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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75913 ***
+
+[Illustration: The doorway was filled by a great mass of brawn and
+muscle, grinning from ear to ear]
+
+
+
+
+                             NO STOP-OVERS
+
+                         By John A. Thompson
+
+      With the lure of the gold camps taking every able-bodied
+      man from his job, you can’t keep a good man on in Alaska
+      railroading--but Sam Tebbetts and Plapp were exceptional.
+
+
+
+Because of the boom out at the gold diggings on the Kougarok, the little
+railroad that wound its way through brush and over tundra from Nome to
+the up-country mining camps had an unusually heavy spring traffic to
+handle. The sudden brisk business was profitable. But it meant more
+trains. More trains meant more locomotive engineers--engine drivers,
+they call them nowadays--and men who could drive an old Forney type, or
+a 4-4-0 American, were scarce in Alaska.
+
+In this emergency, firemen were given regular runs. Every call boy and
+roundhouse sweeper husky enough to lift a slice bar was set to work
+firing. Still the road was short-handed.
+
+The new engineers had a disconcerting habit of deserting. The minute
+they pulled into the terminal yards up on the Kougarok, they would steal
+a pick and shovel from the maintenance department and duck out for the
+gold-bearing creeks two miles out of town. One absconding brakeman had
+the brass to stake out his mining claim with signal flags swiped from
+the road before he left.
+
+Worried over operating conditions, haggard from loss of sleep, the
+general superintendent bent over the morning reports in his office down
+at Nome. Suddenly he looked up as the door opened a few inches. One of
+the oddest specimens of humanity he had ever cast eyes on sidled through
+the narrow aperture, and coughed to attract attention.
+
+For ten silent seconds the super stared at the man in amazement. The
+stranger was less than pint size. Yet he wore overalls that had
+obviously been made for a man of generous architecture. His trouser legs
+were rolled into bulky cuffs almost knee-high, and a broad leather belt
+around his waist gave him more or less indefinite control over the slack
+in his stern-sheets.
+
+For all the tiny man’s incongruous get-up, however, there was a firm set
+to his square, pugnacious chin and determination in the large gray eyes
+that peered out from under his bushy thatch of straw-colored hair.
+
+“Ahem!” The stranger coughed again.
+
+“Well,” snapped the super, “what do you want? Do you work on this road?”
+
+The stranger shuffled toward the super’s desk.
+
+“Not yet,” he said cheerily, answering the last question first. “Hope to
+soon, sir. Name is Tebbetts, Sam Tebbetts. Glad to meet you. Press the
+flesh.”
+
+Sam thrust out his hand. Before the super realized what he was doing he
+had stood up and shaken hands with the man. Almost instantly he sat down
+again with uncomfortable abruptness, angry at himself and the smiling
+stranger.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+“If it’s a job you’re looking for, I’m not the man you want to see. I
+don’t hire the bohunks.”
+
+“Sam Tebbetts ain’t no bohunk, mister.” Sam bristled like a fighting
+cock and there was an unexpected quality in his voice that made the
+super sit upright. “He’s an engineer.”
+
+It was the first time in three weeks that the super had had a really
+good laugh for himself. He leaned back in his chair and rocked with
+merriment.
+
+“A what? An engineer? You? Ho-ho-ho!”
+
+Sam flushed crimson as he dug down deep into a back pocket and pulled
+forth a packet of thumb-marked credentials which he flung angrily on the
+desk in front of the super.
+
+“Sam Tebbetts ain’t no liar, either,” he declared.
+
+The super picked up the papers and began studying them with growing
+interest. Evidently the man was right. He was an engineer; a good one
+too.
+
+“What did you come up to Nome for?” asked the super, suspicious still of
+the comic strip character that had walked into his office.
+
+“To go gold minin’,” answered Sam promptly.
+
+“I thought so.” The super sighed. “If it’s just free transportation to
+the Kougarok that you are looking for, I’ll write you out a pass. It’s
+easier in the end. I’m through hiring drifters that take a run or two
+and then jump the train at the other end of the line. Seven engineers
+have deserted me this week.”
+
+“Sam Tebbetts ain’t that kind.”
+
+The super grunted. He was still doubtful of this shock-headed lad, but
+he needed men badly. “The crowd up here is pretty rough. Apt to rag hell
+out of you.”
+
+“Guess I can take care of myself.” Sam stuck out his jaw and clenched
+his fists, following which demonstration of belligerency he shadow-boxed
+around the super’s desk for a few seconds. He wound up the demonstration
+with a vicious uppercut to the empty air.
+
+“When do I start?”
+
+“Mr. Tebbetts,” said the super calmly, “I’ll start you right now--but
+only if you’ll agree to stick with the road all season. Your wages will
+be paid when we close down for the winter. In the meantime I’ll see that
+your food and board bills are taken care of.”
+
+“Suits me,” said Sam. “Press the flesh.”
+
+This time the super declined the proffered hand. With a wave of his hand
+he indicated that he considered the matter closed.
+
+“Ahem!” Sam coughed again.
+
+“Well! It’s all right ahead. Go ahead down to the roundhouse. You’re
+hired, Mr. Tebbetts.”
+
+“Yes, sir. But I’d like a job for my pal too. He’s a fireman. Fired for
+me eight years, sir. Good man. Dutch. Steady worker. Name’s Plapp.
+Suydam Plapp.”
+
+“Well, where is he?” The super looked about the office in astonishment.
+
+“He’s here,” said Sam. “Plapp! Hey, Plapp! Come on in. Meet the super.
+He’s regular. We got a job, Plapp.”
+
+Again the office door opened quietly and this time the doorway was
+filled by a great mass of brawn and muscle, grinning from ear to ear.
+
+“Is that Plapp?” asked the super.
+
+“Yes, sir. And, mister, if all firemen was as good as him, the people
+that makes mechanical stokers would go out of business in a week.”
+
+“Hmm. He looks like Zbysko. Remember, he goes to work under the same
+conditions that you do, Tebbetts.”
+
+“Suits us.” Tebbetts pushed his big companion toward the door. “Let’s go
+down to the roundhouse, Plapp, and meet the gang.”
+
+When they had closed the door after them, the super pulled out a
+handkerchief and mopped his face. “Phew,” he muttered, “if the road
+don’t go plumb to pot with that team o’ galoots workin’ on it, I’m
+crazy. Lucky for them they hit me when I was short-handed.”
+
+The super had barely settled down to resumption of his morning’s work
+when the roundhouse foreman and a man from the dispatcher’s office
+rushed into this sanctum within ten seconds of each other, each with the
+same breathless request.
+
+“Any more medical stores up here? Liniment, gauze bandages, sticking
+plaster?”
+
+“What’s the matter?” exclaimed the super. “An accident?”
+
+“No, sir.” It was the roundhouse foreman who found his tongue first.
+“Jest them two circus freaks you sent down this mornin’. One of the boys
+started kidding the little fellow.”
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+“I warned him it was a rough crowd,” said the super.
+
+“Warned him!” The foreman’s voice rose. “He don’t need no warnin’. Swung
+right at the lad that was kiddin’ him, and then he yells, ‘Plapp! Hey,
+Plapp!’ and the big Dutchman comes a runnin’. ‘Hold him, Sam!’ roars
+the big fellow, ‘Don’t let him get away, the bully. Pickin’ on a little
+runt like you.’”
+
+“Hmm,” muttered the superintendent. “We’ve got enough trouble without a
+lot of senseless scrapping among the men. Tell those two I don’t want
+any more of it. And take them some first aid stuff. It’s in the cabinet
+there.”
+
+“It ain’t them that wants it, sir. It’s my man. You can pour most of
+what’s left of him in a coal oil can.” The foreman shook his head sadly.
+He walked toward the cabinet at the open end of the office and the super
+turned on the clerk from the dispatcher’s office.
+
+“Well, what’s your trouble?” he demanded.
+
+“It’s those two new fellows.” The clerk spoke timidly.
+
+“What about them? Speak up.”
+
+“T-T-Tebbetts came in for his orders and we all started to laugh. He
+looked so funny in those big pants, and Thonet was at his key and he
+turned around and said to Tebbetts--”
+
+“Never mind what he said. What happened?”
+
+“Well, they exchanged words and then Tebbetts made a pass at Thonet and
+caught him behind the ear with a fist like a mallet and when we tried to
+pull him away he yelled for Plapp.”
+
+The super smiled in spite of himself. “Then what?”
