The Young Train Dispatcher

o go away, but thought better of it, entered the little room slowly,

iled at Allan in a manne

iving vainly to guess what object

oughed

,” he said, grin

evening that you

coughe

id. “One lung’s gone as it is. Th’ doctor told th’ boar

evolting to see. An experienced police officer would have recognized the prison pallor at a glance—the pallor which all criminals acquire who

d. “I hope you’ll get we

his head l

nswered. “Arter all, it’s no more’n I

nce was the last thing he had ever expected

ad as that,” he man

you, durin’ th’ last three months, arter I was locked up in my cell every night, I ha

rned away to take an order. He was vaguely troubled. If Nolan was sincerely repentant, he did not wish to be unjust to him, yet, ? 109 ? at the same time, he could not who

’ me,” Nolan added. “If I was

d Allan, laughing at the twisted pronoun

a little, but the answ

ashamed t’ stay there—I was ashamed fer anybody t’ see me. They all knowed what I’d done. So I thought I’d go

oing to walk?

t’ jump no train—that’s agin th’ law. An’ I knows

worth in search of work; he remembered how long and weary each of those hundred miles had seemed. And he had

ng Allan’s face intently,

said. “I ain’t wuth it. Besid

can help you,

an, crushing his hat fiercely down upon his head, strode to the

with something almost like respect until h

and down, waving his clenched fists wildly

pe! Wanted t’ help me! Oh, I couldn’t ’a’ stood it—I’d ’a’ been

through the window, he could see Allan bending over his key. He

” he cried. “

he stood motionless, with bated breath, his clenched fist still ? 111 ? in the air. Then he r

er nerve! No, I’m blamed if y’ have!” and he straight

nd him, “what’s all this about?

of fright. He gave a gasp of

ller like that fer?” he demand

Nevins, with a little sne

, “an’ you’ll soon find it out, if you tries t’ git s

s’s face changed, and he laughed triumphantly.

id, “don’t get mad. I

be generous with an adver

? when th’ day man come on in th’ mornin’ he found you gagged an’ bound in yer chair, sufferin’ terrible. I didn’t tell th’ court how willin’ yo

raking all that up again? Of course you didn’t tell

I lose my nerve,” said Nolan, thre

e village. And m

me,” said Nolan. “S’pose we go o

sitation. And they walked away together. “What ar

his eyes shining fiercely, “is t’ git even with that

with you there. I don’t like him, either.

. Besides, that ain’t what I want. That ain’t good enough! I want somethin’ t’ happen that’ll disgrace him, that he’ll nev

houghtfully. “Well, we

ed his lips eagerly. “Afore I git through

ns n

and stopped before a two-story frame dwelling-house. “My r

indow, pulled down the blind so that no one could see in from the outside. Then he went to a bureau which stood in one corner, unlocked it and got out a box of stogies, a sack of sugar, a bottle of whiskey, and two glasses. He stirred up the fire in the little

vins,” he said. “You

vins, “especially when he’s

heads nodding, and the room so filled with tobacco-smoke that the flame of the lamp showed through it di

ou’re helpin’ me out this way. Why, we kin work it easy as greased lightnin’. Nobody’ll ever know—an’ that

woke wit

e said, “let

undress, lurching unsteadily from side to side. “But you ce

d Nevins, who was winding his

11

n chuckled. “He’ll ne

Nevins added. “In fact, I think his connecti

hinkin’ of so much. It’s of him thinkin’ an’ worryin’

olan’s countenance convulsed with horrible mirth. There was something re

ost harshly. “Get to be

Nolan chuckling ecstatically to himself, and