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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24696-8.txt b/24696-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..636011d --- /dev/null +++ b/24696-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7171 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Daughter of a Magnate, by Frank H. +Spearman + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Daughter of a Magnate + + +Author: Frank H. Spearman + + + +Release Date: February 26, 2008 [eBook #24696] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 24696-h.htm or 24696-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/9/24696/24696-h/24696-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/9/24696/24696-h.zip) + + + + + +THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE + +by + +FRANK H. SPEARMAN + +Author of + Whispering Smith, + Doctor Bryson, Etc. + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Gertrude used her glass constantly.] + + + +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers : : New York + +Copyright, 1903, by +Charles Scribner's Sons + +Published, October, 1903 + + + + +To + +WESLEY HAMILTON PECK, M.D. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. + + I. A JUNE WATER + II. AN ERROR AT HEADQUARTERS + III. INTO THE MOUNTAINS + IV. AS THE DESPATCHER SAW + V. AN EMERGENCY CALL + VI. THE CAT AND THE RAT + VII. TIME BEING MONEY + VIII. SPLITTING THE PAW + IX. A TRUCE + X. AND A SHOCK + XI. IN THE LALLA ROOKH + XII. A SLIP ON A SPECIAL + XIII. BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS + XIV. GLEN TARN + XV. NOVEMBER + XVI. NIGHT + XVII. STORM + XVIII. DAYBREAK + XIX. SUSPENSE + XX. DEEPENING WATERS + XXI. PILOT + XXII. THE SOUTH ARÊTE + XXIII. BUSINESS + + + + +The Daughter of a Magnate + + +CHAPTER I + +A JUNE WATER + +The train, a special, made up of a private car and a diner, was running +on a slow order and crawled between the bluffs at a snail's pace. + +Ahead, the sun was sinking into the foothills and wherever the eye +could reach to the horizon barren wastes lay riotously green under the +golden blaze. The river, swollen everywhere out of its banks, spread +in a broad and placid flood of yellow over the bottoms, and a hundred +shallow lakes studded with willowed islands marked its wandering course +to the south and east. The clear, far air of the mountains, the glory +of the gold on the June hills and the illimitable stretch of waters +below, spellbound the group on the observation platform. + +"It's a pity, too," declared Conductor O'Brien, who was acting as +mountain Baedeker, "that we're held back this way when we're covering +the prettiest stretch on the road for running. It is right along here +where you are riding that the speed records of the world have been +made. Fourteen and six-tenths miles were done in nine and a half +minutes just west of that curve about six months ago--of course it was +down hill." + +Several of the party were listening. "Do you use speed recorders out +here?" asked Allen Harrison. + +"How's that?" + +"Do you use speed recorders?" + +"Only on our slow trains," replied O'Brien. "To put speed recorders on +Paddy McGraw or Jimmie the Wind would be like timing a teal duck with +an eight-day clock. Sir?" he asked, turning to another questioner +while the laugh lingered on his side. "No; those are not really +mountains at all. Those are the foothills of the Sleepy Cat +range--west of the Spider Water. We get into that range about two +hundred miles from here--well, I say they are west of the Spider, but +for ten days it's been hard to say exactly where the Spider is. The +Spider is making us all the trouble with high water just now--and we're +coming out into the valley in about a minute," he added as the car gave +an embarrassing lurch. "The track is certainly soft, but if you'll +stay right where you are, on this side, ladies, you'll get the view of +your lives when we leave the bluffs. The valley is about nine miles +broad and it's pretty much all under water." + +Beyond the curve they were taking lay a long tangent stretching like a +steel wand across a sea of yellow, and as their engine felt its way +very gingerly out upon it there rose from the slow-moving trucks of +their car the softened resonance that tells of a sounding-board of +waters. + +Soon they were drawn among wooded knolls between which hurried little +rivers tossed out of the Spider flood into dry waterways and brawling +with surprised stones and foaming noisily at stubborn root and +impassive culvert. Through the trees the travellers caught passing +glimpses of shaded eddies and a wilderness of placid pools. "And +this," murmured Gertrude Brock to her sister Marie, "this is the +Spider!" O'Brien, talking to the men at her elbow, overheard. +"Hardly, Miss Brock; not yet. You haven't seen the river yet. This is +only the backwater." + +They were rising the grade to the bridge approach, and when they +emerged a few moments later from the woods the conductor said, "There!" + +The panorama of the valley lay before them. High above their level and +a mile away, the long thread-like spans of Hailey's great bridge +stretched from pier to pier. To the right of the higher ground a fan +of sidetracks spread, with lines of flat cars and gondolas loaded with +stone, brush, piling and timbers, and in the foreground two hulking +pile-drivers, their leads, like rabbits' ears laid sleekly back, +squatted mysteriously. Switch engines puffed impatiently up and down +the ladder track shifting stuff to the distant spurs. At the river +front an army of men moved like loaded ants over the dikes. Beyond +them the eye could mark the boiling yellow of the Spider, its winding +channel marked through the waste of waters by whirling driftwood, +bobbing wreckage and plunging trees--sweepings of a thousand angry +miles. "There's the Spider," repeated the West End conductor, +pointing, "out there in the middle where you see things moving right +along. That's the Spider, on a twenty-year rampage." The train, +moving slowly, stopped. "I guess we've got as close to it as we're +going to, for a while. I'll take a look forward." + +It was the time of the June water in the mountains. A year earlier the +rise had taken the Peace River bridge and with the second heavy year of +snow railroad men looked for new trouble. June is not a month for +despair, because the mountain men have never yet scheduled despair as a +West End liability. But it is a month that puts wrinkles in the right +of way clear across the desert and sows gray hairs in the roadmasters' +records from McCloud to Bear Dance. That June the mountain streams +roared, the foothills floated, the plains puffed into sponge, and in +the thick of it all the Spider Water took a man-slaughtering streak and +started over the Bad Lands across lots. The big river forced Bucks' +hand once more, and to protect the main line Glover, third of the +mountain roadbuilders, was ordered off the high-line construction and +back to the hills where Brodie and Hailey slept, to watch the Spider. + +The special halted on a tongue of high ground flanking the bridge and +extending upstream to where the river was gnawing at the long dike that +held it off the approach. The delay was tedious. Doctor Lanning and +Allen Harrison went forward to smoke. Gertrude Brock took refuge in a +book and Mrs. Whitney, her aunt, annoyed her with stories. Marie Brock +and Louise Donner placed their chairs where they could watch the +sorting and unloading of never-ending strings of flat cars, the +spasmodic activity in the lines of laborers, the hurrying of the +foremen and the movement of the rapidly shifting fringe of men on the +danger line at the dike. + +The clouds which had opened for the dying splendor of the day closed +and a shower swept over the valley; the conductor came back in his +raincoat--his party were at dinner. "_Are_ we to be detained much +longer?" asked Mrs. Whitney. + +"For a little while, I'm afraid," replied the trainman diplomatically. +"I've been away over there on the dike to see if I could get permission +to cross, but I didn't succeed." + +"Oh, conductor!" remonstrated Louise Donner. + +"And we don't get to Medicine Bend to-night," said Doctor Lanning. + +"What we need is a man of influence," suggested Harrison. "We ought +never to have let your 'pa' go," he added, turning to Gertrude Brock, +beside whom he sat. + +"Can't we really get ahead?" Gertrude lifted her brows reproachfully +as she addressed the conductor. "It's becoming very tiresome." + +O'Brien shook his head. + +"Why not see someone in authority?" she persisted. + +"I have seen the man in authority, and nearly fell into the river doing +it; then he turned me down." + +"Did you tell him who we were?" demanded Mrs. Whitney. + +"I made all sorts of pleas." + +"Does he know that Mr. Bucks _promised_ we should be In Medicine Bend +to-night?" asked pretty little Marie Brock. + +"He wouldn't in the least mind that." + +Mrs. Whitney bridled. "Pray who is he?" + +"The construction engineer of the mountain division is the man in +charge of the bridge just at present." + +"It would be a very simple matter to get orders over his head," +suggested Harrison. + +"Not very." + +"Mr. Bucks?" + +"Hardly. No orders would take us over that bridge to-night without +Glover's permission." + +"What an autocrat!" sighed Mrs. Whitney. "No matter; I don't care to +go over it, anyway." + +"But I do," protested Gertrude. "I don't feel like staying in this +water all night, if you please." + +"I'm afraid that's what we'll have to do for a few hours. I told Mr. +Glover he would be in trouble if I didn't get my people to Medicine +Bend to-night." + +"Tell him again," laughed Doctor Lanning. + +Conductor O'Brien looked embarrassed. "You'd like to ask particular +leave of Mr. Glover for us, I know," suggested Miss Donner. + +"Well, hardly--the second time--not of Mr. Glover." A sheet of rain +drenched the plate-glass windows. "But I'm going to watch things and +we'll get out just as soon as possible. I know Mr. Glover pretty well. +He is all right, but he's been down here now a week without getting out +of his clothes and the river rising on him every hour. They've got +every grain bag between Salt Lake and Chicago and they're filling them +with sand and dumping them in where the river is cutting." + +"Any danger of the bridge going?" asked the doctor. + +"None in the world, but there's a lot of danger that the river will go. +That would leave the bridge hanging over dry land. The fight is to +hold the main channel where it belongs. They're getting rock over the +bridge from across the river and strengthening the approach for fear +the dike should give way. The track is busy every minute, so I +couldn't make much impression on Mr. Glover." + +There was light talk of a deputation to the dike, followed by the +resignation of travellers, cards afterward, and ping-pong. With the +deepening of the night the rain fell harder, and the wind rising in +gusts drove it against the glass. When the women retired to their +compartments the train had been set over above the bridge where the +wind, now hard from the southeast, sung steadily around the car. + +Gertrude Brock could not sleep. After being long awake she turned on +the light and looked at her watch; it was one o'clock. The wind made +her restless and the air in the stateroom had become oppressive. She +dressed and opened her door. The lights were very low and the car was +silent; all were asleep. + +At the rear end she raised a window-shade. The night was lighted by +strange waves of lightning, and thunder rumbled in the distance +unceasingly. Where she sat she could see the sidings filled with cars, +and when a sharper flash lighted the backwater of the lakes, vague +outlines of far-off bluffs beetled into the sky. + +She drew the shade, for the continuous lightning added to her disquiet. +As she did so the rain drove harshly against the car and she retreated +to the other side. Feeling presently the coolness of the air she +walked to her stateroom for her Newmarket coat, and wrapping it about +her, sunk into a chair and closed her eyes. She had hardly fallen +asleep when a crash of thunder split the night and woke her. As it +rolled angrily away she quickly raised the window-curtain. + +The heavens were frenzied. She looked toward the river. Electrical +flashes charging from end to end of the angry sky lighted the bridge, +reflected the black face of the river and paled flickering lights and +flaming torches where, on vanishing stretches of dike, an army of dim +figures, moving unceasingly, lent awe to the spectacle. + +She could see smoke from the hurrying switch engines whirled viciously +up into the sweeping night and above her head the wind screamed. A +gale from the southwest was hurling the Spider against the revetment +that held the eastern shore and the day and the night gangs together +were reinforcing it. Where the dike gave under the terrific pounding, +or where swiftly boiling pools sucked under the heavy piling, Glover's +men were sinking fresh relays of mattresses and loading them with stone. + +At moments laden flat cars were pushed to the brink of the flood, and +men with picks and bars rose spirit-like out of black shadows to +scramble up their sides and dump rubble on the sunken brush. Other men +toiling in unending procession wheeled and slung sandbags upon the +revetment; others stirred crackling watchfires that leaped high into +the rain, and over all played the incessant lightning and the angry +thunder and the flying night. + +She shut from her eyes the strangely moving sight, returned to her +compartment, closed her door and lay down. It was quieter within the +little room and the fury of the storm was less appalling. + +Half dreaming as she lay, mountains shrouded in a deathly lightning +loomed wavering before her, and one, most terrible of all, she strove +unwillingly to climb. Up she struggled, clinging and slipping, a +cramping fear over all her senses, her ankles clutched in icy fetters, +until from above, an apparition, strange and threatening, pushed her, +screaming, and she swooned into an awful gulf. + +"Gertrude! Gertrude! Wake up!" cried a frightened voice. + +The car was rocking in the wind, and as Gertrude opened her door Louise +Donner stumbled terrified into her arms. "Did you hear that awful, +awful crash? I'm sure the car has been struck." + +"No, no, Louise." + +"It surely has been. Oh, let us waken the men at once, Gertrude; we +shall be killed!" + +The two clung to one another. "I'm afraid to stay alone, Gertrude," +sobbed her companion. + +"Stay with me, Louise. Come." While they spoke the wind died and for +a moment the lightning ceased, but the calm, like the storm, was +terrifying. As they stood breathless a report like the ripping of a +battery burst over their heads, a blast shook the heavy car and howled +shrilly away. + +Sleep was out of the question. Gertrude looked at her watch. It was +four o'clock. The two dressed and sat together till daylight. When +morning broke, dark and gray, the storm had passed and out of the +leaden sky a drizzle of rain was falling. Beside the car men were +moving. The forward door was open and the conductor in his stormcoat +walked in. + +"Everything is all right this morning, ladies," he smiled. + +"All right? I should think everything all wrong," exclaimed Louise. +"We have been frightened to death." + +"They've got the cutting stopped," continued O'Brien, smiling. "Mr. +Glover has left the dike. He just told me the river had fallen six +inches since two o'clock. We'll be out of here now as quick as we can +get an engine: they've been switching with ours. There was +considerable wind in the night----" + +"Considerable _wind_!" + +"You didn't notice it, did you? Glover loaded the bridge with freight +trains about twelve o'clock and I'm thinking it's lucky, for when the +wind went into the northeast about four o'clock I thought it would take +my head off. It snapped like dynamite clear across the valley." + +"Oh, we heard!" + +"When the wind jumped, a crew was dumping stone into the river. The +men were ordered off the flat cars but there were so many they didn't +all get the word at once, and while the foreman was chasing them down +he was blown clean into the river." + +"Drowned?" + +"No, he was not. He crawled out away down by the bridge, though a man +couldn't have done it once in a thousand times. It was old Bill +Dancing--he's got more lives than a cat. Do you remember where we +first pulled up the train in the afternoon? A string of ten box cars +stood there last night and when the wind shifted it blew the whole +bunch off the track." + +"Oh, do let us get away from here," urged Gertrude. "I feel as if +something worse would happen if we stayed. I'm sorry we ever left +McCloud yesterday." + +The men came from their compartments and there was more talk of the +storm. Clem and his helpers were starting breakfast in the dining-car +and the doctor and Harrison wanted to walk down to see where the river +had cut into the dike. Mrs. Whitney had not appeared and they asked +the young ladies to go with them. Gertrude objected. A foggy haze +hung over the valley. + +"Come along," urged Harrison; "the air will give you an appetite." + +After some remonstrating she put on her heavy coat, and carrying +umbrellas the four started under the conductor's guidance across to the +dike. They picked their steps along curving tracks, between material +piles and through the débris of the night. On the dike they spent some +time looking at the gaps and listening to explanations of how the river +worked to undermine and how it had been checked. Watchers hooded in +yellow stickers patrolled the narrow jetties or, motionless, studied +the eddies boiling at their feet. + +Returning, the party walked around the edge of the camp where cooks +were busy about steaming kettles. Under long, open tents wearied men +lying on scattered hay slept after the hardship of the night. In the +drizzling haze half a dozen men, assistants to the engineer--rough +looking but strong-featured and quick-eyed--sat with buckets of +steaming coffee about a huge campfire. Four men bearing a litter came +down the path. Doctor Lanning halted them. A laborer had been pinched +during the night between loads of piling projecting over the ends of +flat cars and they told the doctor his chest was hurt. A soiled +neckcloth covered his face but his stertorous breathing could be heard, +and Gertrude Brock begged the doctor to go to the camp with the injured +man and see whether something could not be done to relieve him until +the company surgeon arrived. The doctor, with O'Brien, turned back. +Gertrude, depressed by the incident, followed Louise and Allen Harrison +along the path which wound round a clump of willows flanking the +campfire. + +On the sloping bank below the trees and a little out of the wind a man +on a mattress of willows lay stretched asleep. He was clad in leather, +mud-stained and wrinkled, and the big brown boots that cased his feet +were strapped tightly above his knees. An arm, outstretched, supported +his head, hidden under a soft gray hat. Like the thick gloves that +covered his clasped hands, his hat and the handkerchief knotted about +his neck were soaked by the rain, falling quietly and trickling down +the furrows of his leather coat. But his attitude was one of +exhaustion, and trifles of discomfort were lost in his deep respiration. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Gertrude Brock under her breath, "look at that poor +fellow asleep in the rain. Allen?" + +Allen Harrison, ahead, was struggling to hold his umbrella upright +while he rolled a cigarette. He turned as he passed the paper across +his lips. + +"Throw your coat over him, Allen." + +Harrison pasted the paper roll, and putting it to his mouth felt for +his matchcase. "Throw _my_ coat over him!" + +"Yes." + +Allen took out a match. "Well, I like that. That's like you, +Gertrude. Suppose you throw your coat over him." + +Gertrude looked silently at her companion. There is a moment when +women should be humored; not all men are fortunate enough to recognize +it. Louise, still walking ahead, called, "Come on," but Gertrude did +not move. + +"Allen, throw your coat over the poor fellow," she urged. "You +wouldn't let your dog lie like that in the rain." + +"But, Gertrude--do me the kindness"--he passed his umbrella to her that +he might better manage the lighting--"he's not my dog." + +If she made answer it was only in the expression of her eyes. She +handed the umbrella back, flung open her long coat and slipped it from +her shoulders. With the heavy garment in her hands she stepped from +her path toward the sleeper and noticed for the first time an utterly +disreputable-looking dog lying beside him in the weeds. The dog's long +hair was bedraggled to the color of the mud he curled in, and as he +opened his eyes without raising his head, Gertrude hesitated; but his +tail spoke a kindly greeting. He knew no harm was meant and he watched +unconcernedly while, determined not to recede from her impulse, +Gertrude stepped hastily to the sleeper's side and dropped her coat +over his shoulders. + +Louise was too far ahead to notice the incident. After breakfast she +asked Gertrude what the matter was. + +"Nothing. Allen and I had our first quarrel this morning." + +As she spoke, the train, high in the air, was creeping over the Spider +bridge. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN ERROR AT HEADQUARTERS + +When the Brock-Harrison party, familiarly known--among those with whom +they were by no means familiar--as the Steel Crowd, bought the +transcontinental lines that J. S. Bucks, the second vice-president and +general manager, had built up into a system, their first visit to the +West End was awaited with some uneasiness. An impression prevailed that +the new owners might take decided liberties with what Conductor O'Brien +termed the "personal" of the operating department. + +But week after week followed the widely heralded announcement of the +purchase without the looked-for visit from the new owners. During the +interval West End men from the general superintendent down were +admittedly on edge--with the exception of Conductor O'Brien. "If I go, I +go," was all he said, and in making the statement in his even, +significant way it was generally understood that the trainman that ran +the pay-cars and the swell mountain specials had in view a +superintendency on the New York Central. On what he rested his +confidence in the opening no one certainly knew, though Pat Francis +claimed it was based wholly on a cigar in a glass case once given to the +genial conductor by Chauncey M. Depew when travelling special to the +coast under his charge. + +Be that as it may, when the West End was at last electrified by the +announcement that the Brock-Harrison syndicate train had already crossed +the Missouri and might be expected any day, O'Brien with his usual luck +was detailed as one of the conductors to take charge of the visitors. + +The pang in the operating department was that the long-delayed inspection +tour should have come just at a time when the water had softened things +until every train on the mountain division was run under slow-orders. + +At McCloud Vice-president Bucks, a very old campaigner, had held the +party for two days to avoid the adverse conditions in the west and turned +the financiers of the party south to inspect branches while the road was +drying in the hills. But the party of visitors contained two distinct +elements, the money-makers and the money-spenders--the generation that +made the investment and the generation that distributed the dividends. +The young people rebelled at branch line trips and insisted on heading +for sightseeing and hunting straight into the mountains. Accordingly, at +McCloud the party split, and while Henry S. Brock and his business +associates looked over the branches, his private cars containing his +family and certain of their friends were headed for the headquarters of +the mountain division, Medicine Bend. + +Medicine Bend is not quite the same town it used to be, and +disappointment must necessarily attend efforts to identify the once +familiar landmarks of the mountain division. Improvement, implacable +priestess of American industry, has well-nigh obliterated the picturesque +features of pioneer days. The very right of way of the earliest overland +line, abandoned for miles and miles, is seen now from the car windows +bleaching on the desert. So once its own rails, vigorous and aggressive, +skirted grinning heaps of buffalo bones, and its own tangents were spiked +across the grave of pony rider and Indian brave--the king was: the king +is. + +But the Sweetgrass winds are the same. The same snows whiten the peaks, +the same sun dies in western glory, and the mountains still see nestling +among the tracks at the bend of the Medicine River the first headquarters +building of the mountain division, nicknamed The Wickiup. What, in the +face of continual and unrelenting changes, could have saved the Wickiup? +Not the fact that the crazy old gables can boast the storm and stress of +the mad railroad life of another day than this--for every deserted curve +and hill of the line can do as much. The Wickiup has a better claim to +immortality, for once its cracked and smoky walls, raised solely to house +the problems and perplexities of the operating department, sheltered a +pair of lovers, so strenuous in their perplexities that even yet in the +gleam of the long night-fires of the West End their story is told. + +In that day the construction department of the mountain division was +cooped up at one end of the hall on the second floor of the building. +Bucks at that time thought twice before he indorsed one of Glover's +twenty-thousand-dollar specifications. Now, with the department +occupying the entire third floor and pushing out of the dormer windows, a +million-dollar estimate goes through like a requisition for postage +stamps. + +But in spite of his hole-in-the-wall office, Glover, the construction +engineer of that day, was a man to be reckoned with in estimates of West +End men. They knew him for a captain long before he left his mark on the +Spider the time he held the river for a straight week at twenty-eight +feet, bitted and gagged between Hailey's piers, and forced the yellow +tramp to understand that if it had killed Hailey there were equally bad +men left on the mountain pay-roll. Glover, it may be said, took his +final degrees in engineering in the Grand Cañon; he was a member of the +Bush party, and of the four that got back alive to Medicine one was Ab +Glover. + +Glover rebuilt the whole system of snowsheds on the West End, practically +everything from the Peace to the Sierras. Every section foreman in the +railroad Bad Lands knew Glover. Just how he happened to lose his +position as chief engineer of the system--for he was a big man on the +East End when he first came with the road--no one certainly knew. Some +said he spoke his mind too freely--a bad trait in a railroad man; others +said he could not hold down the job. All they knew in the mountains was +that as a snow fighter he could wear out all the plows on the division, +and that if a branch line were needed in haste Glover would have the +rails down before an ordinary man could get his bids in. + +Ordinarily these things are expected from a mountain constructionist and +elicit no comment from headquarters, but the matter at the Spider was one +that could hardly pass unnoticed. For a year Glover had been begging for +a stenographer. Writing, to him, was as distasteful as soda-water, and +one morning soon after his return from the valley flood a letter came +with the news that a competent stenographer had been assigned to him and +would report at once for duty at Medicine Bend. + +Glover emerged from his hall-office in great spirits and showed the +letter to Callahan, the general superintendent, for congratulations. +"That is right," commented Callahan cynically. "You saved them a hundred +thousand dollars last month--they are going to blow ten a week on you. +By the way, your stenographer is here." + +"He is?" + +"She is. Your stenographer, a very dignified young lady, came in on +Number One. You had better go and get shaved. She has been in to +inquire for you and has gone to look up a boarding-place. Get her +started as soon as you can--I want to see your figures on the Rat Cañon +work." + +A helper now would be a boon from heaven. "But she won't stay long after +she sees this office," Glover reflected ruefully as he returned to it. +He knew from experience that stenographers were hard to hold at Medicine +Bend. They usually came out for their health and left at the slightest +symptoms of improvement. He worried as to whether he might possibly have +been unlucky enough to draw another invalid. And at the very moment he +had determined he would not lose his new assistant if good treatment +would keep her he saw a trainman far down the gloomy hall pointing a +finger in his direction--saw a young lady coming toward him and realized +he ought to have taken time that morning to get shaved. + +There was nothing to do but make the best of it; dismissing his +embarrassment he rose to greet the newcomer. His first reflection was +that he had not drawn an invalid, for he had never seen a fresher face in +his life, and her bearing had the confidence of health itself. + +"I heard you had been here," he said reassuringly as the young lady +hesitated at his door. + +"Pardon me?" + +"I heard you had been here," he repeated with deference. + +"I wish to send a despatch," she replied with an odd intonation. Her +reply seemed so at variance with his greeting that a chill tempered his +enthusiasm. Could they possibly have sent him a deaf stenographer?--one +worn in the exacting service at headquarters? There was always a fly +somewhere in his ointment, and so capable and engaging a young lady +seemed really too good to be true. He saw the message blank in her hand. +"Let me take it," he suggested, and added, raising his voice, "It shall +go at once." The young lady gave him the message and sitting down at his +desk he pressed an electric call. Whatever her misfortunes she enlisted +his sympathy instantly, and as no one had ever accused him of having a +weak voice he determined he would make the best of the situation. "Be +seated, please," he said. She looked at him curiously. "Pray, be +seated," he repeated more firmly. + +"I desire only to pay for my telegram." + +"Not at all. It isn't necessary. Just be seated!" + +In some bewilderment she sat down on the edge of the chair beside which +she stood. + +"We are cramped for room at present in the construction department," he +went on, affixing his frank to the telegram. "Here, Gloomy, rush this, +my boy," said he to the messenger, who came through a door connecting +with the operator's room. "But we have the promise of more space soon," +he resumed, addressing the young lady hopefully. "I have had your desk +placed there to give you the benefit of the south light." + +The stenographer studied the superintendent of construction with some +surprise. His determination to provide for her comfort was most apparent +and his apologies for his crowded quarters were so sincere that they +could not but appeal to a stranger. Her expression changed. Glover felt +that he ought to ask her to take off her hat, but could not for his life. +The frankness of her eyes was rather too confusing to support very much +of at once, and he busied himself at sorting the blueprints on his table, +guiltily aware that she was alive to his unshaven condition. He +endeavored to lead the conversation. "We have excellent prospects of a +new headquarters building." As he spoke he looked up. Her eyes were +certainly extraordinary. Could she be laughing at him? The prospect of +a new building had been, it was true, a joke for many years and evidently +she put no more confidence in the statement than he did himself. "Of +course, you are aware," he continued to bolster his assertion, "that the +road has been bought by an immensely rich lot of Pittsburg duffers----" + +The stenographer half rose in her chair. "Will it not be possible for me +to pay for my message at once?" she asked somewhat peremptorily. + +"I have already franked it." + +"But I did not----" + +"Don't mention it. All I will ask in return is that you will help me get +some letters out of the way to-day," returned Glover, laying a pencil and +note-book on the desk before her. "The other work may go till to-morrow. +By the way, have you found a boarding-place?" + +"A boarding-place?" + +"I understand you were looking for one." + +"I have one." + +"The first letter is to Mr. Bucks--I fancy you know _his_ address--" She +did not begin with alacrity. Their eyes met, and in hers there was a +queerish expression. + +"I'm not at all sure I ought to undertake this," she said rapidly and +with a touch of disdainful mischief. + +"Give yourself no uneasiness--" he began. + +"It is you I fear who are giving yourself uneasiness," she interrupted. + +"No, I dictate very slowly. Let's make a trial anyway." To avoid +embarrassment he looked the other way when he saw she had taken up the +pencil. + +"My Dear Bucks," he began. "Your letter with programme for the Pittsburg +party is received. Why am I to be nailed to the cross with part of the +entertaining? There's no hunting now. The hair is falling off grizzlies +and Goff wouldn't take his dogs out at this season for the President of +the United States. What would you think of detailing Paddy McGraw to +give the young men a fast ride--they have heard of him. I talked +yesterday with one of them. He wanted to see a train robber and I +introduced him to Conductor O'Brien, but he never saw the joke, and you +know how depressing explanations are. Don't, my dear Bucks, put me on a +private car with these people for four weeks--my brother died of +paresis----" + +"Oh!" He turned. The stenographer's cheeks were burning; she was +astonishingly pretty. "I'm going too fast, I'm afraid," said Glover. + +"I do not think I had better attempt to continue," she answered, rising. +Her eyes fairly burned the brown mountain engineer. + +"As you like," he replied, rising too, "It was hardly fair to ask you to +work to-day. By the way, Mr. Bucks forgot to give me your name." + +"Is it necessary that you should have my name?" + +"Not in the least," returned Glover with insistent consideration, "any +name at all will do, so I shall know what to call you." + +For an instant she seemed unable to catch her breath, and he was about to +explain that the rarefied air often affected newcomers in that way when +she answered with some intensity, "I am Miss Brock. I never have +occasion to use any other name." + +Whatever result she looked for from her spirited words, his manner lost +none of its urbanity. "Indeed? That's the name of our Pittsburg +magnate. You ought to be sure of a position under _him_--you might turn +out to be a relation," he laughed, softly. + +"Quite possibly." + +"Do not return this afternoon," he continued as she backed away from him. +"This mountain air is exhausting at first----" + +"Your letters?" she queried with an expression that approached pleasant +irony. + +"They may wait." + +She courtesied quaintly. He had never seen such a woman in his life, and +as his eyes fixed on her down the dim hall he was overpowered by the +grace of her vanishing figure. + +Sitting at his table he was still thinking of her when Solomon, the +messenger, came in with a telegram. The boy sat down opposite the +engineer, while the latter read the message. + +"That Miss Brock is fine, isn't she?" + +Glover scowled. "I took a despatch over to the car yesterday and she +gave me a dollar," continued Solomon. + +"What car?" + +"Her car. She's in that Pittsburg party." + +"The young lady that sat here a moment ago?" + +"Sure; didn't you know? There she goes now to the car again." Glover +stepped to the east window. A young lady was gathering up her gown to +mount the car-step and a porter was assisting her. The daintiness of her +manner was a nightmare of conviction. Glover turned from the window and +began tearing up papers on his table. He tore up all the worthless +papers in sight and for months afterward missed valuable ones. When he +had filled the waste-basket he rammed blue-prints down into it with his +foot until he succeeded in smashing it. Then he sat down and held his +head between his hands. + +She was entitled to an apology, or an attempt at one at least, and though +he would rather have faced a Sweetgrass blizzard than an interview he set +his lips and with bitterness in his heart made his preparations. The +incident only renewed his confidence in his incredible stupidity, but +what he felt was that a girl with such eyes as hers could never be +brought to believe it genuine. + +An hour afterward he knocked at the door of the long olive car that stood +east of the station. The hand-rails were very bright and the large plate +windows shone spotless, but the brown shades inside were drawn. Glover +touched the call-button and to the uniformed colored man who answered he +gave his card asking for Miss Brock. + +An instant during which he had once waited for a dynamite blast when +unable to get safely away, came back to him. Standing on the handsome +platform he remembered wondering at that time whether he should land in +one place or in several places. Now, he wished himself away from that +door even if he had to crouch again on the ledge which he had found in a +deadly moment he could not escape from. On the previous occasion the +fuse had mercifully failed to burn. This time when he collected his +thoughts the colored man was smilingly telling him for the second time +that Miss Brock was not in. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +INTO THE MOUNTAINS + +"You put me in an awkward position," muttered Bucks, looking out of the +window. + +"But it is grace itself compared with the position I should be in now +among the Pittsburgers," objected Glover, shifting his legs again. + +"If you won't go, I must, that's all," continued the general manager. +"I can't send Tom, Dick, or Harry with these people, Ab. Gentlemen +must be entertained as such. On the hunting do the best you can; they +want chiefly to see the country and I can't have them put through it on +a tourist basis. I want them to see things globe-trotters don't see +and can't see without someone like you. You ought to do that much for +our President--Henry S. Brock is not only a national man, and a big one +in the new railroad game, but besides being the owner of this whole +system he is my best friend. We sat at telegraph keys together a long +time before he was rated at sixty million dollars. I care nothing for +the party except that it includes his own family and is made up of his +friends and associates and he looks to me here as I should look to him +in the East were circumstances reversed." + +Bucks paused. Glover stared a moment. "If you put it in that way let +us drop it," said he at last. "I will go." + +"The blunder was not a life and death matter. In the mountains where +we don't see one woman a year it might happen that any man expecting +one young lady should mistake another for her. Miss Brock is full of +mischief, and the temptation to her to let you deceive yourself was too +great, that's all. If I could go without sacrificing the interests of +all of us in the reorganization I shouldn't ask you to go." + +"Let it pass." + +The day had been planned for the little reception to the visitors. The +arrival of two more private cars had added the directors, the hunting +party and more women to the company. The women were to drive during +the day, and the men had arranged to inspect the roundhouse, the shops, +and the division terminals and to meet the heads of the operating +department. + +In the evening the railroad men were to call on their guests at the +train. This was what Glover had hoped he should escape until Bucks +arriving in the morning asked him not only to attend the reception but +to pilot Mr. Brock's own party through a long mountain trip. To +consent to the former request after agreeing to the latter was of +slight consequence. + +In the evening the special train twinkling across the yard looked as +pretty as a dream. The luxury of the appointments, subdued by softened +lights, and the simple hospitality of the Pittsburgers--those people +who understand so well how to charm and bow to repel--was a new note to +the mountain men. If self-consciousness was felt by the least of them +at the door it could hardly pass Mr. Brock within; his cordiality was +genuine. + +Following Bucks came some of his mountain staff, whom he introduced to +the men whose interests they now represented. Morris Blood, the +superintendent, was among those he brought forward, and he presented +him as a young railroad man and a rising one. Glover followed because +he was never very far from the mountain superintendent and the general +manager when the two were in sight. + +For Glover there was an uncomfortable moment prospect, and it came +almost at once. Mr. Brock, in meeting him as the chief of construction +who was to take the party on the mountain trip, left his place and took +him with Blood black to his own car to be introduced to his sister, +Mrs. Whitney. The younger Miss Brock, Marie, the invalid, a +sweet-faced girl, rose to meet the two men. Mrs. Whitney introduced +them to Miss Donner. At the table Gertrude Brock was watching a waiter +from the dining-car who was placing a coffee urn. + +She turned to meet the young men that were coming forward with her +father, and Glover thought the awful moment was upon him; yet it +happened that he was never to be introduced to Gertrude Brock. + +Marie was already engaging him where he stood with gentle questions, +and to catch them he had to bend above her. When the waiter went away, +Morris Blood was helping Gertrude Brock to complete her arrangements. +Others came up; the moment passed. But Glover was conscious all the +time of this graceful girl who was so frankly cordial to those near her +and so oblivious of him. + +He heard her laughing voice in her conversation with his friends and +noted in the utterance of her sister and her aunt the same unusual +inflections that he had first heard from her in his office. To his +surprise these Eastern women were very easy to talk to. They asked +about the mountains, and as their train conductor had long ago hinted +when himself apologizing for mountain stories, well told but told at +second hand--Glover knew the mountains. + +Discussing afterward the man that was to plan the summer trip for them, +Louise Donner wished it might have been the superintendent, because he +was a Boston Tech man. + +"Oh, but I think Mr. Glover is going to be interesting," declared Mrs. +Whitney. "He drawls and I like that sort of men; there's always +something more to what they say, after you think they're done, don't +you know? He drank two cups of coffee, didn't he, Gertrude? Didn't +you like him?" + +"The tall one? I didn't notice; he is amazingly homely, isn't he?" + +"Don't abuse him, for he is delightful," interposed Marie. + +"I accused him right soon of being a Southerner," Mrs. Whitney went on. +"He admitted he was a Missourian. When I confessed I liked his drawl +he told me I ought to hear his brother, a lawyer, who stutters. Mr. +Glover says he wins all his cases through sympathy. He stumbles along +until everyone is absolutely convinced that the poor fellow would have +a perfectly splendid case if he could only stammer through it; then, of +course, he gets the verdict." + +The party had not completed the first day out of Medicine Bend under +Glover's care before they realized that Mrs. Whitney was right. Glover +could talk and he could listen. With the men it was mining or +railroading or shooting. If things lagged with the ladies he had +landmarks or scenery or early-day stories. With Mrs. Whitney he could +in extremity discuss St. Louis. Marie Brock he could please by placing +her in marvellous spots for sketching. As for Gertrude and Louise +Donner the men of their own party left them no dull moments. + +The first week took the party north into the park country. Two days of +the time, on horses, partly, put everyone in love with the Rockies. On +Saturday they reached the main line again, and at Sleepy Cat, +Superintendent Blood joined the party for the desert run to the Heart +Mountains. Glover already felt the fatigue of the unusual week, nor +could any ingenuity make the desert interesting to strenuous people. +Its beauties are contemplative rather than pungent, and the travellers +were frankly advised to fall back on books and ping-pong. Crawling +across an interminable alkali basin in the late afternoon their train +was laid out a long time by a freight wreck. + +Weary of the car, Gertrude Brock, after the sun had declined, was +walking alone down the track when Glover came in sight. She started +for the train, but Glover easily overtook her. Since he had joined the +party they had not exchanged one word. + +"I wonder whether you have ever seen anything like these, Miss Brock?" +he asked, coming up to her. She turned; he had a handful of small, +long-stemmed flowers of an exquisite blue. + +"How beautiful!" she exclaimed, moved by surprise. "What are they?" + +"Desert flowers." + +"Such a blue." + +"You expressed a regret this morning----" + +"Oh, you heard----" + +"I overheard----" + +"What are they called?" + +"I haven't an idea. But once in the Sioux country--" They were at the +car-step. "Marie? See here," she called to her sister within. + +"Won't you take them?" asked Glover. + +"No, no. I----" + +"With an apology for my----" + +"Marie, dear, do look here----" + +"--Stupidity the other day?" + +"How shall I ever reach that step?" she exclaimed, breaking in upon her +own words and obstinately buffeting his own as she gazed with more than +necessary dismay at the high vestibule tread. + +"Would you hold the flowers a moment--" he asked--her sister appeared +at the door--"so I may help you?" continued the patient railroad man. + +"See, Marie, these dear flowers!" Marie clapped her hands as she ran +forward. He held the flowers up. "Are they for me?" she cried. + +"Will you take them?" he asked, as she bent over the guard-rail. "Oh, +gladly." He turned instantly, but Gertrude had gained the step. +"Thank you, thank you," exclaimed Marie. "What is their name, Mr. +Glover?" + +"I don't know any name for them except an Indian name. The Sioux, up +in their country, call them sky-eyes." + +"Sky-eyes! _Isn't_ that dear? sky-eyes." + +"You are heated," continued Marie, looking at him, "you have walked a +long way. Where in all this desolate, desolate country could you find +flowers such as these?" + +"Back a little way in a cañon." + +"Are there many in a desert like this?" + +"I know of none--at least within many miles--yet there may be others in +nearby hiding-places. The desert is full of surprises." + +"You are so warm, are you not coming up to sit down while I get a bowl?" + +"I will go forward, thank you, and see when we are to get away. Your +sister," he added, looking evenly at Marie as Gertrude stood beside +her, "asked this morning why there were no flowers in this country, and +while we were delayed I happened to recollect that cañon and the +sky-eyes." + +"I think your stupid man the most interesting we have met since we left +home, Gertrude," remarked Marie at her embroidery after dinner. + +"I told you he would be," said Mrs. Whitney, suppressing a yawn. +Gertrude was playing ping-pong with Doctor Lanning. "But isn't he +homely?" she exclaimed, sending a cut ball into the doctor's +watch-chain. + +Louise returned soon with Allen Harrison from the forward car. + +"The programme for the evening is arranged," she announced, "and it's +fine. We are to have a big campfire over near that butte--right out +under the stars. And Mr. Blood is going to tell a story, and while +he's telling it, Mr. Glover--oh, drop your ping-pong, won't you, and +listen--has promised to make taffy and we are to pull it--won't that be +jolly? and then the coyotes are to howl." + +A little later all left the car together. Above the copper edge of the +desert ranges the moon was rising full and it brought the nearer buttes +up across the stretches of the night like sentinels. In the sky a +multitude of stars trembled, and wind springing from the south fanned +the fire growing on the plateau just off the right of way. + +The party disposed themselves in camp-chairs and on ties about the big +fire. Near at hand, Glover, who already had a friend in Clem, the +cook, was feeding chips into a little blaze under a kettle slung with +his taffy mixture, which the women in turn inspected, asked questions +about, and commented sceptically upon. + +Doctor Lanning brought his banjo, and when the party had settled low +about the fire it helped to keep alive the talk. Every few minutes the +taffy and the coyotes were demanded in turn, and Glover was kept busy +apologizing for the absence of the wolves and the slowness of his +kettle, under which he fed the small chips regularly. + +As the night air grew sharper more wraps were called for. When Doctor +Lanning and Mrs. Whitney started after them they asked Gertrude what +they should bring her, but she said she needed nothing. + +As she sat, she could see Glover, her sister Marie on a stool beside +him, watching the boiling taffy. With one foot doubled under him for a +seat, and an elbow supported on his knee he steadied himself like a +camp cook behind his modest fire; but even as he crouched the blaze +threw him up astonishingly tall. Heedless of the chatter around the +big fire the man whose business was to bridle rivers, fight snowslides, +raze granite hills, and dispute for their dizzy passes with the bighorn +and the bear, bent patiently above his pot of molasses, a coaxing stick +in one hand and a careful chip in the other. + +"Where, pray, Mr. Glover, did you learn that?" demanded Marie Brock. +He had been explaining the chemical changes that follow each stage of +the boiling in sugar. "I learned the taffy business from the old negro +mammy that 'raised' me down on the Mississippi, Aunt Chloe. She taught +me everything I know--except mathematics--and mathematics I don't know +anyway." Mrs. Whitney was distributing the wraps. "I would have +brought your Newmarket if I could have found it, Gertrude." + +"Her Newmarket!" exclaimed Allen Harrison. "Gertrude hasn't told the +Newmarket story, eh? She threw it over a tramp asleep in the rain down +at the Spider Water bridge." + +"What?" + +"--And was going to disown me because I wouldn't give up my overcoat +for a tarpaulin." + +"Gertrude Brock!" exclaimed Mrs. Whitney. "Your Newmarket! Then you +deserve to freeze," she declared, settling under her fur cape. "What +_will_ she do next? Now, Mr. Blood, we are all here; what about that +story?" + +Morris Blood turned. Glover, Marie Brock watching, tested the foaming +candy. Doctor Lanning, on a cushion, strummed his banjo. + +In front of Gertrude, Harrison, inhaling a cigarette, stretched before +the fire. Declining a stool, Gertrude was sitting on a chair of ties. +One, projecting at her side, made a rest for her elbow and she reclined +her head upon her hand as she watched the flames leap. + +"The incident Miss Donner asked about occurred when I was despatching," +began the superintendent. + +"Oh, are you a despatcher, too?" asked Louise, clasping her hands upon +her knee as she leaned forward. + +"They would hardly trust me with a train-sheet now; this was some time +ago." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AS THE DESPATCHER SAW + +"If you can recollect the blizzard that Roscoe Conkling went down in +one March day in the streets of New York, it will give you the date; +possibly call to your mind the storm. I had the River Division then, +and we got through the whole winter without a single tie-up of +consequence until March. + +"The morning was still as June. When the sky went heavy at noon it +looked more like a spring shower than a snow-storm; only, I noticed +over at the government building they were flying a black flag splashed +with a red centre. I had not seen it before for years, and I asked for +ploughs on every train out after two o'clock. + +"Even then there was no wickedness abroad; it was coming fairly heavy +in big flakes, but lying quiet as apple-blossoms. Toward four o'clock +I left the office for the roundhouse, and got just about half-way +across the yard when the wind veered like a scared semaphore. I had +left the depot in a snow-storm; I reached the roundhouse in a blizzard. + +"There was no time to wait to get back to the keys. I telephoned +orders over from the house, and the boys burned the wires, east and +west, with warnings. When the wind went into the north that day at +four o'clock, it was murder pure and simple, with the snow sweeping the +flat like a shroud and the thermometer water-logged at zero. + +"All night it blew, with never a minute's let-up. By ten o'clock half +our wires were down, trains were failing all over the division, and +before midnight every plough on the line was bucking snow--and the snow +was coming harder. We had given up all idea of moving freight, and +were centring everything on the passenger trains, when a message came +from Beverly that the fast mail was off track in the cut below the +hill, and I ordered out the wrecking gang and a plough battery for the +run down. + +"It was a fearful night to make up a train in a hurry--as much as a +man's life was worth to work even slow in the yard a night like that. +But what limit is set to a switchman's courage I have never known, +because I've never known one to balk at a yardmaster's order. + +"I went to work clearing the line, and forgot all about everything +outside the train-sheet till a car-tink came running in with word that +a man was hurt in the yard. + +"Some men get used to it; I never do. As much as I have seen of +railroad life, the word that a man's hurt always hits me in the same +place. Slipping into an ulster, I pulled a storm-cap over my ears and +hurried down stairs buttoning my coat. The arc-lights, blinded in the +storm, swung wild across the long yard, and the wind sung with a scream +through the telegraph wires. Stumbling ahead, the big car-tink, facing +the storm, led me to where between the red and the green lamps a dozen +men hovered close to the gangway of a switch engine. The man hurt lay +under the forward truck of the tender. + +"They had just got the wrecking train made up, and this man, running +forward after setting a switch, had flipped the tender of the backing +engine and slipped from the footboard. When I bent over him, I saw he +was against it. He knew it, too, for the minute they shut off and got +to him he kept perfectly still, asking only for a priest. + +"I tried every way I could think of to get him free from the wheels. +Two of us crawled under the tender to try to figure it out. But he lay +so jammed between the front wheel and the hind one, and tender trucks +are so small and the wheels so close together that to save our lives we +could neither pull ahead nor back the engine without further mutilating +him. + +"As I talked to him I took his hand and tried to explain that to free +him we should have to jack up the truck. He heard, he understood, but +his eyes, glittering like the eyes of a wounded animal with shock, +wandered uneasily while I spoke, and when I had done, he closed them to +grapple with the pain. Presently a hand touched my shoulder; the +priest had come, and throwing open his coat knelt beside us. He was a +spare old man--none too good a subject himself, I thought, for much +exposure like that--but he did not seem to mind. He dropped on his +knees and, with both hands in the snow, put his head in behind the +wheel close to the man's face. What they said to each other lasted +only a moment, and all the while the boys were keying like madmen at +the jacks to ease the wheel that had crushed the switchman's thigh. +When they got the truck partly free, they lifted the injured man back a +little where we could all see his face. They were ready to do more, +but the priest, wiping the water and snow from the failing man's lips +and forehead, put up his fingers to check them. + +"The wind, howling around the freight-cars strung about us, sucked the +guarded lantern flames up into blue and green flickers in the globes; +they lighted the priest's face as he took off his hat and laid it +beside him, and lighted the switchman's eyes looking steadily up from +the rail. The snow, curling and eddying across the little blaze of +lamps, whitened everything alike, tender and wheel and rail, the +jackscrews, the bars, and the shoulders and caps of the men. The +priest bent forward again and touched the lips and the forehead of the +switchman with his thumb: then straightening on his knees he paused a +moment, his eyes lifted up, raised his hand and slowly signing through +the blinding flakes the form of the cross, gave him the sacrament of +the dying. + +"I have forgotten the man's name. I have never seen the old priest, +before or since. But, sometime, a painter will turn to the railroad +life. When he does, I may see from his hand such a picture as I saw at +that moment--the night, the storm, the scant hair of the priest blown +in the gale, the men bared about him; the hush of the death moment; the +wrinkled hand raised in the last benediction." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AN EMERGENCY CALL + +In the morning the Brock special bathed in sunshine lay in the Bear +Dance yard. When it was learned at breakfast that during the night +Morris Blood had disappeared there was a protest. He had taken a train +east, Glover told them. + +"But you should not have let him run away," objected Marie Brock, +"we've barely made his acquaintance. I was going to ask him ever so +many questions about mines this morning. Tell him, Mr. Glover, when +you telegraph, that he has had a peremptory recall, will you? We want +him for dinner to-morrow night; papa and Mr. Bucks are to join us, you +know." + +Mr. Brock arrived the following evening but the general manager failed +them, and it was long after hope of Morris Blood had been given up that +Glover brought him in with apologies for his late arrival. + +The two cars were sidetracked at Cascade, the heart of the sightseeing +country, and Glover had a trip laid out for the early morning on horses +up Cabin Creek. + +When he sat down to explain to Marie where he meant to take the party +the following day Gertrude Brock had a book under the banquet lamp at +the lower end of the car. The doctor and Harrison with Mrs. Whitney +were gathered about Louise, who among the couch pillows was reading +hands. As Morris Blood, after some talk with Mr. Brock, approached, +Louise nodded to him. "We shall take no apologies for spoiling our +dinner party," said she, "but you may sit down. I haven't been able, +Mr. Blood, to get your story out of my head since you told it: none of +us have. Do you believe in palmistry? Now, Mr. Harrison, do sit still +till I finish your hand. Oh, here's another engagement in it! Why, +Allen Harrison!" + +"How many is that?" asked Gertrude, looking over. + +"Three; and here is further excitement for you, Mr. Harrison----" + +"How soon?" demanded Allen. + +"Very soon, I should think; just as soon as you get home." + +"Well timed," said Marie; she and Glover had come up. "I think that's +all, this time," concluded Louise, studying the lines carefully. "Go +slow on mining for one year, remember." She looked at Morris Blood. +"Am I to have the pleasure of reading your hand?" + +"There isn't a bit of excitement in my hand, Miss Donner, no fortunes, +no adventures, no engagements----" + +"You mean in your life. Very good; that's just the sort of hand I love +to read. The excitement is all ahead. Really I should like to read +your hand." + +"If you insist," he said, putting out his left hand. + +"Your right, please," smiled Louise. + +"I have no right," he answered. She looked mystified, but held out her +hand smilingly for his right. + +"I have no right hand," he repeated, smiling, too. + +None had observed before that the superintendent never offered his hand +in greeting. A conscious instant fell on the group. It was barely an +instant, for Glover, who heard, turned at once from an answer to Marie +Brock and laying a hand on his companion's shoulder spoke easily to +Louise. "He gave his right hand for me once, Miss Donner, that's the +reason he has none. May I offer mine for him?" + +He put out his own right hand as he asked, and his lightly serious +words bridged the momentary embarrassment. + +"Oh, I can read either hand," laughed Louise, recovering and putting +Glover's hand aside. "Let me have your left, Mr. Blood--your turn +presently, Mr. Glover. Be seated. Now this is the sort of hand I +like," she declared, leaning forward as she looked into the left--"full +of romance, Mr. Blood. Here is an affair of the heart the very first +thing. Now don't laugh, this is serious." She studied the palm a +moment and glanced mischievously around her. "If I were to disclose +all the delicate romances I find here," she declared with an air of +mystery, "they would laugh at both of us. I'm not going to give them a +chance. I give private readings, too, Mr. Blood, and you shall have a +private reading at the other end or the car after a while. Now is +there another 'party'? Oh, to be sure; come, Mr. Glover, are all +railroad men romantic? This is growing interesting--let me see your +palm. Oh!" + +"Now what have I done?" asked Glover as Louise, studying his palm, +started. "I have changed my name--I admit that; but I have always +denied killing anyone in the States. Are you going to tell the real +facts? Won't someone lend _me_ a hand for a few minutes? Or may I +withdraw this entry before exposure?" + +"Mr. Glover! of all the hands! I'm not surprised you were chosen to +show the sights. There's something happening in your hand every few +minutes. Adventures, heart affairs, fortunes, perils--such a +life-line, Mr. Glover. On my word there you are hanging by a hair--a +hair--on the verge of eternity----" + +Glover laughed softly. + +"Oh, come, Louise," protested Mrs. Whitney. "Touch on lighter lines, +please." + +"Lighter lines! Why, Mr. Glover's heart-line is a perfect cañon." The +laughter did not daunt her. "A perfect cañon. I've read about hands +like this, but I never saw one. No more to-night, Mr. Glover, you are +too exciting." + +"But about hanging on the verge--has it anything to do with a lynching, +do you think, Miss Donner?" asked Glover. "The hair rope might be a +lariat----" + +"Mr. Glover!"--the train conductor opened the car door. "Is Mr. Glover +in this car?" + +"Yes." + +"A message." + +"May I be excused for a moment?" said Glover, rising. + +"What did I tell you?" exclaimed Louise, "a telegram! Something has +happened already." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CAT AND THE RAT + +At five o'clock that evening, snow was falling at Medicine Bend, but +Callahan, as he studied the weather bulletins, found consolation in the +fact that it was not raining, and resting his heels on a table littered +with train-sheets he forced the draft on a shabby brier and meditated. + +There were times when snow had been received with strong words at the +Wickiup: but when summer fairly opened Callahan preferred snow to rain +as strongly as he preferred genuine Lone Jack to the spurious compounds +that flooded the Western market. + +The chief element of speculation in his evening reflections was as to +what was going on west of the range, for Callahan knew through cloudy +experience that what happens on one side of a mountain chain is no +evidence as to what is doing on the other--and by species of warm +weather depravity that night something was happening west of the range. + +"It is curious," mused Callahan, as Morrison, the head operator, handed +him some McCloud messages--"curious, that we get nothing from Sleepy +Cat." + +Sleepy Cat, it should be explained, is a new town on the West End; not +only that, but a division town, and though one may know something about +the Mountain Division he may yet be puzzled at Callahan's mention of +Sleepy Cat. When gold was found in the Pilot range and camps grew up +and down Devil's Gap like mushrooms, a branch was run from Sleepy Cat +through the Pilot country, and the tortoise-like way station became at +once a place of importance. It takes its name from the neighboring +mountain around the base of which winds the swift Rat River. At Sleepy +Cat town the main line leaves the Rat, and if a tenderfoot brakeman ask +a reservation buck why the mountain is called Sleepy Cat the Indian +will answer, always the same, "It lets the Rat run away." + +"Now it's possible," suggested Hughie Morrison, looking vaguely at the +stove, "that the wires are down." + +"Nonsense," objected Callahan. + +"It is raining at Soda Sink," persisted Morrison, mildly. + +"What?" demanded the general superintendent, pulling his pipe from his +mouth. Hughie Morrison kept cool. His straight, black hair lay +boyishly smooth across his brow. There was no guile in his expression +even though he had stunned Callahan, which was precisely what he had +intended. "It is raining at Soda Sink," he repeated. + +Now there is no day in the mountains that goes back of the awful +tradition concerning rain at Soda Sink. Before Tom Porter, first +manager; before Brodie, who built the bridges; before Sikes, longest in +the cab; before Pat Francis, oldest of conductors, runs that tradition +about rain at the Sink--which is desert absolute--where it never does +rain and never should. When it rains at Soda Sink, this say the +Medicine men, the Cat will fall on the Rat. It is Indian talk as old +as the foothills. + +Of course no railroad man ever gave much heed to Indian talk; how, for +instance, could a mountain fall on a river? Yet so the legend ran, and +there being one superstitious man on the force at Medicine Bend one man +remembered it--Hughie Morrison. + +Callahan studied the bulletin to which the operator called his +attention and resumed his pipe sceptically, but he did make a +suggestion. "See if you can't get Sleepy Cat, Hughie, and find out +whether that is so." + +Morris Blood was away with the Pittsburgers and Callahan had foolishly +consented to look after his desk for a few days. At the moment that +Morrison took hold of the key Giddings opened the door from the +despatchers' room. "Mr. Callahan, there's a message coming from +Francis, conductor of Number Two. They've had a cloudburst on Dry +Dollar Creek," he said, excitedly; "twenty feet of water came down Rat +Cañon at five o'clock. The track's under four feet in the cañon." + +As a pebble striking an anthill stirs into angry life a thousand +startled workers, so a mountain washout startles a division and +concentrates upon a single point the very last reserve of its +activities and energies. + +For thirty minutes the wires sung with Callahan's messages. When his +special for a run to the Rat Cañon was ready all the extra yardmen and +both roadmasters were in the caboose; behind them fumed a second +section with orders to pick up along the way every section man as they +followed. It was hard on eight o'clock when Callahan stepped aboard. +They double-headed for the pass, and not till they pulled up with their +pony truck facing the water at the mouth of the big cañon did they ease +their pace. + +In the darkness they could only grope. Smith Young, roadmaster of the +Pilot branch, an old mountain boy, had gone down from Sleepy Cat before +dark, and crawling over the rocks in the dusk had worked his way along +the cañon walls to the scene of the disaster. + +Just below where Dry Dollar Creek breaks into the Rat the cañon is +choked on one side by a granite wall two hundred feet high. On the +other, a sheer spur of Sleepy Cat Mountain is thrust out like a paw +against the river. It was there that the wall of water out of Dry +Dollar had struck the track and scoured it to the bedrock. Ties, +steel, ballast, riprap, roadbed, were gone, and where the heavy +construction had run below the paw of Sleepy Cat the river was churning +in a channel ten feet deep. + +The best news Young had was that Agnew, the division engineer who +happened to be at Sleepy Cat, had made the inspection with him and had +already returned to order in men and material for daybreak. + +Leaving the roadmasters to care for their incoming forces, Callahan, +with Smith Young's men for guides, took the footpath on the south side +to the head of the cañon, where, above the break, an engine was waiting +to run him to Sleepy Cat. When he reached the station Agnew was up at +the material yard, and Callahan sat down in his shirt sleeves to take +reports on train movements. The despatchers were annulling, holding +the freights and distributing passenger trains at eating stations. But +an hour's work at the head-breaking problem left the division, Callahan +thought, in worse shape than when the planning began, and he got up +from the keg in a mental whirl when Duffy at Medicine Bend sent a body +blow in a long message supplementary to his first report. + +"Bear Dance reports the fruit extras making a very fast run. First +train of eighteen cars has just pulled in: there are seven more of +these fruit extras following close, should arrive at Sleepy Cat at four +A.M." + +Callahan turned from the message with his hand in his hair. Of all bad +luck this was the worst. The California fruit trains, not due for +twenty-four hours, coming in a day ahead of time with the Mountain +Division tied up by the worst washout it had ever seen. In a heat he +walked out of the operators' office to find Agnew; the two men met near +the water tank. + +"Hello, Agnew. This puts us against it, doesn't it? How soon can you +give us a track?" asked Callahan, feverishly. + +Agnew was the only man on the division that was always calm. He was +thorough, practical, and after he had cut his mountain teeth in the +Peace River disaster, a hardheaded man at his work. + +"It will take forty-eight hours after I get my material here----" + +"Forty-eight hours!" echoed Callahan. "Why, man, we shall have eight +trains of California fruit here by four o'clock." + +"I'm on my way to order in the filling, now," said Agnew, "and I shall +push things to the limit, Mr. Callahan." + +"Limit, yes, your limit--but what about my limit? Forty-eight hours' +delay will put every car of that fruit into market rotten. I've got to +have some kind of a track through there--any kind on earth will do--but +I've got to have it by to-morrow night." + +"To-morrow night?" + +"To-morrow night." + +Agnew looked at him as a sympathizing man looks at a lunatic, and +calmly shook his head. "I can't get rock here till to-morrow morning. +What is the use talking impossibilities?" + +Callahan ground his heel in the ballast. Agnew only asked him if he +realized what a hole there was to fill. "It's no use dumping gravel in +there," he explained patiently, "the river will carry it out faster +than flat cars can carry it in." + +Callahan waved his hand. "I've got to have track there by to-morrow +night." + +"I've got to dump a hundred cars of rock in there before we shall have +anything to lay track on; and I've got to pick the rock up all the way +from here to Goose River." + +They walked together to the station. + +When the night grew too dark for Callahan he had but one higher +thought--Bucks. Bucks was five hundred miles away at McCloud, but he +already had the particulars and was waiting at a key ready to take up +the trouble of his favorite division. Callahan at the wire in Sleepy +Cat told his story, and Bucks at the other end listened and asked +questions. He listened to every detail of the disaster, to the cold +hard figures of Agnew's estimates--which nothing could alter, jot or +tittle--and to Callahan's despairing question as to how he could +possibly save the unlooked-for avalanche of fruit. + +For some time after the returns were in, Bucks was silent; silent so +long that the copper-haired man twisted in his chair, looked vacantly +around the office and chewed a cigar into strings. Then the sounder at +his hand clicked. He recognized Bucks sending in the three words +lightly spelled on his ear and jumped from his seat. Just three words +Bucks had sent and signed off. What galvanized Callahan was that the +words were so simple, so all-covering, and so easy. "Why didn't _I_ +think of that?" groaned Callahan, mentally. + +Then he reflected that he was nothing but a redheaded Irishman, anyway, +while Bucks was a genius. It never showed more clearly, Callahan +thought, than when he received the three words, "Send for Glover." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TIME BEING MONEY + +Sleepy Cat town was but just rubbing its eyes next morning when the +Brock train pulled in from Cascade. Clouds rolling loosely across the +mountains were pushing the night into the west, and in the east wind +promise of day followed, soft and cool. + +On the platform in the gray light three men were climbing into the +gangway of a switch-engine, the last man so long and so loosely put +together that he was taking, as he always took when he tried to get +into small quarters, the chaffing of his companions on his size. He +smiled languidly at Callahan's excited greeting, and as they ran down +the yard listened without comment to the story of the washout. No +words were needed to convey to Glover or to Blood the embarrassment of +the situation. Freight trains crowded every track in the yard, and the +block of twelve hours indicated what a two-day tie-up would mean. In +the cañon the roadmasters were already taking measurements and section +men were lining up track that had been lifted and wrenched by the +water. Callahan and Blood did the talking, but when they left the +flooded roadbed and Glover took a way up the cañon wall it became +apparent what the mountain engineer's long legs were for. He led, a +quick, sure climber, and if he meant by rapidly scaling the bowlders to +shut off Callahan's talk the intent was effective. Nothing more was +said till the three men, followed by the roadmasters, had gained a +ledge, fifty feet above the water, that commanded for a quarter of a +mile a view of the cañon. + +They were standing above the mouth of Dry Dollar Creek, opposite the +point of rocks called the Cat's Paw, and Glover, pulling his hat brim +into a perspective, looked up and down the river. The roadmasters had +taken some measurements and these they offered him, but he did no more +than listen while they read their figures as if mentally comparing them +with notes in his memory. Once he questioned a figure, but it was not +till the roadmaster insisted he was right that Glover drew from one of +his innumerable pockets an old field-book and showed the man where he +had made his error of ten feet in the disputed measurement. + +"Bucks said last night you knew all this track work," remarked Callahan. + +"I helped Hailey a little here when he rebuilt three years ago. The +track was put in then as well as it ever can be put in. The fact +simply is this, Callahan, we shall never be safe here. What must be +done is to tunnel Sleepy Cat, get out of the infernal cañon with the +main line and use this for the spur around the tunnel. When your +message came last night, Morris and I took the chance to tell Mr. Brock +so, and he is here this morning to see what things look like after a +cloudburst. A tunnel will save two miles of track and all the +double-heading." + +"But, Glover, what's that got to do with this fruit? Confound your +tunnel, what I want is a track. By heavens, if it's going to take +three days to get one in we might as well dump a hundred cars of fruit +into the river now--and Bucks is looking to you to save them." + +"Looking to me?" echoed Glover, raising his brows. "What's the matter +with Agnew?" + +"Oh, hang Agnew!" + +"If you like. But he is in charge of this division. I can't do +anything discourteous or unprofessional, Callahan." + +"You are not required to." + +"It looks very much as if I am being called in to instruct Agnew how to +do his work. He is a perfectly competent engineer." + +"That point has been covered. Bucks had a long talk with Agnew over +the wire last night. He is needed all the time at the Blackwood bridge +and he is relieved here when you arrive. Now what's the matter with +you?" + +"Nothing whatever if that is the situation. I'd much rather keep out +of it, but there isn't work enough here for two engineers. + +"What do you mean?" + +"This isn't very bad." + +"Not very bad! Well, how much time do you want to put a track in here?" + +Glover's eyes were roaming up and down the cañon. "How much can you +give me?" he asked. + +"Till to-night." + +Glover looked at his watch. "Then get two hundred and fifty men in +here inside of an hour." + +"We've picked up about seventy-five section men so far, but there +aren't two hundred and fifty men within a hundred miles." + +Glover pointed north. "Ed Smith's got two hundred men not over three +miles from here on the irrigation ditch." + +"That only shows I've no business in this game," remarked Callahan, +looking at Morris Blood. "This is where you take hold." + +Blood nodded. "Leave that to me. Let's have the orders all at once, +Ab. Say where you want headquarters." + +The engineer stretched a finger toward the point of rocks across the +cañon. "Right above the Cat's Paw." + +"Tell Bill Dancing to cut in the wrecking instrument and put an +operator over there for Glover's orders," directed Blood, turning to +Smith Young. + +"I'm off for something to eat," said Callahan, "and by the way, what +shall I tell Bucks about the chances?" + +"Can you get Ed Smith's outfit?" asked Glover, speaking to Blood. +"Well, I know you can--Ed's a Denver man." He meditated another +moment; "We need his whole outfit, mind you." + +"I'll get it or resign. If I succeed, when can you get a train +through?" + +"By midnight." Callahan staggered. Glover raised his finger. "If you +back off the ledge they will need a new general superintendent." + +"By midnight?" + +"I think so." + +"You can't get your rock in by that time?" + +"I reckon." + +"Agnew says it will take a hundred cars." + +"That's not far out of the way. On flat cars you won't average much +over ten yards to the car, will you, Morris?" + +Like two wary gamblers Callahan and the chief of construction on the +mountain lines coldly eyed each other, Glover standing pat and the +general superintendent disinclined through many experiences to call. + +"I'm not doing the talking now," said Callahan at length with a +sidewise glance, "but if you get a hundred cars of rock into that hole +by twelve o'clock to-night--not to speak of laying steel--you can have +my job, old man." + +"Then look up another right away, for I'll have the rock in the river +long before that. Now don't rubber, but get after the men and the +drills----" + +"The drills?" + +"I said the whole outfit." + +"Would it be proper to ask what you are going to drill?" + +"Perfectly proper." Glover pointed again to the shelving wall across +the river. "It will save time and freight to tumble the Cat's Paw into +the river--there's ten times the rock we need right there--I can dump a +thousand yards where we need it in thirty seconds after I get my powder +in. That will give us our foundation and your roadmasters can lay a +track over it in six hours that will carry your fruit--I wouldn't +recommend it for dining-cars, but it will do for plums and cherries. +And by the way, Morris," called Glover--Blood already twenty feet away +was scrambling down the path--"if Ed Smith's got any giant powder +borrow sticks enough to spring thirty or forty holes with, will you? +I've got plenty of black up at Pilot. You can order it down by the +time we are ready to blast." + +In another hour the cañon looked as if a hive of bees were swarming on +the Cat's Paw. With shovels, picks, bars, hammers, and drills, hearty +in miners' boots and pied in woollen shirts the first of Ed Smith's men +were clambering into place. The field telegraph had been set up on the +bench above the point: every few moments a new batch of irrigation men +appeared stringing up the ledge, and with the roadmasters as +lieutenants, Glover, on the apex of the low spur of the mountain, +taking reports and giving orders, surveyed his improvised army. + +At the upper and lower ends of the track where the roadbed had not +completely disappeared the full force of section men, backed by the +irrigation laborers, were busy patching the holes. + +At the point where the break was complete and the Rat River was +viciously licking the vertical face of the rock a crew of men, six feet +above the track level, were drilling into the first ledge a set of +six-foot holes. On the next receding ledge, twelve feet above the old +track level, a second crew were tamping a set of holes to be sunk +twelve feet. Above them the drills were cutting into the third ledge, +and still higher and farther back, at twenty feet, the largest of all +the crews was sinking the eighteen-foot holes to complete the fracture +of the great wall. Above the murmuring of the steel rang continually +the calls of the foremen, and hour after hour the shock of the drills +churned up and down the narrow cañon. + +During each hour Glover was over every foot of the work, and inspecting +the track building. If a track boss couldn't understand what he wanted +the engineer could take a pick or a bar and give the man an object +lesson. He patrolled the cañon walls, the roadmasters behind him, with +so good an eye for loose bowlders, and fragments such as could be moved +readily with a gad, that his assistants before a second round had +spotted every handy chunk of rock within fifty feet of the water. He +put his spirit into the men and they gave their work the enthusiasm of +soldiers. But closest of all Glover watched the preparations for the +blast on the Cat's Paw. + +Morris Blood in the meantime was sweeping the division for stone, +ballast, granite, gravel, anything that would serve to dump on Glover's +rock after the blast, and the two men were conferring on the track +about the supplies when a messenger appeared with word for Glover that +Mr. Brock's party were coming down the cañon. + +When Glover intercepted the visitors they had already been guided to +the granite bench where his headquarters were fixed. With Mr. Brock +had come the young men, Miss Donner, and Mrs. Whitney. Mrs. Whitney +signalized her arrival by sitting down on a chest of dynamite--having +intimidated the modest headquarters custodian by asking for a chair so +imperiously that he was glad to walk away at her suggestion that he +hunt one up--though there was not a chair within several miles. It had +been no part of Glover's plan to receive his guests at that point, and +his first efforts after the greetings were to coax them away from the +interest they expressed in the equipment of an emergency headquarters, +and get them back to where the track crossed the river. But when the +young people learned that the blue-eyed boy at the little table on the +rock could send a telegram or a cablegram for them to any part of the +world, each insisted on putting a message through for the fun of the +thing, and even Mrs. Whitney could hardly be coaxed from the +illimitable possibilities just under her. + +With a feeling of relief he got them away from the giant powder which +Ed Smith's men were still bringing in, and across the river to the +ledge that commanded the whole scene, and was safely removed from its +activities. + +Glover took ten minutes to point out to the president of the system the +difficulties that would always confront the operating department in the +cañon. He charted clearly for Mr. Brock the whole situation, with the +hope that when certain very heavy estimates went before the directors +one man at least would understand the necessity for them. Mr. Brock +was a good questioner, and his interest turned constantly from the +general observations offered by Glover to the work immediately in hand, +which the engineer had no mind to exploit. The young people, however, +were determined to see the blast, and it was only by strongly advising +an early dinner and promising that they should have due notice of the +blast that Glover got rid of his visitors at all. + +He returned with them to the caboose in which they had come down, and +when he got back to the work the big camp kettles were already slung +along the bench, and the engine bringing the car of black powder was +steaming slowing into the upper cañon. On a flat bowlder back of the +cooks, Morris Blood, Ed Smith, and the roadmasters were sitting down to +coffee and sandwiches, and Glover joined them. Men in relays were +eating at the camp and dynamiters were picking their way across the +face of the Cat's Paw with the giant powder. The engineers were still +at their coffee-fire when the scream of a locomotive whistle came +through the cañon from below. Blood looked up. "There's one of the +fast mail engines, probably the 1026. Who in the world has brought her +up?" + +"More than likely," suggested Glover, finishing his coffee, "it's +Bucks." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SPLITTING THE PAW + +Preceded by a track boss along the ledges where the blasting crew was +already putting down the dynamite, a man almost as large as Glover and +rigged in a storm cap and ulster made his way toward the camp +headquarters. The mountain men sprang to their feet with a greeting +for the general manager--it was Bucks. + +He took Blood's welcome with a laugh, nodded to the roadmasters, and +pulling his cap from his head, turned to grasp Glover's hand. + +"I hear you're going to spoil some of our scenery, Ab. I thought I'd +run up and see how much government land you were going to move without +a permit. Glad you got down so promptly. Callahan had nervous +prostration for a while last night. I told him you'd have some sort of +a trick in your bag, but I didn't suppose you would spring the side of +a mountain on us. Am I to have any coffee or not? What are you +eating, dynamite? Why, there's Ed Smith--what are you hanging back in +the dark for, Ed? Come out here and show yourself. It was like you to +lend us your men. If the boys forget it, I sha'n't." + +"I'd rather see you than a hundred men," declared Glover. + +"Then give me something to eat," suggested Bucks. + +As he spoke the snappy, sharp reports of exploding dynamite could be +heard; they were springing the drill holes. Bucks sitting down on the +bowlder, wrapping the tails of his coat between his legs and taking +coffee from Young drank while the men talked. From the box car below, +Ed Smith's men were packing the black powder up the trail to the Paw. +When it began going into the holes, Glover went to the ledge to oversee +the charging. + +In the Pittsburg train, at Sleepy Cat, an early dinner was being served +to the cañon party. They had come back enthusiastic. The scenery was +declared superb, and the uncertainty of the situation most satisfying. +The riot of the mountain stream, which plunging now unbridled from wall +to wall had scoured the deep gorge for hundreds of feet, was a moving +spectacle. The activity of the swarming laborers, preparing their one +tremendous answer to the insolence of the river, had behind it the +excitement of a game of chance. The stake, indeed, was eight solid +trains of perishable freight, and the gambler that had staked their +value and his reputation on one throw of the dice was their own +easy-mannered guide. + +They discussed his chances with the indifference of spectators. Doctor +Lanning, the only one of the young people that had ever done anything +himself, was inclined to think Glover might win out. Allen Harrison +was willing to wager that trains couldn't be got across a hole like +that for another twenty-four hours. + +Mrs. Whitney wondered why, if Mr. Glover were really a competent man, +he could not have held his position as chief engineer of the system, +but Doctor Lanning explained that frequently Western men of real talent +were wholly lacking in ambition and preferred a free-and-easy life to +one of constant responsibility; others, again, drank--and this +suggestion opened a discussion as to whether Western men could possibly +do more drinking than Eastern men, and transact business at all. + +While the discussion proceeded there came a telegram from Glover +telling Doctor Lanning that the blast would be made about seven +o'clock. Preparations to start were completed as the company rose from +the table, and Gertrude Brock and Marie were urged to join the party. +Marie consented, but Gertrude had a new book and would not leave it, +and when the others started she joined her father and Judge Saltzer, +her father's counsellor, now with them, who were dining more leisurely +at their own table. + +Bucks met the doctor and his party at the head of the cañon and took +them to the high ledge across the river, where they had been brought by +Glover in the morning. In the cañon it was already dark. Men were +eating around campfires, and in the narrow strip of eastern sky between +the walls the moon was rising. Work-trains with signal lanterns were +moving above and below the break, dumping ballast behind the track +layers. At a safe distance from the coming blast a dozen headlights +from the roundhouse were being prepared, and the car-tinks from Sleepy +Cat were rigging torches for the night. + +The blasting powder in twenty-pound cans was being passed from hand to +hand to the chargers. Score after score of the compact cans of high +explosive had been packed into the scattered holes, and as if alive to +what was coming the chill air of the cañon took on the uneasiness of an +atmosphere laden with electricity. Men of the operating department +paced the bench impatiently, and trackmen working below in the flare of +scattered torches looked up oftener from their shovels to where a chain +of active figures moved on the face of the cliff. Word passed again +and again that the charging was done, but the orders came steadily from +the gloom on the ledge for more powder until the last pound the +engineer called for had been buried beneath his feet in the sleeping +rock. + +After a long delay a red light swung slowly to and fro on the ledge. +From the extreme end of the cañon below the Cat's Paw came the crash of +a track-torpedo, answered almost instantly by a second, above the +break. It was the warning signal to get into the clear. There was a +buzz of rapid movement among the laborers. In twos and threes and +dozens, a ragged procession of lanterns and torches, they retreated, +foremen urging the laggards, until only a single man at each end of the +broken track kept within sight of the tiny red lantern on the ledge. +Again it swung in a circle and again the torpedoes replied, this time +all clear. The hush of a hundred voices, the silence of the bars and +shovels and picks gave back to the chill cañon its loneliness, and the +roar of the river rose undisturbed to the brooding night. + +On the ledge Glover was alone. The final detail he was taking into his +own hands. The few that could still command the point saw the red +light moving, and beside it a figure vaguely outlined making its way. +When the red light paused, a spark could be seen, a sputtering blaze +would run slowly from it, hesitate, flare and die. Another and another +of the fuses were touched and passed. With quickening steps tier after +tier was covered, until those looking saw the red light flung at last +into the air. It circled high between the cañon walls in its flight +and dropped like a rocket into the Rat. A muffled report from the +lower tier was followed by a heavier and still a heavier one above. A +creeping pang shot the heart of the granite, a dreadful awakening was +upon it. + +From the tier of the upmost holes came at length the terrific burst of +the heavy mines. The travail of an awful instant followed, the face of +the spur parted from its side, toppled an instant in the confusion of +its rending and with an appalling crash fell upon the river below. + +With the fragments still tumbling, the nearest men started with a cheer +from their concealment. Smoke rolling white and sullen upward obscured +the moon, and the cañon air, salt and sick with gases, poured over the +high point on which the Pittsburgers stood. Below, torches were +shooting like fireflies out of the rock. From every vantage point +headlights flashed one after another unhooded on the scene, and the +song of the river mingled again with the calling of the foremen. + +"That ends the fireworks," remarked Bucks to those about him. "Let us +watch a moment for Mr. Glover's signal to me. As soon as he inspects +he is to show signals on the Cat's Paw, and if it is a success we will +return at once to Sleepy Cat." + +"And by the way, Mr. Bucks, I shall expect you and Mr. Glover up to the +car for my game supper. Have you arranged for him to come?" + +"I have, Mrs. Whitney, thank you." + +"Oh, see those pretty red lights over there now. What are they?" asked +Louise, who stood with Allen Harrison. + +"The signals," exclaimed Bucks. "Three fusees. Good for Glover; that +means success. Shall we go?" + + +When the sightseers made their way out of the cañon material trains +working from both ends of the break were shoving their loaded flats +noisily up to the ballasting crews and the water was echoing the clang +of the spike mauls, the thud of tamping-irons, the clash of picks, the +splash of tumbling stone, and the ceaseless roll of shovels. + +Foot by foot, length by length, the gap was shortened. Bribed by extra +pay, driven by the bosses, and stimulated by the emergency, the work of +the graders became an effort close to fury. Watches were already +consulted and wagers were being laid between rival foremen on the +moment a train should pass the point. Above the peaks the stars +glittered, and high in the sky the moon shot a path of clear light down +the river itself. The camp kettles steamed constantly, and coffee +strong enough to ballast eggs and primed with unusual cordials was +passed every hour among the hundreds along the track. + +In the lower yard at Sleepy Cat the pilot train was being made ready +and the clatter of switching came into the cañon. From still further +came the barking exhaust of the first-train engine waiting for orders +for the cañon run. + +Glover pacing the narrow bench below the camp returned again to the +operator's table, and in the light of the lantern wrote a message to +Medicine Bend. When it had been sent he upended an empty spike keg, +and sitting down before the fire, got his back against a rock and gave +himself to his thoughts. Men straggled back and forth, but none +disturbed him. Some, in turn, fed the fire, some rolled themselves in +their blankets and lay down to sleep, but his eyes were lost all the +while in the leaping blaze. + +A volleying signal of the locomotive whistles roused him. He looked at +his watch and stepped to the verge of the ledge. Toward Sleepy Cat a +headlight was slowly rounding the first curve. The pilot train was +coming and below where he stood he could see green lights swinging. +The locomotive of the work-train was at the hind end and the +roadmasters standing on the first flat car were signalling. Mauls were +ringing at the last spikes when the head flat car moved cautiously out +on the new track. Car after car approached, every second one bearing a +flagman re-signalling to the cab as the train took the short curves of +the cañon and entering the gorge rolled slowly beneath the Cat's Paw +over the prostrate granite. + +The trackmen parted only long enough to give way to the advancing cars. +The locomotive steamed gingerly along. In the gangway stood a small, +broad-hatted man, Morris Blood. He waved his lantern at Glover, and +Glover caught up a hand-torch to swing an answering greeting. + +Down the uncertain track could be seen at reassuring intervals the +slow, green lights of the track foremen swinging all's well. The +deepening drum of the steaming engine as it entered the gorge walls, +the straining of the injectors, and the frequent hissing check of the +air as the powerful machine restrained its moving load, was music to +the tired listener above. Then, looming darkly behind the tender, +surprising the onlookers, even Glover himself, came the real train. +Not till the roadbuilders heard the heavy drop of the big cars on the +new rail joints did they realize that the first train of fruit was +already crossing the break. + +Ten minutes afterward Bucks, who was with Mr. Brock in the directors' +car, had the news in a message. The manager had agreed to have Glover +present for the supper which was now waiting, and for some time +messengers and telegrams passed from the Brock Special to the cañon. +It was not until twelve o'clock that they learned definitely through +word from Morris Blood that Glover had torn his hand slightly in +handling powder and had gone to Medicine Bend to have it dressed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A TRUCE + +If Glover's aim in disappearing had been to escape the embarrassment of +Mrs. Whitney's attentions the effort was successful only in part. + +Lanning and Harrison left in the morning in charge of Bill Dancing to +join the hunting party in the Park, and Mr. Brock finding himself +within a few hours' ride of Medicine Bend decided to run down. Late in +the afternoon the Pittsburg train drew up at the Wickiup. + +Gertrude and her sister left their car together to walk in the sunshine +that flooded the platform, for the sun was still a little above the +mountains. In front of the eating-house a fawn-colored collie racing +across the lawn attracted Gertrude, and with her sister she started up +the walk to make friends with him. In one of his rushes he darted up +the eating-house steps and ran around to the west porch, the two young +ladies leisurely following. As they turned the corner they saw their +runaway crouching before a man who, with one foot on the low railing, +stood leaning against a pillar. The collie was waiting for a lump of +sugar, and his master had just taken one from the pocket of his sack +coat when the young ladies recognized him. + +"Really, Mr. Glover, your tastes are domestic," declared Marie; "you +make excellent taffy--now I find you feeding a collie." She pointed to +the lump of sugar. "And how is your hand?" + +"I can't get over seeing you here," said Glover, collecting himself by +degrees. "When did you come? Take these chairs, won't you?" + +"You, I believe, are responsible for the early resumption of traffic +through the cañon," answered Marie. "Besides, nothing in our +wanderings need ever cause surprise. Anyone unfortunate enough to be +attached to a directors' party will end in a feeble-minded institution." + +Gertrude was talking to the collie. "Isn't he beautiful, Marie?" she +exclaimed. "Come here, you dear fellow. I fell in love with him the +minute I saw him--to whom does he belong, Mr. Glover? Come here." + +"How is your hand?" asked Marie. + +"Do give Mr. Glover a chance," interposed Gertrude. "Tell me about +this dog, Mr. Glover." + +"He is the best dog in the world, Miss Brock. Mr. Bucks gave him to me +when I first came to the mountains--we were puppies together----" + +"And how about your hand?" smiled Marie. + +"What is his name?" asked Gertrude. + +"It wasn't a hand, it was a wrist, and it is much better, thank +you--his name is Stumah." + +"Stumah? How odd. Come here, Stumah. Does he mind?" + +"He doesn't mind me, but no one minds me, so I forgive him that." + +"Aunt Jane doesn't think you mind very well," said Marie. "Clem had a +steak twice as large as usual prepared for the supper you ran away +from." + +"It is always my misfortune to miss good things." + +Talking, Glover and Marie followed Gertrude and Stumah out on the grass +and across to the big platform where an overland train had pulled in +from the west. They watched the changing of the engines and the crews, +and the promenade of the travellers from the Pullmans. + +While Gertrude amused herself with the dog, and Marie asked questions +about the locomotive, Mrs. Whitney and Louise spied them and walked +over. Glover, to make his peace, was compelled to take dinner with the +party in their car. The atmosphere of the special train had never +seemed so attractive as on that night. To cordiality was added +deference. The effect of his success in the cañon--only striking +rather than remarkable--was noticeable on Mr. Brock. At dinner, which +was served at one table in the dining-car, Glover was brought by the +Pittsburg magnate to sit at his own right hand, Bucks being opposite. +No one may ever say that the value of resource in emergency is lost on +the dynamic Mr. Brock. But having placed his guest in the seat of +honor he paid no further attention to him unless his running fire of +big secrets, discussed before the engineer unreservedly with Bucks, +might be taken as implying that he looked on the constructionist of the +Mountain Division as one of his inner official family. + +Glover understood the abstraction of big men, and this forgetfulness +was no discouragement. There was an abstraction on his left where +Gertrude sat that was less comfortable. + +At no moment during the time he had spent with the company had he been +able to penetrate her reserve enough to make more than an attempt at an +apology for his appalling blunder in the office. With the others he +never found himself at a loss for a word or an opportunity; with +Gertrude he was apparently helpless. + +The talk at the lower end of the table ran for a while to comment on +the washout, to Glover's wrist, and during lulls Mrs. Whitney across +the table asked questions calculated to draw a family history from her +uneasy guest. Even Glover's waiter gave him so much attention that he +got little to eat, but the engineer concealed no effort to see that +Gertrude Brock was served and to break down by unobtrusive courtesies +her determined restraint. + +When the evening was over he found himself at the pass to which every +evening in her company brought him--the unpleasant consciousness of a +failure of his endeavors and a return of the rage he felt at himself +for having blundered into her bad graces. Her father wanted him to +return with them in the morning to Sleepy Cat to go over the tunnel +plans again. That done, Glover resolved at all costs to escape from +the punishment which every moment near her brought. + +When they started for Sleepy Cat, the afternoon sun was bright, and +much of the time was spent on the pretty observation platform of the +Brock car. During the shifting of the groups Mr. Brock stepped forward +into the directors' car for some papers, and Gertrude found herself +alone for a moment on the platform with Glover. She was watching the +track. He was studying a blueprint, and this time he made no effort to +break the silence. Determined that the interval should not become a +conscious one she spoke. "Papa seems unwilling to give you much rest +to-day." + +"I think I am learning more from him, though, than he is learning from +me," returned Glover, without looking up. "He is a man of big ideas; I +should be glad of a chance to know him." + +"You are likely to have that during the next two weeks." + +"I fear not." + +"Did you not understand that Judge Saltzer and he are both to be with +our party now?" + +"But I am to leave it to-night." + +She made no comment. "You do not understand why I joined it," he +continued, "after my----" + +"I understand, at least, how distasteful the association must have +been." + +He had looked up, and without flinching, he took the blow into his +slow, heavy eyes, but in a manner as mild as Glover's, defiance could +hardly be said to have place at any time. + +"I have given you too good ground to visit your impatience on me," he +said, "and I confess I've stood the ordeal badly. Your contempt has +cut me to the quick. But don't, I beg, add to my humiliation by such a +reproach. I'm blundering, but not wholly reprobate." + +Her father appeared at the door. Glover's eyes were fastened on the +blueprint. + +Gertrude let her magazine lie in her lap. She could not at all +understand the plans the two men were discussing, but her father spoke +so confidently about taking up Glover's suggestions in detail during +the two weeks that they should have together, and Glover said so +little, that she intervened presently with a little remark. "Papa; are +you not forgetting that Mr. Glover says he cannot be with us on the +Park trip." + +"I am not forgetting it because Mr. Glover hasn't said so." + +"I so understood Mr. Glover." + +"Certainly not," objected Mr. Brock, looking at his companion. + +"It is a disappointment to me," said Glover, "that I can't be with you." + +"Why, Mr. Bucks and I have arranged it, to-day. There are no other +duties," observed Mr. Brock, tersely. + +"True, but the fact is I am not well." + +"Nonsense; tired out, that's all. We will rest you up; the trip will +refresh you. I want you with me very particularly, Mr. Glover." + +"Which makes me the sorrier I cannot be." + +"Here, Mr. Bucks," called Mr. Brock, abruptly, through the open door. +"What's the matter with your arrangements? Mr. Glover says he can't go +through the Park." + +The patient manager left Judge Saltzer, with whom he was talking, and +came out on the platform. Gertrude went into the car. When the train +reached Sleepy Cat, at dusk, she was sitting alone in her favorite +corner near the rear door. The train stopped at a junction semaphore +and she heard Bucks' voice on the observation platform. + +"I hate to see a man ruin his own chances in this way, that's all," he +was saying. "I've set the pins for you to take the rebuilding of the +whole main line, but you succeed admirably in undoing my plans. By +declining this opportunity you relegate yourself to obscurity just as +you've made a hit in the cañon that is a fortune in itself." + +"Whatever the effect," she heard someone reply with an effort at +lightness, "deal gently with me, old man. The trouble is of my own +making. I seem unable to face the results." + +The train started and the voices were lost. Bucks stepped into the car +and, without seeing Gertrude in the shadow, walked forward. She felt +that Glover was alone on the platform and sat for several moments +irresolute. After a while she rose, crossed to the table and fingered +the roses in the jar. She saw him sitting alone in the dusk and +stepped to the door; the train had slowed for the yard. "Mr. +Glover?--do not get up--may I be frank for a moment? I fear I am +causing unnecessary complications--" Glover had risen. + +"You, Miss Brock?" + +"Did you really mean what you said to me this afternoon?" + +"Very sincerely." + +"Then I may say with equal sincerity that I should feel sorry to spoil +papa's plans and Mr. Bucks' and your own." + +"It is not you, at all, but I who have----" + +"I was going to suggest that something in the nature of a compromise +might be managed----" + +"I have lost confidence in my ability to manage anything, but if you +would manage I should be very----" + +"It might be for two weeks--" She was half laughing at her own +suggestion and at his seriousness. + +"I should try to deserve an extension." + +"--To begin to-morrow morning----" + +"Gladly, for that would last longer than if it began to-night. Indeed, +Miss Brock, I----" + +"But--please--I do not undertake to receive explanations." He could +only bow. "The status," she continued, gravely, "should remain, I +think, the same." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AND A SHOCK + +The directors' party had been inspecting the Camp Pilot mines. The +train was riding the crest of the pass when the sun set, and in the +east long stretches of snow-sheds were vanishing In the shadows of the +valley. + +Glover, engaged with Mr. Brock, Judge Saltzer, and Bucks, had been +forward all day, among the directors. The compartments of the Brock +car were closed when he walked back through the train and the rear +platform was deserted. He seated himself in his favorite corner of the +umbrella porch, where he could cross his legs, lean far back, and with +an engineer's eye study the swiftly receding grace of the curves and +elevations of the track. They were covering a stretch of his own +construction, a pet, built when he still felt young; when he had come +from the East fiery with the spirit of twenty-five. + +But since then he had seen seven years of blizzards, blockades, and +washouts; of hard work, hardships, and disappointments. This maiden +track that they were speeding over he was not ashamed of; the work was +good engineering yet. But now with new and great responsibilities on +his horizon, possibilities that once would have fired his imagination, +he felt that seven years in and out of the mountains had left him +battle-scarred and moody. + +"My sister was saying last night as she saw you sitting where you are +now--that we should always associate this corner with you. Don't get +up." Gertrude Brock, dressed for dinner, stood in the doorway. "You +never tire of watching the track," she said, sinking into the chair he +offered as he rose. Her frank manner was unlooked for, but he knew +they were soon to part and felt that something of that was behind her +concession. He answered in his mood. + +"The track, the mountains," he replied; "I have little else." + +"Would not many consider the mountains enough?" + +"No doubt." + +"I should think them a continual inspiration." + +"So they are; though sometimes they inspire too much." + +"It is so still and beautiful through here." She leaned back in her +chair, supported her elbows on its arms and clasped her hands; the +stealing charm of her cordiality had already roused him. + +"This bit of track we are covering," said he after a pause, "is the +first I built on this division; and just now I have been recalling my +very first sight of the mountains." She leaned slightly forward, and +again he was coaxed on. "Every tradition of my childhood was +associated with this country--the plains and rivers and mountains. It +wasn't alone the reading--though I read without end--but the stories of +the old French traders I used to hear in the shops, and sometimes of +trappers I used to find along the river front of the old town; I fed on +their yarns. And it was always the wild horse and the buffalo and the +Sioux and the mountains--I dreamed of nothing else. Now, so many +times, I meet strangers that come into the mountains--foreigners +often--and I can never listen to their rhapsodies, or even read their +books about the Rockies, without a jealousy that they are talking +without leave of something that's mine. What can the Rockies mean to +them? Surely, if an American boy has a heritage it is the Rockies. +What can they feel of what I felt the first time I stood at sunset on +the plains and my very dreams loomed into the western sky? I toppled +on my pins just at seeing them." + +She laughed softly. "You are fond of the mountains." + +"I have little else," he repeated. + +"Then they ought to be loyal to you. But the first impression--it +hardly remains, I suppose?" + +"I am not sure. They don't grow any smaller; sometimes I think they +grow bigger." + +"Then you _are_ fond of them. That's constancy, and constancy is a +capital test of a charm." + +"But I'm never sure whether they are, as you say, loyal to me. We had +once on this division a remarkable man named Hailey--a bridge engineer, +and a very great one. He and I stood one night on a caisson at the +Spider Water--the first caisson he put into the river--do you remember +that big river you crossed on the plains----" + +"Indeed! I am not likely to forget a night I spent at the Spider +Water; continue." + +"Hailey put in the bridge there. 'This old stream ought to be thankful +to you, Hailey, for a piece of work like this,' I said to him. 