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‘The
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Dispatcher’s
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Story
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By
FRANK H.
SPEARMAN
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Copyright. rsoo, by S. &
.Vettur« Ca
last ORDER j
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podding tbe Mountain fflrkton. and
part of the Muff came in late on Black-
bum and part of it early on Fred, who
was almoec coughing hia head off about
ttw» tons gactiug up at 33t' eve.y
morning.
Fred at 4 o’clock took the steers and
■ent them train after train through
the Kat river country like bullets out
of a Maxim gun. It was hot work,
and before he bad sat in an hour there
was a stumble. The engineer of a big
ten wheeler pulling twenty-five cars of
steers had been pushing hard and at
the entrance of the canyon set bls a.r
so quick he sprung one of the driver
shoes, and the maiu rod hit It. The
great steel bar doubled np like a man
with a cramp. It was showing day
light They made a stop and. quick as
men could do it flagged both ways.
But the last section was crowding
into the canyon right behind. They
were too close together; that was ail
there was to it. The hind section split
into the standing train like a butcher
knife into a sandwich. It made a
mean wreck, and, worse, it made a
lot of bard feeling at the Wickiup.
When the investigation came It was
pretty near up to Fred Norman right
from the start, and be knew it. But
Blackburn, who shielded him when be
could, just as all the dispatchers did,
because he was a boy, and a sick one
among men, tried to take part of tue
blame himself. He could afford it.
Blackburn. Ilis shoulders were broad,
and he hadn't so much as a fly speck
on his book. Bucks looked pretty
grave when the evidence was all in. and
around the second floor they guessed
that meant something for Normau.
Fred himself couldn’t sleep over It.
and to complicate things the engineer
of the stalled train who hated Doub.e-
day, hinted quietly that the trouble
came in the first place from Itouble-
day’s newfangled idea of putting the
driver shoes behind instead of in front
of the wheels. Then the fat was In the
fire. Fred gat hold of it and. boylike,
sore over his own share in the trouble
and exasperated by something Double
day was reported to have said about
him over at the house, lighted Into
Doubleday about the engine failure.
Doubleday was right in bis device, as
time has proved, tint it was unheard of
then, and. moreover, the assistant mas
ter mechanic, sensitive to criticism nt
any time, was a fearful man to run
against. Sunday morning he and Nor
man met in the trainmaster’s office.
They went at each other like sparks,
and when Doubleday, who bad a bard
mouth, began cursing Fred the poor
little dispatcher, rankling with the
trouble, anyway half sick, went all to
pieces and flew at the big fellow like a
sparrowhawk. He threw a wicked left
into the master mechanic before Dou
bleday could lift a guard, but Walter
Doubleday, angry as he was. couldn't
strike Fred. He caught up both the
boy's hands and pushed him. struggling
madly, back against the wall to slap
his face, when a froth of blood stained
Fred’s lips, and be fell fainting. Just
at that minute Blackburn stepped into
the room.
It wasn't the kind of a time—they
weren't the kind of men—to ask or
volunteer explanations. Blackburn was
on Doubleday in a wink, and before
Walter could right himself the night
dispatcher bad thrown him headlong
across the room. As the operators
mailed In Blackburn and the tall mns-
cool, clean white arms, one of them al
N order to meet objection ways bared to the elbow, sanding his
on the score of the im points with the ash of a San Francisco
possible and to anticipate cigar, and Neighbor would begin to
inquiry as to whether heave from the middle up like a hippo
"The Dispatcher’s Story" potamus. and Callahan would laugh his
is true it may t>e well to whiskers full of dew. and Halley would
state frankly at the out- yell with delight, and the slaves In the
set that this tale In its inexplicable next room would double up on the dead
psychological features is a transcript at the story. Blackburn would sit with
from the queer things in the railroad bis laugh all in a smile, but never a
life. It Is based ou an extraordinary noise or a word. He enjoyed it all, not
happening that fell withiu the experi a doubt of that, only it was all tem
ence of the president of a large west pered. I reckon, by s »mething that had
ern railway system. Whether the gone before, At least that's the way it
story, suggestive from any point of now strikes me. and I watched those
view of mystery, can be regarded as a big fellows pretty close—the fellows
demonstration of the efficacy of prayer who were to turn while I was growing
may l>e a disputable question. In pass up among them Into managers and
ing. however, it is ouly fair to say that presidents and magnates and some of
the circumstance on which the tale is them from every day catch-as-catch-can
based was so regarded by the dispatch men with the common alkali flecking
er himself and l>y those familiar with their boots Into dead men for whom
the circumstance.
