Show THE MYSTERIOUS MESSACE > JE 4 + < r + + 0 + + + + < 4 < o + o BY CY WARMAN Copyright 1S97 by Cy Waiman Any one could see by the air of Industry In-dustry that pervdded the place that something unusual was going on Everybody was busy Three or four swatch enginesnoisy little tugs of the Tail were puffing and snorting amid the sea of cars that covered the freight yards Down at the roundhouse the day foreman In a newly washed suit of overclothes hurried to and fro with crumpled copies of tegrams from the train master The bo > wiper with his gang was clearing the circle in front of the house of dirty waste and lumps of coal One of the men was sweeping the turntable with a new broom Now a yard engine came by with a freshly painted mail car and another followed it with a mile or so of empties reminding remind-ing you of a little black ant at one end of a fish worm The superintendent had gone into the dispatchers office to talk with the trainmaster about a meeting point for No8 and the presidents special This was the new president who with the chairman of the board of directors was making his first tour of inspection Every one must be busy without appearing ap-pearing to try to be The section boss saw that each man was at his shovel and waved a slow signal himself to how the officials that they had been doing something to the track The roadmaster had gone out that morning occupying a camp stool on the rear I platform of No S All these things combined to show to the most casual observer that something some-thing was up In the face of every officer of-ficer of the road at this particular point there was a look of anxiety as though he might be repeating I Hell cut me off or let me stay Just as he happens to feel today The division superintendent who had dust gone into the dispatchers office was an exception to the rule that all I subordinate officials are afraid of anew a-new management He knew his business busi-ness and knew he could go with the retiring manager to another road The train master was of a different caste I He was as nervous as a maiden lady in her first bicycle suit Having sent the trick man away he was handling the trains himself to make sure that everything was O Kd I sent a girl over here yesterday an operatorsaid the superintendent after they had fixed the meeting point and you sent her away I have Instructed In-structed her to call here again this morning and I hope you will be good enough to put her to work Her father was the engineer who was killed when the fast mall went in the ditch on the I east end and she is the only support her mother has 0 0 Tne trainmaster mumbled something about the company running unnecessary unneces-sary risks for charitys sake when the superintendent cut him off with the information in-formation that there was no charity about it I was just an act of simple justice and decency and he hoped the trainmaster would not only give the girl something to do but that he would take especial care of her and keep her out of trouble The man at the key Laid he would endeavor to find a place for her but he positively refused to be responsible for her Then sir said the superintendent I shall cease to be responsible for you and there followed a scen in the midst of which a pale girl slipped Into the rom and sank upon a seat outside the railing unobserved by either of the angry officials of-ficials The superinterIent after pacing the room a time or two Daused at one of the windows overlooking the yards The presidents special had for the moment been forgotten by the dispatcher dis-patcher who now turned to the key to send the order for the meeting Still smarting from the effect of the tilt with his chief his mind was disturbed dis-turbed The office was now as still as death save for the clicking of the keys and the slow measured ticking of the great clock above the dispatchers deskthe clock that marked time for all the clocks on the entire system Presently the dispatcher Jerked the key open and began to call Westcreek and when he got them said Train No8 conductor Smith will take siding for special west Eng SS at Rnsfrreek Eastcreek onn Now he began calling the operator at Lookout siding and when he answered the dispatcher shot him an order that almost burned the wire Special west engine 88 will meet train No 8 at Westcreek The pale girl sprang to her feet The dispatcner turned and saw her and when he realized that she must have overheard the quarrel between the superintendent su-perintendent and himself his anger rose against the innocent young woman and the other official seeing their embarrassment em-barrassment quit the room by a side door Mr Goodlough youve made a great mistake said the girl Have I shouted the trainmaster and do you expect a salary for correcting cor-recting me Look at your sheet Youve What yelled the man do you mean to For heavens sake man pleaded the girl see what youve done look at the clock therell be a collision in less than ten minutes Youll be a murderer I you fail to save those trains Youre about as crazy as they get said the dispatcher and really she looked like a mad woman with her big eyes burning in her pale face Of a sudden she turned darted out of the office and ran down the stairs as an actress quits a burning hotel Shes a bird in a telegraph office muttered the trainmaster going back to his dek Ah well Im sorry for her and glad shes I gone presume I shes