Allen Chapman

“ Ralph’s last exploit had won him a high place in the estimation of his superiors. With every train out of Rockton stalled, he and Fogg had made a terrifying hairbreadth special run to Shelby Junction, defying floods, drifts and washouts, landing the president of the road just in the nick of time to catch a train on a parallel rival line.
The event had enabled that official to close an advantageous arrangement, in which time was the essence of a contract which gave the Great Northern the supremacy over every line in the district having transcontinental connections. ”

“ He was ambitious, energetic and popular, and the busiest man in the service had a pleasant nod and a kindly word for him as he went around the different departments. When he arrived at the train dispatcher’s office, the young railroader went in and sat down.
Ralph was in one of the most inviting places a man can get into, especially if he is interested in the workings of a big railway system.
The thought came to him, as he sat watching the men who held in their keeping the lives of thousands of passengers, that not all the credit for a good swift run was due to the engineer and train crew. ”

“ Just as I say, since we knocked out the sorehead crew of strikers and made the big record on that famous snowstorm run on the Mountain Division, we’ve been like ducks in clear water, smooth sailing and the best on earth none too good for us. It isn’t natural. Why, old John Griscom, thirty years at the furnace, used to get scared to death if he ran two weeks without a broken driving wheel or a derail.”
“Well, you see we’re on a new order of things, Mr. Fogg,” suggested Ralph brightly. “They’ve put us at the top-notch with a top-notch machine and a top-notch crew. ”

“ Fairbanks at a glance read pain and discomfort in her son’s face as he entered the sitting room. Ralph set her fears at rest with a hasty explanation. Then after resting a little he told her all about his adventures of the evening.
“It seems as if a railroader must take a double risk all the time,” she said in a somewhat regretful tone.
“It’s a part of the business to take things as they come, mother,” observed Ralph. “It’s a fight nowadays in every line where there is progress. The Great Northern is in the right, and will win, and it is my duty to help in the battle.” ”

“ In a picture view Ralph could see some belated locomotive breasting the drifts of lonely gully and curve. He could imagine a cumbersome freight feeling its way slowly past snow-clouded signals, marooned station men with their instruments knocked dead through fallen wires, and the venturesome repair crew wading through deep drifts to locate the break. ”

“ Of all this Ralph was thinking as they passed the flag station at Luce, and shot around the long curve guarded by a line of bluffs just beyond. The young engineer was thinking of home, and so was Fogg, for they were due in twenty-three minutes now.
Suddenly Ralph reached out for the lever lightning quick, and then his hand swept sand and air valves with the rapidity of an expert playing some instrument. ”

“ With the aid of wiper Ralph soon got the dummy ready for action. It was a long time since the young engineer had done roundhouse duty. He did it well now, and thanked the strict training of his early apprentice experience. The jerky spiteful little engine rolled over the turntable in a few minutes time, and the claim agent pulled off his coat and looked to Ralph for orders.
They took a switch and headed down the clear out track. At a crossing a man came tearing towards them, arms waving, long beard flying, and his face showing the greatest urgency and excitement. ”

“ They were near the office door. Ralph talked rapidly in a low tone into the ear of his companion. The latter gave a great start. Then he grinned. Then, alive with animation, he clapped Ralph mightily on the back.
“Lad,” he cried with enthusiasm, “you’re better than the lawyer and the whole constable force of Derby put together.”
“What do you say about my plan?” inquired Ralph.
“Say--bully for you, that’s what I say!” almost shouted the factory foreman.
“If you start at eleven o’clock you’ll be ready when that gang arrives?” ”

“ Chief, where are you going to put Fairbanks next?”
“Something better and something soon,” said the gratified superintendent. “He deserves the best.”
“There’s nothing better than chief dispatcher,” declared old John Glidden, loyal to the core to the proud traditions of his calling. “You just keep Fairbanks right at my side--we’re both happy and useful right here.”
Adair waited for no regular train. A special locomotive took him down to Maddox, to find Ralph and Zeph awaiting him in a private room off the operator’s office.
“Found the pay car, eh, Fairbanks?” ”

