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authornfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>2025-03-03 05:40:27 -0800
committernfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>2025-03-03 05:40:27 -0800
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+<title>RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER</title>
+<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" />
+<meta name="PG.Title" content="Ralph in the Switch Tower" />
+<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Al Haines" />
+<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Allen Chapman" />
+<meta name="DC.Created" content="1907" />
+<meta name="PG.Id" content="39051" />
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+<meta name="DC.Title" content="Ralph in the Switch Tower" />
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+<link href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39051" rel="DCTERMS.isFormatOf" />
+<meta content="Allen Chapman" name="DCTERMS.creator" />
+<meta content="2012-03-04" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.created" />
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+</style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 39051 ***</div>
+<div class="document" id="ralph-in-the-switch-tower">
+<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER</h1>
+<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 4em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Al Haines.</span></p>
+<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 1em">
+</div>
+<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p>
+</div>
+<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 61%" id="figure-3">
+<img style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-front.jpg" />
+<div class="caption">
+RALPH QUICKLY AND DEFTLY ATTENDED TO THE CALL FOR SEVERAL SWITCHES.</div>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils" />
+<div class="center large line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost small">
+<div class="line">OR</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block medium noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">CLEARING THE TRACK</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost small">
+<div class="line">BY</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block medium noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">ALLEN CHAPMAN</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block medium noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">NEW YORK</div>
+<div class="line">GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</div>
+<div class="line">PUBLISHERS</div>
+</div>
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost small">
+<div class="line">Made in the United States of America</div>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils" />
+<div class="center line-block noindent outermost small">
+<div class="line">COPYRIGHT, 1907</div>
+<div class="line">BY</div>
+<div class="line">THE MERSHON COMPANY</div>
+<div class="line"><em class="italics">Ralph in the Switch Tower</em></div>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils" />
+<div class="level-2 section" id="id1">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">CONTENTS</h2>
+<div class="container contents" id="id2">
+<ul class="compact simple toc-list">
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-i-down-and-out" id="id3">CHAPTER I--DOWN AND OUT</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-ii-up-the-ladder" id="id4">CHAPTER II--UP THE LADDER</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-iii-a-close-graze" id="id5">CHAPTER III--A CLOSE GRAZE</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-iv-a-mystery" id="id6">CHAPTER IV--A MYSTERY</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-v-the-stowaway" id="id7">CHAPTER V--THE STOWAWAY</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-vi-mrs-fairbanks-visitor" id="id8">CHAPTER VI--MRS. FAIRBANKS' VISITOR</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-vii-young-slavin" id="id9">CHAPTER VII--"YOUNG SLAVIN"</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-viii-a-bad-lot" id="id10">CHAPTER VIII--A BAD LOT</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-ix-calcutta-tom" id="id11">CHAPTER IX--CALCUTTA TOM</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-x-a-mile-a-minute" id="id12">CHAPTER X--A MILE A MINUTE</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xi-spoiling-for-a-fight" id="id13">CHAPTER XI--SPOILING FOR A FIGHT</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xii-the-superintendent-s-opinion" id="id14">CHAPTER XII--THE SUPERINTENDENT'S OPINION</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xiii-squaring-things" id="id15">CHAPTER XIII--SQUARING THINGS</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xiv-a-busy-evening" id="id16">CHAPTER XIV--A BUSY EVENING</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xv-a-hero-despite-himself" id="id17">CHAPTER XV--A HERO DESPITE HIMSELF</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xvi-kidnapped" id="id18">CHAPTER XVI--KIDNAPPED</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xvii-a-midnight-visitor" id="id19">CHAPTER XVII--A MIDNIGHT VISITOR</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xviii-a-desperate-chance" id="id20">CHAPTER XVIII--A DESPERATE CHANCE</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xix-the-double-wreck" id="id21">CHAPTER XIX--THE DOUBLE WRECK</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xx-the-crazy-orders" id="id22">CHAPTER XX--THE CRAZY ORDERS</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxi-ike-slumps-nutcracker" id="id23">CHAPTER XXI--IKE SLUMPS "NUTCRACKER"</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxii-a-headstrong-friend" id="id24">CHAPTER XXII--A HEADSTRONG FRIEND</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxiii-ike-slump-co" id="id25">CHAPTER XXIII--IKE SLUMP &amp; CO.</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxiv-fire" id="id26">CHAPTER XXIV--FIRE!</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxv-the-little-tin-box" id="id27">CHAPTER XXV--THE LITTLE TIN BOX</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxvi-a-clew" id="id28">CHAPTER XXVI--A CLEW!</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxvii-slavin-gets-a-job" id="id29">CHAPTER XXVII--SLAVIN GETS A JOB</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxviii-what-the-extra-told" id="id30">CHAPTER XXVIII--WHAT THE "EXTRA" TOLD</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxix-guessing" id="id31">CHAPTER XXIX--GUESSING</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxx-precious-freight" id="id32">CHAPTER XXX--PRECIOUS FREIGHT</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxxi-half-a-million-dollars" id="id33">CHAPTER XXXI--HALF A MILLION DOLLARS</a></li>
+<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxxii-conclusion" id="id34">CHAPTER XXXII--CONCLUSION</a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
+<hr class="docutils" />
+<div class="center large line-block noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER</div>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-i-down-and-out">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">CHAPTER I--DOWN AND OUT</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"Get out of here!" said Jack Knight, head towerman of the Great
+Northern Railroad, at Stanley Junction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I ain't doing no harm," retorted Mort Bemis, ex-leverman of the
+depot switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And stay out. Hear me?" demanded Knight, big as a bear, and quite as
+gruff.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the call for sitting down on a fellow this way, I'd like to
+know!" muttered Bemis sullenly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're a bad lot, that's what," growled the veteran railroader. "You
+always were and you always will be. I'm through with you. So is the
+railroad company. What's the call, you meddlesome, malicious
+reprobate? That's the call!" fairly shouted the towerman, red of face
+and choleric of voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He moved one arm as he spoke. It hung in a sling, and the hand was
+swathed in bandages.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's some of your fine, Smart-Aleck work," he went on angrily.
+"Come now, take yourself out of here! This is a place for workers, not
+loafers."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis gave Jack Knight a revengeful look. Then he moved towards
+the trap in the floor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The scene was the depot switch tower at Stanley Junction, in sight of
+the local passenger depot. It loomed up thirty feet in the air,
+glass-windowed on every side. It was neat, light, and airy. In its
+center, running nearly its length, was the row of long heavy levers
+that controlled the depot and siding switches of the terminus of the
+Great Northern Railroad.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The big-framed, business-faced man who bustled among these, keeping an
+angry eye meantime on an unwelcome visitor, was a veteran and a marvel
+in local railroad circles.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When the Great Northern had come to Stanley Junction, ten years back,
+it brought old Jack Knight with it,</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had an eye like an eagle and the muscles of a giant. The inside of
+his head was popularly believed to be a vast railroad map. He
+controlled the main rails, switches, and sidings, like a woman would
+the threads of an intricate knitting piece. He directed the
+locomotives and trains up and down that puzzling network of rails, like
+puppets moved by strings. In ten years' service he had never been
+responsible for an accident or a wreck.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Old Jack, therefore, having never made a mistake in railroading, had
+little patience with the careless, lazy specimen whom he had just
+ordered out of the place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis had been his assistant in the tower. The fellow's record
+had always been full of flaws. He was slow and indifferent at the
+levers. He associated with a shiftless crowd outside. He borrowed
+money and did not pay it back. He was unreliable, disagreeable, and
+unpopular.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Three days previous, old Jack was adjusting a heavy weight bar on the
+lower story of the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort, upstairs, was supposed to safely hold back a spring-bar apparatus
+while his superior was fixing the delicate mechanism below.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His mind everywhere except on his task, Mort for an instant took his
+hand off the bar to wave a recognition to a chosen chum, "flipping" a
+passing freight train.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a frightful yell below. Mort, terrified, pulled back the
+bar. Then he stuck his head through the trap. There stood old Jack,
+pale as death, one hand crushed and mutilated through his helper's
+outrageous lapse of duty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old railroader's rage was terrible, as he forgot his pain and hurt
+in the realization that for the first time in ten years he was crippled
+from active service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The frightened Mort made a dive for a window. He slid down the
+water-spout outside, got to the nearest switch shanty, telephoned the
+depot master about the accident,--and made himself scarce.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort joined some chosen chums in one of the haunts of Railroad Street.
+He reported by 'phone "on the sick list" next morning. He did not show
+up until two days later, "after a good and easy rest," as he put it,
+and then fancying old Jack's "grouch" had cooled down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort's reception has been related. He was informed that the railroad
+company had peremptorily discharged him. As to old Jack himself, Mort
+readily discerned that the veteran railroader was aching to give him a
+good hiding.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort did not wait to furnish an excuse for this. He now started down
+the trap-door ladder, grumbling and growling.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Be careful!" rapidly but pleasantly warned someone whom Mort jostled a
+few feet from the bottom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort edged over and dropped to the floor. He gave the speaker a keen
+look.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello! Oh; it's you?" he muttered with a scowl; "Ralph Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The person addressed responded with a short nod. Then he continued to
+mount the ladder in an easy, agile way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hold on," challenged Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had planted his feet apart, and had fixed a fierce and malignant
+glance upon the newcomer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suspicion, disappointment, and rage showed plainly in his coarse,
+sullen face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was something in the striking contrast between himself and the
+other that galled Mort.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was "down and out," he realized, while the neat, cheery, ambitious
+lad whom he had hailed, three years his junior, was "going up the
+ladder" in more ways than one.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The latter wore a new, clean working suit, and carried a dinner pail.
+He suggested the wholesome, energetic worker from top to toe.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am holding on," he observed to Mort, stopping half-way up the ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thought you was working at the roundhouse?" said Mort.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I was," answered Ralph Fairbanks. "I have been promoted."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where to?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What!" flared out Mort. "What do you know about switch-tower duty?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not much, only what Mr. Knight has shown me for the past two days.
+But I'll catch on, I guess."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis struck a tragic pose and his voice quavered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oho! that's the game, eh? All cut and dried! My bread and butter
+taken away from me, to give to one of the master mechanic's pets.
+Augh!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort retreated with a grimace of disgust. He was standing under a
+floor grating. Purposely or by accident, Knight, overhead, had dropped
+a dipperful of water through the grating.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort jumped outside the lower tower room, growling like a mad
+catamount. He shook his fist menacingly at Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fairbanks," he cried, "I'll fix you for this!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph did not even look at his enemy again. He completed his ascent of
+the ladder, and came up through the trap with a bright, cheery hail to
+old Jack, whom he liked and who liked him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I report for active duty, Mr. Knight," he announced briskly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, do you?" retorted the old railroader, disguising his good nature
+under his usual mask of grimness. "Well, you're ahead of time fifteen
+minutes, so just sit down and behave yourself till I get those freights
+over yonder untangled. Anxious for work, are you?" he pursued
+quizzically. "You'll have enough of it. I'm ordered up to the
+crossings tower, and you'll have to take the first half-night shift
+here alone. Think you can manage it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can try, Mr. Knight," was the modest but resolute reply.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ii-up-the-ladder">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4">CHAPTER II--UP THE LADDER</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph Fairbanks was a full-fledged railroader, young as he was.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Those who have read the preceding volume of this series, will have no
+difficulty in recognizing the able and intrepid hero of "Ralph of the
+Roundhouse" in the manly young fellow who had just reported for duty to
+grim old Jack Knight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had lived at Stanley Junction since childhood. His father had
+been a railroad man before him. In fact, John Fairbanks had been
+instrumental in bringing the Great Northern to Stanley Junction. He
+had in part supervised its construction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had died before reaping the reward of his services. However, Mrs.
+Fairbanks and his friends knew that he owned some twenty thousand
+dollars' worth of railroad stock besides his home. This stock could
+not be located after his death, and Ralph and his mother found
+themselves totally unprovided for.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They knew that in his stock deals Mr. Fairbanks had a partner. This
+was Gasper Farrington, a miserly but wealthy magnate of the town.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To their astonishment, this man now came forward with a mortgage on the
+homestead that Mrs. Fairbanks was positive had been paid off before her
+husband's death.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of this, however, she could furnish no written proof. Farrington
+professed great sympathy for the family of his dead partner, but
+nevertheless he insisted on collecting the interest on the mortgage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He seemed very anxious to get the Fairbanks family away from Stanley
+Junction, and even offered them a bribe to go.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This fact aroused Ralph's suspicions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He got thinking things over. He suddenly realized what a sacrifice his
+noble mother was making to keep him at school.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One day he went home with a great resolve in his mind. He announced to
+his mother that he had decided to put aside boyish sports for hard work.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was a favorite with local railroaders. The freight yards at
+Acton caught fire, and Ralph was impressed into temporary service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lad's heroic acts won the attention and friendship of the master
+mechanic of the railroad. Next day Ralph found himself an employee of
+the Great Northern, as wiper under the foreman of the local roundhouse.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They had offered him a clerical position in the general offices down
+the line at Springfield, but Ralph declined. He announced his
+intention of beginning at the very bottom of the railroad ladder and
+working his way up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">How promptly and triumphantly he reached the first rung, "Ralph of the
+Roundhouse" has narrated.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a hard experience, but he soon won the reputation of turning out
+the cleanest, brightest locomotives in the service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph made many friends and some enemies. Among the latter was a
+dissolute boy named Ike Slump. This young rascal stole nearly a
+wagon-load of valuable brass fittings from the railroad supply shops,
+and not a trace of the thief or booty could be discovered by the road
+detectives.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had in the meantime befriended and practically adopted a poor
+waif, named Van Sherwin. The latter had been accidentally struck in
+the head by a baseball. His reason seemed gone. Ralph's
+tender-hearted mother cared for him as if he was an only son.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Strange to say, it was through this lone waif whom Ralph had so
+befriended that the young railroader was led to know a certain Farwell
+Gibson. This man turned out to be, like Ralph's father, a victim of
+the wiles of old Gasper Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph and he got comparing notes. Gibson lived in a lonely stretch of
+woods. He was day by day doing some grading work, which enabled him to
+keep alive a legal charter for a cut-off railway line.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He furnished Ralph with the evidence that the mortgage on the Fairbanks
+home had been paid.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Incidentally, near the woodland seclusion of Farwell Gibson, Ralph ran
+across a wrecked wagon in a ravine. In this he discovered the metal
+fittings stolen from the railroad company.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike Slump got away, but Ralph secured the plunder. When he returned to
+Stanley Junction, through a lawyer he made Gasper Farrington
+acknowledge the mortgage on their home as invalid, much to the chagrin
+of the old miser.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He told Farrington, too, that he believed he had his father's twenty
+thousand dollars' worth of railroad bonds hidden away somewhere, and
+notified him that he should yet try to unravel the mystery surrounding
+them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph now reaped the reward of duty well done. Life grew brighter.
+They had a home, and Mr. Blake, the master mechanic, showed his
+appreciation of the recovery of the stolen plunder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was officially notified that he was promoted to duty at the depot
+switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For two days he had been under the skilled tuition of old Jack Knight,
+learning the ropes. Now, at the noon hour of a bright, balmy autumn
+day, he entered upon this second grade of service in the employ of the
+Great Northern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a pleasure to the ardent young railroader to view the panorama
+of rails and switches in plain view of the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a fascinating novelty to study old Jack Knight at the levers.
+One-handed as he was for the occasion, he went through his duties like
+some skilled master giving an expert exhibition.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The switch levers were numbered up to twenty. In their center was a
+dial, a foot across. Over its surface ran an indicator, moved by an
+electric button one mile south, at the main signal tower at the limits
+of the town.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Passenger No. 8," "Freight 10," "Express 3," "Special," "Chaser," and
+half a dozen other regular trains were marked on this dial.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Nearby was a telephone, also connecting with the limits tower. This
+was in requisition every minute to announce when trains had passed a
+certain switch, closed again behind them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A large megaphone hung in readiness near an open window behind the
+operator, who darted from lever to lever according as he received his
+orders by 'phone or dial.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For two days, as Ralph had told Mort Bemis, he had been under the
+skilled tuition of old Jack, learning the switches.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had gone down the tracks to the limits, foot by foot slowly, twenty
+times or more that morning, until he had a perfect map in his head of
+every rail and switch on the roadbeds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had familiarized himself with every lever number, and that of every
+train on the road. He realized that trained eye, ear, and muscle must
+be ever on the alert, or great loss of life and property might result
+at any moment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a lull in active duty for the veteran towerman as the noon
+whistles blew. Knight set the lever for a lazy switch engine taking a
+siding, sent the noon accommodation on her way, closed the switches
+after her, and gave attention to Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Fairbanks," he said, slipping his coat over one arm and changing
+his cap, "think you can manage?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can obey orders," answered Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's all you have to do. The limits gives you your cue. Never
+forget that they are the responsible party. If they say six, make it
+six, if you see that it's going to bust a train of Pullmans, depot, and
+all. Obey orders--that's the beginning and end. Number two is: Use
+your own judgment with chasers and freights when the tracks are full."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then the telephone bell rang. Ralph grasped the receiver.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No. 4, express, backing in," and Ralph repeating it casually for old
+Jack's benefit, stepped on the long, narrow plank lining the lever
+platform.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Three for the yards switch, 7 for the in main, and 4 for the express
+shed siding," he pronounced.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It took some muscle to pull over the big heavy levers in turn, which
+were not operated on the new-style compressed air system.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Knight watched him closely, nodding his head in approval as Ralph
+closed the switches on limits' 'phoning as the express passed certain
+points. As a locomotive backing three express cars passed the tower
+and took the sheds tracks, old Jack observed:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You'll do. I'll drop in later. Your shift runs till 9 P.M. Then Doc
+Bortree will relieve you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, Mr. Knight. And thanks for all your trouble in teaching
+me," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old towerman disappeared down the trap ladder. Ralph did not sit
+down. He was alone now, and it would take time and experience to
+dissipate the natural tension of anxiety he felt.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a big responsibility for a boy," he spoke musingly. "They know
+their business, though," he went on, "and have confidence in me, it
+seems. Well, I'll make good, if strict obedience to orders is the
+keynote."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The ensuing hour was a great strain on Ralph's nerves. It was a
+critical situation, for at one o'clock it seemed as if every switch
+engine in the service started up simultaneously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Three freights and one out and one in passenger complicated the
+situation. Ralph's eye never left the dial. His ear got trained to
+catching the slightest click on the telephone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He felt as flabby as a doormat and was wet with perspiration, as he
+finally cleared the yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never a miss!" he panted, with a good deal of satisfaction. "It
+couldn't come much swifter than that at any hour of the day or night.
+It's genuine hard work, though, and expert work, too. Well, I've made
+a fair beginning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had it quite easy for an hour now. He rested in the big cane
+armchair on a little elevated platform directly in front of the levers.
+From there he had a clear view of every foot of the yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Some roundhouse hands, passing by, waved him a genial hail. The depot
+master strolled by about three o'clock, and called up to know how
+Knight's hand was getting on. Just after that, Ralph fancied he
+recognized Mort Bemis in a group of loaferish-looking fellows on the
+freight tracks. A call to the levers, however, distracted his
+attention, and when he looked again the coterie had disappeared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll have a stirring report to make to mother to-night," reflected
+Ralph, with pleasurable anticipation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A short freight had just taken the far siding. Its engineer held up
+two fingers to Ralph. This indicated that he wanted main two. After
+that his crew set the unattached switches beyond themselves.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The freight was slowing up, when Ralph saw a female form come over the
+bumpers of two of the moving cars. She leaped to the ground as nimbly
+as an expert switchman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The fireman of the freight yelled at her and shook his fist. She
+tossed her head in the air and proceeded across the planked passenger
+roadbeds, dodging a hand-car, climbing over a stationary freight, and
+continuing recklessly across the railroad property where outsiders were
+not allowed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She was a somewhat portly, red-faced woman of about forty. She wore a
+hideous poke bonnet, and carried a bulging umbrella with a heavy hooked
+handle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In crossing between the cars she simply reached up with this, encircled
+the brake-rod with the umbrella handle, and pulled herself to the
+bumpers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A flagman came rushing up to her. He pointed to the painted sign on a
+signal post near by, warning trespassers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph watched the determined female flare up. The flagman tried to
+stop her. She knocked off his cap with a sweeping blow of the
+umbrella, and proceeded calmly on her way with the stride of some
+amazon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was wondering at her temerity and mission. She was headed
+straight for the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just then the dial clicked. "Chaser" it indicated, and down the main
+track came a locomotive and tender at full speed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The 'phone gave the direction: Track 11. This was a set of rails
+rounding beyond the blank wall of the in freight on a sharp curve.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It took one lever to set the switch from the main track, another to
+open the rails inside track eleven.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the main, forty feet farther on, stood the made-up afternoon
+accommodation train. On No. 12 were two dead Pullmans, ready for the
+night express.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The levers of in main and track eleven were less than three feet apart.
+Ralph grasped one with each hand, to slide the main with his right and
+complete the switch circuit with his left.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was an easy task, knowing just what was wanted, and a full thirty
+seconds to act in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The minute that Ralph's hands struck the levers, a thrill and then a
+chill--strong, overpowering, and deadly--paralyzed every nerve in his
+body.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Every vestige of sensation left his frame--his hands, perfectly
+nerveless, seemed glued to the levers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He could not detach them, strive as he might--he could not exert a
+single ounce of pulling power.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a gasp Ralph saw the chaser engine dash down the rails, a hundred,
+eighty, seventy, fifty feet from the main switch, tender in front, so
+engineer and fireman, relying on the tower service, never noticed that
+they were headed for a tremendous crash into the made-up accommodation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a sickening sense of horror Ralph strove to pull the levers.
+Impossible!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Something was wrong! He could not move a muscle. Like one petrified
+he glared down at the flying locomotive, headed straight for disaster
+and destruction.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iii-a-close-graze">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5">CHAPTER III--A CLOSE GRAZE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph's strained hearing caught these sounds vaguely. All his
+attention was centered on the locomotive apparently speeding to sure
+disaster.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The next instant, however, he became aware that in some mysterious way
+these noises signalized his rescue from a terrible situation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lever rods his hands clasped vibrated harshly. As if by magic that
+glue-like suction tension on his fingers was withdrawn.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His hands still burned and tingled, but a great gasp of relief left his
+lips. His eyes fixed on the rushing engine, his hands now pulled the
+levers in order.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Not six inches from taking the in main rails, not eight seconds from
+reducing the accommodation to a heap of kindling wood, the "chaser"
+shot switch eleven, and glided smoothly to the terminus. Its serene
+crew never dreamed how they had grazed death by a hair's breadth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph half fell between the levers. He felt that his face must be the
+color of chalk. His strength was entirely spent. He still grasped the
+levers, hanging there for a moment like a person about to faint.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Fortunately there was no call for switch-tower service during the
+ensuing minute or two. Ralph tried to rally his dazed senses, to
+comprehend what was going on below.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For again a swishing, cracking, clattering sound rang out. This time
+it was followed by a curdling cry of pain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You'll blind me--you're tearing my hair out by the roots!" screamed a
+voice which Ralph instantly recognized.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It belonged to Mort Bemis. Ralph began to have a coherent suspicion as
+to the cause of his recent helplessness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll tear twenty-six dollars out of you, or I'll have your hide!"
+proclaimed strident feminine tones.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hain't got no money."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You'll get it for me. What, strike me with that piece of wire! You
+wretch, I'll----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a jangling crash, as of some heavy body thrown back against
+the lever cables in the lower story of the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then its door crashed open, and glancing through the windows Ralph saw
+Mort Bemis dash into view.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He sped across tracks as if for his life. He was hatless, his face was
+streaked with red welts. From one hand trailed a piece of insulated
+electric light wire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Giving a frightened backward glance as he reached a line of freights,
+the ex-towerman leaped the space between two cars and disappeared from
+view.</p>
+<p class="pnext">From the lower story of the switch tower there now issued exclamations
+of rage and disgust.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph started to look down the ladder trap. Just then the dial called
+for a switch, and duty temporarily curbed his interest and curiosity.
+As he set clear tracks again, a head obtruded through the trapdoor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was that of the resolute woman Ralph had noticed a little time past
+so audaciously crossing the rails and defying instructions. Her face
+was red and heated, her eyes flashing. Her hair was in disorder, and
+the poke bonnet was all awry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Be careful--don't fall, madam," said Ralph quickly, with inborn
+chivalry and politeness, springing to the trap.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He put out a hand to help her. She disdained his assistance with an
+impatient sniff, and cleared the ladder like an expert.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't trouble yourself about me, young man," she observed crisply.
+"I'm able to take care of myself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see you are, madam."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've run an ore dummy in my time, when my husband was head yardman at
+an iron works, and I know how to climb. See here," she demanded
+imperatively, fixing a keen look on the young railroader, "are you boss
+here?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you might say so," answered Ralph. "That is, I am in charge
+here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The woman put down her umbrella to adjust her bonnet. Ralph observed
+that the umbrella was in tatters and the ribs all broken and twisted.
+He comprehended that it was with this weapon that she had just
+assaulted Mort Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If you're the boss," pursued the woman, "I'm Mrs. Davis--Mort Bemis'
+landlady, and I want to know what I've got to do to get twenty-six
+dollars thet he owes me for board and lodging for the last six weeks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see," nodded Ralph--"slow pay, that fellow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No pay at all!" flashed out the woman wrathfully. "He came to me
+month before last with a great story of promotion, big salary, and all
+his back funds tied up in a savings bank at Springfield. Last pay day
+he claimed someone robbed him. This pay day he dropped from the garret
+window, leaving an old empty trunk. I got on his trail to-day, and I
+want to garnishee his wages. How do I go about it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know the process," said Ralph, "never having had any
+experience in that class of business, but I should say garnisheeing in
+this case would simply be sending good money after bad."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How?" demanded Mrs. Davis sharply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bemis has very likely drawn every cent the company owes him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But his pay is running on."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not now, madam. He was discharged two days ago."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"W-what!" voiced Mrs. Davis, in dismay. "And won't he be taken back?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"From what I hear--hardly," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The woman's strong, weather-beaten features relaxed. All her
+impetuosity seemed to die out with her hope. Ralph felt sorry for her.
+She was brusque and harsh of manner, masculine in her ways, but the
+womanly helplessness now exhibited was pathetic.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She tottered back to the armchair, every vestige of willfulness and
+force gone. Apparently this odd creature never did things by halves.
+She sunk down in the chair, and began to cry as if her heart would
+break. Ralph was called back to the levers and had no time to console
+her. He watched her pityingly, however. Between her sobbings and
+incoherent lamentations he pretty clearly made out the history of her
+present woes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis had, it seemed, shown himself a "dead beat of the first
+water." Mrs. Davis had recently come to Stanley Junction, and had
+rented an old house near a factory owned by Gasper Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bemis had applied for board and lodging. With what he promised to pay,
+and with what she could make off an orchard, vegetable patch, and some
+poultry, this would give Mrs. Davis a fair living.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And he never paid me a cent," she sobbed out. "Last Saturday my last
+cent went for flour. Yesterday I used up the last bread in the house.
+I haven't eaten a morsel this blessed day. The man who owns the house
+threatens to turn me out if I don't pay the six dollars rent by six
+o'clock to-night, and all for that rascally, thieving Bemis! A
+full-grown man, and robbing and cheating a poor lone widow like me!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph glanced up and down the rails. Then he glided over to the
+clothes closet at the end of the tower room and secured his dinner pail.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And what was the scoundrel up to below, when I discovered him just
+now, I'd like to know?" went on Mrs. Davis. "Some dirty mischief, I'll
+be bound. He had a wire fixed around a bigger one, and was holding the
+scraped copper ends against the lever cables till they sparked out
+little flashes of fire. Say, can't he be arrested for swindling me?
+The reprobate deserves to suffer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph gave a little start of comprehension just there. The woman's
+last recital had cleared up the mystery of his recent sudden
+helplessness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was no doubt whatever in his mind but that the revengeful Mort
+Bemis had started in to "fix" him, as he had threatened earlier in the
+day. His knowledge of the details and environment of the switch tower
+had enabled him to work out a well-devised scheme.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph knew that Bemis was determined to undermine and discredit him at
+any cost.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He theorized that in some way Bemis had connected the current from the
+wires that looped up from the road boxes into the tower. He had the
+practiced eye to know what levers Ralph would use. Bemis had thrown on
+the current, magnetizing the new leverman at just the critical moment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But for the providential intervention of Mrs. Davis a destructive
+collision would have occurred, Ralph would have been disgraced, and
+there would have been a vacancy at the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The villain!" breathed Ralph, all afire with indignation, and then his
+glance softened as he turned to the woman seated in the armchair. Her
+grief had spent itself, but she sat with her chin sunk in one hand,
+moping dejectedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a short bench near one of the windows. Ralph pulled this up
+in front of the armchair. He opened his lunch pail and spread out a
+napkin on the bench. Then on this he placed two home-made sandwiches,
+a piece of apple pie, and a square of the raisin cake that had made his
+mother famous as a first-class cook.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All this Ralph did so quickly that Mrs. Davis, absorbed in her gloomy
+thoughts, did not notice him. He touched her arm gently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want you to sample my mother's cooking, Mrs. Davis," he said, with a
+pleasant smile. "You will feel better if you eat a little, and I want
+to tell you something."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, well! did you ever?" exclaimed Mrs. Davis, noting now the sudden
+transformation of the bench into a lunch table. "Why, boy," she
+continued, with a keen stare at Ralph, "I can't take your victuals away
+from you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But you must eat," insisted Ralph. "I had a hearty dinner, and have a
+warm supper waiting for me soon after dark. I brought the dinner pail
+along just as a matter of form in a way, see."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I do see," answered his visitor, with a gulp, and new tears in
+her eyes--"I see you are a good boy, and a blessing to a good mother,
+I'll warrant."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are right about the good mother, Mrs. Davis," said Ralph, "and I
+want you to go and see her, to judge for yourself."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis munched a sandwich. She looked flustered at Ralph's
+suggestion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm hardly in a position to make calls--I'm dreadfully poor and humble
+just now," she said in a broken tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," repeated Ralph decisively, "you must call on my mother this
+afternoon. You see, Mrs. Davis, that rent of yours has got to be paid
+by six o'clock, hasn't it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The landlord said so."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have only a dollar or so in my pocket here," continued Ralph, "but
+my mother has some of my savings up at the house. I want to let you
+have ten dollars. I will write a note to my mother, and she will let
+you have it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis let the sandwich she was eating fall nervelessly to the
+napkin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What--what are you saying!" she spoke, staring in perplexity at Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you must pay your rent, you know," said Ralph, "and you need a
+little surplus till you get on your feet again. There may be some way
+of shaming or forcing Mort Bemis into paying that twenty-six dollars.