lost her mind grieving after her father but what could have put that fool notion in her head Can i be and then he stopped short staring at the train sheet in front of him and one would have thought to look at him that his eyes had caught the wild light that was in the eyes of his visitor and that tne maiaay ne seemed to see in her mind had been suddenly transmitted trans-mitted to his Now he glanced quickly from the sheet to the clock Twenty seven h said and he knew by heart that No I was due at Westcreek at 28 and he reached a trembling nand for the key and began calling the operator op-erator Ten 20 30 seconds went by and no answer came Forty 50 5 seconds and he fancied he could see the operator opera-tor standing out In front of the little station with a pen behind his ear and ink on his shirt sleeves For another five seconds he called and as the minute min-ute wasted I seemed to him that his blood was boiling and his brain was on fire Then he thought of calling Eastcreek to hold the special The operator op-erator who happened to be at the key about to report answered quickly and the dispatcher asked Wheres the special Gone said the wire and the trainmaster train-master pitched forward fainting among the inkstands and instruments The operator at Westcreek stood in front of the little station smiling at the roadmaster on No 8 and the operator oper-ator at Eastcreek sat looking through t the rear end of the presidents private car puckering up in the distance and the three drivers ignorant of the awful t aw-ful mistake were now dashing at the f rate of a mile a minute into the open t door of death I r F The superintendent who had looked f into the ghost like face of the girl a she passed him on the stair thought lie read there of a wrong done and returned re-turned at once to the dispatchers office determined to have the matter out I with his rebellious trainmaster He had entered the office unobserved by I the operator and stood directly behind him and heard him ask Eastcreek where the special was and heard the answer Gone Of this he made nothing until the dispatcher threw out his arms and fell forward upon his I desk then the superintendent knew that something had gone wrong A glance at the record of the dispatchers I work showed I all I was 929 The 1 great clock told him that No 8 had already passed Westcreek the special I had passed Eastcreek and now there was nothing to do but wait for the collision which in the narrow crooked canon was sure to come I Tenderly he lifted the limp dispatcher from the table and laid him upon the i I floor He poured water in his hand I and bathed the face of the unfortunate official but I failed to revive him and I then he called up the hospital and one of the surgeons came with an ambu lance and carried the sick man away The superintendent who was himself him-self an operator called Eastcreek and I told him to let nothing pass that point westbound until further notice from the dispatchers office He walked to the window and looked out over the coach yards and saw the pale girl pacing the platform waiting for a train to carry her back waitng I home Her heart was heavy with I dread of the collision and at thought j I of returning to her widowed mother i I with the news of her failure to secure j work The work superintendent tapped upon the window with a switch key and when she looked up beckoned her to himTake Take that seat said the seat superin tendent pointing to an poIntng empty chair at the dispatchers desk She did as he had told her ana waited tremblingly waied for the wire to give her to do something Mr Creamer the first trick man who had been sent away having heard of the sudden illness of the trainmaster now came hurriedly into the office The superintendent waved his hand in the direction of the desk where the girl sat Keep your seat said the dispatcher as she was about to rise and after glancing over the work turned a blanched face to the super intendent There was a moment of silence in which sience into the two men gazed helplessly each others faces and listened Westcreek constantly for a call from lstened or The keys clicked and the girl whose cheeks were merrily now burning red gathered in the reports from the various stations of the statons com ing and going of many trains Now the operator at Eastcreek touched the key and said No S 20 minutes late and fresh color freh came to the white faces in the dispatchers office I When the operator at Westcreek quitted the platform and him the office which he heard a hurryup reentered call for came In a quick nervous way and told him that he was wanted He answered at once and got this in return Hold No 8 lap order The I last two words assured him that Te pliance with this order was necessary com he to prevent a collision No S is gone replied Hpld herTo J G came back to him in an instant The man is crazy thought the operator but he opertor would try As he rushed from the office a I ofce light engine was just out of the siding to take water pulling This I 1 locomotive belonged to the crew of I I work train a I but trin the into left in the the cab siding and The shouted train operator to had the sprang been I I gineer to en Lap order pull he out added and and catch that No was 8 enough for his fireman The driver without waiting behind who was some yards I tugging at a stiff switch grade an open effort and behind to bounded close the it away