The Young Train Dispatcher

as though his companion had not he

dictive nature; he knew that he would never rest content until he had avenged himself upon the company for sending him to the penitentiary. For himself he did not fear; Nolan, who was

last. “I thought Nolan had been sent

turned State’s ? 99 ? evidence an’ testified agin his pals, an’ so managed t’ git hisself off with three year, while all th’

lan, again. “He hasn’t been in the

disgust an honest man! What’s th’ use o’ being honest, anyway, if that’s all they do to

don’t believe a word you’r

t heart t’ think of it! Here’s this cowardly blackg

are of myself,” s

t he won’t fight fair. He’ll be tryin’ some of his cowardly tricks on ye,

at all. I’ll keep my eyes open. But you haven’

10

ack, disgustedly. “They went

ated Allan. “Oh, you me

at’s tha

n as he does anything wrong he’ll be whisked back into the

ter th’ mischief’s done! That’s like lockin

ly promised

sell his soul t’ th’ devil, t’ git another chan

a laugh, as he swung himself

t, there was some danger. Nolan was vindictive—he would seek revenge first of all, unless his nature had been completely changed, which was scarcely to be expected. If he would fight fairly, there was very littl

e day man, grunted the gruffest kind of a greeting, caught up his coat and lunch-basket, and hastened away, while Allan sat down, looked over the orders, and fam

ough waiting for some one. He still had his lunch-basket in his hand, and evidently had not yet gone home to supper. Allan watched him, with a feeling of uneasiness which he could n

onnecting road had to be passed on its way, and by the time he was at leisure again he had forgotten all about Nevins. He got out his

obedience to the rules is essential to the safety of passengers and employees; the service demands the faithful, intelligent, and courteous dis

ials of the railroads all over the country have come to realize the need for a cool head, steady nerves, and unimpaired judgment in every man who holds a railroad position, from the lowest to the highest, and conditions which were only too common a generation ago would not now be tolerated for a moment.

10

later, a heavy step sounded on the platform and Bill Higgins entered. Allan handed him the order silently, and stood waiting for him to read it, wondering if there would be another quarrel like that of the night before. But Higgins read the order aloud, without protest,

’s eye, “I made a fool o’ myself last n

an, heartily, and

s mammoth palm and ga

e,” he added, and his v

quickly. “It’s all rig

Bill, awkwardly

10

glad that he had taken the engineer’s advice and not reported him. After al

les again. He ran over the definitions—definition of “train,” “section,” “extra,” and so on, which ther

d what they meant. A hand, flag, or lantern swung across the track means stop; raised and lowered vertically, proceed; swung vertically in a circle across the track, when the train is standing, back; and there are other signals to indicate when the train has broken in two,

t blast, stop; one long blast on approaching stations, junctions, or railroad-crossings at grade; two long blasts followed by two short ones on approaching public crossings at gr

from the valve as of escaping steam. This is the compressed air escaping. The valve is connected with a compressed-air line which runs through the entire train, and every pull on the cord blows a little whistle in the cab of the engine. Two pulls at this cord, when the train is moving, means stop at once; when the train is standing, two pulls is the signal

be taken, and just as he repeated it and snapped his key shut, he heard a step at the door behind him. He gl

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