+If there is, I will discover it for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But--but you don't know me. I'm a stranger to you. I couldn't take
+money from a boy like you, working hard as you must, probably for
+little enough wages," vociferated Mrs. Davis, strangely stirred up by
+the generous proffer. "I might take a loan from somebody able to spare
+the money, for I can write to a sister at a distance and get a trifle,
+and pay it back again, but not from you. No--no, thank you just the
+same--just the same," and the woman broke down completely, crying again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph sprang to the levers at a new switch call. Then he resumed his
+argument.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mrs. Davis, you shall take the ten dollars, and you shall have twenty
+if you need it, and that is an end to it. First: because you are in
+distress and I have it to spare. Next: because I owe you a debt money
+cannot pay."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nonsense, boy," spoke Mrs. Davis dubiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's true. You don't happen to know it, but you have saved my
+position and my character this afternoon. You have probably saved the
+railroad company great loss of property, if not of life itself. I
+should be a grateful boy to you, Mrs. Davis. Let me tell you why."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph did tell her. He recited the story of the last hour at the
+levers. Before she could make a comment at its termination, he had
+written and thrust into her hand a note addressed to his mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll take the ten dollars," said Mrs. Davis, in a subdued tone, after
+he had directed her to his home, "but only as a loan. You shall have
+it back quick as I can get word from my sister."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"As you like about that," answered Ralph. "I hope you will make a
+friend of my mother," he added. "She has had her troubles, and you
+would be the happier for asking her counsel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I've had a heap of troubles, boy," sighed Mrs. Davis. "Oh, dear!
+I may be a little good in the world, after all. And," with a wistful
+look at Ralph, "it's hopeful to think all boys aren't like bad Mort
+Bemis. And here I'm borrowing money from you, and don't even know your
+name."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She groped in a pocket and drew forth a worn memorandum book and a
+pencil. Then, opening the book at a blank page, she looked up
+inquiringly at Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fairbanks," dictated Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis had placed the pencil point on the blank page, ready to
+write. As Ralph spoke her hand seemed swayed by a great shock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The pencil and book were nervelessly dropped to the floor. She turned
+a colorless face towards Ralph, and, shrinking back in the creaking
+armchair, stared at him so strangely and fixedly that he was unable to
+understand her sudden emotion.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iv-a-mystery">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6">CHAPTER IV--A MYSTERY</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph looked at his switch-tower visitor in great surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Mrs. Davis," he asked, "what is the matter?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"N--nothing," she stammered, trying to control herself, but her
+features were working strangely. "So your name is Fairbanks?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not John Fairbanks--how simple I am, though, of course not. He was an
+old man. Are you his son, then?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," answered Ralph, his curiosity excited. "My name is Ralph. I am
+John Fairbanks' son. He is dead, you know. Were you acquainted with
+him?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not acquainted exactly," replied the woman, in a certain repressed
+way. "I have heard of him, you see."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you mean since you came to Stanley Junction?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, no, a long way from here, and a long time ago. Where I used to
+live. I heard he was dead, and I heard you and your mother was dead,
+too. I did not dream that any of the Fairbanks were here now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you amaze me!" cried Ralph. "Who could have told you that?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A certain man. He told a falsehood, didn't he? I might have known
+it. I see now--yes, I begin to see how things are."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She said this in a musing tone, as if half-forgetting that she had an
+auditor. Ralph was more than interested. He was startled. He knew
+enough of human nature to guess that Mrs. Davis was concealing
+something from him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She arose quite flustered, and began to arrange her bonnet. She evaded
+Ralph's eye, and appeared anxious to get away. Ralph determined to
+press some further inquiries. Before he could begin, she made the
+remark:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are a good boy, Ralph Fairbanks, and I shan't forget you. I will
+take the loan you offer me, but it will be promptly paid back, very
+soon. Boy," she continued, with a good deal of animation, as if
+suddenly stirred by some impulsive thought, "you will get a blessing
+for being good to a poor lone widow, see if you don't."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I seem to be getting blessings all the time," said Ralph lightly, but
+reverently. "I guess life is full of them, if you do right and put
+yourself in the way of them. Is there some special blessing you are
+thinking of, Mrs. Davis?" he inquired, saying the words because the
+woman had used a certain significant, mysterious tone in her last
+statement. This made him believe she could be clearer and say a deal
+more, if she chose to do so.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, there is," replied Mrs. Davis, almost excitedly. "You mustn't
+question me, though, boy--not just now, anyway. You have given me a
+lot to think of. I may tell you something very important later on--I
+may tell your mother to-day. Good-by."</p>
+<p class="pnext">As she approached the trap in the floor, Ralph got a call for a switch.
+He was reluctant to let his visitor depart. Her vague revelations
+disturbed him. When he had attended to the levers, he turned again to
+Mrs. Davis. In doing so he chanced to glance down at the near tracks,
+and fixedly regarded two approaching figures.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello," he spoke irrepressibly, aloud. "Coming here--the master
+mechanic and Gasper Farrington."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that--who?" cried Mrs. Davis, almost in a shout.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph looked at her in new amazement. As she had caught the last name
+he had spoken, she stood erect in a strained, tense way, seeming to be
+frightened.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The two men Ralph had indicated now crossed the tracks and entered the
+switch tower below. Their voices could be heard distinctly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We have a switch plan upstairs in the tower, Mr. Farrington," sounded
+the clear, incisive tones of Mr. Blake, the master mechanic of the
+Great Northern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right," answered his companion, and the accents of his voice
+seemed to be familiar to Mrs. Davis. She looked almost terrified. She
+glanced wildly around the tower room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hide me!" she gasped appealingly to Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, what for?" he inquired.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's Gasper Farrington, isn't it, just as you said? And he is coming
+up here!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It seems that he is, Mrs. Davis," responded Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want to meet him. I don't want him to see me--not yet," went
+on the woman rapidly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Are you afraid of Gasper Farrington, Mrs. Davis?" asked Ralph
+pointedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But she did not answer him. She glided to the coat closet at the end
+of the room, as if seeking a hiding-place. As she pulled its door
+open, she noticed that it was too shallow to admit a human form.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The dial again called Ralph. By the time he had attended to the
+levers, he noticed that Mrs. Davis had produced a thick heavy veil and
+was concealing her face under it. She stood fidgeting nervously at a
+window at the far end of the room, her back turned to the trapdoor, as
+if to escape direct attention.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The master mechanic came into view. Then he helped his companion into
+the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph caught his breath quickly and his lips compressed a trifle, as he
+recognized Gasper Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His advent was a certain new cause of some inquietude to the young
+leverman. An old-time enemy, and a bitter and crafty one, Ralph knew
+he could never expect any good from the miserly old magnate of Stanley
+Junction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Farrington's wealth and position gave him a certain influence and power
+that had been repeatedly used to crush those he did not like. He
+disliked the Fairbanks family for more reasons than one, and he had
+tried to crush Ralph more than once. In these efforts, however, he had
+failed. Ralph had come off the victor because he was in the right,
+which always prevails, sooner or later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In their last encounter, Ralph had forced the scheming Farrington to
+release the fraudulent mortgage he held on the Fairbanks cottage. He
+had bargained to keep the humiliating details of Farrington's swindling
+operations secret as long as the defeated magnate let them alone. He
+did not think that Farrington would now risk public exposure by
+attempting any further tricky measures of gain or revenge. Still,
+Ralph disliked coming in contact with the man, who would willingly do
+him an injury and gloat over his downfall.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was glad that Farrington did not notice him. The attention of the
+magnate was at once directed to a blue-print plan nailed between two
+windows.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There is the switch plan of the yards, Mr. Farrington," said the
+master mechanic, indicating the sheet of paper in question.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Blake nodded to Ralph. Then he looked inquiringly at Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A lady who was looking for Mort Bemis," explained Ralph. "He owes her
+some money, it seems."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He owes about everybody he can work," said the master mechanic
+brusquely, and crossed the room after Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis quickly went to the trap. She kept her eye on Gasper
+Farrington until safely down on the ladder, placed her finger on her
+lips in significant adieu to Ralph, and then disappeared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The latter stood at the levers, his back turned purposely on the
+newcomers into the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was no need of his having an encounter with Farrington, if it
+could be avoided. Ralph attended to his duties strictly. However, he
+could not help overhearing what the two men at the side of the room
+were saying.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph soon divined the nature of Farrington's visit to the switch
+tower. The magnate owned a factory building about half a mile from the
+railroad. It had stood vacant and abandoned for some time, as Ralph
+knew. Now, it seemed, a manufacturer had agreed to lease it for a term
+of years, provided he could have direct railroad transportation
+facilities put in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This point the two men at the switch plan were now discussing.
+Farrington was following the finger of the master mechanic, as it moved
+along over the traceries of white and red ink that crisscrossed the
+blue print.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here is where you start your spur," Mr. Blake was explaining. "We can
+put you in a single track, you to bear half the expense."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mean one-third," interrupted the bargaining old schemer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I mean just what I said," observed the master mechanic grimly. "It is
+a long reach for a siding, you have no right of way, and we are
+supplying it, although we will have to run a pretty steep grade down
+the ravine, for that is the only land we own in your direction. We
+have right of way to within three hundred feet of your factory. As to
+the strip that intervenes----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, there's nothing there but an old shanty on leasehold," answered
+Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can you get permission to cross it?" asked Blake.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He! he!" chuckled Farrington; "can I get it? I'll take it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, that is your own matter," spoke Blake. "All we want is a bond
+guarantee for five years, that you will run enough freight over the
+spur to equal a ten per cent. annual investment."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Isn't my word good enough for that?" demanded Farrington arrogantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The Great Northern takes no man's word where a contract is concerned,"
+was the definite answer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right, close the matter up as soon as you like," said Farrington.
+"Here's where you control the switches, eh?" he continued, leaving the
+plat and taking a curious glance about the tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should say it took a clear head and lots of experience to avoid
+mistakes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It does, and lots of muscle, too--eh, Fairbanks?" spoke the master
+mechanic.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph nodded. He aimed to escape recognition at the hands of
+Farrington, who, in another minute, would have left the place. He
+knew, however, that he was discovered, as the magnate uttered a short,
+sharp grunt.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-v-the-stowaway">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7">CHAPTER V--THE STOWAWAY</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"What's that?" called out Gasper Farrington, hobbling up to the levers
+and staring at Ralph. "Look here, Mr. Blake," he pursued, his brows
+drawn in a mean, savage scowl. "You don't mean to tell me this boy has
+anything to do with your switching?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He has everything to do with it," announced the master mechanic,
+looking as if he was disposed to resent the manner and words of the
+client he did not like any too well himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, then, it won't do!" snarled Farrington, getting excited. "I
+want trustworthy service, I do. I don't propose to run the risk of
+damage and loss with a road that hires kids for its most important
+work."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Blake's lips drew tightly together. Then he remarked:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Farrington, the Great Northern knows its business distinctly, we
+are responsible for any damage caused by the negligence or inability of
+our employees. In this instance you may quiet your needless fears.
+Mr. Fairbanks thoroughly understands his business, and I personally
+recommended him to his present position on account of the cleanest
+record and best practical ability of any junior employee of the
+company."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"H'm. Ha! That so?" mumbled Farrington, taken a good deal aback by
+Blake's definite expressions of approval, while Ralph felt his heart
+beat with pleasure, and blushed hotly. "All right. I suppose you
+think you know your business. Only--he was a barefooted urchin six
+months ago."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He has earned a good many pairs of shoes since then," observed Blake
+crisply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph said not a word. A spell of silence ensued. Farrington stood
+like some baffled hyena held back from its prey. Ralph quickly and
+deftly attended to the call for several switches, with a precision and
+system that even interested the master mechanic.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It strikes me he'll do," spoke Blake, and Ralph looked grateful as the
+master mechanic plainly evidenced a pride in the demonstrated ability
+of his young protégé.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All this roused the vengeful, malignant Farrington to the verge of
+impotent fury.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah," he growled, "favor cheap help, I suppose? All right. Though be
+sure to make it your business if any damage comes, that's all. That
+boy owes me a grudge, and if I know anything of human nature, there
+will be a wreck on the factory spur before it's been running long."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph felt his fingers tingle. He decided that he had a right to speak
+now. He faced about squarely. The mean-eyed magnate quailed at the
+honest indignation of his glance.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Farrington," said Ralph, "have I ever sought to do you an injury?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes--no--perhaps not," stammered Farrington, "but you would like to."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why?" demanded Ralph definitely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Because--because--oh, I know you. I know the whole brood. You
+smashed a window in my factory, once."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Accidentally. And paid for it. Is that true?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Farrington squirmed. He wanted to back out. He found that he could
+not domineer in the present instance. More than that, he realized that
+he dared not. The master mechanic, with a grim smile on his lip,
+helped him out of the dilemma.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come, Mr. Farrington," he said, smartly clicking his watch and helping
+him through the trap. "We will miss the superintendent, and you say
+you want to close up this business to-day. Careful, take it a rung at
+a time--you skunk!" he concluded in an undertone to Ralph, giving him a
+significant look, and meaning the words for Ralph's ear only.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph felt as if the air was cleared of some violent poison at the
+departure of this miserable apology of a man.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Faugh! I won't think of him," he soliloquized. "What possible
+happiness in life can such people have? I wonder which is the worst:
+Mort Bemis, poor and mean, or Gasper Farrington, rich and mean. Which
+carries out what mother has often said: 'Money is not everything.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph dismissed his enemies from his mind, whistling cheerily at his
+tasks. He thought a good deal about Mrs. Davis. He was anxious to get
+through work and hurry home, to learn if she had called on his mother,
+and if she had imparted to Mrs. Fairbanks any explanation of her
+strange acquaintance with his dead father, and of her still more
+strange fear of Gasper Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">From five until seven o'clock the tracks were kept pretty full. Ralph
+had a busy time of it. He got through without a delay or a mix-up,
+however. Jack Knight came up the ladder about eight o'clock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He looked pleased at the collected, business-like way that Ralph
+handled things. He finally remarked:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Met Blake a bit back, Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The master mechanic--yes," nodded Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Keep it under your hat, now," continued Knight significantly. "Blake
+was riled. He said he'd give half a month's salary to wallop one man
+in Stanley Junction, if it wasn't business policy to keep down personal
+feelings for the good of the service."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who was the man, Mr. Knight?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He didn't say, but no friend of yours, it seems. The gist of it is,
+that this man--I'd like a crack at him myself--offered Blake two
+hundred dollars to get you shifted onto some other section."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I seem to come high," smiled Ralph, although he experienced a faint
+uneasiness at mind, as he clearly comprehended that Gasper Farrington
+was up to some of his old underhanded tricks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, Blake politely turned down the offer. He said to me, though,
+that if any treachery or influence got you the jacket in this position,
+if he had to fire every other man along the line, he'd find a place for
+you in the train dispatcher's office at double pay."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He is a good friend," said Ralph, with emotion--"and you, too, for
+giving me the warning, Mr. Knight. Knowing what I do, though, I think
+I can take care of myself. I do not believe the man you refer to will
+succeed in disturbing me here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He won't, if I can help it," muttered old Jack doughtily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello, there!" hailed Doc Bortree, the nightshift man, intruding his
+bulky form and big, jolly face through the trap.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bortree was a general favorite. He carried an atmosphere of good
+nature always along with him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, kid," he hailed. "Busted anything to-day?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not yet," answered Ralph gayly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They sent him home forthwith. Ralph felt very happy as he descended
+the ladder from his first real day's service at the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His work had gone smoothly, and he loved it. A spice of new interest
+had been injected into his personal affairs that day, and his mental
+conjectures were not unpleasant ones.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wonder if Mrs. Davis saw mother?" he mused, as he crossed the
+tracks, homeward bound. "Hello, a stowaway!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph halted, just passing a line of delayed freights. A great
+thumping was going on at the side door of the end car.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Someone in there, sure," soliloquized Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A tramp, I suppose. Stowed in at some point, and side-tracked here
+this morning. Out with you, whoever you are!" ordered Ralph, unbolting
+and sliding back the door.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the dim light of a distant arc lamp Ralph made out a forlorn figure.
+The stowaway was shabby and peaked-looking, holding in one hand a piece
+of wood with which he had been hammering for release.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His face was so grimed that Ralph took him for a negro at first.
+Always kind-hearted, the young leverman had not hesitated to give the
+stowaway prompt liberty, and it was in his mind to help him farther if
+necessary.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The stowaway glanced all about the yards as if fearing the gauntlet of
+cuffs and kicks often in vogue for his class. Then, rubbing his eyes
+to clear the glare of sudden light, he looked sharply at Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello," he exclaimed, shooting back out of view. "It's Fairbanks!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that?" cried Ralph, catching the name in wonderment. "Here,
+who are you? Do you know me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suddenly as the figure had vanished within the dark car, it now
+reappeared. With a spring the stowaway cleared the doorway of the car,
+landing on the cinders beside Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Take that!" he hissed, savagely whirling the club above his head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph dodged. Mystified and unprepared, however, his usual agility was
+at fault.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A heavy blow landed on the side of his head, and Ralph fell flat.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vi-mrs-fairbanks-visitor">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8">CHAPTER VI--MRS. FAIRBANKS' VISITOR</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It seemed to Ralph that his eyes closed tight shut for half a minute,
+and then came open as wide as ever.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He did not believe he lost consciousness for more than thirty seconds.
+That, however, was time enough for his mysterious assailant to make
+himself scarce.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph got to his feet, quite shaken. His hand went to the side of his
+head involuntarily. His left cheek was scraped and full of splinters,
+though not bleeding. A big lump was rising in front of one ear.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the ground lay the club that had dealt Ralph the blow. He moved it
+with his foot to find it heavy, as if made of hard wood.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, the fellow might have killed me had he struck a little harder,"
+said Ralph seriously. "Who was he? It must be that he knows me, for
+he spoke my name."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a hydrant in the center of a platform space near by. Ralph
+went over to this and turned on the water and sopped his handkerchief,
+applying it to the lump on his head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Was it Mort Bemis?" his mind ran on. "No, I am sure it was not.
+Bemis is stubby and broad, this fellow was tall and slim. Looked like
+a half-starved rat. Who could it be?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">In a minute or two Ralph went back to the car that had proven for him a
+kind of Pandora's box.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He lifted himself through the open doorway and flashed some matches.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The car was bare. It smelted of tobacco smoke, and there was a litter
+of cigarette stubs in one corner. The other closed door was
+back-sheathed with smooth boards. Under these Ralph discovered some
+fresh whittlings, or splinters. He inspected door and floor more
+closely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, I see," he observed: "the stowaway has been killing time by
+cutting his name on the pillar of fame."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The door surface bore a record of various jackknife experts. Idle
+hands, belonging to all kinds of ride-stealers, had from time to time
+cut their initials on the smooth boards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There were some pencilings, too--all kinds of doggerel slang and
+initials. Thus: "Turnpike Tim on his fift' trip sout'." "Mugsey, the
+Terror," and the warning line: "Bad road for tramps, twice for flipping
+trains."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The last stowaway, as evidenced by two letters cut into the board, had
+sought to rival his predecessors. The newly indented initials were
+nearly eight inches long, and formed an I and an S.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'I.S.,'" read Ralph. "The solution is easy. It was Ike Slump. Those
+are his initials, and, come to recall my fierce assailant, he fits
+Ike's size exactly. That mean attack, too, would be characteristic of
+Slump. He was afraid of me. He needs to be. There is a standing
+reward of twenty-five dollars from the railroad for his arrest. I
+don't want the reward, but I don't propose to have him come back to his
+old haunts and associates to bother me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph walked home slowly. The blow he had received caused him some
+pain. The addition of the malignant Ike Slump to the list of his
+active enemies troubled him. Ralph knew what it was to fight a mean,
+underhanded foe. The roster so far included not only Slump, but Bemis
+and Gasper Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's my duty to notify the railroad company that Slump is again on
+hand," declared Ralph. "That will dispose of him. As to Bemis, I
+shall seek him out and give him a warning. If he troubles me any
+further I will have him arrested for his malicious mischief of to-day.
+It would be a pretty serious charge--endangering the railroad property.
+Gasper Farrington will not do anything openly to harm me. He dare not.
+But he will work against me in the dark, if he sees the chance to do
+it. Well, I shall watch his movements mighty closely."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph spurred up as he came within the lights of home. The lamp
+burning brightly in the front room of the neat little cottage was
+always a cheering beacon to him, for he knew it had been placed by
+loving hands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fairbanks, the tender, thoughtful mother, made that home a
+peaceful paradise for her only son. She greeted Ralph at the door with
+a welcome that made him forget instantly all of the cares and troubles
+of the day in entering the sheltering of a rare haven of rest and
+contentment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph took a good wash at the kitchen sink, put on a clean collar and
+tie and a light housecoat. Then he sat down to a table steaming with
+appetizing food.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Ralph," instantly spoke Mrs. Fairbanks, "you have been hurt!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph carelessly moved his hand over the lump on his head.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nothing serious, mother," he declared with a reassuring smile. "A
+fellow generally gets some initiation bumps on his first day in a new
+job on the railroad."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fairbanks was scarcely satisfied with this off-hand explanation,
+but Ralph at once shifted the conversation into other channels. He
+made up his mind he would not worry his mother with the story of his
+encounter with Ike Slump, at least for the present.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By the way," he said, as he stowed away a hearty meal, "did you have a
+visitor to-day, mother?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, yes," answered Mrs. Fairbanks. "A lady--Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am glad she came," said Ralph. "She took the ten dollars I wrote
+you about?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rather reluctantly. She is a strange woman," went on Mrs. Fairbanks
+thoughtfully; "I could not quite make her out. She acted quite flighty
+at times, but I believe she is honest, and very earnest in her
+gratitude and good intentions towards you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, yes," answered Ralph, with a suggestive smile. "She promised me
+a blessing. Have you any idea of what she was driving at?" he
+questioned, scanning his mother's face closely, for he observed that it
+bore a vague, disturbed expression.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think I have, Ralph. It appears that she knew--or at least knew
+about--your father, some years ago."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She told me that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And she knows Gasper Farrington. She asked me a queer question,
+Ralph."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What was it, mother?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If father did not once own twenty thousand dollars in railroad bonds,
+and if we had ever got them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph stopped eating for a moment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She said that, did she?" he murmured. "Mother, wouldn't it be strange
+if she knew something about those bonds?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She does."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you know?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Because she admitted it. Mrs. Davis was very much agitated. She
+seemed on the point constantly of telling me something, and then she
+would mutter to herself and apparently change her mind. When she went
+away she looked at me very strangely and said: 'Mrs. Fairbanks, when I
+get the money from my sister to pay your son back the ten dollars he
+has so kindly loaned me, I am going to tell him a little story about
+those twenty thousand dollars bonds that may interest him.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The bonds formed the topic of conversation for mother and son for
+nearly an hour after that. They could only surmise and anticipate, but
+both were very much stirred up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I tell you, mother," said Ralph emphatically, "that woman knows
+something of importance to us about those bonds. You and I and others
+have never doubted that Gasper Farrington stole them from father. I
+have never given up the idea that some day I would reach the truth, and
+force Farrington to disgorge, just as we made him release the
+fraudulent mortgage. I really believe things are going to turn so as
+get us our full rights."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We will hope so, Ralph," said the widow, with a dubious sigh. "And
+now tell me all about your first day in the switch tower."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph went to bed about eleven o'clock. He had a good sleep until
+eight in the morning, devoted an hour or two to tidying up the yard and
+assisting his mother in various ways, and at noon started for work
+again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Old Jack Knight was on duty, and spelled Ralph at the levers until
+about four o'clock. No unusual incident disturbed the usual routine
+until an hour later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In starting to give a switch engine the siding, Ralph found the lever
+would not budge. The locomotive engineer discovered the unset switch
+in time to stop. Ralph megaphoned to hold stationary till he
+investigated, and ran down the ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He found the lever cables chained to a wall bracket. Of course here
+was some more spite work. He removed the obstruction, hurried
+upstairs, switched the delayed engine, and kept an eye out for the
+watchman who covered that part of the yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When he finally appeared in view, Ralph hailed him and asked him to
+come inside the tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Brady," he explained, "I wish you would keep a close eye on the
+lower story here for a day or two."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, what's wrong?" inquired the watchman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, someone is up to dirty work," replied Ralph. "They tried to put
+two levers out of commission yesterday, and just now I found another
+lever chained up."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The watchman looked startled, and whistled under his breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's pretty serious," he remarked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is," responded Ralph. "I wish you would keep a watch on strangers."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And discharged employees?" interrogated the watchman, with a shrewd
+nod. "I think I know what's up, and who is up to it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph felt certain that Mort Bemis was back of the last attempt to
+cripple his usefulness. He did not, however, believe that Bemis
+himself had chained the lever, for he had kept a pretty close watch of
+the yards all afternoon, and had seen nothing of the discharged
+leverman. Ralph theorized that Bemis had put some associate up to the
+trick. It was an easy matter for any passer-by to step into the lower
+story of the switch tower without being seen from above. Ralph made up
+his mind he would seek out Bemis. When he was relieved after dark he
+did not go home. He had made some inquiries of Knight as to the
+present whereabouts and haunts of Mort Bemis, and Ralph thought he knew
+where to look for the fellow.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vii-young-slavin">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9">CHAPTER VII--"YOUNG SLAVIN"</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Railroad Street to the right of Stanley Junction was a busy,
+respectable thoroughfare. There were a hotel, some restaurants, a
+store or two, and beyond these some old residences.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To the left, however, the street retrograded into second-hand stores,
+junk-shops, and the like, cheap eating places and boarding-houses, with
+a mixture of saloons.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lower class of railroad employees and the scum of the Junction
+usually infested these places. At a restaurant called "The Signal"
+Ralph, from what he learned that day, felt he was pretty sure to get
+some trace of Mort Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He went by the place slowly once or twice, but could not discover Bemis
+in the crowded front room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then he paced down the alley at the side of the building. Several
+lower-story apartments showed lighted up. He approached the open
+window of one of these.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As he did so, he noticed that directly under it lay some person asleep,
+rolled up in horse-blankets. Ralph nearly stumbled over this
+individual.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He glanced into the room beyond the window. It held a table, at which
+was seated the object of his search.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis was idly pawing over a greasy deck of playing cards. He
+seemed to be awaiting the arrival of congenial company. Tilted back in
+a chair against the wall near by, a skullcap pulled down over his eyes
+and seemingly asleep, was a person Ralph did not recognize.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph now stepped cautiously over the sleeper at his feet so as not to
+disturb him, and went around to the front of the restaurant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was run by a man named Prince, who at one time had conducted eating
+camps for railroad construction crews. He kept lodgers upstairs, and
+derived a good deal of revenue by letting out the rear rooms of the
+lower floor to card-players.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph entered the restaurant and passed through a curtained doorway at
+one side. Prince, at the cashier's desk, gave him a keen look, but
+took him for some new recruit to the crowd who infested the rear rooms.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A narrow passageway led the length of the rear addition. Ralph turned
+the knob of the second door he reached. He found he had correctly
+located the apartment he had viewed from the alley.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis looked up as Ralph closed the door behind him. He started
+and stared. Ralph came around to the table, sank into the chair
+directly opposite Bemis, and looked him squarely in the face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What are you doing here?" demanded Bemis a surly, suspicious
+expression crossing his features.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I came particularly to see you," answered Ralph calmly. "Can I have
+your attention for a minute or two?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Just two of them," growled Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph did not scare at the bullying, significant manner of the
+discharged leverman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's just this," he said bluntly: "you visited the switch tower
+yesterday and came very nearly causing a bad wreck."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who told you so?" demanded Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, there are plenty of witnesses, your former landlady, for one.
+Another low-down trick was attempted this afternoon, instigated, I
+believe, by you. Now, Mr. Bemis, this has come to a dead-open-and-shut
+conclusion."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Has it? How?" sneered Mort.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have legitimately succeeded to your position, and I intend to hold
+it. You seem resolved to discredit and disgrace me. It won't work.
+If you make one more break in my direction, I shall go to the
+superintendent of the Great Northern, make a formal complaint of
+malicious mischief, and then enter a regular complaint with the police."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis did not reply. His bluff was gone, for he knew that Ralph
+meant every word that he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's another thing," pursued Ralph: "you owe a poor widow money
+that she needs, and needs badly. If you have any sense of shame or
+honor in your nature, you will find honest work and pay her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want none of your advice!" flared out Bemis. "You've said
+your say! Then get out. I'll keep hands off because I don't fancy
+being locked up, but," he added with a malicious grin, "I can't hold
+back my friends from doing what they like."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You have had your warning," said Ralph quietly, rising to his feet.
+"I've given you your chance. Leave my affairs alone, if you are wise."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph started for the door. Suddenly his way was blocked. The person
+he had supposed to be asleep, tilted back against the wall in a chair,
+had roused up with marvelous quickness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As this individual threw back his skullcap, he revealed the coarse,
+bloated face of a boy about two years Ralph's senior. He was a
+powerfully-built fellow. Ralph remembered having seen him once in the
+hands of the police after a raid on a chicken fight at the fair grounds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Easy," spoke this person, springing between Ralph and the door, and
+doubling up his fists pugilist-fashion. "This gent is my friend, and
+you've insulted him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think not," said Ralph calmly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do all your thinking quick, then," advised the other, "for I want
+satisfaction."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The speaker drove at Ralph with one hand. It was a sledge-hammer blow.
+Ralph whirled half-way across the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His antagonist followed him up quickly. His back now to the window, he
+put up his fists anew.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wanted some training," he chuckled. "Come up to your punishment.