'No,' +he answered, quite in earnest; 'the Spider doesn't like me. It will +get me some time.' So I think about these mountains. I like them, and +I don't like them. Sometimes I think as Hailey thought of the +Spider--and the Spider did get him." + +"How serious you grow!" she exclaimed, lightly. + +"The truce ends to-morrow." + +"And the journey ends," she remarked, encouragingly. + +"What, please, does that line mean that I see so often, 'Journeys end +in lovers meeting?'" + +"I haven't an idea. But, oh, these mountains!" she exclaimed, stepping +in caution to the guard-rail. "Could anything be more awful than +this?" They were crawling antlike up a mountain spur that rose dizzily +on their right; on the left they overhung a bottomless pit. Their +engines churned, panted, and struggled up the curve, and as they talked +the dense smoke from the stacks sucked far down into the gap they were +skirting. + +"The roadbed is chiselled out of the granite all along here. This is +the famed Mount Pilot on the left, and this the worst spot on the +division for snow. You wouldn't think of extending our truce?" + +"To-morrow we leave for the coast." + +"But you could leave the truce; and I want it ever so much." + +She laughed. "Why should one want a truce after the occasion for it +has passed?" + +"Sometimes out here in the desert we get away from water. You don't +know, of course, what it is to want water? I lost a trail once in the +Spanish Sinks and for two days I wanted water." + +"Dreadful. I have heard of such things. How did you ever find your +way again?" + +He hesitated. "Sometimes instinct serves after reason fails. It +wasn't very good water when I reached it, but I did not know about that +for two weeks. It is a curious thing, too--physiologists, I am told, +have some name for the mental condition--but a man that has suffered +once for water will at times suffer intensely for it again, even though +you saturate him with water, drown him in it." + +"How very strange; almost incredible, is it not? Have you ever +experienced such a sensation?" + +"I have felt it, but never acutely until to-day; that is why I want to +get the truce extended. I dread the next two days." + +She looked puzzled. "Mr. Glover, if you have jestingly beguiled me +into real sympathy I shall be angry in earnest." + +"You are going to-morrow. How could I jest about it? When you go I +face the desert again. You have come like water into my life--are you +going out of it forever to-morrow? May I never hope to see you +again--or hear from you?" She rose in amazement; he was between her +and the door. "Surely, this is extraordinary, Mr. Glover." + +"Only a moment. I shall have days enough of silence. I dread to shock +or anger you. But this is one reason why I tried to keep away from +you--just this--because I-- And you, in unthinking innocence, kept me +from my intent to escape this moment. Your displeasure was hard to +bear, but your kindness has undone me. Believe me or not I did fight, +a gentleman, even though I have fallen, a lover." + +The displeasure of her eyes as she faced him was her only reply. +Indeed, he made hardly an effort to support her look and she swept past +him into the car. + + +The Brock train lay all next day in the Medicine Bend yard. A number +of the party, with horses and guides, rode to the Medicine Springs west +of the town. Glover, buried in drawings and blueprints, was in his +office at the Wickiup all day with Manager Bucks and President Brock. + +Late in the afternoon the attention of Gertrude, reading alone in her +car, was attracted to a stout boy under an enormous hat clambering with +difficulty up the railing of the observation platform. In one arm he +struggled for a while with a large bundle wrapped in paper, then +dropping back he threw the package up over the rail, and starting +empty-handed gained the platform and picked up his parcel. He fished a +letter from his pistol pocket, stared fearlessly in at Gertrude Brock +and knocked on the glass panel between them. + +"Laundry parcels are to be delivered to the porter in the forward car," +said Gertrude, opening the door slightly. + +As she spoke the boy's hat blew off and sailed down the platform, but +he maintained some dignity. "I don't carry laundry. I carry +telegrams. The front door was locked. I seen you sitting in there all +alone, and I've got a note and had orders to give it to you personally, +and this package personally, and not to nobody else, so I climbed over." + +"Stop a moment," commanded Gertrude, for the heavy messenger was +starting for the railing before she quite comprehended. "Wait until I +see what you have here." The boy, with his hands on the railing, was +letting himself down. + +"My hat's blowin' off. There ain't any answer and the charges is paid." + +"Will you wait?" exclaimed Gertrude, impatiently. The very handwriting +on the note annoyed her. While unfamiliar, her instinct connected it +with one person from whom she was determined to receive no +communication. She hesitated as she looked at her carefully written +name. She wanted to return the communication unopened; but how could +she be sure who had sent it? With the impatience of uncertainty she +ripped open the envelope. + +The note was neither addressed nor signed. + +"I have no right to keep this after you leave; perhaps I had no right +to keep it at all. But in returning it to you I surely may thank you +for the impulse that made you throw it over me the morning I lay asleep +behind the Spider dike." + +She tore the package partly open--it was her Newmarket coat. Bundling +it up again she walked hastily to her compartment. For some moments +she remained within; when she came out the messenger boy, his hat now +low over his ears, was sitting in her chair looking at the illustrated +paper she had laid down. Gertrude suppressed her astonishment; she +felt somehow overawed by the unconventionalities of the West. + +"Boy, what are you doing here?" + +"You said, wait," answered the boy, taking off his hat and rising. + +"Oh, yes. Very well; no matter." + +"Ma'am?" + +"No matter." + +"Does that mean for me to wait?" + +"It means you may go." + +He started reluctantly. "Gee," he exclaimed, under his breath, looking +around, "this is swell in here, ain't it?" + +"See here, what is your name?" + +"Solomon Battershawl, but most folks call me Gloomy." + +"Gloomy! Where did you get that name?" + +"Mr. Glover." + +"Who sent you with this note?" + +"I can't tell. He gave me a dollar and told me I wasn't to answer any +questions." + +"Oh, did he? What else did he tell you?" + +"He said for me to take my hat off when I spoke to you, but my hat +blowed off when you spoke to me." + +"Unfortunate! Well, you are a handsome fellow, Gloomy. What do you +do?" + +"I'm a railroad man." + +"Are you? How fine. So you won't tell who sent you." + +"No, ma'am." + +"What else did the gentleman say?" + +"He said if anybody offered me anything I wasn't to take anything." + +"Did he, indeed, Gloomy?" + +"Yes'm." + +She turned to the table from where she was sitting and took up a big +box. "No money, he meant." + +"Yes'm." + +"How about candy?" + +Solomon shifted. + +"He didn't mention candy?" + +"No'm." + +"Do you ever eat candy?" + +"Yes'm." + +"This is a box that came from Pittsburg only this morning for me. Take +some chocolates. Don't be afraid; take several. What is your last +name?" + +"Battershawl." + +"Gloomy Battershawl; how pretty. Battershawl is so euphonious." + +"Yes'm." + +"Who is your best friend among the railroad men?" + +"Mr. Duffy, our chief despatcher. I owe my promotion to 'im," said +Solomon, solemnly. + +"But who gives you the most money, I mean. Take a large piece this +time." + +"Oh, there ain't anybody gives me any money, much, exceptin' Mr. +Glover. I run errands for him." + +"What is the most money he ever gave you for an errand, Gloomy?" + +"Dollar, twice." + +"So much as that?" + +"Yes'm." + +"What was that for?" + +"The first time it was for taking his washing down to the Spider to him +on Number Two one Sunday morning." + +This being a line of answer Gertrude had not expected to develop she +started, but Solomon was under way. "Gee, the river w's high that +time. He was down there two weeks and never went to bed at all, and +came up special in a sleeper, sick, and I took care of him. Gee, he +was sick." + +"What was the matter?" + +"Noomonia, the doctor said." + +"And you took care of him!" + +"Me an' the doctor." + +"What was the other errand he gave you a dollar for?" + +"Dassent tell." + +"How did you know it was I you should give your note to?" + +"He told me it was for the brown-haired young lady that walked so +straight--I knew you all right--I seen you on horseback. I guess I'll +have to be going 'cause I got a lot of telegrams to deliver up town." + +"No hurry about them, is there?" + +"No, but's getting near dinner time. Good-by." + +"Wait. Take this box of candy with you." + +Solomon staggered. "The whole box?" + +"Certainly." + +"Gee!" + +He slid over the rail with the candy under his arm. + +When he disappeared, Gertrude went back to her stateroom, closed the +door, though quite alone in the car, and re-read her note. + +"I have no right to keep this after you leave; perhaps I had no right +to keep it at all. But in returning it to you I surely may thank you +for the impulse that made you throw it over me the morning I lay asleep +behind the Spider dike." + +It was he, then, lying in the rain, ill then, perhaps--nursed by the +nondescript cub that had just left her. + +The Newmarket lay across the berth--a long, graceful garment. She had +always liked the coat, and her eye fell now upon it critically, +wondering what he thought of the garment upon making so unexpected an +acquaintance with her intimate belongings. Near the bottom of the +lining she saw a mud stain on the silk and the pretty fawn melton was +spotted with rain. She folded it up before the horseback party +returned and put it away, stained and spotted, at the bottom of her +trunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN THE LALLA ROOKH + +The car in itself was in no way remarkable. A twelve-section and +drawing-room, mahogany-finish, wide-vestibule sleeper, done in cream +brown, hangings shading into Indian reds--a type of the Pullman car so +popular some years ago for transcontinental travel; neither too heavy +for the mountains nor too light for the pace across the plains. + +There were many features added to the passenger schedule on the West +End the year Henry S. Brock and his friends took hold of the road, but +none made more stir than the new Number One, run then as a crack +passenger train, a strictly limited, vestibuled string, with barbers, +baths, grill rooms, and five-o'clock tea. In and out Number One was +the finest train that crossed the Rockies, and bar nobody's. + +It was October, with the Colorado travel almost entirely eastbound and +the California travel beginning, westbound, and the Lalla Rookh sleeper +being deadheaded to the coast on a special charter for an O. and O. +steamer party; at least, that was all the porter knew about its +destination, and he knew more than anyone else. + +At McCloud, where the St. Louis connection is made, Number One sets out +a diner and picks up a Portland sleeper--so it happened that the Lalla +Rookh, hind car to McCloud, afterward lay ahead of the St. Louis car, +and the trainmen passed, as occasion required, through it--lighted down +the gloomy aisle by a single Pintsch burner, choked to an all-night +dimness. + +But on the night of October 3d, which was a sloppy night in the +mountains, there was not a great deal to take anybody back through the +Lalla Rookh. Even the porter of the dead car deserted his official +corpse, and after Number One pulled out of Medicine Bend and stuck her +slim, aristocratic nose fairly into the big ranges the Lalla Rookh was +left as dead as a stringer to herself and her reflections--reflections +of brilliant aisles and staterooms inviting with softened lights, shed +on couples that resented intrusion; of sections bright with lovely +faces and decks ringing with talk and laughter; of ventilators singing +of sunshine within, and of night and stars and waste without--for the +Lalla Rookh carried only the best people, and after the overland voyage +on her tempered springs and her yielding cushions they felt an +affection for her. When the Lalla Rookh lived she lived; but to-night +she was dead. + +This night the pretty car sped over the range a Cinderella deserted, +her linen stored and checked in her closets, her pillows bunked in her +seats, and her curtains folded in her uppers, save and except in one +single instance--Section Eleven, to conform to certain deeply held +ideas of the porter, Raz Brown, as to what might and might not +constitute a hoodoo, was made up. Raz Brown did not play much: he +could not and hold his job; but when he did play he played eleven +always whether it fell between seven, twenty-seven, or four, +forty-four. And whenever Raz Brown deadheaded a car through, he always +made up section eleven, and laid the hoodoo struggling but helpless +under the chilly linen sheets of the lower berth. + +Glover had spent the day without incident or excitement on the Wind +River branches, and the evening had gone, while waiting to take a train +west to Medicine Bend, in figuring estimates at the agent's desk in +Wind River station. He was working night and day to finish the report +that the new board was waiting for on the rebuilding of the system. + +At midnight when he boarded the train he made his way back to look for +a place to stretch out until two o'clock. + +The Pullman conductor lay in the smoking-room of the head 'Frisco car +dreaming of his salary--too light to make any impression on him except +when asleep. It seemed a pity to disturb an honest man's dreams, and +the engineer passed on. In the smoking-room of the next car lay a +porter asleep. Glover dropped his bag into a chair and took off his +coat. While he was washing his hands the train-conductor, Billy +O'Brien, came in and set down his lantern. Conductor O'Brien was very +much awake and inclined rather to talk over a Mexican mining +proposition on which he wanted expert judgment than to let Glover get +to bed. When the sleepy man looked at his watch for the fifth time, +the conductor was getting his wind for the dog-watch and promised to +talk till daylight. + +"My boy, I've got to go to bed," declared Glover. + +"Every sleeper is loaded to the decks," returned O'Brien. "This is the +most comfortable place you'll find." + +"No, I'll go forward into the chair-car," replied Glover. "Good-night." + +"Stop, Mr. Glover; if you're bound to go, the Lalla Rookh car right +behind this is dead, but there's steam on. Go into the stateroom and +throw yourself on the couch. This is the porter here asleep." + +"William, your advice is good. I've taken it too long to disregard it +now," said Glover, picking up his bag. "Good-night." + +But it was not a good night; it was a bad night, and getting worse as +Number One dipped into it. Out of the northwest it smoked a ragged, +wet fog down the pass, and, as they climbed higher, a bitter song from +the Teton way heeled the sleepers over the hanging curves and streamed +like sobs through the meshed ventilators of the Lalla Rookh. It was a +nasty night for any sort of a sleeper; for a dead one it was very bad. + +Glover walked into the Lalla Rookh vestibule, around the smoking-room +passage, and into the main aisle of the car, dimly lighted at the hind +end. He made his way to the stateroom. The open door gave him light, +and he took off his storm-coat, pulled it over him for a blanket, and +had closed his eyes when he reflected he had forgotten to warn O'Brien +he must get off at Medicine Bend. + +It was unpleasant, but forward he went again to avoid the annoyance of +being carried by. He could tell as he came back, by the swing, that +they were heading the Peace River curves, for the trucks were hitting +the elevations like punching-bags. Just as he regained the main aisle +of the Lalla Rookh, a lurch of the car plumped him against a +section-head. He grasped it an instant to steady himself, and as he +stopped he looked. Whether it was that his eyes fell on the curtained +section swaying under the Pintsch light ahead--Section Eleven made +up--or whether his eyes were drawn to it, who can tell? A woman's head +was visible between the curtains. Glover stood perfectly still and +stared. Without right or reason, there certainly stood a woman. + +With nobody whatever having any business in the car, a car out of +service, carried as one carries a locked and empty satchel--yet the +curtains of Section Eleven, next his stateroom, were parted slightly, +and the half-light from above streamed on a woman's loose hair. She +was not looking toward where he stood; her face was turned from him, +and as she clasped the curtain she was looking into his stateroom. +What the deuce! thought Glover. A woman passenger in a dead sleeper? +He balanced himself to the dizzy wheel of the truck under him, and +waited for her to look his way--since she must be looking for the +porter--but the head did not move. The curtains swayed with the +jerking of the car, but the woman in Eleven looked intently into the +dark stateroom. What did it mean? Glover determined a shock. + +"Tickets!" he exclaimed, sternly--and stood alone in the car. + +"Tickets!" The head was gone; not alone that, strangely gone. How? +Glover could not have told. It was _gone_. The Pintsch burned dim; +the Teton song crooned through the ventilators; the wheels of the Lalla +Rookh struck muffled at the fish-plates; the curtains of Section Eleven +swung slowly in and out of the berth--but the head was not there. + +A creepy feeling touched his back; his first impulse was to ignore the +incident, go into the stateroom and lie down. Then he thought he might +have alarmed the passenger in Eleven when he had first entered. Yet +there was, officially at least, no passenger in Eleven; plainly there +was nothing to do but to call the conductor. He went forward. O'Brien +was sorting his collections in the smoking-room of the next car. Raz +Brown, awake--nominally, at least--sat by, reading his dream-book. + +"Is this the Lalla Rookh porter?" asked Glover. O'Brien nodded. + +"Who's your passenger in Eleven back there?" demanded Glover, turning +to the darky. + +"Me?" stammered Raz Brown. + +"Who's your fare in Eleven in Lalla Rookh?" + +"My fare? Why, I ain't got nair 'a fare in Lalla Rookh. She's dead, +boss." + +"You've got a woman passenger in Eleven. What are you talking about? +What's the matter with you?" + +Raz Brown's eyes rolled marvellously. "'Fore God, dere ain't nobody +dere ez I knows on, Mr. O'Brien," protested the surprised porter, +getting up. + +"There's a woman in Eleven, Billy," said Glover. + +"Come on," exclaimed O'Brien, turning to the porter. "She may be a +spotter. Let's see." + +Raz Brown walked back reluctantly, Conductor O'Brien leading. Into the +Lalla Rookh, dark and quiet, around the smoking-room, down the aisle, +and facing Eleven; there the Pintsch light dimly burned, the draperies +slowly swayed in front of the darkened berth. Raz Brown gripped the +curtains preliminarily. + +"Tickets, ma'am." There was a heavy pause. + +"Tickets!" No response. + +"C'nduct'h wants youh tickets, ma'am." + +The silence could be cut with an axe. Raz Brown parted the curtains, +peered in, opened them wider, peered farther in; pushed the curtains +back with both hands. The berth was empty. + +Raz looked at Conductor O'Brien. O'Brien grasped the curtains himself. +The upper berth hung closed above. The lower, made up, lay +untouched--the pillows fresh, the linen sheets folded back, +Pullmanwise, over the dark blanket. + +The porter looked at Glover. "See foh y'se'f." + +Glover was impatient. "She's somewhere about the car," he exclaimed, +"search it." Raz Brown went through the Lalla Rookh from vestibule to +vestibule: it was as empty as a ceiling. + +Puzzled and annoyed, Glover stood trying to recall the mysterious +appearance. He walked back to where he had seen the woman, stood where +he had stood and looked where he had looked. She had not seemed to +withdraw, as he recalled: the curtains had not closed before the head; +it had vanished. The wind sung fine, very fine through the copper +screens, the Pintsch light flowed very low into the bright globe, the +curtains swung again gracefully to the dip of the car; but the head was +gone. + +A discussion threw no light on the mystery. On one point, however, +Conductor O'Brien was firm. While the conductor and the porter kept up +the talk, Glover resumed his preparations for retiring in the +stateroom, but O'Brien interfered. + +"Don't do it. Don't you do it. I wouldn't sleep in that room now for +a thousand dollars." + +"Nonsense." + +"That's all right. I say come forward." + +They made him up a corner in the smoking-room of the 'Frisco car, and +he could have slept like a baby had not the conviction suddenly come +upon him that he had seen Gertrude Brock. Should he, after all, see +her again? And what did it mean? Why was she looking in terror into +his stateroom? + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A SLIP ON A SPECIAL + +Glover's train pulled into Medicine Bend, in the rain, at half-past two +o'clock. The face in the Lalla Rookh had put an end to thoughts of +sleep, and he walked up to his office in the Wickiup to work until +morning on his report. He lighted a lamp, opened his desk with a clang +that echoed to the last dark corner of the zigzag hall, and, spreading +out his papers, resumed the figuring he had begun at Wind River +station. But the combinations which at eleven o'clock had gone fast +refused now to work. The Lalla Rookh curtains intruded continually +into his problems and his calculations dissolved helplessly into an +idle stare at a jumble of figures. + +He got up at last, restless, walked through the trainmaster's room, +into the despatcher's office, and stumbled on the tragedy of the night. + + +It came about through an ambition in itself honorable--the ambition of +Bud Cawkins to become a train-despatcher. + +Bud began railroading on the Wind River. In three months he was made +an agent, in six months he had become an expert in station work, an +operator after a despatcher's own heart, and the life of the line; then +he began looking for trouble. His quest resulted first in the +conviction that the main line business was not handled nearly as well +as it ought to be. Had Bud confided this to an agent of experience +there would have been no difficulty. He would have been told that +every agent on every branch in the world, sooner or later, has the same +conviction; that he need only to let it alone, eat sparingly of brain +food, and the clot would be sure to pass unnoticed. + +Unfortunately, Bud concealed his conviction, and asked Morris Blood to +give him a chance at the Wickiup. The first time, Morris Blood only +growled; the second time he looked at the handsome boy disapprovingly. + +"Want to be a despatcher, do you? What's the matter with you? Been +reading railroad stories? I'll fire any man on my division that reads +railroad stories. Don't be a chump. You're in line now for the best +station on the division." + +But compliments only fanned Bud's flame, and Morris Blood, after +reasonable effort to save the boy's life, turned him over to Martin +Duffy. + +Now, of all severe men on the West End, Duffy is most biting. His +smile is sickly, his hair dry, and his laugh soft. + +"Despatcher, eh? Ha, ha, ha; I see, Bud. Coming down to show us how +to do business. Oh, no. I understand; that is all right. It is what +brought me here, Bud, when I was about your age and good for something. +Well, it is a snap. There is nothing in the railroad life equal to a +despatcher's trick. If you should make a mistake and get two trains +together they will only fire you. If you happen to kill a few people +they _can't_ make anything more than manslaughter out of it--I know +that because I've seen them try to hang a despatcher for a passenger +wreck--they can't do it, Bud, don't ever believe it. In this state ten +years is the extreme limit for manslaughter, and the only complication +is that if your train should happen to burn up they might soak you an +extra ten years for arson; but a despatcher is usually handy around a +penitentiary and can get light work in the office, so that he's thrown +more with wife poisoners and embezzlers than with cutthroats and +hold-up men. Then, too, you can earn nearly as much in State's prison +as you can at your trick. A despatcher's salary is high, you +know--seventy-five, eighty, and even a hundred dollars a month. + +"Of course, there's an unpleasant side of it. I don't want to seem to +draw it too rosy. I imagine you've heard Blackburn's story, haven't +you--the lap-order at Rosebud? I helped carry Blackburn out of that +room"--Duffy pointed very coldly toward Morris Blood's door--"the +morning we put him in his coffin. But, hang it, Bud, a death like that +is better than going to the insane asylum, isn't it, eh? A short trick +and a merry one, my boy, for a despatcher, say I; no insane asylum for +me." + +It calmed Budwiser, as the boys began to call him, for a time only. He +renewed his application and was at length relieved of his comfortable +station and ordered into the Wickiup as despatcher's assistant. + +For a time every dream was realized--the work was put on him by +degrees, things ran smoothly, and his despatcher, Garry O'Neill, soon +reported him all right. A month later Bud was notified that a +despatcher's trick would shortly be assigned to him, and to the boys +from the branch who asked after him he sent word that in a few days he +would be showing them how to do business on the main line. + +The chance came even sooner. O'Neill went hunting the following day, +overslept, came down without supper and could not get a quiet minute +till long after midnight. Heavy stock trains crowded down over the +short line. The main line, in addition to the regular traffic, had +been pounded all night with government stores and ammunition, +westbound. From the coast a passenger special, looked for in the +afternoon, had just come into the division at Bear Dance. Garry laid +out his sheet with the precision of a campaigner, provided for +everything, and at three o'clock he gave Bud a transfer and ran down to +get a cup of coffee. Bud sat into the chair for the first time with +the responsibility of a full-fledged despatcher. + +For five minutes no business confronted him, then from the extreme end +of his territory Cambridge station called for orders for an extra, fast +freight, west, Engine 81, and Bud wrote his first train order. He +ordered Extra 81 to meet Number 50, a local and accommodation, at +Sumter, and signed Morris Blood's initials with a flourish. When the +trains had gone he looked over his sheet calmly until he noticed, with +fainting horror, that he had forgotten Special 833, east, making a very +fast run and headed for Cambridge, with no orders about Extra 81. +Special 833 was the passenger train from the coast. + +The sheet swam and the yellow lamp at his elbow turned green and black. +The door of the operator's room opened with a bang. Bud, trembling, +hoped it might be O'Neill, and staggered to the archway. It was only +Glover, but Glover saw the boy's face. "What's the matter?" + +Bud looked back into the room he was leaving. Glover stepped through +the railing gate and caught the boy by the shoulder. "What's the +matter, my lad?" + +He shook and questioned, but from the dazed operator he could get only +one word, "O'Neill," and stepping to the hall door Glover called out +"O'Neill!" + +It has been said that Glover's voice would carry in a mountain storm +from side to side of the Medicine Bend yard. That night the very last +rafter in the Wickiup gables rang with his cry. He called only once, +for O'Neill came bounding up the long stairs three steps at a time. + +"Look to your train sheet, Garry," said Glover, peremptorily. "This +boy is scared to death. There's trouble somewhere." + +He supported the operator to a chair, and O'Neill ran to the inner +room. The moment his eye covered the order book he saw what had +happened. "Extra 81 is against a passenger special," exclaimed +O'Neill, huskily, seizing the key. "There's the order--Extra 81 from +Cambridge to meet Number 50 at Sumter and Special 833 has orders to +Cambridge, and nothing against Extra 81. If I can't catch the freight +at Red Desert we're in for it--wake up Morris Blood, quick, he's in +there asleep." + +Blood, working late in his office, had rolled himself in a blanket on +the lounge in Callahan's old room, and unfortunately Morris Blood was +the soundest sleeper on the division. Glover called him, shook him, +caught him by the arm, lifted him to a sitting position, talked +hurriedly to him--he knew what resource and power lay under the thick +curling hair if he could only rouse the tired man from his dreamless +sleep. Even Blood's own efforts to rouse himself were almost at once +apparent. His eyes opened, glared helplessly, sank back and closed in +stupor. Glover grew desperate, and lifting Morris to his feet, dragged +him half way across the dark room. + +O'Neill, rattling the key, was looking on from the table like a +drowning man. "Leave your key and steady him here against the +door-jamb, Garry," cried Glover; "by the Eternal, I'll wake him." He +sprang to the big water-cooler, cast away the top, seized the tank like +a bucket, and dashed a full stream of ice-water into Morris Blood's +face. + +"Great God, what's the matter? Who is this? Glover? What? Give me a +towel, somebody." + +The spell was broken. Glover explained, O'Neill ran back to the key, +and Blood in another moment bent dripping over the nervous despatcher. + +The superintendent's mind working faster now than the magic current +before him, listened, cast up, recollected, considered, decided for and +against every chance. At that moment Red Desert answered. No breath +interrupted the faint clicks that reported on Extra 81. O'Neill looked +up in agony as the sounder spelled the words: "Extra 81 went by at +3.05." The superintendent and the despatcher looked at the clock; it +read 3.09. + +O'Neill clutched the order book, but Glover looked at Morris Blood. +With the water trickling from his hair down his wrinkled face, beading +his mustache, and dripping from his chin he stood, haggard with sleep, +leaning over O'Neill's shoulder. A towel stuffed into his left hand +was clasped forgotten at his waist. From the east room, operators, +their instruments silenced, were tiptoeing into the archway. Above the +little group at the table the clock ticked. O'Neill, in a frenzy, half +rose out of his chair, but Morris Blood, putting his hand on the +despatcher's shoulder, forced him back. + +"They're gone," cried the frantic man; "let me out of here." + +"No, Garry." + +"They're gone." + +"Not yet, Garry. Try Fort Rucker for the Special." + +"There's no night man at Fort Rucker." + +"But Burling, the day man, sleeps upstairs----" + +"He goes up to Bear Dance to lodge." + +"This isn't lodge night," said Blood. + +"For God's sake, how can you get him upstairs, anyway?" trembled +O'Neill. + +"On cold nights he sleeps downstairs by the ticket-office stove. I +spent a night with him once and slept on his cot. If he is in the +ticket-office you may be able to wake him--he may be awake. The +Special can't pass there for ten minutes yet. Don't stare at me. Call +Rucker, hard." + +O'Neill seized the key and tried to sound the Rucker call. Again and +again he attempted it and sent wild. The man that could hold a hundred +trains in his head without a slip for eight hours at a stretch sat +distracted. + +"Let me help you, Garry," suggested Blood, in an undertone. The +despatcher turned shaking from his chair and his superintendent slipped +behind him into it. His crippled right hand glided instantly over the +key, and the Rucker call, even, sharp, and compelling, followed by the +quick, clear nineteen--the call that gags and binds the whole +division--the despatchers' call--clicked from his fingers. + +Persistently, and with unfailing patience, the men hovering at his +back, Blood drummed at the key for the slender chance that remained of +stopping the passenger train. The trial became one of endurance. Like +an incantation, the call rang through the silence of the room until it +wracked the listeners, but the man at the key, quietly wiping his face +and head, and with the towel in his left hand mopping out his collar, +never faltered, never broke, minute after minute, until after a score +of fruitless waits an answer broke his sending with the "I, I, Ru!" + +As the reply flew from his fingers Morris Blood's eyes darted to the +clock; it was 3.17. "Stop Special 833, east, quick." + +"You've got them?" asked Glover, from the counter. + +"If they're not by," muttered Blood. + +"Red light out," reported Rucker; then three dreadful minutes and it +came, "Special 833 taking water; O'Brien wants orders." + +And the order went, "Siding, quick, and meet Extra 81, west, at +Rucker," and the superintendent rose from the chair. + +"It's all over, boys," said he, turning to the operators. "Remember, +no man ever got to a railroad presidency by talking; but many men have +by keeping their mouths shut. Lay Cawkins on the lounge in my room. +Duffy said that boy would never do." + +"What was Burling doing, Morris," asked Glover, sitting down by the +stove. + +"Ask him, Garry," suggested Blood. They waited for the answer. + +"Were you asleep on your cot?" asked the despatcher, getting Rucker +again. + +"If that fellow woke on my call, I'll make a despatcher of him," +declared Morris Blood, with a thrill of fine pride. + +"No," answered Rucker, "I slept upstairs tonight." + +The two men at the stove stared at one another. "How did you hear your +call?" asked the despatcher. Again their ears were on edge. + +And Rucker answered, "I always come down once in the night to put coal +on the fire." + +"Another illusion destroyed," smiled Morris Blood. "Hang him, I'll +promote him, anyway, for attending to his fire." + +"But you couldn't do that again in a thousand years, Mr. Blood," +ventured a young and enthusiastic operator who had helped to lay out +poor Bud Cawkins. + +The mountain man looked at him coldly. "I sha'n't want to do that +again in a thousand years. In the railroad life it always comes +different, every time. Go to your key." + +"I'm glad we got that particular train out of trouble," he added, +turning to Glover when they were alone. + +"What train?" + +"That Special 833 is the Brock special. You didn't know it? We've +been looking for them from the coast for two days." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS + +The sudden appearance of Mr. Brock at any time and at any point where +he had interests would surprise only those that did not know him. On +the coast the party had broken up, Louise Donner going into Colorado +with friends, and Harrison returning to Pittsburg. + +Planning originally to recross the mountains by a southern route, and +to give himself as much of a pleasure trip as he ever took, Mr. Brock +changed all his plans at the last moment--a move at which he was +masterly--and wired Bucks to meet him at Bear Dance for the return +trip. Doctor Lanning, moreover, had advised that Marie spend some +further time in the mountains, where her gain in health had been +decided. + +Among the features the general manager particularly wished Mr. Brock to +see before leaving the mountain country was the Crab Valley dam and +irrigation canal, and the second day after the president's special +entered the division it was side-tracked at a way station near Sleepy +Cat for an inspection of the undertaking. The trip to the canal was by +stage with four horses, and the ladies had been asked to go. + +The morning was so exhilarating and the ride so fast that when the head +horses dipped over the easy divide flanking the line of the canal on +the south, and the brake closed on the lumbering wheels, the visitors +were surprised to discover almost at their feet a swarming army of men +and horses scraping in the dusty bed of a long cut. There the heavy +work was to be seen, and to give his party an idea of its magnitude, +Bucks had ordered the stage driven directly through the cut itself. +With Mr. Brock he sat up near the driver. Back of them were Doctor +Lanning and Gertrude Brock; within rode Mrs. Whitney and Marie. + +As the stage, getting down the high bank, lurched carefully along the +scraper ways of the yellow bed, shovellers, drivers, and water-boys +looked curiously at the unusual sight, and patient mules nosed meekly +the alert, nervous horses that dragged the stage along the uneven way. + +At the lower end of the cut a more formidable barrier interposed. A +pocket of gravel on the eastern bank had slipped, engulfing a steam +shovel, and a gang of men were busy about it. On a level overlooking +the scene, in corduroy jackets and broad hats, stood two engineers. At +times one of them gave directions to a foreman whose gang was digging +the shovel out. His companion, perceiving the approach of the stage, +signalled the driver sharply, and the leaders were swung to the right +of the shovellers so that the stage was brought out on a level some +distance away. + +Bucks first recognized the taller of the two men. "There's Glover," he +exclaimed. "Hello!" he called across the canal bed. "I didn't look +for you here." Glover lifted his hat and walked over to the stage. + +"I came up last night to see Ed Smith about running his flume under +Horse Creek bridge. They cross us, you know, in the cañon there," said +he, in his slow, steady way. "Just as we got on the ponies to ride +down, this slide occurred----" + +"Glad you couldn't get away. We want to see Ed Smith," returned Bucks, +getting down. The women were already greeting Glover, and avoiding +Gertrude's eye while he included her in his salutation to all, he tried +to answer several questions at once. Smith, the engineer in charge of +the canal, was talking with Bucks and Mr. Brock. On top of the stage +Doctor Lanning was trying to persuade Gertrude not to get down; but she +insisted. + +"Mr. Glover will help me, I am sure," she said, looking directly at the +evading Glover, who was absorbed in his talk with her sister. "I +should advise you not to alight, Miss Brock," said he, unable to ignore +her request. "You will sink into this dusty clay----" + +"I don't mind that, but unless you will give me your hand," she +interrupted, putting her boot on the foot rest to descend, "I shall +certainly break my neck." When he promptly advanced she took both of +his offered hands with a laugh at her recklessness and dropped lightly +beside him. "May I go over where you stood?" she asked at once. + +"I shouldn't," he ventured. + +"But I can't see what they are doing." She walked capriciously ahead, +and Glover reluctantly followed. "Why shouldn't you?" she questioned, +waiting for him to come to her side. + +"It isn't safe." + +"Why did you stand there?" + +He answered with entire composure. "What would be perfectly safe for +me might be very dangerous for you." + +She looked full at him. "How truly you speak." + +Yet she did not stop, though at each step her feet sunk into the +loosened soil. + +"Pray, don't go farther," said Glover. + +"I want to see the men digging." + +"Then won't you come around here?" + +"But may I not walk over to that car?" + +"This way is more passable." + +"Then why did you make the driver turn away from that side?" + +"You have good eyes, Miss Brock." + +"Pray, what is the matter with that man lying behind the car?" + +Glover looked fairly at her at last. "A shoveller was hurt when the +gravel slipped a few minutes ago. When the warning came he did not +understand and got caught." + +"Oh, let us get Doctor Lanning; something can be done for him." + +"No. It is too late." + +Horror checked her. "Dead?" + +"Yes. I did not want you to know this. Your sister is easily +shocked----" + +She paused a moment. "You are very thoughtful of Marie. Have you a +sister?" + +"I haven't. Why do you ask?" + +"Who taught you thoughtfulness?" she asked, gravely. He stood +disconcerted. "I find consideration common among Western men," she +went on, generalizing prettily; "our men don't have it. Does a life so +rough and terrible as this give men the consideration that we expect +elsewhere and do not find? Ah, that poor shoveller. Isn't it horrible +to die so? Did everyone else escape?" + +"They are ready to start, I think," he suggested, uneasily. + +"Oh, are they?" + +"You are coming to see us?" called Marie, leaning from the top, while +Glover paused behind her sister, when they had reached the stage. He +stood with his hat in his hand. The dazzling sun made copper of the +swarthy brown of his lower face and brought out the white of his +forehead where the hair crisped wet in the heat of the morning. +Gertrude Brock, after she had gained her seat with his help, looked +down while he talked; looked at the top of his head, and listening +vaguely to Marie, noted his long, bony hand as it clung to the window +strap--the hand of the most audacious man she had ever met in her +life--who had made an avowal to her on the observation platform of her +father's own car--and she mused at the explosion that would have +followed had she ever breathed a syllable of the circumstance to her +own fiery papa. + +But she had told no one--least of all, the young man that had asked her +before she left Pittsburg to marry him and was now writing her every +other day--Allen Harrison. Indeed, what could be more ridiculously +embarrassing than to be assailed so unexpectedly? She had no mind to +make herself anyone's laughing-stock by speaking of it. One thing, +however, she had vaguely determined--since Glover had frightened her +she would retaliate at least a little before she returned to the quiet +of Fifth Avenue. + +Marie was still talking to him. "Why haven't you heard? I thought +sister would have told you. The doctor says I gained faster here than +anywhere between the two oceans, and we are all to spend six weeks up +at Glen Tarn Springs. Papa is going East and coming back after us, and +we shall expect you to come to the Springs very often." + +The stage was starting. Gertrude faced backward as she sat. She could +see Glover's salutation, and she waved a glove. He was as utterly +confused as she could desire. She saw him rejoin his companion +engineer near where lay the shoveller with the covered face, and the +thought of the terrible accident depressed her. As she last saw Glover +he was pointing at the faulty bank, and she knew that the two men were +planning again for the safety of the men. + + +About Glen Tarn, now quite the best known of the Northern mountain +resorts, there is no month like October: no sun like the October sun, +and no frost like the first that stills the aspen. Moreover, the +travel is done, the parks are deserted, the mountains robing for +winter. In October, the horse, starting, shrinks under his rider, for +the lion, always moving, never seen, is following the game into the +valleys, leaving the grizzly to beat his stubborn retreat from the snow +line alone. + +Starting from the big hotel in a new direction every day the +Pittsburgers explored the valleys and the cañons, for the lake and the +springs nestle in the Pilot Mountains and the scenery is everywhere +new. Mount Pilot itself rises loftily to the north, and from its sides +may be seen every peak in the range. + +One day, for a novelty, the whole party went down to Medicine Bend, +nominally on a shopping expedition, but really on a lark. Medicine +Bend is the only town within a day's distance of Glen Tarn Springs +where there are shops; and though the shopping usually ended in a +chorus of jokes, the trip on the main line trains, which they caught at +Sleepy Cat, was always worth while, and the dining-car, with an +elaborate supper in returning, was a change from the hotel table. + +Sometimes Gertrude and Mrs. Whitney went together to the headquarters +town--Gertrude expecting always to encounter Glover. When some time +had passed, her failure to get a glimpse of him piqued her. One day +with her aunt going down they met Conductor O'Brien. He was more than +ready to answer questions, and fortunately for the reserve that +Gertrude loved to maintain, Mrs. Whitney remarked they had not seen Mr. +Glover for some time. + +"No one has seen much of him for two weeks; he had a little bad luck," +explained Conductor O'Brien. + +"Indeed?" + +"Three weeks ago he was up at Crab Valley. They had a cave-in on the +irrigation canal and two or three men got caught under a coal platform +near the steam shovel. Glover was close by when it happened. He got +his back under the timbers until they could get the men out and broke +two of his ribs. He went home that night without knowing of it, but a +couple of days afterward he sneezed and found it out right away. Since +then he's been doing his work in a plaster cast." + +Their return train that day was several hours behind time and Gertrude +and her aunt were compelled to go up late to the American House for +supper. A hotel supper at Medicine Bend was naturally the occasion of +some merriment, and the two diverted themselves with ordering a wild +assortment of dishes. The supper hour had passed, the dining-room had +been closed, and they were sitting at their dessert when a late comer +entered the room. Gertrude touched her aunt's arm--Glover was passing. + +Mrs. Whitney's first impulse was to halt the silent engineer with one +of her imperative words. To think of him was to think only of his +easily approachable manner; but to see him was indistinctly to recall +something of a dignity of simplicity. She contented herself with a +whisper. "He doesn't see us." + +At the lower end of the room Glover sat down. Almost at once Gertrude +became conscious of the silence. She handled her fork noiselessly, and +the interval before a waitress pushed open the swinging kitchen door to +take his order seemed long. The Eastern girl watched narrowly until +the waitress flounced out, and Glover, shifting his knife and his fork +and his glass of water, spread his limp napkin across his lap, and +resting his elbow on the table supported his head on his hand. + +The surroundings had never looked so bare as then, and a sense of the +loneliness of the shabby furnishings filled her. The ghastliness of +the arc-lights, the forbidding whiteness of the walls, and the +penetrating odors of the kitchen seemed all brought out by the presence +of a man alone. + +Mrs. Whitney continued to jest, but Gertrude responded mechanically. +Glover was eating his supper when the two rose from their table, and +Mrs. Whitney led the way toward him. + +"So, this is the invalid," she said, halting abruptly before him. +"Mrs. Whitney!" exclaimed Glover, trying hastily to rise as he caught +sight of Gertrude. + +"Will you please be seated?" commanded Mrs. Whitney. "I insist----" + +He sat down. "We want only to remind you," she went on, "that we hate +to be completely ignored by the engineering department even when _not_ +officially in its charge." + +"But, Mrs. Whitney, I can't sit if you are to stand," he answered, +greeting Gertrude and her aunt together. + +"You are an invalid; be seated. Nothing but toast?" objected Mrs. +Whitney, drawing out a chair and sitting down. "Do you expect to mend +broken ribs on toast?" + +"I'm well mended, thank you. Do I look like an invalid?" + +"But we heard you were seriously hurt." He laughed. "And want to +suggest Glen Tarn as a health resort." + +"Unfortunately, the doctor has discharged me. In fact, a broken rib +doesn't entitle a man to a lay-off. I hope your sister continues to +improve?" he added, looking at Gertrude. + +"She does, thank you. Mrs. Whitney and I have been talking of the day +we met you at the irrigation--" he did not help her to a word--"works," +she continued, feeling the slight confusion of the pause. "You"--he +looked at her so calmly that it was still confusing--"you were hurt +before we met you and we must have seemed unconcerned under the +circumstances. We speak often at Glen Tarn of the delightful weeks we +spent in your mountain wilds last summer," she added. + +Glover thanked her, but appeared absorbed in Mrs. Whitney's attempt to +disengage her eye-glasses from their holder, and Gertrude made no +further effort to break his restraint. Mrs. Whitney talked, and Glover +talked, but Gertrude reserved her bolt until just before their train +started. + +He had gone with them, and they were standing on the platform before +the vestibule steps of their Pullman car. As the last moment +approached it was not hard to see that Glover was torn between Mrs. +Whitney's rapid-fire talk and a desire to hear something from Gertrude. + +She waited till the train was moving before she loosed her shaft. Mrs. +Whitney had ascended the steps, the porter was impatient, Glover +nervous. Gertrude turned with a smile and a totally bewildering +cordiality on the unfortunate man. "My sister," her glove was on the +hand-rail, "sends some sort of a message to Mr. Glover every time I +come to Medicine Bend--but the gist of them all is that she would be +very"--the train was moving and they were stepping along with it--"glad +to see you at Glen Tarn before----" + +"Gertrude," screamed Mrs. Whitney, "will you get on?" + +Glover's eyes were growing like target-lights. + +"--before we go East," continued Gertrude. "So should I," she added, +throwing in the last three words most inexplicably, as she kept step +with the engineer. But she had not miscalculated the effect. + +"Are you to go soon?" he exclaimed. The porter followed them +helplessly with his stool. Mrs. Whitney wrung her hands, and Gertrude +attempted to reach the lower tread of the car step. + +Someone very decidedly helped her, and she laughed and rose from his +hands as lightly as to a stirrup. When she collected herself, after +the pleasure of the spring, Mrs. Whitney was scolding her for her +carelessness; but she was waving a glove from the vestibule at a big +hat still lifted in the dusk of the platform. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +GLEN TARN + +October had not yet gone when they met again in a Medicine Bend street. +Glover, leaving the Wickiup with Morris Blood, ran into Gertrude Brock +coming out of an Indian curio-shop with Doctor Lanning. She began at +once to talk to Glover. "Marie was regretting, yesterday, that you had +not yet found your way to Glen Tarn." + +The sun beat intensely on her black hat and her suit of gray. In her +gloved hand she twirled the tip of her open sunshade on the pavement +with deliberation and he shifted his footing helplessly. His heavy +face never looked homelier than in sunshine, and she gazed at him with +a calmness that was staggering. He muttered something about having +been unusually busy. + +"We, too, have been," smiled Gertrude, "making final preparations for +our departure." + +"Do you go so soon?" he exclaimed. + +"We are waiting only papa's return now to say good-by to the +mountains." The way in which she put it stirred him as she had +intended it should--uncomfortably. + +"I should certainly want to say good-by to your sister," muttered +Glover. But in saying even so little his naturally unsteady voice +broke one extra tone, and when this happened it angered him. + +"You are not timid, are you?" continued Gertrude. + +"I think I am something of a coward." + +"Then you shouldn't venture," she laughed, "Marie has a scolding for +you." + +Morris Blood had been telling Doctor Lanning that he and Glover were to +go over to Sleepy Cat on the train the doctor and Gertrude were to take +back to Glen Tarn. The two railroad men were just starting across the +yard to inspect an engine, the 1018, which was to pull the limited +train that day for the first time. It was a new monster, planned by +the modest little Manxman, Robert Crosby, for the first district run. +"Help her over the pass," Crosby had whispered--the superintendent of +motive power hardly ever spoke aloud--"and she'll buck a headwind like +a canvas-back. Give her decent weather, and on the Sleepy Cat trail +she'll run away with six, yes, eight Pullmans." + +Doctor Lanning was curious to look over the new machine, the first to +signalize the new ownership of the line, and Gertrude was quite ready +to accept Blood's invitation to go also. + +With the doctor under the superintendent's wing, Gertrude, piloted by +Glover, crossed the network of tracks, asking railroad questions at +every step. + +Reaching the engine, she wanted to get up into the cab, to say that, +before leaving the mountains forever, she had been once inside an +engine. Glover, after some delay, procured a stepladder from the "rip" +track, and with this the daughter of the magnate made an unusual but +easy ascent to the cab. More than that, she made herself a heroine to +every yardman in sight, and strengthened the new administration +incalculably. + +She ignored a conventional offer of waste from the man in charge of the +cab, who she was surprised to learn, after some sympathetic remarks on +her part, was not the engineman at all. He was a man that had +something to do with horses. And when she suggested it would be quite +an event for so big an engine to go over the mountains for the first +time, the hostler told her it had already been over a good many times. + +But Mr. Blood had an easy explanation for every confusing statement, +and did not falter even when Miss Brock wanted to start the 1018 +herself. He objected that she would soil her gloves, but she held them +up in derision; plainly, they had already suffered. Some difficulty +then arose because she could not begin to reach the throttle. Again, +with much chaffing, the stepladder was brought into play, and steadied +on it by Morris Blood, and coached by the hostler, the heiress to many +millions grasped the throttle, unlatched it and pulled at the lever +vigorously with both hands. + +The packing was new, but Gertrude persisted, the bar yielded, and to +her great fright things began to hiss. The engine moved like a roaring +leviathan, and the author of the mischief screamed, tried to stop it, +and being helpless appealed to the unshaven man to help her. Glover, +however, was nearest and shut off. + +It was all very exciting, and when on the turntable Gertrude was told +by the doctor that her suit was completely ruined she merely held up +both her blackened gloves, laughing, as Glover came up; and caught up +her begrimed skirt and joined him with a flush on her cheeks as bright +as a danger signal. + +Some fervor of the magical day, under those skies where autumn itself +is only a heavier wine than spring, something of the deep breath of the +mountain scene seemed to infect her. + +She walked at Glover's side. She recalled with the slightest pretty +mirth his fetching the ladder--the way in which he had crossed a flat +car by planting the ladder alongside, mounting, pulling the steps after +him, and descending on them to the other side. + +In her humor she faintly suggested his awkward competence in doing +things, and he, too, laughed. As they crossed track after track she +would place the toe of her boot on a rail glittering in the sun, and +rising, balance an instant to catch an answer from him before going on. +There was no haste in their manner. They had crossed the railroad +yard, strangers; they recrossed it quite other. Their steps they +retraced, but not their path. The path that led them that day together +to the engine was never to be retraced. + + +To worry Crosby's new locomotive, Blood's car had been ordered added to +the westbound limited, but neither Glover nor Blood spent any time in +the private car. The afternoon went in the Pullman with Gertrude Brock +and Doctor Lanning. At dinner Glover did the ordering because he had +earlier planned to celebrate the promotion, already known, of Morris +Blood to the general superintendency. + +If there were few lines along which the construction engineer could +shine he at least appeared to advantage as the host of his friend, +since the ordering of a dinner is peculiarly a gentleman's matter, and +even the modest complement of wine which the occasion demanded, Glover +toasted in a way that revealed the boyish loyalty between the two men. + +The spirit of it was so contagious that neither the doctor nor Gertrude +made scruple of adding their congratulations. But the moments were +fleeting and Glover, next day, could recall them up to one scene only. +When Gertrude found she could not, even after a brave effort, ride with +her back to the engine, and accepted so graciously Mr. Blood's offer to +change seats, it brought her beside Glover; after that his memory +failed. + +In the morning he felt miserably overdone, as at Sleepy Cat a man might +after running a preliminary half way to heaven. Moreover, when they +parted he had, he remembered, undertaken to dine the following evening +at the Springs. + +When he entered the apartments of the Pittsburg party at six o'clock, +Mrs. Whitney reproached him for his absence during their month at Glen +Tarn, and in Mrs. Whitney's manner, peremptorily. + +"I'm sure we've missed seeing everything worth while about here," she +complained. Her annoyance put Glover in good humor. Marie met him +with a gentler reproach. "And we go next week!" + +"But you've seen everything, I know," he protested, answering both of +them. + +"Whether we have or not, Mr. Glover should be penalized for his +indifference," suggested Marie. Doctor Lanning came in. "Compel him +to show us something we haven't seen around the lake," suggested the +doctor. "That he cannot do; then we have only to decide on his +punishment." + +"Oh, yes, I want to be on that jury," said Gertrude, entering softly in +black. + +"But is this Pittsburg justice?" objected Glover, rising at the spell +of her eyes to the raillery. "Shouldn't I have a try at the scenery +end of the proposition before sentence is demanded?" + +"Justify quickly, then," threatened Marie, as they started for the +dining-room; "we are not trifling." + +"Of course you've been here a month," began Glover, when the party were +seated. + +"Yes." + +"Out every day." + +"Yes." + +"The guides have all your money?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I stake everything on a single throw----" + +"A professional," interjected Doctor Lanning. + +"Only desperate gamesters stake all on a single throw," said Gertrude +warningly. + +"I am a desperate gamester," said Glover, "and now for it. Have you +seen the Devil's Gap?" + +A chorus of derision answered. + +"The very first day--the very first trip!" cried Mrs. Whitney, raising +her tone one note above every other protest. + +"And you staked all on so wretched a chance?" exclaimed Gertrude. +"Why, Devil's Gap is the stock feature of every guide, good, bad, and +indifferent, at the Springs." + +"I have staked more at heavier odds," returned Glover, taking the storm +calmly, "and won. Have you made but one trip, when you first came, do +you say?" + +"The very first day." + +"Then you haven't seen Devil's Gap. To see it," he continued, "you +must see it at night." + +"At night?" + +"With the moon rising over the Spanish Sinks." + +"Ah, how that sounds!" exclaimed Marie. + +"To-night we have full moon," added Glover. "Don't say too lightly you +have seen Devil's Gap, for that is given to but few tourists." + +"Do not call us tourists," objected Gertrude. + +"And from where did you see Devil's Gap--The Pilot?" + +"No, from across the Tarn." + +If the expression of Glover's face, returning somewhat the ridicule +heaped on him, was intended to pique the interest of the sightseers it +was effective. He was restored, provisionally, to favor; his +suggestion that after dinner they take horses for the ride up Pilot +Mountain to where the Gap could be seen by moonlight was eagerly +adopted, and Mrs. Whitney's objection to dressing again was put down. +Marie, fearing the hardship, demurred, but Glover woke to so lively +interest, and promised the trip should be so easy that when she +consented to go he made it his affair to attend directly to her comfort +and safety. + +He summoned one particular liveryman, not a favorite at the fashionable +hotel, and to him gave especial injunctions about the horses. The +girths Glover himself went over at starting, and in the riding he kept +near Marie. + +Lighted by the stars, they left the hotel in the early evening. "How +are you to find your way, Mr. Glover?" asked Marie, as they threaded +the path He led her into after they had reached the mountain. "Is this +the road we came on?" + +"I could climb Pilot blindfolded, I reckon. When we came in here I ran +surveys all around the old fellow, switchbacks and everything. The +line is a Chinese puzzle about here for ten miles. The path you're on +now is an old Indian trail out of Devil's Gap. The guides don't use it +because it is too long. The Gap is a ten-dollar trip, in any case, and +naturally they make it the shortest way." + +For thirty minutes they rode in darkness, then leaving a sharp defile +they emerged on a plateau. + +Across the Sinks the moon was rising full and into a clear sky. To the +right twinkled the lights of Glen Tarn, and below them yawned the +unspeakable wrench in the granite shoulders of the Pilot range called +Devil's Gap. Out of its appalling darkness projected miles of silvered +spurs tipped like grinning teeth by the light of the moon. + +"There are a good many Devil's Gaps in the Rockies," said Glover, after +the silence had been broken; "but, I imagine, if the devil condescends +to acknowledge any he wouldn't disclaim this." + +Gertrude stood beside her sister. "You are quite right," she admitted. +"We have spent our month here and missed the only overpowering +spectacle. This is Dante." + +"Indeed it is," he assented, eagerly. "I must tell you. The first +time I got into the Gap with a locating party I had a volume of Dante +in my pack. It is an unfortunate trait of mine that in reading I am +compelled to chart the topography of a story as I go along. In the +'Inferno' I could never get head or tail of the topography. One night +we camped on this very ledge. In the night the horses roused me. When +I opened the tent fly the moon was up, about where it is now. I stood +till I nearly froze, looking--but I thought after that I could chart +the 'Inferno.' If it weren't so dry, or if we were going to stay all +night, I should have a camp-fire; but it wouldn't do, and before you +get cold we must start back. + +"See," he pointed, far down on the left. "Can you make out that speck +of light? It is the headlight of a freight train crawling up the range +from Sleepy Cat. When the weather is right you can see the white head +of Sleepy Cat Mountain from this spot. That train will wind around in +sight of this knob for an hour, climbing to the mining camps." + +Doctor Lanning called to Marie. Gertrude stood with Glover. + +"Is that the desert of the Spanish Sinks?" she asked, looking into the +stream of the moon. + +"Yes." + +"Is that where you were lost two days?" + +"My horse got away. Have you hurt your hand?" + +She was holding her right hand in her left. "I tore my glove on a +thorn, coming up. It is not much." + +"Is it bleeding?" + +"I don't know; can you see?" + +She drew down the glove gauntlet and held her hand up. If his breath +caught he did not betray it, but while he touched her she could very +plainly feel his hand tremble; yet for that matter his hand, she knew, +trembled frequently. He struck a match. It was no part of her +audacity to betray herself, and she stepped directly between the others +and the little blaze and looked into his face while he Inspected her +wrist. "Can you see?" + +"It is scratched badly, but not bleeding," he answered. + +"It hurts." + +"Very likely; the wounds that hurt most don't always bleed," he said, +evenly. "Let us go." + +"Oh, no," she said; "not quite yet. This is unutterable. I love this." + +"Your aunt, I fear, is not interested. She is complaining of the cold. +I can't light a fire; the mountain is all timber below----" + +"Aunt Jane would complain in heaven, but that wouldn't signify she +didn't appreciate it. Why are you so quickly put out? It isn't like +you to be out of humor." She drew on her glove slowly. "I wish you +had this wrist----" + +"I wish to God I had." The sudden words frightened her. She showed +her displeasure in half turning away, then she resolutely faced him. +"I am not going to quarrel with you even if you make fun of me----" + +"Fun of you?" + +"Even if you put an unfair sense on what I say." + +"I meant what I said in every sense, either to take the pain or--the +other. I couldn't make fun of you. Do you never make fun of me, Miss +Brock?" + +"No, Mr. Glover, I do not. If you would be sensible we should do very +well. You have been so kind, and we are to leave the mountains so +soon, we ought to be good friends." + +"Will you tell me one thing, Miss Brock--are you engaged?" + +"I don't think you should ask, Mr. Glover. But I am not +engaged--unless that in a sense I am," she added, doubtfully. + +"What sense, please?" + +"That I have given no answer. Are you still complaining of the cold, +Aunt Jane?" she cried, in desperation, turning toward Mrs. Whitney. "I +find it quite warm over here. Mr. Glover and I are still watching the +freight train. Come over, do." + +Going back, Glover rode near to Gertrude, who had grown restless and +imperious. To hunt this queer mountain-lion was recreation, but to +have the mountain-lion hunt her was disquieting. + +She complained again of her wounded hand, but refused all suggestions, +and gave him no credit for riding between her and the thorny trees +through the cañon. It was midnight when the party reached the hotel, +and when Gertrude stepped across the parlor to the water-pitcher, +Glover followed. "I must thank you for your thoughtfulness of my +little sister to-night," she was saying. + +He was so intent that he forgot to reply. + +"May I ask one question?" he said. + +"That depends." + +"When you make answer may I know what it is?" + +"Indeed you may not." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +NOVEMBER + +They walked back to the parlors. Doctor Lanning and Marie were picking +up the rackets at the ping-pong table. Mrs. Whitney had gone into the +office for the evening mail. + +Passing the piano, Gertrude sat down and swung around toward the keys. +Glover took music from the table. Unwilling to admit a trace of the +unusual in the beating of her heart, or in her deeper breathing, she +could not entirely control either; there was something too fascinating +in defying the light that she now knew glowed in the dull eyes at her +side. She avoided looking; enough that the fire was there without +directly exposing her own eyes to it. She drummed with one hand, then +with both, at a gavotte on the rack before her. + +Overcome merely at watching her fingers stretch upon the keys he leaned +against the piano. + +"Why did you ask me to come up?" + +As he muttered the words she picked again and again with her right hand +at a loving little phrase in the gavotte. When it went precisely right +she spoke in the same tone, still caressing the phrase, never looking +up. "Are you sorry you came?" + +"No; I'd rather be trod under foot than not be near you." + +"May we not be friends without either of us being martyred? I shall be +afraid ever to ask you to do anything again. Was I wrong in--assuming +it would give you as well as all of us pleasure to dine together this +evening?" + +"No. You know better than that. I am insanely presumptuous, I know +it. Let me ask one last favor----" + +The gavotte rippled under her fingers. "No." + +He turned away. She swung on the stool toward him and looked very +kindly and frankly up. "You have been too courteous to all of us for +that. Ask as many favors as you like, Mr. Glover," she murmured, "but +not, if you please, a last one." + +"It shall be the last, Miss Brock. I only----" + +"You only what?" + +"Will you let me know what day you are going, so I may say good-by?" + +"Certainly I will. You will be at Medicine Bend in any case, won't +you?" + +"No. I have fifteen hundred miles to cover next week." + +"What for--oh, it isn't any of my business, is it?" + +"Looking over the snowsheds. Will you telegraph me?" + +"Where?" + +"At the Wickiup; it will reach me." + +"You might have to come too far. We shall start in a few days." + +"Will you telegraph me?" + +"If you wish me to." + + +Eight days later, when suspense had grown sullen and Glover had parted +with all hope of hearing from her, he heard. In the depths of the +Heart River range her message reached him. + +Every day Giddings, hundreds of miles away at the Wickiup, had had his +route-list. Giddings, who would have died for the engineer, waited, +every point in the repeating covered, day after day for a Glen Tarn +message that Glover expected. For four days Glover had hung like a dog +around the nearer stretches of the division. But the season was +advanced, he dared not delegate the last vital inspection of the year, +and bitterly he retreated from shed to shed until he was buried in the +barren wastes of the eighth district. + +The day in the Heart River mountains is the thin, gray day of the +alkali and the sage. On Friday afternoon Glover's car lay sidetracked +at the east end of the Nine Mile shed waiting for a limited train to +pass. The train was late and the sun was dropping into an ashen strip +of wind clouds that hung cold as shrouds to the north and west when the +gray-powdered engine whistled for the siding. + +Motionless beside the switch Glover saw down the gloom of the shed the +shoes wringing fire from the Pullman wheels, and wondered why they were +stopping. The conductor from the open vestibule waved to him as the +train slowed and ran forward with the message. + +"Giddings wired me to wait for your answer, Mr. Glover," said the +conductor. + +Glover was reading the telegram: + + +"I may start Saturday. + + "G. B." + + +There was one chance to make it; that was to take the limited train +then and there. Bidding the conductor wait he hastened to his car, +called for his gripsack, gave his assistant a volley of orders, and +boarded a Pullman. Not the preferred stock of the whole system would +have availed at that moment to induce an inspection of Nine Mile shed. + +There were men that he knew in the sleepers, but he shunned +acquaintance and walked on till he found an empty section into which he +could throw himself and feast undisturbed on his telegram. He studied +it anew, tried to consider coolly whether her message meant anything or +nothing, and gloated over the magic of the letters that made her +initials: and when he slept, the word last in his heart was Gertrude. + +In the morning he breakfasted late in the sunshine of the diner, passed +his friends again and secluded himself in his section. Never before +had she said "I"; always it had been "we." With eyes half-closed upon +the window he repeated the words and spoke her name after them, because +every time the speaking drugged him like lotus, until, yielding again +to the exhaustion of the week's work and strain, he fell asleep. + +When he woke the car was dark; the train conductor, Sid Francis, was +sitting beside him, laughing. + +"You're sleepy to-day, Mr. Glover." + +"Sid, where are we?" asked Glover, looking at his watch; it was four +o'clock. + +"Grouse Creek." + +"Are we that late? What's the matter?" + +The conductor nodded toward the window. "Look there." + +The sky was gray with a driving haze; a thin sweep of snow flying in +the sand of the storm was whitening the sagebrush. + +Glover, waking wide, turned to the window. "Where's the wind, Sid?" + +"Northwest." + +"What's the thermometer?" + +"Thirty at Creston; sixty when we left MacDill at noon." + +"Everything running?" + +"They've been getting the freights into division since noon. There'll +be something doing to-night on the range. They sent stock warnings +everywhere this morning, but they can't begin to protect the stock +between here and Medicine in one day. Pulling hard, isn't she? We're +not making up anything." + +The porter was lighting the lamps. While they talked it had grown +quite dark. Losing time every mile of the way, the train, +frost-crusted to the eyelids, got into Sleepy Cat at half-past six +o'clock; four hours late. + +The crowded yard, as they pulled through it, showed the tie-up of the +day's traffic. Long lines of freight cars filled the trackage, and +overloaded switch engines struggled with ever-growing burdens to avert +the inevitable blockade of the night. Glover's anxiety, as he left the +train at the station, was as to whether he could catch anything on the +Glen Tarn branch to take him up to the Springs that night, for there he +was resolved to get before morning if he had to take an engine for the +run. + +As he started up the narrow hall leading to the telegraph office he +heard the rustle of skirts above. Someone was descending the stairway, +and with his face in the light he halted. + +"Oh, Mr. Glover." + +"Why--Miss Brock!" It was Gertrude. + +"What in the world--" he began. His broken voice was very natural, she +thought, but there was amazement in his utterance. He noticed there +was little color in her face; the deep boa of fur nestling about her +throat might account for that. + +"What a chance that I should meet you!" she exclaimed, her back hard +against the side wall, for the hall was narrow and brought them face to +face. She spoke on. "Did you get my----?" + +"Did I?" he echoed slowly; "I have travelled every minute since +yesterday afternoon to get here----" + +Her uneasy laugh interrupted him. "It was hardly worth while, all +that." + +"--and I was just going up to find out about getting to Glen Tarn." + +"Glen Tarn! I left Glen Tarn this afternoon all alone to go to +Medicine Bend--papa is there, did you know? He came yesterday with all +the directors. Our car was attached for me to the afternoon train +coming down." She was certainly wrought up, he thought. "But when we +reached here the train I should have taken for Medicine Bend had not +come----" + +"It is here now." + +"Thank heaven, is it?" + +"I came in on it." + +"Then I can start at last! I have been so nervous. Is this our train? +They said our car couldn't be attached to this train, and that I should +have to go down in one of the sleepers. I don't understand it at all. +Will you have the car sent back to Glen Tarn in the morning, Mr. +Glover? And would you get my handbag? I was nearly run over a while +ago by some engine or other. I mustn't miss this train----" + +"Never fear, never fear," said Glover. + +"But I _cannot_ miss it. Be very, very sure, won't you?" + +"Indeed, I shall. The train won't start for some time yet. First let +me take you to your car and then make some inquiries. Is no one down +with you?" + +"No one; I am alone." + +"Alone?" + +"I expected to have been with papa by this time. It takes so little +time to run down, you know, and I telegraphed papa I should come on to +meet him. Isn't it most disagreeable weather?" + +Glover laughed as he shielded her from the wind. "I suppose that's a +woman's name for it." + +The car, coupled to a steampipe, stood just east of the station, and +Glover, helping her into it, went back after a moment to the telegraph +office. It seemed a long time that he was gone, and he returned +covered with snow. She advanced quickly to him in her wraps. "Are +they ready?" + +He shook his head. "I'm afraid you can't get to Medicine to-night." + +"Oh, but I must." + +"They have abandoned Number Six." + +"What does that mean?" + +"The train will be held here to-night on account of the storm. There +will be no train of any kind down before morning; not then if this +keeps up." + +"Is there danger of a blockade?" + +"There is a blockade." + +"Then I must get to papa to-night." She spoke with disconcerting +firmness. + +"May I suggest?" he asked. + +"Certainly." + +"Would it not be infinitely better to go back to the Springs?" + +"No, that would be infinitely worse." + +"It would be comparatively easy--an engine to pull your car up on a +special order?" + +"I will not go back to the Springs to-night, and I will go to Medicine +Bend," she exclaimed, apprehensively. "May I not have a special there +as well as to the Springs?" + +Until that moment he had never seen anything of her father in her; but +her father spoke in every feature; she was a Brock. + +Glover looked grave. "You may have, I am sure, every facility the +division offers. I make only the point," he said, gently, "that it +would be hazardous to attempt to get to the Bend to-night. I have just +come from the telegraph office. In the district I left this morning +the wires are all down to-night. That is where the storm is coming +from. There is a lull here just now, but----" + +"I thank you, Mr. Glover, believe me, very sincerely for your +solicitude. I have no choice but to go, and if I must, the sooner the +better, surely. Is it possible for you to make arrangements for me?" + +"It is possible, yes," he answered, guardedly. + +"But you hesitate." + +"It is a terrible night." + +"I like snow, Mr. Glover." + +"The danger to-night is the wind." + +"Are you afraid of the wind?" There was a touch of ridicule in her +half-laughing tone. + +"Yes," he answered, "I am afraid of the wind." + +"You are jesting." + +She saw that he flushed just at the eyes; but he spoke still gently. + +"You feel that you must go?" + +"I must." + +"Then I will get orders at once." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +NIGHT + +Glover looked at his watch; it was Giddings' trick at Medicine Bend, +and he made little doubt of getting what he asked for. He walked to +the eating-house and from there directly across to the roundhouse, and +started a hurry call for the night foreman. He found him at a desk +talking with Paddy McGraw, the engineer that was to have taken out +Number Six. + +"Paddy," said Glover, "do you want to take me to Medicine to-night?" + +"They've just cancelled Number Six." + +"I know it." + +"You don't have to go to-night, do you?" + +"Yes, with Mr. Brock's car. This isn't as bad as the night you and I +and Jack Moore bucked snow at Point of Rocks," said Glover, +significantly. "Do you remember carrying me from the number seven +culvert clean back to the station after the steampipe broke?" + +"You bet I do, and I never thought you'd see again after the way your +eyes were cooked that night. Well, of course, if you want to go +to-night, it's go, Mr. Glover. You know what you're about, but I'd +never look to see you going out for fun a night like this." + +"I can't help it. Yet I wouldn't want any man to go out with me +to-night unwillingly, Paddy." + +"Why, that's nothing. You got me my first run on this division. I'd +pull you to hell if you said so." + +Glover turned to the night foreman. "What's the best engine in the +house?" + +"There's the 1018 with steam and a plough." + +Glover started. "The 1018?" + +"She was to pull Six." The mountain man picked up the telephone, and +getting the operators, sent a rush message to Giddings. Leaving final +instructions with the two men he returned to the telegraph office. +When Giddings's protest about ordering a train out on such a night +came, Glover, who expected it, choked it back--assuming all +responsibility--gave no explanations and waited. When the orders came +he inspected them himself and returned to the car. Gertrude, in the +car alone, was drinking coffee from a hotel tray on the card table. +"It was very kind of you to send this in," she said, rising cordially. +"I had forgotten all about dinner. Have you succeeded?" + +"Yes. Could you eat what they sent?" + +"Pray look. I have left absolutely nothing and I am very grateful. Do +I not seem so?" she added, searchingly. "I want to because I am." + +He smiled at her earnestness. Two little chairs were drawn up at the +table, and facing each other they sat down while Gertrude finished her +coffee and made Glover take a sandwich. + +When the train conductor came in ten minutes later Glover talked with +him. While the men spoke Gertrude noticed how Glover overran the +dainty chair she had provided. She scrutinized his rough-weather garb, +the heavy hunting boots, the stout reefer buttoned high, and the +leather cap crushed now with his gloves in his hand. She had been +asking him where he got the cap, and a moment before, while her +attention wandered, he had told her the story of a company of Russian +noblemen and engineers from Vladivostok, who, during the summer, had +been his guests, nominally on a bear hunt, though they knew better than +to hunt bears in summer. It was really to pick up points on American +railroad construction. He might go, he thought, the following spring +to Siberia himself, perhaps to stay--this man that feared the wind--he +had had a good offer. The cap was a present. + +The two men went out and she was left alone. A flagman, hat in hand, +passed through the car. The shock of the engine coupler striking the +buffer hardly disturbed her reverie; for her the night meant too much. + +Glover was with the operators giving final instructions to Giddings for +ploughs to meet them without fail at Point of Rocks. Hastening from +the office he looked again at the barometer. It promised badly and the +thermometer stood at ten degrees above zero. + +He had made his way through the falling snow to where they were +coupling the engine to the car, watched narrowly, and going forward +spoke to the engineer. When he re-entered the car it was moving slowly +out of the yard. + +Gertrude, with a smile, put aside her book. "I am so glad," she said, +looking at her watch. "I hope we shall get there by eleven o'clock; we +should, should we not, Mr. Glover?" + +"It's a poor night for making a schedule," was all he said. The arcs +of the long yard threw white and swiftly passing beams of light through +the windows, and the warmth within belied the menace outside. + +At the rear end of the car the flagman worked with one of the +tail-lights that burned badly, and the conductor watched him. Gertrude +laid aside her furs and threw open her jacket. Her hat she kept on, +and sitting in a deep chair told Glover of her father's arrival from +the East on Wednesday and explained how she had set her heart on +surprising him that evening at Medicine Bend. "Where are we now?" she +asked, as the rumble of the whirling trucks deepened. + +"Entering Sleepy Cat Cañon, the Rat River----" + +"Oh, I remember this. I ride on the platform almost every time I come +through here so I may see where you split the mountain. And every time +I see it I ask myself the same question. How came he ever to think of +that?" + +It needed even hardly so much of an effort to lull her companion's +uneasiness. He was a man with no concern at best for danger, except as +to the business view of it, and when personally concerned in the hazard +his scruples were never deep. Not before had he seen or known Gertrude +Brock, for from that moment she gave herself to bewilderment and charm. + +The great engine pulling them made so little of its load that they +could afford to forget the night; indeed, Gertrude gave him no moments +to reflect. From the quick play of their talk at the table she led him +to the piano. When, sitting down, she drew off her gloves. She drew +them off lazily. When he reminded her that she still had on her jacket +she did not look up, but leaning forward she studied the page of a song +on the rack, running the air with her right hand, while she slowly +extended her left arm toward him and let him draw the tight sleeve over +her wrist and from her shoulder. Then his attempt to relieve her of +the second sleeve she wholly ignored, slipping it lightly off and +pursuing the song with her left hand while she let the jacket fall in a +heap on the floor. By the time Glover had picked it up and she had +frowned at him she might safely have asked him, had the fancy struck +her, to head the engine for the peak of Sleepy Cat Mountain. + +Half-way through a teasing Polish dance she stopped and asked suddenly +whether he had had any supper besides the sandwich; and refusing to +receive assurances forthwith abandoned the piano, rummaged the +staterooms and came back bearing in one hand a very large box of candy +and in the other a banjo. She wanted to hear the darky tunes he had +strummed at the desert campfire, and making him eat of the chocolates, +picked meantime at the banjo herself. + +He was so hungry that unconsciously he despatched one entire layer of +the box while she talked. She laughed heartily at his appetite, and at +his solicitation began tasting the sweetmeats herself. She led him to +ask where the box had come from and refused to answer more than to +wonder, as she discarded the tongs and proffered him a bonbon from her +fingers, whether possibly she was not having more pleasure in disposing +of the contents than the donor of the box had intended. Changing the +subject capriciously she recalled the night in the car that he had +assisted in Louise Bonner's charade, and his absurdly effective +pirouetting in a corner behind the curtain where Louise and he thought +no one saw them. + +"And, by the way," she added, "you never told me whether your +stenographer finally came that day you tried to put me at work." + +Glover hung his head. + +"Did she?" + +"Yes." + +"What is she like?" + +He laughed and was about to reply when the train conductor coming +forward touched him on the shoulder and spoke. Gertrude could not hear +what he said, but Glover turned his head and straightened in his chair. +"I can't smell anything," he said, presently. With the conductor he +walked to the hind end of the car, opened the door, and the three men +went out on the platform. + +"What is it?" asked Gertrude, when Glover came back. + +"One of the journals in the rear truck is heating. It is curious," he +mused; "as many times as I've ridden in this car I've never known a box +to run hot till to-night--just when we don't want it to." + +He drew down the slack of the bell cord, pulled it twice firmly and +listened. Two freezing pipes from the engine answered; they sounded +cold. A stop was made and Glover, followed by the trainmen, went +outside. Gertrude walking back saw them in the driving snow beneath +the window. Their lamps burned bluishly dim. From the journal box +rose a whipping column of black smoke expanding, when water was got on +the hot steel, into a blinding explosion of white vapor that the storm +snatched away in rolling clouds. There was running to and from the +engine and the delay was considerable, but they succeeded at last in +rigging a small tank above the wheel so that a stream of water should +run into the box. + +The men re-entered with their faces stung by the cold, the engine +hoarsely signalled and the car started. Glover made little of the +incident, but Gertrude observed some preoccupation in his manner. He +consulted frequently his watch. Once when he was putting it back she +asked to see it. His watch was the only thing of real value he had and +he was pleased to show it. It contained a portrait of his mother, and +Gertrude, to her surprise and delight, found it. She made him answer +question after question, asked him to let her take the watch from the +chain and studied the girlish face of this man's mother until she +noticed its outlines growing dim and looked impatiently up at the deck +burner: the gas was freezing in the storage tanks. + +Glover walked to the rear; the journal they told him was running hot +again. The engineer had asked not to be stopped till they reached Soda +Buttes, where he should have to take water. When he finally slowed for +the station the box was ablaze. + +The men hastening out found their drip-tank full of ice: there was +nothing for it but fresh brasses, and Glover getting down in the snow +set the jack with his own hands so it should be set right. The +conductor passed him a bar, but Gertrude could not see; she could only +hear the ring of the frosty steel. Then with a scream the safety valve +of the engine popped and the wind tossed the deafening roar in and out +of the car, now half dark. Stunned by the uproar and disturbed by the +failing light she left her chair, and going over sat down at the window +beneath which Glover was working; some instinct made her seek him. +When the car door opened, the flagman entered with both hands filled +with snow. + +"Are you ready to start?" asked Gertrude. He shook his head and +bending over a leather chair rubbed the snow vigorously between his +fingers. + +"Oh, are you hurt?" + +"I froze my fingers and Mr. Glover ordered me in," said the boy. +Gertrude noticed for the first time the wind and listened; standing +still the car caught the full sweep and it rang in her ears softly, a +far, lonely sound. + +While she listened the lights of the car died wholly out, but the +jargon of noises from the truck kept away some of the loneliness. She +knew he would soon come and when the sounds ceased she waited for him +at the door and opened it hastily for him. He looked storm-beaten as +he held his lantern up with a laugh. Then he examined the flagman's +hand, followed Gertrude forward and placed the lantern on the table +between them, his face glowing above the hooded light. They were +running again, very fast, and the rapid whipping of the trucks was +resonant with snow. + +"How far now to Medicine?" she smiled. + +"We are about half-way. From here to Point of Rocks we follow an +Indian trail." + +The car was no longer warm. The darkness, too, made Gertrude restless +and they searched the storage closets vainly for candles. When they +sat down again they could hear the panting of the engine. The exhaust +had the thinness of extreme cold. They were winding on heavy grades +among the Buttes of the Castle Creek country, and when the engineer +whistled for Castle station the big chime of the engine had shrunk to a +baby's treble; it was growing very cold. + +As the car slowed, Glover caught an odor of heated oil, and going back +found the coddled journal smoking again, and like an honest man cursed +it heartily, then he went forward to find out what the stop was for. +He came back after some moments. Gertrude was waiting at the door for +him. "What did you learn?" + +He held his lantern up to light her face and answered her question with +another. + +"Do you think you could stand a ride in the engine cab?" + +"Surely, if necessary. Why?" + +"The engine isn't steaming overly well. When we leave this point we +get the full wind across the Sweetgrass plains. There's no fit place +at this station for you--no place, in fact--or I should strongly advise +staying here. But if you stayed in the car there's no certainty we +could heat it another hour. If we sidetrack the car here with the +conductor and flagman they can stay with the operator and you and I can +take the cab into Medicine Bend." + +"Whatever you think best." + +"I hate to suggest it." + +"It is my fault. Shall we go now?" + +"As soon as we sidetrack the car. Meantime"--he spoke +earnestly--"remember it may mean life--bundle yourself up in everything +warm you can find." + +"But you?" + +"I am used to it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +STORM + +Muffled in wraps Gertrude stood at the front door waiting to leave the +car. It had been set in on the siding, and the engine, uncoupled, had +disappeared, but she could see shifting lights moving near. One, the +bright, green-hooded light, her eyes followed. She watched the furious +snow drive and sting hornet-like at its rays as it rose or swung or +circled from a long arm. Her straining eyes had watched its coming and +going every moment since he left her. When his figure vanished her +breath followed it, and when the green light flickered again her breath +returned. + +The men were endeavoring to reset the switch for the main line contact. +Three lights were grouped close about the stand, and after the rod had +been thrown, Glover went down on his knee feeling for the points under +the snow with his hands before he could signal the engine back; one +thing he could not afford, a derail. She saw him rise again and saw, +dimly, both his arms spread upward and outward. She saw the tiny +lantern swing a cautious incantation, and presently, like a monster +apparition, called out of the storm the frosted outlines of the tender +loomed from the darkness. The engine was being brought to where this +dainty girl passenger could step with least exposure from her vestibule +to its cab gangway. With exquisite skill the unwieldy monster, forced +in spite of night and stress to do its master's bidding, was being +placed for its extraordinary guest. + +Picking like a trained beast its backward steps, with cautious strength +the throbbing machine, storm-crusted and storm-beaten, hissing its +steady defiance at its enemy, halted, and Gertrude was lighted and +handed across the short path, passed up inside the canvas door by +Glover and helped to the fireman's box. + +Out in the storm she heard from the conductor and flagman rough shouts +of good luck. Glover nodded to the engineer, the fireman yelled +good-by, slammed back the furnace door, and a blinding flash of white +heat, for an instant, took Gertrude's senses; when the fireman slammed +the door to they were moving softly, the wind was singing at the +footboard sash, and the injectors were loading the boiler for the work +ahead. + +A berth blanket fastened between Gertrude and the side window and a +cushion on the box made her comfortable. Under her feet lay a second +blanket. She had come in with a smile, but the gloom of the cab gave +no light to a smile. Only the gauge faces high above her showed the +flash of the bull's-eyes, and the multitude of sounds overawed her. + +On the opposite side she could see the engineer, padded snug in a +blouse, his head bullet-tight under a cap, the long visor hanging +beak-like over his nose. His chin was swathed in a roll of neck-cloth, +and his eyes, whether he hooked the long lever at his side or stretched +both his arms to latch the throttle, she could never see. Then, or +when his hand fell back to the handle of the air, as it always fell, +his profile was silent. If she tried to catch his face he was looking +always, statue-like, ahead. + +Standing behind him, Glover, with a hand on a roof-brace, steadied +himself. In spite of the comforts he had arranged for her, Gertrude, +in her corner, felt a lonely sense of being in the way. In her +father's car there was never lacking the waiting deference of trainmen; +in the cab the men did not even see her. + +In the seclusion of the car a storm hardly made itself felt; in the cab +she seemed under the open sky. The wind buffeted the glass at her +side, rattled in its teeth the door in front of her, drank the steaming +flame from the stack monstrously, and dashed the cinders upon the thin +roof above her head with terrifying force. With the gathering speed of +the engine the cracking exhaust ran into a confusing din that deafened +her, and she was shaken and jolted. The plunging of the cab grew +violent, and with every lurch her cushion shifted alarmingly. She +resented Glover's placing himself so far away, and could not see that +he even looked toward her. The furnace door slammed until she thought +the fireman must have thrown in coal enough to last till morning, but +unable to realize the danger of overloading the fire he stopped only +long enough to turn various valve-wheels about her feet, and with his +back bent resumed his hammering and shovelling as if his very salvation +were at stake: so, indeed, that night it was. + +Gertrude watched his unremitting toil; his shifty balancing on his +footing with ever-growing amazement, but the others gave it not the +slightest heed. The engineer looked only ahead, and Glover's face +behind him never turned. Then Gertrude for the first time looked +through her own sash out into the storm. + +Strain as she would, her vision could pierce to nothing beyond the +ceaseless sweep of the thin, wild snow across the brilliant flow of the +headlight. She looked into the white whirl until her eyes tired, then +back to the cab, at the flying shovel of the fireman, the peaked cap of +the muffled engineer--at Glover behind him, his hand resting now on the +reverse lever hooked high at his elbow. But some fascination drew her +eyes always back to that bright circle in the front--to the sinister +snow retreating always and always advancing; flowing always into the +headlight and out, and above it darkening into the fire that streamed +from the dripping stack. A sudden lurch nearly threw her from her +seat, and she gave a little scream as the engine righted. Glover +beside her like thought caught her outstretched hand. "A curve," he +said, bending apologetically toward her ear as she reseated herself. +"Is it very trying?" + +"No, except that I am in continual fear of falling from my seat--or +having to embrace the unfortunate fireman. Oh!" she exclaimed, putting +her wrist on Glover's arm as the cab jerked. + +"If I could keep out of the fireman's way, I should stand here," he +said. + +"There is room on the seat here, I think, if you have not wholly +deserted me. Oh!" + +"I didn't mean to desert you. It is because the snow is packing harder +that you are rocked more; the cab has really been riding very smoothly." + +She moved forward on the box. "Are you going to sit down?" + +"Thank you." + +"Oh, don't thank me. I shall feel ever so much safer if you will." He +tried to edge up into the corner behind her, pushing the heavy cushion +up to support her back. As he did so she turned impatiently, but he +could not catch what she said. "Throw it away," she repeated. He +chucked the cushion forward below her feet and was about to sit up +where she had made room for him when the engineer put both hands to the +throttle-bar and shut off. For the first time since they had started +Gertrude saw him look around. + +"Where's Point of Rocks?" he called to Glover as they slowed, and he +looked at his watch. "I'm afraid we're by." + +"By?" echoed Glover. + +"It looks so." + +The fireman opened his furnace with a bang. The engineer got stiffly +down and straightened his legs while he consulted with Glover. Both +knew they had been running past small stations without seeing them, but +to lose Point of Rocks with its freight houses, coal chutes, and water +tanks! + +They talked for a minute, the engineer climbed up to his seat, the +reverse lever was thrown over and they started cautiously back on a +hunt for the lost station, both straining their eyes for a glimpse of a +light or a building. For twenty minutes they ran back without finding +a solitary landmark. When they stopped, afraid to retreat farther, +Glover got out into the storm, walked back and forth, and, chilled to +the bone, plunged through the shallow drifts from side to side of the +right of way in a vain search for reckoning. Railroad men on the +rotary, the second day after, exploded Glover's torpedoes eleven miles +west of Point of Rocks, where he had fastened them that night to the +rails to warn the ploughs asked for when leaving Sleepy Cat. + +With his clothing frozen he swung up into the cab. They were lost. +She could see his eyes now. She could see his face. Their perilous +state she could not understand, nor know; but she knew and understood +what she saw in his face and eyes--the resource and the daring. She +saw her lover then, master of the elements, of the night and the +danger, and her heart went out to his strength. + +The three men talked together and the fireman asked the question that +none dared answer, "What about the ploughs?" + +Would Giddings hold them at Point of Rocks till the Special reported? + +Would he send them out to keep the track open regardless of the +Special's reaching Point of Rocks? + +Had they themselves reached Point of Rocks at all? If past it, had +they been seen? Were the ploughs ahead or behind? And the fireman +asked another question; if they were by the Point tank, would the water +hold till they got to Medicine Bend? No one could answer. + +There was but one thing to do; to keep in motion. They started slowly. +The alternatives were discussed. Glover, pondering, cast them all up, +his awful responsibility, unconscious of her peril, watching him from +the fireman's box. The engineer looked to Glover instinctively for +instructions and, hesitating no longer, he ordered a dash for Medicine +Bend regardless of everything. + +Without a qualm the engineer opened his throttle and hooked up his bar +and the engine leaped blindly ahead into the storm. Glover, in a few +words, told Gertrude their situation. He made no effort to disguise +it, and to his astonishment she heard him quietly. He cramped himself +down at her feet and muffled his head in his cap and collar to look +ahead. + +They had hardly more than recovered their lost distance, and were +running very hard when a shower of heavy blows struck the cab and the +engine gave a frantic plunge. Forgetting that he pulled no train +McGraw's eyes flew to the air gauge with the thought his train had +broken, but the pointer stood steady at the high pressure. Again the +monster machine strained, and again the cab rose and plunged +terrifically. The engineer leaped at the throttle like a cat; +Gertrude, jolted first backward, was thrown rudely forward on Glover's +shoulder, and the fireman slid head first into the oil cans. Worst of +all, Glover, in saving Gertrude, put his elbow through the lower glass +of the running-board door. The engine stopped and a blast of powdered +ice streamed in on them; their eyes met. + +She tried to get her breath. "Don't be frightened," he said; "you are +all right. Sit perfectly still. What have you got, Paddy?" he called +to the engineer. The engineer did not attempt to answer; taking +lanterns, the two men climbed out of the cab to investigate. The wind +swept through the broken pane and Gertrude slipped down from her seat +with relief, while the fireman caught up a big double handful of waste +from his box and stuffed it into the broken pane. So intense had the +strain of silence become that she would have spoken to him, but the +sudden stop sprung the safety-valve, and overwhelmed with its roar she +could only watch him in wretched suspense shake the grate, restore his +drip can, start his injector, and hammer like one pursued by a fury at +the coal. Since she had entered the cab this man had never for one +minute rested. + +McGraw, followed by Glover, climbed back under the canvas from the +gangway. Their clothing, moist with the steam of the cab, had +stiffened the instant the wind struck it. McGraw hastening to the +furnace seized the chain, jerked open the door and motioned to Glover +to come to the fire, but Glover shook his head behind McGraw, his hands +on the little man's shoulders, and forced him down in front of the +fearful blaze to thaw the gloves from his aching fingers. + +All the horror of the storm they were facing had passed Gertrude unfelt +until she saw the silent writhing of the crouching man. This was three +minutes of the wind that Glover had asked her not to tempt; this was +the wind she had tempted. She was glad that Glover, bending over the +engineer, holding one hand to the fire as he gazed into it, did not +look toward her. From cap to boots he was frozen in snow and ice. The +two men, without speaking, left the cab again. They were gone longer. +Gertrude felt chills running over her. + +"This is a terrible night," she said to the fireman. + +"Yes, ma'am, it's pretty bad. I don't know why they'd send white men +out into this. I wouldn't send a coyote out." + +"They are staying out so long this time," she murmured. "Could they +possibly freeze while they are out, do you think?" + +"Sure, they could; but them boys know too much for that. Mr. Glover +stays out a week at a time in this kind; he don't care. That man Paddy +McGraw is his head engineer in the bucking gang; he don't care--them +fellows don't care. But I've got a wife at the Cat and two babies, +that's my fix. I never cared neither when I was single, but if I'm +carried home now it's seven hundred and fifty relief and a thousand +dollars in the A. O. U. W., and that's the end of it for the woman. +That's why I don't like to freeze to death, ma'am. But what can you do +if you're ordered out? Suppose your woman is a-hangin' to your neck +like mine hung to me to-night and cryin'--whatever can you do? You've +got to go or lose your job; and if you lose your job who'll feed your +kids then?" + +McGraw's head appeared under the canvas doorway. Glover did not follow +him and Gertrude grew alarmed: but when the canvas rattled and she saw +his cap she was waiting for him at the doorway and she put her hands +happily on his frozen sleeve: "I'm so glad." + +He looked at her with humor in his big eyes. + +"I was afraid without you," she added, confusedly. + +He laughed. "There's nothing to be afraid of." + +"Oh, you are so cold. Come to the fire." + +"What do you think about the ploughs now?" he asked of McGraw, who had +climbed up to his seat. + +"How many is there?" returned the engineer as Glover shivered before +the fire. + +"There may be a thousand." + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"There's only one thing, Paddy. Go through them," answered Glover, +slamming shut the furnace door. + +McGraw laid his bar over, and, like one putting his house in order, +looked at his gauges and tried his valves. + +"What is it?" whispered Gertrude, at Glover's side. + +He turned. "We've struck a bunch of sheep." + +"Sheep?" + +"In a storm they drift to keep from freezing out in the open. These +sheep have bunched in a little cut out of the wind," he explained, as +the fireman sprinkled the roaring furnace. "You had better get up on +your seat, Miss Brock." + +"But what are you going to do?" + +"Run through them." + +"Run through them? Do you mean to kill them?" + +"We shall have to kill a few; there isn't much danger." + +"But oh, must you mangle those poor creatures huddling in the cut out +of the storm? Oh, don't do that." + +"We can't help it." + +"Oh, yes, yes, you can if you will, I am sure." She looked at him +imploringly. + +"Indeed I cannot. Listen a moment." He spoke steadily. The wheels +were turning under her, the engine was backing for the dash. "We know +now the ploughs are not ahead of us, for the cut is full of sheep and +snow. If they are behind us we are in grave danger. They may strike +us at any moment--that means, do you understand? death. We can't go +back now; there's too much snow even if the track were clear. To stay +here means to freeze to death." She turned restively from him. "Could +you have thought it a joke," he asked, slowly, "to run a hundred and +seventy miles through a blizzard?" She looked away and her sob cut him +to the heart. "I did not mean to wound you," he murmured. "It's only +that you don't realize what self-preservation means. I wouldn't kill a +fly unnecessarily, but do you think I could stand it to see anyone in +this cab mangled by a plough behind us--or to see you freeze to death +if the engine should die and we're caught here twelve hours? It is our +lives or theirs, that's all, and they will freeze anyway. We are only +putting them out of their misery. Come; we are starting." He helped +her to her seat. + +"Don't leave me," she faltered. The cylinder cocks were drumming +wildly. "Which ever way we turn there's danger," he admitted, +reluctantly, "a steam pipe might burst. You must cover your face." +She drew the high collar of her coat around her neck and buried her +face in her muff, but he caught up a blanket and dropped it completely +over her head; then locking her arm in his own he put one heavy boot +against the furnace door, and, braced between the woman he loved and +the fire-box, nodded to the engineer--McGraw gave head. + +Furred with snow, and bearded fearfully with ice; creeping like a +mountain-cat on her prey; quivering under the last pound of steam she +could carry, and hissing wildly as McGraw stung her heels again and +again from the throttle, the great engine moved down on the blocked cut. + +Unable to reckon distance or resistance but by instinct, and forced to +risk everything for headway, McGraw pricked the cylinders till the +smarting engine roared. Then, crouching like a jockey for a final +cruel spur he goaded the monster for the last time and rose in his +stirrups for the crash. + +With never a slip or a stumble, hardly reeling in her ponderous frame, +the straining engine plunged headlong into the curve. Only once, she +staggered and rolled; once only, three reckless men rose to answer +death as it knocked at their hearts; but their hour was not come, and +the engine struggled, righted, and parted the living drift from end to +end. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DAYBREAK + +Crouching under the mountains in the grip of the storm Medicine Bend +slept battened in blankets and beds. All night at the Wickiup, O'Neill +and Giddings, gray with anxiety, were trying to keep track of Glover's +Special. It was the only train out that night on the mountain +division. For the first hour or two they kept tab on her with little +trouble, but soon reports began to falter or fail, and the despatchers +were reduced at last to mere rumors. They dropped boards ahead of +Special 1018, only to find to their consternation that she was passing +them unheeded. + +Once, at least, they knew that she herself had slipped by a night +station unseen. Oftener, with blanched faces they would hear of her +dashing like an apparition past a frightened operator, huddled over his +lonely stove, a spectral flame shot across the fury of the sky--as if +the dread night breathing on the scrap-pile and the grave had called +from other nights and other storms a wraith of riven engines and +slaughtered men to one last phantom race with death and the wind. + +Within two hours of division headquarters a train ran lost--lost as +completely as if she were crossing the Sweetgrass plains on pony trails +instead of steel rails. Not once but a dozen times McGraw and Glover, +pawning their lives, left the cab with their lanterns in a vain +endeavor to locate a station, a siding, a rock. Numbed and bitten at +last with useless exposure they cast effort to the wind, gave the +engine like a lost horse her head, and ran through everything for +headquarters and life. Consultation was abandoned, worry put away, one +good chance set against every other chance and taken in silence. + +At five o'clock that morning despatchers and night men under the +Wickiup gables, sitting moodily around the big stove, sprang to their +feet together. From up the distant gorge, dying far on the gale, came +the long chime blast of an engine whistle; it was the lost Special. + +They crowded to the windows to dispute and listen. Again the heavy +chime was sprung and a second blast, lasting and defiant, reached the +Wickiup--McGraw was whistling for the upper yard and the long night of +anxiety was ended. Unable to see a car length into the storm howling +down the yard, save where the big arc-lights of the platform glared +above the semaphores, the men swarmed to the windows to catch a glimpse +of the belated engine. When the rays of its electric headlight pierced +the Western night they shouted like boys, ran to the telephones, and +while the roundhouse, the superintendent, and the master-mechanic were +getting the news the Special engine steamed slowly into sight through +the whirling snow and stopped at the semaphore. So a liner shaken in +the teeth of a winter storm, battered by heading seas, and swept by +stiffening spray, rides at last, ice-bound, staggering, majestic, into +port. + +The moment they struck the mountain-path into the Bend, McGraw and +Glover caught their bearings by the curves, and Glover, standing at +Gertrude's elbow, told her they were safe. + +Not until he had laughed into her ear something that the silent McGraw, +lying on his back under the engine with a wrench, when he confessed he +never expected to see Medicine Bend again, had said of her own splendid +courage did the flood spring from her eyes. + +When Glover added that they were entering the gorge, and laughingly +asked if she would not like to sound the whistle for the yard limits, +she smiled through tears and gave him her hand to be helped down, +cramped and chilled, from her corner. + +At the moment that she left the cab she faltered again. McGraw +stripped his cap from his head as she turned to speak. She took from +the breast of her blouse her watch, dainty as a jewel, and begged him +to take it, but he would not. + +She drew her glove and stripped from her finger a ring. + +"This is for your wife," she said, pressing it into his hand. + +"I have no wife." + +"Your sister." + +"Nor sister." + +"Keep it for your bride," she whispered, retreating. "It is yours. +Good-by, good-by!" + +She sprang from the gangway to Glover's arms and the snow. The storm +drove pitilessly down the bare street as she clung to his side and +tried to walk the half block to the hotel. The wind, even for a single +minute, was deadly to face. No light, no life was anywhere visible. +He led her along the lee of the low street buildings, and mindful of +the struggle it was to make headway at all turned half between her and +the wind to give her the shelter of his shoulders, halting as she +stumbled to encourage her anew. He saw then that she was struggling in +the darkness for breath, and without a word he bent over her, took her +up like a child and started on, carrying her in his arms. + +If he frightened her she gave no sign. She held herself for an instant +uncertain and aloof, though she could not but feel the heavy draught +she made on his strength. The wind stung her cheeks; her breath caught +again in her throat and she heard him implore her to turn her face, to +turn it from the wind. He stumbled as he spoke, and as she shielded +her face from the deadly cold, one hand slipped from her muff. +Reaching around his head she drew his storm-cap more closely down with +her fingers. When he thanked her she tried to speak and could not, but +her glove rested an instant where the wind struck his cheek; then her +head hid upon his shoulder and her arms wound slowly and tightly around +his neck. + +He kicked open the door of the hotel with one blow of his foot and set +her down inside. + +In the warm dark office, breathing unsteadily, they faced each other. +"Can you, Gertrude, marry that man and break my heart?" He caught up +her two hands with his words. + +"No," she answered, brokenly. "Are you sure you are not frozen--ears +or cheeks or hands?" + +"You won't marry him, Gertrude, and break my heart? Tell me you won't +marry him." + +"No, I won't." + +"Tell me again." + +"Shall I tell you everything?" + +"If you have mercy for me as I have love for you." + +"I ran away from him to-night. He came out with the directors and +telegraphed he would be at the Springs in the afternoon for his answer, +and--I ran away. He has his answer long ago and I would not see him." + +"Brave girl!" + +"Oh, I wasn't brave, I was a dreadful coward. But I thought----" + +"What?" + +"--I could be brave, if I found as brave a man--as you." + +"Gertrude, if I kiss you I never can give you up. Do you understand +what that means? I never in life or death can give you up, Gertrude, +do you understand me?" + +She was crying on his shoulder. "Oh, yes, I understand," and he heard +from her lips the maddening sweetness of his boy name. "I understand," +she sobbed. "I don't care, Ab--if only--, you will be kind to me." + +It was only a moment later--her head had not yet escaped from his arm, +for Glover found for the first time that it is one thing to get leave +to kiss a lovely woman and wholly another to get the necessary action +on the conscience-stricken creature--she had not yet, I say, escaped, +when a locomotive whistle was borne from the storm faintly in on their +ears. To her it meant nothing, but she felt him start. "What is it?" +she whispered. + +"The ploughs!" + +"The ploughs?" + +"The snow-ploughs that followed us. Twenty minutes behind--twenty +minutes between us and death, Gertrude, in that blizzard, think of it. +That must mean we are to live." + +The solemn thought naturally suggested, to Glover at least, a +resumption of the status quo, but as he was locating, in the dark, +there came from behind the stove a mild cough. The effect on the +construction engineer of the whole blizzard was to that cough as +nothing. Inly raging he seated Gertrude--indeed, she sunk quite +faintly into a chair, and starting for the stove Glover dragged from +behind it Solomon Battershawl. "What are you doing here?" demanded +Glover, savagely. + +"I'm night clerk, Mr. Glover--ow----" + +"Night clerk? Very well, Solomon," muttered Glover, grimly, "take this +young lady to the warmest room in the house at once." + +"Every room's full, Mr. Glover. Trains were all tied up last night." + +"Then show her to my room." + +"Your room's occupied." + +"My room occupied, you villain? What do you mean? Throw out whoever's +in it instantly." + +"Mr. Brock is in your room." + +Gertrude had come over to the stove. + +"Mr. Brock!" + +"My father!" + +"Yes, sir; yes, ma'am." + +Gertrude and Glover looked at one another. + +"Mr. Blood brought him up last night," said Solomon. + +"Where's Mr. Blood?" + +"He hasn't come up from the Wickiup. They said he was worried over a +special from the Cat that was caught in the blizzard. Your laundry +came in all right last night, Mr. Glover----" + +"Hang the laundry." + +"I paid for it." + +"Will you cease your gabble? If Mr. Blood's room is empty take Miss +Block up there and rouse a chambermaid instantly to attend her. Do you +hear?" + +"Shall I throw out Mr. Brock?" + +"Let him alone, stupid. What's the matter with the lights?" + +"The wires are down." + +"Get a candle for Miss Brock. Now, will you make haste?" Solomon, +when he heard the name, stared at Miss Brock--but when he recognized +her he started without argument and was gone an unconscionably long +time. + +They sat down where they could feast on each other's eyes in the glow +of the coal-stove. + +"You have looked so worried all night," said Gertrude, in love's +solicitude; "were you afraid we should be lost?" + +"No, I didn't intend we should be lost." + +"What was it? What is it that makes you so careworn?" + +"Nothing special." + +"But you mustn't have any secrets from me now. What is it?" + +"Do you want to know?" + +"Yes." + +"I couldn't find time to get shaved before we left Sleepy Cat----" + +She rose with both hands uplifted: "Shades of vain heroes! Have I +wasted my sympathy all night on a man who has been saving my life with +perfect calmness and worrying because he couldn't get shaved?" + +"Can you dispassionately say that I don't need barbering?" + +"No. But this is what I will say, silly fellow--you don't know much +about a woman's heart, do you, Ab? When I first looked at you I +thought you were the homeliest man I had ever seen, do you know that?" + +Glover fingered his offending chin and looked at her somewhat +pathetically. + +"But last night"--her quick mouth was so eloquent--"last night I +watched you. I saw your face lighted by the anger of the storm. I +knew then what those heavy, homely lines below your eyes were +for--strength. And I saw your eyes, to me so dull at first, wake and +fill with such a light and burn so steadily hour after hour that I knew +I had never seen eyes like yours. I knew you would save me--that is +what made me so brave, goosie. Sit right where you are, please." + +She slipped out of her chair; he pursued. "If you will say such things +and then run into the dark corners," he muttered. But when Solomon +appeared with a water-pitcher they were ready for him. + +"Now what has kept you all this time?" glared Glover, insincerely. + +"I couldn't find any ice-water." + +"Ice-water!" + +"Every pipe is froze solid, but I chopped up some ice and brought that." + +"Ice-water, you double-dyed idiot! Go get your candle." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Don't be so cross," whispered Gertrude. "You were so short with that +poor fireman to-night, and he told me such a pitiful story about being +ordered out and having to go or lose his position----" + +"Did Foley tell you that?" + +"Yes." + +"Surely, nerve runs in his family as well as his cousin's. The rascal +came because I hung up a little purse for a fireman at the roundhouse, +and he nearly had a fight with another fellow that wanted to cut him +out of the job." + +"Such a cheat! How much did you offer him?" + +"Not very much." + +"But how much?" + +"Twenty-five dollars, and, by heavens, he dunned me for it just after +we started." + +"But his poor wife hung to his neck when he left----" + +"No doubt. She has pulled all the hair out of his head twice that I +know of----" + +"And I gave him my purse with all the money I had in it." + +"How much?" + +"About three hundred dollars." + +"Three hundred dollars! Foley will lay off two months and take the +whole family back to Pittsburg. Now, here's your candle and chopped +ice and Mr. Battershawl." + +Gertrude turned for a last whisper--"What should you say if papa came +down?" + +"What should I say? He would probably say, 'Mr. Glover, I have your +room.' 'Don't mention it,' I should reply, 'I have your daughter.'" +But Mr. Brock did not come down. + +Barely half an hour later, while Glover waited with anxiety at the foot +of the stairs, Gertrude reappeared, and with her loveliness all new, +walked shyly and haltingly down each step toward him. + +Not a soul about the hotel office had stirred, and Glover led her to +the retired little parlor, which was warm and dim, to reassure himself +that the fluttering girl was all his own. Unable to credit the fulness +of their own happiness they sat confiding to each other all the sweet +trifles, now made doubly sweet, of their strange acquaintance. Before +six o'clock, and while their seclusion was still their own, a hot +breakfast was served to them where they sat, and day broke on storm +without and lovers within. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SUSPENSE + +What shapes the legends of the Wickiup? Is it because in the winter +night the wind never sleeps in the gorge above the headquarters shack +that despatchers talk yet of a wind that froze the wolf and the sheep +and the herder to marble together? Is it because McGraw runs no more +that switchmen tell of the run he made over Sweetgrass the night he +sent a plough through eight hundred head of sheep in less than a tenth +as many seconds? Could the night that laid the horse and the hunter +side by side in the Spider Park drift have been wildest of all wild +mountain nights? Or is it because Gertrude Brock and her railroad +lover rode out its storm together that mountain men say there was never +a storm like that? What shapes the Wickiup legends? + +For three days Medicine Bend did not see the sun. Veering uneasily, +springing from every quarter at once, the wind wedged the gray clouds +up the mountain sides only to roll them like avalanches down the ragged +passes. At the end of the week snow was falling. + +Not until the morning of the third day when reports came in of the +unheard-of temperatures in the North and West did the weather cause +real apprehension. The division never had been in such a position to +protect its winter traffic--for a year Callahan, Blood, and Glover had +been overhauling and assembling the old and the new bucking equipment. +But the wind settled at last in the northeast, and when it stilled the +mercury sunk, and when it rose the snow fell, roofing the sheds on the +passes, levelling the lower gulches, and piling up reserves along the +cuts. + +The first trouble came on the main line in the Heart Mountains, and +Morris Blood, with the roadmaster of the sixth district and Benedict +Morgan, got after it with a crew together. + +Between the C bridge and Potter's Gap they spent two days with a rotary +and a flanger and three consolidated engines and went home, leaving +everything swept clean, only to learn in the morning that west of the +gap there were four feet of fresh snow clear to Rozelle. From the +northern ranges came unusual reports of the continued severity of the +storms. It was hardly a series of storms, for that winter the first +storm that crossed the line lasted three weeks. + +In the interval Bucks was holding to the directors at Medicine Bend, +waiting for the weather to settle enough to send them to the coast. +The Pittsburg party waited at Glen Tarn for Mr. Brock's word to join +him. At the Bend, Gertrude made love to her father, forfending the +awful moment of disclosure that must come, and the cause of her hidden +happiness and trouble strenuously made love to her. + +To the joy of the conspirators, Bucks held Glover closely at +headquarters, keeping him closeted for long periods on the estimates +that were in final cooking for the directors; and so dense are great +people and so keen the simple, that Gertrude held her lone seat of +honor beside her father, at the table of the great financiers in the +dining-room, without the remotest suspicion on their parts that the +superb woman meeting them three times a day was carrying on a +proudly-hidden love affair with the muscular, absorbed-looking man who +sat alone across the aisle. + +But the asthmatic old pastry cook, who weighed at least two hundred and +thirty pounds and had not even seen the inside of the dining-room for +three years, was thoroughly posted on every observable phase of the +affair down to the dessert orders; and no one acquainted with the frank +profanity of a mountain meat cook will doubt that the best of +everything went hot from the range to Glover and Gertrude. Dollar tips +and five-dollar tips from Eastern epicures could not change this, for +the meals were served by waitresses who felt a personal responsibility +in the issue of the pretty affair of the heart. + +The whole second floor of the little hotel had been reserved for the +directors' party, and among the rooms was the parlor. There Glover +called regularly every evening on Mr. Brock, who, somewhat at a loss to +understand the young man's interest, excused himself after the first +few minutes and left Gertrude to entertain the gentleman who had been +so kind to everybody that she could not be discourteous even if he was +somewhat tedious. + +One night after a particularly happy evening near the piano for +Gertrude and Glover, Mr. Brock, re-entering the parlor, found the +somewhat tedious gentleman bending very low, as his daughter said +good-night, over her hand; in fact, the gentleman that had been so kind +to everybody was kissing it. + +When Glover recovered his perpendicular the cold magnate of the West +End stood between the folding doors looking directly at him. If the +owner of several trunk lines expected his look to inspire consternation +he was disappointed. Each of the lovers feared but one person in the +world; that was the other. Gertrude, with perhaps an extra touch of +dignity, put her compromised hand to her belt for her handkerchief. +Glover finished the sentence he was in the middle of--"If I am not +ordered out. Good-night." + +But when Mr. Brock had turned abruptly on his heel and disappeared +between the portières they certainly did look at one another. + +"Have I got you into trouble now?" murmured Glover, penitently. +Uneasiness was apparent in her expression, but with her back to the +piano Gertrude stood steadfast. + +"Not," she said, with serious tenderness, "just now. Don't you know? +It was the first, the very first, day you looked into my eyes, dear, +that you got me into trouble." + +Her pathetic sweetness moved him. Then he flamed with determination. +He would take the burden on himself--would face her father at once, but +she hushed him in real alarm and said, that battle she must fight +unaided; it was after all only a little one, she whispered, after the +one she had fought with herself. But he knew she glossed over her +anxiety, for when he withdrew her eyes looked tears though they shed +none. + +In the morning there were two vacancies at the breakfast table; neither +Gertrude nor her father appeared. When Glover returned to the hotel at +five o'clock the first person he saw was Mrs. Whitney. She and Marie, +with the doctor and Allen Harrison, had arrived on the first train out +of the Springs in four days, and Mrs. Whitney's greeting of Glover in +the office was disconcerting. It scarcely needed Gertrude's face at +dinner, as she tried to brave the storm that had set in, or her +reluctant admission when she saw him as she passed up to her room that +she and her father had been up nearly the whole of the night before, to +complete his depression. + +Every effort he made during the evening to speak to Gertrude was balked +by some untoward circumstance, but about nine o'clock they met on the +parlor floor and Glover led her to the elevator, which was being run +that night by Solomon Battershawl. Solomon lifted them to the top +floor and made busy at the end of the hall while they had five short +minutes. When they descended he knew what she was facing. Even Marie, +the one friend he thought he had in the family, had taken a stand +against them, and her father was deaf to every appeal. + +They parted, depressed, with only a hand pressure, a look and a whisper +of constancy. At midnight, as Glover lay thinking, a crew caller +rapped at his door. He brought a message and held his electric +pocket-lamp near, while Glover, without getting up, read the telegram. +It was from Bucks asking if he could take a rotary at once into the +Heart Mountains. + +Glover knew snow had been falling steadily on the main line for two +days. East of the middle range it was nothing but extreme cold, west +it had been one long storm. Morris Blood was at Goose River. The +message was not an order; but on the division there was no one else +available at the moment that could handle safely such a battery of +engines as would be needed to bore the drifts west of the sheds. +Moreover, Glover knew how Bucks had chafed under the conditions that +kept the directors on his hands. They were impatient to get to the +coast, and the general manager was anxious to be rid of them as soon as +there should be some certainty of getting them safely over the +mountains. + +Glover, on the back of the telegram, scrawled a note to Crosby, the +master-mechanic, and turned over not to sleep, but to think--and to +think, not of the work before him, but of her and of her situation. A +roundhouse caller roused him at half-past three with word that the snow +battery was marked up for four o'clock. He rose, dressed deliberately +and carefully for the exposure ahead, and sat down before a candle to +tell Gertrude, in a note, when he hoped to be back. + +Locking his trunk when he had done, he snuffed out the candle and +closed his room door behind him. The hall was dark, but he knew its +turns, and the carpeted stairs gave no sound as he walked down. At the +second floor there were two stairways by which he could descend. He +looked up the dim corridor toward where she slept. Somehow he could +not make up his mind to leave without passing her room. + +His heavy tread was noiseless, and at her door he paused and put his +hand uncertainly upon the casing. In the darkness his head bent an +instant on his outstretched arm--it had never before been hard to go; +then he turned and walked softly away. + + +At the breakfast table and at the dinner table the talk was of the +snow. The evening paper contained a column of despatches concerning +the blockade, now serious, in the eighth district. Half the first page +was given to alarming reports from the cattle ranges. Two +mail-carriers were reported lost in the Sweetgrass country, and a ski +runner from Fort Steadman, which had been cut off for eight days, told +of thirty-five feet of snow in the Whitewater hills. + +Sleepy Cat reported eighteen inches of fresh snow, and a second delayed +despatch under the same date-line reported that a bucking special from +Medicine Bend, composed of a rotary, a flanger, and five locomotives +had passed that point at 9 A.M. for the eighth district. + +Gertrude found no interest in the news or the discussion. She could +only wonder why she did not see Glover during the day, and when he made +no appearance at dinner she grew sick with uncertainty. Leaving the +dining-room ahead of the party in some vague hope of seeing him, +Solomon hurried up with the note that Glover had left to be given her +in the morning. The boy had gone off duty before she left her room and +had over-slept, but instead of waiting for his apologies she hastened +to her room and locked her door to devour her lover's words. She saw +that he had written her in the dead of night to explain his going, and +to say good-by. Bucks' message he had enclosed. "But I shall work +very hard every hour I am gone to get back the sooner," he promised, +"and if you hear of the snow flying over the peaks on the West End you +will know that I am behind it and headed straight for you." + +When Marie and Mrs. Whitney came up, Gertrude sat calmly before the +grate fire, but the note lay hidden over her heart, for in it he had +whispered that while he was away every night at eight o'clock and every +morning, no matter where she should be, or what doing, he should kiss +her lips and her eyes as he had kissed them that first morning in the +dark, warm office. When eight o'clock came her aunt and her sister sat +with her; but Gertrude at eight o'clock, musing, was with her lover and +her lips and eyes again were his to do with what he would. Later +Doctor Lanning came in and she roused to hear the news about the snow. +Between Sleepy Cat and Bear Dance two passenger trains were stalled, +and on Blackbird hill the snow was reported four feet deep on the level. + +When the doctor had gone and Marie had retired, Gertrude's aunt talked +to her seriously about her father, whose almost frantic condition over +what he called Gertrude's infatuation was alarming. + +Her aunt explained how her final refusal of Allen Harrison, a +connection on which her father had set his heart, might result in the +total disruption of the plans which held so mighty interests together; +and how impossible it was that he should ever consent to her throwing +herself away on an obscure Western man. + +Only occasionally would Gertrude interrupt. "Don't strip the poor man +of everything, auntie. If it must come to family--the De Gallons and +Cirodes and Glovers were lords of the Mississippi when our Hessian +forefathers were hiding from Washington in the Trenton hazelbushes." + +She could meet her aunt's fears with jests and her tears with smiles +until the worried lady chancing on a deeper chord disarmed her. "You +know you are my pet, Gertrude. I am your foster-mother, dear, and I +have tried to be mother to you and Marie, and sister to my brother +every day of my life since your mother died. And if you----" + +Then Gertrude's arms would enfold her and her head hide on her aunt's +shoulder, and they would part utterly miserable. + +One morning when Gertrude woke it was snowing and Medicine Bend was cut +completely off from the western end of the division. The cold in the +desert districts had made it impossible to move freights. During the +night they had been snowed in on sidings all the way from Sleepy Cat +east. By night every wire was down; the last message in was a private +one from Glover, with the ploughs, dated at Nine Mile. + +Solomon brought the telegram up to Gertrude with the intimation that, +confidentially, Mr. Blood's assistant, in charge of the Wickiup, would +be glad to hear any news it might contain about the blockade, as +communication was now cut entirely off. + +Gertrude told the messenger only that she understood the blockade in +the eighth district had been lifted and that the ploughs were headed +east. Then as the lad looked wonderingly at her, she started. Have I, +she asked herself, already become a part of this life, that they come +to me for information? But she did not add that the signer of the +message had promised to be with her in twenty-four hours. + +That day for the first time in eighteen years, no trains ran in or out +of Medicine Bend, and an entire regiment of cavalry bound for the +Philippines was known to be buried in a snowdrift near San Pete. The +big hotel swarmed with snow-bound travellers. The snow fell all day, +but to Gertrude's relief her father and the men of the party were at +the Wickiup with Bucks, who had come in during the night with +reinforcements from McCloud. Unfortunately, the batteries that +followed him were compelled to double about next morning to open the +line back across the plains. + +The gravity of the situation about her, the spectacle of the struggle, +now vast and all absorbing, made by the operating department to cope +with the storm and cold, and the anxieties of her own position plunged +Gertrude into a gloom she had never before conceived of. Her aunt's +forebodings and tears, her father's unbending silence and aloofness, +made escape from her depression impossible. When Solomon appeared she +besought him surreptitiously for news, but though Solomon fairly +staggered with the responsibilities of his position he could supply +nothing beyond rumors--rumors all tending to magnify the reliance +placed on Glover's capabilities in stress of this sort, but not at the +moment definitely locating him. + +Next morning the creeping eastern light had not yet entered her room +when a timid rap aroused her. Solomon was outside the door with news. +"The ploughs will be here in an hour," he whispered. + +"The ploughs?" + +Solomon couldn't resist the low appeal for more definite word. He had +no information more than he had given, but he bravely journalized, "Mr. +Glover and everybody, ma'am." + +"Oh, thank you, Solomon." + +She rose, with wings beating love across the miles that separated him +from her. Day with its perplexities may beset, the stars bring +sometimes only grief; but to lovers morning brings always joy, because +it brings hope. She detained Solomon a moment. A resolve fixed itself +at once in her heart; to greet her lover the instant he arrived. She +could dress and slip down to the station and back before the others +awoke even. It was hazardous, but what venture is less attractive for +a hazard if it bring a lover? She made her rapid toilet with affection +in her supple fingers, and welcome glowing in her quick eyes, and she +left her room with the utmost care. Enveloped in the Newmarket, +because he loved it, her hands in her big muff, and her cheeks closely +veiled, she joined Solomon in the reception room downstairs. + +The morning was gray with a snow fog hanging low, and feathery flakes +were sinking upon the whitened street. "Listen!" cried the boy, +excitedly, as they neared the Wickiup. From somewhere in the sky came +the faint scream of a locomotive whistle. "That's them, all right. +Gee! I'd like to buck snow." + +"Would you?" + +"Would I? Wouldn't you?" + +A hundred men were strung along the platform, and a sharper blast +echoed across the upper flat. "There they are!" cried Solomon, +pressing forward. Gertrude saw a huge snow-covered monster swing +heavily around the yard hill. The ploughs were at hand. The head +engine whistled again, those in the battery took up the signal, and +heeled in snow they bore down on the Wickiup whistling a chorus. +Before the long battery had halted, the men about Gertrude were running +toward the cabs, cheering. Many men poured out of the battered +ice-bound cars at the end of the string. While Gertrude's eyes +strained with expectation a collie dog shot headlong to the platform +from the steps of the hind caboose, and wheeling about, barked madly +until, last of three men together, Glover, carrying his little bag, +swung down, and listening to his companions, walked leisurely forward. + +Swayed by the excitement which she did not fully understand all about +her, Gertrude, with swimming eyes, saw Solomon dash toward Glover and +catch his bag. As the boy spoke to him she saw Glover's head lift in +the deliberate surprise she knew so well. She felt his wandering eyes +bend upon her, and his hand rose in suppressed joyfulness. + +Doubt, care, anxiety, fled before that gesture. Stumah, wild with +delight, bounded at her, and before she could greet him, Glover, a +giant in his wrappings, was bending over her, his eyes burning through +the veil that hid her own. She heard without comprehending his words; +she asked questions without knowing she asked, because his hand so +tightly clasped hers. + +They walked up the platform and he stopped but once; to speak to the +snugly clad man that got down from the head engine. Gertrude +recognized the good-natured profile under the long cap; Paddy McGraw +lifted his visor as she advanced and with a happy laugh greeted him. + +Smiling at her welcome he drew off his glove and took from an inner +pocket her ring and held it out on his hand. "I am taking good care of +my souvenir." + +"I hope you are taking good care of yourself," Gertrude responded, +"because every time I ride in the mountains, Mr. McGraw, I want you for +engineer." + +Glover was saying something to her as they turned away together, but +she gave no heed to his meaning. She caught only the low, pretty +uncertainty in his utterance, the unfailing little break that she loved +in his tone. + +He was saying, "Yes--some of it thirty feet. Morris Blood is +tunnelling on the Pilot branch this morning; it's bad up there, but the +main line is clear from end to end. Surely, you never looked so sweet +in your life. Gertrude, Gertrude, you're a beautiful girl. Do you +know that? What are those fellows shouting about? Me? Not at all. +They're cheering you." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DEEPENING WATERS + +The stolen interview of the early morning was the consolation of the +day. Gertrude confided a resolve to Glover. She had thought it all +out and he must, she said, talk to her father. Nothing would ever ever +come of a situation in which the two never met. The terrible problem +was how to arrange the interview. Her father had already declined to +meet Glover at all. Moreover, Mr. Brock had a fund of silence that +approximated absolute zero, and Gertrude dreaded the result if Glover, +in presenting his case, should stop at any point and succumb to the +chill. + +During such intervals as they managed to meet, the lovers could discuss +nothing but the crisis that confronted them. The definite clearing of +the line meant perhaps an early separation and something must be done, +if ever, at once. + +In the evening Gertrude made a long appeal to her aunt to intercede for +her, and another to Marie, who, softening somewhat, had spent half an +hour before dinner in discussing the situation calmly with Glover; but +over the proposed interview Marie shook her head. She had great +influence with her father, but candidly owned she should dread facing +him on a matter he had definitely declined to discuss. + +They parted at night without light on their difficulties. In the +morning Glover made several ineffectual efforts to see Gertrude early. +He had an idea that they had forgotten the one who could advise and +help them better than any other--his friend and patron, Bucks. + +The second vice-president was now closer in a business way to Mr. Brock +than anyone else in the world. They were friends of very early days, +of days when they were laying together the foundations of their +careers. It was Bucks who had shown Mr. Brock the stupendous +possibilities in reorganizing the system, who was responsible for his +enormous investment, and each reposed in the other entire confidence. +Gertrude constantly contended that it was only a question of her +father's really knowing Glover, and that if her lover could be put, as +she knew him, before her father, he must certainly give way. Why not, +then, take Bucks into their confidence? + +It seemed like light from heaven to Glover, and he was talking to +Gertrude when there came a rap at the door of the parlor and a +messenger entered with a long despatch from Callahan at Sleepy Cat. + +The message was marked delayed in transmission. Glover walked with it +to the window and read: + +"Doubleday's outfit wrecked early this morning on Pilot Hill while +bucking. Head engine, the 927, McGraw, partly off track. Tender +crushed the cab. Doubleday instantly killed and McGraw badly hurt. +Morris Blood is reported to have been in the cab also, but cannot be +found. Have sent Doubleday and McGraw to Medicine Bend in my car and +am starting with wrecking crew for the Hill." + +"What is it?" murmured Gertrude, watching her lover's face. He studied +the telegram a long time and she came to his side. He raised his eyes +from the paper in his hand and looked out of the window. "What is it?" +she whispered. + +"Pilot Hill." + +"I do not understand, dearest." + +"A wreck." + +"Oh, is it serious?" + +His eyes fell again on the death message. "Morris Blood was in it and +they can't find him." + +"Oh, oh." + +"A bad place; a bad, bad place." He spoke, absently, then his eyes +turned upon her with inexpressible tenderness. + +"But why can't they find him, dearest?" + +"The track is blasted out of the mountain side for half a mile. Bucks +said it would be a graveyard, but I couldn't get to the mines in any +other way. Gertrude, I must go to the Wickiup at once to get further +news. This message has been delayed, the wires are not right yet." + +"Will you come back soon?" + +"Just the minute I can get definite news about Morris. In half an +hour, probably." + +She tried to comfort him when he left her. She knew of the deep +attachment between the two men, and she encouraged her lover to hope +for the best. Not until he had gone did she fully realize how deeply +he was moved. At the window she watched him walk hurriedly down the +street, and as he disappeared, reflected that she had never seen such +an expression on his face as when he read the telegram. + +The half hour went while she reflected. Going downstairs she found the +news of the wreck had spread about the hotel, and widely exaggerated +accounts of the disaster were being discussed. Mrs. Whitney and Marie +were out sleighriding, and by the time the half hour had passed without +word from Glover, Gertrude gave way to her restlessness. She had a +telegram to send to New York--an order for bonbons--and she determined +to walk down to the Wickiup to send it; she might, she thought, see +Glover and hear his news sooner. + +When she approached the headquarters building unusual numbers of +railroad men were grouped on the platform, talking. Messengers hurried +to and from the roundhouse. A blown engine attached to a day coach was +standing near and men were passing in and out of the car. Gertrude +made her way to the stairs unobserved, walked leisurely up to the +telegraph office and sent her message. The long corridors of the +building, gloomy even on bright days, were quite dark as she left the +operators' room and walked slowly toward the quarters of the +construction department. + +The door of the large anteroom was open and the room empty. Gertrude +entered hesitatingly and looked toward Glover's office. His door also +was ajar, but no one was within. The sound of voices came from a +connecting room and she at once distinguished Glover's tones. It was +justification: with her coin purse she tapped lightly on the door +casing, and getting no response stepped inside the office and slipped +into a chair beside his desk to await him. The voices came from a room +leading to Callahan's apartments. + +Glover was asking questions, and a man whose voice she could now hear +breaking with sobs, was answering. "Are you sure your signals were +right?" she heard Glover ask slowly and earnestly; and again, +patiently, "how could you be doubled up without the flanger's leaving +the track?" Then the man would repeat his story. + +"You must have had too much behind you," Glover said once. + +"Too much?" echoed the man, frantically. "Seven engines behind us all +day yesterday. Paddy told him the minute he got in the cab she +wouldn't never stand it. He told him it as plain as a man could tell a +man. Then because we went through a thousand feet in the gap like +cheese he ordered us up the hill. When we struck the big drift it was +slicing rock, Mr. Glover. Paddy told him she wouldn't never stand it. +The very first push we let go in a hundred feet with the engine +churning her damned drivers off. We went into it twice that way. I +could see it was shoving the tender up in the air every time and told +Doubleday--oh, if you'd been there! The next time we sent the plough +through the first crust and drove a wind-pocket maybe forty or fifty +yards and hit the ice with the seven engines jamming into us. My God! +she doubled up like a jack-knife--Pat, Pat, Pat." + +"Can you recollect where Blood was standing when you buckled?" + +"In the right gangway." There was a pause. "He must have dropped," +she heard Glover say. + +"Then he'll never drop again, Mr. Glover, for if he slipped off the +ties he'd drop a thousand feet." + +"The heaviest snow is right at the top of the hill?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"If we can cross the hill we can find him anyway." + +"Don't try to get across that hill till you put in five hundred +shovellers, Mr. Glover." + +"That would take a week. If he's alive we must get him within +twenty-four hours. He may freeze to death to-night." + +"Don't try to cross that hill with a plough, Mr. Glover. Mind my +words. It's no use. I've bucked with you many a time--you know that." + +"Yes." + +"You're going to your death when you try that." + +"There's the doctor now, Foley," Glover answered. "Let him look you +over carefully. Come this way." + +The voices receded. Listening to the talk, little of which she +understood, a growing fear had come over Gertrude. Her eyes had +pierced the gray light about her, and as she heard Glover walk away she +rose hurriedly and stepped to the doorway to detain him. Glover had +disappeared, but before her, stretched on the couch back of the table, +lay McGraw. She knew him instantly, and so strangely did the gloom +shroud his features that his steady eyes seemed looking straight at +her. She divined that he had been brought back hurt. A chill passed +over her, a horror. She hesitated a moment, and, fascinated, stepped +closer; then she knew she was staring at the dead. + + +Terror-stricken and with sinking strength she made her way to the hotel +and slipped up to the parlor. Throwing off her wraps she went to the +window; Glover was coming up the street. There was only a moment in +which to collect herself. She hastened to her bedroom, wet her +forehead with cologne, and at her mirror her fingers ran tremblingly +over the coils of her hair. She caught up a fresh handkerchief for her +girdle, looked for an instant appealingly into her own eyes and closed +them to think. Glover rapped. + +She met him with a smile that she knew would stagger his fond eyes. +She drugged his ear with a low-voiced greeting. "You are late, +dearest." + +He looked at her and caught her hands. As his head bent she let her +lips lie in his kiss, and let his arm find her waist as he kissed her +deeply again. They walked together toward the fireplace, and when she +saw the sadness of his face fear in her heart gave way to pity. "What +is it?" she whispered. "Tell me." + +"The car has come with Doubleday and McGraw, Gertrude. The wreck was +terribly fatal. Morris Blood must have jumped from the cab. The track +I have told you is blasted there out of the cheek of the mountain, and +it's impossible to tell what his fate may be: but if he is alive I must +find him. There is a good hope, I believe, for Morris; he is a man to +squeeze through on a narrow chance. And Gertrude--I couldn't tell you +if I didn't think you had a right to know everything I know. It breaks +my heart to speak of it--McGraw is dead." + +"I am so glad you told me the truth," she trembled, "for I knew it----" + +"Knew it?" She confessed, hastily, how her anxiety had led her to his +office, and of the terrible shock she had brought on herself. "But now +I know you would not deceive me," she added; "that is why I love you, +because you are always honest and true. And do you love me, as you +have told me, more than all the world?" + +"More than all the world, Gertrude. Why do you look so? You are +trembling." + +"Have you come to say good-by?" + +"Only for a day or two, darling: till I can find Morris, then I come +straight back to you." + +"You, too, may be killed?" + +"No, no." + +"But I heard the man telling you you would go to your death if you +attempted to cross that hill with a plough. Be honest with me; you are +risking your life." + +"Only as I have risked it almost every day since I came into the +mountains." + +"But now--now--doesn't it mean something else? Think what it means to +me--your life. Think what will become of me if you should be killed in +trying to open that hill--if you should fall over a precipice as Morris +Blood has fallen and lies now probably dead. Don't go. Don't go, this +time. You have promised me you would leave the mountains, haven't you? +Don't risk all, dearest, all I have on earth, in an attempt that may +utterly fail and add one more precious life to the lives now +sacrificed. You do heed me, darling, don't you?" + +She had disengaged herself to plead; to look directly up into his +perplexed eyes. He leaned an arm on the mantel, staggered. His eyes +followed hers in every word she spoke, and when she ceased he stared +blankly at the fire. + +"Heed you?" he answered, haltingly. "Heed you? You are all in the +world that I have to heed. My only wish is your happiness; to die for +it, Gertrude, wouldn't be much----" + +"All, all I ask is that you will live for it." + +"Worthless as I am, I have asked you to put that happiness in my +keeping--do you think your lightest word could pass me unheeded? But +to this, my dearest Gertrude, every instinct of manhood binds me--to go +to my friend in danger." + +"If you go you will take every desperate chance to accomplish your end. +Ah, I know you better than you know yourself. Ab, Ab, my darling, my +lover, listen to me. Don't; don't go." + +When he spoke she would not have known his voice. "Can I let him die +there like a dog on the mountain side? Can't you see what I haven't +words to explain as you could explain--the position it puts me in? +Don't sob. Don't be afraid; look at me. I'll come back to you, +darling." + +She turned her tearless eyes to the mountains. "Back! Yes. I see the +end. My lover will come back--come back dead. And I shall try to kiss +his brave lips back to life and they will speak no more. And I shall +stand when they take him from me, lonely and alone. My father that I +have estranged--my foster-mother that I have withstood--my sister that +I have repelled--will their tears flow for me then? And for this I +broke from my traditions and cast away associations, gave up all my +little life, stood alone against my family, poured out my heart to +these deserts, these mountains, and now--they rob me of my all--and +this is love!" + +He stood like a broken man. "God help me, have I laid on your dear +head the curse of my own life? Must you, too, suffer because our +perils force us lightly to pawn our lives one for another? One night +in that yard"--he pointed to the window--"I stood between the rails +with a switch engine running me down. I knew nothing of it. There was +no time to speak, no time to think--it was on me. Had Blood left me +there one second I never should have looked into your dear face. Up on +the hill with Hailey and Brodie, under the gravel and shale, I should +never have cost your heart an ache like this. Better the engine had +struck me then and spared you now----" + +"No, I say, no!" she exclaimed, wildly. "Better this moment together +than a lifetime apart!" + +"--For me he threw himself in front of the drivers. This moment is +mine and yours because he gave his right hand for it--shall I desert +him now he needs me? And so a hundred times and in a hundred ways we +gamble with death and laugh if we cheat it: and our poor reward is only +sometimes to win where far better men have failed. So in this railroad +life two men stand, as he and I have stood, luck or ill-luck, storm or +fair weather, together. And death speaks for one; and whichever he +calls it is ever the other must answer. And this--is duty." + +"Then do your duty." + +Distinctly, and terrifying in their unexpectedness, came the words from +the farther end of the parlor. They turned, stunned. Gertrude's +father was crossing the room. He raised his hand to dispel Glover's +sudden angry look. "I was lying on the couch; your voices roused me +and I could not escape. You have put clearly the case you stand in," +he spoke to Glover, "and I have intervened only to spare both of you +useless agony of argument. The question that concerns you two and me +is not at this moment up for decision; the other question is, and it is +for you, my daughter, now, to play the woman. I have tried as I could +to shield you from rough weather. You have left port without +consulting me, and the storms of womanhood are on you. Sir, when do +you start?" + +"My engine is waiting." + +"Then ask your people to attach my car. You can make equally good +time, and since for better or worse we have cut into this game we will +see it out together." + +Gertrude threw her arms around her father's neck with a happy sob as +Glover left. "Oh daddy, daddy. If you only knew him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +PILOT + +"There are mountains a man can do business with," muttered Bucks in the +private car, his mustache drooping broadly above his reflecting words. +"Mountains that will give and take once in a while, play fair +occasionally. But Pilot has fought us every inch of the way since the +day we first struck a pick into it. It is savage and unrelenting. I'd +rather negotiate with Sitting Bull for a right of way through his +private bathroom than to ask an easement from Pilot for a tamarack tie. +I don't know why it was ever called Pilot: if I named it, it should be +Sitting Bull. What the Sioux were to the white men, what the Spider +Water is to the bridgemen, that, and more, Pilot has been to the +mountain men. + +"There was no compromise with Pilot even after we got in on it. +Snowslides, washouts, bowlders, forest-fires--and yet the richest +quartz mines in the world lie behind it. This little branch, Mr. +Brock, forty-eight miles, pays the operating expenses of the whole +mountain division, and has done so almost since the day it was opened. +But I'd rather lose the revenue ten times every year than to lose +Morris Blood." The second vice-president was talking to Mr. Brock. +Their car was just rounding the curve into the gap in front of Mount +Pilot. + +"What do you think of Blood's chances?" asked Mr. Brock. + +"I don't know. A mountain man has nine lives." + +"What does Glover think?" + +"He doesn't say." + +"Who built this line?" + +"Two pretty good men ran the first thirty miles, but neither of them +could give me a practicable line south of the gap; this last eighteen +miles up and down and around Pilot was Glover's first work in the +mountains. It's engineering. Every trick ever played in the Rockies, +and one or two of Brodie's old combinations in the Andes, they tell me, +are crowded into these eighteen miles. There, there's old Sitting Bull +in all his clouds and his glory." + +Glover had left the car at Sleepy Cat, going ahead with the relief +train. Picked men from every district on the division had been +assembling all the afternoon to take up the search for the missing +superintendent. Section men from the Sweetgrass wastes, and bridgemen +from the foothills, roadmasters from the Heart Mountains--home of the +storm and the snow--and Rat Cañon trackwalkers that could spot a break +in the dark under twelve inches of ballast; Morgan, the wrecker, and +his men, and the mountain linemen with their foreman, old Bill +Dancing--fiend drunk and giant sober--were scattered on Mount Pilot, +while a rotary ahead of a battery of big engines was shoved again and +again up the snow-covered hill. + +Anxious to get the track open in the belief that Blood could best be +got at from beyond the S bridge, Glover, standing with the branch +roadmaster, Smith Young, on the ledge above the engines directed the +fight for the hill. He had promised Gertrude he would keep out of the +cab, and far across the curve below he could see the Brock car, where +Bucks was directing the search on the eastern side of the gulch. + +Callahan and the linemen were spreading both ways through the timber on +the plateau opposite, but the snow made the work extremely difficult, +and the short day allowed hardly more than a start. On the hill +Glover's men advanced barely a hundred feet in three hours: darkness +spread over the range with no sign of the missing man, and with the +forebodings that none could shake off of what the night's exposure, +even if he were uninjured, might mean. + +Supper was served to the men in the relief trains, and outside fires +were forbidden by Glover, who asked that every foot of the track as far +as the gap be patrolled all night. + +It was nearly ten o'clock when Glover, supperless, reached the car with +his dispositions made for the night. While he talked with the men, +Clem, the star cook of the Brock family, under special orders grilled a +big porterhouse steak and presently asked him back to the dining-table, +where, behind the shaded candles, Gertrude waited. + +They sat down opposite each other; but not until Glover saw there were +two plates instead of one, and learned that Gertrude had eaten no +dinner because she was waiting for him, did he mutter something about +all that an American girl is capable of in the way of making a man +grateful and happy. There was nothing to hurry them back to the other +end of the car, and they did not rejoin Mr. Brock and Bucks, who were +smoking forward, until eleven o'clock. Callahan came in afterward, and +sitting together Mr. Brock and Gertrude listened while the three +railroad men planned the campaign for the next day. + +Parting late, Glover said good-night and left with Callahan to inspect +the rotary. The fearful punishment of the day's work on the knives had +shown itself, and since dark, relays of mechanics from the Sleepy Cat +shops had been busy with the cutting gear, and the companion plough had +already been ordered in from the eighth district. + +Glover returned to the car at one o'clock. The lights were low, and +Clem, a night-owl, fixed him in a chair near the door. For an hour +everything was very still, then Gertrude, sleeping lightly, heard +voices. Glover walked back past the compartments; she heard him asking +Clem for brandy--Bill Dancing, the lineman, had come with news. + +The negro brought forward a decanter and Glover poured a gobletful for +the old man, who shook from the chill of the night air. + +"The boys claim it's imagination," Dancing, steadied by the alcohol, +continued, "but it's a fire way over below the second bridge. I've +watched it for an hour; now you come." + +They went away and were gone a long time. Glover returned alone--Clem +had disappeared; a girlish figure glided out of the gloom to meet him. + +"I couldn't sleep," she whispered. "I heard you leave and dressed to +wait." She looked in the dim light as slight as a child, and with his +hand at her waist he sunk on his knee to look up into her face. "How +can I deserve it all?" + +She blinded his upturned eyes in her hands, and not until she found her +fingers were wet did she understand all he had tried to put into his +words. + +"Have you any news?" she murmured, as he rose. + +"I believe they have found him." + +She clasped her hands. "Heaven be praised. Oh, is it sure?" + +"I mean, Dancing, the old lineman, has seen his fire. At least, we are +certain of it. We have been watching it two hours. It's a speck of a +blaze away across toward the mines. It never grows nor lessens, just a +careful little campfire where fuel is scarce--as it is now with all the +snow. We've lighted a big beacon on the hill for an answer, and at +daybreak we shall go after him. The planning is all done and I am free +now till we're ready to start." + +She tried to make him lie down for a nap on the couch. He tried to +persuade her to retire until morning, and in sweet contention they sat +talking low of their love and their happiness--and of the hills a +reckless girl romped over in old Allegheny, and of the shingle gunboats +a sleepy-eyed boy launched in dauntless fleets upon the yellow eddies +of the Mississippi; and of the chance that should one day bring boy and +girl together, lovers, on the crest of the far Rockies. + +Lights were moving up and down the hill when they rose from Clem's +astonishing breakfast. + +"You will be careful," she said. He had taken her in his arms at the +door, and promising he kissed her and whispered good-by. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE SOUTH ARÊTE + +They had planned a quick relief with a small party, for every hour of +exposure lessened the missing man's chances. Glover chose for his +companions two men: Dancing--far and away the best climber in the +telegraph corps, and Smith Young, roadmaster, a chainman of Glover's +when he ran the Pilot line. Dancing and Glover were large men of +unusual strength, and Young, lighter and smaller, had been known in a +pinch to handle an ordinary steel rail. But above everything +each--even Glover, the youngest--was a man of resource and experience +in mountain craft. + +They left the track near the twin bridges with only ropes and picks and +skis, and carrying stimulants and food. Without any attempt to catch +his trail from where they knew Blood must have started they made their +way as directly as possible down the side of the mountain and in the +direction of the gap. The stupendous difficulties of making headway +across the eastern slope did not become apparent until the rescuing +party was out of sight of those they had left, but from where they +floundered in ragged washouts or spread in line over glassy escarpments +they could see far up the mountain the rotary throwing a white cloud +into the sunshine and hear the far-off clamor of the engines on the +hill. + +Below the snow-field which they crossed they found the superintendent's +trail, and saw that his effort had been to cross the gap at that point +and make his way out toward the western grade, where an easy climb +would have brought him to the track; or where by walking some distance +he could reach the track without climbing a foot, the grade there being +nearly four per cent. + +They saw, too, why he had been forced to give up that hope, for what +would have been difficult for three fresh men with shoes was an +impossibility for a spent man in the snow alone. They knew that what +they had covered in two hours had probably cost him ten, for before +they had followed him a dozen feet they saw that he was dragging a leg; +farther, the snow showed stains and they crossed a field where he had +sat down and bandaged his leg after it had bled for a hundred yards. + +The trail began, as they went on, to lose its character. Whether from +weakness or uncertainty Blood's steps had become wandering, and they +noticed that he paid less attention to directness, but shunned every +obstacle that called for climbing, struggling great distances around +rough places to avoid them. They knew it meant that he was husbanding +failing strength and was striving to avoid reopening his wound. + +Twice they marked places in which he had sat to adjust his bandages, +and the strain of what they read in the snow quickened their anxiety. +Since that day Smith Young, superintendent now of the mountain +division, has never hunted, because he could never afterward follow the +trail of a wounded animal. + +They found places where he had hunted for fuel, and firing signals +regularly they reached the spot where he had camped the night before, +and saw the ashes of his fire. He was headed south; not because there +was more hope that way--there was less--but as if he must keep moving, +and that were easiest. A quarter of a mile below where he had spent +the night they caught sight of a man sitting on a fallen tree resting +his leg. The next moment three men were in a tumbling race across the +slope, and Blood, weakly hurrahing, fainted in Glover's arms. + + +His story was short. He reminded his rescuers of the little spring on +the hill at the point where the wreck had occurred. The ice that +always spread across the track and over the edge of the gulch had been +chopped out by the shovellers the afternoon before, but water trickling +from the rock had laid a fresh trap for unwary feet during the night. +In jumping from the gangway at the moment of the wreck Blood's heels +had landed on smooth ice and he had tumbled and slid six hundred feet. +Recovering consciousness at the bottom of a washout he found the calf +of one leg ripped a little, as he put it. The loss of one side of his +mustache, swept away in the slide, and leaving on his face a peculiarly +forlorn expression, he did not take account of--declaring on the whole, +as he smiled into the swimming eyes around him, that with the exception +of tobacco he was doing very well. + +They got him in front of a big fire, plied him with food and +stimulants, and Glover, from a surgical packet, bandaged anew the wound +in his leg. Then came the question of retreat. + +They discussed two plans. The first to retrace their steps entirely; +the second, to go back to where the gap could be attempted and the +western track gained below the hill. Each meant long and severe +climbing, each presented its particular difficulties, and three men of +the four felt that if the torn artery opened once more their victory +would be barren--that Blood needed surgical aid promptly if at all. +But Dancing had a third plan. + +It was while they still consulted at this point that their fire was +seen on Pilot Hill and reported to Bucks at the Brock car, from which +the rapidly moving party had been seen only at long intervals during +the morning. + +The fire was the looked-for signal that the superintendent had been +reached, and the word went from group to group of men up the hill. +Through the strong glass that Glover had left with her, Gertrude could +see the smoke, and the storming signals of the panting engines above +her made sweeter music after she caught with her eye the faint column +in the distant gap. Even her father, feeling still something like a +conscript, brightened up at the general rejoicing. He had produced his +own glass and let Gertrude with eager prompting help him to find the +smoke. The moment the position of Glover's party was made definite, +Bucks ordered the car run down the Hog's Back to a point so much closer +that across the broad cañon, flanking Pilot on the south, they could +make out with their glasses the figures of the three men and, when they +began to move, the smaller figure of Morris Blood. + +Callahan had joined his chief to watch the situation, and they +speculated as to how the four would get out of the gulf in which they +were completely hemmed. Gertrude and her father stood near. + +The eyes of the two bronzed railroad men at her side were like pilot +guides to Gertrude. When she lost the wayfarers in the gullies or +along the narrow defiles that gave them passage between towering rocks, +their eyes restored the plodding line. Callahan was the first to +detect the change from the expected course. "They are working east," +said he, after a moment's careful observation. + +"East?" echoed Bucks. "You mean west." + +Callahan hung to his glass. "No," he repeated, "east--and south. +Here." + +Bucks took the glass and looked a long time. "I do not understand," +said he; "they are certainly working east. What can they be after, +east? Well, they can't go very far that way without bridging the +Devil's Cañon. Callahan," he exclaimed, with sure instinct, "they will +head south. Walt now till they appear again." + +He relinquished the glass to explain to Mr. Brock where next to look +for them. There was a long interval during which they did not +reappear. Then the little file emerging from the shadow of a rock +skirted a field of snow straight to the south. There were but three +men in line. One, a little ahead, breaking path; following, two large +men tramping close together, the foremost stooping under the weight of +a man lying face upward on his back, while the man behind supported the +legs under his arms. + +"They are carrying Morris Blood. He is hurt--that was to be expected. +What?" exclaimed Bucks, hardly a moment afterward, "they are crossing +the snow. Callahan, by heaven, they are walking for the south side of +Pilot, that's what it means. It is a forced march; they are making for +the mines." + +Mount Pilot, from the crest that divides at Devil's Gap, rises abruptly +in a three-faced peak, the pinnacle of which lies to the south. +Several hundred feet above the base lie the group of gold-mines behind +the mountain, and a short railroad spur blasted across the southern +face runs to them from Glen Tarn. Below, the mountain wall breaks in +long steps almost vertically to the base, toward which Glover's party +was heading. + +The move made new dispositions necessary. Orders flew from Bucks like +curlews, for it was more essential than ever to open the hill speedily. + +The private car was run across the Hog's Back, and the news sent to the +rotary crew with injunctions to push with all effort as far at least as +the mine switch, that help might be sent out on the spur to meet the +party on the climb. + +The increased activity apparent far up and down the mountain as the +word went round, the bringing up of the last reserve engines for the +hill battery, the effort to get into communication by telegraph with +the mine hospital and Glen Tarn Springs, the feverish haste of the +officials in the car to make the new dispositions, all indicated to +Gertrude the approach of a crisis--the imminence of a supreme effort to +save one life if the endeavor enlisted the men and resources of the +whole division. New gangs of shovellers strung on flat-cars were being +pushed forward. Down the hill, spent and disabled engines were +returning from the front, and while they took sidings, fresh engines, +close-coupled, steamed slowly like leviathans past them up the hill. + +The moment the track was clear, the private car was backed again down +the ridge. Following the serpentine winding of the right of way, the +general manager was able to run the car far around the mountain, and it +stopped opposite the southern face, which rose across the broad cañon. +When the party in the car got their glasses fixed, the little company +beyond the gulf had begun their climb and were strung like marionettes +up the base of Pilot. + +The south face of the mountain, sheer for nearly a thousand feet, is +broken by narrow ledges that make an ascent possible, and not until the +peak passes the timber does snow ordinarily find lodgment upon that +side. Swept by the winds from the Spanish Sinks, the vertical reaches +above the base usually offer no obstruction to a rapid climb, though +except perhaps by early prospectors, the arête had never been scaled. +Glover, however, in locating, had covered every stretch of the mountain +on each of its sides, and Dancing's poles and brackets, like +banderillas stung into the tough hide of a bull, circled Pilot from +face to face. These two men were leading the ascent; below them could +be distinguished the roadmaster and the injured superintendent. + +Stripped to the belt and lashed in the party rope, the leader, gaunt +and sinewy, stretched like an earthworm up the face of the +arête--crossing, recrossing, climbing, retreating, his spiked feet +settling warily into fresh holes below, his sensitive hands spreading +like feelers high over the smooth granite for new holds above. Slowly, +always, and with the deliberate reserve that quieted with confidence +the feverish hearts watching across the gulf, the leaders steadily +scaled the height that separated them from the track. Like sailors +patiently warping home, the three men in advance drew and lifted the +fourth, who doughtily helped himself with foot and hand as chance +allowed and watched patiently from below while his comrades disputed +with the sheer wall for a new step above. + +Bucks and Callahan, following every move, mapped the situation to their +companions as its features developed. With each triumph on the arête, +bursts of commendation and surprise came from the usually taciturn men +watching the struggle with growing wonder. Bucks, apprehensive of +delays in the track-opening on the hill, sent Callahan back in the car +with instructions to pick a gang of ten men and pack them somewhom +across the snow to the mine spur, that they might be ready to meet the +climbing party and carry the superintendent down to the mine hospital. + +Thirty feet below the mine track and as far above where Glover at that +moment was sitting--his rope made fast and his legs hanging over a +ledge, while his companions reached new positions--a granite wall rises +to where the upper face has been blasted away from the roadbed. To the +east, this wall hangs without a break up or down for a hundred feet, +but to the west it roughens and splits away from the main spur, forming +a crevice or chimney from two to three feet wide, opening at the top to +ten feet, where a small bridge carries the track across it. This +chimney had been Dancing's quest from the moment the ascent began, for +he had lost a man in that chimney when stringing the mine wires, and +knew precisely what it was. + +The chimney once gained, Dancing figured that the last thirty feet +should be easy work, and he had made but one miscalculation--when he +had descended it to pull up his lineman, it was summer. Without +extraordinary difficulty, Glover gained the ledge where the chimney +opened and waited for his companions to ascend. When all were up, they +rested a few moments on their dizzy perch, and, while Bill Dancing +investigated the chimney, Glover took the chance to renew once more +Morris Blood's bandages, which, strained by the climbing, caused +continual anxiety. + +Bucks, with the party in his glass, could see every move. He saw +Dancing disappear into the rock while his comrades rested, and made him +out, after some delay, reappearing from the cleft. What he could not +make out was the word that Dancing brought back; the chimney was a +solid mass of ice. + +Standing with the two men, Gertrude used her glass constantly. +Frequently she asked questions, but frequently she divined ahead of her +companions the directions and the movements. The hesitation that +followed Dancing's return did not escape her. Up and down the narrow +step on which they stood, the three men walked, scanning anxiously the +wall that stretched above them. + +So, hounds at fault on a trail double on their steps and move uneasily +to and fro, nosing the missing scent. As lions flatten behind their +cagebars, the climbers laid themselves against the rock and pushed to +the right and the left seeking an avenue of escape. They had every +right to expect that help would already have reached them, but on the +hill, through haste and confusion of orders, the new rotary had +stripped a gear, and an hour had been lost in getting in the second +plough. For safety, the climbers had in their predicament nothing to +fear. The impelling necessity for action was the superintendent's +condition; his companions knew he could not last long without a surgeon. + +When suspense had become unbearable, Dancing re-entered the chimney. +He was gone a long time. He reappeared, crawling slowly out on an +unseen footing, a mere flaw in the smooth stretch of granite half way +up to the track. By cutting his rope and throwing himself a dozen +times at death, old Bill Dancing had gained a foothold, made fast a +line, and divided the last thirty feet to be covered. One by one, his +companions disappeared from sight--not into the chimney, but to the +side of it where Dancing had blazed a few dizzy steps and now had a +rope dangling to make the ascent practicable. + +One by one, Gertrude saw the climbers, reappearing above, crawl like +flies out on the face of the rock and, with craning necks and cautious +steps, seek new advantage above. They discovered at length the remains +of a scrub pine jutting out below the railroad track. The tree had +been sawed off almost at the root, when the roadbed was levelled, and a +few feet of the trunk was left hugging upward against the granite wall. + +Glover, Young, and Dancing consulted a moment. The thing was not +impossible; the superintendent was bleeding to death. + +Spectators across the gap saw movements they could not quite +comprehend. Safety lines were overhauled for the last time, the picks +put in the keeping of Morris Blood, who lay flat on the ledge. Glover +and Bill Dancing, facing outward, planted themselves side by side +against the rocky wall. Smith Young, facing inward, flattened himself +in Glover's arms, passed across him and, pushing his safety-girdle well +up under his arms, stood a moment between the two big men. Glover and +Dancing, getting their hands through the belt from either side, gripped +him, and Young uncoiled from his right hand a rope noosed like a +lariat. Steadied by his companions and swinging his arms in a cautious +segment on the wall, he tried to hitch the noose over the trunk of the +pine. + +With the utmost skill and patience, he coaxed the loop up again and +again into the air overhead, but the brush of the short branches +against the rock defeated every attempt to get a hold. + +He rested, passed the rope into his other hand, and with the same +collected persistence endeavored to throw it over from the left. + +Sweat beaded Bucks' forehead as he looked. Gertrude's father, the man +of sixty millions, with nerves bedded in ice, crushed an unlighted +cigar between his teeth, and tried to steady the glass that shook in +his hand. Gertrude, resting one hand on a bowlder against which she +steadied herself, neither spoke nor moved. The roadmaster could not +land his line. + +The two men released him and, with arms spread wide, he slipped over to +where Morris Blood lay, took from him the two picks, and cautiously +rejoined his comrades. Two of the men reversing their positions, faced +the rock wall. They fixed a pick into a cranny between their heads, +crouched together, and the third, planting his feet first on their +knees and then their shoulders, was raised slowly above them. + +The glasses turned from afar caught a sheen of sunshine that spread for +an instant across the face of the mountain and sharply outlined the +flattened form high on the arête. The figure seemed brought by the +dazzling light startlingly near, and those looking could distinguish in +his hand a pick, which, with his right arm extended, he slowly swung up +and up the face of the rock until he should swing it high to hook +through the roots of the pine. + +Gertrude asked Bucks who it was that spread himself above his comrades, +and he answered, Dancing; but it was Glover. + +Deliberately his extended arm rose and fell in the arc he was +following, higher and higher, till the pick swung above his head and +lodged where he sent it among the pine-tree roots. At the very moment, +one of the men supporting him moved--the pick had dislodged a heavy +chip of granite; in falling it struck his crouching supporter on the +head. The man steadied himself instantly, but the single instant cost +the balance of the upmost figure. With a suppressed struggle, +heartbreaking half a mile away, the man above strove to right himself. +Like light his second hand reached for the pick handle; he could not +recover it. The pyramid wavered and Glover, helpless, spread his hands +wide. + +By an instinct deeper than life, she knew him then, and cried out and +out in agony. But the pyramid was dissolving before his eyes, and she +saw a strange figure with outstretched arms, a figure she no longer +knew, slowly slipping headlong down a blood-red wall that burned itself +into her brain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BUSINESS + +Cruelly broken and bruised, Young, Bill Dancing, and Glover late that +night were brought up in rope cradles by the wrecking derrick and taken +into the Brock car, turned by its owner into a hospital. An hour after +the fall on the south arête the hill blockade had been broken. With +word of the disaster to nerve men already strained to the utmost, +effort became superhuman, the impossible was achieved, and the relief +train run in on the mine track. + +Morris Blood, unconscious, was lifted from the narrow shelf at four +o'clock and put under a surgeon's care in time to save his life. To +rig a tackle for a three-hundred-foot lift was another matter; but even +while the derrick-car stood idle on the spur waiting for the cable +equipment from the mine, a laughing boy of a surgeon from the hospital +was lowered with the first of the linemen to the snow-field where the +three men roped together had fallen, and surgical aid reached them +before sunset. + + + + +Last to come up, because he still gave the orders, Glover, cushioned +and strapped in the tackle, was lifted out of the blackness of the +night into the streaming glare of the headlights. Very carefully he +was swung down to the mattresses piled on the track, and, before all +that looked and waited, a woman knelt and kissed his sunken eyes. Not +then did the men, dim in the circle about them, show what they felt, +though they knew, to the meanest trackhand, all it meant; not when, +after a bare moment of hesitation, Gertrude's father knelt opposite on +the mattress-pile, did they break their silence, though they shrewdly +guessed what that meant. + +But when Glover pulled together his disordered members and at +Gertrude's side walked without help to the step of the car, the murmur +broke into a cheer that rang from Pilot to Glen Tarn. + +"It was more than half my fault," he breathed to her, after his broken +arms had been set and the long gash on his head stitched. "I need not +have lost my balance if I had kept my head. Gertrude, I may as well +admit it--I'm a coward since I've begun to love you. I've never told +you how I saw your face once between the curtains of an empty sleeper. +But it came back to me just as Dancing's shoulder slipped--that's why I +went. I'm done forever with long chances." And she, silent, tried +only to quiet him while the car moved down the gap bearing them from +Pilot together. + + +"Do you know what day to-morrow is?" Gertrude was opening a box of +flowers that Solomon had brought from the express-office; Glover, +plastered with bandages, was standing before the grate fire in the +hotel parlor. + +"To-morrow?" he echoed. "Sunday." + +"Sunday! Why do you always guess Sunday when I ask you what day it is?" + +"You would think every day Sunday if you had had as good a time as I +have for six weeks." + +"The doctor does say you're doing beautifully. I asked him yesterday +how soon you would be well and he said you never had been so well since +he knew you. But what is to-morrow?" + +"Thanksgiving." + +"Thanksgiving, indeed! Yes, every day is Thanksgiving for us. But +it's not especially _that_." + +"Christmas." + +"Nonsense! To-morrow is the second anniversary of our engagement." + +"My Lord, Gertrude, have we been engaged two years? Why, at that rate +I can't possibly marry you till I'm forty-four." + +"It isn't two years, it's two months. And to-night they have their +memorial services for poor Paddy McGraw. And, do you know, your friend +Mr. Foley has our engine now? Yes; he came up the other day to ask +about you, but in reality to tell me he had been promoted. I think he +ought to have been, after I spoke myself to Mr. Archibald about it. +But what touched me was, the poor fellow asked if I wouldn't see about +getting some flowers for the memorial at the engineer's lodge +to-night--and he didn't want his wife to know anything about it, +because she would scold him for spending his money--see what you are +coming to! So I suggested he should let me provide his flowers and +ours together, and when I tried to find out what he wanted, he asked if +a throttle made of flowers would be all right." + +"Your heart would not let you say no?" + +"I told him it would be lovely, and to leave it all to me." + +She brought forward the box she was opening. "See how they have laid +this throttle-bar of violets across these Galax leaves--and latched it +with a rose. Here, Solomon," she exiled the boy from an adjoining +room, "take this very carefully. No. There isn't any card. Oh," she +exclaimed, as he left, and she clasped her lifted hands, "I am glad, I +am glad we are leaving these mountains. Do you know papa is to be here +to-morrow? And that your speech must be ready? He isn't going to give +his consent without being asked." + +"I suppose not," said Glover, dejectedly. + +"What are you going to say?" + +"I shall say that I consider him worthy of my confidence and esteem." + +"I think you would make more headway, dearest, if you should tell him +you considered yourself worthy of _his_ confidence and esteem." + +"But, hang it, I don't." + +"Well, couldn't you, for once, fib a little? Oh, Ab; I'll tell you +what I wish you _could_ do." + +"Pray what?" + +"Talk a little business to him. I feel sure, if you could only talk +business awhile, papa would be _all_ right." + +"Business! If it's only a question of talking business, the thing's as +good as done. I can't talk anything but business." + +"Can't you, indeed! I like that. Pray what did you talk to me on the +platform of my father's own car?" + +"Business." + +"You talked the silliest stuff I ever listened to----" + +"Not reflecting on anyone present, of course." + +"And, Ab----" + +"Yes." + +"If you could take him aback somehow--nothing would give him such an +idea of you. I think that was what--well, I was so _completely_ +overcome by your audacity----" + +"You seemed so," commented Glover, rather grimly. "Very well, if you +want him taken aback, I will take him aback, even if I have to resort +to force." He withdrew his right arm from its sling and began +unwrapping the bandages and throwing the splints Into the fire. + +"What in the world are you doing?" asked Gertrude, in consternation. + +"There's no use carrying these things any longer. My right arm is just +as strong as it ever was--and to tell the truth----" + +"Now keep your distance, if you please." + +"To tell the truth, I never could play ball left-handed, anyway, +Gertrude. Now, let's begin easy. Just shake hands with me." + +"I'll do nothing of the sort. It's bad form, anyway. You may just +shake hands with yourself. All things considered, I think you have +good reason to." + + +"I understand you were chief engineer of this system at one time," +began Mr. Brock, at the very outset of the dreaded interview. + +"I was," answered Glover. + +"And that you resigned voluntarily to take an inferior position on the +Mountain Division?" + +"That is true." + +"Railroad men with ambition," commented Mr. Brock, dryly, "don't +usually turn their faces from responsibility in that way. They look +higher, and not lower." + +"I thought I was looking higher when I came to the mountains." + +"That may do for a joke, but I am talking business." + +"I, too; and since I am, let me explain to you why I resigned a higher +position for a lower one. The fact is well known; the reason isn't. I +came to this road at the call of your second vice-president, Mr. Bucks. +I have always enjoyed a large measure of his confidence. We saw some +years ago that a reorganization was inevitable, and spent many nights +discussing the different features of it. This is what we determined: +That the key to this whole system with its eight thousand miles of main +line and branches is this Mountain Division. To operate the system +economically and successfully means that the grades must be reduced and +the curvature reduced on this division. Surely, with you, I need not +dwell on the A B C's of twentieth century railroading. It is the road +that can handle the tonnage cheapest that will survive. All this we +knew, and I told him to put me out on this division. It was during the +receivership and there was no room for frills. + +"I have worked here on a small salary and done everything but maul +spikes to keep down expenses on the division, because we had to make +some showing to whoever wanted to buy our junk. In this way I took a +roving commission and packed my bag from an office where I could +acquire nothing I did not already know to a position where I could get +hold of the problem of mountain transportation and cut the coal bills +of the road in two." + +"Have you done it?" + +"Have I cut the coal bills in two? No; but I have learned how. It +will cost money to do that----" + +"How much money?" + +"Thirty millions of dollars." + +"A good deal of money." + +"No." + +"No?" + +"No. Don't let us be afraid to face figures. You will spend a hundred +millions before you quit, Mr. Brock, and you will make another hundred +millions in doing it. To put it bluntly, the mountains must be brought +to terms. For three years I have eaten and lived and slept with them. +I know every grade, curve, tunnel, and culvert from here to Bear +Dance--yes, to the coast. The day of heavy gradients and curves for +transcontinental tonnage is gone by. If I ever get a chance, I will +rip this right of way open from end to end and make it possible to send +freight through these ranges at a cost undreamed of in the estimates of +to-day. But that was not my only object in coming to the mountains." + +"Go ahead." + +"Mr. Bucks and the men he has gathered around him--Callahan, Blood and +the rest of us--are railroad men. Railroading is our business; we know +nothing else. There was an embarrassing chance that when our buyer +came he might be hostile to the present management. Happily," Glover +bowed to the Pittsburg magnate, "he isn't; but he might have been----" + +"I see." + +"We were prepared for that." + +"How?" + +"I shouldn't speak of this if I did not know you were Mr. Bucks' +closest friend. Even he doesn't know it, but six months of my own +time--not the company's--I put in on a matter that concerned my friends +and myself, and I have the notes for a new line to parallel this if it +were needed--and Blood and I have the only pass within three hundred +miles north or south to run it over. These were some of the reasons, +Mr. Brock, why I came to the mountains." + +"I understand. I understand perfectly. Mr. Glover, what is your age, +sir?" + +The time seemed ripe to put Gertrude's second hint into play. + +"That is a subject I never discuss with anyone, Mr. Brock." + +He waited just a moment to let the magnate get his breath, and +continued, "May I tell you why? When the road went into the +receivership, I was named as one of the receivers on behalf of the +Government. The President, when I first met him during my term, asked +for my father, thinking he was the man that had been recommended to +him. He wouldn't believe me when I assured him I was his appointee. +'If I had known how young you were, Glover,' said he to me, afterward, +'I never should have dared appoint you.' The position paid me +twenty-five thousand dollars a year for four years; but the incident +paid me better than that, for it taught me never to discuss my age." + +"I see. I see. A fine point. You have taught _me_ something. By the +way, about the pass you spoke of--I suppose you understand the +importance of getting hold of a strategic point like that +to--a--forestall--competition?" + +"I have hold of it." + +"I do not mind saying to you, under all the circumstances, that there +has been a little friction with the Harrison people. Do you see? And, +for reasons that may suggest themselves, there may be more. They might +conclude to run a line to the coast themselves. The young man has, I +believe, been turned down----" + +"I understood the--the slate had been--changed slightly," stammered +Glover, coloring. + +"There might be resentment, that's all. Blood is loyal to us, I +presume." + +"There's no taint anywhere in Morris Blood. He is loyalty itself." + +"What would you think of him as General Manager? Callahan goes to the +river as Traffic Manager. Mr. Bucks, you know, is the new President; +these are his recommendations. What do you think of them?" + +"No better men on earth for the positions, and I'm mighty glad to see +them get what they deserve." + +"Our idea is to leave you right here in the mountains." It was hard to +be left completely out of the new deal, but Glover did not visibly +wince. "With the title," added Mr. Brock, after he knew his arrow had +gone home, "with the title of Second Vice-president, which Mr. Bucks +now holds. That will give you full swing in your plans for the +rebuilding of the system. I want to see them carried out as the +estimates I've been studying this winter show. Don't thank me. I did +not know till yesterday they were entirely your plans. You can have +every dollar you need; it will rest with you to produce the results. I +guess that's all. No, stop. I want you to go East with us next week +for a month or two as our guest. You can forward your work the faster +when you get back, and I should like you to meet the men whose money +you are to spend. Were you waiting to see Gertrude?" + +"Why--yes, sir--I----" + +"I'll see whether she's around." + +Gertrude did not appear for some moments, then she half ran and half +glided in, radiant. "I couldn't get away!" she exclaimed. "He's +talking about you yet to Aunt Jane and Marie. He says you're charged +with dynamite--_I_ knew that--a most remarkable young man. How did you +ever convince him you knew anything? I am confident you don't. You +must have taken him somehow aback, didn't you?" + +"If you want to give your father a touch of asthma," suggested Glover, +"ask him how old I am; but he had me scared once or twice," admitted +the engineer, wiping the cold sweat from his wrists. + +"_Did_ he give his consent?" + +"Why--hang it--I--we got to talking business and I forgot to----" + +"So like you, dear. However, it must be all right, for he said he +should need your help in buying the coast branches and The Short Line." + +"The Short Line," gasped Glover. "Well, I haven't inventoried lately. +If we marry in June----" + +"Don't worry about that, for we sha'n't marry in June, my love." + +"But when we do, we shall need some money for a wedding-trip----" + +"We certainly shall; a lot of it, dearie." + +"I may have ten or twelve hundred left after that is provided for. But +my confidence in your father's judgment is very great, and if he's +going to make up a pool, my money is at his service, as far as it will +go, to buy The Short Line--or any other line he may take a fancy to." + +"Why, he's just telling Marie about your making a hundred thousand +dollars in four years by being wonderfully shrewd----" + +"But that confounded mine that I told you about----" + +"You dear old stupid. Never mind, you have made a real strike to-day. +But if you ever again delude papa into thinking you know more than I +do, I shall expose you without mercy." + +The train, a private car special, carrying Mr. Brock, chairman of the +board, and his family, the new president and the second vice-president +elect, was pulling slowly across the long, high spans of the Spider +bridge. Glover and Gertrude had gone back to the observation platform. +Leaning on his arm, she was looking across the big valley and into the +west. The sun, setting clear, tinged with gold the far snows of the +mountains. + +"It is less than a year," she was murmuring, "since I crossed this +bridge; think of it. And what bridges have I not crossed since! See. +Your mountains are fading away----" + +"My mountains faded away, dear heart, don't you know, when you told me +I might love you. As for those"--his eyes turned from the distant +ranges back to her eyes--"after all, they brought me you." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE*** + + +******* This file should be named 24696-8.txt or 24696-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/9/24696 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Daughter of a Magnate</p> +<p>Author: Frank H. Spearman</p> +<p>Release Date: February 26, 2008 [eBook #24696]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Gertrude used her glass constantly." BORDER="2" WIDTH="416" HEIGHT="583"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 416px"> +Gertrude used her glass constantly. +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Daughter of a Magnate +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +FRANK H. SPEARMAN +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF<BR> +WHISPERING SMITH,<BR> +DOCTOR BRYSON, ETC.<BR> +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP +<BR> +PUBLISHERS : : NEW YORK +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1903, by +<BR> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +<BR><BR> +Published, October, 1903 +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +To +<BR> +WESLEY HAMILTON PECK, M.D. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAP.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A JUNE WATER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">AN ERROR AT HEADQUARTERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">INTO THE MOUNTAINS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">AS THE DESPATCHER SAW</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">AN EMERGENCY CALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE CAT AND THE RAT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">TIME BEING MONEY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">SPLITTING THE PAW</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">A TRUCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">AND A SHOCK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">IN THE LALLA ROOKH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">A SLIP ON A SPECIAL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">GLEN TARN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">NOVEMBER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">NIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">STORM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">DAYBREAK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">SUSPENSE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">DEEPENING WATERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">PILOT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">THE SOUTH ARÊTE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">BUSINESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +The Daughter of a Magnate +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A JUNE WATER +</H3> + +<P> +The train, a special, made up of a private car and a diner, was running +on a slow order and crawled between the bluffs at a snail's pace. +</P> + +<P> +Ahead, the sun was sinking into the foothills and wherever the eye +could reach to the horizon barren wastes lay riotously green under the +golden blaze. The river, swollen everywhere out of its banks, spread +in a broad and placid flood of yellow over the bottoms, and a hundred +shallow lakes studded with willowed islands marked its wandering course +to the south and east. The clear, far air of the mountains, the glory +of the gold on the June hills and the illimitable stretch of waters +below, spellbound the group on the observation platform. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a pity, too," declared Conductor O'Brien, who was acting as +mountain Baedeker, "that we're held back this way when we're covering +the prettiest stretch on the road for running. It is right along here +where you are riding that the speed records of the world have been +made. Fourteen and six-tenths miles were done in nine and a half +minutes just west of that curve about six months ago—of course it was +down hill." +</P> + +<P> +Several of the party were listening. "Do you use speed recorders out +here?" asked Allen Harrison. +</P> + +<P> +"How's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you use speed recorders?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only on our slow trains," replied O'Brien. "To put speed recorders on +Paddy McGraw or Jimmie the Wind would be like timing a teal duck with +an eight-day clock. Sir?" he asked, turning to another questioner +while the laugh lingered on his side. "No; those are not really +mountains at all. Those are the foothills of the Sleepy Cat +range—west of the Spider Water. We get into that range about two +hundred miles from here—well, I say they are west of the Spider, but +for ten days it's been hard to say exactly where the Spider is. The +Spider is making us all the trouble with high water just now—and we're +coming out into the valley in about a minute," he added as the car gave +an embarrassing lurch. "The track is certainly soft, but if you'll +stay right where you are, on this side, ladies, you'll get the view of +your lives when we leave the bluffs. The valley is about nine miles +broad and it's pretty much all under water." +</P> + +<P> +Beyond the curve they were taking lay a long tangent stretching like a +steel wand across a sea of yellow, and as their engine felt its way +very gingerly out upon it there rose from the slow-moving trucks of +their car the softened resonance that tells of a sounding-board of +waters. +</P> + +<P> +Soon they were drawn among wooded knolls between which hurried little +rivers tossed out of the Spider flood into dry waterways and brawling +with surprised stones and foaming noisily at stubborn root and +impassive culvert. Through the trees the travellers caught passing +glimpses of shaded eddies and a wilderness of placid pools. "And +this," murmured Gertrude Brock to her sister Marie, "this is the +Spider!" O'Brien, talking to the men at her elbow, overheard. +"Hardly, Miss Brock; not yet. You haven't seen the river yet. This is +only the backwater." +</P> + +<P> +They were rising the grade to the bridge approach, and when they +emerged a few moments later from the woods the conductor said, "There!" +</P> + +<P> +The panorama of the valley lay before them. High above their level and +a mile away, the long thread-like spans of Hailey's great bridge +stretched from pier to pier. To the right of the higher ground a fan +of sidetracks spread, with lines of flat cars and gondolas loaded with +stone, brush, piling and timbers, and in the foreground two hulking +pile-drivers, their leads, like rabbits' ears laid sleekly back, +squatted mysteriously. Switch engines puffed impatiently up and down +the ladder track shifting stuff to the distant spurs. At the river +front an army of men moved like loaded ants over the dikes. Beyond +them the eye could mark the boiling yellow of the Spider, its winding +channel marked through the waste of waters by whirling driftwood, +bobbing wreckage and plunging trees—sweepings of a thousand angry +miles. "There's the Spider," repeated the West End conductor, +pointing, "out there in the middle where you see things moving right +along. That's the Spider, on a twenty-year rampage." The train, +moving slowly, stopped. "I guess we've got as close to it as we're +going to, for a while. I'll take a look forward." +</P> + +<P> +It was the time of the June water in the mountains. A year earlier the +rise had taken the Peace River bridge and with the second heavy year of +snow railroad men looked for new trouble. June is not a month for +despair, because the mountain men have never yet scheduled despair as a +West End liability. But it is a month that puts wrinkles in the right +of way clear across the desert and sows gray hairs in the roadmasters' +records from McCloud to Bear Dance. That June the mountain streams +roared, the foothills floated, the plains puffed into sponge, and in +the thick of it all the Spider Water took a man-slaughtering streak and +started over the Bad Lands across lots. The big river forced Bucks' +hand once more, and to protect the main line Glover, third of the +mountain roadbuilders, was ordered off the high-line construction and +back to the hills where Brodie and Hailey slept, to watch the Spider. +</P> + +<P> +The special halted on a tongue of high ground flanking the bridge and +extending upstream to where the river was gnawing at the long dike that +held it off the approach. The delay was tedious. Doctor Lanning and +Allen Harrison went forward to smoke. Gertrude Brock took refuge in a +book and Mrs. Whitney, her aunt, annoyed her with stories. Marie Brock +and Louise Donner placed their chairs where they could watch the +sorting and unloading of never-ending strings of flat cars, the +spasmodic activity in the lines of laborers, the hurrying of the +foremen and the movement of the rapidly shifting fringe of men on the +danger line at the dike. +</P> + +<P> +The clouds which had opened for the dying splendor of the day closed +and a shower swept over the valley; the conductor came back in his +raincoat—his party were at dinner. "<I>Are</I> we to be detained much +longer?" asked Mrs. Whitney. +</P> + +<P> +"For a little while, I'm afraid," replied the trainman diplomatically. +"I've been away over there on the dike to see if I could get permission +to cross, but I didn't succeed." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, conductor!" remonstrated Louise Donner. +</P> + +<P> +"And we don't get to Medicine Bend to-night," said Doctor Lanning. +</P> + +<P> +"What we need is a man of influence," suggested Harrison. "We ought +never to have let your 'pa' go," he added, turning to Gertrude Brock, +beside whom he sat. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we really get ahead?" Gertrude lifted her brows reproachfully +as she addressed the conductor. "It's becoming very tiresome." +</P> + +<P> +O'Brien shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not see someone in authority?" she persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen the man in authority, and nearly fell into the river doing +it; then he turned me down." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you tell him who we were?" demanded Mrs. Whitney. +</P> + +<P> +"I made all sorts of pleas." +</P> + +<P> +"Does he know that Mr. Bucks <I>promised</I> we should be In Medicine Bend +to-night?" asked pretty little Marie Brock. +</P> + +<P> +"He wouldn't in the least mind that." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Whitney bridled. "Pray who is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"The construction engineer of the mountain division is the man in +charge of the bridge just at present." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be a very simple matter to get orders over his head," +suggested Harrison. +</P> + +<P> +"Not very." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Bucks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly. No orders would take us over that bridge to-night without +Glover's permission." +</P> + +<P> +"What an autocrat!" sighed Mrs. Whitney. "No matter; I don't care to +go over it, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"But I do," protested Gertrude. "I don't feel like staying in this +water all night, if you please." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid that's what we'll have to do for a few hours. I told Mr. +Glover he would be in trouble if I didn't get my people to Medicine +Bend to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him again," laughed Doctor Lanning. +</P> + +<P> +Conductor O'Brien looked embarrassed. "You'd like to ask particular +leave of Mr. Glover for us, I know," suggested Miss Donner. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, hardly—the second time—not of Mr. Glover." A sheet of rain +drenched the plate-glass windows. "But I'm going to watch things and +we'll get out just as soon as possible. I know Mr. Glover pretty well. +He is all right, but he's been down here now a week without getting out +of his clothes and the river rising on him every hour. They've got +every grain bag between Salt Lake and Chicago and they're filling them +with sand and dumping them in where the river is cutting." +</P> + +<P> +"Any danger of the bridge going?" asked the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"None in the world, but there's a lot of danger that the river will go. +That would leave the bridge hanging over dry land. The fight is to +hold the main channel where it belongs. They're getting rock over the +bridge from across the river and strengthening the approach for fear +the dike should give way. The track is busy every minute, so I +couldn't make much impression on Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +There was light talk of a deputation to the dike, followed by the +resignation of travellers, cards afterward, and ping-pong. With the +deepening of the night the rain fell harder, and the wind rising in +gusts drove it against the glass. When the women retired to their +compartments the train had been set over above the bridge where the +wind, now hard from the southeast, sung steadily around the car. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude Brock could not sleep. After being long awake she turned on +the light and looked at her watch; it was one o'clock. The wind made +her restless and the air in the stateroom had become oppressive. She +dressed and opened her door. The lights were very low and the car was +silent; all were asleep. +</P> + +<P> +At the rear end she raised a window-shade. The night was lighted by +strange waves of lightning, and thunder rumbled in the distance +unceasingly. Where she sat she could see the sidings filled with cars, +and when a sharper flash lighted the backwater of the lakes, vague +outlines of far-off bluffs beetled into the sky. +</P> + +<P> +She drew the shade, for the continuous lightning added to her disquiet. +As she did so the rain drove harshly against the car and she retreated +to the other side. Feeling presently the coolness of the air she +walked to her stateroom for her Newmarket coat, and wrapping it about +her, sunk into a chair and closed her eyes. She had hardly fallen +asleep when a crash of thunder split the night and woke her. As it +rolled angrily away she quickly raised the window-curtain. +</P> + +<P> +The heavens were frenzied. She looked toward the river. Electrical +flashes charging from end to end of the angry sky lighted the bridge, +reflected the black face of the river and paled flickering lights and +flaming torches where, on vanishing stretches of dike, an army of dim +figures, moving unceasingly, lent awe to the spectacle. +</P> + +<P> +She could see smoke from the hurrying switch engines whirled viciously +up into the sweeping night and above her head the wind screamed. A +gale from the southwest was hurling the Spider against the revetment +that held the eastern shore and the day and the night gangs together +were reinforcing it. Where the dike gave under the terrific pounding, +or where swiftly boiling pools sucked under the heavy piling, Glover's +men were sinking fresh relays of mattresses and loading them with stone. +</P> + +<P> +At moments laden flat cars were pushed to the brink of the flood, and +men with picks and bars rose spirit-like out of black shadows to +scramble up their sides and dump rubble on the sunken brush. Other men +toiling in unending procession wheeled and slung sandbags upon the +revetment; others stirred crackling watchfires that leaped high into +the rain, and over all played the incessant lightning and the angry +thunder and the flying night. +</P> + +<P> +She shut from her eyes the strangely moving sight, returned to her +compartment, closed her door and lay down. It was quieter within the +little room and the fury of the storm was less appalling. +</P> + +<P> +Half dreaming as she lay, mountains shrouded in a deathly lightning +loomed wavering before her, and one, most terrible of all, she strove +unwillingly to climb. Up she struggled, clinging and slipping, a +cramping fear over all her senses, her ankles clutched in icy fetters, +until from above, an apparition, strange and threatening, pushed her, +screaming, and she swooned into an awful gulf. +</P> + +<P> +"Gertrude! Gertrude! Wake up!" cried a frightened voice. +</P> + +<P> +The car was rocking in the wind, and as Gertrude opened her door Louise +Donner stumbled terrified into her arms. "Did you hear that awful, +awful crash? I'm sure the car has been struck." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, Louise." +</P> + +<P> +"It surely has been. Oh, let us waken the men at once, Gertrude; we +shall be killed!" +</P> + +<P> +The two clung to one another. "I'm afraid to stay alone, Gertrude," +sobbed her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Stay with me, Louise. Come." While they spoke the wind died and for +a moment the lightning ceased, but the calm, like the storm, was +terrifying. As they stood breathless a report like the ripping of a +battery burst over their heads, a blast shook the heavy car and howled +shrilly away. +</P> + +<P> +Sleep was out of the question. Gertrude looked at her watch. It was +four o'clock. The two dressed and sat together till daylight. When +morning broke, dark and gray, the storm had passed and out of the +leaden sky a drizzle of rain was falling. Beside the car men were +moving. The forward door was open and the conductor in his stormcoat +walked in. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything is all right this morning, ladies," he smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"All right? I should think everything all wrong," exclaimed Louise. +"We have been frightened to death." +</P> + +<P> +"They've got the cutting stopped," continued O'Brien, smiling. "Mr. +Glover has left the dike. He just told me the river had fallen six +inches since two o'clock. We'll be out of here now as quick as we can +get an engine: they've been switching with ours. There was +considerable wind in the night——" +</P> + +<P> +"Considerable <I>wind</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't notice it, did you? Glover loaded the bridge with freight +trains about twelve o'clock and I'm thinking it's lucky, for when the +wind went into the northeast about four o'clock I thought it would take +my head off. It snapped like dynamite clear across the valley." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we heard!" +</P> + +<P> +"When the wind jumped, a crew was dumping stone into the river. The +men were ordered off the flat cars but there were so many they didn't +all get the word at once, and while the foreman was chasing them down +he was blown clean into the river." +</P> + +<P> +"Drowned?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he was not. He crawled out away down by the bridge, though a man +couldn't have done it once in a thousand times. It was old Bill +Dancing—he's got more lives than a cat. Do you remember where we +first pulled up the train in the afternoon? A string of ten box cars +stood there last night and when the wind shifted it blew the whole +bunch off the track." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do let us get away from here," urged Gertrude. "I feel as if +something worse would happen if we stayed. I'm sorry we ever left +McCloud yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +The men came from their compartments and there was more talk of the +storm. Clem and his helpers were starting breakfast in the dining-car +and the doctor and Harrison wanted to walk down to see where the river +had cut into the dike. Mrs. Whitney had not appeared and they asked +the young ladies to go with them. Gertrude objected. A foggy haze +hung over the valley. +</P> + +<P> +"Come along," urged Harrison; "the air will give you an appetite." +</P> + +<P> +After some remonstrating she put on her heavy coat, and carrying +umbrellas the four started under the conductor's guidance across to the +dike. They picked their steps along curving tracks, between material +piles and through the débris of the night. On the dike they spent some +time looking at the gaps and listening to explanations of how the river +worked to undermine and how it had been checked. Watchers hooded in +yellow stickers patrolled the narrow jetties or, motionless, studied +the eddies boiling at their feet. +</P> + +<P> +Returning, the party walked around the edge of the camp where cooks +were busy about steaming kettles. Under long, open tents wearied men +lying on scattered hay slept after the hardship of the night. In the +drizzling haze half a dozen men, assistants to the engineer—rough +looking but strong-featured and quick-eyed—sat with buckets of +steaming coffee about a huge campfire. Four men bearing a litter came +down the path. Doctor Lanning halted them. A laborer had been pinched +during the night between loads of piling projecting over the ends of +flat cars and they told the doctor his chest was hurt. A soiled +neckcloth covered his face but his stertorous breathing could be heard, +and Gertrude Brock begged the doctor to go to the camp with the injured +man and see whether something could not be done to relieve him until +the company surgeon arrived. The doctor, with O'Brien, turned back. +Gertrude, depressed by the incident, followed Louise and Allen Harrison +along the path which wound round a clump of willows flanking the +campfire. +</P> + +<P> +On the sloping bank below the trees and a little out of the wind a man +on a mattress of willows lay stretched asleep. He was clad in leather, +mud-stained and wrinkled, and the big brown boots that cased his feet +were strapped tightly above his knees. An arm, outstretched, supported +his head, hidden under a soft gray hat. Like the thick gloves that +covered his clasped hands, his hat and the handkerchief knotted about +his neck were soaked by the rain, falling quietly and trickling down +the furrows of his leather coat. But his attitude was one of +exhaustion, and trifles of discomfort were lost in his deep respiration. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" exclaimed Gertrude Brock under her breath, "look at that poor +fellow asleep in the rain. Allen?" +</P> + +<P> +Allen Harrison, ahead, was struggling to hold his umbrella upright +while he rolled a cigarette. He turned as he passed the paper across +his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Throw your coat over him, Allen." +</P> + +<P> +Harrison pasted the paper roll, and putting it to his mouth felt for +his matchcase. "Throw <I>my</I> coat over him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +Allen took out a match. "Well, I like that. That's like you, +Gertrude. Suppose you throw your coat over him." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude looked silently at her companion. There is a moment when +women should be humored; not all men are fortunate enough to recognize +it. Louise, still walking ahead, called, "Come on," but Gertrude did +not move. +</P> + +<P> +"Allen, throw your coat over the poor fellow," she urged. "You +wouldn't let your dog lie like that in the rain." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Gertrude—do me the kindness"—he passed his umbrella to her that +he might better manage the lighting—"he's not my dog." +</P> + +<P> +If she made answer it was only in the expression of her eyes. She +handed the umbrella back, flung open her long coat and slipped it from +her shoulders. With the heavy garment in her hands she stepped from +her path toward the sleeper and noticed for the first time an utterly +disreputable-looking dog lying beside him in the weeds. The dog's long +hair was bedraggled to the color of the mud he curled in, and as he +opened his eyes without raising his head, Gertrude hesitated; but his +tail spoke a kindly greeting. He knew no harm was meant and he watched +unconcernedly while, determined not to recede from her impulse, +Gertrude stepped hastily to the sleeper's side and dropped her coat +over his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +Louise was too far ahead to notice the incident. After breakfast she +asked Gertrude what the matter was. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing. Allen and I had our first quarrel this morning." +</P> + +<P> +As she spoke, the train, high in the air, was creeping over the Spider +bridge. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ERROR AT HEADQUARTERS +</H3> + +<P> +When the Brock-Harrison party, familiarly known—among those with whom +they were by no means familiar—as the Steel Crowd, bought the +transcontinental lines that J. S. Bucks, the second vice-president and +general manager, had built up into a system, their first visit to the +West End was awaited with some uneasiness. An impression prevailed that +the new owners might take decided liberties with what Conductor O'Brien +termed the "personal" of the operating department. +</P> + +<P> +But week after week followed the widely heralded announcement of the +purchase without the looked-for visit from the new owners. During the +interval West End men from the general superintendent down were +admittedly on edge—with the exception of Conductor O'Brien. "If I go, I +go," was all he said, and in making the statement in his even, +significant way it was generally understood that the trainman that ran +the pay-cars and the swell mountain specials had in view a +superintendency on the New York Central. On what he rested his +confidence in the opening no one certainly knew, though Pat Francis +claimed it was based wholly on a cigar in a glass case once given to the +genial conductor by Chauncey M. Depew when travelling special to the +coast under his charge. +</P> + +<P> +Be that as it may, when the West End was at last electrified by the +announcement that the Brock-Harrison syndicate train had already crossed +the Missouri and might be expected any day, O'Brien with his usual luck +was detailed as one of the conductors to take charge of the visitors. +</P> + +<P> +The pang in the operating department was that the long-delayed inspection +tour should have come just at a time when the water had softened things +until every train on the mountain division was run under slow-orders. +</P> + +<P> +At McCloud Vice-president Bucks, a very old campaigner, had held the +party for two days to avoid the adverse conditions in the west and turned +the financiers of the party south to inspect branches while the road was +drying in the hills. But the party of visitors contained two distinct +elements, the money-makers and the money-spenders—the generation that +made the investment and the generation that distributed the dividends. +The young people rebelled at branch line trips and insisted on heading +for sightseeing and hunting straight into the mountains. Accordingly, at +McCloud the party split, and while Henry S. Brock and his business +associates looked over the branches, his private cars containing his +family and certain of their friends were headed for the headquarters of +the mountain division, Medicine Bend. +</P> + +<P> +Medicine Bend is not quite the same town it used to be, and +disappointment must necessarily attend efforts to identify the once +familiar landmarks of the mountain division. Improvement, implacable +priestess of American industry, has well-nigh obliterated the picturesque +features of pioneer days. The very right of way of the earliest overland +line, abandoned for miles and miles, is seen now from the car windows +bleaching on the desert. So once its own rails, vigorous and aggressive, +skirted grinning heaps of buffalo bones, and its own tangents were spiked +across the grave of pony rider and Indian brave—the king was: the king +is. +</P> + +<P> +But the Sweetgrass winds are the same. The same snows whiten the peaks, +the same sun dies in western glory, and the mountains still see nestling +among the tracks at the bend of the Medicine River the first headquarters +building of the mountain division, nicknamed The Wickiup. What, in the +face of continual and unrelenting changes, could have saved the Wickiup? +Not the fact that the crazy old gables can boast the storm and stress of +the mad railroad life of another day than this—for every deserted curve +and hill of the line can do as much. The Wickiup has a better claim to +immortality, for once its cracked and smoky walls, raised solely to house +the problems and perplexities of the operating department, sheltered a +pair of lovers, so strenuous in their perplexities that even yet in the +gleam of the long night-fires of the West End their story is told. +</P> + +<P> +In that day the construction department of the mountain division was +cooped up at one end of the hall on the second floor of the building. +Bucks at that time thought twice before he indorsed one of Glover's +twenty-thousand-dollar specifications. Now, with the department +occupying the entire third floor and pushing out of the dormer windows, a +million-dollar estimate goes through like a requisition for postage +stamps. +</P> + +<P> +But in spite of his hole-in-the-wall office, Glover, the construction +engineer of that day, was a man to be reckoned with in estimates of West +End men. They knew him for a captain long before he left his mark on the +Spider the time he held the river for a straight week at twenty-eight +feet, bitted and gagged between Hailey's piers, and forced the yellow +tramp to understand that if it had killed Hailey there were equally bad +men left on the mountain pay-roll. Glover, it may be said, took his +final degrees in engineering in the Grand Cañon; he was a member of the +Bush party, and of the four that got back alive to Medicine one was Ab +Glover. +</P> + +<P> +Glover rebuilt the whole system of snowsheds on the West End, practically +everything from the Peace to the Sierras. Every section foreman in the +railroad Bad Lands knew Glover. Just how he happened to lose his +position as chief engineer of the system—for he was a big man on the +East End when he first came with the road—no one certainly knew. Some +said he spoke his mind too freely—a bad trait in a railroad man; others +said he could not hold down the job. All they knew in the mountains was +that as a snow fighter he could wear out all the plows on the division, +and that if a branch line were needed in haste Glover would have the +rails down before an ordinary man could get his bids in. +</P> + +<P> +Ordinarily these things are expected from a mountain constructionist and +elicit no comment from headquarters, but the matter at the Spider was one +that could hardly pass unnoticed. For a year Glover had been begging for +a stenographer. Writing, to him, was as distasteful as soda-water, and +one morning soon after his return from the valley flood a letter came +with the news that a competent stenographer had been assigned to him and +would report at once for duty at Medicine Bend. +</P> + +<P> +Glover emerged from his hall-office in great spirits and showed the +letter to Callahan, the general superintendent, for congratulations. +"That is right," commented Callahan cynically. "You saved them a hundred +thousand dollars last month—they are going to blow ten a week on you. +By the way, your stenographer is here." +</P> + +<P> +"He is?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is. Your stenographer, a very dignified young lady, came in on +Number One. You had better go and get shaved. She has been in to +inquire for you and has gone to look up a boarding-place. Get her +started as soon as you can—I want to see your figures on the Rat Cañon +work." +</P> + +<P> +A helper now would be a boon from heaven. "But she won't stay long after +she sees this office," Glover reflected ruefully as he returned to it. +He knew from experience that stenographers were hard to hold at Medicine +Bend. They usually came out for their health and left at the slightest +symptoms of improvement. He worried as to whether he might possibly have +been unlucky enough to draw another invalid. And at the very moment he +had determined he would not lose his new assistant if good treatment +would keep her he saw a trainman far down the gloomy hall pointing a +finger in his direction—saw a young lady coming toward him and realized +he ought to have taken time that morning to get shaved. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to do but make the best of it; dismissing his +embarrassment he rose to greet the newcomer. His first reflection was +that he had not drawn an invalid, for he had never seen a fresher face in +his life, and her bearing had the confidence of health itself. +</P> + +<P> +"I heard you had been here," he said reassuringly as the young lady +hesitated at his door. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I heard you had been here," he repeated with deference. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish to send a despatch," she replied with an odd intonation. Her +reply seemed so at variance with his greeting that a chill tempered his +enthusiasm. Could they possibly have sent him a deaf stenographer?—one +worn in the exacting service at headquarters? There was always a fly +somewhere in his ointment, and so capable and engaging a young lady +seemed really too good to be true. He saw the message blank in her hand. +"Let me take it," he suggested, and added, raising his voice, "It shall +go at once." The young lady gave him the message and sitting down at his +desk he pressed an electric call. Whatever her misfortunes she enlisted +his sympathy instantly, and as no one had ever accused him of having a +weak voice he determined he would make the best of the situation. "Be +seated, please," he said. She looked at him curiously. "Pray, be +seated," he repeated more firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I desire only to pay for my telegram." +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all. It isn't necessary. Just be seated!" +</P> + +<P> +In some bewilderment she sat down on the edge of the chair beside which +she stood. +</P> + +<P> +"We are cramped for room at present in the construction department," he +went on, affixing his frank to the telegram. "Here, Gloomy, rush this, +my boy," said he to the messenger, who came through a door connecting +with the operator's room. "But we have the promise of more space soon," +he resumed, addressing the young lady hopefully. "I have had your desk +placed there to give you the benefit of the south light." +</P> + +<P> +The stenographer studied the superintendent of construction with some +surprise. His determination to provide for her comfort was most apparent +and his apologies for his crowded quarters were so sincere that they +could not but appeal to a stranger. Her expression changed. Glover felt +that he ought to ask her to take off her hat, but could not for his life. +The frankness of her eyes was rather too confusing to support very much +of at once, and he busied himself at sorting the blueprints on his table, +guiltily aware that she was alive to his unshaven condition. He +endeavored to lead the conversation. "We have excellent prospects of a +new headquarters building." As he spoke he looked up. Her eyes were +certainly extraordinary. Could she be laughing at him? The prospect of +a new building had been, it was true, a joke for many years and evidently +she put no more confidence in the statement than he did himself. "Of +course, you are aware," he continued to bolster his assertion, "that the +road has been bought by an immensely rich lot of Pittsburg duffers——" +</P> + +<P> +The stenographer half rose in her chair. "Will it not be possible for me +to pay for my message at once?" she asked somewhat peremptorily. +</P> + +<P> +"I have already franked it." +</P> + +<P> +"But I did not——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't mention it. All I will ask in return is that you will help me get +some letters out of the way to-day," returned Glover, laying a pencil and +note-book on the desk before her. "The other work may go till to-morrow. +By the way, have you found a boarding-place?" +</P> + +<P> +"A boarding-place?" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand you were looking for one." +</P> + +<P> +"I have one." +</P> + +<P> +"The first letter is to Mr. Bucks—I fancy you know <I>his</I> address—" She +did not begin with alacrity. Their eyes met, and in hers there was a +queerish expression. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not at all sure I ought to undertake this," she said rapidly and +with a touch of disdainful mischief. +</P> + +<P> +"Give yourself no uneasiness—" he began. +</P> + +<P> +"It is you I fear who are giving yourself uneasiness," she interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I dictate very slowly. Let's make a trial anyway." To avoid +embarrassment he looked the other way when he saw she had taken up the +pencil. +</P> + +<P> +"My Dear Bucks," he began. "Your letter with programme for the Pittsburg +party is received. Why am I to be nailed to the cross with part of the +entertaining? There's no hunting now. The hair is falling off grizzlies +and Goff wouldn't take his dogs out at this season for the President of +the United States. What would you think of detailing Paddy McGraw to +give the young men a fast ride—they have heard of him. I talked +yesterday with one of them. He wanted to see a train robber and I +introduced him to Conductor O'Brien, but he never saw the joke, and you +know how depressing explanations are. Don't, my dear Bucks, put me on a +private car with these people for four weeks—my brother died of +paresis——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" He turned. The stenographer's cheeks were burning; she was +astonishingly pretty. "I'm going too fast, I'm afraid," said Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not think I had better attempt to continue," she answered, rising. +Her eyes fairly burned the brown mountain engineer. +</P> + +<P> +"As you like," he replied, rising too, "It was hardly fair to ask you to +work to-day. By the way, Mr. Bucks forgot to give me your name." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it necessary that you should have my name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in the least," returned Glover with insistent consideration, "any +name at all will do, so I shall know what to call you." +</P> + +<P> +For an instant she seemed unable to catch her breath, and he was about to +explain that the rarefied air often affected newcomers in that way when +she answered with some intensity, "I am Miss Brock. I never have +occasion to use any other name." +</P> + +<P> +Whatever result she looked for from her spirited words, his manner lost +none of its urbanity. "Indeed? That's the name of our Pittsburg +magnate. You ought to be sure of a position under <I>him</I>—you might turn +out to be a relation," he laughed, softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite possibly." +</P> + +<P> +"Do not return this afternoon," he continued as she backed away from him. +"This mountain air is exhausting at first——" +</P> + +<P> +"Your letters?" she queried with an expression that approached pleasant +irony. +</P> + +<P> +"They may wait." +</P> + +<P> +She courtesied quaintly. He had never seen such a woman in his life, and +as his eyes fixed on her down the dim hall he was overpowered by the +grace of her vanishing figure. +</P> + +<P> +Sitting at his table he was still thinking of her when Solomon, the +messenger, came in with a telegram. The boy sat down opposite the +engineer, while the latter read the message. +</P> + +<P> +"That Miss Brock is fine, isn't she?" +</P> + +<P> +Glover scowled. "I took a despatch over to the car yesterday and she +gave me a dollar," continued Solomon. +</P> + +<P> +"What car?" +</P> + +<P> +"Her car. She's in that Pittsburg party." +</P> + +<P> +"The young lady that sat here a moment ago?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure; didn't you know? There she goes now to the car again." Glover +stepped to the east window. A young lady was gathering up her gown to +mount the car-step and a porter was assisting her. The daintiness of her +manner was a nightmare of conviction. Glover turned from the window and +began tearing up papers on his table. He tore up all the worthless +papers in sight and for months afterward missed valuable ones. When he +had filled the waste-basket he rammed blue-prints down into it with his +foot until he succeeded in smashing it. Then he sat down and held his +head between his hands. +</P> + +<P> +She was entitled to an apology, or an attempt at one at least, and though +he would rather have faced a Sweetgrass blizzard than an interview he set +his lips and with bitterness in his heart made his preparations. The +incident only renewed his confidence in his incredible stupidity, but +what he felt was that a girl with such eyes as hers could never be +brought to believe it genuine. +</P> + +<P> +An hour afterward he knocked at the door of the long olive car that stood +east of the station. The hand-rails were very bright and the large plate +windows shone spotless, but the brown shades inside were drawn. Glover +touched the call-button and to the uniformed colored man who answered he +gave his card asking for Miss Brock. +</P> + +<P> +An instant during which he had once waited for a dynamite blast when +unable to get safely away, came back to him. Standing on the handsome +platform he remembered wondering at that time whether he should land in +one place or in several places. Now, he wished himself away from that +door even if he had to crouch again on the ledge which he had found in a +deadly moment he could not escape from. On the previous occasion the +fuse had mercifully failed to burn. This time when he collected his +thoughts the colored man was smilingly telling him for the second time +that Miss Brock was not in. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTO THE MOUNTAINS +</H3> + +<P> +"You put me in an awkward position," muttered Bucks, looking out of the +window. +</P> + +<P> +"But it is grace itself compared with the position I should be in now +among the Pittsburgers," objected Glover, shifting his legs again. +</P> + +<P> +"If you won't go, I must, that's all," continued the general manager. +"I can't send Tom, Dick, or Harry with these people, Ab. Gentlemen +must be entertained as such. On the hunting do the best you can; they +want chiefly to see the country and I can't have them put through it on +a tourist basis. I want them to see things globe-trotters don't see +and can't see without someone like you. You ought to do that much for +our President—Henry S. Brock is not only a national man, and a big one +in the new railroad game, but besides being the owner of this whole +system he is my best friend. We sat at telegraph keys together a long +time before he was rated at sixty million dollars. I care nothing for +the party except that it includes his own family and is made up of his +friends and associates and he looks to me here as I should look to him +in the East were circumstances reversed." +</P> + +<P> +Bucks paused. Glover stared a moment. "If you put it in that way let +us drop it," said he at last. "I will go." +</P> + +<P> +"The blunder was not a life and death matter. In the mountains where +we don't see one woman a year it might happen that any man expecting +one young lady should mistake another for her. Miss Brock is full of +mischief, and the temptation to her to let you deceive yourself was too +great, that's all. If I could go without sacrificing the interests of +all of us in the reorganization I shouldn't ask you to go." +</P> + +<P> +"Let it pass." +</P> + +<P> +The day had been planned for the little reception to the visitors. The +arrival of two more private cars had added the directors, the hunting +party and more women to the company. The women were to drive during +the day, and the men had arranged to inspect the roundhouse, the shops, +and the division terminals and to meet the heads of the operating +department. +</P> + +<P> +In the evening the railroad men were to call on their guests at the +train. This was what Glover had hoped he should escape until Bucks +arriving in the morning asked him not only to attend the reception but +to pilot Mr. Brock's own party through a long mountain trip. To +consent to the former request after agreeing to the latter was of +slight consequence. +</P> + +<P> +In the evening the special train twinkling across the yard looked as +pretty as a dream. The luxury of the appointments, subdued by softened +lights, and the simple hospitality of the Pittsburgers—those people +who understand so well how to charm and bow to repel—was a new note to +the mountain men. If self-consciousness was felt by the least of them +at the door it could hardly pass Mr. Brock within; his cordiality was +genuine. +</P> + +<P> +Following Bucks came some of his mountain staff, whom he introduced to +the men whose interests they now represented. Morris Blood, the +superintendent, was among those he brought forward, and he presented +him as a young railroad man and a rising one. Glover followed because +he was never very far from the mountain superintendent and the general +manager when the two were in sight. +</P> + +<P> +For Glover there was an uncomfortable moment prospect, and it came +almost at once. Mr. Brock, in meeting him as the chief of construction +who was to take the party on the mountain trip, left his place and took +him with Blood black to his own car to be introduced to his sister, +Mrs. Whitney. The younger Miss Brock, Marie, the invalid, a +sweet-faced girl, rose to meet the two men. Mrs. Whitney introduced +them to Miss Donner. At the table Gertrude Brock was watching a waiter +from the dining-car who was placing a coffee urn. +</P> + +<P> +She turned to meet the young men that were coming forward with her +father, and Glover thought the awful moment was upon him; yet it +happened that he was never to be introduced to Gertrude Brock. +</P> + +<P> +Marie was already engaging him where he stood with gentle questions, +and to catch them he had to bend above her. When the waiter went away, +Morris Blood was helping Gertrude Brock to complete her arrangements. +Others came up; the moment passed. But Glover was conscious all the +time of this graceful girl who was so frankly cordial to those near her +and so oblivious of him. +</P> + +<P> +He heard her laughing voice in her conversation with his friends and +noted in the utterance of her sister and her aunt the same unusual +inflections that he had first heard from her in his office. To his +surprise these Eastern women were very easy to talk to. They asked +about the mountains, and as their train conductor had long ago hinted +when himself apologizing for mountain stories, well told but told at +second hand—Glover knew the mountains. +</P> + +<P> +Discussing afterward the man that was to plan the summer trip for them, +Louise Donner wished it might have been the superintendent, because he +was a Boston Tech man. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but I think Mr. Glover is going to be interesting," declared Mrs. +Whitney. "He drawls and I like that sort of men; there's always +something more to what they say, after you think they're done, don't +you know? He drank two cups of coffee, didn't he, Gertrude? Didn't +you like him?" +</P> + +<P> +"The tall one? I didn't notice; he is amazingly homely, isn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't abuse him, for he is delightful," interposed Marie. +</P> + +<P> +"I accused him right soon of being a Southerner," Mrs. Whitney went on. +"He admitted he was a Missourian. When I confessed I liked his drawl +he told me I ought to hear his brother, a lawyer, who stutters. Mr. +Glover says he wins all his cases through sympathy. He stumbles along +until everyone is absolutely convinced that the poor fellow would have +a perfectly splendid case if he could only stammer through it; then, of +course, he gets the verdict." +</P> + +<P> +The party had not completed the first day out of Medicine Bend under +Glover's care before they realized that Mrs. Whitney was right. Glover +could talk and he could listen. With the men it was mining or +railroading or shooting. If things lagged with the ladies he had +landmarks or scenery or early-day stories. With Mrs. Whitney he could +in extremity discuss St. Louis. Marie Brock he could please by placing +her in marvellous spots for sketching. As for Gertrude and Louise +Donner the men of their own party left them no dull moments. +</P> + +<P> +The first week took the party north into the park country. Two days of +the time, on horses, partly, put everyone in love with the Rockies. On +Saturday they reached the main line again, and at Sleepy Cat, +Superintendent Blood joined the party for the desert run to the Heart +Mountains. Glover already felt the fatigue of the unusual week, nor +could any ingenuity make the desert interesting to strenuous people. +Its beauties are contemplative rather than pungent, and the travellers +were frankly advised to fall back on books and ping-pong. Crawling +across an interminable alkali basin in the late afternoon their train +was laid out a long time by a freight wreck. +</P> + +<P> +Weary of the car, Gertrude Brock, after the sun had declined, was +walking alone down the track when Glover came in sight. She started +for the train, but Glover easily overtook her. Since he had joined the +party they had not exchanged one word. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder whether you have ever seen anything like these, Miss Brock?" +he asked, coming up to her. She turned; he had a handful of small, +long-stemmed flowers of an exquisite blue. +</P> + +<P> +"How beautiful!" she exclaimed, moved by surprise. "What are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Desert flowers." +</P> + +<P> +"Such a blue." +</P> + +<P> +"You expressed a regret this morning——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you heard——" +</P> + +<P> +"I overheard——" +</P> + +<P> +"What are they called?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't an idea. But once in the Sioux country—" They were at the +car-step. "Marie? See here," she called to her sister within. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you take them?" asked Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"No, no. I——" +</P> + +<P> +"With an apology for my——" +</P> + +<P> +"Marie, dear, do look here——" +</P> + +<P> +"—Stupidity the other day?" +</P> + +<P> +"How shall I ever reach that step?" she exclaimed, breaking in upon her +own words and obstinately buffeting his own as she gazed with more than +necessary dismay at the high vestibule tread. