CHAPTER X--A MILE A MINUTE
Ralph stood dumfounded as he made out the great Indian tiger, CalcuttaTom, that "had cost six thousand dollars to cage after it had killedfive men."
The encounter was so unlooked for that Ralph stood transfixed for asecond or two.
The escaped animal could not have been long in the switch house,otherwise Knight or others would have discovered it. It had escapedbefore daybreak that morning. Since then it must have been in hidingaround the depot yards.
About twenty feet away from the switch tower were some open vault-likerecesses fitting into a brick abutment. This inclined from the depotbaggage room. Up and down this, baggage was run on trucks. It waspossible that for a time the tiger had lurked in some of these darkrecesses, transferring itself to the lower tower room within the lastfifteen minutes.
Calcutta Tom was a formidable-looking beast of enormous size. Ralphnoticed, however, that while the animal growled and bristled fiercely,it did not crouch or threaten to spring. It posed clumsily, showed noteeth--if it had any--and seemed determined to act simply on thedefensive and repel intruders.
Toot-toot-toot-too-ooo-oot!
The shrill, strange whistle in the distance cut vividly on Ralph's earbecause it proceeded from that unusual locality--the north spur.
With a thrill he caught its signal warning. The limited was coming, themile-a-minute special would be hammering the main depot rails in lessthan three minutes now!
Its engineer had right of way track signal from fifteen miles back. Hewas not expected to be looking out for obstructions. The "O.K. clear"order meant that he need not trouble his mind as to complications inunfamiliar territory. The delayed express on the out track was hiddenfrom view by a curve. Even if discovered, the special, going at atremendous rate of speed, could not slow up in time to avoid acollision.
All these thoughts flashed through the young leverman's mind within thespace of a single second. Ralph knew that he must instantly scale theladder and set the levers, or else all would be lost.
He made a reckless run for the iron ladder. Four feet from it, he wentbounding back like a rubber ball.
Calcutta Tom had simply raised a ponderous paw. It dropped on Ralph'sbreast with the force of a sledge-hammer.
Ralph landed with a thud against the inside sheathing of the tower. Thenhe stumbled flat, but came erect, grasping a broken brake-rod his handhad chanced to touch on the floor.
Again the "Clear the way!" signal of the speeding special to the northsent the blood rushing through his veins like quicksilver.
Ralph sprang at the tiger, striking out with all his strength.
The bar was wrenched from his grasp by his formidable brute foe. He sawit twisted up like a bit of flexible licorice. The tiger made a spring.Its bristling form filled the doorway almost as quickly as Ralph hadsped through it.
There the tiger stood, blinking at the light, and snarling fiercely.Ralph gave a great gasp of desperation, and looked wildly all about himfor escape from his dilemma.
No one on the sidings was near enough to signal to any advantage. Bythe time he could summon help and explain matters, the special would beon hand and the damage done.
A cold sweat came out all over his body. Ralph began to quake. Itmeant sure death to oppose the stubborn brute in the open doorway.
"What shall I do--oh, what can I do?" panted Ralph in a torment ofagony.
He ran out a few steps and looked up at the tower room. This loomedtwenty feet aloft, flanging out mushroom-fashion over the lower story,which presented a solid base.
The tower room was inaccessible, even if he could scale the lowerbuilding. Ralph ran a complete circuit of the structure. Then his eyeflashed with sudden hope.
As nimbly as though his tiger foe was directly at his heels, Ralphsprang at and clasped a telegraph pole. Its surface was roughened andindented by the hooks of linemen, allowing him to get a lifting grip.
Ralph drew himself up slowly. The ascent to his overwrought mind seemedto consume an age. It was just forty-five seconds, however, whentwenty-five feet from the ground, his slivered and bleeding handsgrasped the first cross-bar of the telegraph pole and he lifted himselfto it.
A foot or two down and six feet away was the glass-windowed side of thetower room. Ralph pulled himself erect till both feet rested on thenarrow cross-bar.
He steadied himself on his dizzy perch. He seemed to have ceased tobreathe, and his heart stood still, so intense was the strain on hisnerves. The wreck and ruin of a great railroad system to hisexaggerated senses seemed to impend on his success in a daring dive.
For a dive it was, and a desperate one. All the upper sashes frontinghim were lowered, as was the usage in clear weather. Ralph caught theshrieking blast of the special. His expert ear told him that it wasless than a mile distant. He poised, wavered, and then made a forwardspring.
There was a great clatter of glass. Ralph half hung over the top of thelower and the lowered sashes, but his feet had kicked in the doublepanes. He fairly fell over the sashes into the tower room.
On his feet in a flash, the youth darted a swift glance at the towerclock. It was just 1.15.
"Made it!" he cried, but in a faint, hoarse tone--"made it, but just intime!"
He was so overcome that it was his sheer weight rather than any exertionof muscle that pulled bar 4 over into place. Then Ralph staggered back,and fairly fell into the armchair.
The ordeal had been a terrible one. He understood how a man's hairturned white sometimes in an hour. His teeth were chattering, hischeeks blanched. He turned his eyes to the north, chained to the chairmomentarily in a kind of a dread stupor.
A flagman across the rails was yelling up at him. He had witnessedRalph's sensational proceedings, and was staring at the broken windowpanes. Ralph did not hear him.
Instead, his ears were filled with a grinding on the north rails.Tearing down them, swaying from side to side, shrieking out constantlyfor clear tracks, a locomotive with one car attached reached the fardepot end and went its length like a flash of light.
"The special!" breathed Ralph,--"on time!"