty-one, of -which John Welsh is foreman. Mr. Welsh, will you please come forward -and get your check?” and he fluttered the paper in the air above his -head. - -A great burst of cheering broke forth again and again. They were -generous men, these section-foremen of the Irish Brigade, and, -seeing how all thought of self was forgotten, Allan’s eyes grew -suddenly misty. Not a man there who seemed to feel the bitterness of -the vanquished. But as Allan glanced over to Jack, who was making -his way over the seats and stopping to return hand-shakes right and -left, a cheer on his own account burst from the boy’s lips, and he -tossed his cap wildly in the air. - -“Good for ye, lad!” cried one of the men, slapping the boy on his -back. “Give him a cheer! That’s right. Give him another cheer!” and -Allan was lifted to the shoulders of one of the brawny men, who -cried: “This is the b’y that saved Jack Welsh’s colleen, worth more -than a prize to Jack Welsh! Give the b’y a cheer!” - -And the men responded with a will! - -A moment later and they settled down again, as they saw the -superintendent was waiting for their attention. - -“Welsh,” began that official, when quiet was restored, “you’re a -good man, and I’m glad that you got the prize. But,” he added, -looking around over the crowd, “you’re not the only good man in the -Irish Brigade. The only thing I’m sorry for is that I can’t give a -prize to every man here. I’m like the Dodo in ‘Alice in -Wonderland’—I think you’ve all won, and that you all ought to have -prizes. I want to thank you every one for your good work. I’m not -overstating things a bit when I say that this division is in better -shape than any other on the road. We’ve had fewer accidents, and -we’ve run our trains closer to the schedule than any other—all of -which is largely due to your good work. I’m proud of my Irish -Brigade!” - -They cheered him and clapped him, and every man there resolved to do -better work, if possible, in the coming year than he had done in the -past one. - -And yet there were some of the officials in the far-distant general -offices at Baltimore who wondered why the superintendent of the Ohio -division was so popular with his men! - - * * * * * - -Jack came to Allan at last and gripped his hand with a strength that -proved how deep his emotion was. - -“Come on,” he said. “We’re goin’ home on Number Seven. It’ll start -in a minute.” - -They went together across the tracks and clambered into the coach. -Allan caught a confused picture of a glare of lights and laughing -people crowding past. But hardly had the train started when his head -fell back against the seat, and slumber claimed him. - -Jack waked him up at the journey’s end, and together they hurried -through the yards and up the steep path to the little cottage. -Jack’s wife was awaiting him in the doorway, and he drew forth the -check and placed it in her hands. - -“We won,” he said, softly. “’Twas fer you, Mary, I wanted t’ win. It -means th’ new dress you’ve been a-needin’ so long, an’ a dress fer -Mamie; yes, an’ a new carpet.” - -The wife said not a single word, but drew Jack’s face down to hers -and kissed it. - -“Only,” he added, when his head was lifted, “I want t’ give tin -dollars of it t’ th’ boys—I’d ’a’ lost if it hadn’t been fer them. -An’ Reddy—how’s old Reddy?” - -“Oh, Jack!” she cried, her eyes suffused with sudden tears, her lips -a-tremble, “it’s too terrible! He’s come to, but he don’t remember -nothin’—not a thing! He don’t know anybody—not even his own wife, -Jack, nor th’ childer, an’ th’ doctor says that maybe he never -will!” - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - REDDY’S EXPLOIT - - -As time went on, it became more and more evident that the doctor’s -prediction with regard to Reddy Magraw was to be fulfilled. He -regained his strength, but the light seemed quite gone from his -brain. The officials of the railroad company did all they could for -poor Reddy. When the local doctors failed, they brought an eminent -specialist from Cincinnati for consultation, but all seemed to agree -there was nothing to be done but to wait. There was one chance in a -thousand that a surgical operation might prove of benefit, but there -was just as great a chance that Nature herself might do the work -better. - -Reddy remembered nothing of his past life. More than this, it -gradually became evident to his friends that his genial nature had -undergone a change through the darkness that had overtaken his -brain. He grew estranged from his family, and strangely suspicious -of some of his friends, those to whom he had really been most -attached. Among these last was Allan. He would have nothing whatever -to do with the boy. - -“It’s one of the most ordinary symptoms of dementia,” the doctor had -explained, when Jack questioned him about it. “Aversion to friends -is what we always expect. His wife feels it more keenly than you -do.” - -“Of course she does, poor woman!” agreed Jack. “But he hasn’t got to -abusin’ her, sir, has he?” - -“Oh, no; he doesn’t abuse her; he just avoids her, and shows his -dislike in other ways. If he begins to abuse her, we’ll have to -send him to the asylum. But I don’t anticipate any violence—I think -he’s quite harmless.” - -It was while they were sitting on the porch one evening discussing -the sad situation of their friend, that Allan turned suddenly to -Jack. - -“Do you remember,” he said, “that first noon we were talking -together, you started to tell me of some brave thing Reddy had done, -and he shut you off?” - -“Yes,” Jack nodded; “I remember.” - -“Tell me now, won’t you? I’d like to hear about it.” - -“All right,” said Jack, and told the story. Here it is: - -Six years before, Reddy Magraw had been one of the labourers at the -big coal-chute which towered into the air at the eastern end of the -yards; just an ordinary labourer, working early and late, as every -labourer for a railroad must, but then, as always, happy and -care-free. - -It was one afternoon in June that a message flashed into the -despatcher’s office which sent the chief despatcher headlong into -the office of the superintendent. - -“The operator at Baker’s just called me up, sir,” he gasped, “to -report that second Ninety-seven ran through there, going forty miles -an hour, and that the engineer dropped a message tied to a wrench -saying his throttle-valve had stuck, and his brakes wouldn’t work, -and that he couldn’t stop his engine!” - -The superintendent started to his feet, his face livid. - -“They’ll be here in eight minutes,” he said. “Where’s Number Four?” - -“Just past Roxabel. We can’t catch her, and the freight will run -into her sure if we let it through the yards.” - -“We won’t let it through the yards,” said the superintendent, and -went down the stairs three steps at a time, and sped away in the -direction of the coal-chute. - -He had reflected rapidly that if the freight could be derailed at -the long switch just below the chute, it could be run into a gravel -bank, where it would do much less damage than farther up in the -yards, among the network of switches there. He ran his swiftest, but -as he reached the chute, he heard, far down the track, the roar of -the approaching train. Evidently it was not yet under control. Reddy -Magraw heard the roar, too, and straightened up in amazement. Why -should a freight approach the yards at that speed? Then he saw the -superintendent tugging madly at the switch. - -“Thet switch won’t work, sir,” he said. “A yard ingine hit the p’int -about an hour ago an’ jammed it.” - -“Won’t work!” echoed the superintendent, and stared blankly down the -track at the train which every second was whirling nearer. - -“Is it a runaway?” asked Reddy, suddenly understanding. - -“Yes,—a runaway,—maybe I can make the other switch,” and he started -away, but Reddy caught him by the arm. - -“Wait, sir,” he cried; “wait. We’ll fix ’em—throw ’em on to th’ -chute.” - -“On to the chute?” - -“Yes, on to th’ chute. Throw th’ switch there,” and Reddy, grabbing -up two big cans of oil, started for the track leading to the long -ascent. - -Then the superintendent understood, and, with a gasp of relief, ran -to the switch and threw it. - -Up the steep ascent ran Reddy, a can in either hand, spurting -streams of oil upon the rails—up and up—yet it seemed that he must -certainly be caught and hurled to death, for a moment later the -great freight-engine reached the structure, which groaned and -trembled under this unaccustomed weight. Up the incline it mounted, -the weight of the train behind it urging it on. Half-way up, -two-thirds, almost upon Reddy, where he bent over the rails, a can -in either hand, never pausing to look back. - -From under the pounding drivers the smoke flew in clouds—the oil was -being burned by friction. Yet down the rails flowed more oil; the -drivers were sliding now, the speed of the train was -lessening—lessening. The engine was racking itself out, its power -was spent, it had been conquered. For an instant it hung poised on -the incline, then slowly started down again. The crew had managed to -set the hand-brakes, and these held the train somewhat, but still it -coasted back down that incline at a speed that brought the watchers’ -hearts into their throats. The wheels held the rails, however, and a -quarter of a mile back on the main line it stopped, its power for -evil exhausted. And just then Number Four whistled for signal, and -rumbled slowly into the other end of the yards. The superintendent -drew a deep breath of relief and thankfulness as he thought of what -the result would have been had the runaway not been stopped in time. - -“Was Reddy hurt?” asked Allan, who had listened to the story -breathlessly. - -“Hurt? Oh, no; he come down th’ chute, put th’ empty oil-cans back -in their places, an’ went t’ work ag’in.” - -“But didn’t the company do something for him?” persisted the boy. -“Wasn’t he rewarded?” - -“No,” said Jack, puffing away at his pipe with a very grim face; -“but th’ superintendent was promoted.” - -“The superintendent?” - -“Yes; he got his promotion. Y’ see, in his report of th’ accident, -he somehow fergot t’ mention Reddy.” - -Allan flushed with a sudden generous anger. - -“But,” he began, “that wasn’t—” - -“Honest?” and Jack laughed a little bitterly. “No, maybe not; but -what could a poor feller like Reddy do about it? Only,” he added, -“it’s jest as well fer that superintendent he didn’t stay on this -division. Th’ boys would ’a’ given him some mighty lively times. -We’ve got a gentleman fer a superintendent now. He don’t try t’ -stale nobody else’s thunder—he’s given Reddy a square deal this -time.” - -Truth to tell, Reddy’s family was being better provided for than it -had ever been—the superintendent saw to that; and Reddy himself was -receiving the best medical attention to be secured, though it seemed -more and more certain that even the greatest skill would be unable -to restore his memory. - -It was long before sleep came to Allan’s eyes that night, so excited -was he over Jack’s story of Reddy’s exploit, and so indignant at the -injustice that had been done him. He was thinking about it still, -next day, until, of a sudden, he was forcibly reminded that he also -possessed an enemy who was watching eagerly for an opportunity to -injure him, and who would pause at no treachery. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - A SUMMONS IN THE NIGHT - - -This reminder came that very afternoon while he was working at the -bottom of the deep cut through the spur of the hill which marked the -top of the long, stiff grade just west of the mill switch. - -The other members of the gang were at the farther end of the cut, -and Allan had just finished levelling down a pile of gravel, when he -heard a sudden shout of warning from Jack. - -“Look out, Allan!” cried the latter. “Look out!” - -Allan instinctively sprang aside, and was just in time to escape a -large boulder which came crashing down the side of the cut. - -Allan gazed at it in astonishment, drawing a deep breath at his -escape. Then he saw Jack, followed by the others, charging madly up -the side of the hill. Without stopping to reason why, he followed. - -[Illustration: “JUST IN TIME TO ESCAPE A LARGE BOULDER”] - -“What’s the matter?” he cried, as he came panting up behind the ones -who had just gained the hilltop. - -“Matter!” cried Jack, glaring around to right and left over the -hillside. “Matter enough! What d’ y’ suppose made that rock fall -that way?” - -“Why,” said Allan, looking around bewildered, “the earth under it -must have given way—” - -“Nonsense!” interrupted the foreman, impatiently. “Look, here’s th’ -hole it left. Th’ earth didn’t give way a bit. Y’ kin see th’ rock -was pried out—yes, an’ here’s th’ rail that was used to do it with. -Now, who d’ y’ suppose had hold of that rail?” - -Allan turned a little giddy at the question. - -“Not Dan Nolan?” he said, in an awed whisper. - -“Who else but Dan Nolan. An’ he’s hidin’ down there in one o’ them -gullies, sneakin’ along, keepin’ out o’ sight, or I’m mistaken.” - -“Did you see him?” asked Allan. - -“No, I didn’t see him,” retorted Jack. “If I’d seen him, I’d have -him in jail afore night, if I had t’ hunt this whole county over fer -him. But I know it was him. Who else could it be? You know he’s -threatened y’. He’s been hangin’ around doggin’ y’ ever since I put -y’ at this job. There’s more’n one of us knows that; an’ there’s -more’n one of us knows, too, that he wouldn’t be above jest this -kind o’ work. He lamed a man on my gang, onct, jest because he had a -grudge ag’in him—dropped th’ end of a rail on his foot an’ mashed it -so bad that it had t’ be taken off. He said it was an accident, an’ -I believed him, fer I didn’t know him as well then as I do now. He -wouldn’t stop at murder, Dan Nolan wouldn’t—why, that rock would ’a’ -killed you in a minute, if it had hit you!” - -“Yes, I believe it would,” said Allan, and he shivered a little at -the thought of his narrow escape. - -Jack took another long look around at the hills and valleys, but if -Nolan was anywhere among them, the trees and underbrush hid him -effectually. And Allan was loth to believe Jack’s theory; bad as -Nolan was, it seemed incredible that he should be so savage, so -cold-blooded, as to lie there on the brink of the precipice, -waiting, moment by moment, until his victim should be in the precise -spot where the rock would strike him. That seemed too fiendish for -belief. - -“I wouldn’t like to think Nolan did it,” he said, a little hoarsely, -“unless I had some proof. You didn’t see him, you know—” - -“See him!” echoed Jack. “No—I didn’t need to see him! There’s th’ -hole th’ stone was pried out of, an’ there’s th’ rail that was used -fer a lever. Now who had hold o’ that rail? Ain’t Nolan th’ only -enemy you’ve got in th’ world?” - -“Yes,” said Allan, in a low voice; “yes, I believe he is.” - -“An’ do you suppose a feller would lay fer you like that unless he -had somethin’ ag’in you? I tell you, Dan Nolan’s hidin’ down there -in the bushes somewhere, an’ lookin’ up here at us an’ swearin’ -because he didn’t git you!” and Jack shook his fist impatiently at -the horizon. “If I had him under my heel, I’d kill him like I would -a snake!” - -Which, of course, Jack wouldn’t have done, but his honest Irish -blood was boiling at this moment, and he said more than he meant. - -“Come on, boys,” he added, calming himself by a mighty effort, “we -can’t ketch him now, but we’ll git th’ scoundrel yet!” and he -started down the hill, a savage scowl still on his face. - -The incident had cast a shadow over the spirits of the gang, and -they worked the rest of the afternoon in silence. Indeed, ever since -Reddy’s accident, the gang had lacked that spirit of optimism and -gaiety which had marked it; a new man had been taken on, but while -he did Reddy’s work fairly well, he could not take Reddy’s place in -the hearts of the men. Their day’s work lacked the savour which -Reddy’s wit had given it, and they went home at night more weary -than had been their wont. Jack saw, too, that their work had lost -some of its alacrity, and yet he had no heart to find fault with -them. - -But he took no more chances of Allan’s suffering any treacherous -injury. He had talked the matter over with his wife, and between -them, they had laid out a plan of action. Whenever possible, Jack -kept Allan near him. When that was not possible, he took care that -the boy should not be alone at any spot where his enemy could sneak -up on him from behind. He knew if the boy was injured through any -carelessness or lack of foresight on his part, he would never dare -to go home again and face his wife! - -All of this was, of course, plain enough to Allan, and chafed him -somewhat, for he did not want the rest of the gang to think him a -baby who needed constant looking after. Besides, he had an honest -reliance on his ability to look after himself. So, one day, he -ventured to protest. - -“See here, Jack,” he said, “I’m not afraid of Dan Nolan. In fact, I -think I’d be rather glad of the chance to meet him in a fair -stand-up fight.” - -“An’ that’s just th’ chance he’ll never give ye,” retorted Jack. “I -wouldn’t be afeerd o’ him, either, if he’d fight fair—I believe y’ -could lick him. But he won’t fight fair. Th’ coward’ll hit y’ from -behind, if he kin—an’ he’s waitin’ his chance. That’s his kind, as -y’ ought t’ know by this time. Oh, if I could only ketch him!” - -But since the afternoon that great rock had fallen, Nolan had -utterly disappeared from his accustomed haunts. Jack made diligent -inquiries, but could get no news of him. The gang of scalawags who -were his usual companions professed to be utterly ignorant of his -whereabouts. He had been sleeping in a little closet back of one of -the low railroad saloons, paying for board and lodging by cleaning -out the place every morning, but the proprietor of the place said he -had not been near there for a week. So at last Jack dropped his -inquiries, hoping against hope that Nolan had taken alarm and left -the neighbourhood. - -Reddy continued to improve physically from day to day, but mentally -he grew worse and worse. His broken arm had healed nicely, and the -wound in his head was quite well, but the injury to the brain -baffled all the skill of his physicians. He would sit around the -house, moping, seemingly taking notice of nothing; then he would -suddenly start up and walk rapidly away as though he had just -remembered some important engagement. Frequently he would be gone -all day, sometimes even all night. He was rarely at home at -meal-times, and yet he never seemed to be hungry. - -Mrs. Magraw could never find out from him where he spent all this -time. He refused to answer her questions, until, seeing how they -vexed him, she ceased from bothering him, and let him go his own -way. Of her bitter hours of despair and weeping, she allowed him to -see nothing, but tried always to present to him the same cheerful -and smiling countenance she had worn in the old days before his -injury. In spite of this, he grew more and more morose, more and -more difficult to get along with. The doctor advised that he be -taken to an asylum, but the very word filled his wife with a -nameless dread, and she prayed that he might be left in her care a -little while longer. Perhaps he might grow better; at any rate, -unless he grew worse, she could look after him. - -One morning, about a week after the attempt upon Allan’s life, he -and Jack were working together on the embankment by the river’s -edge, when the foreman stopped suddenly, straightened himself, and, -shading his eyes with his hand, gazed long and earnestly across the -water. Allan, following his look, saw two men sitting by a clump of -willows, talking earnestly together. Their figures seemed familiar, -but it was not until one of them leaped to his feet, waving his arms -excitedly, that he recognized him as Reddy Magraw. - -“Who is the other one?” he asked. - -“It’s Dan Nolan,” said the foreman between his teeth. “What deviltry -d’ y’ suppose he’s puttin’ int’ that poor feller’s head?” - -Allan did not answer, but a strange foreboding fell upon him as he -watched Reddy’s excited oratory. Then the two watchers saw Nolan -suddenly pull Reddy down, and together they vanished behind the -trees. - -What could it mean? Allan asked himself. What villainy was Dan Nolan -plotting? Was he trying to make poor, half-witted Reddy his -instrument for the commission of some crime? - -Jack, too, worked away in unaccustomed silence and unusual heaviness -of heart, for he was asking himself the same questions. Something -must be done; Reddy must not be led into any mischief; and no -influence which Nolan might gain over him could be anything but bad. -It was like the coward to try to get another man to do what he -himself shrank from doing. - -The morning passed and noon came, but neither Jack nor Allan had -relish for their dinner—the incident of the morning had spoiled -their appetites. - -“We’ll have t’ look out after Reddy some way,” said Jack, at last, -and then fell silent again. - -They were soon back at work, and Allan, busy with his thoughts, did -not notice that the air grew chill and the sky overcast. - -“The’ll be a storm t’-night,” observed Jack at last, looking around -at the sky. - -“’Fore night,” said one of the workmen. “We’ll be havin’ to quit -work purty soon.” - -Even to an unpractised eye, the signs were unmistakable. Down from -the north great banks of black clouds were sweeping, and the wind -felt strangely cold, even for the last days of October. At last came -the swift patter of the rain, and then a swirl of great, soft, -fleecy flakes. - -“Snow!” cried Jack. “Well, ’f I ever!” - -All stopped to watch the unaccustomed spectacle of snow in October. -It fell thick and fast, the flakes meeting and joining in the air -into big splotches of snow, which melted almost as soon as it -touched the ground. Two of the men, who had been blotted from sight -for a moment, came hurrying toward the others. - -“We might as well quit,” said Jack. “We can’t work this kind o’ -weather;” and so they started homeward through the storm, an hour -before the usual time. - -As the evening passed, the storm grew heavier and more violent. -Looking out from the window after supper, Allan found that the whole -world was shut from sight behind that swirling white curtain. From -time to time he could hear the faint rumble of a train in the yards -below, but no gleam of the engine’s headlight penetrated to him. - -“It’s a bad night fer railroadin’,” Jack remarked, looking out -beside him. “A bad night. Th’ rails ’r so slippy th’ wheels can’t -grip ’em, an’ th’ engineer might as well shut his eyes fer all th’ -good his headlight does him. An’ th’ brakeman—fancy runnin’ along -th’ two-foot path on the top of a train in a storm like this!” - -But trainmen cannot stop for wind or weather, darkness or stress of -storm, and the trains rumbled in and out through the night, most of -them behind time, to be sure, but feeling their way along as best -they could, while up in the offices the despatchers, with tense -nerves and knitted brows, struggled to maintain order in the midst -of chaos. The wires were working badly, every train on the road was -behind the schedule; out at some of the little stations, the -operators, unused to the strain, were growing nervous. The -superintendent closed his desk with a bang, after dictating the last -letter; but instead of going home, as usual, he stood around with -his hands in his pockets, listening to the wildly clicking -instruments, and chewing a cigar savagely. - -Allan lay for a long time that night listening to the trains, -thinking of the wonderful system by which the great business was -managed. He could understand, as yet, only a little of this system, -and he was hungering to know more. Then the scene of the morning -came back to him, and he tossed from side to side, thinking of it. -Poor Reddy—yes, he needed looking after if Dan Nolan had got hold of -him. Reddy’s mind was more that of a child than of a man at present. -What an evil influence Dan might have over him if he cared to use -it! - -At last sleep came; but in an instant he was back again at the river -bank peering across at the figures on the other side. They were -talking together; they seemed to be quarrelling. Then, suddenly, -Nolan caught the other by the throat and hurled him backward over -the bank into the water. Reddy sank with a wild cry; then his head -reappeared, and he caught a glimpse of the boy standing on the -farther bank. - -“Allan!” he cried, stretching out his arms imploringly. “Allan!” - -Allan sat bolt upright, rubbing his eyes, straining his ears to hear -the call again. - -“Allan!” - -It was Jack’s voice,—he knew it now,—but the dawn was not peeping in -at the window, as was usual when Jack called him. He realized that -the night had not yet passed. He caught a glimmer of yellow light -under his door and heard Jack putting on his boots in the room -below. - -Fully awake at last, he sprang out of bed and opened the door. - -“What is it?” he called down the stair. “Do you want me?” - -“Yes. Hurry up,” answered Jack’s voice. - -Allan threw on his clothes with trembling hands, and hastened -down-stairs. He found Jack already at table, eating hastily. - -“Set down,” said the latter, “an’ fill up. It’s mighty uncertain -when ye’ll git another square meal.” - -“We’re going out?” asked the boy. “Then there’s a wreck?” - -“Yes, a wreck—freight, near Vinton. Th’ caller jest come fer me. -It’s so bad all th’ section-gangs on this end ’r ordered out. Eat -all y’ kin. Better drink some coffee, too. Y’ll need it.” - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - CLEARING THE TRACK - - -Allan did his best to force himself to eat, but the strangeness of -the hour and the excitement of the promised adventure took all -desire for food from him. He managed, however, to drink a cup of -coffee, but his hands were trembling so with excitement he could -scarcely hold the cup. It was a wreck, and a bad one. How terrible -to lose a moment! He was eager to be off. But Jack knew from -experience the value and need of food while it could be obtained, in -view of what might be before them. - -“It’ll take ’em some time t’ git’ th’ wreckin’-train ready,” he -said. “Git our waterproofs, Mary.” - -But Mary had them waiting, as well as a lot of sandwiches. She had -been through such scenes before. - -“There, stuff your pockets full,” she said to Allan. “You’ll want -’em.” - -Jack nodded assent, and took his share. - -“And now, good-bye, Mary,” said Jack. “No, don’t wake the baby. If -we git back by t’-morrer night, we’ll be lucky. Come on, Allan.” - -The snow was still falling heavily as they left the house, and they -made their way with some difficulty to the corner of the yards where -the wrecking-train stood on its spur of siding. A score of -section-men had already gathered, and more were coming up every -minute. Nobody knew anything definite about the wreck—some one had -heard that Bill Miller, the engineer, was hurt. It seemed they were -taking a doctor along, for Allan saw his tall form in the uncertain -light. And the train-master and division superintendent were with -him, talking together in low tones. - -Jack began checking off his men as they came up and reported. - -An engine backed up and coupled on to the wrecking-train, and the -men slowly clambered aboard. The switch at the end of the siding was -opened. - -“How many men have you got, Welsh?” asked Mr. Schofield, the -train-master. - -“Thirty-six, so far, sir.” - -“All right. We’ll pick up the gangs on Twenty-three and four as we -pass. Go ahead,” he shouted to the engineer. “We’ve got a clear -track to Vinton,” and he followed Allan and Jack up the steps into -the car. - -There was a hiss of steam into the cylinders and the train pulled -slowly out upon the main track, the wheels slipping over the rails -at first, but gripping better as the train gathered headway and shot -eastward into the whirling snow. Operators, switchmen, -station-agents, flagmen, all looked out to see it pass. It had only -two cars—one, a long flat car loaded with ties and rails, piled with -ropes and jacks and crowbars. At one end stood the heavy steel -derrick, strong enough to lift even a great mogul of a -freight-engine and swing it clear of the track. - -In the other car, which looked very much like an overgrown box-car, -was the powerful donkey-engine which worked the derrick, more tools, -a cooking-stove, and a number of narrow cots. Two oil-lanterns swung -from the roof, half-illuminating the faces of the men, who sat along -the edges of the cots, talking together in low tones. - -At Byers, the section-gang from Twenty-three clambered aboard; at -Hamden came the gangs from Twenty-four and Twenty-five. Nearly sixty -men were crowded together in the car; but there was little noise. It -reminded Allan of a funeral. - -And it was a funeral. The great railroad, binding East to West, was -lying dead, its back broken, useless, its circulation stopped. The -line was blocked, the track torn up—it was no longer warm, living, -vital. It had been torn asunder. It was a mere useless mass of wood -and steel. These men were hastening to resurrect it, to make it -whole again. - -At McArthur the superintendent came aboard with a yellow paper in -his hand,—the conductor’s report of the accident,—and he and the -train-master bent their heads together over it. The men watched them -intently. - -“Is it a bad one, sir?” asked Jack at last. - -“Bad enough,” answered the superintendent. “It seems that first -Ninety-eight broke in two on the grade just beyond Vinton. Track so -slippery they couldn’t hold, and she ran back into the second -section. They came together in the cut at the foot of the grade, and -fifteen cars loaded with nut coal were wrecked. Miller seems the -only one hurt, but the track’s torn up badly.” - -“Nut coal!” said Jack, with a whistle. “We’ve got our work cut out -for us, boys.” - -The men nodded—they knew now what to expect. And they fell to -talking together in low tones, telling stories of past wrecks, of -feats of endurance in the breathless battle which always follows -when this leviathan of steel is torn asunder. But the superintendent -had used one word which Allan had not wholly understood, and he took -the first opportunity to ask Jack about it. - -“What did Mr. Heywood mean, Jack,” he inquired, “when he said the -train broke in two?” - -“That’s so,” and Jack laughed. “It’s your first one—I’d forgot that. -I wish it was mine,” and he forthwith explained just how the -accident had probably happened. - -A “break-in-two” occurs usually as a train is topping a heavy grade. -The unusual strain breaks a coupling-pin or pulls out a draw-bar, -and the portion of the train released from the engine goes whirling -back down the grade, carrying death and destruction with it, unless -the crew can set the brakes and get it stopped. Or, on a down-grade, -a coupling-pin jumps out and then the two sections come together -with a crash, unless the engineer sees the danger in time, and runs -away at full speed from the pursuing section. It is only freights -that “break in two,” for passenger couplings are made heavy enough -to withstand any strain; besides, the moment a passenger-train -parts, the air-brakes automatically stop both sections. But to -freight crews there is no danger more menacing than the -“break-in-two,” although, happily, this danger is gradually growing -less and less, with the introduction of air-brakes on freight-cars -as well as passenger. - -Freight-trains, when traffic is heavy, are usually run in sections, -with as many cars to each section as an engine can handle. The -sections are run as close together as they can be with safety, and, -in railroad parlance, the first section of Freight-train -Ninety-eight, for instance, is known as “first Ninety-eight”; the -second section as “second Ninety-eight,” and so on. - -In this instance, the first section of Train Ninety-eight had broken -in two at the top of a long grade, and fifteen coal-cars, together -with the caboose, had gone hurtling back down the grade, finally -crashing into the front end of the second section, which was -following about a mile behind. The conductor and brakemen, who were -in the caboose, after a vain attempt to stop the runaway cars with -the hand-brakes, had jumped off, and escaped with slight bruises, -but the engineer and fireman of the second section had had no -warning of their danger until the cars swept down upon them out of -the storm. There was no time to jump—it would have been folly to -jump, anyhow, since the high walls of the cut shut them in on either -side; yet the fireman had escaped almost unhurt, only the engineer -being badly injured. The impact of the collision had been terrific, -and, as the telegram from the conductor stated, fifteen cars had -been completely wrecked. - -So much the section-men understood from the superintendent’s brief -description, and Jack explained it to Allan, while the others -listened, putting in a word of correction now and then. - -On and on sped the wrecking-train through the night. The oil-lamps -flared and flickered, throwing a yellow, feeble light down into the -car, where the men sat crowded together, for the most part silent -now, figuring on the task before them. It was evident that it would -be no easy one, but they had confidence in their officers,—the same -confidence that soldiers have in a general whose ability has been -fully tested,—and they knew that the task would be made as easy as -might be. - -The atmosphere of the car grew close to suffocation. Every one, -almost, was smoking, and the lamps soon glowed dimly through the -smoke like the sun upon a foggy day. Outside, the snow still fell, -thickly, softly; their engineer could not see the track twenty feet -ahead; but the superintendent had told him that the way was clear, -so he kept his throttle open and plunged blindly on into the night, -for every moment was valuable now; every nerve must be strained to -the utmost tension until the task of clearing the track had been -accomplished. - -So the fireman bent steadily to the work of keeping up steam, -clanging the door of the fire-box back and forth between each -shovelful of coal, in order to keep the draught full strength. The -flames licked out at him each time the door was opened, lighting the -cab with yellow gleams, which danced across the polished metal and -illumined dimly the silent figure of the engineer peering forward -into the storm. The engine rocked and swayed, the wind swirled and -howled about it, and tried to hold it back, but on and on it -plunged, never pausing, never slackening. Any one who was on the -track to-night must look out for himself; but, luckily, the right of -way was clear, crossing after crossing was passed without accident; -the train tore through little hamlets, awakening strange echoes -among the darkened houses, and, as it passed, the operator would run -out to look at it, and, after a single glance, would rush back to -his key, call frantically for “G I,”—the despatcher’s office,—and -tick in the message that the wrecking-train had got that far on its -journey. - -Back in the wrecking-car the superintendent had taken out his watch -and sat with it a moment in his hand. - -“We’re going a mile a minute,” he remarked to the train-master. -“Higgins is certainly hitting her up.” - -The train-master nodded and turned again to the conductor’s report. -He was planning every detail of the battle which must be fought. - -Jack glanced at Allan, and smiled. - -“You’re wonderin’ how he could tell how fast we’re going, ain’t ye?” -he asked. - -“Yes,” said Allan, “I am. How did he tell?” - -“By listenin’ t’ th’ click o’ th’ wheels over th’ rails,” answered -Jack. “Each rail’s thirty foot long—that is, there’s a hundred an’ -seventy-six to th’ mile. Mister Heywood probably kept tab on them -fer fifteen seconds and counted forty-four clicks, so he knowed we -was goin’ a mile a minute.” - -“Here we are,” remarked the train-master, as the wheels clanked over -a switch, and, sure enough, a moment later their speed began to -slacken. - -Jack looked down at Allan and grinned again, as he saw the -astonishment written on the boy’s face. - -“You’re wonderin’ how Mr. Schofield could tell that, ain’t you?” he -asked. “Why, bless you, he knows this here division like a book. Put -him down on any part of it blindfolded and he’ll tell you right -where he is. He knows every foot of it.” - -Perhaps Jack exaggerated unconsciously, but there was no doubt that -Mr. Schofield, like every other good train-master, knew his division -thoroughly—the location of every switch, the length of every siding, -the position of every signal, the capacity of every engine. Nay, -more, he knew the disposition of every conductor and engineer. When -Milliken, for instance, wired in a protest that he couldn’t take -another load, he would smile placidly and repeat his previous -orders; if Rogers made the same complaint, he would wire back -tersely, “All right.” He knew that Milliken was always complaining, -while Rogers never did without cause. He knew his track, his -equipment, and his men—and that is, no doubt, the reason why, -to-day, he is superintendent of one of the most important divisions -of the system. - -The wrecking-train slowed and stopped, and the men clambered -painfully to the ground, and went forward to take a look at the task -before them. It was evident in a moment that it was a bigger one -than any had anticipated—so big, indeed, that it seemed to Allan, at -least, that it would be far easier to build a new track around the -place than to try to open the old one. From side to side of the deep -cut, even with the top, the coal was heaped, mixed with splintered -boards and twisted iron that had once been freight-cars. High on the -bank perched the engine, thrown there by the mighty blow that had -been dealt it. On either side were broken and splintered cars, and -the track was torn and twisted in a way that seemed almost beyond -repair. It was a scene of chaos such as the boy had never before -witnessed, and even the old, tried section-men were staggered when -they looked at it. It seemed impossible that anything so puny as -mere human strength could make any impression upon that tangled, -twisted mass. - -The doctor hurried away to attend to the injured engineer, who had -been removed to the caboose by the crew of the second section, while -the officers went forward to look over the battle-field. At the end -of three minutes they had prepared their plan of action, and the men -responded with feverish energy. Great cables were run out and -fastened to the shattered frames of the coal-cars, which were -dragged out of the mass of wreckage by the engine, and then hoisted -from the track and thrown to one side out of the way. The -donkey-engine puffed noisily away, while the derrick gripped trucks -and wheels and masses of twisted iron and splintered beams, and -swung them high on the bank beside the road with an ease almost -superhuman. The men went to work with a will, under the supervision -of the officers, dragging out the smaller pieces of wreckage. Hour -after hour they toiled, until, at last, only the coal remained—a -great, shifting, treacherous mass—ton upon ton—fifteen car-loads—a -veritable mountain of coal. And here the derrick could be of no -use—there was only one way to deal with it. It must be shovelled -from the track by hand! - -It was a task beside which the labours of Hercules seemed small by -comparison. But no one stopped to think about its enormousness—it -had to be done, and done as quickly as possible. In a few moments, -sixty shovels were attacking the mighty mass, rising and falling -with a dogged persistence which, in the end, must conquer any -obstacle. - -Dawn found the men at this trying work. At seven o’clock hot coffee -and sandwiches were served out to them, and they stopped work for -ten minutes to swallow the food. At eight, a cold rain began to -fall, that froze into sleet upon the ground, so that the men could -scarcely stand. Still they laboured doggedly on. Train-master and -superintendent were everywhere, encouraging the men, making certain -that not a blow was wasted, themselves taking a hand now and then, -with pick or shovel. There was no thought of rest; human nature must -be pushed to its utmost limit of endurance—this great leviathan of -steel and oak must be made whole again. All along its two hundred -miles of track, passengers were waiting, fuming, impatient to reach -their destinations; thousands of tons of freight filled the sidings, -waiting the word that would permit it to go forward. Here in the -hills, with scarcely a house in sight, was the wound that stretched -the whole system powerless—that kept business men from their -engagements, wives from husbands, that deranged the plans of -hundreds; ay, more than that, it was keeping food from the hungry, -the ice was melting in refrigerator-cars, peaches and apples were -spoiling in hot crates, cattle were panting with thirst,—all waiting -upon the labours of this little army, which was fighting so -valiantly to set things right. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - UNSUNG HEROES - - -Allan laboured savagely with the others. One thought sang in his -brain, keeping time to the steady rise and fall of the shovels: “The -track must be cleared; the track must be cleared.” The great pile of -coal before him took on a hideous and threatening personality—it was -a dragon, with its claws at the road’s throat. It must be -conquered—must be dragged away. From time to time he stopped a -moment to munch one of the sandwiches, not noticing the dirt and -coal-dust that settled upon it. He was not hungry, but he felt -instinctively that he must eat the food. - -Most of the other men were chewing tobacco, their jaws working -convulsively in unison with their arms. They had long since ceased -to be human beings—they had become machines. Their movements were -precise, automatic, regular. Their faces grew gradually black and -blacker in the perpetual dust which arose from the coal; their eyes -became rimmed with black, and bloodshot under the constant -irritation of the dust. They breathed it in, swallowed it, absorbed -it. Their sense of smell and taste gradually left them—or, at least, -they could smell and taste only one thing, coal-dust. They ceased to -resemble men; one coming upon them unawares would have taken them -for some horrible group from Dante’s inferno, doing terrible penance -through eternity. They looked neither to the right nor left; their -eyes were always on the coal—on this shifting black monster with -which they were doing battle. Their hands seemed welded to the -shovels, which rose and fell, rose and fell. - -The cold rain beat in sheets around them, soaking their clothes, and -yet they scarcely felt this added discomfort, so intent were they -upon the task before them. Most of them had thrown off their coats -at the beginning of the struggle, and now their wet shirts stuck -tightly to their skins, showing every muscle. Gradually, by almost -imperceptible degrees, the pile of coal on the banks of the cut grew -higher; gradually the pile on the track grew less, but so slowly -that it was agonizing. - -Above them on the bank, the great locomotive, hurled there and -turned completely around by the force of the collision, stood a grim -sentinel. It was the one piece of luck, the officers told -themselves, in connection with this wreck, that the engine had been -tossed there out of the way. To have raised it from the track and -placed it there would have taken hours, and every minute was so -precious! It would take hours to get it down again, but that need -not be done until the track was clear. - -Toward the middle of the morning, three fresh gangs of men came from -the east and fell to work beside the others. But the others did not -think of stopping. Instead, with staring eyes and tight-set teeth, -they worked a little harder, to keep pace with the freshness and -vigour of the newcomers. Ninety shovels were hurling the coal aside, -digging into it, eating it away. Here, there, and everywhere the -officials went, seeing that every stroke told, that not an ounce of -energy was wasted, taking a hand themselves, driving themselves as -hard as any of the men. Soon the coal was heaped so high along the -sides of the cut that a force was put to work throwing it farther -back. Almost all of it had to be handled twice! - -Noon came—a dark noon without a sun; a noon marked by no hour of -rest for these toilers. Back in the wrecking-car a great boiler of -coffee steamed and bubbled; the cook carried pails of it among the -men, who paused only long enough to swallow a big dipperful. Even -Allan, who had no taste for it, drank deep and long, and he was -astonished at the flood of warm vigour it seemed to send through -him. Every half-hour this coffee was passed around, strong and black -and stimulating. It was a stimulation for which the men would pay -later on in limp reaction, but it did its work now. - -Experience had proved that no other means was so good as this to -sustain men against fatigue, hour after hour, and to drive away -sleep from the brain. Time was when the railroad company had -experimented with other stimulants, but they had long since been -discarded. - -Still the rain descended, and a biting wind from the north turned -the weather steadily colder and colder. A sheet of sleet formed over -the coal, welding it into a solid mass, which required the vigorous -use of picks to dislodge. The men slipped and stumbled, gasping with -exhaustion, but still the shovels rose and fell. Here and there, the -twisted and broken track began to appear. - -At the side of the track the train-master called a lineman, who -carried a wire up a pole and attached it to one of the wires -overhead. A telegraph instrument was connected with this, and, -sitting down upon the bank, the train-master ticked in to -headquarters the news that the track would be clear at midnight, and -repaired six hours later. - -In this, as in everything, the train-master knew his men. Ten -minutes before midnight the last shovelful of coal was out of the -way,—the track was clear,—one part of the battle had been won. But -another part yet remained to fight,—the track must be rebuilt, and -the work of doing it began without a moment’s delay. The twisted -rails and splintered ties were wrenched out of the way; the -road-bed, which had been ploughed up by the wheels of the derailed -cars, was hastily levelled. From the wrecking-car gangs of men -staggered under new ties and rails, which were piled along beside -the track where they would be needed. - -At last the road-bed was fairly level again, and ties were laid with -feverish energy by the light of the flaring torches, which gave the -scene a weirdness which it had lacked by day. Phantoms of men moved -back and forth, now disappearing in the darkness, now leaping into -view again, working doggedly on, to their very last ounce of -strength and endurance. - -As the ties were got into place, the rails were spiked down upon -them and fish-plates were bolted into place. Rod after rod they -advanced, tugging, hammering, with the energy of desperation. It was -no question now of a perfect road-bed—rail must be joined to rail so -that once more the red blood of commerce could be pumped along the -artery they formed. After that there would be time for the fine -points. And just as the sun peeped over the eastern hills, the last -spike was driven, the last bolt tightened. The work was done. - -The men cheered wildly, savagely, their voices hoarse and unnatural. -Then they gathered up their tools, staggered to the car, and fell -exhausted on bunk or chair or floor, and went instantly to sleep. -Allan found afterward that he had no memory whatever of those last -trying hours. - -At the side of the road the train-master was ticking off a message -which told that his promise was kept,—a message which sent a thrill -of life along the line from end to end,—which told that the road was -clear. Then he cut loose his instrument, and he and the -superintendent walked back to the car together. They were no longer -the trim, good-looking men of every day—they were haggard, gaunt, -unshaven. Their eyes were bloodshot, their clothing soiled and torn. -They had not spared themselves. For thirty-six hours they had been -working without so much as lifting their hats from their heads. But -they had won the battle—as they had won many others like it, though -few quite so desperate. - -On either side the track was piled a mass of twisted wreckage; the -engine still lay high on the bank. That could wait. Another crew -could haul the engine down and gather up the débris, for the track -was open. - -The journey back took longer than the journey out. At every siding -they headed in to let passenger and freight whirl past; the blood -was bounding now, trying to make up for the time it had been -stopped. But the men lying in the car saw none of them; the roar of -their passage did not awaken them—they knew not whether the trip -back took two hours or ten—they were deaf, blind, dead with fatigue. -Only at the journey’s end were they awakened, and it was no easy -task. But at last they had all arisen, gaunt shadows of their former -selves. - -“Boys,” said the superintendent, “I want to tell you that I’ve never -seen a wreck handled as well as you handled this one. You did great -work, and I’m proud of you. Now go home and go to sleep,—sleep -twenty-four hours if you can. Don’t report for duty till to-morrow. -And I promise you I won’t forget this night’s work.” - -They staggered away through the curious crowd at the station, seeing -nothing, turning instinctively in the direction of their homes. - -“Why,” remarked one white-haired man, gazing after them, “they look -just as we looked after we got through the Wilderness. They look -like they’ve been under fire for a week.” - -The superintendent, passing, heard the remark. - -“They have,” he answered, dryly. “They’ve been under the heaviest -kind of fire continuously for thirty-six hours. You fellows have had -whole libraries written about you, and about a thousand monuments -built to you. You get a pension while you live, and your grave is -decorated when you die. I’m not saying you don’t deserve it all, for -I believe you do. But there’s some other people in the world who -deserve honour and glory, too,—section-men, for instance. I never -heard of anybody building a monument to them, or calling them -heroes; and, if there are any flowers on their graves, it’s their -families put them there!” - -He passed on, while his auditor stared open-mouthed, not knowing -whether to be moved or angry. The superintendent’s nerves were -shaken somewhat, or he might have spoken less bitterly; but a sudden -sharp sense of the world’s injustice had clamoured for utterance. - -And the wrecking-train was run in again on the siding, ready for the -next trip. - -The men, of course, paid the penalty for their almost superhuman -exertions. No men could work as they had done and not feel the -after-effects in diminished vitality. The younger ones among them -soon recovered, for youth has a wonderful power of recuperation; the -older ones were a little more bent, a little more gnarled and -withered, a little nearer the end of the journey. They had -sacrificed themselves on the altar of the great system which they -served; they had done so without a murmur, with no thought of -shirking or holding back. They would do so again without an -instant’s hesitation whenever duty called them. For that was their -life-work, to which they were dedicated with a simple, unquestioning -devotion. There was something touching about it,—something grand and -noble, too,—just as there is in a man dedicating himself to any -work, whether to conquer the world with Napoleon, or to keep clean a -stretch of street pavement committed to his care. It was this -dedication, this singleness of purpose—this serfdom to the -road—which Allan grew to understand more and more deeply, and to -glory in. - -And it was not an unworthy service, for the road was worth devotion. -Not the company of capitalists, who sat in an office somewhere in -the East and manipulated its stocks and bonds, but the road -itself,—this thing of steel and oak which had rendered possible the -development of the country, which had added fabulously to its -wealth, which bound together its widely separated States into one -indivisible Union. They were servants of the force which, more than -any other, has made our modern civilization possible. - -Let me add that the story of this wreck is no imaginary one. It is a -true story which actually occurred just as it is set down here; it -is an experience which repeats itself over and over again in the -life of every railroad man; it was a battle which, in one form or -another, railroad men are always fighting, and always winning. And, -more than most battles, is it worth winning! - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - A NEW DANGER - - -There is a superstition among railroad men which, strangely enough, -is seemingly warranted by experience, that when one wreck occurs, -two more are certain to follow. And, sure enough, two more did -follow, though neither was so serious as the one at Vinton; which, -indeed, still lives in the memories of those who helped clear it -away as the worst that ever happened on the division. - -Not so serious, that is, in delaying the traffic of the road, but -more serious in another way, since both entailed loss of life. The -first one occurred just three days after the wreck at Vinton. A -freight-train had taken a siding about five miles east of Wadsworth -to allow the through east-bound express to pass, but the brakeman on -the freight, who was a green hand, forgot to throw the switch back -again after the freight-train had backed in upon the siding. He -climbed up into the cab, and he and the engineer and fireman sat -there chatting away, all unconscious of the impending disaster. In a -moment, they heard the roar of the approaching train, and then it -flashed into view far down the track. They turned to watch it, to -admire the clean lines of the engine as it whirled toward them; -then, as it reached the switch, they were horrified to see it turn -in upon the siding. There was no time to move, to cry out, to -attempt to save themselves. An instant of horrified suspense, and -the crash came, and the two engines, together with the cars -immediately behind them, were piled together into a torn and twisted -mass of wreckage,—wreckage through which blistering steam hissed and -about which in a moment hungry flames began to lap,—wreckage from -which no man came forth alive. But, as the accident occurred upon a -siding, the main track was not even blocked, and the wreckage was -cleared away without the feverish haste which marked the wreck at -Vinton. - -The third wreck occurred at Torch, a little station on the east end -of the road, when both engineer and fireman of an east-bound -freight-train forgot their orders to take the siding there, to make -way for the west-bound flier, and continued on full speed past the -station. The conductor recognized the error at once, but he was away -back in the caboose at the other end of the train. He sent a -brakeman flying forward over the cars to warn the engineer of his -danger, but, before he had got forward half the length of the train, -the express hurtled down upon them, and both engineer and fireman -paid for their forgetfulness with their lives. This wreck was so far -east that it was handled from Parkersburg, and the gang from Section -Twenty-one was not called out. - -This series of accidents impressed deeply upon Allan’s mind the -terrible peculiarity which belongs to railroading. In most of life’s -ordinary occupations, a mistake may be retrieved; on the railroad, -almost never. To make a mistake there is, almost inevitably, to -sacrifice life and property. The railroad man who makes a mistake -never has the chance to make a second one. If he survives the first -one, his dismissal from the road’s employ will follow. Mistakes on a -railroad are too expensive to risk them by employing careless men. - -The employés of the road breathed easier after the accident at -Torch. Until the fatal three had occurred, every man feared that his -turn would come next; now they knew that they were safe until -another series was started. Whether it was from the increased -self-confidence and self-control which this belief engendered, or -whether there really was some basis for this railroad superstition, -at any rate, no more accidents occurred, and the road’s operation -proceeded smoothly and uneventfully. - -One exciting battle there was in late September. The fall rains had -been unusually heavy and persistent; every little brook became a -roaring torrent, loosening bridges and culverts, seeping under the -road-bed, and demanding constant vigilance on the part of the -section-gangs. As the rain continued without abating, the broad -river, which usually flowed peacefully along far below the railroad -embankment, rose foot by foot until the whole stretch of embankment -along the river’s edge was threatened. Long trains of flat cars were -hurried to the place, loaded with rock and bags of sand. These were -dumped along the embankment, which was washing badly in places, and -for a time it looked as though the encroachments of the water had -been stopped. But the rain continued, and the river kept on rising, -until it was seeping along the top of the embankment. If it once -began to flow over it, nothing could save the track, for the water -would slice away the earth beneath it in great sections. - -All the men that could be spared from the other portions of the road -had been hurried to the scene. At the gravel-pit just below the -city, a gang of fifty men was working, filling heavy sacks and -loading them on flat cars. A great steam-shovel was heaping the -loose gravel upon other cars, and, as soon as enough were loaded to -make a train, they were hurried away to the danger point. During -that culminating day, no effort was made to preserve the train -schedule. The work-trains were given the right of way, and even the -lordly east-bound passengers had to flag through from the embankment -to the gravel-pit. Train-master and superintendent were on the spot, -directing where the gravel should be dumped, and watching anxiously -the gauge which marked the rise of the water. Another inch and it -would be over the embankment. - -But from the last inspection of the gauge Mr. Schofield arose with a -shout of triumph. - -“It’s no higher than it was half an hour ago,” he said. “It hasn’t -risen a hair’s breadth. It’ll begin to fall before long. We’re all -right if we can only make the embankment hold.” - -Hope put new life into the men, and they worked like beavers; but -whether the embankment could withstand much longer the tremendous -pressure of the water against it seemed exceedingly doubtful. The -whole length of the river seemed to be concentrating its strength to -push against this one spot. Allan, as he paused to look up the muddy -current, almost imagined that the water was rushing toward the -embankment with the deliberate purpose of overwhelming it. The -débris which the broad current hurried along told of the damage it -was doing in other places. Lordly trees had been uprooted, -outbuildings carried away, stock drowned, fertile bottom land -covered with gravel and rendered worthless,—but all this seemed -trivial to the boy beside the danger which threatened the road. He -could guess how long it would take to rebuild this great stretch of -embankment, should it be swept away. For weeks and months, the -system must lay powerless, lifeless, disrupted. - -Mr. Schofield bent over the gauge again and looked at it. - -“She’s going down, boys!” he cried, rising with beaming face. “She’s -gone down half an inch. We’re going to win this fight!” - -But how slowly the water receded! It seemed to Allan, at times, that -it was rising again; but the crest of the flood had passed, and by -the next day the danger was quite over. The embankment had to be -rebuilt where it had been badly washed; and it was rebuilt more -strongly than ever, and guarded by a wall of riprap, but never for -an hour was the traffic of the road interrupted. - -So October passed and November came. Always there was the track -demanding attention,—an endless round of work which would never be -completed. Always there were the trains rushing over it in endless -procession,—the luxurious Limited, sending every other train -headlong into a siding out of the way; the slower “accommodation,” -which stops at every station along the road and is very popular with -the farmers and dwellers at crossroads; the big through freight, -drawn by a mighty giant of an engine, hauling two thousand tons of -grain or beef or coal to the great Eastern market. - -And the through freight is the greatest of them all, for it is the -money-maker. The Limited, glittering with polished brass and rare -woods and plate-glass, is for show,—for style. It makes the road a -reputation. It figures always in the advertisements in big type and -on the back of folder and time-table in gorgeous lithograph. Its -passengers look out with aversion at the dingy, ugly freight, -standing on the siding, waiting for it to pass. But it is the -freight that is meat and drink to the road; it enables it to keep -out of the receiver’s hands, and sometimes even to pay dividends. - -For Allan, the days passed happily, for one serious cloud was lifted -from his life. Dan Nolan had disappeared. He had not been seen for -weeks, and every one hoped that he would never be seen in that -neighbourhood again. Jack had taken good care to spread the story of -the fallen rock, and Nolan was wise to keep out of the trainmen’s -way. - -“He thinks I saw him that day,” remarked the foreman, “an’ he’s -afeard of a term in th’ penitentiary. Well, he’ll git it; if not -here, somewheres else.” - -One trouble still remained, for Reddy showed no sign of improvement. -His aversion to all his old friends seemed rather to increase, and -he would wander away for days at a time. With this development of -vagrant habits, he fell naturally in with other vagrants; played -cards with them under the big coal-chute, rode with them in empty -box-cars,—in a word, degenerated utterly from the happy, industrious -Reddy of other days. Still, he showed no disposition to harm any -one, so his friends deemed it best to let him go his way, hoping -against hope that time might work a cure. His wife had been given -the position of janitress of the depot building, and so provided for -the family. - -Physically, Allan had never been in such splendid condition. -Constant work in the open air had hardened his muscles and tanned -his face; he was lean and hard, his eyes clear, his nerves steady. -He was always ready for his bed at night, and always ready for his -work in the morning. He felt within himself an abounding health and -vitality, that brought him near to nature, and made him love her -great winds and tempests. The only things he missed were the books -to which he had always been accustomed. He was usually too tired in -the evening to do more than read the newspaper; but he was gaining -for himself a first-hand experience of life more valuable than any -reflection of it he could have caught from the printed page. The -foundations of his education had been well laid; now he was laying -the foundations of experience. Somehow, for the time being, books -seemed to him strangely useless and artificial. He was drinking deep -of life itself. - -And as the days passed, Allan grew to know the trainmen better. He -was admitted to the freemasonry of their fellowship, and sat with -them often in the evenings at roundhouse or yardmaster’s office, -listening to their yarns, which had a strange fascination for him. -It was at the roundhouse that engineers and firemen met, summoned by -the caller to take their engines out; at the yardmaster’s office, -conductors and brakemen reported. And the boy found all of them -alike prepared for what might befall, ready, instinctively, without -second thought, to risk their lives to save the company’s property -or to protect the passengers entrusted to their care. - -A great admiration for these men grew into his heart. They were like -soldiers, ready at a moment’s notice to advance under fire,—only -here there was not the wild exhilaration of battle, of charge and -sortie, but only a long, cold looking of danger in the face. - -Even the humblest of them had his heroisms, as the boy found out one -night; for, surely, none was humbler than Bill Griffith, the lame -crossing-flag-man. It was at the roundhouse one evening that Allan -chanced to ask how Bill lost his leg. “Tookey” Morton—the oldest -engineer on the road—who had just come in to report, turned around -at the question. - -“He’s lost both legs, my boy,” he said. “He’s wood on both sides -from the knee down, only you can’t see it because his pant-legs hide -it. Ten years ago, Bill was one of the best engineers on this road. -He had the old Ninety-six,—you remember her, boys,—one of them old -passenger-engines, built too light for the business. Well, one night -Bill was spinnin’ down the grade at Loveland when the side-rod on -his side broke, and in about half a second had whipped the cab to -pieces and smashed both Bill’s legs. His fireman, who was green, -jumped at the first crash; so what did Bill do but get up on the -stumps of his legs and walk to the throttle and shut her off. They -found him layin’ on what was left of the deck, and thought he was -dead. But he pulled through, and was given that billet at the -crossin’. And there ain’t a man, woman, or child has been hurt there -since he’s had it.” - -The section-men were soon to have their hours of danger, too, for -the road was falling among troublesome times. The first wind of it -came in an order to all employés issued from general headquarters. - -Jack stuck a copy of it on the order-hook on the wall of the -section-shanty, and then read it over again with a very dark face. -Thus it ran: - - “NOTICE TO EMPLOYÉS, ALL DEPARTMENTS - - “The police department of this road has just been - reorganized, and all employés are hereby directed to aid - it in every possible way in keeping all trains, freight - and passenger, free from tramps. This nuisance has grown - to such proportions that it must be checked. Trainmen - discovered permitting tramps to ride on their trains - will be summarily discharged. Section-men will see that - no fires are built by tramps on the right of way, and - that they do not linger on railroad property. - - “[Signed] A. G. Round, - “Supt. and Gen. Manager. - - _“Cincinnati, Ohio, November 14.”