stff up the the throttle steep in I I passenger train Now they could see the trin No8 just whipping rear end of I I a master saw the corner The road as she came nearer approaching engine and I I guessed that she was running wild wi1drideriessj her widriderlessr that rider had lost I control of her It might be that the engineer I I did I them Theirs not see was a heavy train trainthey they were losing time He remembered that they had been two Westcreek He called minutes the late at who cled rear flagman was railroadinir riroadin with a deadhead conductor in the smoking sleeaer room of the The flagman took In the situation a glance His situaton at business was to flag re gardless of fag possibilities circumstances and vague POssibities and before the roadmastcr could stay him the fearless flagman swung himself faJan round and dropped from the train By the time he had regained his feet and found his flag the light engine en l utterner a wild shriek wid dashed by him The engineer to by a red flasr turned avoid running fin his face to the firemans side and refused to see the danger signal Now he was near to whistle the enough whiste other engines down and the enginemen pulling the ger train shut off and when the passen driver of the light engine l saw a chimney of white steam shoot chimneJ up from each of the forward locomotives he knew they had quit and slowed his own machine cordingly When they had ac the train the onerator come up t of No8 shouted lap order ran to back the rear orer up and hurried over to the head end The I i roadmaster reached for the rone and signalled the engineers to back The drivers opened their up I throttles I and whistles throttes train whistes back and began to jam the The driver of the light I engine re versed at once upon dropping the oper ator picked up the flagman and fiaJan was now backing away for Westcreek a frightful at Dace His fireman the switch left him on the siding still No at S dropped in Atter him and just as soon as the operator te and conductor had forced the stubborn rails back to rais the main line the lne residents special crashed over the switch Spcial swich Not a soul on board the special knew how near they had been to death Their ordirs read to meet No 8 at Westcreek and there she was in to clear just as the daring driver of the her special engine had expected to find h jjc tuimucior 01 KO 8 with his two engineers the roadmaster and operator wasted five minutes reading checking comparing and examining the orders they had received The were sl < med T J G bv the trainmaster all himself The thins was traInmaste had given a Ian order lut had discovered his mistake in time bv the discoerd for tune that had oo left the light engine at Westcreek to prevent an awful disas ter He was a good fellow and they I were all glad he had saved himself al though the incident might work to his embarrassment when he came up for promotion Incidentally they were glad that they were alive wer To appreciate the m mysterious sterous part of the tale the reader should understand the value of time not of hours and minutes but of seconds in handling trains on a single track railroad It will be remembered that Goodlaugh discovered his mistake at 927 No 8 was due to pass Westcreek at 92 and at 929 the superintendent had seen the trainmaster collapse I will be sen re membered also that No 8 was < two minutes late but the man who had sent the lap order did not know i and his nerve would not last until he could find it out The order to out orer hold No S the order which prevented the collision and doubtless saved many lives was sent at 931 I was signed with the initials of the trainmaster but at a time when that gentleman was dead to the world and had been so for two whole minutes No man was in a better position to Know these facts than the suoerin tendent who was the only man at the dispatchers office at the moment when the mysterious message flashed over the wire and whose business it was to investigate the whole matter As the investigation in-vestigation proceeded the superintendent superintend-ent became Intensely interested in them the-m ste11 For awhile he kept the matter mat-ter to himself but these things will out and in less than a months time the mysterious message became the leading lead-ing topic in shops cabs way cars and boarding houses To say that the clocks were at variance would not satisfy a railroad man for they had taken time at 9 a m only a half hour before the message went out In time the story of the mysterious message came to the ears of the president presi-dent at Boston and as his life had been saved by the sending of this wire which amounted to almost a miracle he set himself at once to the task of solving the mystery He belonged to a certain society whose members delight to delve in things occult and they were I not long in accounting for all that had occurred I fell out later that the treasurers clerk was also a member of the Boston society to which the president presi-dent belonged The days work in a dispatchers office of-fice is divided into three tricks The first trick man works from 8 a m until 4 p m the second from that hour to the end of the day and the third man works the death trickin which nearly all the ugly wrecks occui > from midnight till morning You may go now said Mr Creamer to the girl when the second man came in and took his trick at 4 oclock atl4 Shall Icomeback