+Do you know who I am?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I do not, and don't care," answered Ralph quickly, nettled out of his
+ordinary composure by a blow that had nearly knocked the breath out of
+his body.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then you can't read the newspapers. I'm Young Slavin, the juvenile
+Hercules, light-weight champeen. Come, wade in; I give you one chanct."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have no quarrel with you," remarked Ralph. "Stand aside. I wish to
+leave this room."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ho! ho! When you do, it will be on a shutter."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And I shall not let you pound me. I warn you to mind your own
+business."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Time!" roared the pugilist gloatingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph took in the situation in all its bearings. He realized that he
+confronted a young giant. To oppose his prodigious muscular strength
+in even battle would be to be hammered to a jelly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The occasion called for action, however. Ralph reflected for a bare
+minute, and then he "waded in."</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a rush he made a slanting dive for the brutal bully, aiming
+squarely for his feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Exercising all the muscle of which he was capable, Ralph grasped his
+antagonist's ankles, took him off his guard, gave him a sudden trip,
+and sent him toppling backwards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a yell of consternation and pain Young Slavin went crashing
+through the window sash.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-viii-a-bad-lot">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10">CHAPTER VIII--A BAD LOT</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Mort Bemis gave an astonished gasp as he saw his crony disappear like
+magic through the window sash.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His respect for the nerve and prowess of his successor at the switch
+tower was immensely increased. He spoke not a word, being stupefied
+and cowed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph started to leave the room, unmolested now. A sudden outcry
+checked him. He proceeded to its source--the open window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Below it on the ground a stirring scene was in progress. It seemed
+that his masterly fling of Young Slavin had landed that juvenile
+Hercules directly on top of the individual Ralph had noticed lying
+asleep under the window, swathed in horse-blankets.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Aroused from dense slumber by a terrific shock, this person had
+struggled to his feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, well," said Ralph, his eyes opening wide as he recognized the
+disturbed sleeper; "Ike Slump again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph at once knew the gaunt, desperate-looking fellow, who had jumped
+from the delayed freight car and knocked him down the previous evening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The stowaway's face was no longer grimed, and Ralph had a clear view
+now of its natural lineaments. It was Ike Slump, peaked and
+wretched-looking. His appearance evidenced that his stolen junk
+operations and his later fugitive role had not led him into any
+pleasant path of flowers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It seemed that Slump, skulking anywhere for hiding and repose like a
+hunted rat, had utilized the horse-blankets as a bed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It seemed, too, that he was in constant dread of discovery and arrest.
+He must have slept with a missile or a weapon always handy, for his
+fingers now clutched a brick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suddenly disturbed, his nervous fears aroused, at sea as to the cause
+of the shock as Slavin landed on him, Ike had come erect, grabbing the
+brick instanter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was all entangled in his bed coverings, but he maintained a
+staggering footing. He was reaching out for his disturber to beat him
+off with the brick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You've broken my nose," he yelled; "take that--take that!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Murder!" howled Young Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He did not use his doughty fists, for he could not. In blind rage and
+terror Ike was striking out with the brick.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He delivered several blows on Slavin's head and face that made Ralph
+shudder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A final one sent the young pugilist reeling back against the clapboards
+of the house. He was blinded with blood and pain, and shouted for help
+in sniveling terror.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slump kicked his feet free of the entangling horse-blankets, and darted
+away towards the railroad tracks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph turned in disgust from the scene. He faced Bemis, who, his
+curiosity awakened by the tumult, had come to the window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You are training with a nice crowd, Mr. Bemis," observed Ralph.
+"Better switch off and get back to the main tracks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Lots of show for me, isn't there?" growled Mort sullenly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Get a roundhouse clearance of clean flues and headlights, and try it,"
+answered Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The allusions were technical ones that Bemis fully understood. But he
+only blinked his bleared eyes, and more savagely gritted his teeth on
+the cigarette he was smoking.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's too bad," ruminated Ralph, as he left the place, shaking his
+shoulders as if to cast off a spatter of filthy mud. "It is a terrible
+warning, too," he continued. "Thank Heaven for mother, home, and
+principle! Maybe those fellows haven't got all the blessings that keep
+me in the right path. I wish I could do them some good. Well, I won't
+do them any harm. Let Ike Slump go his way. I fancy the punishment he
+has got will keep him from troubling anyone around Stanley Junction for
+a while."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph did not inform the local police of Ike's reappearance, nor did he
+lodge any complaint against Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He imagined that his visit to the latter had scared off his enemies, as
+two days went by and there was no further attempt made to obstruct his
+services at the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Affairs there got down to a routine that pleased the young leverman.
+Not a jar or break in the service occurred. He seemed to have glided
+naturally into the details of the business, and was able to take it
+easier now. He did not worry about wrecks any more. Following out old
+Jack's definite instructions to always strictly obey orders and act
+promptly, he simply watched 'phone, dial, and levers. He let the
+limits tower and the yards switches take care of themselves.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was three days after Ralph's encounter with Young Slavin and the
+fifth of his service at the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His shift had been changed temporarily. It was divided into four hours
+in the morning and four in the afternoon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had an hour for dinner. That especial day his nooning had
+something of the element of a new interest. His mother told him she
+had received a brief note from Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The latter in a penciled scrawl told Mrs. Fairbanks that the writer was
+not very well, and would like to have her call that afternoon. She
+said she wanted to pay back the ten dollars she owed Ralph, as she had
+received a remittance from her sister.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Are you going to see her, mother?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Surely. I will run up to her house as soon as the dishes are washed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope she will tell you something about those bonds," said Ralph. "I
+shall be anxious to know the result of your call."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What time will you be home, Ralph?" asked his mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A few minutes after five," he answered, and started for work, his mind
+filled with all kinds of anticipations regarding his mother's visit to
+Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A crowd lined the out freight tracks as Ralph reached the depot yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A circus had come to town, and the menagerie vans had been switched on
+the street sidings early that morning.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now the big circus wagons were unloading these, to convey them to the
+tent site up on the common.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Some of the cages were uncovered purposely to advertise the coming
+show. This had drawn a throng of excited urchins and the loungers from
+lower Railroad Street.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph halted for a minute or two, watching the removal of some of the
+cages.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He moved up to one that was the center of a peering, engrossed crowd.
+Those present acted as though something was going on out of the common.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A person who seemed to be the manager of the show, and looking quite
+serious and important, was giving some instructions to half a dozen
+circus hands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Three of these latter had armed themselves with long pikes. Another
+carried a pole with a crooked iron end, resembling a giant chicken
+catcher. A fifth had a stout rope with a chain end forming a halter.
+The last of the group carried an enormous wire muzzle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They stood beside a car which held a strong iron cage. This was empty,
+and at one end its canvas covering was torn, and two of its bars were
+bent far out of regular position.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph ran up against an old friend as he pressed on the outskirts of
+the crowd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was John Griscom, the veteran engineer who had impressed Ralph
+into service the day of his first railroading experience when the yards
+at Acton had caught fire.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Griscom was on his way to the roundhouse to get his locomotive in trim
+for a regular afternoon trip. His dinner pail swung from his arm. He
+was such a practical old fellow that Ralph wondered at his taking an
+interest in anything so trifling as circus excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the excitement, Mr. Griscom?" he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Animal loose."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Indeed? When did it escape?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's what's worrying the circus people. They don't know. They just
+took off the canvas cover of the cage to make the discovery. The train
+switched here before daylight. It was in the cage then, they say."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Here the six circus hands started out on the quest of the missing
+animal.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Search the yards thoroughly," ordered the menagerie manager. "Shoot,
+if you can't corner him. It won't do the show any good to have him do
+damage or scare people. Fifty dollars' reward for the capture of the
+beast!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What kind of an animal was it?" Ralph asked of Griscom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Toothless old bear, I suppose, or a blind lion," bluffly answered the
+railroad veteran, who did not have a very high opinion of the average
+circus wild beast.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just here the menagerie manager seemed to discover an opportunity for
+advertising the show and lauding its attractions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I beg of you, gentlemen," he said, in a suave tone, as the crowd made
+a move to follow the searching party--"don't impede our efforts by
+getting in the way. Calcutta Tom, the largest and fiercest Indian
+tiger in captivity in any menagerie in the country, is loose. This
+superb king of the forests killed five men before he was caged, was
+brought to this country at a cost of six thousand dollars, and, if
+captured now, will be on exhibition this afternoon, along with the most
+marvelous aggregation of brute and human celebrities on the face of the
+civilized globe to-day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And all for twenty-five cents--lemonade and popcorn a nickle extra,"
+piped a mischievous urchin.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ix-calcutta-tom">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id11">CHAPTER IX--CALCUTTA TOM</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph walked in the direction of the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He noticed that all the tracks seemed unusually inactive, even for the
+noon hour. The main rails were perfectly clear, and a good many
+locomotives were on the sidings.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Glancing up at the switch tower, Ralph was a good deal surprised to
+notice that it was entirely unoccupied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was startling. Ralph had never known that post of the service to
+be untenanted at any hour of the day or night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then he noticed on the out main rails near the tower a handcar. A
+trackman stood with his hands on the pumping bar. One foot on the car,
+his watch in his hand, old Jack Knight was looking impatient and
+excited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hustle, Fairbanks!" he shouted, and Ralph came up on a sharp run.
+"Here," spoke Knight, extending a slip of paper to Ralph. "Get down to
+the depot master, double-quick. Then hustle back to the tower. I'm
+bound for the limits tower, to keep things straight there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, what's up, Mr. Knight?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mile-a-minute special from the north, due at 1.15. You've got fifteen
+minutes. The out tracks are set for the 1.05 express all right. Soon
+as she passes, set the out main after her so the special will take the
+in tracks to the limits. No. 6 will wait at the limits while we shoot
+the special to the out again."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A special?" repeated Ralph, in some bewilderment, "and from the
+north----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Obey orders," interrupted Knight crisply. "Nothing to move except the
+express till the special passes. Understand? Don't lose any time.
+Get that slip to the depot master, and hurry back to the tower."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right," spoke Ralph promptly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He started on a run for the depot, as Knight sprang to the handcar and
+it was whirled down the rails.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had a right to be mystified. There was no special in place on
+the depot tracks. The Great Northern had its terminus at Stanley
+Junction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a single track running north from the depot, but it was not
+in use. It had been built by the Great Northern to connect with a belt
+line fifteen miles distant, all equipped as to rails, switches, and
+roadbed. Then the holding companies had some squabble. Suits and
+counter-suits had tied up the line, and it was temporarily out of
+service on an injunction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph therefore comprehended that it was only over this stretch of road
+that any special could be expected from the north. Further, he decided
+that it must be a very important special that could gain the right of
+way under existing legal complications and interrupt the regular system
+of the Great Northern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">However, the order was out and Ralph had definite instructions. He
+made the depot in three minutes, and darted into the private office of
+the depot master without ceremony.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That official looked nervous and engrossed. He clicked at a telegraph
+instrument with one hand, while he hastily unfolded and scanned the
+slip of paper Ralph had brought.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very good," he nodded. "Clear tracks to Springfield. If they boost
+the special along on the other sections as well as we have done on
+this, and our president can score a mile-a-minute run, he can reach his
+dying wife in time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph hurried back towards the switch tower. He fancied he now
+understood the situation. The brief words of the depot master had been
+enlightening.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He guessed that the president of the road at a distance had been
+apprised of serious illness in his family. Perhaps the attendant
+physician had wired a time limit. If the anxious husband hoped to see
+his stricken wife before she died, he must exert every privilege he
+controlled as the head of a great railroad system.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph reflected that he might have been a thousand miles away when he
+received the anxious summons. Influence and the wires had possibly
+called half a dozen interlocking lines into service. Even the law had
+stepped aside, it seemed, to speed the distressed official on his way,
+via the north spur of the Great Northern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The 1.05 express steamed out of the depot just as Ralph reached the
+switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That clears the situation," he reflected. "Set the out main for the
+in switch after she passes. Hark!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph bent his ear at an unusual sound. This was the echo of a sharp
+locomotive whistle--to the north.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The special is coming," he observed, and naturally with some
+excitement--a mile-a-minute dash through the depot and town was a
+novelty for Stanley Junction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was no one visible in the immediate vicinity of the switch tower.
+The unusual quietude of the yards made Ralph think of Sunday. At a
+little distance were many engines and freight trains standing on
+sidings. They were held inactive on order. Engineers and firemen
+lounged on their cab seats, looking down the yards north expectantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph rounded the tower structure briskly. He pulled out his watch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Four minutes," he spoke, and turned into the lower doorway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In a jiffy he would be up the ladder. A turn of the lever, and he,
+too, could sit down, and from his lofty point of observation leisurely
+watch the mile-a-minute special flash by.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Half-way across the lower tower space, Ralph checked himself.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A chill, startled sensation crept over his nerves. He halted with a
+shock, gave a vivid stare, and uttered a sharp gasp.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A growl had warned him. Ralph saw a bristling, sinuous form arise from
+the floor directly at the bottom of the ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Two fire-balls seemed to glow at him with venom and menace. In a flash
+the young leverman realized the situation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph Fairbanks faced the escaped tiger.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-x-a-mile-a-minute">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id12">CHAPTER X--A MILE A MINUTE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph stood dumfounded as he made out the great Indian tiger, Calcutta
+Tom, that "had cost six thousand dollars to cage after it had killed
+five men."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The encounter was so unlooked for that Ralph stood transfixed for a
+second or two.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The escaped animal could not have been long in the switch house,
+otherwise Knight or others would have discovered it. It had escaped
+before daybreak that morning. Since then it must have been in hiding
+around the depot yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">About twenty feet away from the switch tower were some open vault-like
+recesses fitting into a brick abutment. This inclined from the depot
+baggage room. Up and down this, baggage was run on trucks. It was
+possible that for a time the tiger had lurked in some of these dark
+recesses, transferring itself to the lower tower room within the last
+fifteen minutes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Calcutta Tom was a formidable-looking beast of enormous size. Ralph
+noticed, however, that while the animal growled and bristled fiercely,
+it did not crouch or threaten to spring. It posed clumsily, showed no
+teeth--if it had any--and seemed determined to act simply on the
+defensive and repel intruders.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Toot-toot-toot-too-ooo-oot!</p>
+<p class="pnext">The shrill, strange whistle in the distance cut vividly on Ralph's ear
+because it proceeded from that unusual locality--the north spur.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With a thrill he caught its signal warning. The limited was coming,
+the mile-a-minute special would be hammering the main depot rails in
+less than three minutes now!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Its engineer had right of way track signal from fifteen miles back. He
+was not expected to be looking out for obstructions. The "O.K. clear"
+order meant that he need not trouble his mind as to complications in
+unfamiliar territory. The delayed express on the out track was hidden
+from view by a curve. Even if discovered, the special, going at a
+tremendous rate of speed, could not slow up in time to avoid a
+collision.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All these thoughts flashed through the young leverman's mind within the
+space of a single second. Ralph knew that he must instantly scale the
+ladder and set the levers, or else all would be lost.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He made a reckless run for the iron ladder. Four feet from it, he went
+bounding back like a rubber ball.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Calcutta Tom had simply raised a ponderous paw. It dropped on Ralph's
+breast with the force of a sledge-hammer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph landed with a thud against the inside sheathing of the tower.
+Then he stumbled flat, but came erect, grasping a broken brake-rod his
+hand had chanced to touch on the floor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again the "Clear the way!" signal of the speeding special to the north
+sent the blood rushing through his veins like quicksilver.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph sprang at the tiger, striking out with all his strength.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The bar was wrenched from his grasp by his formidable brute foe. He
+saw it twisted up like a bit of flexible licorice. The tiger made a
+spring. Its bristling form filled the doorway almost as quickly as
+Ralph had sped through it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There the tiger stood, blinking at the light, and snarling fiercely.
+Ralph gave a great gasp of desperation, and looked wildly all about him
+for escape from his dilemma.</p>
+<p class="pnext">No one on the sidings was near enough to signal to any advantage. By
+the time he could summon help and explain matters, the special would be
+on hand and the damage done.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A cold sweat came out all over his body. Ralph began to quake. It
+meant sure death to oppose the stubborn brute in the open doorway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What shall I do--oh, what can I do?" panted Ralph in a torment of
+agony.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He ran out a few steps and looked up at the tower room. This loomed
+twenty feet aloft, flanging out mushroom-fashion over the lower story,
+which presented a solid base.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The tower room was inaccessible, even if he could scale the lower
+building. Ralph ran a complete circuit of the structure. Then his eye
+flashed with sudden hope.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As nimbly as though his tiger foe was directly at his heels, Ralph
+sprang at and clasped a telegraph pole. Its surface was roughened and
+indented by the hooks of linemen, allowing him to get a lifting grip.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph drew himself up slowly. The ascent to his overwrought mind
+seemed to consume an age. It was just forty-five seconds, however,
+when twenty-five feet from the ground, his slivered and bleeding hands
+grasped the first cross-bar of the telegraph pole and he lifted himself
+to it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A foot or two down and six feet away was the glass-windowed side of the
+tower room. Ralph pulled himself erect till both feet rested on the
+narrow cross-bar.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He steadied himself on his dizzy perch. He seemed to have ceased to
+breathe, and his heart stood still, so intense was the strain on his
+nerves. The wreck and ruin of a great railroad system to his
+exaggerated senses seemed to impend on his success in a daring dive.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For a dive it was, and a desperate one. All the upper sashes fronting
+him were lowered, as was the usage in clear weather. Ralph caught the
+shrieking blast of the special. His expert ear told him that it was
+less than a mile distant. He poised, wavered, and then made a forward
+spring.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a great clatter of glass. Ralph half hung over the top of
+the lower and the lowered sashes, but his feet had kicked in the double
+panes. He fairly fell over the sashes into the tower room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On his feet in a flash, the youth darted a swift glance at the tower
+clock. It was just 1.15.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Made it!" he cried, but in a faint, hoarse tone--"made it, but just in
+time!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was so overcome that it was his sheer weight rather than any
+exertion of muscle that pulled bar 4 over into place. Then Ralph
+staggered back, and fairly fell into the armchair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The ordeal had been a terrible one. He understood how a man's hair
+turned white sometimes in an hour. His teeth were chattering, his
+cheeks blanched. He turned his eyes to the north, chained to the chair
+momentarily in a kind of a dread stupor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A flagman across the rails was yelling up at him. He had witnessed
+Ralph's sensational proceedings, and was staring at the broken window
+panes. Ralph did not hear him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Instead, his ears were filled with a grinding on the north rails.
+Tearing down them, swaying from side to side, shrieking out constantly
+for clear tracks, a locomotive with one car attached reached the far
+depot end and went its length like a flash of light.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The special!" breathed Ralph,--"on time!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xi-spoiling-for-a-fight">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id13">CHAPTER XI--SPOILING FOR A FIGHT</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">As Ralph spoke the special was a blur as it passed the tower, a flying
+spot as it flashed to the in rails, a speck as it turned the curve.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph sat motionless till he caught its whistle past the limits tower.
+Then he realized that his crucial test was past and done.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The telephone bell rang noisily. The dial indicator began to move.
+The delayed freights set up a piping call for service. For five
+minutes Ralph jumped actively from lever to lever. He was glad of the
+task--it diverted his mind from the harrowing ordeal that had so nearly
+unmanned him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As there was a lull in the service, Ralph thought of the tiger below.
+He started to send a message for relief over the 'phone. Just then he
+noticed a familiar form smoking a pipe on a baggage truck near by.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hey, Stiggs!" he called from the open window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The person addressed was a simple-faced, smiling man of about fifty.
+He wore a railroad jumper and overalls, but they were spotless, as if
+he had pretty light work. He wore, too, a regular fireman's peaked
+cap--in fact looked like a seasoned railroad hand, but moved as
+placidly towards the tower at Ralph's hail as though he was
+inspector-general and main owner of the railroad.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Stiggs was a character about the yards. He was one of the first
+switchmen employed by the Great Northern. About two years previously,
+however, he had got terribly battered up in trying to rescue an express
+driver and his horses who had got wedged in on an X-switch. Stiggs
+succeeded, but paid the penalty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When he came out of the hospital he was sound of limb, but his mind was
+affected. He was not dangerous or troublesome, but he still imagined
+that he was in active service for the railroad company.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The Great Northern pensioned him, and he and his wife got along quite
+comfortably on the sixteen dollars a month allowed them, as they owned
+their little home. Stiggs, however, haunted the yards. He put on a
+fresh, clean working suit twice a week, and went the rounds of depot,
+flag-shanties, switch tower, and roundhouse twice a day regularly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was so pleasant and inoffensive that all hands gave him a welcome.
+He ran errands for men on duty, and at times unofficially spelled the
+crossings flagmen while they went to their meals.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His great need was tobacco. His wife would buy him none, saying they
+could not afford it. When the railroad men rewarded his little
+services with a pipeful or a package of his favorite brand, Stiggs was
+a very happy man.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Want me?" he called up to Ralph as he neared the tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," answered Ralph. "Will you do an errand for me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure pop. That's what the company hires me for, isn't it?" demanded
+Stiggs cheerfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know where the circus train is unloading?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Over near the street--of course. I supervised getting their band
+chariot down the skids. New men here--never handled chariots before.
+They'd have smashed her if I hadn't been on deck to direct them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Experience counts, Mr. Stiggs," remarked Ralph indulgently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You bet it does--that's what the company hires me for."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you go down and see if any of the circus people are still
+around."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They were ten minutes ago."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Find the manager. You know one of their wild animals is loose?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I heard so."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then you bargain for a reward. Tell them you can produce their
+escaped tiger if they pay you for your trouble."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Stiggs stared in perplexed simplicity at Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I can't," he demurred, "and I never tell a lie, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, you can," asserted Ralph--"at least I can. I know where the
+animal is. You hurry the circus manager here, and I will show up the
+tiger."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Simple-minded Stiggs craned his neck as if expecting to see the animal
+in question in Ralph's company. Then his face grew mildly reproachful.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I didn't think you would try to hoax me, Fairbanks!" he said
+sorrowfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wouldn't for the world, Mr. Stiggs," said Ralph. "I have too much
+respect for you. Do as I say now--only hurry. Make a good bargain,
+for a little money won't do Mrs. Stiggs any harm. Hustle, though--for
+tigers are slippery customers, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Stiggs nodded dubiously, and set off on his errand. Ralph kept an eye
+on the side of the tower where the lower entrance was, ready to warn
+anyone approaching.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He could hear the animal occupant of the room below moving about. Then
+it quieted down, after a jangle of metal pieces. Ralph figured out
+that it had made its lair in the darkest corner of the apartment where
+there was a heap of old junk.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He looked down the ladder, but did not venture below.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was about ten minutes after Stiggs had departed on his errand, that
+Ralph had occasion to warn a newcomer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had watched this person cross the tracks from Railroad Street in a
+rather lurching, irresponsible way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As he came nearer, Ralph recognized the belligerent friend of his
+predecessor at the switch tower, Young Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had not seen nor heard from Slavin, Bemis, or Ike Slump since his
+adventure with the trio at "The Signal" restaurant on lower Railroad
+Street.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As Slavin drew nearer, Ralph judged, from the way that he glanced up at
+the tower, that this was his intended goal, and, from the way he
+clenched his fists and hunched up his shoulders, that he had got
+himself primed for some mischief.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin halted as he got within ten feet of the switch tower. In a
+stupid, solemn sort of way he scanned its side, trying to determine
+where its entrance was located. Ralph stuck his head out of the window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello, there!" he hailed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello, yerself!" retorted Slavin, finding some difficulty in steadying
+himself as he crooked his neck to make out his challenger. "Who's
+that? Fill my heart with joy by just telling me it's the fellow I'm
+looking for--young Fairbanks!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That is who it is," responded Ralph promptly. "Want me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do I!" chuckled Slavin, cutting a pigeon-wing and giving a free
+exhibition of pugilist fist play. "Oh, don't I! Business, strictly
+business--young man. Will you come down, or shall I come up?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't want to see you bad enough to come down," observed Ralph. "As
+to coming up, I warn you not to attempt it, just at present."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Afraid, eh?" jeered Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Was I the other night?" asked Ralph pointedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That was a foul," cried Slavin wrathfully. "I've come for
+satisfaction now, and I'm going to have it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not in working hours, and not here," declared Ralph definitely. "Hold
+on, Slavin!" he called in some alarm, as his irresponsible visitor
+rounded the structure, bent on forcing an entrance. "Hey, stop! Don't
+go in there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin had reached the lower door of the tower room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I tell you to stop!" cried Ralph strenuously. "There's a wild beast
+in there--the tiger that escaped from the circus."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You can't bluff me," retorted Young Slavin, making a determined lurch
+through the doorway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph ran to a window sill and seized a long iron wrench lying there.
+He was really alarmed for the safety of his would-be visitor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At all odds, he felt it his duty to save even an acknowledged enemy
+from a foolhardy fate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph got to the trap, and started to descend the ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A curdling yell rang out from below, and Ralph saw tiger and pugilist
+whirling together in a maze of wild confusion.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xii-the-superintendent-s-opinion">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id14">CHAPTER XII--THE SUPERINTENDENT'S OPINION</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">It seemed as if the escaped circus tiger had disputed the intrusion of
+Young Slavin just as it had previously that of Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Whether his belligerent enemy had tried to beat off the animal, or it
+had attacked Slavin as he attempted to ascend the ladder, Ralph could
+not tell. One thing was sure, however: the impetuous "champeen" found
+himself in the mix-up of his life.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The tiger was growling and snarling. Slavin was uttering muffled
+shouts of terror and pain. Ralph fairly dropped down half a dozen
+rungs of the ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The wrench with which he had armed himself was heavy, and had a very
+long handle. Six feet from the floor of the lower tower room, Ralph
+leaned as far out as he could, holding on to the ladder by one foot and
+one hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Swinging the wrench in the other hand and watching his opportunity,
+Ralph landed a sturdy whack directly on top of the head of the
+infuriated tiger.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The blow was severe enough to crack the skull of a human being. The
+tiger, however, only ducked its head and sneezed, but it relaxed its
+hold of Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph saw its great paw cut the air in one lightning-like downward
+stroke. He saw Slavin, with a curdling shriek, bound through the
+doorway like a ball. Then the tiger turned, caught sight of his new
+assailant, and crouched with a malignant snarl, posing for a spring.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph took aim. He let go of the heavy wrench, using it as a missile
+now. It struck the tiger squarely between the eyes, throwing the
+animal off its balance. Then with due agility Ralph shot up the ladder
+like a steeple-jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Once in the tower room he closed the trap and fastened it down. A
+glance from its window showed some commotion in the yards round about.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A wild, tattered figure was scudding in frenzy for the street. It was
+Young Slavin. He was hatless, and, from neck to heel down his back,
+every garment he wore was ripped exactly in two as if slashed
+scientifically by a butcher-knife.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This envelope of tatters and Slavin's fearful outcries had attracted
+the attention of flagmen, engineers, and brakemen in the vicinity.
+They shouted after the scurrying fugitive, they even tried to head him
+off for an explanation. Slavin, however, lost to reason for the
+moment, made a mad bee-line for Railroad Street, and disappeared behind
+some freight sheds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph hailed a roundhouse hand carrying a bucket of oil.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Shut the lower door, will you?" he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The man did so. It operated on a spring, and all he had to do was to
+detach a hook from a staple that held it open.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Slip the padlock," continued Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, that will lock you in!" exclaimed the bewildered oilman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's all right," answered Ralph. "Thanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He smiled to himself as he answered some switch calls. The smile
+broadened as he ran over the exciting incidents of the hour.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Young Slavin was probably more scared than hurt. In his muddled
+condition, amid the semi-darkness of the lower tower room he might not
+have discerned or realized what had attacked him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He will report me a demon, and his friends will think me one, if he
+shows up in those tatters, laying his plight to my charge," smiled
+Ralph. "Well, I fancy 'the young Hercules' has got all the
+satisfaction he wants for the present."</p>
+<p class="pnext">In about fifteen minutes Ralph leaned from the window to greet a
+coterie he had been expecting for some time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Stiggs, placid-faced and leisurely as usual, led a party Ralph had seen
+grouped around the circus cages on the street tracks at noon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The six menagerie men still carried their equipment for capturing the
+escaped tiger: pikes, hooks, halter chain, and muzzle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The manager, his hat stuck back on his head, nervously chewing a match
+and urging Stiggs to hurry, looked very much excited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come, can't you hustle a bit?" Ralph heard him say to Stiggs.
+"Where's your tiger?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Stiggs pointed up to the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What are you giving me?" demanded the circus manager in
+disgust--"that's a boy."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He sent me--he knows where the tiger is," asserted Stiggs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's it. Young man!" called up the circus manager. "Do you
+know this man?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very intimately. I sent him to you. I have located your escaped
+animal, as he told you, I presume?" said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He did. It's true, then?" cried the circus manager eagerly. "Where
+is the brute?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Stiggs," called down Ralph, "are these people going to pay you for
+your trouble?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, sure," replied Stiggs animatedly. "See there--they gave me a
+whole package of tobacco."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph regarded the simple-minded railroad pensioner pityingly. He
+fixed a censorious glance on the circus manager. The latter flushed
+and looked embarrassed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He said that was all he wanted," stammered the man.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, well, that won't do at all," declared Ralph. "Your animal has
+done some damage--in fact, came very nearly doing a great deal of
+damage. Besides that, Mr. Stiggs is a poor man. You offered a liberal
+reward for the capture of the animal this morning, I believe. Does
+that offer stand good now?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">A little crowd had been drawn to the spot by the presence of such an
+unusual group. Among them was a young fellow who had kept with the
+party since it had started out.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The circus manager knew this young man to be a reporter on the local
+paper, in the quest of a sensation. He could not risk an effective
+free advertisement by an exhibition of niggardliness on the part of the
+proprietors of the circus.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure," he said importantly; "our people spare no expense in catering
+to the great show-going public. They spent six thousand dollars in
+caging the famous Calcutta Tom, the wonder of the animal universe, and--</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You went over all that this noon," said Ralph, in a business-like way.
+"What about the fifty dollars?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you got the tiger?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have," answered Ralph definitely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Produce him, and the money is yours."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very good," nodded Ralph, tossing down the key to the padlock of the
+lower door. "You will find the escaped animal downstairs here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The local reporter made himself unduly active within the ensuing thirty
+minutes. He had written up Ralph Fairbanks once before. That was when
+the young railroader had acted as substitute fireman during the big
+fire in the yards at Acton, as already related in "Ralph of the
+Roundhouse."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had proven "good copy" in that instance. The fact of his having
+the escaped animal in custody, the litter of glass under the tower
+windows, some vague remarks of the flagman who had witnessed Ralph's
+sensational ascent of the telegraph pole, set the young reporter on the
+trail of a first-class story in a very few minutes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The circus manager and his assistants soon had Calcutta Tom in fetters.
