The Wreckers

dwick's

hing. It was a safe bet that the Alexa was carrying her owner, and in that case Mr. John Chadwick and his train crew were somew

lay figured out before the retreat

to where they have left the engine, and if they haven't crippled it-" He stopped short and slung a questi

e piked out in the dark, the boss helping Mrs. Sheila to hobo along over the cross-ties of the spur, and the little girl stumbling on behind with me. She had got over her scare

ng as this happen to me," was the way she put it, and

cool off by degrees. Luckily for us, the boss was an expert on engines, just as he is on everything else belonging to a railroad, and he struck matches and looked our find over carefully before he tried to move it. As we had feared it might be, the big machine wa

four of us down on our hands and knees doing the needle-in-the-haystack stunt. I had been sensible enough to show the little girl the other connectin

taken it out and thrown it aside on the extremely probable chance that nobody would be fool

st and the other to pull, we got our two passengers up into the high cab, and Mr. Norcross made them as comfortable as he could on t

we were all set, the boss opened the throttle and we went carefully nosing ahead over the old track, feelin

ith the civilized world once more. He looked a trifle suspicious when he found the engine in the hands of still another bunch of strangers, and two of them women; but as soon as he heard Mr. Norcross's name he

the spur. The other members of the crew were off and waiting for us; and standing out on the back platform, in the full glare of the headlight

the car and lifted them one at a time over the railing and climbed up after them. Mr. Chadwick seemed to know Mrs. Sheila; at any rate, he shook hands with her and called her by name. Then he grab

hey had both gone to lie down in one of the staterooms. With the women out of the way, the boss and Mr. Chadwick sat together in the open compartment while the

hrow any light on the mystery, not a single ray. There had been no violence-the pistol shots had been merely meant to scare the trainmen-and there had b

boss made mention of that. If we hadn't happened to be there to bring the engine back, the worst that could have befallen Mr. Chadwick and the crew of the special would have been a few hours'

I guess he wasn't used to being kidnapped. But, after all, the thin

said, at the end of things. "There are some certain scoundrels in Portal City at the present moment wh

laughed

g with me: I'm too new in this region

e. I said 'No' at first, because I was expecting you, and thought you'd reach Portal City this morning. When you didn't show up, I knew I had twelve hours more on my hands, and as Dawes was st

ed. "And the prom

n Hardshaw wired me from Portland, I knew you couldn't reach Portal City before this morning, at the very earliest. That was going to cut my time pretty short, with the big gun due to be fired to-morrow morning, and you cut it still shorter by lo

ee Hardshaw at all before leaving Portland; he merely forwarded your wire, asking me to stop over in Portal City, to me on the train-and it

king, and though my back was turned to them, I could easily imagine the quizzical twinkle of

r dinner this evening, and he'll know what I'm

g man went ahead abruptly,

and after the road was opened for business you refused an offer of t

e-keeper for a national gambling game. The boss gamblers around the railroad post in the Stock Exchange tell him what he has to do and where he has to get off. Stock gambling, under whatever name it masquerades-boosting values, buying and

ade, isn't it?" as

s the United States of America. I'm on my way home to Illinois for a little visit with my mother and si

ir Graham Norcross, D.S.O.,' or something of that sort." Then, with a sharp return to the sort of gritting seriou

naged, worse neglected pieces of railroad track in some of the great transcontinental lines, but if the

ick admitted. "The Pioneer Short Line is 'under suspicion' on the books of the commissions, both State

Norcross was shaking his head an

al competition. But from the day it was completed its securities have figured in the market only for their speculative values. The property itself has never been

ory," said

r betterments; we are tied hand and foot by all sorts of legal restrictions and regulations; and, worse than all, the pe

rd," put in th

Shaffer, the general manager and the only able man we have had for years, has resigned in disgust; and if something isn't done to-morrow morni

ss looked

he asked, letting himself use the name by whic

could think of, Graham, to persuade Breck Dunton and his Wall Street accomplices to spend just one dollar in ten of their reorganization and re

olders' meeting in Porta

le, but while they're here they'll get together and go through the form of picking out a new general manager. I'm on the board and they had to send me notice, though it's

was whistling for Portal City. From where I was sitting I could see the electric lights dotting the wide valley betwe

ring the receivership on th

eneral manager, with full power to act, and ratify a little plan I've got up my sl

does turn

uade the courts to put the property into b

not the least little morsel in the world," said t

ing gave a

guessed it," he chuckled.

elf, sitting up straight and shaking his head sort

I'd lose out; and besides, I'm not quite ready to commit suicide." And then to me: "Jimmi