_ - -“That means trouble,” said Jack, “if they try t’ carry it out,” and -turned away to his work without further comment. - -But that night in the yardmaster’s office Allan heard the order -discussed with freedom and much emphasis. - -“We can’t deny,” said one man, “that th’ hoboes have been robbin’ -th’ road right an’ left, but what kin we do? Try t’ put ’em off an’ -git a bullet through us or a knife in us?” - -“It’s put ’em off or git fired,” remarked another, grimly. - -“The road couldn’t stand it any longer,” remarked the yardmaster. -“Car after car has come into the yards here broken open and any -amount of stuff missing. It’s been costing the road a pretty figure -to straighten things out with the shippers.” - -“The tramps get in out here at the heavy grade just east of Byers,” -remarked a conductor. “Those fool despatchers load us up so heavy -that we can’t make more than six or eight miles an hour up that -grade,—sometimes we stick and have to double over. Well, the tramps -lay for us there every night, and, while we’re crawling along, or -maybe cutting the train in two to double, they pick out a likely -looking car of merchandise, break it open, hunt around inside, and -throw off what they want, and then drop off themselves. We don’t -even know the seals are broken until we get into the yards here.” - -“There’s a dozen other places on the road just as bad,” said the -yardmaster. - -“But how’s a feller t’ know what’s goin’ on inside a car?” queried a -brakeman, sarcastically. “That’s what I’d like to be told.” - -“Well,” retorted the yardmaster, “I guess the superintendent will -tell you quick enough, if he ever gets you on the carpet.” - -The brakeman snorted skeptically. - -“I dunno,” he said. “I guess th’ whole thing’s jest a bluff, -anyway.” - -But trainmen and tramps alike soon found out that the management of -the road was in deadly earnest. The force of police had been -strongly reinforced. Tramps were summarily thrown off the trains. -When they showed fight, as they often did at first, they were -promptly arrested, arraigned before the nearest police justice, and -given a term in the workhouse. - -To be sure, all this was not accomplished without some cost. One -detective was shot through the head and killed, and many others had -escapes more or less narrow, but the tramps soon lost their -boldness. They no longer broke open freight-cars at will and helped -themselves to their contents, or rode from place to place as their -fancy dictated. But they took their revenge in other ways. - -One night an extra west-bound freight ran through an open switch at -Greenfield and crashed into the freight-house. An investigation -showed that the switch-lock had been broken, and the switch thrown. -A night watchman on Section Twenty-eight found a big pile of ties on -the track, and stopped another freight just in time to prevent a -wreck. - -Ugly rumours were flying about of the tramps’ intentions, and it was -at this juncture that another order came from headquarters. It ran: - - “NOTICE TO SECTION-FOREMEN - - “All section-foremen, until further orders, will divide - their gangs into tricks, and have one man constantly on - duty patrolling the track from end to end of their - section. All sections must be gone over not less than - once every three hours, and special vigilance is - required at night. The road relies upon its section-men - to see that this work is faithfully done. Double time - will be allowed for this extra duty. To go into effect - at once. - - “[Signed] A. G. Round, - “Supt. and Gen. Manager. - - _“Cincinnati, Ohio, November 30.”_ - -And simultaneously the road’s police force was augmented by a dozen -special detectives. The management was determined to prove that it -could protect its property. Besides, the other roads of the country -were looking on with much interest to see what the result of this -struggle would be, for the tramp nuisance was rampant everywhere. - -For a time, it seemed that these precautions had been effective. -There were no more robberies reported, and few tramps attempted to -steal rides. To be sure, the station at Madeira caught fire one -night and burned to the ground, but there was no proof of -incendiarism. Still the road did not relax its vigilance. -Threatening rumours came to it from the underworld. The detectives, -assuming tramp garb and fraternizing with the “hoboes,” became aware -of something sinister in the air, but could never quite fathom the -mystery. They were sure of only one thing—something was going to -happen. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - ALLAN MAKES A DISCOVERY - - -During all this time, Allan had been taking his trick of -track-walking with the other men on Section Twenty-one. Jack had -arranged it so that the boy’s trip over the road was made in the -early morning, from four o’clock to seven, when, in his opinion, -there was the minimum of danger. For Jack still feared Dan Nolan, -although that rascal had not been seen in the neighbourhood for -months. But Jack had an uneasy feeling that Nolan was still plotting -mischief, that he was still watching his opportunity to do Allan an -injury. - -The boy himself, confident in his growing manhood, laughed at these -fears. - -“Nolan has cleared out for good,” he said to Jack. “He’s gone -somewhere where he’s not known, and has got another job. We’ll never -see him again.” - -But Jack shook his head stubbornly. - -“I know better,” he said. “Mebbe he’s gone away for awhile, but -he’ll come back ag’in, an’, if he ever gits a good chance t’ hit y’ -from behind, he’ll take it. I’ve got a sort of idee that Nolan’s at -th’ bottom of most of th’ devilment that’s been goin’ on on this -here road. Th’ tramps would ’a’ cleared out long ago if there hadn’t -been somebody back of them urgin’ ’em on.” - -“Oh, come, Jack,” protested Allan, “you’ve let that idea get such a -hold on you that you can’t shake it off.” - -“Anyway,” said Jack, “I want you t’ keep your eyes about you when -you’re out there by yourself. An’ you’re t’ carry that club I made -fer you, an’ t’ use it, too, if Nolan ever comes near enough for you -t’ git a good lick at him.” - -Allan laughed again, but he carried the club with him, nevertheless, -more to quiet Jack’s fears and Mary’s than because he thought he -would ever need it. Jack had gone down to the carpenter shop the -first day the order to patrol the track was posted, and had selected -a piece of seasoned hickory, which he had fashioned into an -effective weapon. Most of the other section-men were similarly -armed, and were prepared to meet force with force. - -But Jack’s fears were to be verified in an unexpected way a few days -later. One of the detectives employed by the road had succeeded in -disguising himself as a tramp so effectively that he was admitted to -their councils, and one night a force of men was gathered at -headquarters for an expedition of which none of them knew the -destination. It happened to be Jack’s trick, and, when he reported -for duty, the train-master called him to one side. - -“Welsh,” he said, “we’re going on a little expedition to-night which -promises some fun. I thought maybe you’d like that boy of yours to -go along,—you seem to want to get him in on everything going.” - -“What is it, Mister Schofield?” Jack asked. “Anything dangerous?” - -“No,” answered the train-master, “I don’t think there’ll be any real -danger, but there may be some excitement. I want you to go and you’d -better bring the boy.” - -“All right, sir,” said Jack, resolving, however, to keep the boy -close to himself. - -A caller was sent after Allan, who appeared at the end of a few -minutes, his eyes big with excitement. - -“What is it?” he asked, as he saw the men grouped together, talking -in low tones. “Another wreck?” - -“No,” said Jack; “it ain’t a wreck. I don’t know what it is. It’s -got something t’ do with th’ tramps, I think. Mebbe you’d better not -go.” - -“Of course I’ll go,” protested the boy. “I wouldn’t miss it for -anything.” - -A moment later the men, of whom there were twenty, were divided into -parties of four each, and each man was given a short, stout -policeman’s club loaded with lead at the end. - -“Now, boys,” said the train-master, after the clubs had been -distributed, “I want you to remember that it’s an easy thing to kill -a man with one of those clubs, so don’t strike too hard if we get -into a row. Only, of course, don’t hesitate to defend yourselves. -Now I guess we’re ready to start.” - -Each party was placed in charge of one of the road’s detectives, and -left the yards by a different route. The night was very dark, with -black clouds rolling overhead and sending down a spatter of rain now -and then, so that the men could scarcely see each other as they -walked along. The party that Jack and Allan were with followed the -railroad track as far as the river-bank; then they turned aside, -crossed the long bridge which spanned the river, and pushed their -way along a path which led to the right along the opposite bank. - -It was anything but easy walking, for the path was a narrow and -uneven one, nearly overgrown by the rank underbrush along the river, -so that they had to proceed in single file, the detective in the -lead, stumbling over rocks, stepping into mudholes, with branches -slapping them in the faces, and briars catching at their clothing. -At last they came out upon an open field, which they crossed. Beyond -the field was a road, which they followed for half a mile or more, -then they struck off along another path through an open hickory -wood, and finally halted for breath at the base of a high hill. - -In a few moments, the other parties came up, panting and -mud-bespattered, and the detectives and Mr. Schofield drew apart for -a little consultation. - -“Now, boys,” said Mr. Schofield, in a low voice, when the -consultation was over, “I’ll tell you what we’re after so that -you’ll know what to expect. One of our men here has discovered up on -this hill the place where the ringleaders among the tramps make -their headquarters. If we can capture these ringleaders, all our -troubles with the tramps will be over. We’re going to surround the -place, and we want to capture every one of them. We must creep up on -them as quietly as we can, and then a pistol-shot will be the signal -for a rush. And, remember, we don’t want any of them to get away!” - -A little murmur ran through the crowd, and they gripped their clubs -tighter. Jack was glad that they had not been given revolvers,—in -the darkness and confusion, such weapons would be more dangerous to -friend than foe. - -They started cautiously up the hill, advancing slowly and painfully, -for there was now no vestige of a path. The uneven ground and -tangled undergrowth made progress very difficult, but they gradually -worked their way upward until they came to the edge of a little -clearing. Against a cliff of rock at one side a rude hut was built. -There was no window, but, through the chinks in the logs, they could -see that there was a light within. The men were spread out along the -edge of the clearing, and waited breathlessly for the signal to -advance. - -The pistol-shot rang out, clear and sharp in the night air, and, -even as the men sprang forward, the door of the hut was thrown open -and a man’s figure appeared silhouetted against the light. He stood -an instant listening to the rush of advancing footsteps, then -slammed the door shut, and in a breath the hut was in darkness. - -But that single instant was enough for both Allan and Jack Welsh to -recognize the man. - -It was Dan Nolan! - -In another second, they were hammering at the door, but they found -it strongly barred, and three or four minutes elapsed—minutes that -seemed like centuries—before they got the door down and rushed over -the threshold into the hut. One of the detectives opened his dark -lantern and flashed a brilliant band of light about the place, while -the men stared in astonishment. - -For the hut was empty! - -They lighted the lamp which stood on a box in one corner and made a -more careful examination of the place. Two or three boxes, an old -stove, a few cooking utensils, and a rude cot in one corner -comprised all the furniture, and one of the detectives, pulling -aside the largest box, which stood against the back of the hut, -solved the mystery of Nolan’s disappearance. - -A passage had been dug in the bank which formed the back of the hut, -and the detective, after flashing his dark lantern within, crawled -into it without hesitation. In a few moments, they heard the sound -of steps outside, and the detective came in again at the door. - -“He’s got clear away,” he said; “as well as all the rest who were -with him. That tunnel leads off to the left and comes out the other -side of this bank.” - -Mr. Schofield’s face showed his disappointment. - -“It’s too bad,” he said, “that we didn’t know about that tunnel. -Then we could have placed a guard at the other end.” - -“There were precious few knew about it,” said the detective who had -discovered the place. “I’ve been here half a dozen times, and never -suspected its existence.” - -“Well,” said the train-master, “the only thing we can do is to go -home, I guess. We can’t hope to find a man in these woods on a night -like this.” - -“You knowed that feller who opened th’ door, didn’t you, Mister -Schofield?” questioned Jack, as they left the hut. - -“No,” said Mr. Schofield, quickly. “Did you?” - -“Yes,” replied Jack, quietly; “it was Dan Nolan.” - -“Dan Nolan!” repeated the train-master, incredulously. “Are you -sure?” - -“Allan here knowed him, too,” said Jack. “It’s what I’ve been -thinkin’ all along, that Nolan was at th’ bottom of all this -mischief. He’s got t’ be a kind o’ king o’ th’ tramps, I guess.” - -“Perhaps you’re right,” agreed Mr. Schofield. “I’ll put our -detectives on his trail. Maybe they can run him down, if he hasn’t -been scared away by his narrow escape to-night.” - -“He’ll shift his headquarters,” said Jack, “but I don’t believe -he’ll be scared away—not till he gits what he’s after, anyway.” - -“And what is that?” questioned the train-master. - -“He’s after Allan there,” said Jack, in a lower tone. “An’ he’ll git -him yet, I’m afraid.” - -“Well, we’ll make it hot for him around here,” said Mr. Schofield, -and went forward to impart this information to the detectives. - -All of the men were completely tired out by the long night tramp, as -well as chagrined over their ill success, but Allan was up again as -usual next morning and started off upon his tramp along the track. - -“Now, be careful of yourself, darlint,” Mary cautioned him, as she -saw him off, and Allan promised to be especially alert. - -There could be no doubt that it was Dan Nolan they had seen at the -door of the hut the night before, but Allan only half-believed that -Nolan still preserved his enmity toward him. Certainly, he decided, -it was not worth worrying about,—worrying never did any good. He -would be ready to meet danger as it came, but he greatly doubted if -it would ever come, at least, to himself personally. - -He had grown to like this duty of patrolling the track. It had been -a pleasant duty, and an uneventful one, for at no time had he found -anything wrong, or met with unpleasant adventure of any kind. But -those long walks through the fresh, cold air, with the dawn just -tingeing the east, opened a new world to the boy. It was no longer -the hot, dusty, work-a-day world of labour, but a sweet, cool, clean -world, where joy dwelt and where a man might grow. He heard the -birds greet the sunrise with never-failing joy; he heard the cattle -lowing in the fields; even the river beside the road seemed to dance -with new life, as the sun’s rays sought it out and gilded its every -ripple. It was not a long walk—three miles out and three back—and -what an appetite for breakfast it gave him! Even these few months -had wrought a great change in him. He was browned by the sun and -hardened by toil, as has been said already; but the change was -greater than that. It was mental as well as physical. He had grown -older, and his face had gained the self-reliant look of the man who -is making his own way in the world and who is sure of himself. - -Despite all this extra work, Section Twenty-one was kept in perfect -condition, and the train-master noted it, as he noted everything -else about the road. - -“You’re doing good work, Welsh,” he said to Jack one day, when he -chanced to meet him in the yards. - -“I’ve got a good gang,” answered the foreman, proudly. “There’s one -o’ my men that’s too good fer section work. He ort t’ have a better -job, Mr. Schofield; one, anyway, where ther’s a chance fer -permotion—in th’ offices.” - -“Yes?” and the official smiled good-naturedly. “I think I know who -you mean. I’ll keep him in mind, for we always need good men. This -extra work will soon be over, though. As soon as cold weather sets -in, the hoboes will strike for the South, and I don’t believe -they’ll ever trouble us again.” - -“Mebbe not,” agreed Jack, dubiously. “But I’d be mighty glad to hear -that Dan Nolan was locked up safe somewhere. You haven’t found any -trace of him?” - -“No. He seems to have disappeared completely. I believe he’s scared -out, and cold weather will rid us of all the rest.” - -“Mebbe so,” said Jack; “mebbe so. Anyway, I wish cold weather’d -hurry up an’ come.” - -But it seemed in no haste about coming. December opened bright and -warm, and two weeks slipped by. Although it was evident that the -tramps were becoming less numerous, and the management of the road -began to breathe more freely, still the head of the police -department did not relax his caution. He had his ear to the ground, -and, from that hidden, subterranean region of trampdom, he still -heard vague and uncertain, but no less threatening, rumblings. - -It was clear that the battle was not yet won, for the petty -annoyances continued, though in an ever lessening degree, and even -in the yards the tramps or their sympathizers managed to do much -harm. A freight-train would be standing in the yards, ready for its -trip east or west; the conductor would give the signal to start, the -engineer would open his throttle, and instantly it would be -discovered that some one had drawn all the coupling-pins; but, -before the engineer could stop his engine, he had torn out all the -air-hose on the train. Or, perhaps, the train would start all right, -but, in the course of half an hour, the fireman would discover he -could not keep the steam up, no matter how hot his fire was; the -pressure would fall and fall until the train would be stalled out on -the road, and an investigation would disclose the fact that some one -had thrown a lot of soap into the tank. Then the whole system would -be tied up until another engine could be sent to the rescue to push -the train into the nearest siding. Or, perhaps, the train would be -bowling along merrily until, of a sudden, the well-trained noses of -conductor and brakemen would detect the odour of a hot box. The -train would be stopped, and it would soon be found that some one had -removed the packing from the boxes. - -All of these things were provoking enough, especially since it was -evident that in almost every case the mischief had been done in the -yards under the very noses of the trainmen, although no tramps had -been seen there. Indeed, the trainmen, after wrestling with such -annoyances for a time, came to be of a temper that made it -exceedingly dangerous for a tramp to be found anywhere near railroad -property. Yet the annoyances went on, and became gradually of a more -serious nature. One night a brakeman found the main switch at the -east end of the yards spiked, and it was only by a hair’s breadth -that a serious collision was avoided. But the climax came one -morning when Bill Morrison, on the crack engine of the road, found -that some one had put sand in his boxes, and that the journals were -ground off and ruined. - -A rigid investigation was ordered at once, but no clue to the -perpetrator of the mischief was discovered. Yet it seemed certain -that it could not have been done by a tramp. No tramp had been in -the yards—the yard-men were sure of that—and the officials were -forced to the unwelcome conclusion that some one whom they did not -suspect—some one who was permitted to enter the yards—some one -connected with the road, perhaps—was guilty. It was a disquieting -thought, for there was no telling what might happen next. - -And then, one morning, Allan solved the mystery. It was a little -after four o’clock and still quite dark as he passed through the -yards to start on his morning walk. A freight-train stood ready to -start east, with its great mogul of an engine puffing and blowing -with impatience. Just as Allan passed it, he saw a figure emerge -from underneath it. He thought at first it was the engineer, but, -instead of mounting to the cab, the figure slunk away into the -darkness, carefully avoiding the glare of the headlight. Then the -boy saw the conductor and engineer standing, with heads together, a -little distance away, reading their orders by the light of the -conductor’s lantern. He ran toward them. - -“Mr. Spurling,” he said to the engineer, “I just saw a man come out -from under your engine.” - -“You did!” and engineer and conductor, with compressed lips, hurried -back to where the engine stood. The former flashed his torch -underneath, and then straightened up with a very grim face. - -“Look at that link-motion,” he said, and the conductor stooped and -looked. Then he, too, straightened up. - -“It’s a good thing we didn’t get started,” he said. “I’ll go and -report it. It’s lucky for us you saw that scoundrel, my boy,” he -added, as he hurried away, and the engineer clapped Allan on the -shoulder. - -“Mighty lucky,” he said. “It’s a good thing there’s one man around -here who keeps his eyes open.” - -But Allan, as he started away at last upon his six-mile tramp, knew -not whether to be glad or sorry. If only some one else had passed -the engine at that moment instead of him. For, as that crouching -figure slunk away through the darkness, he had recognized it! - -So he had a battle to fight on that six-mile tramp; but it was -fought and won long before the walk was ended. And when, at last, he -got back to the yards, instead of turning away toward home, he -mounted the stairs to the train-master’s office. That official was -busy, as always, with a great pile of correspondence, but he looked -up and nodded pleasantly as Allan entered. - -“Good morning, West,” he said. “Want to speak to me?” - -“Yes, Mr. Schofield,” answered Allan. “This morning, as I was -starting out on my trick, I saw a man come out from under Mr. -Spurling’s engine.” - -The train-master nodded. - -“Yes,” he said, “I’ve got a report of it here. I’m mighty glad you -happened to come along just when you did, and had your eyes about -you.” - -“I’d much rather it had been somebody else,” said Allan, “for I knew -the man, and I think it’s my duty to tell you.” - -The train-master looked at him keenly. - -“You knew him?” he repeated. “Better and better. No doubt he’s the -one who’s been giving us all this trouble. Who was he?” - -Allan gulped down a lump which had arisen suddenly in his throat. - -“Reddy Magraw,” he answered, hoarsely. - -“Reddy Magraw!” echoed the train-master, with a stare of -astonishment. “Are you sure?” - -“I wouldn’t say so if I wasn’t sure, sir,” answered Allan, with a -little flush of resentment. “I couldn’t be mistaken.” - -“Of course,” agreed the train-master, kindly. “But I didn’t think -Reddy would do anything like that.” - -“I don’t believe he would have done it, sir,” said Allan, “if Dan -Nolan hadn’t got hold of him,” and he told of the conference he and -Jack had witnessed on the river-bank. “I believe Dan put all this -meanness into his head,” he concluded. “I’m sure it’s with Dan he -stays all the time he’s away from home.” - -Mr. Schofield nodded again. - -“No doubt you are right,” he assented. “Perhaps we ought to have -suspected him before. Of course, the boys never thought of watching -him, and so let him stay around the yards as much as he wanted to. -But we’ll have to protect ourselves. This sort of thing can’t go -on.” - -“You mean Reddy will have to be arrested?” questioned Allan, with -sinking heart. - -“No,” and the train-master smiled at his anxious face. “I’ll file an -affidavit of lunacy against Reddy before the probate judge, and -we’ll have him sent to the asylum at Athens. He’ll be well taken -care of there, and maybe will get well again much sooner than he -would at home. He’s not getting any better here, that’s certain; and -he’s caused us a lot of trouble. Besides, he’s only a burden to his -wife.” - -“Oh, she never thinks of that,” said Allan, quickly. “It’s his -staying away that hurts her.” - -“Yes,” agreed Mr. Schofield, “I know. I’ve talked with her. She’s -like all the rest of these big-hearted Irish women,—ready to work -herself to death for the people she loves. Though,” he added, -“that’s a characteristic of nearly all women.” - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - A SHOT FROM BEHIND - - -Mr. Schofield filed his affidavit before the probate judge without -delay, but, when the officer of the court went to look for Reddy, he -was nowhere to be found. From his wife it was learned that he had -not been home for two days, nor was he to be discovered in any of -his accustomed haunts around the yards or in the shops, and the -quest for him was finally given up in despair. Allan concluded that -Reddy had recognized him that morning, as he came out from under the -engine which he had tampered with, and knew that he was found out at -last; but, whether this was the case, or whether he had got wind of -the proceedings against him in some other way, certain it is that -Reddy disappeared from Wadsworth, and nothing more was seen of him -there for many days. - -Word was quietly passed around among the trainmen to be on the watch -for him, as he was probably the one who had recently caused the road -so much annoyance; and this came to be pretty well proved in time, -for, with Reddy’s disappearance, the annoyances ceased, in so far, -at least, as they originated in the yards at Wadsworth. Out on the -line, indeed, they still continued,—switches were spiked, -fish-plates were loosened,—and then, of a sudden, even these ceased, -and everything ran as smoothly as in the old days. But this very -quiet alarmed the chief of detectives more than anything else had -done, for he believed it was the calm preceding a storm, and he -redoubled his precautions. Some of the officers were rather inclined -to laugh at his fears, but not the superintendent. - -“You are right, Preston,” he said to the chief. “There’s something -in the wind. We’ll look sharp till after the pay-car gets here, -anyway. After that, if nothing happens, we can let up a bit.” - -“When will the pay-car get here?” questioned Preston. - -“I don’t know yet; probably the night of the twenty-fourth.” - -“You’d better order a double guard with it, sir,” suggested the -detective. - -“I will,” assented the superintendent. “More than that, Mr. -Schofield and I will accompany it. If there’s any excitement, we -want to be there to see it.” - -The detective nodded and went away, while the superintendent turned -back to his desk. It had occurred to him some days before that an -attempt to hold up the pay-car might be the culminating point of the -series of outrages under which the road was suffering, and the more -he had thought of it the more likely it appeared. The pay-car would -be a rich prize, and any gang of men who could get away with its -contents would be placed beyond the need of working, begging, or -stealing for a long time to come. The pay-car, which always started -from general headquarters at Cincinnati, went over the road, from -one end to the other, every month, carrying with it the money with -which the employés of the road were paid. To Wadsworth alone it -brought monthly nearly two hundred thousand dollars, for Wadsworth -was division headquarters. Nearly all the trainmen employed on the -division lived there, and besides, there were the hundreds of men -who laboured in the division shops. Yes, the pay-car would be a rich -prize, and, as the money it carried was all in small denominations, -it would be impossible to trace it, once the robbers got safely away -with it. - -Let it be said in passing that on most roads the pay-car is now a -thing of the past. Payment is now usually made by checks, which are -sent out in registered packages from general headquarters, and -distributed by the division officials. This method is safe and -eminently satisfactory to the road, but some of the employés object -occasionally because of the difficulty they sometimes experience in -getting their checks cashed immediately. - -The road had never suffered any attack upon its pay-car, primarily, -no doubt, because it was well-known that there were always half a -dozen well-armed men with it, who would not hesitate to use their -weapons. In fact, every man, as he stood at the little grated -cashier’s window, waiting for his money, could see the row of rifles -in the rack against the wall and the brace of pistols lying upon the -desk, ready to the cashier’s hand. Besides, even if the car were -broken into and the money secured, the difficulty of getting away -safely with the booty was enormous. The road, for the most part, ran -through a thickly settled country, and the moment the alarm was -given, posses could be set in motion and the wires set humming in -every direction, in the effort to run the robbers down. So, with -whatever hungry greed would-be highwaymen had eyed the piles of -bills and gold visible through the little grated window, none of -them had ever dared to make a forcible attempt to gain possession of -them. - -Perhaps no one would dare attempt it now, thought the -superintendent; perhaps he had been merely alarming himself without -cause. At least, the most effective defensive measure would be to -keep secret the hour of the pay-car’s arrival. If no one knew -exactly when to look for it, no attempt could be made to hold it up. -Such an attempt, at the best, would be foolhardy, and the -superintendent turned back to his work with a little sigh of relief -at the thought. In a few moments, immersed in the pile of -correspondence before him, he had quite forgotten his uneasiness. - -Certainly, as day after day went smoothly by, there seemed less and -less cause for apprehension. The tramps were evidently making -southward, like the birds, before the approach of winter. And -nothing more was seen of Dan Nolan. A watch had been kept upon the -hut on the hillside, but he had not returned there, so the hut was -finally demolished and the tunnel in the cliff closed up. Every -effort had been made to discover his whereabouts, but in vain. The -detectives of the road declared that he was nowhere in the -neighbourhood; but Jack Welsh was, as always, skeptical. - -Just east of Wadsworth, beyond the river, the country rose into a -series of hills, sparsely settled and for the most part covered by -virgin forest. These hills extended for many miles to the eastward, -and among them, Jack told himself, Nolan could easily find a secure -hiding-place for himself and half a dozen men. - -“An’ that’s jest where he is,” said Jack to Allan one evening, when -they were talking the matter over. “That’s jest what Nolan’d love t’ -do—put hisself at th’ head of a gang o’ bandits. He was allers -talkin’ about highwaymen an’ train-robbers an’ desperadoes when he -was on th’ gang; but we only laughed at him then. Now, I see it -would have been a good thing if I’d ’a’ taken a stout stick an’ beat -that foolishness out o’ him.” - -“But Reddy,” said Allan; “where’s Reddy?” - -“Reddy’s with him,” answered Jack, decidedly. “An’ there’s no -tellin’ what scrape that reptile’ll git him into. I dare say, Reddy -thinks Nolan’s his best friend. That’d be natural enough, since he’s -got to thinkin’ that all his old friends are his worst enemies.” - -“If we could only find him!” said Allan, wistfully “and bring him -home again. The poor fellow will never get well if he’s left to -wander about like that.” - -But there seemed no way of finding him. Allan was the last person -who had seen him. That was at the moment, in the early morning, when -he had slunk away from under the engine. Some warning of the search -for him must certainly have reached him, for he had never again -appeared at home. His wife, nearly heart-broken by the suspense, -imagining him suffering all sorts of hardships, yet went about her -work with a calm persistence which concealed in some degree the -tumult which raged within her. The children must be fed and cared -for, and she permitted nothing to stand between her and that duty. -The division offices had never been so clean as they were since Mrs. -Magraw had taken charge of them. - -A day or two later, Allan fancied he saw something which proved the -truth of Jack’s theory. It was one morning as he was returning from -his regular trip that he reached the embankment along the river and -glanced over at the willows on the farther side, as he always did -when he passed the place, for it was there that he and Jack had -first seen Reddy in Nolan’s company. His heart gave a leap as he saw -two men there. He stopped and looked at them, but the early morning -mist rising from the river hid them so that he could discern nothing -beyond the mere outline of their forms. He stared long and -earnestly, until they passed behind the clump of willows and -disappeared from sight. Something told him that it was Reddy and -Nolan again, but he could not be sure, and at last he went slowly on -his way. Perhaps they had a place of concealment somewhere in the -woods that stretched eastward from the river-bank. - -He mentioned his suspicion to Jack, as soon as he reached home, and -the latter was all on fire in a minute. - -“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” he said. “Next Sunday we’ll take a -walk through th’ woods over there, an’ it’s jest possible we’ll run -on to ’em. Mebbe we kin save Reddy from that rascal yet!” - -So, bright and early the next Sunday morning, they started out, -taking with them a lunch, for they did not expect to return until -evening. They crossed the river by the bridge which they had used on -the night when they had tried to capture Nolan, and struck at once -into the woods. - -“It’s like huntin’ a needle in a haystack,” said Jack, “but my idea -is that they’ve got a hut somewheres back in th’ hollers behind this -first range o’ hills. They’s mighty few houses back there,—nothin’ -but woods. So mebbe we’ll run on to ’em, if we have good luck.” - -They scrambled up the first low range of hills which looked down -upon the broad river, and paused for a moment on the summit for a -look about them. Beyond the river lay the level valley which, twelve -decades before, had been one of the favourite dwelling-places of the -red man. The woods abounded with game of every sort, and the river -with fish, while in the fertile bottom his corn would grow to ripe -luxuriance with little cultivation. More than one fierce battle for -the possession of this smiling valley had been fought with the hardy -bands of pioneers, who had pushed their way up from the Ohio, but at -last the advancing tide of civilization swept the Indian aside, and -the modern town of Wadsworth began to rise where formerly there had -been no building more substantial than the hide wigwam. - -Jack and Allan could see the town nestling among its trees in the -wide valley, but, when they turned about, a different view met them. -To the eastward were no plains, no bottoms, no city, but, far as the -eye could see, one hill rose behind another, all of them heavily -wooded to the very summit, so steep and with a soil so gravelly that -no one had ever attempted to cultivate them. Nor did any one dwell -among them, save a few poverty-stricken families, who lived in -summer by picking blackberries and in winter by digging -sassafras-root,—a class of people so shiftless and mean and dirty -that no respectable farmer would permit them on his place. - -It was the rude cabin of one of these families which Jack and Allan -saw in the valley before them, and they determined to descend to it -and make inquiries. There was a rough path leading downwards through -the woods, and this they followed until they came to the edge of the -little clearing which surrounded the house. They went forward to the -door and knocked, but there was no response, and, after a moment, -Jack pushed the door open cautiously and looked inside. As he did -so, a shot rang out behind him, and Allan felt a sudden sting of -pain across his cheek as a bullet sang past and embedded itself in -the jamb of the door. - -“What’s that?” cried Jack, springing around, and then he saw Allan -wiping the blood from his cheek. “What is it, lad?” he asked, his -face paling. “You’re not hurted?” - -“Only a scratch,” said Allan, smiling. “Just took a little of the -skin off.” - -“Come in here an’ we’ll look at it,” and Jack half-dragged him -through the open door, which he closed and barred. “That’ll keep th’ -varmint from takin’ another shot at us,” he said. “Now let’s see the -cheek.” - -But not even Jack’s anxiety could make of the wound more than a -scratch. The bullet had cut the skin from the left cheek for nearly -an inch, and a little cold water, which Jack found in a bucket in -the house, soon stopped the bleeding. - -“Who could it have been?” asked Allan, at last. - -“Y’ don’t need t’ ask that, I hope,” cried Jack. “It was Dan Nolan!” - -“Well, he didn’t hurt me much,” said Allan, with a laugh. “He -doesn’t seem to have very good luck.” - -“No,” said Jack; “but if that bullet had been an inch further to th’ -right, you wouldn’t be a-settin’ laughin’ there,” and a little -shudder ran through him as he thought of it, and he clinched his -hands as he imagined what his vengeance would have been. - -“Do you suppose Nolan lives here?” asked Allan, looking curiously -around the room. - -“No,” said Jack; “they’s one o’ th’ Waymores lives here, but I -wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he was in cahoots with Nolan. These -people’re just as much vagabonds as them that go trampin’ about th’ -country.” - -Allan looked again about the squalid room, and turned a little sick -at the thought of living in the midst of such filth and -wretchedness. - -“Come, let’s get out of here,” he said. “I want some fresh air. This -is enough to turn one’s stomach.” - -“I tell you,” suggested Jack, “suppose we go out th’ back door there -an’ sneak around th’ edge of th’ clearin’. Mebbe we kin come on -Nolan when he ain’t lookin’—and what I’ll do to him’ll be a plenty!” - -Allan laughed at his ferocity. - -“I don’t believe Nolan would stay around here,” he said. “He didn’t -know but what there were others with us. He probably decamped as -soon as he took that crack at me.” - -“Well, it won’t do any harm t’ try,” said Jack, and try they did, -but no trace of Nolan was anywhere to be seen. - -They went on through the woods, eating their lunch beside a limpid -spring which bubbled from beneath a rock in the hillside, and during -the afternoon pushed on along the valley, but met no human beings. -If it was indeed Nolan who fired the shot, he had taken to cover -effectually. Allan began to doubt more and more that it had really -been Nolan. - -“It might have been a hunter,” he pointed out to Jack, “who was -shooting at something else, and did not see us at all. Such things -happen, you know.” - -“Yes,” Jack admitted, “but that wasn’t what happened this time,” -and, when they reached home again, he went straight over to the -offices and related to Mr. Schofield the details of the morning’s -adventures. That official promised to put two detectives on Nolan’s -trail at once. They worked on it for two or three days, but, though -they even employed a bloodhound in the effort to run him down, all -their work was quite in vain. The man to whom the cabin belonged -said he had walked over to a neighbour’s that Sunday and had been -away from home all day. He denied all knowledge of Nolan or Reddy -Magraw, And the search ended, as all the others had done, without -finding a trace of either of them. - -So the days passed, and the work on section went on in its unvaried -round. And even from day to day Allan felt himself changing, as his -horizon broadened. He had become a different boy from the diffident -youngster who had asked Jack Welsh for a job that morning a few -short months before. Work had strengthened him and made him a man; -he felt immeasurably older; he had gained self-confidence; he felt -that he could look out for himself in any emergency. He was playing -a man’s part in the world; he was earning an honest living. He had -gained friends, and he began to feel that he had a future before -him. He was going to make the most of every opportunity, for he was -ambitious, as every boy ought to be. He longed to get into the -superintendent’s office, where there would be a chance to learn -something about the infinitely difficult work of operating the road, -and where there would be a chance for promotion. He never spoke of -this to Jack, for such a thought seemed almost like desertion, but -he never passed the offices without looking longingly up at the -network of wires and signals. Sometimes, when some duty took him -up-stairs, he could hear the wild chatter of the instruments in the -despatchers’ office, and he determined to try to understand their -language. - -Jack came into the section-shanty one morning with a sheet of paper -in his hand and a broad smile upon his face. - -“I’ve got a Christmas gift fer y’, boys,” he said, and stuck the -notice up on the hook. They all crowded around to read it. - - “NOTICE TO SECTION FOREMEN - - “All patrolling of the tracks will cease on and after - December 25th next. This company deeply appreciates the - faithful service its section-men have given it, and will - endeavour to show that appreciation by increasing the - wages of all section-men ten per cent., to go into - effect January 1st. - - “[Signed] A. G. Round, - “Supt. and Gen. Manager. - - _“Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 18th.”_ - -“How’s that, boys?” asked Jack. “That’s a Christmas gift worth -havin’, ain’t it?” and he looked about from face to face, for he -knew what that increase of twelve and a half cents a day meant to -these men. It meant more food for the children, a new dress for the -wife,—a little more luxury and ease in lives which were hard enough -at best. - - * * * * * - -The weather had been cool and pleasant, but it changed as Christmas -drew near, and the twenty-fourth was marked by a heavy storm. All -the afternoon the rain fell in torrents, the wind blew a hurricane, -and—something rare for December—the lightning flashed and the -thunder rumbled savagely overhead. - -Work was out of the question, and, after playing awhile with Mamie, -and telling her wonderful stories of Santa Claus and what he was -going to bring her that night, Jack Welsh mounted to his room to get -a few hours of much-needed rest. For his hours of patrol duty were -from nine o’clock to midnight, and this trying extra work was -beginning to tell upon him. With that characteristic unselfishness -which endeared him to his men, he had chosen the worst trick for -himself. - -“I’ll be mighty glad when this extry work’s over,” his wife -remarked, as she busied herself with the dishes in the kitchen, “fer -all it pays double. There’s no use fer a man t’ kill hisself jest t’ -make a little extry money. Jack’s purty nigh wore out;—just listen -how he snores!” - -Allan looked up at her and laughed from the place on the floor where -he was helping Mamie construct a castle out of painted blocks. - -“We’ll let him sleep as long as we can,” he said; and so it was not -till nearly eight o’clock that Mamie was sent up-stairs to call him. -They heard him get heavily out of bed, and, while he was putting on -his clothes, Mary trimmed the lamp and stirred up the fire, in order -that everything might be bright and warm to welcome him. And Allan, -watching her, felt his eyes grow a little misty as he saw her loving -thoughtfulness. - -“Better hurry up, Jack, dear,” she called. “You haven’t much time t’ -spare.” - -“Comin’, Mary, comin’,” he answered, “as soon as I git this plaguy -boot on.” - -“It’s an awful night,” said his wife, as he came sleepily down the -stair. “Do you have t’ go, Jack? Can’t y’ stay home on Christmas -Eve?” - -“No, I have to go, Mary;” and he doused hands and face in a great -basin of rain-water. “It’s th’ last time, y’ know, an’ I ain’t -a-goin’ t’ shirk now. Maybe th’ pay-car’ll come through t’-night. -They promised us our pay this month fer Christmas, y’ know, an’ we -want to be sure that she gits here all right. To-morrow we’ll have a -great time, an’ they’ll be no more patrol duty after that.” - -Mamie danced around the floor, for she had received mysterious hints -from Allan of what was to happen on the morrow, and her father -picked her up and kissed her before he sat down to the supper that -was on the table awaiting him. He drank his coffee and ate his bacon -and eggs with an appetite born of good digestion. Then he donned his -great boots and rubber coat. - -“Now, don’t y’ worry, Mary,” he said, drawing his wife to him. -“There won’t a drop of rain git to me in this rig. Good-bye, Mamie,” -and he picked up the child and kissed her again. “Take good care of -’em, Allan.” - -He rammed his wide leather hat down farther upon his head, made sure -that his lantern was burning properly, took up the heavy club he -always carried, and opened the door. - -“Good-bye,” he called back, and in a moment had disappeared in the -darkness. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - A CALL TO DUTY - - -Allan sat down by the table and picked up a book on telegraphy which -he had secured from the public library of Wadsworth, and which he -was studying faithfully in such odd hours as he had to -himself,—without much result, be it said, since he had no instrument -to practise on,—while Mrs. Welsh put the excited Mamie to bed, -warning her to go to sleep at once, lest she frighten Santa Claus -away, and then went slowly about the task of clearing up the supper -dishes and putting the house in order for the morrow. - -“An’ we’ll hev t’ set up th’ Christmas tree to-night,” she remarked. -“It’ll hev t’ be ready when Mamie wakes up in th’ mornin’, an’ -she’ll wake mighty early.” - -“All right,” said Allan; “as soon as you’re ready, tell me.” - -That morning, on his way in from his trip, he had stopped to cut a -little evergreen in a grove near the track, and this had been safely -deposited in the cellar, out of the reach of Mamie’s curious eyes. -Long strings of snow-white pop-corn had been threaded, streamers of -bright-coloured tissue-paper prepared, little red and blue candles -bought; all of which, together with the presents and parti-coloured -candies, would make the tree in Mamie’s eyes a veritable fairy -picture. It was her first Christmas tree, and it was to be a -splendid one! - -“Now I’m ready, Allan,” said Mrs. Welsh, at last; and Allan laid -aside his book and brought up the tree from the cellar, while Mrs. -Welsh unlocked the closet where the ornaments and gifts had been -carefully hidden. “We’ll set it up in that corner by th’ winder,” -she continued; “then th’ people that goes by outside kin see it, -too.” - -“I’m glad I’m going to be here when Mamie first sees it,” said -Allan, as he nailed some cross-pieces on the bottom of the tree to -hold it upright. “I’d be out on my trick if it hadn’t been for that -order.” - -“Yes, an’ I’m glad, too,” agreed Mrs. Welsh. “That patrol work was -hard on all o’ you. But this trip o’ Jack’s t’-night’ll be th’ last -that any o’ th’ gang on Twenty-one has t’ make. I only wish th’ -patrollin’ had ended to-day instead o’ to-morrer, then Jack’d be -here with us now instead of out in that howlin’ storm.” - -They listened a moment to the wind whistling about the house, and to -the rain lashing savagely against the windows. - -“It is a bad night,” said Allan, “but Jack won’t mind it. He’ll be -thinking of the good time he’s going to have to-morrow.” - -“Well, I’m glad it’s th’ last time, anyway,—fer your sake, too, -Allan. Jack an’ me used t’ worrit ourselves nearly sick when you’d -start out alone that way. We never knowed what’d happen.” - -“And nothing ever happened, after all!” laughed Allan. “I believe -that Dan Nolan has forgotten all about me long before this.” - -Mary shook her head doubtfully. - -“I don’t know,” she said. “But anyway it won’t matter now, for -you’ll allers be with th’ gang after this, an’ Nolan won’t dare show -his nose around where they are. Jack’s just achin’ t’ lay hands on -him.” - -“There,” said Allan, as he drove the last nail, “that’s solid, I -think,” and he set the tree up in the corner. “Now, what next?” - -“All these things has got t’ have little ribbons tied to ’em,” said -Mrs. Welsh, who had been getting out the candy, fruits, and -presents. “But I kin do that. You set down an’ read your book.” - -“Indeed I won’t!” protested the boy. “I want to feel that I’ve had -something to do with this tree,” and he drew a chair up to the -table. - -“Somethin’ t’ do with it!” retorted Mary. “You’ve had everything t’ -do with it, I’m a-thinkin’. It’s your Christmas tree, Allan, an’ -mighty nice of you to think of it, my boy.” - -“Oh, I wanted Mamie to have one,” he protested; “especially when it -was so little trouble to get. Now it’s ready for the pop-corn.” - -Mrs. Welsh began to drape the white festoons about the tree. -Suddenly she paused and looked up with startled eyes. - -“What was that?” she asked. - -Allan listened with strained attention, but heard only the dashing -of the rain and whistling of the wind. - -“It sounded like the trampin’ of men,” she said, after a moment. -“Perhaps it wasn’t anything. Yes! There it is ag’in!” - -She sprang to the door and threw it open with frenzied haste. Up the -path she saw dimly four men advancing, staggering under a burden. -Her love told her what the burden was. - -“It’s Jack!” she screamed. “It’s Jack! My God! They’ve killed him!” -and, forgetting the storm, she sprang down the path toward them. - -“Is he dead?” she demanded. “Tell me quick—is he dead?” - -It was Jack’s hearty voice that answered her. - -“Not by a good deal, Mary! It’ll take more’n a twisted ankle t’ kill -Jack Welsh!” - -She threw her arms about him, sobbing wildly in her great relief, -the men standing by, awkwardly supporting him. - -“But there! Here I am keepin’ you out in th’ wet! Bring him in, -men,” and she ran on before, radiant with happiness. This misfortune -was so much less than she had feared, that it seemed almost not to -be a misfortune at all. “It’s only a sprained ankle, Allan,” she -cried to the boy, and ran on past him to get a chair ready. - -The men settled the foreman down into the chair cautiously. - -“Shall I git th’ doctor?” asked one. - -Jack laughed. - -“Th’ doctor, indade!” he said. “Mary’ll fix this all right in no -time. It ain’t bad. But I’m much obliged to ye, boys.” - -The men took themselves back to work, happier, somehow, for having -witnessed the little scene on the pathway. - -But when the boot was cut away from the swollen ankle, it was -evident that its owner would not go about on it again for many days -to come. It was bathed and rubbed with liniment and tightly bandaged -by the wife’s deft fingers, and the pain gradually grew less. - -“I slipped on a rail, y’ see,” explained Jack, when the injured -member had been properly cared for. - -“My foot went down into a frog, an’ then I had t’ fall over and -wrench it. I’m sorry it give y’ such a turn, Mary; I ought t’ have -sent a man on ahead t’ warn you.” - -Mary smiled down on him indulgently. - -“’Twas better this way, Jack, dear,” she said. “I’m so happy now t’ -have y’ alive here talkin’ t’ me that it hardly seems you’ve met -with an accident at all! See, we was jest gittin’ th’ Christmas tree -ready; now you kin set there, with your foot up on a chair like this -and boss th’ job. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good; and I’m -glad fer your own sake. Now you won’t have to go out in th’ storm.” - -But, at the words, the foreman’s face suddenly changed. - -“Good heavens!” he cried. “I fergot! Th’ track has t’ be patrolled. -Somebody has t’ go,” and he raised himself in his chair, but fell -back with a groan. “No use,” he muttered, between his clenched -teeth. “To-night, too, when th’ pay-car’ll most probably come -through! Allan, you’ll have t’ run over t’ th’ train-master, an’ git -him t’ send somebody else.” - -“Mr. Schofield went to Cincinnati this morning, I think,” answered -Allan. “I saw him getting on the train as I came in from the road.” - -“O’ course!” cried Jack, fiercely. “He’s gone down t’ come back with -th’ pay-car. Well, hunt up th’ chief despatcher, then; somebody’s -got t’ patrol that track.” - -Without a word, Allan donned the foreman’s rubber coat and great -hat. Then he picked up the heavy club and the red signal-lantern, -which was standing, still lighted, on the table, where one of the -men had placed it. - -“What y’ goin’ t’ do with that?” demanded Jack, eying the boy -uneasily. “Y’ don’t need that to go to th’ depot with.” - -“No,” said Allan, smiling, “but you see, I’m not going to the depot. -I’m going to take your trick.” - -“No, you ain’t!” cried the other, fiercely. - -“Yes, I am. There’s nobody else to be got at this time of night; -besides, you said yourself there’s no danger.” - -Jack looked at him a moment doubtfully. - -“No, I don’t think there is,” he said at last. “But it’s a bad -night.” - -“Pooh!” and Allan whirled his club disdainfully. “Not a drop of -water can get to me in this rig,” he added, echoing Jack’s words. - -“Anyway,” said the latter, hesitatingly, “y’ll be back in three -hours, an’ you kin sleep late in the mornin’. I don’t see no other -way,” he added, with a sigh. - -“All right,” said Allan; “good-bye,” and went to the door. - -But Mrs. Welsh ran after him, threw her arms about his neck and -kissed him. - -“You’re a good boy, Allan,” she cried, half-sobbing. “I’ll have a -good hot meal fer you when y’ git back.” - -Allan laughed. - -“I’ll be ready for it. Be sure to make a good job of that Christmas -tree! Good-bye,” and he opened the door and strode out into the -night. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - A NIGHT OF DANGER - - -But the storm was not to be dismissed so lightly as Allan had -dismissed it. Among the houses of the town he was sheltered -somewhat, but, as he strode on westward, out into the open country, -it seemed to rage with redoubled violence. The wind swept across the -embankment along the river with a fury which threatened to blow him -away. He bent low before it, and, swinging his lantern from right to -left in unison with his steps, fought his way slowly onward, his -eyes on the track. Away down at his right he could hear the river -raging, and from instant to instant the lightning disclosed to him -glimpses of the storm-tossed water. Once he saw a ball of fire roll -down the track far ahead and finally leap off, shattering into a -thousand fragments. - -The thunder crashed incessantly, and overhead he could see great -black clouds rolling across the sky. The rain fell in torrents, and, -driven before the wind, dashed into his face with a violence which -stung and blinded him whenever he raised his head. From time to -time, he was forced to face about, his back to the wind, and gasp -for breath. Once a gust of extra violence drove him to his knees, -but he struggled up again and on. He knew that he was not the only -one who was facing the tempest; he knew that up and down two hundred -miles of track others were fighting the same fight. They had left -warm homes, just as he had done, where preparations for Christmas -were going on; they had not held back from the call of duty, nor -would he. - -He shut his teeth tight together and staggered on. A vision flashed -before him of the bright room he had just left; he could see Jack -sitting in his chair, and Mary putting the last touches to the -Christmas tree. He knew that they were talking of him, planning for -him, and a sudden wave of tenderness swept over him at the thought -of how these people had taken him into their hearts and given him -another home in place of the one he had lost. The new one, of -course, could never quite take the place of the old one; and yet he -was no longer the friendless, hungry, lonely boy who had approached -Jack Welsh so timidly that morning and asked for work. He had -friends to whom he could look for sympathy and encouragement; there -were hearts which loved him; he had a place in the world and was -doing useful work; and he hoped in time to prove himself worthy of a -higher place and competent to fill it. To-morrow would be a happy -Christmas! - -So, as he fought his way on, it was with no despondent heart, but -with a bright and hopeful one, that cared nothing for the discomfort -of the storm. He was happy and at peace within, and no mere external -tempest could disturb him! - -A little grove on either side the track, its trees roaring in the -tempest, gave him a moment’s shelter. Then he pushed on to the two -iron bridges which spanned the canal and the highroad just beyond -it. These he looked over carefully by the light of his lantern, and -assured himself that they were all right. Beyond the bridges was the -long grade which led to the deep cut through the spur of hill which -stretched across the track, and here the wind was howling with a -fury that threatened to sweep him off his feet. But he fought his -way on doggedly, step by step, head lowered, eyes on the track, -lantern swinging from side to side. - -Then suddenly the wind ceased, though he could still hear it roaring -far overhead, and he looked up to see that he had gained the cover -of the cut. He stopped for breath, rejoicing that the hardest part -of his task was over. Beyond the cut was a sharp curve, the road was -carried on a high trestle over a deep ravine, and then onward along -the top of an embankment,—a “fill,” in railroad parlance,—and this -embankment marked the western limit of his trick. On his journey -home, he would have the wind at his back and could get along easily -and rapidly. - -Cheered by this thought, he walked on through the cut, but, as he -turned the corner at the farther side, the wind struck him again -with terrific force. He staggered back for an instant against the -rock, when there came a great flash of lightning that silhouetted -before him every feature of the landscape. Yet, as the lightning -died, there remained photographed on his brain only one detail of -the picture,—before him stretched the trestle, and in the middle of -it four men were working with feverish energy tearing up a rail! - -He leaned back against the rock, dazed at the sight, not -understanding for a moment what it meant. Then in a flash its -meaning dawned upon him—they were preparing to wreck a train. But -what train? It must be nearly eleven o’clock—no train was due for an -hour or more—yes, there was—the pay-car, hurrying from Cincinnati -with the Christmas money for the men. It was the pay-car they were -after. But the pay-car was always crowded with armed men—men armed -not merely with revolvers, but with Winchester repeaters. Yet, let -the car crash over that trestle fifty feet upon the rocks below, and -how many of its occupants would be living to defend themselves? - -Allan sank back among the rocks trembling, realizing that in some -way he must save the train. His first act was to open his lantern -and extinguish it, lest it betray him. Then he tried quickly to -think out a plan of action. He must get across the trestle in order -to flag the train—but how could he get across it? And of a sudden -his heart stood still as two vague forms loomed up before him. They -stopped for a moment in the shelter of the wall. - -“It was just about here,” said a rough voice he seemed to recognize. -“I caught a glint of a red light an’ then it went out. I was -watchin’ fer the track-walker, y’ know, an’ I was sure that was -him.” - -“Flash o’ lightnin’, most likely,” came in a hoarse undertone from -another. - -Allan heard the newcomers grope about, as he cowered close to the -rock, his heart beating fiercely as he expected each moment to feel -a hand upon him. - -“Y’ see they ain’t nobody here,” said the first speaker, at last. - -“Yes,” assented the other, uncertainly. “But he’s about due, if he’s -comin’.” - -“I dunno,” protested the other. “Y’d better not bank on that.” - -“I ain’t a-bankin’ on it!” retorted his companion, impatiently. -“You’re goin’ t’ keep a lookout, ain’t you? Now I’ll go on back an’ -you stay right here. You kin see a long stretch down th’ track from -here, so they can’t surprise us. If they’s more’n one, warn -us,—maybe they’ve put on a double guard t’-night,—but, if they’s -only one, wait here behind this rock, an’ when he comes past, do fer -him—’specially if it’s Welsh ’r th’ kid. It’s about time we was -gittin’ even!” - -Allan’s heart leaped. He knew the voice now—there was no -mistaking—it was Nolan’s! - -Nolan started back toward the trestle through the storm and was lost -to sight instantly, while the sentry sat down upon a rock to watch -the track, whistling to himself, as though train-wrecking were the -most ordinary thing in the world. But Allan was thinking only of one -thing—he must get past that man on the rock, he must cross the -ravine, he must flag the train. - -That was his duty lying clear before him. Danger? Yes,—but which of -his comrades would stop to think of that? Yet he must be -careful,—not for his own sake, but for the sake of those who were -speeding toward this peril. He must run no risk of failure, for -their lives depended upon him—upon his coolness, his foresight, his -quickness. And whatever he did must be done at once. He gripped his -hands together to still their trembling. Come,—this was no time for -weakness. He must prove himself a man! He must prove himself worthy -the service of the road! - -He could not climb the well-nigh perpendicular side of the cut; to -go back and work his way over the hill would require too much -time—and there was not a moment to be lost. The only thing to do, -then, was to go forward. He drew a deep breath; then he tucked his -lantern snugly under his left arm, grasped his club firmly, and -moved forward cautiously, hugging the side of the cut, his eyes on -the sentry. - -Once he stumbled heavily over some obstruction, but the storm -covered the noise, and the sentry made no sign that he had heard, -but sat twirling a heavy stick and looking down the track. Hope -began to revive in the boy’s breast; perhaps he might be able to -steal past unseen. Lower and lower he crouched; slow and more slowly -he moved; he was almost past—almost past— - -Then, of a sudden, a broad flash of lightning flared down into the -cut and revealed them to each other. - -“Reddy!” cried the boy. “Reddy!” - -The sentry sprang toward him with uplifted club, his face distorted -with rage. - -“Don’t you know me, Reddy?” cried Allan, springing back to avoid the -blow. - -“Sure Oi knows y’!” shouted the madman, savagely, coming on. “An’ -Oi’m a-goin’ t’ do fer y’, like Dan told me to. He told me y’re all -in th’ plot ag’in me!” - -“It’s a lie, Reddy!” protested Allan, violently. “It’s a lie!” - -Reddy paused for an instant. - -“A loi, is it?” he repeated. “Wasn’t it you as told on me fer -breakin’ that link motion?” - -“Yes,” admitted the boy; “but—” - -[Illustration: “HE STEPPED TO ONE SIDE, AND ... BROUGHT DOWN HIS CLUB -UPON THE OTHER’S HEAD”] - -Reddy waited to hear no more. - -“Oi knowed it!” he yelled. “Oi knowed it! Oi’ll show you! Oi’ll show -you, y’ dirty spy! Don’t try t’ run—it’s no use!” - -And he came charging down upon Allan, his club swinging savagely. - -But Allan was thinking not in the least of running. Instead, he -stood his ground, his teeth clenched, his eyes alert, his club -ready. He was not in the least excited; now, indeed, he found an -instant in which to wonder at his calmness. Then Reddy was upon him -and struck at him savagely. He stepped to one side, and, putting all -his force into the blow,—oh, how he hated to do it!