in the morning morn-ing asked the girl with some embarrassment embar-rassment Yes was the answer after a moments mo-ments thought By a sort of unwritten rule the first trick man had stepped to the post of trainmaster when that industrious but overzealous officer had fallen Whose initials shall I nut to this order asked the girl sending her first message on the morning of the second day dayYour Your own said Mr Creamer and the receiving operator at Livingston wondered who the new dispatcher could be Every night after midnight the operators along the line would ground wire cutting off the officials and discuss dis-cuss the new dispatcher Not a few of them felt that they were entitled to promotion and were in favor fa-vor of sending a grievance committee in at once Who is the new guy AY asked the operator at Lookout one afternoon af-ternoon when he supposed the second trick man was at the other end of the lineGo Go ahead guy said Miss Morgan for she had not been relieved Working the first trick said the operator finishing his query and mak ing i plain There was a dash of Irish in Minnie Morgan and she answered without hesitation Miles Mulcahy Solid with the new push Sure was the girls answer and then she shut him off I was not long however until the trainmen carried the news out over the road that Miles Mulcahy was a woman but not until the new dispatcher had gained something of a reputation as ann an-n n n Some of U the v swift LnIJUS senders began to try to rush her but it didnt go The I great clock continued to measure off of the days trains arrived and departed one time the mysterious message was still a mystery and the girl stayed at I her post The superintendent was Creamer quietly proud pnth1cIct of his protege Cho and Mr n the road he had declared i to his chief as the red man knows the forest and I the time card as Fr Maloney knew the catechism Shes just a bird thats all he observed to the smiling super I intendent a reglar crackerjack and you cant tie her The January sun swinging far and low in the south sent a stingy ray aslant the window and touched the covers cov-ers on the sick mans couch He rubbed his eyes looked about and whispered Wheream I but he was pot acting The bare white walls the iron bedstead bed-stead the little table and the one wooden wood-en chair told nim that he was In the hospital A vase of fresh cut roses stood upon the table and he knew that he had a friend somewhere He remembered remem-bered afterward that the smell of roses was the tlrst thing that was quite clear to him I Have I been ill he asked of the attendant who now entered the room for being an official and able to pay I extra Goodlough had not been placed in the open ward His malady too had been of a nature that required close attention At times he had been I a raving maniac screaming and calling for heln to eseiifi the nrpsfrtont frnm o I m n m burning carnn Yes said the nurse coming cautiously cau-tiously to the sick bed you have been very ill Youre all right now but you must not talk In a little while the sick man fell asleep again for the fever had left him very weak When he awoke on the II following morning his mind was much stronger His eyes wandered directly I to the little table and there was the i vase with fresh flowers and tears came I to the eyes of the sufferer He wondered won-dered as eo days went by that none i I of his old friends came to see him Vaguely he began to recall the pat and all that had happened He wondered how many were killed but he dare not ask The few people that he saw seemed so cheerful and the chief surgeon was always so genial that he began to hope that things had turned out better than he had expected At the end of another week the superintendent superin-tendent came in to see him and he I too was as cheerful and happy as a man could well be It is good of you to come and see me said the sick r man I dont deserve it You do deserve itwas the reply and I have been here many times but the doctor thought you would be better off alone but now that you are so strong he says we can all come and I see you as often as we will Will Creamer come I always liked I l Dan and his absence has hurt me but he has not forgotten our past friendship friend-ship and the speakers eyes filled with L tears as they rested on the vase Hes here now said the superintendent superin-tendent touched deeply by the tears i and tenderness of the sick man Every morning for nearly a month he has called here to ask after you 1 F shall send him to you at once and I now you must brace up Goodbye The meeting between Creamer and I his sick friend was too much for the I patient and the chief surgeon who I had come in with the visitor was I obliged to send him away almost immediately im-mediately I was nearly a week before anymore any-more visitors were admitted to the sickroom sick-room Only the flowers came every morning They were not many but I always fresh Im strong enough to know now Dan said the patient when Creamer had been left alone with him and I want you to tell me all about it About what Tom About the collision how many were killed Dan assured him that there hail been no collision on the road for over a year And you he explained have just been here a month today this Is 1 the 20th of January Dont He to me Dan Anybody could do that but from you I ask the truth and I think I have a right to I expect it I sent a lap order the