OCR Text |
Show fjjtijitt j$ $$ u n u" 8 - flfe ? 8 Dispatcher's I mSi J Story I SPEARMAN & I 8 ; ' ((the last order.) I ervT-s' A" 888888888888:8 11 scut lap order's at 1 oclock for No. 1 ami the Irving special." Bucks Blared nt him. 'I us tend of making a nicctlug point at O'Fnllon's I sent 1 nn order to run to O'Fnllon's and ordered tho special to run to Salt Rocks against 1." "Why, my God," exclaimed Bucks, , "that will bring them together In the Pea.o canyon! Blackburul Blackburn! Blackburn!" ho cried, tearing off his storm coat. Ho walked to the table, j seized tho order book aud steadied s himself with one hand on tho chair. I never saw him llko that. But It ' looked as If tho horror long averted, the trouble In tho 1'cnco river canyon, had come. Tho sleet tore at the old depot llko a wolf, and, with tho sash shivering, Bucks turned llko an executioner exe-cutioner on his subordinate. "What havo you douo to meet It?" Ho drew his watch, and his words cumo sharp as doom. "Whero's your 'wreckers? Where's your relief? "What - have you done? What are you doing? ' Notlilng? Why don't you speak? Will " ' , -you kill two traluloads of peoplo with- j out on effort to do anything?" f ' His volco rang ubsoluto terror to me. I looked toward Blackburn per fectly helpless. 1 "Bucks, there will bo no wreck," ho answered steadily. 4 1 "Bo no wreck!" thundered Bucks, towering In tho dingy room durk as tho f ; iiwcep of tho wind. "Bo no wreck! p Two passenger trains meet In hell aud srr be no wreck? Arc you crazy?" i Tho dispatcher's hands clutched at , tho table. "No," ho persisted steadily, , "I am not crazy, Bucks. Don't mako r mo do. I tell you there will not bo u I wreck.-" t ( A Bucks, uncertain with amazement, ' stared at him again. s ' "Blackburn, If you're sauo I don't "',' know what you mean. Don't stand 9 thorp llko" that. Do you know what ,- you 'have done?" Tho superintendent advanced toward him hs ho spoke, i " . There was a trace 'of pity In his words i -" ' thntisecincii to. open Blackburn' pent y" ' " heart more than all tho "bitterness. I, "Bucks," ho struggled, putting out a &' - hand, toward hhv chief, "I am suro of whnl I say.. There will bo ho wreck. ' Whenlsaw what I had done know It y Avasjtooflato to undo It Ibegged God j, that my hands 'inlght not brf stained ' with their blood." Sweat oozed from j, tho wretched man's forehead. Every a word wrung Its bead of-ngony. "I was , &, ausweml," he exclaimed, with a strange X ,s confidence; ytboro will bo no wreck. I V E " cannt 8C what' will hapijcn. I do not v , - ,f knowwhat, but there will' bo no wreck, t believe mo or not It Is so." - - Ills steadfast manner staggered tlie r ' superintendent. I could lmaglno what v x ho was debuting as ho looked at Black- Z s burn wouderlng, maybe, whether, tho H1 !(. - "J"11'8 mind wis gone. Bucks wus stag-' stag-' M ''gored; ho looked It, and as ho collect- J ed.hlinself. to speak again the hall door f opened llko au uncanny thing, nnd wo , nil started' as Callahan burst In on us. w v "What's so?" he echoed. "What's up s v horo? fWbnt did it mean, Blackburn? I a There's been trouble, hasn't there? 5 Jp What's tho matter with you nil? 1 Bucks? Is everybody struck dumb?" I Bucks spoke. "There's a lap order I 0 out on 1 nnd Uio theatrical special, Col- I p' lahnn. Wo don't know what's happen- ed," said Bucks sullenly. "Blackburn If hero has gone crazy or ho knows up somehow thcro won't bo any wreck," fig added tho superintendent slowly nnd if bQWildgrodly. "It's botwoenO'Fnllon's tS and Salt Bocks somewhere Callahan, m tnko (lip key," ho cried of a sudden. IE! "There's a call now. Dispatcher! Don't ffi speak; ask no questions. Got that mm-J mm-J sage," hroxclalniod sharply, pointing to W ' tho Instrument. "It maybe nqws.' And It was now nows from Ames V station xqpprttng tlp Irring gpK!lal lit 1 at 1:CV' ni'ou': nt 1:JH4 "Vi Hll hoard I .' It together or it" might not-havd -hoou I uellevod. Tho Irvhig spaclnl, oast- I bound, safoly ,pas,t No. 1, wapttountf, on n-lnglo track wIisji tholr meeting I orders had lapped! Past without a I word o danger or of aeldwit or oven I thot tly had seen No. 1 and stopped in I Uaxv to Hvold a colllaiou? lExuctly; not 1 a word; nothing. In at 52; out nt 54. I Awl the .actors hnl 'Uleep in tliolr I bortlw, md on about Its business tho I v Inim; spoclal that's what we got I from Ames. I t Callahan looked around. "Gontle- men. what doos this mean? Somebody I horc Is lusane. I don't know whothor I It's mo or you, Blackburn; Ara you I boring mo?" he oxcl.. raMug his I volc,e angrily. "If yon aiv, I want to I Bay "I consider It a mighty shabby I Joke." I Bucks, put up n hand, and without a 1 ' word or comment repeated Black- I burn's 'story Just ris ihb dispatcher 1 . hadlold' It. ,iSJn any event thefe'H I i '.' ' ''" ' nothing to do now; fs on us or we're pnst It. Let us wult for No. 1 to report." re-port." Callahan pored over tho order book. "JIaybe," ho asked after awhile "didn't you send tho orders right and copy them wrong in tho book, Blackburn?" Black-burn?" Tho dispatcher shook his head, "Thoy went ns they stand. Tho