—brought down his -club upon the other’s head. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - THE SIGNAL IN THE NIGHT - - -That blow had all the weight of Allan’s muscular young body behind -it, for he had realized that this was no moment to hold his hand, -however he might wish to do so, and Reddy tumbled in a limp heap -upon the track. - -The tears were gushing from the boy’s eyes as he bent over the body -and drew it to one side to the shelter of the rock. That he should -have struck Reddy—perhaps even killed him! But he could not linger; -with a last glance at the prostrate figure, he turned back to the -task before him. - -Plainly he could not hope to cross the trestle with half a dozen men -working on it—to try to do so would mean certain failure. Yet he -must cross the ravine,—there was only one other way, and that not an -easy one. - -He threw off Jack’s waterproof, which would only impede him now that -he needed the utmost freedom of movement, and, holding his lantern -tight, he jumped from the track and half-scrambled, half-fell down -the steep descent below him, disregarding mud and brambles, torn -clothes, and bruises, thinking only of one thing—that he must reach -the other side and save the train. In a moment he was at the bottom, -bruised and breathless, but luckily with no bones broken. Then for -an instant he paused. Through the bottom of the ravine ran a stream, -usually a gentle, shallow brook, but now swollen to an angry torrent -by the pouring rain. There was no time for hesitation—no time to -seek a better place—indeed, that was impossible in the darkness—and, -holding his lantern high above his head, the boy dashed into the -water. - -For a moment it seemed that he must be swept away, so fierce was the -rush of the torrent; but he got his feet, braced himself against it, -and inch by inch fought his way across. The water tore at him and -raged around him, hissing and sputtering, determined that he should -not escape. Well for him that he had had those months of work on -section, which had strengthened muscle and steadied nerve—which had -taught him how to fight! - -So, at last, he won through to the farther bank, breathless, -exhausted, triumphant. And here a new difficulty met him. He had -shut himself into a trap from which there seemed no escaping. Again -and again he tried to climb the steep side of the ravine, but as -many times slipped down to the bottom, bringing with him an -avalanche of earth and loose stones. - -Dry sobs rose in his throat and choked him as he lay for a moment -against the bank, weak and trembling. Was he to be defeated here, -with the end almost in sight? Was he to fail, after all? Must he -stay here to witness the train take that awful plunge from the -trestle down into the torrent beneath? He looked up with a shudder. -High above him, he could see the trestle dimly outlined against the -sky, and he knew that the work of tearing up the rail must be almost -done. - -He shook the weakness from him—he must be a man!—and he shut his -eyes as he tried to picture to himself how the place looked by -daylight. He had crossed the trestle a hundred times and gazed down -into the ravine, admiring its rugged beauty. For centuries that -little stream, which started in a spring high up on the hillside, -had been labouring patiently digging this channel for itself, eating -its way through earth and rock and slate, fashioning for itself a -little narrow valley, just as the great streams make for themselves -broad and fertile ones. It had eaten its way down and down, leaving -on either side, extending to a height of nearly a hundred feet, -rocky and precipitous banks. Allan remembered how in summer those -banks were clothed in green; how he had looked down at them from the -trestle. One day he had descried a brilliant patch of wild flowers -near the bottom, where they had grown and spread, safe from man’s -intrusion. He had never thought how much would one day depend upon -his knowledge of the place, or he would have examined the banks more -closely. - -Something swished through the air above him, and fell with a mighty -splash into the torrent—it was the rail—it had been torn loose—the -wreckers’ work was done. Now, they had only to wait until the train -came dashing past! Perhaps even at this moment it was nearing the -destruction which threatened it! The boy shuddered at the thought, -and made another vain and desperate effort to scramble up the bank. -This time he managed to get hold of a little bush high above his -head, but, as he was pulling himself up, the bush gave way and he -fell again to the bottom. He realized that he could never hope to -climb that treacherous bank, that he must follow the ravine until it -grew wider and shallower. Yet how could he do that and still be in -time to save the train? There must be some way out near at hand! The -robbers must have provided some path by which to get down to the -wrecked train and get up again with their booty. But no doubt the -path, if there was one, was on the other side of the ravine, where -it would be of no use to him; very probably there was no path at -all. The robbers had merely to let down a rope to provide a means of -entrance and exit. He would have to go around, and he started -blindly forward down the stream, holding his lantern tight, -trembling to think of the precious moments he had wasted,—of the -ones that he must yet waste before he could gain the track above and -warn the engineer of the peril which lay before him. It was a -desperate chance, but it seemed the only one. - -He groped his way stumblingly along, walking in the edge of the -water, making such progress as he could; slipping, falling full -length once or twice, but rising again and pressing forward. His -teeth were chattering, for the icy water had chilled him to the -bone, but he seemed not to be conscious of the cold; his hands and -face were cut and bleeding, scratched by brambles and by the sharp -edges of rocks and slate, but he did not feel the sting of the -wounds. He was thinking only of one thing—he must get out of this -trap—he must flag the train! There must be some way out! He could -not fail now! - -Then, suddenly, he remembered. Just below the trestle, a little -stream, rushing down the hillside to join the torrent below, had cut -for itself a miniature ravine in the side of the larger one. He had -noticed it one day not long before—had noticed its rocky bed, which -rose steeply to the fields above, but not so steeply as the sides of -the ravine itself. Here was a way up which he might escape, if he -could only find it. It must be somewhere near,—and he groped his way -along, faltering, stumbling,—and at last he found the cut. - -Yet it was not so easy of ascent as he had thought it would be; for -the water was rushing headlong down it, threatening to sweep him -back at every moment. Still he clambered on, digging knees and -elbows into the mud, holding with desperate strength to the bushes -that grew by the way, using every rock for foothold, up and up, -until, at last, wet to the skin, with clothing torn and body cut, -covered with mud, bruised and aching, but glowing with triumphant -excitement, he reached the top. - -He knew the railroad was somewhere to the right, and he stumbled -forward as fast as his trembling legs would carry him. More than -once he tripped and fell heavily over a log or stone, but always he -held tight his precious lantern, not minding his own bruises so that -it was safe. And at last, with a great joy at his heart, he saw, -stretching dimly ahead of him, the high embankment upon which rested -the track. - -He sat down for a moment to take breath, then reached into his -trousers pocket and drew out his match-safe. It was a company safe, -and waterproof, for often the fate of a train depended on whether a -watchman’s matches were wet or dry, and for this, at least, the -company had the foresight to provide. Crouching in the shelter of -the embankment, he found a little rock, and, holding it under his -coat, struck a match against it. A gust of wind caught it instantly -and blew it out. With trembling fingers, he struck another match, -which sputtered feebly for a second, flared up and was extinguished; -but the third match burned for a moment, and he applied it quickly -to the wick of the lantern. How the red glare warmed and cheered him -as he snapped the globe back into place! He was in time to save the -train! - -Then he sprang to his feet. For away down the track before him came -the sudden glare of a headlight, as the engine swung around a curve, -and the hum of the wheels told that the engineer was speeding -through the night, with throttle wide open, anxious, no doubt, to -get safely into the haven of the yards at Wadsworth. - -Up the bank scrambled the boy and down the track he ran, as fast as -his feet would carry him, swinging his lantern in great circles over -his head. He knew that the engineer must see it; he knew that on -such a night as this his eyes would be turned not an instant from -the track. - -Then, suddenly, from behind him, there came the sharp crack of a -revolver, and his lantern was smashed to pieces in his hand. He -wheeled to see a flash of flame, as the revolver spoke again; the -world reeled before him, turned black, and a great blow seemed to -strike him in the chest and bear him down. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - REDDY REDIVIVUS - - -Bill Johnson, engineer of the 187, pulling the pay-car, stared out -into the night, his hand on the throttle. The long gleam of the -headlight shot out through the driving rain, and he could see the -wet rails gleaming far ahead. He was making a record run; the -superintendent had given him some hint of his fear for the safety of -the pay-car, and he heaved a sigh of relief as the train swung -around a curve and hurtled down the fill on the straightaway course -for Wadsworth. Once in the yards there, the pay-car would be safe. - -Then, with a quick gasp, he closed the throttle, reversed the -engine, and threw on the brakes, for, far down the track ahead of -him he had caught the gleam of a red lantern waved twice in the air. -The light had vanished mysteriously in full flight, but a single -glimpse of it was warning enough for Johnson. - -The moment the brakes were applied, the detectives, back in the -pay-car, had grabbed down the Winchesters from the wall and made -ready for a fight. It might be that the engineer had sighted an -obstruction on the track, and they waited instant by instant to feel -the car leave the rails. It stopped with a jerk, and the detectives -piled out, ready for anything. - -“What’s the matter?” they asked, coming to the spot where Johnson -was leaning out of his cab window. - -“Somebody flagged me a minute ago,” answered Johnson, still peering -out through the night. “It’s funny he don’t come ahead an’ tell us -what’s th’ trouble.” - -“Maybe it’s a trick to get us away from the car,” said somebody, and -the detectives faced about in the darkness, instinctively bracing -themselves to receive a volley of bullets. - -“Climb up here in th’ cab,” suggested Johnson, “an’ I’ll go ahead -slow, an’ find out what’s th’ matter.” - -They climbed up instantly, and the engine crept slowly ahead, while -they all peered out through the dashing rain, expecting they knew -not what. - -“There’s somethin’ on th’ track,” cried Johnson, after a moment, his -trained eyes catching the first glimpse of a dim obstruction. “It’s -a man!” he said. “It’s th’ track-walker. Somebody done fer him jest -as he was signallin’ me! That’s why his lantern went out!” - -The men ran forward, Mr. Schofield among them. In the white glare of -the headlight, they could see a form stretched heavily across the -track, lying on its face. - -One of the men turned it over. - -“My God! It’s young West!” cried Mr. Schofield, and dropped on his -knee beside him. - -“And shot through the breast,” added one of the detectives, -indicating the growing blood-stain upon the boy’s shirt. - -They carried him tenderly back to the pay-car and laid him on a cot -there. His right hand still grasped the handle of his shattered -lantern, holding it so tightly that they could not remove it. Mr. -Schofield himself did what he could to stop the flow of blood; then -went forward cautiously to investigate. In the centre of the -trestle, they found that a rail had been torn from the track. - -“There’s where we’d have been by this time but for that boy,” said -Mr. Schofield, in a low voice, and motioned toward the abyss, his -face set and livid. “How he got past the wreckers I can’t imagine. -Now I want you men to run down the fiends who did this. We’ve got to -have them, no matter what it costs! Now get after them! I’ll get -this rail back—don’t bother about that—and take the pay-car in. You -fellows catch these scoundrels!” - -The detectives hurried away into the night, while Mr. Schofield -called the train-crew, got out an extra rail which was always kept -by the side of the bridge, and soon had it spiked into place. - -“Now go ahead, Johnson,” he called to the engineer, “but you’d -better run slow—maybe there’s another rail loose somewhere,” and he -swung himself up the steps of the pay-car and sat down by Allan’s -cot, with a very grim face. - -But let Johnson, the engineer, tell the rest of the story, as he -told it to a group of interested auditors the very next day in the -roundhouse office. - -“I tell you, I run over that trestle mighty cautious-like,” he said, -“an’ it give me a turn when I looked down into that ditch an’ -thought of what would have happened if th’ boy hadn’t flagged us. -But we got across all right, an’ started through th’ cut, still -runnin’ slow, fer I didn’t know but what there might be a rock on -the track, when I heard somebody hollerin’ at me, an’ in a minute up -comes Reddy Magraw climbin’ into th’ cab, lookin’ crazier ’n ever. - -“‘How did I git out here?’ he asked, wild-like. ‘Who fetched me out -here? What ’m I doin’ ’way out here?’ - -“‘If you don’t know, I don’t,’ says I. ‘Set down there an’ rest. -What’s th’ matter with your head?’ I asked, fer I saw it was all -bloody on one side. - -“Reddy put his hand up and felt of his head; then he took his hand -down an’ looked at the blood on it. - -“‘I dunno,’ he says. ‘Mebbe th’ engine hit me. Where’s Welsh an’ the -rest o’ th’ gang? They oughtn’t to have gone off an’ left me layin’ -out here like this,—I didn’t think they’d do that!’ - -“‘What engine hit you?’ I asked. - -“‘Why, th’ engine o’ Number Four,’ he says. ‘I didn’t have time t’ -git out of th’ road after I threw th’ switch. But I didn’t think th’ -boys’d ’a’ left me layin’ out here like this. Why, I might ’a’ -died!’ - -“Well, sir, it come to me all in a minute that somehow Reddy Magraw -had got his senses back, an’ I tell you it set me a-tremblin’ jest -like th’ time my wife had her first baby. I was purty nigh scared to -death! - -“‘I guess th’ engine must ’a’ hit you, sure,’ I says, to ease him -up. Then, as th’ track was clear, I opened up my engine, while -Magraw set on the floor of th’ cab in a dazed sort of way. Never a -word did he say till we pulled into the yards. - -“‘You’d better see a doctor,’ I says. But he jumped off th’ engine -th’ minute we stopped. - -“‘I don’t want no doctor,’ he says. ‘I’m goin’ home.’ An’ he started -off on a run. - -“Well, you orter seen Mr. Schofield when I told him. He went along -with th’ boy, an’ seen him fixed up, an’ then hurried away with th’ -doctor t’ see Reddy. An’ he found him at home with his wife on one -knee an’ his children on th’ other,—he told us when he got back.” - -Johnson stopped, took out his handkerchief, and mopped his eyes -openly. - -“I don’t keer,” he said, looking around defiantly. “It’s enough t’ -make any man’s eyes wet t’ think of what that family’s been through, -an’ now Reddy’s give back to ’em ag’in with a head’s good as -anybody’s. Why, it beats anything I ever heard of!” - -And, indeed, it was a nine-days’ wonder to every one. The doctors -came and looked at him and explained what had happened in many -learned words, and one of them wrote a paper about it, which he read -before a medical society; the newspapers heard of it and wrote it -up, and published Reddy’s photograph,—why, Mrs. Magraw has all those -papers put carefully away, and she gets them out occasionally even -yet, and reads them and cries over them,—but they are tears of -happiness and thanksgiving. For Reddy was as well as ever, and the -gist of all the learned medical opinions was that the blow on the -head which Allan dealt him had somehow set right the brain -disordered by the blow it had received from the engine months -before. It did for him just what an operation might have done, and -did it effectually. How it had done it, the doctors couldn’t say, -and there were many warm discussions over it. It was not without -precedent,—not unfrequently a case of the same kind is reported,—but -the righting of that delicate mechanism, the brain, is something -that no physician, be he never so famous, as yet thoroughly -understands. - -The one fact remained that Reddy was himself again, and freed for -ever from the influence of Dan Nolan. And, indeed, Nolan himself was -destined to pay the penalty for his iniquities. For the detectives -soon found the trail of him and his companions; the help of the -Wadsworth police force was secured, a bloodhound was brought to the -scene, and all that night the pursuit was kept up among the hills. -When morning dawned, the quarry was run to cover in an old log hut -near the top of Mount Logan, and the detectives and police -surrounded it. - -The robbers put up a short fight, but they saw they had no chance to -escape, and the bullets from the Winchesters were whistling through -the cabin in a most unnerving way, so they waved a white rag out of -one of the windows and surrendered. There were four in the party, -Nolan and three tramps whom nobody knew. They were taken back to -Wadsworth and lodged safely in jail there, leaving it only to go to -the State penitentiary at Columbus to serve a term of years. Nolan -broke down at the last, like the great coward he really was, -confessed, plead guilty, and turned State’s evidence against his -comrades in order to save himself a year or two of imprisonment. So -that was the end of Nolan for a time; but his power for mischief was -not yet at an end, and he later involved some of his old associates -in new disasters—but that story cannot be told here. - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - - THE ROAD’S GRATITUDE - - -It was only a memory now, that gray, wet Christmas morning when -Allan had been brought home pale and limp, on a stretcher. They had -started from bed at the first tap on the door, for his prolonged -absence had begun to worry them, and Jack, unheeding his sprained -ankle, had hobbled to it and flung it open. He stood silent as they -brought the boy in and set the stretcher on the floor. He watched -the doctor strip back his clothing, remove the rude bandage that had -been hastily placed over the wound, wipe away the blood, and begin -to probe for the bullet. Mary, too, had thrown on her gown and stood -watching the operation with white face. - -“Doctor,” burst out Jack, at last, almost fiercely, “don’t tell me -he’s dead! Don’t tell me he’s goin’ t’ die! He saved my little girl. -Don’t tell me I let him go t’ his death!” - -“He’ll not die,” said the doctor, reassuringly. “The bullet seems to -have been deflected from its course and to have made only a bad -flesh wound.” - -But it turned the watchers sick to see the probe sink in deeper and -deeper. Suddenly the surgeon gave a little exclamation and ran his -hand under the boy’s shoulder. - -“Here,” he said to his assistant, “turn him over.” - -He made a quick cut with a knife under the shoulder-blade, and a -little flattened piece of lead fell into his hand. - -“There’s the bullet,” and he handed it to Welsh. “Maybe he’ll want -it for a keepsake.” And he proceeded skilfully to bandage up the -wound. - -But it was not until Allan opened his eyes and smiled faintly up at -them that Jack and Mary believed that he could live. They fell on -their knees beside his bed, but the doctor hurried them away. - -“What he needs now is sleep,” he said. “Let him sleep as long as he -can.” - -“But look at his poor face, doctor,” whispered Mary, “an’ at his -hands, all tore and scratched. Do ye suppose them devils did that to -him, too?” - -“I don’t know,” said the doctor. “Those scratches won’t hurt him; -it’s that wound in the breast that’s dangerous. Now, let him sleep.” - -And sleep he did, all through that Christmas Day. The story of his -exploit had got about, and a constant stream of railroad men came -softly up the path to ask how he was doing, and to stand around -afterward and discuss the story. All night he slept, with Mary -watching by his bedside, and, when he opened his eyes next morning, -she was still sitting there. - -The doctor came an hour later, looked at the wound, felt his pulse, -and nodded encouragingly. - -“He’ll pull through all right,” he said. “He’s got a little fever, -but that was to be expected. But he’s in first-class shape and will -soon rally from that wound. Keep him quiet for a day or two.” - -Before that time, the fever had subsided, the wound was healing -nicely, and the doctor pronounced his patient out of danger. - -“He’s pretty weak,” he said, “and must take things easy. Don’t let -him strain himself any way, or he may open the wound. Keep him quiet -and cheerful—his youth will do the rest.” - -How they vied with one another to nurse Allan back to strength -again. Reddy, his old self, was the first caller, with his heart -going out to the boy with a love that was well-nigh worship. - -“I don’t know nothin’ ’bout how it happened, Allan,” he said, -wringing the hand of the white-faced boy, “but I think I can count -on y’ not to be layin’ it up ag’in me.” - -Allan leaned back and laughed. - -“I think if you can cry quits, I can,” he said. How the great load -rolled from off his heart as he saw Reddy, whom he had last beheld -lying prone at his feet, now his genial old self again! - -“But, oh, Reddy, I did hate to hit you!” - -“Ho, ho!” cried Reddy; “if it had kilt me intirely, Oi’d ’a’ been -th’ last to complain! Is it true, Allan, that I was runnin’ around -with tramps?” - -“Yes, that’s true, Reddy.” - -“An’ hobnobbin’ with Dan Nolan?” - -“Yes.” - -“An’ abusin’ my missus?” - -“You didn’t abuse her, Reddy.” - -“An’ fightin’ my best friends, an’ wreckin’ railroad property, an’ -actin’ generally loike a low-down haythen?” went on Reddy, rapidly. -“Why, th’ only thing I can’t forgive y’ fer, Allan, is thet y’ -didn’t knock me over th’ head long afore!” - -“I would, Reddy,” laughed Allan, “if I’d thought it would cure you.” - -“If it hadn’t cured me,” said Reddy, “it might ’a’ kilt me-an’ thet -was what I deserved!” - -Joy is the best of all medicines, and Allan’s improvement was rapid. -At the end of a week he could spend hours lying back in a padded -chair, and Jack was finally prevailed upon to go regularly to work -and leave the care of the invalid to his wife. - -It was on the platform before the station that the superintendent -stopped him one evening, as he was hurrying home from work. - -“How are things out on the line?” he asked. - -“All right, sir.” - -“Going to win the track prize again this spring?” - -“No, sir,” and Jack grew suddenly grave. “One of my best men is laid -up, y’ know.” - -“Ah, yes,” and the superintendent nodded. “How is the boy getting -along, Jack?” - -“He’ll pull through,” said the other, slowly, “but he had a mighty -close call. If th’ bullet hadn’t struck a rib an’ glanced off, he’d -’a’ been done fer. I went down t’ look at th’ place he got acrost -th’ ravine, an’ I don’t see how he done it.” - -“Neither do I,” agreed the superintendent. “I took a look at it, -too.” - -“Well,” continued Jack, “th’ fever’s over now, an’ he’s gittin’ his -strength back.” - -“And his appetite, too, I dare say.” - -“Yes,” assented Jack, with a quick smile of enjoyment, “an’ his -appetite, too. Why, it does us more good t’ see him eat than to eat -ourselves.” - -“I don’t doubt it; but you mustn’t spoil the boy with too much -coddling.” - -“Spoil him!” retorted Jack. “Not fer a minute! Why, y’ couldn’t -spoil him, sir. He’s pure gold, all th’ way through.” - -The superintendent started on, stopped for an instant to chew his -moustache, then turned back. - -“Jack!” he called. - -“Yes, sir,” and the foreman stopped. - -“You were saying,” began the superintendent, a little awkwardly, -“that the boy’s eating again. He ought to have some dainties, Welsh; -oysters and chicken and fruit, and that sort of thing.” - -“We hope t’ be able t’ git ’em fer him, sir,” answered Jack, with -dignity. - -“Well, the road won’t let you get them,” said the superintendent. -“We owe him a good deal, and we’re going to pay some of it this way. -I’m going to stop in over here at the store and tell Fisher to send -the boy whatever he wants and send the bill in to the road. I’ll see -that it’s paid. Of course, we’ll take care of the doctor and drug -bills, too. Now, maybe he’d like some oranges or pineapple or -something of that sort right away. Anyway, I’ll tell Fisher,” and he -hurried on, as though fearing to hear what the other might say. - -Welsh looked after him for a moment without saying anything, then -turned toward home. - -And Mr. Heywood, hurrying on, stopped at the grocery and gave -certain directions. - -“And see here, Fisher,” he concluded, “you’ll send the bill to me, -but that’s nobody’s business but our own. I want them to think that -the road’s paying for it.” - -Half an hour later, a grocer’s boy knocked at the door of the Welsh -cottage and handed in a great basket of dainties, and Allan was soon -smiling over a bowl of steaming oyster soup, with Jack and his wife -and Mamie grouped about the bed watching him enjoy it. And I don’t -believe there is any more exquisite pleasure in the world than that -which they experienced in that moment! - -The winter days were clear and bright, and Allan found a rare -enjoyment in lying back in the great chair which Mrs. Welsh had -padded expressly for him, and looking out over the yards and -watching the busy life there. He was sitting so one afternoon when -some one turned in at the gate and mounted the path to the house. - -“Why, it’s Misther Schofield!” cried Mary, and hastily dusted off a -chair with her apron, in honour of the distinguished visitor,—not -that it needed dusting. - -The train-master came up with smiling face. - -“How are you, Mrs. Welsh?” he asked. “And how is the invalid?” - -He sat down by the side of the chair, and, reaching over, gave -Allan’s hand a hearty clasp. - -“Do you know, I am ashamed of myself for not getting here before -this,” he went on, genially, “but I have kept posted about you, -because I wanted to know when you were ready to go back to work.” - -“I’ll be ready before long, sir,” said Allan, smiling in sympathy -with his guest’s good humour. “I’m getting quite strong again.” - -But Mrs. Welsh interrupted him. - -“Listen at th’ boy!” she cried, indignantly. “Why, Misther -Schofield, an’ him with a bullethole clear through him t’ think o’ -goin’ out an’ workin’ on section!” - -The train-master was smiling more broadly than ever. - -“It does seem pretty tough, doesn’t it?” he said. “Here’s a boy -who’s saved the company’s pay-car with two hundred thousand dollars -in it, and the lives of ten or fifteen men, and came within a hair’s -breadth of getting killed. And yet he has to work on section for -forty dollars a month. But then, there’s not so much danger on -section any more; we’ve routed the tramps, you know, for good and -all. Still, it’s pretty tough.” - -“Tough!” and Mrs. Welsh looked at him with flaming eyes. “It’s worse -’n that, beggin’ your pardon, sir. It’s a sin an’ a shame! It’s a -disgrace t’ th’ company!” - -Allan tried to silence her, but she would not be silenced. He stole -a horrified glance at Mr. Schofield, and was astonished to see that -he was still smiling. - -“A disgrace!” repeated that official. “Well, I agree with you, Mrs. -Welsh. So we’re not going to let him go back on section. We can’t -afford to waste a good man that way. It’s a little late for a -Christmas gift, maybe, but he’s earned it and he’s going to get it.” - -Mary stared at the speaker, speechless. - -“There’s a job open in my office, young man,” he went on, turning to -Allan. “It’s yours if you want it. It’s not such a very good job, -for it pays only fifty dollars a month, but you’ll learn more about -railroading there in a month than you can ever do on section, and -you’ll be in line for promotion, and you’ll get promoted when you -merit it. What do you say?” - -What could Allan say, with a heart too full for utterance? He -reached out his hands blindly, and the other, understanding, clasped -them in his strong, steady ones. - - * * * * * - -And that was how it came about that Allan got the place in the -offices which he had longed for, under the eye of the best -train-master in the West, where, as he had promised, there was more -railroading to be learned in a month than in a lifetime of section -work. He became a part of the brain which ruled and directed the -whole wonderful system. He came to know what the instruments ticking -madly away on every table were saying. He proved himself worthy of -the trust reposed in him, and on two critical occasions, at least, -he displayed a nerve and quickness of judgment which caused the -general manager to ask the train-master: - -“Who is this fellow named West you’ve got down there in your office, -Schofield? He seems a good one.” - -“He _is_ a good one,” Mr. Schofield had responded, earnestly. -“You’ll hear from him again.” - -How the prophecy came true and what adventures befell Allan in his -new position will be told in “The Young Train-despatcher”; but, -whatever his successes, I doubt if he ever knew happier days than -those he spent with Reddy and Jack Welsh on Section Twenty-one. - - THE END. - - - - - BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS - (Trade Mark.) - - By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON - - Each, 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative, per vol. $1.50 - - The Little Colonel Stories. - (Trade Mark.) - Illustrated. - - Being three “Little Colonel” stories in the Cosy Corner - Series, “The Little Colonel,” “Two Little Knights of Kentucky,” - and “The Giant Scissors,” put into a single volume. - - The Little Colonel’s House Party. - (Trade Mark.) - Illustrated by Louis Meynell. - - The Little Colonel’s Holidays. - (Trade Mark.) - Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. - - The Little Colonel’s Hero. - (Trade Mark.) - Illustrated by E. B. Barry. - - The Little Colonel at Boarding School. - (Trade Mark.) - Illustrated by E. B. Barry. - - The Little Colonel in Arizona. - (Trade Mark.) - Illustrated by E. B. Barry. - - The Little Colonel’s Christmas Vacation. - (Trade Mark.) - Illustrated by E. B. Barry. - - Since the time of “Little Women,” no juvenile heroine - has been better beloved of her child readers than Mrs. - Johnston’s “Little Colonel.” - - - - - L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY’S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - - -Joel: a Boy of Galilee. - -By Annie Fellows Johnston. Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman. - -New illustrated edition, uniform with the Little Colonel Books, 1 -vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -A story of the time of Christ, which is one of the author’s -best-known books, and which has been translated into many languages, -the last being Italian. - - -Asa Holmes; or, at the Cross-Roads, a sketch of Country Life and -Country Humor. By Annie Fellows Johnston. With a frontispiece by -Ernest Fosbery. - -Large 16mo, cloth, gilt top . . . $1.00 - -“‘Asa Holmes; or, At the Cross-Roads’ is the most delightful, most -sympathetic and wholesome book that has been published in a long -while. The lovable, cheerful, touching incidents, the descriptions -of persons and things are wonderfully true to nature.”—_Boston -Times_. - - -In the Desert of Waiting: The Legend of Camelback Mountain. - - -The Three Weavers: A Fairy Tale for Fathers and Mothers as Well -as for Their Daughters. By Annie Fellows Johnston. - -Each one volume, tall 16mo, cloth decorative . . . $0.60 - -There has been a constant demand for publication in separate form of -these two stories, which were originally included in two of the -“Little Colonel” books, and the present editions, which are very -charmingly gotten up, will be delightful and valued gift-books for -both old and young. - -“‘The Three Weavers’ is the daintiest fairy-story I ever read,” -wrote one critic, and the _Louisville Post_ calls “In the Desert of -Waiting” a “gem, an exquisite bit of work. Mrs. Johnston is at her -best in this web of delicate fancy, woven about the deep centre -truth.” Those who have read the stories as they originally appeared -will be glad to find them published individually. - - -Little Lady Marjorie. By Frances Margaret Fox, author of “Farmer -Brown and the Birds,” etc. - -12mo, cloth, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -A charming story for children between the ages of ten and fifteen -years, with both heart and nature interest. - - -The Sandman: his farm stories. By William J. Hopkins. With fifty -illustrations by Ada Clendenin Williamson. - -One vol., large 12mo, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -“An amusing, original book, written for the benefit of children not -more than six years old, is ‘The Sandman: His Farm Stories.’ It -should be one of the most popular of the year’s books for reading to -small children.”—_Buffalo Express_. - -“Mothers and fathers and kind elder sisters who take the little ones -to bed and rack their brains for stories will find this book a -treasure.”—_Cleveland Leader_. - - -The Sandman: More Farm Stories. By William J. Hopkins, author of -“The Sandman: His Farm Stories.” - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, fully illustrated . . . $1.50 - -Mr. Hopkins’s first essay at bedtime stories has met with such -approval that this second book of “Sandman” tales has been issued -for scores of eager children. Life on the farm, and out-of-doors, -will be portrayed in his inimitable manner, and many a little one -will hail the bedtime season as one of delight. - - -A Puritan Knight Errant. By Edith Robinson, author of “A Little -Puritan Pioneer,” “A Little Puritan’s First Christmas,” “A Little -Puritan Rebel,” etc. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -The charm of style and historical value of Miss Robinson’s previous -stories of child life in Puritan days have brought them wide -popularity. Her latest and most important book appeals to a large -juvenile public. The “knight errant” of this story is a little Don -Quixote, whose trials and their ultimate outcome will prove deeply -interesting to their reader. - - -The Rival Campers; or, the Adventures of Henry Burns. By Ruel -P. Smith. - -12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -Here is a book which will grip and enthuse every boy who is lucky -enough to secure it. It is the story of a party of typical American -lads, courageous, alert, and athletic, who spend a summer camping on -an island off the Maine coast. Every boy reader will envy them their -adventures,—yacht-racing, canoeing, and camping,—which culminate in -their discovery and capture of a gang of daring robbers; but the -influence of wholesome, outdoor life in the development of manly -character is well brought out. Henry Burns, the leader of the boys, -is a character in juvenile fiction of whom we are likely to hear -again. - - -The Young Section Hand; or, The Adventures of Allan West. By -Burton E. Stevenson, author of “The Marathon Mystery,” etc. - -12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -Every branch of railroading fascinates the average American boy. The -shops, the telegraph and signal systems, the yard and track work, -the daily life of danger which confronts every employee, whether he -be the ordinary workman or the engineer of a limited express train, -and the mysterious “office” which controls every branch of the -work,—each holds out its allurements to him. - -In this story Mr. Stevenson’s hero is just the right sort, a manly -lad of sixteen who is given a chance as a section hand on a big -Western railroad, and whose experiences are as real as they are -thrilling. He is persecuted by the discharged employee whose place -he took, and becomes involved in complications which nearly cause -his undoing; but his manliness and courage are finally proven, and -the reward is his for duty done at any cost. - - -Born to the Blue. By Florence Kimball Russel. - -12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.00 - -The atmosphere of army life on the plains breathes on every page of -this delightful tale. The boy is the son of a captain of U. S. -cavalry stationed at a frontier post in the days when our regulars -earned the gratitude of a nation. His military training is begun at -a very early age; and how well he profits by the soldierly qualities -of manhood and honor and modesty and courtesy instilled is brought -out in a series of incidents and adventures which will appeal to -every youngster, and to many of their elders. Every phase of -garrison life is included, for, though an officer’s son, his friends -range from the colonel commanding to the trooper who taught him to -ride his Indian pony. - -The author is herself “of the army,” and knows every detail of the -life. From reveille to retreat her descriptions are accurate, which -adds to the value and interest of the book. - - -“Yours with All My Heart:” The Autobiography of a Real Dog. By -Esther M. Baxendale. With nearly a hundred illustrations from -photographs and from drawings by Etheldred B. Barry. - -Large 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -Mrs. Baxendale’s charming story, though written primarily for -children, will find a warm welcome from all those who love animals. -It is a true story of a deeply loved pet and companion of the -author’s for thirteen years; and it cannot fail to inspire in the -hearts of all the young people fortunate enough to hear it that -affection and sympathy for domestic animals so essential in the -moulding of character. - - -The Roses of St. Elizabeth. By Jane Scott Woodruff, author of -“The Little Christmas Shoe.” - -12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.00 - -This is a charming little story of a child whose father was -caretaker of the great castle of the Wartburg, where St. Elizabeth -once had her home, with a fairy-tale interwoven in which the roses -and the ivy in the castle yard tell to the child and her playmate -quaint old legends of the saint and the castle. This is just the -sort of a story that girls love, with its sweetness and its -fragrance and its faint echo of days long gone, with a suspicion of -present-day romance at the end. - - -Songs and Rhymes for the Little Ones. Compiled by Mary Whitney -Morrison (Jenny Wallis). - -New edition, with an introduction by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, with -eight illustrations. - -One vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.00 - -No better description of this admirable book can be given than Mrs. -Whitney’s happy introduction: - -“One might almost as well offer June roses with the assurance of -their sweetness, as to present this lovely little gathering of -verse, which announces itself, like them, by its deliciousness. Yet -as Mrs. Morrison’s charming volume has long been a delight to me, I -am only too happy to link my name with its new and enriched form in -this slight way, and simply declare that it is to me the most -bewitching book of songs for little people that I have ever known.” - - - - - PHYLLIS’ FIELD FRIENDS SERIES - By LENORE E. MULETS - -Six vols., cloth decorative, illustrated by Sophie Schneider. Sold -separately, or as a set. - -Per volume . . . $1.00 - -Per set . . . 6.00 - -Insect Stories. - -Stories of Little Animals. - -Flower Stories. - -Bird Stories. - -Tree Stories. - -Stories of Little Fishes. - -In this series of six little Nature books, it is the author’s -intention so to present to the child reader the facts about each -particular flower, insect, bird, or animal, in story form, as to -make delightful reading. Classical legends, myths, poems, and songs -are so introduced as to correlate fully with these lessons, to which -the excellent illustrations are no little help. - - - THE WOODRANGER TALES - By G. WALDO BROWNE - -The Woodranger. - -The Young Gunbearer. - -The Hero of the Hills. - -With Rogers’ Rangers. - -Each 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth, decorative cover, illustrated, per -volume . . . $1.00 - -Four vols., boxed, per set . . . 4.00 - -“The Woodranger Tales,” like the “Pathfinder Tales” of J. Fenimore -Cooper, combine historical information relating to early pioneer -days in America with interesting adventures in the backwoods. -Although the same characters are continued throughout the series, -each book is complete in itself, and, while based strictly on -historical facts, is an interesting and exciting tale of adventure. - - -Beautiful Joe’s Paradise; or, The Island of Brotherly Love. A -sequel to “Beautiful Joe.” By Marshall Saunders, author of -“Beautiful Joe,” “For His Country,” etc. With fifteen full-page -plates and many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston -Bull. - -One vol., library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -“Will be immensely enjoyed by the boys and girls who read -it.”—_Pittsburg Gazette_. - -“Miss Saunders has put life, humor, action, and tenderness into her -story. The book deserves to be a favorite.”—_Chicago Record-Herald_. - -“This book revives the spirit of ‘Beautiful Joe’ capitally. It is -fairly riotous with fun, and as a whole is about as unusual as -anything in the animal book line that has seen the light. It is a -book for juveniles—old and young.”—_Philadelphia Item_. - - -’Tilda Jane. By Marshall Saunders, author of “Beautiful Joe,” -etc. - -One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth, decorative -cover . . . $1.50 - -“No more amusing and attractive child’s story has appeared for a -long time than this quaint and curious recital of the adventures of -that pitiful and charming little runaway. - -“It is one of those exquisitely simple and truthful books that win -and charm the reader, and I did not put it down until I had finished -it—honest! And I am sure that every one, young or old, who reads -will be proud and happy to make the acquaintance of the delicious -waif. - -“I cannot think of any better book for children than this. I commend -it unreservedly.”—_Cyrus Townsend Brady_. - - -The Story of the Graveleys. By Marshall Saunders, author of -“Beautiful Joe’s Paradise,” “’Tilda Jane,” etc. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by E. B. -Barry . . . $1.50 - -Here we have the haps and mishaps, the trials and triumphs, of a -delightful New England family, of whose devotion and sturdiness it -will do the reader good to hear. From the kindly, serene-souled -grandmother to the buoyant madcap, Berty, these Graveleys are folk -of fibre and blood—genuine human beings. - - - - - THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES - -The most delightful and interesting accounts possible of child-life -in other lands, filled with quaint sayings, doings, and adventures. - -Each 1 vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with six full-page -illustrations in color by L. J. Bridgman. - -Price per volume . . . $0.60 - - By MARY HAZELTON WADE - - Our Little African Cousin - Our Little Armenian Cousin - Our Little Brown Cousin - Our Little Cuban Cousin - Our Little Eskimo Cousin - Our Little German Cousin - Our Little Hawaiian Cousin - Our Little Indian Cousin - Our Little Irish Cousin - Our Little Italian Cousin - Our Little Japanese Cousin - Our Little Jewish Cousin - Our Little Mexican Cousin - Our Little Norwegian Cousin - Our Little Philippine Cousin - Our Little Porto Rican Cousin - Our Little Russian Cousin - Our Little Siamese Cousin - Our Little Swiss Cousin - Our Little Turkish Cousin - - By BLANCHE McMANUS - - Our Little English Cousin - Our Little French Cousin - - By ELIZABETH ROBERTS MacDONALD - - Our Little Canadian Cousin - - By ISAAC HEADLAND TAYLOR - - Our Little Chinese Cousin - - By H. LEE M. PIKE - - Our Little Korean Cousin - - - - - ANIMAL TALES - By Charles G. D. Roberts - - ILLUSTRATED BY - Charles Livingston Bull - as follows: - - The Lord of the Air - (The Eagle) - - The King of the Mamozekel - (The Moose) - - The Watchers of the Camp-fire - (The Panther) - - The Haunter of the Pine Gloom - (The Lynx) - - The Return to the Trails - (The Bear) - - The Little People of the Sycamore - (The Raccoon) - -Each 1 vol., small 12mo, cloth decorative, per volume, $0.50 - -Realizing the great demand for the animal stories of Professor -Roberts, one of the masters of nature writers, the publishers have -selected six representative stories, to be issued separately, at a -popular price. Each story is illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull, -and is bound in a handsome decorative cover. - - - - - COSY CORNER SERIES - -It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall contain -only the very highest and purest literature,—stories that shall not -only appeal to the children themselves, but be appreciated by all -those who feel with them in their joys and sorrows. - -The numerous illustrations in each book are by well-known artists, -and each volume has a separate attractive cover design. - -Each, 1 vol., 16mo, cloth . . . $0.50 - - - By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON - -The Little Colonel. (Trade Mark.) - -The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small -girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied -resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate -and old family are famous in the region. This old Colonel proves to -be the grandfather of the child. - -The Giant Scissors. - -This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France,—the -wonderful house with the gate of The Giant Scissors, Jules, her -little playmate, Sister Denisa, the cruel Brossard, and her dear -Aunt Kate. Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, and in -later volumes shares with her the delightful experiences of the -“House Party” and the “Holidays.” - -Two Little Knights of Kentucky, Who Were the Little Colonel’s -Neighbors. - -In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, -but with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central -figure of the story, that place being taken by the “two little -knights.” - -Cicely and Other Stories for Girls. - -The readers of Mrs. Johnston’s charming juveniles will be glad to -learn of the issue of this volume for young people. - -Aunt ’Liza’s Hero and Other Stories. - -A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal to all -boys and most girls. - -Big Brother. - -A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Steven, himself a -small boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale. - -Ole Mammy’s Torment. - -“Ole Mammy’s Torment” has been fitly called “a classic of Southern -life.” It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and -tells how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the -right. - -The Story of Dago. - -In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey, -owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the -account of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing. - -The Quilt That Jack Built. - -A pleasant little story of a boy’s labor of love, and how it changed -the course of his life many years after it was accomplished. - -Flip’s Islands of Providence. - -A story of a boy’s life battle, his early defeat, and his final -triumph, well worth the reading. - - - - - By EDITH ROBINSON - -A Little Puritan’s First Christmas. - -A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was -invented by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by -her brother Sam. - -A Little Daughter of Liberty. - -The author’s motive for this story is well indicated by a quotation -from her introduction, as follows: - -“One ride is memorable in the early history of the American -Revolution, the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of -commendation is another ride,—the ride of Anthony Severn,—which was -no less historic in its action or memorable in its consequences.” - -A Loyal Little Maid. - -A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which -the child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to -George Washington. - -A Little Puritan Rebel. - -This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the -gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts. - -A Little Puritan Pioneer. - -The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at -Charlestown. The little girl heroine adds another to the list of -favorites so well known to the young people. - -A Little Puritan Bound Girl. - -A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great interest to -youthful readers. - -A Little Puritan Cavalier. - -The story of a “Little Puritan Cavalier” who tried with all his -boyish enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and ideals of the dead -Crusaders. - - - By MISS MULOCK - -The Little Lame Prince. - -A delightful story of a little boy who has many adventures by means -of the magic gifts of his fairy godmother. - -Adventures of a Brownie. - -The story of a household elf who torments the cook and gardener, but -is a constant joy and delight to the children who love and trust -him. - -His Little Mother. - -Miss Mulock’s short stories for children are a constant source of -delight to them, and “His Little Mother,” in this new and attractive -dress, will be welcomed by hosts of youthful readers. - -Little Sunshine’s Holiday. - -An attractive story of a summer outing. “Little Sunshine” is another -of those beautiful child-characters for which Miss Mulock is so -justly famous. - - - By JULIANA HORATIA EWING - -Jackanapes. - -A new edition, with new illustrations, of this exquisite and -touching story, dear alike to young and old. - -Story of a Short Life. - -This beautiful and pathetic story will never grow old. It is a part -of the world’s literature, and will never die. - -A Great Emergency. - -How a family of children prepared for a great emergency, and how -they acted when the emergency came. - - - By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramée) - -A Dog of Flanders: A Christmas Story. - -Too well and favorably known to require description. - -The Nurnberg Stove. - -This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular -price. - - - By FRANCES MARGARET FOX - -The Little Giant’s Neighbours. - -A charming nature story of a “little giant” whose neighbours were -the creatures of the field and garden. - -Farmer Brown and the Birds. - -A little story which teaches children that the birds are man’s best -friends. - -Betty of Old Mackinaw. - -A charming story of child-life, appealing especially to the little -readers who like stories of “real people.” - -Mother Nature’s Little Ones. - -Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or -“childhood,” of the little creatures out-of-doors. - -How Christmas Came to the Mulvaneys. - -A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children, with -an unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. The wonderful -never-to-be-forgotten Christmas that came to them is the climax of a -series of exciting incidents. - - - By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE - -The Farrier’s Dog and His Fellow. - -This story, written by the gifted young Southern woman, will appeal -to all that is best in the natures of the many admirers of her -graceful and piquant style. - -The Fortunes of the Fellow. - -Those who read and enjoyed the pathos and charm of “The Farrier’s -Dog and His Fellow” will welcome the further account of the -adventures of Baydaw and the Fellow at the home of the kindly smith. - -The Best of Friends. - -This continues the experiences of the Farrier’s dog and his Fellow, -written in Miss Dromgoole’s well-known charming style. - -Down in Dixie. - -A fascinating story for boys and girls, of a family of Alabama -children who move to Florida and grow up in the South. - - - By MARIAN W. WILDMAN - -Loyalty Island. - -An account of the adventures of four children and their pet dog on -an island, and how they cleared their brother from the suspicion of -dishonesty. - -Theodore and Theodora. - -This is a story of the exploits and mishaps of two mischievous -twins, and continues the adventures of the interesting group of -children in “Loyalty Island.” - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Young Section-Hand, by Burton Egbert Stevenson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND *** - -***** This file should be named 62830-0.txt or 62830-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/8/3/62830/ - -Produced by D A Alexander and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by the -Library of Congress) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/62830-0.zip b/old/62830-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cb50f65..0000000 --- a/old/62830-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h.zip b/old/62830-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2d78d67..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/62830-h.htm b/old/62830-h/62830-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index cec6e10..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/62830-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7039 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <title>The Young Section-Hand, by Burton E. Stevenson—A Project Gutenberg eBook</title> - <link rel='coverpage' href='images/cover.jpg' /> - <meta name='cover' content='images/cover.jpg' /> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left:8%; margin-right:8%; } - p { text-indent:1.15em; margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:0.1em; text-align:justify; } - h1 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.4em; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } - h2 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.0em; margin-top:3em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } - h2.nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; } - div.section { page-break-before:always; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:4em; } - div.chapter { page-break-before:always; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:4em; } - hr.tbk { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; - margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:25%; width:50% } - table.toc {} - table { page-break-inside: avoid; width:100%; } - table.tcenter { border-collapse:collapse; padding:3px; - margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; } - td { vertical-align:top; } - td.c1 { text-align:right; padding-right:0.7em; } - td.c2 { font-variant:small-caps; } - div.cbline { margin-left:1.4em; text-indent:-1.4em; } - .caption { text-indent:0; padding:0.5em 0; text-align:center; font-size:smaller; } - @media handheld { - table.tcenter { margin-left:2em; } - } - li { font-variant:small-caps; margin-bottom:0.5em; font-size:0.9em; } - body { font-size:110%; } - .c { text-align:center; } - hr.ad { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:22em; } - .i { font-style:italic; } - .b { font-weight:bold; } - .fs08 { font-size:0.8em; } - .mb10 { margin-bottom:1em; } - .mt05 { margin-top:0.5em; } - .ml5p { margin-left:5%; margin-top:0.3em; } - </style> -</head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's The Young Section-Hand, by Burton Egbert Stevenson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Young Section-Hand - -Author: Burton Egbert Stevenson - -Illustrator: L. J. Bridgman - -Release Date: August 3, 2020 [EBook #62830] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND *** - - - - -Produced by D A Alexander and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by the -Library of Congress) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<h1>THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND</h1> - -<div class='section'> - -<div id='frontis' style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:10.0%; width:80%;'> - <img src='images/frontis.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“CAUGHT THE CHILD FROM UNDER THE VERY WHEELS OF THE ENGINE”</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;'>THE YOUNG</div> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;margin-bottom:1em;'>SECTION-HAND</div> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;'><i>By</i> BURTON E. STEVENSON</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>Author of “The Holladay Case,” “Tommy</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;margin-bottom:1em;'>Remington’s Battle,” etc.</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>ILLUSTRATED BY</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>L. J. BRIDGMAN</div> -</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:40%; width:20%;'> - <img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>Boston</div> -<div>L. C. PAGE & COMPANY</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;'>Mdccccv</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;font-style:italic;'>Copyright, 1905</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;font-variant:small-caps;'>By L. C. Page & Company</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>(INCORPORATED)</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-top:0.7em;font-style:italic;'>All rights reserved</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-top:0.7em;'>Published July, 1905</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-top:0.7em;font-style:italic;'>COLONIAL PRESS</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;font-style:italic;'>Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. </div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;font-style:italic;'>Boston, U. S. A. </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>TO</div> -<div>E. B. S., G. W. P</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>AND THE OTHER “BOYS” OF YARD</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>AND SHOP AND OFFICE</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>IN MEMORY</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>OF THAT FAR-OFF TIME</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;'>WHEN I “COVERED” THE RAILROAD</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<table class='toc tcenter' summary="" style='margin-bottom:3em'> -<thead> - <tr> - <th colspan='2' style='font-weight:normal;padding-bottom:1em;'>CONTENTS</th> - </tr> -</thead> -<tbody> - <tr><td class='c1'>I.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chI'>The Bottom Round</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>II.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chII'>A New Experience</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>III.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIII'>An Adventure and a Story</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>IV.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIV'>Allan Meets an Enemy</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>V.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chV'>Allan Proves His Metal</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VI.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVI'>Reddy to the Rescue</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVII'>The Irish Brigade</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>VIII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chVIII'>Good News and Bad</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>IX.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chIX'>Reddy’s Exploit</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>X.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chX'>A Summons in the Night</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XI.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXI'>Clearing the Track</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXII'>Unsung Heroes</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XIII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXIII'>A New Danger</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XIV.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXIV'>Allan Makes a Discovery</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XV.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXV'>A Shot from Behind</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XVI.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXVI'>A Call to Duty</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XVII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXVII'>A Night of Danger</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XVIII.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXVIII'>The Signal in the Night</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XIX.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXIX'>Reddy Redivivus</a></td></tr> - <tr><td class='c1'>XX.</td><td class='c2'><a href='#chXX'>The Road’s Gratitude</a></td></tr> -</tbody> -</table> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-bottom:1em;'>ILLUSTRATIONS</div> -</div> -<ul style='list-style-type:none; display:table; margin: 0 auto;'> -<li><a href='#frontis'>“Caught the child from under the very wheels of the engine”</a></li> -<li><a href='#f044'>“Near at hand it was even more terrifying than at a distance”</a></li> -<li><a href='#f054'>“He struck suddenly and viciously at the boy’s face”</a></li> -<li><a href='#f112'>“Snatched the little one into the air just as the engine bore down upon it”</a></li> -<li><a href='#f128'>“Just in time to escape a large boulder”</a></li> -<li><a href='#f246'>“He stepped to one side, and ... brought down his club upon the other’s head”</a></li> -</ul> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;margin-top:4em;'>THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND</div> -</div> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chI' title='I: THE BOTTOM ROUND'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER I.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>THE BOTTOM ROUND</span> -</h2> - -<p>“Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”</p> - -<p>Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the -P. & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the -speaker for a moment.</p> - -<p>“A man, yes,” he said, at last. “But not a boy. This ain’t boy’s work.”</p> - -<p>And he bent over again to sight along the rail and make sure that the -track was quite level.</p> - -<p>“Up a little!” he shouted to the gang who had their crowbars under the -ties some distance ahead.</p> - -<p>They heaved at their bars painfully, growing red in the face under the -strain.</p> - -<p>“That’ll do! Now keep it there!”</p> - -<p>Some of the men braced themselves and held on to their bars, while -others hastened to tamp some gravel solidly under the ties to keep them -in place. The foreman, at leisure for a moment, turned again to the boy, -who had stood by with downcast face, plainly undecided what to do. Welsh -had a kindly Irish heart, which not even the irksomeness of section work -could sour, and he had noted the boy’s fresh face and honest eyes. It -was not an especially handsome face, yet one worth looking twice at, if -only for its frankness.</p> - -<p>“What’s yer name, sonny?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Allan West.”</p> - -<p>“An’ where’d y’ come from?”</p> - -<p>“From Cincinnati.”</p> - -<p>The foreman looked the boy over again. His clothes were good, but the -worn, dusty shoes told that the journey of nearly a hundred miles had -been made on foot. He glanced again at the face—no, the boy was not a -tramp; it was easy to see he was ambitious and had ideals; he was no -idler—he would work if he had the chance.</p> - -<p>“What made y’ come all that way?” asked Welsh, at last.</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t find any work at Cincinnati,” said the boy, and it was -evident that he was speaking the truth. “There’s too many people there -out of work now. So I came on to Loveland and Midland City and -Greenfield, but it’s the same story everywhere. I got some little jobs -here and there, but nothing permanent. I thought perhaps at Wadsworth—”</p> - -<p>“No,” interrupted the foreman. “No, Wadsworth’s th’ same way—dead as a -doornail. How old’re you?” he asked, suddenly.