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Show companion proceeded. The twain were the best of friends ere the farmer came up from the potato patch, hoe in hand, to welcome his new guest. Mollia accompanied him, and now, when Kaye got a good look at her, he was more than anxious to take the place of Smith at the farmer's table. That night Tony and Kaye went together to-gether to the tower, and the day men leaving at 7 o'clock gave them undisputed undis-puted po.ssession for the next twelve hours. There was little time for conversation con-versation that night. What between the usual number of extra freights in bcth directions causing many train orders, and the necessary explanations of the working of the blocks, Tony wtw kept busy. Ho noticed, however, that the new man was a good operator, and although he said that he had never worked work-ed on train wires, quickly grasped tho details, and before morning was working work-ing tho semaphores and notifying the tower ahead of passing trains with the regularity of a veteran. Promptly at 7 o'clock the next morning they were relieved re-lieved bv tho day men, there being two operators on duty in daylight, the work being heavier. Tired and sleepy the night men were soon in bed at the farm. During the afternoon Smith left for the east in high spirits. When supper time came the gap made by his absence brought Mollie next to Kaye. Her fresh beauty and light spirits pleased tho stranger, and as he started to work carrying carry-ing tho pail containing the lnt'h prepared pre-pared bv her plump hands he felt highly gratified at his good luck. Once m the tower, however, this elation vanished, for his new surroundings made him exceedingly ex-ceedingly nervous, and being compel ed to "break" onco or twice when he failed to understand a rapidly transmitted word he had the pleasure of hearing a sarcastic message flash over the wires about "tho plug that took Tony s place at Long Hollow." Time rolled away, and Kaye became accustomed to the position in which he had been placed. At first he found it lonely to an intense degree in the tower as the night, crept on, and once or twice he was very uneasy when tramps had begged him through tha open window to permit them to come up and have a smoke The rules forbidding admittance to the tower were stringent, but apart from this Kaye would not have allowed he nomads to enter. Many and many a night as he sat in his glass cased apart, ment he had let his eyes wander to the form house which sheltered Mohie and his mind following his sight was htd with thoughts boding no peace to him- Lcng after the midnight hour had passed he used to tilt his chair back and smoke his brain filled with teeming Oughts such as come only in the ul of a summer evening. Anon his can Wd come from the insn a,,d instantlv he was alert and active. "TtoSne passed west" wires the operator ope-rator in the tower above, and with h u S on the semaphore signal he awaits thTcoming of the train. Soon he hears a X in the distance, and a moment lateTth" headlight of the express flhes afar np the track. He pulls the maiden wnose nousenoia amies allowed her freedom at the same hours. Needless Need-less to say that love followed. Often as Kaye sat at night in his eyrie he caught a glimpse of a light waved to and fro in an tipper window of the farm house, and knowing full well the good night signal of his sweetheart, ho replied with a quick movement of the semaphore. One night about half-past 12, just after a heavily laden freight had passed east and when all the country waa wrapped in slumber, he sat leisurely smoking, his eye, as usual, resting on his beloved's home. Suddenly something some-thing caught his gaze, and straightening straighten-ing np he looked intently at the farm house. A tiny light was hovering at one end. Even as he looked it grow clearer and brighter. In an instant ho realized that the old "homestead was on fire. Oh, what a struggle followed in tho bosom of the operator. To leave the tower might mean certain death to the scores of passengers on the express now duo. for the freight had not yet passed off the block; to stay where he was would as surely cause the inmates of tho dwelling to perish. For a moment, but only a moment, he was undecided; then, throwing open the key, ho called tho towers above and below be-low him. "For God's sake, send help," ho nervously repeated; "a farm house is on tiro and I am alone." He added his signature and closed the key. In an instant in-stant the receiver began to click. "Cannot "Can-not help you; am all alone," came from the westward tower. A moment later the clicking began again: "Extra freight took middle siding here to clear No. 10; engineer and conductor just left tower; will run back light on west bound track with full crew to put out fire." The news came from the office east. Kaye glanced at the house. The flame was becoming larger and the smoke was beginning to roll up in clonds. "No. It passed east" comes from the instrument. Kaye automatically pu- his hand to the semaphore and peered out along the track. It was five miles to the next tower and ho knew that ten minutes would be required by the freight engine to cover the distance. The seconds i seemed interminable. Would relief never come? A muffled roar, momentarily in- creasing, gladdened his heart for an instant, in-stant, bnt hopes faded out, for the sound came from the west, not from the east. In another moment the express dashed bv the tower shivering as the heavy sleepers rattled over the track. No use to hold it. he thought. Even in the timo of agony he did not forget to send notice of the train passing. The flames were increasing. Would the engino never come? Again he peered up the track. No light yet. Heavens! Had they refused re-fused to come after all? A moment later the shrill tooting of a gteam whistle not a hundred yards away broke forth, and before Kaye realized it tho engine was standing at the tower, j the whistle going like mail, while half a I dozen men were climbing the fence and I hastening to the fire. He had forgotten i that the engine waa running backward ' and would show no light, i The farmer's family were all saved and I the grimv train hands were back at their I posts inside of an hour. Never before or since did the operator undergo such u- pense as he did in the quarter of an hour I prior to the coming of the freight engine. en-gine. Mollie has since become Mrs. Kaye.Philadeiphia Time. " -OVE IN A SIGNAL BOX. ma ., liiy Smith had said his last good-by 1 the little knot of acquaintances he '1 made in the country during the two f-ws he had been night oierator in the ;owcr." It waa with no small degree n f pleasure he had received advice from -J division operator that ho would be ' msferred to a yard office, and that his - '".lessor would lie sent on at once to re-' re-' vo hinXi That same day the new man fnved. Smith met him at the station, ne newcomer was a quiet, well built a ting fellow, rather handsome, Tony l!ught. He took him up to the tower, Produced him to the day men and in a neral way explained tho peculiarities 1 the blocks controlled by them, how :i third track was used jointly by east 1 ' 'and and w6st bound trains, how, as jj e next tower east was a number of rtes distant, the rule of allowing but : train in a block at a time was modi-1 modi-1 d and so on, to all of which the 'ranger listened attentively. Tony then offered to take him np to "e farm where he had been boarding, 'Ting that no doubt he could arrange ,J stay there if he liked, and as the neigh-iors neigh-iors had a prejudice against the night 'Perators on account of their untimely kr;ars it would be the best plan to go th him. It was bnt a short distance '-'tni the track and np the lane to the toase. As the pair drew near a young omau who had .been sitting on the porch rose, and with heightened color ks she saw the stranger would have repeated re-peated had not Tony called her famil-arly famil-arly as Mollie and bade her await their fining. He introduced his companion, ill Kaye, as his successor, and after a words had been spoken the maiden ent in search of her father, while the two operators seated themselves on the "If of the porch. - Smith was .one of that class of men ho make confidants of every one, Edging all from their own free hearted, pnerons standpoint Kaye listened to bis talk with a quiet smile, which grew i fcore pronounced and kindly as his fbfi routine continues. , hL hoars of work left him free only inSSoon, and of all time, that is Se woS an infatuated ym thrown constancy m.compapr JO |