+
+“The boys downstairs want some gauze and some liniment and some--”
+
+“Get out of here!” thundered the super. “It looks as if you fellows were
+picking on the wrong dog this time.”
+
+“Yes, sir,” agreed the retreating clerk. “Anyhow, we’ve got most of the
+broken chairs picked up and we’re straightening up the office, while
+Thonet is getting his wires in order again. Plapp ripped them out.”
+
+As the clerk left, the super called to the foreman, whose arms were
+laden with bottles and bandages.
+
+“What’s the matter with those two, Jim? Just quarrelsome?”
+
+“No. I wouldn’t say that,” replied the foreman. “They wait for the other
+fellows to start something, but they sure do love a scrap.”
+
+“Outside of that, do they know their business? What is that big fellow
+Plapp? He seems to do most of the damage. Is he a fireman, a ruffian, or
+only another disappointed white hope?”
+
+“He’s a fireman all right. In fact both of ’em seems to know their
+jobs.”
+
+“Where are they now?”
+
+“Plapp and the runt are out with No. 57.”
+
+“Hmm. Get her out all right? Gave the big boy a tough engine to fire on
+his first run, didn’t they?”
+
+The foreman smiled. “Break ’em in right. On account o’ bein’ short o’
+yard help, Plapp gets No. 57 cold. By about the time an ordinary cuss
+would have them boilers warm, I heard a crack and a sizzle and when I
+look out there’s No. 57 poppin’ off like she’s goin’ to blow herself
+apart. Plapp, grimy and smilin’, is standin’ in the cab. He has his
+sleeves rolled up and he looks like he was goin’ to pick his teeth with
+the slice bar he’s playin’ with.” He paused.
+
+“Go ahead,” said the super, “I want to know how No. 57 got away on time
+for the first time in three weeks.”
+
+“Well, I see little Sam Tebbetts come runnin’ acrost the tracks, chipper
+as hell, ’cept when he comes near trippin’ on his nose and his shoes get
+caught in those sea-goin’ pants. He swings into the cab, talks to Plapp
+for a few seconds. Then he looks at his watch and the two shake hands.
+The next minute Tebbetts is on the engineer’s seat box. I see he can
+hardly stretch up to some o’ the valves without standin’ up. But he
+tries the air, opens the cylinder cocks, eases open on his throttle and
+old No. 57 wheezes down the rails as pretty as you please.”
+
+The super, palms outstretched on the top of his desk, tapped his index
+fingers thoughtfully. “Well, I’d advise you fellows against trying to
+kid Tebbetts. It doesn’t seem to pay.”
+
+“No, sir, it don’t.”
+
+“And,” added the super, “when you go past the dispatcher’s office tell
+them I want them to keep me posted on No. 57’s run till she lands up at
+the Kougarok terminus.”
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+By evening the superintendent began to think he had done a clever stroke
+of business in hiring Tebbetts and Plapp. In front of him was a long
+train sheet and he gazed in quiet satisfaction at the run of fast
+freight No. 57. She was checked off “on time” all down the line and at
+every meet and was reported as pulling into Kougarok yards twenty-six
+seconds ahead of schedule.
+
+The run from Nome to the Kougarok is only about a hundred miles. In the
+morning, after three scraps and one minor riot with a gang of
+prospectors, Sam Tebbetts and Plapp marked up for a trip back to town.
+They were given No. 12, with a string of empties to be rolled into the
+freight yards at Nome.
+
+Sam was delayed by a brief passage of arms with the Kougarok dispatcher,
+whom he advised to let somebody wash his ears and make a good job of it.
+Then turning a deaf ear to an impassioned request for a lock of his hair
+to patch the station doormat with, he bolted for his engine, stuffing
+his orders into his pocket as he ran.
+
+He stumbled up into the cab, tripped over a coal shovel, and would have
+pitched himself through the open firebox door, had not Plapp reached out
+a strong hand and jerked him back by the seat of his pants.
+
+“It’s a wonder to me, Sam,” said Plapp, talking like a father to an
+errant offspring, “that you wouldn’t buy yourself a set o’ overalls o’
+your own, instead of wearin’ mine.”
+
+Sam made a face like a man with a mouthful of hair and started down the
+tracks with a jerk. “If you’d keep them shovels and truck off the floor
+plates, an engineer could come aboard his own cab without breakin’ his
+neck,” he snorted.
+
+Tebbetts rattled across the yard switches and out onto the single track
+main line. There was a down grade with a few curves in it for the first
+few miles and Sam let his empties breeze along at a fast clip.
+
+For awhile he and Plapp said nothing to each other. Sam pulled his
+train-order flimsy from his pocket and reread it for certainty’s sake.
+“I see,” he said, turning to Plapp who was staring idly out the
+left-hand window, “where we got a lot o’ meets this run. Ptarmigan
+Gulch, Moonglow, the turn-out by Cooley’s Bend. Mostly passenger trains
+comin’ up, too. Them miners sure are pilin’ into the Kougarok country.”
+
+“Yeh,” assented Plapp truculently. “an’ I thought we come up here to
+find us a gold mine. The first thing you do like a bone-dome is get us a
+job with a contract where we can’t quit to go prospectin’. What a fine
+bowl o’ tripe your brains turned out to be!”
+
+“We’ll get our prospectin’ in. Trust Sam Tebbetts an’ don’t act like a
+sorehead.” Sam was going to say more. But his body suddenly stiffened
+and in his excitement he yelled for Plapp. The fireman came over to the
+engineer’s side of the cab. “Look! What does that look like to you?
+Gold, ain’t it?” Tebbetts was pointing to several bowlders lying on the
+hillside. Bright specks in the rocks glistened beneath the rays of the
+morning sun.
+
+“Mebbe them shiny bits is gold,” agreed Plapp. “They’re yellow.”
+
+“Yea, Plapp! We’re millionaires!” shouted Sam, closing his throttle.
+There was an ear-rending bangety-clank as the engineer jammed on his air
+brakes. The empties rocked and cascaded to an abrupt stop. Sam leaped
+from the cab and, with one hand holding his trousers up, sprinted for
+the nearest bowlder. Plapp followed, a fair imitation of an elephant in
+full flight.
+
+Back in the caboose a startled conductor and a brakeman found their
+quiet game of casino rudely interrupted. They dashed for the rear
+platform together, wondering what was up. No. 12 was as still as an
+empty tomb, motionless as the hills themselves. And there was no signal
+set against her, nor could another train be heard thundering toward her
+on the single track. The brakeman tilted his cap on the back of his
+head.
+
+“What the hell!” he muttered.
+
+“There they are!” The conductor spotted the running pair first. “Look!
+The big fella’ is chasin’ the little one down the hill. Wonder what
+happened.” He beckoned to the brakeman. “Take the flags and go on back
+along the track in case somethin’ may be comin’ along. I’ll go down and
+see what the trouble is.”
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+The conductor caught up with Sam and Plapp when they stopped beside one
+of the bowlders. The two were in the midst of an argument when he
+arrived.
+
+“Well, it’s yellow, ain’t it? And it shines, don’t it? How do you know
+it ain’t gold?” said Sam.
+
+“Yeh,” said Plapp, still unconvinced, “but--”
+
+“But, me eye! Hey, conductor, look what we found. Gold! Plapp and me are
+rich. We’re all rich. Press the flesh.” Sam put forth his hand, but the
+conductor remained unreceptive to the suggestion.
+
+“What’s the matter with you guys? Crazy? That ain’t gold, it’s yellow
+mica. See?” The conductor pried some of the glittering mineral from the
+rock and split it into small, thin leaves with his thumb nail.
+
+“Yep. It’s mica,” said Sam crestfallen. “Sorry, boys, my mistake.”
+
+However, the conductor wasn’t through. He turned on Sam angrily. “What’s
+the idea of stopping your train like that?”
+
+“Who wants to know?” Sam thrust forth his chin temptingly and the
+conductor landed one on the button that sent the little man reeling to
+the ground.
+
+“Plapp! Hey, Plapp!” moaned Sam. “You seen him hit me. Where are you?
+Lettin’ that guy hit a little fella like me.”
+
+Plapp studied the situation for a solemn moment. “You told me that stuff
+was gold,” he said slowly to Sam. “You had it comin’ for lyin’ to me
+thataways.” Then he turned toward the conductor and the light of battle
+suddenly blazed in his eyes. “Still an’ all, it’s a hell of a thing to
+hit a little runt like Sam so hard as you did, you big bum.” He stepped
+up close to the conductor.