marble never rose white enough or high
A hundred times If once the thing enough.
Blackburn was four years at the
bail been, ou appeals for betterment,
before the board of directors. It was the Wickiup on the night trick. It wouldn't
one piece of track on the mountain have seemed natural to see him there
division that trainmen shook their In daylight. It needed ‘he yellow gloom
beads over — tiie Peace river stretch. of the old kerosene lamp In the room,
To run any sort of a line through that the specked, knotted, warped, smoky
P,nr • rould take the breath of an eti- pine celling losing ltse'f In black and
Give him all the money be cobwebbed corners, the smoldering
ik and It would stagger Wet- murk of the soft coal fire brooding In
ecu I
mself. Brodie in his day said the shabby old salamander and outside
mor
ts nothing worse in the Andes, in the darkness the wind screwing
the»
«lie, before he drifted into the down the gorge ami rattling the shrunk
•nd
had seen, first and last, pretty en casements to raise Blackburn In the
dispatcher’s chair. Blackburn and the
1 of the Chilean work.
Bn ur men had the Job to do with lamp and the stove and the ceiling and
the money they needed—the the gloom—in a word. Blackburn and
<».l
run, the grades to figure, the th» night trick—they went together.
Hues
Before the short line was opened the
s to put in, the fills to make,
No. 1 and No. 5 trains caught practical
«ting
to
do.
the
tunnel
to
bore,
tt
b' lge to build, in a limit; that ly all the coast passenger business.
e curse of it—the limit, And They were Immensely heavy trains.
d the best they could. But I Month after month we sent out two
candid—if a section and eleva- and three sections of them each way,
•>
Rosamond's bower and a sec- and they always ran Into our division
d elevation of our Peace river on the night trick. Blackburn handled
. ere put up to staud for a prize all that main line business with a mile
vil engineers' cakewalk the de- age of 80S, besides the mountain
At
would go. and quick, to the branches, say 400 more; and the pas
eV*
river track. There are only senger connections came off them.
IV
rtgbt □ Iles of It. but our men would mostly at night, for 1 and 5.
Now three men wrestle with Black-
ba.-k against any eighty on earth for burn’s mileage, but that was before
ng
curves,
tough
grades,
villain-
wh' ■
pproacbes and railroad tangle they found out that dispatchers, al
OUS
though something tougher than steel. <1*5^
lly.
wear out Moreover, we were then a
I
directors always have promised good way from civilization and extra
t.* in rove It. and they are promising men. If a dispatcher took sick there
y
Thanks to what Halley taught was no bandy way of filling In; it was
there's a good bridge there now just double up and do the best you
matic caissons sunk to the bed. could.
e more pity they haven't eliml-
One lad In the office those days every
the dread main line curves that body
loved—Fred Norman. He was off
ich it through a valley which I the Burlington, a kid of a fellow
who
■>n< t as a canyon and the mauvaises looked more like
m
rolled into one single proposl train dispatcher. a choir boy than a
But be was all light-
tloo
I nlug—a laughing. restless. artless boy.
we do lots of business along that open as a book and quick as a current.
h. Our engineers thread the cuts There was a better reason still, though,
ire g'.ad to get safely through why they loved Fred -the l>oy hail con
Our roadmasters keep up the sumption. That’s why he was out In
Ions, hoping some night the the mountains, and his mother In I»e-
Ing right of way will tumble In- troit used to write Bucks asking about
to p. edition. Our dispatchers, study- bln., and she used to send us all things
tog Isler shaded lamps, think of it In Fred’» box. His flesh was as white
their teeth clinched and hope and as pink as mountain snow, and he
*>
never will l>e any trouble on that bad brown eyes. He was a good boy.
h. Trouble 1« our |s»rtlon, and an 1 I called him handsome, I reckon
le we must get. but not there, they all did. Fred brought out a tennis
come, but let It come anywhere set with him. the first we ever saw In
t on the,Peace.
