Show tJ t R MG G FROM E 2 SANFORD 1 A P LOVE IOVE STORY INT IN HOUSED ORs BY L C HALL rr I Manning Kicked Open the Washroom Door and Beheld a Young Giant Bunched Over a Basin with his hie fingers idly pressing his lis key Manning gazed into space Ever since coming to Warwick he had puzzled puzzled puzzled over the subtle appeal in the dots and dashes that came over his wire from Okisko It was not that the op there was a woman so much he gathered from the dainty primness of her h er sending It was rather that in her hese there was a familiar quality an indefinable i something that i I suggested other days and scenes Surely he had heard that same style of Morse before a style stylo less easy and j finished than now perhaps yet still the same All at once it came to him and a bright light of recognition shone In his face Are you Miss Farnum he clicked I out eagerly the same little Fm who I worked the old Stanford string at Hampden two years ago 7 Thanks to the unappreciative bach bachelors bachelors bachelors elors still the same Okisko answer answered answered ed d cheerily f And do you y ul not remember me Manning questioned Oh very well You Tou are Mr Mg from Sanford I knew you the instant you touched the wire wira Why you make mak yourself known to me 1 What a question Perhaps I felt piqued d that you ou recognize my touch as S quickly as I did yours Manning ignored the evident stiff stiffness stiffness stiffness ness in the reply Shake he said warmly Im so glad to see you Thanks came back more gently gentl Same here Its mighty good to meet some one from home homeI I cant help thinking of that old wire out in Hampden as home because it is the first one ona r J ever worked I know k 1 w the feeling Manning clicked back backi back And my how tame and empty the fhe he old string seemed when you ou were gone Ever close your eyes e es and try to recall a face you loved 7 Course you cant recall a friends Morse by b stopping your ears cars but you youcan yOUcan youcan can recall it nevertheless and Ive of often often often ten tried to bring yours to mind With not much success it seems Okisko laughed Come dont quarrel Tell me why you left Hampden so without even a aOh good by Oh well weI I Was tit as such a wretched ham and th the others of hers on the line were so impatient T J was a prophet without honor you see So I concluded just to strike out But here another station broke and took the circuit It proved to be Judy Junction with a message to be hur hurried hUrrIed hurried ried To Wk he said take this and hustle It please Dlease One minute planning Manning said irritably irritably irritably ably attempting to resume the inter interrupted interrupted interrupted chat But Judy would not be put off It wont wait walt he said briskly Take it r now and be quick about it iti Still Manning lanning demurred and a sharp ensued d After a struggle Judy had Ills Kis way wa and rattled off his message mes message message sage Manning was hot The Judy ar artist was a very fair that he admitted But the fellow had an air of having done heavy work of being too loo big for his place which ill became a mere railroad novice However Manning saw the Importance of the message and knew that Judy was right in forcing It upon him Had It all end ed there his pride would not have suf suffered suffered suffered But to carry his point Judy had grounded off Okisko thus breaking up the chat It was this highhanded pro proceeding proceeding proceeding that Manning resented and in giving his 0 O K he also ripped out his disgust at insistence Judy waited coolly then he retorted Very young colts ought to wait to tobe tobe tobe be weaned before kicking licking over the traces This pms from a mere railroad junction function 1 product in Morse provokingly patron patronizing patronizing patronizing izing was too much for Manning and from that instant war was declared be between between between tween Warwick and Judy Manning racked his wits trying to tobit hit bit upon some way of getting betting back at atthe atthe atthe the Judy artist If he could have got together any an great number of mes messages messages sages at a time for that station he would have been in clover Then he could have roasted the upstart every hour and thus taus made his revenge a con continuous continuous continuous performance But his only chances of scorching were the days once a week w ek when the Judy Junction Gazette received its news report The first day this batch of matter was put Jut before be him Manning fairly hugged him himself himself himself self Now he gloated bloated as he began calling ailing Ill simply skin alive that crossroads bantam ban tam Mannings key did Id not merely trickle dots hots and dashes It would be nearer truth to say that Morse gushed hUshed from his finger tips And his copy It really made your y our mouth water to watch the luscious loops and curves cureS cur s issue from his pen When Judy Iud answered up he started in with an easy swing which he lie meant as a warning to the distant receiver Then gradually he let him himself self solf out until a pace was reached that Manning considered terrific for a coun countryman countryman countryman tryman to copy rop The sounders along the theline theline line Jingled in a n way to make opera operators operators operators tors sit