+
+Still rubbing his chin, Sam sat up to watch the fray and give some
+unnecessary advice to Plapp. In spite of his size, Plapp, once he was
+aroused, swung his fists as fast as greased lightning. He could handle
+his dukes like a professional. And he believed in making his battles as
+brief as possible.
+
+Sam helped Plapp drag the wilted form of the conductor back to the
+train. They called in the brakeman, stowed the conductor in the caboose,
+and having suggested that a little raw beef would take the swelling out
+of his fast closing left eye, went forward and climbed into the engine
+cab together.
+
+That was the beginning of Sam’s wayside prospecting. Seven times on the
+trip to Nome he pulled up his train with a jerk and cut wildly across
+the scenery, followed by the faithful Plapp. Five times investigation
+proved that it was mica that had misled him. Twice chunks of the brassy
+iron pyrites caught his eye.
+
+Sam rocked into his destination two hours late. Moreover, his loitering
+had made him late at several meets and as a result the northbound
+schedule of trains to the Kougarok had been seriously disturbed. All
+along the line, the road cursed No. 12.
+
+“Great stuff, prospectin’, hey, Plapp?” Sam slapped the fireman on the
+back. It was like slapping a barn door made of solid oak. “Of course you
+can’t expect to strike it rich the first day. But I’m goin’ to buy me a
+gold pan to-night. We’ll do the country proper to-morrow.”
+
+“But the train?”
+
+“We ain’t quittin’, are we? Just pausin’ on our way. No harm in that, is
+there? Say, I been held up for hours at a time, lots o’ times, by the
+operating department. Anyhow, we come to Alaska to go prospectin’, and
+we’re goin’ to do it, ain’t we?”
+
+Plapp nodded. Sam stuck out his hand. “Press the flesh, kid.” The little
+man and his big companion struck out across the tracks for a lunch wagon
+with the sign “Eat” displayed in large letters over the center sliding
+door.
+
+For a week Sam prospected on the fly and ran his trains late. Only the
+road’s extreme need of men enabled him to hold his job. He was called in
+and bawled out by everybody from the old man himself on down. He was
+threatened. He was pleaded with. It was no use. Sam had set his heart on
+prospecting.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+The general superintendent sent for Tebbetts one morning. Aside from his
+loitering by the wayside to go gold hunting, Sam was a good engineer.
+The super could ill afford to lose him. “Tebbetts,” he said sharply,
+“this independent prospecting of yours is throwing the operation of the
+line all out of plumb. I won’t have it. I want you to stop it.”
+
+“Well, I ain’t quit and left you stranded with a train up at the
+Kougarok, like Bennett did last night, have I?” said Sam defensively.
+“Me and Plapp has got a claim staked just off the switch at Cooley’s
+Bend. A good one too. But we ain’t quit you. Tebbetts’ll stick by his
+word.”
+
+The super’s face brightened. He decided to play up to Sam’s hair-trigger
+sense of honor.
+
+“Yes. I believe you will, Tebbetts. You’re a man of your word. I can
+trust you. I’m going to take you off the freight runs and give you
+passengers. The responsibility for the lives of many men.”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“The accident hazard isn’t any greater. But a freight smash-up and a
+passenger wreck are two entirely different things. You understand that,
+of course.”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+“Good. I’m putting you on your honor now, Tebbetts. This is a personal
+matter between you and me. I want you to promise that you won’t make a
+single stop that isn’t on your orders. Remember, Tebbetts, you’re going
+to carry passengers. No stop-overs to go prospecting, or daisy-picking,
+or anything else.”
+
+The super’s system worked. Sam was as good as his word. He ran his
+passengers to and from the Kougarok regularly. They kept him busy.
+
+Plenty of overtime, but no time off. It wasn’t easy for Sam to work
+faithfully with the gold fever burning his heart out. Day or night, the
+moment he climbed out of his cab, the only thing he thought about was
+the claim he and Plapp had staked not far from the switch at Cooley’s
+Bend.
+
+There were times when he regretted his promise to the superintendent.
+However, having given his word, his word held him to his duty.
+
+“Aw, Sam, what’s the use?” suggested Plapp one morning as they were
+running down the grades to Nome. “You’re gettin’ into a fog broodin’.
+Let’s quit and try out our claim.”
+
+“Can’t,” said Tebbetts quietly. “Told the super I wouldn’t run out on
+him. You and me are about the only regulars left now.”
+
+“Don’t I know it,” went on Plapp. “The others are all quittin’ and
+gettin’ rich. Smith and McDobbs and Koebel and--”
+
+“Mebbe they are,” snapped Sam. “But Tebbetts ain’t. You go ahead if you
+want to quit.”
+
+“Naw. Guess I’ll stick, if you do,” replied Plapp.
+
+A few days later Sam marked up for the Nome express as usual. He was up
+at the Kougarok end of the line and he felt nervous. The proximity of
+the boom diggings always made him feel worse at the Kougarok. The strain
+of his continued loyalty was beginning to show in dark crow’s feet under
+his eyes and the taut lines about his mouth.
+
+He started out of the station without waiting for the conductor’s
+highball. The latter dashed out of the depot and caught the last coach.
+Two sharp yanks on the whistle cord brought Sam to a quick stop three
+hundred feet down the track. The conductor ran along the roadbed till he
+was opposite the engine cab, and for the first time in his life Sam took
+a calling down without making a single comeback.
+
+“What’s the matter, Sam,” asked Plapp as the Nome express gathered
+headway again, “sick? Or just thinkin’ that mebbe we’re a couple o’
+potential millionaires and don’t know it, workin’ our hearts out on a
+railroad?”
+
+“Aw hell, if there’s gold in that ground of ours, it’ll stay there till
+we get it. It ain’t goin’ to fly away,” said Sam, trying to fight down
+his desire to go back on his word and quit.
+
+He was still debating the question within his mind when he pulled into
+Ptarmigan Gulch and he almost forgot that he had a meet there with a
+northbound freight. He ran past a signal set dead against him and only
+pulled up to a short stop when Plapp yelled at him. When the freight had
+gone by, he rattled out of the Gulch in the same nervous hurry that
+marked his departure from the Kougarok depot.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+As he approached the switch at Cooley’s Bend, he took a last good look
+down the track ahead of him and then closed his eyes going by the
+gravel-bottomed gully in which lay the little stretch of auriferous
+earth that held his fondest dreams of wealth and fortune.
+
+The claim lay up the gully a short distance to the right. Plapp had the
+firebox door open and was about to heave some coal into his glowing
+furnaces when he chanced to look over toward the property he and Sam had
+staked. For a half second he held his shovel poised in mid-air. Then he
+dropped it with a clatter to the floor, and shook Sam excitedly.
+
+“Sam, look! Look! There’s men on our claim. Workin’--diggin’ gold out of
+it! Sam, they’re robbin’ us.”
+
+Sam opened his eyes with a start. “The dirty buzzards!” he yelled. Just
+ahead of him, he saw the turn-out. His passengers, his given word,
+everything seemed of little importance beside the fact that men were on
+his claim, stealing from him. He shut his throttle on the thread of
+steam and applied his brakes.
+
+“Jump, Plapp!” he shouted as the speeding train came to a grinding halt.
+“Run ahead and throw that switch. I’m gonna take the express out on
+that siding till we clean them lousy crooks off our property.”
+
+Plapp jumped, rolled over in the ditch once, then picked himself up and
+ran for the switch. He threw the bar over as Sam released his brakes and
+opened his throttle gently. Once across the switch the engineer shut off
+steam again and let his train coast to a stop, while he swung out of the
+cab.
+
+Passengers stuck their heads out of the windows. The conductor came
+running toward Sam, but before he could get breath enough to open his
+mouth Sam called to him.
+
+“Hey, throw that switch back on the main line! Me and Plapp will be back
+in a couple of minutes.”
+
+With that he dashed up the gully after Plapp. There were three men
+working on the claim.
+
+“Hey!” shouted the big fireman. “What’s the idea, you dirty thieves,
+stealin’ a man’s gold!”
+
+The biggest of the three men, a great black-bearded fellow, spat
+contemptuously. “Yuh ain’t referrin’ to me and my pardners, is you,
+stranger? ’Cause I got a notion to make you eat them words, handsome.”
+
+“The hell we ain’t!” shouted Sam, coming up with the group. “Sock him,
+Plapp! He’s your size. Bust him on the nose!”
+
+Plapp’s fist shot out at the same time the big claim-jumper reached for
+his gun. There was the crack of knotted fist on a jawbone and the sharp
+bang-bang of gunfire.
