Allen Chapman

“ The way your mother and yourself have treated me has been just royal—I'll never forget it!"
"And never forget us," directed the young engineer with a warm, friendly smile. "You'll always find yourself welcome in this house."
"That's what gets me," said Fred, and there was a slight tremor and a suspicion of tears in his voice. "Most fellows would have little to do with an impostor, eh?"
"That's a pretty hard word, Porter," intimated Ralph. "Just the same, I believe in you. I have had confidence in you all along."
"And my story won't disturb it any," declared Fred. ”

“ A smile of joy crossed the face of the young engineer, a great aspiration of relief and triumph escaped his lips as No. 999 pulled into Derby two hours later. They were twenty-one minutes ahead of time.
"Mr. Fogg," shouted Ralph across to the fireman's seat, "you're a brick!"
It was the first word that had passed between them since the mishap at the siding, but many a grateful glance had the young engineer cast at his helper. It seemed as if the shake-up at Plympton had shaken all the nonsense out of Lemuel Fogg. ”

“ There is a big reward out for me. Then, too, you know people. Yes, you must stay with me."
"I can't help you any—why should you detain me?" insisted Ralph.
"I must find a man," cried the convict, more wildly than ever—"or you must find him for me."
"What man, is that?" spoke Ralph.
"Do you know a Mr. Gasper Farrington?"
"Quite well," answered Ralph, rather startled at the question.
"That is the man!" shouted the convict.
"And that is singular, for I am very anxious myself to find that same individual," said the young fireman. ”

“ Something about him suggested a sense of proprietorship—a certain official aspect as if he had a right to be where Ralph had seen him, was, in fact, in charge of the car.
"A queer car—the queerest old relic I ever saw," mused Ralph. "I'm going to look into this affair."
"Say, Mr. Fairbanks," spoke little Torchy as the young engineer entered the roundhouse; "just saw an old friend of ours."
"Did you?" spoke Ralph. "You don't mean Zeph Dallas, do you?"
"That's who," nodded Torchy. "Big as life on a single car run—and, say, such a car!" ”

“ Emotion had lightened the shadows in Van's mind more powerfully than suggestion or memory.
Ralph felt that he had better rouse his companion from a retrospective mood.
"You're all right now," he said briskly.
"And I was knocked silly?" observed Van. "I see how it was. I've been like a man in a long sleep. How did I come out of it, though?"
"Just as you went into it—with a shock. I took you for a trip on a locomotive. Just as we got near here you made a sudden jump, rolled down the embankment, your head burst through that fence board yonder, and I thought you were killed." ”

“ Ralph had both mind and hands full during the trip. As to Fogg, he went straight about his duties, grimly silent and mechanically. As the fire and vim of stimulation died down, Ralph could see that it was with the most exhaustive effort that his fireman kept up his nerve and strength. Fogg was weak and panting the last shovel full of coal he threw into the furnace, as they sighted Stanley Junction. He was as limp as a rag, and looked wretched as the train rolled into the depot. ”

“ To carry your point, you threaten me—me, a poor boy, just starting in to win his way by hard work—you threaten to plot against and ruin me. Very well, Mr. Farrington, go ahead. I have too much reliance in the teachings of a good mother to believe that you will succeed."
"What! what!" shouted the magnate, almost choking with rage and mortification at this unvarnished arraignment, "you dare to tell me this? In my own house!"
"You invited me here," suggested Ralph.
"Get out—get out!" cried Farrington, running to the door for his cane.
"You will fail," spoke Ralph, going down the steps. ”

“ Once out of the tower, he ran across the tracks in the direction of the depot.
Passing a switch shanty, a figure stepped from its side directly in his path. A challenging voice said quickly:
"Hold on, there, Ralph Fairbanks."
"Oh, you, Slavin?" said Ralph. "Don't delay me. I am in a hurry."
"I see you are. No need," proclaimed Slavin coolly, seizing and detaining Ralph's arm. "You're trying to overtake a friend, aren't you?"
"Why, how do you know that?" exclaimed Ralph in surprise.
"Name, Van—Van Sherman. No, Sherwin—that's it. Am I right?" ”

“ Ike's ferret face worked queerly as he noted Ralph's departure. He seemed struggling with uneasy emotions, as if one or two troublesome thoughts bothered him.
"Hold on, Fairbanks!" he called, edging farther over the sill. "I say, that dinner pail——"
"Oh, I'm not interested in your dinner pail," observed Ralph.
"Course not—what is there to be curious about? I say, though, was you in earnest about getting a job here?"
"I must get work somewhere."
"And it will be railroading?"
"If I can make it."
"You're the kind that wins," acknowledged Ike. "Got any coin, now?" ”

