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

  CHAPTER VII

  DANGER SIGNALS

  The danger seemed gone, with the passage of the whirling object onwheels that had so narrowly grazed the young railroader, but mystery andvagueness remained in its trail.

  "What was it?" Ralph heard one of his late assailants ask.

  "A hand car," was the prompt reply. "She must have struck somebody. Didyou hear that yell?"

  "Yes--run for it. We don't know what may have happened, and we don'twant to be caught here if anybody comes to find out what is up."

  Ralph was in no condition to follow the fugitives. For a moment he stoodtrying to rally his scattered senses. The situation was a puzzling anddistrustful one. Abruptly he crouched against the wall of the tunnel.

  "The hand car," he breathed--"it is coming back!"

  As if to emphasize this discovery, a second time and surely nearing himthat alarming cry of fright rang out. Again reversed, the hand carwhizzed by him. Then in less than twenty seconds it shot forward in theopposite direction once more. Twice it thus passed him, and on eachoccasion more slowly, and Ralph was able to reason out what was goingon.

  The hand car was unguided. Someone was aboard, however, but helpless orunable to operate it. Unmistakable demonstrations of its occupancy werefurnished in the repetition of the cries that had at first pierced theair, though less frenzied and vivid now than at the start.

  Finally seeking and finding the dead level at the exact centre of thetunnel, the hand car appeared to have come to a stop. Ralph shookhimself together and proceeded for some little distance forward. He wasguided by the sound of low wailings and sobs. He landed finally againstthe end of the hand car.

  "Hello, there!" he challenged.

  "O--oh! who is it?" was blubbered out wildly. "O--oh, mister! I did notdo it. Teddy Nolan gave it a shove, and away it went--boo-hoo!"

  Ralph read the enigma promptly. Mischievous boys at play beyond thenorth end of the tunnel had been responsible for the sensational descentof the hand car. He groped about it now and discovered a tiny formclinging to the boxed-up gearing in the centre of the car.

  "You stay right still where you are," ordered Ralph, as he located thehandles of the car and began pumping for speed.

  "Oh, yes, sir, I will."

  "It's probably too late to think of heading off or overtaking thosefellows," decided Ralph, "but I've got to get this hand car out ofharm's way."

  It was no easy work, single handed working the car up the slant, butRalph made it finally. He found a watchman dozing in the little shantynear the entrance to the tunnel. The man was oblivious to the fact ofthe hand car episode, and of course the same as to the two men who haddoubtless long since escaped from the tunnel and were now safe frompursuit. Ralph did not waste any time questioning him. As he wasditching the hand car the ragged urchin who had made a slide for lifeinto the tunnel took to his heels and scampered away.

  The young railroader thought next of the paymaster. Ralph made a sharprun of it on foot through the tunnel. He did not find Mr. Little wherehe had left him, but came across him sitting on a bench at the firstflagman's crossing, evidently patiently waiting for his return.

  "Well, what luck," challenged Mr. Little.

  "None at all," reported Ralph, and recited the events of the pastfifteen or twenty minutes.

  "That's pretty lively going," commented Mr. Little, looking Ralph overwith an approving and interested glance. "I managed to limp this far.I've wrenched my foot. I don't think it amounts to much, but it is quitepainful. I'll rest here a bit and see if it doesn't mend."

  "Shall I help you to the house, Mr. Little?" suggested Ralph.

  "Maybe--a little later. I want to know about this business first--thesmashed window and those burglars. Come, sit down here on the bench withme and tell me all about it, Fairbanks."

  "They are not burglars," asserted Ralph.

  "What are they, then?"

  "What I hurriedly hinted to you some time back--spies."

  "Spies?"

  "Yes."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "I had better tell you the whole story, Mr. Little."

  "That's it, Fairbanks."

  Ralph began with the queer-acting trio who had first attracted hissuspicions several days previous. He did not leave out the details ofhis interview with the assistant superintendent at Rockton.

  "Why, Fairbanks," exclaimed the paymaster, arising to his feet inpositive excitement, "this is a pretty serious business."

  "It strikes me that way, sir."

  "If these two men were not incidental burglars, and nothing is missingat the house, they were after information."