</p> - -<p>“Seventeen. And indeed I’m very strong,” added the boy, eagerly, as he -caught a gleam of relenting in the other’s eye. “I’m sure I could do the -work.”</p> - -<p>He wanted work desperately; he felt that he had to have it, and he -straightened instinctively and drew a long breath of hope as he saw the -foreman examining him more carefully. He had always been glad that he -was muscular and well-built, but never quite so glad as at this moment.</p> - -<p>“It’s mighty hard work,” added Jack, reflectively. “Mighty hard. Do y’ -think y’ could stand it?”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I could, sir,” answered Allan, his face glowing. “Just let me -try.”</p> - -<p>“An’ th’ pay’s only a dollar an’ a quarter a day.”</p> - -<p>The boy drew a quick breath.</p> - -<p>“That’s more than I’ve ever made regularly, sir,” he said. “I’ve always -thought myself lucky if I could earn a dollar a day.”</p> - -<p>Jack smiled grimly.</p> - -<p>“You’ll earn your dollar an’ a quarter all right at this work,” he said. -“An’ you’ll find it’s mighty little when it comes t’ feedin’ an’ -clothin’ an’ lodgin’ yerself. But you’d like t’ try, would y’?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed!” said Allan.</p> - -<p>There could be no doubting his eagerness, and as he looked at him, Jack -smiled again.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what th’ road-master’ll say; mebbe he won’t let me keep -you—I know he won’t if he sees you can’t do th’ work.” He looked down -the line toward the gang, who stood leaning on their tools, enjoying the -unusual privilege of a moment’s rest. “But I’m a man short,” he added. -“I had t’ fire one this mornin’. We’ll try you, anyway. Put your coat -an’ vest on th’ hand-car over there, git a pick an’ shovel an’ go up -there with th’ gang.”</p> - -<p>The boy flushed with pleasure and hurried away toward the hand-car, -taking off his coat and vest as he went. He was back again in a moment, -armed with the tools.</p> - -<p>“Reddy, you show him the ropes!” shouted the foreman to one of the men.</p> - -<p>“All roight, sir!” answered Reddy, easily distinguishable by the colour -of his hair. “Come over here, youngster,” he added, as Allan joined the -group. “Now you watch me, an’ you’ll soon be as good a section-man as -they is on th’ road.”</p> - -<p>The others laughed good-naturedly, then bent to work again, -straightening the track. For this thing of steel and oak which bound the -East to the West, and which, at first glance, would seem to have been -built, like the Roman roads of old, to last for ever, was in constant -need of attention. The great rails were of the toughest steel that forge -could make; the ties were of the best and soundest oak; the gravel which -served as ballast lay under them a foot deep and extended a foot on -either side; the road-bed was as solid as the art of man could make it, -pounded, tamped, and rolled, until it seemed strong as the eternal -hills.</p> - -<p>Yet it did not endure. For every hour of the day there swept over it, -pounding at it, the monstrous freight locomotives, weighing a hundred -tons, marvels of strength and power, pulling long lines of heavy cars, -laden with coal and iron and grain, hurrying to give the Old World of -the abundance of the New. And every hour, too, there flashed over it, at -a speed almost lightning-like, the through passenger trains—the engines -slim, supple, panting, thoroughbred; the lumbering mail-cars and day -coaches; the luxurious Pullmans far heavier than any freight-car.</p> - -<p>Day and night these thousands of tons hurled themselves along the rails, -tearing at them at every curve, pounding them at every joint. Small -wonder that they sometimes gave and spread, or broke short off, -especially in zero weather, under the great pressure. Then, too, the -thaws of spring loosened the road-bed and softened it; freshets -undermined it and sapped the foundations of bridge and culvert. A -red-hot cinder from the firebox, dropped on a wooden trestle, might -start a disastrous blaze. And the least defect meant, perhaps, the loss -of a score of lives.</p> - -<p>So every day, over the whole length of the line, gangs of section-men -went up and down, putting in a new tie here, replacing a defective rail -there, tightening bolts, straightening the track, clearing the ditches -along the road of water lest it seep under the road-bed and soften it; -doing a thousand and one things that only a section-foreman would think -needful. And all this that passengers and freight alike might go in -safety to their destinations; that the road, at the year’s end, might -declare a dividend.</p> - -<p>There was nothing spectacular about their work; there was no romance -connected with it. The passengers who caught a glimpse of them, as the -train flashed by, never gave them a second thought. Their clothes were -always tom and soiled; their hands hard and rough; the tugging at the -bars had pulled their shoulders over into an ungraceful stoop; almost -always they had the haggard, patient look of men who labour beyond their -strength. But they were cogs in the great machine, just as important, in -their way, as the big fly-wheel of a superintendent in the general -offices; more important, sometimes, for the superintendent took frequent -vacations, but the section work could not be neglected for a single day.</p> - -<p>Allan West soon discovered what soul-racking work it was. To raise the -rigid track a fraction of an inch required that muscles be strained to -bursting. To replace a tie was a task that tried every nerve and sinew. -The sun beat down upon them mercilessly, bringing out the sweat in -streams. But the boy kept at it bravely, determined to do his part and -hold the place if he could. He was under a good teacher, for Reddy, -otherwise Timothy Magraw, was a thorough-going section-hand. He knew his -work inside and out, and it was only a characteristic Irish -carelessness, a certain unreliability, that kept him in the ranks, -where, indeed, he was quite content to stay.</p> - -<p>“Oi d’ want nothin’ else,” he would say. “Oi does me wor-rk, an’ draws -me pay, an’ goes home an’ goes t’ sleep, with niver a thing t’ worrit -me; while Welsh there’s a tossin’ aroun’ thinkin’ o’ what’s before him. -Reespons’bility—that’s th’ thing Oi can’t stand.”</p> - -<p>On the wages he drew as section-hand—and with the assistance, in summer, -of a little “truck-patch” back of his house—he managed to keep himself -and his wife and numerous children clothed; they had enough to eat and a -place to sleep, and they were all as happy as possible. So that, in this -case, Reddy’s philosophy seemed not a half-bad one. Certainly this -freedom from responsibility left him in perpetual good-humour that -lightened the work for the whole gang and made the hours pass more -swiftly. Under his direction, the boy soon learned just what was -expected of him, and even drew a word of commendation from his teacher.</p> - -<p>“But don’t try to do the work all by yourself, me b’y,” he cautioned, -noting Allan’s eagerness. “We’re all willing t’ help a little. If y’ try -t’ lift that track by yerself, ye’ll wrinch y’r back, an’ll be laid up -fer a week.”</p> - -<p>Allan laughed and coloured a little at this good-natured raillery.</p> - -<p>“I’ll try not to do more than my share,” he said.</p> - -<p>“That’s roight!” approved Reddy, with a nod. “Whin each man does his -share, why, th’ wor-rk goes along stiddy an’ aisy. It’s whin we gits a -shirker on th’ gang like that there Dan Nolan—”</p> - -<p>A chorus of low growls from the other men interrupted him. Nolan, -evidently, was not a popular person.</p> - -<p>“Who was he?” asked Allan, at the next breathing-spell.</p> - -<p>“He’s th’ lazy hound that Jack fired from th’ gang this mornin’,” -answered Reddy, his blue eyes blazing with unaccustomed wrath. “He’s a -reg’lar bad ’un, he is. We used t’ think he was workin’ like anything, -he’d git so red in th’ face, but come t’ find out he had a trick o’ -holdin’ his breath t’ make hisself look that way. He was allers -shirkin’, an’ when he had it in fer a feller, no trick was too mean or -dir-rty fer him t’ try. Y’ remimber, boys, whin he dropped that rail on -poor Tom Collins’s foot?”</p> - -<p>The gang murmured an angry assent, and bent to their work again. Rod by -rod they worked their way down the track, lifting, straining, tamping -down the gravel. Occasionally a train thundered past, and they stood -aside, leaning on their tools, glad of the moment’s rest. At last, away -in the distance, Allan caught the faint sound of blowing whistles and -ringing bells. The foreman took out his watch, looked at it, and closed -it with a snap.</p> - -<p>“Come on, boys,” he said. “It’s dinner-time!”</p> - -<p>They went back together to the hand-car at the side of the road, which -was their base of supplies, and slowly got out their dinner-pails. Allan -was sent with a bucket to a farmhouse a quarter of a mile away to get -some fresh water, and, when he returned, he found the men already busy -with their food. They drank the cool water eagerly, for the hot sun had -given them a burning thirst.</p> - -<p>“Set down here,” said the foreman, “an’ dip in with me. I’ve got enough -fer three men.”</p> - -<p>And Allan sat down right willingly, for his stomach was protesting -loudly against its continued state of emptiness. Never did cheese, fried -ham, boiled eggs, bread, butter, and apple pie taste better. The -compartment in the top of the dinner-pail was filled with coffee, but a -share of this the boy declined, for he had never acquired a taste for -that beverage. At last he settled back with a long sigh of content.</p> - -<p>“That went t’ th’ right place, didn’t it?” asked Jack, with twinkling -eyes.</p> - -<p>“That it did!” assented Allan, heartily. “I don’t know what I’d have -done if you hadn’t taken pity on me,” he added. “I was simply starving.”</p> - -<p>“You had your breakfast this mornin’, didn’t y’?” demanded Jack, -sharply.</p> - -<p>Allan coloured a little under his fierce gaze.</p> - -<p>“No, sir, I didn’t,” he said, rather hoarsely. “I couldn’t find any work -to do, and I—I couldn’t beg!”</p> - -<p>Jack looked at him without speaking, but his eyes were suspiciously -bright.</p> - -<p>“So you see, I just had to have this job,” Allan went on. “And now that -I’ve got it, I’m going to do my best to keep it!”</p> - -<p>Jack turned away for a moment, before he could trust himself to speak.</p> - -<p>“I like your grit,” he said, at last. “It’s th’ right kind. An’ you -won’t have any trouble keepin’ your job. But, man alive, why didn’t y’ -tell me y’ was hungry? Jest a hint would ’a’ been enough! Why, th’ -wife’ll never fergive me when she hears about it!”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” protested Allan, “I couldn’t—”</p> - -<p>He stopped without finishing the sentence.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ll fergive y’ this time,” said Jack. “Are y’ sure y’ve ate all -y’ kin hold?”</p> - -<p>“Every mite,” Allan assured him, his heart warming toward the friendly, -weather-beaten face that looked at him so kindly. “I couldn’t eat -another morsel!”</p> - -<p>“All right, then; we’ll see that it don’t occur ag’in,” said Jack, -putting the cover on his pail, and then stretching out in an easier -position. “Now, d’ y’ want a stiddy job here?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“If I can get it.”</p> - -<p>“I guess y’ kin git it, all right. But how about your home?”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t any home,” and the boy gazed out across the fields, his lips -quivering a little despite his efforts to keep them still.</p> - -<p>The foreman looked at him for a moment. There was something in the face -that moved him, and he held out his hand impulsively.</p> - -<p>“Here, shake!” he said. “I’m your friend.”</p> - -<p>The boy put his hand in the great, rough palm extended to him, but he -did not speak—his throat was too full for that.</p> - -<p>“Now, if you’re goin’ t’ stay,” went on the other, “you’ve got t’ have -some place t’ board. I’ll board an’ room y’ fer three dollars a week. It -won’t be like Delmonicer’s, but y’ won’t starve—y’ll git yer three -square meals a day. That’ll leave y’ four-fifty a week fer clothes an’ -things. How’ll that suit y’?”</p> - -<p>The boy looked at him gratefully.</p> - -<p>“You are very kind,” he said, huskily. “I’m sure it’s worth more than -three dollars a week.”</p> - -<p>“No, it ain’t—not a cent more. Well, that’s settled. Some day, maybe, -you’ll feel like tellin’ me about yerself. I’d like to hear it. But not -now—wait till y’ git used t’ me.”</p> - -<p>A freight-train, flying two dirty white flags, to show that it was -running extra and not on a definite schedule, rumbled by, and the -train-crew waved their caps at the section-men, who responded in kind. -The engineer leaned far out the cab window and shouted something, but -his voice was lost in the roar of the train.</p> - -<p>“That’s Bill Morrison,” observed Jack, when the train was past. “There -ain’t a finer engineer on th’ road. Two year ago he run into a washout -down here at Oak Furnace. He seen it in time t’ jump, but he told his -fireman t’ jump instead, and he stuck to her an’ tried to stop her. They -found him in th’ ditch under th’ engine, with his leg mashed an’ his arm -broke an’ his head cut open. He opened his eyes fer a minute as they was -draggin’ him out, an’ what d’ y’ think he says?”</p> - -<p>Jack paused a moment, while Allan listened breathlessly, with -fast-beating heart.</p> - -<p>“He says, ‘Flag Number Three!’ says he, an’ then dropped off senseless -ag’in. They’d forgot all about Number Three, th’ fastest passenger-train -on th’ road, an’ she’d have run into them as sure as shootin’, if it -hadn’t been fer Bill. Well, sir, they hurried out a flagman an’ stopped -her jest in time, an’ you ort t’ seen them passengers when they heard -about Bill! They all went up t’ him where he was layin’ pale-like an’ -bleedin’ on th’ ground, an’ they was mighty few of th’ men but what was -blowin’ their noses; an’ as fer the women, they jest naturally slopped -over! Well, they thought Bill was goin’ t’ die, but he pulled through. -Yes, he’s still runnin’ freight—he’s got t’ wait his turn fer promotion; -that’s th’ rule o’ th’ road. But he’s got th’ finest gold watch y’ ever -seen; them passengers sent it t’ him; an’ right in th’ middle of th’ -case it says, ‘Flag Number Three.’”</p> - -<p>Jack stopped and looked out over the landscape, more affected by his own -story than he cared to show.</p> - -<p>As for Allan, he gazed after the fast disappearing train as though it -were an emperor’s triumphal car.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chII' title='II: A NEW EXPERIENCE'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER II.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>A NEW EXPERIENCE</span> -</h2> - -<p>“When I was a kid,” continued Welsh, reminiscently, after a moment, “I -was foolish, like all other kids. I thought they wasn’t nothin’ in th’ -world so much fun as railroadin’. I made up my mind t’ be a brakeman, -fer I thought all a brakeman had t’ do was t’ set out on top of a car, -with his legs a-hangin’ over, an’ see th’ country, an’ wave his hat at -th’ girls, an’ chase th’ boys off th’ platform, an’ order th’ engineer -around by shakin’ his hand at him. Gee whiz!” and he laughed and slapped -his leg. “It tickles me even yet t’ think what an ijit I was!”</p> - -<p>“Did you try braking?” asked Allan.</p> - -<p>“Yes—I tried it,” and Welsh’s eyes twinkled; “but I soon got enough. -Them wasn’t th’ days of air-brakes, an’ I tell you they was mighty -little fun in runnin’ along th’ top of a train in th’ dead o’ winter -when th’ cars was covered with ice an’ th’ wind blowin’ fifty mile an -hour. They wasn’t no automatic couplers, neither; a man had t’ go right -in between th’ cars t’ drop in th’ pin, an’ th’ engineer never seemed t’ -care how hard he backed down on a feller. After about six months of it, -I come t’ th’ conclusion that section-work was nearer my size. It ain’t -so excitin’, an’ a man don’t make quite so much money; but he’s sure o’ -gettin’ home t’ his wife when th’ day’s work’s over, an’ of havin’ all -his legs an’ arms with him. That counts fer a whole lot, I tell yer!”</p> - -<p>He had got out a little black pipe as he talked, and filled it with -tobacco from a paper sack. Then he applied a lighted match to the bowl -and sent a long whiff of purple smoke circling upwards.</p> - -<p>“There!” he said, leaning back with a sigh of ineffable content. “That’s -better—that’s jest th’ dessert a man wants. You don’t smoke, I guess?”</p> - -<p>“No,” and Allan shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon you’re as well off—better off, maybe; but I begun -smokin’ when I was knee high to a duck.”</p> - -<p>“You were telling me about that engineer,” prompted Allan, hoping for -another story. “Are there any more like him?”</p> - -<p>“Plenty more!” answered Jack, vigorously. “Why, nine engineers out o’ -ten would ’a’ done jest what he done. It comes nat’ral, after a feller’s -worked on th’ road awhile. Th’ road comes t’ be more t’ him than wife ’r -childer—it gits t’ be a kind o’ big idol thet he bows down an’ worships; -an’ his engine’s a little idol thet he thinks more of than he does of -his home. When he ain’t workin’, instead of stayin’ at home an’ weedin’ -his garden, or playin’ with his childer, he’ll come down t’ th’ -roundhouse an’ pet his engine, an’ polish her up, an’ walk around her -an’ look at her, an’ try her valves an’ watch th’ stokers t’ see thet -they clean her out proper. An’ when she wears out ’r breaks down, why, -you’d think he’d lost his best friend. There was old Cliff Gudgeon. He -had a swell passenger run on th’ east end; but when they got t’ puttin’ -four ’r five sleepers on his train, his old engine was too light t’ git -over th’ road on time, so they give him a new one—a great big one—a -beauty. An’ what did Cliff do? Well, sir, he said he was too old t’ -learn th’ tricks of another engine, an’ he’d stick to his old one, an’ -he’s runnin’ a little accommodation train up here on th’ Hillsboro -branch at seventy-five a month, when he might ’a’ been makin’ twict that -a-handlin’ th’ Royal Blue. Then, there’s Reddy Magraw—now, t’ look at -Reddy, y’ wouldn’t think he was anything but a chuckle-headed Irishman. -Yet, six year ago—”</p> - -<p>Reddy had caught the sound of his name, and looked up suddenly.</p> - -<p>“Hey, Jack, cut it out!” he called.</p> - -<p>Welsh laughed good-naturedly.</p> - -<p>“All right!” he said. “He’s th’ most modest man in th’ world, is Reddy. -But they ain’t all that way. There’s Dan Nolan,” and Jack’s face -darkened. “I had him on th’ gang up till this mornin’, but I couldn’t -stan’ him no longer, so I jest fired him. That’s th’ reason there was a -place fer you, m’ boy.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Allan, “Reddy was telling me about him. What was it he did?”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t do anything,” laughed Jack. “That was th’ trouble. He was -jest naturally lazy—sneakin’ lazy an’ mean. There’s jest two things a -railroad asks of its men—you might as well learn it now as any time—they -must be on hand when they’re needed, an’ they must be willin’ t’ work. -As long as y’re stiddy an’ willin’ t’ work, y’ won’t have no trouble -holdin’ a job on a railroad.”</p> - -<p>Allan looked out across the fields and determined that in these two -respects, at least, he would not be found wanting. He glanced at the -other group, gossiping together in the shade of a tree. They were not -attractive-looking, certainly, but he was beginning to learn already -that a man may be brave and honest, whatever his appearance. They were -laughing at one of Reddy’s jokes, and Allan looked at him with a new -respect, wondering what it was he had done. The foreman watched the -boy’s face with a little smile, reading his thoughts.</p> - -<p>“He ain’t much t’ look at, is he?” he said. “But you’ll soon learn—if -you ain’t learnt already—that you can’t judge a man’s inside by his -outside. There’s no place you’ll learn it quicker than on a railroad. -Railroad men, barrin’ th’ passenger train crews, who have t’ keep -themselves spruced up t’ hold their jobs, ain’t much t’ look at, as a -rule, but down at th’ bottom of most of them there allers seems t’ be a -<i>man</i>—a real man—a man who don’t lose his head when he sees death -a-starin’ him in th’ face, but jest grits his teeth an’ sticks to his -post an’ does his duty. Railroad men ain’t little tin gods nor plaster -saints—fur from it!—but they’re worth a mighty sight more than either. -There was Jim Blakeson, th’ skinniest, lankest, most woe-begone-lookin’ -feller I ever see outside of a circus. He was brakin’ front-end one -night on third ninety-eight, an’—”</p> - -<p>From afar off came the faint blowing of whistles, telling that, in the -town of Wadsworth, the wheels in the factories had started up again, -that men and women were bending again to their tasks, after the brief -noon hour. Welsh stopped abruptly, much to Allan’s disappointment, -knocked out his pipe against his boot-heel, and rose quickly to his -feet. If there was one article in Welsh’s code of honour which stood -before all the rest, it was this: That the railroad which employed him -should have the full use of the ten hours a day for which it paid. To -waste any part of that time was to steal the railroad’s money. It is a -good principle for any man—or for any boy—to cling to.</p> - -<p>“One o’clock!” he cried. “Come on, boys! We’ve got a good stretch o’ -track to finish up down there.”</p> - -<p>The dinner-pails were replaced on the hand-car and it was run down the -road about half a mile and then derailed again. The straining work -began; tugging at the bars, tamping gravel under the ties, driving new -spikes, replacing a fish-plate here and there. And the new hand learned -many things.</p> - -<p>He learned that with the advent of the great, modern, ten-wheeled -freight locomotives, all the rails on the line had been replaced with -heavier ones weighing eighty-five pounds to the yard,—850 pounds to -their thirty feet of length,—the old ones being too light to carry such -enormous weights with safety. They were called T-rails, because, in -cross-section, they somewhat resembled that letter. The top of the rail -is the “head”; the thinner stem, the “web”; and the wide, flat bottom, -the “base.” Besides being spiked down to the ties, which are first -firmly bedded in gravel or crushed stone, the rails are bolted together -at the ends with iron bars called “fish-plates.” These are fitted to the -web, one on each side of the junction of two rails, and bolts are then -passed through them and nuts screwed on tightly.</p> - -<p>This work of joining the rails is done with such nicety, and the -road-bed built so solidly, that there is no longer such a great rattle -and bang as the trains pass over them—a rattle and bang formerly as -destructive to the track as to the nerves of the passenger. It is the -duty of the section-foreman to see that the six or eight miles of track -which is under his supervision is kept in the best possible shape, and -to inspect it from end to end twice daily, to guard against any -possibility of accident.</p> - -<p>As the hours passed, Allan’s muscles began to ache sadly, but there were -few chances to rest. At last the foreman perceived that he was -overworking himself, and sent him and Reddy back to bring up the -hand-car and prepare for the homeward trip. They walked back to where it -stood, rolled it out upon the track, and pumped it down to the spot -where the others were working, Reddy giving Allan his first lesson in -how to work the levers, for there is a right and wrong way of managing a -hand-car, just as there is a right and wrong way of doing everything -else.</p> - -<p>“That’s about all we kin do to-day,” and Jack took out his watch and -looked at it reflectively, as the car came rolling up. “I guess we kin -git in before Number Six comes along. What y’ think?” and he looked at -Reddy.</p> - -<p>“How much time we got?” asked the latter, for only the foreman of the -gang could afford to carry a watch.</p> - -<p>“Twelve minutes.”</p> - -<p>“That’s aisy! We kin make it in eight without half-tryin’!”</p> - -<p>“All right!” and Jack thrust the watch back into his pocket. “Pile on, -boys!”</p> - -<p>And pile on they did, bringing their tools with them. They seized the -levers, and in a moment the car was spinning down the track. There was -something fascinating and invigorating in the motion. As they pumped up -and down, Allan could see the fields, fences, and telegraph-poles -rushing past them. It seemed to him that they were going faster even -than the “flier.” The wind whistled against him and the car jolted back -and forth in an alarming way.</p> - -<p>“Hold tight!” yelled Reddy, and they flashed around a curve, across a -high trestle, through a deep cut, and down a long grade on the other -side. Away ahead he could see the chimneys of the town nestling among -the trees. They were down the grade in a moment, and whirling along an -embankment that bordered a wide and placid river, when the car gave a -sudden, violent jolt, ran for fifty feet on three wheels, and then -settled down on the track again.</p> - -<p>“Stop her!” yelled the foreman. “Stop her!”</p> - -<p>They strained at the levers, but the car seemed alive and sprang away -from them. Twice she almost shook them off, then sullenly succumbed, and -finally stopped.</p> - -<p>“Somethin’s th’ matter back there!” panted Jack. “Give her a shove, -Reddy!”</p> - -<p>Reddy jumped off and started her back up the track. In a moment the -levers caught, and they were soon at the place where the jolt had -occurred.</p> - -<p>The foreman sprang off and for an instant bent over the track. Then he -straightened up with stern face.</p> - -<p>“Quick!” he cried. “Jerk that car off th’ track and bring two -fish-plates an’ some spikes. West, take that flag, run up th’ track as -far as y’ kin, an’ flag Number Six. Mind, don’t stop runnin’ till y’ see -her. She’ll have her hands full stoppin’ on that grade.”</p> - -<p>With beating heart Allan seized the flag and ran up the track as fast as -his legs would carry him. The thought that the lives of perhaps a -hundred human beings depended upon him set his hands to trembling and -his heart to beating wildly. On and on he went, until his breath came in -gasps and his head sang. It seemed that he must have covered a mile at -least, yet it was only a few hundred feet. And then, away ahead, he saw -the train flash into sight around the curve and come hurtling down the -grade toward him.</p> - -<p>He shook loose the flag and waved it wildly over his head, still running -forward. He even shouted, not realizing how puny his voice was. The -engine grew larger and larger with amazing swiftness. He could hear the -roar of the wheels; a shaft of steam leaped into the air, and, an -instant later, the wind brought him the sound of a shrill whistle. He -saw the engineer leaning from his window, and, with a great sob of -relief, knew that he had been seen. He had just presence of mind to -spring from the track, and the train passed him, the wheels grinding and -shrieking under the pressure of the air-brakes, the drivers of the -engine whirling madly backwards. He caught a glimpse of startled -passengers peering from the windows, and then the train was past. But it -was going slower and slower, and stopped at last with a jerk.</p> - -<p>When he reached the place, he found Jack explaining to the conductor -about the broken fish-plates and the loose rail. What had caused it -could not be told with certainty—the expansion from the heat, perhaps, -or the vibration from a heavy freight that had passed half an hour -before, or a defect in the plates, which inspection had not revealed. -Allan sat weakly down upon the overturned hand-car. No one paid any heed -to him, and he was astonished that they treated the occurrence so -lightly. Jack and the engineer were joking together. Only the conductor -seemed worried, and that was because the delay would throw his train a -few minutes late.</p> - -<p>Half a dozen of the passengers, who had been almost hurled from their -seats by the suddenness of the stop, came hurrying up. All along the -line of coaches windows had been raised, and white, anxious faces were -peering out. Inside the coaches, brakemen and porters were busy picking -up the packages that had been thrown from the racks, and reassuring the -frightened people.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” gasped one of the passengers, a tall, thin, -nervous-looking man, as soon as he reached the conductor’s side. -“Nothing serious, I hope? There’s no danger, is there? My wife and -children are back there—”</p> - -<p>The conductor smiled at him indulgently.</p> - -<p>“There’s no danger at all, my dear sir,” he interrupted. “The -section-gang here flagged us until they could bolt this rail down. That -is all.”</p> - -<p>“But,” protested the man, looking around for sympathy, and obviously -anxious not to appear unduly alarmed, “do you usually throw things about -that way when you stop?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said the conductor, smiling again; “but you see we were on a heavy -down-grade, and going pretty fast. I’d advise you gentlemen to get back -into the train at once,” he added, glancing at his watch again. “We’ll -be starting in a minute or two.”</p> - -<p>The little group of passengers walked slowly back and disappeared into -the train. Allan, looking after them, caught his first glimpse of one -side of railroad policy—a policy which minimizes every danger, which -does its utmost to keep every peril from the knowledge of its patrons—a -wise policy, since nervousness will never add to safety. Away up the -track he saw the brakeman, who had been sent back as soon as the train -stopped, to prevent the possibility of a rear-end collision, and he -understood dimly something of the wonderful system which guards the -safety of the trains.</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, he realized that he was not working, that his place was -with that little group labouring to repair the track, and he sprang to -his feet, but at that instant Jack stood back with a sigh of relief and -turned to the conductor.</p> - -<p>“All right,” he said.</p> - -<p>The conductor raised his hand, a sharp whistle recalled the brakeman, -who came down the track on a run; the engineer opened his throttle; -there was a long hiss of escaping steam, and the train started slowly. -As it passed him, Allan could see the passengers settling back -contentedly in their seats, the episode already forgotten. In a moment -the train was gone, growing rapidly smaller away down the track ahead of -them. A few extra spikes were driven in to further strengthen the place, -and the hand-car was run out on the track again.</p> - -<p>“Y’ made pretty good time,” said Jack to the boy; and then, as he saw -his white face, he added, “Kind o’ winded y’, didn’t it?”</p> - -<p>Allan nodded, and climbed silently to his place on the car.</p> - -<p>“Shook y’r nerve a little, too, I reckon,” added Jack, as the car -started slowly. “But y’ mustn’t mind a little thing like that, m’ boy. -It’s all in th’ day’s work.”</p> - -<p>All in the day’s work! The flagging of a train was an ordinary incident -in the lives of these men. There had, perhaps, been no great danger, yet -the boy caught his breath as he recalled that fearful moment when the -train rushed down upon him. All in the day’s work—for which the road -paid a dollar and a quarter!</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIII' title='III: AN ADVENTURE AND A STORY'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER III.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>AN ADVENTURE AND A STORY</span> -</h2> - -<p>Jack Welsh, section-foreman, lived in a little frame house perched high -on an embankment just back of the railroad yards. The bank had been left -there when the yards had been levelled down, and the railroad company, -always anxious to promote habits of sobriety and industry in its men, -and knowing that no influence makes for such habits as does the -possession of a home, had erected a row of cottages along the top of the -embankment, and offered them on easy terms to its employés. They weren’t -palatial—they weren’t even particularly attractive—but they were homes.</p> - -<p>In front, the bank dropped steeply down to the level of the yards, but -behind they sloped more gently, so that each of the cottages had a yard -ample for a vegetable garden. To attend to this was the work of the wife -and the children—a work which always yielded a bountiful reward.</p> - -<p>There were six cottages in the row, but one was distinguished from the -others in summer by a mass of vines which clambered over it, and a -garden of sweet-scented flowers which occupied the little front yard. -This was Welsh’s, and he never mounted toward it without a feeling of -pride and a quick rush of affection for the little woman who found time, -amid all her household duties, to add her mite to the world’s beauty. As -he glanced at the other yards, with their litter of trash and broken -playthings, he realized, more keenly perhaps than most of us do, what a -splendid thing it is to render our little corner of the world more -beautiful, instead of making it uglier, as human beings have a way of -doing.</p> - -<p>It was toward this little vine-embowered cottage that Jack and Allan -turned their steps, as soon as the hand-car and tools had been deposited -safely in the little section shanty. As they neared the house, a midget -in blue calico came running down the path toward them.</p> - -<p>“It’s Mamie,” said Welsh, his face alight with tenderness; and, as the -child swept down upon him, he seized her, kissed her, and swung her to -his shoulder, where she sat screaming in triumph.</p> - -<p>They mounted the path so, and, at the door, Mrs. Welsh, a little, plump, -black-eyed woman, met them.</p> - -<p>“I’ve brought you a boarder, Mary,” said Welsh, setting Mamie down upon -her sturdy little legs. “Allan West’s his name. I took him on th’ gang -to-day, an’ told him he might come here till he found some place he -liked better.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right!” and Mrs. Welsh held out her hand in hearty welcome, -pleased with the boy’s frank face. “We’ll try t’ make you comf’terble,” -she added. “You’re a little late, Jack.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we had t’ stop t’ fix a break,” he answered; and he told her in a -few words the story of the broken fish-plates. “It don’t happen often,” -he added, “but y’ never know when t’ expect it.”</p> - -<p>“No, y’ never do,” agreed Mary, her face clouding for an instant, then -clearing with true Irish optimism. “You’ll find th’ wash-basin out there -on th’ back porch, m’ boy,” she added to Allan, and he hastened away to -cleanse himself, so far as soap and water could do it, of the marks of -the day’s toil.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Welsh turned again to her husband as soon as the boy was out of -ear-shot.</p> - -<p>“Where’d you pick him up, Jack?” she asked. “He ain’t no common tramp.”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit of it,” agreed her husband. “He looks like a nice boy. He -jest come along an’ wanted a job. He said he’d come from Cincinnati, an’ -hadn’t any home; but he didn’t seem t’ want t’ talk about hisself.”</p> - -<p>“No home!” repeated Mary, her heart warming with instant sympathy. “Poor -boy! We’ll have t’ look out fer him, Jack.”</p> - -<p>“I knew you’d say that, darlint!” cried her husband, and gave her a -hearty hug.</p> - -<p>“Go ’long with you!” cried Mary, trying in vain to speak sternly. “I -smell th’ meat a-burnin’!” and she disappeared into the kitchen, while -Jack joined Allan on the back porch.</p> - -<p>How good the cool, clean water felt, splashed over hands and face; what -a luxury it was to scrub with the thick lather of the soap, and then -rinse off in a brimming basin of clear water; how delicious it was to be -clean again! Jack dipped his whole head deep into the basin, and then, -after a vigorous rubbing with the towel, took his station before a -little glass and brushed his black hair until it presented a surface -almost as polished as the mirror’s own.</p> - -<p>Then Mamie came with the summons to supper, and they hurried in to it, -for ten hours’ work on section will make even a confirmed dyspeptic -hungry—yes, and give him power properly to digest his food.</p> - -<p>How pretty the table looked, with its white cloth and shining dishes! -For Mary was a true Irish housewife, with a passion for cleanliness and -a pride in her home. It was growing dark, and a lamp had been lighted -and placed in the middle of the board, making it look bright and cosy.</p> - -<p>“You set over there, m’ boy,” said Mary, herself taking the housewife’s -inevitable place behind the coffee-pot, with her husband opposite. “Now, -Mamie, you behave yourself,” she added, for Mamie was peeping around the -lamp at Allan with roguish eyes. “We’re all hungry, Jack, so don’t keep -us waitin’.”</p> - -<p>And Jack didn’t.</p> - -<p>How good the food smelt, and how good it tasted! Allan relished it more -than he would have done any dinner of “Delmonicer’s,” for Mary was one -of the best of cooks, and only the jaded palate relishes the sauces and -fripperies of French chefs.</p> - -<p>“A girl as can’t cook ain’t fit t’ marry,” Mary often said; a maxim -which she had inherited from her mother, and would doubtless hand down -to Mamie. “There’s nothin’ that’ll break up a home quicker ’n a bad -cook, an’ nothin’ that’ll make a man happier ’n a good one.”</p> - -<p>Certainly, if cooking were a test, this supper was proof enough of her -fitness for the state of matrimony. There was a great platter of ham and -eggs, fluffy biscuits, and the sweetest of yellow butter. And, since he -did not drink coffee, Allan was given a big glass of fragrant milk to -match Mamie’s. They were tasting one of the best sweets of toil—to sit -down with appetite to a table well-laden.</p> - -<p>After supper, they gathered on the front porch, and sat looking down -over the busy, noisy yards. The switch-lamps gleamed in long rows, red -and green and white, telling which tracks were open and which closed. -The yard-engines ran fussily up and down, shifting the freight-cars back -and forth, and arranging them in trains to be sent east or west. Over by -the roundhouse, engines were being run in on the big turntable and from -there into the stalls, where they would be furbished up and overhauled -for the next trip. Others were being brought out, tanks filled with -water, and tenders heaped high with coal, ready for the run to -Parkersburg or Cincinnati. They seemed almost human in their impatience -to be off—breathing deeply in loud pants, the steam now and then -throwing up the safety-valve and “popping off” with a great noise.</p> - -<p>The clamour, the hurry, the rush of work, never ceasing from dawn to -dawn, gave the boy a dim understanding of the importance of this great -corporation which he had just begun to serve. He was only a very little -cog in the vast machine, to be sure, but the smoothness of its running -depended upon the little cogs no less than on the big ones.</p> - -<p>A man’s figure, indistinct in the twilight, stopped at the gate below -and whistled.</p> - -<p>“There’s Reddy Magraw,” said Jack, with a laugh. “I’d forgot—it was so -hot t’-day, we thought we’d go over t’ th’ river an’ take a dip -t’-night. Do you know how t’ swim, Allan?”</p> - -<p>“Just a little,” answered Allan; “all I know about it was picked up in -the swimming-pool at the gymnasium at Cincinnati.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s time y’ learned more,” said Jack. “Every boy ought t’ know -how t’ swim—mebbe some day not only his own life but the lives o’ some -o’ his women-folks’ll depend on him. Come along, an’ we’ll give y’ a -lesson.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be glad to!” Allan cried, and ran indoors for his hat.</p> - -<p>Reddy whistled again.</p> - -<p>“We’re comin’,” called Jack. “We won’t be gone long,” he added to his -wife, as they started down the path.</p> - -<p>“All right, dear,” she answered. “An’ take good care o’ th’ boy.”</p> - -<p>Reddy greeted Allan warmly, and thoroughly agreed with Jack that it was -every boy’s duty to learn how to swim. Together they started off briskly -toward the river—across the yards, picking their way carefully over the -maze of tracks, then along the railroad embankment which skirted the -stream, and finally through a corn-field to the water’s edge. The river -looked very wide and still in the semidarkness, and Allan shivered a -little as he looked at it; but the feeling passed in a moment. Reddy had -his clothes off first, and dived in with a splash; Jack waded in to show -Allan the depth. The boy followed, with sudden exhilaration, as he felt -the cool water rise about him.</p> - -<p>“This is different from a swimmin’-pool, ain’t it?” said Jack.</p> - -<p>“Indeed it is!” agreed Allan; “and a thousand times nicer!”</p> - -<p>“Now,” added Jack, “let me give you a lesson,” and he proceeded to -instruct Allan in the intricacies of the broad and powerful breast -stroke.</p> - -<p>The boy was an apt pupil, and at the end of twenty minutes had mastered -it sufficiently to be able to make fair progress through the water. He -would have kept on practising, but Jack stopped him.</p> - -<p>“We’ve been in long enough,” he said; “you mustn’t overdo it. Come -along, Reddy,” he called to that worthy, who was disporting himself out -in the middle of the current.</p> - -<p>As they turned toward the shore the full moon peeped suddenly over a -little hill on the eastern horizon, and cast a broad stream of silver -light across the water, touching every ripple and little wave with magic -beauty.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look!” cried Allan. “Look!”</p> - -<p>They stood and watched the moon until it sailed proudly above the hill, -and then waded to the bank, rubbed themselves down briskly, and resumed -their clothes, cleansed and purified in spirit as well as body. They -made their way back through the corn-field, but just as they reached the -embankment, Reddy stopped them with a quick, stifled cry.</p> - -<p>“Whist!” he said, hoarsely. “Look there! What’s that?”</p> - -<p>Straining his eyes through the darkness, Allan saw, far down the track -ahead of them, a dim, white figure. It seemed to be going through some -sort of pantomime, waving its arms wildly above its head.</p> - -<p>“It’s a ghost!” whispered Reddy, breathing heavily. “It’s Tim Dorsey’s -ghost! D’ y’ raymimber, Jack, it was jist there thet th’ poor feller was -killed last month! That’s his ghost, sure as I’m standin’ here!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, nonsense!” retorted Jack, with a little laugh, but his heart was -beating faster than usual, as he peered through the darkness at the -strange figure. What could it be that would stand there and wave its -arms in that unearthly fashion?</p> - -<p>“It’s his ghost!” repeated Reddy. “Come on, Jack; Oi’m a-goin’ back!”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m not!” said Jack. “I’m not afraid of a ghost, are you, Allan?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe in ghosts,” said Allan, but it must be confessed that -his nerves were not wholly steady as he kept his eyes on the strange -figure dancing there in the moonlight.</p> - -<p>“If it ain’t a ghost, what is it?” demanded Reddy, hoarsely.</p> - -<p>“That’s just what we’re goin’ t’ find out,” answered Jack, and started -forward, resolutely.</p> - -<p>Allan went with him, but Reddy kept discreetly in the rear. He was no -coward,—he was as brave as any man in facing a danger which he knew the -nature of,—but all the superstition of his untutored Irish heart held -him back from this unearthly apparition.</p> - -<p>As they drew near, its lines became more clearly defined; it was -undoubtedly of human shape, but apparently it had no head, only a pair -of short, stubby arms, which waved wildly in the air, and a pair of legs -that danced frantically. Near at hand it was even more terrifying than -at a distance, and their pace grew slower and slower, while Reddy -stopped short where he was, his teeth chattering, his eyes staring. They -could hear what seemed to be a human voice proceeding from the figure, -raised in a sort of weird incantation, now high, now low. Was it really -a ghost? Allan asked himself; was it really the spirit of the poor -fellow whose life had been crushed out a few weeks before? could it -be....</p> - -<div id='f044' style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:10.0%; width:80%;'> - <img src='images/facing044.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“NEAR AT HAND IT WAS EVEN MORE TERRIFYING THAN AT A DISTANCE”</p> -</div> - -<p>Suddenly Jack laughed aloud with relief, and hurried forward.</p> - -<p>“Come on,” he called. “It’s no ghost!”</p> - -<p>And in a moment Allan saw him reach the figure and pull the white -garment down over its head, disclosing a flushed and wrathful, but very -human, face.</p> - -<p>“Thankee, sir,” said a hoarse voice to Jack. “A lady in th’ house back -there give me a clean shirt, an’ I was jest puttin’ it on when I got -stuck in th’ durn thing, an’ couldn’t git it either way. I reckon I’d -’a’ suffocated if you hadn’t come along!”</p> - -<p>Jack laughed again.</p> - -<p>“We thought you was a ghost!” he said. “You scared Reddy, there, out of -a year’s growth, I reckon. Come here, Reddy,” he called, “an’ take a -look at yer ghost!”</p> - -<p>Reddy came cautiously forward and examined the released tramp.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said, at last, “if you ain’t a ghost, you ought t’ be! I -never seed anything that looked more loike one!”</p> - -<p>“No, an’ you never will!” retorted Jack. “Come along; it’s time we was -home,” and leaving the tramp to complete his toilet, they hurried away.</p> - -<p>They found Mary sitting on the front porch, crooning softly to herself -as she rocked Mamie to sleep. They bade Reddy good night, and sat down -beside her.</p> - -<p>“Well, did y’ have a nice time?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” laughed Jack, and told her the story of the ghost.</p> - -<p>They sat silent for a time after that, looking down over the busy yards, -breathing in the cool night air, watching the moon as it sailed slowly -up the heavens. Allan felt utterly at rest; for the first time in many -days he felt that he had a home, that there were people in the world who -loved him. The thought brought the quick tears to his eyes; an impulse -to confide in these new friends surged up within him.</p> - -<p>“I want to tell you something about myself,” he said, turning to them -quickly. “It’s only right that you should know.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Welsh stopped the lullaby she had been humming, and sat quietly -waiting.</p> - -<p>“Just as y’ please,” said Jack, but the boy knew he would be glad to -hear the story.</p> - -<p>“It’s not a very long one,” said Allan, his lips trembling, “nor an -unusual one, for that matter. Father was a carpenter, and we lived in a -little home just out of Cincinnati—he and mother and I. We were very -happy, and I went to school every day, while father went in to the city -to his work. But one day I was called from school, and when I got home I -found that father had fallen from a scaffolding he had been working on, -and was so badly injured that he had been taken to a hospital. We -thought for a long time that he would die, but he got better slowly, and -at last we were able to take him home. But he was never able to work any -more,—his spine had been injured so that he could scarcely move -himself,—and our little savings grew smaller and smaller.”</p> - -<p>Allan stopped, and looked off across the yards, gripping his hands -together to preserve his self-control.</p> - -<p>“Father worried about it,” he went on, at last; “worried so much that he -grew worse and worse, until—until—he brought on a fever. He hadn’t any -strength to fight with. He just sank under it, and died. I was fifteen -years old then—but boys don’t understand at the time how hard things -are. After he was gone—well, it seems now, looking back, that I could -have done something more to help than I did.”</p> - -<p>“There, now, don’t be a-blamin’ yerself,” said Jack, consolingly.</p> - -<p>The little woman in the rocking-chair leaned over and touched his arm -softly, caressingly.</p> - -<p>“No; don’t be blamin’ yerself,” she said. “I know y’ did th’ best y’ -could. They ain’t so very much a boy kin do, when it’s money that’s -needed.”</p> - -<p>“No,” and Allan drew a deep breath; “nor a woman, either. Though it -wasn’t only that; I’d have worked on; I wouldn’t have given up—but—but—”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Mary, understanding with quick, unfailing sympathy; “it was -th’ mother.”</p> - -<p>“She did the best she could,” went on Allan, falteringly. “She tried to -bear up for my sake; but after father was gone she was never quite the -same again; she never seemed to rally from the shock of it. She was -never strong to start with, and I saw that she grew weaker and weaker -every day.” He stopped and cleared his voice. “That’s about all there is -to the story,” he added. “I got a little from the furniture and paid off -some of the debts, but I couldn’t do much. I tried to get work there, -but there didn’t seem to be anybody who wanted me. There were some -distant relatives, but I had never known them—and besides, I didn’t want -to seem a beggar. There wasn’t anything to keep me in Cincinnati, so I -struck out.”</p> - -<p>“And y’ did well,” said Welsh. “I’m mighty glad y’ come along jest when -y’ did. Y’ll find enough to do here, if y’ will keep a willin’ hand. -Section work ain’t much, but maybe y’ can git out of it after awhile. Y’ -might git a place in th’ yard office if ye’re good at figgers. Ye’ve got -more eddication than some. It’s them that git lifted.”</p> - -<p>“You’d better talk!” said the wife. “’Tain’t every man with an -eddication that gits t’ be foreman at your age.”</p> - -<p>“No more it ain’t,” and Jack smiled. “Come on; it’s time t’ go t’ bed. -Say good night t’ th’ boy, Mamie.”</p> - -<p>“Night,” murmured Mamie, sleepily, and held out her moist, red lips.</p> - -<p>With a quick warmth at his heart, Allan stooped and kissed them. It was -the first kiss he had given or received since his mother’s death, and, -after he had got to bed in the little hot attic room, with its single -window looking out upon the yards, he lay for a long time thinking over -the events of the day, and his great good fortune in falling in with -these kindly people. Sometime, perhaps, he might be able to prove how -much their kindness meant to him.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIV' title='IV: ALLAN MEETS AN ENEMY'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER IV.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>ALLAN MEETS AN ENEMY</span> -</h2> - -<p>It was not until morning that Allan realized how unaccustomed he was to -real labour. As he tried to spring from bed in answer to Jack’s call, he -found every muscle in revolt. How they ached! It was all he could do to -slip his arms into his shirt, and, when he bent over to put on his -shoes, he almost cried out at the twinge it cost him. He hobbled -painfully down-stairs, and Jack saw in a moment what was the matter.</p> - -<p>“Yer muscles ain’t used t’ tuggin’ at crowbars an’ shovellin’ gravel,” -he said, laughing. “It’ll wear off in a day or two, but till then ye’ll -have t’ grin an’ bear it, fer they ain’t no cure fer it. But y’ ain’t -goin’ t’ work in them clothes!”</p> - -<p>“They’re all I have here,” answered Allan, reddening. “I have a trunk at -Cincinnati with a lot more in, and I thought I’d write for it to-day.”</p> - -<p>“But I reckon ye ain’t got any clothes tough enough fer this work. I’ll -fix y’ out,” said Welsh, good-naturedly.</p> - -<p>So, after breakfast, he led Allan over to a railroad outfitting shop and -secured him a canvas jumper, a pair of heavy overalls, and a pair of -rough, strong, cowhide shoes.</p> - -<p>“There!” he said, viewing his purchases with satisfaction. “Y’ kin pay -fer ’em when y’ git yer first month’s wages. Y’ kin put ’em on over in -th’ section shanty. You go along over there; I’ve got t’ stop an’ see -th’ roadmaster a minute.”</p> - -<p>Allan walked on quickly, his bundle under his arm, past the long -passenger station and across the maze of tracks in the lower yards. Here -lines of freight-cars were side-tracked, waiting their turn to be taken -east or west; and, as he hurried past, a man came suddenly out from -behind one of them and laid a strong hand on his arm.</p> - -<p>“Here, wait a minute!” he said, roughly. “I’ve got somethin’ t’ say t’ -you. Come in here!” And before Allan could think of resistance, he was -pulled behind the row of cars.</p> - -<p>Allan found himself looking up into a pair of small, glittering black -eyes, deeply set in a face of which the most prominent features were a -large nose, covered with freckles, and a thick-lipped mouth, which -concealed the jagged teeth beneath but imperfectly. He saw, too, that -his captor was not much older than himself, but that he was considerably -larger and no doubt stronger.</p> - -<p>“Ye’re th’ new man on Twenty-one, ain’t you?” he asked, after a moment’s -fierce examination of Allan’s face.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I went to work yesterday,” said Allan.</p> - -<p>“Well, y’ want t’ quit th’ job mighty quick, d’ y’ see? I’m Dan Nolan, -an’ it’s my job y’ve got. I’d ’a’ got took back if ye hadn’t come along. -So ye’re got t’ git out, d’ y’ hear?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I hear,” answered Allan, quietly, reddening a little; and his -heart began to beat faster at the prospect of trouble ahead.</p> - -<p>“If y’ know what’s good fer y’, y’ll git out!” said Nolan, savagely, -clenching his fists. “When’ll y’ quit?”</p> - -<p>“As soon as Mr. Welsh discharges me,” answered Allan, still more -quietly.</p> - -<p>Nolan glared at him for a moment, seemingly unable to speak.</p> - -<p>“D’ y’ mean t’ say y’ won’t git out when I tells you to? I’ll show y’!” -And he struck suddenly and viciously at the boy’s face.</p> - -<p>But Allan had been expecting the onslaught, and sprang quickly to one -side. Before Nolan could recover himself, he had ducked under one of the -freight-cars and come up on the other side. Nolan ran around the end of -the car, but the boy was well out of reach.</p> - -<p>“I’ll ketch y’!” he cried after him, shaking his fists. “An’ when I do -ketch y’—”</p> - -<p>He stopped abruptly and dived back among the cars, for he had caught -sight of Jack Welsh coming across the yards. Allan saw him, too, and -waited for him.</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t that Dan Nolan?” he asked, as he came up.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it was Nolan,” answered Allan.</p> - -<p>“Was he threatenin’ you?”</p> - -<div id='f054' style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:10.0%; width:80%;'> - <img src='images/facing054.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“HE STRUCK SUDDENLY AND VICIOUSLY AT THE BOY’S FACE”</p> -</div> - -<p>“Yes; he told me to get out or he’d lay for me.”</p> - -<p>“He did, eh?” and Jack’s lips tightened ominously. “What did y’ tell -him?”</p> - -<p>“I told him I’d get out when you discharged me.”</p> - -<p>“Y’ did?” and Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “Good fer you! Let me -git my hands on him once, an’ he’ll lave ye alone! But y’ want t’ look -out fer him, m’ boy. If he’d fight fair, y’ could lick him; but he’s a -big, overgrown brute, an’ ’ll try t’ hit y’ from behind sometime, mebbe. -That’s his style, fer he’s a coward.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll look out for him,” said Allan; and walked on with beating heart to -the section shanty. Here, while Jack told the story of the encounter -with Nolan, Allan donned his new garments and laid his other ones aside. -The new ones were not beautiful, but at least they were comfortable, and -could defy even the wear and tear of work on section.</p> - -<p>The spin on the hand-car out into the open country was full of -exhilaration, and, after an hour’s work, Allan almost forgot his sore -muscles. He found that to-day there was a different class of work to do. -The fences along the right of way were to be repaired, and the right of -way itself placed in order—the grass cut back from the road-bed, the -gravel piled neatly along it, weeds trimmed out, rubbish gathered up, -cattle-guards, posts, and fences at crossings whitewashed. All this, -too, was a revelation to the new hand. He had never thought that a -railroad required so much attention. Rod after rod was gone over in this -way, until it seemed that not a stone was out of place. It was not until -the noon-hour, when he was eating his portion of the lunch Mrs. Welsh -had prepared for them, that he learned the reason for all this.</p> - -<p>“Y’ see we’re puttin’ on a few extry touches,” remarked Jack. “Th’ Irish -Brigade goes over th’ road next week.”</p> - -<p>“The Irish Brigade?” questioned Allan; and he had a vision of some crack -military organization.</p> - -<p>“Yes, th’ Irish Brigade. Twict a year, all th’ section foremen on th’ -road ’r’ taken over it t’ look at th’ other sections, an’ see which man -keeps his in th’ best shape. Each man’s section’s graded, an’ th’ one -that gits th’ highest grade gits a prize o’ fifty dollars. We’re goin’ -t’ try fer that prize. So’s every other section-gang on th’ line.”</p> - -<p>“But what is the Irish Brigade?” questioned the boy.</p> - -<p>“The foremen of the section-men. There’s about a hundred, and the -officers give us that name. There’s many a good Irishman like myself -among the foremen;” and a gleam of humour was in Jack’s eyes. “They say -I’m puttin’ my Irish back of me in my talk, but the others stick to it, -more or less. It’s a great time when the Irish Brigade takes its -inspection tour.”</p> - -<p>Allan worked with a new interest after that, for he, too, was anxious -that Jack’s section should win the fifty dollars. He could guess how -much such a sum would mean to him. He confided his hopes to Reddy, while -they were working together cutting out some weeds that had sprung up -along the track, but the latter was not enthusiastic.</p> - -<p>“Oi don’t know,” he said. “They’s some mighty good section-men on this -road. Why, last year, when Flaherty, o’ Section Tin, got th’ prize, his -grass looked like it ’ud been gone over with a lawnmower, an’ he’d aven -scrubbed th’ black gr’ase from th’ ingines off th’ toies. Oh, it looked -foine; but thin, so did all th’ rist.”</p> - -<p>But Allan was full of hope. As he looked back over the mile they had -covered since morning, he told himself that no stretch of track could -possibly be in better order. But, to the foreman’s more critical and -experienced eye, there were still many things wanting, and he promised -himself to go over it again before inspection-day came around.</p> - -<p>Every train that passed left some mark behind. From the freights came -great pieces of greasy waste, which littered up the ties, or piles of -ashes sifted down from the fire-box; while with the passengers it was -even worse. The people threw from the coach windows papers, banana -peelings, boxes and bags containing remnants of lunch, bottles, and -every kind of trash. They did not realize that all this must be -patiently gathered up again, in order that the road-bed might be quite -free from litter. Not many of them would have greatly cared.</p> - -<p>“It’s amazin’,” remarked Reddy, in the course of the afternoon, “how -little people r’ally know about railroadin’, an’ thin think they know ’t -all. They think that whin th’ road’s built, that’s all they is to it, -an’ all th’ expinse th’ company’s got’s fer runnin’ th’ trains. Why, on -this one division, from Cincinnati t’ Parkersburg, they’s more’n two -hunderd men a-workin’ ivery day jest kapin’ up th’ track. Back there in -th’ shops, they’s foive hundred more, repairin’ an’ rebuildin’ ingines -an’ cars. At ivery little crossroads they’s an operator, an’ at ivery -little station they’s six or eight people busy at work. Out east, they -tell me, they’s a flagman at ivery crossin’. Think o’ what all that -costs!”</p> - -<p>“But what’s the use of keeping the road-bed so clean?” asked Allan. -“Nobody ever sees it.”</p> - -<p>“What’s th’ use o’ doin’ anything roight?” retorted Reddy. “I tell you -ivery little thing counts in favour of a road, or agin it. This here -road’s spendin’ thousands o’ dollars straightenin’ out curves over there -in th’ mountings, so’s th’ passengers won’t git shook up so much, an’ -th’ trains kin make a little better toime. Why, I’ve heerd thet some -roads even sprinkle th’ road-bed with ile t’ lay th’ dust!</p> - -<p>“Human natur’ ’s a funny thing,” he added, shaking his head -philosophically, “’specially when it comes t’ railroads. Many’s th’ man -Oi’ve seen nearly break his neck t’ git acrost th’ track in front of a -train, an’ thin stop t’ watch th’ train go by; an’ many another loafer, -who never does anything but kill toime, ’ll worrit hisself sick if th’ -train he’s on happens t’ be tin minutes late. It’s th’ man who ain’t got -no business that’s always lettin’ on t’ have th’ most. Here comes th’ -flier,” he added, as a shrill whistle sounded from afar up the road.</p> - -<p>They stood aside to watch the train shoot past with a rush and roar, to -draw into the station at Wadsworth on time to the minute.</p> - -<p>“That was Jem Spurling on th’ ingine,” observed Reddy, as they went back -to work. “Th’ oldest ingineer on th’ road—an’ th’ nerviest. Thet’s th’ -reason he’s got th’ flier. Most fellers loses their nerve after they’ve -been runnin’ an ingine a long time, an’ a year ’r two back, Jem got sort -o’ shaky fer awhile—slowed down when they wasn’t no need of it, y’ know; -imagined he saw things on th’ track ahead, an’ lost time. Well, th’ -company wouldn’t stand fer thet, ’specially with th’ flier, an’ finally -th’ train-master told him thet if he couldn’t bring his train in on -time, he’d have t’ go back t’ freight. Well, sir, it purty nigh broke -Jem’s heart.</p> - -<p>“‘Oi tell y’, Mister Schofield,’ he says t’ th’ train-master, ‘Oi’ll -bring th’ train in on toime if they’s a brick house on th’ track.’</p> - -<p>“‘All right,’ says Mr. Schofield; ‘thet’s all we ask,’ an’ Jem went down -to his ingine.</p> - -<p>“Th’ next day Jem come into th’ office t’ report, an’ looked aroun’ kind -o’ inquirin’ like.</p> - -<p>“‘Any of it got here yet?’ he asks.</p> - -<p>“‘Any o’ what?’ asks Mr. Schofield.</p> - -<p>“‘Any o’ thet coal,’ says Jem.</p> - -<p>“‘What coal?’ asks Mr. Schofield.</p> - -<p>“‘Somebody left a loaded coal-car on th’ track down here by th’ chute,’ -says Jem.</p> - -<p>“‘They did?’</p> - -<p>“‘Yes,’ says Jem; ‘thought they’d throw me late, most likely; but they -didn’t. Oi’m not loike a man what’s lost his nerve—not by a good deal.’</p> - -<p>“‘But th’ car—how’d y’ git around it?’ asks Mr. Schofield.</p> - -<p>“‘Oh, Oi didn’t try t’ git around it,’ says Jem. ‘Oi jest pulled her -wide open an’ come through. They’s about a ton o’ coal on top o’ th’ -rear coach, an’ Oi thought maybe I’d find th’ rest of it up here. I -guess it ain’t come down yit.’</p> - -<p>“‘But, great Scott, man!’ says Mr. Schofield, ‘that was an awful risk.’</p> - -<p>“‘Oi guess Oi’d better run my ingine down t’ th’ repair shop,’ went on -Jem, cool as a cucumber. ‘Her stack’s gone, an’ the pilot, an’ th’ -winders o’ th’ cab are busted. But Oi got in on toime.’</p> - -<p>“Well, they laid Jem off fer a month,” concluded Reddy, “but they’ve -niver said anything since about his losin’ his nerve.”</p> - -<p>So, through the afternoon, Reddy discoursed of the life of the rail, and -told stories grave and gay, related tragedies and comedies, described -hair-breadth escapes, and with it all managed to impart to his hearer -many valuable hints concerning section work.</p> - -<p>“Though,” he added, echoing Jack, “it’s not on section you’ll be workin’ -all your life! You’ve got too good a head fer that.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Allan, modestly. “This takes a pretty good head, -too, doesn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“It takes a good head in a way; but it’s soon learnt, an’ after thet, -all a man has t’ do is t’ keep sober. But this is a, b, c, compared t’ -th’ work of runnin’ th’ road. Ever been up in th’ despatcher’s office?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Allan. “I never have.”