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you hold the flowers a moment—" he asked—her sister appeared +at the door—"so I may help you?" continued the patient railroad man. +</P> + +<P> +"See, Marie, these dear flowers!" Marie clapped her hands as she ran +forward. He held the flowers up. "Are they for me?" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you take them?" he asked, as she bent over the guard-rail. "Oh, +gladly." He turned instantly, but Gertrude had gained the step. +"Thank you, thank you," exclaimed Marie. "What is their name, Mr. +Glover?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know any name for them except an Indian name. The Sioux, up +in their country, call them sky-eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"Sky-eyes! <I>Isn't</I> that dear? sky-eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"You are heated," continued Marie, looking at him, "you have walked a +long way. Where in all this desolate, desolate country could you find +flowers such as these?" +</P> + +<P> +"Back a little way in a cañon." +</P> + +<P> +"Are there many in a desert like this?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know of none—at least within many miles—yet there may be others in +nearby hiding-places. The desert is full of surprises." +</P> + +<P> +"You are so warm, are you not coming up to sit down while I get a bowl?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will go forward, thank you, and see when we are to get away. Your +sister," he added, looking evenly at Marie as Gertrude stood beside +her, "asked this morning why there were no flowers in this country, and +while we were delayed I happened to recollect that cañon and the +sky-eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"I think your stupid man the most interesting we have met since we left +home, Gertrude," remarked Marie at her embroidery after dinner. +</P> + +<P> +"I told you he would be," said Mrs. Whitney, suppressing a yawn. +Gertrude was playing ping-pong with Doctor Lanning. "But isn't he +homely?" she exclaimed, sending a cut ball into the doctor's +watch-chain. +</P> + +<P> +Louise returned soon with Allen Harrison from the forward car. +</P> + +<P> +"The programme for the evening is arranged," she announced, "and it's +fine. We are to have a big campfire over near that butte—right out +under the stars. And Mr. Blood is going to tell a story, and while +he's telling it, Mr. Glover—oh, drop your ping-pong, won't you, and +listen—has promised to make taffy and we are to pull it—won't that be +jolly? and then the coyotes are to howl." +</P> + +<P> +A little later all left the car together. Above the copper edge of the +desert ranges the moon was rising full and it brought the nearer buttes +up across the stretches of the night like sentinels. In the sky a +multitude of stars trembled, and wind springing from the south fanned +the fire growing on the plateau just off the right of way. +</P> + +<P> +The party disposed themselves in camp-chairs and on ties about the big +fire. Near at hand, Glover, who already had a friend in Clem, the +cook, was feeding chips into a little blaze under a kettle slung with +his taffy mixture, which the women in turn inspected, asked questions +about, and commented sceptically upon. +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Lanning brought his banjo, and when the party had settled low +about the fire it helped to keep alive the talk. Every few minutes the +taffy and the coyotes were demanded in turn, and Glover was kept busy +apologizing for the absence of the wolves and the slowness of his +kettle, under which he fed the small chips regularly. +</P> + +<P> +As the night air grew sharper more wraps were called for. When Doctor +Lanning and Mrs. Whitney started after them they asked Gertrude what +they should bring her, but she said she needed nothing. +</P> + +<P> +As she sat, she could see Glover, her sister Marie on a stool beside +him, watching the boiling taffy. With one foot doubled under him for a +seat, and an elbow supported on his knee he steadied himself like a +camp cook behind his modest fire; but even as he crouched the blaze +threw him up astonishingly tall. Heedless of the chatter around the +big fire the man whose business was to bridle rivers, fight snowslides, +raze granite hills, and dispute for their dizzy passes with the bighorn +and the bear, bent patiently above his pot of molasses, a coaxing stick +in one hand and a careful chip in the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Where, pray, Mr. Glover, did you learn that?" demanded Marie Brock. +He had been explaining the chemical changes that follow each stage of +the boiling in sugar. "I learned the taffy business from the old negro +mammy that 'raised' me down on the Mississippi, Aunt Chloe. She taught +me everything I know—except mathematics—and mathematics I don't know +anyway." Mrs. Whitney was distributing the wraps. "I would have +brought your Newmarket if I could have found it, Gertrude." +</P> + +<P> +"Her Newmarket!" exclaimed Allen Harrison. "Gertrude hasn't told the +Newmarket story, eh? She threw it over a tramp asleep in the rain down +at the Spider Water bridge." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"—And was going to disown me because I wouldn't give up my overcoat +for a tarpaulin." +</P> + +<P> +"Gertrude Brock!" exclaimed Mrs. Whitney. "Your Newmarket! Then you +deserve to freeze," she declared, settling under her fur cape. "What +<I>will</I> she do next? Now, Mr. Blood, we are all here; what about that +story?" +</P> + +<P> +Morris Blood turned. Glover, Marie Brock watching, tested the foaming +candy. Doctor Lanning, on a cushion, strummed his banjo. +</P> + +<P> +In front of Gertrude, Harrison, inhaling a cigarette, stretched before +the fire. Declining a stool, Gertrude was sitting on a chair of ties. +One, projecting at her side, made a rest for her elbow and she reclined +her head upon her hand as she watched the flames leap. +</P> + +<P> +"The incident Miss Donner asked about occurred when I was despatching," +began the superintendent. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, are you a despatcher, too?" asked Louise, clasping her hands upon +her knee as she leaned forward. +</P> + +<P> +"They would hardly trust me with a train-sheet now; this was some time +ago." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AS THE DESPATCHER SAW +</H3> + +<P> +"If you can recollect the blizzard that Roscoe Conkling went down in +one March day in the streets of New York, it will give you the date; +possibly call to your mind the storm. I had the River Division then, +and we got through the whole winter without a single tie-up of +consequence until March. +</P> + +<P> +"The morning was still as June. When the sky went heavy at noon it +looked more like a spring shower than a snow-storm; only, I noticed +over at the government building they were flying a black flag splashed +with a red centre. I had not seen it before for years, and I asked for +ploughs on every train out after two o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +"Even then there was no wickedness abroad; it was coming fairly heavy +in big flakes, but lying quiet as apple-blossoms. Toward four o'clock +I left the office for the roundhouse, and got just about half-way +across the yard when the wind veered like a scared semaphore. I had +left the depot in a snow-storm; I reached the roundhouse in a blizzard. +</P> + +<P> +"There was no time to wait to get back to the keys. I telephoned +orders over from the house, and the boys burned the wires, east and +west, with warnings. When the wind went into the north that day at +four o'clock, it was murder pure and simple, with the snow sweeping the +flat like a shroud and the thermometer water-logged at zero. +</P> + +<P> +"All night it blew, with never a minute's let-up. By ten o'clock half +our wires were down, trains were failing all over the division, and +before midnight every plough on the line was bucking snow—and the snow +was coming harder. We had given up all idea of moving freight, and +were centring everything on the passenger trains, when a message came +from Beverly that the fast mail was off track in the cut below the +hill, and I ordered out the wrecking gang and a plough battery for the +run down. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a fearful night to make up a train in a hurry—as much as a +man's life was worth to work even slow in the yard a night like that. +But what limit is set to a switchman's courage I have never known, +because I've never known one to balk at a yardmaster's order. +</P> + +<P> +"I went to work clearing the line, and forgot all about everything +outside the train-sheet till a car-tink came running in with word that +a man was hurt in the yard. +</P> + +<P> +"Some men get used to it; I never do. As much as I have seen of +railroad life, the word that a man's hurt always hits me in the same +place. Slipping into an ulster, I pulled a storm-cap over my ears and +hurried down stairs buttoning my coat. The arc-lights, blinded in the +storm, swung wild across the long yard, and the wind sung with a scream +through the telegraph wires. Stumbling ahead, the big car-tink, facing +the storm, led me to where between the red and the green lamps a dozen +men hovered close to the gangway of a switch engine. The man hurt lay +under the forward truck of the tender. +</P> + +<P> +"They had just got the wrecking train made up, and this man, running +forward after setting a switch, had flipped the tender of the backing +engine and slipped from the footboard. When I bent over him, I saw he +was against it. He knew it, too, for the minute they shut off and got +to him he kept perfectly still, asking only for a priest. +</P> + +<P> +"I tried every way I could think of to get him free from the wheels. +Two of us crawled under the tender to try to figure it out. But he lay +so jammed between the front wheel and the hind one, and tender trucks +are so small and the wheels so close together that to save our lives we +could neither pull ahead nor back the engine without further mutilating +him. +</P> + +<P> +"As I talked to him I took his hand and tried to explain that to free +him we should have to jack up the truck. He heard, he understood, but +his eyes, glittering like the eyes of a wounded animal with shock, +wandered uneasily while I spoke, and when I had done, he closed them to +grapple with the pain. Presently a hand touched my shoulder; the +priest had come, and throwing open his coat knelt beside us. He was a +spare old man—none too good a subject himself, I thought, for much +exposure like that—but he did not seem to mind. He dropped on his +knees and, with both hands in the snow, put his head in behind the +wheel close to the man's face. What they said to each other lasted +only a moment, and all the while the boys were keying like madmen at +the jacks to ease the wheel that had crushed the switchman's thigh. +When they got the truck partly free, they lifted the injured man back a +little where we could all see his face. They were ready to do more, +but the priest, wiping the water and snow from the failing man's lips +and forehead, put up his fingers to check them. +</P> + +<P> +"The wind, howling around the freight-cars strung about us, sucked the +guarded lantern flames up into blue and green flickers in the globes; +they lighted the priest's face as he took off his hat and laid it +beside him, and lighted the switchman's eyes looking steadily up from +the rail. The snow, curling and eddying across the little blaze of +lamps, whitened everything alike, tender and wheel and rail, the +jackscrews, the bars, and the shoulders and caps of the men. The +priest bent forward again and touched the lips and the forehead of the +switchman with his thumb: then straightening on his knees he paused a +moment, his eyes lifted up, raised his hand and slowly signing through +the blinding flakes the form of the cross, gave him the sacrament of +the dying. +</P> + +<P> +"I have forgotten the man's name. I have never seen the old priest, +before or since. But, sometime, a painter will turn to the railroad +life. When he does, I may see from his hand such a picture as I saw at +that moment—the night, the storm, the scant hair of the priest blown +in the gale, the men bared about him; the hush of the death moment; the +wrinkled hand raised in the last benediction." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN EMERGENCY CALL +</H3> + +<P> +In the morning the Brock special bathed in sunshine lay in the Bear +Dance yard. When it was learned at breakfast that during the night +Morris Blood had disappeared there was a protest. He had taken a train +east, Glover told them. +</P> + +<P> +"But you should not have let him run away," objected Marie Brock, +"we've barely made his acquaintance. I was going to ask him ever so +many questions about mines this morning. Tell him, Mr. Glover, when +you telegraph, that he has had a peremptory recall, will you? We want +him for dinner to-morrow night; papa and Mr. Bucks are to join us, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Brock arrived the following evening but the general manager failed +them, and it was long after hope of Morris Blood had been given up that +Glover brought him in with apologies for his late arrival. +</P> + +<P> +The two cars were sidetracked at Cascade, the heart of the sightseeing +country, and Glover had a trip laid out for the early morning on horses +up Cabin Creek. +</P> + +<P> +When he sat down to explain to Marie where he meant to take the party +the following day Gertrude Brock had a book under the banquet lamp at +the lower end of the car. The doctor and Harrison with Mrs. Whitney +were gathered about Louise, who among the couch pillows was reading +hands. As Morris Blood, after some talk with Mr. Brock, approached, +Louise nodded to him. "We shall take no apologies for spoiling our +dinner party," said she, "but you may sit down. I haven't been able, +Mr. Blood, to get your story out of my head since you told it: none of +us have. Do you believe in palmistry? Now, Mr. Harrison, do sit still +till I finish your hand. Oh, here's another engagement in it! Why, +Allen Harrison!" +</P> + +<P> +"How many is that?" asked Gertrude, looking over. +</P> + +<P> +"Three; and here is further excitement for you, Mr. Harrison——" +</P> + +<P> +"How soon?" demanded Allen. +</P> + +<P> +"Very soon, I should think; just as soon as you get home." +</P> + +<P> +"Well timed," said Marie; she and Glover had come up. "I think that's +all, this time," concluded Louise, studying the lines carefully. "Go +slow on mining for one year, remember." She looked at Morris Blood. +"Am I to have the pleasure of reading your hand?" +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't a bit of excitement in my hand, Miss Donner, no fortunes, +no adventures, no engagements——" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean in your life. Very good; that's just the sort of hand I love +to read. The excitement is all ahead. Really I should like to read +your hand." +</P> + +<P> +"If you insist," he said, putting out his left hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Your right, please," smiled Louise. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no right," he answered. She looked mystified, but held out her +hand smilingly for his right. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no right hand," he repeated, smiling, too. +</P> + +<P> +None had observed before that the superintendent never offered his hand +in greeting. A conscious instant fell on the group. It was barely an +instant, for Glover, who heard, turned at once from an answer to Marie +Brock and laying a hand on his companion's shoulder spoke easily to +Louise. "He gave his right hand for me once, Miss Donner, that's the +reason he has none. May I offer mine for him?" +</P> + +<P> +He put out his own right hand as he asked, and his lightly serious +words bridged the momentary embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I can read either hand," laughed Louise, recovering and putting +Glover's hand aside. "Let me have your left, Mr. Blood—your turn +presently, Mr. Glover. Be seated. Now this is the sort of hand I +like," she declared, leaning forward as she looked into the left—"full +of romance, Mr. Blood. Here is an affair of the heart the very first +thing. Now don't laugh, this is serious." She studied the palm a +moment and glanced mischievously around her. "If I were to disclose +all the delicate romances I find here," she declared with an air of +mystery, "they would laugh at both of us. I'm not going to give them a +chance. I give private readings, too, Mr. Blood, and you shall have a +private reading at the other end or the car after a while. Now is +there another 'party'? Oh, to be sure; come, Mr. Glover, are all +railroad men romantic? This is growing interesting—let me see your +palm. Oh!" +</P> + +<P> +"Now what have I done?" asked Glover as Louise, studying his palm, +started. "I have changed my name—I admit that; but I have always +denied killing anyone in the States. Are you going to tell the real +facts? Won't someone lend <I>me</I> a hand for a few minutes? Or may I +withdraw this entry before exposure?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Glover! of all the hands! I'm not surprised you were chosen to +show the sights. There's something happening in your hand every few +minutes. Adventures, heart affairs, fortunes, perils—such a +life-line, Mr. Glover. On my word there you are hanging by a hair—a +hair—on the verge of eternity——" +</P> + +<P> +Glover laughed softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come, Louise," protested Mrs. Whitney. "Touch on lighter lines, +please." +</P> + +<P> +"Lighter lines! Why, Mr. Glover's heart-line is a perfect cañon." The +laughter did not daunt her. "A perfect cañon. I've read about hands +like this, but I never saw one. No more to-night, Mr. Glover, you are +too exciting." +</P> + +<P> +"But about hanging on the verge—has it anything to do with a lynching, +do you think, Miss Donner?" asked Glover. "The hair rope might be a +lariat——" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Glover!"—the train conductor opened the car door. "Is Mr. Glover +in this car?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"A message." +</P> + +<P> +"May I be excused for a moment?" said Glover, rising. +</P> + +<P> +"What did I tell you?" exclaimed Louise, "a telegram! Something has +happened already." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CAT AND THE RAT +</H3> + +<P> +At five o'clock that evening, snow was falling at Medicine Bend, but +Callahan, as he studied the weather bulletins, found consolation in the +fact that it was not raining, and resting his heels on a table littered +with train-sheets he forced the draft on a shabby brier and meditated. +</P> + +<P> +There were times when snow had been received with strong words at the +Wickiup: but when summer fairly opened Callahan preferred snow to rain +as strongly as he preferred genuine Lone Jack to the spurious compounds +that flooded the Western market. +</P> + +<P> +The chief element of speculation in his evening reflections was as to +what was going on west of the range, for Callahan knew through cloudy +experience that what happens on one side of a mountain chain is no +evidence as to what is doing on the other—and by species of warm +weather depravity that night something was happening west of the range. +</P> + +<P> +"It is curious," mused Callahan, as Morrison, the head operator, handed +him some McCloud messages—"curious, that we get nothing from Sleepy +Cat." +</P> + +<P> +Sleepy Cat, it should be explained, is a new town on the West End; not +only that, but a division town, and though one may know something about +the Mountain Division he may yet be puzzled at Callahan's mention of +Sleepy Cat. When gold was found in the Pilot range and camps grew up +and down Devil's Gap like mushrooms, a branch was run from Sleepy Cat +through the Pilot country, and the tortoise-like way station became at +once a place of importance. It takes its name from the neighboring +mountain around the base of which winds the swift Rat River. At Sleepy +Cat town the main line leaves the Rat, and if a tenderfoot brakeman ask +a reservation buck why the mountain is called Sleepy Cat the Indian +will answer, always the same, "It lets the Rat run away." +</P> + +<P> +"Now it's possible," suggested Hughie Morrison, looking vaguely at the +stove, "that the wires are down." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," objected Callahan. +</P> + +<P> +"It is raining at Soda Sink," persisted Morrison, mildly. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" demanded the general superintendent, pulling his pipe from his +mouth. Hughie Morrison kept cool. His straight, black hair lay +boyishly smooth across his brow. There was no guile in his expression +even though he had stunned Callahan, which was precisely what he had +intended. "It is raining at Soda Sink," he repeated. +</P> + +<P> +Now there is no day in the mountains that goes back of the awful +tradition concerning rain at Soda Sink. Before Tom Porter, first +manager; before Brodie, who built the bridges; before Sikes, longest in +the cab; before Pat Francis, oldest of conductors, runs that tradition +about rain at the Sink—which is desert absolute—where it never does +rain and never should. When it rains at Soda Sink, this say the +Medicine men, the Cat will fall on the Rat. It is Indian talk as old +as the foothills. +</P> + +<P> +Of course no railroad man ever gave much heed to Indian talk; how, for +instance, could a mountain fall on a river? Yet so the legend ran, and +there being one superstitious man on the force at Medicine Bend one man +remembered it—Hughie Morrison. +</P> + +<P> +Callahan studied the bulletin to which the operator called his +attention and resumed his pipe sceptically, but he did make a +suggestion. "See if you can't get Sleepy Cat, Hughie, and find out +whether that is so." +</P> + +<P> +Morris Blood was away with the Pittsburgers and Callahan had foolishly +consented to look after his desk for a few days. At the moment that +Morrison took hold of the key Giddings opened the door from the +despatchers' room. "Mr. Callahan, there's a message coming from +Francis, conductor of Number Two. They've had a cloudburst on Dry +Dollar Creek," he said, excitedly; "twenty feet of water came down Rat +Cañon at five o'clock. The track's under four feet in the cañon." +</P> + +<P> +As a pebble striking an anthill stirs into angry life a thousand +startled workers, so a mountain washout startles a division and +concentrates upon a single point the very last reserve of its +activities and energies. +</P> + +<P> +For thirty minutes the wires sung with Callahan's messages. When his +special for a run to the Rat Cañon was ready all the extra yardmen and +both roadmasters were in the caboose; behind them fumed a second +section with orders to pick up along the way every section man as they +followed. It was hard on eight o'clock when Callahan stepped aboard. +They double-headed for the pass, and not till they pulled up with their +pony truck facing the water at the mouth of the big cañon did they ease +their pace. +</P> + +<P> +In the darkness they could only grope. Smith Young, roadmaster of the +Pilot branch, an old mountain boy, had gone down from Sleepy Cat before +dark, and crawling over the rocks in the dusk had worked his way along +the cañon walls to the scene of the disaster. +</P> + +<P> +Just below where Dry Dollar Creek breaks into the Rat the cañon is +choked on one side by a granite wall two hundred feet high. On the +other, a sheer spur of Sleepy Cat Mountain is thrust out like a paw +against the river. It was there that the wall of water out of Dry +Dollar had struck the track and scoured it to the bedrock. Ties, +steel, ballast, riprap, roadbed, were gone, and where the heavy +construction had run below the paw of Sleepy Cat the river was churning +in a channel ten feet deep. +</P> + +<P> +The best news Young had was that Agnew, the division engineer who +happened to be at Sleepy Cat, had made the inspection with him and had +already returned to order in men and material for daybreak. +</P> + +<P> +Leaving the roadmasters to care for their incoming forces, Callahan, +with Smith Young's men for guides, took the footpath on the south side +to the head of the cañon, where, above the break, an engine was waiting +to run him to Sleepy Cat. When he reached the station Agnew was up at +the material yard, and Callahan sat down in his shirt sleeves to take +reports on train movements. The despatchers were annulling, holding +the freights and distributing passenger trains at eating stations. But +an hour's work at the head-breaking problem left the division, Callahan +thought, in worse shape than when the planning began, and he got up +from the keg in a mental whirl when Duffy at Medicine Bend sent a body +blow in a long message supplementary to his first report. +</P> + +<P> +"Bear Dance reports the fruit extras making a very fast run. First +train of eighteen cars has just pulled in: there are seven more of +these fruit extras following close, should arrive at Sleepy Cat at four +A.M." +</P> + +<P> +Callahan turned from the message with his hand in his hair. Of all bad +luck this was the worst. The California fruit trains, not due for +twenty-four hours, coming in a day ahead of time with the Mountain +Division tied up by the worst washout it had ever seen. In a heat he +walked out of the operators' office to find Agnew; the two men met near +the water tank. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Agnew. This puts us against it, doesn't it? How soon can you +give us a track?" asked Callahan, feverishly. +</P> + +<P> +Agnew was the only man on the division that was always calm. He was +thorough, practical, and after he had cut his mountain teeth in the +Peace River disaster, a hardheaded man at his work. +</P> + +<P> +"It will take forty-eight hours after I get my material here——" +</P> + +<P> +"Forty-eight hours!" echoed Callahan. "Why, man, we shall have eight +trains of California fruit here by four o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm on my way to order in the filling, now," said Agnew, "and I shall +push things to the limit, Mr. Callahan." +</P> + +<P> +"Limit, yes, your limit—but what about my limit? Forty-eight hours' +delay will put every car of that fruit into market rotten. I've got to +have some kind of a track through there—any kind on earth will do—but +I've got to have it by to-morrow night." +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow night?" +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow night." +</P> + +<P> +Agnew looked at him as a sympathizing man looks at a lunatic, and +calmly shook his head. "I can't get rock here till to-morrow morning. +What is the use talking impossibilities?" +</P> + +<P> +Callahan ground his heel in the ballast. Agnew only asked him if he +realized what a hole there was to fill. "It's no use dumping gravel in +there," he explained patiently, "the river will carry it out faster +than flat cars can carry it in." +</P> + +<P> +Callahan waved his hand. "I've got to have track there by to-morrow +night." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to dump a hundred cars of rock in there before we shall have +anything to lay track on; and I've got to pick the rock up all the way +from here to Goose River." +</P> + +<P> +They walked together to the station. +</P> + +<P> +When the night grew too dark for Callahan he had but one higher +thought—Bucks. Bucks was five hundred miles away at McCloud, but he +already had the particulars and was waiting at a key ready to take up +the trouble of his favorite division. Callahan at the wire in Sleepy +Cat told his story, and Bucks at the other end listened and asked +questions. He listened to every detail of the disaster, to the cold +hard figures of Agnew's estimates—which nothing could alter, jot or +tittle—and to Callahan's despairing question as to how he could +possibly save the unlooked-for avalanche of fruit. +</P> + +<P> +For some time after the returns were in, Bucks was silent; silent so +long that the copper-haired man twisted in his chair, looked vacantly +around the office and chewed a cigar into strings. Then the sounder at +his hand clicked. He recognized Bucks sending in the three words +lightly spelled on his ear and jumped from his seat. Just three words +Bucks had sent and signed off. What galvanized Callahan was that the +words were so simple, so all-covering, and so easy. "Why didn't <I>I</I> +think of that?" groaned Callahan, mentally. +</P> + +<P> +Then he reflected that he was nothing but a redheaded Irishman, anyway, +while Bucks was a genius. It never showed more clearly, Callahan +thought, than when he received the three words, "Send for Glover." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TIME BEING MONEY +</H3> + +<P> +Sleepy Cat town was but just rubbing its eyes next morning when the +Brock train pulled in from Cascade. Clouds rolling loosely across the +mountains were pushing the night into the west, and in the east wind +promise of day followed, soft and cool. +</P> + +<P> +On the platform in the gray light three men were climbing into the +gangway of a switch-engine, the last man so long and so loosely put +together that he was taking, as he always took when he tried to get +into small quarters, the chaffing of his companions on his size. He +smiled languidly at Callahan's excited greeting, and as they ran down +the yard listened without comment to the story of the washout. No +words were needed to convey to Glover or to Blood the embarrassment of +the situation. Freight trains crowded every track in the yard, and the +block of twelve hours indicated what a two-day tie-up would mean. In +the cañon the roadmasters were already taking measurements and section +men were lining up track that had been lifted and wrenched by the +water. Callahan and Blood did the talking, but when they left the +flooded roadbed and Glover took a way up the cañon wall it became +apparent what the mountain engineer's long legs were for. He led, a +quick, sure climber, and if he meant by rapidly scaling the bowlders to +shut off Callahan's talk the intent was effective. Nothing more was +said till the three men, followed by the roadmasters, had gained a +ledge, fifty feet above the water, that commanded for a quarter of a +mile a view of the cañon. +</P> + +<P> +They were standing above the mouth of Dry Dollar Creek, opposite the +point of rocks called the Cat's Paw, and Glover, pulling his hat brim +into a perspective, looked up and down the river. The roadmasters had +taken some measurements and these they offered him, but he did no more +than listen while they read their figures as if mentally comparing them +with notes in his memory. Once he questioned a figure, but it was not +till the roadmaster insisted he was right that Glover drew from one of +his innumerable pockets an old field-book and showed the man where he +had made his error of ten feet in the disputed measurement. +</P> + +<P> +"Bucks said last night you knew all this track work," remarked Callahan. +</P> + +<P> +"I helped Hailey a little here when he rebuilt three years ago. The +track was put in then as well as it ever can be put in. The fact +simply is this, Callahan, we shall never be safe here. What must be +done is to tunnel Sleepy Cat, get out of the infernal cañon with the +main line and use this for the spur around the tunnel. When your +message came last night, Morris and I took the chance to tell Mr. Brock +so, and he is here this morning to see what things look like after a +cloudburst. A tunnel will save two miles of track and all the +double-heading." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Glover, what's that got to do with this fruit? Confound your +tunnel, what I want is a track. By heavens, if it's going to take +three days to get one in we might as well dump a hundred cars of fruit +into the river now—and Bucks is looking to you to save them." +</P> + +<P> +"Looking to me?" echoed Glover, raising his brows. "What's the matter +with Agnew?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hang Agnew!" +</P> + +<P> +"If you like. But he is in charge of this division. I can't do +anything discourteous or unprofessional, Callahan." +</P> + +<P> +"You are not required to." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks very much as if I am being called in to instruct Agnew how to +do his work. He is a perfectly competent engineer." +</P> + +<P> +"That point has been covered. Bucks had a long talk with Agnew over +the wire last night. He is needed all the time at the Blackwood bridge +and he is relieved here when you arrive. Now what's the matter with +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing whatever if that is the situation. I'd much rather keep out +of it, but there isn't work enough here for two engineers. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't very bad." +</P> + +<P> +"Not very bad! Well, how much time do you want to put a track in here?" +</P> + +<P> +Glover's eyes were roaming up and down the cañon. "How much can you +give me?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Till to-night." +</P> + +<P> +Glover looked at his watch. "Then get two hundred and fifty men in +here inside of an hour." +</P> + +<P> +"We've picked up about seventy-five section men so far, but there +aren't two hundred and fifty men within a hundred miles." +</P> + +<P> +Glover pointed north. "Ed Smith's got two hundred men not over three +miles from here on the irrigation ditch." +</P> + +<P> +"That only shows I've no business in this game," remarked Callahan, +looking at Morris Blood. "This is where you take hold." +</P> + +<P> +Blood nodded. "Leave that to me. Let's have the orders all at once, +Ab. Say where you want headquarters." +</P> + +<P> +The engineer stretched a finger toward the point of rocks across the +cañon. "Right above the Cat's Paw." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell Bill Dancing to cut in the wrecking instrument and put an +operator over there for Glover's orders," directed Blood, turning to +Smith Young. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm off for something to eat," said Callahan, "and by the way, what +shall I tell Bucks about the chances?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you get Ed Smith's outfit?" asked Glover, speaking to Blood. +"Well, I know you can—Ed's a Denver man." He meditated another +moment; "We need his whole outfit, mind you." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll get it or resign. If I succeed, when can you get a train +through?" +</P> + +<P> +"By midnight." Callahan staggered. Glover raised his finger. "If you +back off the ledge they will need a new general superintendent." +</P> + +<P> +"By midnight?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think so." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't get your rock in by that time?" +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +"Agnew says it will take a hundred cars." +</P> + +<P> +"That's not far out of the way. On flat cars you won't average much +over ten yards to the car, will you, Morris?" +</P> + +<P> +Like two wary gamblers Callahan and the chief of construction on the +mountain lines coldly eyed each other, Glover standing pat and the +general superintendent disinclined through many experiences to call. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not doing the talking now," said Callahan at length with a +sidewise glance, "but if you get a hundred cars of rock into that hole +by twelve o'clock to-night—not to speak of laying steel—you can have +my job, old man." +</P> + +<P> +"Then look up another right away, for I'll have the rock in the river +long before that. Now don't rubber, but get after the men and the +drills——" +</P> + +<P> +"The drills?" +</P> + +<P> +"I said the whole outfit." +</P> + +<P> +"Would it be proper to ask what you are going to drill?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly proper." Glover pointed again to the shelving wall across +the river. "It will save time and freight to tumble the Cat's Paw into +the river—there's ten times the rock we need right there—I can dump a +thousand yards where we need it in thirty seconds after I get my powder +in. That will give us our foundation and your roadmasters can lay a +track over it in six hours that will carry your fruit—I wouldn't +recommend it for dining-cars, but it will do for plums and cherries. +And by the way, Morris," called Glover—Blood already twenty feet away +was scrambling down the path—"if Ed Smith's got any giant powder +borrow sticks enough to spring thirty or forty holes with, will you? +I've got plenty of black up at Pilot. You can order it down by the +time we are ready to blast." +</P> + +<P> +In another hour the cañon looked as if a hive of bees were swarming on +the Cat's Paw. With shovels, picks, bars, hammers, and drills, hearty +in miners' boots and pied in woollen shirts the first of Ed Smith's men +were clambering into place. The field telegraph had been set up on the +bench above the point: every few moments a new batch of irrigation men +appeared stringing up the ledge, and with the roadmasters as +lieutenants, Glover, on the apex of the low spur of the mountain, +taking reports and giving orders, surveyed his improvised army. +</P> + +<P> +At the upper and lower ends of the track where the roadbed had not +completely disappeared the full force of section men, backed by the +irrigation laborers, were busy patching the holes. +</P> + +<P> +At the point where the break was complete and the Rat River was +viciously licking the vertical face of the rock a crew of men, six feet +above the track level, were drilling into the first ledge a set of +six-foot holes. On the next receding ledge, twelve feet above the old +track level, a second crew were tamping a set of holes to be sunk +twelve feet. Above them the drills were cutting into the third ledge, +and still higher and farther back, at twenty feet, the largest of all +the crews was sinking the eighteen-foot holes to complete the fracture +of the great wall. Above the murmuring of the steel rang continually +the calls of the foremen, and hour after hour the shock of the drills +churned up and down the narrow cañon. +</P> + +<P> +During each hour Glover was over every foot of the work, and inspecting +the track building. If a track boss couldn't understand what he wanted +the engineer could take a pick or a bar and give the man an object +lesson. He patrolled the cañon walls, the roadmasters behind him, with +so good an eye for loose bowlders, and fragments such as could be moved +readily with a gad, that his assistants before a second round had +spotted every handy chunk of rock within fifty feet of the water. He +put his spirit into the men and they gave their work the enthusiasm of +soldiers. But closest of all Glover watched the preparations for the +blast on the Cat's Paw. +</P> + +<P> +Morris Blood in the meantime was sweeping the division for stone, +ballast, granite, gravel, anything that would serve to dump on Glover's +rock after the blast, and the two men were conferring on the track +about the supplies when a messenger appeared with word for Glover that +Mr. Brock's party were coming down the cañon. +</P> + +<P> +When Glover intercepted the visitors they had already been guided to +the granite bench where his headquarters were fixed. With Mr. Brock +had come the young men, Miss Donner, and Mrs. Whitney. Mrs. Whitney +signalized her arrival by sitting down on a chest of dynamite—having +intimidated the modest headquarters custodian by asking for a chair so +imperiously that he was glad to walk away at her suggestion that he +hunt one up—though there was not a chair within several miles. It had +been no part of Glover's plan to receive his guests at that point, and +his first efforts after the greetings were to coax them away from the +interest they expressed in the equipment of an emergency headquarters, +and get them back to where the track crossed the river. But when the +young people learned that the blue-eyed boy at the little table on the +rock could send a telegram or a cablegram for them to any part of the +world, each insisted on putting a message through for the fun of the +thing, and even Mrs. Whitney could hardly be coaxed from the +illimitable possibilities just under her. +</P> + +<P> +With a feeling of relief he got them away from the giant powder which +Ed Smith's men were still bringing in, and across the river to the +ledge that commanded the whole scene, and was safely removed from its +activities. +</P> + +<P> +Glover took ten minutes to point out to the president of the system the +difficulties that would always confront the operating department in the +cañon. He charted clearly for Mr. Brock the whole situation, with the +hope that when certain very heavy estimates went before the directors +one man at least would understand the necessity for them. Mr. Brock +was a good questioner, and his interest turned constantly from the +general observations offered by Glover to the work immediately in hand, +which the engineer had no mind to exploit. The young people, however, +were determined to see the blast, and it was only by strongly advising +an early dinner and promising that they should have due notice of the +blast that Glover got rid of his visitors at all. +</P> + +<P> +He returned with them to the caboose in which they had come down, and +when he got back to the work the big camp kettles were already slung +along the bench, and the engine bringing the car of black powder was +steaming slowing into the upper cañon. On a flat bowlder back of the +cooks, Morris Blood, Ed Smith, and the roadmasters were sitting down to +coffee and sandwiches, and Glover joined them. Men in relays were +eating at the camp and dynamiters were picking their way across the +face of the Cat's Paw with the giant powder. The engineers were still +at their coffee-fire when the scream of a locomotive whistle came +through the cañon from below. Blood looked up. "There's one of the +fast mail engines, probably the 1026. Who in the world has brought her +up?" +</P> + +<P> +"More than likely," suggested Glover, finishing his coffee, "it's +Bucks." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SPLITTING THE PAW +</H3> + +<P> +Preceded by a track boss along the ledges where the blasting crew was +already putting down the dynamite, a man almost as large as Glover and +rigged in a storm cap and ulster made his way toward the camp +headquarters. The mountain men sprang to their feet with a greeting +for the general manager—it was Bucks. +</P> + +<P> +He took Blood's welcome with a laugh, nodded to the roadmasters, and +pulling his cap from his head, turned to grasp Glover's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I hear you're going to spoil some of our scenery, Ab. I thought I'd +run up and see how much government land you were going to move without +a permit. Glad you got down so promptly. Callahan had nervous +prostration for a while last night. I told him you'd have some sort of +a trick in your bag, but I didn't suppose you would spring the side of +a mountain on us. Am I to have any coffee or not? What are you +eating, dynamite? Why, there's Ed Smith—what are you hanging back in +the dark for, Ed? Come out here and show yourself. It was like you to +lend us your men. If the boys forget it, I sha'n't." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather see you than a hundred men," declared Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"Then give me something to eat," suggested Bucks. +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the snappy, sharp reports of exploding dynamite could be +heard; they were springing the drill holes. Bucks sitting down on the +bowlder, wrapping the tails of his coat between his legs and taking +coffee from Young drank while the men talked. From the box car below, +Ed Smith's men were packing the black powder up the trail to the Paw. +When it began going into the holes, Glover went to the ledge to oversee +the charging. +</P> + +<P> +In the Pittsburg train, at Sleepy Cat, an early dinner was being served +to the cañon party. They had come back enthusiastic. The scenery was +declared superb, and the uncertainty of the situation most satisfying. +The riot of the mountain stream, which plunging now unbridled from wall +to wall had scoured the deep gorge for hundreds of feet, was a moving +spectacle. The activity of the swarming laborers, preparing their one +tremendous answer to the insolence of the river, had behind it the +excitement of a game of chance. The stake, indeed, was eight solid +trains of perishable freight, and the gambler that had staked their +value and his reputation on one throw of the dice was their own +easy-mannered guide. +</P> + +<P> +They discussed his chances with the indifference of spectators. Doctor +Lanning, the only one of the young people that had ever done anything +himself, was inclined to think Glover might win out. Allen Harrison +was willing to wager that trains couldn't be got across a hole like +that for another twenty-four hours. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Whitney wondered why, if Mr. Glover were really a competent man, +he could not have held his position as chief engineer of the system, +but Doctor Lanning explained that frequently Western men of real talent +were wholly lacking in ambition and preferred a free-and-easy life to +one of constant responsibility; others, again, drank—and this +suggestion opened a discussion as to whether Western men could possibly +do more drinking than Eastern men, and transact business at all. +</P> + +<P> +While the discussion proceeded there came a telegram from Glover +telling Doctor Lanning that the blast would be made about seven +o'clock. Preparations to start were completed as the company rose from +the table, and Gertrude Brock and Marie were urged to join the party. +Marie consented, but Gertrude had a new book and would not leave it, +and when the others started she joined her father and Judge Saltzer, +her father's counsellor, now with them, who were dining more leisurely +at their own table. +</P> + +<P> +Bucks met the doctor and his party at the head of the cañon and took +them to the high ledge across the river, where they had been brought by +Glover in the morning. In the cañon it was already dark. Men were +eating around campfires, and in the narrow strip of eastern sky between +the walls the moon was rising. Work-trains with signal lanterns were +moving above and below the break, dumping ballast behind the track +layers. At a safe distance from the coming blast a dozen headlights +from the roundhouse were being prepared, and the car-tinks from Sleepy +Cat were rigging torches for the night. +</P> + +<P> +The blasting powder in twenty-pound cans was being passed from hand to +hand to the chargers. Score after score of the compact cans of high +explosive had been packed into the scattered holes, and as if alive to +what was coming the chill air of the cañon took on the uneasiness of an +atmosphere laden with electricity. Men of the operating department +paced the bench impatiently, and trackmen working below in the flare of +scattered torches looked up oftener from their shovels to where a chain +of active figures moved on the face of the cliff. Word passed again +and again that the charging was done, but the orders came steadily from +the gloom on the ledge for more powder until the last pound the +engineer called for had been buried beneath his feet in the sleeping +rock. +</P> + +<P> +After a long delay a red light swung slowly to and fro on the ledge. +From the extreme end of the cañon below the Cat's Paw came the crash of +a track-torpedo, answered almost instantly by a second, above the +break. It was the warning signal to get into the clear. There was a +buzz of rapid movement among the laborers. In twos and threes and +dozens, a ragged procession of lanterns and torches, they retreated, +foremen urging the laggards, until only a single man at each end of the +broken track kept within sight of the tiny red lantern on the ledge. +Again it swung in a circle and again the torpedoes replied, this time +all clear. The hush of a hundred voices, the silence of the bars and +shovels and picks gave back to the chill cañon its loneliness, and the +roar of the river rose undisturbed to the brooding night. +</P> + +<P> +On the ledge Glover was alone. The final detail he was taking into his +own hands. The few that could still command the point saw the red +light moving, and beside it a figure vaguely outlined making its way. +When the red light paused, a spark could be seen, a sputtering blaze +would run slowly from it, hesitate, flare and die. Another and another +of the fuses were touched and passed. With quickening steps tier after +tier was covered, until those looking saw the red light flung at last +into the air. It circled high between the cañon walls in its flight +and dropped like a rocket into the Rat. A muffled report from the +lower tier was followed by a heavier and still a heavier one above. A +creeping pang shot the heart of the granite, a dreadful awakening was +upon it. +</P> + +<P> +From the tier of the upmost holes came at length the terrific burst of +the heavy mines. The travail of an awful instant followed, the face of +the spur parted from its side, toppled an instant in the confusion of +its rending and with an appalling crash fell upon the river below. +</P> + +<P> +With the fragments still tumbling, the nearest men started with a cheer +from their concealment. Smoke rolling white and sullen upward obscured +the moon, and the cañon air, salt and sick with gases, poured over the +high point on which the Pittsburgers stood. Below, torches were +shooting like fireflies out of the rock. From every vantage point +headlights flashed one after another unhooded on the scene, and the +song of the river mingled again with the calling of the foremen. +</P> + +<P> +"That ends the fireworks," remarked Bucks to those about him. "Let us +watch a moment for Mr. Glover's signal to me. As soon as he inspects +he is to show signals on the Cat's Paw, and if it is a success we will +return at once to Sleepy Cat." +</P> + +<P> +"And by the way, Mr. Bucks, I shall expect you and Mr. Glover up to the +car for my game supper. Have you arranged for him to come?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have, Mrs. Whitney, thank you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, see those pretty red lights over there now. What are they?" asked +Louise, who stood with Allen Harrison. +</P> + +<P> +"The signals," exclaimed Bucks. "Three fusees. Good for Glover; that +means success. Shall we go?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When the sightseers made their way out of the cañon material trains +working from both ends of the break were shoving their loaded flats +noisily up to the ballasting crews and the water was echoing the clang +of the spike mauls, the thud of tamping-irons, the clash of picks, the +splash of tumbling stone, and the ceaseless roll of shovels. +</P> + +<P> +Foot by foot, length by length, the gap was shortened. Bribed by extra +pay, driven by the bosses, and stimulated by the emergency, the work of +the graders became an effort close to fury. Watches were already +consulted and wagers were being laid between rival foremen on the +moment a train should pass the point. Above the peaks the stars +glittered, and high in the sky the moon shot a path of clear light down +the river itself. The camp kettles steamed constantly, and coffee +strong enough to ballast eggs and primed with unusual cordials was +passed every hour among the hundreds along the track. +</P> + +<P> +In the lower yard at Sleepy Cat the pilot train was being made ready +and the clatter of switching came into the cañon. From still further +came the barking exhaust of the first-train engine waiting for orders +for the cañon run. +</P> + +<P> +Glover pacing the narrow bench below the camp returned again to the +operator's table, and in the light of the lantern wrote a message to +Medicine Bend. When it had been sent he upended an empty spike keg, +and sitting down before the fire, got his back against a rock and gave +himself to his thoughts. Men straggled back and forth, but none +disturbed him. Some, in turn, fed the fire, some rolled themselves in +their blankets and lay down to sleep, but his eyes were lost all the +while in the leaping blaze. +</P> + +<P> +A volleying signal of the locomotive whistles roused him. He looked at +his watch and stepped to the verge of the ledge. Toward Sleepy Cat a +headlight was slowly rounding the first curve. The pilot train was +coming and below where he stood he could see green lights swinging. +The locomotive of the work-train was at the hind end and the +roadmasters standing on the first flat car were signalling. Mauls were +ringing at the last spikes when the head flat car moved cautiously out +on the new track. Car after car approached, every second one bearing a +flagman re-signalling to the cab as the train took the short curves of +the cañon and entering the gorge rolled slowly beneath the Cat's Paw +over the prostrate granite. +</P> + +<P> +The trackmen parted only long enough to give way to the advancing cars. +The locomotive steamed gingerly along. In the gangway stood a small, +broad-hatted man, Morris Blood. He waved his lantern at Glover, and +Glover caught up a hand-torch to swing an answering greeting. +</P> + +<P> +Down the uncertain track could be seen at reassuring intervals the +slow, green lights of the track foremen swinging all's well. The +deepening drum of the steaming engine as it entered the gorge walls, +the straining of the injectors, and the frequent hissing check of the +air as the powerful machine restrained its moving load, was music to +the tired listener above. Then, looming darkly behind the tender, +surprising the onlookers, even Glover himself, came the real train. +Not till the roadbuilders heard the heavy drop of the big cars on the +new rail joints did they realize that the first train of fruit was +already crossing the break. +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes afterward Bucks, who was with Mr. Brock in the directors' +car, had the news in a message. The manager had agreed to have Glover +present for the supper which was now waiting, and for some time +messengers and telegrams passed from the Brock Special to the cañon. +It was not until twelve o'clock that they learned definitely through +word from Morris Blood that Glover had torn his hand slightly in +handling powder and had gone to Medicine Bend to have it dressed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A TRUCE +</H3> + +<P> +If Glover's aim in disappearing had been to escape the embarrassment of +Mrs. Whitney's attentions the effort was successful only in part. +</P> + +<P> +Lanning and Harrison left in the morning in charge of Bill Dancing to +join the hunting party in the Park, and Mr. Brock finding himself +within a few hours' ride of Medicine Bend decided to run down. Late in +the afternoon the Pittsburg train drew up at the Wickiup. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude and her sister left their car together to walk in the sunshine +that flooded the platform, for the sun was still a little above the +mountains. In front of the eating-house a fawn-colored collie racing +across the lawn attracted Gertrude, and with her sister she started up +the walk to make friends with him. In one of his rushes he darted up +the eating-house steps and ran around to the west porch, the two young +ladies leisurely following. As they turned the corner they saw their +runaway crouching before a man who, with one foot on the low railing, +stood leaning against a pillar. The collie was waiting for a lump of +sugar, and his master had just taken one from the pocket of his sack +coat when the young ladies recognized him. +</P> + +<P> +"Really, Mr. Glover, your tastes are domestic," declared Marie; "you +make excellent taffy—now I find you feeding a collie." She pointed to +the lump of sugar. "And how is your hand?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't get over seeing you here," said Glover, collecting himself by +degrees. "When did you come? Take these chairs, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"You, I believe, are responsible for the early resumption of traffic +through the cañon," answered Marie. "Besides, nothing in our +wanderings need ever cause surprise. Anyone unfortunate enough to be +attached to a directors' party will end in a feeble-minded institution." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude was talking to the collie. "Isn't he beautiful, Marie?" she +exclaimed. "Come here, you dear fellow. I fell in love with him the +minute I saw him—to whom does he belong, Mr. Glover? Come here." +</P> + +<P> +"How is your hand?" asked Marie. +</P> + +<P> +"Do give Mr. Glover a chance," interposed Gertrude. "Tell me about +this dog, Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"He is the best dog in the world, Miss Brock. Mr. Bucks gave him to me +when I first came to the mountains—we were puppies together——" +</P> + +<P> +"And how about your hand?" smiled Marie. +</P> + +<P> +"What is his name?" asked Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +"It wasn't a hand, it was a wrist, and it is much better, thank +you—his name is Stumah." +</P> + +<P> +"Stumah? How odd. Come here, Stumah. Does he mind?" +</P> + +<P> +"He doesn't mind me, but no one minds me, so I forgive him that." +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Jane doesn't think you mind very well," said Marie. "Clem had a +steak twice as large as usual prepared for the supper you ran away +from." +</P> + +<P> +"It is always my misfortune to miss good things." +</P> + +<P> +Talking, Glover and Marie followed Gertrude and Stumah out on the grass +and across to the big platform where an overland train had pulled in +from the west. They watched the changing of the engines and the crews, +and the promenade of the travellers from the Pullmans. +</P> + +<P> +While Gertrude amused herself with the dog, and Marie asked questions +about the locomotive, Mrs. Whitney and Louise spied them and walked +over. Glover, to make his peace, was compelled to take dinner with the +party in their car. The atmosphere of the special train had never +seemed so attractive as on that night. To cordiality was added +deference. The effect of his success in the cañon—only striking +rather than remarkable—was noticeable on Mr. Brock. At dinner, which +was served at one table in the dining-car, Glover was brought by the +Pittsburg magnate to sit at his own right hand, Bucks being opposite. +No one may ever say that the value of resource in emergency is lost on +the dynamic Mr. Brock. But having placed his guest in the seat of +honor he paid no further attention to him unless his running fire of +big secrets, discussed before the engineer unreservedly with Bucks, +might be taken as implying that he looked on the constructionist of the +Mountain Division as one of his inner official family. +</P> + +<P> +Glover understood the abstraction of big men, and this forgetfulness +was no discouragement. There was an abstraction on his left where +Gertrude sat that was less comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +At no moment during the time he had spent with the company had he been +able to penetrate her reserve enough to make more than an attempt at an +apology for his appalling blunder in the office. With the others he +never found himself at a loss for a word or an opportunity; with +Gertrude he was apparently helpless. +</P> + +<P> +The talk at the lower end of the table ran for a while to comment on +the washout, to Glover's wrist, and during lulls Mrs. Whitney across +the table asked questions calculated to draw a family history from her +uneasy guest. Even Glover's waiter gave him so much attention that he +got little to eat, but the engineer concealed no effort to see that +Gertrude Brock was served and to break down by unobtrusive courtesies +her determined restraint. +</P> + +<P> +When the evening was over he found himself at the pass to which every +evening in her company brought him—the unpleasant consciousness of a +failure of his endeavors and a return of the rage he felt at himself +for having blundered into her bad graces. Her father wanted him to +return with them in the morning to Sleepy Cat to go over the tunnel +plans again. That done, Glover resolved at all costs to escape from +the punishment which every moment near her brought. +</P> + +<P> +When they started for Sleepy Cat, the afternoon sun was bright, and +much of the time was spent on the pretty observation platform of the +Brock car. During the shifting of the groups Mr. Brock stepped forward +into the directors' car for some papers, and Gertrude found herself +alone for a moment on the platform with Glover. She was watching the +track. He was studying a blueprint, and this time he made no effort to +break the silence. Determined that the interval should not become a +conscious one she spoke. "Papa seems unwilling to give you much rest +to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I am learning more from him, though, than he is learning from +me," returned Glover, without looking up. "He is a man of big ideas; I +should be glad of a chance to know him." +</P> + +<P> +"You are likely to have that during the next two weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"I fear not." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you not understand that Judge Saltzer and he are both to be with +our party now?" +</P> + +<P> +"But I am to leave it to-night." +</P> + +<P> +She made no comment. "You do not understand why I joined it," he +continued, "after my——" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand, at least, how distasteful the association must have +been." +</P> + +<P> +He had looked up, and without flinching, he took the blow into his +slow, heavy eyes, but in a manner as mild as Glover's, defiance could +hardly be said to have place at any time. +</P> + +<P> +"I have given you too good ground to visit your impatience on me," he +said, "and I confess I've stood the ordeal badly. Your contempt has +cut me to the quick. But don't, I beg, add to my humiliation by such a +reproach. I'm blundering, but not wholly reprobate." +</P> + +<P> +Her father appeared at the door. Glover's eyes were fastened on the +blueprint. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude let her magazine lie in her lap. She could not at all +understand the plans the two men were discussing, but her father spoke +so confidently about taking up Glover's suggestions in detail during +the two weeks that they should have together, and Glover said so +little, that she intervened presently with a little remark. "Papa; are +you not forgetting that Mr. Glover says he cannot be with us on the +Park trip." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not forgetting it because Mr. Glover hasn't said so." +</P> + +<P> +"I so understood Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not," objected Mr. Brock, looking at his companion. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a disappointment to me," said Glover, "that I can't be with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Mr. Bucks and I have arranged it, to-day. There are no other +duties," observed Mr. Brock, tersely. +</P> + +<P> +"True, but the fact is I am not well." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense; tired out, that's all. We will rest you up; the trip will +refresh you. I want you with me very particularly, Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"Which makes me the sorrier I cannot be." +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Mr. Bucks," called Mr. Brock, abruptly, through the open door. +"What's the matter with your arrangements? Mr. Glover says he can't go +through the Park." +</P> + +<P> +The patient manager left Judge Saltzer, with whom he was talking, and +came out on the platform. Gertrude went into the car. When the train +reached Sleepy Cat, at dusk, she was sitting alone in her favorite +corner near the rear door. The train stopped at a junction semaphore +and she heard Bucks' voice on the observation platform. +</P> + +<P> +"I hate to see a man ruin his own chances in this way, that's all," he +was saying. "I've set the pins for you to take the rebuilding of the +whole main line, but you succeed admirably in undoing my plans. By +declining this opportunity you relegate yourself to obscurity just as +you've made a hit in the cañon that is a fortune in itself." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever the effect," she heard someone reply with an effort at +lightness, "deal gently with me, old man. The trouble is of my own +making. I seem unable to face the results." +</P> + +<P> +The train started and the voices were lost. Bucks stepped into the car +and, without seeing Gertrude in the shadow, walked forward. She felt +that Glover was alone on the platform and sat for several moments +irresolute. After a while she rose, crossed to the table and fingered +the roses in the jar. She saw him sitting alone in the dusk and +stepped to the door; the train had slowed for the yard. "Mr. +Glover?—do not get up—may I be frank for a moment? I fear I am +causing unnecessary complications—" Glover had risen. +</P> + +<P> +"You, Miss Brock?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did you really mean what you said to me this afternoon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very sincerely." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I may say with equal sincerity that I should feel sorry to spoil +papa's plans and Mr. Bucks' and your own." +</P> + +<P> +"It is not you, at all, but I who have——" +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to suggest that something in the nature of a compromise +might be managed——" +</P> + +<P> +"I have lost confidence in my ability to manage anything, but if you +would manage I should be very——" +</P> + +<P> +"It might be for two weeks—" She was half laughing at her own +suggestion and at his seriousness. +</P> + +<P> +"I should try to deserve an extension." +</P> + +<P> +"—To begin to-morrow morning——" +</P> + +<P> +"Gladly, for that would last longer than if it began to-night. Indeed, +Miss Brock, I——" +</P> + +<P> +"But—please—I do not undertake to receive explanations." He could +only bow. "The status," she continued, gravely, "should remain, I +think, the same." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AND A SHOCK +</H3> + +<P> +The directors' party had been inspecting the Camp Pilot mines. The +train was riding the crest of the pass when the sun set, and in the +east long stretches of snow-sheds were vanishing In the shadows of the +valley. +</P> + +<P> +Glover, engaged with Mr. Brock, Judge Saltzer, and Bucks, had been +forward all day, among the directors. The compartments of the Brock +car were closed when he walked back through the train and the rear +platform was deserted. He seated himself in his favorite corner of the +umbrella porch, where he could cross his legs, lean far back, and with +an engineer's eye study the swiftly receding grace of the curves and +elevations of the track. They were covering a stretch of his own +construction, a pet, built when he still felt young; when he had come +from the East fiery with the spirit of twenty-five. +</P> + +<P> +But since then he had seen seven years of blizzards, blockades, and +washouts; of hard work, hardships, and disappointments. This maiden +track that they were speeding over he was not ashamed of; the work was +good engineering yet. But now with new and great responsibilities on +his horizon, possibilities that once would have fired his imagination, +he felt that seven years in and out of the mountains had left him +battle-scarred and moody. +</P> + +<P> +"My sister was saying last night as she saw you sitting where you are +now—that we should always associate this corner with you. Don't get +up." Gertrude Brock, dressed for dinner, stood in the doorway. "You +never tire of watching the track," she said, sinking into the chair he +offered as he rose. Her frank manner was unlooked for, but he knew +they were soon to part and felt that something of that was behind her +concession. He answered in his mood. +</P> + +<P> +"The track, the mountains," he replied; "I have little else." +</P> + +<P> +"Would not many consider the mountains enough?" +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think them a continual inspiration." +</P> + +<P> +"So they are; though sometimes they inspire too much." +</P> + +<P> +"It is so still and beautiful through here." She leaned back in her +chair, supported her elbows on its arms and clasped her hands; the +stealing charm of her cordiality had already roused him. +</P> + +<P> +"This bit of track we are covering," said he after a pause, "is the +first I built on this division; and just now I have been recalling my +very first sight of the mountains." She leaned slightly forward, and +again he was coaxed on. "Every tradition of my childhood was +associated with this country—the plains and rivers and mountains. It +wasn't alone the reading—though I read without end—but the stories of +the old French traders I used to hear in the shops, and sometimes of +trappers I used to find along the river front of the old town; I fed on +their yarns. And it was always the wild horse and the buffalo and the +Sioux and the mountains—I dreamed of nothing else. Now, so many +times, I meet strangers that come into the mountains—foreigners +often—and I can never listen to their rhapsodies, or even read their +books about the Rockies, without a jealousy that they are talking +without leave of something that's mine. What can the Rockies mean to +them? Surely, if an American boy has a heritage it is the Rockies. +What can they feel of what I felt the first time I stood at sunset on +the plains and my very dreams loomed into the western sky? I toppled +on my pins just at seeing them." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed softly. "You are fond of the mountains." +</P> + +<P> +"I have little else," he repeated. +</P> + +<P> +"Then they ought to be loyal to you. But the first impression—it +hardly remains, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am not sure. They don't grow any smaller; sometimes I think they +grow bigger." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you <I>are</I> fond of them. That's constancy, and constancy is a +capital test of a charm." +</P> + +<P> +"But I'm never sure whether they are, as you say, loyal to me. We had +once on this division a remarkable man named Hailey—a bridge engineer, +and a very great one. He and I stood one night on a caisson at the +Spider Water—the first caisson he put into the river—do you remember +that big river you crossed on the plains——" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed! I am not likely to forget a night I spent at the Spider +Water; continue." +</P> + +<P> +"Hailey put in the bridge there. 'This old stream ought to be thankful +to you, Hailey, for a piece of work like this,' I said to him. 'No,' +he answered, quite in earnest; 'the Spider doesn't like me. It will +get me some time.' So I think about these mountains. I like them, and +I don't like them. Sometimes I think as Hailey thought of the +Spider—and the Spider did get him." +</P> + +<P> +"How serious you grow!" she exclaimed, lightly. +</P> + +<P> +"The truce ends to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"And the journey ends," she remarked, encouragingly. +</P> + +<P> +"What, please, does that line mean that I see so often, 'Journeys end +in lovers meeting?'" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't an idea. But, oh, these mountains!" she exclaimed, stepping +in caution to the guard-rail. "Could anything be more awful than +this?" They were crawling antlike up a mountain spur that rose dizzily +on their right; on the left they overhung a bottomless pit. Their +engines churned, panted, and struggled up the curve, and as they talked +the dense smoke from the stacks sucked far down into the gap they were +skirting. +</P> + +<P> +"The roadbed is chiselled out of the granite all along here. This is +the famed Mount Pilot on the left, and this the worst spot on the +division for snow. You wouldn't think of extending our truce?" +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow we leave for the coast." +</P> + +<P> +"But you could leave the truce; and I want it ever so much." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed. "Why should one want a truce after the occasion for it +has passed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes out here in the desert we get away from water. You don't +know, of course, what it is to want water? I lost a trail once in the +Spanish Sinks and for two days I wanted water." +</P> + +<P> +"Dreadful. I have heard of such things. How did you ever find your +way again?" +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated. "Sometimes instinct serves after reason fails. It +wasn't very good water when I reached it, but I did not know about that +for two weeks. It is a curious thing, too—physiologists, I am told, +have some name for the mental condition—but a man that has suffered +once for water will at times suffer intensely for it again, even though +you saturate him with water, drown him in it." +</P> + +<P> +"How very strange; almost incredible, is it not? Have you ever +experienced such a sensation?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have felt it, but never acutely until to-day; that is why I want to +get the truce extended. I dread the next two days." +</P> + +<P> +She looked puzzled. "Mr. Glover, if you have jestingly beguiled me +into real sympathy I shall be angry in earnest." +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to-morrow. How could I jest about it? When you go I +face the desert again. You have come like water into my life—are you +going out of it forever to-morrow? May I never hope to see you +again—or hear from you?" She rose in amazement; he was between her +and the door. "Surely, this is extraordinary, Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"Only a moment. I shall have days enough of silence. I dread to shock +or anger you. But this is one reason why I tried to keep away from +you—just this—because I— And you, in unthinking innocence, kept me +from my intent to escape this moment. Your displeasure was hard to +bear, but your kindness has undone me. Believe me or not I did fight, +a gentleman, even though I have fallen, a lover." +</P> + +<P> +The displeasure of her eyes as she faced him was her only reply. +Indeed, he made hardly an effort to support her look and she swept past +him into the car. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Brock train lay all next day in the Medicine Bend yard. A number +of the party, with horses and guides, rode to the Medicine Springs west +of the town. Glover, buried in drawings and blueprints, was in his +office at the Wickiup all day with Manager Bucks and President Brock. +</P> + +<P> +Late in the afternoon the attention of Gertrude, reading alone in her +car, was attracted to a stout boy under an enormous hat clambering with +difficulty up the railing of the observation platform. In one arm he +struggled for a while with a large bundle wrapped in paper, then +dropping back he threw the package up over the rail, and starting +empty-handed gained the platform and picked up his parcel. He fished a +letter from his pistol pocket, stared fearlessly in at Gertrude Brock +and knocked on the glass panel between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Laundry parcels are to be delivered to the porter in the forward car," +said Gertrude, opening the door slightly. +</P> + +<P> +As she spoke the boy's hat blew off and sailed down the platform, but +he maintained some dignity. "I don't carry laundry. I carry +telegrams. The front door was locked. I seen you sitting in there all +alone, and I've got a note and had orders to give it to you personally, +and this package personally, and not to nobody else, so I climbed over." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop a moment," commanded Gertrude, for the heavy messenger was +starting for the railing before she quite comprehended. "Wait until I +see what you have here." The boy, with his hands on the railing, was +letting himself down. +</P> + +<P> +"My hat's blowin' off. There ain't any answer and the charges is paid." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you wait?" exclaimed Gertrude, impatiently. The very handwriting +on the note annoyed her. While unfamiliar, her instinct connected it +with one person from whom she was determined to receive no +communication. She hesitated as she looked at her carefully written +name. She wanted to return the communication unopened; but how could +she be sure who had sent it? With the impatience of uncertainty she +ripped open the envelope. +</P> + +<P> +The note was neither addressed nor signed. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no right to keep this after you leave; perhaps I had no right +to keep it at all. But in returning it to you I surely may thank you +for the impulse that made you throw it over me the morning I lay asleep +behind the Spider dike." +</P> + +<P> +She tore the package partly open—it was her Newmarket coat. Bundling +it up again she walked hastily to her compartment. For some moments +she remained within; when she came out the messenger boy, his hat now +low over his ears, was sitting in her chair looking at the illustrated +paper she had laid down. Gertrude suppressed her astonishment; she +felt somehow overawed by the unconventionalities of the West. +</P> + +<P> +"Boy, what are you doing here?" +</P> + +<P> +"You said, wait," answered the boy, taking off his hat and rising. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes. Very well; no matter." +</P> + +<P> +"Ma'am?" +</P> + +<P> +"No matter." +</P> + +<P> +"Does that mean for me to wait?" +</P> + +<P> +"It means you may go." +</P> + +<P> +He started reluctantly. "Gee," he exclaimed, under his breath, looking +around, "this is swell in here, ain't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"See here, what is your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Solomon Battershawl, but most folks call me Gloomy." +</P> + +<P> +"Gloomy! Where did you get that name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"Who sent you with this note?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't tell. He gave me a dollar and told me I wasn't to answer any +questions." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, did he? What else did he tell you?" +</P> + +<P> +"He said for me to take my hat off when I spoke to you, but my hat +blowed off when you spoke to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunate! Well, you are a handsome fellow, Gloomy. What do you +do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a railroad man." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you? How fine. So you won't tell who sent you." +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"What else did the gentleman say?" +</P> + +<P> +"He said if anybody offered me anything I wasn't to take anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he, indeed, Gloomy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." +</P> + +<P> +She turned to the table from where she was sitting and took up a big +box. "No money, he meant." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." +</P> + +<P> +"How about candy?" +</P> + +<P> +Solomon shifted. +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't mention candy?" +</P> + +<P> +"No'm." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you ever eat candy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." +</P> + +<P> +"This is a box that came from Pittsburg only this morning for me. Take +some chocolates. Don't be afraid; take several. What is your last +name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Battershawl." +</P> + +<P> +"Gloomy Battershawl; how pretty. Battershawl is so euphonious." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is your best friend among the railroad men?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Duffy, our chief despatcher. I owe my promotion to 'im," said +Solomon, solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"But who gives you the most money, I mean. Take a large piece this +time." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there ain't anybody gives me any money, much, exceptin' Mr. +Glover. I run errands for him." +</P> + +<P> +"What is the most money he ever gave you for an errand, Gloomy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dollar, twice." +</P> + +<P> +"So much as that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." +</P> + +<P> +"What was that for?" +</P> + +<P> +"The first time it was for taking his washing down to the Spider to him +on Number Two one Sunday morning." +</P> + +<P> +This being a line of answer Gertrude had not expected to develop she +started, but Solomon was under way. "Gee, the river w's high that +time. He was down there two weeks and never went to bed at all, and +came up special in a sleeper, sick, and I took care of him. Gee, he +was sick." +</P> + +<P> +"What was the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Noomonia, the doctor said." +</P> + +<P> +"And you took care of him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Me an' the doctor." +</P> + +<P> +"What was the other errand he gave you a dollar for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dassent tell." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know it was I you should give your note to?" +</P> + +<P> +"He told me it was for the brown-haired young lady that walked so +straight—I knew you all right—I seen you on horseback. I guess I'll +have to be going 'cause I got a lot of telegrams to deliver up town." +</P> + +<P> +"No hurry about them, is there?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but's getting near dinner time. Good-by." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait. Take this box of candy with you." +</P> + +<P> +Solomon staggered. "The whole box?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee!" +</P> + +<P> +He slid over the rail with the candy under his arm. +</P> + +<P> +When he disappeared, Gertrude went back to her stateroom, closed the +door, though quite alone in the car, and re-read her note. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no right to keep this after you leave; perhaps I had no right +to keep it at all. But in returning it to you I surely may thank you +for the impulse that made you throw it over me the morning I lay asleep +behind the Spider dike." +</P> + +<P> +It was he, then, lying in the rain, ill then, perhaps—nursed by the +nondescript cub that had just left her. +</P> + +<P> +The Newmarket lay across the berth—a long, graceful garment. She had +always liked the coat, and her eye fell now upon it critically, +wondering what he thought of the garment upon making so unexpected an +acquaintance with her intimate belongings. Near the bottom of the +lining she saw a mud stain on the silk and the pretty fawn melton was +spotted with rain. She folded it up before the horseback party +returned and put it away, stained and spotted, at the bottom of her +trunk. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE LALLA ROOKH +</H3> + +<P> +The car in itself was in no way remarkable. A twelve-section and +drawing-room, mahogany-finish, wide-vestibule sleeper, done in cream +brown, hangings shading into Indian reds—a type of the Pullman car so +popular some years ago for transcontinental travel; neither too heavy +for the mountains nor too light for the pace across the plains. +</P> + +<P> +There were many features added to the passenger schedule on the West +End the year Henry S. Brock and his friends took hold of the road, but +none made more stir than the new Number One, run then as a crack +passenger train, a strictly limited, vestibuled string, with barbers, +baths, grill rooms, and five-o'clock tea. In and out Number One was +the finest train that crossed the Rockies, and bar nobody's. +</P> + +<P> +It was October, with the Colorado travel almost entirely eastbound and +the California travel beginning, westbound, and the Lalla Rookh sleeper +being deadheaded to the coast on a special charter for an O. and O. +steamer party; at least, that was all the porter knew about its +destination, and he knew more than anyone else. +</P> + +<P> +At McCloud, where the St. Louis connection is made, Number One sets out +a diner and picks up a Portland sleeper—so it happened that the Lalla +Rookh, hind car to McCloud, afterward lay ahead of the St. Louis car, +and the trainmen passed, as occasion required, through it—lighted down +the gloomy aisle by a single Pintsch burner, choked to an all-night +dimness. +</P> + +<P> +But on the night of October 3d, which was a sloppy night in the +mountains, there was not a great deal to take anybody back through the +Lalla Rookh. Even the porter of the dead car deserted his official +corpse, and after Number One pulled out of Medicine Bend and stuck her +slim, aristocratic nose fairly into the big ranges the Lalla Rookh was +left as dead as a stringer to herself and her reflections—reflections +of brilliant aisles and staterooms inviting with softened lights, shed +on couples that resented intrusion; of sections bright with lovely +faces and decks ringing with talk and laughter; of ventilators singing +of sunshine within, and of night and stars and waste without—for the +Lalla Rookh carried only the best people, and after the overland voyage +on her tempered springs and her yielding cushions they felt an +affection for her. When the Lalla Rookh lived she lived; but to-night +she was dead. +</P> + +<P> +This night the pretty car sped over the range a Cinderella deserted, +her linen stored and checked in her closets, her pillows bunked in her +seats, and her curtains folded in her uppers, save and except in one +single instance—Section Eleven, to conform to certain deeply held +ideas of the porter, Raz Brown, as to what might and might not +constitute a hoodoo, was made up. Raz Brown did not play much: he +could not and hold his job; but when he did play he played eleven +always whether it fell between seven, twenty-seven, or four, +forty-four. And whenever Raz Brown deadheaded a car through, he always +made up section eleven, and laid the hoodoo struggling but helpless +under the chilly linen sheets of the lower berth. +</P> + +<P> +Glover had spent the day without incident or excitement on the Wind +River branches, and the evening had gone, while waiting to take a train +west to Medicine Bend, in figuring estimates at the agent's desk in +Wind River station. He was working night and day to finish the report +that the new board was waiting for on the rebuilding of the system. +</P> + +<P> +At midnight when he boarded the train he made his way back to look for +a place to stretch out until two o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +The Pullman conductor lay in the smoking-room of the head 'Frisco car +dreaming of his salary—too light to make any impression on him except +when asleep. It seemed a pity to disturb an honest man's dreams, and +the engineer passed on. In the smoking-room of the next car lay a +porter asleep. Glover dropped his bag into a chair and took off his +coat. While he was washing his hands the train-conductor, Billy +O'Brien, came in and set down his lantern. Conductor O'Brien was very +much awake and inclined rather to talk over a Mexican mining +proposition on which he wanted expert judgment than to let Glover get +to bed. When the sleepy man looked at his watch for the fifth time, +the conductor was getting his wind for the dog-watch and promised to +talk till daylight. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy, I've got to go to bed," declared Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"Every sleeper is loaded to the decks," returned O'Brien. "This is the +most comfortable place you'll find." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'll go forward into the chair-car," replied Glover. "Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop, Mr. Glover; if you're bound to go, the Lalla Rookh car right +behind this is dead, but there's steam on. Go into the stateroom and +throw yourself on the couch. This is the porter here asleep." +</P> + +<P> +"William, your advice is good. I've taken it too long to disregard it +now," said Glover, picking up his bag. "Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +But it was not a good night; it was a bad night, and getting worse as +Number One dipped into it. Out of the northwest it smoked a ragged, +wet fog down the pass, and, as they climbed higher, a bitter song from +the Teton way heeled the sleepers over the hanging curves and streamed +like sobs through the meshed ventilators of the Lalla Rookh. It was a +nasty night for any sort of a sleeper; for a dead one it was very bad. +</P> + +<P> +Glover walked into the Lalla Rookh vestibule, around the smoking-room +passage, and into the main aisle of the car, dimly lighted at the hind +end. He made his way to the stateroom. The open door gave him light, +and he took off his storm-coat, pulled it over him for a blanket, and +had closed his eyes when he reflected he had forgotten to warn O'Brien +he must get off at Medicine Bend. +</P> + +<P> +It was unpleasant, but forward he went again to avoid the annoyance of +being carried by. He could tell as he came back, by the swing, that +they were heading the Peace River curves, for the trucks were hitting +the elevations like punching-bags. Just as he regained the main aisle +of the Lalla Rookh, a lurch of the car plumped him against a +section-head. He grasped it an instant to steady himself, and as he +stopped he looked. Whether it was that his eyes fell on the curtained +section swaying under the Pintsch light ahead—Section Eleven made +up—or whether his eyes were drawn to it, who can tell? A woman's head +was visible between the curtains. Glover stood perfectly still and +stared. Without right or reason, there certainly stood a woman. +</P> + +<P> +With nobody whatever having any business in the car, a car out of +service, carried as one carries a locked and empty satchel—yet the +curtains of Section Eleven, next his stateroom, were parted slightly, +and the half-light from above streamed on a woman's loose hair. She +was not looking toward where he stood; her face was turned from him, +and as she clasped the curtain she was looking into his stateroom. +What the deuce! thought Glover. A woman passenger in a dead sleeper? +He balanced himself to the dizzy wheel of the truck under him, and +waited for her to look his way—since she must be looking for the +porter—but the head did not move. The curtains swayed with the +jerking of the car, but the woman in Eleven looked intently into the +dark stateroom. What did it mean? Glover determined a shock. +</P> + +<P> +"Tickets!" he exclaimed, sternly—and stood alone in the car. +</P> + +<P> +"Tickets!" The head was gone; not alone that, strangely gone. How? +Glover could not have told. It was <I>gone</I>. The Pintsch burned dim; +the Teton song crooned through the ventilators; the wheels of the Lalla +Rookh struck muffled at the fish-plates; the curtains of Section Eleven +swung slowly in and out of the berth—but the head was not there. +</P> + +<P> +A creepy feeling touched his back; his first impulse was to ignore the +incident, go into the stateroom and lie down. Then he thought he might +have alarmed the passenger in Eleven when he had first entered. Yet +there was, officially at least, no passenger in Eleven; plainly there +was nothing to do but to call the conductor. He went forward. O'Brien +was sorting his collections in the smoking-room of the next car. Raz +Brown, awake—nominally, at least—sat by, reading his dream-book. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this the Lalla Rookh porter?" asked Glover. O'Brien nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's your passenger in Eleven back there?" demanded Glover, turning +to the darky. +</P> + +<P> +"Me?" stammered Raz Brown. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's your fare in Eleven in Lalla Rookh?" +</P> + +<P> +"My fare? Why, I ain't got nair 'a fare in Lalla Rookh. She's dead, +boss." +</P> + +<P> +"You've got a woman passenger in Eleven. What are you talking about? +What's the matter with you?" +</P> + +<P> +Raz Brown's eyes rolled marvellously. "'Fore God, dere ain't nobody +dere ez I knows on, Mr. O'Brien," protested the surprised porter, +getting up. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a woman in Eleven, Billy," said Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on," exclaimed O'Brien, turning to the porter. "She may be a +spotter. Let's see." +</P> + +<P> +Raz Brown walked back reluctantly, Conductor O'Brien leading. Into the +Lalla Rookh, dark and quiet, around the smoking-room, down the aisle, +and facing Eleven; there the Pintsch light dimly burned, the draperies +slowly swayed in front of the darkened berth. Raz Brown gripped the +curtains preliminarily. +</P> + +<P> +"Tickets, ma'am." There was a heavy pause. +</P> + +<P> +"Tickets!" No response. +</P> + +<P> +"C'nduct'h wants youh tickets, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +The silence could be cut with an axe. Raz Brown parted the curtains, +peered in, opened them wider, peered farther in; pushed the curtains +back with both hands. The berth was empty. +</P> + +<P> +Raz looked at Conductor O'Brien. O'Brien grasped the curtains himself. +The upper berth hung closed above. The lower, made up, lay +untouched—the pillows fresh, the linen sheets folded back, +Pullmanwise, over the dark blanket. +</P> + +<P> +The porter looked at Glover. "See foh y'se'f." +</P> + +<P> +Glover was impatient. "She's somewhere about the car," he exclaimed, +"search it." Raz Brown went through the Lalla Rookh from vestibule to +vestibule: it was as empty as a ceiling. +</P> + +<P> +Puzzled and annoyed, Glover stood trying to recall the mysterious +appearance. He walked back to where he had seen the woman, stood where +he had stood and looked where he had looked. She had not seemed to +withdraw, as he recalled: the curtains had not closed before the head; +it had vanished. The wind sung fine, very fine through the copper +screens, the Pintsch light flowed very low into the bright globe, the +curtains swung again gracefully to the dip of the car; but the head was +gone. +</P> + +<P> +A discussion threw no light on the mystery. On one point, however, +Conductor O'Brien was firm. While the conductor and the porter kept up +the talk, Glover resumed his preparations for retiring in the +stateroom, but O'Brien interfered. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't do it. Don't you do it. I wouldn't sleep in that room now for +a thousand dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right. I say come forward." +</P> + +<P> +They made him up a corner in the smoking-room of the 'Frisco car, and +he could have slept like a baby had not the conviction suddenly come +upon him that he had seen Gertrude Brock. Should he, after all, see +her again? And what did it mean? Why was she looking in terror into +his stateroom? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SLIP ON A SPECIAL +</H3> + +<P> +Glover's train pulled into Medicine Bend, in the rain, at half-past two +o'clock. The face in the Lalla Rookh had put an end to thoughts of +sleep, and he walked up to his office in the Wickiup to work until +morning on his report. He lighted a lamp, opened his desk with a clang +that echoed to the last dark corner of the zigzag hall, and, spreading +out his papers, resumed the figuring he had begun at Wind River +station. But the combinations which at eleven o'clock had gone fast +refused now to work. The Lalla Rookh curtains intruded continually +into his problems and his calculations dissolved helplessly into an +idle stare at a jumble of figures. +</P> + +<P> +He got up at last, restless, walked through the trainmaster's room, +into the despatcher's office, and stumbled on the tragedy of the night. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +It came about through an ambition in itself honorable—the ambition of +Bud Cawkins to become a train-despatcher. +</P> + +<P> +Bud began railroading on the Wind River. In three months he was made +an agent, in six months he had become an expert in station work, an +operator after a despatcher's own heart, and the life of the line; then +he began looking for trouble. His quest resulted first in the +conviction that the main line business was not handled nearly as well +as it ought to be. Had Bud confided this to an agent of experience +there would have been no difficulty. He would have been told that +every agent on every branch in the world, sooner or later, has the same +conviction; that he need only to let it alone, eat sparingly of brain +food, and the clot would be sure to pass unnoticed. +</P> + +<P> +Unfortunately, Bud concealed his conviction, and asked Morris Blood to +give him a chance at the Wickiup. The first time, Morris Blood only +growled; the second time he looked at the handsome boy disapprovingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Want to be a despatcher, do you? What's the matter with you? Been +reading railroad stories? I'll fire any man on my division that reads +railroad stories. Don't be a chump. You're in line now for the best +station on the division." +</P> + +<P> +But compliments only fanned Bud's flame, and Morris Blood, after +reasonable effort to save the boy's life, turned him over to Martin +Duffy. +</P> + +<P> +Now, of all severe men on the West End, Duffy is most biting. His +smile is sickly, his hair dry, and his laugh soft. +</P> + +<P> +"Despatcher, eh? Ha, ha, ha; I see, Bud. Coming down to show us how +to do business. Oh, no. I understand; that is all right. It is what +brought me here, Bud, when I was about your age and good for something. +Well, it is a snap. There is nothing in the railroad life equal to a +despatcher's trick. If you should make a mistake and get two trains +together they will only fire you. If you happen to kill a few people +they <I>can't</I> make anything more than manslaughter out of it—I know +that because I've seen them try to hang a despatcher for a passenger +wreck—they can't do it, Bud, don't ever believe it. In this state ten +years is the extreme limit for manslaughter, and the only complication +is that if your train should happen to burn up they might soak you an +extra ten years for arson; but a despatcher is usually handy around a +penitentiary and can get light work in the office, so that he's thrown +more with wife poisoners and embezzlers than with cutthroats and +hold-up men. Then, too, you can earn nearly as much in State's prison +as you can at your trick. A despatcher's salary is high, you +know—seventy-five, eighty, and even a hundred dollars a month. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, there's an unpleasant side of it. I don't want to seem to +draw it too rosy. I imagine you've heard Blackburn's story, haven't +you—the lap-order at Rosebud? I helped carry Blackburn out of that +room"—Duffy pointed very coldly toward Morris Blood's door—"the +morning we put him in his coffin. But, hang it, Bud, a death like that +is better than going to the insane asylum, isn't it, eh? A short trick +and a merry one, my boy, for a despatcher, say I; no insane asylum for +me." +</P> + +<P> +It calmed Budwiser, as the boys began to call him, for a time only. He +renewed his application and was at length relieved of his comfortable +station and ordered into the Wickiup as despatcher's assistant. +</P> + +<P> +For a time every dream was realized—the work was put on him by +degrees, things ran smoothly, and his despatcher, Garry O'Neill, soon +reported him all right. A month later Bud was notified that a +despatcher's trick would shortly be assigned to him, and to the boys +from the branch who asked after him he sent word that in a few days he +would be showing them how to do business on the main line. +</P> + +<P> +The chance came even sooner. O'Neill went hunting the following day, +overslept, came down without supper and could not get a quiet minute +till long after midnight. Heavy stock trains crowded down over the +short line. The main line, in addition to the regular traffic, had +been pounded all night with government stores and ammunition, +westbound. From the coast a passenger special, looked for in the +afternoon, had just come into the division at Bear Dance. Garry laid +out his sheet with the precision of a campaigner, provided for +everything, and at three o'clock he gave Bud a transfer and ran down to +get a cup of coffee. Bud sat into the chair for the first time with +the responsibility of a full-fledged despatcher. +</P> + +<P> +For five minutes no business confronted him, then from the extreme end +of his territory Cambridge station called for orders for an extra, fast +freight, west, Engine 81, and Bud wrote his first train order. He +ordered Extra 81 to meet Number 50, a local and accommodation, at +Sumter, and signed Morris Blood's initials with a flourish. When the +trains had gone he looked over his sheet calmly until he noticed, with +fainting horror, that he had forgotten Special 833, east, making a very +fast run and headed for Cambridge, with no orders about Extra 81. +Special 833 was the passenger train from the coast. +</P> + +<P> +The sheet swam and the yellow lamp at his elbow turned green and black. +The door of the operator's room opened with a bang. Bud, trembling, +hoped it might be O'Neill, and staggered to the archway. It was only +Glover, but Glover saw the boy's face. "What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +Bud looked back into the room he was leaving. Glover stepped through +the railing gate and caught the boy by the shoulder. "What's the +matter, my lad?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook and questioned, but from the dazed operator he could get only +one word, "O'Neill," and stepping to the hall door Glover called out +"O'Neill!" +</P> + +<P> +It has been said that Glover's voice would carry in a mountain storm +from side to side of the Medicine Bend yard. That night the very last +rafter in the Wickiup gables rang with his cry. He called only once, +for O'Neill came bounding up the long stairs three steps at a time. +</P> + +<P> +"Look to your train sheet, Garry," said Glover, peremptorily. "This +boy is scared to death. There's trouble somewhere." +</P> + +<P> +He supported the operator to a chair, and O'Neill ran to the inner +room. The moment his eye covered the order book he saw what had +happened. "Extra 81 is against a passenger special," exclaimed +O'Neill, huskily, seizing the key. "There's the order—Extra 81 from +Cambridge to meet Number 50 at Sumter and Special 833 has orders to +Cambridge, and nothing against Extra 81. If I can't catch the freight +at Red Desert we're in for it—wake up Morris Blood, quick, he's in +there asleep." +</P> + +<P> +Blood, working late in his office, had rolled himself in a blanket on +the lounge in Callahan's old room, and unfortunately Morris Blood was +the soundest sleeper on the division. Glover called him, shook him, +caught him by the arm, lifted him to a sitting position, talked +hurriedly to him—he knew what resource and power lay under the thick +curling hair if he could only rouse the tired man from his dreamless +sleep. Even Blood's own efforts to rouse himself were almost at once +apparent. His eyes opened, glared helplessly, sank back and closed in +stupor. Glover grew desperate, and lifting Morris to his feet, dragged +him half way across the dark room. +</P> + +<P> +O'Neill, rattling the key, was looking on from the table like a +drowning man. "Leave your key and steady him here against the +door-jamb, Garry," cried Glover; "by the Eternal, I'll wake him." He +sprang to the big water-cooler, cast away the top, seized the tank like +a bucket, and dashed a full stream of ice-water into Morris Blood's +face. +</P> + +<P> +"Great God, what's the matter? Who is this? Glover? What? Give me a +towel, somebody." +</P> + +<P> +The spell was broken. Glover explained, O'Neill ran back to the key, +and Blood in another moment bent dripping over the nervous despatcher. +</P> + +<P> +The superintendent's mind working faster now than the magic current +before him, listened, cast up, recollected, considered, decided for and +against every chance. At that moment Red Desert answered. No breath +interrupted the faint clicks that reported on Extra 81. O'Neill looked +up in agony as the sounder spelled the words: "Extra 81 went by at +3.05." The superintendent and the despatcher looked at the clock; it +read 3.09. +</P> + +<P> +O'Neill clutched the order book, but Glover looked at Morris Blood. +With the water trickling from his hair down his wrinkled face, beading +his mustache, and dripping from his chin he stood, haggard with sleep, +leaning over O'Neill's shoulder. A towel stuffed into his left hand +was clasped forgotten at his waist. From the east room, operators, +their instruments silenced, were tiptoeing into the archway. Above the +little group at the table the clock ticked. O'Neill, in a frenzy, half +rose out of his chair, but Morris Blood, putting his hand on the +despatcher's shoulder, forced him back. +</P> + +<P> +"They're gone," cried the frantic man; "let me out of here." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Garry." +</P> + +<P> +"They're gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet, Garry. Try Fort Rucker for the Special." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no night man at Fort Rucker." +</P> + +<P> +"But Burling, the day man, sleeps upstairs——" +</P> + +<P> +"He goes up to Bear Dance to lodge." +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't lodge night," said Blood. +</P> + +<P> +"For God's sake, how can you get him upstairs, anyway?" trembled +O'Neill. +</P> + +<P> +"On cold nights he sleeps downstairs by the ticket-office stove. I +spent a night with him once and slept on his cot. If he is in the +ticket-office you may be able to wake him—he may be awake. The +Special can't pass there for ten minutes yet. Don't stare at me. Call +Rucker, hard." +</P> + +<P> +O'Neill seized the key and tried to sound the Rucker call. Again and +again he attempted it and sent wild. The man that could hold a hundred +trains in his head without a slip for eight hours at a stretch sat +distracted. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me help you, Garry," suggested Blood, in an undertone. The +despatcher turned shaking from his chair and his superintendent slipped +behind him into it. His crippled right hand glided instantly over the +key, and the Rucker call, even, sharp, and compelling, followed by the +quick, clear nineteen—the call that gags and binds the whole +division—the despatchers' call—clicked from his fingers. +</P> + +<P> +Persistently, and with unfailing patience, the men hovering at his +back, Blood drummed at the key for the slender chance that remained of +stopping the passenger train. The trial became one of endurance. Like +an incantation, the call rang through the silence of the room until it +wracked the listeners, but the man at the key, quietly wiping his face +and head, and with the towel in his left hand mopping out his collar, +never faltered, never broke, minute after minute, until after a score +of fruitless waits an answer broke his sending with the "I, I, Ru!" +</P> + +<P> +As the reply flew from his fingers Morris Blood's eyes darted to the +clock; it was 3.17. "Stop Special 833, east, quick." +</P> + +<P> +"You've got them?" asked Glover, from the counter. +</P> + +<P> +"If they're not by," muttered Blood. +</P> + +<P> +"Red light out," reported Rucker; then three dreadful minutes and it +came, "Special 833 taking water; O'Brien wants orders." +</P> + +<P> +And the order went, "Siding, quick, and meet Extra 81, west, at +Rucker," and the superintendent rose from the chair. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all over, boys," said he, turning to the operators. "Remember, +no man ever got to a railroad presidency by talking; but many men have +by keeping their mouths shut. Lay Cawkins on the lounge in my room. +Duffy said that boy would never do." +</P> + +<P> +"What was Burling doing, Morris," asked Glover, sitting down by the +stove. +</P> + +<P> +"Ask him, Garry," suggested Blood. They waited for the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Were you asleep on your cot?" asked the despatcher, getting Rucker +again. +</P> + +<P> +"If that fellow woke on my call, I'll make a despatcher of him," +declared Morris Blood, with a thrill of fine pride. +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered Rucker, "I slept upstairs tonight." +</P> + +<P> +The two men at the stove stared at one another. "How did you hear your +call?" asked the despatcher. Again their ears were on edge. +</P> + +<P> +And Rucker answered, "I always come down once in the night to put coal +on the fire." +</P> + +<P> +"Another illusion destroyed," smiled Morris Blood. "Hang him, I'll +promote him, anyway, for attending to his fire." +</P> + +<P> +"But you couldn't do that again in a thousand years, Mr. Blood," +ventured a young and enthusiastic operator who had helped to lay out +poor Bud Cawkins. +</P> + +<P> +The mountain man looked at him coldly. "I sha'n't want to do that +again in a thousand years. In the railroad life it always comes +different, every time. Go to your key." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad we got that particular train out of trouble," he added, +turning to Glover when they were alone. +</P> + +<P> +"What train?" +</P> + +<P> +"That Special 833 is the Brock special. You didn't know it? We've +been looking for them from the coast for two days." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS +</H3> + +<P> +The sudden appearance of Mr. Brock at any time and at any point where +he had interests would surprise only those that did not know him. On +the coast the party had broken up, Louise Donner going into Colorado +with friends, and Harrison returning to Pittsburg. +</P> + +<P> +Planning originally to recross the mountains by a southern route, and +to give himself as much of a pleasure trip as he ever took, Mr. Brock +changed all his plans at the last moment—a move at which he was +masterly—and wired Bucks to meet him at Bear Dance for the return +trip. Doctor Lanning, moreover, had advised that Marie spend some +further time in the mountains, where her gain in health had been +decided. +</P> + +<P> +Among the features the general manager particularly wished Mr. Brock to +see before leaving the mountain country was the Crab Valley dam and +irrigation canal, and the second day after the president's special +entered the division it was side-tracked at a way station near Sleepy +Cat for an inspection of the undertaking. The trip to the canal was by +stage with four horses, and the ladies had been asked to go. +</P> + +<P> +The morning was so exhilarating and the ride so fast that when the head +horses dipped over the easy divide flanking the line of the canal on +the south, and the brake closed on the lumbering wheels, the visitors +were surprised to discover almost at their feet a swarming army of men +and horses scraping in the dusty bed of a long cut. There the heavy +work was to be seen, and to give his party an idea of its magnitude, +Bucks had ordered the stage driven directly through the cut itself. +With Mr. Brock he sat up near the driver. Back of them were Doctor +Lanning and Gertrude Brock; within rode Mrs. Whitney and Marie. +</P> + +<P> +As the stage, getting down the high bank, lurched carefully along the +scraper ways of the yellow bed, shovellers, drivers, and water-boys +looked curiously at the unusual sight, and patient mules nosed meekly +the alert, nervous horses that dragged the stage along the uneven way. +</P> + +<P> +At the lower end of the cut a more formidable barrier interposed. A +pocket of gravel on the eastern bank had slipped, engulfing a steam +shovel, and a gang of men were busy about it. On a level overlooking +the scene, in corduroy jackets and broad hats, stood two engineers. At +times one of them gave directions to a foreman whose gang was digging +the shovel out. His companion, perceiving the approach of the stage, +signalled the driver sharply, and the leaders were swung to the right +of the shovellers so that the stage was brought out on a level some +distance away. +</P> + +<P> +Bucks first recognized the taller of the two men. "There's Glover," he +exclaimed. "Hello!" he called across the canal bed. "I didn't look +for you here." Glover lifted his hat and walked over to the stage. +</P> + +<P> +"I came up last night to see Ed Smith about running his flume under +Horse Creek bridge. They cross us, you know, in the cañon there," said +he, in his slow, steady way. "Just as we got on the ponies to ride +down, this slide occurred——" +</P> + +<P> +"Glad you couldn't get away. We want to see Ed Smith," returned Bucks, +getting down. The women were already greeting Glover, and avoiding +Gertrude's eye while he included her in his salutation to all, he tried +to answer several questions at once. Smith, the engineer in charge of +the canal, was talking with Bucks and Mr. Brock. On top of the stage +Doctor Lanning was trying to persuade Gertrude not to get down; but she +insisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Glover will help me, I am sure," she said, looking directly at the +evading Glover, who was absorbed in his talk with her sister. "I +should advise you not to alight, Miss Brock," said he, unable to ignore +her request. "You will sink into this dusty clay——" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't mind that, but unless you will give me your hand," she +interrupted, putting her boot on the foot rest to descend, "I shall +certainly break my neck." When he promptly advanced she took both of +his offered hands with a laugh at her recklessness and dropped lightly +beside him. "May I go over where you stood?" she asked at once. +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't," he ventured. +</P> + +<P> +"But I can't see what they are doing." She walked capriciously ahead, +and Glover reluctantly followed. "Why shouldn't you?" she questioned, +waiting for him to come to her side. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't safe." +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you stand there?" +</P> + +<P> +He answered with entire composure. "What would be perfectly safe for +me might be very dangerous for you." +</P> + +<P> +She looked full at him. "How truly you speak." +</P> + +<P> +Yet she did not stop, though at each step her feet sunk into the +loosened soil. +</P> + +<P> +"Pray, don't go farther," said Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to see the men digging." +</P> + +<P> +"Then won't you come around here?" +</P> + +<P> +"But may I not walk over to that car?" +</P> + +<P> +"This way is more passable." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why did you make the driver turn away from that side?" +</P> + +<P> +"You have good eyes, Miss Brock." +</P> + +<P> +"Pray, what is the matter with that man lying behind the car?" +</P> + +<P> +Glover looked fairly at her at last. "A shoveller was hurt when the +gravel slipped a few minutes ago. When the warning came he did not +understand and got caught." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, let us get Doctor Lanning; something can be done for him." +</P> + +<P> +"No. It is too late." +</P> + +<P> +Horror checked her. "Dead?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I did not want you to know this. Your sister is easily +shocked——" +</P> + +<P> +She paused a moment. "You are very thoughtful of Marie. Have you a +sister?" +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't. Why do you ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who taught you thoughtfulness?" she asked, gravely. He stood +disconcerted. "I find consideration common among Western men," she +went on, generalizing prettily; "our men don't have it. Does a life so +rough and terrible as this give men the consideration that we expect +elsewhere and do not find? Ah, that poor shoveller. Isn't it horrible +to die so? Did everyone else escape?" +</P> + +<P> +"They are ready to start, I think," he suggested, uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, are they?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are coming to see us?" called Marie, leaning from the top, while +Glover paused behind her sister, when they had reached the stage. He +stood with his hat in his hand. The dazzling sun made copper of the +swarthy brown of his lower face and brought out the white of his +forehead where the hair crisped wet in the heat of the morning. +Gertrude Brock, after she had gained her seat with his help, looked +down while he talked; looked at the top of his head, and listening +vaguely to Marie, noted his long, bony hand as it clung to the window +strap—the hand of the most audacious man she had ever met in her +life—who had made an avowal to her on the observation platform of her +father's own car—and she mused at the explosion that would have +followed had she ever breathed a syllable of the circumstance to her +own fiery papa. +</P> + +<P> +But she had told no one—least of all, the young man that had asked her +before she left Pittsburg to marry him and was now writing her every +other day—Allen Harrison. Indeed, what could be more ridiculously +embarrassing than to be assailed so unexpectedly? She had no mind to +make herself anyone's laughing-stock by speaking of it. One thing, +however, she had vaguely determined—since Glover had frightened her +she would retaliate at least a little before she returned to the quiet +of Fifth Avenue. +</P> + +<P> +Marie was still talking to him. "Why haven't you heard? I thought +sister would have told you. The doctor says I gained faster here than +anywhere between the two oceans, and we are all to spend six weeks up +at Glen Tarn Springs. Papa is going East and coming back after us, and +we shall expect you to come to the Springs very often." +</P> + +<P> +The stage was starting. Gertrude faced backward as she sat. She could +see Glover's salutation, and she waved a glove. He was as utterly +confused as she could desire. She saw him rejoin his companion +engineer near where lay the shoveller with the covered face, and the +thought of the terrible accident depressed her. As she last saw Glover +he was pointing at the faulty bank, and she knew that the two men were +planning again for the safety of the men. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +About Glen Tarn, now quite the best known of the Northern mountain +resorts, there is no month like October: no sun like the October sun, +and no frost like the first that stills the aspen. Moreover, the +travel is done, the parks are deserted, the mountains robing for +winter. In October, the horse, starting, shrinks under his rider, for +the lion, always moving, never seen, is following the game into the +valleys, leaving the grizzly to beat his stubborn retreat from the snow +line alone. +</P> + +<P> +Starting from the big hotel in a new direction every day the +Pittsburgers explored the valleys and the cañons, for the lake and the +springs nestle in the Pilot Mountains and the scenery is everywhere +new. Mount Pilot itself rises loftily to the north, and from its sides +may be seen every peak in the range. +</P> + +<P> +One day, for a novelty, the whole party went down to Medicine Bend, +nominally on a shopping expedition, but really on a lark. Medicine +Bend is the only town within a day's distance of Glen Tarn Springs +where there are shops; and though the shopping usually ended in a +chorus of jokes, the trip on the main line trains, which they caught at +Sleepy Cat, was always worth while, and the dining-car, with an +elaborate supper in returning, was a change from the hotel table. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes Gertrude and Mrs. Whitney went together to the headquarters +town—Gertrude expecting always to encounter Glover. When some time +had passed, her failure to get a glimpse of him piqued her. One day +with her aunt going down they met Conductor O'Brien. He was more than +ready to answer questions, and fortunately for the reserve that +Gertrude loved to maintain, Mrs. Whitney remarked they had not seen Mr. +Glover for some time. +</P> + +<P> +"No one has seen much of him for two weeks; he had a little bad luck," +explained Conductor O'Brien. