Eugene Jones

Name: Over the Wire
Author: Eugene Jones

Over the Wire (1920)

Summary

“Over the Wire”, published in 1920, is a work by Eugene Jones. It explores elements such as Donaldson, Hastings and Limited.

Quotes from Over the Wire (Eugene Jones)

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ Donaldson’s wire-talk was worse than ever. “Fine,” he stuttered. “Maybe I can hold out. The damn thing’s always near me. It’s cold here. I’ve got my feet on the stove. Say, this stove is a joke. It’s so empty it’s going to cave in pretty soon. Wait a minute, let me try another shot.”
Nothing more. Not another word, though we took turns at the key. And when Ben relighted his pipe I didn’t like the look on his face. “Jim,” he began, “there’s things in this world none of us can understand. I reckon after all that maybe, I misjudged Donaldson; perhaps he’s up against one of ’em.” ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ The crispness of dots and dashes suggested excitement. Ben acknowledged deliberately, but when he closed the wire I saw a narrowing of his eyes.
Donaldson was in a hurry. “Going to quit to-morrow,” he began. “Can’t stand this joint. Say, there’s two of you up there. You’re lucky. Old man will have to come across with an assistant or I quit. Do you know you’re the nearest white man to me? Just me alone here. No night for a man to be alone. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ Big Ben strode across the room. “Give me the key,” he thundered. His eyes were hard gray now, like rock, with little points of fire in them, and it seemed he would smash the instrument as he crashed down with Donaldson’s call.
“Stop that!” went the dots and dashes, clear cut, fast, but Lordy, they had a punch behind ’em. “Pull yourself together. Take some more whisky. Wake up. Remember you’re an operator. You’ve got to handle the Limited to-night. No more of that. You know damn well nothing is walking around down there except you. Rub some snow in your face. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ Not a word could we get below Hastings or north of the junction. Toward night every siding was overflowing with deadheaded rolling stock. You see, the big grade—it’s four and a half per cent in places—handicaps us because even our best oil-burners won’t haul much tonnage on it in a blizzard. They can’t make steam. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ As Ben jumped in, I put down my paper to listen. I find it’s a good thing to pay pretty strict attention to anything on a night like that. It keeps you from seeing shadows that aren’t there, and hearing sounds which your common sense tells you must be the wind.
Presently came the professional dot and dash of Donaldson down at Hastings. Now Donaldson, next to Big Ben, was a star operator, and the two of ’em could talk better and with more satisfaction over a stretch of singing wire than if they were sitting together in a parlor. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ The fact that will interest you is what we discovered in Hastings station. Without bothering to explain to 77’s wondering crew, we dashed into the waiting-room and threw open the door of the ticket office.
At the table sat Donaldson. He was stiff and rigid, and from an ugly blotched hole in his neck there crept a frozen stream of blood. His right hand still rested on the telegraph-key.
“Good God!” I muttered. “Dead! He never moved after he was shot.”
And then, somehow feeling Ben’s eyes upon me, I looked at him. His smile was ghastly.
“Sure?” he said. “I told you so back in the tower. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ The wire was either dead or Hastings wouldn’t answer.
Presently McFlin at the junction got busy. “Just O. K.’d 77,” he said. “Devilish night. The Limited looked like a hunk of the mountain on wheels. Bet the snow on the car-roofs gets scraped off on the top of the tunnels. Happy dreams.”
But we weren’t to indulge in any happy dreams for some time to come. Hardly had McFlin shut up when “N-H, N-H, N-H” called Ben back. “Lord,” he groaned, “hear that style? It’s Donaldson, but what’s happened to him? I hate to listen to it.”
Dull, lifeless, flat, came the dots and dashes from Hastings. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Eugene Jones, Over the Wire (1920)

“ Something is walking up and down outside my window. I’ve seen it twice. It can’t be a man, and animals don’t prowl about in a storm like this. Listen to that wind. I tell you it’s walking around the station. What am I saying? Do you believe in ghosts? ”

Eugene Jones

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Quotes from Over the Wire (Eugene Jones)

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