</p> - -<p>“Well, y’ want t’ git Jack t’ take y’ up there some day; then y’ll see -where head-work comes in. I know thet all the trainmen swear at th’ -despatchers; but jest th’ same, it takes a mighty good man t’ hold down -th’ job.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll ask Jack to take me,” said Allan; and he resolved to get all the -insight possible into the workings of this great engine of industry, of -which he had become a part.</p> - -<p>Quitting-time came at last, and they loaded their tools wearily upon the -car and started on the five-mile run home. This time there was no -disturbing incident. The regular click, click of the wheels over the -rails told of a track in perfect condition. At last they rattled over -the switches in the yards and pushed the car into its place in the -section-house.</p> - -<p>“You run along,” said Jack to Allan. “I’ve got t’ make out a report -to-night. It’ll take me maybe five minutes. Tell Mary I’ll be home by -then.”</p> - -<p>“All right!” and Allan picked up his bundle of clothes and started -across the yards. He could see the little house that he called home -perched high on its bank of clay. Apparently they were watching for him, -for he saw a tiny figure running down the path, and knew that Mamie was -coming to meet him. She did not stop at the gate, but ran across the -narrow street and into the yards toward him. He quickened his steps at -the thought that some harm might befall her among this maze of tracks. -He could see her mother standing on the porch, looking down at them, -shading her eyes with her hand.</p> - -<p>And then, in an instant, a yard-engine whirled out from behind the -roundhouse. Mamie looked around as she heard it coming, and stopped -short in the middle of the track, confused and terrified in presence of -this unexpected danger.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chV' title='V: ALLAN PROVES HIS METAL'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER V.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>ALLAN PROVES HIS METAL</span> -</h2> - -<p>As Allan dashed forward toward the child, he saw the engineer, his face -livid, reverse his engine and jerk open the sand-box; the sand spurted -forth under the drivers, whirling madly backwards in the midst of a -shower of sparks, but sliding relentlessly down upon the terror-stricken -child. It was over in an instant—afterward, the boy could never tell how -it happened—he knew only that he stooped and caught the child from under -the very wheels of the engine, just as something struck him a terrific -blow on the leg and hurled him to one side.</p> - -<p>He was dimly conscious of holding the little one close in his arms that -she might not be injured, then he struck the ground with a crash that -left him dazed and shaken. When he struggled to his feet, the engineer -had jumped down from his cab and Welsh was speeding toward them across -the tracks.</p> - -<p>“Hurt?” asked the engineer.</p> - -<p>“I guess not—not much;” and Allan stooped to rub his leg. “Something hit -me here.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—the footboard. Knocked you off the track. I had her pretty near -stopped, or they’d be another story.”</p> - -<p>Allan turned to Welsh, who came panting up, and placed the child in his -arms.</p> - -<p>“I guess she’s not hurt,” he said, with a wan little smile.</p> - -<p>But Jack’s emotion had quite mastered him for the moment.</p> - -<p>“Mamie!” he cried, gathering her to him. “My little girl!” And the great -tears shattered down over his cheeks upon the child’s dress.</p> - -<p>The others stood looking on, understanding, sympathetic. The fireman -even turned away to rub his sleeve furtively across his eyes, for he was -a very young man and quite new to railroading.</p> - -<p>The moment passed, and Welsh gripped back his self-control, as he turned -to Allan and held out his great hand.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got nerve,” he said. “We won’t fergit it—Mary an’ me. Come on -home—it’s your home now, as well as ours.”</p> - -<p>Half-way across the tracks they met Mary, who, after one shrill scream -of anguish at sight of her darling’s peril, had started wildly down the -path to the gate, though she knew she must arrive too late. She had seen -the rescue, and now, with streaming eyes, she threw her arms around -Allan and kissed him.</p> - -<p>“My brave boy!” she cried. “He’s our boy, now, ain’t he, Jack, as long -as he wants t’ stay?”</p> - -<p>“That’s jest what I was tellin’ him, Mary dear,” said Jack.</p> - -<p>“But he’s limpin’,” she cried. “What’s th’ matter? Y’re not hurted, -Allan?”</p> - -<p>“Not very badly,” answered the boy. “No bones broken—just a knock on the -leg that took the skin off.”</p> - -<p>“Come on home this instant,” commanded Mary, “an’ we’ll see.”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t y’ goin’ t’ kiss Mamie?” questioned Jack.</p> - -<p>“She don’t deserve t’ be kissed!” protested her mother. “She’s been a -bad girl—how often have I told her never t’ lave th’ yard?”</p> - -<p>Mamie was weeping bitter tears of repentance, and her mother suddenly -softened and caught her to her breast.</p> - -<p>“I—I won’t be bad no more!” sobbed Mamie.</p> - -<p>“I should hope not! An’ what d’ y’ say t’ Allan? If it hadn’t ’a’ been -fer him, you’d ’a’ been ground up under th’ wheels.”</p> - -<p>“I—I lubs him!” cried Mamie, with a very tender look at our hero.</p> - -<p>She held up her lips, and Allan bent and kissed them.</p> - -<p>“Well, m’ boy,” laughed Jack, as the triumphal procession moved on again -toward the house, “you seem t’ have taken this family by storm, fer -sure!”</p> - -<p>“Come along!” cried Mary. “Mebbe th’ poor lad’s hurted worse’n he -thinks.”</p> - -<p>She hurried him along before her up the path, sat him down in a chair, -and rolled up his trousers leg.</p> - -<p>“It’s nothing,” protested Allan. “It’s nothing—it’s not worth worrying -about.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Ain’t</i> it!” retorted Mary, with compressed lips, removing shoe and -sock and deftly cutting away the blood-stained underwear. “<i>Ain’t</i> it? -You poor boy, look at that!”</p> - -<p>And, indeed, it was rather an ugly-looking wound that lay revealed. The -flesh had been crushed and torn by the heavy blow, and was bleeding and -turning black.</p> - -<p>“It’s a mercy it didn’t break your leg!” she added. “Jack, you loon!” -she went on, with a fierceness assumed to keep herself from bursting -into tears, “don’t stand starin’ there, but bring me a basin o’ hot -water, an’ be quick about it!”</p> - -<p>Jack <i>was</i> quick about it, and in a few moments the wound was washed and -nicely dressed with a cooling lotion which Mary produced from a -cupboard.</p> - -<p>“I keep it fer Jack,” Mary explained, as she spread it tenderly over the -wound. “He’s allers gittin’ pieces knocked off o’ him. Now how does it -feel, Allan darlint?” “It feels fine,” Allan declared. “It doesn’t hurt -a bit. It’ll be all right by morning.”</p> - -<p>“By mornin’!” echoed Mary, indignantly. “I reckon y’ think yer goin’ out -on th’ section t’-morrer!”</p> - -<p>“Why, of course. I’ve got to go. We’re getting it ready for the Irish -Brigade. We’ve got to win that prize!”</p> - -<p>“Prize!” cried Mary. “Much I care fer th’ prize! But there! I won’t -quarrel with y’ now. Kin y’ walk?”</p> - -<p>“Of course I can walk,” and Allan rose to his feet.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, you men git ready fer supper. I declare it’s got cold—I’ll -have t’ warm it up ag’in! An’ I reckon I’ll put on a little somethin’ -extry jest t’ celebrate!”</p> - -<p>She put on several things extra, and there was a regular thanksgiving -feast in the little Welsh home that evening, with Allan in the place of -honour, and Mamie looking at him adoringly from across the table. -Probably not a single one of the employés of the road would have -hesitated to do what he had done,—indeed, to risk his life for another’s -is the ordinary duty of a railroad man,—but that did not lessen the -merit of the deed in the eyes of Mamie’s parents. And for the first time -in many days, Allan was quite happy, too. He felt that he was making -himself a place in the world—and, sweeter than all, a place in the -hearts of the people with whom his life was cast.</p> - -<p>But the injury was a more serious one than he had been willing to admit. -When he tried to get out of bed in the morning, he found his leg so -stiff and sore that he could scarcely move it. He set his teeth and -managed to dress himself and hobble down-stairs, but his white face -showed the agony he was suffering.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Allan!” cried Mary, flying to him and helping him to a chair. “What -did y’ want t’ come down fer? Why didn’t y’ call me?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to be such a nuisance as all that!” the boy protested. -“But I’m afraid I can’t go to work to-day.”</p> - -<p>Mary sniffed scornfully.</p> - -<p>“No—nor to-morrer!” she said. “You’re goin’ t’ stay right in that -chair!”</p> - -<p>She flew around, making him more comfortable, and Allan was coddled that -day as he had not been for a long time. Whether it was the nursing or -the magic qualities of Mary’s lotion, his leg was very much better by -night, and the next morning was scarcely sore at all. The quickness of -the healing—for it was quite well again in three or four days—was due in -no small part to Allan’s healthy young blood, but he persisted in giving -all the credit to Mary.</p> - -<p>After that, Allan noticed a shade of difference in the treatment -accorded him by the other men. Heretofore he had been a stranger—an -outsider. Now he was so no longer. He had proved his right to -consideration and respect. He was “th’ boy that saved Jack Welsh’s kid.” -Report of the deed penetrated even to the offices where dwelt the men -who ruled the destinies of the division, and the superintendent made a -mental note of the name for future reference. The train-master, too, got -out from his desk a many-paged, much-thumbed book, indexed from first to -last, and, under the letter “W,” wrote a few lines. The records of -nearly a thousand men, for good and bad, were in that book, and many a -one, hauled up “on the carpet” to be disciplined, had been astonished -and dismayed by the train-master’s familiarity with his career.</p> - -<p>Of all the men in the gang, after the foreman, Allan found Reddy Magraw -the most lovable, and the merry, big-hearted Irishman took a great -liking to the boy. He lived in a little house not far from the Welshes, -and he took Allan home with him one evening to introduce him to Mrs. -Magraw and the “childer.” The former was a somewhat faded little woman, -worn down by hard work and ceaseless self-denial, but happy despite it -all, and the children were as healthy and merry a set of young scalawags -as ever rolled about upon a sanded floor. There were no carpets and only -the most necessary furniture,—a stove, two beds, a table, and some -chairs, for there was little money left after feeding and clothing that -ever hungry swarm,—but everywhere there was a scrupulous, almost -painful, cleanliness. And one thing the boy learned from this visit and -succeeding ones—that what he had considered poverty was not poverty at -all, and that brave and cheerful hearts can light up any home.</p> - -<p>His trunk arrived from the storage house at Cincinnati in due time, -affording him a welcome change of clothing, while Mrs. Welsh set herself -to work at once sewing on missing buttons, darning socks, patching -trousers—doing the hundred and one things which always need to be done -to the clothing of a motherless boy. Indeed, it might be fairly said -that he was motherless no longer, so closely had she taken him to her -heart.</p> - -<p>Sunday came at last, with its welcome relief from toil. They lay late in -bed that morning, making up lost rest, revelling in the unaccustomed -luxury of leisure, and in the afternoon Jack took the boy for a tour -through the shops, swarming with busy life on week-days, but now -deserted, save for an occasional watchman. And here Allan got, for the -first time, a glimpse of one great department of a railroad’s management -which most people know nothing of. In the first great room, the “long -shop,” half a dozen disabled engines were hoisted on trucks and were -being rebuilt. Back of this was the foundry, where all the needed -castings were made, from the tiniest bolt to the massive frame upon -which the engine-boiler rests. Then there was the blacksmith shop, with -its score of forges and great steam-hammer, that could deliver a blow of -many tons; and next to this the lathe-room, where the castings from the -foundry were shaved and planed and polished to exactly the required size -and shape; and still farther on was the carpenter shop, with its maze of -woodworking machinery, most wonderful of all, in its nearly human -intelligence.</p> - -<p>Beyond the shop was the great coal chute, where the tender of an engine -could be heaped high with coal in an instant by simply pulling a lever; -then the big water-tanks, high in air, filled with water pumped from the -river half a mile away; and last of all, the sand-house, where the -sand-boxes of the engines were carefully replenished before each trip. -How many lives had been saved by that simple device, which enabled the -wheels to grip the track and stop the train! How many might be -sacrificed if, at a critical moment, the sand-box of the engine happened -to be empty! It was a startling reflection—that even upon this little -cog in the great machine—this thoughtless boy, who poured the sand into -the boxes—so much depended.</p> - -<p>Bright and early Monday morning they were out again on Twenty-one. -Wednesday was inspection, and they knew that up and down those two -hundred miles of track hand-cars were flying back and forth, and every -inch of the roadway was being examined by eyes severely critical. They -found many things to do, things which Allan would never have thought of, -but which appealed at once to the anxious eyes of the foreman.</p> - -<p>About the middle of the afternoon, Welsh saw a figure emerge from a -grove of trees beside the road and come slouching toward him. As it drew -nearer, he recognized Dan Nolan.</p> - -<p>“Mister Welsh,” began Nolan, quite humbly, “can’t y’ give me a place on -th’ gang ag’in?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Jack, curtly, “I can’t. Th’ gang’s full.”</p> - -<p>“That there kid’s no account,” protested Nolan, with a venomous glance -at Allan. “I’ll take his place.”</p> - -<p>“No, you won’t, Dan Nolan!” retorted Jack. “He’s a better man than you -are, any day.”</p> - -<p>“He is, is he?” sneered Nolan. “We’ll see about that!”</p> - -<p>“An’ if you so much as harm a hair o’ him,” continued Jack, with -clenched fists, “I’ll have it out o’ your hide, two fer one—jest keep -that in mind.”</p> - -<p>Nolan laughed mockingly, but he also took the precaution to retreat to a -safe distance from Jack’s threatening fists.</p> - -<p>“Y’ won’t give me a job, then?” he asked again.</p> - -<p>“Not if you was th’ last man on earth!”</p> - -<p>“All right!” cried Nolan, getting red in the face with anger, which he -no longer made any effort to suppress. “All right! I’ll fix you an’ th’ -kid, too! You think y’re smart; think y’ll win th’ section prize! Ho, -ho! I guess not! Not this trip! Purty section-foreman you are! I’ll show -you!”</p> - -<p>Jack didn’t answer, but he stopped and picked up a stone; and Nolan -dived hastily back into the grove again.</p> - -<p>“He’s a big coward,” said Jack, throwing down the stone disgustedly, and -turning back to his work. “Don’t let him scare y’, Allan.”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t scare me,” answered Allan, quietly, and determined to give a -good account of himself should Nolan ever attempt to molest him.</p> - -<p>But Jack was not as easy in his mind as he pretended; he knew Nolan, and -believed him quite capable of any treacherous meanness. So he kept Allan -near him; and if Nolan was really lurking in the bushes anywhere along -the road, he had no opportunity for mischief.</p> - -<p>The next morning Jack took his men out directly to the western end of -the section, and came back very slowly, stopping here and there to put a -finishing touch to the work. Even Reddy was enthusiastic over the -condition of the section.</p> - -<p>“It’s foin as silk!” he said, looking back over the road they had just -traversed. “Ef we don’t git th’ prize this toime, it’s because some -other feller’s a lot smarter ’n we are!”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVI' title='VI: REDDY TO THE RESCUE'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VI.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>REDDY TO THE RESCUE</span> -</h2> - -<p>Engineer Lister had often been angry in his life, for, truth to tell, -running an engine is not conducive to good nerves or even temper. It is -a trying job, demanding constant alertness, and quick, unerring -judgment. But when to the usual responsibilities of the place are added -a cranky engine and a green fireman, even a saint would lose his -patience. Ellis Root was the green fireman, and seemed to possess such a -veritable genius for smothering his fire that more than once the -engineer had been compelled to clamber down from his box and wield the -rake and shovel himself. To add to this difficulty of keeping up steam, -the 226, a great ten-wheeled aristocrat of a freight-engine, had -suddenly developed a leaky throttle, together with some minor ailments, -which rendered the task of handling her one of increasing difficulty.</p> - -<p>The last straw was the refusal of the despatcher at headquarters to -allow Lister to reduce his tonnage. His train happened to be an -unusually heavy one which, ordinarily, the 226 could have handled with -ease. The despatcher knew this; he knew also that Lister had an -unfortunate habit of complaining when there was nothing to complain -about; so when this last complaint came in, he wired back a terse reply, -telling Lister to “shut up, and bring in your train.”</p> - -<p>So Lister was raving angry by the time his engine limped feebly into the -yards at Wadsworth. He jumped off almost before she stopped, and leaped -up the stairs to the division offices two steps at a time, in order to -unburden himself without delay of his opinion of the despatcher who had -so heartlessly refused to help him out of his difficulties.</p> - -<p>He burst into the office like a whirlwind, red in the face, gasping for -breath.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, Lister?” asked the train-master, looking up from his -desk.</p> - -<p>“Matter!” yelled Lister. “Where’s that thick-headed despatcher? He ain’t -fit to hold a job on this road!”</p> - -<p>“What did he do?” asked the train-master, grinning at the heads that had -been stuck in from the adjoining rooms to find out what the noise was -about. “Tell me what he did, and maybe I’ll fire him.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what he did! He made me handle my full train when I wired -in here an’ told him my engine was leakin’ like a sieve. What do you -think of a roundhouse foreman that’ll send an engine out in that shape?”</p> - -<p>“So you want me to fire the foreman, too?” queried the train-master, -grinning more broadly. “Where is the engine?”</p> - -<p>“She’s down there in the yards,” said Lister.</p> - -<p>“What! Down in the yards! Do you mean to say you brought her in?”</p> - -<p>“Of course I brought her in,” said Lister. “They ain’t another engineer -on th’ road could ’a’ done it, but I did it, an’ I want to tell you, Mr. -Schofield—”</p> - -<p>A succession of sharp blasts from the whistle of the yard-engine -interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” cried the train-master, and threw up the window, for the -blasts meant that an accident of some sort had happened. The other men -in the office rushed to the windows, too,—they saw the yardmen running -madly about and gesticulating wildly,—and away up the yards they saw the -226 rattling over the switches at full speed, running wild!</p> - -<p>With a single bound the train-master was at the door of the despatcher’s -office.</p> - -<p>“Where’s Number Four?” he demanded. Number Four was the fastest through -passenger-train on the road—the east-bound flier, to which all other -trains gave precedence.</p> - -<p>The despatcher in charge of the west end of the road looked up from his -desk.</p> - -<p>“Number Four passed Anderson three minutes ago, sir,” he said. “She’s on -time—she’s due here in eight minutes.”</p> - -<p>The train-master’s face grew suddenly livid; a cold sweat burst out -across his forehead.</p> - -<p>“Good Lord!” he murmured, half to himself. “A wreck—no power on earth -can help it!”</p> - -<p>A vision danced before his eyes—a vision of shattered cars, of mangled -men and women. He knew where the collision must occur; he knew that the -flier would be coming down that heavy grade at full speed—and toward the -flier thundered that wild engine—with no guiding hand upon the -throttle—with nothing to hold her back from her mad errand of -destruction!</p> - -<hr class='tbk' /> - -<p>It had happened in this wise. A moment after Engineer Lister jumped to -the ground, and while his fireman, Ellis Root, was still looking after -him with a grin of relief, for the trip had been a hot one for him in -more ways than one, a yardman came along and uncoupled the engine from -the train. The fireman began to kick off his overalls, when he became -suddenly conscious that the engine was moving. The leaky throttle did -not shut off the steam completely from the cylinders, and, released from -the weight of the heavy train which had held her back, the engine -started slowly forward.</p> - -<p>The fireman, whose knowledge of the engine was as yet of the most -primitive description, sprang to the other side of the cab and pushed -the lever forward a notch or two. The engine’s speed increased.</p> - -<p>“I can’t stop her,” he said, feverishly, half to himself. “I can’t stop -her,” and he pulled the lever back.</p> - -<p>The engine sprang back in answer and bumped heavily into the train -behind her.</p> - -<p>“Hi, there, you ijit!” yelled the yardman, who was under the first car -inspecting the air-hose. “What you mean? D’ y’ want t’ kill a feller? -Let that ingine alone!”</p> - -<p>Ellis, with the perspiration trickling down his face, threw the lever -forward again, and then, as the engine bounded forward in answer, he -lost his head entirely and leaped off, with a wild yell of dismay.</p> - -<p>In a moment the 226 rattled over the switches westward out of the yards, -and shot out upon the main track, gathering speed with every revolution!</p> - -<p>Welsh’s gang had worked its way eastward along the section as far as the -mill switch, when the foreman took out his watch and glanced at it.</p> - -<p>“Git that hand-car off th’ track, boys,” he said. “Number Four’ll be -along in a minute.”</p> - -<p>Two of the men derailed the hand-car, while Welsh glanced up and down -the road to be sure that the track was clear, and took a look at the -mill switch, a little distance away, where they had been working, to -make certain that it had been properly closed. He remembered that a -work-train had taken a cut of cars out of the switch a short time -before, but he could tell by the way the lever was thrown that the -switch was closed.</p> - -<p>Far in the distance he could hear the train whistling for the curve just -beyond the cut. Then, suddenly from the other direction, he caught a -sound that brought him sharply round, and saw with horror a great -freight-engine rumbling rapidly toward him.</p> - -<p>“My God, she’s runnin’ wild!” he cried; and, with a yell of warning to -his men, turned and ran toward the switch. If he could only get there in -time to ditch her!</p> - -<p>But the engine whirled past him, and he stopped, seeing already the -horror, the destruction, which must follow in a moment. Then, far ahead, -he saw Reddy speeding toward the switch, saw him reach it, bend above -the short lever that controlled it, and throw it over. Away up the track -the “flier” flashed into view, running a mile a minute. He could guess -what was happening in her cab, as her engineer saw the danger. The heavy -engine rumbled on, all too slowly now, in upon the switch to knock the -bumper at the farther end to splinters and fight her life out in the mud -beyond. He saw Reddy throw the lever back again, only in that instant to -be hurled away to one side as the great train swept by in safety. And -the engineer, who had reversed his lever and applied the brakes, who had -waited the outcome with white face and tight-set lips,—but who, never -for an instant, had thought of saving himself by jumping,—released the -brakes and threw his lever again on the forward motion. Four minutes -later the train swept in to Wadsworth, only forty seconds behind the -schedule!</p> - -<p>The passengers never knew how near they had been to death—by what a -miracle they had escaped destruction! After all, a miss is as good as a -mile!</p> - -<p>Reddy’s comrades found him lying unconscious twenty feet from the track. -His right arm—the arm that had thrown the lever—hung limp by his side, -and there was a great gash in his head from which the blood was pouring. -In a moment Jack had torn off the sleeve of his shirt and made an -improvised bandage of it, which checked to some extent the flow of -blood.</p> - -<p>“We must git him home,” said Welsh, “where we kin git a doctor. He’s -hurted bad. Git th’ car on th’ track, boys.”</p> - -<p>In an instant it was done, and Reddy was gently lifted on.</p> - -<p>“Now you set down there an’ hold his head, Allan,” said Jack. “Keep it -as stiddy as y’ kin.”</p> - -<p>Allan sat down obediently and placed the mangled head tenderly in his -lap. As he looked at the pale face and closed eyes, it was all he could -do to keep himself from breaking down. Poor Reddy—good old Reddy—a hero, -Allan told himself, with quickening heart, a hero who had not hesitated -to risk his life for others.</p> - -<p>But they were off!</p> - -<p>And how the men worked, pumping up and down until the car fairly flew -along the track. They knew the way was clear, since the flier had just -passed, and up and down they pumped, up and down, knowing that a few -minutes might mean life or death to their comrade. Down the grade they -flashed, along the embankment by the river, through the town and into -the yards, where a dozen willing hands lifted the inanimate form from -the car and bore it tenderly into the baggage-room.</p> - -<p>“How did it happen, Welsh?” asked the train-master, after a surgeon had -been summoned and an ambulance had taken the still unconscious Reddy to -his home.</p> - -<p>And Jack told him, while the train-master listened, with only a little -nod now and then to show that he understood. At the end he drew a deep -breath.</p> - -<p>“I thought the flier was gone for sure,” he said. “It would have been -the worst wreck in the history of the road. Thank God it was spared us!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, thank God,” said Jack, a little hoarsely; “but don’t fergit t’ -thank Reddy Magraw, too!”</p> - -<p>“We won’t!” said the train-master, with another little nod. “We’ll never -forget Reddy.”</p> - -<p>“More especially,” added Jack, a little bitterly, “since it’s not th’ -first time he’s saved th’ road a bad wreck. He was fergot th’ first -time!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know,” agreed the train-master. “But he wouldn’t have been if -I’d had anything to do with it.”</p> - -<p>“I know it, sir,” said Jack, heartily. “I know it, Mr. Schofield. You’ve -always treated us square. But I couldn’t help rememberin’!”</p> - -<p>Half an hour later Allan and Jack intercepted the doctor as he came out -of the little house where Mrs. Magraw sat with her apron over her head, -rocking back and forth in agony.</p> - -<p>“He’ll be all right, won’t he, doctor?” asked Jack, anxiously. “He ain’t -a-goin’t’ die?”</p> - -<p>“No,” answered the doctor, “he’ll not die. But,” and he hesitated, “he -got a mighty bad crack, and it will be a long time before he’s able to -be out again.”</p> - -<p>“He’s come to all right, ain’t he, doctor?” questioned Jack, seeing the -doctor’s hesitation.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he’s conscious again, but he’s not quite himself yet. But I think -he’ll come around all right,” and the doctor walked briskly away, while -Jack and Allan, assured that they could do nothing more for Reddy or his -family, whom the neighbours had parcelled out among themselves, went -slowly home.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVII' title='VII: THE IRISH BRIGADE'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VII.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>THE IRISH BRIGADE</span> -</h2> - -<p>It was not until they were seated around the table that evening that -Allan remembered that the next day was to occur the great inspection by -the Irish Brigade, and he straightened up suddenly as he thought of it.</p> - -<p>“Didn’t that engine tear things up some when she ran off the track?” he -asked of Jack.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered the foreman, “but it was only at th’ end of th’ sidin’, -an’ that won’t matter. Besides, th’ wreckin’ crew’s up there now gittin’ -th’ engine back on th’ track an’ fixin’ things up ag’in. If th’ main -line on Twenty-one ain’t in good shape, it’s because I don’t know what -good shape is,” he added, with decision. “We couldn’t do anything more -to it if we worked fer a week. I’ve asked th’ boys t’ take a run over it -t’-morrer mornin’ jest as a matter o’ precaution. Do y’ think y’ kin git -up at midnight?” he added, suddenly, giving his wife a knowing wink.</p> - -<p>“At midnight?” repeated Allan. “Why, yes, of course, if you want me to.”</p> - -<p>“Well, y’ll have t’ git up at midnight if y’ want t’ ketch Number Five -fer Cincinnati.”</p> - -<p>Allan’s face flushed with quick pleasure.</p> - -<p>“Am I to go, too?” he asked, eagerly. “Can you take me, too?”</p> - -<p>Jack laughed in sympathy with his bright eyes.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said; “that’s what I kin. I got an extry pass from th’ -superintendent. I told him I had a boy who wanted t’ see th’ road -because he was goin’ t’ be superintendent hisself, some day. He said he -guessed he knew th’ boy’s name without bein’ told, an’ wrote out th’ -pass.”</p> - -<p>Allan flushed high with pleasure.</p> - -<p>“That was nice of him,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Jack; “an’ yet I think he was figgerin’ on helpin’ th’ road, -too. Y’ see, whenever a bright feller like you comes along an’ shows -that he’s steady an’ can be depended on, he never gits t’ work on -section very long. They need boys like that up in th’ offices. That’s -where th’ brains o’ th’ road are. In fact, th’ office itself is th’ -brain o’ th’ whole system, with wires runnin’ out to every part of it -an’ bringin’ back word what’s goin’ on, jest like a doctor told me once -th’ nerves do in our bodies.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” nodded Allan; “but what has that got to do with my going over the -road to-morrow?”</p> - -<p>“Jest this,” said Jack; “before a feller’s fit to hold a job in th’ -offices,—a job as operator or despatcher, that is,—and work one o’ them -little wires, he’s got t’ know th’ road better’n he knows th’ path in -his own back yard. He’s got t’ know every foot of it—where th’ grades -are an’ how heavy they are; where th’ curves are, an’ whether they’re -long or short; where every sidin’ is, an’ jest how many cars it’ll hold; -where th’ track runs through a cut, an’ where it comes out on a fill; -where every bridge and culvert is—in fact, he’s got t’ know th’ road so -well that when he’s ridin’ over it he kin wake up in th’ night an’ tell -by th’ way th’ wheels click an’ th’ cars rock jest exactly where he is!”</p> - -<p>At the moment Allan thought that Jack was exaggerating; but he was to -learn that there was in all this not the slightest trace of -exaggeration. And he was to learn, too, that upon the accuracy of this -minute knowledge the safety of passenger and freight train often -depended.</p> - -<p>They sat on the porch again that evening, while Mary rocked Mamie to -sleep and Jack smoked his pipe. Always below them in the yards the -little yard-engines puffed up and down, placing the cars in position in -the trains—cars laden with coal and grain for the east; cars laden with -finished merchandise for the west; the farmer and miner exchanging his -product for that of the manufacturer.</p> - -<p>Only there was no Reddy to come and whistle at the gate, and after -awhile they walked over to his house to find out how he was.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Magraw let them in. Her stout Irish optimism had come back again, -for Reddy was better.</p> - -<p>“Though he’s still a little quare,” she added. “He lays there with his -oies open, but he don’t seem t’ notice much. Th’ docther says it’ll be a -day or two afore he’s hisself ag’in.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m glad it’s no worse,” said Jack. “We can’t afford to lose -Reddy.”</p> - -<p>“We won’t lose him this trip, thank God!” said Mrs. Magraw. “Mr. -Schofield was over jist now t’ see if they was anything he could do. He -says th’ road’ll make it all roight with Reddy.”</p> - -<p>“That’s good!” said Jack, heartily; “but we won’t keep you any longer, -Mrs. Magraw,” and he and Allan said good night.</p> - -<p>“We must be gittin’ t’ bed ourselves,” Jack added, as they mounted the -path to his home. “Remember, we have t’ git up at midnight. It’s good -an’ sleepy you’ll be, my boy!”</p> - -<p>“No, I won’t!” laughed Allan. “But I’ll turn in now, anyway.”</p> - -<p>It seemed to him that he had been asleep only a few minutes when he -heard Jack’s voice calling. But he was out of bed as soon as he got his -eyes open, and got into his clothes as quickly as he could in the -darkness. Mary had a hot lunch waiting by the time he got down-stairs. -He and Jack ate a little,—one doesn’t have much appetite at -midnight,—and together they made their way across the yards to the -station, where they caught the fast mail for the city.</p> - -<p>The smoking-car of the train was crowded with section-men on their way -to the rendezvous, and a jolly, good-natured lot they were. There was no -thought of sleep, for this was a holiday for them,—besides, sleep was -out of the question in that tumult,—and one story of the rail followed -another. As Allan listened, he wondered at these tales of heroism and -daring told so lightly—of engineers sticking to their posts though -certain death stared them in the face; of crossing-flagmen saving the -lives of careless men and women, at the cost, often, of their own; of -break-in-twos, washouts, head-end collisions, of confusion of orders and -mistakes of despatchers—all the lore that gathers about the life of the -rail. And as he listened, the longing came to him to prove himself -worthy of this brotherhood.</p> - -<p>One story, in particular, stuck in Allan’s memory.</p> - -<p>“Then there was Tom Rawlinson,” began one of the men.</p> - -<p>“Let Pat tell that story,” interrupted another. “Come out here, Pat. We -want t’ hear about Tom Rawlinson an’ his last trip on th’ -Two-twenty-four.”</p> - -<p>So Pat came out, shyly, a tall, raw-boned man. As he got within the -circle of light, Allan saw that his face was frightfully scarred.</p> - -<p>“’Twas in th’ summer o’ ninety-two,” he began. “Rawlinson had had th’ -Two-twenty-four about a month, an’ was as proud of her as a man is of -his first baby. That day he was takin’ a big excursion train in to -Parkersburg. He was lettin’ me ride in th’ cab, which he hadn’t any -bus’ness t’ do, but Tom Rawlinson was th’ biggest-hearted man that ever -pulled a lever on this road.”</p> - -<p>He paused a moment, and his listeners gravely nodded their approval of -the sentiment.</p> - -<p>“Well, he was pullin’ up th’ hill at Torch, an’ th’ engine had on every -pound she could carry. There was a big wind whistlin’ down th’ cut, an’ -we could hear th’ fire a-roarin’ when th’ fireman pulled open th’ door -t’ throw in some more coal. Th’ minute th’ door was open, the wind jest -seemed t’ sweep int’ thet fire-box, an’ the first thing I knew, a big -sheet o’ flame was shootin’ right out in my face. I went back over that -tender like a rabbit, without stoppin’ t’ argy th’ why an’ th’ -wherefore, an’ when I got back t’ th’ front platform o’ th’ baggage-car, -I found that Tom an’ his fireman had come, too.</p> - -<p>“We stood there a minute, hardly darin’ t’ breathe, a-watchin’ thet -fire. It licked out at th’ cab, an’ quicker’n I kin tell it, th’ wood -was blazin’ away in great shape. Then, all of a sudden, I happened t’ -think o’ somethin’ that sent a cold chill down my back, an’ made me sick -an’ weak. Here was we poundin’ along at forty miles an hour, with orders -t’ take th’ sidin’ fer Number Three at th’ Junction, five mile ahead. It -looked to me as though they’d be about a thousand people killed inside -of a mighty few minutes.”</p> - -<p>He stopped to take a fresh chew of tobacco, and Allan saw that his hands -were trembling at the memory of that fearful moment.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he continued, “as I was a-sayin’, I could feel my hair a-raisin’ -right up on my head. I looked around at Tom, an’ I could tell by his set -face that he was thinkin’ of th’ same thing I was.</p> - -<p>“‘Boys,’ he says, low-like, ‘I’m goin’ forrerd. I’ve got to shet her -off. I hadn’t no business t’ run away.’</p> - -<p>“An’ without waitin’ fer either o’ us t’ answer, forrerd he went, -climbin’ over th’ coal an’ down into th’ burnin’ cab. It was like goin’ -into a furnace, but he never faltered—right on he went—right on into th’ -fire—an’ in a minute I felt th’ jerk as he reversed her an’ threw on th’ -brakes. It seemed t’ me as though we’d never come to a stop, but we did, -an’ then th’ brakeman an’ me went forrerd over th’ coal t’ git Tom out. -But it warn’t no use. He was layin’ dead on his seat, still holdin’ to -th’ throttle.</p> - -<p>“We lifted him down, an’ by that time th’ conductor an’ a lot o’ th’ -passengers come a-runnin’ up. An’ then folks begun tellin’ me my face -was burned,” and Pat indicated his scars with a rapid gesture. “Till -then, I’d never even felt it. When y’re in it, y’ know, y’ only feel it -fer others, not fer yourself.”</p> - -<p>That ended the story-telling. There was something in that tale of -sacrifice which made other tales seem idle and empty.</p> - -<p>The dawn was just tingeing the sky in the east when the train rushed -into the great, echoing train-shed at Cincinnati. The men got out and -hurried forward to the dining-room, where a lunch of coffee and -sandwiches awaited them. Here, too, were the train-master and division -superintendent, trim-built, well-groomed men, with alert eyes, who knew -the value of kind words and appreciative criticism when it came to -managing men. Lunch was hastily eaten, and then the whole crowd -proceeded to the special inspection train, where it stood on the -side-track ready to start on its two hundred mile trip eastward. And a -peculiar looking train it was—consisting, besides the engine, of only -one car, a tall, ungainly, boarded structure, open at one end, and, -facing the open end, tiers of seats stretching upward to the roof.</p> - -<p>Into this the men poured and took their seats, so that every one could -see the long stretch of track as it slid backward under them. Almost at -once the signal came to start, and the gaily decorated engine—draped -from end to end in green, that all might know it was the “Irish Brigade” -out on its inspection tour—pulled out through the “ditch,” as the deep -cut within the city limits is called, past the vast stock-yards and out -upon the level track beyond. Instantly silence settled upon the car, -broken only by the puffing of the engine and the clanking of the wheels -over the rails. Seventy pairs of eyes were bent upon the track, the -road-bed, the right of way, noting every detail. Seventy pairs of ears -listened to the tale the wheels were telling of the track’s condition. -It was a serious and solemn moment.</p> - -<p>Allan, too, looked out upon all this, and his heart fell within him. -Surely, no track could be more perfect, no road-bed better kept. It must -be this section which would win the prize. Yet, when that section had -been left behind and the next one entered on, he could detect no -difference. How could anybody rate one section higher than another, when -all alike were perfect? And what possible chance was there for -Twenty-one?</p> - -<p>They were side-tracked at the end of an hour to allow a through -passenger to pass, and the babel of voices arose again. But it was -silenced at once the moment they ran out to continue on the journey. -Hours passed, and at last, with a leaping heart, Allan recognized the -west end of Section Twenty-one. He glanced at Jack Welsh, and saw how -his eyes were shining, but he dared not look in his direction a second -time. He stared out at the track and wondered if it was really here that -he had laboured for the past week.</p> - -<p>Yes,—he recognized the landmarks,—the high trestle over the deep ravine, -the cut, the long grade, the embankment along the river. It seemed -almost that he knew every foot of the track; but he did not know it so -well as he thought, for his eyes did not detect what Welsh’s more -critical ones saw on the instant,—traces of gravel dug out, of whitewash -rubbed away, of a guard-fence broken down. The gravel had been replaced, -the whitewash touched up anew, the fence had been repaired, but Welsh -knew that the section was not as he had left it the night before, and in -a flash he understood.</p> - -<p>“It was some of Dan Nolan’s work,” he said to himself, and, the moment -the train stopped in the yards at Wadsworth, he called to Allan and -hurried away to the section-shanty to hear the story.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chVIII' title='VIII: GOOD NEWS AND BAD'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER VIII.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>GOOD NEWS AND BAD</span> -</h2> - -<p>His men were waiting for him, as he knew they would be, and the story -was soon told. They had started out in the morning, according to his -instructions, for a last run over the section, and soon discovered the -work of the enemy. Ties which had been piled neatly at the side of the -right of way had been thrown down, whitewashed boulders around the -mile-posts had been torn up, in many places holes had been dug in the -road-bed,—in short, the section was in a condition which not only would -have lost them the prize, but would have brought unbearable disgrace -upon their foreman.</p> - -<p>They set to work like Trojans righting the damage, for they knew they -had only a few hours, beginning at the western end and working slowly -back toward the city. More than once it seemed that they could not get -through in time; but at last the work was done, just as the whistle of -the inspection train sounded in the distance.</p> - -<p>“An’ mighty well done,” said Jack, approvingly, when the story was -ended. “You’ve done noble, m’ boys, an’ I won’t fergit it! Th’ section’s -in as good shape as it was last night.”</p> - -<p>“But what dirty criminal tore it up?” asked one of the men.</p> - -<p>“I know who it was,” and Jack reddened with anger. “It was that loafer -of a Dan Nolan. He threatened he’d git even with me fer firin’ him, but -I didn’t pay no attention. I didn’t think he’d got that low! Wait till I -ketch him!”</p> - -<p>And his men echoed the threat in a tone that boded ill for Daniel.</p> - -<p>“Come on, Allan, we’ve got t’ be gittin’ back,” said Jack. “An’ thank y’ -ag’in, boys,” and together he and Allan turned back toward the waiting -train.</p> - -<p>Section Twenty-one was the last inspected before dinner, which was -awaiting them in the big depot dining-room at Wadsworth. The officers -came down from division headquarters to shake hands with the men as they -sat grouped about the long tables, and good-natured chaff flew back and -forth. But at last the engine-bell announced that the green-decked train -was ready to be off again eastward, over the last hundred miles of the -division, which ended at Parkersburg.</p> - -<p>The men swarmed into their places again, and silence fell instantly as -the train started, rattling over the switches until it was clear of the -yards, then settling into a regular click, click, as it swung out upon -the main line. It must be confessed that this portion of the trip had -little interest for Allan. The monotony of it—mile after mile of track -gliding steadily away—began to wear upon him. He was no expert in -track-construction, and one stretch of road-bed looked to him much like -every other. So, before long, he found himself nodding, and, when he -straightened up with a jerk and opened his eyes, he found Jack looking -at him with a little smile.</p> - -<p>They ran in upon a siding at Moonville to make way for a -passenger-train, and Jack, beckoning to Allan, climbed out upon the -track.</p> - -<p>“I kin see you’re gittin’ tired,” said Jack, as they walked up and down, -stretching their legs. “I ought to let you stop back there at Wadsworth. -But mebbe I kin give y’ somethin’ more interestin’ fer th’ rest o’ th’ -trip. How’d y’ like t’ ride in th’ engine?”</p> - -<p>Allan’s eyes sparkled.</p> - -<p>“Do you think I might?” he asked, eagerly.</p> - -<p>Jack laughed.</p> - -<p>“I thought that’d wake y’ up! Yes,—we’ve got Bill Higgins with us on -this end, an’ I rather think he’ll let you ride in th’ cab. Let’s find -out.”</p> - -<p>So they walked over to where the engineer was “oiling round,” in -railroad parlance—going slowly about his engine with a long-spouted -oil-can in one hand and a piece of waste in the other, filling the -oil-cups, wiping off the bearings, feeling them to see if they were too -hot, crawling under the boiler to inspect the link motion—in short, -petting his engine much as one might pet a horse.</p> - -<p>“Bill,” began Jack, “this is Allan West, th’ boy thet I took on section -with me.”</p> - -<p>Bill nodded, and looked at Allan with friendly eyes.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, “I’ve heerd o’ him.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” continued Jack, “he’s gittin’ purty tired ridin’ back there with -nothin’ t’ do but watch th’ track, an’ I thought mebbe you’d let him -ride in th’ cab th’ rest o’ th’ trip.”</p> - -<p>“Why, sure!” agreed Bill, instantly. “Climb right up, sonny.”</p> - -<p>Allan needed no second invitation, but clambered up and took his place -on one of the long seats which ran along either side of the cab. Right -in front of him was a narrow window through which he could see the track -stretching far ahead to meet the horizon. Below him was the door to the -fire-box, into which the fireman was at that moment shovelling coal. At -his side, mounted on the end of the boiler, was a maze of gauges, cocks, -wheels, and levers, whose uses he could not even guess.</p> - -<p>The engineer clambered up into the cab a moment later, glanced at the -steam and water gauges, to see that all was right, and then took his -place on his seat. He got out his “flimsy”—the thin, manifolded -telegraphic train order from headquarters, a copy of which had also been -given to the conductor—and read it carefully, noting the points at which -he was to meet certain trains and the time he was expected to make to -each. Then he passed it over to his fireman, who also read it, according -to the rules of the road. One man might forget some point in the orders, -but it was not probable that two would.</p> - -<p>There came a long whistle far down the line, and Allan saw the through -passenger train leap into view and came speeding toward them. It passed -with a rush and a roar, and a minute later the conductor raised his -hand. The engineer settled himself on his seat, pushed his lever -forward, and opened the throttle gently, pulling it wider and wider as -the engine gathered speed. Never for an instant did his glance waver -from the track before him—a moment’s inattention might mean death for -him and for the men entrusted to his care.</p> - -<p>There was something fascinating in watching the mighty engine eat up -mile after mile of track. There were other things to watch, too. At -every crossing there was the danger of an accident, and Allan was -astonished at the chances people took in driving across the track, -without stopping to look up and down to see if there was any danger. -Deep in talk they were sometimes, until roused by a fierce blast from -the whistle; or sometimes the curtains of the buggy hid them entirely -from view. And although the right of way was private ground and -carefully fenced in on either side, there were many stragglers along -it,—a group of tramps boiling coffee in a fence corner, a horse or cow -that had managed to get across a cattle-guard, children playing -carelessly about or walking the rails in imitation of a tight-rope -performer. All these had to be watched and warned of their danger. Never -once did the engineer lift his hand from the throttle, for that gave him -the “feel” of the engine, almost as the reins give the driver the “feel” -of a spirited horse. Now and then he glanced at the steam-gauge, but -turned back instantly to watch the track ahead.</p> - -<p>Nor was the fireman idle. His first duty was to keep up steam, and he -noted every variation of the needle which showed the pressure, shaking -down his fire, and coaling up, as occasion demanded; raking the coal -down from the tender, so as to have it within easy reach; sweeping off -the “deck,” as the narrow passage from engine to tender is called; and -occasionally mounting the seat-box to ring the bell, as they passed -through a little village.</p> - -<p>Allan began to understand the whistle signals—especially the two long -and two short toots which are the signal for a crossing, the signal most -familiar to travellers and to those who live along the line of a -railroad. And he grew accustomed to the rocking of the engine, the -roaring of the fire, the sudden, vicious hiss of steam when the engineer -tested a cock, the rush of the wind and patter of cinders against the -windows of the cab. He began to take a certain joy in it—in the noise, -the rattle, the motion. There was an excitement in it that made his -pulses leap.</p> - -<p>So they hummed along, between broad fields, through little hamlets and -crossroads villages, mile after mile. Operators, flagmen, and -station-agents came out to wave at them, here and there they passed a -section-gang busy at work, now and then they paused until a freight or -passenger could thunder past—on and on, on and on. Allan looked out at -field and village, catching glimpses of men and women at work, of -children at play—they would turn their faces toward him, and in another -instant were gone. The life of the whole country was unfolded before -him,—everywhere there were men and women working, everywhere there were -children playing,—everywhere there was life and hope and happiness and -sorrow. If one could only go on like this for ever, visiting new scenes, -seeing new—</p> - -<p>A sharp, sudden, agonized cry from the fireman startled him out of his -thoughts, and he felt the quick jolt as the engineer reversed his engine -and applied the brakes. For a moment, in the shrieking, jolting -pandemonium that followed, he thought the engine was off the track; -then, as he glanced ahead, his heart suddenly stood still. For there, -toddling down the track toward the engine, its little hands uplifted, -its face sparkling with laughter, was a baby, scarce old enough to walk!</p> - -<p>As long as he lives Allan will never forget that moment. He realized -that the train could not be stopped, that that little innocent, trusting -life must be ground out beneath the wheels. He felt that he could not -bear to see it, and turned away, but just then the fireman sprang past -him, slammed open the little window, ran along the footboard, clambered -down upon the pilot, and, holding to a bolt with one hand, leaned far -over and snatched the little one into the air just as the engine bore -down upon it. Allan, who had watched it all with bated breath, fell back -upon his seat with a great gasp of thankfulness.</p> - -<div id='f112' style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:10.0%; width:80%;'> - <img src='images/facing112.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“SNATCHED THE LITTLE ONE INTO THE AIR JUST AS THE ENGINE BORE DOWN UPON IT”</p> -</div> - -<p>The engine stopped with a jerk, the fireman sprang to the ground with -the baby in his arms. It was still crowing and laughing, and patting his -face with its hands. Allan, looking at him, was surprised to see the -great tears raining down his cheeks and spattering on the baby’s -clothes.</p> - -<p>“It’s his kid,” said the engineer, hoarsely. “He lives up yonder,” and -he nodded toward a little house perched on the hillside that sloped down -to the track. “That’s th’ reason th’ kid was down here—he come down t’ -see his daddy!”</p> - -<p>The section-men came pouring forward to find out what was the matter, -and surrounded the baby as soon as they heard the story, petting him, -passing him around from hand to hand—until, suddenly, the mother, who -had just missed him, came flying down the hill and snatched him to her -breast.</p> - -<p>“Pile back in, boys,” called the conductor, cutting short the scene. “We -can’t stay here all day. We’ve got t’ make Stewart in eighteen minutes.”</p> - -<p>They hurried back to their places, the engineer, stopping only to give -his fireman a hearty grip of the hand, opened the throttle. This time -they were off with a jump—lost time had to be made up, and in a moment -they were singing along at a speed which seemed positively dangerous. -The engine rocked back and forth, and seemed fairly to leap over the -rails; the wind whistled around them; the fire roared and howled in the -fire-box. Eighteen minutes later, they pulled in to the siding at -Stewart, on time to the second.</p> - -<p>Allan had had enough of riding in the cab, and, thanking the engineer, -and shaking hands with the fireman, he climbed down and took his seat -again in the inspection-car. But he was very tired, and soon nodded off -to sleep, and it was not until the train stopped and a sudden clamour of -talk arose that he started fully awake.</p> - -<p>The men were handing in their reports to the superintendent, who, with -the assistance of the train-master, was going over them rapidly to find -out which section had received the most points. Zero was very bad; ten -was perfection. There were no zeros on any of the seventy reports, -however; and, let it be added, not many tens.</p> - -<p>The moments passed as the train-master set down in a column under each -section the number of points it had received. Then he added up the -columns, the superintendent looking over his shoulder. They compared the -totals for a moment, and then, with a smile, the superintendent took -from his pocket a check upon which the name only was lacking, and filled -it in. Then he turned to the expectant men.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen,” he began, “I think this company has cause to be -congratulated on the condition of its road-bed. A vote of seven hundred, -as you know, would mean perfection, and yet, not a single section has -fallen below six hundred. The highest vote for any one section is 673, -and that vote is given for Section Twenty-one, of which John Welsh is -foreman. Mr. Welsh, will you please come forward and get your check?” -and he fluttered the paper in the air above his head.</p> - -<p>A great burst of cheering broke forth again and again. They were -generous men, these section-foremen of the Irish Brigade, and, seeing -how all thought of self was forgotten, Allan’s eyes grew suddenly misty. -Not a man there who seemed to feel the bitterness of the vanquished. But -as Allan glanced over to Jack, who was making his way over the seats and -stopping to return hand-shakes right and left, a cheer on his own -account burst from the boy’s lips, and he tossed his cap wildly in the -air.</p> - -<p>“Good for ye, lad!” cried one of the men, slapping the boy on his back. -“Give him a cheer! That’s right. Give him another cheer!” and Allan was -lifted to the shoulders of one of the brawny men, who cried: “This is -the b’y that saved Jack Welsh’s colleen, worth more than a prize to Jack -Welsh! Give the b’y a cheer!”</p> - -<p>And the men responded with a will!</p> - -<p>A moment later and they settled down again, as they saw the -superintendent was waiting for their attention.</p> - -<p>“Welsh,” began that official, when quiet was restored, “you’re a good -man, and I’m glad that you got the prize. But,” he added, looking around -over the crowd, “you’re not the only good man in the Irish Brigade. The -only thing I’m sorry for is that I can’t give a prize to every man here. -I’m like the Dodo in ‘Alice in Wonderland’—I think you’ve all won, and -that you all ought to have prizes. I want to thank you every one for -your good work. I’m not overstating things a bit when I say that this -division is in better shape than any other on the road. We’ve had fewer -accidents, and we’ve run our trains closer to the schedule than any -other—all of which is largely due to your good work. I’m proud of my -Irish Brigade!”</p> - -<p>They cheered him and clapped him, and every man there resolved to do -better work, if possible, in the coming year than he had done in the -past one.</p> - -<p>And yet there were some of the officials in the far-distant general -offices at Baltimore who wondered why the superintendent of the Ohio -division was so popular with his men!</p> - -<hr class='tbk' /> - -<p>Jack came to Allan at last and gripped his hand with a strength that -proved how deep his emotion was.</p> - -<p>“Come on,” he said. “We’re goin’ home on Number Seven. It’ll start in a -minute.”</p> - -<p>They went together across the tracks and clambered into the coach. Allan -caught a confused picture of a glare of lights and laughing people -crowding past. But hardly had the train started when his head fell back -against the seat, and slumber claimed him.</p> - -<p>Jack waked him up at the journey’s end, and together they hurried -through the yards and up the steep path to the little cottage. Jack’s -wife was awaiting him in the doorway, and he drew forth the check and -placed it in her hands.</p> - -<p>“We won,” he said, softly. “’Twas fer you, Mary, I wanted t’ win. It -means th’ new dress you’ve been a-needin’ so long, an’ a dress fer -Mamie; yes, an’ a new carpet.”</p> - -<p>The wife said not a single word, but drew Jack’s face down to hers and -kissed it.</p> - -<p>“Only,” he added, when his head was lifted, “I want t’ give tin dollars -of it t’ th’ boys—I’d ’a’ lost if it hadn’t been fer them. An’ -Reddy—how’s old Reddy?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Jack!” she cried, her eyes suffused with sudden tears, her lips -a-tremble, “it’s too terrible! He’s come to, but he don’t remember -nothin’—not a thing! He don’t know anybody—not even his own wife, Jack, -nor th’ childer, an’ th’ doctor says that maybe he never will!”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chIX' title='IX: REDDY’S EXPLOIT'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER IX.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>REDDY’S EXPLOIT</span> -</h2> - -<p>As time went on, it became more and more evident that the doctor’s -prediction with regard to Reddy Magraw was to be fulfilled. He regained -his strength, but the light seemed quite gone from his brain. The -officials of the railroad company did all they could for poor Reddy. -When the local doctors failed, they brought an eminent specialist from -Cincinnati for consultation, but all seemed to agree there was nothing -to be done but to wait. There was one chance in a thousand that a -surgical operation might prove of benefit, but there was just as great a -chance that Nature herself might do the work better.</p> - -<p>Reddy remembered nothing of his past life. More than this, it gradually -became evident to his friends that his genial nature had undergone a -change through the darkness that had overtaken his brain. He grew -estranged from his family, and strangely suspicious of some of his -friends, those to whom he had really been most attached. Among these -last was Allan. He would have nothing whatever to do with the boy.</p> - -<p>“It’s one of the most ordinary symptoms of dementia,” the doctor had -explained, when Jack questioned him about it. “Aversion to friends is -what we always expect. His wife feels it more keenly than you do.”</p> - -<p>“Of course she does, poor woman!” agreed Jack. “But he hasn’t got to -abusin’ her, sir, has he?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no; he doesn’t abuse her; he just avoids her, and shows his dislike -in other ways. If he begins to abuse her, we’ll have to send him to -the asylum. But I don’t anticipate any violence—I think he’s quite -harmless.”</p> - -<p>It was while they were sitting on the porch one evening discussing the -sad situation of their friend, that Allan turned suddenly to Jack.</p> - -<p>“Do you remember,” he said, “that first noon we were talking together, -you started to tell me of some brave thing Reddy had done, and he shut -you off?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Jack nodded; “I remember.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me now, won’t you? I’d like to hear about it.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Jack, and told the story. Here it is:</p> - -<p>Six years before, Reddy Magraw had been one of the labourers at the big -coal-chute which towered into the air at the eastern end of the yards; -just an ordinary labourer, working early and late, as every labourer for -a railroad must, but then, as always, happy and care-free.</p> - -<p>It was one afternoon in June that a message flashed into the -despatcher’s office which sent the chief despatcher headlong into the -office of the superintendent.</p> - -<p>“The operator at Baker’s just called me up, sir,” he gasped, “to report -that second Ninety-seven ran through there, going forty miles an hour, -and that the engineer dropped a message tied to a wrench saying his -throttle-valve had stuck, and his brakes wouldn’t work, and that he -couldn’t stop his engine!”</p> - -<p>The superintendent started to his feet, his face livid.</p> - -<p>“They’ll be here in eight minutes,” he said. “Where’s Number Four?”</p> - -<p>“Just past Roxabel. We can’t catch her, and the freight will run into -her sure if we let it through the yards.”</p> - -<p>“We won’t let it through the yards,” said the superintendent, and went -down the stairs three steps at a time, and sped away in the direction of -the coal-chute.</p> - -<p>He had reflected rapidly that if the freight could be derailed at the -long switch just below the chute, it could be run into a gravel bank, -where it would do much less damage than farther up in the yards, among -the network of switches there. He ran his swiftest, but as he reached -the chute, he heard, far down the track, the roar of the approaching -train. Evidently it was not yet under control. Reddy Magraw heard the -roar, too, and straightened up in amazement. Why should a freight -approach the yards at that speed? Then he saw the superintendent tugging -madly at the switch.</p> - -<p>“Thet switch won’t work, sir,” he said. “A yard ingine hit the p’int -about an hour ago an’ jammed it.”</p> - -<p>“Won’t work!” echoed the superintendent, and stared blankly down the -track at the train which every second was whirling nearer.</p> - -<p>“Is it a runaway?” asked Reddy, suddenly understanding.</p> - -<p>“Yes,—a runaway,—maybe I can make the other switch,” and he started -away, but Reddy caught him by the arm.</p> - -<p>“Wait, sir,” he cried; “wait. We’ll fix ’em—throw ’em on to th’ chute.”</p> - -<p>“On to the chute?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, on to th’ chute. Throw th’ switch there,” and Reddy, grabbing up -two big cans of oil, started for the track leading to the long ascent.</p> - -<p>Then the superintendent understood, and, with a gasp of relief, ran to -the switch and threw it.</p> - -<p>Up the steep ascent ran Reddy, a can in either hand, spurting streams of -oil upon the rails—up and up—yet it seemed that he must certainly be -caught and hurled to death, for a moment later the great freight-engine -reached the structure, which groaned and trembled under this -unaccustomed weight. Up the incline it mounted, the weight of the train -behind it urging it on. Half-way up, two-thirds, almost upon Reddy, -where he bent over the rails, a can in either hand, never pausing to -look back.