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Three weeks ago he was up at Crab Valley. They had a cave-in on the +irrigation canal and two or three men got caught under a coal platform +near the steam shovel. Glover was close by when it happened. He got +his back under the timbers until they could get the men out and broke +two of his ribs. He went home that night without knowing of it, but a +couple of days afterward he sneezed and found it out right away. Since +then he's been doing his work in a plaster cast." +</P> + +<P> +Their return train that day was several hours behind time and Gertrude +and her aunt were compelled to go up late to the American House for +supper. A hotel supper at Medicine Bend was naturally the occasion of +some merriment, and the two diverted themselves with ordering a wild +assortment of dishes. The supper hour had passed, the dining-room had +been closed, and they were sitting at their dessert when a late comer +entered the room. Gertrude touched her aunt's arm—Glover was passing. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Whitney's first impulse was to halt the silent engineer with one +of her imperative words. To think of him was to think only of his +easily approachable manner; but to see him was indistinctly to recall +something of a dignity of simplicity. She contented herself with a +whisper. "He doesn't see us." +</P> + +<P> +At the lower end of the room Glover sat down. Almost at once Gertrude +became conscious of the silence. She handled her fork noiselessly, and +the interval before a waitress pushed open the swinging kitchen door to +take his order seemed long. The Eastern girl watched narrowly until +the waitress flounced out, and Glover, shifting his knife and his fork +and his glass of water, spread his limp napkin across his lap, and +resting his elbow on the table supported his head on his hand. +</P> + +<P> +The surroundings had never looked so bare as then, and a sense of the +loneliness of the shabby furnishings filled her. The ghastliness of +the arc-lights, the forbidding whiteness of the walls, and the +penetrating odors of the kitchen seemed all brought out by the presence +of a man alone. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Whitney continued to jest, but Gertrude responded mechanically. +Glover was eating his supper when the two rose from their table, and +Mrs. Whitney led the way toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"So, this is the invalid," she said, halting abruptly before him. +"Mrs. Whitney!" exclaimed Glover, trying hastily to rise as he caught +sight of Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please be seated?" commanded Mrs. Whitney. "I insist——" +</P> + +<P> +He sat down. "We want only to remind you," she went on, "that we hate +to be completely ignored by the engineering department even when <I>not</I> +officially in its charge." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Mrs. Whitney, I can't sit if you are to stand," he answered, +greeting Gertrude and her aunt together. +</P> + +<P> +"You are an invalid; be seated. Nothing but toast?" objected Mrs. +Whitney, drawing out a chair and sitting down. "Do you expect to mend +broken ribs on toast?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm well mended, thank you. Do I look like an invalid?" +</P> + +<P> +"But we heard you were seriously hurt." He laughed. "And want to +suggest Glen Tarn as a health resort." +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunately, the doctor has discharged me. In fact, a broken rib +doesn't entitle a man to a lay-off. I hope your sister continues to +improve?" he added, looking at Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +"She does, thank you. Mrs. Whitney and I have been talking of the day +we met you at the irrigation—" he did not help her to a word—"works," +she continued, feeling the slight confusion of the pause. "You"—he +looked at her so calmly that it was still confusing—"you were hurt +before we met you and we must have seemed unconcerned under the +circumstances. We speak often at Glen Tarn of the delightful weeks we +spent in your mountain wilds last summer," she added. +</P> + +<P> +Glover thanked her, but appeared absorbed in Mrs. Whitney's attempt to +disengage her eye-glasses from their holder, and Gertrude made no +further effort to break his restraint. Mrs. Whitney talked, and Glover +talked, but Gertrude reserved her bolt until just before their train +started. +</P> + +<P> +He had gone with them, and they were standing on the platform before +the vestibule steps of their Pullman car. As the last moment +approached it was not hard to see that Glover was torn between Mrs. +Whitney's rapid-fire talk and a desire to hear something from Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +She waited till the train was moving before she loosed her shaft. Mrs. +Whitney had ascended the steps, the porter was impatient, Glover +nervous. Gertrude turned with a smile and a totally bewildering +cordiality on the unfortunate man. "My sister," her glove was on the +hand-rail, "sends some sort of a message to Mr. Glover every time I +come to Medicine Bend—but the gist of them all is that she would be +very"—the train was moving and they were stepping along with it—"glad +to see you at Glen Tarn before——" +</P> + +<P> +"Gertrude," screamed Mrs. Whitney, "will you get on?" +</P> + +<P> +Glover's eyes were growing like target-lights. +</P> + +<P> +"—before we go East," continued Gertrude. "So should I," she added, +throwing in the last three words most inexplicably, as she kept step +with the engineer. But she had not miscalculated the effect. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you to go soon?" he exclaimed. The porter followed them +helplessly with his stool. Mrs. Whitney wrung her hands, and Gertrude +attempted to reach the lower tread of the car step. +</P> + +<P> +Someone very decidedly helped her, and she laughed and rose from his +hands as lightly as to a stirrup. When she collected herself, after +the pleasure of the spring, Mrs. Whitney was scolding her for her +carelessness; but she was waving a glove from the vestibule at a big +hat still lifted in the dusk of the platform. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GLEN TARN +</H3> + +<P> +October had not yet gone when they met again in a Medicine Bend street. +Glover, leaving the Wickiup with Morris Blood, ran into Gertrude Brock +coming out of an Indian curio-shop with Doctor Lanning. She began at +once to talk to Glover. "Marie was regretting, yesterday, that you had +not yet found your way to Glen Tarn." +</P> + +<P> +The sun beat intensely on her black hat and her suit of gray. In her +gloved hand she twirled the tip of her open sunshade on the pavement +with deliberation and he shifted his footing helplessly. His heavy +face never looked homelier than in sunshine, and she gazed at him with +a calmness that was staggering. He muttered something about having +been unusually busy. +</P> + +<P> +"We, too, have been," smiled Gertrude, "making final preparations for +our departure." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you go so soon?" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"We are waiting only papa's return now to say good-by to the +mountains." The way in which she put it stirred him as she had +intended it should—uncomfortably. +</P> + +<P> +"I should certainly want to say good-by to your sister," muttered +Glover. But in saying even so little his naturally unsteady voice +broke one extra tone, and when this happened it angered him. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not timid, are you?" continued Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I am something of a coward." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you shouldn't venture," she laughed, "Marie has a scolding for +you." +</P> + +<P> +Morris Blood had been telling Doctor Lanning that he and Glover were to +go over to Sleepy Cat on the train the doctor and Gertrude were to take +back to Glen Tarn. The two railroad men were just starting across the +yard to inspect an engine, the 1018, which was to pull the limited +train that day for the first time. It was a new monster, planned by +the modest little Manxman, Robert Crosby, for the first district run. +"Help her over the pass," Crosby had whispered—the superintendent of +motive power hardly ever spoke aloud—"and she'll buck a headwind like +a canvas-back. Give her decent weather, and on the Sleepy Cat trail +she'll run away with six, yes, eight Pullmans." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Lanning was curious to look over the new machine, the first to +signalize the new ownership of the line, and Gertrude was quite ready +to accept Blood's invitation to go also. +</P> + +<P> +With the doctor under the superintendent's wing, Gertrude, piloted by +Glover, crossed the network of tracks, asking railroad questions at +every step. +</P> + +<P> +Reaching the engine, she wanted to get up into the cab, to say that, +before leaving the mountains forever, she had been once inside an +engine. Glover, after some delay, procured a stepladder from the "rip" +track, and with this the daughter of the magnate made an unusual but +easy ascent to the cab. More than that, she made herself a heroine to +every yardman in sight, and strengthened the new administration +incalculably. +</P> + +<P> +She ignored a conventional offer of waste from the man in charge of the +cab, who she was surprised to learn, after some sympathetic remarks on +her part, was not the engineman at all. He was a man that had +something to do with horses. And when she suggested it would be quite +an event for so big an engine to go over the mountains for the first +time, the hostler told her it had already been over a good many times. +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Blood had an easy explanation for every confusing statement, +and did not falter even when Miss Brock wanted to start the 1018 +herself. He objected that she would soil her gloves, but she held them +up in derision; plainly, they had already suffered. Some difficulty +then arose because she could not begin to reach the throttle. Again, +with much chaffing, the stepladder was brought into play, and steadied +on it by Morris Blood, and coached by the hostler, the heiress to many +millions grasped the throttle, unlatched it and pulled at the lever +vigorously with both hands. +</P> + +<P> +The packing was new, but Gertrude persisted, the bar yielded, and to +her great fright things began to hiss. The engine moved like a roaring +leviathan, and the author of the mischief screamed, tried to stop it, +and being helpless appealed to the unshaven man to help her. Glover, +however, was nearest and shut off. +</P> + +<P> +It was all very exciting, and when on the turntable Gertrude was told +by the doctor that her suit was completely ruined she merely held up +both her blackened gloves, laughing, as Glover came up; and caught up +her begrimed skirt and joined him with a flush on her cheeks as bright +as a danger signal. +</P> + +<P> +Some fervor of the magical day, under those skies where autumn itself +is only a heavier wine than spring, something of the deep breath of the +mountain scene seemed to infect her. +</P> + +<P> +She walked at Glover's side. She recalled with the slightest pretty +mirth his fetching the ladder—the way in which he had crossed a flat +car by planting the ladder alongside, mounting, pulling the steps after +him, and descending on them to the other side. +</P> + +<P> +In her humor she faintly suggested his awkward competence in doing +things, and he, too, laughed. As they crossed track after track she +would place the toe of her boot on a rail glittering in the sun, and +rising, balance an instant to catch an answer from him before going on. +There was no haste in their manner. They had crossed the railroad +yard, strangers; they recrossed it quite other. Their steps they +retraced, but not their path. The path that led them that day together +to the engine was never to be retraced. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To worry Crosby's new locomotive, Blood's car had been ordered added to +the westbound limited, but neither Glover nor Blood spent any time in +the private car. The afternoon went in the Pullman with Gertrude Brock +and Doctor Lanning. At dinner Glover did the ordering because he had +earlier planned to celebrate the promotion, already known, of Morris +Blood to the general superintendency. +</P> + +<P> +If there were few lines along which the construction engineer could +shine he at least appeared to advantage as the host of his friend, +since the ordering of a dinner is peculiarly a gentleman's matter, and +even the modest complement of wine which the occasion demanded, Glover +toasted in a way that revealed the boyish loyalty between the two men. +</P> + +<P> +The spirit of it was so contagious that neither the doctor nor Gertrude +made scruple of adding their congratulations. But the moments were +fleeting and Glover, next day, could recall them up to one scene only. +When Gertrude found she could not, even after a brave effort, ride with +her back to the engine, and accepted so graciously Mr. Blood's offer to +change seats, it brought her beside Glover; after that his memory +failed. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning he felt miserably overdone, as at Sleepy Cat a man might +after running a preliminary half way to heaven. Moreover, when they +parted he had, he remembered, undertaken to dine the following evening +at the Springs. +</P> + +<P> +When he entered the apartments of the Pittsburg party at six o'clock, +Mrs. Whitney reproached him for his absence during their month at Glen +Tarn, and in Mrs. Whitney's manner, peremptorily. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure we've missed seeing everything worth while about here," she +complained. Her annoyance put Glover in good humor. Marie met him +with a gentler reproach. "And we go next week!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you've seen everything, I know," he protested, answering both of +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Whether we have or not, Mr. Glover should be penalized for his +indifference," suggested Marie. Doctor Lanning came in. "Compel him +to show us something we haven't seen around the lake," suggested the +doctor. "That he cannot do; then we have only to decide on his +punishment." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, I want to be on that jury," said Gertrude, entering softly in +black. +</P> + +<P> +"But is this Pittsburg justice?" objected Glover, rising at the spell +of her eyes to the raillery. "Shouldn't I have a try at the scenery +end of the proposition before sentence is demanded?" +</P> + +<P> +"Justify quickly, then," threatened Marie, as they started for the +dining-room; "we are not trifling." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you've been here a month," began Glover, when the party were +seated. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Out every day." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"The guides have all your money?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I stake everything on a single throw——" +</P> + +<P> +"A professional," interjected Doctor Lanning. +</P> + +<P> +"Only desperate gamesters stake all on a single throw," said Gertrude +warningly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a desperate gamester," said Glover, "and now for it. Have you +seen the Devil's Gap?" +</P> + +<P> +A chorus of derision answered. +</P> + +<P> +"The very first day—the very first trip!" cried Mrs. Whitney, raising +her tone one note above every other protest. +</P> + +<P> +"And you staked all on so wretched a chance?" exclaimed Gertrude. +"Why, Devil's Gap is the stock feature of every guide, good, bad, and +indifferent, at the Springs." +</P> + +<P> +"I have staked more at heavier odds," returned Glover, taking the storm +calmly, "and won. Have you made but one trip, when you first came, do +you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"The very first day." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you haven't seen Devil's Gap. To see it," he continued, "you +must see it at night." +</P> + +<P> +"At night?" +</P> + +<P> +"With the moon rising over the Spanish Sinks." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, how that sounds!" exclaimed Marie. +</P> + +<P> +"To-night we have full moon," added Glover. "Don't say too lightly you +have seen Devil's Gap, for that is given to but few tourists." +</P> + +<P> +"Do not call us tourists," objected Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +"And from where did you see Devil's Gap—The Pilot?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, from across the Tarn." +</P> + +<P> +If the expression of Glover's face, returning somewhat the ridicule +heaped on him, was intended to pique the interest of the sightseers it +was effective. He was restored, provisionally, to favor; his +suggestion that after dinner they take horses for the ride up Pilot +Mountain to where the Gap could be seen by moonlight was eagerly +adopted, and Mrs. Whitney's objection to dressing again was put down. +Marie, fearing the hardship, demurred, but Glover woke to so lively +interest, and promised the trip should be so easy that when she +consented to go he made it his affair to attend directly to her comfort +and safety. +</P> + +<P> +He summoned one particular liveryman, not a favorite at the fashionable +hotel, and to him gave especial injunctions about the horses. The +girths Glover himself went over at starting, and in the riding he kept +near Marie. +</P> + +<P> +Lighted by the stars, they left the hotel in the early evening. "How +are you to find your way, Mr. Glover?" asked Marie, as they threaded +the path He led her into after they had reached the mountain. "Is this +the road we came on?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could climb Pilot blindfolded, I reckon. When we came in here I ran +surveys all around the old fellow, switchbacks and everything. The +line is a Chinese puzzle about here for ten miles. The path you're on +now is an old Indian trail out of Devil's Gap. The guides don't use it +because it is too long. The Gap is a ten-dollar trip, in any case, and +naturally they make it the shortest way." +</P> + +<P> +For thirty minutes they rode in darkness, then leaving a sharp defile +they emerged on a plateau. +</P> + +<P> +Across the Sinks the moon was rising full and into a clear sky. To the +right twinkled the lights of Glen Tarn, and below them yawned the +unspeakable wrench in the granite shoulders of the Pilot range called +Devil's Gap. Out of its appalling darkness projected miles of silvered +spurs tipped like grinning teeth by the light of the moon. +</P> + +<P> +"There are a good many Devil's Gaps in the Rockies," said Glover, after +the silence had been broken; "but, I imagine, if the devil condescends +to acknowledge any he wouldn't disclaim this." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude stood beside her sister. "You are quite right," she admitted. +"We have spent our month here and missed the only overpowering +spectacle. This is Dante." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed it is," he assented, eagerly. "I must tell you. The first +time I got into the Gap with a locating party I had a volume of Dante +in my pack. It is an unfortunate trait of mine that in reading I am +compelled to chart the topography of a story as I go along. In the +'Inferno' I could never get head or tail of the topography. One night +we camped on this very ledge. In the night the horses roused me. When +I opened the tent fly the moon was up, about where it is now. I stood +till I nearly froze, looking—but I thought after that I could chart +the 'Inferno.' If it weren't so dry, or if we were going to stay all +night, I should have a camp-fire; but it wouldn't do, and before you +get cold we must start back. +</P> + +<P> +"See," he pointed, far down on the left. "Can you make out that speck +of light? It is the headlight of a freight train crawling up the range +from Sleepy Cat. When the weather is right you can see the white head +of Sleepy Cat Mountain from this spot. That train will wind around in +sight of this knob for an hour, climbing to the mining camps." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Lanning called to Marie. Gertrude stood with Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that the desert of the Spanish Sinks?" she asked, looking into the +stream of the moon. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that where you were lost two days?" +</P> + +<P> +"My horse got away. Have you hurt your hand?" +</P> + +<P> +She was holding her right hand in her left. "I tore my glove on a +thorn, coming up. It is not much." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it bleeding?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know; can you see?" +</P> + +<P> +She drew down the glove gauntlet and held her hand up. If his breath +caught he did not betray it, but while he touched her she could very +plainly feel his hand tremble; yet for that matter his hand, she knew, +trembled frequently. He struck a match. It was no part of her +audacity to betray herself, and she stepped directly between the others +and the little blaze and looked into his face while he Inspected her +wrist. "Can you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is scratched badly, but not bleeding," he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"It hurts." +</P> + +<P> +"Very likely; the wounds that hurt most don't always bleed," he said, +evenly. "Let us go." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no," she said; "not quite yet. This is unutterable. I love this." +</P> + +<P> +"Your aunt, I fear, is not interested. She is complaining of the cold. +I can't light a fire; the mountain is all timber below——" +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Jane would complain in heaven, but that wouldn't signify she +didn't appreciate it. Why are you so quickly put out? It isn't like +you to be out of humor." She drew on her glove slowly. "I wish you +had this wrist——" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish to God I had." The sudden words frightened her. She showed +her displeasure in half turning away, then she resolutely faced him. +"I am not going to quarrel with you even if you make fun of me——" +</P> + +<P> +"Fun of you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Even if you put an unfair sense on what I say." +</P> + +<P> +"I meant what I said in every sense, either to take the pain or—the +other. I couldn't make fun of you. Do you never make fun of me, Miss +Brock?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Mr. Glover, I do not. If you would be sensible we should do very +well. You have been so kind, and we are to leave the mountains so +soon, we ought to be good friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you tell me one thing, Miss Brock—are you engaged?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think you should ask, Mr. Glover. But I am not +engaged—unless that in a sense I am," she added, doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"What sense, please?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I have given no answer. Are you still complaining of the cold, +Aunt Jane?" she cried, in desperation, turning toward Mrs. Whitney. "I +find it quite warm over here. Mr. Glover and I are still watching the +freight train. Come over, do." +</P> + +<P> +Going back, Glover rode near to Gertrude, who had grown restless and +imperious. To hunt this queer mountain-lion was recreation, but to +have the mountain-lion hunt her was disquieting. +</P> + +<P> +She complained again of her wounded hand, but refused all suggestions, +and gave him no credit for riding between her and the thorny trees +through the cañon. It was midnight when the party reached the hotel, +and when Gertrude stepped across the parlor to the water-pitcher, +Glover followed. "I must thank you for your thoughtfulness of my +little sister to-night," she was saying. +</P> + +<P> +He was so intent that he forgot to reply. +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask one question?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"That depends." +</P> + +<P> +"When you make answer may I know what it is?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed you may not." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NOVEMBER +</H3> + +<P> +They walked back to the parlors. Doctor Lanning and Marie were picking +up the rackets at the ping-pong table. Mrs. Whitney had gone into the +office for the evening mail. +</P> + +<P> +Passing the piano, Gertrude sat down and swung around toward the keys. +Glover took music from the table. Unwilling to admit a trace of the +unusual in the beating of her heart, or in her deeper breathing, she +could not entirely control either; there was something too fascinating +in defying the light that she now knew glowed in the dull eyes at her +side. She avoided looking; enough that the fire was there without +directly exposing her own eyes to it. She drummed with one hand, then +with both, at a gavotte on the rack before her. +</P> + +<P> +Overcome merely at watching her fingers stretch upon the keys he leaned +against the piano. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you ask me to come up?" +</P> + +<P> +As he muttered the words she picked again and again with her right hand +at a loving little phrase in the gavotte. When it went precisely right +she spoke in the same tone, still caressing the phrase, never looking +up. "Are you sorry you came?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; I'd rather be trod under foot than not be near you." +</P> + +<P> +"May we not be friends without either of us being martyred? I shall be +afraid ever to ask you to do anything again. Was I wrong in—assuming +it would give you as well as all of us pleasure to dine together this +evening?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. You know better than that. I am insanely presumptuous, I know +it. Let me ask one last favor——" +</P> + +<P> +The gavotte rippled under her fingers. "No." +</P> + +<P> +He turned away. She swung on the stool toward him and looked very +kindly and frankly up. "You have been too courteous to all of us for +that. Ask as many favors as you like, Mr. Glover," she murmured, "but +not, if you please, a last one." +</P> + +<P> +"It shall be the last, Miss Brock. I only——" +</P> + +<P> +"You only what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you let me know what day you are going, so I may say good-by?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly I will. You will be at Medicine Bend in any case, won't +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. I have fifteen hundred miles to cover next week." +</P> + +<P> +"What for—oh, it isn't any of my business, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Looking over the snowsheds. Will you telegraph me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"At the Wickiup; it will reach me." +</P> + +<P> +"You might have to come too far. We shall start in a few days." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you telegraph me?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you wish me to." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Eight days later, when suspense had grown sullen and Glover had parted +with all hope of hearing from her, he heard. In the depths of the +Heart River range her message reached him. +</P> + +<P> +Every day Giddings, hundreds of miles away at the Wickiup, had had his +route-list. Giddings, who would have died for the engineer, waited, +every point in the repeating covered, day after day for a Glen Tarn +message that Glover expected. For four days Glover had hung like a dog +around the nearer stretches of the division. But the season was +advanced, he dared not delegate the last vital inspection of the year, +and bitterly he retreated from shed to shed until he was buried in the +barren wastes of the eighth district. +</P> + +<P> +The day in the Heart River mountains is the thin, gray day of the +alkali and the sage. On Friday afternoon Glover's car lay sidetracked +at the east end of the Nine Mile shed waiting for a limited train to +pass. The train was late and the sun was dropping into an ashen strip +of wind clouds that hung cold as shrouds to the north and west when the +gray-powdered engine whistled for the siding. +</P> + +<P> +Motionless beside the switch Glover saw down the gloom of the shed the +shoes wringing fire from the Pullman wheels, and wondered why they were +stopping. The conductor from the open vestibule waved to him as the +train slowed and ran forward with the message. +</P> + +<P> +"Giddings wired me to wait for your answer, Mr. Glover," said the +conductor. +</P> + +<P> +Glover was reading the telegram: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I may start Saturday. +</P> + +<P> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 8em">"G. B."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There was one chance to make it; that was to take the limited train +then and there. Bidding the conductor wait he hastened to his car, +called for his gripsack, gave his assistant a volley of orders, and +boarded a Pullman. Not the preferred stock of the whole system would +have availed at that moment to induce an inspection of Nine Mile shed. +</P> + +<P> +There were men that he knew in the sleepers, but he shunned +acquaintance and walked on till he found an empty section into which he +could throw himself and feast undisturbed on his telegram. He studied +it anew, tried to consider coolly whether her message meant anything or +nothing, and gloated over the magic of the letters that made her +initials: and when he slept, the word last in his heart was Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning he breakfasted late in the sunshine of the diner, passed +his friends again and secluded himself in his section. Never before +had she said "I"; always it had been "we." With eyes half-closed upon +the window he repeated the words and spoke her name after them, because +every time the speaking drugged him like lotus, until, yielding again +to the exhaustion of the week's work and strain, he fell asleep. +</P> + +<P> +When he woke the car was dark; the train conductor, Sid Francis, was +sitting beside him, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"You're sleepy to-day, Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"Sid, where are we?" asked Glover, looking at his watch; it was four +o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +"Grouse Creek." +</P> + +<P> +"Are we that late? What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +The conductor nodded toward the window. "Look there." +</P> + +<P> +The sky was gray with a driving haze; a thin sweep of snow flying in +the sand of the storm was whitening the sagebrush. +</P> + +<P> +Glover, waking wide, turned to the window. "Where's the wind, Sid?" +</P> + +<P> +"Northwest." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the thermometer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thirty at Creston; sixty when we left MacDill at noon." +</P> + +<P> +"Everything running?" +</P> + +<P> +"They've been getting the freights into division since noon. There'll +be something doing to-night on the range. They sent stock warnings +everywhere this morning, but they can't begin to protect the stock +between here and Medicine in one day. Pulling hard, isn't she? We're +not making up anything." +</P> + +<P> +The porter was lighting the lamps. While they talked it had grown +quite dark. Losing time every mile of the way, the train, +frost-crusted to the eyelids, got into Sleepy Cat at half-past six +o'clock; four hours late. +</P> + +<P> +The crowded yard, as they pulled through it, showed the tie-up of the +day's traffic. Long lines of freight cars filled the trackage, and +overloaded switch engines struggled with ever-growing burdens to avert +the inevitable blockade of the night. Glover's anxiety, as he left the +train at the station, was as to whether he could catch anything on the +Glen Tarn branch to take him up to the Springs that night, for there he +was resolved to get before morning if he had to take an engine for the +run. +</P> + +<P> +As he started up the narrow hall leading to the telegraph office he +heard the rustle of skirts above. Someone was descending the stairway, +and with his face in the light he halted. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"Why—Miss Brock!" It was Gertrude. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the world—" he began. His broken voice was very natural, she +thought, but there was amazement in his utterance. He noticed there +was little color in her face; the deep boa of fur nestling about her +throat might account for that. +</P> + +<P> +"What a chance that I should meet you!" she exclaimed, her back hard +against the side wall, for the hall was narrow and brought them face to +face. She spoke on. "Did you get my——?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did I?" he echoed slowly; "I have travelled every minute since +yesterday afternoon to get here——" +</P> + +<P> +Her uneasy laugh interrupted him. "It was hardly worth while, all +that." +</P> + +<P> +"—and I was just going up to find out about getting to Glen Tarn." +</P> + +<P> +"Glen Tarn! I left Glen Tarn this afternoon all alone to go to +Medicine Bend—papa is there, did you know? He came yesterday with all +the directors. Our car was attached for me to the afternoon train +coming down." She was certainly wrought up, he thought. "But when we +reached here the train I should have taken for Medicine Bend had not +come——" +</P> + +<P> +"It is here now." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I came in on it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I can start at last! I have been so nervous. Is this our train? +They said our car couldn't be attached to this train, and that I should +have to go down in one of the sleepers. I don't understand it at all. +Will you have the car sent back to Glen Tarn in the morning, Mr. +Glover? And would you get my handbag? I was nearly run over a while +ago by some engine or other. I mustn't miss this train——" +</P> + +<P> +"Never fear, never fear," said Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"But I <I>cannot</I> miss it. Be very, very sure, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, I shall. The train won't start for some time yet. First let +me take you to your car and then make some inquiries. Is no one down +with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No one; I am alone." +</P> + +<P> +"Alone?" +</P> + +<P> +"I expected to have been with papa by this time. It takes so little +time to run down, you know, and I telegraphed papa I should come on to +meet him. Isn't it most disagreeable weather?" +</P> + +<P> +Glover laughed as he shielded her from the wind. "I suppose that's a +woman's name for it." +</P> + +<P> +The car, coupled to a steampipe, stood just east of the station, and +Glover, helping her into it, went back after a moment to the telegraph +office. It seemed a long time that he was gone, and he returned +covered with snow. She advanced quickly to him in her wraps. "Are +they ready?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head. "I'm afraid you can't get to Medicine to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but I must." +</P> + +<P> +"They have abandoned Number Six." +</P> + +<P> +"What does that mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"The train will be held here to-night on account of the storm. There +will be no train of any kind down before morning; not then if this +keeps up." +</P> + +<P> +"Is there danger of a blockade?" +</P> + +<P> +"There is a blockade." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I must get to papa to-night." She spoke with disconcerting +firmness. +</P> + +<P> +"May I suggest?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"Would it not be infinitely better to go back to the Springs?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, that would be infinitely worse." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be comparatively easy—an engine to pull your car up on a +special order?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will not go back to the Springs to-night, and I will go to Medicine +Bend," she exclaimed, apprehensively. "May I not have a special there +as well as to the Springs?" +</P> + +<P> +Until that moment he had never seen anything of her father in her; but +her father spoke in every feature; she was a Brock. +</P> + +<P> +Glover looked grave. "You may have, I am sure, every facility the +division offers. I make only the point," he said, gently, "that it +would be hazardous to attempt to get to the Bend to-night. I have just +come from the telegraph office. In the district I left this morning +the wires are all down to-night. That is where the storm is coming +from. There is a lull here just now, but——" +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you, Mr. Glover, believe me, very sincerely for your +solicitude. I have no choice but to go, and if I must, the sooner the +better, surely. Is it possible for you to make arrangements for me?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is possible, yes," he answered, guardedly. +</P> + +<P> +"But you hesitate." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a terrible night." +</P> + +<P> +"I like snow, Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"The danger to-night is the wind." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you afraid of the wind?" There was a touch of ridicule in her +half-laughing tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he answered, "I am afraid of the wind." +</P> + +<P> +"You are jesting." +</P> + +<P> +She saw that he flushed just at the eyes; but he spoke still gently. +</P> + +<P> +"You feel that you must go?" +</P> + +<P> +"I must." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I will get orders at once." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NIGHT +</H3> + +<P> +Glover looked at his watch; it was Giddings' trick at Medicine Bend, +and he made little doubt of getting what he asked for. He walked to +the eating-house and from there directly across to the roundhouse, and +started a hurry call for the night foreman. He found him at a desk +talking with Paddy McGraw, the engineer that was to have taken out +Number Six. +</P> + +<P> +"Paddy," said Glover, "do you want to take me to Medicine to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"They've just cancelled Number Six." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't have to go to-night, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, with Mr. Brock's car. This isn't as bad as the night you and I +and Jack Moore bucked snow at Point of Rocks," said Glover, +significantly. "Do you remember carrying me from the number seven +culvert clean back to the station after the steampipe broke?" +</P> + +<P> +"You bet I do, and I never thought you'd see again after the way your +eyes were cooked that night. Well, of course, if you want to go +to-night, it's go, Mr. Glover. You know what you're about, but I'd +never look to see you going out for fun a night like this." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't help it. Yet I wouldn't want any man to go out with me +to-night unwillingly, Paddy." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that's nothing. You got me my first run on this division. I'd +pull you to hell if you said so." +</P> + +<P> +Glover turned to the night foreman. "What's the best engine in the +house?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's the 1018 with steam and a plough." +</P> + +<P> +Glover started. "The 1018?" +</P> + +<P> +"She was to pull Six." The mountain man picked up the telephone, and +getting the operators, sent a rush message to Giddings. Leaving final +instructions with the two men he returned to the telegraph office. +When Giddings's protest about ordering a train out on such a night +came, Glover, who expected it, choked it back—assuming all +responsibility—gave no explanations and waited. When the orders came +he inspected them himself and returned to the car. Gertrude, in the +car alone, was drinking coffee from a hotel tray on the card table. +"It was very kind of you to send this in," she said, rising cordially. +"I had forgotten all about dinner. Have you succeeded?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Could you eat what they sent?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pray look. I have left absolutely nothing and I am very grateful. Do +I not seem so?" she added, searchingly. "I want to because I am." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled at her earnestness. Two little chairs were drawn up at the +table, and facing each other they sat down while Gertrude finished her +coffee and made Glover take a sandwich. +</P> + +<P> +When the train conductor came in ten minutes later Glover talked with +him. While the men spoke Gertrude noticed how Glover overran the +dainty chair she had provided. She scrutinized his rough-weather garb, +the heavy hunting boots, the stout reefer buttoned high, and the +leather cap crushed now with his gloves in his hand. She had been +asking him where he got the cap, and a moment before, while her +attention wandered, he had told her the story of a company of Russian +noblemen and engineers from Vladivostok, who, during the summer, had +been his guests, nominally on a bear hunt, though they knew better than +to hunt bears in summer. It was really to pick up points on American +railroad construction. He might go, he thought, the following spring +to Siberia himself, perhaps to stay—this man that feared the wind—he +had had a good offer. The cap was a present. +</P> + +<P> +The two men went out and she was left alone. A flagman, hat in hand, +passed through the car. The shock of the engine coupler striking the +buffer hardly disturbed her reverie; for her the night meant too much. +</P> + +<P> +Glover was with the operators giving final instructions to Giddings for +ploughs to meet them without fail at Point of Rocks. Hastening from +the office he looked again at the barometer. It promised badly and the +thermometer stood at ten degrees above zero. +</P> + +<P> +He had made his way through the falling snow to where they were +coupling the engine to the car, watched narrowly, and going forward +spoke to the engineer. When he re-entered the car it was moving slowly +out of the yard. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude, with a smile, put aside her book. "I am so glad," she said, +looking at her watch. "I hope we shall get there by eleven o'clock; we +should, should we not, Mr. Glover?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a poor night for making a schedule," was all he said. The arcs +of the long yard threw white and swiftly passing beams of light through +the windows, and the warmth within belied the menace outside. +</P> + +<P> +At the rear end of the car the flagman worked with one of the +tail-lights that burned badly, and the conductor watched him. Gertrude +laid aside her furs and threw open her jacket. Her hat she kept on, +and sitting in a deep chair told Glover of her father's arrival from +the East on Wednesday and explained how she had set her heart on +surprising him that evening at Medicine Bend. "Where are we now?" she +asked, as the rumble of the whirling trucks deepened. +</P> + +<P> +"Entering Sleepy Cat Cañon, the Rat River——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I remember this. I ride on the platform almost every time I come +through here so I may see where you split the mountain. And every time +I see it I ask myself the same question. How came he ever to think of +that?" +</P> + +<P> +It needed even hardly so much of an effort to lull her companion's +uneasiness. He was a man with no concern at best for danger, except as +to the business view of it, and when personally concerned in the hazard +his scruples were never deep. Not before had he seen or known Gertrude +Brock, for from that moment she gave herself to bewilderment and charm. +</P> + +<P> +The great engine pulling them made so little of its load that they +could afford to forget the night; indeed, Gertrude gave him no moments +to reflect. From the quick play of their talk at the table she led him +to the piano. When, sitting down, she drew off her gloves. She drew +them off lazily. When he reminded her that she still had on her jacket +she did not look up, but leaning forward she studied the page of a song +on the rack, running the air with her right hand, while she slowly +extended her left arm toward him and let him draw the tight sleeve over +her wrist and from her shoulder. Then his attempt to relieve her of +the second sleeve she wholly ignored, slipping it lightly off and +pursuing the song with her left hand while she let the jacket fall in a +heap on the floor. By the time Glover had picked it up and she had +frowned at him she might safely have asked him, had the fancy struck +her, to head the engine for the peak of Sleepy Cat Mountain. +</P> + +<P> +Half-way through a teasing Polish dance she stopped and asked suddenly +whether he had had any supper besides the sandwich; and refusing to +receive assurances forthwith abandoned the piano, rummaged the +staterooms and came back bearing in one hand a very large box of candy +and in the other a banjo. She wanted to hear the darky tunes he had +strummed at the desert campfire, and making him eat of the chocolates, +picked meantime at the banjo herself. +</P> + +<P> +He was so hungry that unconsciously he despatched one entire layer of +the box while she talked. She laughed heartily at his appetite, and at +his solicitation began tasting the sweetmeats herself. She led him to +ask where the box had come from and refused to answer more than to +wonder, as she discarded the tongs and proffered him a bonbon from her +fingers, whether possibly she was not having more pleasure in disposing +of the contents than the donor of the box had intended. Changing the +subject capriciously she recalled the night in the car that he had +assisted in Louise Bonner's charade, and his absurdly effective +pirouetting in a corner behind the curtain where Louise and he thought +no one saw them. +</P> + +<P> +"And, by the way," she added, "you never told me whether your +stenographer finally came that day you tried to put me at work." +</P> + +<P> +Glover hung his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Did she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"What is she like?" +</P> + +<P> +He laughed and was about to reply when the train conductor coming +forward touched him on the shoulder and spoke. Gertrude could not hear +what he said, but Glover turned his head and straightened in his chair. +"I can't smell anything," he said, presently. With the conductor he +walked to the hind end of the car, opened the door, and the three men +went out on the platform. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Gertrude, when Glover came back. +</P> + +<P> +"One of the journals in the rear truck is heating. It is curious," he +mused; "as many times as I've ridden in this car I've never known a box +to run hot till to-night—just when we don't want it to." +</P> + +<P> +He drew down the slack of the bell cord, pulled it twice firmly and +listened. Two freezing pipes from the engine answered; they sounded +cold. A stop was made and Glover, followed by the trainmen, went +outside. Gertrude walking back saw them in the driving snow beneath +the window. Their lamps burned bluishly dim. From the journal box +rose a whipping column of black smoke expanding, when water was got on +the hot steel, into a blinding explosion of white vapor that the storm +snatched away in rolling clouds. There was running to and from the +engine and the delay was considerable, but they succeeded at last in +rigging a small tank above the wheel so that a stream of water should +run into the box. +</P> + +<P> +The men re-entered with their faces stung by the cold, the engine +hoarsely signalled and the car started. Glover made little of the +incident, but Gertrude observed some preoccupation in his manner. He +consulted frequently his watch. Once when he was putting it back she +asked to see it. His watch was the only thing of real value he had and +he was pleased to show it. It contained a portrait of his mother, and +Gertrude, to her surprise and delight, found it. She made him answer +question after question, asked him to let her take the watch from the +chain and studied the girlish face of this man's mother until she +noticed its outlines growing dim and looked impatiently up at the deck +burner: the gas was freezing in the storage tanks. +</P> + +<P> +Glover walked to the rear; the journal they told him was running hot +again. The engineer had asked not to be stopped till they reached Soda +Buttes, where he should have to take water. When he finally slowed for +the station the box was ablaze. +</P> + +<P> +The men hastening out found their drip-tank full of ice: there was +nothing for it but fresh brasses, and Glover getting down in the snow +set the jack with his own hands so it should be set right. The +conductor passed him a bar, but Gertrude could not see; she could only +hear the ring of the frosty steel. Then with a scream the safety valve +of the engine popped and the wind tossed the deafening roar in and out +of the car, now half dark. Stunned by the uproar and disturbed by the +failing light she left her chair, and going over sat down at the window +beneath which Glover was working; some instinct made her seek him. +When the car door opened, the flagman entered with both hands filled +with snow. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you ready to start?" asked Gertrude. He shook his head and +bending over a leather chair rubbed the snow vigorously between his +fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, are you hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"I froze my fingers and Mr. Glover ordered me in," said the boy. +Gertrude noticed for the first time the wind and listened; standing +still the car caught the full sweep and it rang in her ears softly, a +far, lonely sound. +</P> + +<P> +While she listened the lights of the car died wholly out, but the +jargon of noises from the truck kept away some of the loneliness. She +knew he would soon come and when the sounds ceased she waited for him +at the door and opened it hastily for him. He looked storm-beaten as +he held his lantern up with a laugh. Then he examined the flagman's +hand, followed Gertrude forward and placed the lantern on the table +between them, his face glowing above the hooded light. They were +running again, very fast, and the rapid whipping of the trucks was +resonant with snow. +</P> + +<P> +"How far now to Medicine?" she smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"We are about half-way. From here to Point of Rocks we follow an +Indian trail." +</P> + +<P> +The car was no longer warm. The darkness, too, made Gertrude restless +and they searched the storage closets vainly for candles. When they +sat down again they could hear the panting of the engine. The exhaust +had the thinness of extreme cold. They were winding on heavy grades +among the Buttes of the Castle Creek country, and when the engineer +whistled for Castle station the big chime of the engine had shrunk to a +baby's treble; it was growing very cold. +</P> + +<P> +As the car slowed, Glover caught an odor of heated oil, and going back +found the coddled journal smoking again, and like an honest man cursed +it heartily, then he went forward to find out what the stop was for. +He came back after some moments. Gertrude was waiting at the door for +him. "What did you learn?" +</P> + +<P> +He held his lantern up to light her face and answered her question with +another. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think you could stand a ride in the engine cab?" +</P> + +<P> +"Surely, if necessary. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"The engine isn't steaming overly well. When we leave this point we +get the full wind across the Sweetgrass plains. There's no fit place +at this station for you—no place, in fact—or I should strongly advise +staying here. But if you stayed in the car there's no certainty we +could heat it another hour. If we sidetrack the car here with the +conductor and flagman they can stay with the operator and you and I can +take the cab into Medicine Bend." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever you think best." +</P> + +<P> +"I hate to suggest it." +</P> + +<P> +"It is my fault. Shall we go now?" +</P> + +<P> +"As soon as we sidetrack the car. Meantime"—he spoke +earnestly—"remember it may mean life—bundle yourself up in everything +warm you can find." +</P> + +<P> +"But you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am used to it." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +STORM +</H3> + +<P> +Muffled in wraps Gertrude stood at the front door waiting to leave the +car. It had been set in on the siding, and the engine, uncoupled, had +disappeared, but she could see shifting lights moving near. One, the +bright, green-hooded light, her eyes followed. She watched the furious +snow drive and sting hornet-like at its rays as it rose or swung or +circled from a long arm. Her straining eyes had watched its coming and +going every moment since he left her. When his figure vanished her +breath followed it, and when the green light flickered again her breath +returned. +</P> + +<P> +The men were endeavoring to reset the switch for the main line contact. +Three lights were grouped close about the stand, and after the rod had +been thrown, Glover went down on his knee feeling for the points under +the snow with his hands before he could signal the engine back; one +thing he could not afford, a derail. She saw him rise again and saw, +dimly, both his arms spread upward and outward. She saw the tiny +lantern swing a cautious incantation, and presently, like a monster +apparition, called out of the storm the frosted outlines of the tender +loomed from the darkness. The engine was being brought to where this +dainty girl passenger could step with least exposure from her vestibule +to its cab gangway. With exquisite skill the unwieldy monster, forced +in spite of night and stress to do its master's bidding, was being +placed for its extraordinary guest. +</P> + +<P> +Picking like a trained beast its backward steps, with cautious strength +the throbbing machine, storm-crusted and storm-beaten, hissing its +steady defiance at its enemy, halted, and Gertrude was lighted and +handed across the short path, passed up inside the canvas door by +Glover and helped to the fireman's box. +</P> + +<P> +Out in the storm she heard from the conductor and flagman rough shouts +of good luck. Glover nodded to the engineer, the fireman yelled +good-by, slammed back the furnace door, and a blinding flash of white +heat, for an instant, took Gertrude's senses; when the fireman slammed +the door to they were moving softly, the wind was singing at the +footboard sash, and the injectors were loading the boiler for the work +ahead. +</P> + +<P> +A berth blanket fastened between Gertrude and the side window and a +cushion on the box made her comfortable. Under her feet lay a second +blanket. She had come in with a smile, but the gloom of the cab gave +no light to a smile. Only the gauge faces high above her showed the +flash of the bull's-eyes, and the multitude of sounds overawed her. +</P> + +<P> +On the opposite side she could see the engineer, padded snug in a +blouse, his head bullet-tight under a cap, the long visor hanging +beak-like over his nose. His chin was swathed in a roll of neck-cloth, +and his eyes, whether he hooked the long lever at his side or stretched +both his arms to latch the throttle, she could never see. Then, or +when his hand fell back to the handle of the air, as it always fell, +his profile was silent. If she tried to catch his face he was looking +always, statue-like, ahead. +</P> + +<P> +Standing behind him, Glover, with a hand on a roof-brace, steadied +himself. In spite of the comforts he had arranged for her, Gertrude, +in her corner, felt a lonely sense of being in the way. In her +father's car there was never lacking the waiting deference of trainmen; +in the cab the men did not even see her. +</P> + +<P> +In the seclusion of the car a storm hardly made itself felt; in the cab +she seemed under the open sky. The wind buffeted the glass at her +side, rattled in its teeth the door in front of her, drank the steaming +flame from the stack monstrously, and dashed the cinders upon the thin +roof above her head with terrifying force. With the gathering speed of +the engine the cracking exhaust ran into a confusing din that deafened +her, and she was shaken and jolted. The plunging of the cab grew +violent, and with every lurch her cushion shifted alarmingly. She +resented Glover's placing himself so far away, and could not see that +he even looked toward her. The furnace door slammed until she thought +the fireman must have thrown in coal enough to last till morning, but +unable to realize the danger of overloading the fire he stopped only +long enough to turn various valve-wheels about her feet, and with his +back bent resumed his hammering and shovelling as if his very salvation +were at stake: so, indeed, that night it was. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude watched his unremitting toil; his shifty balancing on his +footing with ever-growing amazement, but the others gave it not the +slightest heed. The engineer looked only ahead, and Glover's face +behind him never turned. Then Gertrude for the first time looked +through her own sash out into the storm. +</P> + +<P> +Strain as she would, her vision could pierce to nothing beyond the +ceaseless sweep of the thin, wild snow across the brilliant flow of the +headlight. She looked into the white whirl until her eyes tired, then +back to the cab, at the flying shovel of the fireman, the peaked cap of +the muffled engineer—at Glover behind him, his hand resting now on the +reverse lever hooked high at his elbow. But some fascination drew her +eyes always back to that bright circle in the front—to the sinister +snow retreating always and always advancing; flowing always into the +headlight and out, and above it darkening into the fire that streamed +from the dripping stack. A sudden lurch nearly threw her from her +seat, and she gave a little scream as the engine righted. Glover +beside her like thought caught her outstretched hand. "A curve," he +said, bending apologetically toward her ear as she reseated herself. +"Is it very trying?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, except that I am in continual fear of falling from my seat—or +having to embrace the unfortunate fireman. Oh!" she exclaimed, putting +her wrist on Glover's arm as the cab jerked. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could keep out of the fireman's way, I should stand here," he +said. +</P> + +<P> +"There is room on the seat here, I think, if you have not wholly +deserted me. Oh!" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mean to desert you. It is because the snow is packing harder +that you are rocked more; the cab has really been riding very smoothly." +</P> + +<P> +She moved forward on the box. "Are you going to sit down?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't thank me. I shall feel ever so much safer if you will." He +tried to edge up into the corner behind her, pushing the heavy cushion +up to support her back. As he did so she turned impatiently, but he +could not catch what she said. "Throw it away," she repeated. He +chucked the cushion forward below her feet and was about to sit up +where she had made room for him when the engineer put both hands to the +throttle-bar and shut off. For the first time since they had started +Gertrude saw him look around. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Point of Rocks?" he called to Glover as they slowed, and he +looked at his watch. "I'm afraid we're by." +</P> + +<P> +"By?" echoed Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks so." +</P> + +<P> +The fireman opened his furnace with a bang. The engineer got stiffly +down and straightened his legs while he consulted with Glover. Both +knew they had been running past small stations without seeing them, but +to lose Point of Rocks with its freight houses, coal chutes, and water +tanks! +</P> + +<P> +They talked for a minute, the engineer climbed up to his seat, the +reverse lever was thrown over and they started cautiously back on a +hunt for the lost station, both straining their eyes for a glimpse of a +light or a building. For twenty minutes they ran back without finding +a solitary landmark. When they stopped, afraid to retreat farther, +Glover got out into the storm, walked back and forth, and, chilled to +the bone, plunged through the shallow drifts from side to side of the +right of way in a vain search for reckoning. Railroad men on the +rotary, the second day after, exploded Glover's torpedoes eleven miles +west of Point of Rocks, where he had fastened them that night to the +rails to warn the ploughs asked for when leaving Sleepy Cat. +</P> + +<P> +With his clothing frozen he swung up into the cab. They were lost. +She could see his eyes now. She could see his face. Their perilous +state she could not understand, nor know; but she knew and understood +what she saw in his face and eyes—the resource and the daring. She +saw her lover then, master of the elements, of the night and the +danger, and her heart went out to his strength. +</P> + +<P> +The three men talked together and the fireman asked the question that +none dared answer, "What about the ploughs?" +</P> + +<P> +Would Giddings hold them at Point of Rocks till the Special reported? +</P> + +<P> +Would he send them out to keep the track open regardless of the +Special's reaching Point of Rocks? +</P> + +<P> +Had they themselves reached Point of Rocks at all? If past it, had +they been seen? Were the ploughs ahead or behind? And the fireman +asked another question; if they were by the Point tank, would the water +hold till they got to Medicine Bend? No one could answer. +</P> + +<P> +There was but one thing to do; to keep in motion. They started slowly. +The alternatives were discussed. Glover, pondering, cast them all up, +his awful responsibility, unconscious of her peril, watching him from +the fireman's box. The engineer looked to Glover instinctively for +instructions and, hesitating no longer, he ordered a dash for Medicine +Bend regardless of everything. +</P> + +<P> +Without a qualm the engineer opened his throttle and hooked up his bar +and the engine leaped blindly ahead into the storm. Glover, in a few +words, told Gertrude their situation. He made no effort to disguise +it, and to his astonishment she heard him quietly. He cramped himself +down at her feet and muffled his head in his cap and collar to look +ahead. +</P> + +<P> +They had hardly more than recovered their lost distance, and were +running very hard when a shower of heavy blows struck the cab and the +engine gave a frantic plunge. Forgetting that he pulled no train +McGraw's eyes flew to the air gauge with the thought his train had +broken, but the pointer stood steady at the high pressure. Again the +monster machine strained, and again the cab rose and plunged +terrifically. The engineer leaped at the throttle like a cat; +Gertrude, jolted first backward, was thrown rudely forward on Glover's +shoulder, and the fireman slid head first into the oil cans. Worst of +all, Glover, in saving Gertrude, put his elbow through the lower glass +of the running-board door. The engine stopped and a blast of powdered +ice streamed in on them; their eyes met. +</P> + +<P> +She tried to get her breath. "Don't be frightened," he said; "you are +all right. Sit perfectly still. What have you got, Paddy?" he called +to the engineer. The engineer did not attempt to answer; taking +lanterns, the two men climbed out of the cab to investigate. The wind +swept through the broken pane and Gertrude slipped down from her seat +with relief, while the fireman caught up a big double handful of waste +from his box and stuffed it into the broken pane. So intense had the +strain of silence become that she would have spoken to him, but the +sudden stop sprung the safety-valve, and overwhelmed with its roar she +could only watch him in wretched suspense shake the grate, restore his +drip can, start his injector, and hammer like one pursued by a fury at +the coal. Since she had entered the cab this man had never for one +minute rested. +</P> + +<P> +McGraw, followed by Glover, climbed back under the canvas from the +gangway. Their clothing, moist with the steam of the cab, had +stiffened the instant the wind struck it. McGraw hastening to the +furnace seized the chain, jerked open the door and motioned to Glover +to come to the fire, but Glover shook his head behind McGraw, his hands +on the little man's shoulders, and forced him down in front of the +fearful blaze to thaw the gloves from his aching fingers. +</P> + +<P> +All the horror of the storm they were facing had passed Gertrude unfelt +until she saw the silent writhing of the crouching man. This was three +minutes of the wind that Glover had asked her not to tempt; this was +the wind she had tempted. She was glad that Glover, bending over the +engineer, holding one hand to the fire as he gazed into it, did not +look toward her. From cap to boots he was frozen in snow and ice. The +two men, without speaking, left the cab again. They were gone longer. +Gertrude felt chills running over her. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a terrible night," she said to the fireman. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am, it's pretty bad. I don't know why they'd send white men +out into this. I wouldn't send a coyote out." +</P> + +<P> +"They are staying out so long this time," she murmured. "Could they +possibly freeze while they are out, do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, they could; but them boys know too much for that. Mr. Glover +stays out a week at a time in this kind; he don't care. That man Paddy +McGraw is his head engineer in the bucking gang; he don't care—them +fellows don't care. But I've got a wife at the Cat and two babies, +that's my fix. I never cared neither when I was single, but if I'm +carried home now it's seven hundred and fifty relief and a thousand +dollars in the A. O. U. W., and that's the end of it for the woman. +That's why I don't like to freeze to death, ma'am. But what can you do +if you're ordered out? Suppose your woman is a-hangin' to your neck +like mine hung to me to-night and cryin'—whatever can you do? You've +got to go or lose your job; and if you lose your job who'll feed your +kids then?" +</P> + +<P> +McGraw's head appeared under the canvas doorway. Glover did not follow +him and Gertrude grew alarmed: but when the canvas rattled and she saw +his cap she was waiting for him at the doorway and she put her hands +happily on his frozen sleeve: "I'm so glad." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her with humor in his big eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I was afraid without you," she added, confusedly. +</P> + +<P> +He laughed. "There's nothing to be afraid of." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you are so cold. Come to the fire." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think about the ploughs now?" he asked of McGraw, who had +climbed up to his seat. +</P> + +<P> +"How many is there?" returned the engineer as Glover shivered before +the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"There may be a thousand." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want me to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's only one thing, Paddy. Go through them," answered Glover, +slamming shut the furnace door. +</P> + +<P> +McGraw laid his bar over, and, like one putting his house in order, +looked at his gauges and tried his valves. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" whispered Gertrude, at Glover's side. +</P> + +<P> +He turned. "We've struck a bunch of sheep." +</P> + +<P> +"Sheep?" +</P> + +<P> +"In a storm they drift to keep from freezing out in the open. These +sheep have bunched in a little cut out of the wind," he explained, as +the fireman sprinkled the roaring furnace. "You had better get up on +your seat, Miss Brock." +</P> + +<P> +"But what are you going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Run through them." +</P> + +<P> +"Run through them? Do you mean to kill them?" +</P> + +<P> +"We shall have to kill a few; there isn't much danger." +</P> + +<P> +"But oh, must you mangle those poor creatures huddling in the cut out +of the storm? Oh, don't do that." +</P> + +<P> +"We can't help it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, yes, you can if you will, I am sure." She looked at him +imploringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I cannot. Listen a moment." He spoke steadily. The wheels +were turning under her, the engine was backing for the dash. "We know +now the ploughs are not ahead of us, for the cut is full of sheep and +snow. If they are behind us we are in grave danger. They may strike +us at any moment—that means, do you understand? death. We can't go +back now; there's too much snow even if the track were clear. To stay +here means to freeze to death." She turned restively from him. "Could +you have thought it a joke," he asked, slowly, "to run a hundred and +seventy miles through a blizzard?" She looked away and her sob cut him +to the heart. "I did not mean to wound you," he murmured. "It's only +that you don't realize what self-preservation means. I wouldn't kill a +fly unnecessarily, but do you think I could stand it to see anyone in +this cab mangled by a plough behind us—or to see you freeze to death +if the engine should die and we're caught here twelve hours? It is our +lives or theirs, that's all, and they will freeze anyway. We are only +putting them out of their misery. Come; we are starting." He helped +her to her seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't leave me," she faltered. The cylinder cocks were drumming +wildly. "Which ever way we turn there's danger," he admitted, +reluctantly, "a steam pipe might burst. You must cover your face." +She drew the high collar of her coat around her neck and buried her +face in her muff, but he caught up a blanket and dropped it completely +over her head; then locking her arm in his own he put one heavy boot +against the furnace door, and, braced between the woman he loved and +the fire-box, nodded to the engineer—McGraw gave head. +</P> + +<P> +Furred with snow, and bearded fearfully with ice; creeping like a +mountain-cat on her prey; quivering under the last pound of steam she +could carry, and hissing wildly as McGraw stung her heels again and +again from the throttle, the great engine moved down on the blocked cut. +</P> + +<P> +Unable to reckon distance or resistance but by instinct, and forced to +risk everything for headway, McGraw pricked the cylinders till the +smarting engine roared. Then, crouching like a jockey for a final +cruel spur he goaded the monster for the last time and rose in his +stirrups for the crash. +</P> + +<P> +With never a slip or a stumble, hardly reeling in her ponderous frame, +the straining engine plunged headlong into the curve. Only once, she +staggered and rolled; once only, three reckless men rose to answer +death as it knocked at their hearts; but their hour was not come, and +the engine struggled, righted, and parted the living drift from end to +end. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DAYBREAK +</H3> + +<P> +Crouching under the mountains in the grip of the storm Medicine Bend +slept battened in blankets and beds. All night at the Wickiup, O'Neill +and Giddings, gray with anxiety, were trying to keep track of Glover's +Special. It was the only train out that night on the mountain +division. For the first hour or two they kept tab on her with little +trouble, but soon reports began to falter or fail, and the despatchers +were reduced at last to mere rumors. They dropped boards ahead of +Special 1018, only to find to their consternation that she was passing +them unheeded. +</P> + +<P> +Once, at least, they knew that she herself had slipped by a night +station unseen. Oftener, with blanched faces they would hear of her +dashing like an apparition past a frightened operator, huddled over his +lonely stove, a spectral flame shot across the fury of the sky—as if +the dread night breathing on the scrap-pile and the grave had called +from other nights and other storms a wraith of riven engines and +slaughtered men to one last phantom race with death and the wind. +</P> + +<P> +Within two hours of division headquarters a train ran lost—lost as +completely as if she were crossing the Sweetgrass plains on pony trails +instead of steel rails. Not once but a dozen times McGraw and Glover, +pawning their lives, left the cab with their lanterns in a vain +endeavor to locate a station, a siding, a rock. Numbed and bitten at +last with useless exposure they cast effort to the wind, gave the +engine like a lost horse her head, and ran through everything for +headquarters and life. Consultation was abandoned, worry put away, one +good chance set against every other chance and taken in silence. +</P> + +<P> +At five o'clock that morning despatchers and night men under the +Wickiup gables, sitting moodily around the big stove, sprang to their +feet together. From up the distant gorge, dying far on the gale, came +the long chime blast of an engine whistle; it was the lost Special. +</P> + +<P> +They crowded to the windows to dispute and listen. Again the heavy +chime was sprung and a second blast, lasting and defiant, reached the +Wickiup—McGraw was whistling for the upper yard and the long night of +anxiety was ended. Unable to see a car length into the storm howling +down the yard, save where the big arc-lights of the platform glared +above the semaphores, the men swarmed to the windows to catch a glimpse +of the belated engine. When the rays of its electric headlight pierced +the Western night they shouted like boys, ran to the telephones, and +while the roundhouse, the superintendent, and the master-mechanic were +getting the news the Special engine steamed slowly into sight through +the whirling snow and stopped at the semaphore. So a liner shaken in +the teeth of a winter storm, battered by heading seas, and swept by +stiffening spray, rides at last, ice-bound, staggering, majestic, into +port. +</P> + +<P> +The moment they struck the mountain-path into the Bend, McGraw and +Glover caught their bearings by the curves, and Glover, standing at +Gertrude's elbow, told her they were safe. +</P> + +<P> +Not until he had laughed into her ear something that the silent McGraw, +lying on his back under the engine with a wrench, when he confessed he +never expected to see Medicine Bend again, had said of her own splendid +courage did the flood spring from her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +When Glover added that they were entering the gorge, and laughingly +asked if she would not like to sound the whistle for the yard limits, +she smiled through tears and gave him her hand to be helped down, +cramped and chilled, from her corner. +</P> + +<P> +At the moment that she left the cab she faltered again. McGraw +stripped his cap from his head as she turned to speak. She took from +the breast of her blouse her watch, dainty as a jewel, and begged him +to take it, but he would not. +</P> + +<P> +She drew her glove and stripped from her finger a ring. +</P> + +<P> +"This is for your wife," she said, pressing it into his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no wife." +</P> + +<P> +"Your sister." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor sister." +</P> + +<P> +"Keep it for your bride," she whispered, retreating. "It is yours. +Good-by, good-by!" +</P> + +<P> +She sprang from the gangway to Glover's arms and the snow. The storm +drove pitilessly down the bare street as she clung to his side and +tried to walk the half block to the hotel. The wind, even for a single +minute, was deadly to face. No light, no life was anywhere visible. +He led her along the lee of the low street buildings, and mindful of +the struggle it was to make headway at all turned half between her and +the wind to give her the shelter of his shoulders, halting as she +stumbled to encourage her anew. He saw then that she was struggling in +the darkness for breath, and without a word he bent over her, took her +up like a child and started on, carrying her in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +If he frightened her she gave no sign. She held herself for an instant +uncertain and aloof, though she could not but feel the heavy draught +she made on his strength. The wind stung her cheeks; her breath caught +again in her throat and she heard him implore her to turn her face, to +turn it from the wind. He stumbled as he spoke, and as she shielded +her face from the deadly cold, one hand slipped from her muff. +Reaching around his head she drew his storm-cap more closely down with +her fingers. When he thanked her she tried to speak and could not, but +her glove rested an instant where the wind struck his cheek; then her +head hid upon his shoulder and her arms wound slowly and tightly around +his neck. +</P> + +<P> +He kicked open the door of the hotel with one blow of his foot and set +her down inside. +</P> + +<P> +In the warm dark office, breathing unsteadily, they faced each other. +"Can you, Gertrude, marry that man and break my heart?" He caught up +her two hands with his words. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she answered, brokenly. "Are you sure you are not frozen—ears +or cheeks or hands?" +</P> + +<P> +"You won't marry him, Gertrude, and break my heart? Tell me you won't +marry him." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I won't." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me again." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I tell you everything?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you have mercy for me as I have love for you." +</P> + +<P> +"I ran away from him to-night. He came out with the directors and +telegraphed he would be at the Springs in the afternoon for his answer, +and—I ran away. He has his answer long ago and I would not see him." +</P> + +<P> +"Brave girl!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I wasn't brave, I was a dreadful coward. But I thought——" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"—I could be brave, if I found as brave a man—as you." +</P> + +<P> +"Gertrude, if I kiss you I never can give you up. Do you understand +what that means? I never in life or death can give you up, Gertrude, +do you understand me?" +</P> + +<P> +She was crying on his shoulder. "Oh, yes, I understand," and he heard +from her lips the maddening sweetness of his boy name. "I understand," +she sobbed. "I don't care, Ab—if only—, you will be kind to me." +</P> + +<P> +It was only a moment later—her head had not yet escaped from his arm, +for Glover found for the first time that it is one thing to get leave +to kiss a lovely woman and wholly another to get the necessary action +on the conscience-stricken creature—she had not yet, I say, escaped, +when a locomotive whistle was borne from the storm faintly in on their +ears. To her it meant nothing, but she felt him start. "What is it?" +she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"The ploughs!" +</P> + +<P> +"The ploughs?" +</P> + +<P> +"The snow-ploughs that followed us. Twenty minutes behind—twenty +minutes between us and death, Gertrude, in that blizzard, think of it. +That must mean we are to live." +</P> + +<P> +The solemn thought naturally suggested, to Glover at least, a +resumption of the status quo, but as he was locating, in the dark, +there came from behind the stove a mild cough. The effect on the +construction engineer of the whole blizzard was to that cough as +nothing. Inly raging he seated Gertrude—indeed, she sunk quite +faintly into a chair, and starting for the stove Glover dragged from +behind it Solomon Battershawl. "What are you doing here?" demanded +Glover, savagely. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm night clerk, Mr. Glover—ow——" +</P> + +<P> +"Night clerk? Very well, Solomon," muttered Glover, grimly, "take this +young lady to the warmest room in the house at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Every room's full, Mr. Glover. Trains were all tied up last night." +</P> + +<P> +"Then show her to my room." +</P> + +<P> +"Your room's occupied." +</P> + +<P> +"My room occupied, you villain? What do you mean? Throw out whoever's +in it instantly." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Brock is in your room." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude had come over to the stove. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Brock!" +</P> + +<P> +"My father!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; yes, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude and Glover looked at one another. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Blood brought him up last night," said Solomon. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Mr. Blood?" +</P> + +<P> +"He hasn't come up from the Wickiup. They said he was worried over a +special from the Cat that was caught in the blizzard. Your laundry +came in all right last night, Mr. Glover——" +</P> + +<P> +"Hang the laundry." +</P> + +<P> +"I paid for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you cease your gabble? If Mr. Blood's room is empty take Miss +Block up there and rouse a chambermaid instantly to attend her. Do you +hear?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I throw out Mr. Brock?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let him alone, stupid. What's the matter with the lights?" +</P> + +<P> +"The wires are down." +</P> + +<P> +"Get a candle for Miss Brock. Now, will you make haste?" Solomon, +when he heard the name, stared at Miss Brock—but when he recognized +her he started without argument and was gone an unconscionably long +time. +</P> + +<P> +They sat down where they could feast on each other's eyes in the glow +of the coal-stove. +</P> + +<P> +"You have looked so worried all night," said Gertrude, in love's +solicitude; "were you afraid we should be lost?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I didn't intend we should be lost." +</P> + +<P> +"What was it? What is it that makes you so careworn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing special." +</P> + +<P> +"But you mustn't have any secrets from me now. What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want to know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't find time to get shaved before we left Sleepy Cat——" +</P> + +<P> +She rose with both hands uplifted: "Shades of vain heroes! Have I +wasted my sympathy all night on a man who has been saving my life with +perfect calmness and worrying because he couldn't get shaved?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can you dispassionately say that I don't need barbering?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. But this is what I will say, silly fellow—you don't know much +about a woman's heart, do you, Ab? When I first looked at you I +thought you were the homeliest man I had ever seen, do you know that?" +</P> + +<P> +Glover fingered his offending chin and looked at her somewhat +pathetically. +</P> + +<P> +"But last night"—her quick mouth was so eloquent—"last night I +watched you. I saw your face lighted by the anger of the storm. I +knew then what those heavy, homely lines below your eyes were +for—strength. And I saw your eyes, to me so dull at first, wake and +fill with such a light and burn so steadily hour after hour that I knew +I had never seen eyes like yours. I knew you would save me—that is +what made me so brave, goosie. Sit right where you are, please." +</P> + +<P> +She slipped out of her chair; he pursued. "If you will say such things +and then run into the dark corners," he muttered. But when Solomon +appeared with a water-pitcher they were ready for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Now what has kept you all this time?" glared Glover, insincerely. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't find any ice-water." +</P> + +<P> +"Ice-water!" +</P> + +<P> +"Every pipe is froze solid, but I chopped up some ice and brought that." +</P> + +<P> +"Ice-water, you double-dyed idiot! Go get your candle." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be so cross," whispered Gertrude. "You were so short with that +poor fireman to-night, and he told me such a pitiful story about being +ordered out and having to go or lose his position——" +</P> + +<P> +"Did Foley tell you that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely, nerve runs in his family as well as his cousin's. The rascal +came because I hung up a little purse for a fireman at the roundhouse, +and he nearly had a fight with another fellow that wanted to cut him +out of the job." +</P> + +<P> +"Such a cheat! How much did you offer him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not very much." +</P> + +<P> +"But how much?" +</P> + +<P> +"Twenty-five dollars, and, by heavens, he dunned me for it just after +we started." +</P> + +<P> +"But his poor wife hung to his neck when he left——" +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt. She has pulled all the hair out of his head twice that I +know of——" +</P> + +<P> +"And I gave him my purse with all the money I had in it." +</P> + +<P> +"How much?" +</P> + +<P> +"About three hundred dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"Three hundred dollars! Foley will lay off two months and take the +whole family back to Pittsburg. Now, here's your candle and chopped +ice and Mr. Battershawl." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude turned for a last whisper—"What should you say if papa came +down?" +</P> + +<P> +"What should I say? He would probably say, 'Mr. Glover, I have your +room.' 'Don't mention it,' I should reply, 'I have your daughter.'" +But Mr. Brock did not come down. +</P> + +<P> +Barely half an hour later, while Glover waited with anxiety at the foot +of the stairs, Gertrude reappeared, and with her loveliness all new, +walked shyly and haltingly down each step toward him. +</P> + +<P> +Not a soul about the hotel office had stirred, and Glover led her to +the retired little parlor, which was warm and dim, to reassure himself +that the fluttering girl was all his own. Unable to credit the fulness +of their own happiness they sat confiding to each other all the sweet +trifles, now made doubly sweet, of their strange acquaintance. Before +six o'clock, and while their seclusion was still their own, a hot +breakfast was served to them where they sat, and day broke on storm +without and lovers within. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SUSPENSE +</H3> + +<P> +What shapes the legends of the Wickiup? Is it because in the winter +night the wind never sleeps in the gorge above the headquarters shack +that despatchers talk yet of a wind that froze the wolf and the sheep +and the herder to marble together? Is it because McGraw runs no more +that switchmen tell of the run he made over Sweetgrass the night he +sent a plough through eight hundred head of sheep in less than a tenth +as many seconds? Could the night that laid the horse and the hunter +side by side in the Spider Park drift have been wildest of all wild +mountain nights? Or is it because Gertrude Brock and her railroad +lover rode out its storm together that mountain men say there was never +a storm like that? What shapes the Wickiup legends? +</P> + +<P> +For three days Medicine Bend did not see the sun. Veering uneasily, +springing from every quarter at once, the wind wedged the gray clouds +up the mountain sides only to roll them like avalanches down the ragged +passes. At the end of the week snow was falling. +</P> + +<P> +Not until the morning of the third day when reports came in of the +unheard-of temperatures in the North and West did the weather cause +real apprehension. The division never had been in such a position to +protect its winter traffic—for a year Callahan, Blood, and Glover had +been overhauling and assembling the old and the new bucking equipment. +But the wind settled at last in the northeast, and when it stilled the +mercury sunk, and when it rose the snow fell, roofing the sheds on the +passes, levelling the lower gulches, and piling up reserves along the +cuts. +</P> + +<P> +The first trouble came on the main line in the Heart Mountains, and +Morris Blood, with the roadmaster of the sixth district and Benedict +Morgan, got after it with a crew together. +</P> + +<P> +Between the C bridge and Potter's Gap they spent two days with a rotary +and a flanger and three consolidated engines and went home, leaving +everything swept clean, only to learn in the morning that west of the +gap there were four feet of fresh snow clear to Rozelle. From the +northern ranges came unusual reports of the continued severity of the +storms. It was hardly a series of storms, for that winter the first +storm that crossed the line lasted three weeks. +</P> + +<P> +In the interval Bucks was holding to the directors at Medicine Bend, +waiting for the weather to settle enough to send them to the coast. +The Pittsburg party waited at Glen Tarn for Mr. Brock's word to join +him. At the Bend, Gertrude made love to her father, forfending the +awful moment of disclosure that must come, and the cause of her hidden +happiness and trouble strenuously made love to her. +</P> + +<P> +To the joy of the conspirators, Bucks held Glover closely at +headquarters, keeping him closeted for long periods on the estimates +that were in final cooking for the directors; and so dense are great +people and so keen the simple, that Gertrude held her lone seat of +honor beside her father, at the table of the great financiers in the +dining-room, without the remotest suspicion on their parts that the +superb woman meeting them three times a day was carrying on a +proudly-hidden love affair with the muscular, absorbed-looking man who +sat alone across the aisle. +</P> + +<P> +But the asthmatic old pastry cook, who weighed at least two hundred and +thirty pounds and had not even seen the inside of the dining-room for +three years, was thoroughly posted on every observable phase of the +affair down to the dessert orders; and no one acquainted with the frank +profanity of a mountain meat cook will doubt that the best of +everything went hot from the range to Glover and Gertrude. Dollar tips +and five-dollar tips from Eastern epicures could not change this, for +the meals were served by waitresses who felt a personal responsibility +in the issue of the pretty affair of the heart. +</P> + +<P> +The whole second floor of the little hotel had been reserved for the +directors' party, and among the rooms was the parlor. There Glover +called regularly every evening on Mr. Brock, who, somewhat at a loss to +understand the young man's interest, excused himself after the first +few minutes and left Gertrude to entertain the gentleman who had been +so kind to everybody that she could not be discourteous even if he was +somewhat tedious. +</P> + +<P> +One night after a particularly happy evening near the piano for +Gertrude and Glover, Mr. Brock, re-entering the parlor, found the +somewhat tedious gentleman bending very low, as his daughter said +good-night, over her hand; in fact, the gentleman that had been so kind +to everybody was kissing it. +</P> + +<P> +When Glover recovered his perpendicular the cold magnate of the West +End stood between the folding doors looking directly at him. If the +owner of several trunk lines expected his look to inspire consternation +he was disappointed. Each of the lovers feared but one person in the +world; that was the other. Gertrude, with perhaps an extra touch of +dignity, put her compromised hand to her belt for her handkerchief. +Glover finished the sentence he was in the middle of—"If I am not +ordered out. Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +But when Mr. Brock had turned abruptly on his heel and disappeared +between the portières they certainly did look at one another. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I got you into trouble now?" murmured Glover, penitently. +Uneasiness was apparent in her expression, but with her back to the +piano Gertrude stood steadfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Not," she said, with serious tenderness, "just now. Don't you know? +It was the first, the very first, day you looked into my eyes, dear, +that you got me into trouble." +</P> + +<P> +Her pathetic sweetness moved him. Then he flamed with determination. +He would take the burden on himself—would face her father at once, but +she hushed him in real alarm and said, that battle she must fight +unaided; it was after all only a little one, she whispered, after the +one she had fought with herself. But he knew she glossed over her +anxiety, for when he withdrew her eyes looked tears though they shed +none. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning there were two vacancies at the breakfast table; neither +Gertrude nor her father appeared. When Glover returned to the hotel at +five o'clock the first person he saw was Mrs. Whitney. She and Marie, +with the doctor and Allen Harrison, had arrived on the first train out +of the Springs in four days, and Mrs. Whitney's greeting of Glover in +the office was disconcerting. It scarcely needed Gertrude's face at +dinner, as she tried to brave the storm that had set in, or her +reluctant admission when she saw him as she passed up to her room that +she and her father had been up nearly the whole of the night before, to +complete his depression. +</P> + +<P> +Every effort he made during the evening to speak to Gertrude was balked +by some untoward circumstance, but about nine o'clock they met on the +parlor floor and Glover led her to the elevator, which was being run +that night by Solomon Battershawl. Solomon lifted them to the top +floor and made busy at the end of the hall while they had five short +minutes. When they descended he knew what she was facing. Even Marie, +the one friend he thought he had in the family, had taken a stand +against them, and her father was deaf to every appeal. +</P> + +<P> +They parted, depressed, with only a hand pressure, a look and a whisper +of constancy. At midnight, as Glover lay thinking, a crew caller +rapped at his door. He brought a message and held his electric +pocket-lamp near, while Glover, without getting up, read the telegram. +It was from Bucks asking if he could take a rotary at once into the +Heart Mountains. +</P> + +<P> +Glover knew snow had been falling steadily on the main line for two +days. East of the middle range it was nothing but extreme cold, west +it had been one long storm. Morris Blood was at Goose River. The +message was not an order; but on the division there was no one else +available at the moment that could handle safely such a battery of +engines as would be needed to bore the drifts west of the sheds. +Moreover, Glover knew how Bucks had chafed under the conditions that +kept the directors on his hands. They were impatient to get to the +coast, and the general manager was anxious to be rid of them as soon as +there should be some certainty of getting them safely over the +mountains. +</P> + +<P> +Glover, on the back of the telegram, scrawled a note to Crosby, the +master-mechanic, and turned over not to sleep, but to think—and to +think, not of the work before him, but of her and of her situation. A +roundhouse caller roused him at half-past three with word that the snow +battery was marked up for four o'clock. He rose, dressed deliberately +and carefully for the exposure ahead, and sat down before a candle to +tell Gertrude, in a note, when he hoped to be back. +</P> + +<P> +Locking his trunk when he had done, he snuffed out the candle and +closed his room door behind him. The hall was dark, but he knew its +turns, and the carpeted stairs gave no sound as he walked down. At the +second floor there were two stairways by which he could descend. He +looked up the dim corridor toward where she slept. Somehow he could +not make up his mind to leave without passing her room. +</P> + +<P> +His heavy tread was noiseless, and at her door he paused and put his +hand uncertainly upon the casing. In the darkness his head bent an +instant on his outstretched arm—it had never before been hard to go; +then he turned and walked softly away. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At the breakfast table and at the dinner table the talk was of the +snow. The evening paper contained a column of despatches concerning +the blockade, now serious, in the eighth district. Half the first page +was given to alarming reports from the cattle ranges. Two +mail-carriers were reported lost in the Sweetgrass country, and a ski +runner from Fort Steadman, which had been cut off for eight days, told +of thirty-five feet of snow in the Whitewater hills. +</P> + +<P> +Sleepy Cat reported eighteen inches of fresh snow, and a second delayed +despatch under the same date-line reported that a bucking special from +Medicine Bend, composed of a rotary, a flanger, and five locomotives +had passed that point at 9 A.M. for the eighth district. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude found no interest in the news or the discussion. She could +only wonder why she did not see Glover during the day, and when he made +no appearance at dinner she grew sick with uncertainty. Leaving the +dining-room ahead of the party in some vague hope of seeing him, +Solomon hurried up with the note that Glover had left to be given her +in the morning. The boy had gone off duty before she left her room and +had over-slept, but instead of waiting for his apologies she hastened +to her room and locked her door to devour her lover's words. She saw +that he had written her in the dead of night to explain his going, and +to say good-by. Bucks' message he had enclosed. "But I shall work +very hard every hour I am gone to get back the sooner," he promised, +"and if you hear of the snow flying over the peaks on the West End you +will know that I am behind it and headed straight for you." +</P> + +<P> +When Marie and Mrs. Whitney came up, Gertrude sat calmly before the +grate fire, but the note lay hidden over her heart, for in it he had +whispered that while he was away every night at eight o'clock and every +morning, no matter where she should be, or what doing, he should kiss +her lips and her eyes as he had kissed them that first morning in the +dark, warm office. When eight o'clock came her aunt and her sister sat +with her; but Gertrude at eight o'clock, musing, was with her lover and +her lips and eyes again were his to do with what he would. Later +Doctor Lanning came in and she roused to hear the news about the snow. +Between Sleepy Cat and Bear Dance two passenger trains were stalled, +and on Blackbird hill the snow was reported four feet deep on the level. +</P> + +<P> +When the doctor had gone and Marie had retired, Gertrude's aunt talked +to her seriously about her father, whose almost frantic condition over +what he called Gertrude's infatuation was alarming. +</P> + +<P> +Her aunt explained how her final refusal of Allen Harrison, a +connection on which her father had set his heart, might result in the +total disruption of the plans which held so mighty interests together; +and how impossible it was that he should ever consent to her throwing +herself away on an obscure Western man. +</P> + +<P> +Only occasionally would Gertrude interrupt. "Don't strip the poor man +of everything, auntie. If it must come to family—the De Gallons and +Cirodes and Glovers were lords of the Mississippi when our Hessian +forefathers were hiding from Washington in the Trenton hazelbushes." +</P> + +<P> +She could meet her aunt's fears with jests and her tears with smiles +until the worried lady chancing on a deeper chord disarmed her. "You +know you are my pet, Gertrude. I am your foster-mother, dear, and I +have tried to be mother to you and Marie, and sister to my brother +every day of my life since your mother died. And if you——" +</P> + +<P> +Then Gertrude's arms would enfold her and her head hide on her aunt's +shoulder, and they would part utterly miserable. +</P> + +<P> +One morning when Gertrude woke it was snowing and Medicine Bend was cut +completely off from the western end of the division. The cold in the +desert districts had made it impossible to move freights. During the +night they had been snowed in on sidings all the way from Sleepy Cat +east. By night every wire was down; the last message in was a private +one from Glover, with the ploughs, dated at Nine Mile. +</P> + +<P> +Solomon brought the telegram up to Gertrude with the intimation that, +confidentially, Mr. Blood's assistant, in charge of the Wickiup, would +be glad to hear any news it might contain about the blockade, as +communication was now cut entirely off. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude told the messenger only that she understood the blockade in +the eighth district had been lifted and that the ploughs were headed +east. Then as the lad looked wonderingly at her, she started. Have I, +she asked herself, already become a part of this life, that they come +to me for information? But she did not add that the signer of the +message had promised to be with her in twenty-four hours. +</P> + +<P> +That day for the first time in eighteen years, no trains ran in or out +of Medicine Bend, and an entire regiment of cavalry bound for the +Philippines was known to be buried in a snowdrift near San Pete. The +big hotel swarmed with snow-bound travellers. The snow fell all day, +but to Gertrude's relief her father and the men of the party were at +the Wickiup with Bucks, who had come in during the night with +reinforcements from McCloud. Unfortunately, the batteries that +followed him were compelled to double about next morning to open the +line back across the plains. +</P> + +<P> +The gravity of the situation about her, the spectacle of the struggle, +now vast and all absorbing, made by the operating department to cope +with the storm and cold, and the anxieties of her own position plunged +Gertrude into a gloom she had never before conceived of. Her aunt's +forebodings and tears, her father's unbending silence and aloofness, +made escape from her depression impossible. When Solomon appeared she +besought him surreptitiously for news, but though Solomon fairly +staggered with the responsibilities of his position he could supply +nothing beyond rumors—rumors all tending to magnify the reliance +placed on Glover's capabilities in stress of this sort, but not at the +moment definitely locating him. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning the creeping eastern light had not yet entered her room +when a timid rap aroused her. Solomon was outside the door with news. +"The ploughs will be here in an hour," he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"The ploughs?" +</P> + +<P> +Solomon couldn't resist the low appeal for more definite word. He had +no information more than he had given, but he bravely journalized, "Mr. +Glover and everybody, ma'am." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, thank you, Solomon." +</P> + +<P> +She rose, with wings beating love across the miles that separated him +from her. Day with its perplexities may beset, the stars bring +sometimes only grief; but to lovers morning brings always joy, because +it brings hope. She detained Solomon a moment. A resolve fixed itself +at once in her heart; to greet her lover the instant he arrived. She +could dress and slip down to the station and back before the others +awoke even. It was hazardous, but what venture is less attractive for +a hazard if it bring a lover? She made her rapid toilet with affection +in her supple fingers, and welcome glowing in her quick eyes, and she +left her room with the utmost care. Enveloped in the Newmarket, +because he loved it, her hands in her big muff, and her cheeks closely +veiled, she joined Solomon in the reception room downstairs. +</P> + +<P> +The morning was gray with a snow fog hanging low, and feathery flakes +were sinking upon the whitened street. "Listen!" cried the boy, +excitedly, as they neared the Wickiup. From somewhere in the sky came +the faint scream of a locomotive whistle. "That's them, all right. +Gee! I'd like to buck snow." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would I? Wouldn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +A hundred men were strung along the platform, and a sharper blast +echoed across the upper flat. "There they are!" cried Solomon, +pressing forward. Gertrude saw a huge snow-covered monster swing +heavily around the yard hill. The ploughs were at hand. The head +engine whistled again, those in the battery took up the signal, and +heeled in snow they bore down on the Wickiup whistling a chorus. +Before the long battery had halted, the men about Gertrude were running +toward the cabs, cheering. Many men poured out of the battered +ice-bound cars at the end of the string. While Gertrude's eyes +strained with expectation a collie dog shot headlong to the platform +from the steps of the hind caboose, and wheeling about, barked madly +until, last of three men together, Glover, carrying his little bag, +swung down, and listening to his companions, walked leisurely forward. +</P> + +<P> +Swayed by the excitement which she did not fully understand all about +her, Gertrude, with swimming eyes, saw Solomon dash toward Glover and +catch his bag. As the boy spoke to him she saw Glover's head lift in +the deliberate surprise she knew so well. She felt his wandering eyes +bend upon her, and his hand rose in suppressed joyfulness. +</P> + +<P> +Doubt, care, anxiety, fled before that gesture. Stumah, wild with +delight, bounded at her, and before she could greet him, Glover, a +giant in his wrappings, was bending over her, his eyes burning through +the veil that hid her own. She heard without comprehending his words; +she asked questions without knowing she asked, because his hand so +tightly clasped hers. +</P> + +<P> +They walked up the platform and he stopped but once; to speak to the +snugly clad man that got down from the head engine. Gertrude +recognized the good-natured profile under the long cap; Paddy McGraw +lifted his visor as she advanced and with a happy laugh greeted him. +</P> + +<P> +Smiling at her welcome he drew off his glove and took from an inner +pocket her ring and held it out on his hand. "I am taking good care of +my souvenir." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you are taking good care of yourself," Gertrude responded, +"because every time I ride in the mountains, Mr. McGraw, I want you for +engineer." +</P> + +<P> +Glover was saying something to her as they turned away together, but +she gave no heed to his meaning. She caught only the low, pretty +uncertainty in his utterance, the unfailing little break that she loved +in his tone. +</P> + +<P> +He was saying, "Yes—some of it thirty feet. Morris Blood is +tunnelling on the Pilot branch this morning; it's bad up there, but the +main line is clear from end to end. Surely, you never looked so sweet +in your life. Gertrude, Gertrude, you're a beautiful girl. Do you +know that? What are those fellows shouting about? Me? Not at all. +They're cheering you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DEEPENING WATERS +</H3> + +<P> +The stolen interview of the early morning was the consolation of the +day. Gertrude confided a resolve to Glover. She had thought it all +out and he must, she said, talk to her father. Nothing would ever ever +come of a situation in which the two never met. The terrible problem +was how to arrange the interview. Her father had already declined to +meet Glover at all. Moreover, Mr. Brock had a fund of silence that +approximated absolute zero, and Gertrude dreaded the result if Glover, +in presenting his case, should stop at any point and succumb to the +chill. +</P> + +<P> +During such intervals as they managed to meet, the lovers could discuss +nothing but the crisis that confronted them. The definite clearing of +the line meant perhaps an early separation and something must be done, +if ever, at once. +</P> + +<P> +In the evening Gertrude made a long appeal to her aunt to intercede for +her, and another to Marie, who, softening somewhat, had spent half an +hour before dinner in discussing the situation calmly with Glover; but +over the proposed interview Marie shook her head. She had great +influence with her father, but candidly owned she should dread facing +him on a matter he had definitely declined to discuss. +</P> + +<P> +They parted at night without light on their difficulties. In the +morning Glover made several ineffectual efforts to see Gertrude early. +He had an idea that they had forgotten the one who could advise and +help them better than any other—his friend and patron, Bucks. +</P> + +<P> +The second vice-president was now closer in a business way to Mr. Brock +than anyone else in the world. They were friends of very early days, +of days when they were laying together the foundations of their +careers. It was Bucks who had shown Mr. Brock the stupendous +possibilities in reorganizing the system, who was responsible for his +enormous investment, and each reposed in the other entire confidence. +Gertrude constantly contended that it was only a question of her +father's really knowing Glover, and that if her lover could be put, as +she knew him, before her father, he must certainly give way. Why not, +then, take Bucks into their confidence? +</P> + +<P> +It seemed like light from heaven to Glover, and he was talking to +Gertrude when there came a rap at the door of the parlor and a +messenger entered with a long despatch from Callahan at Sleepy Cat. +</P> + +<P> +The message was marked delayed in transmission. Glover walked with it +to the window and read: +</P> + +<P> +"Doubleday's outfit wrecked early this morning on Pilot Hill while +bucking. Head engine, the 927, McGraw, partly off track. Tender +crushed the cab. Doubleday instantly killed and McGraw badly hurt. +Morris Blood is reported to have been in the cab also, but cannot be +found. Have sent Doubleday and McGraw to Medicine Bend in my car and +am starting with wrecking crew for the Hill." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" murmured Gertrude, watching her lover's face. He studied +the telegram a long time and she came to his side. He raised his eyes +from the paper in his hand and looked out of the window. "What is it?" +she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"Pilot Hill." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not understand, dearest." +</P> + +<P> +"A wreck." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is it serious?" +</P> + +<P> +His eyes fell again on the death message. "Morris Blood was in it and +they can't find him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, oh." +</P> + +<P> +"A bad place; a bad, bad place." He spoke, absently, then his eyes +turned upon her with inexpressible tenderness. +</P> + +<P> +"But why can't they find him, dearest?" +</P> + +<P> +"The track is blasted out of the mountain side for half a mile. Bucks +said it would be a graveyard, but I couldn't get to the mines in any +other way. Gertrude, I must go to the Wickiup at once to get further +news. This message has been delayed, the wires are not right yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you come back soon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just the minute I can get definite news about Morris. In half an +hour, probably." +</P> + +<P> +She tried to comfort him when he left her. She knew of the deep +attachment between the two men, and she encouraged her lover to hope +for the best. Not until he had gone did she fully realize how deeply +he was moved. At the window she watched him walk hurriedly down the +street, and as he disappeared, reflected that she had never seen such +an expression on his face as when he read the telegram. +</P> + +<P> +The half hour went while she reflected. Going downstairs she found the +news of the wreck had spread about the hotel, and widely exaggerated +accounts of the disaster were being discussed. Mrs. Whitney and Marie +were out sleighriding, and by the time the half hour had passed without +word from Glover, Gertrude gave way to her restlessness. She had a +telegram to send to New York—an order for bonbons—and she determined +to walk down to the Wickiup to send it; she might, she thought, see +Glover and hear his news sooner. +</P> + +<P> +When she approached the headquarters building unusual numbers of +railroad men were grouped on the platform, talking. Messengers hurried +to and from the roundhouse. A blown engine attached to a day coach was +standing near and men were passing in and out of the car. Gertrude +made her way to the stairs unobserved, walked leisurely up to the +telegraph office and sent her message. The long corridors of the +building, gloomy even on bright days, were quite dark as she left the +operators' room and walked slowly toward the quarters of the +construction department. +</P> + +<P> +The door of the large anteroom was open and the room empty. Gertrude +entered hesitatingly and looked toward Glover's office. His door also +was ajar, but no one was within. The sound of voices came from a +connecting room and she at once distinguished Glover's tones. It was +justification: with her coin purse she tapped lightly on the door +casing, and getting no response stepped inside the office and slipped +into a chair beside his desk to await him. The voices came from a room +leading to Callahan's apartments. +</P> + +<P> +Glover was asking questions, and a man whose voice she could now hear +breaking with sobs, was answering. "Are you sure your signals were +right?" she heard Glover ask slowly and earnestly; and again, +patiently, "how could you be doubled up without the flanger's leaving +the track?" Then the man would repeat his story. +</P> + +<P> +"You must have had too much behind you," Glover said once. +</P> + +<P> +"Too much?" echoed the man, frantically. "Seven engines behind us all +day yesterday. Paddy told him the minute he got in the cab she +wouldn't never stand it. He told him it as plain as a man could tell a +man. Then because we went through a thousand feet in the gap like +cheese he ordered us up the hill. When we struck the big drift it was +slicing rock, Mr. Glover. Paddy told him she wouldn't never stand it. +The very first push we let go in a hundred feet with the engine +churning her damned drivers off. We went into it twice that way. I +could see it was shoving the tender up in the air every time and told +Doubleday—oh, if you'd been there! The next time we sent the plough +through the first crust and drove a wind-pocket maybe forty or fifty +yards and hit the ice with the seven engines jamming into us. My God! +she doubled up like a jack-knife—Pat, Pat, Pat." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you recollect where Blood was standing when you buckled?" +</P> + +<P> +"In the right gangway." There was a pause. "He must have dropped," +she heard Glover say. +</P> + +<P> +"Then he'll never drop again, Mr. Glover, for if he slipped off the +ties he'd drop a thousand feet." +</P> + +<P> +"The heaviest snow is right at the top of the hill?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"If we can cross the hill we can find him anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't try to get across that hill till you put in five hundred +shovellers, Mr. Glover." +</P> + +<P> +"That would take a week. If he's alive we must get him within +twenty-four hours. He may freeze to death to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't try to cross that hill with a plough, Mr. Glover. Mind my +words. It's no use. I've bucked with you many a time—you know that." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"You're going to your death when you try that." +</P> + +<P> +"There's the doctor now, Foley," Glover answered. "Let him look you +over carefully. Come this way." +</P> + +<P> +The voices receded. Listening to the talk, little of which she +understood, a growing fear had come over Gertrude. Her eyes had +pierced the gray light about her, and as she heard Glover walk away she +rose hurriedly and stepped to the doorway to detain him. Glover had +disappeared, but before her, stretched on the couch back of the table, +lay McGraw. She knew him instantly, and so strangely did the gloom +shroud his features that his steady eyes seemed looking straight at +her. She divined that he had been brought back hurt. A chill passed +over her, a horror. She hesitated a moment, and, fascinated, stepped +closer; then she knew she was staring at the dead. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Terror-stricken and with sinking strength she made her way to the hotel +and slipped up to the parlor. Throwing off her wraps she went to the +window; Glover was coming up the street. There was only a moment in +which to collect herself. She hastened to her bedroom, wet her +forehead with cologne, and at her mirror her fingers ran tremblingly +over the coils of her hair. She caught up a fresh handkerchief for her +girdle, looked for an instant appealingly into her own eyes and closed +them to think. Glover rapped. +</P> + +<P> +She met him with a smile that she knew would stagger his fond eyes. +She drugged his ear with a low-voiced greeting. "You are late, +dearest." +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her and caught her hands. As his head bent she let her +lips lie in his kiss, and let his arm find her waist as he kissed her +deeply again. They walked together toward the fireplace, and when she +saw the sadness of his face fear in her heart gave way to pity. "What +is it?" she whispered. "Tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"The car has come with Doubleday and McGraw, Gertrude. The wreck was +terribly fatal. Morris Blood must have jumped from the cab. The track +I have told you is blasted there out of the cheek of the mountain, and +it's impossible to tell what his fate may be: but if he is alive I must +find him. There is a good hope, I believe, for Morris; he is a man to +squeeze through on a narrow chance. And Gertrude—I couldn't tell you +if I didn't think you had a right to know everything I know. It breaks +my heart to speak of it—McGraw is dead." +</P> + +<P> +"I am so glad you told me the truth," she trembled, "for I knew it——" +</P> + +<P> +"Knew it?" She confessed, hastily, how her anxiety had led her to his +office, and of the terrible shock she had brought on herself. "But now +I know you would not deceive me," she added; "that is why I love you, +because you are always honest and true. And do you love me, as you +have told me, more than all the world?" +</P> + +<P> +"More than all the world, Gertrude. Why do you look so? You are +trembling." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you come to say good-by?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only for a day or two, darling: till I can find Morris, then I come +straight back to you." +</P> + +<P> +"You, too, may be killed?