.Medicine It* nd. and before he had been
as tn the golden days of the bat- playing an hour he had Neighbor, big ai
old Wickiup that the story opens, a grizzly, ami Callahan, with a pipe
Blackburn sat In the night chair, In one hand and a tennis guide In the
¡ys when the old guard were still other, chasing all over the yard after
tlieie. Iwf.ire death and fame and dr- balls, and Ilailey trying to figure forty
cum. tance had stoleu our first com love, while Frol taught Bucks thel.iw-
manders and left only us little fellows, ford drive. I don't say what he was to
forgrtte.i by every better fate, to tell me; only that he taught me all I ever
their greater stories
knew or ever will know about handling
Halley had the bridges then, and trains, and, though I was carrying rues
Wetmore the locating, and Ne.ghbor sages then and he was signing orders,
the roundhouses, and Bucks the super- v e were really like kids together.
Intendency, and Callahan, so lie claim
Fred for a long time had the early
ed. the work, and Blackburn had
trh k He came on at 4 In the morning
night trick.
t nd caught most of the through freights
When Blackburn came from the 1hat g»t away from the river behind
plains he brought a record clean as the the passenger trains. There was no
book of life. Four years on a station i se trying to move them in the night
key. then eight years at Omaha dis trick. ■
Between the stock trains east-
patching. with never a blunder or a I’ >und and the l>oth way passenger
break to the eight years. But It was train«, If a westbound freight got
at Omaha that Blackburn lost the wife caught In the mountains at night the
whose face he carried in bls watch. I engine might as well be standing In the
never heard the story, only s**me ru bouse saving fuel; there wasn't time to
mor of how young she was and how C"t from one siding to another So Fred
pretty and how he buried her and the Norman took the freights as they came, “/ um »rurc of whut I say. Tlu.rc wiU
w,«e baby together. It was al; Black and he handled them like a ringmaster
be no wreck.”
burn brought to the West End motin When Fred’s whip cracked, by Joe! a
ter
mechanic
sprang at each other in
tains hia record and the little face in train had to dance right along, grade or
the watch. They said he had no kith no grade Fred gave them the rights, a silent fury. No man dare say where
or kiu on earth besides the wife and and they hid the rest to do-or bust it might have ended had not Fred Nor
the baby l»aek on tiie bluff* of the Mis ne«s to do with the superintendent or man staggered between them with his
sourl. and so be came ou the mgiit with Doubleday. Neighbor's assistant hands up—but (he blood was gushing
from bis mouth.
trick to us.
tn the motive power.
It was pretty serious business. They
There was only one tendency tn Fred
I was just a boy srormd the Wickiup
then
I reu
H-r tiie crowd. Who Norman’s dispatching that anybody caught him as be fell, and the boy lay
KS.
get t.