+As they pulled him out into daylight the manager cuffed and kicked him
+till the animal slunk along, spiritless and harmless as some antiquated
+horse.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He drew out a roll of bank bills, counted out fifty dollars, made sure
+the reporter was noticing the act, and with a flourish tossed the money
+up to Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He wrote out a free pass to the show for Stiggs, slapping him on the
+shoulder and calling him a royal good fellow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't know if the railroad company can spare me," said Stiggs, shaking
+his head slowly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come up here, Mr. Stiggs," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Jack Knight came along from the limits tower just then. He was halted
+by the reporter. Stiggs joined Ralph a few minutes later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want to tell you, Mr. Stiggs, about this fifty dollars' reward from
+the circus people," began Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, glad you got it, Fairbanks," said Stiggs heartily. "If it wasn't
+for you I wouldn't have got the tobacco."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I want you to tell Mrs. Stiggs when you go home that I've got
+twenty-five dollars for her," went on Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My! that's a lot of money," exclaimed the old railroad pensioner,
+opening wide his eyes. "Say, Fairbanks, that would stock me up with
+tobacco for the rest of my life!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Knight came through the trap, the local reporter at his heels.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's been going on here?" demanded the veteran towerman, with a
+glance at the broken window panes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph glanced at the reporter. That individual had a paper tab in his
+hand all covered with notes, and looked eager and expectant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If our friend here will excuse our attention to railroad business
+strictly, I will try to tell you," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Certainly," nodded the reporter, but disappointedly, as Ralph took
+Knight to the end of the room and a low-toned conversation ensued.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The same was interspersed with sensational, startling ejaculations of
+wild excitement, such a vivid play of interest and wonder on the part
+of old Jack, that the reporter wriggled in a kind of professional
+torment. He knew that Ralph must have a graphic story to relate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Fairbanks," he said anxiously, as the two terminated their
+conversation, "I hope you will give me a brief interview."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Really, I couldn't think of it," answered Ralph, with a genial smile.
+"A tiger escaped from the circus and hid in the switch tower. That's
+about the facts of the case."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're a deal too modest," snorted old Jack. "You see, he's a
+stickler for railroad ethics," he explained to the reporter. "Well,
+that's all right in a young man, for the company usually want to give
+out their own reports to the press. In this instance, though, I don't
+think they will hold back the credit young Fairbanks deserves. You
+come with me, young man, and as soon as I report to the superintendent,
+I think you can get the facts for the liveliest railroad sensation you
+have had in Stanley Junction for many a long day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had no right to interfere with this arrangement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Knight came back in thirty minutes, chuckling gleesomely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Shake, old man!" he called out, grasping Ralph's hand with a
+switch-lever clutch that would have made his assistant wince a week
+back. "I guaranteed you to the company when they put you on here. The
+man with the iron mask just thanked me for it. Thanked me for it, just
+think of it--and smiled!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who is the man with the iron mask?" asked Ralph innocently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The superintendent, of course. Ever see him? Well, they say he was
+born with a frown on his face, called down his father and mother when
+he was six months old, and spent ten years at a special actors' school
+where they learn the ebony glare, the tones that chill a fellow, and
+that grand stern air that makes a railroad employee shake in his boots
+when the superintendent passes by."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I have found him rather dignified, but a thoroughly just and
+genial gentleman," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Fairbanks!" interrupted a voice that made the two friends
+start, and the head of the superintendent of the Great Northern came up
+through the trap. "Quite a word-painter, Mr. Knight!" he continued,
+glancing at old Jack with a grim twinkle in his eye.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, overheard me, did you?" retorted Knight, never abashed at
+anything. "You didn't wait till I got through. I was going to add,
+for the benefit of our young friend here, that all the qualities I was
+describing have made you the most consistent, thoroughgoing railroader
+in the country, that back of the mask were more pensions to deserving
+disabled employees than the law allowed, and a justice and respect for
+loyal subordinates that made you an honorary member of our union, and
+the Great Northern the finest railway system ever perfected."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Mr. Knight!" retorted the superintendent, a genuine flush
+of pleasure on his face. "I know you are sincere, so you will join me,
+I am certain, in telling our young friend that the risk he took to save
+the special this day entitled him to a high place in the esteem of his
+employers and associates."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Right you are, sir!" answered Knight emphatically. "I'm proud of
+Ralph Fairbanks--and so are you."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiii-squaring-things">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15">CHAPTER XIII--SQUARING THINGS</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph was tremendously pleased at the praise of the superintendent of
+the Great Northern. He started for home, his work through with for the
+day, feeling that life was very much worth living.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He lost no time on this especial occasion in reaching the home cottage.
+He wanted to share his pleasure with his devoted mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph found the front door locked. He had a key to it however, let
+himself in, and was wondering at this unusual absence of his mother at
+a regular meal hour, when he caught sight of a folded note on the
+little table in the hall.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am at Mrs. Davis'," his mother's note ran. "She is not very well,
+and wishes me to stay with her for a few hours. Please call for me at
+her house at about nine o'clock."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Entering the little dining room, Ralph found the table all set. He
+proceeded to the kitchen, and discovered under covers on a slow fire
+his meal ready to be served.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Always kind and thoughtful," he reflected gratefully, as he sat down
+to his solitary repast. "Nine o'clock, eh? That gives me time to
+attend to some pressing duties. Perhaps Mrs. Davis may have something
+to say about those bonds."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph's mother had done her duty in seeing to it that he was not put
+out by her absence. He now proceeded to do his by clearing up the
+table and washing the dishes. He had everything in order before he
+left the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He sauntered downtown, changed a twenty-dollar bill that was among
+those the circus manager had given him, and started down a humble side
+street.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In about ten minutes Ralph reached the Stiggs home. It was a small
+one-story structure, but comfortable-looking and well-kept.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the garden was a small summerhouse. A spark of light directed Ralph
+thither. It appeared that Stiggs was banished from the house while
+using his favorite weed. This was his "smokery."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Before Ralph could announce his presence, someone spoke from an open
+window of the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"John Jacob Stiggs--smoke! smoke! smoke!" proclaimed a high-pitched
+voice-. "I should think you'd be ashamed--at it all the time. If you
+are so valuable to your railroad cronies why don't you bring home a
+chicken, or a watermelon, or a bag of potatoes once in a while, instead
+of your perpetual 'plug cut,' and 'cut loaf,' and 'killmequick'? Oh,
+dear! dear! you are such a trial."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's so--never thought of that," responded Stiggs from his snuggery,
+in his usual quiet way. "But, my dear, something is coming. Some
+money--you know I told you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nonsense!" retorted Mrs. Stiggs violently. "They stuff you full of
+all kinds of stories. Last week you said they were going to make you
+master mechanic."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I declined it! I declined it!" answered Stiggs in quick trepidation.
+"The responsibility of the position--think of it, my dear!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I suppose you're my cross," sighed his helpmate patiently.
+"Only, don't get a woman's hopes all alive with your story of five
+dollars coming, and a new shawl for me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ten, my dear," interrupted Stiggs. "I've quite forgotten the amount,
+but I am sure it was more than five. You see, I helped catch a
+tiger----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"John Jacob Stiggs!" cried his wife severely, "you'd better keep those
+wild notions out of your head. Tigers! Who ever saw a tiger in
+Stanley Junction?" she sniffed disdainfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I did, Mrs. Stiggs," broke in Ralph, stepping to the window with
+a pleasant smile, and lifting his cap politely. "It escaped from the
+circus now in town. Your husband helped me get it into the hands of
+the show people, they paid us fifty dollars' reward for our services,
+and half of it belongs to Mr. Stiggs. There is his share, madam."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Laws-a-mercy!" cried the astounded woman, as the crisp green bills
+were placed on the window ledge. "You don't mean----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Twenty-five dollars," nodded Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"His? mine? ours?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Mrs. Stiggs. You can have a famous new shawl now, can't you,
+madam?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, come in. Oh, dear! dear! it don't seem real."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph stepped around to the door and entered the little sitting room.
+Mrs. Stiggs could not keep still for excitement. She was laughing and
+crying by turns.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Old Stiggs followed after Ralph in a kind of dumb amazement, and stood
+staring at the banknotes in his wife's hand. She chanced to observe
+him. For the first time in his life, it seemed, her husband had
+ventured inside the house smoking his despised tobacco.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"John--Jacob--Stiggs!" she screamed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh--my!" gasped the horrified culprit.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lighted pipe dropped from his mouth, and he bolted out of doors as
+if shot from a cannon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Stiggs was profuse in her thanks. She got more coherent, and
+poured out her little troubles to Ralph, who was a sympathetic
+listener. He gave her some advice, and his heart warmed as he finally
+left the house, happy in the consciousness that he had bestowed some
+pleasure and benefit where he felt sure they were fully deserved.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Anybody but mother would call me a chump for what I've got to do
+next," he mused, as he proceeded briskly in the direction of lower
+Railroad Street, "but I've got the impulse, and it looks clear to me
+that I'm doing the right thing all around."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph proceeded past the long line of poor buildings just back of the
+depot tracks. He looked into the restaurant where he had found Mort
+Bemis and Young Slavin some evenings previous.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were not in evidence now, however, at this or other places he
+inspected. Ralph made inquiries of some "extras," who had a good deal
+of spare time, and were likely to know the denizens of Railroad Row.</p>
+<p class="pnext">No one could tell him of the whereabouts of the persons he sought,
+until he met a young urchin whom he questioned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Slavin?" pronounced the precious street arab. "Champeen? He's at
+Murphy's shed."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A man named Murphy ran a cheap ice cream place further down the street,
+Ralph remembered. The shed he also recalled as a loafing place for
+juvenile road hands around the noon and evening hours.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a great open structure where expressmen stored their wagons for
+shelter. Ralph reached its proximity in a few minutes. He glanced
+around the open end of the place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Three or four boys were squatted on the ground. Two of them had a coat
+and a vest, on which they were clumsily sewing. Near by, wrapped in an
+old horse-blanket, seated on a box, his eyes fixed gloomily on the
+ground, was the object of Ralph's visit--Young Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph went forward at once. Two of the group sprang to their feet,
+startled. Young Slavin, looking spiritless and cowed, craned his bull
+neck in silent wonder and uncertainty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Slavin," spoke Ralph promptly, "I have been trying to find you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What for?" mumbled Slavin in a muffled tone. "I'm ripped up the back.
+Out of training--see you later."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, I haven't come to fight," Ralph assured him. "It is this way: I
+saw you meet with an unfortunate accident this afternoon."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If you mean you made rags of the only suit of clothes I've got, it's
+correct," admitted Slavin dejectedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I warned you, but you would rush on your fate," said Ralph.
+"Pretty badly used up, are they?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Are they?" snorted Slavin bitterly. "They were ripped from stem to
+stern. And what's worse--look at them now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph could scarcely keep from laughing outright. One of the amateur
+tailors had essayed to mend Slavin's trousers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had taken up a seam four inches wide. In pursuing the seam, he had
+sewed it into bunches, knobs, and fissures. One leg was shorter than
+the other, and stood out at an angle from the knee down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, that won't do at all," said Ralph gravely. "I felt sorry for you,
+Slavin. As I warned you, that tiger was in the switch tower. I got a
+reward for telling the circus people where it was, and I think it is
+only fair that they pay for the damage the animal did. They advertise
+a good eight-dollar suit down at the Grand Leader. Go and get one.
+That squares it, doesn't it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph extended a ten-dollar bill to Slavin. The eyes of his engrossed
+companions snapped at the sight of so much money. As for Slavin
+himself, he stared at the bill and then at Ralph in stupid wonder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Take it," urged Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mine?" gulped Slavin slowly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course it's yours."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You give it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why not? I collected damages from the circus people--that's your
+share."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin's fingers trembled as he took the proffered banknote. He
+wriggled restively, looked up, and then looked down.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Say," he spoke hoarsely at last, "your name is Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," nodded Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A good name, and you're a good sort. I jumped on you wrong the other
+night, and I want to say it right here. I thought Mort Bemis was my
+friend. This afternoon he took up with a fellow named Slump, broke
+open my trunk, stole two of my silver medals, and sloped. That's what
+I got for being his friend. Now you come and do me a good turn. I'm
+not your kind, and we can't ever mix probably, but if ever you want
+anyone hammered, I'll be there. See? I'm--I'm obliged to you,
+Fairbanks. You've taught me something. There's something better in
+the world than muscle--and you've got it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Ralph left the old shed, he was pretty certain that he had made a
+new friend. He had, too, won the respect of the little coterie who had
+seen the terrible "champeen" eat humble pie before a fellow half his
+size.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph went to a millinery store next. The Saturday evening before he
+had accompanied his mother on her shopping tour. She had admired a hat
+in a show-window, but had said she could not spare the money for it
+just then.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph proudly walked home with the self-same hat in a band-box.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have made quite a hole in that fifty dollars," he mused, as he left
+the band-box at the home cottage, and started for Mrs. Davis' house.
+"I wonder if I would be as extravagant on a bigger scale, if we should
+be fortunate enough to get back those twenty thousand dollars' worth of
+railroad bonds?"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiv-a-busy-evening">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16">CHAPTER XIV--A BUSY EVENING</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The nearest cut to the house where Mrs. Davis lived was along a sort of
+a ravine, and Ralph pursued this route. It was the shortest, and it
+was here that the switch spur was to run up to Gasper Farrington's old
+factory.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was interested in this as a railroader. The work of grading had
+already commenced. It was not to be a very particular job, as the
+service would be only occasional. The company was using old rails and
+second-hand ties.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a natural rock shelf on the north side of the ravine. This
+the roadbed would follow. There were several sharp grades, but there
+would be no heavy traffic. The entire factory output, which was in the
+furniture line, would not exceed a carload a day.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis' home stood back from the ravine about a hundred feet. It
+was some three hundred yards from the factory building. Between it and
+the latter structure was a low two-story house, very old and
+dilapidated. Ralph wondered if this was the spot which Farrington had
+said he would appropriate, law or no law, as the connecting link in his
+right of way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Farrington may well look out for wrecks," soliloquized Ralph, as
+he passed along the ravine. "The freight business from the factory is
+not worth enough for the company to put in a first-class roadbed. A
+poor one means danger. They will have to go slow on some of those mean
+curves and crooked grades, if they want to avoid trouble."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph turned from the ravine as he caught the gleam of a light in the
+house he knew to be occupied by the mysterious Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a desolate place, and he felt sorry for anyone compelled to live
+so remote from neighbors. He felt glad, however, that the lonely widow
+had been so fortunate as to find a friend in his mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis had proven her honesty by wishing to repay him the
+ten-dollar loan. Ralph in a way counted that evening on some
+intimation concerning the twenty thousand dollars railroad bonds. He
+was naturally wrought up and anxious over this particular phase of the
+situation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The house did not front on the ravine. In approaching it, Ralph came
+up to its side first. The light that had guided him was in a middle
+room. Its window was open and the shade was lowered, but the breeze
+blew it back every little while.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a bright moonlight night. Ralph could make out the house and
+its surroundings as plain as day. As he walked beside a hedge of high
+alders, he paused with a start.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Someone stood directly beside the open window where the light was. The
+house shadowed him, but even at a distance Ralph could see that the
+lurker was a boy about his own height.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This person stood with his face to the window. Every time the breeze
+moved the curtain, he bobbed about actively. He craned his neck, and
+made all kinds of efforts to look into the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why," said Ralph indignantly, "it is someone spying!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The breeze freshening, the curtain was just then blown on a forty-five
+degree slant. A perfectly plain view of the room and its inmates was
+momentarily shown.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Even at a distance Ralph could make out Mrs. Davis propped up in a
+chair with pillows, and his mother seated near by.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The lurker at the window was taking a good clear look. He suddenly
+whipped a card out of his pocket. He glanced at it quickly, then
+inside the room again. The breeze let down, and the curtain dropped
+plumb once more.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph made an impetuous run for the window. He came up to the lurker,
+grabbed his arm, and still at full momentum ran him twenty feet along
+from the window. He did not wish to startle the inmates of the house.
+The astonished boy he had seized Ralph landed against the side of a
+summerhouse. He never let go of him. His prisoner wriggled in his
+grasp.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hey, what's this?" he began.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who are you and what are you up to?" challenged Ralph sharply.
+"What!" he cried, loosening his hold in stupefaction. "Van--Van
+Sherwin!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello!" muttered his companion, now faced squarely about, and staring
+in turn. "It is you, Fairbanks? Well, that's natural, seeing your
+mother is here, but you took me off my feet so sudden. Shake. You
+don't seem glad to see me one bit, although it's an age since I met you
+last. How goes it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph shook the hand affectionately extended. It was not the hearty
+greeting, however, he usually awarded to this his warmest boy friend.
+Ralph looked grave, uncertain, and disappointed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of all the chums he had ever known, Van Sherwin had come into his life
+in a way that had appealed strongly to every friendly sentiment.
+Deprived of reason temporarily through a blow from a baseball, and
+practically adopted by the Fairbanks family, Van's gentle, lovable ways
+had charmed them. When he recovered his reason and was the means of
+introducing Ralph to Farwell Gibson, Van was cherished like a brother
+by Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Less than two weeks previous Van had gone back to the wilderness
+stretch beyond Springfield, where Gibson was keeping his railroad
+cut-off charter alive by grading the roadbed so much each day, as
+required by law.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Through Gibson Ralph had got the information that enabled them to prove
+Gasper Farrington's mortgage on their home a fraud. Naturally he felt
+thankful to the queer old hermit who was working out an idea amid
+Crusoe-like solitude.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As to Van,--mother and son made him a daily topic of conversation.
+They had longed for a visit from the strange, wild lad who had
+unconsciously brought so much good into their lives.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now Van had appeared, yet a vague distrust and disappointment chilled
+the warmth of Ralph's reception. Van had always been frank,
+open-minded, aboveboard. Ralph had just discovered him apparently
+engaged in eavesdropping.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Thinking all this over, Ralph stood grim and silent as a statue for the
+space of nearly two minutes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hey!" challenged Van suddenly, giving his arm a vigorous shake. "Are
+you dreaming, Ralph?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph roused himself. He determined to clear the situation, if it
+could be cleared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Van," he said definitely, "what were you doing at that window?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, didn't you see--looking in."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know you was. In other words, spying. Oh, Van--spying on my
+mother!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van Sherwin's eyes flashed. In a trice he had whipped off his coat.
+His fists doubled up. He advanced on Ralph, his voice shaking with an
+angry sob.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Take that back, Ralph Fairbanks!" he cried. "Do it quick, or you've
+got to lick me. Me spy on your mother? Why, she's pretty near my
+mother, too--the only one I ever remember."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I saw you lurking at that window," said Ralph, a good deal taken
+aback by Van's violent demonstration.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Lurking, eh?" repeated Van sarcastically. "I'm a lurker, am I? And a
+spy? Why don't you call me a bravo--and a brigand? Humph--you chump!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">The impulsive fellow shrugged his shoulders in such a pitying,
+indulgent way that Ralph was fairly nettled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I won't fight you," declared Van, putting on his coat again. "You
+think so much of your mother that I'll forgive you. But I think a lot
+of her, too, as you well know, and, knowing it, you ought to have
+thought twice before you--yes, imputed to me any action that could do
+her any harm."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're right, Van," said Ralph, grasping both hands of his eccentric
+chum, heartily enough this time. "I am so strung up, though, with
+things happening, and so much suspicion and mystery in the air, that
+I'm jumping to all kinds of conclusions helter-skelter. I hate
+mystery, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sit down," said Van, moving around to the door of the dismantled
+summerhouse, and dropping to its worm-eaten seat. "I want to tell you
+something. I wasn't looking in that window expecting to see your
+mother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not at all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then it must have been Mrs. Davis, the woman who lives there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that her name?" inquired Van, with a shrewd smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She says it is."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know her, then? Well, I don't, Ralph. Never saw her before.
+Yet, I've traveled a long distance to get a look at her. See here--can
+you make it out?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van took from his pocket the card Ralph had seen him consult at the
+window. Ralph held it up to the moonlight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was an old-fashioned card photograph. Judging from its yellow,
+faded appearance, it seemed taken in another generation. It presented
+the face of a woman of about thirty years of age.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph scanned this with a certain token of recognition.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This picture resembles Mrs. Davis," he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Think so?" asked Van. "I know it does. It's meant for the lady in
+that room yonder--when she was younger, though."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you come by it?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a secret for the present, but I don't mind telling you. A
+friend--a long distance away--asked me to locate the original of that
+picture. Somehow he got a clew to the fact that she was living in this
+district."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, she came to Stanley Junction recently."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Anyhow, I followed out directions," narrated Van. "I've done what I
+came for. The woman lives in that house yonder. I must go back and
+inform my friend."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not right away. Mother will want to see you, Van."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van shook his head resolutely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll be back again soon, Ralph," he promised. "I wish I could tell
+you more, but it's not my business."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's all right, Van. I don't want to pry into your secrets."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van restored the picture to his pocket. He sighed with a glance at the
+house, as if it would indeed be a pleasure to have a chat with his
+adopted mother, Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Ralph!" he said suddenly, checking himself as he was about to move
+away--"have you ever heard anything more about those twenty thousand
+dollars railroad bonds?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have I?" spoke Ralph animately; "I seem to be hearing about them every
+step I take, lately!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that so?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, but always in a vague, unsatisfactory way. What made you ask
+that question, Van?" inquired Ralph, with a keen glance at his
+companion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, nothing," declared Van carelessly. "I was just thinking, that's
+all. You see, Mr. Gibson is a rare, good fellow."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He did me some rare, good service--I know that," said Ralph warmly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, he's pegging away at that railroad of his, wasting valuable
+time. He don't dare to leave it, because he might vi--vi--bother the
+word--oh, yes! vitiate his legal rights. He told me, though, that if
+he could get someone to put up a few thousand dollars so he could hire
+help, he would go to some big city and interest capital and rush the
+road through."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I will bear that in mind," said Ralph thoughtfully. "I believe he has
+the nucleus of a big speculation. There are rich men in Stanley
+Junction who might be induced to help him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Suppose you got those twenty thousand dollars bonds, Ralph," said Van
+suddenly. "Would you be inclined to invest?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I would feel it a duty, Van," responded Ralph promptly. "I believe my
+mother would, too. You will remember that if it was not for Mr.
+Gibson, we would probably be without a home to-day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're a good fellow, Ralph Fairbanks!" cried Van, slapping his chum
+heartily on the shoulder. "I knew you'd say that. And say--I guess
+you're going to hear something about those bonds, soon."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The air seems full of those bonds!" half smiled Ralph. "I wish
+something besides shadows would materialize, though."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph felt that Van was keeping something back--certainly about the
+person so interested in the mysterious Mrs. Davis, possibly in
+reference to the railroad bonds, as well.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Before he could express himself further, Van grabbed his sleeve and
+pulled him into the shelter of the summerhouse with a quick warning:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"S-sh!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it, Van?" inquired Ralph in surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Speak low, look sharp!" whispered Van, pointing through the
+interstices of the trellis in the direction of the house. "You hate
+mystery, you say. Then how does that strike you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why," exclaimed Ralph, after a steadfast glance in the direction
+indicated--"it is Gasper Farrington!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xv-a-hero-despite-himself">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17">CHAPTER XV--A HERO DESPITE HIMSELF</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph did not have to look twice to be sure that it was the village
+magnate who stood just where he had discovered Van Sherwin a few
+minutes previous.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Gasper Farrington was stooping stealthily under the open window. He
+did not seem to care so much to see who was inside. Perhaps he had
+already seen. His whole attitude showed that he was listening intently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph disliked Farrington. He had reason for the sentiment. He could
+not recall one gracious action on the part of the miserly old man in
+all the years he had known him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His present occupation, that of an eavesdropper, was so expected and
+characteristic of Farrington, that Ralph's indignation was less than
+his contempt.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is he after here?" reflected Ralph; "no good, of course. Mrs.
+Davis knows him and fears him, it seems. He is going."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Before Ralph could make up his mind to any definite course of action,
+Farrington, after a meditative pause, slunk from under the window.
+Then he disappeared briskly around the corner of the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph ran softly after him and peered around the end of the structure.
+He saw Farrington headed for town, across lots to the nearest highway.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph came back to the old summer house to find Van gone. He looked
+for him, even tried a whistle signal both understood, but obtained no
+response.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's all a queer affair," mused Ralph. "Mrs. Davis seems to be a
+great center of interest just at present. Perhaps she has told mother
+something that explains matters."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was doomed to disappointment in this hope. When he knocked at
+the door of the Davis home, his mother answered the summons.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mrs. Davis is resting nicely," she whispered. "It would only excite
+her to see you to-night. Just wait outside, and I will slip away and
+join you in a few minutes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fairbanks was soon on the way homeward with Ralph. She explained
+that Mrs. Davis was quite unwell and nervous. She had stayed with her
+and nursed her, and left her comfortable for the night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She gave me the ten dollars for you, Ralph," said Mrs. Fairbanks, "but
+she said very little about the bonds. I have an idea that she knows
+something about them, and I think she has been writing to Gasper
+Farrington. The last thing she said as I left her, was for both of us
+to come to see her to-morrow night. She said she would get something
+in the meantime she had placed with a friend to show us, in which we
+would both be interested."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph said nothing to his mother about meeting Van, nor did he mention
+Farrington's visit to the Davis home. He did not wish to worry his
+mother, and he hoped that another twenty-four hours might somewhat
+clear the situation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Of course Mrs. Fairbanks was more than pleased over her present of the
+new hat. Her son's recital of the tiger episode frightened and
+thrilled her by turns.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph did a good deal of thinking after getting to bed. He wondered if
+Mrs. Davis was up to any double-dealing. Perhaps she knew something of
+importance about the bonds. She might have come to Stanley Junction to
+sell her secret to Farrington. Possibly later she became undecided as
+to her course, her accidental meeting with Ralph moving her to favor
+him in the matter.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph guessed that no one but Farwell Gibson could have sent Van to
+Stanley Junction. Gibson had been mixed up in the matter of his
+father's railroad bonds, years back. Was there some kind of a
+three-cornered complication, in which Farrington, Gibson, and Mrs.
+Davis each had a share, and all three playing at cross-purposes?</p>
+<p class="pnext">At ten o'clock that night the local newspaper left the press, weighted
+with the biggest sensation of the year, but Ralph did not know it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was made aware of it next morning, however, as he left the house.
+Ned Talcott, an old school chum, came running up to him fluttering a
+freshly-printed sheet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you see it? Did you really do all that?" he demanded, in
+breathless excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"See what--do what?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, just run your eagle eye over these two front columns!" chuckled
+Ralph's ardent admirer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, dear!" said Ralph, in faint stupefaction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The ambitious newspaper reporter had dished up a wonderfully graphic
+and interesting story. He did not seem to have missed a point in the
+episode of the escaped circus tiger.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had got every fact about the special, every detail of Ralph's
+encounter with Calcutta Tom, the sensational climb of the telegraph
+pole, the swing of the lever just in time. He even touched on the
+accident to Young Slavin, Ralph's benevolence to that enemy, and his
+generous division of the reward with the Stiggses.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Whew!" gasped Ralph, concluding the article with a whirling head.
+"Why, if I wasn't mad at all the bosh he has put into this screed, I
+could laugh--it is simply ridiculous!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">All the same, the reporter had written a very entertaining article. It
+was the "fancy touches" that seemed preposterous to Ralph, who had gone
+through the episode practically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All through the story the writer held the tension high as to suspense
+and impending peril. He made the reader fairly see the glaring
+eyeballs of the defiant tiger. He almost made him hear the wild
+beatings of the heart of the desperate but intrepid young leverman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The warning shrieks of the devoted special on the verge of destruction,
+the nearing hiss and splutter of the steam jets, the thunderous thunder
+of the grinding wheels--all these were the thrilling concomitants of a
+breathless description. It ended in the crash of the tower window, the
+leap to the levers, the action that made of Ralph Fairbanks the hero of
+the hour.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The grand finale was a pathetic touch. It alluded to the great
+throbbing heart of humanity always electrically responsive to such
+appeals as that involved in the anxious haste of the distressed
+railroad president to reach a beloved wife at the door of death.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Three people whom Ralph knew stopped him to congratulate him before he
+reached the depot yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A cheer greeted him as he crossed from Railroad Street to the switch
+tower. It came from a flag-shanty, where four of his firemen friends
+were standing. Two of them waved papers. Ralph laughed and nodded
+carelessly, but flushed with pleasure.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's two men I would like to have see that article," spoke old Jack
+Knight, emphatically slapping the newspaper in his lap as Ralph came on
+duty. "One is the master mechanic. The other is that old skeesicks,
+Farrington."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was embarrassed by further congratulations all through the
+morning. He had a pleasant day, however. The praises of his real
+friends were very sweet, and the sense of duty well done was a spur to
+his noblest ambitions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was toward five o'clock that the crowning episode of the day
+occurred. Ralph was busy at the levers, Knight was at the telephone,
+as the superintendent came up the trap ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His manner to both these valued employees was more than usually genial.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Dropped in on my way to the roundhouse," he observed. "I received a
+wire from the president of the Great Northern about an hour ago,
+Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir?" said Ralph, wondering what was coming.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Shrewd Jack Knight gave a wise chuckle, and his eyes twinkled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He mentioned you," pursued the superintendent. "He sent a long wire,
+requesting an expression of his thanks for prompt service all along the
+line. He added a paragraph that may interest you. As I take you to be
+too practical a young man to get the swelled head, or impose on an
+appreciation of duty well done, I will read the paragraph to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The speaker drew a typewritten yellow sheet from his pocket. He
+resumed:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The president says: 'I imagine that by young Ralph Fairbanks, who has
+shown such devotion to his duty and saved the special under such
+extraordinary circumstances, the intelligence will be gladly received
+that my timely arrival at home probably saved my dear wife's life. The
+morning papers here have a full account of his remarkable adventures at
+the switch tower. I desire that you commend him warmly in my behalf,
+and it is the sense of the road directors that, while you do not
+promote him too fast, you must see that he gets what he deserves
+promptly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph flushed with emotion. He could not speak.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good!" commented blunt old Jack. "The president is a brick. You're
+another one, Mr. Superintendent, and you don't lose, let me tell you,
+by warming up a thrifty employee's heart by giving him the real stuff,
+right from the shoulder, when he deserves it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The superintendent smiled and bowed, and went on his way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Stiff as a poker, looks as if his only thought was to catch a chance
+to fire someone," observed Knight, watching the prim, dignified
+official crossing the tracks below. "Look at him--cold as an iceberg.
