The Young Train Dispatcher

rk and stood with strained attention to see what had happened; then the you

ed, "you-you

block coming. It was lucky I

t the splintered board where he had been standing. "I should say so! Imagine wha

e could tell certainly, but it was pretty generally agreed that the sudden rebound from the strain, as the boiler fe

more interested in each other than in anything else. A sudden comradeship, born in the first glance they exchang

ng, his hand outstretched; "my first na

responded Allan, clasping the

e Allan West! Well, I've always wanted to know you, b

" repeated Allan in bewild

heard of your exploits? And to hero-worship there is now added a lively sense of gratitude, since you arrived just in ti

answered Allan; "just b

ke the liberty of paying you a call before

r you," answered Allan, heartily. "But I've got some letters

re might be a difference of opinion about that. But there he comes now," and he nodded toward the ta

the mishap. Allan did not wait to hear it, but, conscious that the errand was taking longer than it should, hurried on to deliver

him with a rapidity born of long experience. Allan never ceased to be astonished at the vast quantity of mail which poured in and out of the office-letters upon every conceivable subject con

25

e to the baggage-master other packets addressed to employees at various points along the road. The road took care of its own mail in th

, rose the clatter of the telegraph instruments. The trainmaster had one at his elbow, the chief-dispatcher another, and in the dispat

, after all, the pile of letters, huge as it was, represented only a small portion of the road's business-that by far the greater part of it was transacted by wir

where he had lived ever since he had come to Wadsworth, a year before, in search of work. Big-hearted Jack Welsh had not only given him work, but had offered him a home-and a r

at the gate, and she escorted him p

your new job?" Mary asked,

ed, and described in detai

temptuously when

anybody could do that! A boy loike you deserves some

it gives me. I'm at the bottom of the ladder, it's true, just as John Marney said; b

from acros

greed. "And you'll gi

the Public Library, where he asked for a book on telegraphy. He was just leaving the building with the coveted

latter, "this is lu

arting for hom

wheeling into step beside him and loc

an. "You know I'm

That's a great load off my mind. What's

graphy," and Allan s

to st

to amount to anything in the offices, one has

rk learning it from a book. It'll be a good deal like learning to

course I'l

s the operator at Belpre now, and hasn't any more use for them than a dog has for two tails. He'll be glad to let us have them-glad to know that his lazy brother's impro

miringly; "if we can only carry it ou

ink we can manage it," said Jim.

me; I live just over yonder," and a moment lat

oon be dark and we'll have

minute," said Al

century before by some wealthy ? 29 ? farmer who had never heard of a railroad, and never dreamed that his property would one day be wanted for a right of way. But the day came when the railroad's surveyors ran their line of stakes out from the town, along the river-bank, and up to the very door of the house itself. Condemnation proceedings were begun, the ra

and mighty bridges-it seemed as old, as venerable, as the rugged hills which frowned down upon the valley; it seemed that it must have been there from the dawn of time, that it was the product of a force greater than any now known to man. And yet, really, it had been in existence scarce half a century. Many men were

he Lakes to the Gulf. It had brought San Francisco as near Boston as was Philadelphia in the days of the post rider. The four days' stage journey from New York to Boston it covered in four hours. It had bound together into

h the gathering darkness, along the way that they had c

well, and I believe that I can get him to let us string our wire on the com

llan, "it will be easy enough.

positiveness than he really felt. "I'll see Mickey in the morni

nd that I'm not doing anything," said Allan

"Won't you come in and see my mo

said Allan. "Do yo

she asked me to bring you

Allan, looking a

on," and he opened the door

ooked up at the sound of their entrance, and as the beams of the lamp fell upon her face, Allan saw how it lighted with love and happiness.

as saying, "thi

etting her ? 32 ? sewing fall unheeded to

a voice soft and sweet and gentle. "Th

lan, turning crimson. "You see

her would think it nothing if

ps trembled. And the woman before him, looking

found himself clasped close ag