? They wen* Jolly could criticise He never seemed, after on Blackburn's arm limp as a dead
-handling trains on the plains, to appre- wire. Noltody thought after they «aw
g I
W* V
I don't mean anylaxly cinft* w li.-it our ill* hid fain grAdt** rvnlij that hcn-orrhr.gc that he would ever
Liiu l * live to have another. I was scared sick,
drunk or that sort, but good tobacco to uieaut. and uheu they
smoke ami good snugs to siug aud go*«| sent his trains out pretty close togvtfi and I never saw a man so cut up a.«
Stories to tell, and. Lord, bow they er. It never bothered him to handle a Doubleday. Blackburn was cool in a
could tell them! And wh«u the pins heavy traffic. He would get the bust second, for be saw quicker than other»,
sliplast as they would. Slid things went n*-»s through the mountains Just as and be knew there was danger of the
wrong, as they wilt there were clear fast as they mold put It at the division, little dispatcher dying right there tn
heads and pretty wits and stout be-irts but occasionally there were some hair his tracks. Blackburu stood over h.m,
el pel
to put things right
eurl’ng experiences
among (he »'-eight' as much at home facing death as he
Bis.-kbum. as modi as I can remain on Nor uau's trtek trying to keep off was In a fight or in a dispatcher's
her. always enjoyed It. but in a differ each other’s coattails. One night It chair He appeared to know ju»t bow
ent way. He had
h time*» a manner July there was a great press moving to handle the boy to check the gu<b
like obodjr Haea—a silent, beaming eight ** nine trains of Montana grass and to know Just whew» the «alt was
c er the i tin lice on some kind of • nd how to fee»! it. an-t be had Tkmble-
ma nn *r When Burk« w«*uhl mil a
e contr-> t Wo were giving s’"k day telephoning for Dr. Cirbart st»!
great white Paubandlc yarn over h’s
fnoii Uu«i shirt front aud down h.s upni the ear h th* ;. Id ■ rybody was me running to a saiovo after chopped
Ire in •
book. Putting ft down almort at onca
BUd bolding the page uP«u
left band, be plugged Callahan a houae
^¡re and began drumming bl. cad.
Callahan's "Aye. aye, came back In-
2e of . minute, and Blackburn tap-
ped r.gbt at him. "Come dowu. And
1 began to wonder what wus up.
Jbere was un Interval; then Calla
han asked. "What's the matterr
I got up and walked over to the wa
ter tank fur a drink. Blackburu again
preswd the key and repeated to Calla-
ban precisely the word» be had used
before, “Come down."
ills face was drawn Into the very
shape of fear, and his eyes bent hard
OU me « ere looking through me and
through the shivering wiudow-I know
it now—aud through the storiuiug uignt.
horror set. into the canyou of the Peace
river.
The sounder broke, and he turned
hack, listened a moment, but It was
stray stuff about time freight. He
pu-bed the chair from behind 'him.
stiil. like a man. listening, listening;
then with an effort plain even to me
be walked across the office, pushed
oi>eu the door of Callahan's private
room and stood with his hand on the
knob, looking back at the lamp. It
was as If he still seemed to listen, for
he stood undecided a moment; then he
Stepped into the dark room and closed
the door behind him, leaving me alone
and dumb with fear.
The mystery la.v* ' knew. In the or
der book. Curiosity gradually got the
better of m.v fright, ami I walked from
the cooler over to the counter to get
courage and shoved the train register
around noisily. I crossed to the dis
patchers' table ami made a pretense of
arranging tiie pad» ami blanks. The
train older book «■«* lying open where
he had left It under the lamp. With
my eyes bulging. I read the last two
orders copied in it:
knocked out Blackburu was aa regular
a nurse as evrt you ••* Et“
meo. when they got pmabed. kind of
looked to Blackburn.
That day the minute he got Fred into
Carhart's hand» there was Freds
trick to take care of. and nobody, o
course, but Blackburn to do it ne sat
in and picked up the threads and held
them till noon, then Maxwell relieved
h.m. Doubleday was waiting outside
when Blackburu left the chair. I saw
him put out bis hand to the night dis
patcher. They spoke a minute and
went out and up Third street toward
Fred Norman’s room. It was a gloomy
dav around the depot. Everybody was
taiklng about the trouble and the way
it had begun and the way it V®d ended.
They talked in undertones, little groups
In comers and in rooms with the doors
shut. There wasn’t much of that in
our day there, and it was depressing.
I went home early «o bed, for I was on
nights, but the wind sung so, even in
the afternoon, that I couldn't quiet
down to sleep.