+You've thawed him out, though, Fairbanks!" chuckled the veteran
+towerman. "That's so--there is something I wanted to find out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He pretended to be mightily busy poring over a little red memorandum
+book for a few minutes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Got it," he called out finally: "Chief Train Dispatcher. One hundred
+and seventy-five dollars a month. Keep it in view, kid. You heard
+what the president said."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nonsense!" flushed Ralph; "my highest ambition for a long time to come
+is to run a locomotive."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fairbanks regarded her son with humid eyes as he told the story of
+the day that night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She did not try to express her emotion. She could not. Ever since
+Ralph had resolutely started at work, there had been what she greeted
+as a continual round of blessings. And Ralph shared her heartfelt
+gratefulness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Right after supper they started together to visit Mrs. Davis. Ralph
+carried a basket which contained some dainties his mother had prepared
+for the invalid.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On their way Ralph told his mother of the suspicious circumstances of
+Gasper Farrington's visit to the Davis home the evening previous. He
+thought she ought now to know of it. He intimated, too, that it might
+be wise to warn Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If she would only talk out what is evidently preying on her mind,"
+observed Mrs. Fairbanks, "we could understand the situation much more
+clearly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know she has promised to enlighten us in a way, this evening,"
+suggested Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The house is dark," said his mother, as they neared it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, and--why, mother! the door is open."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph knocked loudly. There was no response.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hope nothing is amiss," murmured Mrs. Fairbanks, in a fluttering
+tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She groped her way down the dark hall and into the sitting room,
+stumbling over some garments lying on the floor which nearly tripped
+her up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mrs. Davis! Mrs. Davis!" she called, "are you here?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again there was only silence. Mrs. Fairbanks sighed with deep suspense.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Perhaps I had better get a light," suggested Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish you would," said his mother.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph flared a match. He discovered a lamp on a mantel-shelf and
+lighted it. Mother and son glanced about the apartment searchingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On the floor lay the heavy shawl Mrs. Fairbanks had stumbled over. A
+little table was overturned. A drapery that had festooned the entrance
+doorway from the hall was torn half loose, as if someone had grasped it
+in being dragged from the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That looks bad," said Ralph gravely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He took up the lamp and went all through the house. In the one upper
+chamber the contents of the bureau drawer were scattered all over the
+floor. A trunk was broken open, and its interior all in disorder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is she here, Ralph?" questioned his mother anxiously, as he returned
+to the sitting room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No," answered Ralph. "Mother, there is foul play here."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, Ralph!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am sure of it. Someone has ransacked the house, and I believe they
+have kidnapped Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But--why?" stammered the affrighted Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why?" cried Ralph, greatly stirred up by tumultuous thoughts and
+suspicions that irresistibly thronged his brain. "To secure something
+that Mrs. Davis had in her keeping, I believe."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But who would do it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who?" responded Ralph. "I can imagine only one person who might be
+interested."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And that is?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Gasper Farrington."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Right!" pronounced a new voice, startlingly near. "You have hit the
+nail squarely on the head this time, Ralph Fairbanks!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xvi-kidnapped">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18">CHAPTER XVI--KIDNAPPED</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Mother and son turned quickly towards the open doorway of the little
+sitting room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It framed a forlorn figure--a boyish form covered with mud, hatless,
+and disheveled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Van!" cried Mrs. Fairbanks in astonishment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She had a warm corner in her heart for the refugee who had made her
+home his for so many weeks when his poor mind was distraught.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Her motherly face lit up, and she extended her arms in greeting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Van edged up to her gingerly, and kissing her cheek quickly drew
+back with the remark:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I've been homesick and hungry for a week just to see you smile and to
+hear you call me your boy, but I'm too muddy and torn up for even a
+second-class prodigal son!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Van!" cried Ralph; "how did you get in that fix?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Run down by a team."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you are hurt--there is a deep cut on your cheek."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that's a whip-handle clip from a very particular friend of yours,"
+responded Van carelessly. "Ike Slump."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fairbanks shivered at the mention of that detested individual.
+Ralph was eagerly inquisitive.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And about Mrs. Davis?" he asked hurriedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The woman who lived here--the photograph woman?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Van. Do you know anything about her?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I fancy I do. She has been kidnapped."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We feared that!" murmured Mrs. Fairbanks anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," nodded Van briskly, "it looks that way, and I have had a lively
+time of it. Did you tell your mother about meeting me here last night,
+Ralph?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, Van."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then I will tell her now. You see, Mrs. Fairbanks, I was caught by
+Ralph peeking into this very room, last night. I explained to him how
+it was. I had an old photograph of a woman who turns out to be this
+Mrs. Davis. I had been instructed to locate her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By whom, Van?" inquired the astonished Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a secret, it is not my business in a way," he burst forth
+abruptly, "but I can't keep the truth from you two. I think you ought
+to know it. I think, too, that the person for whom I am acting, the
+way things have turned out, would also wish you to know it. Here is
+the fact: Farwell Gibson is the person who got me to come here to
+locate this Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Farwell Gibson?" repeated Mrs. Fairbanks in wonderment, though Ralph
+was not surprised at the statement. He had already half guessed out
+what his chum now disclosed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," nodded Van.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then he knows Mrs. Davis?" asked Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ought to," answered Van promptly, "seeing she is his wife."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You astound me, Van!" murmured the mystified Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, she is. At least, the original of the photograph I showed Ralph
+is his wife. I don't know all the details, only it's some more of
+Farrington's fine work. You know Gibson was in his clutches for years.
+Mr. Gibson and his wife had a bitter quarrel over money matters many
+years ago. It seemed he had used some of her means in his
+stock-jobbing operations with Farrington. They separated. Later
+Farrington made Gibson believe his wife was dead. He did this to get
+Gibson to consent to sign certain papers that furthered Farrington's
+schemes. Then he got Gibson under his thumb, and drove him into exile."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wonder the villain sleeps nights!" said the indignant Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, anyhow," proceeded Van, "Gibson got looking into matters, when
+his meeting with Ralph led to your having your rights, and old
+Farrington taking the clamps off Gibson by destroying the forged note
+he had held over him for so many years. Gibson learned that his wife
+was not dead. He sent me to try and locate her--which I have done."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But she is lost again," suggested Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't fret about that," spoke Van coolly. "I'll find her again,
+don't you doubt it. You see, all this concerns you and Ralph very
+closely, I am sure. In fact, Mr. Gibson intimated to me that if he
+could get into communication with his estranged wife, he believed she
+could give information that would lead to the recovery of those twenty
+thousand dollars in railroad bonds."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Everything fits to one conviction," mused Ralph aloud. "All this
+being true, it is certainly to Farrington's interest to drive Mrs.
+Davis away from Stanley Junction."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They drove her away, right enough," nodded Van vigorously--"in a close
+carriage, behind a spanking team. It was old Farrington's, and the
+drivers were Ike Slump and a fellow I heard him call Mort."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mort Bemis," murmured Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You see," said Van, "when I left you last night, I had only one idea:
+to get back to Mr. Gibson and report. I started for the depot to take
+the train for Springfield, intending to come back and see you all in a
+day or two. Well, on my way to the depot I ran across old Farrington I
+got thinking that his appearance on the scene, spying on the woman
+Gibson, was sig--sig--what's the word, anyhow?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Significant," suggested Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's it--significant. I thought I would watch him a bit. He did
+not go home. He went to an old abandoned shanty near the fair grounds.
+He met two fellows there, apparently waiting for him. They strolled up
+and down the road, talking together. As soon as I recognized Ike
+Slump, I knew deep mischief was up. I saw Farrington give them money.
+I caught the name of the other fellow--Mort. I saw old Farrington to
+bed, and lay down in one of his comfortable garden hammocks to think.
+When I woke up it was daybreak."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why didn't you come to the house and see us?" inquired Mrs. Fairbanks
+reproachfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Couldn't bring my mind to disturb you, with business on hand,"
+declared Van sturdily. "I hung around, and saw old Farrington go about
+as if nothing unusual was on the string. Then about noon I went down
+to the shanty where he had met Slump &amp; Co. No one there. They had
+moved quarters, it seemed. I nosed around generally. About four
+o'clock I ran across that Mort. He was visiting some stores. Acted as
+if it wasn't exactly safe to linger around people, for he didn't lose
+much time in buying some neckties, collars, cigars, and two new hats."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He robbed a chum day before yesterday," explained Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, that was it? He looked like a thief. I suppose Slump didn't care
+to show his face at all. Well, I took up the trail of his crony. He
+started out the west turnpike. I kept safely in the rear. He beat me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A man came along with a fast team. This fellow, Mort, begged or paid
+for a lift. They disappeared in a cloud of dust. I went back to town,
+saw your railroad detective, told him Ike Slump was on the scene, and
+he is looking for him with a warrant for stealing those brass fittings
+from the roundhouse. I thought I'd clip Slump's wings for good. It
+made one the less to watch."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Whew!" whistled Ralph slowly, "you're action when you get started,
+Van."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There is only a little more to tell," continued Van. "I went back to
+the Farrington place. Just at dusk, who should drive out but old
+Farrington himself, with his best team hitched to a close carriage.
+The fates were again against me. He got out by the rear, and he, too,
+took the west turnpike. I ran for a mile, keeping tab on a cloud of
+dust. It was no use. I sat down on a log by the roadside to rest. In
+a few minutes I keeled over double-quick, and lay flat. Farrington was
+coming back--on foot."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He had left his team somewhere?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's it. I waited until he was out of sight. Then I reasoned out
+that this was a very queer proceeding. I made up my mind that somehow
+he had given that team over into the keeping of his two young scallawag
+friends. I put for the country. I inquired along half a dozen
+branching country roads I took. About an hour ago I gave it up, was
+trudging back for town, when down the road came a team--Farrington's
+team. One of its drivers flashed a match to light a cigarette. Then I
+knew my people. I edged aside, but as the carriage flew by I jumped on
+the rear axle, drew myself up, and tried to look in through the rear
+little glass window. Someone was lying on the back seat. There was a
+smell like chloroform in the air. I managed to climb right up on the
+smooth, slippery top of the carriage."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What was your idea?" asked Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I hardly knew. Somehow, a quick suspicion came into my mind that the
+person inside that carriage was Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I know that now, sure enough. I crept forward. That fellow, Mort,
+happened to turn. Our faces came nearly together. I grabbed at him,
+he at me. He must be a pretty husky specimen. Before I could save
+myself, he gave me a pull and a fling. I went down between the horses."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Fairbanks shuddered, and looked solicitous and alarmed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ike Slump reversed the whip and struck out at me. I dropped into a
+mud-puddle. For a minute anyhow I was insensible from the blow and the
+fall. When I picked myself up the team was nowhere in sight. I came
+back to find out if they had really kidnapped Mrs. Davis, and met you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van sat down, pretty well tired out, at the conclusion of his recital.
+Mrs. Fairbanks looked very serious, Ralph worried and excited.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Something must be done instantly," Ralph declared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hold on," interrupted Van coolly, "make this strictly my affair, if
+you please. From what I hear, you need all your time and ability for
+the splendid railroad service you are doing. You can't corner old
+Farrington--he's too foxy. You can't overtake Slump &amp; Co.--they've got
+too good a start. It's a simple matter: Farrington is sending Mrs.
+Davis out of the way. That team has got to come back. The police will
+find Ike Slump. They don't dare seriously molest Mrs. Davis. I shall
+keep on the watch. In the morning I will get word somehow to Farwell
+Gibson. Then I will devote my time strictly to finding Mrs. Davis,
+and--I intend to find her."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They closed up the deserted house. Then all three took their way
+homewards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course you are coming with us, Van?" said Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, ma'am," answered Van promptly. "I want to forget all about this
+worrying business for twelve hours, so as to be fresh and bright for a
+new trail in the morning. And I'm just pining for a good, thick slice
+of your home-made bread."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You shall have it, Van," smiled Mrs. Fairbanks, trying to momentarily
+put aside her troubles, "and half a mince pie, as well."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Home-made, too?" interrogated Van, in a famished way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Only to-day."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"M-m-m!" mumbled Van ravenously. "I'm homesick for one of your rare,
+square meals. Hustle, Ralph--lead the way to the royal banquet!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xvii-a-midnight-visitor">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19">CHAPTER XVII--A MIDNIGHT VISITOR</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph was a month old at switch-tower service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Looking back over thirty days, it seemed more than four weeks, so many
+varied and important incidents in his career had been crowded into that
+space of time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was a wild, stormy night. Sleet and wind were battering the switch
+tower windows. Although there was a chill in the air, the lightning
+was vivid and the thunder roll incessant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The clock showed even midnight. Ralph for over a week had been on
+night duty solely. Doc Bortree was laid up with a fever, and Ralph and
+Jack Knight had been running the place on two shifts.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Since the night of her disappearance, neither Ralph nor his anxious
+mother had learned a thing as to the fate or whereabouts of Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van had left them the following day. Upon that day, too, Gasper
+Farrington appeared, imposing and self-contained as ever, driving about
+the town with his team. It had returned, it seemed, but Ike Slump and
+Mort Bemis had not. Ralph looked for them and inquired about them at
+many sources, friendly and unfriendly. They had completely vanished.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph and his mother had many consultations over the situation. The
+former was for interviewing Farrington. He even suggested going to
+some lawyer or to the police with his story of the disappearance of
+Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">On second thoughts, however, he realized that he had very little
+tangible evidence implicating the magnate to offer. Farrington was
+wealthy, influential. To make a mistake at this juncture would be to
+only strengthen and warn the scheming magnate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So Ralph concluded to wait patiently, hoping day by day that Van would
+get some word to them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A week went by, two of them--no token from Van to show that he was
+following up the Davis affair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">About the middle of the third week, however, Ralph received a brief
+note from Van. It had been mailed at Springfield.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am laid up at Farwell Gibson's with a sprained ankle," the brief
+letter ran. "Don't worry. Will soon be on deck again. Things
+working."</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was pretty vague encouragement, but Ralph was forced to be content
+with it for the time being.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's one thing," he told his mother: "Mr. Gibson knows all that we
+know, and all that Van knows, and probably a great deal more. He is
+not the man to be idle in a matter like this. Between them, he and Van
+will probably do all that can be done in finding Mrs. Davis, and we
+shall hear from them in due time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph met Gasper Farrington face to face several times. The magnate
+did not speak to him. He did, however, look very sneeringly and
+significantly at the young towerman with a kind of triumphant
+vindictiveness, Ralph fancied.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Farrington was busy pushing along the work of the switch spur up to his
+factory. It had progressed rapidly, adding two new levers to the
+battery that Ralph operated.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Another person Ralph was somewhat interested in crossed his path
+occasionally. This was Young Slavin. He would simply nod to Ralph,
+but the old rowdyish swing was gone. There was a strange, grave
+respect in his manner. When Ralph tried to engage him in any
+protracted conversation, however, Slavin backed off with an embarrassed
+excuse about being busy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was pretty lonesome and weary that night in the switch tower. A
+couple of night watchmen had alternately kept him company up to ten
+o'clock. Since that hour he had been completely alone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The tracks were comparatively idle. There was a west train at 12.15,
+the night out mail. The night in express train from the switch was due
+at 12.05, but was reported delayed by a washout beyond Acton. Behind
+her was the through freight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These were all the regulars Ralph had to look out for. About eleven
+o'clock two trains had come in. The limits tower had given siding
+directions on one, and a new depot terminal on the other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This led to a mix-up, nothing worse, but Ralph wondered why the
+peculiar orders had been given. At 11.30, limits dialed for "Chaser on
+the way." None came. At 11.15 the telephone called for a double
+switch on a freight special. It did not show up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Strange!" reflected Ralph. "Old Bryson is on duty at the limits. He
+is exact as a die, and never jokes. Is the electricity playing tricks
+with the wires, or is some one at the limits spelling Bryson and having
+some fun with me? Pretty serious business to fool with, and a pretty
+bad night to indulge in jokes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph swung the out rails for the 12.15. He sat down in the
+comfortable old armchair in ready reach of the telephone and plain
+sight of the dial, and spread out his lunch for a midnight nibble.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was just realizing what famous doughnuts his mother made, when the
+trap came up. Ralph had closed it to shut out the draught.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A familiar head came up from the ladder. Ralph in some wonderment
+recognized Young Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, it's you?" he said pleasantly. "Come in--sit down."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, I won't stay," demurred Slavin, shaking his outer coat, which was
+dripping with wet. "I--you see, I was strolling by. Saw you up here,
+and thought I'd drop in for a minute."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am glad. It is pretty lonesome up here, you know," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He noticed a certain embarrassment in Slavin's manner. It was a queer
+night and a queer hour for Slavin to select for a stroll. Ralph
+wondered what really was the motive of his visit.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As Slavin shook his outer coat Ralph caught a gleam of bright red
+beneath it. He was quite surprised to observe that this was a sweater,
+bearing the initials "S.A." braided across its front.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, Mr. Slavin," he said with an inquisitive smile, "is that a
+uniform you are wearing?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, yes," admitted Slavin, turning as red in the face as the sweater
+itself--"Salvation Army, you know."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought so. Joined them?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin fidgeted, and regarded Ralph suspiciously from the corner of one
+eye to see if he was laughing at him. Ralph preserved a reassuring
+gravity on purpose.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"N-no," said Slavin. "You see, I got tired of that mob I was training
+with. They borrowed and stole all I earned."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am glad you have left them," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thought you would be, and thought I'd come and tell you," stammered
+Slavin in a floundering way. "Oh, I'm playing no goody-goody act. I
+am just holding my mouth, and watching those preacher fellows at the
+army barracks. They're all right. Wish I was. 'Live and let live,' I
+told them, when some rowdies pelted them and smashed a hole in their
+big bass drum. So, just at present I am acting as their bouncer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good for you!" commended Ralph heartily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You know I can bounce all right?" said Slavin significantly. "Well, I
+must be going. So long. Oh, say--by the way, Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was evident to Ralph that Slavin was now about to reveal the real
+motive of his midnight call.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wanted to ask you," proceeded Slavin, rather lamely--"has anyone
+been troubling you lately?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, no," answered Ralph in quick surprise at the pointed
+inquiry--"but who, for instance?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mort Bemis, for one. And do you know the fellow he went off with?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mean Ike Slump?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's his name. Look out for him--for both of them. I'll do the
+rest," rather emphatically observed Slavin, doubling up his fist till
+it resembled the hammering end of a big sledge.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It seems strange, your asking me about them," remarked Ralph. "I
+would like very much to know where they are at present."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You would? I can tell you--they are right here in Stanley Junction.
+I'm laying for them. That's why I'm up so late. I know they have it
+in for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, on general principles of meanness. That's why I came to warn you.
+I think," continued Slavin with a dangerous gleam in his eye, "I think
+I'll get there first. Don't you worry--I'm pretty sure to head them
+off. Only keep an eye open."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you," said Ralph. "So they are back in town? Are they going
+about openly?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They came late this afternoon. A friend told me he saw them driving
+along in a cab, fixed up reckless. He said they had on the latest new
+togs, diamond pins, kid gloves, et settery, till you couldn't rest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I should think that was rather venturesome on Slump's part," said
+Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mean, because there's a warrant out for him on that old
+junk-stealing case?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," answered Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's settled."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's--what?" demanded Ralph in profound astonishment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Settled--at least fixed up in some way."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you know?" inquired Ralph skeptically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Adair, the road detective, told a crossings man, boiling hot over it.
+Said that Slump had gone to the justice, put in an appearance, and was
+bound over to next court term."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why," said Ralph, "that looks incredible. He would have to give
+bonds."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, five hundred dollars' bail. He gave it, right enough. Bondsman
+was right there. The thing had been cut and dried beforehand."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who was his bondsman--did you learn?" asked Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure--it was old Gasper Farrington."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xviii-a-desperate-chance">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20">CHAPTER XVIII--A DESPERATE CHANCE</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"Gasper Farrington again!" cried Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His thoughts ran rapidly. At a good many turns of late, it seemed, the
+miserly magnate of Stanley Junction was coming into his life.</p>
+<p class="pnext">To Ralph the solution of the present problem was prompt and logical:
+Farrington probably had the unfortunate Mrs. Davis in his power. He
+had hired Mort Bemis and Ike Slump to kidnap her. Now he himself was
+at the mercy and in the clutches of his conscienceless confederates.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph theorized that he had paid his accomplices a goodly sum of money
+for their assistance. For a time, with plenty of ready cash in their
+possession, they had found diversion in the city. The longing to cut a
+dash at home, however, had brought them back to Stanley Junction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It looked as if Slump had set a price for his silence and secrecy
+regarding the magnate's schemes. He had probably demanded that
+Farrington go on his bail bond, and afterwards stand back of him in the
+trial with his wealth and influence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am very much obliged to you for what you have told me, Slavin," said
+Ralph at last. "Also for your kindly intentions toward me. If I were
+you, though, I wouldn't go getting into trouble with those two fellows."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Trouble?" cried Slavin wrathfully. "I want to get back my medals.
+Say, if those fellows who stole them have sold them where I can't get
+them, or melted them down, I'll pretty near cripple them for life. But
+you mind what I came to tell you. They hate you, and they'll try and
+trap you. So, you watch out close. As I say, I'll do the rest. I'm
+going."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good-night, Slavin," answered Ralph, extending his hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin started at the sight of it. He flushed, looked pleased, and his
+big broad paw shot out.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You honor me," he said, "and I'm proud of it. Oh, say--'sense!
+'sense!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Excuse what?" demanded Ralph calmly, with a twinkle in his eye.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin had unconsciously given Ralph the crushing hand-shake that used
+to lay up unsuspicious new acquaintances for a week. To his surprise
+the grip was returned with equal force. Ralph did not even wince.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're a good one," pronounced Slavin, in genuine admiration. "I
+thought I'd hurt you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Pulling those levers is a great muscle-builder," explained Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Looks so, in your case," admitted Slavin. "Say," he added, in a kind
+of longing sigh, his eyes sparkling as they ran the grim battery of
+switch pullers--"there's my ambition in life."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that, Slavin--tower duty?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, anything in the railroad line, from pulling up piles to driving
+spikes," declared Slavin, swinging his big arms about restlessly.
+"There's no bad in me. I'd love to work. Only, you see, I was born
+strong, and something has kept me pushing my muscle to the fore. It
+led to encouraging me to be a bruiser. I tell you, if I had a job like
+this, where I could work off the extra steam, I'd just make a record."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then--why not?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mean, why not get the job?" exclaimed Slavin in an eager breath.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Exactly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Would they have me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Again, why not?" said Ralph--"if you are in earnest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, am I!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll speak to Mr. Knight. I will do more. I will ask the depot
+master to take your application, Slavin," said Ralph earnestly, laying
+a gentle hand on the big fellow's shoulder, "you have shown yourself a
+man to-night. Keep it up, and"--Ralph smiled significantly as he
+quoted Slavin's own recent words--"I'll do the rest."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin dashed an impetuous hand across his eyes. They had filled with
+a suspicious moisture. He evidently could not trust himself to speak
+further, for as he started down the trap ladder he only waved Ralph a
+clumsy, silent adieu.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The episode of Young Slavin's visit had been a pleasant diversion to
+the monotony of the hour Ralph pulled the out switch for the 12.15
+mail. Then he sat down again and finished his lunch.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The storm raged on with unabated fury. There was nothing to do now
+until morning except to watch out for the night express and the regular
+freight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The express, Ralph knew, was stalled by a wash-out beyond Acton.
+Naturally the freight, blocked behind it, could not get through until
+the road was cleared. Ralph walked up and down the tower for exercise.
+Suddenly he threw up a window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Some moving lanterns over on the repair trade attracted his attention.
+Their flare and that of the lightning showed him three men getting a
+handcar in to service. One of them ran up to the tower and made a
+trumpet of his hands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Give us the out track," he called.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right," answered Ralph</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Train ditched--wrecking crew ordered out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I know--the wash-out at Acton," said Ralph--"the in express."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, the outmail--just beyond the limits."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What!" cried Ralph in a startled tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He kept at the levers until he saw the handcar speed safely down the
+main rails. Then he ran to the telephone and called up the limits
+tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was no action, and no response.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's bad," murmured Ralph--"fuse burned out. The lightning has put
+the 'phone out of commission. I wish I understood things straight.
+Two trains delayed by the wash-out. The mail ditched. Bad shape all
+around, this, for such a night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph wished he could run up to the dispatcher's office and get more
+information at the depot. This he dared not do, however. He paced up
+and down restlessly, wondering how serious the mishap to the mail might
+be.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was precisely one o'clock when the dial hand moved with a kind of an
+electric tang. It circled and then shot back, as if directed by an
+erratic hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph watched it intently. That dial disc was his only present
+reliable communication with the outside railroad world. The pointer
+vibrated, then halted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Through freight, track 7," it directed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why," exclaimed Ralph, "that can't be! The through freight is stalled
+at Acton behind the express, and--why, she's coming now!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">He could hardly believe his eyes. Usually a minute and a half elapsed
+before a train announced at the limits showed coming around the curve.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now, boring the water-laden air with a quiver that showed full speed, a
+great laboring headlight glared along the in tracks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Had Ralph caught her sooner, he could have switched onto any one of the
+half a dozen tracks which were empty. She was now past all the main
+switches, however, except the in passenger track 7 and inside 6.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is No. 3, the through freight, sure enough," said Ralph,
+recognizing the approaching train with the intuitive sense of
+experience. The headlight, the sway of the ponderous locomotive, the
+very sound of the long train, vague as it was, told a sure story to his
+practiced eye and ear.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"She must have got around the wash-out and ahead of the express," said
+Ralph. "Why, there's some mistake at the limits. She should have been
+given the long freight siding, and she has passed it, and--track 7.
+It's in use!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph, darting to the levers, uttered these words in a great hollow
+shout.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Lever 7, operating the switches of that set of rails, had a card hung
+to its handle. These cards were always used nights as a guide to the
+levermen, where any special, extra, or transient cars, passenger or
+freight, were stationary.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The sight of the card recalled a startling fact to Ralph: at the depot
+end of track 7 lay the occupied tourist car of an Uncle Tom's Cabin
+theatrical troupe which was then visiting Stanley Junction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Something wrong at limits--everything wrong here!" panted Ralph, his
+heart suddenly beating like a trip-hammer. "What shall I do?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">He shot a glance at the nearing headlight. Relying on limits signals,
+evidently expecting the long freight siding, in the darkness and storm
+taking no note of outside switches, and behind time, those in charge of
+the through freight had nearly full speed set.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph felt the blood leave his face. Through his mind in rapid
+sequence ran the plat of switches at the depot yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No. 6, or destruction!" he gasped. "I've got to make the choice.
+It's the only track open. Open--no!" he added, with a new thrill of
+apprehension, "but--there's no other way."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He pulled the lever that would send the through freight down track 6.
+Then a wild tumult seized him. He darted for the trap. He almost fell
+the length of the iron-runged ladder. Then Ralph sprang through the
+doorway and tore across the tracks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Track 6 was not empty. At its bumpered end were three old empty
+freights. Ralph, however, counted their destruction as of little
+consequence as compared with a crash on track 7 into the theatre car,
+holding perhaps a dozen sleeping inmates. He had made an independent
+choice. He had saved them. Now, if possible, to save the freight
+train from a collision!</p>
+<p class="pnext">As he passed the switch he tore from a pivot the signal lantern resting
+there. Carrying it in his arms, he dashed forward diagonally to meet
+the rushing freight. Extending its red slide, he waved frantically up
+and down and across, yelling at the top of his voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The locomotive of the through freight whizzed by him. In the blur of
+rain and radiance Ralph fancied a grizzled head was poked out through
+the cab window. At all events he caught the quick, harsh whistle of
+the air brakes. A jolt shook the long freights. His signal had been
+observed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Following the locomotive with his eye, Ralph saw, three hundred yards
+further on, a figure suddenly cleave the air. The engineer had put on
+full stop brakes and had jumped.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The train was slowing up. Would she stop in time? Car after car
+whirled by. Then crash! Far ahead, the last car past him, Ralph
+caught the ominous sound, and shivered and gasped.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xix-the-double-wreck">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21">CHAPTER XIX--THE DOUBLE WRECK</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph Fairbanks had disobeyed orders.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That was the first overwhelming thought that rushed through the young
+leverman's mind. He stood in the midst of the storm, still clasping
+the red switch light.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The echo of that ominous crash was in his ears. Louder and fiercer, it
+seemed, thumping away at his heart with a dull, depressing force, was
+the realization that he had violated the stringent instructions of his
+superior, Jack Knight: "Never disobey orders!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Something had been wrong at the limits tower--hence, two wrecks within
+sixty minutes. But that was not Ralph's business. Limits had ordered
+track 7. He had sent the through freight down track 6. No matter what
+humane sense had prompted his choice, the railroad régime was strictly
+inviolable. There had been a wreck, how bad he did not yet know, and
+he was responsible for it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The freight had come to a stop. Lanterns now began to flit in its
+vicinity. Above the raging tumult of the storm, vague shouts reached
+Ralph's ear.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A brakeman, carrying a lantern, came rushing towards him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What has happened?" asked Ralph faintly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Towerman?" queried the brakeman sharply, flashing the lantern in
+Ralph's face. "Only a shake-up at my end. What's ahead, I don't know.
+Nothing coming behind?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--get me word how bad the smash-up is, will you?" and, recalled to
+his duty by the brakeman's appearance, Ralph hurried back to the tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He closed the switch on track 6. Then, somewhat faint and badly
+worried, he sank into the armchair. Nothing was due on regular
+schedule. The express was reported stalled. Still, so many strange
+mix-ups had occurred during the night, that Ralph watched the dial, on
+the keen edge of suspense and distraction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello!" he cried finally, and started to his feet in wonder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The dial disc transfixed his glance. It had begun to work. Within
+thirty seconds it indicated as many varied orders. It scheduled
+freights, passengers, "chasers." It called for one switch after
+another.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In stupefaction Ralph watched the brass index finger flit, whirl, and
+tremble. Then it circled round and round several times, vibrated at
+"blank," and rested there.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why!" gasped the stupefied Ralph, "am I crazy, or is someone else at
+the other end of the line?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Voices below made Ralph start, listen, and watch. A grimed face came
+up through the trap. Ralph recognized the fireman of the through
+freight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Quick!" he spoke--"how bad?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Three empty freights kindling wood, front of the engine stove in,"
+reported the fireman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No one hurt?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not a soul."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank Heaven!" murmured Ralph presently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I jumped, after the shutting down of the air brakes," went on the
+fireman. "So did Foster. But say, kid, why in the world didn't you
+give us the long siding?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Orders from limits for 7," explained Ralph. "It was a desperate
+chance. I took it, and gave you 6, for 7 was in use with a sleeper.