</p> - -<p>From under the pounding drivers the smoke flew in clouds—the oil was -being burned by friction. Yet down the rails flowed more oil; the -drivers were sliding now, the speed of the train was -lessening—lessening. The engine was racking itself out, its power was -spent, it had been conquered. For an instant it hung poised on the -incline, then slowly started down again. The crew had managed to set the -hand-brakes, and these held the train somewhat, but still it coasted -back down that incline at a speed that brought the watchers’ hearts into -their throats. The wheels held the rails, however, and a quarter of a -mile back on the main line it stopped, its power for evil exhausted. And -just then Number Four whistled for signal, and rumbled slowly into the -other end of the yards. The superintendent drew a deep breath of relief -and thankfulness as he thought of what the result would have been had -the runaway not been stopped in time.</p> - -<p>“Was Reddy hurt?” asked Allan, who had listened to the story -breathlessly.</p> - -<p>“Hurt? Oh, no; he come down th’ chute, put th’ empty oil-cans back in -their places, an’ went t’ work ag’in.”</p> - -<p>“But didn’t the company do something for him?” persisted the boy. -“Wasn’t he rewarded?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Jack, puffing away at his pipe with a very grim face; “but -th’ superintendent was promoted.”</p> - -<p>“The superintendent?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; he got his promotion. Y’ see, in his report of th’ accident, he -somehow fergot t’ mention Reddy.”</p> - -<p>Allan flushed with a sudden generous anger.</p> - -<p>“But,” he began, “that wasn’t—”</p> - -<p>“Honest?” and Jack laughed a little bitterly. “No, maybe not; but what -could a poor feller like Reddy do about it? Only,” he added, “it’s jest -as well fer that superintendent he didn’t stay on this division. Th’ -boys would ’a’ given him some mighty lively times. We’ve got a gentleman -fer a superintendent now. He don’t try t’ stale nobody else’s -thunder—he’s given Reddy a square deal this time.”</p> - -<p>Truth to tell, Reddy’s family was being better provided for than it had -ever been—the superintendent saw to that; and Reddy himself was -receiving the best medical attention to be secured, though it seemed -more and more certain that even the greatest skill would be unable to -restore his memory.</p> - -<p>It was long before sleep came to Allan’s eyes that night, so excited was -he over Jack’s story of Reddy’s exploit, and so indignant at the -injustice that had been done him. He was thinking about it still, next -day, until, of a sudden, he was forcibly reminded that he also possessed -an enemy who was watching eagerly for an opportunity to injure him, and -who would pause at no treachery.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chX' title='X: A SUMMONS IN THE NIGHT'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER X.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>A SUMMONS IN THE NIGHT</span> -</h2> - -<p>This reminder came that very afternoon while he was working at the -bottom of the deep cut through the spur of the hill which marked the top -of the long, stiff grade just west of the mill switch.</p> - -<p>The other members of the gang were at the farther end of the cut, and -Allan had just finished levelling down a pile of gravel, when he heard a -sudden shout of warning from Jack.</p> - -<p>“Look out, Allan!” cried the latter. “Look out!”</p> - -<p>Allan instinctively sprang aside, and was just in time to escape a large -boulder which came crashing down the side of the cut.</p> - -<p>Allan gazed at it in astonishment, drawing a deep breath at his escape. -Then he saw Jack, followed by the others, charging madly up the side of -the hill. Without stopping to reason why, he followed.</p> - -<div id='f128' style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:10.0%; width:80%;'> - <img src='images/facing128.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“JUST IN TIME TO ESCAPE A LARGE BOULDER”</p> -</div> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” he cried, as he came panting up behind the ones who -had just gained the hilltop.</p> - -<p>“Matter!” cried Jack, glaring around to right and left over the -hillside. “Matter enough! What d’ y’ suppose made that rock fall that -way?”</p> - -<p>“Why,” said Allan, looking around bewildered, “the earth under it must -have given way—”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” interrupted the foreman, impatiently. “Look, here’s th’ hole -it left. Th’ earth didn’t give way a bit. Y’ kin see th’ rock was pried -out—yes, an’ here’s th’ rail that was used to do it with. Now, who d’ y’ -suppose had hold of that rail?”</p> - -<p>Allan turned a little giddy at the question.</p> - -<p>“Not Dan Nolan?” he said, in an awed whisper.</p> - -<p>“Who else but Dan Nolan. An’ he’s hidin’ down there in one o’ them -gullies, sneakin’ along, keepin’ out o’ sight, or I’m mistaken.”</p> - -<p>“Did you see him?” asked Allan.</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t see him,” retorted Jack. “If I’d seen him, I’d have him in -jail afore night, if I had t’ hunt this whole county over fer him. But I -know it was him. Who else could it be? You know he’s threatened y’. He’s -been hangin’ around doggin’ y’ ever since I put y’ at this job. There’s -more’n one of us knows that; an’ there’s more’n one of us knows, too, -that he wouldn’t be above jest this kind o’ work. He lamed a man on my -gang, onct, jest because he had a grudge ag’in him—dropped th’ end of a -rail on his foot an’ mashed it so bad that it had t’ be taken off. He -said it was an accident, an’ I believed him, fer I didn’t know him as -well then as I do now. He wouldn’t stop at murder, Dan Nolan -wouldn’t—why, that rock would ’a’ killed you in a minute, if it had hit -you!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I believe it would,” said Allan, and he shivered a little at the -thought of his narrow escape.</p> - -<p>Jack took another long look around at the hills and valleys, but if -Nolan was anywhere among them, the trees and underbrush hid him -effectually. And Allan was loth to believe Jack’s theory; bad as Nolan -was, it seemed incredible that he should be so savage, so cold-blooded, -as to lie there on the brink of the precipice, waiting, moment by -moment, until his victim should be in the precise spot where the rock -would strike him. That seemed too fiendish for belief.</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t like to think Nolan did it,” he said, a little hoarsely, -“unless I had some proof. You didn’t see him, you know—”</p> - -<p>“See him!” echoed Jack. “No—I didn’t need to see him! There’s th’ hole -th’ stone was pried out of, an’ there’s th’ rail that was used fer a -lever. Now who had hold o’ that rail? Ain’t Nolan th’ only enemy you’ve -got in th’ world?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Allan, in a low voice; “yes, I believe he is.”</p> - -<p>“An’ do you suppose a feller would lay fer you like that unless he had -somethin’ ag’in you? I tell you, Dan Nolan’s hidin’ down there in the -bushes somewhere, an’ lookin’ up here at us an’ swearin’ because he -didn’t git you!” and Jack shook his fist impatiently at the horizon. “If -I had him under my heel, I’d kill him like I would a snake!”</p> - -<p>Which, of course, Jack wouldn’t have done, but his honest Irish blood -was boiling at this moment, and he said more than he meant.</p> - -<p>“Come on, boys,” he added, calming himself by a mighty effort, “we can’t -ketch him now, but we’ll git th’ scoundrel yet!” and he started down the -hill, a savage scowl still on his face.</p> - -<p>The incident had cast a shadow over the spirits of the gang, and they -worked the rest of the afternoon in silence. Indeed, ever since Reddy’s -accident, the gang had lacked that spirit of optimism and gaiety which -had marked it; a new man had been taken on, but while he did Reddy’s -work fairly well, he could not take Reddy’s place in the hearts of the -men. Their day’s work lacked the savour which Reddy’s wit had given it, -and they went home at night more weary than had been their wont. Jack -saw, too, that their work had lost some of its alacrity, and yet he had -no heart to find fault with them.</p> - -<p>But he took no more chances of Allan’s suffering any treacherous injury. -He had talked the matter over with his wife, and between them, they had -laid out a plan of action. Whenever possible, Jack kept Allan near him. -When that was not possible, he took care that the boy should not be -alone at any spot where his enemy could sneak up on him from behind. He -knew if the boy was injured through any carelessness or lack of -foresight on his part, he would never dare to go home again and face his -wife!</p> - -<p>All of this was, of course, plain enough to Allan, and chafed him -somewhat, for he did not want the rest of the gang to think him a baby -who needed constant looking after. Besides, he had an honest reliance on -his ability to look after himself. So, one day, he ventured to protest.</p> - -<p>“See here, Jack,” he said, “I’m not afraid of Dan Nolan. In fact, I -think I’d be rather glad of the chance to meet him in a fair stand-up -fight.”</p> - -<p>“An’ that’s just th’ chance he’ll never give ye,” retorted Jack. “I -wouldn’t be afeerd o’ him, either, if he’d fight fair—I believe y’ could -lick him. But he won’t fight fair. Th’ coward’ll hit y’ from behind, if -he kin—an’ he’s waitin’ his chance. That’s his kind, as y’ ought t’ know -by this time. Oh, if I could only ketch him!”</p> - -<p>But since the afternoon that great rock had fallen, Nolan had utterly -disappeared from his accustomed haunts. Jack made diligent inquiries, -but could get no news of him. The gang of scalawags who were his usual -companions professed to be utterly ignorant of his whereabouts. He had -been sleeping in a little closet back of one of the low railroad -saloons, paying for board and lodging by cleaning out the place every -morning, but the proprietor of the place said he had not been near there -for a week. So at last Jack dropped his inquiries, hoping against hope -that Nolan had taken alarm and left the neighbourhood.</p> - -<p>Reddy continued to improve physically from day to day, but mentally he -grew worse and worse. His broken arm had healed nicely, and the wound in -his head was quite well, but the injury to the brain baffled all the -skill of his physicians. He would sit around the house, moping, -seemingly taking notice of nothing; then he would suddenly start up and -walk rapidly away as though he had just remembered some important -engagement. Frequently he would be gone all day, sometimes even all -night. He was rarely at home at meal-times, and yet he never seemed to -be hungry.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Magraw could never find out from him where he spent all this time. -He refused to answer her questions, until, seeing how they vexed him, -she ceased from bothering him, and let him go his own way. Of her bitter -hours of despair and weeping, she allowed him to see nothing, but tried -always to present to him the same cheerful and smiling countenance she -had worn in the old days before his injury. In spite of this, he grew -more and more morose, more and more difficult to get along with. The -doctor advised that he be taken to an asylum, but the very word filled -his wife with a nameless dread, and she prayed that he might be left in -her care a little while longer. Perhaps he might grow better; at any -rate, unless he grew worse, she could look after him.</p> - -<p>One morning, about a week after the attempt upon Allan’s life, he and -Jack were working together on the embankment by the river’s edge, when -the foreman stopped suddenly, straightened himself, and, shading his -eyes with his hand, gazed long and earnestly across the water. Allan, -following his look, saw two men sitting by a clump of willows, talking -earnestly together. Their figures seemed familiar, but it was not until -one of them leaped to his feet, waving his arms excitedly, that he -recognized him as Reddy Magraw.</p> - -<p>“Who is the other one?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“It’s Dan Nolan,” said the foreman between his teeth. “What deviltry d’ -y’ suppose he’s puttin’ int’ that poor feller’s head?”</p> - -<p>Allan did not answer, but a strange foreboding fell upon him as he -watched Reddy’s excited oratory. Then the two watchers saw Nolan -suddenly pull Reddy down, and together they vanished behind the trees.</p> - -<p>What could it mean? Allan asked himself. What villainy was Dan Nolan -plotting? Was he trying to make poor, half-witted Reddy his instrument -for the commission of some crime?</p> - -<p>Jack, too, worked away in unaccustomed silence and unusual heaviness of -heart, for he was asking himself the same questions. Something must be -done; Reddy must not be led into any mischief; and no influence which -Nolan might gain over him could be anything but bad. It was like the -coward to try to get another man to do what he himself shrank from -doing.</p> - -<p>The morning passed and noon came, but neither Jack nor Allan had relish -for their dinner—the incident of the morning had spoiled their -appetites.</p> - -<p>“We’ll have t’ look out after Reddy some way,” said Jack, at last, and -then fell silent again.</p> - -<p>They were soon back at work, and Allan, busy with his thoughts, did not -notice that the air grew chill and the sky overcast.</p> - -<p>“The’ll be a storm t’-night,” observed Jack at last, looking around at -the sky.</p> - -<p>“’Fore night,” said one of the workmen. “We’ll be havin’ to quit work -purty soon.”</p> - -<p>Even to an unpractised eye, the signs were unmistakable. Down from the -north great banks of black clouds were sweeping, and the wind felt -strangely cold, even for the last days of October. At last came the -swift patter of the rain, and then a swirl of great, soft, fleecy -flakes.</p> - -<p>“Snow!” cried Jack. “Well, ’f I ever!”</p> - -<p>All stopped to watch the unaccustomed spectacle of snow in October. It -fell thick and fast, the flakes meeting and joining in the air into big -splotches of snow, which melted almost as soon as it touched the ground. -Two of the men, who had been blotted from sight for a moment, came -hurrying toward the others.</p> - -<p>“We might as well quit,” said Jack. “We can’t work this kind o’ -weather;” and so they started homeward through the storm, an hour before -the usual time.</p> - -<p>As the evening passed, the storm grew heavier and more violent. Looking -out from the window after supper, Allan found that the whole world was -shut from sight behind that swirling white curtain. From time to time he -could hear the faint rumble of a train in the yards below, but no gleam -of the engine’s headlight penetrated to him.</p> - -<p>“It’s a bad night fer railroadin’,” Jack remarked, looking out beside -him. “A bad night. Th’ rails ’r so slippy th’ wheels can’t grip ’em, an’ -th’ engineer might as well shut his eyes fer all th’ good his headlight -does him. An’ th’ brakeman—fancy runnin’ along th’ two-foot path on the -top of a train in a storm like this!”</p> - -<p>But trainmen cannot stop for wind or weather, darkness or stress of -storm, and the trains rumbled in and out through the night, most of them -behind time, to be sure, but feeling their way along as best they could, -while up in the offices the despatchers, with tense nerves and knitted -brows, struggled to maintain order in the midst of chaos. The wires were -working badly, every train on the road was behind the schedule; out at -some of the little stations, the operators, unused to the strain, were -growing nervous. The superintendent closed his desk with a bang, after -dictating the last letter; but instead of going home, as usual, he stood -around with his hands in his pockets, listening to the wildly clicking -instruments, and chewing a cigar savagely.</p> - -<p>Allan lay for a long time that night listening to the trains, thinking -of the wonderful system by which the great business was managed. He -could understand, as yet, only a little of this system, and he was -hungering to know more. Then the scene of the morning came back to him, -and he tossed from side to side, thinking of it. Poor Reddy—yes, he -needed looking after if Dan Nolan had got hold of him. Reddy’s mind was -more that of a child than of a man at present. What an evil influence -Dan might have over him if he cared to use it!</p> - -<p>At last sleep came; but in an instant he was back again at the river -bank peering across at the figures on the other side. They were talking -together; they seemed to be quarrelling. Then, suddenly, Nolan caught -the other by the throat and hurled him backward over the bank into the -water. Reddy sank with a wild cry; then his head reappeared, and he -caught a glimpse of the boy standing on the farther bank.</p> - -<p>“Allan!” he cried, stretching out his arms imploringly. “Allan!”</p> - -<p>Allan sat bolt upright, rubbing his eyes, straining his ears to hear the -call again.</p> - -<p>“Allan!”</p> - -<p>It was Jack’s voice,—he knew it now,—but the dawn was not peeping in at -the window, as was usual when Jack called him. He realized that the -night had not yet passed. He caught a glimmer of yellow light under his -door and heard Jack putting on his boots in the room below.</p> - -<p>Fully awake at last, he sprang out of bed and opened the door.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” he called down the stair. “Do you want me?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Hurry up,” answered Jack’s voice.</p> - -<p>Allan threw on his clothes with trembling hands, and hastened -down-stairs. He found Jack already at table, eating hastily.</p> - -<p>“Set down,” said the latter, “an’ fill up. It’s mighty uncertain when -ye’ll git another square meal.”</p> - -<p>“We’re going out?” asked the boy. “Then there’s a wreck?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, a wreck—freight, near Vinton. Th’ caller jest come fer me. It’s so -bad all th’ section-gangs on this end ’r ordered out. Eat all y’ kin. -Better drink some coffee, too. Y’ll need it.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXI' title='XI: CLEARING THE TRACK'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XI.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>CLEARING THE TRACK</span> -</h2> - -<p>Allan did his best to force himself to eat, but the strangeness of the -hour and the excitement of the promised adventure took all desire for -food from him. He managed, however, to drink a cup of coffee, but his -hands were trembling so with excitement he could scarcely hold the cup. -It was a wreck, and a bad one. How terrible to lose a moment! He was -eager to be off. But Jack knew from experience the value and need of -food while it could be obtained, in view of what might be before them.</p> - -<p>“It’ll take ’em some time t’ git’ th’ wreckin’-train ready,” he said. -“Git our waterproofs, Mary.”</p> - -<p>But Mary had them waiting, as well as a lot of sandwiches. She had been -through such scenes before.</p> - -<p>“There, stuff your pockets full,” she said to Allan. “You’ll want ’em.”</p> - -<p>Jack nodded assent, and took his share.</p> - -<p>“And now, good-bye, Mary,” said Jack. “No, don’t wake the baby. If we -git back by t’-morrer night, we’ll be lucky. Come on, Allan.”</p> - -<p>The snow was still falling heavily as they left the house, and they made -their way with some difficulty to the corner of the yards where the -wrecking-train stood on its spur of siding. A score of section-men had -already gathered, and more were coming up every minute. Nobody knew -anything definite about the wreck—some one had heard that Bill Miller, -the engineer, was hurt. It seemed they were taking a doctor along, for -Allan saw his tall form in the uncertain light. And the train-master and -division superintendent were with him, talking together in low tones.</p> - -<p>Jack began checking off his men as they came up and reported.</p> - -<p>An engine backed up and coupled on to the wrecking-train, and the men -slowly clambered aboard. The switch at the end of the siding was opened.</p> - -<p>“How many men have you got, Welsh?” asked Mr. Schofield, the -train-master.</p> - -<p>“Thirty-six, so far, sir.”</p> - -<p>“All right. We’ll pick up the gangs on Twenty-three and four as we pass. -Go ahead,” he shouted to the engineer. “We’ve got a clear track to -Vinton,” and he followed Allan and Jack up the steps into the car.</p> - -<p>There was a hiss of steam into the cylinders and the train pulled slowly -out upon the main track, the wheels slipping over the rails at first, -but gripping better as the train gathered headway and shot eastward into -the whirling snow. Operators, switchmen, station-agents, flagmen, all -looked out to see it pass. It had only two cars—one, a long flat car -loaded with ties and rails, piled with ropes and jacks and crowbars. At -one end stood the heavy steel derrick, strong enough to lift even a -great mogul of a freight-engine and swing it clear of the track.</p> - -<p>In the other car, which looked very much like an overgrown box-car, was -the powerful donkey-engine which worked the derrick, more tools, a -cooking-stove, and a number of narrow cots. Two oil-lanterns swung from -the roof, half-illuminating the faces of the men, who sat along the -edges of the cots, talking together in low tones.</p> - -<p>At Byers, the section-gang from Twenty-three clambered aboard; at Hamden -came the gangs from Twenty-four and Twenty-five. Nearly sixty men were -crowded together in the car; but there was little noise. It reminded -Allan of a funeral.</p> - -<p>And it was a funeral. The great railroad, binding East to West, was -lying dead, its back broken, useless, its circulation stopped. The line -was blocked, the track torn up—it was no longer warm, living, vital. It -had been torn asunder. It was a mere useless mass of wood and steel. -These men were hastening to resurrect it, to make it whole again.</p> - -<p>At McArthur the superintendent came aboard with a yellow paper in his -hand,—the conductor’s report of the accident,—and he and the -train-master bent their heads together over it. The men watched them -intently.</p> - -<p>“Is it a bad one, sir?” asked Jack at last.</p> - -<p>“Bad enough,” answered the superintendent. “It seems that first -Ninety-eight broke in two on the grade just beyond Vinton. Track so -slippery they couldn’t hold, and she ran back into the second section. -They came together in the cut at the foot of the grade, and fifteen cars -loaded with nut coal were wrecked. Miller seems the only one hurt, but -the track’s torn up badly.”</p> - -<p>“Nut coal!” said Jack, with a whistle. “We’ve got our work cut out for -us, boys.”</p> - -<p>The men nodded—they knew now what to expect. And they fell to talking -together in low tones, telling stories of past wrecks, of feats of -endurance in the breathless battle which always follows when this -leviathan of steel is torn asunder. But the superintendent had used one -word which Allan had not wholly understood, and he took the first -opportunity to ask Jack about it.</p> - -<p>“What did Mr. Heywood mean, Jack,” he inquired, “when he said the train -broke in two?”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” and Jack laughed. “It’s your first one—I’d forgot that. I -wish it was mine,” and he forthwith explained just how the accident had -probably happened.</p> - -<p>A “break-in-two” occurs usually as a train is topping a heavy grade. The -unusual strain breaks a coupling-pin or pulls out a draw-bar, and the -portion of the train released from the engine goes whirling back down -the grade, carrying death and destruction with it, unless the crew can -set the brakes and get it stopped. Or, on a down-grade, a coupling-pin -jumps out and then the two sections come together with a crash, unless -the engineer sees the danger in time, and runs away at full speed from -the pursuing section. It is only freights that “break in two,” for -passenger couplings are made heavy enough to withstand any strain; -besides, the moment a passenger-train parts, the air-brakes -automatically stop both sections. But to freight crews there is no -danger more menacing than the “break-in-two,” although, happily, this -danger is gradually growing less and less, with the introduction of -air-brakes on freight-cars as well as passenger.</p> - -<p>Freight-trains, when traffic is heavy, are usually run in sections, with -as many cars to each section as an engine can handle. The sections are -run as close together as they can be with safety, and, in railroad -parlance, the first section of Freight-train Ninety-eight, for instance, -is known as “first Ninety-eight”; the second section as “second -Ninety-eight,” and so on.</p> - -<p>In this instance, the first section of Train Ninety-eight had broken in -two at the top of a long grade, and fifteen coal-cars, together with the -caboose, had gone hurtling back down the grade, finally crashing into -the front end of the second section, which was following about a mile -behind. The conductor and brakemen, who were in the caboose, after a -vain attempt to stop the runaway cars with the hand-brakes, had jumped -off, and escaped with slight bruises, but the engineer and fireman of -the second section had had no warning of their danger until the cars -swept down upon them out of the storm. There was no time to jump—it -would have been folly to jump, anyhow, since the high walls of the cut -shut them in on either side; yet the fireman had escaped almost unhurt, -only the engineer being badly injured. The impact of the collision had -been terrific, and, as the telegram from the conductor stated, fifteen -cars had been completely wrecked.</p> - -<p>So much the section-men understood from the superintendent’s brief -description, and Jack explained it to Allan, while the others listened, -putting in a word of correction now and then.</p> - -<p>On and on sped the wrecking-train through the night. The oil-lamps -flared and flickered, throwing a yellow, feeble light down into the car, -where the men sat crowded together, for the most part silent now, -figuring on the task before them. It was evident that it would be no -easy one, but they had confidence in their officers,—the same confidence -that soldiers have in a general whose ability has been fully tested,—and -they knew that the task would be made as easy as might be.</p> - -<p>The atmosphere of the car grew close to suffocation. Every one, almost, -was smoking, and the lamps soon glowed dimly through the smoke like the -sun upon a foggy day. Outside, the snow still fell, thickly, softly; -their engineer could not see the track twenty feet ahead; but the -superintendent had told him that the way was clear, so he kept his -throttle open and plunged blindly on into the night, for every moment -was valuable now; every nerve must be strained to the utmost tension -until the task of clearing the track had been accomplished.</p> - -<p>So the fireman bent steadily to the work of keeping up steam, clanging -the door of the fire-box back and forth between each shovelful of coal, -in order to keep the draught full strength. The flames licked out at him -each time the door was opened, lighting the cab with yellow gleams, -which danced across the polished metal and illumined dimly the silent -figure of the engineer peering forward into the storm. The engine rocked -and swayed, the wind swirled and howled about it, and tried to hold it -back, but on and on it plunged, never pausing, never slackening. Any one -who was on the track to-night must look out for himself; but, luckily, -the right of way was clear, crossing after crossing was passed without -accident; the train tore through little hamlets, awakening strange -echoes among the darkened houses, and, as it passed, the operator would -run out to look at it, and, after a single glance, would rush back to -his key, call frantically for “G I,”—the despatcher’s office,—and tick -in the message that the wrecking-train had got that far on its journey.</p> - -<p>Back in the wrecking-car the superintendent had taken out his watch and -sat with it a moment in his hand.</p> - -<p>“We’re going a mile a minute,” he remarked to the train-master. “Higgins -is certainly hitting her up.”</p> - -<p>The train-master nodded and turned again to the conductor’s report. He -was planning every detail of the battle which must be fought.</p> - -<p>Jack glanced at Allan, and smiled.</p> - -<p>“You’re wonderin’ how he could tell how fast we’re going, ain’t ye?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Allan, “I am. How did he tell?”</p> - -<p>“By listenin’ t’ th’ click o’ th’ wheels over th’ rails,” answered Jack. -“Each rail’s thirty foot long—that is, there’s a hundred an’ seventy-six -to th’ mile. Mister Heywood probably kept tab on them fer fifteen -seconds and counted forty-four clicks, so he knowed we was goin’ a mile -a minute.”</p> - -<p>“Here we are,” remarked the train-master, as the wheels clanked over a -switch, and, sure enough, a moment later their speed began to slacken.</p> - -<p>Jack looked down at Allan and grinned again, as he saw the astonishment -written on the boy’s face.</p> - -<p>“You’re wonderin’ how Mr. Schofield could tell that, ain’t you?” he -asked. “Why, bless you, he knows this here division like a book. Put him -down on any part of it blindfolded and he’ll tell you right where he is. -He knows every foot of it.”</p> - -<p>Perhaps Jack exaggerated unconsciously, but there was no doubt that Mr. -Schofield, like every other good train-master, knew his division -thoroughly—the location of every switch, the length of every siding, the -position of every signal, the capacity of every engine. Nay, more, he -knew the disposition of every conductor and engineer. When Milliken, for -instance, wired in a protest that he couldn’t take another load, he -would smile placidly and repeat his previous orders; if Rogers made the -same complaint, he would wire back tersely, “All right.” He knew that -Milliken was always complaining, while Rogers never did without cause. -He knew his track, his equipment, and his men—and that is, no doubt, the -reason why, to-day, he is superintendent of one of the most important -divisions of the system.</p> - -<p>The wrecking-train slowed and stopped, and the men clambered painfully -to the ground, and went forward to take a look at the task before them. -It was evident in a moment that it was a bigger one than any had -anticipated—so big, indeed, that it seemed to Allan, at least, that it -would be far easier to build a new track around the place than to try to -open the old one. From side to side of the deep cut, even with the top, -the coal was heaped, mixed with splintered boards and twisted iron that -had once been freight-cars. High on the bank perched the engine, thrown -there by the mighty blow that had been dealt it. On either side were -broken and splintered cars, and the track was torn and twisted in a way -that seemed almost beyond repair. It was a scene of chaos such as the -boy had never before witnessed, and even the old, tried section-men were -staggered when they looked at it. It seemed impossible that anything so -puny as mere human strength could make any impression upon that tangled, -twisted mass.</p> - -<p>The doctor hurried away to attend to the injured engineer, who had been -removed to the caboose by the crew of the second section, while the -officers went forward to look over the battle-field. At the end of three -minutes they had prepared their plan of action, and the men responded -with feverish energy. Great cables were run out and fastened to the -shattered frames of the coal-cars, which were dragged out of the mass of -wreckage by the engine, and then hoisted from the track and thrown to -one side out of the way. The donkey-engine puffed noisily away, while -the derrick gripped trucks and wheels and masses of twisted iron and -splintered beams, and swung them high on the bank beside the road with -an ease almost superhuman. The men went to work with a will, under the -supervision of the officers, dragging out the smaller pieces of -wreckage. Hour after hour they toiled, until, at last, only the coal -remained—a great, shifting, treacherous mass—ton upon ton—fifteen -car-loads—a veritable mountain of coal. And here the derrick could be of -no use—there was only one way to deal with it. It must be shovelled from -the track by hand!</p> - -<p>It was a task beside which the labours of Hercules seemed small by -comparison. But no one stopped to think about its enormousness—it had to -be done, and done as quickly as possible. In a few moments, sixty -shovels were attacking the mighty mass, rising and falling with a dogged -persistence which, in the end, must conquer any obstacle.</p> - -<p>Dawn found the men at this trying work. At seven o’clock hot coffee and -sandwiches were served out to them, and they stopped work for ten -minutes to swallow the food. At eight, a cold rain began to fall, that -froze into sleet upon the ground, so that the men could scarcely stand. -Still they laboured doggedly on. Train-master and superintendent were -everywhere, encouraging the men, making certain that not a blow was -wasted, themselves taking a hand now and then, with pick or shovel. -There was no thought of rest; human nature must be pushed to its utmost -limit of endurance—this great leviathan of steel and oak must be made -whole again. All along its two hundred miles of track, passengers were -waiting, fuming, impatient to reach their destinations; thousands of -tons of freight filled the sidings, waiting the word that would permit -it to go forward. Here in the hills, with scarcely a house in sight, was -the wound that stretched the whole system powerless—that kept business -men from their engagements, wives from husbands, that deranged the plans -of hundreds; ay, more than that, it was keeping food from the hungry, -the ice was melting in refrigerator-cars, peaches and apples were -spoiling in hot crates, cattle were panting with thirst,—all waiting -upon the labours of this little army, which was fighting so valiantly to -set things right.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXII' title='XII: UNSUNG HEROES'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XII.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>UNSUNG HEROES</span> -</h2> - -<p>Allan laboured savagely with the others. One thought sang in his brain, -keeping time to the steady rise and fall of the shovels: “The track must -be cleared; the track must be cleared.” The great pile of coal before -him took on a hideous and threatening personality—it was a dragon, with -its claws at the road’s throat. It must be conquered—must be dragged -away. From time to time he stopped a moment to munch one of the -sandwiches, not noticing the dirt and coal-dust that settled upon it. He -was not hungry, but he felt instinctively that he must eat the food.</p> - -<p>Most of the other men were chewing tobacco, their jaws working -convulsively in unison with their arms. They had long since ceased to be -human beings—they had become machines. Their movements were precise, -automatic, regular. Their faces grew gradually black and blacker in the -perpetual dust which arose from the coal; their eyes became rimmed with -black, and bloodshot under the constant irritation of the dust. They -breathed it in, swallowed it, absorbed it. Their sense of smell and -taste gradually left them—or, at least, they could smell and taste only -one thing, coal-dust. They ceased to resemble men; one coming upon them -unawares would have taken them for some horrible group from Dante’s -inferno, doing terrible penance through eternity. They looked neither to -the right nor left; their eyes were always on the coal—on this shifting -black monster with which they were doing battle. Their hands seemed -welded to the shovels, which rose and fell, rose and fell.</p> - -<p>The cold rain beat in sheets around them, soaking their clothes, and yet -they scarcely felt this added discomfort, so intent were they upon the -task before them. Most of them had thrown off their coats at the -beginning of the struggle, and now their wet shirts stuck tightly to -their skins, showing every muscle. Gradually, by almost imperceptible -degrees, the pile of coal on the banks of the cut grew higher; gradually -the pile on the track grew less, but so slowly that it was agonizing.</p> - -<p>Above them on the bank, the great locomotive, hurled there and turned -completely around by the force of the collision, stood a grim sentinel. -It was the one piece of luck, the officers told themselves, in -connection with this wreck, that the engine had been tossed there out of -the way. To have raised it from the track and placed it there would have -taken hours, and every minute was so precious! It would take hours to -get it down again, but that need not be done until the track was clear.</p> - -<p>Toward the middle of the morning, three fresh gangs of men came from the -east and fell to work beside the others. But the others did not think of -stopping. Instead, with staring eyes and tight-set teeth, they worked a -little harder, to keep pace with the freshness and vigour of the -newcomers. Ninety shovels were hurling the coal aside, digging into it, -eating it away. Here, there, and everywhere the officials went, seeing -that every stroke told, that not an ounce of energy was wasted, taking a -hand themselves, driving themselves as hard as any of the men. Soon the -coal was heaped so high along the sides of the cut that a force was put -to work throwing it farther back. Almost all of it had to be handled -twice!</p> - -<p>Noon came—a dark noon without a sun; a noon marked by no hour of rest -for these toilers. Back in the wrecking-car a great boiler of coffee -steamed and bubbled; the cook carried pails of it among the men, who -paused only long enough to swallow a big dipperful. Even Allan, who had -no taste for it, drank deep and long, and he was astonished at the flood -of warm vigour it seemed to send through him. Every half-hour this -coffee was passed around, strong and black and stimulating. It was a -stimulation for which the men would pay later on in limp reaction, but -it did its work now.</p> - -<p>Experience had proved that no other means was so good as this to sustain -men against fatigue, hour after hour, and to drive away sleep from the -brain. Time was when the railroad company had experimented with other -stimulants, but they had long since been discarded.</p> - -<p>Still the rain descended, and a biting wind from the north turned the -weather steadily colder and colder. A sheet of sleet formed over the -coal, welding it into a solid mass, which required the vigorous use of -picks to dislodge. The men slipped and stumbled, gasping with -exhaustion, but still the shovels rose and fell. Here and there, the -twisted and broken track began to appear.</p> - -<p>At the side of the track the train-master called a lineman, who carried -a wire up a pole and attached it to one of the wires overhead. A -telegraph instrument was connected with this, and, sitting down upon the -bank, the train-master ticked in to headquarters the news that the track -would be clear at midnight, and repaired six hours later.</p> - -<p>In this, as in everything, the train-master knew his men. Ten minutes -before midnight the last shovelful of coal was out of the way,—the track -was clear,—one part of the battle had been won. But another part yet -remained to fight,—the track must be rebuilt, and the work of doing it -began without a moment’s delay. The twisted rails and splintered ties -were wrenched out of the way; the road-bed, which had been ploughed up -by the wheels of the derailed cars, was hastily levelled. From the -wrecking-car gangs of men staggered under new ties and rails, which were -piled along beside the track where they would be needed.</p> - -<p>At last the road-bed was fairly level again, and ties were laid with -feverish energy by the light of the flaring torches, which gave the -scene a weirdness which it had lacked by day. Phantoms of men moved back -and forth, now disappearing in the darkness, now leaping into view -again, working doggedly on, to their very last ounce of strength and -endurance.</p> - -<p>As the ties were got into place, the rails were spiked down upon them -and fish-plates were bolted into place. Rod after rod they advanced, -tugging, hammering, with the energy of desperation. It was no question -now of a perfect road-bed—rail must be joined to rail so that once more -the red blood of commerce could be pumped along the artery they formed. -After that there would be time for the fine points. And just as the sun -peeped over the eastern hills, the last spike was driven, the last bolt -tightened. The work was done.</p> - -<p>The men cheered wildly, savagely, their voices hoarse and unnatural. -Then they gathered up their tools, staggered to the car, and fell -exhausted on bunk or chair or floor, and went instantly to sleep. Allan -found afterward that he had no memory whatever of those last trying -hours.</p> - -<p>At the side of the road the train-master was ticking off a message which -told that his promise was kept,—a message which sent a thrill of life -along the line from end to end,—which told that the road was clear. Then -he cut loose his instrument, and he and the superintendent walked back -to the car together. They were no longer the trim, good-looking men of -every day—they were haggard, gaunt, unshaven. Their eyes were bloodshot, -their clothing soiled and torn. They had not spared themselves. For -thirty-six hours they had been working without so much as lifting their -hats from their heads. But they had won the battle—as they had won many -others like it, though few quite so desperate.</p> - -<p>On either side the track was piled a mass of twisted wreckage; the -engine still lay high on the bank. That could wait. Another crew could -haul the engine down and gather up the débris, for the track was open.</p> - -<p>The journey back took longer than the journey out. At every siding they -headed in to let passenger and freight whirl past; the blood was -bounding now, trying to make up for the time it had been stopped. But -the men lying in the car saw none of them; the roar of their passage did -not awaken them—they knew not whether the trip back took two hours or -ten—they were deaf, blind, dead with fatigue. Only at the journey’s end -were they awakened, and it was no easy task. But at last they had all -arisen, gaunt shadows of their former selves.</p> - -<p>“Boys,” said the superintendent, “I want to tell you that I’ve never -seen a wreck handled as well as you handled this one. You did great -work, and I’m proud of you. Now go home and go to sleep,—sleep -twenty-four hours if you can. Don’t report for duty till to-morrow. And -I promise you I won’t forget this night’s work.”</p> - -<p>They staggered away through the curious crowd at the station, seeing -nothing, turning instinctively in the direction of their homes.</p> - -<p>“Why,” remarked one white-haired man, gazing after them, “they look just -as we looked after we got through the Wilderness. They look like they’ve -been under fire for a week.”</p> - -<p>The superintendent, passing, heard the remark.</p> - -<p>“They have,” he answered, dryly. “They’ve been under the heaviest kind -of fire continuously for thirty-six hours. You fellows have had whole -libraries written about you, and about a thousand monuments built to -you. You get a pension while you live, and your grave is decorated when -you die. I’m not saying you don’t deserve it all, for I believe you do. -But there’s some other people in the world who deserve honour and glory, -too,—section-men, for instance. I never heard of anybody building a -monument to them, or calling them heroes; and, if there are any flowers -on their graves, it’s their families put them there!”</p> - -<p>He passed on, while his auditor stared open-mouthed, not knowing whether -to be moved or angry. The superintendent’s nerves were shaken somewhat, -or he might have spoken less bitterly; but a sudden sharp sense of the -world’s injustice had clamoured for utterance.</p> - -<p>And the wrecking-train was run in again on the siding, ready for the -next trip.</p> - -<p>The men, of course, paid the penalty for their almost superhuman -exertions. No men could work as they had done and not feel the -after-effects in diminished vitality. The younger ones among them soon -recovered, for youth has a wonderful power of recuperation; the older -ones were a little more bent, a little more gnarled and withered, a -little nearer the end of the journey. They had sacrificed themselves on -the altar of the great system which they served; they had done so -without a murmur, with no thought of shirking or holding back. They -would do so again without an instant’s hesitation whenever duty called -them. For that was their life-work, to which they were dedicated with a -simple, unquestioning devotion. There was something touching about -it,—something grand and noble, too,—just as there is in a man dedicating -himself to any work, whether to conquer the world with Napoleon, or to -keep clean a stretch of street pavement committed to his care. It was -this dedication, this singleness of purpose—this serfdom to the -road—which Allan grew to understand more and more deeply, and to glory -in.</p> - -<p>And it was not an unworthy service, for the road was worth devotion. Not -the company of capitalists, who sat in an office somewhere in the East -and manipulated its stocks and bonds, but the road itself,—this thing of -steel and oak which had rendered possible the development of the -country, which had added fabulously to its wealth, which bound together -its widely separated States into one indivisible Union. They were -servants of the force which, more than any other, has made our modern -civilization possible.</p> - -<p>Let me add that the story of this wreck is no imaginary one. It is a -true story which actually occurred just as it is set down here; it is an -experience which repeats itself over and over again in the life of every -railroad man; it was a battle which, in one form or another, railroad -men are always fighting, and always winning. And, more than most -battles, is it worth winning!</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXIII' title='XIII: A NEW DANGER'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XIII.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>A NEW DANGER</span> -</h2> - -<p>There is a superstition among railroad men which, strangely enough, is -seemingly warranted by experience, that when one wreck occurs, two more -are certain to follow. And, sure enough, two more did follow, though -neither was so serious as the one at Vinton; which, indeed, still lives -in the memories of those who helped clear it away as the worst that ever -happened on the division.</p> - -<p>Not so serious, that is, in delaying the traffic of the road, but more -serious in another way, since both entailed loss of life. The first one -occurred just three days after the wreck at Vinton. A freight-train had -taken a siding about five miles east of Wadsworth to allow the through -east-bound express to pass, but the brakeman on the freight, who was a -green hand, forgot to throw the switch back again after the -freight-train had backed in upon the siding. He climbed up into the cab, -and he and the engineer and fireman sat there chatting away, all -unconscious of the impending disaster. In a moment, they heard the roar -of the approaching train, and then it flashed into view far down the -track. They turned to watch it, to admire the clean lines of the engine -as it whirled toward them; then, as it reached the switch, they were -horrified to see it turn in upon the siding. There was no time to move, -to cry out, to attempt to save themselves. An instant of horrified -suspense, and the crash came, and the two engines, together with the -cars immediately behind them, were piled together into a torn and -twisted mass of wreckage,—wreckage through which blistering steam hissed -and about which in a moment hungry flames began to lap,—wreckage from -which no man came forth alive. But, as the accident occurred upon a -siding, the main track was not even blocked, and the wreckage was -cleared away without the feverish haste which marked the wreck at -Vinton.</p> - -<p>The third wreck occurred at Torch, a little station on the east end of -the road, when both engineer and fireman of an east-bound freight-train -forgot their orders to take the siding there, to make way for the -west-bound flier, and continued on full speed past the station. The -conductor recognized the error at once, but he was away back in the -caboose at the other end of the train. He sent a brakeman flying forward -over the cars to warn the engineer of his danger, but, before he had got -forward half the length of the train, the express hurtled down upon -them, and both engineer and fireman paid for their forgetfulness with -their lives. This wreck was so far east that it was handled from -Parkersburg, and the gang from Section Twenty-one was not called out.</p> - -<p>This series of accidents impressed deeply upon Allan’s mind the terrible -peculiarity which belongs to railroading. In most of life’s ordinary -occupations, a mistake may be retrieved; on the railroad, almost never. -To make a mistake there is, almost inevitably, to sacrifice life and -property. The railroad man who makes a mistake never has the chance to -make a second one. If he survives the first one, his dismissal from the -road’s employ will follow. Mistakes on a railroad are too expensive to -risk them by employing careless men.</p> - -<p>The employés of the road breathed easier after the accident at Torch. -Until the fatal three had occurred, every man feared that his turn would -come next; now they knew that they were safe until another series was -started. Whether it was from the increased self-confidence and -self-control which this belief engendered, or whether there really was -some basis for this railroad superstition, at any rate, no more -accidents occurred, and the road’s operation proceeded smoothly and -uneventfully.</p> - -<p>One exciting battle there was in late September. The fall rains had been -unusually heavy and persistent; every little brook became a roaring -torrent, loosening bridges and culverts, seeping under the road-bed, and -demanding constant vigilance on the part of the section-gangs. As the -rain continued without abating, the broad river, which usually flowed -peacefully along far below the railroad embankment, rose foot by foot -until the whole stretch of embankment along the river’s edge was -threatened. Long trains of flat cars were hurried to the place, loaded -with rock and bags of sand. These were dumped along the embankment, -which was washing badly in places, and for a time it looked as though -the encroachments of the water had been stopped. But the rain continued, -and the river kept on rising, until it was seeping along the top of the -embankment. If it once began to flow over it, nothing could save the -track, for the water would slice away the earth beneath it in great -sections.</p> - -<p>All the men that could be spared from the other portions of the road had -been hurried to the scene. At the gravel-pit just below the city, a gang -of fifty men was working, filling heavy sacks and loading them on flat -cars. A great steam-shovel was heaping the loose gravel upon other cars, -and, as soon as enough were loaded to make a train, they were hurried -away to the danger point. During that culminating day, no effort was -made to preserve the train schedule. The work-trains were given the -right of way, and even the lordly east-bound passengers had to flag -through from the embankment to the gravel-pit. Train-master and -superintendent were on the spot, directing where the gravel should be -dumped, and watching anxiously the gauge which marked the rise of the -water. Another inch and it would be over the embankment.</p> - -<p>But from the last inspection of the gauge Mr. Schofield arose with a -shout of triumph.</p> - -<p>“It’s no higher than it was half an hour ago,” he said. “It hasn’t risen -a hair’s breadth. It’ll begin to fall before long. We’re all right if we -can only make the embankment hold.”</p> - -<p>Hope put new life into the men, and they worked like beavers; but -whether the embankment could withstand much longer the tremendous -pressure of the water against it seemed exceedingly doubtful. The whole -length of the river seemed to be concentrating its strength to push -against this one spot. Allan, as he paused to look up the muddy current, -almost imagined that the water was rushing toward the embankment with -the deliberate purpose of overwhelming it. The débris which the broad -current hurried along told of the damage it was doing in other places. -Lordly trees had been uprooted, outbuildings carried away, stock -drowned, fertile bottom land covered with gravel and rendered -worthless,—but all this seemed trivial to the boy beside the danger -which threatened the road. He could guess how long it would take to -rebuild this great stretch of embankment, should it be swept away. For -weeks and months, the system must lay powerless, lifeless, disrupted.</p> - -<p>Mr. Schofield bent over the gauge again and looked at it.</p> - -<p>“She’s going down, boys!” he cried, rising with beaming face. “She’s -gone down half an inch. We’re going to win this fight!”</p> - -<p>But how slowly the water receded! It seemed to Allan, at times, that it -was rising again; but the crest of the flood had passed, and by the next -day the danger was quite over. The embankment had to be rebuilt where it -had been badly washed; and it was rebuilt more strongly than ever, and -guarded by a wall of riprap, but never for an hour was the traffic of -the road interrupted.</p> - -<p>So October passed and November came. Always there was the track -demanding attention,—an endless round of work which would never be -completed. Always there were the trains rushing over it in endless -procession,—the luxurious Limited, sending every other train headlong -into a siding out of the way; the slower “accommodation,” which stops at -every station along the road and is very popular with the farmers and -dwellers at crossroads; the big through freight, drawn by a mighty giant -of an engine, hauling two thousand tons of grain or beef or coal to the -great Eastern market.</p> - -<p>And the through freight is the greatest of them all, for it is the -money-maker. The Limited, glittering with polished brass and rare woods -and plate-glass, is for show,—for style. It makes the road a reputation. -It figures always in the advertisements in big type and on the back of -folder and time-table in gorgeous lithograph. Its passengers look out -with aversion at the dingy, ugly freight, standing on the siding, -waiting for it to pass. But it is the freight that is meat and drink to -the road; it enables it to keep out of the receiver’s hands, and -sometimes even to pay dividends.</p> - -<p>For Allan, the days passed happily, for one serious cloud was lifted -from his life. Dan Nolan had disappeared. He had not been seen for -weeks, and every one hoped that he would never be seen in that -neighbourhood again. Jack had taken good care to spread the story of the -fallen rock, and Nolan was wise to keep out of the trainmen’s way.</p> - -<p>“He thinks I saw him that day,” remarked the foreman, “an’ he’s afeard -of a term in th’ penitentiary. Well, he’ll git it; if not here, -somewheres else.”</p> - -<p>One trouble still remained, for Reddy showed no sign of improvement. His -aversion to all his old friends seemed rather to increase, and he would -wander away for days at a time. With this development of vagrant habits, -he fell naturally in with other vagrants; played cards with them under -the big coal-chute, rode with them in empty box-cars,—in a word, -degenerated utterly from the happy, industrious Reddy of other days. -Still, he showed no disposition to harm any one, so his friends deemed -it best to let him go his way, hoping against hope that time might work -a cure. His wife had been given the position of janitress of the depot -building, and so provided for the family.</p> - -<p>Physically, Allan had never been in such splendid condition. Constant -work in the open air had hardened his muscles and tanned his face; he -was lean and hard, his eyes clear, his nerves steady. He was always -ready for his bed at night, and always ready for his work in the -morning. He felt within himself an abounding health and vitality, that -brought him near to nature, and made him love her great winds and -tempests. The only things he missed were the books to which he had -always been accustomed. He was usually too tired in the evening to do -more than read the newspaper; but he was gaining for himself a -first-hand experience of life more valuable than any reflection of it he -could have caught from the printed page. The foundations of his -education had been well laid; now he was laying the foundations of -experience. Somehow, for the time being, books seemed to him strangely -useless and artificial. He was drinking deep of life itself.</p> - -<p>And as the days passed, Allan grew to know the trainmen better. He was -admitted to the freemasonry of their fellowship, and sat with them often -in the evenings at roundhouse or yardmaster’s office, listening to their -yarns, which had a strange fascination for him. It was at the roundhouse -that engineers and firemen met, summoned by the caller to take their -engines out; at the yardmaster’s office, conductors and brakemen -reported. And the boy found all of them alike prepared for what might -befall, ready, instinctively, without second thought, to risk their -lives to save the company’s property or to protect the passengers -entrusted to their care.</p> - -<p>A great admiration for these men grew into his heart. They were like -soldiers, ready at a moment’s notice to advance under fire,—only here -there was not the wild exhilaration of battle, of charge and sortie, but -only a long, cold looking of danger in the face.</p> - -<p>Even the humblest of them had his heroisms, as the boy found out one -night; for, surely, none was humbler than Bill Griffith, the lame -crossing-flag-man. It was at the roundhouse one evening that Allan -chanced to ask how Bill lost his leg. “Tookey” Morton—the oldest -engineer on the road—who had just come in to report, turned around at -the question.</p> - -<p>“He’s lost both legs, my boy,” he said. “He’s wood on both sides from -the knee down, only you can’t see it because his pant-legs hide it. Ten -years ago, Bill was one of the best engineers on this road. He had the -old Ninety-six,—you remember her, boys,—one of them old -passenger-engines, built too light for the business. Well, one night -Bill was spinnin’ down the grade at Loveland when the side-rod on his -side broke, and in about half a second had whipped the cab to pieces and -smashed both Bill’s legs. His fireman, who was green, jumped at the -first crash; so what did Bill do but get up on the stumps of his legs -and walk to the throttle and shut her off. They found him layin’ on what -was left of the deck, and thought he was dead. But he pulled through, -and was given that billet at the crossin’. And there ain’t a man, woman, -or child has been hurt there since he’s had it.”</p> - -<p>The section-men were soon to have their hours of danger, too, for the -road was falling among troublesome times. The first wind of it came in -an order to all employés issued from general headquarters.</p> - -<p>Jack stuck a copy of it on the order-hook on the wall of the -section-shanty, and then read it over again with a very dark face. Thus -it ran:</p> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-right:2em; margin-left:2em'> - -<p>“NOTICE TO EMPLOYÉS, ALL DEPARTMENTS</p> - -<p>“The police department of this road has just been reorganized, and all -employés are hereby directed to aid it in every possible way in keeping -all trains, freight and passenger, free from tramps. This nuisance has -grown to such proportions that it must be checked. Trainmen discovered -permitting tramps to ride on their trains will be summarily discharged. -Section-men will see that no fires are built by tramps on the right of -way, and that they do not linger on railroad property.</p> - -<div style='text-align:right'>“[Signed] A. G. Round,</div> -<div style='text-align:right; font-style:italic'>“Supt. and Gen. Manager.</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><i>“Cincinnati, Ohio, November 14.”</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>“That means trouble,” said Jack, “if they try t’ carry it out,” and -turned away to his work without further comment.</p> - -<p>But that night in the yardmaster’s office Allan heard the order -discussed with freedom and much emphasis.</p> - -<p>“We can’t deny,” said one man, “that th’ hoboes have been robbin’ th’ -road right an’ left, but what kin we do? Try t’ put ’em off an’ git a -bullet through us or a knife in us?”</p> - -<p>“It’s put ’em off or git fired,” remarked another, grimly.</p> - -<p>“The road couldn’t stand it any longer,” remarked the yardmaster. “Car -after car has come into the yards here broken open and any amount of -stuff missing. It’s been costing the road a pretty figure to straighten -things out with the shippers.”</p> - -<p>“The tramps get in out here at the heavy grade just east of Byers,” -remarked a conductor. “Those fool despatchers load us up so heavy that -we can’t make more than six or eight miles an hour up that -grade,—sometimes we stick and have to double over. Well, the tramps lay -for us there every night, and, while we’re crawling along, or maybe -cutting the train in two to double, they pick out a likely looking car -of merchandise, break it open, hunt around inside, and throw off what -they want, and then drop off themselves. We don’t even know the seals -are broken until we get into the yards here.”</p> - -<p>“There’s a dozen other places on the road just as bad,” said the -yardmaster.</p> - -<p>“But how’s a feller t’ know what’s goin’ on inside a car?” queried a -brakeman, sarcastically. “That’s what I’d like to be told.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” retorted the yardmaster, “I guess the superintendent will tell -you quick enough, if he ever gets you on the carpet.”</p> - -<p>The brakeman snorted skeptically.</p> - -<p>“I dunno,” he said. “I guess th’ whole thing’s jest a bluff, anyway.”</p> - -<p>But trainmen and tramps alike soon found out that the management of the -road was in deadly earnest. The force of police had been strongly -reinforced. Tramps were summarily thrown off the trains. When they -showed fight, as they often did at first, they were promptly arrested, -arraigned before the nearest police justice, and given a term in the -workhouse.</p> - -<p>To be sure, all this was not accomplished without some cost. One -detective was shot through the head and killed, and many others had -escapes more or less narrow, but the tramps soon lost their boldness. -They no longer broke open freight-cars at will and helped themselves to -their contents, or rode from place to place as their fancy dictated. But -they took their revenge in other ways.</p> - -<p>One night an extra west-bound freight ran through an open switch at -Greenfield and crashed into the freight-house. An investigation showed -that the switch-lock had been broken, and the switch thrown. A night -watchman on Section Twenty-eight found a big pile of ties on the track, -and stopped another freight just in time to prevent a wreck.</p> - -<p>Ugly rumours were flying about of the tramps’ intentions, and it was at -this juncture that another order came from headquarters. It ran:</p> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-right:2em; margin-left:2em'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.7em;'>“NOTICE TO SECTION-FOREMEN</div> -</div> - -<p>“All section-foremen, until further orders, will divide their gangs into -tricks, and have one man constantly on duty patrolling the track from -end to end of their section. All sections must be gone over not less -than once every three hours, and special vigilance is required at night. -The road relies upon its section-men to see that this work is faithfully -done. Double time will be allowed for this extra duty. To go into effect -at once.</p> - -<div style='text-align:right'>“[Signed] A. G. Round,</div> -<div style='text-align:right; font-style:italic'>“Supt. and Gen. Manager.</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><i>“Cincinnati, Ohio, November 30.”</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>And simultaneously the road’s police force was augmented by a dozen -special detectives. The management was determined to prove that it could -protect its property. Besides, the other roads of the country were -looking on with much interest to see what the result of this struggle -would be, for the tramp nuisance was rampant everywhere.