We were handling trains then on the
»1*1 single order system. I mention this
because in no other way could this par
ticular thing have hapi>ened. but there's
no special point in that, since other
particular things do happen all the
time, single order, double order or no
order system.
The wind had dropped and there was
Just a drizzle of raiu falling through
the mountains when I got down to the
depot at 7 o’clock that Sunday even
ing. I don’t know how much sleep
Blackburn had bad during the day. but
he had been at Fred Norman's bed
must of the afternoon with Doubleday
anJ Carhart, so he couldn't have hail
much. About half past 7 Maxwell sent
me over there with a note ami his storm
coat for him, and the three men were
In the room then. Boylike, 1 hung
around until It was time for Black C. and E. No. 1. Ames:
No. 1. Eng. 871. will hold at O'Fallon'»
burn to take bis trick, and then be and
tor Special 202.
Doubleday and I walked over to the C. and E. Special 202. Rosebud:
Wickiup together.
Special 202. Eng. <*3'*. will run to Salt
At sundown everything was ship Rocks regardless ot No. 1.
Salt Rocks! I glared at the words
shape. There hAIn't been an engine
failure In the district for twenty-four and the letters of the words.
I reread the first order and read again
hours, and every hand car was run
nlng smoothly. Moreover, there were the second. O'Fallon's for No. 1. . That
no extra sections marked up and only was right. O'Fallon's It should be fol
one special on the division card—a the the Special 202. of course. to meet her.
atrical train eastbouu.l with Ileury Irv But it wasn’t; it was the first station
ing and company from Frisco to Chica east of O'Fallon's be bad ordered the
go.
he Irving special was heavy, as special to run to. It was a lap order.
It always Is. That night there were five My scalp began to creep. A lap order
baggage cars, a coach and two sleepers for the Irving special and the No. 1
I am particular to lay all this out jusl passenger, and it doomed them to meet
as the mght opened when Blackburn head on somewhere between O'Fallon'»
took his train sheet, because sometimes and the Salt Rocks, In the Peace rivei
these things happen under extraordl canyon.
nary pressure ou the line and some
My mouth went sticking dry. The
times they don't; sometimes they hap sleet outside had deepened into a bail
peu under pressure on the dlspatchei that beat the west glass shari>er, and
Lrmself. It was all fixed, too. for Black the window shook again in the wind.
burn to handle not only bis own trick I asked myself, afraid to look around,
but the first two hours of Fred'» trick what Blackburn could t>e doing In Cal
which would carry till 6 o'clock In the lahan's room. The horror of the wreck
morning. At 0 Maxwell was to double impending through his mistake began
into a four hour dog watch, and Calla to grow on me. I know what I suf
ban was to sit in till noon.
fered; I ask myself uow what be suf
There wns nothing to bold the big fel fered. Inside, alone, in the dark.
lows around the depot that night, ami
Young as I was I realized that night
they began straggling home through the the meaning of the career to which my
rain al»out 9 o'efbek. Before 10 Bucks little ambition urged me. The soldier,
ami Callahan had left the office, by 11 the officer, the general, the statesman,
Neighbor had got away from the round the president, may make mistakes, do
house: Doubleday had gone back to sit make mistakes, that cost a life or cost
with Fred Norman.
10.000 lives. They redeem them and
The lights In the yard were low, and live honored. It is the obscure dispatch
the drizzle had eased Into a mist: It was er under the lamp who for a single
a nasty night, and yet one never prom lapse pays the penalty of eternal dis
ised better for quiet. Before midnight grace. I felt something of it even then,
the switchmen were snug In the yard and from my boy's heart. In tiie face of
shanties; in the Wickiup there were the the error, in the face of the slaughter,
night ticket agent downstairs and the I pitted Blackburn.
night baggageman. Upstairs every door
Callahan's room door opened again,
was locked and every room was dark an l Blackburn entne out of the dark.
except the dispatcher's office. In that I had left the table anil was standing
Blackburn sat at his key. Nearby, but in front of the stove. He looked nt me
closer to the stove, sat the night caller almost eagerly; the expression of his
for the train crews, trying to starch his face had completely changed. I never
hair with a ten cent novel.