up and listen It was good stuff tutT too a n trifle tri youngish perhaps but really full of promise On and on pattered the stream of dots and dashes yet never nover f word or sign of a break came ame from the other end Manning grew green uneasy un He HG wo wondered l If it were possible that the wire had gone down downs downe I e s Are you there Ju Tu he presently asked Aw smoke up Get G t busy bus cried Judy with an indulgent chuckle That nettled Manning and on he went with a will The Morse poured from the sounders in a swishing tor torrent torrent torrent rent Still SUll the receiver made no sign At Atthe the end came an easy 0 O K It and that was all It made the down at Wharton think of a mastiff brushing a fly from his ear But plan Man Manning planning ning deceived himself he hc chose to be believe believe lieve liec that the coolness of the Judy man was feigned He was simply roasted to death and put on an air of nonchalance for effect he be told himself But that was where Mannings youth and lack of intuition showed Certainly he could not have known that Tom Quincy had years before graduated from the Judy Junction of office office office fice and was now one of the crack re receivers receivers receivers in the Associated Press at Washington Neither could he lie have guessed that Tom was on a vacation home and that finding his father the regular agent sick and unfit for duty dut had taken hold until the old man should be well again Still after even an occa occasional occasional occasional turn with such a receiver plan Man Manning planning ning ought to have realized that he was working with no ordinary operator No such virile rollicking Morse could i have hav come cane com from any hand Even the little lady at Okisko could have told him better but of course she dared not on the wire for would have heard Besides would it not have seemed presumption on her part to venture a pointer to so good an oper operator operator operator ator Plainly she liked Manning In deed in Mannings manner of working w there was a t dash and spirit well weIl calculated calculated calculated to o excite feminine f minine admiration After the renewal of their friendship he was very kind He never tried to roast her On the contrary he seemed anxious to shield her from the little rudeness that fall faU to the less experienced experienced experienced operators on a busy wire In the idle intervals too he made himself very agreeable so that through Him her working hours were robbed of much of their tedium As the days wore on on the be between between between tween Warwick and Judy did not relax On the contrary the air about Warwick became more and more eXplosive ac according aCcording according cording as the manner of the Judy Junction man became less At times the latter took on an absurdly jocular air toward Warwick and when Warwick irritated beyond endurance snapped back Quincy would advise him sweetly to take something for his tem temper temper temper per At last the tension tension reached a point where something had to give To be openly played with to be made to feel cheap before every everyone one on the circuit and most of all in the eyes of his friend at Okisko and that too by a agreen agreen agreen green country operator who used a special special special cial brand of nerve nerve n food was too much to be calmly borne Manning promised himself that he would dispose of his tormentor once for all aU on the t le next Ga Gazette Gazette Gazette zette day He would roast that Judy farmers shirt from his back nerve food or no nerve food and bring him to his knees howling for mercy I The day da r rolled round and the news report was started as before Man Mannings Mannings Mannings Morse was as swift as the wind and for lor a time as clean and clear as one could wish to hear But pretty soon seeing that he could not other wise punish the receiver he began to adulterate It ft feeling it must be owned a burning g sense of shame at the act His caricatures car of the code were sim simply ply terrIfic IVI i V Still there CAld c was V no word Y wl U from Judy He did not come to his knees worth a copper cent Yet Tet Quincy must have been raving Those who knew him knew also that Hutt in his opinion opinIon opinion ion a man who purposely muddled it deserved to be kicked So at the end of Mannings effort though he had put nut putdown down own every word in copperplate I he opened up hotly 0 O K he said at a rattling clip cUp Then he added Young man make a good oper operator operator operator ator in time after a hundred years hard practice At present however you are not only the rawest of kids but you are move more varieties of a d dd d fool than any ham I ever ran across Manning was all aU but paralyzed at this outburst He knew tha that in a way he had deserved it Yet he also knew that every station on the line Okisko in included included included was listening and that unless he promptly resented the insult he should sink to zero in the estimation of his coworkers He steadied himself by byan byan byan an effort and answered with what dig he could that he would take the first opportunity of thrashing Quincy within an inch of his life He lost no time Next morning m he boarded an early train for Judy At his destination he swung to the ground and made his way forward to the