+Are you going to the depot? Please tell the dispatcher our 'phone is
+burned out, something wrong at limits, and to send to me for a report
+right away."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's a mix-up all along the line, the way things look," observed
+the fireman, disappearing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph took up a position at an open window. He watched the lanterns
+bobbing along the tracks and at the depot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was unnerved and in a direful condition of suspense. Only the glad
+thought that no loss of life attended the collision sustained him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The train dispatcher's assistant put in an appearance in about twenty
+minutes. He looked flustered as he told Ralph that they had two wrecks
+on their hands.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph made his report clearly, concisely. His visitor looked
+astonished as he learned of the amazing gyrations of the signal dial.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're a brick, just the same, Fairbanks!" said the man, as Ralph
+concluded his report. "If the freight had got track 7, there would
+have been a fine slaughter for the railroad company to pay for."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I disobeyed orders," observed Ralph in a depressed tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Whose orders?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Limits."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Limits seems to have made a fine mess of it all along the line, and we
+are going to find out why, very promptly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I wish you would send a messenger for Mr. Knight," said Ralph. "I
+think he ought to be here to straighten things out."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We have done that already."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Look--see!" cried Ralph suddenly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The dial began its strange manifestations again. The man from the
+dispatcher's office started, gulped, and with a mutter of astonishment
+and concern ran down the trap ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The depot yards became a scene of activity as the minutes wore on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The seriousness of the occasion, with three trains out of service,
+called for immediate attention. Handcars were flitting hither and
+thither. Ralph was kept busy sending them on their way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The master mechanic, depot master, and Jack Knight made up one handcar
+load. Two engines with tackle and relief cars came down from the
+roundhouse, lining up at the side of the through freight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was fully watchful and employed for the next hour. Then he
+became dreadfully anxious. A handcar bolted right under the windows of
+the switch tower. The master mechanic and Jack Knight got off, and
+came up the ladder a minute later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph stood holding to the armchair, a picture of suspense. The master
+mechanic looked grave and bothered. On the contrary, bluff and hearty
+as ever, Knight came forward. He grasped Ralph by both shoulders,
+swinging him backwards and forwards in a playful, encouraging way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Shake, old fellow!" he sang out, slipping one hand down one arm and
+gripping Ralph's fingers heartily.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why?" asked Ralph with a half-smile. "Good-bye? I suppose that is
+the programme for me," he added, with an anxious look at the master
+mechanic.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that?" demanded old Jack keenly. "Oh, on account of the
+through freight? Humph! If the Great Northern don't appreciate the
+wise, wide-awake common sense that saw the difference between three old
+box cars and eleven precious human lives, I'll take my walking papers
+instanter. Is that right, Mr. Blake?" challenged Knight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," nodded the master mechanic, "your sentiment is right, Mr.
+Knight. I have nothing but praise for the good judgment young
+Fairbanks has shown."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But I disobeyed orders," suggested Ralph in an uncertain tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Orders?" sniffed Knight--"yes, luckily! A crazy man's order."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, what do you mean?" inquired Ralph in perplexity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What I say. For three hours the limits tower has been in charge of a
+stark, raving lunatic--the Great Northern railroad system the plaything
+of a madman. Never has this company been so near wreck and ruin. And
+you, Fairbanks," added the veteran towerman, with a tender, fatherly
+touch on the arm of his young protégé--"you saved your end of the line!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xx-the-crazy-orders">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22">CHAPTER XX--THE CRAZY ORDERS</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">All Stanley Junction was agog with the story of the "crazy" train
+orders the day after the storm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was one of the most remarkable occurrences of risk and danger ever
+known in the history of the Great Northern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Expert railroad men looked grave, as the facts came out. Citizens
+generally shuddered, as they realized how nearly the caprice of a mad
+leverman had come to causing wide-spread death and disaster.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph Fairbanks himself was thrilled and amazed, as he learned from
+Jack Knight's lips the facts of the case.</p>
+<p class="pnext">From ten o'clock the evening the storm until nearly two o'clock the
+ensuing morning, a madman had controlled the Great Northern train
+system at Stanley Junction, out and in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For over three hours, therefore, Ralph, at the depot switch tower, had
+been the plaything of a crazed, delirious human being, who, by force
+and cunning, had usurped the place of trusty, experienced old Joe
+Bryson.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This was the way it had all come about:</p>
+<p class="pnext">When the master mechanic and Jack Knight reached the limits tower after
+the report of the double wreck, they had found it in total darkness.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The ladder trap was bolted. They had to break the trap open. Entering
+the tower room and securing a light, they discovered a strange and
+startling condition of affairs.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Lying on the floor in a heavy, leaden sleep, was Bryson. Crouching in
+a corner, with lurid eyes, physical strength exhausted, but raving in
+wild delirium, was Doc Bortree.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The telephone receiver was smashed, and the transmitter lay torn loose,
+wires and all, on the floor. Other parts of the tower equipment were
+in rare disorder. The west levers were set in all kinds of erratic and
+impracticable shapes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It took the two railroad men fully half an hour to restore order from
+the chaos in the tower and along the tracks. It took them double that
+time to arouse Bryson, and to get Bortree into a state of partial
+coherency. They sent messengers to Bortree's home. They listened to
+Bryson's confused story. Then, putting this and that together, they
+finally got the truth of affairs. Doc Bortree, as Ralph knew, had been
+confined to his bed with a high fever for nearly a week. That was why,
+compelled to share two long shifts with Knight alone, Ralph happened to
+be on all-night duty at the present time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It seemed that early in the evening, Bortree's sister had left her
+brother sleeping quietly. He appeared to be on the mend.</p>
+<p class="pnext">About ten o'clock the sick leverman must have had a relapse into
+delirium. Railroad service was his daily routine. His brain, running
+in that line, had suggested to him a whimsical and irrational course.
+This he had carried out with all the cunning of a real madman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had taken a bottle of cordial and had poured into it a sleeping
+potion. He had got into his clothes, left the room by opening a
+window, and, breasting the violent tempest, had made for and reached
+the limits tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Joe Bryson afterwards, in telling his story, said that the bedraggled
+appearance of Bortree was startling enough. His actions were quite
+lucid, however. All he noticed peculiar about his talk was the
+persistency and strange delight with which Bortree alluded to an order
+he expected to receive from the superintendent to take charge of the
+entire train dispatching service the next day.</p>
+<p class="pnext">When Bortree produced the bottle and told that it was a mild, pleasant
+wine the doctor had prescribed for him, Bryson indulged in a
+glass--"for companionship's sake." Then he remembered nothing further
+until awakened by the master mechanic and Jack Knight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As soon as Bortree had disposed of his companion, he began his mad,
+riotous work.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All kinds of exaggerated ideas must have filled his mind. The reader
+has already seen how his crazy orders operated. His own work at the
+limits had ditched the midnight mail. His instructions to Ralph had
+sent the through freight crashing into the three freight empties at
+terminus.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Finally, exhausted after his mad work at the levers, Bortree had
+commenced a work of general destruction. When through, he had
+extinguished the lights and lapsed into a weak delirium in which the
+two railroad men had finally found him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There should always be a team at the limits tower," was Knight's
+ultimate comment on the affair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," the master mechanic assented--"sickness, enmity, a burned-out
+wire, a dozen things might come up where one man would be helpless. If
+it is only a messenger, we must not again leave these important points
+at the mercy of chance and accident."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph made a note of this suggestion. He determined when the right
+moment came to speak a good word for Young Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had never been more tired and sleepy than when he reached home that
+morning.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph ate a hurried breakfast. He explained only casually the
+happenings of the night to his mother. Getting to bed promptly, he put
+in ten hours of the solidest sleep that he had ever enjoyed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He found his mother quite nervous and worried when he reported for his
+late afternoon dinner. Mrs. Fairbanks had learned from a neighbor of
+the startling occurrences of the previous night.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am all unstrung over this railroad business, Ralph," she said. "I
+would feel easier in my mind if you could transfer to some branch of
+the service where you were not constantly meeting these terrible
+dangers."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What! my own dear mother going back on me in the midst of my
+ambitions!" cried Ralph in a tone of playful raillery. "Oh, surely,
+never! I hope you wouldn't advise me to follow old Farrington's grand
+suggestion--for his own benefit; get a clerical position at the general
+offices at Springfield, and--as he puts it--'be a gentleman.'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, Ralph, I should not like to have you leave Stanley Junction, where
+you have made such a good record," responded Mrs. Fairbanks, "but think
+of the fearful responsibilities of your position."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I do," answered Ralph gravely, "and that is why I am going to stick.
+Mother, someone has to face these serious issues. Perhaps my clear
+head, and willing hands, and genuine love for the business, fit me to
+be just the person to fill the gap when these unavoidable troubles come
+along. Besides, if someone does not go through the apprenticeship,
+where will the service be when Jack Knight and the other old hands have
+retired? I want to be, as I expect to be, a thorough railroad man,"
+pursued Ralph with resolution, "and first-class, or nothing. In order
+to do so, I must know every step of the service, from roundhouse to
+train dispatcher's desk. I have started up the ladder. I can't afford
+to slip one rung. If I get jolted, I intend to hang on all the closer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The widow was silent. Her son's earnest determination consoled her,
+somehow. Yes, she reflected, Ralph had braved perils and had saved the
+lives of others, where one less brave and self-reliant might have
+failed. So far he had proven himself "the right man in the right
+place." Secretly she murmured a fervent prayer for his safety and
+guidance, and tried to be content until he should reach smoother and
+less risky paths of service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph received an official assurance from the superintendent through
+loyal old Jack Knight that afternoon, that his action in dealing with
+the crazy orders had won the highest commendation of the railroad
+company.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The following day he spoke about Young Slavin to Knight. The next day
+the latter informed him that on the first of the month the master
+mechanic had agreed to pass on the application which Slavin was to file
+in the meantime. Nothing unforseen happening, it looked as if the
+sturdy young pugilist would speedily have a chance to exercise his
+muscle in some department of the Great Northern service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Pleasant routine succeeded for some days for Ralph to the exciting
+episodes of the week previous. Some changes were made on the limits
+tower, and the day man there transferred to the depot yards.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was back on the shift he preferred; four hours in the morning,
+and four hours in the afternoon.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had not heard again from Van. As to Mort Bemis and Ike Slump, they
+had flashed into town, thrown away a lot of money along lower Railroad
+Street, and had again disappeared.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph met Slavin one day. The latter was delighted over the prospect
+of soon getting at work for the railroad company. His face scowled,
+however, as Ralph asked if he had seen or heard anything concerning Ike
+and Mort.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, yes," answered Slavin, "I heard they were cutting a dash up at
+the racetrack at Springfield. Plenty of money, and bragging that they
+owned a rich old magnate here at Stanley Junction. I'd go gunning for
+them, if I wasn't waiting to hear from my railroad job."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, leave them alone--why bother your head about them?" suggested
+Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, Fairbanks," dissented Slavin stubbornly. "I want those medals, or
+I want their hides. I'm not a good enough Salvationer just yet to
+forgive those villains. I can't wipe them off the slate till I've had
+one last round with them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Gasper Farrington had completed the switch spur to the factory. Ralph
+learned that he had invited a heavy damage suit by crossing the lot of
+a poor old invalid widow, who occupied a house next to that where Mrs.
+Davis had formerly lived.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He heard a good many comments on this last act of the selfish,
+tyrannical magnate. There was some current criticism, too, as to his
+going on the bonds of the idle scapegrace, Ike Slump. Farrington
+pretended that he had bailed out Ike because his father was an old
+acquaintance. Ralph knew better, but held his peace. He had faith
+that the real truth would come out, sooner or later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">With entire confidence in Van Sherwin, he believed that he would soon
+receive some word from that good friend to show he had been quietly
+working in the dark all this time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">About five o'clock one afternoon a barefooted urchin Ralph did not know
+by name came up the switch tower ladder. Ralph was alone, but expected
+Knight to relieve him at five o'clock.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Say," projected the frowsy-headed lad, staring curiously around the
+place, "you Mr. Fairbanks?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's right, my little man," answered Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Say, you know Mr. Stiggs?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Slightly," nodded Ralph, with a smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, he sent me here. He said to fetch a message to you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph recalled the fact now that Mr. Stiggs had not shown up about the
+yards for the past two days. This was an unusual thing for the old
+railroad pensioner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is Mr. Stiggs sick?" he inquired with interest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Dunno," answered the youngster. "It was his wife I talked with. She
+said Mr. Stiggs would like to have you call about seven o'clock, if
+convenient. He wants to see you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very well," said Ralph. "Are you to see her again?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, I can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then tell her I will drop around at seven o'clock this evening."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The urchin lingered. He was a shrewd-faced little fellow.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Say," he again projected, "Mrs. Stiggs didn't have any change."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Didn't have--oh, I see!" laughed Ralph. "All right, son--there's a
+nickel."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph thought little of this incident for the remainder of the
+afternoon. He fancied that Stiggs might be indisposed, and had some
+mission for him to execute.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He went home, ate his supper, and strolled slowly in the direction of
+the Stiggs home about dusk.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was a light in the rear room, and the front door was open. Ralph
+knocked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come in," sounded a vague direction from the little front parlor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph stepped into the hall and crossed the threshold of the parlor.
+He made out a figure dimly, standing by a chair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That you, Mr. Stiggs?" he observed. "Pretty dark here. Hold on--what
+is this?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph started back. The figure behind him had made a jump and had
+seized either arm of the youth by the wrist.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At the same moment a second person sprang from the shadows behind
+Ralph. A rope encircled the young leverman's body, and Ralph Fairbanks
+was a prisoner.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxi-ike-slumps-nutcracker">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23">CHAPTER XXI--IKE SLUMPS "NUTCRACKER"</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph was taken completely off his guard. He struggled violently, but
+his assailants had the advantage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One of them pinioned his arms. The other tied the rope about them. A
+second rope was whipped about his ankles, and secured.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Push him down," spoke a quick voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They half-lifted, half-dropped their prisoner. Ralph was thrust down
+into an old easy-chair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now then, shut the door and fetch the lamp," was the next order.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was too astonished to say anything for a minute or two. One of
+his captors flitted from the room. The front door slammed shut. Then
+the fellow ran to the kitchen and brought in a lamp and placed it on a
+table.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well," he said with a great chuckling guffaw, "how's Mr. Ralph
+Fairbanks?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Slump--Ike Slump, eh?" spoke Ralph calmly, but following a start of
+some surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't miss me, Ralphy," suggested Slump's companion in a tone of
+sneering mockery.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And Mort Bemis?" added Ralph coolly. "Good-evening, gentlemen--what
+can I do for you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nervy!" sneered Slump--"but it won't last. It's what we're going to
+do that will interest you, Ralph Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph looked over the enemy with a steadfast glance. They were
+certainly "dressed to kill." He noticed that their clothing was of the
+most expensive grade. For all that, it was disordered and ill-fitting.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They looked as they had not slept regularly for a week, and when they
+did, seemed to have made any old place their resting-spot. Their faces
+bore marks of dissipation.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Their whole bearing indicated that the money they had recently come
+into had helped them down the road of idleness and crime.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We've come back to the Junction specially to see you," observed Bemis,
+sinking upon a sofa opposite their helpless prisoner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, unfinished business, ha! ha!" jeered Ike Slump, looking mightily
+bad and vicious as he proceeded to light a cigarette. "We owe you one,
+as you'll perhaps remember. You put the police onto me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had not done this. As the reader knows, it was the act of Van
+Sherwin. Ralph, however, did not care to enlighten his captors as to
+the real facts of the case.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And you stole my job from me," added Mort Bemis savagely. "You've put
+Young Slavin up to queer us, too."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So," resumed Slump, "seeing we did one good job for a certain liberal
+gentleman in Stanley Junction, we'll try and please him in another. At
+the same time, we get good and even with you for ourselves."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can easily guess you might please Gasper Farrington with anything
+that means harm to me, if that is what you are getting at," observed
+Ralph pointedly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who mentioned Farrington?" demanded Slump.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He went on your bond. It is pretty easy to guess you are in cahoots
+with him in some way," bluntly retorted Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mort Bemis got up from his seat and strode up and down the room.
+Through a long tirade of his fancied wrongs, he worked himself up into
+a seething fury, real or pretended. Ralph's cool unconcern nettled
+him. Once or twice he referred to the saving of the limited, and to
+other acts that had made Ralph popular and his friends proud of him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You robbed me of my chance," he snarled. "If I'd have been on deck,
+your luck would have fallen to me. I'm out for revenge. I'm going to
+pay you off."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"With bluff and blow?" demanded Ralph sarcastically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bemis leaned over and slapped Ralph's face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't you sass me!" he gritted out. "It won't be healthy for you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're a mean coward!" said Ralph. "Give me a free show, and we'll
+see who is the better man."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll show you something!" snapped Bemis venomously. "Do you know what
+we are going to do with you? I'm going to fix you, Ralph Fairbanks, so
+you will never crow over me--you'll never pull another lever."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Jaw less--get into action," directed Ike Slump tartly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where's the fixtures?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here they are."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike reached over to a chair and picked up something that jangled.
+Ralph regarded the trap-like apparatus disclosed with some interest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bemis took it from the hand of his associate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you know what this is?" he inquired of Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's a nutcracker, see?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike grinned as if that was a big joke.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're the funniest fellow in the world, Mort!" he chuckled gleesomely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The instrument Bemis displayed somewhat resembled a nutcracker. It
+opened and was operated by hand pressure. It had fine grooves. These
+tallied to the fingers on a human hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They used that on the scabs, the time of the big railroad strike,"
+exclaimed Bemis grimly. "The strikers did."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph started. He recognized the "nutcracker" now. It was one of the
+brutal instruments of torture that had been used to terrify and cripple
+the men who had taken the places of the strikers, during the labor
+troubles on the Great Northern about a year back.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We put your hand in these grooves," proceeded Bemis. "Crack! Your
+knuckles are gone. See? The man who can pull a lever ever afterwards
+is a dandy. See?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see," nodded Ralph, his lips set firmly, though his heart misgave
+him. "Do you mean, Mort Bemis, brute, coward, and traitor, to the
+honest workingman's cause, that you intend to maim me for life to
+satisfy a low, paltry spirit of revenge?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Ralph Fairbanks," declared Bemis coolly, "I--mean--just--that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you considered what this job is likely to cost you?" inquired
+Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It didn't cost the strikers anything," jeered Ike.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am not mixed up in any strike," observed Ralph. "I warn you I have
+good friends, and any such fiendish act as that you contemplate will
+send them on your track to the ends of the earth."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That'll do," growled Bemis. "Grab his hand--the right one, Ike."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Got it--he's easy to handle," said Slump.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The young towerman was indeed easy to handle, for the reason that his
+arms were securely surrounded by the ropes, both above and below the
+elbows.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike seized the wrist of Ralph's right hand and Bemis advanced with the
+"nutcracker."</p>
+<p class="pnext">A cold shiver ran over Ralph as his fingers were encased in the grooves
+of the iron hand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He remembered having once seen a victim of the strike, a poor fellow
+who had gone around with the knuckles of one hand twisted so out of
+shape that he would never be able to straighten out his fingers again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph could not resist. If he shouted for help, he knew that he would
+be brutally silenced. He thought of his mother, of the bright
+ambitions about to be wrecked by two worthless, cruel enemies.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then Ralph closed his eyes. He set his lips firmly, and silently
+prayed that his wicked inquisitors would not dare carry out fully their
+announced programme.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm ready," sounded Bemis' heartless tones.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So am I," chorused Ike. "You'll wish you'd minded your own business
+and let us alone, Ralph Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bemis began to put the pressure on the vile instrument of torture.
+Ralph's breath came quick. He felt his fingers compress.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Chug!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph strained his hearing at the new sound. He opened his eyes with a
+thrill.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The pressure on his hand was relaxed. The "nutcracker," released by
+Bemis with strange suddenness, dangled at Ralph's finger tips for an
+instant. Then it dropped harmless to the carpet with a dull clang.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph saw something cleave the air directly in front of him. It was a
+human fist. It met the broad, astonished face of Mort Bemis squarely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">That shuddering, sickening sound echoed out. It reminded Ralph of the
+noise made by a boy playing with a big lump of clay, and spatting it
+violently against a wooden fence.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He saw Bemis fall back with a roar of awful pain. In that fleeting
+glimpse, it looked to Ralph as if Mort's face had been flattened out
+from ear to ear. His nose seemed to have disappeared In its place was
+a vague red blotch of color.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bemis fell flat backwards, his head striking a chair and smashing off
+its arm.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You next!" shouted a terrible voice.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike Slump had already dropped Ralph's hand. With a sharp cry of alarm
+he tried to dodge back.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again that great fist swung forward. Ralph turned pale, and he felt
+his flesh creep.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As he looked, he saw Ike Slump reeling. There was a ghostly grin on
+his face. His whole lower row of teeth was gone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I said I'd do it," spoke Ralph's rescuer and the assailant of his
+enemies, "and I've kept my word."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Young Slavin proceeded to liberate Ralph from the ropes that bound him.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxii-a-headstrong-friend">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24">CHAPTER XXII--A HEADSTRONG FRIEND</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph was faint and dizzy-headed with all that had transpired in the
+last twenty minutes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He felt that he had been in the peril of his life. He bestowed a look
+of immense gratitude on Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You came in time," said he. "How shall I ever thank you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Cut it out," growled Slavin grimly. "I ain't through yet. I've been
+watching these skunks for an hour or more. I knew that Stiggs, who has
+gone on a little jaunt with his wife to see some relations, would never
+give those reptiles the free run of his house. I fancied burglary at
+first. Then when you came I knew it was something deeper. Well, it's
+the finishing touch. I suppose, in your usual soft-hearted way, you
+want to beg them off from further punishment, don't you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It strikes me they have got about all the punishment they can stand at
+present," suggested Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"O, that's just a starter," announced Slavin. "Keep your eye on Slump
+for a minute."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike had fallen across the sofa. He was moaning and half-stunned. He
+kept moving his hand over his bare and tingling gums, making a
+horrible, hollow, hissing sound every time his breath exuded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The dentist for you," said Slavin in cold unconcern. "This one is
+delegated to the hospital, I guess."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The speaker approached the prostrate Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Speak up, there," growled Slavin savagely. "I've a little business
+with you, Mort Bemis. Where are those two silver medals that you stole
+from me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bemis only wriggled and groaned. Slavin kicked him. He sat up with a
+howl of pain.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Pawned," he whimpered.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"At Barry's cigar store."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"For how much?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Two dollars."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hand it over."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I haven't a cent. Oh, you've half killed me. Oh, my head! my head!
+Don't--don't hit me again. Slump has some money. Pay him, Ike, pay
+him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin advanced from Bemis, now sitting up on the floor, towards Ike,
+with a menacing manner.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll pay, I'll pay," whined Ike. "Here, here. I haven't go any
+change. Five dollars," and with celerity he extended a banknote.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Three for delay and damages," stated Slavin, coolly pocketing the
+money. "Now then, you two, walk humble, or I'll finish this job right
+here and now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin took up the ropes that had bound Ralph. Quaking with mortal
+terror, Bemis and Slump in turn allowed him unresistingly to tie their
+arms behind them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin picked up the "nutcracker." He looked it over and placed it in
+his pocket.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"If that bit of evidence don't send you over the road, I know what
+will," he observed grimly. "March."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He forced the two prisoners forward, holding to an arm of each. As
+they got outside, Ralph asked:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What are you going to do with them, Slavin?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Anxious to know, are you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then keep us company, and see. Oh, I'm not sassy, Fairbanks. I'm
+only doing what you ought to have done the first break they made at
+you--called in the law. These fellows are dangerous. I'm going to
+cage them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The prisoners spoke not a word. Bemis had received a fearful fistic
+punishment, and was blubbering. Ike Slump kept up a mumbling sound
+with his lips, as if trying to get used to the lack of teeth.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin led them through the town by dark and unfrequented streets.
+When they reached the railroad tracks, he made for a crossings shanty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The flagman had gone home for the night, but the door was secured by a
+catch only. Slavin marched his prisoners inside, drew a lantern from
+under a bench, pushed them to the bench, and lit the lantern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You rest a while," he directed them. "Court will open soon.
+Fairbanks, will you do an errand for me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it, Slavin?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I promised the road detective, Bob Adair, to send him word when I
+found these fellows."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm out on bail. They can't bother me till my trial comes off,"
+mumbled Ike Slump, making a grimacing, painful job of talking
+intelligently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Rest easy," advised Slavin grimly. "This is quite another round.
+Find him, Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You think that is best, do you?" inquired Ralph. "These fellows----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"See here, Fairbanks!" cried Slavin, almost angrily, "you'd actually
+let them go, after they had pretty nigh put you out of commission
+forever. In this case I don't want your advice, good as it usually is.
+I know my programme, and I intend to carry it out to the last letter."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph saw that it was useless to oppose his vigorous friend and
+champion. He left the shanty forthwith, and went up to the depot. It
+was some time before he could locate Mr. Adair. When he finally found
+him, and explained simply that Slavin wished to see him, the road
+detective joined him briskly, and look pleased.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"About Slump, I suppose?" he inquired eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think it is," answered Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good," said Adair. "The company thinks that bailing out business was
+rushed through. The bond was only five hundred dollars. They don't
+understand old Farrington's peculiar interest in the matter, and we
+have been ready to rearrest Slump for a week."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Adair gave prodigious start as, entering the crossings shanty, his eyes
+lit on the faces of Slavin's two prisoners.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Whew!" he whistled slowly--"you seem to have had some trouble with
+your friends, Mr. Slavin."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You hear my story, and see if I gave them any more than they
+deserved," said Slavin, and he stood up, looking like a judge and
+talking like a judge, and narrated the incidents of the preceding hour.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now then, Mr. Adair," added Slavin, "these fellows brag of having a
+friend in that old miser, Gasper Farrington. I tell you that I happen
+to know that he has tried all kinds of ways to scare and bribe my
+friend here, Fairbanks, away from Stanley Junction. I suppose he's
+rich, and so tricky you can't connect him with their doings, but you
+can cage these fellows safely, and I want you to do it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The railroad company will certainly insist that Slump's bond be raised
+from five hundred dollars," spoke Adair. "You told me that Bemis very
+nearly wrecked a train by magnetizing the levers at the depot switch
+tower. Can you prove it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can," nodded Slavin emphatically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very good. To-night's business there is no question about. It's a
+case of murderous assault and attempted mayhem. I shall see the
+prosecuting attorney at once, and demand that each of these prisoners
+be held in heavy bonds."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think that will hold them," said Slavin, in a tone of satisfaction.
+"I've got a charge against them, myself. They robbed me of two silver
+medals."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"We will take them at once before a magistrate," said Adair. "You'll
+have to subscribe to the warrants, Slavin. You, too, Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph simply bowed acquiescence. Slavin had taken the matter out of
+his hands. It was better so, Ralph readily realized. He did not
+believe that Farrington would go on their bonds for any large amount.
+This might lead to a rupture, and the prisoners might be induced to
+implicate the magnate, and tell what had become of Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come on, you!" spoke Slavin, roughly pulling his prisoners to their
+feet.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You look out!" snarled Mort Bemis savagely. "See here, Mr. Officer,
+this fellow talks big, but he himself tied up a set of levers at the
+switch tower."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin turned red. He looked at Ralph in a shamefaced way. Then he
+said bluntly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, I did, Mr. Adair. That skunk got me to. It was before I knew
+Fairbanks--before I knew better. I give myself in charge for the act.
+I'm willing to suffer for it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nonsense!" cried Ralph quickly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you make the complaint?" asked Adair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, sir!" spoke Ralph emphatically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Nor would you appear against him?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hardly!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You had better keep your mind on your own business then, Mr. Bemis,"
+advised Adair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I call that a good night's work," said Slavin to Ralph, one hour later.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mr. Adair had legally presented his evidence and the prisoners to a new
+magistrate.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike Slump and Mort Bemis were remanded to the town jail in default of
+bail in the sum of ten thousand dollars each.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Now," observed Ralph, as he parted with the strange, forceful
+companion who had proven so good a friend to him--"now to wait and see
+what Gasper Farrington will do next."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiii-ike-slump-co">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25">CHAPTER XXIII--IKE SLUMP &amp; CO.</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"That fellow has got his nerve with him all right!" spoke old Jack
+Knight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't make out his idea," observed Ralph Fairbanks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was two days after the arrest of Ike Slump and Mort Bemis. Knight
+and his junior leverman were engrossed in watching a little interesting
+by-play going on in the vicinity of the in freight tracks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A boy about Ralph's age and height had jumped into an open box car. He
+came out with a head of cabbage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He did not run away, but stood stock-still on the near tracks, as if
+dallying with detection and arrest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Some teamsters near by saw the act, but they only laughed carelessly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The boy dropped the cabbage, climbed into another car, and came out
+this time with a small sack of potatoes. This he swung across his
+shoulders, and started towards the depot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The chump!" commented Knight. "Does he want to get caught purposely?