in my life saw such a change In so few
The westbound overland passenger. minutes on any man's face, and, like all
No. 1. was due to leave Ames at 12:40 the rest, it alarmed me. It was not for
a. m.. and ordinarily would have met a me to speak if I had been able, and he
special like the Irving at Rosebud, did not. He walked straight over to the
which Is a good bit west of the river. table, closed the order book, plugged
But No. l’s engine had been steaming
Callahan's house wire again and began
badly all the way from McCloud, and calling him. The assistant superintend
on her schedule, which was crazy fast
ent answered, and Blackburn sent him
all night, she did not make Ames till Just
these words;
some fifty minutes late. While there
"You
need not come down."
were no special orders, it was under
I heard Callahan reply with a ques
stood we were to help the Irving train
as much as possible anyway. Bucks tion; "What Is the matter?”
Blackburn stood calmly over the key,
had made the acquaintance of the great
man and his fellows on the westbound but he made no answer. Instead, he re
peated only the words, "You need not
run. and,-<s they had paid us the par come
down.”
ticular compliment of a return trip, we
Callahan, easily excitable always,
were minded to give them the best of
It, even against No. 1. which was al was wrought up. “Blackburn," he ask
ways rather sacred on the sheet. This. ed over tiie wire Impatiently. "What in
I say. was pretty generally understood, God's name is the matter?” But Black
for when it was all over there was no burn only pulled the plug and cut him
criticism whatever on Blackburn's in out and sunk into the chair like a man
tention of making a meeting point for wearied.
"Mr. Blackburn," I said, my heart
the two trains, as they then stood, at
thumping like an Injector. "Mr. Black
O'Fallon's siding.
Between Ames and Rcsebud, twenty burn?” He glanced vacantly around;
miles apart, there are two sldlngs- seemed for the first time to si-e me. "Is
O'Fallon's, west of the river, and Salt there anything.” I faltered. "I can do?”
Even if the words meant nothing, the
Rocks, east. There was no operator at
either place. The train that leaves offer must have touched him. "No,
Ames westbound is tn the open for Jack.” be answered quietly, "there
twenty ml’e*. with only schedule rights isn't" With the words the hall door
or a dispatcher's tissue between her opened, and Bucks, storm beaten In his
and the worst of IL At 1 o'clock that ulster, threw it wide and stood facing
morning Blackburn wired an order to us both. The wind that swept In be-
Ames for No 1 to hold at O'Fallon for bind him blew out the lamps and left
Special 202. A minute later be sent an us in darkness.
“Jack, win you light up?"
order for Special 202 to run to O'Fallon
It w « Blackburn who «poke to me
regardless of No. 1. At least be thought
he sent such a a order, but he didn’t B t Bucks br-’ke in instantlv »peal king
to biui:
lie made a mistake.
< Laiiauau called me over bis bouse
u? he ha'’
the
point,
Blackburn rose from hts chair and sat wire a few minutes ago. Blackburn,
W0T*' 1
’■'»h'hed •nd told me to meet him here right
n.m till, fall ng into a doce a« I eyed •way. Is anything wrong?" he asked,
him drowsily, he began to loom np in with anxiety restrained tn his tone
I struck a match. I was so nervous
h;s chair and to curl and twist toward
the roof like a signal column. Then the ' that I took hold of the hot chimney of
front leg, of his chair struck the floor, the counter lamp and dropped It smash
and with a start I woke just as he to the floor. No one said a word, and
•topped hurled!y back to hl. table and that made me worse. I struck a sec
picktxl np the order book
oud match, and a third, and with a
The firs t suspicion I bad that any fourth got the lamp on the dispatchers’
thinsr wtk wr**ng was an exclamation table ltghte.1 as Blackburn answered
frotu Bht kburn ■» he stared at the the superintendent. "Something sett
Ous has happened," he replied to Buck.*
”1 sent lap orders at 1 oel<ws,
and the IrvUig special.”