+
+“He’s tryin’ to shoot you! The yellow skunk!” screamed Sam, jumping for
+the man with the gun. As he plunged, the other two claim-jumpers swung
+into the melee. One tripped Sam with his foot and the other dealt his
+falling body a vicious blow with his fist. Sam rolled to the ground, but
+he managed to get his arms around a leg of the big miner. He clung like
+a leech as the man tried to shake himself free.
+
+With a howl of rage and pain the claim-jumper bent over to finish off
+the engineer. Plapp caught the miner a stomach blow that doubled him up.
+Unfortunately the force of his follow through took the fireman off his
+balance. He fell on top of the jumper and Sam on the bottom of the pile
+felt his head being ground into the dirt and gravel by the weight of the
+two heavy men on top of him.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+“Hey, get offa me, you walruses!” groaned Sam as the two other miners
+tried to pry Plapp from their comrade. For some minutes the slugging,
+kicking mass rolled over and over on the ground. Fists flew. Blows were
+given and taken. The men hardly knew whom they were striking, friend or
+foe.
+
+Sam felt a hairy hand reach for his throat. He tried to twist out of
+reach and as he turned someone’s bloody thumb started to gouge his eye
+out. He sensed rather than saw that Plapp was apparently out of the
+fight.
+
+“Hey, Plapp!” he shouted, “Where are you, Plapp? They’re killin me,
+Plapp, pickin’ on a little guy like me!”
+
+For once Plapp’s aid was not forthcoming. Sam fought like a demon, all
+the while cursing and calling for his fireman. Suddenly it dawned on him
+that something must have happened to Plapp. “Mebbe they licked him,” he
+muttered, and redoubled his efforts.
+
+But the gamest fighter in the world couldn’t have held out long against
+such odds. Three men to one scrapping peewee. They rained blows on him
+till he ached all over and when he closed his eyes everything spun
+around and went black. Spitting out teeth, wiping blood from his face,
+Sam pulled himself together for a last effort.
+
+Suddenly the blows ceased. Shots filled the gully. Two of the
+claim-jumpers started to run. As the third started to follow them Sam
+reached out and clutched at a corduroy-trousered leg. He hung on, though
+he was dragged twenty yards before his prisoner came to a halt at the
+sharp command, “Stick ’em up.”
+
+Sam lifted his head weakly. “I got him, Plapp!” he murmured. Then he
+looked around him. Plapp wasn’t there. Just a whole crowd of passengers
+from his train. He recognized the conductor and some trainmen.
+
+“You done a good job there, little fella,” said one of the miners,
+coming over and helping Sam to his feet. “These birds have been jumpin’
+claims all over the Kougarok. The marshal will be mighty glad to see
+them.”
+
+“Yeh,” said Sam without interest. “Where’s Plapp?”
+
+The man pointed toward another group of people a few yards away. “You
+mean the fireman? Oh, he’ll pull through. The doc is lookin’ after him.”
+
+“The doc!” Sam screamed, “Plapp! Hey, Plapp!”
+
+While some of the miners marched the claim-jumpers back to the train,
+Sam dashed over toward those who had gathered around Plapp. “What’s the
+matter, doc?” he shouted.
+
+“Nothing serious. Three flesh wounds. Various parts of his anatomy. He
+says he got them when the fight started. When the big fellow pulled the
+gun on him first.”
+
+“Well, I’ll-- Hey, Plapp, you’re aces. Press the flesh, kid.”
+
+The fireman, weak from loss of blood, held out a limp hand and tried to
+sit up. Willing hands braced his back.
+
+“Them dirty skunks,” mumbled Plapp, “tryin’ to steal a claim from a
+little runt like you.”
+
+“Yeh,” agreed Sam slowly, “You fixed ’em. But they made a liar out o’
+me. Guess my no stop-over record is plumb shot to hell now.”
+
+Suddenly the rumble of a train held everybody spellbound. It was coming
+north bound, up the tracks towards the Kougarok. With a roar it
+thundered around the bend and rocked past the deserted Nome express,
+safe on the siding.
+
+Sam looked up blankly. The conductor was standing beside him. “What in
+blazes?” he exclaimed, “We ain’t got a meet at this turn-out.” He pulled
+his orders from his inside pocket and scanned them carefully. “That was
+a two-car special too.”
+
+“That meet?” Sam said. “Yeah, I got it orally from the operator at
+Ptarmigan Gulch. Forgot to tell you.”
+
+The conductor grunted skeptically. He remembered distinctly that Sam had
+not left his engine cab at Ptarmigan Gulch at all. Nor had the operator
+come out to the train. However, he said nothing.
+
+The doctor looked up. “If a couple of you boys will give me a hand, I
+think this man can get back to the train now.” Plapp, his head swathed
+in improvised bandages, hobbled back to the train supported on the
+willing shoulders of two miners.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sam climbed into his cab and backed onto the main line carefully. With a
+trainman firing for him in place of Plapp who was back in one of the
+passenger coaches, Sam picked his way cautiously down to Moonglow, the
+next telegraph station. He beat the conductor by half a length to the
+telegraph operator’s desk, and crashed into a little knot of men who had
+rushed toward the door upon the arrival of the express. Foremost of
+these was the general superintendent himself.
+
+“Tebbetts,” he said sternly, “where’s that northbound special? We were
+just going out to get the wrecker ready.”
+
+“Met her on the turn out at Cooley’s Bend.”
+
+“Hmm,” the super turned to the Moonglow operator. “That man at Ptarmigan
+Gulch must be drunk. Give me that last wire of his again.” The operator
+handed over a piece of yellow paper, from which the super read aloud:
+
+“Order to have Nome Express wait for special at C. B. turn-out received
+too late. Nome express left here six minutes ago. Eleven forty-eight.”
+
+Sam paled slightly as the superintendent looked him squarely in the eye.
+
+“Tebbetts, did you run into that turn-out on instructions, or did you
+just have a hunch you’d like to go prospecting again?”
+
+“Yes, sir,” said Sam.
+
+“Yes, what? Did you get the orders for that meet with the special?” The
+super’s eyes seemed to bore through to the back of Sam’s aching head.
+
+“No, sir,” he admitted quietly.
+
+“I thought not. Tebbetts, I told you before about those stop-overs. In
+this case you happened to be fortunate. Avoided a wreck probably. But
+you must run according to orders. I’m sorry. I’ll have to punish you as
+I said I would for that non-scheduled stop-over. You’re fired.”
+
+“Yes, sir,” replied Sam, edging slowly towards the door. “But can I
+finish the run? I’d like to get Plapp down to Nome first, to the
+hospital.”
+
+The super relaxed. “You may.” Tebbetts started back to his train.
+
+“Wait a minute,” called the super, “I haven’t finished yet. I told you
+we couldn’t have a man on this line that persists in prospecting on his
+runs. Still, you avoided a wreck. You probably saved the lives of many
+men. We can’t afford to lose a man like you, either. After you get into
+Nome, come around in the morning. Come into my office. I’ll give you
+another run. But first you’ll get a two weeks’ vacation with pay, to
+work on that claim of yours at the bend. Of course you’ll have to cut
+out stop-overs. No pledge, or promise, or anything like that. Just your
+word, Tebbetts.”
+
+“Okay. Press the flesh.”
+
+And to Sam’s surprise the superintendent gripped his palm.
+
+
+[Transcriber’s note: This story appeared in the May 5, 1929 issue of
+_Argosy All-Story Weekly_.]