baggage car ear There he knew he should find his hisman hIsman hisman man As Aa he approached he singled out outa a young chap pen be hind his ear busily busHy checking baggage How precisely he fitted Mannings idea of his enemy of the wire The jaunty cap the hair the cock sparrow manner there could be no mis mistaking mistaking mistaking taking the man manAre manAre Are Arc you the operator here Man IIan Manning Manning ning asked abruptly r I 1 am sir said the other keeping on with his checking Then Ive come ninety miles mites to thrash you ou said Manning shedding his coat and sailing salling in inThe InThe inThe The baggage handler looked his sur surprise surprise prise but he was dead d al game game He quickly dropped his checks and got sot on 7 the defensive Then there ensued a scrap that laid over anything ever heard over a telegraph wire The con train hands and a a smattering of passengers closed in to witness the fun funDo Do you always provide such diver diversions diversions diversions for the entertainment of your patrons said a fat passenger 1 to the conductor of Mannings train We do our best to please laughed the conductor From the beginning the conflicting elements clinched and as the storm center tumbled over baggage sprawled into heaps of express matter and gy rated about in the open it was always hemmed in by an Interested fringe of human various The fight was a glo glorious glorious glorious rious impromptu and it was with evident reluctance that the conductors of the trains north and south for Judy was a meeting point called out All aboard leaving the is issue issue issue sue still sun in doubt For a minute after the call the scuffle continued continue then some one sang out that the police was coming coining And sure enough it was The rhe whole force one man strong was boiling down the track mopping his brow as he came Manning astride astrid his enemy realized that it was a time for quick thinking He had had his satisfaction he argued would it not be br b the better Dart part of valor to leave his enemy to settle with the law while be lie himself caught the northbound back to Warwick The de decision decision decision was made He jumped for the t e train and caught it as the last car was whipping past Manning had been absent without leave and excuses were in order when he be reported at the office He went at once to the chief The man at Judy Junction called me a d dd rd fool he ex explained explained explained and Ive been down to see him about it You look as if you had blurted the chief glancing at his subordinates scarred face and discolored eye The chief laughed then suddenly recollect ing who wh was in temporary charge at Judy his hs laugh swelled into a roar You went down to wallop Tom Quin cy he gasped and live to tell the tale Manning failed to catch the cance in the exclamation Neither did he understand why the chief grinned broadly broad whenever during the after noon his eye strayed in his direction Later in the day when Manning lanning had occasion to call up Judy he round found an other man there in place Hello he greeted the new arrival When did you get there Came this morning Judy replied Wheres Quincy And a asked the question he had a vision of his enemy being carted off to a hospi tal it ft not indeed to the county jail Quincy went back to Washington last night His RiB leave was up and Im here to relieve him until his father Is able to set in It too took a blow to make it plain to Manning but at last he saw it His trip to then had been only a brilliant fiasco After all he had punched the wrong mans head He could not bring himself to ask the new mans pardon at least not yet et And there was his little friend fri nd at Okisko too How devoutly thankful he was that she did not know what an ass he had made of himself At the word that Quincy had left Judy the whole circuit was agog from end to end To Manning Okisko said saida a little distantly he fancied I you know Mg that Mr Quincy is one I of the stars in the A P at Washing ton They say hes one of the finest And hes so nice personally Then to the at Wharton Dont you think so M Mr Uk Ilk He Is that agreed the latter A fine fellow indeed To Manning he added Sorry Mg lg you and he seem to hit it off ether But Manning pretended prete i d not ot to be lis To hear bear his tormentor praised and by the girl he heby by his little friend was in his present mood more than galling The fellow had deserved a thrashing as it was but now In ad addition addition addition to his insulting remarks he had sneaked away at a mild threat of personal per personal personal chastisement Thus he was not only a blackguard but a coward as us aswell aswell well and he should have his licking sneak where he would Manning asked for three days leave This time no formality was neglected The plan was to devote a day to a set settlement settlement settlement with Quincy the other two to toa toa I a more mOle agreeable journey At the sta sla station station tion he looked wistfully in the direction direction direction tion of Okisko and for a moment the Washington trip badly Then he remembered praise raise of Quincy also ulso burning words His cheek flushed What would she what could she think of him if he went to see ncr ner n r before having purged himself Of f the insults that had been |