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no." +</P> + +<P> +"But I heard the man telling you you would go to your death if you +attempted to cross that hill with a plough. Be honest with me; you are +risking your life." +</P> + +<P> +"Only as I have risked it almost every day since I came into the +mountains." +</P> + +<P> +"But now—now—doesn't it mean something else? Think what it means to +me—your life. Think what will become of me if you should be killed in +trying to open that hill—if you should fall over a precipice as Morris +Blood has fallen and lies now probably dead. Don't go. Don't go, this +time. You have promised me you would leave the mountains, haven't you? +Don't risk all, dearest, all I have on earth, in an attempt that may +utterly fail and add one more precious life to the lives now +sacrificed. You do heed me, darling, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +She had disengaged herself to plead; to look directly up into his +perplexed eyes. He leaned an arm on the mantel, staggered. His eyes +followed hers in every word she spoke, and when she ceased he stared +blankly at the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Heed you?" he answered, haltingly. "Heed you? You are all in the +world that I have to heed. My only wish is your happiness; to die for +it, Gertrude, wouldn't be much——" +</P> + +<P> +"All, all I ask is that you will live for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Worthless as I am, I have asked you to put that happiness in my +keeping—do you think your lightest word could pass me unheeded? But +to this, my dearest Gertrude, every instinct of manhood binds me—to go +to my friend in danger." +</P> + +<P> +"If you go you will take every desperate chance to accomplish your end. +Ah, I know you better than you know yourself. Ab, Ab, my darling, my +lover, listen to me. Don't; don't go." +</P> + +<P> +When he spoke she would not have known his voice. "Can I let him die +there like a dog on the mountain side? Can't you see what I haven't +words to explain as you could explain—the position it puts me in? +Don't sob. Don't be afraid; look at me. I'll come back to you, +darling." +</P> + +<P> +She turned her tearless eyes to the mountains. "Back! Yes. I see the +end. My lover will come back—come back dead. And I shall try to kiss +his brave lips back to life and they will speak no more. And I shall +stand when they take him from me, lonely and alone. My father that I +have estranged—my foster-mother that I have withstood—my sister that +I have repelled—will their tears flow for me then? And for this I +broke from my traditions and cast away associations, gave up all my +little life, stood alone against my family, poured out my heart to +these deserts, these mountains, and now—they rob me of my all—and +this is love!" +</P> + +<P> +He stood like a broken man. "God help me, have I laid on your dear +head the curse of my own life? Must you, too, suffer because our +perils force us lightly to pawn our lives one for another? One night +in that yard"—he pointed to the window—"I stood between the rails +with a switch engine running me down. I knew nothing of it. There was +no time to speak, no time to think—it was on me. Had Blood left me +there one second I never should have looked into your dear face. Up on +the hill with Hailey and Brodie, under the gravel and shale, I should +never have cost your heart an ache like this. Better the engine had +struck me then and spared you now——" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I say, no!" she exclaimed, wildly. "Better this moment together +than a lifetime apart!" +</P> + +<P> +"—For me he threw himself in front of the drivers. This moment is +mine and yours because he gave his right hand for it—shall I desert +him now he needs me? And so a hundred times and in a hundred ways we +gamble with death and laugh if we cheat it: and our poor reward is only +sometimes to win where far better men have failed. So in this railroad +life two men stand, as he and I have stood, luck or ill-luck, storm or +fair weather, together. And death speaks for one; and whichever he +calls it is ever the other must answer. And this—is duty." +</P> + +<P> +"Then do your duty." +</P> + +<P> +Distinctly, and terrifying in their unexpectedness, came the words from +the farther end of the parlor. They turned, stunned. Gertrude's +father was crossing the room. He raised his hand to dispel Glover's +sudden angry look. "I was lying on the couch; your voices roused me +and I could not escape. You have put clearly the case you stand in," +he spoke to Glover, "and I have intervened only to spare both of you +useless agony of argument. The question that concerns you two and me +is not at this moment up for decision; the other question is, and it is +for you, my daughter, now, to play the woman. I have tried as I could +to shield you from rough weather. You have left port without +consulting me, and the storms of womanhood are on you. Sir, when do +you start?" +</P> + +<P> +"My engine is waiting." +</P> + +<P> +"Then ask your people to attach my car. You can make equally good +time, and since for better or worse we have cut into this game we will +see it out together." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude threw her arms around her father's neck with a happy sob as +Glover left. "Oh daddy, daddy. If you only knew him!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PILOT +</H3> + +<P> +"There are mountains a man can do business with," muttered Bucks in the +private car, his mustache drooping broadly above his reflecting words. +"Mountains that will give and take once in a while, play fair +occasionally. But Pilot has fought us every inch of the way since the +day we first struck a pick into it. It is savage and unrelenting. I'd +rather negotiate with Sitting Bull for a right of way through his +private bathroom than to ask an easement from Pilot for a tamarack tie. +I don't know why it was ever called Pilot: if I named it, it should be +Sitting Bull. What the Sioux were to the white men, what the Spider +Water is to the bridgemen, that, and more, Pilot has been to the +mountain men. +</P> + +<P> +"There was no compromise with Pilot even after we got in on it. +Snowslides, washouts, bowlders, forest-fires—and yet the richest +quartz mines in the world lie behind it. This little branch, Mr. +Brock, forty-eight miles, pays the operating expenses of the whole +mountain division, and has done so almost since the day it was opened. +But I'd rather lose the revenue ten times every year than to lose +Morris Blood." The second vice-president was talking to Mr. Brock. +Their car was just rounding the curve into the gap in front of Mount +Pilot. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of Blood's chances?" asked Mr. Brock. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. A mountain man has nine lives." +</P> + +<P> +"What does Glover think?" +</P> + +<P> +"He doesn't say." +</P> + +<P> +"Who built this line?" +</P> + +<P> +"Two pretty good men ran the first thirty miles, but neither of them +could give me a practicable line south of the gap; this last eighteen +miles up and down and around Pilot was Glover's first work in the +mountains. It's engineering. Every trick ever played in the Rockies, +and one or two of Brodie's old combinations in the Andes, they tell me, +are crowded into these eighteen miles. There, there's old Sitting Bull +in all his clouds and his glory." +</P> + +<P> +Glover had left the car at Sleepy Cat, going ahead with the relief +train. Picked men from every district on the division had been +assembling all the afternoon to take up the search for the missing +superintendent. Section men from the Sweetgrass wastes, and bridgemen +from the foothills, roadmasters from the Heart Mountains—home of the +storm and the snow—and Rat Cañon trackwalkers that could spot a break +in the dark under twelve inches of ballast; Morgan, the wrecker, and +his men, and the mountain linemen with their foreman, old Bill +Dancing—fiend drunk and giant sober—were scattered on Mount Pilot, +while a rotary ahead of a battery of big engines was shoved again and +again up the snow-covered hill. +</P> + +<P> +Anxious to get the track open in the belief that Blood could best be +got at from beyond the S bridge, Glover, standing with the branch +roadmaster, Smith Young, on the ledge above the engines directed the +fight for the hill. He had promised Gertrude he would keep out of the +cab, and far across the curve below he could see the Brock car, where +Bucks was directing the search on the eastern side of the gulch. +</P> + +<P> +Callahan and the linemen were spreading both ways through the timber on +the plateau opposite, but the snow made the work extremely difficult, +and the short day allowed hardly more than a start. On the hill +Glover's men advanced barely a hundred feet in three hours: darkness +spread over the range with no sign of the missing man, and with the +forebodings that none could shake off of what the night's exposure, +even if he were uninjured, might mean. +</P> + +<P> +Supper was served to the men in the relief trains, and outside fires +were forbidden by Glover, who asked that every foot of the track as far +as the gap be patrolled all night. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly ten o'clock when Glover, supperless, reached the car with +his dispositions made for the night. While he talked with the men, +Clem, the star cook of the Brock family, under special orders grilled a +big porterhouse steak and presently asked him back to the dining-table, +where, behind the shaded candles, Gertrude waited. +</P> + +<P> +They sat down opposite each other; but not until Glover saw there were +two plates instead of one, and learned that Gertrude had eaten no +dinner because she was waiting for him, did he mutter something about +all that an American girl is capable of in the way of making a man +grateful and happy. There was nothing to hurry them back to the other +end of the car, and they did not rejoin Mr. Brock and Bucks, who were +smoking forward, until eleven o'clock. Callahan came in afterward, and +sitting together Mr. Brock and Gertrude listened while the three +railroad men planned the campaign for the next day. +</P> + +<P> +Parting late, Glover said good-night and left with Callahan to inspect +the rotary. The fearful punishment of the day's work on the knives had +shown itself, and since dark, relays of mechanics from the Sleepy Cat +shops had been busy with the cutting gear, and the companion plough had +already been ordered in from the eighth district. +</P> + +<P> +Glover returned to the car at one o'clock. The lights were low, and +Clem, a night-owl, fixed him in a chair near the door. For an hour +everything was very still, then Gertrude, sleeping lightly, heard +voices. Glover walked back past the compartments; she heard him asking +Clem for brandy—Bill Dancing, the lineman, had come with news. +</P> + +<P> +The negro brought forward a decanter and Glover poured a gobletful for +the old man, who shook from the chill of the night air. +</P> + +<P> +"The boys claim it's imagination," Dancing, steadied by the alcohol, +continued, "but it's a fire way over below the second bridge. I've +watched it for an hour; now you come." +</P> + +<P> +They went away and were gone a long time. Glover returned alone—Clem +had disappeared; a girlish figure glided out of the gloom to meet him. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't sleep," she whispered. "I heard you leave and dressed to +wait." She looked in the dim light as slight as a child, and with his +hand at her waist he sunk on his knee to look up into her face. "How +can I deserve it all?" +</P> + +<P> +She blinded his upturned eyes in her hands, and not until she found her +fingers were wet did she understand all he had tried to put into his +words. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any news?" she murmured, as he rose. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe they have found him." +</P> + +<P> +She clasped her hands. "Heaven be praised. Oh, is it sure?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean, Dancing, the old lineman, has seen his fire. At least, we are +certain of it. We have been watching it two hours. It's a speck of a +blaze away across toward the mines. It never grows nor lessens, just a +careful little campfire where fuel is scarce—as it is now with all the +snow. We've lighted a big beacon on the hill for an answer, and at +daybreak we shall go after him. The planning is all done and I am free +now till we're ready to start." +</P> + +<P> +She tried to make him lie down for a nap on the couch. He tried to +persuade her to retire until morning, and in sweet contention they sat +talking low of their love and their happiness—and of the hills a +reckless girl romped over in old Allegheny, and of the shingle gunboats +a sleepy-eyed boy launched in dauntless fleets upon the yellow eddies +of the Mississippi; and of the chance that should one day bring boy and +girl together, lovers, on the crest of the far Rockies. +</P> + +<P> +Lights were moving up and down the hill when they rose from Clem's +astonishing breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"You will be careful," she said. He had taken her in his arms at the +door, and promising he kissed her and whispered good-by. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SOUTH ARÊTE +</H3> + +<P> +They had planned a quick relief with a small party, for every hour of +exposure lessened the missing man's chances. Glover chose for his +companions two men: Dancing—far and away the best climber in the +telegraph corps, and Smith Young, roadmaster, a chainman of Glover's +when he ran the Pilot line. Dancing and Glover were large men of +unusual strength, and Young, lighter and smaller, had been known in a +pinch to handle an ordinary steel rail. But above everything +each—even Glover, the youngest—was a man of resource and experience +in mountain craft. +</P> + +<P> +They left the track near the twin bridges with only ropes and picks and +skis, and carrying stimulants and food. Without any attempt to catch +his trail from where they knew Blood must have started they made their +way as directly as possible down the side of the mountain and in the +direction of the gap. The stupendous difficulties of making headway +across the eastern slope did not become apparent until the rescuing +party was out of sight of those they had left, but from where they +floundered in ragged washouts or spread in line over glassy escarpments +they could see far up the mountain the rotary throwing a white cloud +into the sunshine and hear the far-off clamor of the engines on the +hill. +</P> + +<P> +Below the snow-field which they crossed they found the superintendent's +trail, and saw that his effort had been to cross the gap at that point +and make his way out toward the western grade, where an easy climb +would have brought him to the track; or where by walking some distance +he could reach the track without climbing a foot, the grade there being +nearly four per cent. +</P> + +<P> +They saw, too, why he had been forced to give up that hope, for what +would have been difficult for three fresh men with shoes was an +impossibility for a spent man in the snow alone. They knew that what +they had covered in two hours had probably cost him ten, for before +they had followed him a dozen feet they saw that he was dragging a leg; +farther, the snow showed stains and they crossed a field where he had +sat down and bandaged his leg after it had bled for a hundred yards. +</P> + +<P> +The trail began, as they went on, to lose its character. Whether from +weakness or uncertainty Blood's steps had become wandering, and they +noticed that he paid less attention to directness, but shunned every +obstacle that called for climbing, struggling great distances around +rough places to avoid them. They knew it meant that he was husbanding +failing strength and was striving to avoid reopening his wound. +</P> + +<P> +Twice they marked places in which he had sat to adjust his bandages, +and the strain of what they read in the snow quickened their anxiety. +Since that day Smith Young, superintendent now of the mountain +division, has never hunted, because he could never afterward follow the +trail of a wounded animal. +</P> + +<P> +They found places where he had hunted for fuel, and firing signals +regularly they reached the spot where he had camped the night before, +and saw the ashes of his fire. He was headed south; not because there +was more hope that way—there was less—but as if he must keep moving, +and that were easiest. A quarter of a mile below where he had spent +the night they caught sight of a man sitting on a fallen tree resting +his leg. The next moment three men were in a tumbling race across the +slope, and Blood, weakly hurrahing, fainted in Glover's arms. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +His story was short. He reminded his rescuers of the little spring on +the hill at the point where the wreck had occurred. The ice that +always spread across the track and over the edge of the gulch had been +chopped out by the shovellers the afternoon before, but water trickling +from the rock had laid a fresh trap for unwary feet during the night. +In jumping from the gangway at the moment of the wreck Blood's heels +had landed on smooth ice and he had tumbled and slid six hundred feet. +Recovering consciousness at the bottom of a washout he found the calf +of one leg ripped a little, as he put it. The loss of one side of his +mustache, swept away in the slide, and leaving on his face a peculiarly +forlorn expression, he did not take account of—declaring on the whole, +as he smiled into the swimming eyes around him, that with the exception +of tobacco he was doing very well. +</P> + +<P> +They got him in front of a big fire, plied him with food and +stimulants, and Glover, from a surgical packet, bandaged anew the wound +in his leg. Then came the question of retreat. +</P> + +<P> +They discussed two plans. The first to retrace their steps entirely; +the second, to go back to where the gap could be attempted and the +western track gained below the hill. Each meant long and severe +climbing, each presented its particular difficulties, and three men of +the four felt that if the torn artery opened once more their victory +would be barren—that Blood needed surgical aid promptly if at all. +But Dancing had a third plan. +</P> + +<P> +It was while they still consulted at this point that their fire was +seen on Pilot Hill and reported to Bucks at the Brock car, from which +the rapidly moving party had been seen only at long intervals during +the morning. +</P> + +<P> +The fire was the looked-for signal that the superintendent had been +reached, and the word went from group to group of men up the hill. +Through the strong glass that Glover had left with her, Gertrude could +see the smoke, and the storming signals of the panting engines above +her made sweeter music after she caught with her eye the faint column +in the distant gap. Even her father, feeling still something like a +conscript, brightened up at the general rejoicing. He had produced his +own glass and let Gertrude with eager prompting help him to find the +smoke. The moment the position of Glover's party was made definite, +Bucks ordered the car run down the Hog's Back to a point so much closer +that across the broad cañon, flanking Pilot on the south, they could +make out with their glasses the figures of the three men and, when they +began to move, the smaller figure of Morris Blood. +</P> + +<P> +Callahan had joined his chief to watch the situation, and they +speculated as to how the four would get out of the gulf in which they +were completely hemmed. Gertrude and her father stood near. +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of the two bronzed railroad men at her side were like pilot +guides to Gertrude. When she lost the wayfarers in the gullies or +along the narrow defiles that gave them passage between towering rocks, +their eyes restored the plodding line. Callahan was the first to +detect the change from the expected course. "They are working east," +said he, after a moment's careful observation. +</P> + +<P> +"East?" echoed Bucks. "You mean west." +</P> + +<P> +Callahan hung to his glass. "No," he repeated, "east—and south. +Here." +</P> + +<P> +Bucks took the glass and looked a long time. "I do not understand," +said he; "they are certainly working east. What can they be after, +east? Well, they can't go very far that way without bridging the +Devil's Cañon. Callahan," he exclaimed, with sure instinct, "they will +head south. Walt now till they appear again." +</P> + +<P> +He relinquished the glass to explain to Mr. Brock where next to look +for them. There was a long interval during which they did not +reappear. Then the little file emerging from the shadow of a rock +skirted a field of snow straight to the south. There were but three +men in line. One, a little ahead, breaking path; following, two large +men tramping close together, the foremost stooping under the weight of +a man lying face upward on his back, while the man behind supported the +legs under his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"They are carrying Morris Blood. He is hurt—that was to be expected. +What?" exclaimed Bucks, hardly a moment afterward, "they are crossing +the snow. Callahan, by heaven, they are walking for the south side of +Pilot, that's what it means. It is a forced march; they are making for +the mines." +</P> + +<P> +Mount Pilot, from the crest that divides at Devil's Gap, rises abruptly +in a three-faced peak, the pinnacle of which lies to the south. +Several hundred feet above the base lie the group of gold-mines behind +the mountain, and a short railroad spur blasted across the southern +face runs to them from Glen Tarn. Below, the mountain wall breaks in +long steps almost vertically to the base, toward which Glover's party +was heading. +</P> + +<P> +The move made new dispositions necessary. Orders flew from Bucks like +curlews, for it was more essential than ever to open the hill speedily. +</P> + +<P> +The private car was run across the Hog's Back, and the news sent to the +rotary crew with injunctions to push with all effort as far at least as +the mine switch, that help might be sent out on the spur to meet the +party on the climb. +</P> + +<P> +The increased activity apparent far up and down the mountain as the +word went round, the bringing up of the last reserve engines for the +hill battery, the effort to get into communication by telegraph with +the mine hospital and Glen Tarn Springs, the feverish haste of the +officials in the car to make the new dispositions, all indicated to +Gertrude the approach of a crisis—the imminence of a supreme effort to +save one life if the endeavor enlisted the men and resources of the +whole division. New gangs of shovellers strung on flat-cars were being +pushed forward. Down the hill, spent and disabled engines were +returning from the front, and while they took sidings, fresh engines, +close-coupled, steamed slowly like leviathans past them up the hill. +</P> + +<P> +The moment the track was clear, the private car was backed again down +the ridge. Following the serpentine winding of the right of way, the +general manager was able to run the car far around the mountain, and it +stopped opposite the southern face, which rose across the broad cañon. +When the party in the car got their glasses fixed, the little company +beyond the gulf had begun their climb and were strung like marionettes +up the base of Pilot. +</P> + +<P> +The south face of the mountain, sheer for nearly a thousand feet, is +broken by narrow ledges that make an ascent possible, and not until the +peak passes the timber does snow ordinarily find lodgment upon that +side. Swept by the winds from the Spanish Sinks, the vertical reaches +above the base usually offer no obstruction to a rapid climb, though +except perhaps by early prospectors, the arête had never been scaled. +Glover, however, in locating, had covered every stretch of the mountain +on each of its sides, and Dancing's poles and brackets, like +banderillas stung into the tough hide of a bull, circled Pilot from +face to face. These two men were leading the ascent; below them could +be distinguished the roadmaster and the injured superintendent. +</P> + +<P> +Stripped to the belt and lashed in the party rope, the leader, gaunt +and sinewy, stretched like an earthworm up the face of the +arête—crossing, recrossing, climbing, retreating, his spiked feet +settling warily into fresh holes below, his sensitive hands spreading +like feelers high over the smooth granite for new holds above. Slowly, +always, and with the deliberate reserve that quieted with confidence +the feverish hearts watching across the gulf, the leaders steadily +scaled the height that separated them from the track. Like sailors +patiently warping home, the three men in advance drew and lifted the +fourth, who doughtily helped himself with foot and hand as chance +allowed and watched patiently from below while his comrades disputed +with the sheer wall for a new step above. +</P> + +<P> +Bucks and Callahan, following every move, mapped the situation to their +companions as its features developed. With each triumph on the arête, +bursts of commendation and surprise came from the usually taciturn men +watching the struggle with growing wonder. Bucks, apprehensive of +delays in the track-opening on the hill, sent Callahan back in the car +with instructions to pick a gang of ten men and pack them somewhom +across the snow to the mine spur, that they might be ready to meet the +climbing party and carry the superintendent down to the mine hospital. +</P> + +<P> +Thirty feet below the mine track and as far above where Glover at that +moment was sitting—his rope made fast and his legs hanging over a +ledge, while his companions reached new positions—a granite wall rises +to where the upper face has been blasted away from the roadbed. To the +east, this wall hangs without a break up or down for a hundred feet, +but to the west it roughens and splits away from the main spur, forming +a crevice or chimney from two to three feet wide, opening at the top to +ten feet, where a small bridge carries the track across it. This +chimney had been Dancing's quest from the moment the ascent began, for +he had lost a man in that chimney when stringing the mine wires, and +knew precisely what it was. +</P> + +<P> +The chimney once gained, Dancing figured that the last thirty feet +should be easy work, and he had made but one miscalculation—when he +had descended it to pull up his lineman, it was summer. Without +extraordinary difficulty, Glover gained the ledge where the chimney +opened and waited for his companions to ascend. When all were up, they +rested a few moments on their dizzy perch, and, while Bill Dancing +investigated the chimney, Glover took the chance to renew once more +Morris Blood's bandages, which, strained by the climbing, caused +continual anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +Bucks, with the party in his glass, could see every move. He saw +Dancing disappear into the rock while his comrades rested, and made him +out, after some delay, reappearing from the cleft. What he could not +make out was the word that Dancing brought back; the chimney was a +solid mass of ice. +</P> + +<P> +Standing with the two men, Gertrude used her glass constantly. +Frequently she asked questions, but frequently she divined ahead of her +companions the directions and the movements. The hesitation that +followed Dancing's return did not escape her. Up and down the narrow +step on which they stood, the three men walked, scanning anxiously the +wall that stretched above them. +</P> + +<P> +So, hounds at fault on a trail double on their steps and move uneasily +to and fro, nosing the missing scent. As lions flatten behind their +cagebars, the climbers laid themselves against the rock and pushed to +the right and the left seeking an avenue of escape. They had every +right to expect that help would already have reached them, but on the +hill, through haste and confusion of orders, the new rotary had +stripped a gear, and an hour had been lost in getting in the second +plough. For safety, the climbers had in their predicament nothing to +fear. The impelling necessity for action was the superintendent's +condition; his companions knew he could not last long without a surgeon. +</P> + +<P> +When suspense had become unbearable, Dancing re-entered the chimney. +He was gone a long time. He reappeared, crawling slowly out on an +unseen footing, a mere flaw in the smooth stretch of granite half way +up to the track. By cutting his rope and throwing himself a dozen +times at death, old Bill Dancing had gained a foothold, made fast a +line, and divided the last thirty feet to be covered. One by one, his +companions disappeared from sight—not into the chimney, but to the +side of it where Dancing had blazed a few dizzy steps and now had a +rope dangling to make the ascent practicable. +</P> + +<P> +One by one, Gertrude saw the climbers, reappearing above, crawl like +flies out on the face of the rock and, with craning necks and cautious +steps, seek new advantage above. They discovered at length the remains +of a scrub pine jutting out below the railroad track. The tree had +been sawed off almost at the root, when the roadbed was levelled, and a +few feet of the trunk was left hugging upward against the granite wall. +</P> + +<P> +Glover, Young, and Dancing consulted a moment. The thing was not +impossible; the superintendent was bleeding to death. +</P> + +<P> +Spectators across the gap saw movements they could not quite +comprehend. Safety lines were overhauled for the last time, the picks +put in the keeping of Morris Blood, who lay flat on the ledge. Glover +and Bill Dancing, facing outward, planted themselves side by side +against the rocky wall. Smith Young, facing inward, flattened himself +in Glover's arms, passed across him and, pushing his safety-girdle well +up under his arms, stood a moment between the two big men. Glover and +Dancing, getting their hands through the belt from either side, gripped +him, and Young uncoiled from his right hand a rope noosed like a +lariat. Steadied by his companions and swinging his arms in a cautious +segment on the wall, he tried to hitch the noose over the trunk of the +pine. +</P> + +<P> +With the utmost skill and patience, he coaxed the loop up again and +again into the air overhead, but the brush of the short branches +against the rock defeated every attempt to get a hold. +</P> + +<P> +He rested, passed the rope into his other hand, and with the same +collected persistence endeavored to throw it over from the left. +</P> + +<P> +Sweat beaded Bucks' forehead as he looked. Gertrude's father, the man +of sixty millions, with nerves bedded in ice, crushed an unlighted +cigar between his teeth, and tried to steady the glass that shook in +his hand. Gertrude, resting one hand on a bowlder against which she +steadied herself, neither spoke nor moved. The roadmaster could not +land his line. +</P> + +<P> +The two men released him and, with arms spread wide, he slipped over to +where Morris Blood lay, took from him the two picks, and cautiously +rejoined his comrades. Two of the men reversing their positions, faced +the rock wall. They fixed a pick into a cranny between their heads, +crouched together, and the third, planting his feet first on their +knees and then their shoulders, was raised slowly above them. +</P> + +<P> +The glasses turned from afar caught a sheen of sunshine that spread for +an instant across the face of the mountain and sharply outlined the +flattened form high on the arête. The figure seemed brought by the +dazzling light startlingly near, and those looking could distinguish in +his hand a pick, which, with his right arm extended, he slowly swung up +and up the face of the rock until he should swing it high to hook +through the roots of the pine. +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude asked Bucks who it was that spread himself above his comrades, +and he answered, Dancing; but it was Glover. +</P> + +<P> +Deliberately his extended arm rose and fell in the arc he was +following, higher and higher, till the pick swung above his head and +lodged where he sent it among the pine-tree roots. At the very moment, +one of the men supporting him moved—the pick had dislodged a heavy +chip of granite; in falling it struck his crouching supporter on the +head. The man steadied himself instantly, but the single instant cost +the balance of the upmost figure. With a suppressed struggle, +heartbreaking half a mile away, the man above strove to right himself. +Like light his second hand reached for the pick handle; he could not +recover it. The pyramid wavered and Glover, helpless, spread his hands +wide. +</P> + +<P> +By an instinct deeper than life, she knew him then, and cried out and +out in agony. But the pyramid was dissolving before his eyes, and she +saw a strange figure with outstretched arms, a figure she no longer +knew, slowly slipping headlong down a blood-red wall that burned itself +into her brain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BUSINESS +</H3> + +<P> +Cruelly broken and bruised, Young, Bill Dancing, and Glover late that +night were brought up in rope cradles by the wrecking derrick and taken +into the Brock car, turned by its owner into a hospital. An hour after +the fall on the south arête the hill blockade had been broken. With +word of the disaster to nerve men already strained to the utmost, +effort became superhuman, the impossible was achieved, and the relief +train run in on the mine track. +</P> + +<P> +Morris Blood, unconscious, was lifted from the narrow shelf at four +o'clock and put under a surgeon's care in time to save his life. To +rig a tackle for a three-hundred-foot lift was another matter; but even +while the derrick-car stood idle on the spur waiting for the cable +equipment from the mine, a laughing boy of a surgeon from the hospital +was lowered with the first of the linemen to the snow-field where the +three men roped together had fallen, and surgical aid reached them +before sunset. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +Last to come up, because he still gave the orders, Glover, cushioned +and strapped in the tackle, was lifted out of the blackness of the +night into the streaming glare of the headlights. Very carefully he +was swung down to the mattresses piled on the track, and, before all +that looked and waited, a woman knelt and kissed his sunken eyes. Not +then did the men, dim in the circle about them, show what they felt, +though they knew, to the meanest trackhand, all it meant; not when, +after a bare moment of hesitation, Gertrude's father knelt opposite on +the mattress-pile, did they break their silence, though they shrewdly +guessed what that meant. +</P> + +<P> +But when Glover pulled together his disordered members and at +Gertrude's side walked without help to the step of the car, the murmur +broke into a cheer that rang from Pilot to Glen Tarn. +</P> + +<P> +"It was more than half my fault," he breathed to her, after his broken +arms had been set and the long gash on his head stitched. "I need not +have lost my balance if I had kept my head. Gertrude, I may as well +admit it—I'm a coward since I've begun to love you. I've never told +you how I saw your face once between the curtains of an empty sleeper. +But it came back to me just as Dancing's shoulder slipped—that's why I +went. I'm done forever with long chances." And she, silent, tried +only to quiet him while the car moved down the gap bearing them from +Pilot together. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Do you know what day to-morrow is?" Gertrude was opening a box of +flowers that Solomon had brought from the express-office; Glover, +plastered with bandages, was standing before the grate fire in the +hotel parlor. +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow?" he echoed. "Sunday." +</P> + +<P> +"Sunday! Why do you always guess Sunday when I ask you what day it is?" +</P> + +<P> +"You would think every day Sunday if you had had as good a time as I +have for six weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"The doctor does say you're doing beautifully. I asked him yesterday +how soon you would be well and he said you never had been so well since +he knew you. But what is to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thanksgiving." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanksgiving, indeed! Yes, every day is Thanksgiving for us. But +it's not especially <I>that</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Christmas." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! To-morrow is the second anniversary of our engagement." +</P> + +<P> +"My Lord, Gertrude, have we been engaged two years? Why, at that rate +I can't possibly marry you till I'm forty-four." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't two years, it's two months. And to-night they have their +memorial services for poor Paddy McGraw. And, do you know, your friend +Mr. Foley has our engine now? Yes; he came up the other day to ask +about you, but in reality to tell me he had been promoted. I think he +ought to have been, after I spoke myself to Mr. Archibald about it. +But what touched me was, the poor fellow asked if I wouldn't see about +getting some flowers for the memorial at the engineer's lodge +to-night—and he didn't want his wife to know anything about it, +because she would scold him for spending his money—see what you are +coming to! So I suggested he should let me provide his flowers and +ours together, and when I tried to find out what he wanted, he asked if +a throttle made of flowers would be all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Your heart would not let you say no?" +</P> + +<P> +"I told him it would be lovely, and to leave it all to me." +</P> + +<P> +She brought forward the box she was opening. "See how they have laid +this throttle-bar of violets across these Galax leaves—and latched it +with a rose. Here, Solomon," she exiled the boy from an adjoining +room, "take this very carefully. No. There isn't any card. Oh," she +exclaimed, as he left, and she clasped her lifted hands, "I am glad, I +am glad we are leaving these mountains. Do you know papa is to be here +to-morrow? And that your speech must be ready? He isn't going to give +his consent without being asked." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose not," said Glover, dejectedly. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to say?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall say that I consider him worthy of my confidence and esteem." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you would make more headway, dearest, if you should tell him +you considered yourself worthy of <I>his</I> confidence and esteem." +</P> + +<P> +"But, hang it, I don't." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, couldn't you, for once, fib a little? Oh, Ab; I'll tell you +what I wish you <I>could</I> do." +</P> + +<P> +"Pray what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Talk a little business to him. I feel sure, if you could only talk +business awhile, papa would be <I>all</I> right." +</P> + +<P> +"Business! If it's only a question of talking business, the thing's as +good as done. I can't talk anything but business." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you, indeed! I like that. Pray what did you talk to me on the +platform of my father's own car?" +</P> + +<P> +"Business." +</P> + +<P> +"You talked the silliest stuff I ever listened to——" +</P> + +<P> +"Not reflecting on anyone present, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"And, Ab——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"If you could take him aback somehow—nothing would give him such an +idea of you. I think that was what—well, I was so <I>completely</I> +overcome by your audacity——" +</P> + +<P> +"You seemed so," commented Glover, rather grimly. "Very well, if you +want him taken aback, I will take him aback, even if I have to resort +to force." He withdrew his right arm from its sling and began +unwrapping the bandages and throwing the splints Into the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the world are you doing?" asked Gertrude, in consternation. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no use carrying these things any longer. My right arm is just +as strong as it ever was—and to tell the truth——" +</P> + +<P> +"Now keep your distance, if you please." +</P> + +<P> +"To tell the truth, I never could play ball left-handed, anyway, +Gertrude. Now, let's begin easy. Just shake hands with me." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do nothing of the sort. It's bad form, anyway. You may just +shake hands with yourself. All things considered, I think you have +good reason to." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I understand you were chief engineer of this system at one time," +began Mr. Brock, at the very outset of the dreaded interview. +</P> + +<P> +"I was," answered Glover. +</P> + +<P> +"And that you resigned voluntarily to take an inferior position on the +Mountain Division?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is true." +</P> + +<P> +"Railroad men with ambition," commented Mr. Brock, dryly, "don't +usually turn their faces from responsibility in that way. They look +higher, and not lower." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I was looking higher when I came to the mountains." +</P> + +<P> +"That may do for a joke, but I am talking business." +</P> + +<P> +"I, too; and since I am, let me explain to you why I resigned a higher +position for a lower one. The fact is well known; the reason isn't. I +came to this road at the call of your second vice-president, Mr. Bucks. +I have always enjoyed a large measure of his confidence. We saw some +years ago that a reorganization was inevitable, and spent many nights +discussing the different features of it. This is what we determined: +That the key to this whole system with its eight thousand miles of main +line and branches is this Mountain Division. To operate the system +economically and successfully means that the grades must be reduced and +the curvature reduced on this division. Surely, with you, I need not +dwell on the A B C's of twentieth century railroading. It is the road +that can handle the tonnage cheapest that will survive. All this we +knew, and I told him to put me out on this division. It was during the +receivership and there was no room for frills. +</P> + +<P> +"I have worked here on a small salary and done everything but maul +spikes to keep down expenses on the division, because we had to make +some showing to whoever wanted to buy our junk. In this way I took a +roving commission and packed my bag from an office where I could +acquire nothing I did not already know to a position where I could get +hold of the problem of mountain transportation and cut the coal bills +of the road in two." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you done it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Have I cut the coal bills in two? No; but I have learned how. It +will cost money to do that——" +</P> + +<P> +"How much money?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thirty millions of dollars." +</P> + +<P> +"A good deal of money." +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"No?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Don't let us be afraid to face figures. You will spend a hundred +millions before you quit, Mr. Brock, and you will make another hundred +millions in doing it. To put it bluntly, the mountains must be brought +to terms. For three years I have eaten and lived and slept with them. +I know every grade, curve, tunnel, and culvert from here to Bear +Dance—yes, to the coast. The day of heavy gradients and curves for +transcontinental tonnage is gone by. If I ever get a chance, I will +rip this right of way open from end to end and make it possible to send +freight through these ranges at a cost undreamed of in the estimates of +to-day. But that was not my only object in coming to the mountains." +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Bucks and the men he has gathered around him—Callahan, Blood and +the rest of us—are railroad men. Railroading is our business; we know +nothing else. There was an embarrassing chance that when our buyer +came he might be hostile to the present management. Happily," Glover +bowed to the Pittsburg magnate, "he isn't; but he might have been——" +</P> + +<P> +"I see." +</P> + +<P> +"We were prepared for that." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't speak of this if I did not know you were Mr. Bucks' +closest friend. Even he doesn't know it, but six months of my own +time—not the company's—I put in on a matter that concerned my friends +and myself, and I have the notes for a new line to parallel this if it +were needed—and Blood and I have the only pass within three hundred +miles north or south to run it over. These were some of the reasons, +Mr. Brock, why I came to the mountains." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand. I understand perfectly. Mr. Glover, what is your age, +sir?" +</P> + +<P> +The time seemed ripe to put Gertrude's second hint into play. +</P> + +<P> +"That is a subject I never discuss with anyone, Mr. Brock." +</P> + +<P> +He waited just a moment to let the magnate get his breath, and +continued, "May I tell you why? When the road went into the +receivership, I was named as one of the receivers on behalf of the +Government. The President, when I first met him during my term, asked +for my father, thinking he was the man that had been recommended to +him. He wouldn't believe me when I assured him I was his appointee. +'If I had known how young you were, Glover,' said he to me, afterward, +'I never should have dared appoint you.' The position paid me +twenty-five thousand dollars a year for four years; but the incident +paid me better than that, for it taught me never to discuss my age." +</P> + +<P> +"I see. I see. A fine point. You have taught <I>me</I> something. By the +way, about the pass you spoke of—I suppose you understand the +importance of getting hold of a strategic point like that +to—a—forestall—competition?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have hold of it." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not mind saying to you, under all the circumstances, that there +has been a little friction with the Harrison people. Do you see? And, +for reasons that may suggest themselves, there may be more. They might +conclude to run a line to the coast themselves. The young man has, I +believe, been turned down——" +</P> + +<P> +"I understood the—the slate had been—changed slightly," stammered +Glover, coloring. +</P> + +<P> +"There might be resentment, that's all. Blood is loyal to us, I +presume." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no taint anywhere in Morris Blood. He is loyalty itself." +</P> + +<P> +"What would you think of him as General Manager? Callahan goes to the +river as Traffic Manager. Mr. Bucks, you know, is the new President; +these are his recommendations. What do you think of them?" +</P> + +<P> +"No better men on earth for the positions, and I'm mighty glad to see +them get what they deserve." +</P> + +<P> +"Our idea is to leave you right here in the mountains." It was hard to +be left completely out of the new deal, but Glover did not visibly +wince. "With the title," added Mr. Brock, after he knew his arrow had +gone home, "with the title of Second Vice-president, which Mr. Bucks +now holds. That will give you full swing in your plans for the +rebuilding of the system. I want to see them carried out as the +estimates I've been studying this winter show. Don't thank me. I did +not know till yesterday they were entirely your plans. You can have +every dollar you need; it will rest with you to produce the results. I +guess that's all. No, stop. I want you to go East with us next week +for a month or two as our guest. You can forward your work the faster +when you get back, and I should like you to meet the men whose money +you are to spend. Were you waiting to see Gertrude?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why—yes, sir—I——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll see whether she's around." +</P> + +<P> +Gertrude did not appear for some moments, then she half ran and half +glided in, radiant. "I couldn't get away!" she exclaimed. "He's +talking about you yet to Aunt Jane and Marie. He says you're charged +with dynamite—<I>I</I> knew that—a most remarkable young man. How did you +ever convince him you knew anything? I am confident you don't. You +must have taken him somehow aback, didn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you want to give your father a touch of asthma," suggested Glover, +"ask him how old I am; but he had me scared once or twice," admitted +the engineer, wiping the cold sweat from his wrists. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Did</I> he give his consent?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why—hang it—I—we got to talking business and I forgot to——" +</P> + +<P> +"So like you, dear. However, it must be all right, for he said he +should need your help in buying the coast branches and The Short Line." +</P> + +<P> +"The Short Line," gasped Glover. "Well, I haven't inventoried lately. +If we marry in June——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry about that, for we sha'n't marry in June, my love." +</P> + +<P> +"But when we do, we shall need some money for a wedding-trip——" +</P> + +<P> +"We certainly shall; a lot of it, dearie." +</P> + +<P> +"I may have ten or twelve hundred left after that is provided for. But +my confidence in your father's judgment is very great, and if he's +going to make up a pool, my money is at his service, as far as it will +go, to buy The Short Line—or any other line he may take a fancy to." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he's just telling Marie about your making a hundred thousand +dollars in four years by being wonderfully shrewd——" +</P> + +<P> +"But that confounded mine that I told you about——" +</P> + +<P> +"You dear old stupid. Never mind, you have made a real strike to-day. +But if you ever again delude papa into thinking you know more than I +do, I shall expose you without mercy." +</P> + +<P> +The train, a private car special, carrying Mr. Brock, chairman of the +board, and his family, the new president and the second vice-president +elect, was pulling slowly across the long, high spans of the Spider +bridge. Glover and Gertrude had gone back to the observation platform. +Leaning on his arm, she was looking across the big valley and into the +west. The sun, setting clear, tinged with gold the far snows of the +mountains. +</P> + +<P> +"It is less than a year," she was murmuring, "since I crossed this +bridge; think of it. And what bridges have I not crossed since! See. +Your mountains are fading away——" +</P> + +<P> +"My mountains faded away, dear heart, don't you know, when you told me +I might love you. As for those"—his eyes turned from the distant +ranges back to her eyes—"after all, they brought me you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 24696-h.txt or 24696-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/9/24696">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/9/24696</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/24696-h/images/img-front.jpg b/24696-h/images/img-front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1917128 --- /dev/null +++ b/24696-h/images/img-front.jpg diff --git a/24696.txt b/24696.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a94423d --- /dev/null +++ b/24696.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7171 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Daughter of a Magnate, by Frank H. +Spearman + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Daughter of a Magnate + + +Author: Frank H. Spearman + + + +Release Date: February 26, 2008 [eBook #24696] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 24696-h.htm or 24696-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/9/24696/24696-h/24696-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/9/24696/24696-h.zip) + + + + + +THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE + +by + +FRANK H. SPEARMAN + +Author of + Whispering Smith, + Doctor Bryson, Etc. + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Gertrude used her glass constantly.] + + + +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers : : New York + +Copyright, 1903, by +Charles Scribner's Sons + +Published, October, 1903 + + + + +To + +WESLEY HAMILTON PECK, M.D. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. + + I. A JUNE WATER + II. AN ERROR AT HEADQUARTERS + III. INTO THE MOUNTAINS + IV. AS THE DESPATCHER SAW + V. AN EMERGENCY CALL + VI. THE CAT AND THE RAT + VII. TIME BEING MONEY + VIII. SPLITTING THE PAW + IX. A TRUCE + X. AND A SHOCK + XI. IN THE LALLA ROOKH + XII. A SLIP ON A SPECIAL + XIII. BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS + XIV. GLEN TARN + XV. NOVEMBER + XVI. NIGHT + XVII. STORM + XVIII. DAYBREAK + XIX. SUSPENSE + XX. DEEPENING WATERS + XXI. PILOT + XXII. THE SOUTH ARETE + XXIII. BUSINESS + + + + +The Daughter of a Magnate + + +CHAPTER I + +A JUNE WATER + +The train, a special, made up of a private car and a diner, was running +on a slow order and crawled between the bluffs at a snail's pace. + +Ahead, the sun was sinking into the foothills and wherever the eye +could reach to the horizon barren wastes lay riotously green under the +golden blaze. The river, swollen everywhere out of its banks, spread +in a broad and placid flood of yellow over the bottoms, and a hundred +shallow lakes studded with willowed islands marked its wandering course +to the south and east. The clear, far air of the mountains, the glory +of the gold on the June hills and the illimitable stretch of waters +below, spellbound the group on the observation platform. + +"It's a pity, too," declared Conductor O'Brien, who was acting as +mountain Baedeker, "that we're held back this way when we're covering +the prettiest stretch on the road for running. It is right along here +where you are riding that the speed records of the world have been +made. Fourteen and six-tenths miles were done in nine and a half +minutes just west of that curve about six months ago--of course it was +down hill." + +Several of the party were listening. "Do you use speed recorders out +here?" asked Allen Harrison. + +"How's that?" + +"Do you use speed recorders?" + +"Only on our slow trains," replied O'Brien. "To put speed recorders on +Paddy McGraw or Jimmie the Wind would be like timing a teal duck with +an eight-day clock. Sir?" he asked, turning to another questioner +while the laugh lingered on his side. "No; those are not really +mountains at all. Those are the foothills of the Sleepy Cat +range--west of the Spider Water. We get into that range about two +hundred miles from here--well, I say they are west of the Spider, but +for ten days it's been hard to say exactly where the Spider is. The +Spider is making us all the trouble with high water just now--and we're +coming out into the valley in about a minute," he added as the car gave +an embarrassing lurch. "The track is certainly soft, but if you'll +stay right where you are, on this side, ladies, you'll get the view of +your lives when we leave the bluffs. The valley is about nine miles +broad and it's pretty much all under water." + +Beyond the curve they were taking lay a long tangent stretching like a +steel wand across a sea of yellow, and as their engine felt its way +very gingerly out upon it there rose from the slow-moving trucks of +their car the softened resonance that tells of a sounding-board of +waters. + +Soon they were drawn among wooded knolls between which hurried little +rivers tossed out of the Spider flood into dry waterways and brawling +with surprised stones and foaming noisily at stubborn root and +impassive culvert. Through the trees the travellers caught passing +glimpses of shaded eddies and a wilderness of placid pools. "And +this," murmured Gertrude Brock to her sister Marie, "this is the +Spider!" O'Brien, talking to the men at her elbow, overheard. +"Hardly, Miss Brock; not yet. You haven't seen the river yet. This is +only the backwater." + +They were rising the grade to the bridge approach, and when they +emerged a few moments later from the woods the conductor said, "There!" + +The panorama of the valley lay before them. High above their level and +a mile away, the long thread-like spans of Hailey's great bridge +stretched from pier to pier. To the right of the higher ground a fan +of sidetracks spread, with lines of flat cars and gondolas loaded with +stone, brush, piling and timbers, and in the foreground two hulking +pile-drivers, their leads, like rabbits' ears laid sleekly back, +squatted mysteriously. Switch engines puffed impatiently up and down +the ladder track shifting stuff to the distant spurs. At the river +front an army of men moved like loaded ants over the dikes. Beyond +them the eye could mark the boiling yellow of the Spider, its winding +channel marked through the waste of waters by whirling driftwood, +bobbing wreckage and plunging trees--sweepings of a thousand angry +miles. "There's the Spider," repeated the West End conductor, +pointing, "out there in the middle where you see things moving right +along. That's the Spider, on a twenty-year rampage." The train, +moving slowly, stopped. "I guess we've got as close to it as we're +going to, for a while. I'll take a look forward." + +It was the time of the June water in the mountains. A year earlier the +rise had taken the Peace River bridge and with the second heavy year of +snow railroad men looked for new trouble. June is not a month for +despair, because the mountain men have never yet scheduled despair as a +West End liability. But it is a month that puts wrinkles in the right +of way clear across the desert and sows gray hairs in the roadmasters' +records from McCloud to Bear Dance. That June the mountain streams +roared, the foothills floated, the plains puffed into sponge, and in +the thick of it all the Spider Water took a man-slaughtering streak and +started over the Bad Lands across lots. The big river forced Bucks' +hand once more, and to protect the main line Glover, third of the +mountain roadbuilders, was ordered off the high-line construction and +back to the hills where Brodie and Hailey slept, to watch the Spider. + +The special halted on a tongue of high ground flanking the bridge and +extending upstream to where the river was gnawing at the long dike that +held it off the approach. The delay was tedious. Doctor Lanning and +Allen Harrison went forward to smoke. Gertrude Brock took refuge in a +book and Mrs. Whitney, her aunt, annoyed her with stories. Marie Brock +and Louise Donner placed their chairs where they could watch the +sorting and unloading of never-ending strings of flat cars, the +spasmodic activity in the lines of laborers, the hurrying of the +foremen and the movement of the rapidly shifting fringe of men on the +danger line at the dike. + +The clouds which had opened for the dying splendor of the day closed +and a shower swept over the valley; the conductor came back in his +raincoat--his party were at dinner. "_Are_ we to be detained much +longer?" asked Mrs. Whitney. + +"For a little while, I'm afraid," replied the trainman diplomatically. +"I've been away over there on the dike to see if I could get permission +to cross, but I didn't succeed." + +"Oh, conductor!" remonstrated Louise Donner. + +"And we don't get to Medicine Bend to-night," said Doctor Lanning. + +"What we need is a man of influence," suggested Harrison. "We ought +never to have let your 'pa' go," he added, turning to Gertrude Brock, +beside whom he sat. + +"Can't we really get ahead?" Gertrude lifted her brows reproachfully +as she addressed the conductor. "It's becoming very tiresome." + +O'Brien shook his head. + +"Why not see someone in authority?" she persisted. + +"I have seen the man in authority, and nearly fell into the river doing +it; then he turned me down." + +"Did you tell him who we were?" demanded Mrs. Whitney. + +"I made all sorts of pleas." + +"Does he know that Mr. Bucks _promised_ we should be In Medicine Bend +to-night?" asked pretty little Marie Brock. + +"He wouldn't in the least mind that." + +Mrs. Whitney bridled. "Pray who is he?" + +"The construction engineer of the mountain division is the man in +charge of the bridge just at present." + +"It would be a very simple matter to get orders over his head," +suggested Harrison. + +"Not very." + +"Mr. Bucks?" + +"Hardly. No orders would take us over that bridge to-night without +Glover's permission." + +"What an autocrat!" sighed Mrs. Whitney. "No matter; I don't care to +go over it, anyway." + +"But I do," protested Gertrude. "I don't feel like staying in this +water all night, if you please." + +"I'm afraid that's what we'll have to do for a few hours. I told Mr. +Glover he would be in trouble if I didn't get my people to Medicine +Bend to-night." + +"Tell him again," laughed Doctor Lanning. + +Conductor O'Brien looked embarrassed. "You'd like to ask particular +leave of Mr. Glover for us, I know," suggested Miss Donner. + +"Well, hardly--the second time--not of Mr. Glover." A sheet of rain +drenched the plate-glass windows. "But I'm going to watch things and +we'll get out just as soon as possible. I know Mr. Glover pretty well. +He is all right, but he's been down here now a week without getting out +of his clothes and the river rising on him every hour. They've got +every grain bag between Salt Lake and Chicago and they're filling them +with sand and dumping them in where the river is cutting." + +"Any danger of the bridge going?" asked the doctor. + +"None in the world, but there's a lot of danger that the river will go. +That would leave the bridge hanging over dry land. The fight is to +hold the main channel where it belongs. They're getting rock over the +bridge from across the river and strengthening the approach for fear +the dike should give way. The track is busy every minute, so I +couldn't make much impression on Mr. Glover." + +There was light talk of a deputation to the dike, followed by the +resignation of travellers, cards afterward, and ping-pong. With the +deepening of the night the rain fell harder, and the wind rising in +gusts drove it against the glass. When the women retired to their +compartments the train had been set over above the bridge where the +wind, now hard from the southeast, sung steadily around the car. + +Gertrude Brock could not sleep. After being long awake she turned on +the light and looked at her watch; it was one o'clock. The wind made +her restless and the air in the stateroom had become oppressive. She +dressed and opened her door. The lights were very low and the car was +silent; all were asleep. + +At the rear end she raised a window-shade. The night was lighted by +strange waves of lightning, and thunder rumbled in the distance +unceasingly. Where she sat she could see the sidings filled with cars, +and when a sharper flash lighted the backwater of the lakes, vague +outlines of far-off bluffs beetled into the sky. + +She drew the shade, for the continuous lightning added to her disquiet. +As she did so the rain drove harshly against the car and she retreated +to the other side. Feeling presently the coolness of the air she +walked to her stateroom for her Newmarket coat, and wrapping it about +her, sunk into a chair and closed her eyes. She had hardly fallen +asleep when a crash of thunder split the night and woke her. As it +rolled angrily away she quickly raised the window-curtain. + +The heavens were frenzied. She looked toward the river. Electrical +flashes charging from end to end of the angry sky lighted the bridge, +reflected the black face of the river and paled flickering lights and +flaming torches where, on vanishing stretches of dike, an army of dim +figures, moving unceasingly, lent awe to the spectacle. + +She could see smoke from the hurrying switch engines whirled viciously +up into the sweeping night and above her head the wind screamed. A +gale from the southwest was hurling the Spider against the revetment +that held the eastern shore and the day and the night gangs together +were reinforcing it. Where the dike gave under the terrific pounding, +or where swiftly boiling pools sucked under the heavy piling, Glover's +men were sinking fresh relays of mattresses and loading them with stone. + +At moments laden flat cars were pushed to the brink of the flood, and +men with picks and bars rose spirit-like out of black shadows to +scramble up their sides and dump rubble on the sunken brush. Other men +toiling in unending procession wheeled and slung sandbags upon the +revetment; others stirred crackling watchfires that leaped high into +the rain, and over all played the incessant lightning and the angry +thunder and the flying night. + +She shut from her eyes the strangely moving sight, returned to her +compartment, closed her door and lay down. It was quieter within the +little room and the fury of the storm was less appalling. + +Half dreaming as she lay, mountains shrouded in a deathly lightning +loomed wavering before her, and one, most terrible of all, she strove +unwillingly to climb. Up she struggled, clinging and slipping, a +cramping fear over all her senses, her ankles clutched in icy fetters, +until from above, an apparition, strange and threatening, pushed her, +screaming, and she swooned into an awful gulf. + +"Gertrude! Gertrude! Wake up!" cried a frightened voice. + +The car was rocking in the wind, and as Gertrude opened her door Louise +Donner stumbled terrified into her arms. "Did you hear that awful, +awful crash? I'm sure the car has been struck." + +"No, no, Louise." + +"It surely has been. Oh, let us waken the men at once, Gertrude; we +shall be killed!" + +The two clung to one another. "I'm afraid to stay alone, Gertrude," +sobbed her companion. + +"Stay with me, Louise. Come." While they spoke the wind died and for +a moment the lightning ceased, but the calm, like the storm, was +terrifying. As they stood breathless a report like the ripping of a +battery burst over their heads, a blast shook the heavy car and howled +shrilly away. + +Sleep was out of the question. Gertrude looked at her watch. It was +four o'clock. The two dressed and sat together till daylight. When +morning broke, dark and gray, the storm had passed and out of the +leaden sky a drizzle of rain was falling. Beside the car men were +moving. The forward door was open and the conductor in his stormcoat +walked in. + +"Everything is all right this morning, ladies," he smiled. + +"All right? I should think everything all wrong," exclaimed Louise. +"We have been frightened to death." + +"They've got the cutting stopped," continued O'Brien, smiling. "Mr. +Glover has left the dike. He just told me the river had fallen six +inches since two o'clock. We'll be out of here now as quick as we can +get an engine: they've been switching with ours. There was +considerable wind in the night----" + +"Considerable _wind_!" + +"You didn't notice it, did you? Glover loaded the bridge with freight +trains about twelve o'clock and I'm thinking it's lucky, for when the +wind went into the northeast about four o'clock I thought it would take +my head off. It snapped like dynamite clear across the valley." + +"Oh, we heard!" + +"When the wind jumped, a crew was dumping stone into the river. The +men were ordered off the flat cars but there were so many they didn't +all get the word at once, and while the foreman was chasing them down +he was blown clean into the river." + +"Drowned?" + +"No, he was not. He crawled out away down by the bridge, though a man +couldn't have done it once in a thousand times. It was old Bill +Dancing--he's got more lives than a cat. Do you remember where we +first pulled up the train in the afternoon? A string of ten box cars +stood there last night and when the wind shifted it blew the whole +bunch off the track." + +"Oh, do let us get away from here," urged Gertrude. "I feel as if +something worse would happen if we stayed. I'm sorry we ever left +McCloud yesterday." + +The men came from their compartments and there was more talk of the +storm. Clem and his helpers were starting breakfast in the dining-car +and the doctor and Harrison wanted to walk down to see where the river +had cut into the dike. Mrs. Whitney had not appeared and they asked +the young ladies to go with them. Gertrude objected. A foggy haze +hung over the valley. + +"Come along," urged Harrison; "the air will give you an appetite." + +After some remonstrating she put on her heavy coat, and carrying +umbrellas the four started under the conductor's guidance across to the +dike. They picked their steps along curving tracks, between material +piles and through the debris of the night. On the dike they spent some +time looking at the gaps and listening to explanations of how the river +worked to undermine and how it had been checked. Watchers hooded in +yellow stickers patrolled the narrow jetties or, motionless, studied +the eddies boiling at their feet. + +Returning, the party walked around the edge of the camp where cooks +were busy about steaming kettles. Under long, open tents wearied men +lying on scattered hay slept after the hardship of the night. In the +drizzling haze half a dozen men, assistants to the engineer--rough +looking but strong-featured and quick-eyed--sat with buckets of +steaming coffee about a huge campfire. Four men bearing a litter came +down the path. Doctor Lanning halted them. A laborer had been pinched +during the night between loads of piling projecting over the ends of +flat cars and they told the doctor his chest was hurt. A soiled +neckcloth covered his face but his stertorous breathing could be heard, +and Gertrude Brock begged the doctor to go to the camp with the injured +man and see whether something could not be done to relieve him until +the company surgeon arrived. The doctor, with O'Brien, turned back. +Gertrude, depressed by the incident, followed Louise and Allen Harrison +along the path which wound round a clump of willows flanking the +campfire. + +On the sloping bank below the trees and a little out of the wind a man +on a mattress of willows lay stretched asleep. He was clad in leather, +mud-stained and wrinkled, and the big brown boots that cased his feet +were strapped tightly above his knees. An arm, outstretched, supported +his head, hidden under a soft gray hat. Like the thick gloves that +covered his clasped hands, his hat and the handkerchief knotted about +his neck were soaked by the rain, falling quietly and trickling down +the furrows of his leather coat. But his attitude was one of +exhaustion, and trifles of discomfort were lost in his deep respiration. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Gertrude Brock under her breath, "look at that poor +fellow asleep in the rain. Allen?" + +Allen Harrison, ahead, was struggling to hold his umbrella upright +while he rolled a cigarette. He turned as he passed the paper across +his lips. + +"Throw your coat over him, Allen." + +Harrison pasted the paper roll, and putting it to his mouth felt for +his matchcase. "Throw _my_ coat over him!" + +"Yes." + +Allen took out a match. "Well, I like that. That's like you, +Gertrude. Suppose you throw your coat over him." + +Gertrude looked silently at her companion. There is a moment when +women should be humored; not all men are fortunate enough to recognize +it. Louise, still walking ahead, called, "Come on," but Gertrude did +not move. + +"Allen, throw your coat over the poor fellow," she urged. "You +wouldn't let your dog lie like that in the rain." + +"But, Gertrude--do me the kindness"--he passed his umbrella to her that +he might better manage the lighting--"he's not my dog." + +If she made answer it was only in the expression of her eyes. She +handed the umbrella back, flung open her long coat and slipped it from +her shoulders. With the heavy garment in her hands she stepped from +her path toward the sleeper and noticed for the first time an utterly +disreputable-looking dog lying beside him in the weeds. The dog's long +hair was bedraggled to the color of the mud he curled in, and as he +opened his eyes without raising his head, Gertrude hesitated; but his +tail spoke a kindly greeting. He knew no harm was meant and he watched +unconcernedly while, determined not to recede from her impulse, +Gertrude stepped hastily to the sleeper's side and dropped her coat +over his shoulders. + +Louise was too far ahead to notice the incident. After breakfast she +asked Gertrude what the matter was. + +"Nothing. Allen and I had our first quarrel this morning." + +As she spoke, the train, high in the air, was creeping over the Spider +bridge. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN ERROR AT HEADQUARTERS + +When the Brock-Harrison party, familiarly known--among those with whom +they were by no means familiar--as the Steel Crowd, bought the +transcontinental lines that J. S. Bucks, the second vice-president and +general manager, had built up into a system, their first visit to the +West End was awaited with some uneasiness. An impression prevailed that +the new owners might take decided liberties with what Conductor O'Brien +termed the "personal" of the operating department. + +But week after week followed the widely heralded announcement of the +purchase without the looked-for visit from the new owners. During the +interval West End men from the general superintendent down were +admittedly on edge--with the exception of Conductor O'Brien. "If I go, I +go," was all he said, and in making the statement in his even, +significant way it was generally understood that the trainman that ran +the pay-cars and the swell mountain specials had in view a +superintendency on the New York Central. On what he rested his +confidence in the opening no one certainly knew, though Pat Francis +claimed it was based wholly on a cigar in a glass case once given to the +genial conductor by Chauncey M. Depew when travelling special to the +coast under his charge. + +Be that as it may, when the West End was at last electrified by the +announcement that the Brock-Harrison syndicate train had already crossed +the Missouri and might be expected any day, O'Brien with his usual luck +was detailed as one of the conductors to take charge of the visitors. + +The pang in the operating department was that the long-delayed inspection +tour should have come just at a time when the water had softened things +until every train on the mountain division was run under slow-orders. + +At McCloud Vice-president Bucks, a very old campaigner, had held the +party for two days to avoid the adverse conditions in the west and turned +the financiers of the party south to inspect branches while the road was +drying in the hills. But the party of visitors contained two distinct +elements, the money-makers and the money-spenders--the generation that +made the investment and the generation that distributed the dividends. +The young people rebelled at branch line trips and insisted on heading +for sightseeing and hunting straight into the mountains. Accordingly, at +McCloud the party split, and while Henry S. Brock and his business +associates looked over the branches, his private cars containing his +family and certain of their friends were headed for the headquarters of +the mountain division, Medicine Bend. + +Medicine Bend is not quite the same town it used to be, and +disappointment must necessarily attend efforts to identify the once +familiar landmarks of the mountain division. Improvement, implacable +priestess of American industry, has well-nigh obliterated the picturesque +features of pioneer days. The very right of way of the earliest overland +line, abandoned for miles and miles, is seen now from the car windows +bleaching on the desert. So once its own rails, vigorous and aggressive, +skirted grinning heaps of buffalo bones, and its own tangents were spiked +across the grave of pony rider and Indian brave--the king was: the king +is. + +But the Sweetgrass winds are the same. The same snows whiten the peaks, +the same sun dies in western glory, and the mountains still see nestling +among the tracks at the bend of the Medicine River the first headquarters +building of the mountain division, nicknamed The Wickiup. What, in the +face of continual and unrelenting changes, could have saved the Wickiup? +Not the fact that the crazy old gables can boast the storm and stress of +the mad railroad life of another day than this--for every deserted curve +and hill of the line can do as much. The Wickiup has a better claim to +immortality, for once its cracked and smoky walls, raised solely to house +the problems and perplexities of the operating department, sheltered a +pair of lovers, so strenuous in their perplexities that even yet in the +gleam of the long night-fires of the West End their story is told. + +In that day the construction department of the mountain division was +cooped up at one end of the hall on the second floor of the building. +Bucks at that time thought twice before he indorsed one of Glover's +twenty-thousand-dollar specifications. Now, with the department +occupying the entire third floor and pushing out of the dormer windows, a +million-dollar estimate goes through like a requisition for postage +stamps. + +But in spite of his hole-in-the-wall office, Glover, the construction +engineer of that day, was a man to be reckoned with in estimates of West +End men. They knew him for a captain long before he left his mark on the +Spider the time he held the river for a straight week at twenty-eight +feet, bitted and gagged between Hailey's piers, and forced the yellow +tramp to understand that if it had killed Hailey there were equally bad +men left on the mountain pay-roll. Glover, it may be said, took his +final degrees in engineering in the Grand Canyon; he was a member of the +Bush party, and of the four that got back alive to Medicine one was Ab +Glover. + +Glover rebuilt the whole system of snowsheds on the West End, practically +everything from the Peace to the Sierras. Every section foreman in the +railroad Bad Lands knew Glover. Just how he happened to lose his +position as chief engineer of the system--for he was a big man on the +East End when he first came with the road--no one certainly knew. Some +said he spoke his mind too freely--a bad trait in a railroad man; others +said he could not hold down the job. All they knew in the mountains was +that as a snow fighter he could wear out all the plows on the division, +and that if a branch line were needed in haste Glover would have the +rails down before an ordinary man could get his bids in. + +Ordinarily these things are expected from a mountain constructionist and +elicit no comment from headquarters, but the matter at the Spider was one +that could hardly pass unnoticed. For a year Glover had been begging for +a stenographer. Writing, to him, was as distasteful as soda-water, and +one morning soon after his return from the valley flood a letter came +with the news that a competent stenographer had been assigned to him and +would report at once for duty at Medicine Bend. + +Glover emerged from his hall-office in great spirits and showed the +letter to Callahan, the general superintendent, for congratulations. +"That is right," commented Callahan cynically. "You saved them a hundred +thousand dollars last month--they are going to blow ten a week on you. +By the way, your stenographer is here." + +"He is?" + +"She is. Your stenographer, a very dignified young lady, came in on +Number One. You had better go and get shaved. She has been in to +inquire for you and has gone to look up a boarding-place. Get her +started as soon as you can--I want to see your figures on the Rat Canyon +work." + +A helper now would be a boon from heaven. "But she won't stay long after +she sees this office," Glover reflected ruefully as he returned to it. +He knew from experience that stenographers were hard to hold at Medicine +Bend. They usually came out for their health and left at the slightest +symptoms of improvement. He worried as to whether he might possibly have +been unlucky enough to draw another invalid. And at the very moment he +had determined he would not lose his new assistant if good treatment +would keep her he saw a trainman far down the gloomy hall pointing a +finger in his direction--saw a young lady coming toward him and realized +he ought to have taken time that morning to get shaved. + +There was nothing to do but make the best of it; dismissing his +embarrassment he rose to greet the newcomer. His first reflection was +that he had not drawn an invalid, for he had never seen a fresher face in +his life, and her bearing had the confidence of health itself. + +"I heard you had been here," he said reassuringly as the young lady +hesitated at his door. + +"Pardon me?" + +"I heard you had been here," he repeated with deference. + +"I wish to send a despatch," she replied with an odd intonation. Her +reply seemed so at variance with his greeting that a chill tempered his +enthusiasm. Could they possibly have sent him a deaf stenographer?--one +worn in the exacting service at headquarters? There was always a fly +somewhere in his ointment, and so capable and engaging a young lady +seemed really too good to be true. He saw the message blank in her hand. +"Let me take it," he suggested, and added, raising his voice, "It shall +go at once." The young lady gave him the message and sitting down at his +desk he pressed an electric call. Whatever her misfortunes she enlisted +his sympathy instantly, and as no one had ever accused him of having a +weak voice he determined he would make the best of the situation. "Be +seated, please," he said. She looked at him curiously. "Pray, be +seated," he repeated more firmly. + +"I desire only to pay for my telegram." + +"Not at all. It isn't necessary. Just be seated!" + +In some bewilderment she sat down on the edge of the chair beside which +she stood. + +"We are cramped for room at present in the construction department," he +went on, affixing his frank to the telegram. "Here, Gloomy, rush this, +my boy," said he to the messenger, who came through a door connecting +with the operator's room. "But we have the promise of more space soon," +he resumed, addressing the young lady hopefully. "I have had your desk +placed there to give you the benefit of the south light." + +The stenographer studied the superintendent of construction with some +surprise. His determination to provide for her comfort was most apparent +and his apologies for his crowded quarters were so sincere that they +could not but appeal to a stranger. Her expression changed. Glover felt +that he ought to ask her to take off her hat, but could not for his life. +The frankness of her eyes was rather too confusing to support very much +of at once, and he busied himself at sorting the blueprints on his table, +guiltily aware that she was alive to his unshaven condition. He +endeavored to lead the conversation. "We have excellent prospects of a +new headquarters building." As he spoke he looked up. Her eyes were +certainly extraordinary. Could she be laughing at him? The prospect of +a new building had been, it was true, a joke for many years and evidently +she put no more confidence in the statement than he did himself. "Of +course, you are aware," he continued to bolster his assertion, "that the +road has been bought by an immensely rich lot of Pittsburg duffers----" + +The stenographer half rose in her chair. "Will it not be possible for me +to pay for my message at once?" she asked somewhat peremptorily. + +"I have already franked it." + +"But I did not----" + +"Don't mention it. All I will ask in return is that you will help me get +some letters out of the way to-day," returned Glover, laying a pencil and +note-book on the desk before her. "The other work may go till to-morrow. +By the way, have you found a boarding-place?" + +"A boarding-place?" + +"I understand you were looking for one." + +"I have one." + +"The first letter is to Mr. Bucks--I fancy you know _his_ address--" She +did not begin with alacrity. Their eyes met, and in hers there was a +queerish expression. + +"I'm not at all sure I ought to undertake this," she said rapidly and +with a touch of disdainful mischief. + +"Give yourself no uneasiness--" he began. + +"It is you I fear who are giving yourself uneasiness," she interrupted. + +"No, I dictate very slowly. Let's make a trial anyway." To avoid +embarrassment he looked the other way when he saw she had taken up the +pencil. + +"My Dear Bucks," he began. "Your letter with programme for the Pittsburg +party is received. Why am I to be nailed to the cross with part of the +entertaining? There's no hunting now. The hair is falling off grizzlies +and Goff wouldn't take his dogs out at this season for the President of +the United States. What would you think of detailing Paddy McGraw to +give the young men a fast ride--they have heard of him. I talked +yesterday with one of them. He wanted to see a train robber and I +introduced him to Conductor O'Brien, but he never saw the joke, and you +know how depressing explanations are. Don't, my dear Bucks, put me on a +private car with these people for four weeks--my brother died of +paresis----" + +"Oh!" He turned. The stenographer's cheeks were burning; she was +astonishingly pretty. "I'm going too fast, I'm afraid," said Glover. + +"I do not think I had better attempt to continue," she answered, rising. +Her eyes fairly burned the brown mountain engineer. + +"As you like," he replied, rising too, "It was hardly fair to ask you to +work to-day. By the way, Mr. Bucks forgot to give me your name." + +"Is it necessary that you should have my name?" + +"Not in the least," returned Glover with insistent consideration, "any +name at all will do, so I shall know what to call you." + +For an instant she seemed unable to catch her breath, and he was about to +explain that the rarefied air often affected newcomers in that way when +she answered with some intensity, "I am Miss Brock. I never have +occasion to use any other name." + +Whatever result she looked for from her spirited words, his manner lost +none of its urbanity. "Indeed? That's the name of our Pittsburg +magnate. You ought to be sure of a position under _him_--you might turn +out to be a relation," he laughed, softly. + +"Quite possibly." + +"Do not return this afternoon," he continued as she backed away from him. +"This mountain air is exhausting at first----" + +"Your letters?" she queried with an expression that approached pleasant +irony. + +"They may wait." + +She courtesied quaintly. He had never seen such a woman in his life, and +as his eyes fixed on her down the dim hall he was overpowered by the +grace of her vanishing figure. + +Sitting at his table he was still thinking of her when Solomon, the +messenger, came in with a telegram. The boy sat down opposite the +engineer, while the latter read the message. + +"That Miss Brock is fine, isn't she?" + +Glover scowled. "I took a despatch over to the car yesterday and she +gave me a dollar," continued Solomon. + +"What car?" + +"Her car. She's in that Pittsburg party." + +"The young lady that sat here a moment ago?" + +"Sure; didn't you know? There she goes now to the car again." Glover +stepped to the east window. A young lady was gathering up her gown to +mount the car-step and a porter was assisting her. The daintiness of her +manner was a nightmare of conviction. Glover turned from the window and +began tearing up papers on his table. He tore up all the worthless +papers in sight and for months afterward missed valuable ones. When he +had filled the waste-basket he rammed blue-prints down into it with his +foot until he succeeded in smashing it. Then he sat down and held his +head between his hands. + +She was entitled to an apology, or an attempt at one at least, and though +he would rather have faced a Sweetgrass blizzard than an interview he set +his lips and with bitterness in his heart made his preparations. The +incident only renewed his confidence in his incredible stupidity, but +what he felt was that a girl with such eyes as hers could never be +brought to believe it genuine. + +An hour afterward he knocked at the door of the long olive car that stood +east of the station. The hand-rails were very bright and the large plate +windows shone spotless, but the brown shades inside were drawn. Glover +touched the call-button and to the uniformed colored man who answered he +gave his card asking for Miss Brock. + +An instant during which he had once waited for a dynamite blast when +unable to get safely away, came back to him. Standing on the handsome +platform he remembered wondering at that time whether he should land in +one place or in several places. Now, he wished himself away from that +door even if he had to crouch again on the ledge which he had found in a +deadly moment he could not escape from. On the previous occasion the +fuse had mercifully failed to burn. This time when he collected his +thoughts the colored man was smilingly telling him for the second time +that Miss Brock was not in. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +INTO THE MOUNTAINS + +"You put me in an awkward position," muttered Bucks, looking out of the +window. + +"But it is grace itself compared with the position I should be in now +among the Pittsburgers," objected Glover, shifting his legs again. + +"If you won't go, I must, that's all," continued the general manager. +"I can't send Tom, Dick, or Harry with these people, Ab. Gentlemen +must be entertained as such. On the hunting do the best you can; they +want chiefly to see the country and I can't have them put through it on +a tourist basis. I want them to see things globe-trotters don't see +and can't see without someone like you. You ought to do that much for +our President--Henry S. Brock is not only a national man, and a big one +in the new railroad game, but besides being the owner of this whole +system he is my best friend. We sat at telegraph keys together a long +time before he was rated at sixty million dollars. I care nothing for +the party except that it includes his own family and is made up of his +friends and associates and he looks to me here as I should look to him +in the East were circumstances reversed." + +Bucks paused. Glover stared a moment. "If you put it in that way let +us drop it," said he at last. "I will go." + +"The blunder was not a life and death matter. In the mountains where +we don't see one woman a year it might happen that any man expecting +one young lady should mistake another for her. Miss Brock is full of +mischief, and the temptation to her to let you deceive yourself was too +great, that's all. If I could go without sacrificing the interests of +all of us in the reorganization I shouldn't ask you to go." + +"Let it pass." + +The day had been planned for the little reception to the visitors. The +arrival of two more private cars had added the directors, the hunting +party and more women to the company. The women were to drive during +the day, and the men had arranged to inspect the roundhouse, the shops, +and the division terminals and to meet the heads of the operating +department. + +In the evening the railroad men were to call on their guests at the +train. This was what Glover had hoped he should escape until Bucks +arriving in the morning asked him not only to attend the reception but +to pilot Mr. Brock's own party through a long mountain trip. To +consent to the former request after agreeing to the latter was of +slight consequence. + +In the evening the special train twinkling across the yard looked as +pretty as a dream. The luxury of the appointments, subdued by softened +lights, and the simple hospitality of the Pittsburgers--those people +who understand so well how to charm and bow to repel--was a new note to +the mountain men. If self-consciousness was felt by the least of them +at the door it could hardly pass Mr. Brock within; his cordiality was +genuine. + +Following Bucks came some of his mountain staff, whom he introduced to +the men whose interests they now represented. Morris Blood, the +superintendent, was among those he brought forward, and he presented +him as a young railroad man and a rising one. Glover followed because +he was never very far from the mountain superintendent and the general +manager when the two were in sight. + +For Glover there was an uncomfortable moment prospect, and it came +almost at once. Mr. Brock, in meeting him as the chief of construction +who was to take the party on the mountain trip, left his place and took +him with Blood black to his own car to be introduced to his sister, +Mrs. Whitney. The younger Miss Brock, Marie, the invalid, a +sweet-faced girl, rose to meet the two men. Mrs. Whitney introduced +them to Miss Donner. At the table Gertrude Brock was watching a waiter +from the dining-car who was placing a coffee urn. + +She turned to meet the young men that were coming forward with her +father, and Glover thought the awful moment was upon him; yet it +happened that he was never to be introduced to Gertrude Brock. + +Marie was already engaging him where he stood with gentle questions, +and to catch them he had to bend above her. When the waiter went away, +Morris Blood was helping Gertrude Brock to complete her arrangements. +Others came up; the moment passed. But Glover was conscious all the +time of this graceful girl who was so frankly cordial to those near her +and so oblivious of him. + +He heard her laughing voice in her conversation with his friends and +noted in the utterance of her sister and her aunt the same unusual +inflections that he had first heard from her in his office. To his +surprise these Eastern women were very easy to talk to. They asked +about the mountains, and as their train conductor had long ago hinted +when himself apologizing for mountain stories, well told but told at +second hand--Glover knew the mountains. + +Discussing afterward the man that was to plan the summer trip for them, +Louise Donner wished it might have been the superintendent, because he +was a Boston Tech man. + +"Oh, but I think Mr. Glover is going to be interesting," declared Mrs. +Whitney. "He drawls and I like that sort of men; there's always +something more to what they say, after you think they're done, don't +you know? He drank two cups of coffee, didn't he, Gertrude? Didn't +you like him?" + +"The tall one? I didn't notice; he is amazingly homely, isn't he?" + +"Don't abuse him, for he is delightful," interposed Marie. + +"I accused him right soon of being a Southerner," Mrs. Whitney went on. +"He admitted he was a Missourian. When I confessed I liked his drawl +he told me I ought to hear his brother, a lawyer, who stutters. Mr. +Glover says he wins all his cases through sympathy. He stumbles along +until everyone is absolutely convinced that the poor fellow would have +a perfectly splendid case if he could only stammer through it; then, of +course, he gets the verdict." + +The party had not completed the first day out of Medicine Bend under +Glover's care before they realized that Mrs. Whitney was right. Glover +could talk and he could listen. With the men it was mining or +railroading or shooting. If things lagged with the ladies he had +landmarks or scenery or early-day stories. With Mrs. Whitney he could +in extremity discuss St. Louis. Marie Brock he could please by placing +her in marvellous spots for sketching. As for Gertrude and Louise +Donner the men of their own party left them no dull moments. + +The first week took the party north into the park country. Two days of +the time, on horses, partly, put everyone in love with the Rockies. On +Saturday they reached the main line again, and at Sleepy Cat, +Superintendent Blood joined the party for the desert run to the Heart +Mountains. Glover already felt the fatigue of the unusual week, nor +could any ingenuity make the desert interesting to strenuous people. +Its beauties are contemplative rather than pungent, and the travellers +were frankly advised to fall back on books and ping-pong. Crawling +across an interminable alkali basin in the late afternoon their train +was laid out a long time by a freight wreck. + +Weary of the car, Gertrude Brock, after the sun had declined, was +walking alone down the track when Glover came in sight. She started +for the train, but Glover easily overtook her. Since he had joined the +party they had not exchanged one word. + +"I wonder whether you have ever seen anything like these, Miss Brock?" +he asked, coming up to her. She turned; he had a handful of small, +long-stemmed flowers of an exquisite blue. + +"How beautiful!" she exclaimed, moved by surprise. "What are they?" + +"Desert flowers." + +"Such a blue." + +"You expressed a regret this morning----" + +"Oh, you heard----" + +"I overheard----" + +"What are they called?" + +"I haven't an idea. But once in the Sioux country--" They were at the +car-step. "Marie? See here," she called to her sister within. + +"Won't you take them?" asked Glover. + +"No, no. I----" + +"With an apology for my----" + +"Marie, dear, do look here----" + +"--Stupidity the other day?" + +"How shall I ever reach that step?" she exclaimed, breaking in upon her +own words and obstinately buffeting his own as she gazed with more than +necessary dismay at the high vestibule tread. + +"Would you hold the flowers a moment--" he asked--her sister appeared +at the door--"so I may help you?" continued the patient railroad man. + +"See, Marie, these dear flowers!" Marie clapped her hands as she ran +forward. He held the flowers up. "Are they for me?" she cried. + +"Will you take them?" he asked, as she bent over the guard-rail. "Oh, +gladly." He turned instantly, but Gertrude had gained the step. +"Thank you, thank you," exclaimed Marie. "What is their name, Mr. +Glover?" + +"I don't know any name for them except an Indian name. The Sioux, up +in their country, call them sky-eyes." + +"Sky-eyes! _Isn't_ that dear? sky-eyes." + +"You are heated," continued Marie, looking at him, "you have walked a +long way. Where in all this desolate, desolate country could you find +flowers such as these?" + +"Back a little way in a canyon." + +"Are there many in a desert like this?" + +"I know of none--at least within many miles--yet there may be others in +nearby hiding-places. The desert is full of surprises." + +"You are so warm, are you not coming up to sit down while I get a bowl?" + +"I will go forward, thank you, and see when we are to get away. Your +sister," he added, looking evenly at Marie as Gertrude stood beside +her, "asked this morning why there were no flowers in this country, and +while we were delayed I happened to recollect that canyon and the +sky-eyes." + +"I think your stupid man the most interesting we have met since we left +home, Gertrude," remarked Marie at her embroidery after dinner. + +"I told you he would be," said Mrs. Whitney, suppressing a yawn. +Gertrude was playing ping-pong with Doctor Lanning. "But isn't he +homely?" she exclaimed, sending a cut ball into the doctor's +watch-chain. + +Louise returned soon with Allen Harrison from the forward car. + +"The programme for the evening is arranged," she announced, "and it's +fine. We are to have a big campfire over near that butte--right out +under the stars. And Mr. Blood is going to tell a story, and while +he's telling it, Mr. Glover--oh, drop your ping-pong, won't you, and +listen--has promised to make taffy and we are to pull it--won't that be +jolly? and then the coyotes are to howl." + +A little later all left the car together. Above the copper edge of the +desert ranges the moon was rising full and it brought the nearer buttes +up across the stretches of the night like sentinels. In the sky a +multitude of stars trembled, and wind springing from the south fanned +the fire growing on the plateau just off the right of way. + +The party disposed themselves in camp-chairs and on ties about the big +fire. Near at hand, Glover, who already had a friend in Clem, the +cook, was feeding chips into a little blaze under a kettle slung with +his taffy mixture, which the women in turn inspected, asked questions +about, and commented sceptically upon. + +Doctor Lanning brought his banjo, and when the party had settled low +about the fire it helped to keep alive the talk. Every few minutes the +taffy and the coyotes were demanded in turn, and Glover was kept busy +apologizing for the absence of the wolves and the slowness of his +kettle, under which he fed the small chips regularly. + +As the night air grew sharper more wraps were called for. When Doctor +Lanning and Mrs. Whitney started after them they asked Gertrude what +they should bring her, but she said she needed nothing. + +As she sat, she could see Glover, her sister Marie on a stool beside +him, watching the boiling taffy. With one foot doubled under him for a +seat, and an elbow supported on his knee he steadied himself like a +camp cook behind his modest fire; but even as he crouched the blaze +threw him up astonishingly tall. Heedless of the chatter around the +big fire the man whose business was to bridle rivers, fight snowslides, +raze granite hills, and dispute for their dizzy passes with the bighorn +and the bear, bent patiently above his pot of molasses, a coaxing stick +in one hand and a careful chip in the other. + +"Where, pray, Mr. Glover, did you learn that?" demanded Marie Brock. +He had been explaining the chemical changes that follow each stage of +the boiling in sugar. "I learned the taffy business from the old negro +mammy that 'raised' me down on the Mississippi, Aunt Chloe. She taught +me everything I know--except mathematics--and mathematics I don't know +anyway." Mrs. Whitney was distributing the wraps. "I would have +brought your Newmarket if I could have found it, Gertrude." + +"Her Newmarket!" exclaimed Allen Harrison. "Gertrude hasn't told the +Newmarket story, eh? She threw it over a tramp asleep in the rain down +at the Spider Water bridge." + +"What?" + +"--And was going to disown me because I wouldn't give up my overcoat +for a tarpaulin." + +"Gertrude Brock!" exclaimed Mrs. Whitney. "Your Newmarket! Then you +deserve to freeze," she declared, settling under her fur cape. "What +_will_ she do next? Now, Mr. Blood, we are all here; what about that +story?" + +Morris Blood turned. Glover, Marie Brock watching, tested the foaming +candy. Doctor Lanning, on a cushion, strummed his banjo. + +In front of Gertrude, Harrison, inhaling a cigarette, stretched before +the fire. Declining a stool, Gertrude was sitting on a chair of ties. +One, projecting at her side, made a rest for her elbow and she reclined +her head upon her hand as she watched the flames leap. + +"The incident Miss Donner asked about occurred when I was despatching," +began the superintendent. + +"Oh, are you a despatcher, too?" asked Louise, clasping her hands upon +her knee as she leaned forward. + +"They would hardly trust me with a train-sheet now; this was some time +ago." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AS THE DESPATCHER SAW + +"If you can recollect the blizzard that Roscoe Conkling went down in +one March day in the streets of New York, it will give you the date; +possibly call to your mind the storm. I had the River Division then, +and we got through the whole winter without a single tie-up of +consequence until March. + +"The morning was still as June. When the sky went heavy at noon it +looked more like a spring shower than a snow-storm; only, I noticed +over at the government building they were flying a black flag splashed +with a red centre. I had not seen it before for years, and I asked for +ploughs on every train out after two o'clock. + +"Even then there was no wickedness abroad; it was coming fairly heavy +in big flakes, but lying quiet as apple-blossoms. Toward four o'clock +I left the office for the roundhouse, and got just about half-way +across the yard when the wind veered like a scared semaphore. I had +left the depot in a snow-storm; I reached the roundhouse in a blizzard. + +"There was no time to wait to get back to the keys. I telephoned +orders over from the house, and the boys burned the wires, east and +west, with warnings. When the wind went into the north that day at +four o'clock, it was murder pure and simple, with the snow sweeping the +flat like a shroud and the thermometer water-logged at zero. + +"All night it blew, with never a minute's let-up. By ten o'clock half +our wires were down, trains were failing all over the division, and +before midnight every plough on the line was bucking snow--and the snow +was coming harder. We had given up all idea of moving freight, and +were centring everything on the passenger trains, when a message came +from Beverly that the fast mail was off track in the cut below the +hill, and I ordered out the wrecking gang and a plough battery for the +run down. + +"It was a fearful night to make up a train in a hurry--as much as a +man's life was worth to work even slow in the yard a night like that. +But what limit is set to a switchman's courage I have never known, +because I've never known one to balk at a yardmaster's order. + +"I went to work clearing the line, and forgot all about everything +outside the train-sheet till a car-tink came running in with word that +a man was hurt in the yard. + +"Some men get used to it; I never do. As much as I have seen of +railroad life, the word that a man's hurt always hits me in the same +place. Slipping into an ulster, I pulled a storm-cap over my ears and +hurried down stairs buttoning my coat. The arc-lights, blinded in the +storm, swung wild across the long yard, and the wind sung with a scream +through the telegraph wires. Stumbling ahead, the big car-tink, facing +the storm, led me to where between the red and the green lamps a dozen +men hovered close to the gangway of a switch engine. The man hurt lay +under the forward truck of the tender. + +"They had just got the wrecking train made up, and this man, running +forward after setting a switch, had flipped the tender of the backing +engine and slipped from the footboard. When I bent over him, I saw he +was against it. He knew it, too, for the minute they shut off and got +to him he kept perfectly still, asking only for a priest. + +"I tried every way I could think of to get him free from the wheels. +Two of us crawled under the tender to try to figure it out. But he lay +so jammed between the front wheel and the hind one, and tender trucks +are so small and the wheels so close together that to save our lives we +could neither pull ahead nor back the engine without further mutilating +him. + +"As I talked to him I took his hand and tried to explain that to free +him we should have to jack up the truck. He heard, he understood, but +his eyes, glittering like the eyes of a wounded animal with shock, +wandered uneasily while I spoke, and when I had done, he closed them to +grapple with the pain. Presently a hand touched my shoulder; the +priest had come, and throwing open his coat knelt beside us. He was a +spare old man--none too good a subject himself, I thought, for much +exposure like that--but he did not seem to mind. He dropped on his +knees and, with both hands in the snow, put his head in behind the +wheel close to the man's face. What they said to each other lasted +only a moment, and all the while the boys were keying like madmen at +the jacks to ease the wheel that had crushed the switchman's thigh. +When they got the truck partly free, they lifted the injured man back a +little where we could all see his face. They were ready to do more, +but the priest, wiping the water and snow from the failing man's lips +and forehead, put up his fingers to check them. + +"The wind, howling around the freight-cars strung about us, sucked the +guarded lantern flames up into blue and green flickers in the globes; +they lighted the priest's face as he took off his hat and laid it +beside him, and lighted the switchman's eyes looking steadily up from +the rail. The snow, curling and eddying across the little blaze of +lamps, whitened everything alike, tender and wheel and rail, the +jackscrews, the bars, and the shoulders and caps of the men. The +priest bent forward again and touched the lips and the forehead of the +switchman with his thumb: then straightening on his knees he paused a +moment, his eyes lifted up, raised his hand and slowly signing through +the blinding flakes the form of the cross, gave him the sacrament of +the dying. + +"I have forgotten the man's name. I have never seen the old priest, +before or since. But, sometime, a painter will turn to the railroad +life. When he does, I may see from his hand such a picture as I saw at +that moment--the night, the storm, the scant hair of the priest blown +in the gale, the men bared about him; the hush of the death moment; the +wrinkled hand raised in the last benediction." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AN EMERGENCY CALL + +In the morning the Brock special bathed in sunshine lay in the Bear +Dance yard. When it was learned at breakfast that during the night +Morris Blood had disappeared there was a protest. He had taken a train +east, Glover told them. + +"But you should not have let him run away," objected Marie Brock, +"we've barely made his acquaintance. I was going to ask him ever so +many questions about mines this morning. Tell him, Mr. Glover, when +you telegraph, that he has had a peremptory recall, will you? We want +him for dinner to-morrow night; papa and Mr. Bucks are to join us, you +know." + +Mr. Brock arrived the following evening but the general manager failed +them, and it was long after hope of Morris Blood had been given up that +Glover brought him in with apologies for his late arrival. + +The two cars were sidetracked at Cascade, the heart of the sightseeing +country, and Glover had a trip laid out for the early morning on horses +up Cabin Creek. + +When he sat down to explain to Marie where he meant to take the party +the following day Gertrude Brock had a book under the banquet lamp at +the lower end of the car. The doctor and Harrison with Mrs. Whitney +were gathered about Louise, who among the couch pillows was reading +hands. As Morris Blood, after some talk with Mr. Brock, approached, +Louise nodded to him. "We shall take no apologies for spoiling our +dinner party," said she, "but you may sit down. I haven't been able, +Mr. Blood, to get your story out of my head since you told it: none of +us have. Do you believe in palmistry? Now, Mr. Harrison, do sit still +till I finish your hand. Oh, here's another engagement in it! Why, +Allen Harrison!" + +"How many is that?" asked Gertrude, looking over. + +"Three; and here is further excitement for you, Mr. Harrison----" + +"How soon?" demanded Allen. + +"Very soon, I should think; just as soon as you get home." + +"Well timed," said Marie; she and Glover had come up. "I think that's +all, this time," concluded Louise, studying the lines carefully. "Go +slow on mining for one year, remember." She looked at Morris Blood. +"Am I to have the pleasure of reading your hand?" + +"There isn't a bit of excitement in my hand, Miss Donner, no fortunes, +no adventures, no engagements----" + +"You mean in your life. Very good; that's just the sort of hand I love +to read. The excitement is all ahead. Really I should like to read +your hand." + +"If you insist," he said, putting out his left hand. + +"Your right, please," smiled Louise. + +"I have no right," he answered. She looked mystified, but held out her +hand smilingly for his right. + +"I have no right hand," he repeated, smiling, too. + +None had observed before that the superintendent never offered his hand +in greeting. A conscious instant fell on the group. It was barely an +instant, for Glover, who heard, turned at once from an answer to Marie +Brock and laying a hand on his companion's shoulder spoke easily to +Louise. "He gave his right hand for me once, Miss Donner, that's the +reason he has none. May I offer mine for him?" + +He put out his own right hand as he asked, and his lightly serious +words bridged the momentary embarrassment. + +"Oh, I can read either hand," laughed Louise, recovering and putting +Glover's hand aside. "Let me have your left, Mr. Blood--your turn +presently, Mr. Glover. Be seated. Now this is the sort of hand I +like," she declared, leaning forward as she looked into the left--"full +of romance, Mr. Blood. Here is an affair of the heart the very first +thing. Now don't laugh, this is serious." She studied the palm a +moment and glanced mischievously around her. "If I were to disclose +all the delicate romances I find here," she declared with an air of +mystery, "they would laugh at both of us. I'm not going to give them a +chance. I give private readings, too, Mr. Blood, and you shall have a +private reading at the other end or the car after a while. Now is +there another 'party'? Oh, to be sure; come, Mr. Glover, are all +railroad men romantic? This is growing interesting--let me see your +palm. Oh!" + +"Now what have I done?" asked Glover as Louise, studying his palm, +started. "I have changed my name--I admit that; but I have always +denied killing anyone in the States. Are you going to tell the real +facts? Won't someone lend _me_ a hand for a few minutes? Or may I +withdraw this entry before exposure?" + +"Mr. Glover! of all the hands! I'm not surprised you were chosen to +show the sights. There's something happening in your hand every few +minutes. Adventures, heart affairs, fortunes, perils--such a +life-line, Mr. Glover. On my word there you are hanging by a hair--a +hair--on the verge of eternity----" + +Glover laughed softly. + +"Oh, come, Louise," protested Mrs. Whitney. "Touch on lighter lines, +please." + +"Lighter lines! Why, Mr. Glover's heart-line is a perfect canyon." The +laughter did not daunt her. "A perfect canyon. I've read about hands +like this, but I never saw one. No more to-night, Mr. Glover, you are +too exciting." + +"But about hanging on the verge--has it anything to do with a lynching, +do you think, Miss Donner?" asked Glover. "The hair rope might be a +lariat----" + +"Mr. Glover!"--the train conductor opened the car door. "Is Mr. Glover +in this car?" + +"Yes." + +"A message." + +"May I be excused for a moment?" said Glover, rising. + +"What did I tell you?" exclaimed Louise, "a telegram! Something has +happened already." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CAT AND THE RAT + +At five o'clock that evening, snow was falling at Medicine Bend, but +Callahan, as he studied the weather bulletins, found consolation in the +fact that it was not raining, and resting his heels on a table littered +with train-sheets he forced the draft on a shabby brier and meditated. + +There were times when snow had been received with strong words at the +Wickiup: but when summer fairly opened Callahan preferred snow to rain +as strongly as he preferred genuine Lone Jack to the spurious compounds +that flooded the Western market. + +The chief element of speculation in his evening reflections was as to +what was going on west of the range, for Callahan knew through cloudy +experience that what happens on one side of a mountain chain is no +evidence as to what is doing on the other--and by species of warm +weather depravity that night something was happening west of the range. + +"It is curious," mused Callahan, as Morrison, the head operator, handed +him some McCloud messages--"curious, that we get nothing from Sleepy +Cat." + +Sleepy Cat, it should be explained, is a new town on the West End; not +only that, but a division town, and though one may know something about +the Mountain Division he may yet be puzzled at Callahan's mention of +Sleepy Cat. When gold was found in the Pilot range and camps grew up +and down Devil's Gap like mushrooms, a branch was run from Sleepy Cat +through the Pilot country, and the tortoise-like way station became at +once a place of importance. It takes its name from the neighboring +mountain around the base of which winds the swift Rat River. At Sleepy +Cat town the main line leaves the Rat, and if a tenderfoot brakeman ask +a reservation buck why the mountain is called Sleepy Cat the Indian +will answer, always the same, "It lets the Rat run away." + +"Now it's possible," suggested Hughie Morrison, looking vaguely at the +stove, "that the wires are down." + +"Nonsense," objected Callahan. + +"It is raining at Soda Sink," persisted Morrison, mildly. + +"What?" demanded the general superintendent, pulling his pipe from his +mouth. Hughie Morrison kept cool. His straight, black hair lay +boyishly smooth across his brow. There was no guile in his expression +even though he had stunned Callahan, which was precisely what he had +intended. "It is raining at Soda Sink," he repeated. + +Now there is no day in the mountains that goes back of the awful +tradition concerning rain at Soda Sink. Before Tom Porter, first +manager; before Brodie, who built the bridges; before Sikes, longest in +the cab; before Pat Francis, oldest of conductors, runs that tradition +about rain at the Sink--which is desert absolute--where it never does +rain and never should. When it rains at Soda Sink, this say the +Medicine men, the Cat will fall on the Rat. It is Indian talk as old +as the foothills. + +Of course no railroad man ever gave much heed to Indian talk; how, for +instance, could a mountain fall on a river? Yet so the legend ran, and +there being one superstitious man on the force at Medicine Bend one man +remembered it--Hughie Morrison. + +Callahan studied the bulletin to which the operator called his +attention and resumed his pipe sceptically, but he did make a +suggestion. "See if you can't get Sleepy Cat, Hughie, and find out +whether that is so." + +Morris Blood was away with the Pittsburgers and Callahan had foolishly +consented to look after his desk for a few days. At the moment that +Morrison took hold of the key Giddings opened the door from the +despatchers' room. "Mr. Callahan, there's a message coming from +Francis, conductor of Number Two. They've had a cloudburst on Dry +Dollar Creek," he said, excitedly; "twenty feet of water came down Rat +Canyon at five o'clock. The track's under four feet in the canyon." + +As a pebble striking an anthill stirs into angry life a thousand +startled workers, so a mountain washout startles a division and +concentrates upon a single point the very last reserve of its +activities and energies. + +For thirty minutes the wires sung with Callahan's messages. When his +special for a run to the Rat Canyon was ready all the extra yardmen and +both roadmasters were in the caboose; behind them fumed a second +section with orders to pick up along the way every section man as they +followed. It was hard on eight o'clock when Callahan stepped aboard. +They double-headed for the pass, and not till they pulled up with their +pony truck facing the water at the mouth of the big canyon did they ease +their pace. + +In the darkness they could only grope. Smith Young, roadmaster of the +Pilot branch, an old mountain boy, had gone down from Sleepy Cat before +dark, and crawling over the rocks in the dusk had worked his way along +the canyon walls to the scene of the disaster. + +Just below where Dry Dollar Creek breaks into the Rat the canyon is +choked on one side by a granite wall two hundred feet high. On the +other, a sheer spur of Sleepy Cat Mountain is thrust out like a paw +against the river. It was there that the wall of water out of Dry +Dollar had struck the track and scoured it to the bedrock. Ties, +steel, ballast, riprap, roadbed, were gone, and where the heavy +construction had run below the paw of Sleepy Cat the river was churning +in a channel ten feet deep. + +The best news Young had was that Agnew, the division engineer who +happened to be at Sleepy Cat, had made the inspection with him and had +already returned to order in men and material for daybreak. + +Leaving the roadmasters to care for their incoming forces, Callahan, +with Smith Young's men for guides, took the footpath on the south side +to the head of the canyon, where, above the break, an engine was waiting +to run him to Sleepy Cat. When he reached the station Agnew was up at +the material yard, and Callahan sat down in his shirt sleeves to take +reports on train movements. The despatchers were annulling, holding +the freights and distributing passenger trains at eating stations. But +an hour's work at the head-breaking problem left the division, Callahan +thought, in worse shape than when the planning began, and he got up +from the keg in a mental whirl when Duffy at Medicine Bend sent a body +blow in a long message supplementary to his first report. + +"Bear Dance reports the fruit extras making a very fast run. First +train of eighteen cars has just pulled in: there are seven more of +these fruit extras following close, should arrive at Sleepy Cat at four +A.M." + +Callahan turned from the message with his hand in his hair. Of all bad +luck this was the worst. The California fruit trains, not due for +twenty-four hours, coming in a day ahead of time with the Mountain +Division tied up by the worst washout it had ever seen. In a heat he +walked out of the operators' office to find Agnew; the two men met near +the water tank. + +"Hello, Agnew. This puts us against it, doesn't it? How soon can you +give us a track?" asked Callahan, feverishly. + +Agnew was the only man on the division that was always calm. He was +thorough, practical, and after he had cut his mountain teeth in the +Peace River disaster, a hardheaded man at his work. + +"It will take forty-eight hours after I get my material here----" + +"Forty-eight hours!" echoed Callahan. "Why, man, we shall have eight +trains of California fruit here by four o'clock." + +"I'm on my way to order in the filling, now," said Agnew, "and I shall +push things to the limit, Mr. Callahan." + +"Limit, yes, your limit--but what about my limit? Forty-eight hours' +delay will put every car of that fruit into market rotten. I've got to +have some kind of a track through there--any kind on earth will do--but +I've got to have it by to-morrow night." + +"To-morrow night?" + +"To-morrow night." + +Agnew looked at him as a sympathizing man looks at a lunatic, and +calmly shook his head. "I can't get rock here till to-morrow morning. +What is the use talking impossibilities?" + +Callahan ground his heel in the ballast. Agnew only asked him if he +realized what a hole there was to fill. "It's no use dumping gravel in +there," he explained patiently, "the river will carry it out faster +than flat cars can carry it in." + +Callahan waved his hand. "I've got to have track there by to-morrow +night." + +"I've got to dump a hundred cars of rock in there before we shall have +anything to lay track on; and I've got to pick the rock up all the way +from here to Goose River." + +They walked together to the station. + +When the night grew too dark for Callahan he had but one higher +thought--Bucks. Bucks was five hundred miles away at McCloud, but he +already had the particulars and was waiting at a key ready to take up +the trouble of his favorite division. Callahan at the wire in Sleepy +Cat told his story, and Bucks at the other end listened and asked +questions. He listened to every detail of the disaster, to the cold +hard figures of Agnew's estimates--which nothing could alter, jot or +tittle--and to Callahan's despairing question as to how he could +possibly save the unlooked-for avalanche of fruit. + +For some time after the returns were in, Bucks was silent; silent so +long that the copper-haired man twisted in his chair, looked vacantly +around the office and chewed a cigar into strings. Then the sounder at +his hand clicked. He recognized Bucks sending in the three words +lightly spelled on his ear and jumped from his seat. Just three words +Bucks had sent and signed off. What galvanized Callahan was that the +words were so simple, so all-covering, and so easy. "Why didn't _I_ +think of that?" groaned Callahan, mentally. + +Then he reflected that he was nothing but a redheaded Irishman, anyway, +while Bucks was a genius. It never showed more clearly, Callahan +thought, than when he received the three words, "Send for Glover." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TIME BEING MONEY + +Sleepy Cat town was but just rubbing its eyes next morning when the +Brock train pulled in from Cascade. Clouds rolling loosely across the +mountains were pushing the night into the west, and in the east wind +promise of day followed, soft and cool. + +On the platform in the gray light three men were climbing into the +gangway of a switch-engine, the last man so long and so loosely put +together that he was taking, as he always took when he tried to get +into small quarters, the chaffing of his companions on his size. He +smiled languidly at Callahan's excited greeting, and as they ran down +the yard listened without comment to the story of the washout. No +words were needed to convey to Glover or to Blood the embarrassment of +the situation. Freight trains crowded every track in the yard, and the +block of twelve hours indicated what a two-day tie-up would mean. In +the canyon the roadmasters were already taking measurements and section +men were lining up track that had been lifted and wrenched by the +water. Callahan and Blood did the talking, but when they left the +flooded roadbed and Glover took a way up the canyon wall it became +apparent what the mountain engineer's long legs were for. He led, a +quick, sure climber, and if he meant by rapidly scaling the bowlders to +shut off Callahan's talk the intent was effective. Nothing more was +said till the three men, followed by the roadmasters, had gained a +ledge, fifty feet above the water, that commanded for a quarter of a +mile a view of the canyon. + +They were standing above the mouth of Dry Dollar Creek, opposite the +point of rocks called the Cat's Paw, and Glover, pulling his hat brim +into a perspective, looked up and down the river. The roadmasters had +taken some measurements and these they offered him, but he did no more +than listen while they read their figures as if mentally comparing them +with notes in his memory. Once he questioned a figure, but it was not +till the roadmaster insisted he was right that Glover drew from one of +his innumerable pockets an old field-book and showed the man where he +had made his error of ten feet in the disputed measurement. + +"Bucks said last night you knew all this track work," remarked Callahan. + +"I helped Hailey a little here when he rebuilt three years ago. The +track was put in then as well as it ever can be put in. The fact +simply is this, Callahan, we shall never be safe here. What must be +done is to tunnel Sleepy Cat, get out of the infernal canyon with the +main line and use this for the spur around the tunnel. When your +message came last night, Morris and I took the chance to tell Mr. Brock +so, and he is here this morning to see what things look like after a +cloudburst. A tunnel will save two miles of track and all the +double-heading." + +"But, Glover, what's that got to do with this fruit? Confound your +tunnel, what I want is a track. By heavens, if it's going to take +three days to get one in we might as well dump a hundred cars of fruit +into the river now--and Bucks is looking to you to save them." + +"Looking to me?" echoed Glover, raising his brows. "What's the matter +with Agnew?" + +"Oh, hang Agnew!" + +"If you like. But he is in charge of this division. I can't do +anything discourteous or unprofessional, Callahan." + +"You are not required to." + +"It looks very much as if I am being called in to instruct Agnew how to +do his work. He is a perfectly competent engineer." + +"That point has been covered. Bucks had a long talk with Agnew over +the wire last night. He is needed all the time at the Blackwood bridge +and he is relieved here when you arrive. Now what's the matter with +you?" + +"Nothing whatever if that is the situation. I'd much rather keep out +of it, but there isn't work enough here for two engineers. + +"What do you mean?" + +"This isn't very bad." + +"Not very bad! Well, how much time do you want to put a track in here?" + +Glover's eyes were roaming up and down the canyon. "How much can you +give me?" he asked. + +"Till to-night." + +Glover looked at his watch. "Then get two hundred and fifty men in +here inside of an hour." + +"We've picked up about seventy-five section men so far, but there +aren't two hundred and fifty men within a hundred miles." + +Glover pointed north. "Ed Smith's got two hundred men not over three +miles from here on the irrigation ditch." + +"That only shows I've no business in this game," remarked Callahan, +looking at Morris Blood. "This is where you take hold." + +Blood nodded. "Leave that to me. Let's have the orders all at once, +Ab. Say where you want headquarters." + +The engineer stretched a finger toward the point of rocks across the +canyon. "Right above the Cat's Paw." + +"Tell Bill Dancing to cut in the wrecking instrument and put an +operator over there for Glover's orders," directed Blood, turning to +Smith Young. + +"I'm off for something to eat," said Callahan, "and by the way, what +shall I tell Bucks about the chances?" + +"Can you get Ed Smith's outfit?" asked Glover, speaking to Blood. +"Well, I know you can--Ed's a Denver man." He meditated another +moment; "We need his whole outfit, mind you." + +"I'll get it or resign. If I succeed, when can you get a train +through?" + +"By midnight." Callahan staggered. Glover raised his finger. "If you +back off the ledge they will need a new general superintendent." + +"By midnight?" + +"I think so." + +"You can't get your rock in by that time?" + +"I reckon." + +"Agnew says it will take a hundred cars." + +"That's not far out of the way. On flat cars you won't average much +over ten yards to the car, will you, Morris?" + +Like two wary gamblers Callahan and the chief of construction on the +mountain lines coldly eyed each other, Glover standing pat and the +general superintendent disinclined through many experiences to call. + +"I'm not doing the talking now," said Callahan at length with a +sidewise glance, "but if you get a hundred cars of rock into that hole +by twelve o'clock to-night--not to speak of laying steel--you can have +my job, old man." + +"Then look up another right away, for I'll have the rock in the river +long before that. Now don't rubber, but get after the men and the +drills----" + +"The drills?" + +"I said the whole outfit." + +"Would it be proper to ask what you are going to drill?" + +"Perfectly proper." Glover pointed again to the shelving wall across +the river. "It will save time and freight to tumble the Cat's Paw into +the river--there's ten times the rock we need right there--I can dump a +thousand yards where we need it in thirty seconds after I get my powder +in. That will give us our foundation and your roadmasters can lay a +track over it in six hours that will carry your fruit--I wouldn't +recommend it for dining-cars, but it will do for plums and cherries. +And by the way, Morris," called Glover--Blood already twenty feet away +was scrambling down the path--"if Ed Smith's got any giant powder +borrow sticks enough to spring thirty or forty holes with, will you? +I've got plenty of black up at Pilot. You can order it down by the +time we are ready to blast." + +In another hour the canyon looked as if a hive of bees were swarming on +the Cat's Paw. With shovels, picks, bars, hammers, and drills, hearty +in miners' boots and pied in woollen shirts the first of Ed Smith's men +were clambering into place. The field telegraph had been set up on the +bench above the point: every few moments a new batch of irrigation men +appeared stringing up the ledge, and with the roadmasters as +lieutenants, Glover, on the apex of the low spur of the mountain, +taking reports and giving orders, surveyed his improvised army. + +At the upper and lower ends of the track where the roadbed had not +completely disappeared the full force of section men, backed by the +irrigation laborers, were busy patching the holes. + +At the point where the break was complete and the Rat River was +viciously licking the vertical face of the rock a crew of men, six feet +above the track level, were drilling into the first ledge a set of +six-foot holes. On the next receding ledge, twelve feet above the old +track level, a second crew were tamping a set of holes to be sunk +twelve feet. Above them the drills were cutting into the third ledge, +and still higher and farther back, at twenty feet, the largest of all +the crews was sinking the eighteen-foot holes to complete the fracture +of the great wall. Above the murmuring of the steel rang continually +the calls of the foremen, and hour after hour the shock of the drills +churned up and down the narrow canyon. + +During each hour Glover was over every foot of the work, and inspecting +the track building. If a track boss couldn't understand what he wanted +the engineer could take a pick or a bar and give the man an object +lesson. He patrolled the canyon walls, the roadmasters behind him, with +so good an eye for loose bowlders, and fragments such as could be moved +readily with a gad, that his assistants before a second round had +spotted every handy chunk of rock within fifty feet of the water. He +put his spirit into the men and they gave their work the enthusiasm of +soldiers. But closest of all Glover watched the preparations for the +blast on the Cat's Paw. + +Morris Blood in the meantime was sweeping the division for stone, +ballast, granite, gravel, anything that would serve to dump on Glover's +rock after the blast, and the two men were conferring on the track +about the supplies when a messenger appeared with word for Glover that +Mr. Brock's party were coming down the canyon. + +When Glover intercepted the visitors they had already been guided to +the granite bench where his headquarters were fixed. With Mr. Brock +had come the young men, Miss Donner, and Mrs. Whitney. Mrs. Whitney +signalized her arrival by sitting down on a chest of dynamite--having +intimidated the modest headquarters custodian by asking for a chair so +imperiously that he was glad to walk away at her suggestion that he +hunt one up--though there was not a chair within several miles. It had +been no part of Glover's plan to receive his guests at that point, and +his first efforts after the greetings were to coax them away from the +interest they expressed in the equipment of an emergency headquarters, +and get them back to where the track crossed the river. But when the +young people learned that the blue-eyed boy at the little table on the +rock could send a telegram or a cablegram for them to any part of the +world, each insisted on putting a message through for the fun of the +thing, and even Mrs. Whitney could hardly be coaxed from the +illimitable possibilities just under her. + +With a feeling of relief he got them away from the giant powder which +Ed Smith's men were still bringing in, and across the river to the +ledge that commanded the whole scene, and was safely removed from its +activities. + +Glover took ten minutes to point out to the president of the system the +difficulties that would always confront the operating department in the +canyon. He charted clearly for Mr. Brock the whole situation, with the +hope that when certain very heavy estimates went before the directors +one man at least would understand the necessity for them. Mr. Brock +was a good questioner, and his interest turned constantly from the +general observations offered by Glover to the work immediately in hand, +which the engineer had no mind to exploit. The young people, however, +were determined to see the blast, and it was only by strongly advising +an early dinner and promising that they should have due notice of the +blast that Glover got rid of his visitors at all. + +He returned with them to the caboose in which they had come down, and +when he got back to the work the big camp kettles were already slung +along the bench, and the engine bringing the car of black powder was +steaming slowing into the upper canyon. On a flat bowlder back of the +cooks, Morris Blood, Ed Smith, and the roadmasters were sitting down to +coffee and sandwiches, and Glover joined them. Men in relays were +eating at the camp and dynamiters were picking their way across the +face of the Cat's Paw with the giant powder. The engineers were still +at their coffee-fire when the scream of a locomotive whistle came +through the canyon from below. Blood looked up. "There's one of the +fast mail engines, probably the 1026. Who in the world has brought her +up?" + +"More than likely," suggested Glover, finishing his coffee, "it's +Bucks." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SPLITTING THE PAW + +Preceded by a track boss along the ledges where the blasting crew was +already putting down the dynamite, a man almost as large as Glover and +rigged in a storm cap and ulster made his way toward the camp +headquarters. The mountain men sprang to their feet with a greeting +for the general manager--it was Bucks. + +He took Blood's welcome with a laugh, nodded to the roadmasters, and +pulling his cap from his head, turned to grasp Glover's hand. + +"I hear you're going to spoil some of our scenery, Ab. I thought I'd +run up and see how much government land you were going to move without +a permit. Glad you got down so promptly. Callahan had nervous +prostration for a while last night. I told him you'd have some sort of +a trick in your bag, but I didn't suppose you would spring the side of +a mountain on us. Am I to have any coffee or not? What are you +eating, dynamite? Why, there's Ed Smith--what are you hanging back in +the dark for, Ed? Come out here and show yourself. It was like you to +lend us your men. If the boys forget it, I sha'n't." + +"I'd rather see you than a hundred men," declared Glover. + +"Then give me something to eat," suggested Bucks. + +As he spoke the snappy, sharp reports of exploding dynamite could be +heard; they were springing the drill holes. Bucks sitting down on the +bowlder, wrapping the tails of his coat between his legs and taking +coffee from Young drank while the men talked. From the box car below, +Ed Smith's men were packing the black powder up the trail to the Paw. +When it began going into the holes, Glover went to the ledge to oversee +the charging. + +In the Pittsburg train, at Sleepy Cat, an early dinner was being served +to the canyon party. They had come back enthusiastic. The scenery was +declared superb, and the uncertainty of the situation most satisfying. +The riot of the mountain stream, which plunging now unbridled from wall +to wall had scoured the deep gorge for hundreds of feet, was a moving +spectacle. The activity of the swarming laborers, preparing their one +tremendous answer to the insolence of the river, had behind it the +excitement of a game of chance. The stake, indeed, was eight solid +trains of perishable freight, and the gambler that had staked their +value and his reputation on one throw of the dice was their own +easy-mannered guide. + +They discussed his chances with the indifference of spectators. Doctor +Lanning, the only one of the young people that had ever done anything +himself, was inclined to think Glover might win out. Allen Harrison +was willing to wager that trains couldn't be got across a hole like +that for another twenty-four hours. + +Mrs. Whitney wondered why, if Mr. Glover were really a competent man, +he could not have held his position as chief engineer of the system, +but Doctor Lanning explained that frequently Western men of real talent +were wholly lacking in ambition and preferred a free-and-easy life to +one of constant responsibility; others, again, drank--and this +suggestion opened a discussion as to whether Western men could possibly +do more drinking than Eastern men, and transact business at all. + +While the discussion proceeded there came a telegram from Glover +telling Doctor Lanning that the blast would be made about seven +o'clock. Preparations to start were completed as the company rose from +the table, and Gertrude Brock and Marie were urged to join the party. +Marie consented, but Gertrude had a new book and would not leave it, +and when the others started she joined her father and Judge Saltzer, +her father's counsellor, now with them, who were dining more leisurely +at their own table. + +Bucks met the doctor and his party at the head of the canyon and took +them to the high ledge across the river, where they had been brought by +Glover in the morning. In the canyon it was already dark. Men were +eating around campfires, and in the narrow strip of eastern sky between +the walls the moon was rising. Work-trains with signal lanterns were +moving above and below the break, dumping ballast behind the track +layers. At a safe distance from the coming blast a dozen headlights +from the roundhouse were being prepared, and the car-tinks from Sleepy +Cat were rigging torches for the night. + +The blasting powder in twenty-pound cans was being passed from hand to +hand to the chargers. Score after score of the compact cans of high +explosive had been packed into the scattered holes, and as if alive to +what was coming the chill air of the canyon took on the uneasiness of an +atmosphere laden with electricity. Men of the operating department +paced the bench impatiently, and trackmen working below in the flare of +scattered torches looked up oftener from their shovels to where a chain +of active figures moved on the face of the cliff. Word passed again +and again that the charging was done, but the orders came steadily from +the gloom on the ledge for more powder until the last pound the +engineer called for had been buried beneath his feet in the sleeping +rock. + +After a long delay a red light swung slowly to and fro on the ledge. +From the extreme end of the canyon below the Cat's Paw came the crash of +a track-torpedo, answered almost instantly by a second, above the +break. It was the warning signal to get into the clear. There was a +buzz of rapid movement among the laborers. In twos and threes and +dozens, a ragged procession of lanterns and torches, they retreated, +foremen urging the laggards, until only a single man at each end of the +broken track kept within sight of the tiny red lantern on the ledge. +Again it swung in a circle and again the torpedoes replied, this time +all clear. The hush of a hundred voices, the silence of the bars and +shovels and picks gave back to the chill canyon its loneliness, and the +roar of the river rose undisturbed to the brooding night. + +On the ledge Glover was alone. The final detail he was taking into his +own hands. The few that could still command the point saw the red +light moving, and beside it a figure vaguely outlined making its way. +When the red light paused, a spark could be seen, a sputtering blaze +would run slowly from it, hesitate, flare and die. Another and another +of the fuses were touched and passed. With quickening steps tier after +tier was covered, until those looking saw the red light flung at last +into the air. It circled high between the canyon walls in its flight +and dropped like a rocket into the Rat. A muffled report from the +lower tier was followed by a heavier and still a heavier one above. A +creeping pang shot the heart of the granite, a dreadful awakening was +upon it. + +From the tier of the upmost holes came at length the terrific burst of +the heavy mines. The travail of an awful instant followed, the face of +the spur parted from its side, toppled an instant in the confusion of +its rending and with an appalling crash fell upon the river below. + +With the fragments still tumbling, the nearest men started with a cheer +from their concealment. Smoke rolling white and sullen upward obscured +the moon, and the canyon air, salt and sick with gases, poured over the +high point on which the Pittsburgers stood. Below, torches were +shooting like fireflies out of the rock. From every vantage point +headlights flashed one after another unhooded on the scene, and the +song of the river mingled again with the calling of the foremen. + +"That ends the fireworks," remarked Bucks to those about him. "Let us +watch a moment for Mr. Glover's signal to me. As soon as he inspects +he is to show signals on the Cat's Paw, and if it is a success we will +return at once to Sleepy Cat." + +"And by the way, Mr. Bucks, I shall expect you and Mr. Glover up to the +car for my game supper. Have you arranged for him to come?" + +"I have, Mrs. Whitney, thank you." + +"Oh, see those pretty red lights over there now. What are they?" asked +Louise, who stood with Allen Harrison. + +"The signals," exclaimed Bucks. "Three fusees. Good for Glover; that +means success. Shall we go?" + + +When the sightseers made their way out of the canyon material trains +working from both ends of the break were shoving their loaded flats +noisily up to the ballasting crews and the water was echoing the clang +of the spike mauls, the thud of tamping-irons, the clash of picks, the +splash of tumbling stone, and the ceaseless roll of shovels. + +Foot by foot, length by length, the gap was shortened. Bribed by extra +pay, driven by the bosses, and stimulated by the emergency, the work of +the graders became an effort close to fury. Watches were already +consulted and wagers were being laid between rival foremen on the +moment a train should pass the point. Above the peaks the stars +glittered, and high in the sky the moon shot a path of clear light down +the river itself. The camp kettles steamed constantly, and coffee +strong enough to ballast eggs and primed with unusual cordials was +passed every hour among the hundreds along the track. + +In the lower yard at Sleepy Cat the pilot train was being made ready +and the clatter of switching came into the canyon. From still further +came the barking exhaust of the first-train engine waiting for orders +for the canyon run. + +Glover pacing the narrow bench below the camp returned again to the +operator's table, and in the light of the lantern wrote a message to +Medicine Bend. When it had been sent he upended an empty spike keg, +and sitting down before the fire, got his back against a rock and gave +himself to his thoughts. Men straggled back and forth, but none +disturbed him. Some, in turn, fed the fire, some rolled themselves in +their blankets and lay down to sleep, but his eyes were lost all the +while in the leaping blaze. + +A volleying signal of the locomotive whistles roused him. He looked at +his watch and stepped to the verge of the ledge. Toward Sleepy Cat a +headlight was slowly rounding the first curve. The pilot train was +coming and below where he stood he could see green lights swinging. +The locomotive of the work-train was at the hind end and the +roadmasters standing on the first flat car were signalling. Mauls were +ringing at the last spikes when the head flat car moved cautiously out +on the new track. Car after car approached, every second one bearing a +flagman re-signalling to the cab as the train took the short curves of +the canyon and entering the gorge rolled slowly beneath the Cat's Paw +over the prostrate granite. + +The trackmen parted only long enough to give way to the advancing cars. +The locomotive steamed gingerly along. In the gangway stood a small, +broad-hatted man, Morris Blood. He waved his lantern at Glover, and +Glover caught up a hand-torch to swing an answering greeting. + +Down the uncertain track could be seen at reassuring intervals the +slow, green lights of the track foremen swinging all's well. The +deepening drum of the steaming engine as it entered the gorge walls, +the straining of the injectors, and the frequent hissing check of the +air as the powerful machine restrained its moving load, was music to +the tired listener above. Then, looming darkly behind the tender, +surprising the onlookers, even Glover himself, came the real train. +Not till the roadbuilders heard the heavy drop of the big cars on the +new rail joints did they realize that the first train of fruit was +already crossing the break. + +Ten minutes afterward Bucks, who was with Mr. Brock in the directors' +car, had the news in a message. The manager had agreed to have Glover +present for the supper which was now waiting, and for some time +messengers and telegrams passed from the Brock Special to the canyon. +It was not until twelve o'clock that they learned definitely through +word from Morris Blood that Glover had torn his hand slightly in +handling powder and had gone to Medicine Bend to have it dressed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A TRUCE + +If Glover's aim in disappearing had been to escape the embarrassment of +Mrs. Whitney's attentions the effort was successful only in part. + +Lanning and Harrison left in the morning in charge of Bill Dancing to +join the hunting party in the Park, and Mr. Brock finding himself +within a few hours' ride of Medicine Bend decided to run down. Late in +the afternoon the Pittsburg train drew up at the Wickiup. + +Gertrude and her sister left their car together to walk in the sunshine +that flooded the platform, for the sun was still a little above the +mountains. In front of the eating-house a fawn-colored collie racing +across the lawn attracted Gertrude, and with her sister she started up +the walk to make friends with him. In one of his rushes he darted up +the eating-house steps and ran around to the west porch, the two young +ladies leisurely following. As they turned the corner they saw their +runaway crouching before a man who, with one foot on the low railing, +stood leaning against a pillar. The collie was waiting for a lump of +sugar, and his master had just taken one from the pocket of his sack +coat when the young ladies recognized him. + +"Really, Mr. Glover, your tastes are domestic," declared Marie; "you +make excellent taffy--now I find you feeding a collie." She pointed to +the lump of sugar. "And how is your hand?" + +"I can't get over seeing you here," said Glover, collecting himself by +degrees. "When did you come? Take these chairs, won't you?" + +"You, I believe, are responsible for the early resumption of traffic +through the canyon," answered Marie. "Besides, nothing in our +wanderings need ever cause surprise. Anyone unfortunate enough to be +attached to a directors' party will end in a feeble-minded institution." + +Gertrude was talking to the collie. "Isn't he beautiful, Marie?" she +exclaimed. "Come here, you dear fellow. I fell in love with him the +minute I saw him--to whom does he belong, Mr. Glover? Come here." + +"How is your hand?" asked Marie. + +"Do give Mr. Glover a chance," interposed Gertrude. "Tell me about +this dog, Mr. Glover." + +"He is the best dog in the world, Miss Brock. Mr. Bucks gave him to me +when I first came to the mountains--we were puppies together----" + +"And how about your hand?" smiled Marie. + +"What is his name?" asked Gertrude. + +"It wasn't a hand, it was a wrist, and it is much better, thank +you--his name is Stumah." + +"Stumah? How odd. Come here, Stumah. Does he mind?" + +"He doesn't mind me, but no one minds me, so I forgive him that." + +"Aunt Jane doesn't think you mind very well," said Marie. "Clem had a +steak twice as large as usual prepared for the supper you ran away +from." + +"It is always my misfortune to miss good things." + +Talking, Glover and Marie followed Gertrude and Stumah out on the grass +and across to the big platform where an overland train had pulled in +from the west. They watched the changing of the engines and the crews, +and the promenade of the travellers from the Pullmans. + +While Gertrude amused herself with the dog, and Marie asked questions +about the locomotive, Mrs. Whitney and Louise spied them and walked +over. Glover, to make his peace, was compelled to take dinner with the +party in their car. The atmosphere of the special train had never +seemed so attractive as on that night. To cordiality was added +deference. The effect of his success in the canyon--only striking +rather than remarkable--was noticeable on Mr. Brock. At dinner, which +was served at one table in the dining-car, Glover was brought by the +Pittsburg magnate to sit at his own right hand, Bucks being opposite. +No one may ever say that the value of resource in emergency is lost on +the dynamic Mr. Brock. But having placed his guest in the seat of +honor he paid no further attention to him unless his running fire of +big secrets, discussed before the engineer unreservedly with Bucks, +might be taken as implying that he looked on the constructionist of the +Mountain Division as one of his inner official family. + +Glover understood the abstraction of big men, and this forgetfulness +was no discouragement. There was an abstraction on his left where +Gertrude sat that was less comfortable. + +At no moment during the time he had spent with the company had he been +able to penetrate her reserve enough to make more than an attempt at an +apology for his appalling blunder in the office. With the others he +never found himself at a loss for a word or an opportunity; with +Gertrude he was apparently helpless. + +The talk at the lower end of the table ran for a while to comment on +the washout, to Glover's wrist, and during lulls Mrs. Whitney across +the table asked questions calculated to draw a family history from her +uneasy guest. Even Glover's waiter gave him so much attention that he +got little to eat, but the engineer concealed no effort to see that +Gertrude Brock was served and to break down by unobtrusive courtesies +her determined restraint. + +When the evening was over he found himself at the pass to which every +evening in her company brought him--the unpleasant consciousness of a +failure of his endeavors and a return of the rage he felt at himself +for having blundered into her bad graces. Her father wanted him to +return with them in the morning to Sleepy Cat to go over the tunnel +plans again. That done, Glover resolved at all costs to escape from +the punishment which every moment near her brought. + +When they started for Sleepy Cat, the afternoon sun was bright, and +much of the time was spent on the pretty observation platform of the +Brock car. During the shifting of the groups Mr. Brock stepped forward +into the directors' car for some papers, and Gertrude found herself +alone for a moment on the platform with Glover. She was watching the +track. He was studying a blueprint, and this time he made no effort to +break the silence. Determined that the interval should not become a +conscious one she spoke. "Papa seems unwilling to give you much rest +to-day." + +"I think I am learning more from him, though, than he is learning from +me," returned Glover, without looking up. "He is a man of big ideas; I +should be glad of a chance to know him." + +"You are likely to have that during the next two weeks." + +"I fear not." + +"Did you not understand that Judge Saltzer and he are both to be with +our party now?" + +"But I am to leave it to-night." + +She made no comment. "You do not understand why I joined it," he +continued, "after my----" + +"I understand, at least, how distasteful the association must have +been." + +He had looked up, and without flinching, he took the blow into his +slow, heavy eyes, but in a manner as mild as Glover's, defiance could +hardly be said to have place at any time. + +"I have given you too good ground to visit your impatience on me," he +said, "and I confess I've stood the ordeal badly. Your contempt has +cut me to the quick. But don't, I beg, add to my humiliation by such a +reproach. I'm blundering, but not wholly reprobate." + +Her father appeared at the door. Glover's eyes were fastened on the +blueprint. + +Gertrude let her magazine lie in her lap. She could not at all +understand the plans the two men were discussing, but her father spoke +so confidently about taking up Glover's suggestions in detail during +the two weeks that they should have together, and Glover said so +little, that she intervened presently with a little remark. "Papa; are +you not forgetting that Mr. Glover says he cannot be with us on the +Park trip." + +"I am not forgetting it because Mr. Glover hasn't said so." + +"I so understood Mr. Glover." + +"Certainly not," objected Mr. Brock, looking at his companion. + +"It is a disappointment to me," said Glover, "that I can't be with you." + +"Why, Mr. Bucks and I have arranged it, to-day. There are no other +duties," observed Mr. Brock, tersely. + +"True, but the fact is I am not well." + +"Nonsense; tired out, that's all. We will rest you up; the trip will +refresh you. I want you with me very particularly, Mr. Glover." + +"Which makes me the sorrier I cannot be." + +"Here, Mr. Bucks," called Mr. Brock, abruptly, through the open door. +"What's the matter with your arrangements? Mr. Glover says he can't go +through the Park." + +The patient manager left Judge Saltzer, with whom he was talking, and +came out on the platform. Gertrude went into the car. When the train +reached Sleepy Cat, at dusk, she was sitting alone in her favorite +corner near the rear door. The train stopped at a junction semaphore +and she heard Bucks' voice on the observation platform. + +"I hate to see a man ruin his own chances in this way, that's all," he +was saying. "I've set the pins for you to take the rebuilding of the +whole main line, but you succeed admirably in undoing my plans. By +declining this opportunity you relegate yourself to obscurity just as +you've made a hit in the canyon that is a fortune in itself." + +"Whatever the effect," she heard someone reply with an effort at +lightness, "deal gently with me, old man. The trouble is of my own +making. I seem unable to face the results." + +The train started and the voices were lost. Bucks stepped into the car +and, without seeing Gertrude in the shadow, walked forward. She felt +that Glover was alone on the platform and sat for several moments +irresolute. After a while she rose, crossed to the table and fingered +the roses in the jar. She saw him sitting alone in the dusk and +stepped to the door; the train had slowed for the yard. "Mr. +Glover?--do not get up--may I be frank for a moment? I fear I am +causing unnecessary complications--" Glover had risen. + +"You, Miss Brock?" + +"Did you really mean what you said to me this afternoon?" + +"Very sincerely." + +"Then I may say with equal sincerity that I should feel sorry to spoil +papa's plans and Mr. Bucks' and your own." + +"It is not you, at all, but I who have----" + +"I was going to suggest that something in the nature of a compromise +might be managed----" + +"I have lost confidence in my ability to manage anything, but if you +would manage I should be very----" + +"It might be for two weeks--" She was half laughing at her own +suggestion and at his seriousness. + +"I should try to deserve an extension." + +"--To begin to-morrow morning----" + +"Gladly, for that would last longer than if it began to-night. Indeed, +Miss Brock, I----" + +"But--please--I do not undertake to receive explanations." He could +only bow. "The status," she continued, gravely, "should remain, I +think, the same." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +AND A SHOCK + +The directors' party had been inspecting the Camp Pilot mines. The +train was riding the crest of the pass when the sun set, and in the +east long stretches of snow-sheds were vanishing In the shadows of the +valley. + +Glover, engaged with Mr. Brock, Judge Saltzer, and Bucks, had been +forward all day, among the directors. The compartments of the Brock +car were closed when he walked back through the train and the rear +platform was deserted. He seated himself in his favorite corner of the +umbrella porch, where he could cross his legs, lean far back, and with +an engineer's eye study the swiftly receding grace of the curves and +elevations of the track. They were covering a stretch of his own +construction, a pet, built when he still felt young; when he had come +from the East fiery with the spirit of twenty-five. + +But since then he had seen seven years of blizzards, blockades, and +washouts; of hard work, hardships, and disappointments. This maiden +track that they were speeding over he was not ashamed of; the work was +good engineering yet. But now with new and great responsibilities on +his horizon, possibilities that once would have fired his imagination, +he felt that seven years in and out of the mountains had left him +battle-scarred and moody. + +"My sister was saying last night as she saw you sitting where you are +now--that we should always associate this corner with you. Don't get +up." Gertrude Brock, dressed for dinner, stood in the doorway. "You +never tire of watching the track," she said, sinking into the chair he +offered as he rose. Her frank manner was unlooked for, but he knew +they were soon to part and felt that something of that was behind her +concession. He answered in his mood. + +"The track, the mountains," he replied; "I have little else." + +"Would not many consider the mountains enough?" + +"No doubt." + +"I should think them a continual inspiration." + +"So they are; though sometimes they inspire too much." + +"It is so still and beautiful through here." She leaned back in her +chair, supported her elbows on its arms and clasped her hands; the +stealing charm of her cordiality had already roused him. + +"This bit of track we are covering," said he after a pause, "is the +first I built on this division; and just now I have been recalling my +very first sight of the mountains." She leaned slightly forward, and +again he was coaxed on. "Every tradition of my childhood was +associated with this country--the plains and rivers and mountains. It +wasn't alone the reading--though I read without end--but the stories of +the old French traders I used to hear in the shops, and sometimes of +trappers I used to find along the river front of the old town; I fed on +their yarns. And it was always the wild horse and the buffalo and the +Sioux and the mountains--I dreamed of nothing else. Now, so many +times, I meet strangers that come into the mountains--foreigners +often--and I can never listen to their rhapsodies, or even read their +books about the Rockies, without a jealousy that they are talking +without leave of something that's mine. What can the Rockies mean to +them? Surely, if an American boy has a heritage it is the Rockies. +What can they feel of what I felt the first time I stood at sunset on +the plains and my very dreams loomed into the western sky? I toppled +on my pins just at seeing them." + +She laughed softly. "You are fond of the mountains." + +"I have little else," he repeated. + +"Then they ought to be loyal to you. But the first impression--it +hardly remains, I suppose?" + +"I am not sure. They don't grow any smaller; sometimes I think they +grow bigger." + +"Then you _are_ fond of them. That's constancy, and constancy is a +capital test of a charm." + +"But I'm never sure whether they are, as you say, loyal to me. We had +once on this division a remarkable man named Hailey--a bridge engineer, +and a very great one. He and I stood one night on a caisson at the +Spider Water--the first caisson he put into the river--do you remember +that big river you crossed on the plains----" + +"Indeed! I am not likely to forget a night I spent at the Spider +Water; continue." + +"Hailey put in the bridge there. 'This old stream ought to be thankful +to you, Hailey, for a piece of work like this,' I said to him. 'No,' +he answered, quite in earnest; 'the Spider doesn't like me. It will +get me some time.' So I think about these mountains. I like them, and +I don't like them. Sometimes I think as Hailey thought of the +Spider--and the Spider did get him." + +"How serious you grow!" she exclaimed, lightly. + +"The truce ends to-morrow." + +"And the journey ends," she remarked, encouragingly. + +"What, please, does that line mean that I see so often, 'Journeys end +in lovers meeting?'" + +"I haven't an idea. But, oh, these mountains!" she exclaimed, stepping +in caution to the guard-rail. "Could anything be more awful than +this?" They were crawling antlike up a mountain spur that rose dizzily +on their right; on the left they overhung a bottomless pit. Their +engines churned, panted, and struggled up the curve, and as they talked +the dense smoke from the stacks sucked far down into the gap they were +skirting. + +"The roadbed is chiselled out of the granite all along here. This is +the famed Mount Pilot on the left, and this the worst spot on the +division for snow. You wouldn't think of extending our truce?" + +"To-morrow we leave for the coast." + +"But you could leave the truce; and I want it ever so much." + +She laughed. "Why should one want a truce after the occasion for it +has passed?" + +"Sometimes out here in the desert we get away from water. You don't +know, of course, what it is to want water? I lost a trail once in the +Spanish Sinks and for two days I wanted water." + +"Dreadful. I have heard of such things. How did you ever find your +way again?" + +He hesitated. "Sometimes instinct serves after reason fails. It +wasn't very good water when I reached it, but I did not know about that +for two weeks. It is a curious thing, too--physiologists, I am told, +have some name for the mental condition--but a man that has suffered +once for water will at times suffer intensely for it again, even though +you saturate him with water, drown him in it." + +"How very strange; almost incredible, is it not? Have you ever +experienced such a sensation?" + +"I have felt it, but never acutely until to-day; that is why I want to +get the truce extended. I dread the next two days." + +She looked puzzled. "Mr. Glover, if you have jestingly beguiled me +into real sympathy I shall be angry in earnest." + +"You are going to-morrow. How could I jest about it? When you go I +face the desert again. You have come like water into my life--are you +going out of it forever to-morrow? May I never hope to see you +again--or hear from you?" She rose in amazement; he was between her +and the door. "Surely, this is extraordinary, Mr. Glover." + +"Only a moment. I shall have days enough of silence. I dread to shock +or anger you. But this is one reason why I tried to keep away from +you--just this--because I-- And you, in unthinking innocence, kept me +from my intent to escape this moment. Your displeasure was hard to +bear, but your kindness has undone me. Believe me or not I did fight, +a gentleman, even though I have fallen, a lover." + +The displeasure of her eyes as she faced him was her only reply. +Indeed, he made hardly an effort to support her look and she swept past +him into the car. + + +The Brock train lay all next day in the Medicine Bend yard. A number +of the party, with horses and guides, rode to the Medicine Springs west +of the town. Glover, buried in drawings and blueprints, was in his +office at the Wickiup all day with Manager Bucks and President Brock. + +Late in the afternoon the attention of Gertrude, reading alone in her +car, was attracted to a stout boy under an enormous hat clambering with +difficulty up the railing of the observation platform. In one arm he +struggled for a while with a large bundle wrapped in paper, then +dropping back he threw the package up over the rail, and starting +empty-handed gained the platform and picked up his parcel. He fished a +letter from his pistol pocket, stared fearlessly in at Gertrude Brock +and knocked on the glass panel between them. + +"Laundry parcels are to be delivered to the porter in the forward car," +said Gertrude, opening the door slightly. + +As she spoke the boy's hat blew off and sailed down the platform, but +he maintained some dignity. "I don't carry laundry. I carry +telegrams. The front door was locked. I seen you sitting in there all +alone, and I've got a note and had orders to give it to you personally, +and this package personally, and not to nobody else, so I climbed over." + +"Stop a moment," commanded Gertrude, for the heavy messenger was +starting for the railing before she quite comprehended. "Wait until I +see what you have here." The boy, with his hands on the railing, was +letting himself down. + +"My hat's blowin' off. There ain't any answer and the charges is paid." + +"Will you wait?" exclaimed Gertrude, impatiently. The very handwriting +on the note annoyed her. While unfamiliar, her instinct connected it +with one person from whom she was determined to receive no +communication. She hesitated as she looked at her carefully written +name. She wanted to return the communication unopened; but how could +she be sure who had sent it? With the impatience of uncertainty she +ripped open the envelope. + +The note was neither addressed nor signed. + +"I have no right to keep this after you leave; perhaps I had no right +to keep it at all. But in returning it to you I surely may thank you +for the impulse that made you throw it over me the morning I lay asleep +behind the Spider dike." + +She tore the package partly open--it was her Newmarket coat. Bundling +it up again she walked hastily to her compartment. For some moments +she remained within; when she came out the messenger boy, his hat now +low over his ears, was sitting in her chair looking at the illustrated +paper she had laid down. Gertrude suppressed her astonishment; she +felt somehow overawed by the unconventionalities of the West. + +"Boy, what are you doing here?" + +"You said, wait," answered the boy, taking off his hat and rising. + +"Oh, yes. Very well; no matter." + +"Ma'am?" + +"No matter." + +"Does that mean for me to wait?" + +"It means you may go." + +He started reluctantly. "Gee," he exclaimed, under his breath, looking +around, "this is swell in here, ain't it?" + +"See here, what is your name?" + +"Solomon Battershawl, but most folks call me Gloomy." + +"Gloomy! Where did you get that name?" + +"Mr. Glover." + +"Who sent you with this note?" + +"I can't tell. He gave me a dollar and told me I wasn't to answer any +questions." + +"Oh, did he? What else did he tell you?" + +"He said for me to take my hat off when I spoke to you, but my hat +blowed off when you spoke to me." + +"Unfortunate! Well, you are a handsome fellow, Gloomy. What do you +do?" + +"I'm a railroad man." + +"Are you? How fine. So you won't tell who sent you." + +"No, ma'am." + +"What else did the gentleman say?" + +"He said if anybody offered me anything I wasn't to take anything." + +"Did he, indeed, Gloomy?" + +"Yes'm." + +She turned to the table from where she was sitting and took up a big +box. "No money, he meant." + +"Yes'm." + +"How about candy?" + +Solomon shifted. + +"He didn't mention candy?" + +"No'm." + +"Do you ever eat candy?" + +"Yes'm." + +"This is a box that came from Pittsburg only this morning for me. Take +some chocolates. Don't be afraid; take several. What is your last +name?" + +"Battershawl." + +"Gloomy Battershawl; how pretty. Battershawl is so euphonious." + +"Yes'm." + +"Who is your best friend among the railroad men?" + +"Mr. Duffy, our chief despatcher. I owe my promotion to 'im," said +Solomon, solemnly. + +"But who gives you the most money, I mean. Take a large piece this +time." + +"Oh, there ain't anybody gives me any money, much, exceptin' Mr. +Glover. I run errands for him." + +"What is the most money he ever gave you for an errand, Gloomy?" + +"Dollar, twice." + +"So much as that?" + +"Yes'm." + +"What was that for?" + +"The first time it was for taking his washing down to the Spider to him +on Number Two one Sunday morning." + +This being a line of answer Gertrude had not expected to develop she +started, but Solomon was under way. "Gee, the river w's high that +time. He was down there two weeks and never went to bed at all, and +came up special in a sleeper, sick, and I took care of him. Gee, he +was sick." + +"What was the matter?" + +"Noomonia, the doctor said." + +"And you took care of him!" + +"Me an' the doctor." + +"What was the other errand he gave you a dollar for?" + +"Dassent tell." + +"How did you know it was I you should give your note to?" + +"He told me it was for the brown-haired young lady that walked so +straight--I knew you all right--I seen you on horseback. I guess I'll +have to be going 'cause I got a lot of telegrams to deliver up town." + +"No hurry about them, is there?" + +"No, but's getting near dinner time. Good-by." + +"Wait. Take this box of candy with you." + +Solomon staggered. "The whole box?" + +"Certainly." + +"Gee!" + +He slid over the rail with the candy under his arm. + +When he disappeared, Gertrude went back to her stateroom, closed the +door, though quite alone in the car, and re-read her note. + +"I have no right to keep this after you leave; perhaps I had no right +to keep it at all. But in returning it to you I surely may thank you +for the impulse that made you throw it over me the morning I lay asleep +behind the Spider dike." + +It was he, then, lying in the rain, ill then, perhaps--nursed by the +nondescript cub that had just left her. + +The Newmarket lay across the berth--a long, graceful garment. She had +always liked the coat, and her eye fell now upon it critically, +wondering what he thought of the garment upon making so unexpected an +acquaintance with her intimate belongings. Near the bottom of the +lining she saw a mud stain on the silk and the pretty fawn melton was +spotted with rain. She folded it up before the horseback party +returned and put it away, stained and spotted, at the bottom of her +trunk. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN THE LALLA ROOKH + +The car in itself was in no way remarkable. A twelve-section and +drawing-room, mahogany-finish, wide-vestibule sleeper, done in cream +brown, hangings shading into Indian reds--a type of the Pullman car so +popular some years ago for transcontinental travel; neither too heavy +for the mountains nor too light for the pace across the plains. + +There were many features added to the passenger schedule on the West +End the year Henry S. Brock and his friends took hold of the road, but +none made more stir than the new Number One, run then as a crack +passenger train, a strictly limited, vestibuled string, with barbers, +baths, grill rooms, and five-o'clock tea. In and out Number One was +the finest train that crossed the Rockies, and bar nobody's. + +It was October, with the Colorado travel almost entirely eastbound and +the California travel beginning, westbound, and the Lalla Rookh sleeper +being deadheaded to the coast on a special charter for an O. and O. +steamer party; at least, that was all the porter knew about its +destination, and he knew more than anyone else. + +At McCloud, where the St. Louis connection is made, Number One sets out +a diner and picks up a Portland sleeper--so it happened that the Lalla +Rookh, hind car to McCloud, afterward lay ahead of the St. Louis car, +and the trainmen passed, as occasion required, through it--lighted down +the gloomy aisle by a single Pintsch burner, choked to an all-night +dimness. + +But on the night of October 3d, which was a sloppy night in the +mountains, there was not a great deal to take anybody back through the +Lalla Rookh. Even the porter of the dead car deserted his official +corpse, and after Number One pulled out of Medicine Bend and stuck her +slim, aristocratic nose fairly into the big ranges the Lalla Rookh was +left as dead as a stringer to herself and her reflections--reflections +of brilliant aisles and staterooms inviting with softened lights, shed +on couples that resented intrusion; of sections bright with lovely +faces and decks ringing with talk and laughter; of ventilators singing +of sunshine within, and of night and stars and waste without--for the +Lalla Rookh carried only the best people, and after the overland voyage +on her tempered springs and her yielding cushions they felt an +affection for her. When the Lalla Rookh lived she lived; but to-night +she was dead. + +This night the pretty car sped over the range a Cinderella deserted, +her linen stored and checked in her closets, her pillows bunked in her +seats, and her curtains folded in her uppers, save and except in one +single instance--Section Eleven, to conform to certain deeply held +ideas of the porter, Raz Brown, as to what might and might not +constitute a hoodoo, was made up. Raz Brown did not play much: he +could not and hold his job; but when he did play he played eleven +always whether it fell between seven, twenty-seven, or four, +forty-four. And whenever Raz Brown deadheaded a car through, he always +made up section eleven, and laid the hoodoo struggling but helpless +under the chilly linen sheets of the lower berth. + +Glover had spent the day without incident or excitement on the Wind +River branches, and the evening had gone, while waiting to take a train +west to Medicine Bend, in figuring estimates at the agent's desk in +Wind River station. He was working night and day to finish the report +that the new board was waiting for on the rebuilding of the system. + +At midnight when he boarded the train he made his way back to look for +a place to stretch out until two o'clock. + +The Pullman conductor lay in the smoking-room of the head 'Frisco car +dreaming of his salary--too light to make any impression on him except +when asleep. It seemed a pity to disturb an honest man's dreams, and +the engineer passed on. In the smoking-room of the next car lay a +porter asleep. Glover dropped his bag into a chair and took off his +coat. While he was washing his hands the train-conductor, Billy +O'Brien, came in and set down his lantern. Conductor O'Brien was very +much awake and inclined rather to talk over a Mexican mining +proposition on which he wanted expert judgment than to let Glover get +to bed. When the sleepy man looked at his watch for the fifth time, +the conductor was getting his wind for the dog-watch and promised to +talk till daylight. + +"My boy, I've got to go to bed," declared Glover. + +"Every sleeper is loaded to the decks," returned O'Brien. "This is the +most comfortable place you'll find." + +"No, I'll go forward into the chair-car," replied Glover. "Good-night." + +"Stop, Mr. Glover; if you're bound to go, the Lalla Rookh car right +behind this is dead, but there's steam on. Go into the stateroom and +throw yourself on the couch. This is the porter here asleep." + +"William, your advice is good. I've taken it too long to disregard it +now," said Glover, picking up his bag. "Good-night." + +But it was not a good night; it was a bad night, and getting worse as +Number One dipped into it. Out of the northwest it smoked a ragged, +wet fog down the pass, and, as they climbed higher, a bitter song from +the Teton way heeled the sleepers over the hanging curves and streamed +like sobs through the meshed ventilators of the Lalla Rookh. It was a +nasty night for any sort of a sleeper; for a dead one it was very bad. + +Glover walked into the Lalla Rookh vestibule, around the smoking-room +passage, and into the main aisle of the car, dimly lighted at the hind +end. He made his way to the stateroom. The open door gave him light, +and he took off his storm-coat, pulled it over him for a blanket, and +had closed his eyes when he reflected he had forgotten to warn O'Brien +he must get off at Medicine Bend. + +It was unpleasant, but forward he went again to avoid the annoyance of +being carried by. He could tell as he came back, by the swing, that +they were heading the Peace River curves, for the trucks were hitting +the elevations like punching-bags. Just as he regained the main aisle +of the Lalla Rookh, a lurch of the car plumped him against a +section-head. He grasped it an instant to steady himself, and as he +stopped he looked. Whether it was that his eyes fell on the curtained +section swaying under the Pintsch light ahead--Section Eleven made +up--or whether his eyes were drawn to it, who can tell? A woman's head +was visible between the curtains. Glover stood perfectly still and +stared. Without right or reason, there certainly stood a woman. + +With nobody whatever having any business in the car, a car out of +service, carried as one carries a locked and empty satchel--yet the +curtains of Section Eleven, next his stateroom, were parted slightly, +and the half-light from above streamed on a woman's loose hair. She +was not looking toward where he stood; her face was turned from him, +and as she clasped the curtain she was looking into his stateroom. +What the deuce! thought Glover. A woman passenger in a dead sleeper? +He balanced himself to the dizzy wheel of the truck under him, and +waited for her to look his way--since she must be looking for the +porter--but the head did not move. The curtains swayed with the +jerking of the car, but the woman in Eleven looked intently into the +dark stateroom. What did it mean? Glover determined a shock. + +"Tickets!" he exclaimed, sternly--and stood alone in the car. + +"Tickets!" The head was gone; not alone that, strangely gone. How? +Glover could not have told. It was _gone_. The Pintsch burned dim; +the Teton song crooned through the ventilators; the wheels of the Lalla +Rookh struck muffled at the fish-plates; the curtains of Section Eleven +swung slowly in and out of the berth--but the head was not there. + +A creepy feeling touched his back; his first impulse was to ignore the +incident, go into the stateroom and lie down. Then he thought he might +have alarmed the passenger in Eleven when he had first entered. Yet +there was, officially at least, no passenger in Eleven; plainly there +was nothing to do but to call the conductor. He went forward. O'Brien +was sorting his collections in the smoking-room of the next car. Raz +Brown, awake--nominally, at least--sat by, reading his dream-book. + +"Is this the Lalla Rookh porter?" asked Glover. O'Brien nodded. + +"Who's your passenger in Eleven back there?" demanded Glover, turning +to the darky. + +"Me?" stammered Raz Brown. + +"Who's your fare in Eleven in Lalla Rookh?" + +"My fare? Why, I ain't got nair 'a fare in Lalla Rookh. She's dead, +boss." + +"You've got a woman passenger in Eleven. What are you talking about? +What's the matter with you?" + +Raz Brown's eyes rolled marvellously. "'Fore God, dere ain't nobody +dere ez I knows on, Mr. O'Brien," protested the surprised porter, +getting up. + +"There's a woman in Eleven, Billy," said Glover. + +"Come on," exclaimed O'Brien, turning to the porter. "She may be a +spotter. Let's see." + +Raz Brown walked back reluctantly, Conductor O'Brien leading. Into the +Lalla Rookh, dark and quiet, around the smoking-room, down the aisle, +and facing Eleven; there the Pintsch light dimly burned, the draperies +slowly swayed in front of the darkened berth. Raz Brown gripped the +curtains preliminarily. + +"Tickets, ma'am." There was a heavy pause. + +"Tickets!" No response. + +"C'nduct'h wants youh tickets, ma'am." + +The silence could be cut with an axe. Raz Brown parted the curtains, +peered in, opened them wider, peered farther in; pushed the curtains +back with both hands. The berth was empty. + +Raz looked at Conductor O'Brien. O'Brien grasped the curtains himself. +The upper berth hung closed above. The lower, made up, lay +untouched--the pillows fresh, the linen sheets folded back, +Pullmanwise, over the dark blanket. + +The porter looked at Glover. "See foh y'se'f." + +Glover was impatient. "She's somewhere about the car," he exclaimed, +"search it." Raz Brown went through the Lalla Rookh from vestibule to +vestibule: it was as empty as a ceiling. + +Puzzled and annoyed, Glover stood trying to recall the mysterious +appearance. He walked back to where he had seen the woman, stood where +he had stood and looked where he had looked. She had not seemed to +withdraw, as he recalled: the curtains had not closed before the head; +it had vanished. The wind sung fine, very fine through the copper +screens, the Pintsch light flowed very low into the bright globe, the +curtains swung again gracefully to the dip of the car; but the head was +gone. + +A discussion threw no light on the mystery. On one point, however, +Conductor O'Brien was firm. While the conductor and the porter kept up +the talk, Glover resumed his preparations for retiring in the +stateroom, but O'Brien interfered. + +"Don't do it. Don't you do it. I wouldn't sleep in that room now for +a thousand dollars." + +"Nonsense." + +"That's all right. I say come forward." + +They made him up a corner in the smoking-room of the 'Frisco car, and +he could have slept like a baby had not the conviction suddenly come +upon him that he had seen Gertrude Brock. Should he, after all, see +her again? And what did it mean? Why was she looking in terror into +his stateroom? + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A SLIP ON A SPECIAL + +Glover's train pulled into Medicine Bend, in the rain, at half-past two +o'clock. The face in the Lalla Rookh had put an end to thoughts of +sleep, and he walked up to his office in the Wickiup to work until +morning on his report. He lighted a lamp, opened his desk with a clang +that echoed to the last dark corner of the zigzag hall, and, spreading +out his papers, resumed the figuring he had begun at Wind River +station. But the combinations which at eleven o'clock had gone fast +refused now to work. The Lalla Rookh curtains intruded continually +into his problems and his calculations dissolved helplessly into an +idle stare at a jumble of figures. + +He got up at last, restless, walked through the trainmaster's room, +into the despatcher's office, and stumbled on the tragedy of the night. + + +It came about through an ambition in itself honorable--the ambition of +Bud Cawkins to become a train-despatcher. + +Bud began railroading on the Wind River. In three months he was made +an agent, in six months he had become an expert in station work, an +operator after a despatcher's own heart, and the life of the line; then +he began looking for trouble. His quest resulted first in the +conviction that the main line business was not handled nearly as well +as it ought to be. Had Bud confided this to an agent of experience +there would have been no difficulty. He would have been told that +every agent on every branch in the world, sooner or later, has the same +conviction; that he need only to let it alone, eat sparingly of brain +food, and the clot would be sure to pass unnoticed. + +Unfortunately, Bud concealed his conviction, and asked Morris Blood to +give him a chance at the Wickiup. The first time, Morris Blood only +growled; the second time he looked at the handsome boy disapprovingly. + +"Want to be a despatcher, do you? What's the matter with you? Been +reading railroad stories? I'll fire any man on my division that reads +railroad stories. Don't be a chump. You're in line now for the best +station on the division." + +But compliments only fanned Bud's flame, and Morris Blood, after +reasonable effort to save the boy's life, turned him over to Martin +Duffy. + +Now, of all severe men on the West End, Duffy is most biting. His +smile is sickly, his hair dry, and his laugh soft. + +"Despatcher, eh? Ha, ha, ha; I see, Bud. Coming down to show us how +to do business. Oh, no. I understand; that is all right. It is what +brought me here, Bud, when I was about your age and good for something. +Well, it is a snap. There is nothing in the railroad life equal to a +despatcher's trick. If you should make a mistake and get two trains +together they will only fire you. If you happen to kill a few people +they _can't_ make anything more than manslaughter out of it--I know +that because I've seen them try to hang a despatcher for a passenger +wreck--they can't do it, Bud, don't ever believe it. In this state ten +years is the extreme limit for manslaughter, and the only complication +is that if your train should happen to burn up they might soak you an +extra ten years for arson; but a despatcher is usually handy around a +penitentiary and can get light work in the office, so that he's thrown +more with wife poisoners and embezzlers than with cutthroats and +hold-up men. Then, too, you can earn nearly as much in State's prison +as you can at your trick. A despatcher's salary is high, you +know--seventy-five, eighty, and even a hundred dollars a month. + +"Of course, there's an unpleasant side of it. I don't want to seem to +draw it too rosy. I imagine you've heard Blackburn's story, haven't +you--the lap-order at Rosebud? I helped carry Blackburn out of that +room"--Duffy pointed very coldly toward Morris Blood's door--"the +morning we put him in his coffin. But, hang it, Bud, a death like that +is better than going to the insane asylum, isn't it, eh? A short trick +and a merry one, my boy, for a despatcher, say I; no insane asylum for +me." + +It calmed Budwiser, as the boys began to call him, for a time only. He +renewed his application and was at length relieved of his comfortable +station and ordered into the Wickiup as despatcher's assistant. + +For a time every dream was realized--the work was put on him by +degrees, things ran smoothly, and his despatcher, Garry O'Neill, soon +reported him all right. A month later Bud was notified that a +despatcher's trick would shortly be assigned to him, and to the boys +from the branch who asked after him he sent word that in a few days he +would be showing them how to do business on the main line. + +The chance came even sooner. O'Neill went hunting the following day, +overslept, came down without supper and could not get a quiet minute +till long after midnight. Heavy stock trains crowded down over the +short line. The main line, in addition to the regular traffic, had +been pounded all night with government stores and ammunition, +westbound. From the coast a passenger special, looked for in the +afternoon, had just come into the division at Bear Dance. Garry laid +out his sheet with the precision of a campaigner, provided for +everything, and at three o'clock he gave Bud a transfer and ran down to +get a cup of coffee. Bud sat into the chair for the first time with +the responsibility of a full-fledged despatcher. + +For five minutes no business confronted him, then from the extreme end +of his territory Cambridge station called for orders for an extra, fast +freight, west, Engine 81, and Bud wrote his first train order. He +ordered Extra 81 to meet Number 50, a local and accommodation, at +Sumter, and signed Morris Blood's initials with a flourish. When the +trains had gone he looked over his sheet calmly until he noticed, with +fainting horror, that he had forgotten Special 833, east, making a very +fast run and headed for Cambridge, with no orders about Extra 81. +Special 833 was the passenger train from the coast. + +The sheet swam and the yellow lamp at his elbow turned green and black. +The door of the operator's room opened with a bang. Bud, trembling, +hoped it might be O'Neill, and staggered to the archway. It was only +Glover, but Glover saw the boy's face. "What's the matter?" + +Bud looked back into the room he was leaving. Glover stepped through +the railing gate and caught the boy by the shoulder. "What's the +matter, my lad?" + +He shook and questioned, but from the dazed operator he could get only +one word, "O'Neill," and stepping to the hall door Glover called out +"O'Neill!" + +It has been said that Glover's voice would carry in a mountain storm +from side to side of the Medicine Bend yard. That night the very last +rafter in the Wickiup gables rang with his cry. He called only once, +for O'Neill came bounding up the long stairs three steps at a time. + +"Look to your train sheet, Garry," said Glover, peremptorily. "This +boy is scared to death. There's trouble somewhere." + +He supported the operator to a chair, and O'Neill ran to the inner +room. The moment his eye covered the order book he saw what had +happened. "Extra 81 is against a passenger special," exclaimed +O'Neill, huskily, seizing the key. "There's the order--Extra 81 from +Cambridge to meet Number 50 at Sumter and Special 833 has orders to +Cambridge, and nothing against Extra 81. If I can't catch the freight +at Red Desert we're in for it--wake up Morris Blood, quick, he's in +there asleep." + +Blood, working late in his office, had rolled himself in a blanket on +the lounge in Callahan's old room, and unfortunately Morris Blood was +the soundest sleeper on the division. Glover called him, shook him, +caught him by the arm, lifted him to a sitting position, talked +hurriedly to him--he knew what resource and power lay under the thick +curling hair if he could only rouse the tired man from his dreamless +sleep. Even Blood's own efforts to rouse himself were almost at once +apparent. His eyes opened, glared helplessly, sank back and closed in +stupor. Glover grew desperate, and lifting Morris to his feet, dragged +him half way across the dark room. + +O'Neill, rattling the key, was looking on from the table like a +drowning man. "Leave your key and steady him here against the +door-jamb, Garry," cried Glover; "by the Eternal, I'll wake him." He +sprang to the big water-cooler, cast away the top, seized the tank like +a bucket, and dashed a full stream of ice-water into Morris Blood's +face. + +"Great God, what's the matter? Who is this? Glover? What? Give me a +towel, somebody." + +The spell was broken. Glover explained, O'Neill ran back to the key, +and Blood in another moment bent dripping over the nervous despatcher. + +The superintendent's mind working faster now than the magic current +before him, listened, cast up, recollected, considered, decided for and +against every chance. At that moment Red Desert answered. No breath +interrupted the faint clicks that reported on Extra 81. O'Neill looked +up in agony as the sounder spelled the words: "Extra 81 went by at +3.05." The superintendent and the despatcher looked at the clock; it +read 3.09. + +O'Neill clutched the order book, but Glover looked at Morris Blood. +With the water trickling from his hair down his wrinkled face, beading +his mustache, and dripping from his chin he stood, haggard with sleep, +leaning over O'Neill's shoulder. A towel stuffed into his left hand +was clasped forgotten at his waist. From the east room, operators, +their instruments silenced, were tiptoeing into the archway. Above the +little group at the table the clock ticked. O'Neill, in a frenzy, half +rose out of his chair, but Morris Blood, putting his hand on the +despatcher's shoulder, forced him back. + +"They're gone," cried the frantic man; "let me out of here." + +"No, Garry." + +"They're gone." + +"Not yet, Garry. Try Fort Rucker for the Special." + +"There's no night man at Fort Rucker." + +"But Burling, the day man, sleeps upstairs----" + +"He goes up to Bear Dance to lodge." + +"This isn't lodge night," said Blood. + +"For God's sake, how can you get him upstairs, anyway?" trembled +O'Neill. + +"On cold nights he sleeps downstairs by the ticket-office stove. I +spent a night with him once and slept on his cot. If he is in the +ticket-office you may be able to wake him--he may be awake. The +Special can't pass there for ten minutes yet. Don't stare at me. Call +Rucker, hard." + +O'Neill seized the key and tried to sound the Rucker call. Again and +again he attempted it and sent wild. The man that could hold a hundred +trains in his head without a slip for eight hours at a stretch sat +distracted. + +"Let me help you, Garry," suggested Blood, in an undertone. The +despatcher turned shaking from his chair and his superintendent slipped +behind him into it. His crippled right hand glided instantly over the +key, and the Rucker call, even, sharp, and compelling, followed by the +quick, clear nineteen--the call that gags and binds the whole +division--the despatchers' call--clicked from his fingers. + +Persistently, and with unfailing patience, the men hovering at his +back, Blood drummed at the key for the slender chance that remained of +stopping the passenger train. The trial became one of endurance. Like +an incantation, the call rang through the silence of the room until it +wracked the listeners, but the man at the key, quietly wiping his face +and head, and with the towel in his left hand mopping out his collar, +never faltered, never broke, minute after minute, until after a score +of fruitless waits an answer broke his sending with the "I, I, Ru!" + +As the reply flew from his fingers Morris Blood's eyes darted to the +clock; it was 3.17. "Stop Special 833, east, quick." + +"You've got them?" asked Glover, from the counter. + +"If they're not by," muttered Blood. + +"Red light out," reported Rucker; then three dreadful minutes and it +came, "Special 833 taking water; O'Brien wants orders." + +And the order went, "Siding, quick, and meet Extra 81, west, at +Rucker," and the superintendent rose from the chair. + +"It's all over, boys," said he, turning to the operators. "Remember, +no man ever got to a railroad presidency by talking; but many men have +by keeping their mouths shut. Lay Cawkins on the lounge in my room. +Duffy said that boy would never do." + +"What was Burling doing, Morris," asked Glover, sitting down by the +stove. + +"Ask him, Garry," suggested Blood. They waited for the answer. + +"Were you asleep on your cot?" asked the despatcher, getting Rucker +again. + +"If that fellow woke on my call, I'll make a despatcher of him," +declared Morris Blood, with a thrill of fine pride. + +"No," answered Rucker, "I slept upstairs tonight." + +The two men at the stove stared at one another. "How did you hear your +call?" asked the despatcher. Again their ears were on edge. + +And Rucker answered, "I always come down once in the night to put coal +on the fire." + +"Another illusion destroyed," smiled Morris Blood. "Hang him, I'll +promote him, anyway, for attending to his fire." + +"But you couldn't do that again in a thousand years, Mr. Blood," +ventured a young and enthusiastic operator who had helped to lay out +poor Bud Cawkins. + +The mountain man looked at him coldly. "I sha'n't want to do that +again in a thousand years. In the railroad life it always comes +different, every time. Go to your key." + +"I'm glad we got that particular train out of trouble," he added, +turning to Glover when they were alone. + +"What train?" + +"That Special 833 is the Brock special. You didn't know it? We've +been looking for them from the coast for two days." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS + +The sudden appearance of Mr. Brock at any time and at any point where +he had interests would surprise only those that did not know him. On +the coast the party had broken up, Louise Donner going into Colorado +with friends, and Harrison returning to Pittsburg. + +Planning originally to recross the mountains by a southern route, and +to give himself as much of a pleasure trip as he ever took, Mr. Brock +changed all his plans at the last moment--a move at which he was +masterly--and wired Bucks to meet him at Bear Dance for the return +trip. Doctor Lanning, moreover, had advised that Marie spend some +further time in the mountains, where her gain in health had been +decided. + +Among the features the general manager particularly wished Mr. Brock to +see before leaving the mountain country was the Crab Valley dam and +irrigation canal, and the second day after the president's special +entered the division it was side-tracked at a way station near Sleepy +Cat for an inspection of the undertaking. The trip to the canal was by +stage with four horses, and the ladies had been asked to go. + +The morning was so exhilarating and the ride so fast that when the head +horses dipped over the easy divide flanking the line of the canal on +the south, and the brake closed on the lumbering wheels, the visitors +were surprised to discover almost at their feet a swarming army of men +and horses scraping in the dusty bed of a long cut. There the heavy +work was to be seen, and to give his party an idea of its magnitude, +Bucks had ordered the stage driven directly through the cut itself. +With Mr. Brock he sat up near the driver. Back of them were Doctor +Lanning and Gertrude Brock; within rode Mrs. Whitney and Marie. + +As the stage, getting down the high bank, lurched carefully along the +scraper ways of the yellow bed, shovellers, drivers, and water-boys +looked curiously at the unusual sight, and patient mules nosed meekly +the alert, nervous horses that dragged the stage along the uneven way. + +At the lower end of the cut a more formidable barrier interposed. A +pocket of gravel on the eastern bank had slipped, engulfing a steam +shovel, and a gang of men were busy about it. On a level overlooking +the scene, in corduroy jackets and broad hats, stood two engineers. At +times one of them gave directions to a foreman whose gang was digging +the shovel out. His companion, perceiving the approach of the stage, +signalled the driver sharply, and the leaders were swung to the right +of the shovellers so that the stage was brought out on a level some +distance away. + +Bucks first recognized the taller of the two men. "There's Glover," he +exclaimed. "Hello!" he called across the canal bed. "I didn't look +for you here." Glover lifted his hat and walked over to the stage. + +"I came up last night to see Ed Smith about running his flume under +Horse Creek bridge. They cross us, you know, in the canyon there," said +he, in his slow, steady way. "Just as we got on the ponies to ride +down, this slide occurred----" + +"Glad you couldn't get away. We want to see Ed Smith," returned Bucks, +getting down. The women were already greeting Glover, and avoiding +Gertrude's eye while he included her in his salutation to all, he tried +to answer several questions at once. Smith, the engineer in charge of +the canal, was talking with Bucks and Mr. Brock. On top of the stage +Doctor Lanning was trying to persuade Gertrude not to get down; but she +insisted. + +"Mr. Glover will help me, I am sure," she said, looking directly at the +evading Glover, who was absorbed in his talk with her sister. "I +should advise you not to alight, Miss Brock," said he, unable to ignore +her request. "You will sink into this dusty clay----" + +"I don't mind that, but unless you will give me your hand," she +interrupted, putting her boot on the foot rest to descend, "I shall +certainly break my neck." When he promptly advanced she took both of +his offered hands with a laugh at her recklessness and dropped lightly +beside him. "May I go over where you stood?" she asked at once. + +"I shouldn't," he ventured. + +"But I can't see what they are doing." She walked capriciously ahead, +and Glover reluctantly followed. "Why shouldn't you?" she questioned, +waiting for him to come to her side. + +"It isn't safe." + +"Why did you stand there?" + +He answered with entire composure. "What would be perfectly safe for +me might be very dangerous for you." + +She looked full at him. "How truly you speak." + +Yet she did not stop, though at each step her feet sunk into the +loosened soil. + +"Pray, don't go farther," said Glover. + +"I want to see the men digging." + +"Then won't you come around here?" + +"But may I not walk over to that car?" + +"This way is more passable." + +"Then why did you make the driver turn away from that side?" + +"You have good eyes, Miss Brock." + +"Pray, what is the matter with that man lying behind the car?" + +Glover looked fairly at her at last. "A shoveller was hurt when the +gravel slipped a few minutes ago. When the warning came he did not +understand and got caught." + +"Oh, let us get Doctor Lanning; something can be done for him." + +"No. It is too late." + +Horror checked her. "Dead?" + +"Yes. I did not want you to know this. Your sister is easily +shocked----" + +She paused a moment. "You are very thoughtful of Marie. Have you a +sister?" + +"I haven't. Why do you ask?" + +"Who taught you thoughtfulness?" she asked, gravely. He stood +disconcerted. "I find consideration common among Western men," she +went on, generalizing prettily; "our men don't have it. Does a life so +rough and terrible as this give men the consideration that we expect +elsewhere and do not find? Ah, that poor shoveller. Isn't it horrible +to die so? Did everyone else escape?" + +"They are ready to start, I think," he suggested, uneasily. + +"Oh, are they?" + +"You are coming to see us?" called Marie, leaning from the top, while +Glover paused behind her sister, when they had reached the stage. He +stood with his hat in his hand. The dazzling sun made copper of the +swarthy brown of his lower face and brought out the white of his +forehead where the hair crisped wet in the heat of the morning. +Gertrude Brock, after she had gained her seat with his help, looked +down while he talked; looked at the top of his head, and listening +vaguely to Marie, noted his long, bony hand as it clung to the window +strap--the hand of the most audacious man she had ever met in her +life--who had made an avowal to her on the observation platform of her +father's own car--and she mused at the explosion that would have +followed had she ever breathed a syllable of the circumstance to her +own fiery papa. + +But she had told no one--least of all, the young man that had asked her +before she left Pittsburg to marry him and was now writing her every +other day--Allen Harrison. Indeed, what could be more ridiculously +embarrassing than to be assailed so unexpectedly? She had no mind to +make herself anyone's laughing-stock by speaking of it. One thing, +however, she had vaguely determined--since Glover had frightened her +she would retaliate at least a little before she returned to the quiet +of Fifth Avenue. + +Marie was still talking to him. "Why haven't you heard? I thought +sister would have told you. The doctor says I gained faster here than +anywhere between the two oceans, and we are all to spend six weeks up +at Glen Tarn Springs. Papa is going East and coming back after us, and +we shall expect you to come to the Springs very often." + +The stage was starting. Gertrude faced backward as she sat. She could +see Glover's salutation, and she waved a glove. He was as utterly +confused as she could desire. She saw him rejoin his companion +engineer near where lay the shoveller with the covered face, and the +thought of the terrible accident depressed her. As she last saw Glover +he was pointing at the faulty bank, and she knew that the two men were +planning again for the safety of the men. + + +About Glen Tarn, now quite the best known of the Northern mountain +resorts, there is no month like October: no sun like the October sun, +and no frost like the first that stills the aspen. Moreover, the +travel is done, the parks are deserted, the mountains robing for +winter. In October, the horse, starting, shrinks under his rider, for +the lion, always moving, never seen, is following the game into the +valleys, leaving the grizzly to beat his stubborn retreat from the snow +line alone. + +Starting from the big hotel in a new direction every day the +Pittsburgers explored the valleys and the canyons, for the lake and the +springs nestle in the Pilot Mountains and the scenery is everywhere +new. Mount Pilot itself rises loftily to the north, and from its sides +may be seen every peak in the range. + +One day, for a novelty, the whole party went down to Medicine Bend, +nominally on a shopping expedition, but really on a lark. Medicine +Bend is the only town within a day's distance of Glen Tarn Springs +where there are shops; and though the shopping usually ended in a +chorus of jokes, the trip on the main line trains, which they caught at +Sleepy Cat, was always worth while, and the dining-car, with an +elaborate supper in returning, was a change from the hotel table. + +Sometimes Gertrude and Mrs. Whitney went together to the headquarters +town--Gertrude expecting always to encounter Glover. When some time +had passed, her failure to get a glimpse of him piqued her. One day +with her aunt going down they met Conductor O'Brien. He was more than +ready to answer questions, and fortunately for the reserve that +Gertrude loved to maintain, Mrs. Whitney remarked they had not seen Mr. +Glover for some time. + +"No one has seen much of him for two weeks; he had a little bad luck," +explained Conductor O'Brien. + +"Indeed?" + +"Three weeks ago he was up at Crab Valley. They had a cave-in on the +irrigation canal and two or three men got caught under a coal platform +near the steam shovel. Glover was close by when it happened. He got +his back under the timbers until they could get the men out and broke +two of his ribs. He went home that night without knowing of it, but a +couple of days afterward he sneezed and found it out right away. Since +then he's been doing his work in a plaster cast." + +Their return train that day was several hours behind time and Gertrude +and her aunt were compelled to go up late to the American House for +supper. A hotel supper at Medicine Bend was naturally the occasion of +some merriment, and the two diverted themselves with ordering a wild +assortment of dishes. The supper hour had passed, the dining-room had +been closed, and they were sitting at their dessert when a late comer +entered the room. Gertrude touched her aunt's arm--Glover was passing. + +Mrs. Whitney's first impulse was to halt the silent engineer with one +of her imperative words. To think of him was to think only of his +easily approachable manner; but to see him was indistinctly to recall +something of a dignity of simplicity. She contented herself with a +whisper. "He doesn't see us." + +At the lower end of the room Glover sat down. Almost at once Gertrude +became conscious of the silence. She handled her fork noiselessly, and +the interval before a waitress pushed open the swinging kitchen door to +take his order seemed long. The Eastern girl watched narrowly until +the waitress flounced out, and Glover, shifting his knife and his fork +and his glass of water, spread his limp napkin across his lap, and +resting his elbow on the table supported his head on his hand. + +The surroundings had never looked so bare as then, and a sense of the +loneliness of the shabby furnishings filled her. The ghastliness of +the arc-lights, the forbidding whiteness of the walls, and the +penetrating odors of the kitchen seemed all brought out by the presence +of a man alone. + +Mrs. Whitney continued to jest, but Gertrude responded mechanically. +Glover was eating his supper when the two rose from their table, and +Mrs. Whitney led the way toward him. + +"So, this is the invalid," she said, halting abruptly before him. +"Mrs. Whitney!" exclaimed Glover, trying hastily to rise as he caught +sight of Gertrude. + +"Will you please be seated?" commanded Mrs. Whitney. "I insist----" + +He sat down. "We want only to remind you," she went on, "that we hate +to be completely ignored by the engineering department even when _not_ +officially in its charge." + +"But, Mrs. Whitney, I can't sit if you are to stand," he answered, +greeting Gertrude and her aunt together. + +"You are an invalid; be seated. Nothing but toast?" objected Mrs. +Whitney, drawing out a chair and sitting down. "Do you expect to mend +broken ribs on toast?" + +"I'm well mended, thank you. Do I look like an invalid?" + +"But we heard you were seriously hurt." He laughed. "And want to +suggest Glen Tarn as a health resort." + +"Unfortunately, the doctor has discharged me. In fact, a broken rib +doesn't entitle a man to a lay-off. I hope your sister continues to +improve?" he added, looking at Gertrude. + +"She does, thank you. Mrs. Whitney and I have been talking of the day +we met you at the irrigation--" he did not help her to a word--"works," +she continued, feeling the slight confusion of the pause. "You"--he +looked at her so calmly that it was still confusing--"you were hurt +before we met you and we must have seemed unconcerned under the +circumstances. We speak often at Glen Tarn of the delightful weeks we +spent in your mountain wilds last summer," she added. + +Glover thanked her, but appeared absorbed in Mrs. Whitney's attempt to +disengage her eye-glasses from their holder, and Gertrude made no +further effort to break his restraint. Mrs. Whitney talked, and Glover +talked, but Gertrude reserved her bolt until just before their train +started. + +He had gone with them, and they were standing on the platform before +the vestibule steps of their Pullman car. As the last moment +approached it was not hard to see that Glover was torn between Mrs. +Whitney's rapid-fire talk and a desire to hear something from Gertrude. + +She waited till the train was moving before she loosed her shaft. Mrs. +Whitney had ascended the steps, the porter was impatient, Glover +nervous. Gertrude turned with a smile and a totally bewildering +cordiality on the unfortunate man. "My sister," her glove was on the +hand-rail, "sends some sort of a message to Mr. Glover every time I +come to Medicine Bend--but the gist of them all is that she would be +very"--the train was moving and they were stepping along with it--"glad +to see you at Glen Tarn before----" + +"Gertrude," screamed Mrs. Whitney, "will you get on?" + +Glover's eyes were growing like target-lights. + +"--before we go East," continued Gertrude. "So should I," she added, +throwing in the last three words most inexplicably, as she kept step +with the engineer. But she had not miscalculated the effect. + +"Are you to go soon?" he exclaimed. The porter followed them +helplessly with his stool. Mrs. Whitney wrung her hands, and Gertrude +attempted to reach the lower tread of the car step. + +Someone very decidedly helped her, and she laughed and rose from his +hands as lightly as to a stirrup. When she collected herself, after +the pleasure of the spring, Mrs. Whitney was scolding her for her +carelessness; but she was waving a glove from the vestibule at a big +hat still lifted in the dusk of the platform. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +GLEN TARN + +October had not yet gone when they met again in a Medicine Bend street. +Glover, leaving the Wickiup with Morris Blood, ran into Gertrude Brock +coming out of an Indian curio-shop with Doctor Lanning. She began at +once to talk to Glover. "Marie was regretting, yesterday, that you had +not yet found your way to Glen Tarn." + +The sun beat intensely on her black hat and her suit of gray. In her +gloved hand she twirled the tip of her open sunshade on the pavement +with deliberation and he shifted his footing helplessly. His heavy +face never looked homelier than in sunshine, and she gazed at him with +a calmness that was staggering. He muttered something about having +been unusually busy. + +"We, too, have been," smiled Gertrude, "making final preparations for +our departure." + +"Do you go so soon?" he exclaimed. + +"We are waiting only papa's return now to say good-by to the +mountains." The way in which she put it stirred him as she had +intended it should--uncomfortably. + +"I should certainly want to say good-by to your sister," muttered +Glover. But in saying even so little his naturally unsteady voice +broke one extra tone, and when this happened it angered him. + +"You are not timid, are you?" continued Gertrude. + +"I think I am something of a coward." + +"Then you shouldn't venture," she laughed, "Marie has a scolding for +you." + +Morris Blood had been telling Doctor Lanning that he and Glover were to +go over to Sleepy Cat on the train the doctor and Gertrude were to take +back to Glen Tarn. The two railroad men were just starting across the +yard to inspect an engine, the 1018, which was to pull the limited +train that day for the first time. It was a new monster, planned by +the modest little Manxman, Robert Crosby, for the first district run. +"Help her over the pass," Crosby had whispered--the superintendent of +motive power hardly ever spoke aloud--"and she'll buck a headwind like +a canvas-back. Give her decent weather, and on the Sleepy Cat trail +she'll run away with six, yes, eight Pullmans." + +Doctor Lanning was curious to look over the new machine, the first to +signalize the new ownership of the line, and Gertrude was quite ready +to accept Blood's invitation to go also. + +With the doctor under the superintendent's wing, Gertrude, piloted by +Glover, crossed the network of tracks, asking railroad questions at +every step. + +Reaching the engine, she wanted to get up into the cab, to say that, +before leaving the mountains forever, she had been once inside an +engine. Glover, after some delay, procured a stepladder from the "rip" +track, and with this the daughter of the magnate made an unusual but +easy ascent to the cab. More than that, she made herself a heroine to +every yardman in sight, and strengthened the new administration +incalculably. + +She ignored a conventional offer of waste from the man in charge of the +cab, who she was surprised to learn, after some sympathetic remarks on +her part, was not the engineman at all. He was a man that had +something to do with horses. And when she suggested it would be quite +an event for so big an engine to go over the mountains for the first +time, the hostler told her it had already been over a good many times. + +But Mr. Blood had an easy explanation for every confusing statement, +and did not falter even when Miss Brock wanted to start the 1018 +herself. He objected that she would soil her gloves, but she held them +up in derision; plainly, they had already suffered. Some difficulty +then arose because she could not begin to reach the throttle. Again, +with much chaffing, the stepladder was brought into play, and steadied +on it by Morris Blood, and coached by the hostler, the heiress to many +millions grasped the throttle, unlatched it and pulled at the lever +vigorously with both hands. + +The packing was new, but Gertrude persisted, the bar yielded, and to +her great fright things began to hiss. The engine moved like a roaring +leviathan, and the author of the mischief screamed, tried to stop it, +and being helpless appealed to the unshaven man to help her. Glover, +however, was nearest and shut off. + +It was all very exciting, and when on the turntable Gertrude was told +by the doctor that her suit was completely ruined she merely held up +both her blackened gloves, laughing, as Glover came up; and caught up +her begrimed skirt and joined him with a flush on her cheeks as bright +as a danger signal. + +Some fervor of the magical day, under those skies where autumn itself +is only a heavier wine than spring, something of the deep breath of the +mountain scene seemed to infect her. + +She walked at Glover's side. She recalled with the slightest pretty +mirth his fetching the ladder--the way in which he had crossed a flat +car by planting the ladder alongside, mounting, pulling the steps after +him, and descending on them to the other side. + +In her humor she faintly suggested his awkward competence in doing +things, and he, too, laughed. As they crossed track after track she +would place the toe of her boot on a rail glittering in the sun, and +rising, balance an instant to catch an answer from him before going on. +There was no haste in their manner. They had crossed the railroad +yard, strangers; they recrossed it quite other. Their steps they +retraced, but not their path. The path that led them that day together +to the engine was never to be retraced. + + +To worry Crosby's new locomotive, Blood's car had been ordered added to +the westbound limited, but neither Glover nor Blood spent any time in +the private car. The afternoon went in the Pullman with Gertrude Brock +and Doctor Lanning. At dinner Glover did the ordering because he had +earlier planned to celebrate the promotion, already known, of Morris +Blood to the general superintendency. + +If there were few lines along which the construction engineer could +shine he at least appeared to advantage as the host of his friend, +since the ordering of a dinner is peculiarly a gentleman's matter, and +even the modest complement of wine which the occasion demanded, Glover +toasted in a way that revealed the boyish loyalty between the two men. + +The spirit of it was so contagious that neither the doctor nor Gertrude +made scruple of adding their congratulations. But the moments were +fleeting and Glover, next day, could recall them up to one scene only. +When Gertrude found she could not, even after a brave effort, ride with +her back to the engine, and accepted so graciously Mr. Blood's offer to +change seats, it brought her beside Glover; after that his memory +failed. + +In the morning he felt miserably overdone, as at Sleepy Cat a man might +after running a preliminary half way to heaven. Moreover, when they +parted he had, he remembered, undertaken to dine the following evening +at the Springs. + +When he entered the apartments of the Pittsburg party at six o'clock, +Mrs. Whitney reproached him for his absence during their month at Glen +Tarn, and in Mrs. Whitney's manner, peremptorily. + +"I'm sure we've missed seeing everything worth while about here," she +complained. Her annoyance put Glover in good humor. Marie met him +with a gentler reproach. "And we go next week!" + +"But you've seen everything, I know," he protested, answering both of +them. + +"Whether we have or not, Mr. Glover should be penalized for his +indifference," suggested Marie. Doctor Lanning came in. "Compel him +to show us something we haven't seen around the lake," suggested the +doctor. "That he cannot do; then we have only to decide on his +punishment." + +"Oh, yes, I want to be on that jury," said Gertrude, entering softly in +black. + +"But is this Pittsburg justice?" objected Glover, rising at the spell +of her eyes to the raillery. "Shouldn't I have a try at the scenery +end of the proposition before sentence is demanded?" + +"Justify quickly, then," threatened Marie, as they started for the +dining-room; "we are not trifling." + +"Of course you've been here a month," began Glover, when the party were +seated. + +"Yes." + +"Out every day." + +"Yes." + +"The guides have all your money?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I stake everything on a single throw----" + +"A professional," interjected Doctor Lanning. + +"Only desperate gamesters stake all on a single throw," said Gertrude +warningly. + +"I am a desperate gamester," said Glover, "and now for it. Have you +seen the Devil's Gap?" + +A chorus of derision answered. + +"The very first day--the very first trip!" cried Mrs. Whitney, raising +her tone one note above every other protest. + +"And you staked all on so wretched a chance?" exclaimed Gertrude. +"Why, Devil's Gap is the stock feature of every guide, good, bad, and +indifferent, at the Springs." + +"I have staked more at heavier odds," returned Glover, taking the storm +calmly, "and won. Have you made but one trip, when you first came, do +you say?" + +"The very first day." + +"Then you haven't seen Devil's Gap. To see it," he continued, "you +must see it at night." + +"At night?" + +"With the moon rising over the Spanish Sinks." + +"Ah, how that sounds!" exclaimed Marie. + +"To-night we have full moon," added Glover. "Don't say too lightly you +have seen Devil's Gap, for that is given to but few tourists." + +"Do not call us tourists," objected Gertrude. + +"And from where did you see Devil's Gap--The Pilot?" + +"No, from across the Tarn." + +If the expression of Glover's face, returning somewhat the ridicule +heaped on him, was intended to pique the interest of the sightseers it +was effective. He was restored, provisionally, to favor; his +suggestion that after dinner they take horses for the ride up Pilot +Mountain to where the Gap could be seen by moonlight was eagerly +adopted, and Mrs. Whitney's objection to dressing again was put down. +Marie, fearing the hardship, demurred, but Glover woke to so lively +interest, and promised the trip should be so easy that when she +consented to go he made it his affair to attend directly to her comfort +and safety. + +He summoned one particular liveryman, not a favorite at the fashionable +hotel, and to him gave especial injunctions about the horses. The +girths Glover himself went over at starting, and in the riding he kept +near Marie. + +Lighted by the stars, they left the hotel in the early evening. "How +are you to find your way, Mr. Glover?" asked Marie, as they threaded +the path He led her into after they had reached the mountain. "Is this +the road we came on?" + +"I could climb Pilot blindfolded, I reckon. When we came in here I ran +surveys all around the old fellow, switchbacks and everything. The +line is a Chinese puzzle about here for ten miles. The path you're on +now is an old Indian trail out of Devil's Gap. The guides don't use it +because it is too long. The Gap is a ten-dollar trip, in any case, and +naturally they make it the shortest way." + +For thirty minutes they rode in darkness, then leaving a sharp defile +they emerged on a plateau. + +Across the Sinks the moon was rising full and into a clear sky. To the +right twinkled the lights of Glen Tarn, and below them yawned the +unspeakable wrench in the granite shoulders of the Pilot range called +Devil's Gap. Out of its appalling darkness projected miles of silvered +spurs tipped like grinning teeth by the light of the moon. + +"There are a good many Devil's Gaps in the Rockies," said Glover, after +the silence had been broken; "but, I imagine, if the devil condescends +to acknowledge any he wouldn't disclaim this." + +Gertrude stood beside her sister. "You are quite right," she admitted. +"We have spent our month here and missed the only overpowering +spectacle. This is Dante." + +"Indeed it is," he assented, eagerly. "I must tell you. The first +time I got into the Gap with a locating party I had a volume of Dante +in my pack. It is an unfortunate trait of mine that in reading I am +compelled to chart the topography of a story as I go along. In the +'Inferno' I could never get head or tail of the topography. One night +we camped on this very ledge. In the night the horses roused me. When +I opened the tent fly the moon was up, about where it is now. I stood +till I nearly froze, looking--but I thought after that I could chart +the 'Inferno.' If it weren't so dry, or if we were going to stay all +night, I should have a camp-fire; but it wouldn't do, and before you +get cold we must start back. + +"See," he pointed, far down on the left. "Can you make out that speck +of light? It is the headlight of a freight train crawling up the range +from Sleepy Cat. When the weather is right you can see the white head +of Sleepy Cat Mountain from this spot. That train will wind around in +sight of this knob for an hour, climbing to the mining camps." + +Doctor Lanning called to Marie. Gertrude stood with Glover. + +"Is that the desert of the Spanish Sinks?" she asked, looking into the +stream of the moon. + +"Yes." + +"Is that where you were lost two days?" + +"My horse got away. Have you hurt your hand?" + +She was holding her right hand in her left. "I tore my glove on a +thorn, coming up. It is not much." + +"Is it bleeding?" + +"I don't know; can you see?" + +She drew down the glove gauntlet and held her hand up. If his breath +caught he did not betray it, but while he touched her she could very +plainly feel his hand tremble; yet for that matter his hand, she knew, +trembled frequently. He struck a match. It was no part of her +audacity to betray herself, and she stepped directly between the others +and the little blaze and looked into his face while he Inspected her +wrist. "Can you see?" + +"It is scratched badly, but not bleeding," he answered. + +"It hurts." + +"Very likely; the wounds that hurt most don't always bleed," he said, +evenly. "Let us go." + +"Oh, no," she said; "not quite yet. This is unutterable. I love this." + +"Your aunt, I fear, is not interested. She is complaining of the cold. +I can't light a fire; the mountain is all timber below----" + +"Aunt Jane would complain in heaven, but that wouldn't signify she +didn't appreciate it. Why are you so quickly put out? It isn't like +you to be out of humor." She drew on her glove slowly. "I wish you +had this wrist----" + +"I wish to God I had." The sudden words frightened her. She showed +her displeasure in half turning away, then she resolutely faced him. +"I am not going to quarrel with you even if you make fun of me----" + +"Fun of you?" + +"Even if you put an unfair sense on what I say." + +"I meant what I said in every sense, either to take the pain or--the +other. I couldn't make fun of you. Do you never make fun of me, Miss +Brock?" + +"No, Mr. Glover, I do not. If you would be sensible we should do very +well. You have been so kind, and we are to leave the mountains so +soon, we ought to be good friends." + +"Will you tell me one thing, Miss Brock--are you engaged?" + +"I don't think you should ask, Mr. Glover. But I am not +engaged--unless that in a sense I am," she added, doubtfully. + +"What sense, please?" + +"That I have given no answer. Are you still complaining of the cold, +Aunt Jane?" she cried, in desperation, turning toward Mrs. Whitney. "I +find it quite warm over here. Mr. Glover and I are still watching the +freight train. Come over, do." + +Going back, Glover rode near to Gertrude, who had grown restless and +imperious. To hunt this queer mountain-lion was recreation, but to +have the mountain-lion hunt her was disquieting. + +She complained again of her wounded hand, but refused all suggestions, +and gave him no credit for riding between her and the thorny trees +through the canyon. It was midnight when the party reached the hotel, +and when Gertrude stepped across the parlor to the water-pitcher, +Glover followed. "I must thank you for your thoughtfulness of my +little sister to-night," she was saying. + +He was so intent that he forgot to reply. + +"May I ask one question?" he said. + +"That depends." + +"When you make answer may I know what it is?" + +"Indeed you may not." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +NOVEMBER + +They walked back to the parlors. Doctor Lanning and Marie were picking +up the rackets at the ping-pong table. Mrs. Whitney had gone into the +office for the evening mail. + +Passing the piano, Gertrude sat down and swung around toward the keys. +Glover took music from the table. Unwilling to admit a trace of the +unusual in the beating of her heart, or in her deeper breathing, she +could not entirely control either; there was something too fascinating +in defying the light that she now knew glowed in the dull eyes at her +side. She avoided looking; enough that the fire was there without +directly exposing her own eyes to it. She drummed with one hand, then +with both, at a gavotte on the rack before her. + +Overcome merely at watching her fingers stretch upon the keys he leaned +against the piano. + +"Why did you ask me to come up?" + +As he muttered the words she picked again and again with her right hand +at a loving little phrase in the gavotte. When it went precisely right +she spoke in the same tone, still caressing the phrase, never looking +up. "Are you sorry you came?" + +"No; I'd rather be trod under foot than not be near you." + +"May we not be friends without either of us being martyred? I shall be +afraid ever to ask you to do anything again. Was I wrong in--assuming +it would give you as well as all of us pleasure to dine together this +evening?" + +"No. You know better than that. I am insanely presumptuous, I know +it. Let me ask one last favor----" + +The gavotte rippled under her fingers. "No." + +He turned away. She swung on the stool toward him and looked very +kindly and frankly up. "You have been too courteous to all of us for +that. Ask as many favors as you like, Mr. Glover," she murmured, "but +not, if you please, a last one." + +"It shall be the last, Miss Brock. I only----" + +"You only what?" + +"Will you let me know what day you are going, so I may say good-by?" + +"Certainly I will. You will be at Medicine Bend in any case, won't +you?" + +"No. I have fifteen hundred miles to cover next week." + +"What for--oh, it isn't any of my business, is it?" + +"Looking over the snowsheds. Will you telegraph me?" + +"Where?" + +"At the Wickiup; it will reach me." + +"You might have to come too far. We shall start in a few days." + +"Will you telegraph me?" + +"If you wish me to." + + +Eight days later, when suspense had grown sullen and Glover had parted +with all hope of hearing from her, he heard. In the depths of the +Heart River range her message reached him. + +Every day Giddings, hundreds of miles away at the Wickiup, had had his +route-list. Giddings, who would have died for the engineer, waited, +every point in the repeating covered, day after day for a Glen Tarn +message that Glover expected. For four days Glover had hung like a dog +around the nearer stretches of the division. But the season was +advanced, he dared not delegate the last vital inspection of the year, +and bitterly he retreated from shed to shed until he was buried in the +barren wastes of the eighth district. + +The day in the Heart River mountains is the thin, gray day of the +alkali and the sage. On Friday afternoon Glover's car lay sidetracked +at the east end of the Nine Mile shed waiting for a limited train to +pass. The train was late and the sun was dropping into an ashen strip +of wind clouds that hung cold as shrouds to the north and west when the +gray-powdered engine whistled for the siding. + +Motionless beside the switch Glover saw down the gloom of the shed the +shoes wringing fire from the Pullman wheels, and wondered why they were +stopping. The conductor from the open vestibule waved to him as the +train slowed and ran forward with the message. + +"Giddings wired me to wait for your answer, Mr. Glover," said the +conductor. + +Glover was reading the telegram: + + +"I may start Saturday. + + "G. B." + + +There was one chance to make it; that was to take the limited train +then and there. Bidding the conductor wait he hastened to his car, +called for his gripsack, gave his assistant a volley of orders, and +boarded a Pullman. Not the preferred stock of the whole system would +have availed at that moment to induce an inspection of Nine Mile shed. + +There were men that he knew in the sleepers, but he shunned +acquaintance and walked on till he found an empty section into which he +could throw himself and feast undisturbed on his telegram. He studied +it anew, tried to consider coolly whether her message meant anything or +nothing, and gloated over the magic of the letters that made her +initials: and when he slept, the word last in his heart was Gertrude. + +In the morning he breakfasted late in the sunshine of the diner, passed +his friends again and secluded himself in his section. Never before +had she said "I"; always it had been "we." With eyes half-closed upon +the window he repeated the words and spoke her name after them, because +every time the speaking drugged him like lotus, until, yielding again +to the exhaustion of the week's work and strain, he fell asleep. + +When he woke the car was dark; the train conductor, Sid Francis, was +sitting beside him, laughing. + +"You're sleepy to-day, Mr. Glover." + +"Sid, where are we?" asked Glover, looking at his watch; it was four +o'clock. + +"Grouse Creek." + +"Are we that late? What's the matter?" + +The conductor nodded toward the window. "Look there." + +The sky was gray with a driving haze; a thin sweep of snow flying in +the sand of the storm was whitening the sagebrush. + +Glover, waking wide, turned to the window. "Where's the wind, Sid?" + +"Northwest." + +"What's the thermometer?" + +"Thirty at Creston; sixty when we left MacDill at noon." + +"Everything running?" + +"They've been getting the freights into division since noon. There'll +be something doing to-night on the range. They sent stock warnings +everywhere this morning, but they can't begin to protect the stock +between here and Medicine in one day. Pulling hard, isn't she? We're +not making up anything." + +The porter was lighting the lamps. While they talked it had grown +quite dark. Losing time every mile of the way, the train, +frost-crusted to the eyelids, got into Sleepy Cat at half-past six +o'clock; four hours late. + +The crowded yard, as they pulled through it, showed the tie-up of the +day's traffic. Long lines of freight cars filled the trackage, and +overloaded switch engines struggled with ever-growing burdens to avert +the inevitable blockade of the night. Glover's anxiety, as he left the +train at the station, was as to whether he could catch anything on the +Glen Tarn branch to take him up to the Springs that night, for there he +was resolved to get before morning if he had to take an engine for the +run. + +As he started up the narrow hall leading to the telegraph office he +heard the rustle of skirts above. Someone was descending the stairway, +and with his face in the light he halted. + +"Oh, Mr. Glover." + +"Why--Miss Brock!" It was Gertrude. + +"What in the world--" he began. His broken voice was very natural, she +thought, but there was amazement in his utterance. He noticed there +was little color in her face; the deep boa of fur nestling about her +throat might account for that. + +"What a chance that I should meet you!" she exclaimed, her back hard +against the side wall, for the hall was narrow and brought them face to +face. She spoke on. "Did you get my----?" + +"Did I?" he echoed slowly; "I have travelled every minute since +yesterday afternoon to get here----" + +Her uneasy laugh interrupted him. "It was hardly worth while, all +that." + +"--and I was just going up to find out about getting to Glen Tarn." + +"Glen Tarn! I left Glen Tarn this afternoon all alone to go to +Medicine Bend--papa is there, did you know? He came yesterday with all +the directors. Our car was attached for me to the afternoon train +coming down." She was certainly wrought up, he thought. "But when we +reached here the train I should have taken for Medicine Bend had not +come----" + +"It is here now." + +"Thank heaven, is it?" + +"I came in on it." + +"Then I can start at last! I have been so nervous. Is this our train? +They said our car couldn't be attached to this train, and that I should +have to go down in one of the sleepers. I don't understand it at all. +Will you have the car sent back to Glen Tarn in the morning, Mr. +Glover? And would you get my handbag? I was nearly run over a while +ago by some engine or other. I mustn't miss this train----" + +"Never fear, never fear," said Glover. + +"But I _cannot_ miss it. Be very, very sure, won't you?" + +"Indeed, I shall. The train won't start for some time yet. First let +me take you to your car and then make some inquiries. Is no one down +with you?" + +"No one; I am alone." + +"Alone?" + +"I expected to have been with papa by this time. It takes so little +time to run down, you know, and I telegraphed papa I should come on to +meet him. Isn't it most disagreeable weather?" + +Glover laughed as he shielded her from the wind. "I suppose that's a +woman's name for it." + +The car, coupled to a steampipe, stood just east of the station, and +Glover, helping her into it, went back after a moment to the telegraph +office. It seemed a long time that he was gone, and he returned +covered with snow. She advanced quickly to him in her wraps. "Are +they ready?" + +He shook his head. "I'm afraid you can't get to Medicine to-night." + +"Oh, but I must." + +"They have abandoned Number Six." + +"What does that mean?" + +"The train will be held here to-night on account of the storm. There +will be no train of any kind down before morning; not then if this +keeps up." + +"Is there danger of a blockade?" + +"There is a blockade." + +"Then I must get to papa to-night." She spoke with disconcerting +firmness. + +"May I suggest?" he asked. + +"Certainly." + +"Would it not be infinitely better to go back to the Springs?" + +"No, that would be infinitely worse." + +"It would be comparatively easy--an engine to pull your car up on a +special order?" + +"I will not go back to the Springs to-night, and I will go to Medicine +Bend," she exclaimed, apprehensively. "May I not have a special there +as well as to the Springs?" + +Until that moment he had never seen anything of her father in her; but +her father spoke in every feature; she was a Brock. + +Glover looked grave. "You may have, I am sure, every facility the +division offers. I make only the point," he said, gently, "that it +would be hazardous to attempt to get to the Bend to-night. I have just +come from the telegraph office. In the district I left this morning +the wires are all down to-night. That is where the storm is coming +from. There is a lull here just now, but----" + +"I thank you, Mr. Glover, believe me, very sincerely for your +solicitude. I have no choice but to go, and if I must, the sooner the +better, surely. Is it possible for you to make arrangements for me?" + +"It is possible, yes," he answered, guardedly. + +"But you hesitate." + +"It is a terrible night." + +"I like snow, Mr. Glover." + +"The danger to-night is the wind." + +"Are you afraid of the wind?" There was a touch of ridicule in her +half-laughing tone. + +"Yes," he answered, "I am afraid of the wind." + +"You are jesting." + +She saw that he flushed just at the eyes; but he spoke still gently. + +"You feel that you must go?" + +"I must." + +"Then I will get orders at once." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +NIGHT + +Glover looked at his watch; it was Giddings' trick at Medicine Bend, +and he made little doubt of getting what he asked for. He walked to +the eating-house and from there directly across to the roundhouse, and +started a hurry call for the night foreman. He found him at a desk +talking with Paddy McGraw, the engineer that was to have taken out +Number Six. + +"Paddy," said Glover, "do you want to take me to Medicine to-night?" + +"They've just cancelled Number Six." + +"I know it." + +"You don't have to go to-night, do you?" + +"Yes, with Mr. Brock's car. This isn't as bad as the night you and I +and Jack Moore bucked snow at Point of Rocks," said Glover, +significantly. "Do you remember carrying me from the number seven +culvert clean back to the station after the steampipe broke?" + +"You bet I do, and I never thought you'd see again after the way your +eyes were cooked that night. Well, of course, if you want to go +to-night, it's go, Mr. Glover. You know what you're about, but I'd +never look to see you going out for fun a night like this." + +"I can't help it. Yet I wouldn't want any man to go out with me +to-night unwillingly, Paddy." + +"Why, that's nothing. You got me my first run on this division. I'd +pull you to hell if you said so." + +Glover turned to the night foreman. "What's the best engine in the +house?" + +"There's the 1018 with steam and a plough." + +Glover started. "The 1018?" + +"She was to pull Six." The mountain man picked up the telephone, and +getting the operators, sent a rush message to Giddings. Leaving final +instructions with the two men he returned to the telegraph office. +When Giddings's protest about ordering a train out on such a night +came, Glover, who expected it, choked it back--assuming all +responsibility--gave no explanations and waited. When the orders came +he inspected them himself and returned to the car. Gertrude, in the +car alone, was drinking coffee from a hotel tray on the card table. +"It was very kind of you to send this in," she said, rising cordially. +"I had forgotten all about dinner. Have you succeeded?" + +"Yes. Could you eat what they sent?" + +"Pray look. I have left absolutely nothing and I am very grateful. Do +I not seem so?" she added, searchingly. "I want to because I am." + +He smiled at her earnestness. Two little chairs were drawn up at the +table, and facing each other they sat down while Gertrude finished her +coffee and made Glover take a sandwich. + +When the train conductor came in ten minutes later Glover talked with +him. While the men spoke Gertrude noticed how Glover overran the +dainty chair she had provided. She scrutinized his rough-weather garb, +the heavy hunting boots, the stout reefer buttoned high, and the +leather cap crushed now with his gloves in his hand. She had been +asking him where he got the cap, and a moment before, while her +attention wandered, he had told her the story of a company of Russian +noblemen and engineers from Vladivostok, who, during the summer, had +been his guests, nominally on a bear hunt, though they knew better than +to hunt bears in summer. It was really to pick up points on American +railroad construction. He might go, he thought, the following spring +to Siberia himself, perhaps to stay--this man that feared the wind--he +had had a good offer. The cap was a present. + +The two men went out and she was left alone. A flagman, hat in hand, +passed through the car. The shock of the engine coupler striking the +buffer hardly disturbed her reverie; for her the night meant too much. + +Glover was with the operators giving final instructions to Giddings for +ploughs to meet them without fail at Point of Rocks. Hastening from +the office he looked again at the barometer. It promised badly and the +thermometer stood at ten degrees above zero. + +He had made his way through the falling snow to where they were +coupling the engine to the car, watched narrowly, and going forward +spoke to the engineer. When he re-entered the car it was moving slowly +out of the yard. + +Gertrude, with a smile, put aside her book. "I am so glad," she said, +looking at her watch. "I hope we shall get there by eleven o'clock; we +should, should we not, Mr. Glover?" + +"It's a poor night for making a schedule," was all he said. The arcs +of the long yard threw white and swiftly passing beams of light through +the windows, and the warmth within belied the menace outside. + +At the rear end of the car the flagman worked with one of the +tail-lights that burned badly, and the conductor watched him. Gertrude +laid aside her furs and threw open her jacket. Her hat she kept on, +and sitting in a deep chair told Glover of her father's arrival from +the East on Wednesday and explained how she had set her heart on +surprising him that evening at Medicine Bend. "Where are we now?" she +asked, as the rumble of the whirling trucks deepened. + +"Entering Sleepy Cat Canyon, the Rat River----" + +"Oh, I remember this. I ride on the platform almost every time I come +through here so I may see where you split the mountain. And every time +I see it I ask myself the same question. How came he ever to think of +that?" + +It needed even hardly so much of an effort to lull her companion's +uneasiness. He was a man with no concern at best for danger, except as +to the business view of it, and when personally concerned in the hazard +his scruples were never deep. Not before had he seen or known Gertrude +Brock, for from that moment she gave herself to bewilderment and charm. + +The great engine pulling them made so little of its load that they +could afford to forget the night; indeed, Gertrude gave him no moments +to reflect. From the quick play of their talk at the table she led him +to the piano. When, sitting down, she drew off her gloves. She drew +them off lazily. When he reminded her that she still had on her jacket +she did not look up, but leaning forward she studied the page of a song +on the rack, running the air with her right hand, while she slowly +extended her left arm toward him and let him draw the tight sleeve over +her wrist and from her shoulder. Then his attempt to relieve her of +the second sleeve she wholly ignored, slipping it lightly off and +pursuing the song with her left hand while she let the jacket fall in a +heap on the floor. By the time Glover had picked it up and she had +frowned at him she might safely have asked him, had the fancy struck +her, to head the engine for the peak of Sleepy Cat Mountain. + +Half-way through a teasing Polish dance she stopped and asked suddenly +whether he had had any supper besides the sandwich; and refusing to +receive assurances forthwith abandoned the piano, rummaged the +staterooms and came back bearing in one hand a very large box of candy +and in the other a banjo. She wanted to hear the darky tunes he had +strummed at the desert campfire, and making him eat of the chocolates, +picked meantime at the banjo herself. + +He was so hungry that unconsciously he despatched one entire layer of +the box while she talked. She laughed heartily at his appetite, and at +his solicitation began tasting the sweetmeats herself. She led him to +ask where the box had come from and refused to answer more than to +wonder, as she discarded the tongs and proffered him a bonbon from her +fingers, whether possibly she was not having more pleasure in disposing +of the contents than the donor of the box had intended. Changing the +subject capriciously she recalled the night in the car that he had +assisted in Louise Bonner's charade, and his absurdly effective +pirouetting in a corner behind the curtain where Louise and he thought +no one saw them. + +"And, by the way," she added, "you never told me whether your +stenographer finally came that day you tried to put me at work." + +Glover hung his head. + +"Did she?" + +"Yes." + +"What is she like?" + +He laughed and was about to reply when the train conductor coming +forward touched him on the shoulder and spoke. Gertrude could not hear +what he said, but Glover turned his head and straightened in his chair. +"I can't smell anything," he said, presently. With the conductor he +walked to the hind end of the car, opened the door, and the three men +went out on the platform. + +"What is it?" asked Gertrude, when Glover came back. + +"One of the journals in the rear truck is heating. It is curious," he +mused; "as many times as I've ridden in this car I've never known a box +to run hot till to-night--just when we don't want it to." + +He drew down the slack of the bell cord, pulled it twice firmly and +listened. Two freezing pipes from the engine answered; they sounded +cold. A stop was made and Glover, followed by the trainmen, went +outside. Gertrude walking back saw them in the driving snow beneath +the window. Their lamps burned bluishly dim. From the journal box +rose a whipping column of black smoke expanding, when water was got on +the hot steel, into a blinding explosion of white vapor that the storm +snatched away in rolling clouds. There was running to and from the +engine and the delay was considerable, but they succeeded at last in +rigging a small tank above the wheel so that a stream of water should +run into the box. + +The men re-entered with their faces stung by the cold, the engine +hoarsely signalled and the car started. Glover made little of the +incident, but Gertrude observed some preoccupation in his manner. He +consulted frequently his watch. Once when he was putting it back she +asked to see it. His watch was the only thing of real value he had and +he was pleased to show it. It contained a portrait of his mother, and +Gertrude, to her surprise and delight, found it. She made him answer +question after question, asked him to let her take the watch from the +chain and studied the girlish face of this man's mother until she +noticed its outlines growing dim and looked impatiently up at the deck +burner: the gas was freezing in the storage tanks. + +Glover walked to the rear; the journal they told him was running hot +again. The engineer had asked not to be stopped till they reached Soda +Buttes, where he should have to take water. When he finally slowed for +the station the box was ablaze. + +The men hastening out found their drip-tank full of ice: there was +nothing for it but fresh brasses, and Glover getting down in the snow +set the jack with his own hands so it should be set right. The +conductor passed him a bar, but Gertrude could not see; she could only +hear the ring of the frosty steel. Then with a scream the safety valve +of the engine popped and the wind tossed the deafening roar in and out +of the car, now half dark. Stunned by the uproar and disturbed by the +failing light she left her chair, and going over sat down at the window +beneath which Glover was working; some instinct made her seek him. +When the car door opened, the flagman entered with both hands filled +with snow. + +"Are you ready to start?" asked Gertrude. He shook his head and +bending over a leather chair rubbed the snow vigorously between his +fingers. + +"Oh, are you hurt?" + +"I froze my fingers and Mr. Glover ordered me in," said the boy. +Gertrude noticed for the first time the wind and listened; standing +still the car caught the full sweep and it rang in her ears softly, a +far, lonely sound. + +While she listened the lights of the car died wholly out, but the +jargon of noises from the truck kept away some of the loneliness. She +knew he would soon come and when the sounds ceased she waited for him +at the door and opened it hastily for him. He looked storm-beaten as +he held his lantern up with a laugh. Then he examined the flagman's +hand, followed Gertrude forward and placed the lantern on the table +between them, his face glowing above the hooded light. They were +running again, very fast, and the rapid whipping of the trucks was +resonant with snow. + +"How far now to Medicine?" she smiled. + +"We are about half-way. From here to Point of Rocks we follow an +Indian trail." + +The car was no longer warm. The darkness, too, made Gertrude restless +and they searched the storage closets vainly for candles. When they +sat down again they could hear the panting of the engine. The exhaust +had the thinness of extreme cold. They were winding on heavy grades +among the Buttes of the Castle Creek country, and when the engineer +whistled for Castle station the big chime of the engine had shrunk to a +baby's treble; it was growing very cold. + +As the car slowed, Glover caught an odor of heated oil, and going back +found the coddled journal smoking again, and like an honest man cursed +it heartily, then he went forward to find out what the stop was for. +He came back after some moments. Gertrude was waiting at the door for +him. "What did you learn?" + +He held his lantern up to light her face and answered her question with +another. + +"Do you think you could stand a ride in the engine cab?" + +"Surely, if necessary. Why?" + +"The engine isn't steaming overly well. When we leave this point we +get the full wind across the Sweetgrass plains. There's no fit place +at this station for you--no place, in fact--or I should strongly advise +staying here. But if you stayed in the car there's no certainty we +could heat it another hour. If we sidetrack the car here with the +conductor and flagman they can stay with the operator and you and I can +take the cab into Medicine Bend." + +"Whatever you think best." + +"I hate to suggest it." + +"It is my fault. Shall we go now?" + +"As soon as we sidetrack the car. Meantime"--he spoke +earnestly--"remember it may mean life--bundle yourself up in everything +warm you can find." + +"But you?" + +"I am used to it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +STORM + +Muffled in wraps Gertrude stood at the front door waiting to leave the +car. It had been set in on the siding, and the engine, uncoupled, had +disappeared, but she could see shifting lights moving near. One, the +bright, green-hooded light, her eyes followed. She watched the furious +snow drive and sting hornet-like at its rays as it rose or swung or +circled from a long arm. Her straining eyes had watched its coming and +going every moment since he left her. When his figure vanished her +breath followed it, and when the green light flickered again her breath +returned. + +The men were endeavoring to reset the switch for the main line contact. +Three lights were grouped close about the stand, and after the rod had +been thrown, Glover went down on his knee feeling for the points under +the snow with his hands before he could signal the engine back; one +thing he could not afford, a derail. She saw him rise again and saw, +dimly, both his arms spread upward and outward. She saw the tiny +lantern swing a cautious incantation, and presently, like a monster +apparition, called out of the storm the frosted outlines of the tender +loomed from the darkness. The engine was being brought to where this +dainty girl passenger could step with least exposure from her vestibule +to its cab gangway. With exquisite skill the unwieldy monster, forced +in spite of night and stress to do its master's bidding, was being +placed for its extraordinary guest. + +Picking like a trained beast its backward steps, with cautious strength +the throbbing machine, storm-crusted and storm-beaten, hissing its +steady defiance at its enemy, halted, and Gertrude was lighted and +handed across the short path, passed up inside the canvas door by +Glover and helped to the fireman's box. + +Out in the storm she heard from the conductor and flagman rough shouts +of good luck. Glover nodded to the engineer, the fireman yelled +good-by, slammed back the furnace door, and a blinding flash of white +heat, for an instant, took Gertrude's senses; when the fireman slammed +the door to they were moving softly, the wind was singing at the +footboard sash, and the injectors were loading the boiler for the work +ahead. + +A berth blanket fastened between Gertrude and the side window and a +cushion on the box made her comfortable. Under her feet lay a second +blanket. She had come in with a smile, but the gloom of the cab gave +no light to a smile. Only the gauge faces high above her showed the +flash of the bull's-eyes, and the multitude of sounds overawed her. + +On the opposite side she could see the engineer, padded snug in a +blouse, his head bullet-tight under a cap, the long visor hanging +beak-like over his nose. His chin was swathed in a roll of neck-cloth, +and his eyes, whether he hooked the long lever at his side or stretched +both his arms to latch the throttle, she could never see. Then, or +when his hand fell back to the handle of the air, as it always fell, +his profile was silent. If she tried to catch his face he was looking +always, statue-like, ahead. + +Standing behind him, Glover, with a hand on a roof-brace, steadied +himself. In spite of the comforts he had arranged for her, Gertrude, +in her corner, felt a lonely sense of being in the way. In her +father's car there was never lacking the waiting deference of trainmen; +in the cab the men did not even see her. + +In the seclusion of the car a storm hardly made itself felt; in the cab +she seemed under the open sky. The wind buffeted the glass at her +side, rattled in its teeth the door in front of her, drank the steaming +flame from the stack monstrously, and dashed the cinders upon the thin +roof above her head with terrifying force. With the gathering speed of +the engine the cracking exhaust ran into a confusing din that deafened +her, and she was shaken and jolted. The plunging of the cab grew +violent, and with every lurch her cushion shifted alarmingly. She +resented Glover's placing himself so far away, and could not see that +he even looked toward her. The furnace door slammed until she thought +the fireman must have thrown in coal enough to last till morning, but +unable to realize the danger of overloading the fire he stopped only +long enough to turn various valve-wheels about her feet, and with his +back bent resumed his hammering and shovelling as if his very salvation +were at stake: so, indeed, that night it was. + +Gertrude watched his unremitting toil; his shifty balancing on his +footing with ever-growing amazement, but the others gave it not the +slightest heed. The engineer looked only ahead, and Glover's face +behind him never turned. Then Gertrude for the first time looked +through her own sash out into the storm. + +Strain as she would, her vision could pierce to nothing beyond the +ceaseless sweep of the thin, wild snow across the brilliant flow of the +headlight. She looked into the white whirl until her eyes tired, then +back to the cab, at the flying shovel of the fireman, the peaked cap of +the muffled engineer--at Glover behind him, his hand resting now on the +reverse lever hooked high at his elbow. But some fascination drew her +eyes always back to that bright circle in the front--to the sinister +snow retreating always and always advancing; flowing always into the +headlight and out, and above it darkening into the fire that streamed +from the dripping stack. A sudden lurch nearly threw her from her +seat, and she gave a little scream as the engine righted. Glover +beside her like thought caught her outstretched hand. "A curve," he +said, bending apologetically toward her ear as she reseated herself. +"Is it very trying?" + +"No, except that I am in continual fear of falling from my seat--or +having to embrace the unfortunate fireman. Oh!" she exclaimed, putting +her wrist on Glover's arm as the cab jerked. + +"If I could keep out of the fireman's way, I should stand here," he +said. + +"There is room on the seat here, I think, if you have not wholly +deserted me. Oh!" + +"I didn't mean to desert you. It is because the snow is packing harder +that you are rocked more; the cab has really been riding very smoothly." + +She moved forward on the box. "Are you going to sit down?" + +"Thank you." + +"Oh, don't thank me. I shall feel ever so much safer if you will." He +tried to edge up into the corner behind her, pushing the heavy cushion +up to support her back. As he did so she turned impatiently, but he +could not catch what she said. "Throw it away," she repeated. He +chucked the cushion forward below her feet and was about to sit up +where she had made room for him when the engineer put both hands to the +throttle-bar and shut off. For the first time since they had started +Gertrude saw him look around. + +"Where's Point of Rocks?" he called to Glover as they slowed, and he +looked at his watch. "I'm afraid we're by." + +"By?" echoed Glover. + +"It looks so." + +The fireman opened his furnace with a bang. The engineer got stiffly +down and straightened his legs while he consulted with Glover. Both +knew they had been running past small stations without seeing them, but +to lose Point of Rocks with its freight houses, coal chutes, and water +tanks! + +They talked for a minute, the engineer climbed up to his seat, the +reverse lever was thrown over and they started cautiously back on a +hunt for the lost station, both straining their eyes for a glimpse of a +light or a building. For twenty minutes they ran back without finding +a solitary landmark. When they stopped, afraid to retreat farther, +Glover got out into the storm, walked back and forth, and, chilled to +the bone, plunged through the shallow drifts from side to side of the +right of way in a vain search for reckoning. Railroad men on the +rotary, the second day after, exploded Glover's torpedoes eleven miles +west of Point of Rocks, where he had fastened them that night to the +rails to warn the ploughs asked for when leaving Sleepy Cat. + +With his clothing frozen he swung up into the cab. They were lost. +She could see his eyes now. She could see his face. Their perilous +state she could not understand, nor know; but she knew and understood +what she saw in his face and eyes--the resource and the daring. She +saw her lover then, master of the elements, of the night and the +danger, and her heart went out to his strength. + +The three men talked together and the fireman asked the question that +none dared answer, "What about the ploughs?" + +Would Giddings hold them at Point of Rocks till the Special reported? + +Would he send them out to keep the track open regardless of the +Special's reaching Point of Rocks? + +Had they themselves reached Point of Rocks at all? If past it, had +they been seen? Were the ploughs ahead or behind? And the fireman +asked another question; if they were by the Point tank, would the water +hold till they got to Medicine Bend? No one could answer. + +There was but one thing to do; to keep in motion. They started slowly. +The alternatives were discussed. Glover, pondering, cast them all up, +his awful responsibility, unconscious of her peril, watching him from +the fireman's box. The engineer looked to Glover instinctively for +instructions and, hesitating no longer, he ordered a dash for Medicine +Bend regardless of everything. + +Without a qualm the engineer opened his throttle and hooked up his bar +and the engine leaped blindly ahead into the storm. Glover, in a few +words, told Gertrude their situation. He made no effort to disguise +it, and to his astonishment she heard him quietly. He cramped himself +down at her feet and muffled his head in his cap and collar to look +ahead. + +They had hardly more than recovered their lost distance, and were +running very hard when a shower of heavy blows struck the cab and the +engine gave a frantic plunge. Forgetting that he pulled no train +McGraw's eyes flew to the air gauge with the thought his train had +broken, but the pointer stood steady at the high pressure. Again the +monster machine strained, and again the cab rose and plunged +terrifically. The engineer leaped at the throttle like a cat; +Gertrude, jolted first backward, was thrown rudely forward on Glover's +shoulder, and the fireman slid head first into the oil cans. Worst of +all, Glover, in saving Gertrude, put his elbow through the lower glass +of the running-board door. The engine stopped and a blast of powdered +ice streamed in on them; their eyes met. + +She tried to get her breath. "Don't be frightened," he said; "you are +all right. Sit perfectly still. What have you got, Paddy?" he called +to the engineer. The engineer did not attempt to answer; taking +lanterns, the two men climbed out of the cab to investigate. The wind +swept through the broken pane and Gertrude slipped down from her seat +with relief, while the fireman caught up a big double handful of waste +from his box and stuffed it into the broken pane. So intense had the +strain of silence become that she would have spoken to him, but the +sudden stop sprung the safety-valve, and overwhelmed with its roar she +could only watch him in wretched suspense shake the grate, restore his +drip can, start his injector, and hammer like one pursued by a fury at +the coal. Since she had entered the cab this man had never for one +minute rested. + +McGraw, followed by Glover, climbed back under the canvas from the +gangway. Their clothing, moist with the steam of the cab, had +stiffened the instant the wind struck it. McGraw hastening to the +furnace seized the chain, jerked open the door and motioned to Glover +to come to the fire, but Glover shook his head behind McGraw, his hands +on the little man's shoulders, and forced him down in front of the +fearful blaze to thaw the gloves from his aching fingers. + +All the horror of the storm they were facing had passed Gertrude unfelt +until she saw the silent writhing of the crouching man. This was three +minutes of the wind that Glover had asked her not to tempt; this was +the wind she had tempted. She was glad that Glover, bending over the +engineer, holding one hand to the fire as he gazed into it, did not +look toward her. From cap to boots he was frozen in snow and ice. The +two men, without speaking, left the cab again. They were gone longer. +Gertrude felt chills running over her. + +"This is a terrible night," she said to the fireman. + +"Yes, ma'am, it's pretty bad. I don't know why they'd send white men +out into this. I wouldn't send a coyote out." + +"They are staying out so long this time," she murmured. "Could they +possibly freeze while they are out, do you think?" + +"Sure, they could; but them boys know too much for that. Mr. Glover +stays out a week at a time in this kind; he don't care. That man Paddy +McGraw is his head engineer in the bucking gang; he don't care--them +fellows don't care. But I've got a wife at the Cat and two babies, +that's my fix. I never cared neither when I was single, but if I'm +carried home now it's seven hundred and fifty relief and a thousand +dollars in the A. O. U. W., and that's the end of it for the woman. +That's why I don't like to freeze to death, ma'am. But what can you do +if you're ordered out? Suppose your woman is a-hangin' to your neck +like mine hung to me to-night and cryin'--whatever can you do? You've +got to go or lose your job; and if you lose your job who'll feed your +kids then?" + +McGraw's head appeared under the canvas doorway. Glover did not follow +him and Gertrude grew alarmed: but when the canvas rattled and she saw +his cap she was waiting for him at the doorway and she put her hands +happily on his frozen sleeve: "I'm so glad." + +He looked at her with humor in his big eyes. + +"I was afraid without you," she added, confusedly. + +He laughed. "There's nothing to be afraid of." + +"Oh, you are so cold. Come to the fire." + +"What do you think about the ploughs now?" he asked of McGraw, who had +climbed up to his seat. + +"How many is there?" returned the engineer as Glover shivered before +the fire. + +"There may be a thousand." + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"There's only one thing, Paddy. Go through them," answered Glover, +slamming shut the furnace door. + +McGraw laid his bar over, and, like one putting his house in order, +looked at his gauges and tried his valves. + +"What is it?" whispered Gertrude, at Glover's side. + +He turned. "We've struck a bunch of sheep." + +"Sheep?" + +"In a storm they drift to keep from freezing out in the open. These +sheep have bunched in a little cut out of the wind," he explained, as +the fireman sprinkled the roaring furnace. "You had better get up on +your seat, Miss Brock." + +"But what are you going to do?" + +"Run through them." + +"Run through them? Do you mean to kill them?" + +"We shall have to kill a few; there isn't much danger." + +"But oh, must you mangle those poor creatures huddling in the cut out +of the storm? Oh, don't do that." + +"We can't help it." + +"Oh, yes, yes, you can if you will, I am sure." She looked at him +imploringly. + +"Indeed I cannot. Listen a moment." He spoke steadily. The wheels +were turning under her, the engine was backing for the dash. "We know +now the ploughs are not ahead of us, for the cut is full of sheep and +snow. If they are behind us we are in grave danger. They may strike +us at any moment--that means, do you understand? death. We can't go +back now; there's too much snow even if the track were clear. To stay +here means to freeze to death." She turned restively from him. "Could +you have thought it a joke," he asked, slowly, "to run a hundred and +seventy miles through a blizzard?" She looked away and her sob cut him +to the heart. "I did not mean to wound you," he murmured. "It's only +that you don't realize what self-preservation means. I wouldn't kill a +fly unnecessarily, but do you think I could stand it to see anyone in +this cab mangled by a plough behind us--or to see you freeze to death +if the engine should die and we're caught here twelve hours? It is our +lives or theirs, that's all, and they will freeze anyway. We are only +putting them out of their misery. Come; we are starting." He helped +her to her seat. + +"Don't leave me," she faltered. The cylinder cocks were drumming +wildly. "Which ever way we turn there's danger," he admitted, +reluctantly, "a steam pipe might burst. You must cover your face." +She drew the high collar of her coat around her neck and buried her +face in her muff, but he caught up a blanket and dropped it completely +over her head; then locking her arm in his own he put one heavy boot +against the furnace door, and, braced between the woman he loved and +the fire-box, nodded to the engineer--McGraw gave head. + +Furred with snow, and bearded fearfully with ice; creeping like a +mountain-cat on her prey; quivering under the last pound of steam she +could carry, and hissing wildly as McGraw stung her heels again and +again from the throttle, the great engine moved down on the blocked cut. + +Unable to reckon distance or resistance but by instinct, and forced to +risk everything for headway, McGraw pricked the cylinders till the +smarting engine roared. Then, crouching like a jockey for a final +cruel spur he goaded the monster for the last time and rose in his +stirrups for the crash. + +With never a slip or a stumble, hardly reeling in her ponderous frame, +the straining engine plunged headlong into the curve. Only once, she +staggered and rolled; once only, three reckless men rose to answer +death as it knocked at their hearts; but their hour was not come, and +the engine struggled, righted, and parted the living drift from end to +end. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +DAYBREAK + +Crouching under the mountains in the grip of the storm Medicine Bend +slept battened in blankets and beds. All night at the Wickiup, O'Neill +and Giddings, gray with anxiety, were trying to keep track of Glover's +Special. It was the only train out that night on the mountain +division. For the first hour or two they kept tab on her with little +trouble, but soon reports began to falter or fail, and the despatchers +were reduced at last to mere rumors. They dropped boards ahead of +Special 1018, only to find to their consternation that she was passing +them unheeded. + +Once, at least, they knew that she herself had slipped by a night +station unseen. Oftener, with blanched faces they would hear of her +dashing like an apparition past a frightened operator, huddled over his +lonely stove, a spectral flame shot across the fury of the sky--as if +the dread night breathing on the scrap-pile and the grave had called +from other nights and other storms a wraith of riven engines and +slaughtered men to one last phantom race with death and the wind. + +Within two hours of division headquarters a train ran lost--lost as +completely as if she were crossing the Sweetgrass plains on pony trails +instead of steel rails. Not once but a dozen times McGraw and Glover, +pawning their lives, left the cab with their lanterns in a vain +endeavor to locate a station, a siding, a rock. Numbed and bitten at +last with useless exposure they cast effort to the wind, gave the +engine like a lost horse her head, and ran through everything for +headquarters and life. Consultation was abandoned, worry put away, one +good chance set against every other chance and taken in silence. + +At five o'clock that morning despatchers and night men under the +Wickiup gables, sitting moodily around the big stove, sprang to their +feet together. From up the distant gorge, dying far on the gale, came +the long chime blast of an engine whistle; it was the lost Special. + +They crowded to the windows to dispute and listen. Again the heavy +chime was sprung and a second blast, lasting and defiant, reached the +Wickiup--McGraw was whistling for the upper yard and the long night of +anxiety was ended. Unable to see a car length into the storm howling +down the yard, save where the big arc-lights of the platform glared +above the semaphores, the men swarmed to the windows to catch a glimpse +of the belated engine. When the rays of its electric headlight pierced +the Western night they shouted like boys, ran to the telephones, and +while the roundhouse, the superintendent, and the master-mechanic were +getting the news the Special engine steamed slowly into sight through +the whirling snow and stopped at the semaphore. So a liner shaken in +the teeth of a winter storm, battered by heading seas, and swept by +stiffening spray, rides at last, ice-bound, staggering, majestic, into +port. + +The moment they struck the mountain-path into the Bend, McGraw and +Glover caught their bearings by the curves, and Glover, standing at +Gertrude's elbow, told her they were safe. + +Not until he had laughed into her ear something that the silent McGraw, +lying on his back under the engine with a wrench, when he confessed he +never expected to see Medicine Bend again, had said of her own splendid +courage did the flood spring from her eyes. + +When Glover added that they were entering the gorge, and laughingly +asked if she would not like to sound the whistle for the yard limits, +she smiled through tears and gave him her hand to be helped down, +cramped and chilled, from her corner. + +At the moment that she left the cab she faltered again. McGraw +stripped his cap from his head as she turned to speak. She took from +the breast of her blouse her watch, dainty as a jewel, and begged him +to take it, but he would not. + +She drew her glove and stripped from her finger a ring. + +"This is for your wife," she said, pressing it into his hand. + +"I have no wife." + +"Your sister." + +"Nor sister." + +"Keep it for your bride," she whispered, retreating. "It is yours. +Good-by, good-by!" + +She sprang from the gangway to Glover's arms and the snow. The storm +drove pitilessly down the bare street as she clung to his side and +tried to walk the half block to the hotel. The wind, even for a single +minute, was deadly to face. No light, no life was anywhere visible. +He led her along the lee of the low street buildings, and mindful of +the struggle it was to make headway at all turned half between her and +the wind to give her the shelter of his shoulders, halting as she +stumbled to encourage her anew. He saw then that she was struggling in +the darkness for breath, and without a word he bent over her, took her +up like a child and started on, carrying her in his arms. + +If he frightened her she gave no sign. She held herself for an instant +uncertain and aloof, though she could not but feel the heavy draught +she made on his strength. The wind stung her cheeks; her breath caught +again in her throat and she heard him implore her to turn her face, to +turn it from the wind. He stumbled as he spoke, and as she shielded +her face from the deadly cold, one hand slipped from her muff. +Reaching around his head she drew his storm-cap more closely down with +her fingers. When he thanked her she tried to speak and could not, but +her glove rested an instant where the wind struck his cheek; then her +head hid upon his shoulder and her arms wound slowly and tightly around +his neck. + +He kicked open the door of the hotel with one blow of his foot and set +her down inside. + +In the warm dark office, breathing unsteadily, they faced each other. +"Can you, Gertrude, marry that man and break my heart?" He caught up +her two hands with his words. + +"No," she answered, brokenly. "Are you sure you are not frozen--ears +or cheeks or hands?" + +"You won't marry him, Gertrude, and break my heart? Tell me you won't +marry him." + +"No, I won't." + +"Tell me again." + +"Shall I tell you everything?" + +"If you have mercy for me as I have love for you." + +"I ran away from him to-night. He came out with the directors and +telegraphed he would be at the Springs in the afternoon for his answer, +and--I ran away. He has his answer long ago and I would not see him." + +"Brave girl!" + +"Oh, I wasn't brave, I was a dreadful coward. But I thought----" + +"What?" + +"--I could be brave, if I found as brave a man--as you." + +"Gertrude, if I kiss you I never can give you up. Do you understand +what that means? I never in life or death can give you up, Gertrude, +do you understand me?" + +She was crying on his shoulder. "Oh, yes, I understand," and he heard +from her lips the maddening sweetness of his boy name. "I understand," +she sobbed. "I don't care, Ab--if only--, you will be kind to me." + +It was only a moment later--her head had not yet escaped from his arm, +for Glover found for the first time that it is one thing to get leave +to kiss a lovely woman and wholly another to get the necessary action +on the conscience-stricken creature--she had not yet, I say, escaped, +when a locomotive whistle was borne from the storm faintly in on their +ears. To her it meant nothing, but she felt him start. "What is it?" +she whispered. + +"The ploughs!" + +"The ploughs?" + +"The snow-ploughs that followed us. Twenty minutes behind--twenty +minutes between us and death, Gertrude, in that blizzard, think of it. +That must mean we are to live." + +The solemn thought naturally suggested, to Glover at least, a +resumption of the status quo, but as he was locating, in the dark, +there came from behind the stove a mild cough. The effect on the +construction engineer of the whole blizzard was to that cough as +nothing. Inly raging he seated Gertrude--indeed, she sunk quite +faintly into a chair, and starting for the stove Glover dragged from +behind it Solomon Battershawl. "What are you doing here?" demanded +Glover, savagely. + +"I'm night clerk, Mr. Glover--ow----" + +"Night clerk? Very well, Solomon," muttered Glover, grimly, "take this +young lady to the warmest room in the house at once." + +"Every room's full, Mr. Glover. Trains were all tied up last night." + +"Then show her to my room." + +"Your room's occupied." + +"My room occupied, you villain? What do you mean? Throw out whoever's +in it instantly." + +"Mr. Brock is in your room." + +Gertrude had come over to the stove. + +"Mr. Brock!" + +"My father!" + +"Yes, sir; yes, ma'am." + +Gertrude and Glover looked at one another. + +"Mr. Blood brought him up last night," said Solomon. + +"Where's Mr. Blood?" + +"He hasn't come up from the Wickiup. They said he was worried over a +special from the Cat that was caught in the blizzard. Your laundry +came in all right last night, Mr. Glover----" + +"Hang the laundry." + +"I paid for it." + +"Will you cease your gabble? If Mr. Blood's room is empty take Miss +Block up there and rouse a chambermaid instantly to attend her. Do you +hear?" + +"Shall I throw out Mr. Brock?" + +"Let him alone, stupid. What's the matter with the lights?" + +"The wires are down." + +"Get a candle for Miss Brock. Now, will you make haste?" Solomon, +when he heard the name, stared at Miss Brock--but when he recognized +her he started without argument and was gone an unconscionably long +time. + +They sat down where they could feast on each other's eyes in the glow +of the coal-stove. + +"You have looked so worried all night," said Gertrude, in love's +solicitude; "were you afraid we should be lost?" + +"No, I didn't intend we should be lost." + +"What was it? What is it that makes you so careworn?" + +"Nothing special." + +"But you mustn't have any secrets from me now. What is it?" + +"Do you want to know?" + +"Yes." + +"I couldn't find time to get shaved before we left Sleepy Cat----" + +She rose with both hands uplifted: "Shades of vain heroes! Have I +wasted my sympathy all night on a man who has been saving my life with +perfect calmness and worrying because he couldn't get shaved?" + +"Can you dispassionately say that I don't need barbering?" + +"No. But this is what I will say, silly fellow--you don't know much +about a woman's heart, do you, Ab? When I first looked at you I +thought you were the homeliest man I had ever seen, do you know that?" + +Glover fingered his offending chin and looked at her somewhat +pathetically. + +"But last night"--her quick mouth was so eloquent--"last night I +watched you. I saw your face lighted by the anger of the storm. I +knew then what those heavy, homely lines below your eyes were +for--strength. And I saw your eyes, to me so dull at first, wake and +fill with such a light and burn so steadily hour after hour that I knew +I had never seen eyes like yours. I knew you would save me--that is +what made me so brave, goosie. Sit right where you are, please." + +She slipped out of her chair; he pursued. "If you will say such things +and then run into the dark corners," he muttered. But when Solomon +appeared with a water-pitcher they were ready for him. + +"Now what has kept you all this time?" glared Glover, insincerely. + +"I couldn't find any ice-water." + +"Ice-water!" + +"Every pipe is froze solid, but I chopped up some ice and brought that." + +"Ice-water, you double-dyed idiot! Go get your candle." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Don't be so cross," whispered Gertrude. "You were so short with that +poor fireman to-night, and he told me such a pitiful story about being +ordered out and having to go or lose his position----" + +"Did Foley tell you that?" + +"Yes." + +"Surely, nerve runs in his family as well as his cousin's. The rascal +came because I hung up a little purse for a fireman at the roundhouse, +and he nearly had a fight with another fellow that wanted to cut him +out of the job." + +"Such a cheat! How much did you offer him?" + +"Not very much." + +"But how much?" + +"Twenty-five dollars, and, by heavens, he dunned me for it just after +we started." + +"But his poor wife hung to his neck when he left----" + +"No doubt. She has pulled all the hair out of his head twice that I +know of----" + +"And I gave him my purse with all the money I had in it." + +"How much?" + +"About three hundred dollars." + +"Three hundred dollars! Foley will lay off two months and take the +whole family back to Pittsburg. Now, here's your candle and chopped +ice and Mr. Battershawl." + +Gertrude turned for a last whisper--"What should you say if papa came +down?" + +"What should I say? He would probably say, 'Mr. Glover, I have your +room.' 'Don't mention it,' I should reply, 'I have your daughter.'" +But Mr. Brock did not come down. + +Barely half an hour later, while Glover waited with anxiety at the foot +of the stairs, Gertrude reappeared, and with her loveliness all new, +walked shyly and haltingly down each step toward him. + +Not a soul about the hotel office had stirred, and Glover led her to +the retired little parlor, which was warm and dim, to reassure himself +that the fluttering girl was all his own. Unable to credit the fulness +of their own happiness they sat confiding to each other all the sweet +trifles, now made doubly sweet, of their strange acquaintance. Before +six o'clock, and while their seclusion was still their own, a hot +breakfast was served to them where they sat, and day broke on storm +without and lovers within. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SUSPENSE + +What shapes the legends of the Wickiup? Is it because in the winter +night the wind never sleeps in the gorge above the headquarters shack +that despatchers talk yet of a wind that froze the wolf and the sheep +and the herder to marble together? Is it because McGraw runs no more +that switchmen tell of the run he made over Sweetgrass the night he +sent a plough through eight hundred head of sheep in less than a tenth +as many seconds? Could the night that laid the horse and the hunter +side by side in the Spider Park drift have been wildest of all wild +mountain nights? Or is it because Gertrude Brock and her railroad +lover rode out its storm together that mountain men say there was never +a storm like that? What shapes the Wickiup legends? + +For three days Medicine Bend did not see the sun. Veering uneasily, +springing from every quarter at once, the wind wedged the gray clouds +up the mountain sides only to roll them like avalanches down the ragged +passes. At the end of the week snow was falling. + +Not until the morning of the third day when reports came in of the +unheard-of temperatures in the North and West did the weather cause +real apprehension. The division never had been in such a position to +protect its winter traffic--for a year Callahan, Blood, and Glover had +been overhauling and assembling the old and the new bucking equipment. +But the wind settled at last in the northeast, and when it stilled the +mercury sunk, and when it rose the snow fell, roofing the sheds on the +passes, levelling the lower gulches, and piling up reserves along the +cuts. + +The first trouble came on the main line in the Heart Mountains, and +Morris Blood, with the roadmaster of the sixth district and Benedict +Morgan, got after it with a crew together. + +Between the C bridge and Potter's Gap they spent two days with a rotary +and a flanger and three consolidated engines and went home, leaving +everything swept clean, only to learn in the morning that west of the +gap there were four feet of fresh snow clear to Rozelle. From the +northern ranges came unusual reports of the continued severity of the +storms. It was hardly a series of storms, for that winter the first +storm that crossed the line lasted three weeks. + +In the interval Bucks was holding to the directors at Medicine Bend, +waiting for the weather to settle enough to send them to the coast. +The Pittsburg party waited at Glen Tarn for Mr. Brock's word to join +him. At the Bend, Gertrude made love to her father, forfending the +awful moment of disclosure that must come, and the cause of her hidden +happiness and trouble strenuously made love to her. + +To the joy of the conspirators, Bucks held Glover closely at +headquarters, keeping him closeted for long periods on the estimates +that were in final cooking for the directors; and so dense are great +people and so keen the simple, that Gertrude held her lone seat of +honor beside her father, at the table of the great financiers in the +dining-room, without the remotest suspicion on their parts that the +superb woman meeting them three times a day was carrying on a +proudly-hidden love affair with the muscular, absorbed-looking man who +sat alone across the aisle. + +But the asthmatic old pastry cook, who weighed at least two hundred and +thirty pounds and had not even seen the inside of the dining-room for +three years, was thoroughly posted on every observable phase of the +affair down to the dessert orders; and no one acquainted with the frank +profanity of a mountain meat cook will doubt that the best of +everything went hot from the range to Glover and Gertrude. Dollar tips +and five-dollar tips from Eastern epicures could not change this, for +the meals were served by waitresses who felt a personal responsibility +in the issue of the pretty affair of the heart. + +The whole second floor of the little hotel had been reserved for the +directors' party, and among the rooms was the parlor. There Glover +called regularly every evening on Mr. Brock, who, somewhat at a loss to +understand the young man's interest, excused himself after the first +few minutes and left Gertrude to entertain the gentleman who had been +so kind to everybody that she could not be discourteous even if he was +somewhat tedious. + +One night after a particularly happy evening near the piano for +Gertrude and Glover, Mr. Brock, re-entering the parlor, found the +somewhat tedious gentleman bending very low, as his daughter said +good-night, over her hand; in fact, the gentleman that had been so kind +to everybody was kissing it. + +When Glover recovered his perpendicular the cold magnate of the West +End stood between the folding doors looking directly at him. If the +owner of several trunk lines expected his look to inspire consternation +he was disappointed. Each of the lovers feared but one person in the +world; that was the other. Gertrude, with perhaps an extra touch of +dignity, put her compromised hand to her belt for her handkerchief. +Glover finished the sentence he was in the middle of--"If I am not +ordered out. Good-night." + +But when Mr. Brock had turned abruptly on his heel and disappeared +between the portieres they certainly did look at one another. + +"Have I got you into trouble now?" murmured Glover, penitently. +Uneasiness was apparent in her expression, but with her back to the +piano Gertrude stood steadfast. + +"Not," she said, with serious tenderness, "just now. Don't you know? +It was the first, the very first, day you looked into my eyes, dear, +that you got me into trouble." + +Her pathetic sweetness moved him. Then he flamed with determination. +He would take the burden on himself--would face her father at once, but +she hushed him in real alarm and said, that battle she must fight +unaided; it was after all only a little one, she whispered, after the +one she had fought with herself. But he knew she glossed over her +anxiety, for when he withdrew her eyes looked tears though they shed +none. + +In the morning there were two vacancies at the breakfast table; neither +Gertrude nor her father appeared. When Glover returned to the hotel at +five o'clock the first person he saw was Mrs. Whitney. She and Marie, +with the doctor and Allen Harrison, had arrived on the first train out +of the Springs in four days, and Mrs. Whitney's greeting of Glover in +the office was disconcerting. It scarcely needed Gertrude's face at +dinner, as she tried to brave the storm that had set in, or her +reluctant admission when she saw him as she passed up to her room that +she and her father had been up nearly the whole of the night before, to +complete his depression. + +Every effort he made during the evening to speak to Gertrude was balked +by some untoward circumstance, but about nine o'clock they met on the +parlor floor and Glover led her to the elevator, which was being run +that night by Solomon Battershawl. Solomon lifted them to the top +floor and made busy at the end of the hall while they had five short +minutes. When they descended he knew what she was facing. Even Marie, +the one friend he thought he had in the family, had taken a stand +against them, and her father was deaf to every appeal. + +They parted, depressed, with only a hand pressure, a look and a whisper +of constancy. At midnight, as Glover lay thinking, a crew caller +rapped at his door. He brought a message and held his electric +pocket-lamp near, while Glover, without getting up, read the telegram. +It was from Bucks asking if he could take a rotary at once into the +Heart Mountains. + +Glover knew snow had been falling steadily on the main line for two +days. East of the middle range it was nothing but extreme cold, west +it had been one long storm. Morris Blood was at Goose River. The +message was not an order; but on the division there was no one else +available at the moment that could handle safely such a battery of +engines as would be needed to bore the drifts west of the sheds. +Moreover, Glover knew how Bucks had chafed under the conditions that +kept the directors on his hands. They were impatient to get to the +coast, and the general manager was anxious to be rid of them as soon as +there should be some certainty of getting them safely over the +mountains. + +Glover, on the back of the telegram, scrawled a note to Crosby, the +master-mechanic, and turned over not to sleep, but to think--and to +think, not of the work before him, but of her and of her situation. A +roundhouse caller roused him at half-past three with word that the snow +battery was marked up for four o'clock. He rose, dressed deliberately +and carefully for the exposure ahead, and sat down before a candle to +tell Gertrude, in a note, when he hoped to be back. + +Locking his trunk when he had done, he snuffed out the candle and +closed his room door behind him. The hall was dark, but he knew its +turns, and the carpeted stairs gave no sound as he walked down. At the +second floor there were two stairways by which he could descend. He +looked up the dim corridor toward where she slept. Somehow he could +not make up his mind to leave without passing her room. + +His heavy tread was noiseless, and at her door he paused and put his +hand uncertainly upon the casing. In the darkness his head bent an +instant on his outstretched arm--it had never before been hard to go; +then he turned and walked softly away. + + +At the breakfast table and at the dinner table the talk was of the +snow. The evening paper contained a column of despatches concerning +the blockade, now serious, in the eighth district. Half the first page +was given to alarming reports from the cattle ranges. Two +mail-carriers were reported lost in the Sweetgrass country, and a ski +runner from Fort Steadman, which had been cut off for eight days, told +of thirty-five feet of snow in the Whitewater hills. + +Sleepy Cat reported eighteen inches of fresh snow, and a second delayed +despatch under the same date-line reported that a bucking special from +Medicine Bend, composed of a rotary, a flanger, and five locomotives +had passed that point at 9 A.M. for the eighth district. + +Gertrude found no interest in the news or the discussion. She could +only wonder why she did not see Glover during the day, and when he made +no appearance at dinner she grew sick with uncertainty. Leaving the +dining-room ahead of the party in some vague hope of seeing him, +Solomon hurried up with the note that Glover had left to be given her +in the morning. The boy had gone off duty before she left her room and +had over-slept, but instead of waiting for his apologies she hastened +to her room and locked her door to devour her lover's words. She saw +that he had written her in the dead of night to explain his going, and +to say good-by. Bucks' message he had enclosed. "But I shall work +very hard every hour I am gone to get back the sooner," he promised, +"and if you hear of the snow flying over the peaks on the West End you +will know that I am behind it and headed straight for you." + +When Marie and Mrs. Whitney came up, Gertrude sat calmly before the +grate fire, but the note lay hidden over her heart, for in it he had +whispered that while he was away every night at eight o'clock and every +morning, no matter where she should be, or what doing, he should kiss +her lips and her eyes as he had kissed them that first morning in the +dark, warm office. When eight o'clock came her aunt and her sister sat +with her; but Gertrude at eight o'clock, musing, was with her lover and +her lips and eyes again were his to do with what he would. Later +Doctor Lanning came in and she roused to hear the news about the snow. +Between Sleepy Cat and Bear Dance two passenger trains were stalled, +and on Blackbird hill the snow was reported four feet deep on the level. + +When the doctor had gone and Marie had retired, Gertrude's aunt talked +to her seriously about her father, whose almost frantic condition over +what he called Gertrude's infatuation was alarming. + +Her aunt explained how her final refusal of Allen Harrison, a +connection on which her father had set his heart, might result in the +total disruption of the plans which held so mighty interests together; +and how impossible it was that he should ever consent to her throwing +herself away on an obscure Western man. + +Only occasionally would Gertrude interrupt. "Don't strip the poor man +of everything, auntie. If it must come to family--the De Gallons and +Cirodes and Glovers were lords of the Mississippi when our Hessian +forefathers were hiding from Washington in the Trenton hazelbushes." + +She could meet her aunt's fears with jests and her tears with smiles +until the worried lady chancing on a deeper chord disarmed her. "You +know you are my pet, Gertrude. I am your foster-mother, dear, and I +have tried to be mother to you and Marie, and sister to my brother +every day of my life since your mother died. And if you----" + +Then Gertrude's arms would enfold her and her head hide on her aunt's +shoulder, and they would part utterly miserable. + +One morning when Gertrude woke it was snowing and Medicine Bend was cut +completely off from the western end of the division. The cold in the +desert districts had made it impossible to move freights. During the +night they had been snowed in on sidings all the way from Sleepy Cat +east. By night every wire was down; the last message in was a private +one from Glover, with the ploughs, dated at Nine Mile. + +Solomon brought the telegram up to Gertrude with the intimation that, +confidentially, Mr. Blood's assistant, in charge of the Wickiup, would +be glad to hear any news it might contain about the blockade, as +communication was now cut entirely off. + +Gertrude told the messenger only that she understood the blockade in +the eighth district had been lifted and that the ploughs were headed +east. Then as the lad looked wonderingly at her, she started. Have I, +she asked herself, already become a part of this life, that they come +to me for information? But she did not add that the signer of the +message had promised to be with her in twenty-four hours. + +That day for the first time in eighteen years, no trains ran in or out +of Medicine Bend, and an entire regiment of cavalry bound for the +Philippines was known to be buried in a snowdrift near San Pete. The +big hotel swarmed with snow-bound travellers. The snow fell all day, +but to Gertrude's relief her father and the men of the party were at +the Wickiup with Bucks, who had come in during the night with +reinforcements from McCloud. Unfortunately, the batteries that +followed him were compelled to double about next morning to open the +line back across the plains. + +The gravity of the situation about her, the spectacle of the struggle, +now vast and all absorbing, made by the operating department to cope +with the storm and cold, and the anxieties of her own position plunged +Gertrude into a gloom she had never before conceived of. Her aunt's +forebodings and tears, her father's unbending silence and aloofness, +made escape from her depression impossible. When Solomon appeared she +besought him surreptitiously for news, but though Solomon fairly +staggered with the responsibilities of his position he could supply +nothing beyond rumors--rumors all tending to magnify the reliance +placed on Glover's capabilities in stress of this sort, but not at the +moment definitely locating him. + +Next morning the creeping eastern light had not yet entered her room +when a timid rap aroused her. Solomon was outside the door with news. +"The ploughs will be here in an hour," he whispered. + +"The ploughs?" + +Solomon couldn't resist the low appeal for more definite word. He had +no information more than he had given, but he bravely journalized, "Mr. +Glover and everybody, ma'am." + +"Oh, thank you, Solomon." + +She rose, with wings beating love across the miles that separated him +from her. Day with its perplexities may beset, the stars bring +sometimes only grief; but to lovers morning brings always joy, because +it brings hope. She detained Solomon a moment. A resolve fixed itself +at once in her heart; to greet her lover the instant he arrived. She +could dress and slip down to the station and back before the others +awoke even. It was hazardous, but what venture is less attractive for +a hazard if it bring a lover? She made her rapid toilet with affection +in her supple fingers, and welcome glowing in her quick eyes, and she +left her room with the utmost care. Enveloped in the Newmarket, +because he loved it, her hands in her big muff, and her cheeks closely +veiled, she joined Solomon in the reception room downstairs. + +The morning was gray with a snow fog hanging low, and feathery flakes +were sinking upon the whitened street. "Listen!" cried the boy, +excitedly, as they neared the Wickiup. From somewhere in the sky came +the faint scream of a locomotive whistle. "That's them, all right. +Gee! I'd like to buck snow." + +"Would you?" + +"Would I? Wouldn't you?" + +A hundred men were strung along the platform, and a sharper blast +echoed across the upper flat. "There they are!" cried Solomon, +pressing forward. Gertrude saw a huge snow-covered monster swing +heavily around the yard hill. The ploughs were at hand. The head +engine whistled again, those in the battery took up the signal, and +heeled in snow they bore down on the Wickiup whistling a chorus. +Before the long battery had halted, the men about Gertrude were running +toward the cabs, cheering. Many men poured out of the battered +ice-bound cars at the end of the string. While Gertrude's eyes +strained with expectation a collie dog shot headlong to the platform +from the steps of the hind caboose, and wheeling about, barked madly +until, last of three men together, Glover, carrying his little bag, +swung down, and listening to his companions, walked leisurely forward. + +Swayed by the excitement which she did not fully understand all about +her, Gertrude, with swimming eyes, saw Solomon dash toward Glover and +catch his bag. As the boy spoke to him she saw Glover's head lift in +the deliberate surprise she knew so well. She felt his wandering eyes +bend upon her, and his hand rose in suppressed joyfulness. + +Doubt, care, anxiety, fled before that gesture. Stumah, wild with +delight, bounded at her, and before she could greet him, Glover, a +giant in his wrappings, was bending over her, his eyes burning through +the veil that hid her own. She heard without comprehending his words; +she asked questions without knowing she asked, because his hand so +tightly clasped hers. + +They walked up the platform and he stopped but once; to speak to the +snugly clad man that got down from the head engine. Gertrude +recognized the good-natured profile under the long cap; Paddy McGraw +lifted his visor as she advanced and with a happy laugh greeted him. + +Smiling at her welcome he drew off his glove and took from an inner +pocket her ring and held it out on his hand. "I am taking good care of +my souvenir." + +"I hope you are taking good care of yourself," Gertrude responded, +"because every time I ride in the mountains, Mr. McGraw, I want you for +engineer." + +Glover was saying something to her as they turned away together, but +she gave no heed to his meaning. She caught only the low, pretty +uncertainty in his utterance, the unfailing little break that she loved +in his tone. + +He was saying, "Yes--some of it thirty feet. Morris Blood is +tunnelling on the Pilot branch this morning; it's bad up there, but the +main line is clear from end to end. Surely, you never looked so sweet +in your life. Gertrude, Gertrude, you're a beautiful girl. Do you +know that? What are those fellows shouting about? Me? Not at all. +They're cheering you." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DEEPENING WATERS + +The stolen interview of the early morning was the consolation of the +day. Gertrude confided a resolve to Glover. She had thought it all +out and he must, she said, talk to her father. Nothing would ever ever +come of a situation in which the two never met. The terrible problem +was how to arrange the interview. Her father had already declined to +meet Glover at all. Moreover, Mr. Brock had a fund of silence that +approximated absolute zero, and Gertrude dreaded the result if Glover, +in presenting his case, should stop at any point and succumb to the +chill. + +During such intervals as they managed to meet, the lovers could discuss +nothing but the crisis that confronted them. The definite clearing of +the line meant perhaps an early separation and something must be done, +if ever, at once. + +In the evening Gertrude made a long appeal to her aunt to intercede for +her, and another to Marie, who, softening somewhat, had spent half an +hour before dinner in discussing the situation calmly with Glover; but +over the proposed interview Marie shook her head. She had great +influence with her father, but candidly owned she should dread facing +him on a matter he had definitely declined to discuss. + +They parted at night without light on their difficulties. In the +morning Glover made several ineffectual efforts to see Gertrude early. +He had an idea that they had forgotten the one who could advise and +help them better than any other--his friend and patron, Bucks. + +The second vice-president was now closer in a business way to Mr. Brock +than anyone else in the world. They were friends of very early days, +of days when they were laying together the foundations of their +careers. It was Bucks who had shown Mr. Brock the stupendous +possibilities in reorganizing the system, who was responsible for his +enormous investment, and each reposed in the other entire confidence. +Gertrude constantly contended that it was only a question of her +father's really knowing Glover, and that if her lover could be put, as +she knew him, before her father, he must certainly give way. Why not, +then, take Bucks into their confidence? + +It seemed like light from heaven to Glover, and he was talking to +Gertrude when there came a rap at the door of the parlor and a +messenger entered with a long despatch from Callahan at Sleepy Cat. + +The message was marked delayed in transmission. Glover walked with it +to the window and read: + +"Doubleday's outfit wrecked early this morning on Pilot Hill while +bucking. Head engine, the 927, McGraw, partly off track. Tender +crushed the cab. Doubleday instantly killed and McGraw badly hurt. +Morris Blood is reported to have been in the cab also, but cannot be +found. Have sent Doubleday and McGraw to Medicine Bend in my car and +am starting with wrecking crew for the Hill." + +"What is it?" murmured Gertrude, watching her lover's face. He studied +the telegram a long time and she came to his side. He raised his eyes +from the paper in his hand and looked out of the window. "What is it?" +she whispered. + +"Pilot Hill." + +"I do not understand, dearest." + +"A wreck." + +"Oh, is it serious?" + +His eyes fell again on the death message. "Morris Blood was in it and +they can't find him." + +"Oh, oh." + +"A bad place; a bad, bad place." He spoke, absently, then his eyes +turned upon her with inexpressible tenderness. + +"But why can't they find him, dearest?" + +"The track is blasted out of the mountain side for half a mile. Bucks +said it would be a graveyard, but I couldn't get to the mines in any +other way. Gertrude, I must go to the Wickiup at once to get further +news. This message has been delayed, the wires are not right yet." + +"Will you come back soon?" + +"Just the minute I can get definite news about Morris. In half an +hour, probably." + +She tried to comfort him when he left her. She knew of the deep +attachment between the two men, and she encouraged her lover to hope +for the best. Not until he had gone did she fully realize how deeply +he was moved. At the window she watched him walk hurriedly down the +street, and as he disappeared, reflected that she had never seen such +an expression on his face as when he read the telegram. + +The half hour went while she reflected. Going downstairs she found the +news of the wreck had spread about the hotel, and widely exaggerated +accounts of the disaster were being discussed. Mrs. Whitney and Marie +were out sleighriding, and by the time the half hour had passed without +word from Glover, Gertrude gave way to her restlessness. She had a +telegram to send to New York--an order for bonbons--and she determined +to walk down to the Wickiup to send it; she might, she thought, see +Glover and hear his news sooner. + +When she approached the headquarters building unusual numbers of +railroad men were grouped on the platform, talking. Messengers hurried +to and from the roundhouse. A blown engine attached to a day coach was +standing near and men were passing in and out of the car. Gertrude +made her way to the stairs unobserved, walked leisurely up to the +telegraph office and sent her message. The long corridors of the +building, gloomy even on bright days, were quite dark as she left the +operators' room and walked slowly toward the quarters of the +construction department. + +The door of the large anteroom was open and the room empty. Gertrude +entered hesitatingly and looked toward Glover's office. His door also +was ajar, but no one was within. The sound of voices came from a +connecting room and she at once distinguished Glover's tones. It was +justification: with her coin purse she tapped lightly on the door +casing, and getting no response stepped inside the office and slipped +into a chair beside his desk to await him. The voices came from a room +leading to Callahan's apartments. + +Glover was asking questions, and a man whose voice she could now hear +breaking with sobs, was answering. "Are you sure your signals were +right?" she heard Glover ask slowly and earnestly; and again, +patiently, "how could you be doubled up without the flanger's leaving +the track?" Then the man would repeat his story. + +"You must have had too much behind you," Glover said once. + +"Too much?" echoed the man, frantically. "Seven engines behind us all +day yesterday. Paddy told him the minute he got in the cab she +wouldn't never stand it. He told him it as plain as a man could tell a +man. Then because we went through a thousand feet in the gap like +cheese he ordered us up the hill. When we struck the big drift it was +slicing rock, Mr. Glover. Paddy told him she wouldn't never stand it. +The very first push we let go in a hundred feet with the engine +churning her damned drivers off. We went into it twice that way. I +could see it was shoving the tender up in the air every time and told +Doubleday--oh, if you'd been there! The next time we sent the plough +through the first crust and drove a wind-pocket maybe forty or fifty +yards and hit the ice with the seven engines jamming into us. My God! +she doubled up like a jack-knife--Pat, Pat, Pat." + +"Can you recollect where Blood was standing when you buckled?" + +"In the right gangway." There was a pause. "He must have dropped," +she heard Glover say. + +"Then he'll never drop again, Mr. Glover, for if he slipped off the +ties he'd drop a thousand feet." + +"The heaviest snow is right at the top of the hill?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"If we can cross the hill we can find him anyway." + +"Don't try to get across that hill till you put in five hundred +shovellers, Mr. Glover." + +"That would take a week. If he's alive we must get him within +twenty-four hours. He may freeze to death to-night." + +"Don't try to cross that hill with a plough, Mr. Glover. Mind my +words. It's no use. I've bucked with you many a time--you know that." + +"Yes." + +"You're going to your death when you try that." + +"There's the doctor now, Foley," Glover answered. "Let him look you +over carefully. Come this way." + +The voices receded. Listening to the talk, little of which she +understood, a growing fear had come over Gertrude. Her eyes had +pierced the gray light about her, and as she heard Glover walk away she +rose hurriedly and stepped to the doorway to detain him. Glover had +disappeared, but before her, stretched on the couch back of the table, +lay McGraw. She knew him instantly, and so strangely did the gloom +shroud his features that his steady eyes seemed looking straight at +her. She divined that he had been brought back hurt. A chill passed +over her, a horror. She hesitated a moment, and, fascinated, stepped +closer; then she knew she was staring at the dead. + + +Terror-stricken and with sinking strength she made her way to the hotel +and slipped up to the parlor. Throwing off her wraps she went to the +window; Glover was coming up the street. There was only a moment in +which to collect herself. She hastened to her bedroom, wet her +forehead with cologne, and at her mirror her fingers ran tremblingly +over the coils of her hair. She caught up a fresh handkerchief for her +girdle, looked for an instant appealingly into her own eyes and closed +them to think. Glover rapped. + +She met him with a smile that she knew would stagger his fond eyes. +She drugged his ear with a low-voiced greeting. "You are late, +dearest." + +He looked at her and caught her hands. As his head bent she let her +lips lie in his kiss, and let his arm find her waist as he kissed her +deeply again. They walked together toward the fireplace, and when she +saw the sadness of his face fear in her heart gave way to pity. "What +is it?" she whispered. "Tell me." + +"The car has come with Doubleday and McGraw, Gertrude. The wreck was +terribly fatal. Morris Blood must have jumped from the cab. The track +I have told you is blasted there out of the cheek of the mountain, and +it's impossible to tell what his fate may be: but if he is alive I must +find him. There is a good hope, I believe, for Morris; he is a man to +squeeze through on a narrow chance. And Gertrude--I couldn't tell you +if I didn't think you had a right to know everything I know. It breaks +my heart to speak of it--McGraw is dead." + +"I am so glad you told me the truth," she trembled, "for I knew it----" + +"Knew it?" She confessed, hastily, how her anxiety had led her to his +office, and of the terrible shock she had brought on herself. "But now +I know you would not deceive me," she added; "that is why I love you, +because you are always honest and true. And do you love me, as you +have told me, more than all the world?" + +"More than all the world, Gertrude. Why do you look so? You are +trembling." + +"Have you come to say good-by?" + +"Only for a day or two, darling: till I can find Morris, then I come +straight back to you." + +"You, too, may be killed?" + +"No, no." + +"But I heard the man telling you you would go to your death if you +attempted to cross that hill with a plough. Be honest with me; you are +risking your life." + +"Only as I have risked it almost every day since I came into the +mountains." + +"But now--now--doesn't it mean something else? Think what it means to +me--your life. Think what will become of me if you should be killed in +trying to open that hill--if you should fall over a precipice as Morris +Blood has fallen and lies now probably dead. Don't go. Don't go, this +time. You have promised me you would leave the mountains, haven't you? +Don't risk all, dearest, all I have on earth, in an attempt that may +utterly fail and add one more precious life to the lives now +sacrificed. You do heed me, darling, don't you?" + +She had disengaged herself to plead; to look directly up into his +perplexed eyes. He leaned an arm on the mantel, staggered. His eyes +followed hers in every word she spoke, and when she ceased he stared +blankly at the fire. + +"Heed you?" he answered, haltingly. "Heed you? You are all in the +world that I have to heed. My only wish is your happiness; to die for +it, Gertrude, wouldn't be much----" + +"All, all I ask is that you will live for it." + +"Worthless as I am, I have asked you to put that happiness in my +keeping--do you think your lightest word could pass me unheeded? But +to this, my dearest Gertrude, every instinct of manhood binds me--to go +to my friend in danger." + +"If you go you will take every desperate chance to accomplish your end. +Ah, I know you better than you know yourself. Ab, Ab, my darling, my +lover, listen to me. Don't; don't go." + +When he spoke she would not have known his voice. "Can I let him die +there like a dog on the mountain side? Can't you see what I haven't +words to explain as you could explain--the position it puts me in? +Don't sob. Don't be afraid; look at me. I'll come back to you, +darling." + +She turned her tearless eyes to the mountains. "Back! Yes. I see the +end. My lover will come back--come back dead. And I shall try to kiss +his brave lips back to life and they will speak no more. And I shall +stand when they take him from me, lonely and alone. My father that I +have estranged--my foster-mother that I have withstood--my sister that +I have repelled--will their tears flow for me then? And for this I +broke from my traditions and cast away associations, gave up all my +little life, stood alone against my family, poured out my heart to +these deserts, these mountains, and now--they rob me of my all--and +this is love!" + +He stood like a broken man. "God help me, have I laid on your dear +head the curse of my own life? Must you, too, suffer because our +perils force us lightly to pawn our lives one for another? One night +in that yard"--he pointed to the window--"I stood between the rails +with a switch engine running me down. I knew nothing of it. There was +no time to speak, no time to think--it was on me. Had Blood left me +there one second I never should have looked into your dear face. Up on +the hill with Hailey and Brodie, under the gravel and shale, I should +never have cost your heart an ache like this. Better the engine had +struck me then and spared you now----" + +"No, I say, no!" she exclaimed, wildly. "Better this moment together +than a lifetime apart!" + +"--For me he threw himself in front of the drivers. This moment is +mine and yours because he gave his right hand for it--shall I desert +him now he needs me? And so a hundred times and in a hundred ways we +gamble with death and laugh if we cheat it: and our poor reward is only +sometimes to win where far better men have failed. So in this railroad +life two men stand, as he and I have stood, luck or ill-luck, storm or +fair weather, together. And death speaks for one; and whichever he +calls it is ever the other must answer. And this--is duty." + +"Then do your duty." + +Distinctly, and terrifying in their unexpectedness, came the words from +the farther end of the parlor. They turned, stunned. Gertrude's +father was crossing the room. He raised his hand to dispel Glover's +sudden angry look. "I was lying on the couch; your voices roused me +and I could not escape. You have put clearly the case you stand in," +he spoke to Glover, "and I have intervened only to spare both of you +useless agony of argument. The question that concerns you two and me +is not at this moment up for decision; the other question is, and it is +for you, my daughter, now, to play the woman. I have tried as I could +to shield you from rough weather. You have left port without +consulting me, and the storms of womanhood are on you. Sir, when do +you start?" + +"My engine is waiting." + +"Then ask your people to attach my car. You can make equally good +time, and since for better or worse we have cut into this game we will +see it out together." + +Gertrude threw her arms around her father's neck with a happy sob as +Glover left. "Oh daddy, daddy. If you only knew him!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +PILOT + +"There are mountains a man can do business with," muttered Bucks in the +private car, his mustache drooping broadly above his reflecting words. +"Mountains that will give and take once in a while, play fair +occasionally. But Pilot has fought us every inch of the way since the +day we first struck a pick into it. It is savage and unrelenting. I'd +rather negotiate with Sitting Bull for a right of way through his +private bathroom than to ask an easement from Pilot for a tamarack tie. +I don't know why it was ever called Pilot: if I named it, it should be +Sitting Bull. What the Sioux were to the white men, what the Spider +Water is to the bridgemen, that, and more, Pilot has been to the +mountain men. + +"There was no compromise with Pilot even after we got in on it. +Snowslides, washouts, bowlders, forest-fires--and yet the richest +quartz mines in the world lie behind it. This little branch, Mr. +Brock, forty-eight miles, pays the operating expenses of the whole +mountain division, and has done so almost since the day it was opened. +But I'd rather lose the revenue ten times every year than to lose +Morris Blood." The second vice-president was talking to Mr. Brock. +Their car was just rounding the curve into the gap in front of Mount +Pilot. + +"What do you think of Blood's chances?" asked Mr. Brock. + +"I don't know. A mountain man has nine lives." + +"What does Glover think?" + +"He doesn't say." + +"Who built this line?" + +"Two pretty good men ran the first thirty miles, but neither of them +could give me a practicable line south of the gap; this last eighteen +miles up and down and around Pilot was Glover's first work in the +mountains. It's engineering. Every trick ever played in the Rockies, +and one or two of Brodie's old combinations in the Andes, they tell me, +are crowded into these eighteen miles. There, there's old Sitting Bull +in all his clouds and his glory." + +Glover had left the car at Sleepy Cat, going ahead with the relief +train. Picked men from every district on the division had been +assembling all the afternoon to take up the search for the missing +superintendent. Section men from the Sweetgrass wastes, and bridgemen +from the foothills, roadmasters from the Heart Mountains--home of the +storm and the snow--and Rat Canyon trackwalkers that could spot a break +in the dark under twelve inches of ballast; Morgan, the wrecker, and +his men, and the mountain linemen with their foreman, old Bill +Dancing--fiend drunk and giant sober--were scattered on Mount Pilot, +while a rotary ahead of a battery of big engines was shoved again and +again up the snow-covered hill. + +Anxious to get the track open in the belief that Blood could best be +got at from beyond the S bridge, Glover, standing with the branch +roadmaster, Smith Young, on the ledge above the engines directed the +fight for the hill. He had promised Gertrude he would keep out of the +cab, and far across the curve below he could see the Brock car, where +Bucks was directing the search on the eastern side of the gulch. + +Callahan and the linemen were spreading both ways through the timber on +the plateau opposite, but the snow made the work extremely difficult, +and the short day allowed hardly more than a start. On the hill +Glover's men advanced barely a hundred feet in three hours: darkness +spread over the range with no sign of the missing man, and with the +forebodings that none could shake off of what the night's exposure, +even if he were uninjured, might mean. + +Supper was served to the men in the relief trains, and outside fires +were forbidden by Glover, who asked that every foot of the track as far +as the gap be patrolled all night. + +It was nearly ten o'clock when Glover, supperless, reached the car with +his dispositions made for the night. While he talked with the men, +Clem, the star cook of the Brock family, under special orders grilled a +big porterhouse steak and presently asked him back to the dining-table, +where, behind the shaded candles, Gertrude waited. + +They sat down opposite each other; but not until Glover saw there were +two plates instead of one, and learned that Gertrude had eaten no +dinner because she was waiting for him, did he mutter something about +all that an American girl is capable of in the way of making a man +grateful and happy. There was nothing to hurry them back to the other +end of the car, and they did not rejoin Mr. Brock and Bucks, who were +smoking forward, until eleven o'clock. Callahan came in afterward, and +sitting together Mr. Brock and Gertrude listened while the three +railroad men planned the campaign for the next day. + +Parting late, Glover said good-night and left with Callahan to inspect +the rotary. The fearful punishment of the day's work on the knives had +shown itself, and since dark, relays of mechanics from the Sleepy Cat +shops had been busy with the cutting gear, and the companion plough had +already been ordered in from the eighth district. + +Glover returned to the car at one o'clock. The lights were low, and +Clem, a night-owl, fixed him in a chair near the door. For an hour +everything was very still, then Gertrude, sleeping lightly, heard +voices. Glover walked back past the compartments; she heard him asking +Clem for brandy--Bill Dancing, the lineman, had come with news. + +The negro brought forward a decanter and Glover poured a gobletful for +the old man, who shook from the chill of the night air. + +"The boys claim it's imagination," Dancing, steadied by the alcohol, +continued, "but it's a fire way over below the second bridge. I've +watched it for an hour; now you come." + +They went away and were gone a long time. Glover returned alone--Clem +had disappeared; a girlish figure glided out of the gloom to meet him. + +"I couldn't sleep," she whispered. "I heard you leave and dressed to +wait." She looked in the dim light as slight as a child, and with his +hand at her waist he sunk on his knee to look up into her face. "How +can I deserve it all?" + +She blinded his upturned eyes in her hands, and not until she found her +fingers were wet did she understand all he had tried to put into his +words. + +"Have you any news?" she murmured, as he rose. + +"I believe they have found him." + +She clasped her hands. "Heaven be praised. Oh, is it sure?" + +"I mean, Dancing, the old lineman, has seen his fire. At least, we are +certain of it. We have been watching it two hours. It's a speck of a +blaze away across toward the mines. It never grows nor lessens, just a +careful little campfire where fuel is scarce--as it is now with all the +snow. We've lighted a big beacon on the hill for an answer, and at +daybreak we shall go after him. The planning is all done and I am free +now till we're ready to start." + +She tried to make him lie down for a nap on the couch. He tried to +persuade her to retire until morning, and in sweet contention they sat +talking low of their love and their happiness--and of the hills a +reckless girl romped over in old Allegheny, and of the shingle gunboats +a sleepy-eyed boy launched in dauntless fleets upon the yellow eddies +of the Mississippi; and of the chance that should one day bring boy and +girl together, lovers, on the crest of the far Rockies. + +Lights were moving up and down the hill when they rose from Clem's +astonishing breakfast. + +"You will be careful," she said. He had taken her in his arms at the +door, and promising he kissed her and whispered good-by. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE SOUTH ARETE + +They had planned a quick relief with a small party, for every hour of +exposure lessened the missing man's chances. Glover chose for his +companions two men: Dancing--far and away the best climber in the +telegraph corps, and Smith Young, roadmaster, a chainman of Glover's +when he ran the Pilot line. Dancing and Glover were large men of +unusual strength, and Young, lighter and smaller, had been known in a +pinch to handle an ordinary steel rail. But above everything +each--even Glover, the youngest--was a man of resource and experience +in mountain craft. + +They left the track near the twin bridges with only ropes and picks and +skis, and carrying stimulants and food. Without any attempt to catch +his trail from where they knew Blood must have started they made their +way as directly as possible down the side of the mountain and in the +direction of the gap. The stupendous difficulties of making headway +across the eastern slope did not become apparent until the rescuing +party was out of sight of those they had left, but from where they +floundered in ragged washouts or spread in line over glassy escarpments +they could see far up the mountain the rotary throwing a white cloud +into the sunshine and hear the far-off clamor of the engines on the +hill. + +Below the snow-field which they crossed they found the superintendent's +trail, and saw that his effort had been to cross the gap at that point +and make his way out toward the western grade, where an easy climb +would have brought him to the track; or where by walking some distance +he could reach the track without climbing a foot, the grade there being +nearly four per cent. + +They saw, too, why he had been forced to give up that hope, for what +would have been difficult for three fresh men with shoes was an +impossibility for a spent man in the snow alone. They knew that what +they had covered in two hours had probably cost him ten, for before +they had followed him a dozen feet they saw that he was dragging a leg; +farther, the snow showed stains and they crossed a field where he had +sat down and bandaged his leg after it had bled for a hundred yards. + +The trail began, as they went on, to lose its character. Whether from +weakness or uncertainty Blood's steps had become wandering, and they +noticed that he paid less attention to directness, but shunned every +obstacle that called for climbing, struggling great distances around +rough places to avoid them. They knew it meant that he was husbanding +failing strength and was striving to avoid reopening his wound. + +Twice they marked places in which he had sat to adjust his bandages, +and the strain of what they read in the snow quickened their anxiety. +Since that day Smith Young, superintendent now of the mountain +division, has never hunted, because he could never afterward follow the +trail of a wounded animal. + +They found places where he had hunted for fuel, and firing signals +regularly they reached the spot where he had camped the night before, +and saw the ashes of his fire. He was headed south; not because there +was more hope that way--there was less--but as if he must keep moving, +and that were easiest. A quarter of a mile below where he had spent +the night they caught sight of a man sitting on a fallen tree resting +his leg. The next moment three men were in a tumbling race across the +slope, and Blood, weakly hurrahing, fainted in Glover's arms. + + +His story was short. He reminded his rescuers of the little spring on +the hill at the point where the wreck had occurred. The ice that +always spread across the track and over the edge of the gulch had been +chopped out by the shovellers the afternoon before, but water trickling +from the rock had laid a fresh trap for unwary feet during the night. +In jumping from the gangway at the moment of the wreck Blood's heels +had landed on smooth ice and he had tumbled and slid six hundred feet. +Recovering consciousness at the bottom of a washout he found the calf +of one leg ripped a little, as he put it. The loss of one side of his +mustache, swept away in the slide, and leaving on his face a peculiarly +forlorn expression, he did not take account of--declaring on the whole, +as he smiled into the swimming eyes around him, that with the exception +of tobacco he was doing very well. + +They got him in front of a big fire, plied him with food and +stimulants, and Glover, from a surgical packet, bandaged anew the wound +in his leg. Then came the question of retreat. + +They discussed two plans. The first to retrace their steps entirely; +the second, to go back to where the gap could be attempted and the +western track gained below the hill. Each meant long and severe +climbing, each presented its particular difficulties, and three men of +the four felt that if the torn artery opened once more their victory +would be barren--that Blood needed surgical aid promptly if at all. +But Dancing had a third plan. + +It was while they still consulted at this point that their fire was +seen on Pilot Hill and reported to Bucks at the Brock car, from which +the rapidly moving party had been seen only at long intervals during +the morning. + +The fire was the looked-for signal that the superintendent had been +reached, and the word went from group to group of men up the hill. +Through the strong glass that Glover had left with her, Gertrude could +see the smoke, and the storming signals of the panting engines above +her made sweeter music after she caught with her eye the faint column +in the distant gap. Even her father, feeling still something like a +conscript, brightened up at the general rejoicing. He had produced his +own glass and let Gertrude with eager prompting help him to find the +smoke. The moment the position of Glover's party was made definite, +Bucks ordered the car run down the Hog's Back to a point so much closer +that across the broad canyon, flanking Pilot on the south, they could +make out with their glasses the figures of the three men and, when they +began to move, the smaller figure of Morris Blood. + +Callahan had joined his chief to watch the situation, and they +speculated as to how the four would get out of the gulf in which they +were completely hemmed. Gertrude and her father stood near. + +The eyes of the two bronzed railroad men at her side were like pilot +guides to Gertrude. When she lost the wayfarers in the gullies or +along the narrow defiles that gave them passage between towering rocks, +their eyes restored the plodding line. Callahan was the first to +detect the change from the expected course. "They are working east," +said he, after a moment's careful observation. + +"East?" echoed Bucks. "You mean west." + +Callahan hung to his glass. "No," he repeated, "east--and south. +Here." + +Bucks took the glass and looked a long time. "I do not understand," +said he; "they are certainly working east. What can they be after, +east? Well, they can't go very far that way without bridging the +Devil's Canyon. Callahan," he exclaimed, with sure instinct, "they will +head south. Walt now till they appear again." + +He relinquished the glass to explain to Mr. Brock where next to look +for them. There was a long interval during which they did not +reappear. Then the little file emerging from the shadow of a rock +skirted a field of snow straight to the south. There were but three +men in line. One, a little ahead, breaking path; following, two large +men tramping close together, the foremost stooping under the weight of +a man lying face upward on his back, while the man behind supported the +legs under his arms. + +"They are carrying Morris Blood. He is hurt--that was to be expected. +What?" exclaimed Bucks, hardly a moment afterward, "they are crossing +the snow. Callahan, by heaven, they are walking for the south side of +Pilot, that's what it means. It is a forced march; they are making for +the mines." + +Mount Pilot, from the crest that divides at Devil's Gap, rises abruptly +in a three-faced peak, the pinnacle of which lies to the south. +Several hundred feet above the base lie the group of gold-mines behind +the mountain, and a short railroad spur blasted across the southern +face runs to them from Glen Tarn. Below, the mountain wall breaks in +long steps almost vertically to the base, toward which Glover's party +was heading. + +The move made new dispositions necessary. Orders flew from Bucks like +curlews, for it was more essential than ever to open the hill speedily. + +The private car was run across the Hog's Back, and the news sent to the +rotary crew with injunctions to push with all effort as far at least as +the mine switch, that help might be sent out on the spur to meet the +party on the climb. + +The increased activity apparent far up and down the mountain as the +word went round, the bringing up of the last reserve engines for the +hill battery, the effort to get into communication by telegraph with +the mine hospital and Glen Tarn Springs, the feverish haste of the +officials in the car to make the new dispositions, all indicated to +Gertrude the approach of a crisis--the imminence of a supreme effort to +save one life if the endeavor enlisted the men and resources of the +whole division. New gangs of shovellers strung on flat-cars were being +pushed forward. Down the hill, spent and disabled engines were +returning from the front, and while they took sidings, fresh engines, +close-coupled, steamed slowly like leviathans past them up the hill. + +The moment the track was clear, the private car was backed again down +the ridge. Following the serpentine winding of the right of way, the +general manager was able to run the car far around the mountain, and it +stopped opposite the southern face, which rose across the broad canyon. +When the party in the car got their glasses fixed, the little company +beyond the gulf had begun their climb and were strung like marionettes +up the base of Pilot. + +The south face of the mountain, sheer for nearly a thousand feet, is +broken by narrow ledges that make an ascent possible, and not until the +peak passes the timber does snow ordinarily find lodgment upon that +side. Swept by the winds from the Spanish Sinks, the vertical reaches +above the base usually offer no obstruction to a rapid climb, though +except perhaps by early prospectors, the arete had never been scaled. +Glover, however, in locating, had covered every stretch of the mountain +on each of its sides, and Dancing's poles and brackets, like +banderillas stung into the tough hide of a bull, circled Pilot from +face to face. These two men were leading the ascent; below them could +be distinguished the roadmaster and the injured superintendent. + +Stripped to the belt and lashed in the party rope, the leader, gaunt +and sinewy, stretched like an earthworm up the face of the +arete--crossing, recrossing, climbing, retreating, his spiked feet +settling warily into fresh holes below, his sensitive hands spreading +like feelers high over the smooth granite for new holds above. Slowly, +always, and with the deliberate reserve that quieted with confidence +the feverish hearts watching across the gulf, the leaders steadily +scaled the height that separated them from the track. Like sailors +patiently warping home, the three men in advance drew and lifted the +fourth, who doughtily helped himself with foot and hand as chance +allowed and watched patiently from below while his comrades disputed +with the sheer wall for a new step above. + +Bucks and Callahan, following every move, mapped the situation to their +companions as its features developed. With each triumph on the arete, +bursts of commendation and surprise came from the usually taciturn men +watching the struggle with growing wonder. Bucks, apprehensive of +delays in the track-opening on the hill, sent Callahan back in the car +with instructions to pick a gang of ten men and pack them somewhom +across the snow to the mine spur, that they might be ready to meet the +climbing party and carry the superintendent down to the mine hospital. + +Thirty feet below the mine track and as far above where Glover at that +moment was sitting--his rope made fast and his legs hanging over a +ledge, while his companions reached new positions--a granite wall rises +to where the upper face has been blasted away from the roadbed. To the +east, this wall hangs without a break up or down for a hundred feet, +but to the west it roughens and splits away from the main spur, forming +a crevice or chimney from two to three feet wide, opening at the top to +ten feet, where a small bridge carries the track across it. This +chimney had been Dancing's quest from the moment the ascent began, for +he had lost a man in that chimney when stringing the mine wires, and +knew precisely what it was. + +The chimney once gained, Dancing figured that the last thirty feet +should be easy work, and he had made but one miscalculation--when he +had descended it to pull up his lineman, it was summer. Without +extraordinary difficulty, Glover gained the ledge where the chimney +opened and waited for his companions to ascend. When all were up, they +rested a few moments on their dizzy perch, and, while Bill Dancing +investigated the chimney, Glover took the chance to renew once more +Morris Blood's bandages, which, strained by the climbing, caused +continual anxiety. + +Bucks, with the party in his glass, could see every move. He saw +Dancing disappear into the rock while his comrades rested, and made him +out, after some delay, reappearing from the cleft. What he could not +make out was the word that Dancing brought back; the chimney was a +solid mass of ice. + +Standing with the two men, Gertrude used her glass constantly. +Frequently she asked questions, but frequently she divined ahead of her +companions the directions and the movements. The hesitation that +followed Dancing's return did not escape her. Up and down the narrow +step on which they stood, the three men walked, scanning anxiously the +wall that stretched above them. + +So, hounds at fault on a trail double on their steps and move uneasily +to and fro, nosing the missing scent. As lions flatten behind their +cagebars, the climbers laid themselves against the rock and pushed to +the right and the left seeking an avenue of escape. They had every +right to expect that help would already have reached them, but on the +hill, through haste and confusion of orders, the new rotary had +stripped a gear, and an hour had been lost in getting in the second +plough. For safety, the climbers had in their predicament nothing to +fear. The impelling necessity for action was the superintendent's +condition; his companions knew he could not last long without a surgeon. + +When suspense had become unbearable, Dancing re-entered the chimney. +He was gone a long time. He reappeared, crawling slowly out on an +unseen footing, a mere flaw in the smooth stretch of granite half way +up to the track. By cutting his rope and throwing himself a dozen +times at death, old Bill Dancing had gained a foothold, made fast a +line, and divided the last thirty feet to be covered. One by one, his +companions disappeared from sight--not into the chimney, but to the +side of it where Dancing had blazed a few dizzy steps and now had a +rope dangling to make the ascent practicable. + +One by one, Gertrude saw the climbers, reappearing above, crawl like +flies out on the face of the rock and, with craning necks and cautious +steps, seek new advantage above. They discovered at length the remains +of a scrub pine jutting out below the railroad track. The tree had +been sawed off almost at the root, when the roadbed was levelled, and a +few feet of the trunk was left hugging upward against the granite wall. + +Glover, Young, and Dancing consulted a moment. The thing was not +impossible; the superintendent was bleeding to death. + +Spectators across the gap saw movements they could not quite +comprehend. Safety lines were overhauled for the last time, the picks +put in the keeping of Morris Blood, who lay flat on the ledge. Glover +and Bill Dancing, facing outward, planted themselves side by side +against the rocky wall. Smith Young, facing inward, flattened himself +in Glover's arms, passed across him and, pushing his safety-girdle well +up under his arms, stood a moment between the two big men. Glover and +Dancing, getting their hands through the belt from either side, gripped +him, and Young uncoiled from his right hand a rope noosed like a +lariat. Steadied by his companions and swinging his arms in a cautious +segment on the wall, he tried to hitch the noose over the trunk of the +pine. + +With the utmost skill and patience, he coaxed the loop up again and +again into the air overhead, but the brush of the short branches +against the rock defeated every attempt to get a hold. + +He rested, passed the rope into his other hand, and with the same +collected persistence endeavored to throw it over from the left. + +Sweat beaded Bucks' forehead as he looked. Gertrude's father, the man +of sixty millions, with nerves bedded in ice, crushed an unlighted +cigar between his teeth, and tried to steady the glass that shook in +his hand. Gertrude, resting one hand on a bowlder against which she +steadied herself, neither spoke nor moved. The roadmaster could not +land his line. + +The two men released him and, with arms spread wide, he slipped over to +where Morris Blood lay, took from him the two picks, and cautiously +rejoined his comrades. Two of the men reversing their positions, faced +the rock wall. They fixed a pick into a cranny between their heads, +crouched together, and the third, planting his feet first on their +knees and then their shoulders, was raised slowly above them. + +The glasses turned from afar caught a sheen of sunshine that spread for +an instant across the face of the mountain and sharply outlined the +flattened form high on the arete. The figure seemed brought by the +dazzling light startlingly near, and those looking could distinguish in +his hand a pick, which, with his right arm extended, he slowly swung up +and up the face of the rock until he should swing it high to hook +through the roots of the pine. + +Gertrude asked Bucks who it was that spread himself above his comrades, +and he answered, Dancing; but it was Glover. + +Deliberately his extended arm rose and fell in the arc he was +following, higher and higher, till the pick swung above his head and +lodged where he sent it among the pine-tree roots. At the very moment, +one of the men supporting him moved--the pick had dislodged a heavy +chip of granite; in falling it struck his crouching supporter on the +head. The man steadied himself instantly, but the single instant cost +the balance of the upmost figure. With a suppressed struggle, +heartbreaking half a mile away, the man above strove to right himself. +Like light his second hand reached for the pick handle; he could not +recover it. The pyramid wavered and Glover, helpless, spread his hands +wide. + +By an instinct deeper than life, she knew him then, and cried out and +out in agony. But the pyramid was dissolving before his eyes, and she +saw a strange figure with outstretched arms, a figure she no longer +knew, slowly slipping headlong down a blood-red wall that burned itself +into her brain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BUSINESS + +Cruelly broken and bruised, Young, Bill Dancing, and Glover late that +night were brought up in rope cradles by the wrecking derrick and taken +into the Brock car, turned by its owner into a hospital. An hour after +the fall on the south arete the hill blockade had been broken. With +word of the disaster to nerve men already strained to the utmost, +effort became superhuman, the impossible was achieved, and the relief +train run in on the mine track. + +Morris Blood, unconscious, was lifted from the narrow shelf at four +o'clock and put under a surgeon's care in time to save his life. To +rig a tackle for a three-hundred-foot lift was another matter; but even +while the derrick-car stood idle on the spur waiting for the cable +equipment from the mine, a laughing boy of a surgeon from the hospital +was lowered with the first of the linemen to the snow-field where the +three men roped together had fallen, and surgical aid reached them +before sunset. + + + + +Last to come up, because he still gave the orders, Glover, cushioned +and strapped in the tackle, was lifted out of the blackness of the +night into the streaming glare of the headlights. Very carefully he +was swung down to the mattresses piled on the track, and, before all +that looked and waited, a woman knelt and kissed his sunken eyes. Not +then did the men, dim in the circle about them, show what they felt, +though they knew, to the meanest trackhand, all it meant; not when, +after a bare moment of hesitation, Gertrude's father knelt opposite on +the mattress-pile, did they break their silence, though they shrewdly +guessed what that meant. + +But when Glover pulled together his disordered members and at +Gertrude's side walked without help to the step of the car, the murmur +broke into a cheer that rang from Pilot to Glen Tarn. + +"It was more than half my fault," he breathed to her, after his broken +arms had been set and the long gash on his head stitched. "I need not +have lost my balance if I had kept my head. Gertrude, I may as well +admit it--I'm a coward since I've begun to love you. I've never told +you how I saw your face once between the curtains of an empty sleeper. +But it came back to me just as Dancing's shoulder slipped--that's why I +went. I'm done forever with long chances." And she, silent, tried +only to quiet him while the car moved down the gap bearing them from +Pilot together. + + +"Do you know what day to-morrow is?" Gertrude was opening a box of +flowers that Solomon had brought from the express-office; Glover, +plastered with bandages, was standing before the grate fire in the +hotel parlor. + +"To-morrow?" he echoed. "Sunday." + +"Sunday! Why do you always guess Sunday when I ask you what day it is?" + +"You would think every day Sunday if you had had as good a time as I +have for six weeks." + +"The doctor does say you're doing beautifully. I asked him yesterday +how soon you would be well and he said you never had been so well since +he knew you. But what is to-morrow?" + +"Thanksgiving." + +"Thanksgiving, indeed! Yes, every day is Thanksgiving for us. But +it's not especially _that_." + +"Christmas." + +"Nonsense! To-morrow is the second anniversary of our engagement." + +"My Lord, Gertrude, have we been engaged two years? Why, at that rate +I can't possibly marry you till I'm forty-four." + +"It isn't two years, it's two months. And to-night they have their +memorial services for poor Paddy McGraw. And, do you know, your friend +Mr. Foley has our engine now? Yes; he came up the other day to ask +about you, but in reality to tell me he had been promoted. I think he +ought to have been, after I spoke myself to Mr. Archibald about it. +But what touched me was, the poor fellow asked if I wouldn't see about +getting some flowers for the memorial at the engineer's lodge +to-night--and he didn't want his wife to know anything about it, +because she would scold him for spending his money--see what you are +coming to! So I suggested he should let me provide his flowers and +ours together, and when I tried to find out what he wanted, he asked if +a throttle made of flowers would be all right." + +"Your heart would not let you say no?" + +"I told him it would be lovely, and to leave it all to me." + +She brought forward the box she was opening. "See how they have laid +this throttle-bar of violets across these Galax leaves--and latched it +with a rose. Here, Solomon," she exiled the boy from an adjoining +room, "take this very carefully. No. There isn't any card. Oh," she +exclaimed, as he left, and she clasped her lifted hands, "I am glad, I +am glad we are leaving these mountains. Do you know papa is to be here +to-morrow? And that your speech must be ready? He isn't going to give +his consent without being asked." + +"I suppose not," said Glover, dejectedly. + +"What are you going to say?" + +"I shall say that I consider him worthy of my confidence and esteem." + +"I think you would make more headway, dearest, if you should tell him +you considered yourself worthy of _his_ confidence and esteem." + +"But, hang it, I don't." + +"Well, couldn't you, for once, fib a little? Oh, Ab; I'll tell you +what I wish you _could_ do." + +"Pray what?" + +"Talk a little business to him. I feel sure, if you could only talk +business awhile, papa would be _all_ right." + +"Business! If it's only a question of talking business, the thing's as +good as done. I can't talk anything but business." + +"Can't you, indeed! I like that. Pray what did you talk to me on the +platform of my father's own car?" + +"Business." + +"You talked the silliest stuff I ever listened to----" + +"Not reflecting on anyone present, of course." + +"And, Ab----" + +"Yes." + +"If you could take him aback somehow--nothing would give him such an +idea of you. I think that was what--well, I was so _completely_ +overcome by your audacity----" + +"You seemed so," commented Glover, rather grimly. "Very well, if you +want him taken aback, I will take him aback, even if I have to resort +to force." He withdrew his right arm from its sling and began +unwrapping the bandages and throwing the splints Into the fire. + +"What in the world are you doing?" asked Gertrude, in consternation. + +"There's no use carrying these things any longer. My right arm is just +as strong as it ever was--and to tell the truth----" + +"Now keep your distance, if you please." + +"To tell the truth, I never could play ball left-handed, anyway, +Gertrude. Now, let's begin easy. Just shake hands with me." + +"I'll do nothing of the sort. It's bad form, anyway. You may just +shake hands with yourself. All things considered, I think you have +good reason to." + + +"I understand you were chief engineer of this system at one time," +began Mr. Brock, at the very outset of the dreaded interview. + +"I was," answered Glover. + +"And that you resigned voluntarily to take an inferior position on the +Mountain Division?" + +"That is true." + +"Railroad men with ambition," commented Mr. Brock, dryly, "don't +usually turn their faces from responsibility in that way. They look +higher, and not lower." + +"I thought I was looking higher when I came to the mountains." + +"That may do for a joke, but I am talking business." + +"I, too; and since I am, let me explain to you why I resigned a higher +position for a lower one. The fact is well known; the reason isn't. I +came to this road at the call of your second vice-president, Mr. Bucks. +I have always enjoyed a large measure of his confidence. We saw some +years ago that a reorganization was inevitable, and spent many nights +discussing the different features of it. This is what we determined: +That the key to this whole system with its eight thousand miles of main +line and branches is this Mountain Division. To operate the system +economically and successfully means that the grades must be reduced and +the curvature reduced on this division. Surely, with you, I need not +dwell on the A B C's of twentieth century railroading. It is the road +that can handle the tonnage cheapest that will survive. All this we +knew, and I told him to put me out on this division. It was during the +receivership and there was no room for frills. + +"I have worked here on a small salary and done everything but maul +spikes to keep down expenses on the division, because we had to make +some showing to whoever wanted to buy our junk. In this way I took a +roving commission and packed my bag from an office where I could +acquire nothing I did not already know to a position where I could get +hold of the problem of mountain transportation and cut the coal bills +of the road in two." + +"Have you done it?" + +"Have I cut the coal bills in two? No; but I have learned how. It +will cost money to do that----" + +"How much money?" + +"Thirty millions of dollars." + +"A good deal of money." + +"No." + +"No?" + +"No. Don't let us be afraid to face figures. You will spend a hundred +millions before you quit, Mr. Brock, and you will make another hundred +millions in doing it. To put it bluntly, the mountains must be brought +to terms. For three years I have eaten and lived and slept with them. +I know every grade, curve, tunnel, and culvert from here to Bear +Dance--yes, to the coast. The day of heavy gradients and curves for +transcontinental tonnage is gone by. If I ever get a chance, I will +rip this right of way open from end to end and make it possible to send +freight through these ranges at a cost undreamed of in the estimates of +to-day. But that was not my only object in coming to the mountains." + +"Go ahead." + +"Mr. Bucks and the men he has gathered around him--Callahan, Blood and +the rest of us--are railroad men. Railroading is our business; we know +nothing else. There was an embarrassing chance that when our buyer +came he might be hostile to the present management. Happily," Glover +bowed to the Pittsburg magnate, "he isn't; but he might have been----" + +"I see." + +"We were prepared for that." + +"How?" + +"I shouldn't speak of this if I did not know you were Mr. Bucks' +closest friend. Even he doesn't know it, but six months of my own +time--not the company's--I put in on a matter that concerned my friends +and myself, and I have the notes for a new line to parallel this if it +were needed--and Blood and I have the only pass within three hundred +miles north or south to run it over. These were some of the reasons, +Mr. Brock, why I came to the mountains." + +"I understand. I understand perfectly. Mr. Glover, what is your age, +sir?" + +The time seemed ripe to put Gertrude's second hint into play. + +"That is a subject I never discuss with anyone, Mr. Brock." + +He waited just a moment to let the magnate get his breath, and +continued, "May I tell you why? When the road went into the +receivership, I was named as one of the receivers on behalf of the +Government. The President, when I first met him during my term, asked +for my father, thinking he was the man that had been recommended to +him. He wouldn't believe me when I assured him I was his appointee. +'If I had known how young you were, Glover,' said he to me, afterward, +'I never should have dared appoint you.' The position paid me +twenty-five thousand dollars a year for four years; but the incident +paid me better than that, for it taught me never to discuss my age." + +"I see. I see. A fine point. You have taught _me_ something. By the +way, about the pass you spoke of--I suppose you understand the +importance of getting hold of a strategic point like that +to--a--forestall--competition?" + +"I have hold of it." + +"I do not mind saying to you, under all the circumstances, that there +has been a little friction with the Harrison people. Do you see? And, +for reasons that may suggest themselves, there may be more. They might +conclude to run a line to the coast themselves. The young man has, I +believe, been turned down----" + +"I understood the--the slate had been--changed slightly," stammered +Glover, coloring. + +"There might be resentment, that's all. Blood is loyal to us, I +presume." + +"There's no taint anywhere in Morris Blood. He is loyalty itself." + +"What would you think of him as General Manager? Callahan goes to the +river as Traffic Manager. Mr. Bucks, you know, is the new President; +these are his recommendations. What do you think of them?" + +"No better men on earth for the positions, and I'm mighty glad to see +them get what they deserve." + +"Our idea is to leave you right here in the mountains." It was hard to +be left completely out of the new deal, but Glover did not visibly +wince. "With the title," added Mr. Brock, after he knew his arrow had +gone home, "with the title of Second Vice-president, which Mr. Bucks +now holds. That will give you full swing in your plans for the +rebuilding of the system. I want to see them carried out as the +estimates I've been studying this winter show. Don't thank me. I did +not know till yesterday they were entirely your plans. You can have +every dollar you need; it will rest with you to produce the results. I +guess that's all. No, stop. I want you to go East with us next week +for a month or two as our guest. You can forward your work the faster +when you get back, and I should like you to meet the men whose money +you are to spend. Were you waiting to see Gertrude?" + +"Why--yes, sir--I----" + +"I'll see whether she's around." + +Gertrude did not appear for some moments, then she half ran and half +glided in, radiant. "I couldn't get away!" she exclaimed. "He's +talking about you yet to Aunt Jane and Marie. He says you're charged +with dynamite--_I_ knew that--a most remarkable young man. How did you +ever convince him you knew anything? I am confident you don't. You +must have taken him somehow aback, didn't you?" + +"If you want to give your father a touch of asthma," suggested Glover, +"ask him how old I am; but he had me scared once or twice," admitted +the engineer, wiping the cold sweat from his wrists. + +"_Did_ he give his consent?" + +"Why--hang it--I--we got to talking business and I forgot to----" + +"So like you, dear. However, it must be all right, for he said he +should need your help in buying the coast branches and The Short Line." + +"The Short Line," gasped Glover. "Well, I haven't inventoried lately. +If we marry in June----" + +"Don't worry about that, for we sha'n't marry in June, my love." + +"But when we do, we shall need some money for a wedding-trip----" + +"We certainly shall; a lot of it, dearie." + +"I may have ten or twelve hundred left after that is provided for. But +my confidence in your father's judgment is very great, and if he's +going to make up a pool, my money is at his service, as far as it will +go, to buy The Short Line--or any other line he may take a fancy to." + +"Why, he's just telling Marie about your making a hundred thousand +dollars in four years by being wonderfully shrewd----" + +"But that confounded mine that I told you about----" + +"You dear old stupid. Never mind, you have made a real strike to-day. +But if you ever again delude papa into thinking you know more than I +do, I shall expose you without mercy." + +The train, a private car special, carrying Mr. Brock, chairman of the +board, and his family, the new president and the second vice-president +elect, was pulling slowly across the long, high spans of the Spider +bridge. Glover and Gertrude had gone back to the observation platform. +Leaning on his arm, she was looking across the big valley and into the +west. The sun, setting clear, tinged with gold the far snows of the +mountains. + +"It is less than a year," she was murmuring, "since I crossed this +bridge; think of it. And what bridges have I not crossed since! See. +Your mountains are fading away----" + +"My mountains faded away, dear heart, don't you know, when you told me +I might love you. As for those"--his eyes turned from the distant +ranges back to her eyes--"after all, they brought me you." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE*** + + +******* This file should be named 24696.txt or 24696.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/9/24696 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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