Ralph, the Train Dispatcher; Or, The Mystery of the Pay Car

  CHAPTER XII

  AT THE RELAY STATION

  The relay station was located just beyond the limits of StanleyJunction, and was practically the feeder through which ran all therailroad and commercial wires focussing at headquarters. It stood in awide triangle formed by the tracks of the three divisions of the road,which here branched out north, south and west.

  The station was the top of a sort of wareroom for all kinds of railroadjunk. Stairs led up to it both inside and outside. Over the tower roof,reached by a trap door, was the great enclosed network of wires coveringall the lines of the Great Northern.

  Ralph had talked affairs over so closely with the superintendent andlater with Glidden, that as he left the latter he knew just what he wasexpected to do and how he was to do it. His mission was one of greatimportance and of secrecy as well, for the relay station and the firstswitch tower on the southern branch less than a quarter of a mile beyondit, were suspected points in the train dispatching service just now.

  Ralph left Glidden after a brief whispered conversation. He gained theimmediate vicinity of the relay station through slow, cautious progress.He had visited the place the day previous and had studied his groundwell. When he at length entered the open doorway, he felt sure that hehad reached his goal without attracting the attention of the twooccupants of the operating room whom he had made out as he approached.

  Ralph did not go up the stairs outside or inside. About twelve feetaloft and gained by a ladder of cleats nailed across two supports was aplatform. It abutted the operating room, and it seemed to be a catch-allfor half reels of wire, insulators and other material used in thetelegraphic line. Ralph reached this, and taking great care not todisturb anything that might make a racket, he crept directly up to awindow looking into the operating room.

  This window was used for ventilation in summer. Just now it was crustedwith dust and cob-webbed so that while he could look beyond its grimypanes, there was little danger of his being seen from within. Betterthan that, he noted that a broken upper pane had one corner gone, and hecould distinctly hear every sound made in the operating room.

  There were two men in the place. One of them was the night operator.Against this fellow Ralph had been warned. He had a face that wouldnaturally excite suspicion, and he was familiarly known as Grizzly. Hewas seated at the operating table ready for duty.

  The man beside him had no business there, so far as Ralph could figureout. He looked like a rough workman, but his easy bearing showed that hewas on an equality with the operator. His companion addressed him asMason. This fellow, lounging lazily near the little stove that heatedthe place and smoking a short stump of a pipe, opened the conversationwith the words:

  "Cozy for the night, Grizzly."

  "Looks it. The split trick man gave his D. S. good night, and is gone."

  "Who is he?"

  "New man."

  "Isn't that suspicious--so many new men lately?"

  "Oh, I'm posted and watching out for squalls. Think he's a new one fromanother road. Works like a ham factory hand. When he turned out hisfirst message I asked which foot he did it with. The way he looked atthe time cards where the calls are printed and kept the key open, I knewhe was an innocent greenhorn. Didn't know what 30 meant when it came,got rattled when headquarters was on the quad, and stumbled over thepink almost scared to death."

  A week previous all this would have been Greek to Ralph. At present hequickly understood that 30 was the end of a long message, the quad waswhere they sent four messages at a time, and a pink was a rush telegram.

  "Then you think you're not being watched?" inquired Mason.

  "Sure of it," responded Grizzly with confidence.

  "What's the cross orders from our friends?"

  "Nothing on the general mix up plan," reported the operator. "Theystruck the right man when they hit me to help them. I've got a big hunchfor the far west, and wouldn't have cared if the Great Northern had letme out, since, with the chance to carry a big wad of money away with me,why of course I'm in trim for whatever blows along."

  "What's special to-night?"

  "A side trick, and that's why I sent for you. We made a bad mix up twonights ago with cross orders and tappings. I think it aroused thesuspicions of the superintendent, so we're going slow on that tack for afew days. The gang working for the rival road, though, have let me in onsome of their side games. One of them is due to-night."

  "What is it?"

  "You'll know when the time comes. Got your tools with you?"

  Mason lazily touched a bag at his feet with his toe, and it jangled ashe replied.

  "All of them."