Bucks stared at him.
“Instead of making a n*
at O'Fallon's I sent 1 an
to O’Fallon's and order^T*»
to run to Balt Rocks agnj-, <
“Why. my God,” ex.-iail'
“that will bring them
Peace canyou! Bluckuuru' k *
Blackburn!" he cried, tear|»/,
storm coat. He waik«t
walked to
seized the order book and t
himself with one baud
oa ti»
I never saw him like that*!
looked as if the horror t <
the trouble in the Peace rii 1
had come. The sleet tort »• 1
depot like a wolf, and
. J
shivering. Bucks turu.q
cutioner on bis sui>ordinate ■
"What have you done to a-
He drew bls watch, usd ¡.J
came sharp as doom. -\\-r ,1
wreckers? Where's your n.^.,'I
have you done? What ar» j. J
Nothing? Why don't you sp'„ ' I
you kill two truinioad» of
I
out an effort to do anythin;» I
Ills voice rang absolut» J
me. 1 looked tov. ard BlaekhJ
fectly helpless.
I
“Bucks, there will be no w J
answered steadily.
’
"Be no wreeki” thundery!
towering in the dingy r. uud^j
sweep of the wind. “Be no J
Two passenger trains meet In J
be no wreck? Are y >u crazy» |
The dispatcher's bauds cinttj
the table. "No,” be persisti-|(J
”1 aui not crazy, Bucks, bontl
me so. I tell you there will vl
wreck.”
I
Bucks, uncertain with »»J
stared at him again.
I
"Blackburn, if you're satai]
know what you mean. Don't]
there like that. Do you knot]
you have done?" The »upwaJ
advanced toward him a» ¿J
There was a trace of pity In be J
that seemed to open BlaekburiJ
heart more than all the bitteruewl
"Bucks,” he struggled, puttitid
band toward bls chief. "I mJ
what I say. There will be no J
When I saw what 1 had done-J
was too late to undo it—1 b-tja]
that my hands might not be J
with their blood.” Sweat ooall
the wretched man's forehead I
word wrung Its bead of agony. 1
answered,” be exclaimed, withtd
confidence; "there will l>e no vtJ
cannot see what will bap|*en. la
know what, but there will be a* J
believe me or not—it Is so.”
His steadfast manner stapwa
superintendent I iul 1 imaiM
he was debating ns he looked«!
burn—wondering, maybe. wMs
man's mind was gone. Buck»™
gered; be looked it. and as bed
ed himself to speak again the id
opened like an uncanny thing,«
all started ns Callahan burst tod
"What's so?" be echoed. "Wig
here? What did It mean, BI jm
There’s been trouble, hasn't 1
What’s the matter with
Bucks? Is everybody struck du
Bucks i spoke. "There's a l»?i
out on 1 I and the theatrical speiii
lahan. ’ We don’t know what's H
ed,” said Bucks sullenly. "Blidi
here has gone crazy—or be hi
somehow—there won't be «ny
added the superintendent slow]
bewllderedly. “It's between ON
Blackburn wai ttrttchf'l on Ml!
and Salt Rocks somewhere CM
take the key.” he cried of > q
"There's a call now. Di«P**®J
speak; ask no qu«*-ti*'
sage." he exclaimed *t * ' :r-
the Instrument. "It : • h**?!
And it was new-
’
station reporting t’ * Irvtofl^
at 1:52 a. m.—out at 1 "
]
It togrther or It might not bR
I -; e*i. To*' Irving -pedH
bound, safely past No ■
on a single track Wbs® ^*“3
orders had lapped!
yj
word of *l.ing>T or ■ f
that they had seen No. 1 and IÍ*
time to avoid a col"'
a word: nothing. Tn nt
And the actors hard
berths, and on about its
Irving special - that » ’ J«
from Ameo.
Callahan looked ar «nA # J
men, what does this i~
k»o< ’
here Is lnaane. I <1<* ? ora.
*
IPs me or yon. Black
(Continuad on Fags -<rtl