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75913 ***
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+    <title>No Stop-Overs | Project Gutenberg</title>
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75913 ***</div>
+
+<figure class="illustration70">
+  <img src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" alt="A large man standing in the doorway">
+  <figcaption>The doorway was filled by a great mass of brawn and muscle, grinning from ear to ear</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<h1>NO STOP-OVERS</h1>
+<div class='tac' style='margin-bottom:1em'>By John A. Thompson</div>
+
+<blockquote style='margin-bottom:1.2em;'>With the lure of the gold camps taking every able-bodied
+man from his job, you can’t keep a good man on in Alaska
+railroading&mdash;but Sam Tebbetts and Plapp were exceptional.</blockquote>
+
+<p>Because of the boom out at the gold diggings on the Kougarok, the little
+railroad that wound its way through brush and over tundra from Nome to
+the up-country mining camps had an unusually heavy spring traffic to
+handle. The sudden brisk business was profitable. But it meant more
+trains. More trains meant more locomotive engineers&mdash;engine drivers,
+they call them nowadays&mdash;and men who could drive an old Forney type, or
+a 4-4-0 American, were scarce in Alaska.</p>
+
+<p>In this emergency, firemen were given regular runs. Every call boy and
+roundhouse sweeper husky enough to lift a slice bar was set to work
+firing. Still the road was short-handed.</p>
+
+<p>The new engineers had a disconcerting habit of deserting. The minute
+they pulled into the terminal yards up on the Kougarok, they would steal
+a pick and shovel from the maintenance department and duck out for the
+gold-bearing creeks two miles out of town. One absconding brakeman had
+the brass to stake out his mining claim with signal flags swiped from
+the road before he left.</p>
+
+<p>Worried over operating conditions, haggard from loss of sleep, the
+general superintendent bent over the morning reports in his office down
+at Nome. Suddenly he looked up as the door opened a few inches. One of
+the oddest specimens of humanity he had ever cast eyes on sidled through
+the narrow aperture, and coughed to attract attention.</p>
+
+<p>For ten silent seconds the super stared at the man in amazement. The
+stranger was less than pint size. Yet he wore overalls that had
+obviously been made for a man of generous architecture. His trouser legs
+were rolled into bulky cuffs almost knee-high, and a broad leather belt
+around his waist gave him more or less indefinite control over the slack
+in his stern-sheets.</p>
+
+<p>For all the tiny man’s incongruous get-up, however, there was a firm set
+to his square, pugnacious chin and determination in the large gray eyes
+that peered out from under his bushy thatch of straw-colored hair.</p>
+
+<p>“Ahem!” The stranger coughed again.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” snapped the super, “what do you want? Do you work on this road?”</p>
+
+<p>The stranger shuffled toward the super’s desk.</p>
+
+<p>“Not yet,” he said cheerily, answering the last question first. “Hope to
+soon, sir. Name is Tebbetts, Sam Tebbetts. Glad to meet you. Press the
+flesh.”</p>
+
+<p>Sam thrust out his hand. Before the super realized what he was doing he
+had stood up and shaken hands with the man. Almost instantly he sat down
+again with uncomfortable abruptness, angry at himself and the smiling
+stranger.
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>“If it’s a job you’re looking for, I’m not the man you want to see. I
+don’t hire the bohunks.”</p>
+
+<p>“Sam Tebbetts ain’t no bohunk, mister.” Sam bristled like a fighting
+cock and there was an unexpected quality in his voice that made the
+super sit upright. “He’s an engineer.”</p>
+
+<p>It was the first time in three weeks that the super had had a really
+good laugh for himself. He leaned back in his chair and rocked with
+merriment.</p>
+
+<p>“A what? An engineer? You? Ho-ho-ho!”</p>
+
+<p>Sam flushed crimson as he dug down deep into a back pocket and pulled
+forth a packet of thumb-marked credentials which he flung angrily on the
+desk in front of the super.</p>
+
+<p>“Sam Tebbetts ain’t no liar, either,” he declared.</p>
+
+<p>The super picked up the papers and began studying them with growing
+interest. Evidently the man was right. He was an engineer; a good one
+too.</p>
+
+<p>“What did you come up to Nome for?” asked the super, suspicious still of
+the comic strip character that had walked into his office.</p>
+
+<p>“To go gold minin’,” answered Sam promptly.</p>
+
+<p>“I thought so.” The super sighed. “If it’s just free transportation to
+the Kougarok that you are looking for, I’ll write you out a pass. It’s
+easier in the end. I’m through hiring drifters that take a run or two
+and then jump the train at the other end of the line. Seven engineers
+have deserted me this week.”</p>
+
+<p>“Sam Tebbetts ain’t that kind.”</p>
+
+<p>The super grunted. He was still doubtful of this shock-headed lad, but
+he needed men badly. “The crowd up here is pretty rough. Apt to rag hell
+out of you.”</p>
+
+<p>“Guess I can take care of myself.” Sam stuck out his jaw and clenched
+his fists, following which demonstration of belligerency he shadow-boxed
+around the super’s desk for a few seconds. He wound up the demonstration
+with a vicious uppercut to the empty air.</p>
+
+<p>“When do I start?”</p>
+
+<p>“Mr. Tebbetts,” said the super calmly, “I’ll start you right now&mdash;but
+only if you’ll agree to stick with the road all season. Your wages will
+be paid when we close down for the winter. In the meantime I’ll see that
+your food and board bills are taken care of.”</p>
+
+<p>“Suits me,” said Sam. “Press the flesh.”</p>
+
+<p>This time the super declined the proffered hand. With a wave of his hand
+he indicated that he considered the matter closed.</p>
+
+<p>“Ahem!” Sam coughed again.</p>
+
+<p>“Well! It’s all right ahead. Go ahead down to the roundhouse. You’re
+hired, Mr. Tebbetts.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, sir. But I’d like a job for my pal too. He’s a fireman. Fired for
+me eight years, sir. Good man. Dutch. Steady worker. Name’s Plapp.
+Suydam Plapp.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, where is he?” The super looked about the office in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>“He’s here,” said Sam. “Plapp! Hey, Plapp! Come on in. Meet the super.
+He’s regular. We got a job, Plapp.”</p>
+
+<p>Again the office door opened quietly and this time the doorway was
+filled by a great mass of brawn and muscle, grinning from ear to ear.</p>
+
+<p>“Is that Plapp?” asked the super.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, sir. And, mister, if all firemen was as good as him, the people
+that makes mechanical stokers would go out of business in a week.”</p>
+
+<p>“Hmm. He looks like Zbysko. Remember, he goes to work under the same
+conditions that you do, Tebbetts.”</p>
+
+<p>“Suits us.” Tebbetts pushed his big companion toward the door. “Let’s go
+down to the roundhouse, Plapp, and meet the gang.”</p>
+
+<p>When they had closed the door after them, the super pulled out a
+handkerchief and mopped his face. “Phew,” he muttered, “if the road
+don’t go plumb to pot with that team o’ galoots workin’ on it, I’m
+crazy. Lucky for them they hit me when I was short-handed.”</p>
+
+<p>The super had barely settled down to resumption of his morning’s work
+when the roundhouse foreman and a man from the dispatcher’s office
+rushed into this sanctum within ten seconds of each other, each with the
+same breathless request.</p>
+
+<p>“Any more medical stores up here? Liniment, gauze bandages, sticking
+plaster?”</p>
+
+<p>“What’s the matter?” exclaimed the super. “An accident?”</p>
+
+<p>“No, sir.” It was the roundhouse foreman who found his tongue first.
+“Jest them two circus freaks you sent down this mornin’. One of the boys
+started kidding the little fellow.”
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>“I warned him it was a rough crowd,” said the super.</p>
+
+<p>“Warned him!” The foreman’s voice rose. “He don’t need no warnin’. Swung
+right at the lad that was kiddin’ him, and then he yells, ‘Plapp! Hey,
+Plapp!’ and the big Dutchman comes a runnin’. ‘Hold him, Sam!’ roars
+the big fellow, ‘Don’t let him get away, the bully. Pickin’ on a little
+runt like you.’”</p>
+
+<p>“Hmm,” muttered the superintendent. “We’ve got enough trouble without a
+lot of senseless scrapping among the men. Tell those two I don’t want
+any more of it. And take them some first aid stuff. It’s in the cabinet
+there.”</p>
+
+<p>“It ain’t them that wants it, sir. It’s my man. You can pour most of
+what’s left of him in a coal oil can.” The foreman shook his head sadly.