  "Instead of booty, exactly," responded Ralph, in a tone of conviction.

  "And if that is true," continued the paymaster, still more wrought up,"they show a system of operation that means some big design in theirmind. Give me the help of your shoulder, Fairbanks. I've got to get tothe house and to my telephone right away."

  A detour of the walled-in runway was necessary in order that they mightreach Mr. Little's home. The paymaster limped painfully. Ralph himselfwinced under the weight of his hand placed upon his shoulder, but hemade no complaint. His right arm was growing stiff and the fingers ofthat hand he had noticed were covered with blood.

  By the time they reached the paymaster's home, his family had returned.Mr. Little led Ralph at once to the library and sank into his armchairat the desk.

  "Why," he exclaimed after a glance at Ralph, "you are hurt, too."

  "Oh, a mere trifle," declared the young engineer with apparentcarelessness.

  "No, it's something serious--worth attending to right away," insistedthe paymaster, and he called to his wife, introduced Ralph, and Mrs.Little led him out to the kitchen.

  In true motherly fashion she seated him on a splint bottomed chair atthe sink, got a basin of hot water and some towels, some lint and abottle of liniment, and proceeded to attend to his needs like an expertsurgeon.

  Where Ralph's hand had swept the steel rail when his assailant in thetunnel had knocked him off his footing, one arm had doubled up underhim, his fingers sweeping a bunch of metal splinters. These hadcriss-crossed the entire back of his hand. Once mended up, Ralph wasmost solicitous, however, to work his arm freely, fearing a wrench orinjury that might temporarily disable him from road duty.

  "I've got the superintendent over the 'phone," said Mr. Little, as Ralphreentered the library. "He's due at an important lodge meeting, andcan't get here until after nine o'clock. See here, Fairbanks," with aglance at the injured hand which Ralph kept to his side in an awkwardway, "you'd better get home and put that arm in a sling."

  "I think myself I'd better have a look at it," acknowledged Ralph. "Itfeels pretty sore around the shoulder."

  "You have a telephone at your house?" inquired the paymaster.

  "Yes, sir."

  "I may want to call you up. If I don't, I feel pretty sure thesuperintendent will, when we have talked over affairs."

  Mr. Little insisted on his hired man hitching up the family horse todrive Ralph home. Mrs. Fairbanks at a glance read pain and discomfort inher son's face as he entered the sitting room. Ralph set her fears atrest with a hasty explanation. Then after resting a little he told herall about his adventures of the evening.

  "It seems as if a railroader must take a double risk all the time," shesaid in a somewhat regretful tone.

  "It's a part of the business to take things as they come, mother,"observed Ralph. "It's a fight nowadays in every line where there isprogress. The Great Northern is in the right, and will win, and it is myduty to help in the battle."

  When he came to look over his injured arm Ralph found a pretty badbruise near the shoulder. His mother declared that it would needattention for some days to come.

  "By which you mean, I suppose," remarked Ralph with a smile, "that youwant to coddle me off duty. Can't be done, mother. I must stay on deckas long as I can pull a lever. Ouch!"

  Ralph winced as he happened to
give his arm a twist.

  "You may change your mind by morning, my son," observed Mrs. Fairbanks,with a slight motherly triumph in her tone.

  When Ralph arose the next day he remembered those words. His arm was sostiff he could scarcely bend it at the elbow, and his hand was badlyswollen. He had just finished breakfast when there came a ring at thetelephone, which Ralph answered.

  "That you, Fairbanks?" sounded the voice of the paymaster.

  "Yes, Mr. Little."

  "How is that arm of yours this morning?"

  "Not quite as well as I would like it to be."

  "I called you up to tell you that you will probably hear from thegeneral superintendent this forenoon," continued Mr. Little.

  "About last night's affair I suppose?"

  "In a line with that, yes. He was with me for over three hours lastnight, and he's pretty well stirred up. Your injured arm will be a goodexcuse for canceling your run for a few days."

  "But I have no idea of canceling my run," declared Ralph. "I'll havethat arm in working shape when the Overland pulls out today."

  "I'm giving you a hint, that's all," answered the paymaster. "I feelpretty sure the superintendent intends to schedule you for specialduty."