day I fell ill I became confused over the repetition of No 8 and engine 8S I Eastcreek and Westcreek and I gave a lap order A girl in the office trIed I to save me but I laughed at her i j I thought her crazy and when at last I I noticed my mistake I tried to call I I I Westcreek to hold 8 but could not get him I called and called up to the last second but he did not answer and I i seemed to me that I must go mad SUddeniy i occurred to me madi < i might get Eastcreek and hold the special but the answer came quick and awful Gone and then I knew no more until 1 smelted the smell of < those fresh roses ybu sent me and I came to life again Now Ill tell you the truth Tom the whole truth and nothing but the truth as the judge would say began his visitor You did give a lap order but you saved yourself Westcreek did answer and got your order to holii No8 and he held her and there was no collision Dan I never sent that message 1 I I wanted to God knows I would gladly have given my life to have saved I I those poor fellows on the engines and they new president Was he killed I I Ah Dan why dont you tell me the truth and the miserable man held out his hand beseechingly I have told the whole truth said Creamer There was no collision but Goodlough shook his head his eyes filled with tears and he turned his pale pinched face to the wall The superintendent whose long suit as the roadmaster expressed it was hoss sense had maintained all along that the transmission of the mysterious mysteri-ous message was still a mystery Those occultist bCientistsniitrKt up nights and work out answers satisfactory to themselves declared the superintendent superintend-ent but they would lever go it his and of the line There must be another an-other solution of this mysterious message mes-sage he declared to the president and I shall find it before the end of the vear OAt o the expiration of 40 days theI I medical staff declared Goodlough sound In body and mind and the old trainmaster train-master called upon the superintendent for his decision He had begun as a messenger boy in the trainmasters office of-fice on an eastern road when he could barely reach the top of the high desk He had been with this company so long that he felt a proprietary interest in the road He would be glad to return I re-turn to his old post but men were usually dismissed for giving a lap order orderI will not be necessary for us to review this matter b gan the superintendent super-intendent when Mr poodlough hail seated himself in the private office of his old chief Under ordinary circumstances circum-stances I should feel it my duty to discharge dis-charge you but in consideration of your excellent record and her extenuating exten-uating circumstances the confusing nature of the numbers of the locomo lives and trains and the names of stations sta-tions I have concluded that I shall tons serve the company best by allowing you to return to your former place In doing this I wish you to understand L1 that the matter of personal friendship which has grown strong in tfie years which we have spent together make no difference in my decision The 60 days which I must now give you is meant more as a punishment for your refusal to listen to a wellmeant warn ing which might have saved you than for your carelessness in giving a wrong order I is more your misfortune than 1 your fault however that you have lost i rh pl these 40 days therefore your suspension suspen-sion will date from Dee 20 wi I Goodlough thanked the superintendent superintend-ent warmly l for his consideration and I etnr out to begin the hard kaI of lei waiting 20 days for to him every day spent away from his work was wasted I The old trainmaster spent the greater great-er part of his 20 days where he could b < vir the rattle of Oc instUTients arl the slow measured ticking of the great clock He wasjnterested in and i < 1 amazed at the work of the young I I woman who was now handling the I trains on the first trick At first he I i felt half angry with her for being able to do what he had once made a mess I of but she was so sweetly modest and I so utterly unconscious of herself and so faithful to her work that he soon found himself wishing she were a man I He said so to Creamer once and she heard him Long before his time was j UI he had begun to Vender where he could put her for he had no thought of letting her go But she was a lucky soul and i seemed that the same power that sent the ravens to Elijah looked after her Just about the time I Goodlough was to resume his office a connecting road wanted a trainmaster and the place was offered to Mr Creamer He accepted i of course Mr Goodlough was ordered to report for duty and having ndone he considered con-sidered competent at hand allowed Miss Morgan to remain where he had found her I was understood by all that this arrangement was only temporary tem-porary but Goodlough soon learned that he would lose anjable assistant when he parted with is Morgan aId so was a good whileIn Baking a change which all precedent made nee t J = I essary The second trick man was entitled to the first the third man was in line for the second and if Ije kept Miss Morgan she must do the deatu trick trIc The two men were notified by letter oftheir promotion and then the trainmaster train-master braced himself to tell the young lady that she would be transferred trans-ferred to the companys telegraph office