</p> - -<p>For a time, it seemed that these precautions had been effective. There -were no more robberies reported, and few tramps attempted to steal -rides. To be sure, the station at Madeira caught fire one night and -burned to the ground, but there was no proof of incendiarism. Still the -road did not relax its vigilance. Threatening rumours came to it from -the underworld. The detectives, assuming tramp garb and fraternizing -with the “hoboes,” became aware of something sinister in the air, but -could never quite fathom the mystery. They were sure of only one -thing—something was going to happen.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXIV' title='XIV: ALLAN MAKES A DISCOVERY'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XIV.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>ALLAN MAKES A DISCOVERY</span> -</h2> - -<p>During all this time, Allan had been taking his trick of track-walking -with the other men on Section Twenty-one. Jack had arranged it so that -the boy’s trip over the road was made in the early morning, from four -o’clock to seven, when, in his opinion, there was the minimum of danger. -For Jack still feared Dan Nolan, although that rascal had not been seen -in the neighbourhood for months. But Jack had an uneasy feeling that -Nolan was still plotting mischief, that he was still watching his -opportunity to do Allan an injury.</p> - -<p>The boy himself, confident in his growing manhood, laughed at these -fears.</p> - -<p>“Nolan has cleared out for good,” he said to Jack. “He’s gone somewhere -where he’s not known, and has got another job. We’ll never see him -again.”</p> - -<p>But Jack shook his head stubbornly.</p> - -<p>“I know better,” he said. “Mebbe he’s gone away for awhile, but he’ll -come back ag’in, an’, if he ever gits a good chance t’ hit y’ from -behind, he’ll take it. I’ve got a sort of idee that Nolan’s at th’ -bottom of most of th’ devilment that’s been goin’ on on this here road. -Th’ tramps would ’a’ cleared out long ago if there hadn’t been somebody -back of them urgin’ ’em on.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come, Jack,” protested Allan, “you’ve let that idea get such a hold -on you that you can’t shake it off.”</p> - -<p>“Anyway,” said Jack, “I want you t’ keep your eyes about you when you’re -out there by yourself. An’ you’re t’ carry that club I made fer you, an’ -t’ use it, too, if Nolan ever comes near enough for you t’ git a good -lick at him.”</p> - -<p>Allan laughed again, but he carried the club with him, nevertheless, -more to quiet Jack’s fears and Mary’s than because he thought he would -ever need it. Jack had gone down to the carpenter shop the first day the -order to patrol the track was posted, and had selected a piece of -seasoned hickory, which he had fashioned into an effective weapon. Most -of the other section-men were similarly armed, and were prepared to meet -force with force.</p> - -<p>But Jack’s fears were to be verified in an unexpected way a few days -later. One of the detectives employed by the road had succeeded in -disguising himself as a tramp so effectively that he was admitted to -their councils, and one night a force of men was gathered at -headquarters for an expedition of which none of them knew the -destination. It happened to be Jack’s trick, and, when he reported for -duty, the train-master called him to one side.</p> - -<p>“Welsh,” he said, “we’re going on a little expedition to-night which -promises some fun. I thought maybe you’d like that boy of yours to go -along,—you seem to want to get him in on everything going.”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Mister Schofield?” Jack asked. “Anything dangerous?”</p> - -<p>“No,” answered the train-master, “I don’t think there’ll be any real -danger, but there may be some excitement. I want you to go and you’d -better bring the boy.”</p> - -<p>“All right, sir,” said Jack, resolving, however, to keep the boy close -to himself.</p> - -<p>A caller was sent after Allan, who appeared at the end of a few minutes, -his eyes big with excitement.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” he asked, as he saw the men grouped together, talking in -low tones. “Another wreck?”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Jack; “it ain’t a wreck. I don’t know what it is. It’s got -something t’ do with th’ tramps, I think. Mebbe you’d better not go.”</p> - -<p>“Of course I’ll go,” protested the boy. “I wouldn’t miss it for -anything.”</p> - -<p>A moment later the men, of whom there were twenty, were divided into -parties of four each, and each man was given a short, stout policeman’s -club loaded with lead at the end.</p> - -<p>“Now, boys,” said the train-master, after the clubs had been -distributed, “I want you to remember that it’s an easy thing to kill a -man with one of those clubs, so don’t strike too hard if we get into a -row. Only, of course, don’t hesitate to defend yourselves. Now I guess -we’re ready to start.”</p> - -<p>Each party was placed in charge of one of the road’s detectives, and -left the yards by a different route. The night was very dark, with black -clouds rolling overhead and sending down a spatter of rain now and then, -so that the men could scarcely see each other as they walked along. The -party that Jack and Allan were with followed the railroad track as far -as the river-bank; then they turned aside, crossed the long bridge which -spanned the river, and pushed their way along a path which led to the -right along the opposite bank.</p> - -<p>It was anything but easy walking, for the path was a narrow and uneven -one, nearly overgrown by the rank underbrush along the river, so that -they had to proceed in single file, the detective in the lead, stumbling -over rocks, stepping into mudholes, with branches slapping them in the -faces, and briars catching at their clothing. At last they came out upon -an open field, which they crossed. Beyond the field was a road, which -they followed for half a mile or more, then they struck off along -another path through an open hickory wood, and finally halted for breath -at the base of a high hill.</p> - -<p>In a few moments, the other parties came up, panting and -mud-bespattered, and the detectives and Mr. Schofield drew apart for a -little consultation.</p> - -<p>“Now, boys,” said Mr. Schofield, in a low voice, when the consultation -was over, “I’ll tell you what we’re after so that you’ll know what to -expect. One of our men here has discovered up on this hill the place -where the ringleaders among the tramps make their headquarters. If we -can capture these ringleaders, all our troubles with the tramps will be -over. We’re going to surround the place, and we want to capture every -one of them. We must creep up on them as quietly as we can, and then a -pistol-shot will be the signal for a rush. And, remember, we don’t want -any of them to get away!”</p> - -<p>A little murmur ran through the crowd, and they gripped their clubs -tighter. Jack was glad that they had not been given revolvers,—in the -darkness and confusion, such weapons would be more dangerous to friend -than foe.</p> - -<p>They started cautiously up the hill, advancing slowly and painfully, for -there was now no vestige of a path. The uneven ground and tangled -undergrowth made progress very difficult, but they gradually worked -their way upward until they came to the edge of a little clearing. -Against a cliff of rock at one side a rude hut was built. There was no -window, but, through the chinks in the logs, they could see that there -was a light within. The men were spread out along the edge of the -clearing, and waited breathlessly for the signal to advance.</p> - -<p>The pistol-shot rang out, clear and sharp in the night air, and, even as -the men sprang forward, the door of the hut was thrown open and a man’s -figure appeared silhouetted against the light. He stood an instant -listening to the rush of advancing footsteps, then slammed the door -shut, and in a breath the hut was in darkness.</p> - -<p>But that single instant was enough for both Allan and Jack Welsh to -recognize the man.</p> - -<p>It was Dan Nolan!</p> - -<p>In another second, they were hammering at the door, but they found it -strongly barred, and three or four minutes elapsed—minutes that seemed -like centuries—before they got the door down and rushed over the -threshold into the hut. One of the detectives opened his dark lantern -and flashed a brilliant band of light about the place, while the men -stared in astonishment.</p> - -<p>For the hut was empty!</p> - -<p>They lighted the lamp which stood on a box in one corner and made a more -careful examination of the place. Two or three boxes, an old stove, a -few cooking utensils, and a rude cot in one corner comprised all the -furniture, and one of the detectives, pulling aside the largest box, -which stood against the back of the hut, solved the mystery of Nolan’s -disappearance.</p> - -<p>A passage had been dug in the bank which formed the back of the hut, and -the detective, after flashing his dark lantern within, crawled into it -without hesitation. In a few moments, they heard the sound of steps -outside, and the detective came in again at the door.</p> - -<p>“He’s got clear away,” he said; “as well as all the rest who were with -him. That tunnel leads off to the left and comes out the other side of -this bank.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Schofield’s face showed his disappointment.</p> - -<p>“It’s too bad,” he said, “that we didn’t know about that tunnel. Then we -could have placed a guard at the other end.”</p> - -<p>“There were precious few knew about it,” said the detective who had -discovered the place. “I’ve been here half a dozen times, and never -suspected its existence.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the train-master, “the only thing we can do is to go home, -I guess. We can’t hope to find a man in these woods on a night like -this.”</p> - -<p>“You knowed that feller who opened th’ door, didn’t you, Mister -Schofield?” questioned Jack, as they left the hut.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Mr. Schofield, quickly. “Did you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied Jack, quietly; “it was Dan Nolan.”</p> - -<p>“Dan Nolan!” repeated the train-master, incredulously. “Are you sure?”</p> - -<p>“Allan here knowed him, too,” said Jack. “It’s what I’ve been thinkin’ -all along, that Nolan was at th’ bottom of all this mischief. He’s got -t’ be a kind o’ king o’ th’ tramps, I guess.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you’re right,” agreed Mr. Schofield. “I’ll put our detectives -on his trail. Maybe they can run him down, if he hasn’t been scared away -by his narrow escape to-night.”</p> - -<p>“He’ll shift his headquarters,” said Jack, “but I don’t believe he’ll be -scared away—not till he gits what he’s after, anyway.”</p> - -<p>“And what is that?” questioned the train-master.</p> - -<p>“He’s after Allan there,” said Jack, in a lower tone. “An’ he’ll git him -yet, I’m afraid.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ll make it hot for him around here,” said Mr. Schofield, and -went forward to impart this information to the detectives.</p> - -<p>All of the men were completely tired out by the long night tramp, as -well as chagrined over their ill success, but Allan was up again as -usual next morning and started off upon his tramp along the track.</p> - -<p>“Now, be careful of yourself, darlint,” Mary cautioned him, as she saw -him off, and Allan promised to be especially alert.</p> - -<p>There could be no doubt that it was Dan Nolan they had seen at the door -of the hut the night before, but Allan only half-believed that Nolan -still preserved his enmity toward him. Certainly, he decided, it was not -worth worrying about,—worrying never did any good. He would be ready to -meet danger as it came, but he greatly doubted if it would ever come, at -least, to himself personally.</p> - -<p>He had grown to like this duty of patrolling the track. It had been a -pleasant duty, and an uneventful one, for at no time had he found -anything wrong, or met with unpleasant adventure of any kind. But those -long walks through the fresh, cold air, with the dawn just tingeing the -east, opened a new world to the boy. It was no longer the hot, dusty, -work-a-day world of labour, but a sweet, cool, clean world, where joy -dwelt and where a man might grow. He heard the birds greet the sunrise -with never-failing joy; he heard the cattle lowing in the fields; even -the river beside the road seemed to dance with new life, as the sun’s -rays sought it out and gilded its every ripple. It was not a long -walk—three miles out and three back—and what an appetite for breakfast -it gave him! Even these few months had wrought a great change in him. He -was browned by the sun and hardened by toil, as has been said already; -but the change was greater than that. It was mental as well as physical. -He had grown older, and his face had gained the self-reliant look of the -man who is making his own way in the world and who is sure of himself.</p> - -<p>Despite all this extra work, Section Twenty-one was kept in perfect -condition, and the train-master noted it, as he noted everything else -about the road.</p> - -<p>“You’re doing good work, Welsh,” he said to Jack one day, when he -chanced to meet him in the yards.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got a good gang,” answered the foreman, proudly. “There’s one o’ -my men that’s too good fer section work. He ort t’ have a better job, -Mr. Schofield; one, anyway, where ther’s a chance fer permotion—in th’ -offices.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?” and the official smiled good-naturedly. “I think I know who you -mean. I’ll keep him in mind, for we always need good men. This extra -work will soon be over, though. As soon as cold weather sets in, the -hoboes will strike for the South, and I don’t believe they’ll ever -trouble us again.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbe not,” agreed Jack, dubiously. “But I’d be mighty glad to hear -that Dan Nolan was locked up safe somewhere. You haven’t found any trace -of him?”</p> - -<p>“No. He seems to have disappeared completely. I believe he’s scared out, -and cold weather will rid us of all the rest.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbe so,” said Jack; “mebbe so. Anyway, I wish cold weather’d hurry up -an’ come.”</p> - -<p>But it seemed in no haste about coming. December opened bright and warm, -and two weeks slipped by. Although it was evident that the tramps were -becoming less numerous, and the management of the road began to breathe -more freely, still the head of the police department did not relax his -caution. He had his ear to the ground, and, from that hidden, -subterranean region of trampdom, he still heard vague and uncertain, but -no less threatening, rumblings.</p> - -<p>It was clear that the battle was not yet won, for the petty annoyances -continued, though in an ever lessening degree, and even in the yards the -tramps or their sympathizers managed to do much harm. A freight-train -would be standing in the yards, ready for its trip east or west; the -conductor would give the signal to start, the engineer would open his -throttle, and instantly it would be discovered that some one had drawn -all the coupling-pins; but, before the engineer could stop his engine, -he had torn out all the air-hose on the train. Or, perhaps, the train -would start all right, but, in the course of half an hour, the fireman -would discover he could not keep the steam up, no matter how hot his -fire was; the pressure would fall and fall until the train would be -stalled out on the road, and an investigation would disclose the fact -that some one had thrown a lot of soap into the tank. Then the whole -system would be tied up until another engine could be sent to the rescue -to push the train into the nearest siding. Or, perhaps, the train would -be bowling along merrily until, of a sudden, the well-trained noses of -conductor and brakemen would detect the odour of a hot box. The train -would be stopped, and it would soon be found that some one had removed -the packing from the boxes.</p> - -<p>All of these things were provoking enough, especially since it was -evident that in almost every case the mischief had been done in the -yards under the very noses of the trainmen, although no tramps had been -seen there. Indeed, the trainmen, after wrestling with such annoyances -for a time, came to be of a temper that made it exceedingly dangerous -for a tramp to be found anywhere near railroad property. Yet the -annoyances went on, and became gradually of a more serious nature. One -night a brakeman found the main switch at the east end of the yards -spiked, and it was only by a hair’s breadth that a serious collision was -avoided. But the climax came one morning when Bill Morrison, on the -crack engine of the road, found that some one had put sand in his boxes, -and that the journals were ground off and ruined.</p> - -<p>A rigid investigation was ordered at once, but no clue to the -perpetrator of the mischief was discovered. Yet it seemed certain that -it could not have been done by a tramp. No tramp had been in the -yards—the yard-men were sure of that—and the officials were forced to -the unwelcome conclusion that some one whom they did not suspect—some -one who was permitted to enter the yards—some one connected with the -road, perhaps—was guilty. It was a disquieting thought, for there was no -telling what might happen next.</p> - -<p>And then, one morning, Allan solved the mystery. It was a little after -four o’clock and still quite dark as he passed through the yards to -start on his morning walk. A freight-train stood ready to start east, -with its great mogul of an engine puffing and blowing with impatience. -Just as Allan passed it, he saw a figure emerge from underneath it. He -thought at first it was the engineer, but, instead of mounting to the -cab, the figure slunk away into the darkness, carefully avoiding the -glare of the headlight. Then the boy saw the conductor and engineer -standing, with heads together, a little distance away, reading their -orders by the light of the conductor’s lantern. He ran toward them.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Spurling,” he said to the engineer, “I just saw a man come out from -under your engine.”</p> - -<p>“You did!” and engineer and conductor, with compressed lips, hurried -back to where the engine stood. The former flashed his torch underneath, -and then straightened up with a very grim face.</p> - -<p>“Look at that link-motion,” he said, and the conductor stooped and -looked. Then he, too, straightened up.</p> - -<p>“It’s a good thing we didn’t get started,” he said. “I’ll go and report -it. It’s lucky for us you saw that scoundrel, my boy,” he added, as he -hurried away, and the engineer clapped Allan on the shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Mighty lucky,” he said. “It’s a good thing there’s one man around here -who keeps his eyes open.”</p> - -<p>But Allan, as he started away at last upon his six-mile tramp, knew not -whether to be glad or sorry. If only some one else had passed the engine -at that moment instead of him. For, as that crouching figure slunk away -through the darkness, he had recognized it!</p> - -<p>So he had a battle to fight on that six-mile tramp; but it was fought -and won long before the walk was ended. And when, at last, he got back -to the yards, instead of turning away toward home, he mounted the stairs -to the train-master’s office. That official was busy, as always, with a -great pile of correspondence, but he looked up and nodded pleasantly as -Allan entered.</p> - -<p>“Good morning, West,” he said. “Want to speak to me?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Mr. Schofield,” answered Allan. “This morning, as I was starting -out on my trick, I saw a man come out from under Mr. Spurling’s engine.”</p> - -<p>The train-master nodded.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, “I’ve got a report of it here. I’m mighty glad you -happened to come along just when you did, and had your eyes about you.”</p> - -<p>“I’d much rather it had been somebody else,” said Allan, “for I knew the -man, and I think it’s my duty to tell you.”</p> - -<p>The train-master looked at him keenly.</p> - -<p>“You knew him?” he repeated. “Better and better. No doubt he’s the one -who’s been giving us all this trouble. Who was he?”</p> - -<p>Allan gulped down a lump which had arisen suddenly in his throat.</p> - -<p>“Reddy Magraw,” he answered, hoarsely.</p> - -<p>“Reddy Magraw!” echoed the train-master, with a stare of astonishment. -“Are you sure?”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t say so if I wasn’t sure, sir,” answered Allan, with a little -flush of resentment. “I couldn’t be mistaken.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” agreed the train-master, kindly. “But I didn’t think Reddy -would do anything like that.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe he would have done it, sir,” said Allan, “if Dan Nolan -hadn’t got hold of him,” and he told of the conference he and Jack had -witnessed on the river-bank. “I believe Dan put all this meanness into -his head,” he concluded. “I’m sure it’s with Dan he stays all the time -he’s away from home.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Schofield nodded again.</p> - -<p>“No doubt you are right,” he assented. “Perhaps we ought to have -suspected him before. Of course, the boys never thought of watching him, -and so let him stay around the yards as much as he wanted to. But we’ll -have to protect ourselves. This sort of thing can’t go on.”</p> - -<p>“You mean Reddy will have to be arrested?” questioned Allan, with -sinking heart.</p> - -<p>“No,” and the train-master smiled at his anxious face. “I’ll file an -affidavit of lunacy against Reddy before the probate judge, and we’ll -have him sent to the asylum at Athens. He’ll be well taken care of -there, and maybe will get well again much sooner than he would at home. -He’s not getting any better here, that’s certain; and he’s caused us a -lot of trouble. Besides, he’s only a burden to his wife.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, she never thinks of that,” said Allan, quickly. “It’s his staying -away that hurts her.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” agreed Mr. Schofield, “I know. I’ve talked with her. She’s like -all the rest of these big-hearted Irish women,—ready to work herself to -death for the people she loves. Though,” he added, “that’s a -characteristic of nearly all women.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXV' title='XV: A SHOT FROM BEHIND'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XV.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>A SHOT FROM BEHIND</span> -</h2> - -<p>Mr. Schofield filed his affidavit before the probate judge without -delay, but, when the officer of the court went to look for Reddy, he was -nowhere to be found. From his wife it was learned that he had not been -home for two days, nor was he to be discovered in any of his accustomed -haunts around the yards or in the shops, and the quest for him was -finally given up in despair. Allan concluded that Reddy had recognized -him that morning, as he came out from under the engine which he had -tampered with, and knew that he was found out at last; but, whether this -was the case, or whether he had got wind of the proceedings against him -in some other way, certain it is that Reddy disappeared from Wadsworth, -and nothing more was seen of him there for many days.</p> - -<p>Word was quietly passed around among the trainmen to be on the watch for -him, as he was probably the one who had recently caused the road so much -annoyance; and this came to be pretty well proved in time, for, with -Reddy’s disappearance, the annoyances ceased, in so far, at least, as -they originated in the yards at Wadsworth. Out on the line, indeed, they -still continued,—switches were spiked, fish-plates were loosened,—and -then, of a sudden, even these ceased, and everything ran as smoothly as -in the old days. But this very quiet alarmed the chief of detectives -more than anything else had done, for he believed it was the calm -preceding a storm, and he redoubled his precautions. Some of the -officers were rather inclined to laugh at his fears, but not the -superintendent.</p> - -<p>“You are right, Preston,” he said to the chief. “There’s something in -the wind. We’ll look sharp till after the pay-car gets here, anyway. -After that, if nothing happens, we can let up a bit.”</p> - -<p>“When will the pay-car get here?” questioned Preston.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know yet; probably the night of the twenty-fourth.”</p> - -<p>“You’d better order a double guard with it, sir,” suggested the -detective.</p> - -<p>“I will,” assented the superintendent. “More than that, Mr. Schofield -and I will accompany it. If there’s any excitement, we want to be there -to see it.”</p> - -<p>The detective nodded and went away, while the superintendent turned back -to his desk. It had occurred to him some days before that an attempt to -hold up the pay-car might be the culminating point of the series of -outrages under which the road was suffering, and the more he had thought -of it the more likely it appeared. The pay-car would be a rich prize, -and any gang of men who could get away with its contents would be placed -beyond the need of working, begging, or stealing for a long time to -come. The pay-car, which always started from general headquarters at -Cincinnati, went over the road, from one end to the other, every month, -carrying with it the money with which the employés of the road were -paid. To Wadsworth alone it brought monthly nearly two hundred thousand -dollars, for Wadsworth was division headquarters. Nearly all the -trainmen employed on the division lived there, and besides, there were -the hundreds of men who laboured in the division shops. Yes, the pay-car -would be a rich prize, and, as the money it carried was all in small -denominations, it would be impossible to trace it, once the robbers got -safely away with it.</p> - -<p>Let it be said in passing that on most roads the pay-car is now a thing -of the past. Payment is now usually made by checks, which are sent out -in registered packages from general headquarters, and distributed by the -division officials. This method is safe and eminently satisfactory to -the road, but some of the employés object occasionally because of the -difficulty they sometimes experience in getting their checks cashed -immediately.</p> - -<p>The road had never suffered any attack upon its pay-car, primarily, no -doubt, because it was well-known that there were always half a dozen -well-armed men with it, who would not hesitate to use their weapons. In -fact, every man, as he stood at the little grated cashier’s window, -waiting for his money, could see the row of rifles in the rack against -the wall and the brace of pistols lying upon the desk, ready to the -cashier’s hand. Besides, even if the car were broken into and the money -secured, the difficulty of getting away safely with the booty was -enormous. The road, for the most part, ran through a thickly settled -country, and the moment the alarm was given, posses could be set in -motion and the wires set humming in every direction, in the effort to -run the robbers down. So, with whatever hungry greed would-be highwaymen -had eyed the piles of bills and gold visible through the little grated -window, none of them had ever dared to make a forcible attempt to gain -possession of them.</p> - -<p>Perhaps no one would dare attempt it now, thought the superintendent; -perhaps he had been merely alarming himself without cause. At least, the -most effective defensive measure would be to keep secret the hour of the -pay-car’s arrival. If no one knew exactly when to look for it, no -attempt could be made to hold it up. Such an attempt, at the best, would -be foolhardy, and the superintendent turned back to his work with a -little sigh of relief at the thought. In a few moments, immersed in the -pile of correspondence before him, he had quite forgotten his -uneasiness.</p> - -<p>Certainly, as day after day went smoothly by, there seemed less and less -cause for apprehension. The tramps were evidently making southward, like -the birds, before the approach of winter. And nothing more was seen of -Dan Nolan. A watch had been kept upon the hut on the hillside, but he -had not returned there, so the hut was finally demolished and the tunnel -in the cliff closed up. Every effort had been made to discover his -whereabouts, but in vain. The detectives of the road declared that he -was nowhere in the neighbourhood; but Jack Welsh was, as always, -skeptical.</p> - -<p>Just east of Wadsworth, beyond the river, the country rose into a series -of hills, sparsely settled and for the most part covered by virgin -forest. These hills extended for many miles to the eastward, and among -them, Jack told himself, Nolan could easily find a secure hiding-place -for himself and half a dozen men.</p> - -<p>“An’ that’s jest where he is,” said Jack to Allan one evening, when they -were talking the matter over. “That’s jest what Nolan’d love t’ do—put -hisself at th’ head of a gang o’ bandits. He was allers talkin’ about -highwaymen an’ train-robbers an’ desperadoes when he was on th’ gang; -but we only laughed at him then. Now, I see it would have been a good -thing if I’d ’a’ taken a stout stick an’ beat that foolishness out o’ -him.”</p> - -<p>“But Reddy,” said Allan; “where’s Reddy?”</p> - -<p>“Reddy’s with him,” answered Jack, decidedly. “An’ there’s no tellin’ -what scrape that reptile’ll git him into. I dare say, Reddy thinks -Nolan’s his best friend. That’d be natural enough, since he’s got to -thinkin’ that all his old friends are his worst enemies.”</p> - -<p>“If we could only find him!” said Allan, wistfully “and bring him home -again. The poor fellow will never get well if he’s left to wander about -like that.”</p> - -<p>But there seemed no way of finding him. Allan was the last person who -had seen him. That was at the moment, in the early morning, when he had -slunk away from under the engine. Some warning of the search for him -must certainly have reached him, for he had never again appeared at -home. His wife, nearly heart-broken by the suspense, imagining him -suffering all sorts of hardships, yet went about her work with a calm -persistence which concealed in some degree the tumult which raged within -her. The children must be fed and cared for, and she permitted nothing -to stand between her and that duty. The division offices had never been -so clean as they were since Mrs. Magraw had taken charge of them.</p> - -<p>A day or two later, Allan fancied he saw something which proved the -truth of Jack’s theory. It was one morning as he was returning from his -regular trip that he reached the embankment along the river and glanced -over at the willows on the farther side, as he always did when he passed -the place, for it was there that he and Jack had first seen Reddy in -Nolan’s company. His heart gave a leap as he saw two men there. He -stopped and looked at them, but the early morning mist rising from the -river hid them so that he could discern nothing beyond the mere outline -of their forms. He stared long and earnestly, until they passed behind -the clump of willows and disappeared from sight. Something told him that -it was Reddy and Nolan again, but he could not be sure, and at last he -went slowly on his way. Perhaps they had a place of concealment -somewhere in the woods that stretched eastward from the river-bank.</p> - -<p>He mentioned his suspicion to Jack, as soon as he reached home, and the -latter was all on fire in a minute.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” he said. “Next Sunday we’ll take a walk -through th’ woods over there, an’ it’s jest possible we’ll run on to -’em. Mebbe we kin save Reddy from that rascal yet!”</p> - -<p>So, bright and early the next Sunday morning, they started out, taking -with them a lunch, for they did not expect to return until evening. They -crossed the river by the bridge which they had used on the night when -they had tried to capture Nolan, and struck at once into the woods.</p> - -<p>“It’s like huntin’ a needle in a haystack,” said Jack, “but my idea is -that they’ve got a hut somewheres back in th’ hollers behind this first -range o’ hills. They’s mighty few houses back there,—nothin’ but woods. -So mebbe we’ll run on to ’em, if we have good luck.”</p> - -<p>They scrambled up the first low range of hills which looked down upon -the broad river, and paused for a moment on the summit for a look about -them. Beyond the river lay the level valley which, twelve decades -before, had been one of the favourite dwelling-places of the red man. -The woods abounded with game of every sort, and the river with fish, -while in the fertile bottom his corn would grow to ripe luxuriance with -little cultivation. More than one fierce battle for the possession of -this smiling valley had been fought with the hardy bands of pioneers, -who had pushed their way up from the Ohio, but at last the advancing -tide of civilization swept the Indian aside, and the modern town of -Wadsworth began to rise where formerly there had been no building more -substantial than the hide wigwam.</p> - -<p>Jack and Allan could see the town nestling among its trees in the wide -valley, but, when they turned about, a different view met them. To the -eastward were no plains, no bottoms, no city, but, far as the eye could -see, one hill rose behind another, all of them heavily wooded to the -very summit, so steep and with a soil so gravelly that no one had ever -attempted to cultivate them. Nor did any one dwell among them, save a -few poverty-stricken families, who lived in summer by picking -blackberries and in winter by digging sassafras-root,—a class of people -so shiftless and mean and dirty that no respectable farmer would permit -them on his place.</p> - -<p>It was the rude cabin of one of these families which Jack and Allan saw -in the valley before them, and they determined to descend to it and make -inquiries. There was a rough path leading downwards through the woods, -and this they followed until they came to the edge of the little -clearing which surrounded the house. They went forward to the door and -knocked, but there was no response, and, after a moment, Jack pushed the -door open cautiously and looked inside. As he did so, a shot rang out -behind him, and Allan felt a sudden sting of pain across his cheek as a -bullet sang past and embedded itself in the jamb of the door.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” cried Jack, springing around, and then he saw Allan -wiping the blood from his cheek. “What is it, lad?” he asked, his face -paling. “You’re not hurted?”</p> - -<p>“Only a scratch,” said Allan, smiling. “Just took a little of the skin -off.”</p> - -<p>“Come in here an’ we’ll look at it,” and Jack half-dragged him through -the open door, which he closed and barred. “That’ll keep th’ varmint -from takin’ another shot at us,” he said. “Now let’s see the cheek.”</p> - -<p>But not even Jack’s anxiety could make of the wound more than a scratch. -The bullet had cut the skin from the left cheek for nearly an inch, and -a little cold water, which Jack found in a bucket in the house, soon -stopped the bleeding.</p> - -<p>“Who could it have been?” asked Allan, at last.</p> - -<p>“Y’ don’t need t’ ask that, I hope,” cried Jack. “It was Dan Nolan!”</p> - -<p>“Well, he didn’t hurt me much,” said Allan, with a laugh. “He doesn’t -seem to have very good luck.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Jack; “but if that bullet had been an inch further to th’ -right, you wouldn’t be a-settin’ laughin’ there,” and a little shudder -ran through him as he thought of it, and he clinched his hands as he -imagined what his vengeance would have been.</p> - -<p>“Do you suppose Nolan lives here?” asked Allan, looking curiously around -the room.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Jack; “they’s one o’ th’ Waymores lives here, but I wouldn’t -be a bit surprised if he was in cahoots with Nolan. These people’re just -as much vagabonds as them that go trampin’ about th’ country.”</p> - -<p>Allan looked again about the squalid room, and turned a little sick at -the thought of living in the midst of such filth and wretchedness.</p> - -<p>“Come, let’s get out of here,” he said. “I want some fresh air. This is -enough to turn one’s stomach.”</p> - -<p>“I tell you,” suggested Jack, “suppose we go out th’ back door there an’ -sneak around th’ edge of th’ clearin’. Mebbe we kin come on Nolan when -he ain’t lookin’—and what I’ll do to him’ll be a plenty!”</p> - -<p>Allan laughed at his ferocity.</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe Nolan would stay around here,” he said. “He didn’t know -but what there were others with us. He probably decamped as soon as he -took that crack at me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it won’t do any harm t’ try,” said Jack, and try they did, but no -trace of Nolan was anywhere to be seen.</p> - -<p>They went on through the woods, eating their lunch beside a limpid -spring which bubbled from beneath a rock in the hillside, and during the -afternoon pushed on along the valley, but met no human beings. If it was -indeed Nolan who fired the shot, he had taken to cover effectually. -Allan began to doubt more and more that it had really been Nolan.</p> - -<p>“It might have been a hunter,” he pointed out to Jack, “who was shooting -at something else, and did not see us at all. Such things happen, you -know.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Jack admitted, “but that wasn’t what happened this time,” and, -when they reached home again, he went straight over to the offices and -related to Mr. Schofield the details of the morning’s adventures. That -official promised to put two detectives on Nolan’s trail at once. They -worked on it for two or three days, but, though they even employed a -bloodhound in the effort to run him down, all their work was quite in -vain. The man to whom the cabin belonged said he had walked over to a -neighbour’s that Sunday and had been away from home all day. He denied -all knowledge of Nolan or Reddy Magraw, And the search ended, as all the -others had done, without finding a trace of either of them.</p> - -<p>So the days passed, and the work on section went on in its unvaried -round. And even from day to day Allan felt himself changing, as his -horizon broadened. He had become a different boy from the diffident -youngster who had asked Jack Welsh for a job that morning a few short -months before. Work had strengthened him and made him a man; he felt -immeasurably older; he had gained self-confidence; he felt that he could -look out for himself in any emergency. He was playing a man’s part in -the world; he was earning an honest living. He had gained friends, and -he began to feel that he had a future before him. He was going to make -the most of every opportunity, for he was ambitious, as every boy ought -to be. He longed to get into the superintendent’s office, where there -would be a chance to learn something about the infinitely difficult work -of operating the road, and where there would be a chance for promotion. -He never spoke of this to Jack, for such a thought seemed almost like -desertion, but he never passed the offices without looking longingly up -at the network of wires and signals. Sometimes, when some duty took him -up-stairs, he could hear the wild chatter of the instruments in the -despatchers’ office, and he determined to try to understand their -language.</p> - -<p>Jack came into the section-shanty one morning with a sheet of paper in -his hand and a broad smile upon his face.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got a Christmas gift fer y’, boys,” he said, and stuck the notice -up on the hook. They all crowded around to read it.</p> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-right:2em; margin-left:2em'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.7em;'>“NOTICE TO SECTION FOREMEN</div> -</div> - -<p>“All patrolling of the tracks will cease on and after December 25th -next. This company deeply appreciates the faithful service its -section-men have given it, and will endeavour to show that appreciation -by increasing the wages of all section-men ten per cent., to go into -effect January 1st.</p> - -<div style='text-align:right'>“A. G. Round,</div> -<div style='text-align:right; font-style:italic'>“Supt. and Gen. Manager.</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><i>“Cincinnati, Ohio, Dec. 18th.”</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>“How’s that, boys?” asked Jack. “That’s a Christmas gift worth havin’, -ain’t it?” and he looked about from face to face, for he knew what that -increase of twelve and a half cents a day meant to these men. It meant -more food for the children, a new dress for the wife,—a little more -luxury and ease in lives which were hard enough at best.</p> - -<hr class='tbk' /> - -<p>The weather had been cool and pleasant, but it changed as Christmas drew -near, and the twenty-fourth was marked by a heavy storm. All the -afternoon the rain fell in torrents, the wind blew a hurricane, -and—something rare for December—the lightning flashed and the thunder -rumbled savagely overhead.</p> - -<p>Work was out of the question, and, after playing awhile with Mamie, and -telling her wonderful stories of Santa Claus and what he was going to -bring her that night, Jack Welsh mounted to his room to get a few hours -of much-needed rest. For his hours of patrol duty were from nine o’clock -to midnight, and this trying extra work was beginning to tell upon him. -With that characteristic unselfishness which endeared him to his men, he -had chosen the worst trick for himself.</p> - -<p>“I’ll be mighty glad when this extry work’s over,” his wife remarked, as -she busied herself with the dishes in the kitchen, “fer all it pays -double. There’s no use fer a man t’ kill hisself jest t’ make a little -extry money. Jack’s purty nigh wore out;—just listen how he snores!”</p> - -<p>Allan looked up at her and laughed from the place on the floor where he -was helping Mamie construct a castle out of painted blocks.</p> - -<p>“We’ll let him sleep as long as we can,” he said; and so it was not till -nearly eight o’clock that Mamie was sent up-stairs to call him. They -heard him get heavily out of bed, and, while he was putting on his -clothes, Mary trimmed the lamp and stirred up the fire, in order that -everything might be bright and warm to welcome him. And Allan, watching -her, felt his eyes grow a little misty as he saw her loving -thoughtfulness.</p> - -<p>“Better hurry up, Jack, dear,” she called. “You haven’t much time t’ -spare.”</p> - -<p>“Comin’, Mary, comin’,” he answered, “as soon as I git this plaguy boot -on.”</p> - -<p>“It’s an awful night,” said his wife, as he came sleepily down the -stair. “Do you have t’ go, Jack? Can’t y’ stay home on Christmas Eve?”</p> - -<p>“No, I have to go, Mary;” and he doused hands and face in a great basin -of rain-water. “It’s th’ last time, y’ know, an’ I ain’t a-goin’ t’ -shirk now. Maybe th’ pay-car’ll come through t’-night. They promised us -our pay this month fer Christmas, y’ know, an’ we want to be sure that -she gits here all right. To-morrow we’ll have a great time, an’ they’ll -be no more patrol duty after that.”</p> - -<p>Mamie danced around the floor, for she had received mysterious hints -from Allan of what was to happen on the morrow, and her father picked -her up and kissed her before he sat down to the supper that was on the -table awaiting him. He drank his coffee and ate his bacon and eggs with -an appetite born of good digestion. Then he donned his great boots and -rubber coat.</p> - -<p>“Now, don’t y’ worry, Mary,” he said, drawing his wife to him. “There -won’t a drop of rain git to me in this rig. Good-bye, Mamie,” and he -picked up the child and kissed her again. “Take good care of ’em, -Allan.”</p> - -<p>He rammed his wide leather hat down farther upon his head, made sure -that his lantern was burning properly, took up the heavy club he always -carried, and opened the door.</p> - -<p>“Good-bye,” he called back, and in a moment had disappeared in the -darkness.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXVI' title='XVI: A CALL TO DUTY'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XVI.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>A CALL TO DUTY</span> -</h2> - -<p>Allan sat down by the table and picked up a book on telegraphy which he -had secured from the public library of Wadsworth, and which he was -studying faithfully in such odd hours as he had to himself,—without much -result, be it said, since he had no instrument to practise on,—while -Mrs. Welsh put the excited Mamie to bed, warning her to go to sleep at -once, lest she frighten Santa Claus away, and then went slowly about the -task of clearing up the supper dishes and putting the house in order for -the morrow.</p> - -<p>“An’ we’ll hev t’ set up th’ Christmas tree to-night,” she remarked. -“It’ll hev t’ be ready when Mamie wakes up in th’ mornin’, an’ she’ll -wake mighty early.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Allan; “as soon as you’re ready, tell me.”</p> - -<p>That morning, on his way in from his trip, he had stopped to cut a -little evergreen in a grove near the track, and this had been safely -deposited in the cellar, out of the reach of Mamie’s curious eyes. Long -strings of snow-white pop-corn had been threaded, streamers of -bright-coloured tissue-paper prepared, little red and blue candles -bought; all of which, together with the presents and parti-coloured -candies, would make the tree in Mamie’s eyes a veritable fairy picture. -It was her first Christmas tree, and it was to be a splendid one!</p> - -<p>“Now I’m ready, Allan,” said Mrs. Welsh, at last; and Allan laid aside -his book and brought up the tree from the cellar, while Mrs. Welsh -unlocked the closet where the ornaments and gifts had been carefully -hidden. “We’ll set it up in that corner by th’ winder,” she continued; -“then th’ people that goes by outside kin see it, too.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad I’m going to be here when Mamie first sees it,” said Allan, as -he nailed some cross-pieces on the bottom of the tree to hold it -upright. “I’d be out on my trick if it hadn’t been for that order.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, an’ I’m glad, too,” agreed Mrs. Welsh. “That patrol work was hard -on all o’ you. But this trip o’ Jack’s t’-night’ll be th’ last that any -o’ th’ gang on Twenty-one has t’ make. I only wish th’ patrollin’ had -ended to-day instead o’ to-morrer, then Jack’d be here with us now -instead of out in that howlin’ storm.”</p> - -<p>They listened a moment to the wind whistling about the house, and to the -rain lashing savagely against the windows.</p> - -<p>“It is a bad night,” said Allan, “but Jack won’t mind it. He’ll be -thinking of the good time he’s going to have to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m glad it’s th’ last time, anyway,—fer your sake, too, Allan. -Jack an’ me used t’ worrit ourselves nearly sick when you’d start out -alone that way. We never knowed what’d happen.”</p> - -<p>“And nothing ever happened, after all!” laughed Allan. “I believe that -Dan Nolan has forgotten all about me long before this.”</p> - -<p>Mary shook her head doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” she said. “But anyway it won’t matter now, for you’ll -allers be with th’ gang after this, an’ Nolan won’t dare show his nose -around where they are. Jack’s just achin’ t’ lay hands on him.”</p> - -<p>“There,” said Allan, as he drove the last nail, “that’s solid, I think,” -and he set the tree up in the corner. “Now, what next?”</p> - -<p>“All these things has got t’ have little ribbons tied to ’em,” said Mrs. -Welsh, who had been getting out the candy, fruits, and presents. “But I -kin do that. You set down an’ read your book.”</p> - -<p>“Indeed I won’t!” protested the boy. “I want to feel that I’ve had -something to do with this tree,” and he drew a chair up to the table.</p> - -<p>“Somethin’ t’ do with it!” retorted Mary. “You’ve had everything t’ do -with it, I’m a-thinkin’. It’s your Christmas tree, Allan, an’ mighty -nice of you to think of it, my boy.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I wanted Mamie to have one,” he protested; “especially when it was -so little trouble to get. Now it’s ready for the pop-corn.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Welsh began to drape the white festoons about the tree. Suddenly -she paused and looked up with startled eyes.</p> - -<p>“What was that?” she asked.</p> - -<p>Allan listened with strained attention, but heard only the dashing of -the rain and whistling of the wind.</p> - -<p>“It sounded like the trampin’ of men,” she said, after a moment. -“Perhaps it wasn’t anything. Yes! There it is ag’in!”</p> - -<p>She sprang to the door and threw it open with frenzied haste. Up the -path she saw dimly four men advancing, staggering under a burden. Her -love told her what the burden was.</p> - -<p>“It’s Jack!” she screamed. “It’s Jack! My God! They’ve killed him!” and, -forgetting the storm, she sprang down the path toward them.</p> - -<p>“Is he dead?” she demanded. “Tell me quick—is he dead?”</p> - -<p>It was Jack’s hearty voice that answered her.</p> - -<p>“Not by a good deal, Mary! It’ll take more’n a twisted ankle t’ kill -Jack Welsh!”</p> - -<p>She threw her arms about him, sobbing wildly in her great relief, the -men standing by, awkwardly supporting him.</p> - -<p>“But there! Here I am keepin’ you out in th’ wet! Bring him in, men,” -and she ran on before, radiant with happiness. This misfortune was so -much less than she had feared, that it seemed almost not to be a -misfortune at all. “It’s only a sprained ankle, Allan,” she cried to the -boy, and ran on past him to get a chair ready.</p> - -<p>The men settled the foreman down into the chair cautiously.</p> - -<p>“Shall I git th’ doctor?” asked one.</p> - -<p>Jack laughed.</p> - -<p>“Th’ doctor, indade!” he said. “Mary’ll fix this all right in no time. -It ain’t bad. But I’m much obliged to ye, boys.”</p> - -<p>The men took themselves back to work, happier, somehow, for having -witnessed the little scene on the pathway.</p> - -<p>But when the boot was cut away from the swollen ankle, it was evident -that its owner would not go about on it again for many days to come. It -was bathed and rubbed with liniment and tightly bandaged by the wife’s -deft fingers, and the pain gradually grew less.</p> - -<p>“I slipped on a rail, y’ see,” explained Jack, when the injured member -had been properly cared for.</p> - -<p>“My foot went down into a frog, an’ then I had t’ fall over and wrench -it. I’m sorry it give y’ such a turn, Mary; I ought t’ have sent a man -on ahead t’ warn you.”</p> - -<p>Mary smiled down on him indulgently.</p> - -<p>“’Twas better this way, Jack, dear,” she said. “I’m so happy now t’ have -y’ alive here talkin’ t’ me that it hardly seems you’ve met with an -accident at all! See, we was jest gittin’ th’ Christmas tree ready; now -you kin set there, with your foot up on a chair like this and boss th’ -job. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good; and I’m glad fer your own -sake. Now you won’t have to go out in th’ storm.”</p> - -<p>But, at the words, the foreman’s face suddenly changed.</p> - -<p>“Good heavens!” he cried. “I fergot! Th’ track has t’ be patrolled. -Somebody has t’ go,” and he raised himself in his chair, but fell back -with a groan. “No use,” he muttered, between his clenched teeth. -“To-night, too, when th’ pay-car’ll most probably come through! Allan, -you’ll have t’ run over t’ th’ train-master, an’ git him t’ send -somebody else.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Schofield went to Cincinnati this morning, I think,” answered -Allan. “I saw him getting on the train as I came in from the road.”</p> - -<p>“O’ course!” cried Jack, fiercely. “He’s gone down t’ come back with th’ -pay-car. Well, hunt up th’ chief despatcher, then; somebody’s got t’ -patrol that track.”</p> - -<p>Without a word, Allan donned the foreman’s rubber coat and great hat. -Then he picked up the heavy club and the red signal-lantern, which was -standing, still lighted, on the table, where one of the men had placed -it.</p> - -<p>“What y’ goin’ t’ do with that?” demanded Jack, eying the boy uneasily. -“Y’ don’t need that to go to th’ depot with.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Allan, smiling, “but you see, I’m not going to the depot. I’m -going to take your trick.”</p> - -<p>“No, you ain’t!” cried the other, fiercely.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I am. There’s nobody else to be got at this time of night; -besides, you said yourself there’s no danger.”</p> - -<p>Jack looked at him a moment doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t think there is,” he said at last. “But it’s a bad night.”</p> - -<p>“Pooh!” and Allan whirled his club disdainfully. “Not a drop of water -can get to me in this rig,” he added, echoing Jack’s words.</p> - -<p>“Anyway,” said the latter, hesitatingly, “y’ll be back in three hours, -an’ you kin sleep late in the mornin’. I don’t see no other way,” he -added, with a sigh.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Allan; “good-bye,” and went to the door.</p> - -<p>But Mrs. Welsh ran after him, threw her arms about his neck and kissed -him.</p> - -<p>“You’re a good boy, Allan,” she cried, half-sobbing. “I’ll have a good -hot meal fer you when y’ git back.”</p> - -<p>Allan laughed.</p> - -<p>“I’ll be ready for it. Be sure to make a good job of that Christmas -tree! Good-bye,” and he opened the door and strode out into the night.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXVII' title='XVII: A NIGHT OF DANGER'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XVII.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>A NIGHT OF DANGER</span> -</h2> - -<p>But the storm was not to be dismissed so lightly as Allan had dismissed -it. Among the houses of the town he was sheltered somewhat, but, as he -strode on westward, out into the open country, it seemed to rage with -redoubled violence. The wind swept across the embankment along the river -with a fury which threatened to blow him away. He bent low before it, -and, swinging his lantern from right to left in unison with his steps, -fought his way slowly onward, his eyes on the track. Away down at his -right he could hear the river raging, and from instant to instant the -lightning disclosed to him glimpses of the storm-tossed water. Once he -saw a ball of fire roll down the track far ahead and finally leap off, -shattering into a thousand fragments.</p> - -<p>The thunder crashed incessantly, and overhead he could see great black -clouds rolling across the sky. The rain fell in torrents, and, driven -before the wind, dashed into his face with a violence which stung and -blinded him whenever he raised his head. From time to time, he was -forced to face about, his back to the wind, and gasp for breath. Once a -gust of extra violence drove him to his knees, but he struggled up again -and on. He knew that he was not the only one who was facing the tempest; -he knew that up and down two hundred miles of track others were fighting -the same fight. They had left warm homes, just as he had done, where -preparations for Christmas were going on; they had not held back from -the call of duty, nor would he.</p> - -<p>He shut his teeth tight together and staggered on. A vision flashed -before him of the bright room he had just left; he could see Jack -sitting in his chair, and Mary putting the last touches to the Christmas -tree. He knew that they were talking of him, planning for him, and a -sudden wave of tenderness swept over him at the thought of how these -people had taken him into their hearts and given him another home in -place of the one he had lost. The new one, of course, could never quite -take the place of the old one; and yet he was no longer the friendless, -hungry, lonely boy who had approached Jack Welsh so timidly that morning -and asked for work. He had friends to whom he could look for sympathy -and encouragement; there were hearts which loved him; he had a place in -the world and was doing useful work; and he hoped in time to prove -himself worthy of a higher place and competent to fill it. To-morrow -would be a happy Christmas!</p> - -<p>So, as he fought his way on, it was with no despondent heart, but with a -bright and hopeful one, that cared nothing for the discomfort of the -storm. He was happy and at peace within, and no mere external tempest -could disturb him!</p> - -<p>A little grove on either side the track, its trees roaring in the -tempest, gave him a moment’s shelter. Then he pushed on to the two iron -bridges which spanned the canal and the highroad just beyond it. These -he looked over carefully by the light of his lantern, and assured -himself that they were all right. Beyond the bridges was the long grade -which led to the deep cut through the spur of hill which stretched -across the track, and here the wind was howling with a fury that -threatened to sweep him off his feet. But he fought his way on doggedly, -step by step, head lowered, eyes on the track, lantern swinging from -side to side.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly the wind ceased, though he could still hear it roaring far -overhead, and he looked up to see that he had gained the cover of the -cut. He stopped for breath, rejoicing that the hardest part of his task -was over. Beyond the cut was a sharp curve, the road was carried on a -high trestle over a deep ravine, and then onward along the top of an -embankment,—a “fill,” in railroad parlance,—and this embankment marked -the western limit of his trick. On his journey home, he would have the -wind at his back and could get along easily and rapidly.</p> - -<p>Cheered by this thought, he walked on through the cut, but, as he turned -the corner at the farther side, the wind struck him again with terrific -force. He staggered back for an instant against the rock, when there -came a great flash of lightning that silhouetted before him every -feature of the landscape. Yet, as the lightning died, there remained -photographed on his brain only one detail of the picture,—before him -stretched the trestle, and in the middle of it four men were working -with feverish energy tearing up a rail!</p> - -<p>He leaned back against the rock, dazed at the sight, not understanding -for a moment what it meant. Then in a flash its meaning dawned upon -him—they were preparing to wreck a train. But what train? It must be -nearly eleven o’clock—no train was due for an hour or more—yes, there -was—the pay-car, hurrying from Cincinnati with the Christmas money for -the men. It was the pay-car they were after. But the pay-car was always -crowded with armed men—men armed not merely with revolvers, but with -Winchester repeaters. Yet, let the car crash over that trestle fifty -feet upon the rocks below, and how many of its occupants would be living -to defend themselves?</p> - -<p>Allan sank back among the rocks trembling, realizing that in some way he -must save the train. His first act was to open his lantern and -extinguish it, lest it betray him. Then he tried quickly to think out a -plan of action. He must get across the trestle in order to flag the -train—but how could he get across it? And of a sudden his heart stood -still as two vague forms loomed up before him. They stopped for a moment -in the shelter of the wall.</p> - -<p>“It was just about here,” said a rough voice he seemed to recognize. “I -caught a glint of a red light an’ then it went out. I was watchin’ fer -the track-walker, y’ know, an’ I was sure that was him.”</p> - -<p>“Flash o’ lightnin’, most likely,” came in a hoarse undertone from -another.</p> - -<p>Allan heard the newcomers grope about, as he cowered close to the rock, -his heart beating fiercely as he expected each moment to feel a hand -upon him.</p> - -<p>“Y’ see they ain’t nobody here,” said the first speaker, at last.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” assented the other, uncertainly. “But he’s about due, if he’s -comin’.”</p> - -<p>“I dunno,” protested the other. “Y’d better not bank on that.”</p> - -<p>“I ain’t a-bankin’ on it!” retorted his companion, impatiently. “You’re -goin’ t’ keep a lookout, ain’t you? Now I’ll go on back an’ you stay -right here. You kin see a long stretch down th’ track from here, so they -can’t surprise us. If they’s more’n one, warn us,—maybe they’ve put on a -double guard t’-night,—but, if they’s only one, wait here behind this -rock, an’ when he comes past, do fer him—’specially if it’s Welsh ’r th’ -kid. It’s about time we was gittin’ even!”</p> - -<p>Allan’s heart leaped. He knew the voice now—there was no mistaking—it -was Nolan’s!</p> - -<p>Nolan started back toward the trestle through the storm and was lost to -sight instantly, while the sentry sat down upon a rock to watch the -track, whistling to himself, as though train-wrecking were the most -ordinary thing in the world. But Allan was thinking only of one thing—he -must get past that man on the rock, he must cross the ravine, he must -flag the train.</p> - -<p>That was his duty lying clear before him. Danger? Yes,—but which of his -comrades would stop to think of that? Yet he must be careful,—not for -his own sake, but for the sake of those who were speeding toward this -peril. He must run no risk of failure, for their lives depended upon -him—upon his coolness, his foresight, his quickness. And whatever he did -must be done at once. He gripped his hands together to still their -trembling. Come,—this was no time for weakness. He must prove himself a -man! He must prove himself worthy the service of the road!</p> - -<p>He could not climb the well-nigh perpendicular side of the cut; to go -back and work his way over the hill would require too much time—and -there was not a moment to be lost. The only thing to do, then, was to go -forward. He drew a deep breath; then he tucked his lantern snugly under -his left arm, grasped his club firmly, and moved forward cautiously, -hugging the side of the cut, his eyes on the sentry.</p> - -<p>Once he stumbled heavily over some obstruction, but the storm covered -the noise, and the sentry made no sign that he had heard, but sat -twirling a heavy stick and looking down the track. Hope began to revive -in the boy’s breast; perhaps he might be able to steal past unseen. -Lower and lower he crouched; slow and more slowly he moved; he was -almost past—almost past—</p> - -<p>Then, of a sudden, a broad flash of lightning flared down into the cut -and revealed them to each other.</p> - -<p>“Reddy!” cried the boy. “Reddy!”</p> - -<p>The sentry sprang toward him with uplifted club, his face distorted with -rage.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you know me, Reddy?” cried Allan, springing back to avoid the -blow.</p> - -<p>“Sure Oi knows y’!” shouted the madman, savagely, coming on. “An’ Oi’m -a-goin’ t’ do fer y’, like Dan told me to. He told me y’re all in th’ -plot ag’in me!”</p> - -<p>“It’s a lie, Reddy!” protested Allan, violently. “It’s a lie!”</p> - -<p>Reddy paused for an instant.</p> - -<p>“A loi, is it?” he repeated. “Wasn’t it you as told on me fer breakin’ -that link motion?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” admitted the boy; “but—”</p> - -<div id='f246' style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:10.0%; width:80%;'> - <img src='images/facing246.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -<p class='caption'>“HE STEPPED TO ONE SIDE, AND ... BROUGHT DOWN HIS CLUB UPON THE OTHER’S HEAD”</p> -</div> - -<p>Reddy waited to hear no more.</p> - -<p>“Oi knowed it!” he yelled. “Oi knowed it! Oi’ll show you! Oi’ll show -you, y’ dirty spy! Don’t try t’ run—it’s no use!”</p> - -<p>And he came charging down upon Allan, his club swinging savagely.</p> - -<p>But Allan was thinking not in the least of running. Instead, he stood -his ground, his teeth clenched, his eyes alert, his club ready. He was -not in the least excited; now, indeed, he found an instant in which to -wonder at his calmness. Then Reddy was upon him and struck at him -savagely. He stepped to one side, and, putting all his force into the -blow,—oh, how he hated to do it!—brought down his club upon the other’s -head.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXVIII' title='XVIII: THE SIGNAL IN THE NIGHT'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XVIII.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>THE SIGNAL IN THE NIGHT</span> -</h2> - -<p>That blow had all the weight of Allan’s muscular young body behind it, -for he had realized that this was no moment to hold his hand, however he -might wish to do so, and Reddy tumbled in a limp heap upon the track.</p> - -<p>The tears were gushing from the boy’s eyes as he bent over the body and -drew it to one side to the shelter of the rock. That he should have -struck Reddy—perhaps even killed him! But he could not linger; with a -last glance at the prostrate figure, he turned back to the task before -him.