“ His skilled hearing soon determined that it was no locomotive or train, but he was certain that some rail vehicle of light construction was bearing down upon him.
Ralph was so dazed that he could barely collect wit and strength in an endeavor to crawl out of the roadbed. With a swishing grind the approaching car, or whatever it was, tore down the sharp incline. ”

“ Ralph, tracing something unusual in the episode of the moment, kept them company.
The chief dispatcher was standing by the counter. He glanced sharply at Bates with the words:
“What’s up, kid? Seen a ghost? You look almost pale enough yourself to be one.”
“No,” quavered Bates in a shaky tone. “I haven’t seen any ghosts, but I am afraid I forgot to notify that track gang just west of here about this extra.”
The chief went to the order book and glanced at the train sheet.
“Oh, bosh!” he said. “Of course you notified them. Here it is as big as life. ”

“ CHAPTER XXIX—“CRACK THE WHIP!”
“What’s up--something?” declared the fireman of the special as the train cleared the yards at Portland.
“Yes,” replied Ralph, watching out for signals and testing gauges and airbrakes. “This is up: What kind of a man is your engineer, Bartley?”
“He’s not my engineer at all,” retorted the fireman rather testily, “and I was sorry when I was listed with him. He’s a bossing, quarrelsome sort of a fellow. He don’t train with my crowd, and I’m glad you’re on in his place. You’re Fairbanks, eh? ”

“ One minute after receiving the startling cypher message, Ralph had telephoned to the superintendent of the road at his home in Stanley Junction. Within an hour that official and two assistants in hastily donned garb and with perturbed faces were at headquarters trying to solve a situation enshrouded in the densest mystery.
The wires were kept hot with messages to and from Fairview. The conductor of No. 83 could simply repeat his amazing story. When the train arrived at Maddox they found the precious treasure car missing. Their crippled engine could not be brought into service. ”

“ By a rapid exertion of memory he could place every train on the road now making its way through the storm-laden night towards Stanley Junction. The Great Northern spread out in a quick mental picture like a map.
Ralph decided what to do, and he did not waste a second. He was down the cleat ladder and up the stairs and into the operating room in a jiffy. His thought was to give the double danger signal to headquarters and call for the immediate presence of the head operator or the chief dispatcher himself, if on duty. ”

“ A new figure came lounging leisurely down the track as the watchman proceeded to his shanty. Ralph recognized Dan Lacey, a ne’er-do-well who had tried about every department of railroad service inside of two years and had failed signally in every attempt.
He was a good-natured, indolent fellow, perfectly harmless and generally popular. He halted in front of Ralph with a speculative glance at Glen Palmer. ”

“ Now, on the return trip, Fogg was brought up to a positive pitch of frenzy. It was just after their layover at Rockton when a messenger had come from the assistant superintendent to the roundhouse. The waiting hands there knew him. He approached Ralph, addressed him in a low confidential tone, and the two proceeded to headquarters together. It was the sentiment of the majority that the young engineer of the Overland Express was “on the carpet for a call down.” ”

“ Ralph had known the time when a good many of the boys and railroad men at the Junction had considered Zeph Dallas a joke. He himself, however, had tried to take Zeph as seriously as he could, and now his erratic young friend rose still higher in his estimation.
In every live town there are generally one or more lads with the detective fever. Zeph had wandered to Stanley Junction all on fire with it. ”

“ Ralph and the claim agent reached the dummy to find Cohen hanging around it in great mental distress. Fry invited him to ride in the cab, and tormented him by talking about his bargain clear back to the roundhouse. Then he relieved Cohen’s distress, which bordered on positive distraction, by releasing him from his contract.
Mrs. Fairbanks greeted Ralph with her usual loving, kindly welcome when he reached home. The old family cottage was a veritable nest of comfort, and the young engineer enjoyed it to the utmost. ”