of-fice unless she chose to take the third trick which he felt ashamed to ask her to do I was only right and fair she said and she would be glad to take the third trIck All she wanted was an equal show with the men and no favors I he could overlook her I sex and forgive her for having been born a woman she would be content toI I take whatever he had to offer her Ye gods said the trainmaster to himself she makes me ashamed Shes as brave as she is gentle and as brilliant as she is beautiful He wondered now knowing her that he had failed to see that she was a very superior woman when he sent her away without the promise even of employment When the two dispatchers who had received notice of their promotion car into the trainmasters office they did not appear over joyous The man who had thus honored them saw that something was wrong and inquired the cause of i Its just this way said the second trick man If you are setting Miss Morgan back because she IB innnm oonn petent to handle the heavy business on the first trick we have nothing to say but if the change is made because she is a woman or as a matter of mater justice to us we most respectfully decline de-cline a promotion that will work a hardship to this i most deserving girl The change was ordered as a matter of justice to you and In keeping with wih the policy of the management However How-ever i you gentlemen are disposed to do the fhe gallant young lady can remain re-main where she is She is thoroughly competent to manage the business and I can see no reason why she should not have an even break with the rest of us So the splittrick man who had done the talking and the deathtrick man who had nodded assent went away feeling that they had done the proper thing and the trainmaster congratu kited himself upon the result 000 Minnie Morgan was a woman towin a mans heart i he had such a thing to lose and so as the spring deenened Goodlough who had been too busy all his life to so out into the world and win a hear discovered it was too late that he was slowly but surely losing his own Miss Morgan on her side had pitied Goodlough st first and then when he recovered and came back to work she had learned to respect and soon to admire him It mitrht have I ennpn th 4n nn hn u I cerned if he had not fallen in love with her and showed it a dozen times a day or every time he attempted to hide I and soon they both loved and each resolved solved to keen the secret from the other but while Cupid held his hands over their eyes the world looked on and laughed They parted late at night only to meet again in the morning The days that were l too short flashed by as mileposts the window of pass an express I ex-press train In time the summer went out of the skies the frost came and killed the flowers but the summer stayed in their hearts and kept them glad I was winter without The snow lay in dee = drifts uoon the pilots of locomotives loco-motives that came down from the hills and hid the tops of incoming freight I trains Miss Morgan stood at the window win-dow overlooking the yards An old stormstained work engine stood in front of the station toilworn and weary leaking like a sieve and the water dripping through her firebox had frozen and hun icicles upon her e1 crates Her driver looking a rusty as his encine was coming up the stair to tell the dispatcher that he was not yet in and would not be for ten minutes later so that the engineer might not get ten days for fast running He was a hero this man begrimed as he was with soot and L grease for this was the engine and he the engineer who had outrun the Atlantic At-lantic express a year ago and saved that train as well as the presidents special The trainmaster came in with 1 sad face and a heavy heart He remembered remem-bered that it was just a year ago today to-day that he bad turned a palefaced o o 0 > = young woman away not because there I was no room for her but he blushed to admit It because she was a woman And now that same woman was doing a mans work More she could enslave him with a glance or bind him with a single strand of her silken hair He knew this and knew that she knew It and resolved not to let another day dawn before he had told her every thing Miss Morgan was sad too for she had lost a secretnot of her love for that was no secretbut she had just revealed to the superintendent the true story of the mysterious message The superintendent was happy Head He-ad promised to have an answer for the I president by the end of the year and this was the last week but one Miss Morgans story was all the more timely because the president would arrive on I the morrow and the superintendent was anxious to convince him that the average occult expert who makes a specialty of seeing things nights knew about as much of the future or of things unknown as the codfish out in the Atlantic She was still silent The morning broke clear and beat full and the crisp air was full of the sounds of clanging bells and the I screams of switch engines Express wagons came down laden with boxes and packagesbundles of sunshine I that would find their way to hundreds nf hnm 1 tho hot tf thousands of no people Everybody was busy for the president of the road was to arrive today When Goodlough left his private office and wandered into the big room where the dispatchers worked he heard Miss Morgan calling Westcreek and when Westcreek answered an-swered heard her