“ Griscom, this is life!"
Ralph Fairbanks spoke with all the ardor of a lively, ambitious boy in love with the work in hand. He sat in the cab of the locomotive that drew the Limited Mail, and he almost felt as if he owned the splendid engine, the finest in the service of the Great Northern.
Two weeks had passed by since the young fireman had baffled the railroad thieves. Ralph had made brief work of his special duty for Adair, the road detective, and there had come to him a reward for doing his duty that was beyond his fondest expectations. ”

“ With a gasp Ralph saw the chaser engine dash down the rails, a hundred, eighty, seventy, fifty feet from the main switch, tender in front, so engineer and fireman, relying on the tower service, never noticed that they were headed for a tremendous crash into the made-up accommodation.
With a sickening sense of horror Ralph strove to pull the levers. Impossible!
Something was wrong! He could not move a muscle. Like one petrified he glared down at the flying locomotive, headed straight for disaster and destruction. ”

“ The railroad president came sliding down the diminished coal heap at the rear of the tender. He had grasped its rear end, and had climbed over it just as the caboose went hurtling to destruction. The glad delight and relief in the eyes of the young engineer revealed to the official fully his loyal friendship. Fogg, catching sight of him, helped him to his feet with a wild hurrah. The fireman's face shone with new life as he swung to his work at the coal heap.
"If we can only make it—oh, we've got to make it now!" he shouted at Ralph. ”

“ Then very abruptly he turned, came up to Ralph, tended his hand as if with an effort, and said, almost brokenly:
"Fairbanks, I want to thank you for what you have done for me and mine."
"I am glad I did it," answered Ralph simply.
The foreman sank into a chair, started to speak, arose, paced the floor restlessly, finally halted in front of Ralph, and looked him squarely in the face.
"Fairbanks," he said, "I believe I have done you an injustice. Don't answer. Let me speak while the mood is on me. I am a proud man, and it's hard for me to root out my settled suspicions. ”

“ Ralph had made a short cut across the switch yards one morning, when a stirring episode occurred that he was not soon to forget, nor others. It took an expert to thread the maze of cars in motion, trains stalled on sidings, and trains arriving and departing.
It was the busiest hour of the day, and Ralph kept his eye out sharply. He had paused for a moment in a clear triangle formed by diverging rails, to allow an outward bound train to clear the switch, when a man on the lower step of the last car waved his hand and hailed him. ”

“ They had struck an immense snowdrift obliquely, but the fireman's side caught the brunt. As the powerful locomotive dove into the drift, the snow packed through the denuded window-frame at the fireman's seat like grain into a bin. A solid block of snow was formed under the terrific pressure of the compact. It lodged against the coal of the tender with a power that would probably have crushed the life out of a person standing in the way. ”

“ Ralph felt as if the air was cleared of some violent poison at the departure of this miserable apology of a man.
"Faugh! I won't think of him," he soliloquized. "What possible happiness in life can such people have? I wonder which is the worst: Mort Bemis, poor and mean, or Gasper Farrington, rich and mean. Which carries out what mother has often said: 'Money is not everything.'"
Ralph dismissed his enemies from his mind, whistling cheerily at his tasks. ”

“ It ended in the crash of the tower window, the leap to the levers, the action that made of Ralph Fairbanks the hero of the hour.
The grand finale was a pathetic touch. It alluded to the great throbbing heart of humanity always electrically responsive to such appeals as that involved in the anxious chaste of the distressed railroad president to reach a beloved wife at the door of death. ”

“ A sharp whistle from No. 38, the hiss of the air brakes, and panting and exhausted, the young engineer of No. 999 watched the Night Express whiz by on a lessening run and come to a stop two hundred yards away.
Ralph dashed after the train, now halted beyond the trestle. He did not heed the shout of the brakeman already out on the tracks, but got up to the locomotive just as the conductor, lantern in hand, reached it.
"Hello!" shot out the engineer of No. 38, staring at the figure outlined within the halo of the conductor's light—"Fairbanks!" ”

“ They particularly enveloped the old factory. This, Ralph noticed, took fire instantly in a dozen different places.
"Hello, Fairbanks!" cried a breathless passerby.
"Slavin?" said Ralph.
"Yes, keep on. There's hose and apparatus up at the factory. That's all there is worth saving, now."
"It will never be saved," pronounced Ralph convincedly, but he joined Slavin on a run forward.
They were compelled to make a wide detour here and there of the ravine windings. Even great trees lining it had caught fire. The smoke was dense, and the burning cinders rained down upon them like hail. ”