orders lapped, Callahan. Walt till we hear from No. 1. I feel suro she Is safe. Walt." Bucks was pacing tho lloor. Cnlla-hau Cnlla-hau stuck silent to tho key, taking what llttlo work came, for I saw neither nei-ther of tho chiefs wanted to trust Blackburn nt tho key. Ho sat looking, for tho most part, vacantly Into tho tiro. Callahan meantime had tho orders repeated back from Ames uud Rosebud. Rose-bud. It was as Blackburn had said; they did lap; thoy had been sent Just as tho order book showed. There was nothing for It but to wait for Rosebud to hear from No. 1. When the night operntor thcro called tho dispatcher again it brought Blackburn out of his gloom like a thunderclap. "Give mo tho keyl" ho exclaimed. "Thcro Is Rosebud." Callahan pushed back, and Blackburn, dropping Into the chnlr, took tho message from tho night operntor at Rosebud, "No. 1 In, 2;0a u. in." Blnckburnnnswcrcdhtm,nud,straugc-ly, Blnckburnnnswcrcdhtm,nud,straugc-ly, with all tho easy coulldeucc of Ids ordinary sending. Ho sat and took and sent llko one again master of tho situation. sit-uation. "Ask Engineer Sampson to coma to tho wire," said ho to Rosebud. Sump-sou, Sump-sou, not Mnjo, but hisbrother Arnold, wus pulling No. 1 that night. "Engineer Sampson here," cumo from Rosebud presently. "Ask Sampson where ho met Speclul 202 tonight.'.' " Wo waited, wrought up, for In that reply must come tho answer to all tho mystery. Thcro was a hitch at tho other end of tho wire; then Rosebud (inowcred: v ' "- t "Siunpson pnys ho will' tell you al' ithnnf It- In lli nvovnlnir" JHaoAmrn win strtlchcd on hU Imecs. "That will not do," tapped tho dispatcher. dis-patcher. "This Is Blackburn, Superln-toudout Superln-toudout Bucks and Callohau are hero. They want the facts. Whoro dkl-you meet Special 202n There was nnothoj wearing dolay. When the answer came It was slowly, at the engineer's dictation. "Aly order were to hold-atO'Fallon's for Special 202." clicked the souwdor, repeating the engineer's halting statement. state-ment. "When we clcaied SaJt Rocks Hiding and gat down among the 'Quakers 'Quak-ers I was cutting along pretty hard to mako the canyon when I saw or thought I Kaw a headlight (lash between be-tween tho buttos across tho river. It startled mo, for I knew the 202 spoclpl could not bo very fur west of us. Anyway, Any-way, I made a quick stop and reversed and backed tight as I could mako It for Salt Rocks siding. Beforo wo had got a mile I saw tho hoadllght again, and I knew tho 202 wns against our order. We got into tho olour Just as tho special .went by humming. Nobody .but our train crew nnd my fireman knows anything about tills."' " ii . . rne tnree mcn"in rront or mo inn no no comment nS thoy looked at each other. oth-er. How wns It possible for ono train to havo seen tho headlight of another among tho buttcs df tho Pence river cohntry? It wns possible. .Tust possible. But to flguro onco In how many times a vista would havo opened for a Blnglo second so ono engineer could sco tho light of another woufd stagger a multiplying multi-plying machine. Chance! Well, yes, perhaps. But thoro were no suggestions sugges-tions of thnt naturo that night under tho dispatcher's lamp at tho Wickiup, with tho storm driving down the pass as it drovo that night; and yet at Peaco rlvor, whero the clouds never rested, thnt ulght was clear. Blackburn, Black-burn, getting up, stcndled himself on his feet. "Go In there nnd Ho down," said Callahan Cal-lahan to him. "You're UBed up, old fellow. fel-low. I enn seo tnnt, I'll tako tho key. Don't say a word.' "Not a word, Blackburn," put In Bucks, resting his big hand on the dispatcher's dis-patcher's Rhouldcr. "Thero's no harm done; nobody knows It. Bury tho thing right hero tonight. You'ro broko up. Go In thcro nnd Ho down." He took their hands, started to speak, but they pushed him Into Callahan's room. Thoy didn't want to hear anything. any-thing. AH tho night it stormed nt tho Wickiup. Wicki-up. In tho morning tho Irving spcclnl, flying toward Chicago, was far down tho Platte. No. 1 was steaming west, deep In tho heart of tho Rockies. Blackburn lay In Callahan's room. It wns 0 o'clock, and tho sun was streaming stream-ing through tho enst windows when Prod Norman opened tho ofllco door. Fred could do thoso things oven when ho wns sickest. Havo a hemorrhage ono day, scaro everybody to death, nnd go back to his trick tho next. Ho nBkcd right away for Kit, as ho called Blackburn, Black-burn, nnd when they pointed to Cnlla-hnn's. Cnlla-hnn's. door Fred pushed It open nnd wont In, A cry brought Ihc operators to him. Blackburn was stretched on his knees bnlf on tho floor, half face downward on tho sofn. Ills head had fallen between his arms, which wero stretched abovo It. In his hands, clasped clasp-ed tight, they found, his wntch with tho picture of his wlfcand his baby, Jlnd ho asked, jWhen ho first went Into that room that night when he wrcstlell, llko Jacob of old, In his agony of prayer that his life bo taken If only their lives, the lives of thoso 111 his keeping, might bo qiared? I do not-know. They found him dead. .. i mi m m mi |