Show I 1 TURNED Q II 11 D DOWN 0 WN W w U I 1 u I 1 bu 11 M EGBERT M copyright 1916 by TV 1 tf I chapman man 1 I turned down that was position after he had worked five days for the eastern railroad chehad he had been taken on after submitting his references because the line needed men in a hurry burry it had just come out of 0 liquidation liquid atlon and everything was topsy freight and passenger trains were mixed a certain number had bad to be sent along the iho metals to anywhere within a certain time for the retention of a 0 franchise altogether the eastern railway was in contusion confusion but wilbraham Wll braham the now new president was going to make it efficient nobody doubted that references were satisfactory but there was a gap in them he did ao not offer any explanation of the gap but resolved to mako make good on the fifth morning the president I 1 sent for f 0 r him rolfe youage you are said to have served a term in the penitentiary for theft tie hei said its true sir air but you are the son of Wil william liani rolfe i of leeds leed a yes yea sir air I 1 you can lay oft off until I 1 send for you said mr wilbraham Wll braham rolfe left the office in fit a blind fury the theft had been nothing but the thoughtless act of a boy he had stolen some money from his stepfather in order to io go west and had been arrested five miles from home despite his mothers tears the old man had pressed the charge to the limit mother terrified had not noi made a favorable impression on 4 4 N saunders Ba pitched forward insensible the court and rolfe had got two years when he came out crushed ira in spirit he resolved to fight his way nevertheless ho he obtained several positions sit lons ions but every time old stevens had him discharged hia step stepfathers fathers hatred bamred of him seemed the passion of his life the malice of the old man was beyond understanding why did he be hate him so anyway rolfe was resolved to justify the worlds opinion of him he went back to gather up hla his things with a deliberate plan in his mind the rhe superintendent called him rolfe take joes place as conductor on tho the 11 he said the line was desperately short of men the 5 12 consisted of an engine and a single empty passenger coach required to comply with the terms of the franchise no rolfe heart leaped up jas as he remembered something more ind the blood began to hammer in his bis ears A cash ship ment of was to go 90 in i a special express car and the superintendent hid had evidently not heard that he was discharged all right sir air rolfe responded 11 II just as tho the train swung out rolfe saw caw old wilbraham Wll braham step aboard hastily til y a telegram in his hand he was to be the sole passenger on the train and was evidently on some borne important an and d last minute mission rolfe watched him clamber aboard he showed himself deliberately but the president appeared not to remember him rolfe smiled bitterly so 90 little was a mani mans job or reputation worth to old heswood he stood sulkily upon the platform from there he could see old saunders dere the guard in tho the express car seated reading a newspaper his carbine be him saunders was a civil war veteran the safe an old fashioned affair that a man could just lift and send crashing through the window probably thought rolfe the fall would of itself burst the flimsy old thing open ho he was glad wilbraham Wll braham was aboard he would show the president what it r meant e to be unjust ile he would make baake Isan tup his coup when the train passed cutts autta tunnel the was running to leeds arriving about 8 welock and tt it would lo 10 e dark about 7 after the tunnel was passed the afa country was f very ven wild wll d about there it would not be hord hard to carry out hla his plan it ho e peered into the car at wilbra hm haia the president still holding the telegram was wari bending forward chowing chewing an unlit cigar evidently in a brown study A blind anger surged through the hoys boys heart as he thought of 0 the injustice and persecution that made his bis ufa life a hell then he remembered that th the etrain train was actually speeding fo ward toward his bis old home which he had bad not seen for six years his mother and old stevens lived near leeds hta his mother wrote occasionally and once a year he sent seat her 6 a few lines she never naver complained but he know knew that stevens made his bis mothers life unbearable then a n new ew thought came to the boy wily why ab should 0 uld lie he be content with rifling the safe why not kill stevens wilbraham Wll braham all who had persecuted him ho he had tried hard on his mothers account to atone tor for the boyish error the world was against him he would be against the world As he stood there with a roar the train plunged into the tunnel when it emerged it was nearly dark the boy fid fingering gering his cheap revolver 1 in indecision looked through ugh the glass front of the door of the express car old saunders was still reading his newspaper with a resolute gesture rolfe took the revolver from the pocket into which he had bad thrust it and moved forward III suddenly he heard shouts from the engine and then the train began to slow down he heard a revolver shot another shout the train stopped suddenly the wheels biting into the metals as if the brakes had been jammed down hard the engine snorted and puffed to a standstill the next moment two men clambered aboard the platform of the express car so hastily that they did not see rolfe on the platform of the car behind them they carried revolvers vol vers and pushed open the door rolfe saw old saunders start up he grabbed his carbine the next instant before he could aim it one of the men brought bi ought down the butt of his revolver with a sickening thud upon the old veterans head saunders pitched forward insensible upon the floor odthe of the car one of the men raised the limp body in hla his arms and cast it into the ditch at tho the bottom ot of the embankment beside the line old saunders groaned feebly in the darkness the other man snatched at the sate safe and raising it on high staggered toward the platform with it then it was that rolfe realized he had been forestalled and the evil thoughts died out of his heart he held the revolver in his right hand and aimed steadily he fired the man who was carrying the safe dropped it with a crash and toppled forward he sat up looking with ludicrous surprise at a stain of blood upon his trousers the other man spun round and fired alred wildly in direction rolfe heard the bullet whiz past his head into the air then he had leaped upon the express car platform and engaged in a furious fight with the second bandit bandi t the man thrust his revolver into his face rolfe dodged just in time to avoid the bullet and closed with his opponent he knocked the revolver from his hand bond and it went spinning across the floor of the car the bandit released himself and snatched up saunders carbine he aimed a stunning stun nind blow at the boy boys h head ead rolfe ducked it caught him on the shoulder and his arm dropped as the collarbone fractured with his bis left hand rolfe bolfe seized ih the carbine the bandit wrested it from him hanf and sent him staggering back up upon n the bomin platform ile he saw the man coming 9 for him again was conscious of a shower of sparks before his eyes and fainted IV re he was in the little room that he had occupied years before in his mothers home he saw her face b bent ent over his and looked at her without understanding it all seemed like a dream mo mother therl he be cried what has haa happened she laid her cool hand on his forehead hush dearl dear she said as if he were a little boy again 1 I cant stay in thle this house with him he died three weeks ago renn penny y she answered and the thought of that long martyrdom and 0 of her new happiness filled her eyes with tears they wept together it was not until a week later that ho learned the truth the president receiving the letter from stevens had bad been impressed by its injustice being the sort 0 of f in man an who deemed that no sacrifice was top too great tor for an employee he had taken the train that night tor for leeds in order to interview stevens re he had arrived on the express car platform in time to see rolfe stricken down and to aid in capturing the outlaw assisted by tife th e engineer who had bad the third man that had overcome him and knocked him senseless rolfe was the hero of the day no lives had been beeh lost but the three outlaws were n now ow in tho the county jail then Wilbia hata going on to the house as if nothing had happened d together with the doctor and the an aa conscious cons clous rolfe had ordered that no expense should be spared in caring for him and in mother he recognized what he had suspected the existence of an old sweetheart so but with that part the story does not concern itself only that two weeks later rolfe sat down in the presidents office as his private sec rotary knowing that the past was rss burled and the future golden |