| Show A TRAMP OP OPERATOR ERA OR there wore were probably passengers connol on nol that was her fair average and C Oon on ductor hubbard afterward said bald lie ho thought thou g slit that ou on the night of sept 4 she had bad carried her full quota if lie lad had realized what was back of the innocent que query 1 y of tho the looking substitute operator at hogarth ho he would have been a pretty badly frightened man even though the event was three aa days y 9 in the past only kenneth and the second trick train dispatcher knew how bow close persons persona had bad come to death on the night of sept 4 true a certain boy may have had a remote idea of it but that Is only a hazard for he was a very stupid boy kenneth was on the hog train it was habitual with him ills ilia shoes were bunches of frayed leather his trousers were greasy and torn his coat was seedy and although al ho he had dabbed ills his shirt reg aberly thrice a week lit in the waters of whatever pond or creek ho he chanced to discover in ills his line of transit still it was an ovil evil looking which did not beget confidence ile he was waa unshaved and in general appearance was similar to the accepted idea of a hobo the time had parsed many years back when lie he felt that it was worth while I 1 to 0 appeal to station agents or operators along the line of ills his travel for assistance ills garb and gulso aulse were not such as to prompt self respect ing telegram telegraphers pliers to talk in ills his behalf to we iha conductors conduct ora of freight trains and so what progress westward lie he mado made was a tribute to his own vigilance arid and a agility clity vigilance lanco in detecting just when the brak emans back was turned turned and a agility in swinging under the cars and upon the trucks and he was perfectly and train tramp filly lly batist led kenne kennah h sauntered up the platform at hogarth and took a seat on a box just outside tile station window ile he would have beer ordered ordeal d a away ay had ti the 1 e agent been in the office but the ag ngeun cut was not there the agent having b been aeu overcome by heat beat at 3 september heat beat Is the most moat potent beat in that desert land had been carried up to ills house bouse to rage lit in delirium and die perhaps for all the medical attendance a wyoming Wyom lna settlement could afford it was his student alis tat sat in flus flushed lied importance at the telegraph table when kenneth roved up to lo the window and anchored cn n the box kenneth had toured the rad iad r ad until he hal bal a I 1 tart rate fate knowledge of the time card and he knew thit if was on time she would draw her serpentine length of freight cars up to the ll hogarth station about an hour after no I 1 had gone whizzing eastward with lier fast mall mail arid and her i it was his purpose tu to annex himself to gua and proceed east eastward I 1 vard idly through the open window lie he studied abe boy ill hi was a very stupid looking boy anti and at ills hla time of his superiors peri ors disability a very ati y important boy li kenneth enneth estimated lis his age at 11 14 1 1 ur or 15 and tried to think liow how an all cip lillou he himself had had of himself when he was a boy ot of 15 and was left tor for tile abst time in charge of an office ue ile llster rd in a interested sort of way any as tile boy fought on oil the second wire for fifteen minutes in lis hla vigorous purpose to aak the cinc of a faraway far away telegrapher eeik though tle leavens heavens might fall it was like old timm all plug operators he be remembered do that sort ot of tiling thing fighting fighting lighting fighting lit in their determination to take hie gie wire from any one oile else who naho may to use ube it ill aliu train dispatch N e alone excepted from tile the list to be hold held in contempt the tramp operator wearied tit at last of the almy boys smartness on the line and leaned nick against tile the bide of the station allsto isug to the climor clamor of the dispatcher circuit listen listening log to orders re rc boorts anu and other of running trains by telegraph in the course of time lie he earned a thing nelch bleh caused him to curse his luck and look upon himself as one outraged for by attending tile the racket of the dispatchers 11 line no lie ho found that no 1 the passenger train was lile find and instead of melting meeting her at M rosalie salle the station cast of hogarth where tile the tramp operator was walling waiting goa 2 the fast freight had boon been given permission to go as far its as williamson the station next west of hogarth for the meeting no 1 had been warned in duo time of the change the he fast freight had been out of rosallo rosalie t tin n minutes and was fast approaching Il IIo Karth when kenneth heard the man at humboldt telling the dispatcher that no 1 I having mado up fifteen ute ot of ler her time arla being but now forty five minutes late desired to proceed on eastward to tin for tile the meeting rather than riale having to walt wait fit at the order wua was pro etly given alven