  "Good, enjoy yourself till about eleven o'clock. If anyone comes duckbehind the box yonder, though I don't think there's any chance of avisit a night like this. The bosses are paying too much attention to thestock end of traffic deals to take a flight at a little disruption ofthe service. There's a nine--Train orders, I've got to go at myroutine."

  Ralph settled down as comfortably as he could in his secure hidingplace. What he had just heard confirmed forever suspicions that crookedwork was being done by crooked operators, and that this fellow Grizzlywas one of them.

  He listened to the monotonous grind out of the operator: "O.S. O.S. X.N.No. 21 a. 7:39, d. 7:41," and knew that the Limited Mail had reachedTipton, and had gone on. The night schedule for the Mountain Divisionwest ran the wires, then miscellaneous messages. All this was likereading a book to Ralph, while his mind formed a mental map, a pictureof conditions all along the line.

  It grew dreadfully monotonous by nine o'clock, however. Grizzly grumbledwhile getting a heap of work out of the way, Mason went to sleep andsnored in his chair by the stove. A sudden diversion, however, arousedhim. There was the sound of the lower outside door slamming shut. Ralphcould look down at the stairway. Someone had appeared ascending it.Grizzly heard the footsteps, warning him of an intruder, and rushed atMason shaking him vigorously with the sharp mandate:

  "Bolt!"

  A minute later, peering within the operating room, Ralph saw theintruder enter. Mason had got to cover and Grizzly back to hisinstrument. The intruder suggested some half tipsy ranchman, whostaggered into the room shaking the snow from his garments.

  "Hi, there, young man," he hailed familiarly to Grizzly. "I want to senda message to Wayne."

  "Sorry, but it's too late."

  "Too late for what?" growled the intruder, looking skeptical and ugly.

  "All the instruments cut out that way and we won't have Wayne till sixo'clock in the morning."

  "Won't, eh? Well, you've got to, that's all," observed the man, comingnearer to the operating table.

  "Come around in the morning and some of the day force will send themessage for you."

  "No. I've got twenty-six cars of cattle out here that are going theretomorrow, and I want to notify my agents."

  Grizzly shook his head and turned to his table. The stranger bolted upagainst him with a savage face.

  "Say," he said, "you send this message or there is going to be trouble."

  "Not much, I won't send your confounded old message; get out of thisoffice."

  There was a swift movement on the part of the ranchman, then an ominousclick, and Grizzly was looking down the barrel of a revolver.

  "Give me your blamed old message and I'll send it for you," growled thescared operator, though there was not a wire anywhere near Wayne at thetime, but Grizzly had a scheme to stave the fellow off. He took thepaper from the man, went over to the switchboard, fumbled at a localinstrument, and, as Ralph discerned, went through the form of sending amessage.

  The stranger watched him furtively, pistol in hand, swaying to and frolike a reed in the wind and grinning like a monkey.

  "There, I hope you're satisfied now," muttered Grizzly.

  "Of course I am," chuckled the ranchman; "only I rushed a dodge on you,for the pistol isn't loaded. You bit like a fish."

  It was the turn of Grizzly to chuckle, however. As the fellow
disappeared Mason came into sight again, and the twain chuckled over thedeluded ranchman whose message would not go over the wires for manyhours to come.

  Towards ten o'clock things quieted down. Few messages went over thewires. It was only occasionally that the clicking told off someimportant train report from big centers. Grizzly looked and acteduneasy. He arose and strode about the room, looking out at the stormynight, stopping dead short in reflective halts, and glancing frequentlyat the clock, as though he was expecting somebody or something.

  "You act as if you was watching for something to happen," suggestedMason, after a long spell of silence.

  "I am," replied the operator. "See here, Mason; you know those wiresoverhead, I'm thinking?"

  "Like a book."

  "On the tap of eleven I send the man on the north branch home for a goodstop."

  "Officially, eh?" grinned Mason.

  "He'll think so, and that answers."

  "And then?"

  "Get aloft and cut out."

  Mason started and looked serious.

  "See here, Grizzly," he objected.

  "Did you think I sent for you at twenty dollars a night for fun?"

  "No, but----"

  "It's this serious: It's a wreck, and a bad one, but if it goes throughit's a thousand dollars apiece for us."