+Look at that, now: coast clear to the street, and walking deliberately
+into the jaws of justice!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's caught, yes," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A day watchman had come rushing up to the boy. The latter neither
+stopped nor ran. He kept on his way steadily. He halted only when the
+watchman banged his cane down on the bag on his back. Then he dropped
+it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The watchman grabbed the culprit's arm. The watchers in the switch
+tower could observe him excitedly waving his cane. He seemed to be
+trying to make his prisoner realize the enormity of his offense.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The latter, however, was unconcerned. He walked quietly along with the
+watchman towards the depot, making no effort to escape.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A mighty queer sort of a thief, that," remarked Knight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Ralph--"oh, my!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph gave a quick start. He leaned far through the open sash, and
+stared fixedly at prisoner and watchman as they passed the switch tower
+in his direct range of vision.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The young leverman was greatly perturbed. A call to the 'phone had
+distracted Knight's attention. As the watchman and his prisoner
+disappeared in the direction of the depot, Ralph's face grew to a void
+of wonder, doubt, and anxiety.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was Van Sherwin!" he breathed excitedly--"Van Sherwin, surely. Van
+a thief? Oh, there is some mistake!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was greatly worked up. There was nothing in the rough attire and
+smirched face of the prisoner to recall the neatly-dressed Van whom
+Ralph had last seen. Yet as the prisoner had passed the tower, a
+gesture, the bearing of the latter, a familiar feature had enlightened
+Ralph unmistakably.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Knight," he said quickly, "can I have ten minutes off?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure thing. What's up, Fairbanks?--you look disturbed," spoke Knight
+curiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I--I want to run up to the depot to ask about a friend," explained
+Ralph, rather lamely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He slipped on a coat and was down the ladder in a jiffy. Once out of
+the tower, he ran across the tracks in the direction of the depot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Passing a switch shanty, a figure stepped from its side directly in his
+path. A challenging voice said quickly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hold on, there, Ralph Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, you, Slavin?" said Ralph. "Don't delay me. I am in a hurry."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see you are. No need," proclaimed Slavin coolly, seizing and
+detaining Ralph's arm. "You're trying to overtake a friend, aren't
+you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, how do you know that?" exclaimed Ralph in surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Name, Van--Van Sherman. No, Sherwin--that's it. Am I right?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, yes," admitted Ralph in a tone of wonderment, "but how you come
+to know----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I do know, don't I?" projected Slavin, with a shrewd smile. "This way
+for a minute, please."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He led Ralph out of range of the switch shanty. Then, buttonholing him
+persuasively, he said:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fairbanks, I know a good deal more about your affairs to-day than I
+did yesterday. Mightily glad I am of it. You'd ought to be, too.
+It's this way: I ran across that friend of yours last night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You mean Van Sherwin?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's just what I do mean," responded Slavin. "It was queer, but I
+was nosing around the jail for some point on those fellows Slump and
+Bemis. I was very anxious to find out how they would act regarding old
+Farrington. It appears they sent messages to him. I know that much.
+But he didn't show up. I noticed a stranger hanging around, just as I
+was doing. His actions aroused my suspicions. Well, it led to our
+getting acquainted, cautiously. You know how such things go. Soon we
+understood each other, perfectly. I was on the trail of Slump and
+Bemis to head off any funny work on the part of their friend,
+Farrington. Sherwin was trying to get a line on the whole case."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He told you----" began Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All I'd ought to know. Enough to show me that those fellows and
+Farrington are up to a very deep game. It all affects your interests.
+That was enough for me. There's a woman missing, isn't there? And
+some bonds? Those prisoners know where the woman is. The woman
+probably knows where the bonds are. All that is straight and simple.
+We took some time, this famous friend of yours, Van Sherwin, and I,
+deciding which thought the most of you----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Slavin," said Ralph warmly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then we concluded that you had enough real work to bother with, and
+decided to help you out on this case. The question was: how could we
+get in touch with Ike Slump &amp; Co.? Your sharp-witted friend decided
+that. He's chain lightning, I tell you, and no mistake. He saw only
+one way. He acted on it. I reckon you saw how: he got arrested."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"As a thief!" exclaimed Ralph anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, don't let that worry you," and Slavin smiled coolly. "It was all
+arranged and understood by Bob Adair. Sherwin will go to jail all
+right. But Adair has fixed it so the minute he finds out what he is
+after and gives the word, Van Sherwin will have his liberty."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph reflected seriously. He could find no fault with the unselfish
+ardor of his friends, that was sure. Their plan was a drastic one, but
+Van was smart, and probably knew what he was about.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So," remarked Slavin, "you just get back to your work. Don't spoil
+our plans by interfering or trying to see Sherwin. Until I get that
+railroad job I'm promised I have nothing special to do. I'll put in
+the time in your service, see?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But," said Ralph, "Ike Slump knows Van."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Does he? Very slightly, Sherwin says. And by the way, you didn't see
+Sherwin--close at hand?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph shook his head negatively.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Only a special friend like you would be likely to recognize him,
+Sherwin says. He's fairly well disguised himself. Besides, he simply
+wants to get where he can watch and overhear Slump &amp; Co. He won't try
+to chum with them."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph went back to the switch tower more easy in his mind. He felt
+pretty tender towards his two loyal boy friends. Knowing Ike Slump's
+crude, blurting ways, he believed that if Farrington got balky, Ike
+would make some break that would be of advantage to Van.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He decided to tell his mother of this new phase in the case. Something
+startling, however, interrupted.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had got ready for supper, and was entering the cozy little dining
+room, when Mrs. Fairbanks, at the window, called out suddenly:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Come here, quick, Ralph."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it, mother?" he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I fancied I heard some sounds like an explosion--and shouts," said
+Mrs. Fairbanks. "There is a great glare over to the south. Look,
+Ralph."</p>
+<p class="pnext">She held aside the curtain so he could see.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why," cried Ralph, "it is a fire--a big fire, somewhere!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Farrington's old factory," said Mrs. Fairbanks.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiv-fire">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26">CHAPTER XXIV--FIRE!</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">A great red glare covered the whole southern sky as Ralph reached the
+outer air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother is right, I guess," he spoke quickly--"it is certainly in the
+direction of the old factory."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The spur switch to the factory had been completed for some days. Ralph
+had that afternoon operated the levers opening the Farrington extension
+for the first time.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The new lessee of the factory, he understood, was going to use oil for
+fuel under some of the boilers. Among the twenty-odd cars switched off
+on the spur that afternoon Ralph had noticed as many as ten tank cars.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As Ralph ran on, he was surprised to note the extent of the glare. It
+spread from a point quite remote from the factory right up to the
+factory location.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He heard shouts in the distance, and scattered figures were thronging
+the landscape from all directions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph passed a short timber reach. A vivid panorama now spread out
+before him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A thousand yards ahead was the ravine. This the factory switch spur
+traversed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Shooting up from the depths of the ravine for nearly a quarter of a
+mile were leaping, vivid tongues of flame.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Getting where he could command a view townwards obliquely across the
+ravine, Ralph realized just what had happened.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Outlined against the black sky there showed the framework of several
+freight cars. They were simply threads of flame now.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In some way the stationary freights had caught fire. The blaze had
+communicated to an oil tank. There had been an explosion, scattering
+the burning oil far and wide.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The cars had been blocked on an incline. Apparently the force of an
+explosion, or the fire, had dislodged or destroyed the blocking plank.
+Some of the cars had broken free. Scudding down the ravine, they had
+lodged cinders and flame in all directions.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Coming to a curve, they had jumped the track. About two hundred feet
+from the factory they had gone down into a gravel pit, piling on top of
+each other.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The dry grass and shrubbery were on fire on both sides of the ravine
+for a full quarter of a mile back towards the town. The house Mrs.
+Davis had lived in was ablaze from cellar to garret.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suddenly there was an awful roar. It was fortunate that Ralph was no
+nearer to the center of the explosion than he was.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The tanks that had crashed down into the gravel pit had formed a
+seething caldron of fire, and had now exploded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">So powerful was the concussion that Ralph was thrown flat. Getting
+erect again promptly, he saw a great flare of fire leap a hundred feet
+in the air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This bore with it blazing planks, fragments of red-hot iron, and
+dazzling cinders.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They fell all over the landscape. They particularly enveloped the old
+factory. This, Ralph noticed, took fire instantly in a dozen different
+places.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello, Fairbanks!" cried a breathless passerby.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Slavin?" said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, keep on. There's hose and apparatus up at the factory. That's
+all there is worth saving, now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It will never be saved," pronounced Ralph convincedly, but he joined
+Slavin on a run forward.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were compelled to make a wide detour here and there of the ravine
+windings. Even great trees lining it had caught fire. The smoke was
+dense, and the burning cinders rained down upon them like hail.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hold on," ordered Ralph suddenly, but Slavin, catching sight of men
+and ladders in the vicinity of the factory, dashed on for the main
+center of excitement and activity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had halted. He stood within about a hundred feet of the old
+house between Mrs. Davis' former home and the factory.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was across this stretch, belonging to an old invalid widow, that
+Farrington had forced his right of way. The roof of the house was
+ablaze, So was one side of the building. Ralph had been checked by a
+wailing cry.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Some one shut in there," he decided. "Even if it is only an animal, I
+must find out, and try to rescue it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph ran through the open rear doorway. A hall extended the length of
+the house. The outside blaze shone brightly into a side room, although
+it was filled with smoke pouring through a sash half burned away.</p>
+<p class="pnext">An old woman in a wheel chair blocked the doorway of the front room.
+Apparently this was her only means of getting about. She had tried to
+escape, the chair, had got wedged in the doorway, and she was moaning
+and crying for help.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is that you, David?" she gasped wildly, as her smoke-blurred eyes made
+out Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, but I am here to help you," answered Ralph in a cheery,
+encouraging voice. "Don't worry, ma'am."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph soon extricated the chair. As he ran it and its occupant out
+into the open air, the front windows blew in from the intense heat, and
+the flames swept through the house.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph ran the chair to a high point of safety.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't go any further," panted the old woman. "My son David is due
+home. He will be worried to death. I want to be where I can see and
+call to him, when he comes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very well," said Ralph, "you are safe here, at least for the present.
+I will run back and save what I can in the house."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, no," demurred the old woman quickly. "There is nothing worth
+saving. The furniture is old and insured. So is the house. Oh, I am
+so thankful to you!" she cried fervently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That is all right," said Ralph. "I am sorry to see you homeless."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How did the fire come?" questioned the woman. "From Gasper
+Farrington's new railroad?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Ralph, "some oil cars on the switch spur took fire, and
+exploded."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then he is responsible!" cried the woman eagerly. "And his factory is
+burning up, isn't it? It's a retribution on him, that's what it is,"
+she declared hoarsely. "He ran his tracks over our land without
+permission. He spoiled our peaceful home. Won't I get damages from
+him, as well as my insurance money?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think your chances are very good," answered Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old woman looked somewhat comforted. She sat mumbling to herself.
+Ralph wished to hurry over to the factory. He offered to wheel her to
+a shelter nearer the town, but she insisted she must wait in sight of
+the house until her son arrived.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph did not like to leave her alone. The grass might catch fire and
+the flames spread, even to the place where they were now. He stood
+surveying the fire interestedly, when his companion uttered a sudden
+scream.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, my! oh, my!" she wailed, wringing her hands. "How could I forget!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph pressed closer to her side.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Is something distressing you?" he asked quickly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, yes! yes!" said the woman. "Is the house all on fire? No, there
+may be time yet. Boy, will you--will you do something for me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Surely, if I can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"In the house--something I must save."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it? In what part of the house?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not mine. It is a sacred trust. It is something I promised
+faithfully to look after. Oh, dear! dear! if it should be burned up!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Try and be calm, and tell me about it," advised Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is upstairs--in the rear garret room."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph looked up rather hopelessly at the little window fully twenty
+feet from the ground.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do the stairs run?" he asked.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Only from the front. You can't go that way, though," panted the
+woman. "It's all ablaze. But there is a ladder."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Where--quick."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Behind that old grape trellis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How long is it?" asked Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It reaches the roof. My son used it in shingling. Take a hatchet or
+a club with you. The window is nailed down on the inside, very
+tightly. You will have to smash the window in. Is it too late?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not at all," declared Ralph briskly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The roof is all on fire!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Never mind that, only be quick and tell me: what is it you want me to
+get?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There's only one thing in the room. An old trunk."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"An old trunk?" repeated Ralph rapidly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It's all tied up with rope. Smash it open, too. Inside is a tin
+case, a small flat tin case. That's what I want. Oh! you will get it,
+won't you?" pleaded the old woman, in a fever of suspense and
+excitement.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I shall certainly try," declared Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't risk your precious life by any delay, dear, dear boy!" cried the
+old woman hysterically. "I believe I should die of worry if that box
+was burned up. I promised so sincerely to take care of it. What would
+Mrs. Davis say if it was lost!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who?" cried Ralph sharply, with a great start.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The woman who lived next door?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, yes. She left it with me, about a month ago. She was afraid to
+keep it with herself. I promised----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">But Ralph was listening no longer. A great conviction filled his mind
+that at this critical moment, amid fire and peril, a crisis in his life
+faced him.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxv-the-little-tin-box">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id27">CHAPTER XXV--THE LITTLE TIN BOX</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Ralph ran towards the grape trellis. He soon found the ladder the old
+woman had mentioned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was long and quite heavy, but seizing one end he dragged it towards
+the burning building. Soon he had it set in place and balanced. He
+had guessed at the proper slant correctly. Its top just rested on the
+edge of the attic window outside the sill.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No time to lose," declared Ralph. "Where will I find a hatchet?" he
+called to the old woman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"In the wood shed--right near the door, on a chopping block," she
+directed, watching his every movement in a fever of suspense.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph darted into the wood shed. He came out, hatchet in hand, and
+sprang instantly onto the ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The building was doomed, he saw that. Its entire front half was in
+flame. As he got a few feet from the ground a great whirlwind of smoke
+and sparks enveloped him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why," exclaimed Ralph, as he reached the top of the ladder, "the
+window is all right."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He did not need to use the hatchet. Contrary to the old woman's
+positive statement, Ralph found the sash raised an inch or two. It
+pushed up smoothly. He felt obtruding nails on the inside, which
+appeared to have been forced out of place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Climbing through the window, Ralph was nearly choked with the dense
+smoke filling the room. The window vent somewhat cleared the air, but
+he could not see an inch before his face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't stand much of this," he reflected, and then held his breath
+closely.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph had to grope with hands and feet. He lined one side wall of the
+apartment, ran to the window for a supply of fresh air, and resumed his
+difficult quest.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No luck so far," he panted. "The room seems entirely empty. There is
+not even a carpet on the floor."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Suddenly, a cracking sound and then a slight crash warned him to look
+out for danger.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A door leading into the front attic just then burned free of its
+hinges. It fell inside the apartment Ralph was in.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Its vivid blazing lit up the room somewhat.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see it--the trunk!" said Ralph, and sprang to a corner where a
+box-like outline showed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Again the old woman's statements were at fault. The trunk was
+perfectly easy of access, and Ralph did not have to use the hatchet at
+all.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ropes that at one time possibly enclosed the trunk lay at one side, cut
+in two. The broken lock of the trunk lay on the floor. Ralph threw up
+the cover.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Inside was a mass of cotton batting. He threw this out on the floor.
+Then some old newspapers followed. Beneath these lay a little flat tin
+box.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I have it," said Ralph with satisfaction, grasping the object of the
+old woman's anxiety.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was high time to make an exit. Some sparks fell on the cotton. It
+blazed up into his face and singed his hair. Ralph found himself
+nearly overcome by the smoke. He fairly staggered to the window, and
+spluttering and scorched, almost slid the length of the ladder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Reaching the ground the young leverman stood stationary for a moment.
+He dug the cinders out of his eyes, and took a good long refreshing
+breath of the pure air.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A call roused him to new action. The old woman was shouting at him and
+waving her hand eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She was not alone now. A pale-faced young man of about thirty stood by
+her side. Ralph presumed that this was her son, David, to whom she had
+so frequently referred.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you get it--did you get it?" she called out anxiously, as Ralph
+ran up to the invalid chair.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, ma'am," responded Ralph, handing over the box.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, dear! Oh, how shall I ever thank you? David, he is a brave,
+noble boy!" and hugging the box to her breast, the old woman wept
+hysterically.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You saved my mother's life," spoke the young man, placing a hand that
+trembled on Ralph's shoulder.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am glad if that is so," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"David! David! David!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just here the old woman interrupted with startling suddenness. Ralph
+turned quickly toward her in amazement. Her son ran to her side, very
+much alarmed. She had shouted out his name in such a lost, despairing
+tone that both her auditors were thrilled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother--what is it?" cried the young man.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The old woman waved the tin box that Ralph had just given her.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It was tied with twine--in a sheet of writing paper, and sealed," she
+said. "And look now, David--it is empty!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Was there something in it?" questioned Ralph, his spirits sinking to
+zero.</p>
+<p class="pnext">All along he had entertained some hopeful ideas regarding that little
+tin box, knowing that it had been the property of the mysterious Mrs.
+Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, surely," said the old woman, weeping bitterly and wringing her
+hands. "Mrs. Davis put some folded papers in it. I saw her do it.
+She said they were very valuable. She was afraid she would lose them,
+or be robbed. She said she feared wicked enemies."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When was that?" asked Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"About a month ago. She wrapped up, tied, and sealed the box. She
+asked me where she could hide it for a time. I told her about the old
+trunk. It was empty, except for some cotton and newspapers. I told
+her to nail down the window, put the box in the trunk, tie up the
+trunk, and lock the attic door. She did all that. She made me promise
+solemnly to think first of that box if anything happened. And now
+someone has stolen the papers! I have been faithless to my trust!
+Poor Mrs. Davis said her very life depended on those papers. Oh,
+David! David! I shall die of shame and grief, I know I shall!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You did your best, you couldn't help it," said her son soothingly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, some thief has visited your attic," declared Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But no one except Mrs. Davis and myself knew that the box was there,"
+suggested the weeping woman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Someone surely found out," said Ralph. "I found the window forced up
+and the trunk lock broken."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mother, you really must not take on so," spoke the young man in a
+worried tone. "You are shaking all over. I must get you to some
+shelter."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxvi-a-clew">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id28">CHAPTER XXVI--A CLEW!</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">The young switch-tower man had lost all interest in the fire now. He
+stood thinking deeply, and felt quite depressed.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He was very certain that the papers Mrs. Davis had placed in the tin
+box in some way referred to her interest in the twenty thousand
+dollars' worth of railroad bonds, to which she had so frequently and
+significantly alluded.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She had told his mother that she was going to get something from a
+friend to show her and Ralph. Was it not these very same papers?</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was very possible, Ralph reflected further, that in some way Mrs.
+Davis' kidnappers had got a clew to the hiding place of these self-same
+documents.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"One word, please," spoke up Ralph, as the young man started to wheel
+his mother away from the scene of the fire. "Someone certainly forced
+a way to your attic and rifled that trunk."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Who could it be--how could they know?" queried the distressed invalid.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you had any strange visitors?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--no one hardly ever comes here, except neighbors. Of course there
+have been a lot of workmen building the switch. But they were
+harmless, ignorant persons. Got a drink at the well, and went about
+their business."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You have noticed no suspicious characters hanging about?" pressed
+Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, no."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"By the way, mother," interposed the young man, "you forgot about the
+two young fellows who came here day before yesterday--no, the day
+before that--Tuesday."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, they were the insurance men."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What insurance men?" asked Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They said they were inspectors. They said they were hired by the
+insurance companies to look over risks. They asked me if we had any
+gasoline. I said no. Then they asked if I had any inflammable stuff
+stored in the attic. They wanted to go up and see, but I told them the
+attic was empty."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They wanted to inspect the attic, did they?" murmured Ralph
+thoughtfully.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes. Then they said they would have to look over the chimneys and
+roof, to be sure everything was all right."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did they do so?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I told them where the ladder was. Of course, confined helpless to my
+invalid chair, I couldn't go out with them. They came back inside in
+about ten minutes, and said they had found everything in shipshape
+order."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Those are the persons who robbed the trunk," declared Ralph in a tone
+of conviction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you think so?" cried the old woman. "Do you know them?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't know--yet. Do you remember how they were dressed?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They were well-dressed, I remember that."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Young men, I believe you said?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, boys, almost--a little older than you. One wore a pearl-gray
+derby hat. The other wore a kind of automobile cap."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you," said Ralph, showing the value of this information in
+manner and face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Do you know them?" inquired the old woman eagerly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think I do," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can you find them?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They will not be hard to locate," answered Ralph definitely. "Do not
+worry, ma'am. You have given me a very clever clew as to the robbers.
+I think I know who has got the papers that were in that little tin box."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, be sure to let me know if you get back those papers, won't you?"
+pressed the old woman anxiously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I certainly shall," promised Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He bade mother and son good-bye. Then Ralph proceeded in the direction
+of the old Farrington factory.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Great crowds lined the ravine and surrounded the site of the factory.
+This had been burned to the ground. The ravine in places was still a
+nest of fire, but the flames were confined there. The fires in the
+grass and in the shrubbery had been beaten out.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph passed from crowd to crowd, gleaning many a bit of exciting
+gossip.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He heard a local insurance agent say that the fire had done damage to
+the extent of a hundred thousand dollars. The factory represented the
+bulk of the loss.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And no insurance, did you say?" someone asked the agent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not on the building. The insurance expired there only last week."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph finally found the person he was in search of--Slavin. He had
+made up his mind that something must be done promptly in regard to the
+documents stolen from Mrs. Davis' tin box.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike Slump and Mort Bemis tallied precisely to the old woman's
+description of her "insurance inspectors" visitors.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Their call at the old house had evidently been made on the afternoon of
+the day when Slump and Bemis had decoyed Ralph to the Stiggs cottage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph reasoned that if they had got the documents in question, they had
+them now, for their arrest had followed within a few hours of their
+rifling of the trunk.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I want you to do something for me, Slavin, if you will," said Ralph,
+leading his companion out of hearing of the crowd.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"All right," was the prompt response.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Something urgent and important."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fire away--I'm yours truly."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can you get word for me to my friend, Van Sherwin?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To-night?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"At any and all times. We arranged that with the road detective."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very well," said Ralph. "I want you to deliver a note to Van. It
+will take some time to write it, so you will have to come up to the
+house with me, and wait till I get it ready."</p>
+<p class="pnext">They proceeded forthwith in the direction of the Fairbanks homestead.
+Ralph invited his companion to stay to supper.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Say," observed Slavin, as they had proceeded on their way some
+distance and he took a last backward glance at the dying flames--"say,
+Ralph Fairbanks, I wonder if it looks to you--that fire I mean--like it
+does to me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you mean, Slavin?" questioned Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That some of old Gasper Farrington's chickens are coming home to
+roost!"</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxvii-slavin-gets-a-job">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id29">CHAPTER XXVII--SLAVIN GETS A JOB</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"Good-morning, Mr. Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, good-morning, Mr. Slavin, but--quite formal, aren't you?" said
+Ralph with a smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was the second day after the factory fire. Ralph and Knight, both
+busy at their duties, had been visited by Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He came up the ladder and into the switch tower with a certain slow
+dignity of manner that made Ralph stare.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello, Slav," nodded old Jack Knight carelessly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you do--sir?" answered Slavin with rigid courtesy as he sank to
+the armchair--always a welcome visitor, nowadays.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Bust me!" whispered Knight with a keen glance at Slavin, and
+suppressing a quick snicker--"what's in his crop now, Fairbanks?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph wondered, too. He stole a second furtive look at Slavin. Then
+he had to turn his head aside to hide a smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin sat like a statue. The one impelling motive of his life at
+present, it seemed, was to suggest the idea that he had weighty matters
+on his mind.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He looked like a being struggling with the most momentous
+responsibilities. His eye ran over the long array of levers as if he
+had been officially delegated to inspect them. His bearing
+was--profound.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph noticed a change in his general dress. So did Knight, and in a
+hoarse, undertoned guffaw he observed to his young assistant:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The spell is on, and he's got himself up regardless!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Knight could hardly hold himself in. The old veteran had seen every
+phase of railroad régime and railroad vanity in his long career. At a
+glance he had guessed what was up with Young Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph noticed that Slavin wore a new head gear. It was a direct copy
+of the touring cap affected by the depot master.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The top button of Slavin's coat was a brass one. It was either a
+conductor's or a Pullman porter's official insignia--at a distance
+Ralph could not tell which.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Sticking out from one of Slavin's coat pockets was an assortment of
+folders. Ralph recognized them as including all the official time
+schedules of the Great Northern.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Besides that, in his hand Slavin carried a somber-looking,
+flexible-covered book. This suggested some technical engineering or
+scientific work.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin consulted its pages as he sat in the armchair. Ralph and Knight
+scented fun in the air. They went on silently with their duties.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This grew irksome to Slavin. He finally arose to his feet, and began
+restively pacing about the switch tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"H'm," he observed at length. "Saw a great article on the combustion
+of coal gases in locomotives, last night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That so?" nodded Knight, and proceeded to whistle industriously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin looked hurt at the repulse. In a minute or two he blurted out
+again:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see there's a new invention for economizing steam in short-run
+engines. Sort of studying up things, see? This here book----"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What book is it, Slavin?" inquired Ralph pleasantly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, what's this high jinks in railroad education you're firing at
+us?" demanded Knight, suddenly seizing the volume from Slavin's hand.
+"Oh, my! hold me! ha! ha!" roared the veteran towerman. "Listen,
+Fairbanks: 'Technical Topography of High Grade Elevations in Asiatic
+Railways.' Oh, me! Oh, my! Slavin, you take the cake!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Knight, I didn't come here to have my feelings trampled on," spoke
+Slavin in tones of offended dignity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Right, old son. You came here to show how hard you'd got the railroad
+fever--hey, you spoony? Why, it's sticking out all over you. I had it
+once. They all get it at first. Why, you ambitious young lunkhead,"
+cried Knight, slapping Slavin's shoulder with a hearty whack that
+nearly knocked him over, "you're simply tickled to death about
+something, and I can tell it in three words."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it, Mr. Knight?" asked Ralph innocently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'Got a job!'"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good!" cried Ralph, grasping Slavin's hand in congratulation. "Is it
+true?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, yes, it is," answered Slavin proudly. "So, what's the harm in
+trying to post up, hey?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"My son," observed Knight in a patriarchal fashion, "posting up and
+looking railroady is all right, but there's many a long, tough reach in
+plain buttons, and a long distance away from combustion and high
+grades, before you even begin to guess what you know about practical
+railroading. Who did you see--the master mechanic?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No--depot master."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What--not put on duty here with us?" exclaimed Ralph in a really
+pleased tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's it," announced Slavin grandly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, I am truly glad," said Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So am I," put in Knight--"I'll catch your mistakes like a true friend,
+and help you along like a brother."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I am not going to make any mistakes," declared Slavin confidently.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oho! aint?" said Knight softly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, sir. I've watched you two closely. It's simple. You get 7.
+Pull 7. Muscle does it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That so?" continued old Jack, in a slow, pitying drawl. "Well, well!
+Now, just to demonstrate, suppose you take a test?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'm your man!" cried Slavin, pulling off his coat and striking an
+attitude.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Double switch," called out Knight--"18 and 19."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin wavered, Knight had called out two levers way down the line,
+rarely used. Slavin's eyes ran the long array. Then he got his
+bearings, and swung his arms down into the battery with a ponderous
+swoop.</p>
+<p class="pnext">His great strong fists clasped the lever handles in a really admirable
+manner, and he looked the prodigy of muscle he claimed to be.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Open 'em up!" shouted Knight</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin bent to his task.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Pull--you lubber, pull!" yelled old Jack Knight.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxviii-what-the-extra-told">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id30">CHAPTER XXVIII--WHAT THE "EXTRA" TOLD</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"They won't move!" cried Young Slavin disgustedly. "They don't budge.
+Oh, rot on you! guying a fellow," and he slunk back to the armchair in
+chagrin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Old Jack laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. He had tricked
+his new apprentice into a "grand-stand" display at two levers that had
+been wedged tight shut and out of use for a month.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He rallied the would-be railroader for a few minutes. Then in his
+kind-spirited way he took up the matter seriously.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He told Slavin just what his initial duties would be: sweeping out the
+tower, keeping the fuel supply handy, oiling the lever and rod sockets,
+cleaning the windows.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin was somewhat disappointed at this dreary routine. When,
+however, Knight recited his own early experience and what it led to in
+proficiency and promotion, Slavin became more resigned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It looks good," he said longingly. "The day I draw more than board
+and lodging wages and pull a lever, I'll give you two a banquet. Say,
+I can hardly wait to begin!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"When do you begin, Slavin?" asked old Jack.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Next Monday."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin hung around the switch tower till Knight went away in answer to
+a 'phone call from the limits tower. Then he sidled up to Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Been waiting to tell you," he said in a low tone.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Something about Van?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Did you get any word from him?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This morning. Came to the rear jail window, where I wait for him.
+Said just one word."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What was it?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"To-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That was all?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Someone inside interrupted him, I think, so that was all."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'To-night,'" repeated Ralph musingly. "I wonder what he means?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Action to-night, of course. Something is going to happen. Last
+night--you remember what he told me?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Van said he felt sure that Slump and Bemis had the documents
+stolen from Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's it," nodded Slavin. "You know Slump wrote a sassy letter to
+old Farrington."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So you told me."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Farrington paid no attention to it. Then Van overheard these two
+precious schemers concocting a new note. It told old Farrington that
+they had something better than merely knowing where a certain woman
+was."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"They meant Mrs. Davis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course. In this last note they said that they had some very
+valuable papers belonging to Mrs. Davis. They threatened that if
+Farrington didn't get them out of that jail inside of forty-eight
+hours, they would send for Ralph Fairbanks and turn the papers over to
+him."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"This is getting interesting," remarked Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And exciting. Oh, something is sure to drop, soon. That old miser
+will never go any twenty thousand dollars' bonds on those two
+scape-graces."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"It is not likely," said Ralph. "Do you think Farrington paid any
+attention to the second note?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think he did."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why so?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"As I left the jail, I saw his coachman come out of the building. He
+had an empty basket on his arm. I think he had been taking some food
+and such fixings to Ike Slump &amp; Co."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And the latest is Van's 'To-night'," mused Ralph. "Slavin, you will
+keep a close watch on things, won't you? I believe affairs are very
+near a crisis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I'll not miss anything," Slavin assured Ralph stanchly--"least of all
+you, when there's any important word to report."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was restless and expectant all that evening at home. He sat up
+till ten o'clock, hoping that Slavin might bring him some word.</p>
+<p class="pnext">None came, however. He went to bed, and as usual left the house for
+the switch tower at 7.30 in the morning.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just as Ralph neared the depot yards, a small boy with a bundle of
+papers under his arm darted down the street.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph remembered that this was "paper day." He paused and listened as
+the lad shouted out his wares.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Extry! extry!" he called.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here, boy--what have you got extra?" asked a passer-by.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Full account of the great Stanley Junction jail escape!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that?" cried Ralph irrepressibly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hey, never mind--I'll tell you," pronounced Slavin's voice suddenly at
+his elbow. "I'm out of breath. Just missed you at your house, and ran
+all the way here after you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Slavin, what is this I hear--a jail escape?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes--Slump and Bemis. It seems someone smuggled some tools in to them
+yesterday."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Farrington's man."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's how I figure it out," assented Slavin. "Anyhow, they
+discovered that the prisoners were gone about midnight. I didn't hear
+of it until about an hour ago. I hurried to the road detective. He
+got a 'phone from Van Sherwin at the jail about two o'clock this
+morning. It was to wire to the jailer to give him his liberty."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What--Van gone, too!" exclaimed Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's the way it looks. I just came from the jail. They had let
+Sherwin go. The jailer said he had left a note. For Ralph Fairbanks.