fc for or express trains aros anro thin things a which roust must bo humored by train u ddn dispatchers rs tills this et v course made it I 1 crenic jj y to stop go CU nt at hogarth anti give her a revised older in III conformity with uin thal now beld by tile tho condu conductor etor of no 1 it way was eny enough all that was noodie was to aill up tile operator tit at anti and tell him to display his red signal and stor stol the approaching freight freigh t train kenneth understood what was to follow you cannot tramp overa over a al line for fora a month without a thorough knowledge of its telegraphic secrets it if you be rai operator kennelh was acquainted with the significance of the various numeral signals nals which the d dispatchers ispa tellers used so as to economize on time 38 way was tile the warning to make ready to re belve a ti train alu order 11 meant for the tha operator to lo replat repeat at what lie had received and so on and so when the acx unx lous dispatcher called upon the boy at ho hogarth garch and said 30 3 no the shabby man of the morse was aware awara that whit was waa wanted was the display of the rid red signal and the consequent af no GW for revised orders ordel s but to his surprise the lie boy did not make ill thi customary response 37 no which would b the short way of saying i have bling out illy red signal and will hold no 02 for orders instead hi he scratched ins his head in a puzzled way and after a moment telegraphed linch back to the man who was directing lim how 6 that what do you nice dear it Is very likely that the had bad an aback of vert vertigo go at that moment when he realized that a fast freight train and a heavy passenger train were vere one another on a curving twisting track each going at highest sla speed d and each eking se to make a dlf different station for or passing and when lie he realized at tho the same time that a lout of a student did not understand what was waa was danied of him and lowly slowly tle dispatch ei ticked back 1 I ni in e a n to t o put p u t out o u t your y o u r r c d I 1 a n t e r n for f o r no N o 6 0 2 slowly it cuine came indeed but it if the ticking was flow clow the beating of the heart of the dispatcher must have been rapid enough the boys boya face lighted up tip in a tangle of antl enthusiasm lie he rattled off this answer jumbling ills his words together in a I 1 way to any but a waiting ear albright allright All right out with a smile at thi change of events which lud bad arranged it bo be that no woud sop slop after all arid and give him a chance to mount an all end cud sill or climb under a cai ca rose and walked up tip the platform it was not a long platform for the town was small but by the ume time he be had reached the end he be saw the light of no swinging into tho the only iva five miles of straight track on the road and he be realized that in a few minutes obeying the command of the red lantern un the bargl t she would stop and give him a chance to get on board lie ho turned to look 1001 lack back at the signal light anti ills his face took on it a stony mask of dismay ile he was to be disappointed again the light was vas not shining doubtless the order had again be been changed the language he used was Incle gaut and outspoken the train drew crew nearer nei lie he could hear har the rapid sound 0 the locomotives exhaust and thore there wai no hope ol 01 of her he stopping sti suddenly licul ly a fearful tc irful thought came to him hi remember d that he had not seen the boy put out the lamp at all what it if ile he rushed lack to the window like a fury Wb wheres eres your led signal for this train lie lic shri elied stor stop this train stop hor her the alie dispatcher her has orders fur her vory very imely the im would have told the ragged and dirty cramp to mind ills his own business but fur for that allusion to the dispi acher heaven permitted fool to ivilue a thought at the right time and in an all expostulating mumbling ny lie said no lie he aint ile he told tile me to put the light out and ive been live fire itil minutes to pui pit it out lad had to take li IL apart before I 1 could blow it out aull and now it like nl nh the il there was no time for him to complete ills his simile rot foi kenneth was the window In olow now and had the red office flir flag in ills his liand hand ile ho seized tho the hall lamp aiom the felegi aph table and witt with tile the fi ang ig folded about the chimney to rive give tle the cri calms oi hue bue or oc danger lie he rushed to the platform the improvised r aci I 1 signa sending iam I 1 in dim ange of warning wanting cheti the trick ick toward the englee of no no now scarcely fifty yards away weakly but it answered its purpose for the irolina momentum carried it far past the office she c came ame back in les pouso to that well known signal the kids red light blew out and I 1 hail had to help him fake one up slid kenneth to the conductor and then lie ho sat down to take the order pushing the boy aside as though lie he w were ere noto be considered chicago record |