“ Then, this duty attended to, he took from the floor a long piece of wire wound around a part of a device that resembled a telegraph instrument.
“See here,” explained the fireman excitedly, “I’ve got it in a word.”
“And what is that, Mr. Fogg?”
“Wire tappers.”
“Or line repairers,” suggested Ralph.
“I said wire tappers,” insisted Fogg convincedly, “and I stick to it. They were at work back there in the cut. Their line must have sagged where they strung it too low. Our smokestack struck it, whipped the outfit free, stand and all, and that metal jigger there swung around and struck the headlight.” ”

“ The bumper of the last milk car showed no evidences of unusual strain or break. The coupling pin had simply been removed, how far back the line it was impossible to surmise, certainly between Fairview and Maddox.
And then, linking in the discovery of the brakeman lying drugged or hurt at the side of the track by the station agent at Tipton, the irresistible conclusion was arrived at by the anxious railroad officials that their careful plans to delude the conspirators and safely get the substitute pay car through had failed utterly. ”

“ When he came down to the floor he opened the door of the furnace underneath and peered in. His face took on a satisfied look.
“See here,” said Bartlett, as they reëntered the big room on their way back to the office. “Those pipes running from each furnace convey the molten metal into those vats. There is a great hissing and bubbling, I can tell you. It’s a sort of red-hot cyaniding process. The fumes, though! No man could walk through this room when the pour is on and come out alive.”
“You don’t say so?” murmured Ralph. Then he went up close to the foreman and took him by lapel of his coat. ”

“ I can hardly imagine a finer prospect than running a chicken farm. Some day--”
The rhapsody of Fireman Fogg was cut short by the arrival of the schedule minute for getting up steam on the Overland racer. The bustle and energy of starting out on their regular trip made engineer and helper forget everything except the duties of the occasion. As they cleared the limits, however, and approached Bluff Point, Ralph watched out with natural curiosity, and Fogg remarked:
“Hope a few more chickens drop into the cab this morning.” ”

“ The old man, the mild-looking, placid old gentleman they had in tow, is a telegrapher.”
“How do you know that?” asked Ralph, becoming interested.
“That’s easy. I caught him strumming on the car window sill, and I have had an apprenticeship in the wire line long enough to guess what he was tapping out. On his mind, see--force of habit and all that. The two with him, though, looked like jail birds.”
“What struck me,” interposed Fogg, “was the way they snooked around the train at the two last stops. They looked us over as if they were planning a holdup.” ”

“ Zeph, a raw country youth, had come to Stanley Junction in a whole peck of trouble. Ralph had always a helping hand for the unlucky or unfortunate. He became a good friend to Zeph and got him a place in the roundhouse. Zeph made a miserable failure of the job. The height of his ambition was to be a detective--like fellows he had read about.
Zeph finally landed, as he expressed it, with both feet. The son of a prominent railroad official became interested in hunting up the relatives of a forlorn little fellow named Gregg. He had plenty of money, and he hired Zeph to assist him. ”

“ By the time they reached the depot Glidden had given Ralph final detailed instructions. He did not know how his messenger might find affairs at Derby, but he seemed to take a good deal of comfort in believing that if they were at all complicated, Ralph’s dexterity and intelligence would simplify the problem.
“Tell the lawyer I will be certain to reach Derby on the first morning train with the money,” declared Glidden. “Stay with him all night and watch things. Keep your eye on the other crowd and guard the factory.” ”

“ A minute later, peering within the operating room, Ralph saw the intruder enter. Mason had got to cover and Grizzly back to his instrument. The intruder suggested some half tipsy ranchman, who staggered into the room shaking the snow from his garments.
“Hi, there, young man,” he hailed familiarly to Grizzly. “I want to send a message to Wayne.”
“Sorry, but it’s too late.”
“Too late for what?” growled the intruder, looking skeptical and ugly.
“All the instruments cut out that way and we won’t have Wayne till six o’clock in the morning.” ”