+He walked toward the cabinet at the open end of the office and the super
+turned on the clerk from the dispatcher’s office.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, what’s your trouble?” he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>“It’s those two new fellows.” The clerk spoke timidly.</p>
+
+<p>“What about them? Speak up.”</p>
+
+<p>“T-T-Tebbetts came in for his orders and we all started to laugh. He
+looked so funny in those big pants, and Thonet was at his key and he
+turned around and said to Tebbetts&mdash;”</p>
+
+<p>“Never mind what he said. What happened?”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, they exchanged words and then Tebbetts made a pass at Thonet and
+caught him behind the ear with a fist like a mallet and when we tried to
+pull him away he yelled for Plapp.”</p>
+
+<p>The super smiled in spite of himself. “Then what?”</p>
+
+<p>“The boys downstairs want some gauze and some liniment and some&mdash;”</p>
+
+<p>“Get out of here!” thundered the super. “It looks as if you fellows were
+picking on the wrong dog this time.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, sir,” agreed the retreating clerk. “Anyhow, we’ve got most of the
+broken chairs picked up and we’re straightening up the office, while
+Thonet is getting his wires in order again. Plapp ripped them out.”</p>
+
+<p>As the clerk left, the super called to the foreman, whose arms were
+laden with bottles and bandages.</p>
+
+<p>“What’s the matter with those two, Jim? Just quarrelsome?”</p>
+
+<p>“No. I wouldn’t say that,” replied the foreman. “They wait for the other
+fellows to start something, but they sure do love a scrap.”</p>
+
+<p>“Outside of that, do they know their business? What is that big fellow
+Plapp? He seems to do most of the damage. Is he a fireman, a ruffian, or
+only another disappointed white hope?”</p>
+
+<p>“He’s a fireman all right. In fact both of ’em seems to know their
+jobs.”</p>
+
+<p>“Where are they now?”</p>
+
+<p>“Plapp and the runt are out with No. 57.”</p>
+
+<p>“Hmm. Get her out all right? Gave the big boy a tough engine to fire on
+his first run, didn’t they?”</p>
+
+<p>The foreman smiled. “Break ’em in right. On account o’ bein’ short o’
+yard help, Plapp gets No. 57 cold. By about the time an ordinary cuss
+would have them boilers warm, I heard a crack and a sizzle and when I
+look out there’s No. 57 poppin’ off like she’s goin’ to blow herself
+apart. Plapp, grimy and smilin’, is standin’ in the cab. He has his
+sleeves rolled up and he looks like he was goin’ to pick his teeth with
+the slice bar he’s playin’ with.” He paused.</p>
+
+<p>“Go ahead,” said the super, “I want to know how No. 57 got away on time
+for the first time in three weeks.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I see little Sam Tebbetts come runnin’ acrost the tracks, chipper
+as hell, ’cept when he comes near trippin’ on his nose and his shoes get
+caught in those sea-goin’ pants. He swings into the cab, talks to Plapp
+for a few seconds. Then he looks at his watch and the two shake hands.
+The next minute Tebbetts is on the engineer’s seat box. I see he can
+hardly stretch up to some o’ the valves without standin’ up. But he
+tries the air, opens the cylinder cocks, eases open on his throttle and
+old No. 57 wheezes down the rails as pretty as you please.”</p>
+
+<p>The super, palms outstretched on the top of his desk, tapped his index
+fingers thoughtfully. “Well, I’d advise you fellows against trying to
+kid Tebbetts. It doesn’t seem to pay.”</p>
+
+<p>“No, sir, it don’t.”</p>
+
+<p>“And,” added the super, “when you go past the dispatcher’s office tell
+them I want them to keep me posted on No. 57’s run till she lands up at
+the Kougarok terminus.”
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>By evening the superintendent began to think he had done a clever stroke
+of business in hiring Tebbetts and Plapp. In front of him was a long
+train sheet and he gazed in quiet satisfaction at the run of fast
+freight No. 57. She was checked off “on time” all down the line and at
+every meet and was reported as pulling into Kougarok yards twenty-six
+seconds ahead of schedule.</p>
+
+<p>The run from Nome to the Kougarok is only about a hundred miles. In the
+morning, after three scraps and one minor riot with a gang of
+prospectors, Sam Tebbetts and Plapp marked up for a trip back to town.
+They were given No. 12, with a string of empties to be rolled into the
+freight yards at Nome.</p>
+
+<p>Sam was delayed by a brief passage of arms with the Kougarok dispatcher,
+whom he advised to let somebody wash his ears and make a good job of it.
+Then turning a deaf ear to an impassioned request for a lock of his hair
+to patch the station doormat with, he bolted for his engine, stuffing
+his orders into his pocket as he ran.</p>
+
+<p>He stumbled up into the cab, tripped over a coal shovel, and would have
+pitched himself through the open firebox door, had not Plapp reached out
+a strong hand and jerked him back by the seat of his pants.</p>
+
+<p>“It’s a wonder to me, Sam,” said Plapp, talking like a father to an
+errant offspring, “that you wouldn’t buy yourself a set o’ overalls o’
+your own, instead of wearin’ mine.”</p>
+
+<p>Sam made a face like a man with a mouthful of hair and started down the
+tracks with a jerk. “If you’d keep them shovels and truck off the floor
+plates, an engineer could come aboard his own cab without breakin’ his
+neck,” he snorted.</p>
+
+<p>Tebbetts rattled across the yard switches and out onto the single track
+main line. There was a down grade with a few curves in it for the first
+few miles and Sam let his empties breeze along at a fast clip.</p>
+
+<p>For awhile he and Plapp said nothing to each other. Sam pulled his
+train-order flimsy from his pocket and reread it for certainty’s sake.
+“I see,” he said, turning to Plapp who was staring idly out the
+left-hand window, “where we got a lot o’ meets this run. Ptarmigan
+Gulch, Moonglow, the turn-out by Cooley’s Bend. Mostly passenger trains
+comin’ up, too. Them miners sure are pilin’ into the Kougarok country.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yeh,” assented Plapp truculently. “an’ I thought we come up here to
+find us a gold mine. The first thing you do like a bone-dome is get us a
+job with a contract where we can’t quit to go prospectin’. What a fine
+bowl o’ tripe your brains turned out to be!”</p>
+
+<p>“We’ll get our prospectin’ in. Trust Sam Tebbetts an’ don’t act like a
+sorehead.” Sam was going to say more. But his body suddenly stiffened
+and in his excitement he yelled for Plapp. The fireman came over to the
+engineer’s side of the cab. “Look! What does that look like to you?
+Gold, ain’t it?” Tebbetts was pointing to several bowlders lying on the
+hillside. Bright specks in the rocks glistened beneath the rays of the
+morning sun.</p>
+
+<p>“Mebbe them shiny bits is gold,” agreed Plapp. “They’re yellow.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yea, Plapp! We’re millionaires!” shouted Sam, closing his throttle.
+There was an ear-rending bangety-clank as the engineer jammed on his air
+brakes. The empties rocked and cascaded to an abrupt stop. Sam leaped
+from the cab and, with one hand holding his trousers up, sprinted for
+the nearest bowlder. Plapp followed, a fair imitation of an elephant in
+full flight.</p>
+
+<p>Back in the caboose a startled conductor and a brakeman found their
+quiet game of casino rudely interrupted. They dashed for the rear
+platform together, wondering what was up. No. 12 was as still as an
+empty tomb, motionless as the hills themselves. And there was no signal
+set against her, nor could another train be heard thundering toward her
+on the single track. The brakeman tilted his cap on the back of his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>“What the hell!” he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>“There they are!” The conductor spotted the running pair first. “Look!
+The big fella’ is chasin’ the little one down the hill. Wonder what
+happened.” He beckoned to the brakeman. “Take the flags and go on back
+along the track in case somethin’ may be comin’ along. I’ll go down and
+see what the trouble is.”
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>The conductor caught up with Sam and Plapp when they stopped beside one
+of the bowlders. The two were in the midst of an argument when he
+arrived.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, it’s yellow, ain’t it? And it shines, don’t it? How do you know
+it ain’t gold?” said Sam.</p>
+
+<p>“Yeh,” said Plapp, still unconvinced, “but&mdash;”</p>
+
+<p>“But, me eye! Hey, conductor, look what we found. Gold! Plapp and me are
+rich. We’re all rich. Press the flesh.” Sam put forth his hand, but the
+conductor remained unreceptive to the suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>“What’s the matter with you guys? Crazy? That ain’t gold, it’s yellow
+mica. See?” The conductor pried some of the glittering mineral from the
+rock and split it into small, thin leaves with his thumb nail.</p>
+
+<p>“Yep. It’s mica,” said Sam crestfallen. “Sorry, boys, my mistake.”</p>
+
+<p>However, the conductor wasn’t through. He turned on Sam angrily. “What’s
+the idea of stopping your train like that?”</p>
+
+<p>“Who wants to know?” Sam thrust forth his chin temptingly and the
+conductor landed one on the button that sent the little man reeling to
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>“Plapp! Hey, Plapp!” moaned Sam. “You seen him hit me. Where are you?