“ Ralph was nerved up to desperate action now. He caught the uplifted foot of one of the vandals and sent him toppling. The other he knocked flat with his fist, but overpowering numbers massed for a headlong rush on the beleaguered refugees.
"Swish—thud! swish!" Half blinded by a blow dealt between the eyes by a hurling slungshot, the young engineer could discern a break in the program, the appearance of a new element that startled and astonished him. He had expected to see the furious Fogg join the mob and aid them in finishing up their dastardly work. ”

“ It meant sure death to oppose the stubborn brute in the open doorway.
"What shall I do—oh, what can I do?" panted Ralph in a torment of agony.
He ran out a few steps and looked up at the tower room. This loomed twenty feet aloft, flanging out mushroom-fashion over the lower story, which presented a solid base.
The tower room was inaccessible, even if he could scale the lower building. Ralph ran a complete circuit of the structure. Then his eye flashed with sudden hope.
As nimbly as though his tiger foe was directly at his heels, Ralph sprang at and clasped a telegraph pole. ”

“ Ralph understood that a green engine wiper in the roundhouse was paid six dollars a week to commence on if a boy, nine dollars if a man. He picked up a torn freight ticket drifting by in the breeze, and fell to figuring industriously, and the result was pleasant and reassuring.
Ralph looked up, as with prodigious whistlings a single locomotive came tearing down the rails, took the outer main track, and was lost to sight. ”

“ Mr. Ike Slump lounged on the bench, indulging in a smoke and trying to look important and dangerous, both at once. Then, as if casually, he began kneading a fat, juicy ball of waste and grease, poked it under the bench, and said to Ralph:
"There's two switch engines coming in. You can take one of them, and see if you know how to handle it."
"I'll try," announced Ralph.
"When you come to the bell, give her a good, hard rubbing. They'll give you some sand at the supply shed." ”

“ A typical fall day and a moonlit night had followed, however, and Ralph experienced the usual pleasure as they rolled back the miles under flying wheels. They took the sharp curves as they ran up into the hills with a scream of triumph from the locomotive whistle every time they made a new grade.
"Waste of steam, lad, that," observed Fogg, as they rounded a curve and struck down into a cut beyond which lay the town of Fordham.
"Better to be safe," responded Ralph. "There's a crossing right ahead where the old spur cuts in." ”

“ Big Denny squirmed with real feeling in his powerful, husky voice, as he dabbed the perspiration from his brow.
"Next thing, I saw a flash come out through the roundhouse door here. It was—him!"
Mechanically the crowd turned. Twenty pairs of eyes rested on Ralph, whom Denny had pointed out.
"Yes, sir—it was him, young Fairbanks! He's got the right blood in him, that kid. I knew his father, and he wouldn't be Jack Fairbanks' son if he hadn't acted just as he did!"
No comment could have pleased Ralph more than that. He darted a grateful look at his bulky champion. ”

“ His mustache was brushed from his lip and fell to the bottom of the cab, while its former possessor made a mad dive to one side.
"Here, you chump!" cried Fogg; "do you want to kill yourself?" and grabbing the singed and frightened passenger, he pinned him against the coal and held him there. In doing this he brushed one whisker from the side of his captive's face, and the latter lay panting and groaning with nearly all his fictitious make-up gone and quite all of his nerve collapsed.
"What's happened?" asked Ralph, as they slowed down.
"It felt like a powder blast," declared Fogg. ”

“ Honestly, I'm not romancing, Ralph, I'm working on a case that reads like a story book. Some of the strange things going on—they fairly stagger me. I can't say another word just now, but just the minute I can, you just bet I'll tell you all about it, Ralph Fairbanks. Say, you haven't seen two boys around here, have you—two tiny fellows? I left them in the garden here. They're in my charge, and I mustn't lose sight of them," and Zeph began looking all around the place.
"Two human monkeys, who make no more of flying through the air than you or I do to run a race?" inquired Ralph. ”

“ Bury the past—yes, deep, fathoms deep, without another word, never to be resurrected. To prove it, let's first bury this. Kick it under that ash heap yonder, Mr. Fogg, and forget all about it. Here's something that belongs to you. Put it out of sight, and never speak of it or think of it again."
And Ralph handed to the fireman the package done up in the oiling cloth that he had unearthed from Fogg's bunker in the cab of No. 999. ”