“ The operator shoved a slip of paper towards Ralph. It was a brief permission for Ralph to go off for twenty-four hours.
“I had to act quick,” explained Glidden, “so I got that end of it fixed directly.”
“I hardly understand, Mr. Glidden.”
The old operator glanced at his watch and grabbed the arm of his companion.
“Come on,” he insisted. “There’s no time to lose. We can talk as we walk along. I don’t want to bother you with my family troubles, Fairbanks, but I need a reliable friend.” ”

“ The reader of such items never thinks the engineer and crew are mere mechanical agents, small cogs in a huge machine. They do their part well, but the little office of the train dispatcher is a red-hot place where they have a red-hot time, where one tap of the sounder may cover the fate of numberless extras, specials and delayed trains. ”

“ A bright young fellow named Dayton, the stenographer of the road detective, announced that Mr. Adair was off duty away from Stanley Junction.
“How soon can you reach him?” inquired Ralph.
“Oh, that’s easy,” replied Dayton.
Adair was a warm friend of Ralph. The latter knew the official reposed a good deal of confidence in young Dayton. He decided to tell him about the supposed discovery of the wire tapping outfit.
“Good for you,” commended Dayton. “You’ve hit a subject of big importance just at present, Mr. Fairbanks.”
“Is that so.”
“Very much so. I’ll get word to Mr. Adair at once. ”

“ Mason came back to the operating room looking flustered and nervous.
“Nothing open north?” inquired Grizzly.
“Not on the Preston branch.”
“That’s right. We can splice ’em up again after two o’clock. Things will do their happening between now and then, and we leave no trace.”
“See here, Grizzly,” pleaded Mason in a spasmodic outburst of agitation; “what’s the deal?”
“What good will it do you to know?”
“Well, I want to.”
“All right; there’s to be a runaway. There’s an old junk engine down beyond Wellsville doing some dredging work, with a construction crew. She’s to be fired along.” ”

“ The conductor had run to the caboose. The engineer drew back from the empty void under the seat in a puzzled, baffled way. Ralph beckoned to the operator.
“Watch that man,” he ordered in a quick whisper. “If he tries to send any messages ahead advise the operator to report instantly to headquarters.”
Then Ralph opened the throttle and sent the test special on her dubious way, leaving the discomfited Bartley glaring after him in baffled suspicion and distrust. ”

“ Two things rather startled the young engineer, for they seemed to confirm hints and suspicions already in the wind. In a guarded way the official had referred to “harmony in the train dispatcher’s office.” He had next made an allusion to the fact that if competitive rivalry grew fierce, it might attract under cover a lot of disreputable criminals, and he spoke of extra precaution when the pay trips of the line were made, tallying precisely with suspicions already entertained by Ralph. ”

“ The justice will issue an execution. Inside of an hour Dorsett and his men will be at the factory. They don’t have to wait for court time. They intend to levy on the machinery only. They won’t put a custodian in charge nor wait for redemption nor anything else. They’ll simply rip out all those valuable tank machines and piping that cost a fortune, bid the plunder in at old junk prices and gobble up everything else before Glidden or his lawyer are awake and out of bed.”
“My man,” spoke Ralph rapidly, and moved to indignation and excitement almost beyond control, “are you sure of what you say?” ”

“ It lacked just ten minutes of eleven o’clock when the special came in sight of the lights of the Junction. To follow the main and risk a stoppage at the limits would never allow of an arrival on the time set.
“I have got an idea,” said Ralph, slowing up as they neared the first siding of the yards in-tracks.
“Go to it, then--anything to pull through on time,” responded the fireman with vigor.
Ralph jumped down from the cab, unset a switch, glanced ahead down the open track, and then glanced at his watch.
“Eight minutes,” he said, quite excited now. “Crowd on every pound of steam you can. ”