+Lettin’ that guy hit a little fella like me.”</p>
+
+<p>Plapp studied the situation for a solemn moment. “You told me that stuff
+was gold,” he said slowly to Sam. “You had it comin’ for lyin’ to me
+thataways.” Then he turned toward the conductor and the light of battle
+suddenly blazed in his eyes. “Still an’ all, it’s a hell of a thing to
+hit a little runt like Sam so hard as you did, you big bum.” He stepped
+up close to the conductor.</p>
+
+<p>Still rubbing his chin, Sam sat up to watch the fray and give some
+unnecessary advice to Plapp. In spite of his size, Plapp, once he was
+aroused, swung his fists as fast as greased lightning. He could handle
+his dukes like a professional. And he believed in making his battles as
+brief as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Sam helped Plapp drag the wilted form of the conductor back to the
+train. They called in the brakeman, stowed the conductor in the caboose,
+and having suggested that a little raw beef would take the swelling out
+of his fast closing left eye, went forward and climbed into the engine
+cab together.</p>
+
+<p>That was the beginning of Sam’s wayside prospecting. Seven times on the
+trip to Nome he pulled up his train with a jerk and cut wildly across
+the scenery, followed by the faithful Plapp. Five times investigation
+proved that it was mica that had misled him. Twice chunks of the brassy
+iron pyrites caught his eye.</p>
+
+<p>Sam rocked into his destination two hours late. Moreover, his loitering
+had made him late at several meets and as a result the northbound
+schedule of trains to the Kougarok had been seriously disturbed. All
+along the line, the road cursed No. 12.</p>
+
+<p>“Great stuff, prospectin’, hey, Plapp?” Sam slapped the fireman on the
+back. It was like slapping a barn door made of solid oak. “Of course you
+can’t expect to strike it rich the first day. But I’m goin’ to buy me a
+gold pan to-night. We’ll do the country proper to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p>“But the train?”</p>
+
+<p>“We ain’t quittin’, are we? Just pausin’ on our way. No harm in that, is
+there? Say, I been held up for hours at a time, lots o’ times, by the
+operating department. Anyhow, we come to Alaska to go prospectin’, and
+we’re goin’ to do it, ain’t we?”</p>
+
+<p>Plapp nodded. Sam stuck out his hand. “Press the flesh, kid.” The little
+man and his big companion struck out across the tracks for a lunch wagon
+with the sign “Eat” displayed in large letters over the center sliding
+door.</p>
+
+<p>For a week Sam prospected on the fly and ran his trains late. Only the
+road’s extreme need of men enabled him to hold his job. He was called in
+and bawled out by everybody from the old man himself on down. He was
+threatened. He was pleaded with. It was no use. Sam had set his heart on
+prospecting.
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>The general superintendent sent for Tebbetts one morning. Aside from his
+loitering by the wayside to go gold hunting, Sam was a good engineer.
+The super could ill afford to lose him. “Tebbetts,” he said sharply,
+“this independent prospecting of yours is throwing the operation of the
+line all out of plumb. I won’t have it. I want you to stop it.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I ain’t quit and left you stranded with a train up at the
+Kougarok, like Bennett did last night, have I?” said Sam defensively.
+“Me and Plapp has got a claim staked just off the switch at Cooley’s
+Bend. A good one too. But we ain’t quit you. Tebbetts’ll stick by his
+word.”</p>
+
+<p>The super’s face brightened. He decided to play up to Sam’s hair-trigger
+sense of honor.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes. I believe you will, Tebbetts. You’re a man of your word. I can
+trust you. I’m going to take you off the freight runs and give you
+passengers. The responsibility for the lives of many men.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, sir.”</p>
+
+<p>“The accident hazard isn’t any greater. But a freight smash-up and a
+passenger wreck are two entirely different things. You understand that,
+of course.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, sir.”</p>
+
+<p>“Good. I’m putting you on your honor now, Tebbetts. This is a personal
+matter between you and me. I want you to promise that you won’t make a
+single stop that isn’t on your orders. Remember, Tebbetts, you’re going
+to carry passengers. No stop-overs to go prospecting, or daisy-picking,
+or anything else.”</p>
+
+<p>The super’s system worked. Sam was as good as his word. He ran his
+passengers to and from the Kougarok regularly. They kept him busy.</p>
+
+<p>Plenty of overtime, but no time off. It wasn’t easy for Sam to work
+faithfully with the gold fever burning his heart out. Day or night, the
+moment he climbed out of his cab, the only thing he thought about was
+the claim he and Plapp had staked not far from the switch at Cooley’s
+Bend.</p>
+
+<p>There were times when he regretted his promise to the superintendent.
+However, having given his word, his word held him to his duty.</p>
+
+<p>“Aw, Sam, what’s the use?” suggested Plapp one morning as they were
+running down the grades to Nome. “You’re gettin’ into a fog broodin’.
+Let’s quit and try out our claim.”</p>
+
+<p>“Can’t,” said Tebbetts quietly. “Told the super I wouldn’t run out on
+him. You and me are about the only regulars left now.”</p>
+
+<p>“Don’t I know it,” went on Plapp. “The others are all quittin’ and
+gettin’ rich. Smith and McDobbs and Koebel and&mdash;”</p>
+
+<p>“Mebbe they are,” snapped Sam. “But Tebbetts ain’t. You go ahead if you
+want to quit.”</p>
+
+<p>“Naw. Guess I’ll stick, if you do,” replied Plapp.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later Sam marked up for the Nome express as usual. He was up
+at the Kougarok end of the line and he felt nervous. The proximity of
+the boom diggings always made him feel worse at the Kougarok. The strain
+of his continued loyalty was beginning to show in dark crow’s feet under
+his eyes and the taut lines about his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>He started out of the station without waiting for the conductor’s
+highball. The latter dashed out of the depot and caught the last coach.
+Two sharp yanks on the whistle cord brought Sam to a quick stop three
+hundred feet down the track. The conductor ran along the roadbed till he
+was opposite the engine cab, and for the first time in his life Sam took
+a calling down without making a single comeback.</p>
+
+<p>“What’s the matter, Sam,” asked Plapp as the Nome express gathered
+headway again, “sick? Or just thinkin’ that mebbe we’re a couple o’
+potential millionaires and don’t know it, workin’ our hearts out on a
+railroad?”</p>
+
+<p>“Aw hell, if there’s gold in that ground of ours, it’ll stay there till
+we get it. It ain’t goin’ to fly away,” said Sam, trying to fight down
+his desire to go back on his word and quit.</p>
+
+<p>He was still debating the question within his mind when he pulled into
+Ptarmigan Gulch and he almost forgot that he had a meet there with a
+northbound freight. He ran past a signal set dead against him and only
+pulled up to a short stop when Plapp yelled at him. When the freight had
+gone by, he rattled out of the Gulch in the same nervous hurry that
+marked his departure from the Kougarok depot.
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>As he approached the switch at Cooley’s Bend, he took a last good look
+down the track ahead of him and then closed his eyes going by the
+gravel-bottomed gully in which lay the little stretch of auriferous
+earth that held his fondest dreams of wealth and fortune.</p>
+
+<p>The claim lay up the gully a short distance to the right. Plapp had the
+firebox door open and was about to heave some coal into his glowing
+furnaces when he chanced to look over toward the property he and Sam had
+staked. For a half second he held his shovel poised in mid-air. Then he
+dropped it with a clatter to the floor, and shook Sam excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>“Sam, look! Look! There’s men on our claim. Workin’&mdash;diggin’ gold out of
+it! Sam, they’re robbin’ us.”</p>
+
+<p>Sam opened his eyes with a start. “The dirty buzzards!” he yelled. Just
+ahead of him, he saw the turn-out. His passengers, his given word,
+everything seemed of little importance beside the fact that men were on
+his claim, stealing from him. He shut his throttle on the thread of
+steam and applied his brakes.</p>
+
+<p>“Jump, Plapp!” he shouted as the speeding train came to a grinding halt.