+I took it to deliver. Here it is."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph eagerly tore open the letter Slavin handed him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It contained Van's signature in initials, and one line only. This read:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Got track of Mrs. Davis--I have the stolen papers."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxix-guessing">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id31">CHAPTER XXIX--GUESSING</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">Young Slavin was marking some initials on the current date on a big
+calendar hanging up on the door of the coat closet of the depot switch
+tower.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was his third day of service. As old Jack Knight came up the trap
+ladder, his grim face broke into an expression of sincere approbation.
+He took a keen look around the place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Neat and tidy," he observed. "You'll do, Slavin. But what's those
+hieroglyphics on that calendar for?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, just a memoranda," explained the new tower hand, with a conscious
+flush.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"'P.I.N.' eh?" said Knight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The initials were blue-penciled in the date space of each of the three
+days of Slavin's employment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's the answer? Something about a coupling pin?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Naw. Those initials, Mr. Knight, represent the boiling down of the
+rules for employees printed on the card of instructions."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That so?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir, Promptness, Industry, Neatness. I'm trying to fill that
+bill."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You've done it so far," observed old Jack. "I hear you show up an
+hour before time."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Can't sleep, thinking of my grand luck!" chuckled Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You're certainly all the time fussing around, if that's industry,"
+went on Knight. "Those windows shine like headlights. You've oiled up
+everything till the lack of creaking makes a fellow lonesome. As to
+neatness--well, if you haven't actually scrubbed the floor here!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I thought it needed it," said Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Keep it up, son," encouraged old Jack. "You're making a fine
+beginning."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Slavin went singing and whistling about his work the whole day long.
+It did Ralph's heart good, when he arrived, to see his protégé happy,
+industrious, and headed in the right direction.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Things were going on famously smooth and satisfactory at the switch
+tower. A friend of old Farrington's, and by no means of Ralph's, one
+Bardon, an inspector, had looked over the layout with a critical eye
+the day previous.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You'll find no flaws here, friend," old Jack had announced.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Bardon had to admit that the switch tower régime was in perfect working
+order.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Since the escape of Ike Slump and Mort Bemis and the new disappearance
+of Van Sherwin, not a clew as to the course or whereabouts of the
+missing trio had reached either Ralph or his friends.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There had been a big row up at the jail, and one of the under officers
+had been discharged under suspicion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was evident that someone had smuggled tools and ropes into the jail,
+for these were found in the cell through the forced window of which
+Slump and Bemis had escaped.</p>
+<p class="pnext">These could hardly have passed proper inspection, if hidden in food or
+clothing brought to the prisoners by outsiders.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course old Farrington's man did the job," asserted Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course he did," assented Ralph. "It was the cheapest way of giving
+his troublesome pensioners their liberty."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van's message to Ralph had a very encouraging tone to it. He evidently
+had a clew to Mrs. Davis' place of confinement, and "he had the stolen
+documents."</p>
+<p class="pnext">As the days went by, however, Ralph began to grow anxious, and his
+mother shared his worry. Ralph had told her everything concerning the
+rifled tin box. Mrs. Fairbanks was mainly troubled over the possible
+imprisonment and mistreatment of Mrs. Davis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"The poor lady has suffered a great deal of trouble," she remarked.
+"Her mind was none too strong. It is wicked to torture her further,
+Ralph, can we do nothing to force Mr. Farrington to tell where she is?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He would deny having ever heard of Mrs. Davis," asserted Ralph
+convincedly. "Of course, if any mishap or failure comes to Van, and he
+doesn't report soon, I will see a lawyer and try and compel Farrington
+to some action. He is a shrewd, cruel man, though, mother. I am
+afraid our only hope is in Van, or the recapture of Slump and Bemis."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have they tried to find them?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Mr. Adair has been searching for them everywhere. He believes that
+Farrington assisted in their escape, and gave them a large amount of
+money to leave the country."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Gasper Farrington was not having a very happy time of it. Ralph
+decided this that morning, as he noticed the magnate pass on the other
+side of the street.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Farrington looked bent, old, and troubled. He had sustained a total
+loss at the factory fire. His tricky methods were becoming known to
+the public. He was losing the respect of people. This he realized,
+and showed it both in bearing and face.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was thinking about all this about three o'clock in the afternoon,
+when the depot master's messenger came up the tower ladder. He had a
+pocketful of mail.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Postal card for you, Fairbanks," he said.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph took the card and went to the window to inspect it. The postal
+was blurred over and wrinkled, back and front. It looked as if it had
+been posted after being wetted by snow or rain, or in some stage of its
+transmission had fallen into a mess of wet dirt.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Its address was clear enough. It bore a railway mail postmark. On its
+reverse side the letters had run with the moisture.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"From Van," said Ralph, setting himself the difficult task of
+deciphering the blurred lines. "I know his handwriting, and it is
+signed 'V.' It was written in a hurry, that looks certain. What has
+he to say?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph conned the imperfect message over and over. After many
+interruptions, at the end of fully half an hour's careful study, these
+were the only coherent words he could formulate from the blurred scrawl:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"----hurry--and important. Don't miss telling--Slump--Bemis--Wednesday
+evening--safe--bank shipment--express--found out, and special
+freight--sure to be there--not later--near South Dover--don't delay a
+minute--will soon--back at Stanley Junction."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is he trying to tell me?" murmured Ralph in a puzzled and anxious
+way, after a third and fourth reading of the perplexing message.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He finally gave up guessing what the missing links in the postal screed
+might be.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"One thing is certain," reflected Ralph. "Wednesday evening something
+is on the books. The only other definite clew is South Dover. Does he
+mean for me to meet him there? Does he mean that Slump and Bemis are
+in that neighborhood? There is something about a bank shipment,
+express, and special freight. That means the railroad is somehow
+interested. 'Don't miss,' he writes, 'don't delay.' I won't,"
+resolved Ralph keenly. "I wouldn't dare to, with such a word from Van.
+He has kept mum all along. Now that he does speak out, it certainly
+means something important."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph thought things over for another half-hour, and then made up his
+mind what he would do.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He consulted the train schedules. Then he explained to Knight the
+necessity for a brief absence from duty. Without seeing Slavin, who
+had been sent for some report blanks to the depot, Ralph hurried home.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He told his mother about the postal card, dressed for the trip down the
+road, and caught the 4.30 train. Ralph was cordially invited to a seat
+in the cab by his loyal old friend, Engineer Griscom.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was nearly dusk when the train reached South Dover. The place was
+only a name. There was not a building within a mile of the tool sheds
+and water tank that marked the spot.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The train slowed up for Ralph, who jumped off. He waved his hand to
+Griscom in adieu, and looked all about him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">South Dover was a switching and make-up point for the accommodation of
+Dover freight transfers. It had a dozen sidings and spurs. Freight
+coming into Dover on a north destination was switched here, and made
+ready to be taken up by through trains.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A man on a track bicycle had just set some lights. He whirled away
+towards Dover as Ralph stood looking about him.</p>
+<p class="pnext">No other human being was in sight. On a near siding stood half a dozen
+freight cars. Over on another track, near the water tower, stood a
+dead freight dummy.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can't make out much here," reflected Ralph. "No one in sight, no
+indication why Van mentioned the place."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He strolled over to the dead locomotive. Its tender was full of coal.
+Ralph opened the furnace door. Everything was ready to kindle up, and
+the gauge showed a full water supply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I see," mused Ralph. "There is to be some switching, or a night run.
+I don't know how soon, though. Well, I'll hang around a bit.
+Something may develop."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph walked down the short line of freights, casually inspecting the
+cars. As he came to the last one he dodged back in a very lively
+fashion.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Climbing up the embankment to the left were four persons. They had
+just emerged, it seemed, from thick underbrush lining the tracks.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Two of them were grown men--bearded, rough-looking fellows, resembling
+tramps.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The other two persons of the group had a prompt and distinct interest
+to Ralph. He at once recognized Ike Slump and Mort Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They were coming directly towards the freights. Ralph saw the danger
+of discovery.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The door of the car next to the last box freight was ajar.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph leaped up into the car just as Ike Slump reached the top of the
+railroad embankment.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxx-precious-freight">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id32">CHAPTER XXX--PRECIOUS FREIGHT</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"Here we are!" almost immediately sounded out the tones of Mort Bemis.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Glad of it," growled a gruff, breathless voice, unfamiliar to the
+listening Ralph. "We are about done out lugging these heavy crowbars
+over swamps and up this steep climb."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Quick action, now," broke in Slump. "Here, give me a crowbar."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph glided to the end of the box car he was in. He got near its
+little rear grated window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Cautiously he looked out. Standing at the side of the track were Bemis
+and the two tramps. One of them held a crowbar. Another like it Ike
+was extending between the bumpers. He knocked up the coupling pin
+connecting the rear car with the rest of the train.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Then he pried against the head of the pin, and forced it out. As it
+fell to the roadbed, he said:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Watch up and down the tracks, Mort."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Oh, there's no likelihood of anybody coming for three hours," retorted
+Bemis. "The express has passed, and the signal man. The switching
+crew will keep snug and cozy in Hank Allen's restaurant up at Dover
+till schedule time, and that isn't till nine o'clock."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, keep a sharp lookout, all the same," directed Ike. "I worked up
+this deal, and I reckon I have a right to boss the job. Come, my
+friend," to the tramp holding the other crowbar. "Pry on that left
+wheel. I'll take the right. Soon as we get momentum, you two give us
+a shoulder. Push, till I say let go. Understand?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph was momentarily bewildered. The quartette were about to separate
+the last car from the train. Why?</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ike and his helper got their crowbars each under a wheel. They budged
+the car, and got it fairly started. Then they yelled to the other two,
+and, dropping the crowbars, joined them in pushing the car along by
+sheer shoulder strength.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph stared after them in doubt and concern. Then as they took a
+switch with rusted rails, he clearly saw their object.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The wheels of the detached freight car, striking a sharp slant, ran
+away from the persons who had started it up.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They stood still, gazing after the runaway. It moved on with
+sharpening speed, took a curve, and was shut out from view.</p>
+<p class="pnext">For fully two minutes afterwards, however, Ralph could catch the
+diminishing clatter of the fast revolving wheels. The others stood
+listening, too.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was fairly dusk now. As the quartette approached the remaining
+cars, Ralph noticed that Mort Bemis was chuckling. Ike Slump's face
+wore an expression of intense satisfaction. They all halted as they
+reached the stationary freights.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here," spoke Ike, "we don't need those any longer."</p>
+<p class="pnext">He seized the crowbars in turn lying on the roadbed. He gave them a
+swing, sending them in among the long grass at the side of the
+embankment.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Done quite neatly," spoke Bemis. "Now then, fellows--back the way we
+came. Horse and wagon all ready?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes," assented one of the tramps.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Make it lively, then. We can get around to the switch off where that
+car has come to a stop, in about an hour."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then for the safe, and a fortune apiece!" cried Ike excitedly. "Say,
+Mort, the five hundred we lost on the races looks a fleabite to what
+we'll divide up in the next two hours!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I don't see why you didn't drive right up here and dump the safe?"
+suggested one of the men of the party.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't you?" spoke Ike. "Well, you'd have a fine time, driving over,
+that boggy waste, wouldn't you? Besides, that spur is never used. No
+chance of any meddlers where that car is now. The train crew won't be
+here till nine o'clock. When they do come, even if they miss the car,
+they won't suspect where it has gone to."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Correct," assented Mort Bemis in a jubilant tone. "Oh, we're working
+on greased rollers! Come, let's go around for the horse and wagon, and
+get that safe in our claws."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The quartette descended the embankment and disappeared from view.
+Ralph jumped from the car the moment they were out of sight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">In the light of the overheard conversation and recent doings of Slump
+and his companions, the young leverman was pretty well able to
+conjecture what they were doing.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van's blurred message grew clearer now. Ralph doubted not but that
+Slump and Bemis had projected and were carrying out a daring robbery.</p>
+<p class="pnext">According to what they had said, the detached car had aboard some very
+valuable freight: nothing less than a safe. And Ike had intimated that
+it contained "a fortune apiece."</p>
+<p class="pnext">This seemed incredible to Ralph. All the same, he realized that they
+had isolated the car to loot it.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"In an hour they will have their booty," he reflected rapidly. "Can I
+foot it to Dover in time? No way to wire. Why, I'll do it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">A quick idea came into Ralph's mind. He would anticipate the robbers.
+He ran fast as he could to the locomotive on the siding.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph Fairbanks never valued his practical roundhouse experience so
+greatly as during the ensuing fifteen minutes.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He knew all about a locomotive, for he had been a shop hand to some
+profit. He lit the fire, set the steam gauges, piled on the coal.
+Steam up, he backed towards the spur, stopped, opened a switch, and
+glided west after the runaway car.</p>
+<p class="pnext">As he rounded a curve he noticed that the spur had two tracks, and he
+had by chance taken the outer one.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The tracks ran parallel, however. There must be switches further on,
+he decided, and he put on a fair head of steam and sped on his way.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The spur ran in and out a hilly district with numerous curves. At
+length there was a level stretch. Ralph whizzed by the detached car,
+standing stationary at the end of a steep grade about a quarter of a
+mile from the main rails where it had been started.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He took a new curve, slowed up, and began looking for a switch. The
+tracks ended near a dismantled ruin. It had evidently once been in use
+as a factory, but now, like the spur tracks, was abandoned.</p>
+<p class="pnext">At this terminus were several switches. Ralph got righted on the
+inside rails and started back for the detached car.</p>
+<p class="pnext">There were as many as four curves to pass, all breasting elevations at
+the side. Ralph proceeded rather slowly. As he reached the final open
+stretch, however, his hand came down sharply on the lever.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He pulled the throttle open. A glance had warned him that there was no
+time now to dally.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It was not quite dark yet. Some lanterns were now at the side of the
+detached car.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Near it was a horse and wagon. The side door of the car was open. One
+of the tramps was carrying a rope from the wagon. The other was just
+climbing into the car.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph drove the locomotive forward so promptly that the alarmed shout
+of the man coming from the wagon was mingled with a resounding crash,
+as the bulkheads of the cow-catcher struck the end of the car. The
+freight was momentarily lifted from its trucks. Then car and engine
+swept on.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The tramp, just climbing into the car when the contact came, was
+knocked free of his hold by the shock. He went keeling over and over
+in the gravel by the side of the track.</p>
+<p class="pnext">From the inside of the car sounded loud and fervent yells. Ralph kept
+his eye fixed on the side of the freight. A head was thrust out--two
+of them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Staring back in startled wonder, Ike Slump and Mort Bemis saw what had
+happened, and marvelled.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They did not attempt to jump. Ralph believed that they recognized him.
+Whether this were true or not, just as the locomotive reached the main
+road bed a report rang out. A bullet smashed in the front window of
+the cab.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph dodged down. His enemies were driven to desperate straits. He
+held back from the window out of range, but kept his hand firmly on the
+lever.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A glance showed what he was running into. The stationary freights
+blocked his course. Ralph slowed up. Then, as the expected contact
+came, he put on full steam again.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A momentary halt had given Bemis a chance to leave the detached car in
+safety. As the locomotive glided by he grabbed at its step.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph threw out one foot. It met Mort's jaw, and sent him spinning
+clear of his hold.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The locomotive was now pushing the entire train. Ralph's heart began
+to beat fast. He dared not stop, for Slump was probably armed, and his
+confederates might come in pursuit.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph did not know what he might run into, or what might run into him.
+He was a "wild" of the most reckless description. It was make or break
+for Dover, now!</p>
+<p class="pnext">"He's jumped!" exclaimed Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A dark form, that of Ike Slump, leaped from the car ahead as it passed
+a morass. Ralph ventured to lean out of the cab window.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He could make out the nearing lights of Dover. Glancing back, he saw
+by the signals that the tracks were clear for the regular service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Toot-toot-too-oot-too-oot!</p>
+<p class="pnext">Far and wide rang the ear-splitting alarm signal. Ralph kept it up
+continuously. Then, as he neared the crossings tower lights at Dover,
+he shut off steam and jolted down to a dead stop.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Glancing back and ahead, he saw the signals change in a flash, blocking
+all rails.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A lantern moved down the tracks. Two men came running towards the
+freights and along them till they reached the locomotive.</p>
+<p class="pnext">One of the men was evidently the head towerman. He glared wildly up at
+Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What in thunder is this?" he cried.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, you may call it a special," answered Ralph promptly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Special?" roared the irate towerman--"special what?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A special treasure train, I would call it, from what I learn," said
+Ralph coolly. "I have just run it clear of four robbers, and I
+understand it has 'four fortunes' in it."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxxi-half-a-million-dollars">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id33">CHAPTER XXXI--HALF A MILLION DOLLARS</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"Name?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ah, I have heard of you. Towerman at Stanley Junction--first name
+Ralph?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, sir."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Wasn't it you who made that terrifically heroic run through the fire
+at the Acton freight yards with engineer John Griscom?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I was there, yes," admitted Ralph modestly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thought so. Shake. Proud to know you, Mr. Fairbanks, and glad to see
+you are keeping your name clean and bright on the railroad roll of
+honor."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph sat in the room of the assistant superintendent at Dover, an hour
+after taking the special into safety. He had made a brief explanation
+to the towerman. The freights were sidetracked, a dozen watchmen
+guarded the cars, as many specials were sent back to South Dover to
+attempt the capture of the robbers.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Here," spoke the assistant superintendent, summoning a messenger,
+"take that wire for Stanley Junction. Fairbanks, do you happen to know
+that you have done an amazing thing?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph shook his head with an uncertain smile.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Well, you have. I have wired the Junction that you can't go back
+to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"But my leave of absence was only temporary."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Don't let that disturb you at all," said the assistant superintendent.
+"The road needs you here at present. I fancy the road will be very
+likely to acknowledge your services of to-night. You have prevented
+the theft of half a million dollars."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph started at this monstrous statement. It seemed incredible.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That is right. The real owner of the sum will probably give you a
+bank calendar free, or sue the Great Northern for delay. All the same,
+the road feels its obligation to you, and I want you to know it. You
+will have to stay here till we get this matter straightened out. You
+see, you are the only person who can identify those robbers--if they
+are caught. You will stay at my home to-night."</p>
+<p class="pnext">The assistant superintendent then went over the entire matter in
+detail, and Ralph heard an interesting story.</p>
+<p class="pnext">A parsimonious country banker--who seemed to be a sort of second
+edition of Gasper Farrington--had decided to move his bank from its
+original location to a point two hundred miles distant.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Too niggardly to purchase the security of his money by sending it by
+express, he had put it and his securities in a small safe. This he had
+boxed up, and had shipped it by special freight as merchandise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">How Slump and Bemis had got wind of the proceeding, Ralph could only
+theorize. They had certainly planned well to make off with this
+magnificent booty.</p>
+<p class="pnext">How Van Sherwin had been able to send the intimation he had to Ralph,
+was yet to be explained.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The railroad official treated Ralph like a prince. Both of the tramps
+were captured and placed in jail. They claimed they had simply been
+hired by Slump and Bemis to work for them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The next morning the banker who had so nearly lost his banking capital
+arrived in hot haste.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He proceeded to express his precious belongings the rest of the
+way--for which the express company proceeded to charge him as strong as
+the case would stand.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ha, hum," this individual observed, as he shook Ralph's hand--"a
+slight--ha, hum--testimonial. Don't mention it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph exhibited a dollar bill to the curious and furious assistant
+superintendent as the banker withdrew. Then he handed it to the
+messenger, with the remark:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You take your own risk in trying to pass it!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just before noon Ralph was given a telegram from Stanley Junction,
+signed by Slavin.</p>
+<p class="pnext">It read:</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hear you are at Dover, so I will wire. Needed in S.J. V.S. and Mrs.
+D. here, G.F. in a panic. Quick action needed. Come."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph told the assistant superintendent of the urgent message.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Of course you must go," said the latter, "but you will have to come
+down and identify the two prisoners in court in a day or two. By the
+way, we have sent a full report of the case to headquarters. I would
+suggest, Fairbanks, if you are tired of tower service, you won't have
+to ask for promotion."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not tired of it, sir," explained Ralph, "only anxious to get higher up
+the ladder as fast as I can."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very good. You've earned a good boost this time," declared the
+assistant superintendent.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph reached Stanley Junction just after dark. He left the train at
+the limits and took a short rut home.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The front of the little cottage was aglow with cheerful light, and he
+knew there was "company."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph burst in upon his good friend, Van, with a boisterous welcome.
+More gently, but none the less sincerely, he greeted Mrs. Davis. She
+sat in a comfortable armchair, rather pale and feeble-looking, but
+smiling through her happy tears.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Young Slavin occupied a humble seat at one side of the room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Lawyer made me come," he whispered to Ralph,--"waiting for him now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What lawyer?" inquired Ralph in surprise.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"One Van got. Oh, he's been running all the switches this afternoon, I
+can tell you!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just there Van beckoned to Ralph, and led him into an adjoining room,
+closing the door on the others.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxxii-conclusion">
+<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id34">CHAPTER XXXII--CONCLUSION</a></h2>
+<p class="pfirst">"You had best know just how things stand," remarked Van Sherwin, as he
+proceeded to tell an interesting story.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van had learned from Ralph's note sent to him to the town jail that Ike
+Slump or Mort Bemis had the documents stolen from Mrs. Davis' little
+tin box.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He had watched his fellow prisoners closely, finally discovering that
+the papers were carried by Slump in a secret inner coat pocket.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The very night that Slump and Bemis escaped, Van with a window pole
+reached into the cell, got the garment in question, and left his own
+coat in its place.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He secured the stolen documents. Folded in with them was a receipt for
+somebody's board at a place called Millville. Van decided that this
+was the place where Mrs. Davis was imprisoned, or detained.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He intended to gain his freedom in the morning early. In the meantime,
+as the reader is aware, Slump and Bemis escaped. The former was
+probably unaware in the darkness that he was wearing Van's coat instead
+of his own.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van started forthwith to locate Mrs. Davis. He found there were two
+Millvilles, and it was several days before he settled down on the right
+one. It took several more to locate Mrs. Davis' present guardians.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They proved to be a wretched couple in an isolated farmhouse. They
+kept their prisoner in a barred attic room.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis had missed a paper which told where the tin box was
+secreted. This her jailers had probably given to Slump, who thus
+obtained a clew as to the whereabouts of the documents.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van managed to rescue Mrs. Davis without being discovered by her
+guardians. That very day he came upon Slump and Bemis near the old
+farmhouse.</p>
+<p class="pnext">He secreted himself and overheard some of their conversation. They had
+squandered all of their ready money, and dared not return to Stanley
+Junction. They had come to the farmhouse to remove Mrs. Davis, and
+with her in their hands blackmail Farrington afresh.</p>
+<p class="pnext">They had discovered her escape, and then they talked of a last
+desperate scheme. It was to "hold up" something or somebody at South
+Dover.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Van could not leave Mrs. Davis, to follow or pursue them. He wrote the
+hurried postal to Ralph that had got wet and blurred in transmission,
+but, despite which fact, Ralph had managed to utilize with such grand
+results.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Davis' secret was a simple one. As has been said, her husband was
+none other than Van's adopted father, Farwell Gibson, who had been
+fleeced by Gasper Farrington along with Ralph's own father.</p>
+<p class="pnext">The magnate had maligned Gibson so that Mrs. Gibson left him. They
+became strangers, and later Farrington claimed he was dead.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Mrs. Gibson, or Mrs. Davis as she now called herself, became quite
+poor. She discovered among some old papers an agreement between
+herself, Mr. Fairbanks, and Gasper Farrington about the twenty thousand
+dollars' worth of railroad bonds.</p>
+<p class="pnext">This document showed plainly that in equity she had a quarter interest,
+and Mrs. Fairbanks the balance in these bonds really held in trust by
+Farrington.</p>
+<p class="pnext">She had come to Stanley Junction to sell this paper to Farrington.
+Embittered by her sad past, she had no thoughts of the rights of
+others, until Ralph did her a kindly act and changed all the motives of
+her life.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Now, after learning from Van how her husband had been wronged and
+misrepresented by Farrington, she longed to secure her five thousand
+dollars to assist him in beginning his short-line railroad.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"There will be a happy reunion," Van told Ralph. "As to the money, the
+twenty thousand dollars, I have had a lawyer working on her claim and
+yours all day long. They say that Slump wrote a letter to some friend
+here, telling all about Farrington's dealings with him. The local
+paper threatens an exposé, and this, with the factory fire and our
+claim, has driven the miserable old schemer nearly to his wits' end.
+Ah, there is the lawyer now."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph knew the legal gentleman in question. They rejoined the others
+in the front parlor.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Have you seen Farrington?" asked Van promptly.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No," responded the lawyer. "He has secluded himself, and refuses to
+be seen. I have had to deal with him through his attorney. It has
+been quibble and evasion all day long. Just now, however, they arrived
+at an ultimatum."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What is it?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Farrington is near to nervous collapse. His losses and his fears of
+disgrace have driven him to leave Stanley Junction until the storm has
+blown over. His lawyer admits the justice of our claim. He asks that
+they be given a little time to settle it."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not an hour, if the claim is just and right!" declared Ralph sternly.
+"We have been kept out of our rights all these years."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Then I have a suggestion to make," said the lawyer. "I have no doubt
+whatever of your forcing payments in time. The only thing is, that
+crafty old fox, Farrington, will scheme for delay. He intends to get
+it by taking a trip to Europe."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Out of the country?" exclaimed Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"So I learn. In fact, he has left, or is leaving now. That will be
+unfortunate for your case. Now, if you could get service on him before
+he leaves, you head off his dilatory arrangements."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What kind of service?" asked Van.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"A legal demand of your claim, to be proven in court if he does not
+settle. That would bring his lawyer to time. I have prepared the
+demand--in fact, I have a man waiting outside to serve it--if you can
+suggest any way to reach Farrington."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Why, if he is leaving for Europe to-night," said Ralph, arising to his
+feet and consulting his watch, "he will have to take the southern
+train."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Not from the Stanley Junction depot, I fancy," observed the lawyer.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, he will probably get on at the limits, or down at Acton, and take
+the train there."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"See here," spoke up Slavin suddenly--"leave this to me, will you?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"How do you mean?" inquired Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Send your man with me," said Slavin to the lawyer. "The railroad
+people will give me every chance to nab my man, if I tell them it's for
+Ralph Fairbanks."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Very good," nodded the lawyer with satisfaction, "try it with my man,
+if you will."</p>
+<p class="pnext">There was so much to discuss, that Ralph, Van, and the two ladies sat
+up until long past midnight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Just as they were retiring, the lawyer's messenger appeared at the
+front door of the cottage.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"O.K.," he said, with a chuckle.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Got your man?" asked Van.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure thing. Farrington sneaked on to the train at Acton, disguised,
+and hid in a sleeper. The conductor knew Fairbanks here, and Slavin
+did the rest. Snaked him out of his berth, and made him acknowledge
+our legal demand. He's off for Europe, but I'll warrant won't tangle
+up his affairs here by letting you sue. But he has already wired his
+lawyer to settle with you people."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Good!" shouted Ralph, and his face showed his pleasure.</p>
+<p class="pnext">Everything seemed working out happily. Ralph came up into the switch
+tower with a bright, cheery face, next morning.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Hello, Slavin," he said, noticing his muscular young friend at the
+levers--"practicing?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"No, sir--on duty," answered Slavin with great dignity.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What's that?" demanded Ralph sharply.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Sure," coolly nodded Slavin, giving the levers a truly professional
+swing. "Don't talk to the leverman when he's busy--rule of the office,
+you, know, for outsiders."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ho! ho!" chuckled old Jack Knight.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Outsiders?" repeated Ralph. "Call me one?"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Ask Mr. Knight."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph looked inquiringly at the veteran towerman.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"That's right," assented Knight. "Superintendent was just here. Put
+Slavin on the levers, and wants you up at headquarters."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"What for?" asked Ralph.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Says you're due for promotion. Asked me what I thought about your
+choice. I told him fireman."</p>
+<p class="pnext">Ralph's eyes sparkled with pleasure.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Thank you, Mr. Knight," he said. "If it's to be another step up the
+ladder, I would like it to be in just that line."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"You take another rung sure, that's settled," declared old Jack
+proudly. "And--you'll get to the top!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">One hour later Ralph Fairbanks was officially instructed by the
+superintendent of the Great Northern, that he had been promoted to a
+new branch of service.</p>
+<p class="pnext">How did he succeed? How well, and how his influence and example helped
+the success of his loyal railroad friends, will be told in a succeeding
+volume to be called "Ralph on the Engine; or, The Young Fireman of the
+Limited Mail."</p>
+<p class="pnext">For the time being he was very happy and so was his mother. Mrs.
+Fairbanks felt certain that they would soon be in possession of the
+property Gasper Farrington had so long kept from them.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I think so myself, mother," said Ralph, and then he added with
+enthusiasm: "Isn't it wonderful how we have prospered!"</p>
+<p class="pnext">"Yes, Ralph."</p>
+<p class="pnext">"And to think that I am to be a regularly appointed fireman," he
+continued.</p>
+<p class="pnext">"I can see that you are bound to be a railroad man, Ralph," answered
+the fond parent with a faint smile. "Well, you take after your father.
+I surely wish you the best of luck in your chosen calling."</p>
+<p class="pnext">And so do we; is that not so, gentle reader?</p>
+<div class="center line-block medium noindent outermost">
+<div class="line">THE END</div>
+</div>
+<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- -->
+<div class="backmatter">
+</div>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 39051 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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