say Train No 8 Conductor Smith will take siding for special west engine SS at Eastcreek Then the operator at Lookout siding answered and she said Special west engine SS will meet train No8 at Eastcreek Bravo cried the trainmaster Thats exactly what I was trying to do a year ago only I said Westcreek at the last Hows everything On time said Miss Morgan still working the key After glancing about for a few minutes min-utes Goodlough returned to his office of-fice and sent out a bulletin promoting the operator at Westcreek to be train dispatcher on the third trick The same order put the two old dispatchers a step nearer the presidency of the roadHe He had barely finished this pleasant task when the superintendent came in with the president whom Goodlough had never met When they were all seated the superintendent asked the trainmaster to relate what he knew about the socalled mysterious message mes-sage sageI I know absolutely nothing declared Goodlough earnestly for the subject was naturally embarrassing to him You told lr Creamer I believe that you were positive that you did not send the order to Westcreek to hold No8 although your initials went with it said the superintendent with the air of a lawyer crossexamining a wit ness nessI I did And vou do not know who sent the message I do not Well I do said the superintendent with a broad smile and Ill let you gentlemen into the secret When Miss Morgan saw or rather heard your mistake mis-take she endeavored to convince you that you were in danger but failed Despairing she left the building She was almost wild with grief and alarm I saw her face as she hurried down the stair and It was the face of a madwoman mad-woman I read it wrong and returned at once to rou to learn the cause of her distress I heard you call East creek and ask for the special your last message that day and heard the answer an-swer gone and saw you fall But the frail woman whom you had turned away did not fail While you fell fainting among the inkstands and instruments in-struments she rushed into the hotel over the way and finding no one in the Western Union office took the key and began calling Westcreek She could not see the clock as you did and she called and called and when at last the operator answered she told him to hold No 8 No S is gone said the operator op-erator Hold her said the wire back at him and fearing the operator might question the message she sent your initials at the end of the order Brave girl cried the president ris i < o 1 I ing and beginning to pace the floor for he was deeply affected by the story or how a young woman who but a day before had been refused employment by the company had contrived to save the companys property and the lives of men whom she had not known She shall have the companys check for i thousand the president added You will furnish her with transportation he continued addressing the superintendent superin-tendent and have her report to me at the Boston office the first of the year I Miss Morgan reports to the trainmaster train-master said the superintendent smil l ing and waving a hand toward Good lough who sat pale and silent like a man who had just received a hard fall Miss Morgan will not be in the com panys employ after today he said looking steadily at the president Has she been dismissed She has been promoted and Is to take her new place on New Years day dayMay May I ask what office she is to take inquired the president glancing glanc-ing from the trainmaster to the superintendent super-intendent who was still smiling She is to be Mrs Goodlough said face the trainmaster with a stern calm Accept my congratulations said the president holding out his hand This is the second time then she has saved your life he continued as Goodlough took his hand and I hope you will allow her to accept my personal per-sonal check for another thousand for I she saved mine as well l Goodlough was greatly affected by the news of Miss Morgans heroism and the conduct of the president and superintendent of the road He kepi clear of the dispatchers office that day for he dared not trust himself in her presence I I That evening when Minnies mother I I had retired to her room and the lovers were left alone together In the little I ltte lamplit parlor they looked at each other in silence I f for a moment What distresses you asked Miss > Morgan And you inquired the trainmaster r Order No 76 was her reply Ive lost my place Ive And found a friend a lover aye a husband and happiness I hope a And what have you found The sender of the mysterious mes sage said Goodlough advancing to where his sweetheart sat Did he tell you Yes How shall I repay you for all that you have done for me By pardoning me for forging ycur name to the message and cheerful and shortening becoming hours and well If anything mor ofce curs to me Ill tell you later Then you did send the message Yes mesage And how about the flowers that came to the hospital every day The red roses whose breath called me back to life caled Yes she said and the little 1 and stole into his and nestled there And then they talked on for just a little while She forgot that she was out of employment and he fort the lap order of a year ago The lamp burned low He lighted a match to look at his watch and I was neither yesterday nor tomorrow but just be tween and then as all telegraphers do at the end of the day she gave him goodnight and he went away |