+“Run ahead and throw that switch. I’m gonna take the express out on
+that siding till we clean them lousy crooks off our property.”</p>
+
+<p>Plapp jumped, rolled over in the ditch once, then picked himself up and
+ran for the switch. He threw the bar over as Sam released his brakes and
+opened his throttle gently. Once across the switch the engineer shut off
+steam again and let his train coast to a stop, while he swung out of the
+cab.</p>
+
+<p>Passengers stuck their heads out of the windows. The conductor came
+running toward Sam, but before he could get breath enough to open his
+mouth Sam called to him.</p>
+
+<p>“Hey, throw that switch back on the main line! Me and Plapp will be back
+in a couple of minutes.”</p>
+
+<p>With that he dashed up the gully after Plapp. There were three men
+working on the claim.</p>
+
+<p>“Hey!” shouted the big fireman. “What’s the idea, you dirty thieves,
+stealin’ a man’s gold!”</p>
+
+<p>The biggest of the three men, a great black-bearded fellow, spat
+contemptuously. “Yuh ain’t referrin’ to me and my pardners, is you,
+stranger? ’Cause I got a notion to make you eat them words, handsome.”</p>
+
+<p>“The hell we ain’t!” shouted Sam, coming up with the group. “Sock him,
+Plapp! He’s your size. Bust him on the nose!”</p>
+
+<p>Plapp’s fist shot out at the same time the big claim-jumper reached for
+his gun. There was the crack of knotted fist on a jawbone and the sharp
+bang-bang of gunfire.</p>
+
+<p>“He’s tryin’ to shoot you! The yellow skunk!” screamed Sam, jumping for
+the man with the gun. As he plunged, the other two claim-jumpers swung
+into the melee. One tripped Sam with his foot and the other dealt his
+falling body a vicious blow with his fist. Sam rolled to the ground, but
+he managed to get his arms around a leg of the big miner. He clung like
+a leech as the man tried to shake himself free.</p>
+
+<p>With a howl of rage and pain the claim-jumper bent over to finish off
+the engineer. Plapp caught the miner a stomach blow that doubled him up.
+Unfortunately the force of his follow through took the fireman off his
+balance. He fell on top of the jumper and Sam on the bottom of the pile
+felt his head being ground into the dirt and gravel by the weight of the
+two heavy men on top of him.
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>“Hey, get offa me, you walruses!” groaned Sam as the two other miners
+tried to pry Plapp from their comrade. For some minutes the slugging,
+kicking mass rolled over and over on the ground. Fists flew. Blows were
+given and taken. The men hardly knew whom they were striking, friend or
+foe.</p>
+
+<p>Sam felt a hairy hand reach for his throat. He tried to twist out of
+reach and as he turned someone’s bloody thumb started to gouge his eye
+out. He sensed rather than saw that Plapp was apparently out of the
+fight.</p>
+
+<p>“Hey, Plapp!” he shouted, “Where are you, Plapp? They’re killin me,
+Plapp, pickin’ on a little guy like me!”</p>
+
+<p>For once Plapp’s aid was not forthcoming. Sam fought like a demon, all
+the while cursing and calling for his fireman. Suddenly it dawned on him
+that something must have happened to Plapp. “Mebbe they licked him,” he
+muttered, and redoubled his efforts.</p>
+
+<p>But the gamest fighter in the world couldn’t have held out long against
+such odds. Three men to one scrapping peewee. They rained blows on him
+till he ached all over and when he closed his eyes everything spun
+around and went black. Spitting out teeth, wiping blood from his face,
+Sam pulled himself together for a last effort.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the blows ceased. Shots filled the gully. Two of the
+claim-jumpers started to run. As the third started to follow them Sam
+reached out and clutched at a corduroy-trousered leg. He hung on, though
+he was dragged twenty yards before his prisoner came to a halt at the
+sharp command, “Stick ’em up.”</p>
+
+<p>Sam lifted his head weakly. “I got him, Plapp!” he murmured. Then he
+looked around him. Plapp wasn’t there. Just a whole crowd of passengers
+from his train. He recognized the conductor and some trainmen.</p>
+
+<p>“You done a good job there, little fella,” said one of the miners,
+coming over and helping Sam to his feet. “These birds have been jumpin’
+claims all over the Kougarok. The marshal will be mighty glad to see
+them.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yeh,” said Sam without interest. “Where’s Plapp?”</p>
+
+<p>The man pointed toward another group of people a few yards away. “You
+mean the fireman? Oh, he’ll pull through. The doc is lookin’ after him.”</p>
+
+<p>“The doc!” Sam screamed, “Plapp! Hey, Plapp!”</p>
+
+<p>While some of the miners marched the claim-jumpers back to the train,
+Sam dashed over toward those who had gathered around Plapp. “What’s the
+matter, doc?” he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>“Nothing serious. Three flesh wounds. Various parts of his anatomy. He
+says he got them when the fight started. When the big fellow pulled the
+gun on him first.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I’ll&mdash;&nbsp;Hey, Plapp, you’re aces. Press the flesh, kid.”</p>
+
+<p>The fireman, weak from loss of blood, held out a limp hand and tried to
+sit up. Willing hands braced his back.</p>
+
+<p>“Them dirty skunks,” mumbled Plapp, “tryin’ to steal a claim from a
+little runt like you.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yeh,” agreed Sam slowly, “You fixed ’em. But they made a liar out o’
+me. Guess my no stop-over record is plumb shot to hell now.”</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the rumble of a train held everybody spellbound. It was coming
+north bound, up the tracks towards the Kougarok. With a roar it
+thundered around the bend and rocked past the deserted Nome express,
+safe on the siding.</p>
+
+<p>Sam looked up blankly. The conductor was standing beside him. “What in
+blazes?” he exclaimed, “We ain’t got a meet at this turn-out.” He pulled
+his orders from his inside pocket and scanned them carefully. “That was
+a two-car special too.”</p>
+
+<p>“That meet?” Sam said. “Yeah, I got it orally from the operator at
+Ptarmigan Gulch. Forgot to tell you.”</p>
+
+<p>The conductor grunted skeptically. He remembered distinctly that Sam had
+not left his engine cab at Ptarmigan Gulch at all. Nor had the operator
+come out to the train. However, he said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor looked up. “If a couple of you boys will give me a hand, I
+think this man can get back to the train now.” Plapp, his head swathed
+in improvised bandages, hobbled back to the train supported on the
+willing shoulders of two miners.
+
+<hr class='tb'>
+
+<p>Sam climbed into his cab and backed onto the main line carefully. With a
+trainman firing for him in place of Plapp who was back in one of the
+passenger coaches, Sam picked his way cautiously down to Moonglow, the
+next telegraph station. He beat the conductor by half a length to the
+telegraph operator’s desk, and crashed into a little knot of men who had
+rushed toward the door upon the arrival of the express. Foremost of
+these was the general superintendent himself.</p>
+
+<p>“Tebbetts,” he said sternly, “where’s that northbound special? We were
+just going out to get the wrecker ready.”</p>
+
+<p>“Met her on the turn out at Cooley’s Bend.”</p>
+
+<p>“Hmm,” the super turned to the Moonglow operator. “That man at Ptarmigan
+Gulch must be drunk. Give me that last wire of his again.” The operator
+handed over a piece of yellow paper, from which the super read aloud:</p>
+
+<p>“Order to have Nome Express wait for special at C. B. turn-out received
+too late. Nome express left here six minutes ago. Eleven forty-eight.”</p>
+
+<p>Sam paled slightly as the superintendent looked him squarely in the eye.</p>
+
+<p>“Tebbetts, did you run into that turn-out on instructions, or did you
+just have a hunch you’d like to go prospecting again?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, sir,” said Sam.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, what? Did you get the orders for that meet with the special?” The
+super’s eyes seemed to bore through to the back of Sam’s aching head.</p>
+
+<p>“No, sir,” he admitted quietly.</p>
+
+<p>“I thought not. Tebbetts, I told you before about those stop-overs. In
+this case you happened to be fortunate. Avoided a wreck probably. But
+you must run according to orders. I’m sorry. I’ll have to punish you as
+I said I would for that non-scheduled stop-over. You’re fired.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, sir,” replied Sam, edging slowly towards the door. “But can I
+finish the run? I’d like to get Plapp down to Nome first, to the
+hospital.”</p>
+
+<p>The super relaxed. “You may.” Tebbetts started back to his train.</p>
+
+<p>“Wait a minute,” called the super, “I haven’t finished yet. I told you
+we couldn’t have a man on this line that persists in prospecting on his
+runs. Still, you avoided a wreck. You probably saved the lives of many
+men. We can’t afford to lose a man like you, either. After you get into
+Nome, come around in the morning. Come into my office. I’ll give you
+another run. But first you’ll get a two weeks’ vacation with pay, to
+work on that claim of yours at the bend. Of course you’ll have to cut
+out stop-overs. No pledge, or promise, or anything like that. Just your
+word, Tebbetts.”</p>
+
+<p>“Okay. Press the flesh.”</p>
+
+<p>And to Sam’s surprise the superintendent gripped his palm.</p>
+
+
+<div class='tn'>
+    <p>Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the May 5, 1929
+   issue of <i>Argosy All-Story Weekly</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75913 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+book #75913 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75913)