</p> - -<p>Plainly he could not hope to cross the trestle with half a dozen men -working on it—to try to do so would mean certain failure. Yet he must -cross the ravine,—there was only one other way, and that not an easy -one.</p> - -<p>He threw off Jack’s waterproof, which would only impede him now that he -needed the utmost freedom of movement, and, holding his lantern tight, -he jumped from the track and half-scrambled, half-fell down the steep -descent below him, disregarding mud and brambles, torn clothes, and -bruises, thinking only of one thing—that he must reach the other side -and save the train. In a moment he was at the bottom, bruised and -breathless, but luckily with no bones broken. Then for an instant he -paused. Through the bottom of the ravine ran a stream, usually a gentle, -shallow brook, but now swollen to an angry torrent by the pouring rain. -There was no time for hesitation—no time to seek a better place—indeed, -that was impossible in the darkness—and, holding his lantern high above -his head, the boy dashed into the water.</p> - -<p>For a moment it seemed that he must be swept away, so fierce was the -rush of the torrent; but he got his feet, braced himself against it, and -inch by inch fought his way across. The water tore at him and raged -around him, hissing and sputtering, determined that he should not -escape. Well for him that he had had those months of work on section, -which had strengthened muscle and steadied nerve—which had taught him -how to fight!</p> - -<p>So, at last, he won through to the farther bank, breathless, exhausted, -triumphant. And here a new difficulty met him. He had shut himself into -a trap from which there seemed no escaping. Again and again he tried to -climb the steep side of the ravine, but as many times slipped down to -the bottom, bringing with him an avalanche of earth and loose stones.</p> - -<p>Dry sobs rose in his throat and choked him as he lay for a moment -against the bank, weak and trembling. Was he to be defeated here, with -the end almost in sight? Was he to fail, after all? Must he stay here to -witness the train take that awful plunge from the trestle down into the -torrent beneath? He looked up with a shudder. High above him, he could -see the trestle dimly outlined against the sky, and he knew that the -work of tearing up the rail must be almost done.</p> - -<p>He shook the weakness from him—he must be a man!—and he shut his eyes as -he tried to picture to himself how the place looked by daylight. He had -crossed the trestle a hundred times and gazed down into the ravine, -admiring its rugged beauty. For centuries that little stream, which -started in a spring high up on the hillside, had been labouring -patiently digging this channel for itself, eating its way through earth -and rock and slate, fashioning for itself a little narrow valley, just -as the great streams make for themselves broad and fertile ones. It had -eaten its way down and down, leaving on either side, extending to a -height of nearly a hundred feet, rocky and precipitous banks. Allan -remembered how in summer those banks were clothed in green; how he had -looked down at them from the trestle. One day he had descried a -brilliant patch of wild flowers near the bottom, where they had grown -and spread, safe from man’s intrusion. He had never thought how much -would one day depend upon his knowledge of the place, or he would have -examined the banks more closely.</p> - -<p>Something swished through the air above him, and fell with a mighty -splash into the torrent—it was the rail—it had been torn loose—the -wreckers’ work was done. Now, they had only to wait until the train came -dashing past! Perhaps even at this moment it was nearing the destruction -which threatened it! The boy shuddered at the thought, and made another -vain and desperate effort to scramble up the bank. This time he managed -to get hold of a little bush high above his head, but, as he was pulling -himself up, the bush gave way and he fell again to the bottom. He -realized that he could never hope to climb that treacherous bank, that -he must follow the ravine until it grew wider and shallower. Yet how -could he do that and still be in time to save the train? There must be -some way out near at hand! The robbers must have provided some path by -which to get down to the wrecked train and get up again with their -booty. But no doubt the path, if there was one, was on the other side of -the ravine, where it would be of no use to him; very probably there was -no path at all. The robbers had merely to let down a rope to provide a -means of entrance and exit. He would have to go around, and he started -blindly forward down the stream, holding his lantern tight, trembling to -think of the precious moments he had wasted,—of the ones that he must -yet waste before he could gain the track above and warn the engineer of -the peril which lay before him. It was a desperate chance, but it seemed -the only one.</p> - -<p>He groped his way stumblingly along, walking in the edge of the water, -making such progress as he could; slipping, falling full length once or -twice, but rising again and pressing forward. His teeth were chattering, -for the icy water had chilled him to the bone, but he seemed not to be -conscious of the cold; his hands and face were cut and bleeding, -scratched by brambles and by the sharp edges of rocks and slate, but he -did not feel the sting of the wounds. He was thinking only of one -thing—he must get out of this trap—he must flag the train! There must be -some way out! He could not fail now!</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, he remembered. Just below the trestle, a little stream, -rushing down the hillside to join the torrent below, had cut for itself -a miniature ravine in the side of the larger one. He had noticed it one -day not long before—had noticed its rocky bed, which rose steeply to the -fields above, but not so steeply as the sides of the ravine itself. Here -was a way up which he might escape, if he could only find it. It must be -somewhere near,—and he groped his way along, faltering, stumbling,—and -at last he found the cut.</p> - -<p>Yet it was not so easy of ascent as he had thought it would be; for the -water was rushing headlong down it, threatening to sweep him back at -every moment. Still he clambered on, digging knees and elbows into the -mud, holding with desperate strength to the bushes that grew by the way, -using every rock for foothold, up and up, until, at last, wet to the -skin, with clothing torn and body cut, covered with mud, bruised and -aching, but glowing with triumphant excitement, he reached the top.</p> - -<p>He knew the railroad was somewhere to the right, and he stumbled forward -as fast as his trembling legs would carry him. More than once he tripped -and fell heavily over a log or stone, but always he held tight his -precious lantern, not minding his own bruises so that it was safe. And -at last, with a great joy at his heart, he saw, stretching dimly ahead -of him, the high embankment upon which rested the track.</p> - -<p>He sat down for a moment to take breath, then reached into his trousers -pocket and drew out his match-safe. It was a company safe, and -waterproof, for often the fate of a train depended on whether a -watchman’s matches were wet or dry, and for this, at least, the company -had the foresight to provide. Crouching in the shelter of the -embankment, he found a little rock, and, holding it under his coat, -struck a match against it. A gust of wind caught it instantly and blew -it out. With trembling fingers, he struck another match, which sputtered -feebly for a second, flared up and was extinguished; but the third match -burned for a moment, and he applied it quickly to the wick of the -lantern. How the red glare warmed and cheered him as he snapped the -globe back into place! He was in time to save the train!</p> - -<p>Then he sprang to his feet. For away down the track before him came the -sudden glare of a headlight, as the engine swung around a curve, and the -hum of the wheels told that the engineer was speeding through the night, -with throttle wide open, anxious, no doubt, to get safely into the haven -of the yards at Wadsworth.</p> - -<p>Up the bank scrambled the boy and down the track he ran, as fast as his -feet would carry him, swinging his lantern in great circles over his -head. He knew that the engineer must see it; he knew that on such a -night as this his eyes would be turned not an instant from the track.</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, from behind him, there came the sharp crack of a -revolver, and his lantern was smashed to pieces in his hand. He wheeled -to see a flash of flame, as the revolver spoke again; the world reeled -before him, turned black, and a great blow seemed to strike him in the -chest and bear him down.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXIX' title='XIX: REDDY REDIVIVUS'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XIX.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>REDDY REDIVIVUS</span> -</h2> - -<p>Bill Johnson, engineer of the 187, pulling the pay-car, stared out into -the night, his hand on the throttle. The long gleam of the headlight -shot out through the driving rain, and he could see the wet rails -gleaming far ahead. He was making a record run; the superintendent had -given him some hint of his fear for the safety of the pay-car, and he -heaved a sigh of relief as the train swung around a curve and hurtled -down the fill on the straightaway course for Wadsworth. Once in the -yards there, the pay-car would be safe.</p> - -<p>Then, with a quick gasp, he closed the throttle, reversed the engine, -and threw on the brakes, for, far down the track ahead of him he had -caught the gleam of a red lantern waved twice in the air. The light had -vanished mysteriously in full flight, but a single glimpse of it was -warning enough for Johnson.</p> - -<p>The moment the brakes were applied, the detectives, back in the pay-car, -had grabbed down the Winchesters from the wall and made ready for a -fight. It might be that the engineer had sighted an obstruction on the -track, and they waited instant by instant to feel the car leave the -rails. It stopped with a jerk, and the detectives piled out, ready for -anything.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” they asked, coming to the spot where Johnson was -leaning out of his cab window.</p> - -<p>“Somebody flagged me a minute ago,” answered Johnson, still peering out -through the night. “It’s funny he don’t come ahead an’ tell us what’s -th’ trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe it’s a trick to get us away from the car,” said somebody, and the -detectives faced about in the darkness, instinctively bracing themselves -to receive a volley of bullets.</p> - -<p>“Climb up here in th’ cab,” suggested Johnson, “an’ I’ll go ahead slow, -an’ find out what’s th’ matter.”</p> - -<p>They climbed up instantly, and the engine crept slowly ahead, while they -all peered out through the dashing rain, expecting they knew not what.</p> - -<p>“There’s somethin’ on th’ track,” cried Johnson, after a moment, his -trained eyes catching the first glimpse of a dim obstruction. “It’s a -man!” he said. “It’s th’ track-walker. Somebody done fer him jest as he -was signallin’ me! That’s why his lantern went out!”</p> - -<p>The men ran forward, Mr. Schofield among them. In the white glare of the -headlight, they could see a form stretched heavily across the track, -lying on its face.</p> - -<p>One of the men turned it over.</p> - -<p>“My God! It’s young West!” cried Mr. Schofield, and dropped on his knee -beside him.</p> - -<p>“And shot through the breast,” added one of the detectives, indicating -the growing blood-stain upon the boy’s shirt.</p> - -<p>They carried him tenderly back to the pay-car and laid him on a cot -there. His right hand still grasped the handle of his shattered lantern, -holding it so tightly that they could not remove it. Mr. Schofield -himself did what he could to stop the flow of blood; then went forward -cautiously to investigate. In the centre of the trestle, they found that -a rail had been torn from the track.</p> - -<p>“There’s where we’d have been by this time but for that boy,” said Mr. -Schofield, in a low voice, and motioned toward the abyss, his face set -and livid. “How he got past the wreckers I can’t imagine. Now I want you -men to run down the fiends who did this. We’ve got to have them, no -matter what it costs! Now get after them! I’ll get this rail back—don’t -bother about that—and take the pay-car in. You fellows catch these -scoundrels!”</p> - -<p>The detectives hurried away into the night, while Mr. Schofield called -the train-crew, got out an extra rail which was always kept by the side -of the bridge, and soon had it spiked into place.</p> - -<p>“Now go ahead, Johnson,” he called to the engineer, “but you’d better -run slow—maybe there’s another rail loose somewhere,” and he swung -himself up the steps of the pay-car and sat down by Allan’s cot, with a -very grim face.</p> - -<p>But let Johnson, the engineer, tell the rest of the story, as he told it -to a group of interested auditors the very next day in the roundhouse -office.</p> - -<p>“I tell you, I run over that trestle mighty cautious-like,” he said, -“an’ it give me a turn when I looked down into that ditch an’ thought of -what would have happened if th’ boy hadn’t flagged us. But we got across -all right, an’ started through th’ cut, still runnin’ slow, fer I didn’t -know but what there might be a rock on the track, when I heard somebody -hollerin’ at me, an’ in a minute up comes Reddy Magraw climbin’ into th’ -cab, lookin’ crazier ’n ever.</p> - -<p>“‘How did I git out here?’ he asked, wild-like. ‘Who fetched me out -here? What ’m I doin’ ’way out here?’</p> - -<p>“‘If you don’t know, I don’t,’ says I. ‘Set down there an’ rest. What’s -th’ matter with your head?’ I asked, fer I saw it was all bloody on one -side.</p> - -<p>“Reddy put his hand up and felt of his head; then he took his hand down -an’ looked at the blood on it.</p> - -<p>“‘I dunno,’ he says. ‘Mebbe th’ engine hit me. Where’s Welsh an’ the -rest o’ th’ gang? They oughtn’t to have gone off an’ left me layin’ out -here like this,—I didn’t think they’d do that!’</p> - -<p>“‘What engine hit you?’ I asked.</p> - -<p>“‘Why, th’ engine o’ Number Four,’ he says. ‘I didn’t have time t’ git -out of th’ road after I threw th’ switch. But I didn’t think th’ boys’d -’a’ left me layin’ out here like this. Why, I might ’a’ died!’</p> - -<p>“Well, sir, it come to me all in a minute that somehow Reddy Magraw had -got his senses back, an’ I tell you it set me a-tremblin’ jest like th’ -time my wife had her first baby. I was purty nigh scared to death!</p> - -<p>“‘I guess th’ engine must ’a’ hit you, sure,’ I says, to ease him up. -Then, as th’ track was clear, I opened up my engine, while Magraw set on -the floor of th’ cab in a dazed sort of way. Never a word did he say -till we pulled into the yards.</p> - -<p>“‘You’d better see a doctor,’ I says. But he jumped off th’ engine th’ -minute we stopped.</p> - -<p>“‘I don’t want no doctor,’ he says. ‘I’m goin’ home.’ An’ he started off -on a run.</p> - -<p>“Well, you orter seen Mr. Schofield when I told him. He went along with -th’ boy, an’ seen him fixed up, an’ then hurried away with th’ doctor t’ -see Reddy. An’ he found him at home with his wife on one knee an’ his -children on th’ other,—he told us when he got back.”</p> - -<p>Johnson stopped, took out his handkerchief, and mopped his eyes openly.</p> - -<p>“I don’t keer,” he said, looking around defiantly. “It’s enough t’ make -any man’s eyes wet t’ think of what that family’s been through, an’ now -Reddy’s give back to ’em ag’in with a head’s good as anybody’s. Why, it -beats anything I ever heard of!”</p> - -<p>And, indeed, it was a nine-days’ wonder to every one. The doctors came -and looked at him and explained what had happened in many learned words, -and one of them wrote a paper about it, which he read before a medical -society; the newspapers heard of it and wrote it up, and published -Reddy’s photograph,—why, Mrs. Magraw has all those papers put carefully -away, and she gets them out occasionally even yet, and reads them and -cries over them,—but they are tears of happiness and thanksgiving. For -Reddy was as well as ever, and the gist of all the learned medical -opinions was that the blow on the head which Allan dealt him had somehow -set right the brain disordered by the blow it had received from the -engine months before. It did for him just what an operation might have -done, and did it effectually. How it had done it, the doctors couldn’t -say, and there were many warm discussions over it. It was not without -precedent,—not unfrequently a case of the same kind is reported,—but the -righting of that delicate mechanism, the brain, is something that no -physician, be he never so famous, as yet thoroughly understands.</p> - -<p>The one fact remained that Reddy was himself again, and freed for ever -from the influence of Dan Nolan. And, indeed, Nolan himself was destined -to pay the penalty for his iniquities. For the detectives soon found the -trail of him and his companions; the help of the Wadsworth police force -was secured, a bloodhound was brought to the scene, and all that night -the pursuit was kept up among the hills. When morning dawned, the quarry -was run to cover in an old log hut near the top of Mount Logan, and the -detectives and police surrounded it.</p> - -<p>The robbers put up a short fight, but they saw they had no chance to -escape, and the bullets from the Winchesters were whistling through the -cabin in a most unnerving way, so they waved a white rag out of one of -the windows and surrendered. There were four in the party, Nolan and -three tramps whom nobody knew. They were taken back to Wadsworth and -lodged safely in jail there, leaving it only to go to the State -penitentiary at Columbus to serve a term of years. Nolan broke down at -the last, like the great coward he really was, confessed, plead guilty, -and turned State’s evidence against his comrades in order to save -himself a year or two of imprisonment. So that was the end of Nolan for -a time; but his power for mischief was not yet at an end, and he later -involved some of his old associates in new disasters—but that story -cannot be told here.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - -<h2 class='nobreak' id='chXX' title='XX: THE ROAD’S GRATITUDE'> - <span style='font-size:1.2em'>CHAPTER XX.</span><br /><span style='font-size:1.0em'>THE ROAD’S GRATITUDE</span> -</h2> - -<p>It was only a memory now, that gray, wet Christmas morning when Allan -had been brought home pale and limp, on a stretcher. They had started -from bed at the first tap on the door, for his prolonged absence had -begun to worry them, and Jack, unheeding his sprained ankle, had hobbled -to it and flung it open. He stood silent as they brought the boy in and -set the stretcher on the floor. He watched the doctor strip back his -clothing, remove the rude bandage that had been hastily placed over the -wound, wipe away the blood, and begin to probe for the bullet. Mary, -too, had thrown on her gown and stood watching the operation with white -face.</p> - -<p>“Doctor,” burst out Jack, at last, almost fiercely, “don’t tell me he’s -dead! Don’t tell me he’s goin’ t’ die! He saved my little girl. Don’t -tell me I let him go t’ his death!”</p> - -<p>“He’ll not die,” said the doctor, reassuringly. “The bullet seems to -have been deflected from its course and to have made only a bad flesh -wound.”</p> - -<p>But it turned the watchers sick to see the probe sink in deeper and -deeper. Suddenly the surgeon gave a little exclamation and ran his hand -under the boy’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Here,” he said to his assistant, “turn him over.”</p> - -<p>He made a quick cut with a knife under the shoulder-blade, and a little -flattened piece of lead fell into his hand.</p> - -<p>“There’s the bullet,” and he handed it to Welsh. “Maybe he’ll want it -for a keepsake.” And he proceeded skilfully to bandage up the wound.</p> - -<p>But it was not until Allan opened his eyes and smiled faintly up at them -that Jack and Mary believed that he could live. They fell on their knees -beside his bed, but the doctor hurried them away.</p> - -<p>“What he needs now is sleep,” he said. “Let him sleep as long as he -can.”</p> - -<p>“But look at his poor face, doctor,” whispered Mary, “an’ at his hands, -all tore and scratched. Do ye suppose them devils did that to him, too?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said the doctor. “Those scratches won’t hurt him; it’s -that wound in the breast that’s dangerous. Now, let him sleep.”</p> - -<p>And sleep he did, all through that Christmas Day. The story of his -exploit had got about, and a constant stream of railroad men came softly -up the path to ask how he was doing, and to stand around afterward and -discuss the story. All night he slept, with Mary watching by his -bedside, and, when he opened his eyes next morning, she was still -sitting there.</p> - -<p>The doctor came an hour later, looked at the wound, felt his pulse, and -nodded encouragingly.</p> - -<p>“He’ll pull through all right,” he said. “He’s got a little fever, but -that was to be expected. But he’s in first-class shape and will soon -rally from that wound. Keep him quiet for a day or two.”</p> - -<p>Before that time, the fever had subsided, the wound was healing nicely, -and the doctor pronounced his patient out of danger.</p> - -<p>“He’s pretty weak,” he said, “and must take things easy. Don’t let him -strain himself any way, or he may open the wound. Keep him quiet and -cheerful—his youth will do the rest.”</p> - -<p>How they vied with one another to nurse Allan back to strength again. -Reddy, his old self, was the first caller, with his heart going out to -the boy with a love that was well-nigh worship.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know nothin’ ’bout how it happened, Allan,” he said, wringing -the hand of the white-faced boy, “but I think I can count on y’ not to -be layin’ it up ag’in me.”</p> - -<p>Allan leaned back and laughed.</p> - -<p>“I think if you can cry quits, I can,” he said. How the great load -rolled from off his heart as he saw Reddy, whom he had last beheld lying -prone at his feet, now his genial old self again!</p> - -<p>“But, oh, Reddy, I did hate to hit you!”</p> - -<p>“Ho, ho!” cried Reddy; “if it had kilt me intirely, Oi’d ’a’ been th’ -last to complain! Is it true, Allan, that I was runnin’ around with -tramps?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s true, Reddy.”</p> - -<p>“An’ hobnobbin’ with Dan Nolan?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“An’ abusin’ my missus?”</p> - -<p>“You didn’t abuse her, Reddy.”</p> - -<p>“An’ fightin’ my best friends, an’ wreckin’ railroad property, an’ -actin’ generally loike a low-down haythen?” went on Reddy, rapidly. -“Why, th’ only thing I can’t forgive y’ fer, Allan, is thet y’ didn’t -knock me over th’ head long afore!”</p> - -<p>“I would, Reddy,” laughed Allan, “if I’d thought it would cure you.”</p> - -<p>“If it hadn’t cured me,” said Reddy, “it might ’a’ kilt me-an’ thet was -what I deserved!”</p> - -<p>Joy is the best of all medicines, and Allan’s improvement was rapid. At -the end of a week he could spend hours lying back in a padded chair, and -Jack was finally prevailed upon to go regularly to work and leave the -care of the invalid to his wife.</p> - -<p>It was on the platform before the station that the superintendent -stopped him one evening, as he was hurrying home from work.</p> - -<p>“How are things out on the line?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“All right, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Going to win the track prize again this spring?”</p> - -<p>“No, sir,” and Jack grew suddenly grave. “One of my best men is laid up, -y’ know.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, yes,” and the superintendent nodded. “How is the boy getting along, -Jack?”</p> - -<p>“He’ll pull through,” said the other, slowly, “but he had a mighty close -call. If th’ bullet hadn’t struck a rib an’ glanced off, he’d ’a’ been -done fer. I went down t’ look at th’ place he got acrost th’ ravine, an’ -I don’t see how he done it.”</p> - -<p>“Neither do I,” agreed the superintendent. “I took a look at it, too.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” continued Jack, “th’ fever’s over now, an’ he’s gittin’ his -strength back.”</p> - -<p>“And his appetite, too, I dare say.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” assented Jack, with a quick smile of enjoyment, “an’ his -appetite, too. Why, it does us more good t’ see him eat than to eat -ourselves.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t doubt it; but you mustn’t spoil the boy with too much -coddling.”</p> - -<p>“Spoil him!” retorted Jack. “Not fer a minute! Why, y’ couldn’t spoil -him, sir. He’s pure gold, all th’ way through.”</p> - -<p>The superintendent started on, stopped for an instant to chew his -moustache, then turned back.</p> - -<p>“Jack!” he called.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir,” and the foreman stopped.</p> - -<p>“You were saying,” began the superintendent, a little awkwardly, “that -the boy’s eating again. He ought to have some dainties, Welsh; oysters -and chicken and fruit, and that sort of thing.”</p> - -<p>“We hope t’ be able t’ git ’em fer him, sir,” answered Jack, with -dignity.</p> - -<p>“Well, the road won’t let you get them,” said the superintendent. “We -owe him a good deal, and we’re going to pay some of it this way. I’m -going to stop in over here at the store and tell Fisher to send the boy -whatever he wants and send the bill in to the road. I’ll see that it’s -paid. Of course, we’ll take care of the doctor and drug bills, too. Now, -maybe he’d like some oranges or pineapple or something of that sort -right away. Anyway, I’ll tell Fisher,” and he hurried on, as though -fearing to hear what the other might say.</p> - -<p>Welsh looked after him for a moment without saying anything, then turned -toward home.</p> - -<p>And Mr. Heywood, hurrying on, stopped at the grocery and gave certain -directions.</p> - -<p>“And see here, Fisher,” he concluded, “you’ll send the bill to me, but -that’s nobody’s business but our own. I want them to think that the -road’s paying for it.”</p> - -<p>Half an hour later, a grocer’s boy knocked at the door of the Welsh -cottage and handed in a great basket of dainties, and Allan was soon -smiling over a bowl of steaming oyster soup, with Jack and his wife and -Mamie grouped about the bed watching him enjoy it. And I don’t believe -there is any more exquisite pleasure in the world than that which they -experienced in that moment!</p> - -<p>The winter days were clear and bright, and Allan found a rare enjoyment -in lying back in the great chair which Mrs. Welsh had padded expressly -for him, and looking out over the yards and watching the busy life -there. He was sitting so one afternoon when some one turned in at the -gate and mounted the path to the house.</p> - -<p>“Why, it’s Misther Schofield!” cried Mary, and hastily dusted off a -chair with her apron, in honour of the distinguished visitor,—not that -it needed dusting.</p> - -<p>The train-master came up with smiling face.</p> - -<p>“How are you, Mrs. Welsh?” he asked. “And how is the invalid?”</p> - -<p>He sat down by the side of the chair, and, reaching over, gave Allan’s -hand a hearty clasp.</p> - -<p>“Do you know, I am ashamed of myself for not getting here before this,” -he went on, genially, “but I have kept posted about you, because I -wanted to know when you were ready to go back to work.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be ready before long, sir,” said Allan, smiling in sympathy with -his guest’s good humour. “I’m getting quite strong again.”</p> - -<p>But Mrs. Welsh interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“Listen at th’ boy!” she cried, indignantly. “Why, Misther Schofield, -an’ him with a bullethole clear through him t’ think o’ goin’ out an’ -workin’ on section!”</p> - -<p>The train-master was smiling more broadly than ever.</p> - -<p>“It does seem pretty tough, doesn’t it?” he said. “Here’s a boy who’s -saved the company’s pay-car with two hundred thousand dollars in it, and -the lives of ten or fifteen men, and came within a hair’s breadth of -getting killed. And yet he has to work on section for forty dollars a -month. But then, there’s not so much danger on section any more; we’ve -routed the tramps, you know, for good and all. Still, it’s pretty -tough.”</p> - -<p>“Tough!” and Mrs. Welsh looked at him with flaming eyes. “It’s worse ’n -that, beggin’ your pardon, sir. It’s a sin an’ a shame! It’s a disgrace -t’ th’ company!”</p> - -<p>Allan tried to silence her, but she would not be silenced. He stole a -horrified glance at Mr. Schofield, and was astonished to see that he was -still smiling.</p> - -<p>“A disgrace!” repeated that official. “Well, I agree with you, Mrs. -Welsh. So we’re not going to let him go back on section. We can’t afford -to waste a good man that way. It’s a little late for a Christmas gift, -maybe, but he’s earned it and he’s going to get it.”</p> - -<p>Mary stared at the speaker, speechless.</p> - -<p>“There’s a job open in my office, young man,” he went on, turning to -Allan. “It’s yours if you want it. It’s not such a very good job, for it -pays only fifty dollars a month, but you’ll learn more about railroading -there in a month than you can ever do on section, and you’ll be in line -for promotion, and you’ll get promoted when you merit it. What do you -say?”</p> - -<p>What could Allan say, with a heart too full for utterance? He reached -out his hands blindly, and the other, understanding, clasped them in his -strong, steady ones.</p> - -<hr class='tbk' /> - -<p>And that was how it came about that Allan got the place in the offices -which he had longed for, under the eye of the best train-master in the -West, where, as he had promised, there was more railroading to be -learned in a month than in a lifetime of section work. He became a part -of the brain which ruled and directed the whole wonderful system. He -came to know what the instruments ticking madly away on every table were -saying. He proved himself worthy of the trust reposed in him, and on two -critical occasions, at least, he displayed a nerve and quickness of -judgment which caused the general manager to ask the train-master:</p> - -<p>“Who is this fellow named West you’ve got down there in your office, -Schofield? He seems a good one.”</p> - -<p>“He <i>is</i> a good one,” Mr. Schofield had responded, earnestly. “You’ll -hear from him again.”</p> - -<p>How the prophecy came true and what adventures befell Allan in his new -position will be told in “The Young Train-despatcher”; but, whatever his -successes, I doubt if he ever knew happier days than those he spent with -Reddy and Jack Welsh on Section Twenty-one.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>THE END.</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div class='c'> -<div>BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</div> -<hr class='ad' /> -<div style='font-size:1.2em'>THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS</div> -<div class='fs08'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='i mt05'>By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON</div> -<div class='fs08 mb10'>Each, 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative, per vol. $1.50</div> -</div> -<div class='b mt05'>The Little Colonel Stories.</div> -<div class='fs08 ml5p'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Illustrated.</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Being three “Little Colonel” stories in the Cosy Corner -Series, “The Little Colonel,” “Two Little Knights of Kentucky,” -and “The Giant Scissors,” put into a single volume.</div> -<div class='b mt05'>The Little Colonel’s House Party.</div> -<div class='fs08 ml5p'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Illustrated by Louis Meynell.</div> -<div class='b mt05'>The Little Colonel’s Holidays.</div> -<div class='fs08 ml5p'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman.</div> -<div class='b mt05'>The Little Colonel’s Hero.</div> -<div class='fs08 ml5p'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Illustrated by E. B. Barry.</div> -<div class='b mt05'>The Little Colonel at Boarding School.</div> -<div class='fs08 ml5p'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Illustrated by E. B. Barry.</div> -<div class='b mt05'>The Little Colonel in Arizona.</div> -<div class='fs08 ml5p'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Illustrated by E. B. Barry.</div> -<div class='b mt05'>The Little Colonel’s Christmas Vacation.</div> -<div class='fs08 ml5p'>(Trade Mark.)</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Illustrated by E. B. Barry.</div> -<div class='ml5p'>Since the time of “Little Women,” no juvenile heroine -has been better beloved of her child readers than Mrs. -Johnston’s “Little Colonel.”</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div>L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY’S BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</div> -</div> -<hr class='ad' /> -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Joel: a Boy of Galilee.</b></p> - -<p>By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Annie Fellows Johnston</span>. Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman.</p> - -<p>New illustrated edition, uniform with the Little Colonel Books, 1 vol., -large 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>A story of the time of Christ, which is one of the author’s best-known -books, and which has been translated into many languages, the last being -Italian.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Asa Holmes;</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>or, at the Cross-Roads</span>, a sketch of Country Life and -Country Humor. By Annie Fellows Johnston. With a frontispiece by Ernest -Fosbery.</p> - -<p>Large 16mo, cloth, gilt top . . . $1.00</p> - -<p>“‘Asa Holmes; or, At the Cross-Roads’ is the most delightful, most -sympathetic and wholesome book that has been published in a long while. -The lovable, cheerful, touching incidents, the descriptions of persons -and things are wonderfully true to nature.”—<i>Boston Times</i>.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>In the Desert of Waiting:</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Legend of Camelback Mountain.</span></p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Three Weavers:</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Fairy Tale for Fathers and Mothers as Well as -for Their Daughters</span>. By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Annie Fellows Johnston.</span></p> - -<p>Each one volume, tall 16mo, cloth decorative . . . $0.60</p> - -<p>There has been a constant demand for publication in separate form of -these two stories, which were originally included in two of the “Little -Colonel” books, and the present editions, which are very charmingly -gotten up, will be delightful and valued gift-books for both old and -young.</p> - -<p>“‘The Three Weavers’ is the daintiest fairy-story I ever read,” wrote -one critic, and the <i>Louisville Post</i> calls “In the Desert of Waiting” a -“gem, an exquisite bit of work. Mrs. Johnston is at her best in this web -of delicate fancy, woven about the deep centre truth.” Those who have -read the stories as they originally appeared will be glad to find them -published individually.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Little Lady Marjorie.</b> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Frances Margaret Fox</span>, author of “Farmer -Brown and the Birds,” etc.</p> - -<p>12mo, cloth, illustrated . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>A charming story for children between the ages of ten and fifteen years, -with both heart and nature interest.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Sandman:</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>his farm stories</span>. By William J. Hopkins. With fifty -illustrations by Ada Clendenin Williamson.</p> - -<p>One vol., large 12mo, decorative cover . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>“An amusing, original book, written for the benefit of children not more -than six years old, is ‘The Sandman: His Farm Stories.’ It should be one -of the most popular of the year’s books for reading to small -children.”—<i>Buffalo Express</i>.</p> - -<p>“Mothers and fathers and kind elder sisters who take the little ones to -bed and rack their brains for stories will find this book a -treasure.”—<i>Cleveland Leader</i>.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Sandman:</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>More Farm Stories.</span> By William J. Hopkins, author of -“The Sandman: His Farm Stories.”</p> - -<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, fully illustrated . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>Mr. Hopkins’s first essay at bedtime stories has met with such approval -that this second book of “Sandman” tales has been issued for scores of -eager children. Life on the farm, and out-of-doors, will be portrayed in -his inimitable manner, and many a little one will hail the bedtime -season as one of delight.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Puritan Knight Errant.</b> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Edith Robinson</span>, author of “A Little -Puritan Pioneer,” “A Little Puritan’s First Christmas,” “A Little -Puritan Rebel,” etc.</p> - -<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>The charm of style and historical value of Miss Robinson’s previous -stories of child life in Puritan days have brought them wide popularity. -Her latest and most important book appeals to a large juvenile public. -The “knight errant” of this story is a little Don Quixote, whose trials -and their ultimate outcome will prove deeply interesting to their -reader.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Rival Campers;</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>or, the Adventures of Henry Burns.</span> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Ruel P. -Smith</span>.</p> - -<p>12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>Here is a book which will grip and enthuse every boy who is lucky enough -to secure it. It is the story of a party of typical American lads, -courageous, alert, and athletic, who spend a summer camping on an island -off the Maine coast. Every boy reader will envy them their -adventures,—yacht-racing, canoeing, and camping,—which culminate in -their discovery and capture of a gang of daring robbers; but the -influence of wholesome, outdoor life in the development of manly -character is well brought out. Henry Burns, the leader of the boys, is a -character in juvenile fiction of whom we are likely to hear again.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Young Section Hand;</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>or, The Adventures of Allan West.</span> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Burton -E. Stevenson</span>, author of “The Marathon Mystery,” etc.</p> - -<p>12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>Every branch of railroading fascinates the average American boy. The -shops, the telegraph and signal systems, the yard and track work, the -daily life of danger which confronts every employee, whether he be the -ordinary workman or the engineer of a limited express train, and the -mysterious “office” which controls every branch of the work,—each holds -out its allurements to him.</p> - -<p>In this story Mr. Stevenson’s hero is just the right sort, a manly lad -of sixteen who is given a chance as a section hand on a big Western -railroad, and whose experiences are as real as they are thrilling. He is -persecuted by the discharged employee whose place he took, and becomes -involved in complications which nearly cause his undoing; but his -manliness and courage are finally proven, and the reward is his for duty -done at any cost.</p> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:45%; width:10%;'> - <img src='images/admark.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -</div> -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Born to the Blue.</b> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Florence Kimball Russel</span>.</p> - -<p>12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.00</p> - -<p>The atmosphere of army life on the plains breathes on every page of this -delightful tale. The boy is the son of a captain of U. S. cavalry -stationed at a frontier post in the days when our regulars earned the -gratitude of a nation. His military training is begun at a very early -age; and how well he profits by the soldierly qualities of manhood and -honor and modesty and courtesy instilled is brought out in a series of -incidents and adventures which will appeal to every youngster, and to -many of their elders. Every phase of garrison life is included, for, -though an officer’s son, his friends range from the colonel commanding -to the trooper who taught him to ride his Indian pony.</p> - -<p>The author is herself “of the army,” and knows every detail of the life. -From reveille to retreat her descriptions are accurate, which adds to -the value and interest of the book.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>“Yours with All My Heart:”</b> The Autobiography of a Real Dog. By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Esther -M. Baxendale</span>. With nearly a hundred illustrations from photographs and -from drawings by Etheldred B. Barry.</p> - -<p>Large 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>Mrs. Baxendale’s charming story, though written primarily for children, -will find a warm welcome from all those who love animals. It is a true -story of a deeply loved pet and companion of the author’s for thirteen -years; and it cannot fail to inspire in the hearts of all the young -people fortunate enough to hear it that affection and sympathy for -domestic animals so essential in the moulding of character.</p> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:45%; width:10%;'> - <img src='images/admark.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -</div> -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Roses of St. Elizabeth.</b> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Jane Scott Woodruff</span>, author of “The -Little Christmas Shoe.”</p> - -<p>12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.00</p> - -<p>This is a charming little story of a child whose father was caretaker of -the great castle of the Wartburg, where St. Elizabeth once had her home, -with a fairy-tale interwoven in which the roses and the ivy in the -castle yard tell to the child and her playmate quaint old legends of the -saint and the castle. This is just the sort of a story that girls love, -with its sweetness and its fragrance and its faint echo of days long -gone, with a suspicion of present-day romance at the end.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Songs and Rhymes for the Little Ones.</b> Compiled by <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Mary Whitney -Morrison</span> (Jenny Wallis).</p> - -<p>New edition, with an introduction by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, with eight -illustrations.</p> - -<p>One vol., large 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.00</p> - -<p>No better description of this admirable book can be given than Mrs. -Whitney’s happy introduction:</p> - -<p>“One might almost as well offer June roses with the assurance of their -sweetness, as to present this lovely little gathering of verse, which -announces itself, like them, by its deliciousness. Yet as Mrs. -Morrison’s charming volume has long been a delight to me, I am only too -happy to link my name with its new and enriched form in this slight way, -and simply declare that it is to me the most bewitching book of songs -for little people that I have ever known.”</p> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:45%; width:10%;'> - <img src='images/admark.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%' /> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>PHYLLIS’ FIELD FRIENDS SERIES</div> -<div style='font-style:italic;'>By LENORE E. MULETS</div> -</div> - -<p>Six vols., cloth decorative, illustrated by Sophie Schneider. Sold -separately, or as a set.</p> - -<p>Per volume . . . $1.00</p> - -<p>Per set . . . 6.00</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Insect Stories.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Stories of Little Animals.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Flower Stories.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Bird Stories.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Tree Stories.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Stories of Little Fishes.</b></p> - -<p>In this series of six little Nature books, it is the author’s intention -so to present to the child reader the facts about each particular -flower, insect, bird, or animal, in story form, as to make delightful -reading. Classical legends, myths, poems, and songs are so introduced as -to correlate fully with these lessons, to which the excellent -illustrations are no little help.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>THE WOODRANGER TALES</div> -<div style='font-style:italic;'>By G. WALDO BROWNE</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Woodranger.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Young Gunbearer.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Hero of the Hills.</b></p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>With Rogers’ Rangers.</b></p> - -<p>Each 1 vol., large 12mo, cloth, decorative cover, illustrated, per -volume . . . $1.00</p> - -<p>Four vols., boxed, per set . . . 4.00</p> - -<p>“The Woodranger Tales,” like the “Pathfinder Tales” of J. Fenimore -Cooper, combine historical information relating to early pioneer days in -America with interesting adventures in the backwoods. Although the same -characters are continued throughout the series, each book is complete in -itself, and, while based strictly on historical facts, is an interesting -and exciting tale of adventure.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Beautiful Joe’s Paradise;</b> or, <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Island of Brotherly Love.</span> A sequel -to “Beautiful Joe.” By Marshall Saunders, author of “Beautiful Joe,” -“For His Country,” etc. With fifteen full-page plates and many -decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull.</p> - -<p>One vol., library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>“Will be immensely enjoyed by the boys and girls who read -it.”—<i>Pittsburg Gazette</i>.</p> - -<p>“Miss Saunders has put life, humor, action, and tenderness into her -story. The book deserves to be a favorite.”—<i>Chicago Record-Herald</i>.</p> - -<p>“This book revives the spirit of ‘Beautiful Joe’ capitally. It is fairly -riotous with fun, and as a whole is about as unusual as anything in the -animal book line that has seen the light. It is a book for juveniles—old -and young.”—<i>Philadelphia Item</i>.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>’Tilda Jane.</b> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Marshall Saunders</span>, author of “Beautiful Joe,” etc.</p> - -<p>One vol., 12mo, fully illustrated, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>“No more amusing and attractive child’s story has appeared for a long -time than this quaint and curious recital of the adventures of that -pitiful and charming little runaway.</p> - -<p>“It is one of those exquisitely simple and truthful books that win and -charm the reader, and I did not put it down until I had finished -it—honest! And I am sure that every one, young or old, who reads will be -proud and happy to make the acquaintance of the delicious waif.</p> - -<p>“I cannot think of any better book for children than this. I commend it -unreservedly.”—<i>Cyrus Townsend Brady</i>.</p> - -<p style='line-height: 1em'>​</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Story of the Graveleys.</b> By <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Marshall Saunders</span>, author of -“Beautiful Joe’s Paradise,” “’Tilda Jane,” etc.</p> - -<p>Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by E. B. Barry . . . $1.50</p> - -<p>Here we have the haps and mishaps, the trials and triumphs, of a -delightful New England family, of whose devotion and sturdiness it will -do the reader good to hear. From the kindly, serene-souled grandmother -to the buoyant madcap, Berty, these Graveleys are folk of fibre and -blood—genuine human beings.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES</div> -</div> - -<p>The most delightful and interesting accounts possible of child-life in -other lands, filled with quaint sayings, doings, and adventures.</p> - -<p>Each 1 vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with six full-page -illustrations in color by L. J. Bridgman.</p> - -<p>Price per volume . . . $0.60</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='margin-top:1.0em;font-style:italic;'>By MARY HAZELTON WADE</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little African Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Armenian Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Brown Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Cuban Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Eskimo Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little German Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Hawaiian Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Indian Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Irish Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Italian Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Japanese Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Jewish Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Mexican Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Norwegian Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Philippine Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Porto Rican Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Russian Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Siamese Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Swiss Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Turkish Cousin</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-style:italic;'>By BLANCHE McMANUS</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little English Cousin</div> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little French Cousin</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-style:italic;'>By ELIZABETH ROBERTS MacDONALD</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Canadian Cousin</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-style:italic;'>By ISAAC HEADLAND TAYLOR</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Chinese Cousin</div> -</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-style:italic;'>By H. LEE M. PIKE</div> -</div> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto'> -<div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>Our Little Korean Cousin</div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>ANIMAL TALES</div> -<div>By Charles G. D. Roberts</div> -<div style='font-size:0.8em;margin-top:1em;'>ILLUSTRATED BY</div> -<div>Charles Livingston Bull</div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>as follows:</div> -<div><b>The Lord of the Air</b></div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.5em;'>(The Eagle)</div> -<div><b>The King of the Mamozekel</b></div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.5em;'>(The Moose)</div> -<div><b>The Watchers of the Camp-fire</b></div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.5em;'>(The Panther)</div> -<div><b>The Haunter of the Pine Gloom</b></div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.5em;'>(The Lynx)</div> -<div><b>The Return to the Trails</b></div> -<div style='margin-bottom:0.5em;'>(The Bear)</div> -<div><b>The Little People of the Sycamore</b></div> -<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'>(The Raccoon)</div> -</div> - -<p>Each 1 vol., small 12mo, cloth decorative, per volume, $0.50</p> - -<p>Realizing the great demand for the animal stories of Professor Roberts, -one of the masters of nature writers, the publishers have selected six -representative stories, to be issued separately, at a popular price. -Each story is illustrated by Charles Livingston Bull, and is bound in a -handsome decorative cover.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>COSY CORNER SERIES</div> -</div> - -<p>It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall contain -only the very highest and purest literature,—stories that shall not only -appeal to the children themselves, but be appreciated by all those who -feel with them in their joys and sorrows.</p> - -<p>The numerous illustrations in each book are by well-known artists, and -each volume has a separate attractive cover design.</p> - -<p>Each, 1 vol., 16mo, cloth . . . $0.50</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Little Colonel.</b> (Trade Mark.)</p> - -<p>The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small -girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied -resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and -old family are famous in the region. This old Colonel proves to be the -grandfather of the child.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Giant Scissors.</b></p> - -<p>This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France,—the -wonderful house with the gate of The Giant Scissors, Jules, her little -playmate, Sister Denisa, the cruel Brossard, and her dear Aunt Kate. -Joyce is a great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes -shares with her the delightful experiences of the “House Party” and the -“Holidays.”</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Two Little Knights of Kentucky,</b> <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Who Were the Little Colonel’s -Neighbors.</span></p> - -<p>In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, but -with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central figure of -the story, that place being taken by the “two little knights.”</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Cicely and Other Stories for Girls.</b></p> - -<p>The readers of Mrs. Johnston’s charming juveniles will be glad to learn -of the issue of this volume for young people.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Aunt ’Liza’s Hero and Other Stories.</b></p> - -<p>A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal to all boys -and most girls.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Big Brother.</b></p> - -<p>A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Steven, himself a small -boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Ole Mammy’s Torment.</b></p> - -<p>“Ole Mammy’s Torment” has been fitly called “a classic of Southern -life.” It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and tells -how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the right.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Story of Dago.</b></p> - -<p>In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey, -owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the account -of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Quilt That Jack Built.</b></p> - -<p>A pleasant little story of a boy’s labor of love, and how it changed the -course of his life many years after it was accomplished.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Flip’s Islands of Providence.</b></p> - -<p>A story of a boy’s life battle, his early defeat, and his final triumph, -well worth the reading.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='section'> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By EDITH ROBINSON</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Little Puritan’s First Christmas.</b></p> - -<p>A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was invented -by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by her brother -Sam.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Little Daughter of Liberty.</b></p> - -<p>The author’s motive for this story is well indicated by a quotation from -her introduction, as follows:</p> - -<p>“One ride is memorable in the early history of the American Revolution, -the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of commendation is -another ride,—the ride of Anthony Severn,—which was no less historic in -its action or memorable in its consequences.”</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Loyal Little Maid.</b></p> - -<p>A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which the -child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to George -Washington.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Little Puritan Rebel.</b></p> - -<p>This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the -gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Little Puritan Pioneer.</b></p> - -<p>The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at -Charlestown. The little girl heroine adds another to the list of -favorites so well known to the young people.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Little Puritan Bound Girl.</b></p> - -<p>A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great interest to -youthful readers.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Little Puritan Cavalier.</b></p> - -<p>The story of a “Little Puritan Cavalier” who tried with all his boyish -enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and ideals of the dead Crusaders.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By MISS MULOCK</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Little Lame Prince.</b></p> - -<p>A delightful story of a little boy who has many adventures by means of -the magic gifts of his fairy godmother.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Adventures of a Brownie.</b></p> - -<p>The story of a household elf who torments the cook and gardener, but is -a constant joy and delight to the children who love and trust him.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>His Little Mother.</b></p> - -<p>Miss Mulock’s short stories for children are a constant source of -delight to them, and “His Little Mother,” in this new and attractive -dress, will be welcomed by hosts of youthful readers.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Little Sunshine’s Holiday.</b></p> - -<p>An attractive story of a summer outing. “Little Sunshine” is another of -those beautiful child-characters for which Miss Mulock is so justly -famous.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By JULIANA HORATIA EWING</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Jackanapes.</b></p> - -<p>A new edition, with new illustrations, of this exquisite and touching -story, dear alike to young and old.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Story of a Short Life.</b></p> - -<p>This beautiful and pathetic story will never grow old. It is a part of -the world’s literature, and will never die.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Great Emergency.</b></p> - -<p>How a family of children prepared for a great emergency, and how they -acted when the emergency came.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By OUIDA (Louise de la Ramée)</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>A Dog of Flanders: A Christmas Story.</b></p> - -<p>Too well and favorably known to require description.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Nurnberg Stove.</b></p> - -<p>This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular price.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By FRANCES MARGARET FOX</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Little Giant’s Neighbours.</b></p> - -<p>A charming nature story of a “little giant” whose neighbours were the -creatures of the field and garden.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Farmer Brown and the Birds.</b></p> - -<p>A little story which teaches children that the birds are man’s best -friends.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Betty of Old Mackinaw.</b></p> - -<p>A charming story of child-life, appealing especially to the little -readers who like stories of “real people.”</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Mother Nature’s Little Ones.</b></p> - -<p>Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or “childhood,” -of the little creatures out-of-doors.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>How Christmas Came to the Mulvaneys.</b></p> - -<p>A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children, with an -unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. The wonderful -never-to-be-forgotten Christmas that came to them is the climax of a -series of exciting incidents.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Farrier’s Dog and His Fellow.</b></p> - -<p>This story, written by the gifted young Southern woman, will appeal to -all that is best in the natures of the many admirers of her graceful and -piquant style.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Fortunes of the Fellow.</b></p> - -<p>Those who read and enjoyed the pathos and charm of “The Farrier’s Dog -and His Fellow” will welcome the further account of the adventures of -Baydaw and the Fellow at the home of the kindly smith.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>The Best of Friends.</b></p> - -<p>This continues the experiences of the Farrier’s dog and his Fellow, -written in Miss Dromgoole’s well-known charming style.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Down in Dixie.</b></p> - -<p>A fascinating story for boys and girls, of a family of Alabama children -who move to Florida and grow up in the South.</p> - -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; '> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:0.7em;'>By MARIAN W. WILDMAN</div> -</div> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Loyalty Island.</b></p> - -<p>An account of the adventures of four children and their pet dog on an -island, and how they cleared their brother from the suspicion of -dishonesty.</p> - -<p style='text-indent:0'><b>Theodore and Theodora.</b></p> - -<p>This is a story of the exploits and mishaps of two mischievous twins, -and continues the adventures of the interesting group of children in -“Loyalty Island.”</p> - -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Young Section-Hand, by Burton Egbert Stevenson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND *** - -***** This file should be named 62830-h.htm or 62830-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/8/3/62830/ - -Produced by D A Alexander and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by the -Library of Congress) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - -</body> -<!-- created with ppr.py 20.0711 on 2020-08-03 03:00:57 GMT --> -</html> diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/admark.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/admark.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5f24c29..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/admark.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8749d00..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/facing044.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/facing044.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ff3a4fc..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/facing044.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/facing054.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/facing054.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3a5fe1f..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/facing054.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/facing112.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/facing112.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 11c45dd..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/facing112.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/facing128.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/facing128.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 65de9ce..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/facing128.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/facing246.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/facing246.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 924b0de..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/facing246.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/frontis.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7b2e761..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/frontis.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/62830-h/images/title.jpg b/old/62830-h/images/title.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 38c4cf4..0000000 --- a/old/62830-h/images/title.jpg +++ /dev/null |
