i?B. 15 , 1908.] 
249 
« . \ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
' same use of it myself, for to tell the truth, 
'ive walked until my own are tired, and I 
t to give them good natural rest.” 
> saying, he seated himself and elevated two 
large but neatly polished shoes upon the 
er nearest him, while the dispatcher’s feet 
't thoughtlessly, one at a time, back to the 
tion of comfort, as the superintendent’s 
dotes of railroading grew more interesting. 
, the time passed pleasantly for a half hour, 
ii suddenly Carlton’s face turned white as 
v. His feet and chair-legs came down to 
loor with a bang, and his hand shot out to 
elegraph key like a bullet, 
the dispatcher began frantically calling one 
■ after another, Briggs leaned forward and 
:cd over the train sheet. To his practiced 
t told its own story in a word—the order 
on had given to the operator at Brayton 
a mistake, and unless it could be recalled, 
mining two trains into a head-end collision, 
flush of anger passed over Briggs’ face, 
hen faded to pallor, as his firm lips shut 
,1 vise. Neither man spoke a word, but the 
intendent stood and listened to the in- 
lents, while Carlton, with bulging eyes, 
:cd the sounder, as if to catch the hoped- 
.•ply in advance of his hearing, 
ne of the little way stations between those 
rains had an operator whose duty it was to 
his office on Sunday. The only hope lay 
fe possibility of an operator being in by 
e. As one station after another failed to 
until all had been called, great beads of 
sweat stood out on Carlton’s brow, and 
Ddy trembled with the palpitation of his 
Looking despairingly at the clock, he ’ 
d from his knowledge of the speed of the 
that only three stations remained where 
was a possibility of stopping one of them, 
'with his wild eyes still on the sounder, he 
L calling these offices over and over again, 
trying to throw his cry for help a hun- 
niles. 
superintendent, hearing footsteps in the 
;ing room, moved noiselessly out, and 
whisper that instilled fire into the stolid 
, sent him for Wheeler and a physician. 
: doorway, where he might hear their 
1 cli and listen to the instruments at the 
ime, he stood perfectly still, save for an 
less of the fingers. As the physician and 
( :r arrived, he motioned the former to a 
the outer room while beckoning to the 
and whispering, “A mistake.” Hearing 
lid calls, Wheeler divined the rest, and 
across the floor, inspected the train 
s he glanced over Carlton’s shoulder, 
this time, Carlton, oblivious to any 
e in the room, was mechanically repeat- 
calls, while he shuddered at the vision 
horrible catastrophe his error would 
He saw great engines plunge at each 
is they reared into the air, and then fall 
nighty crash amid a cloud of steam. He 
he splintering, grinding roar of the cars 
piled themselves in a tangled mass on 
the engines. Then as the tumult sub- 
id the steam rose, he saw the forms and 
the men he had slain, lying entangled 
■ reek-age, and heard the cries of the dy- 
awful, that he experienced a sense of 
s in fancy he felt the cold walls of a 
ing around him. Then the clicking in¬ 
struments took wings and dew away into the 
darkness, singing like birds, and he swooned. 
As Carlton lopped down on the desk, 
Wheeler, intent upon using the last vestige of 
chance to save a wreck, shoved the cold white 
hand from the key and continued the calls. 
The doctor and the superintendent raised the 
limp form and bore it into the next room. 
1 ime had now narrowed the possibility of 
stopping the trains to the single station of Oak¬ 
ville, and Wheeler continued to tick oa-oa-oa 
with desperately anxious speed, but with the 
evenness of one free from responsibility. 
In the cab of his locomotive, southbound 
from Brayton, the grim old veteran engineer, 
John Avery, sat steadily telling off the miles of 
his day s work while his keen eyes peered from 
A WESTERN JACK RABBIT. 
Photographed by O. A. Anderson. 
under the shaggy brows, watching the track 
like searchlights. Behind him, the thirty empty 
gondolas wriggled around the brows of hills, 
swung back to avoid the bends of the river, 
slipped down into long sags and crawled up 
over summits like a mighty serpent. 
In the cab of another locomotive, northbound 
from Kimball, Arthur Stanley, young, strong 
and handsome, slapped the shiny side of the 
boiler with his flat palm, and cried, “Go it girl, 
go it!” as he opened the throttle another notch. 
\\ ith a thrill of pride he looked back over the 
trembling line of boxcar tops and saw each in 
its turn quiver anew as it responded to the in¬ 
creased speed. Then he faced about and 
watched the engine steadily cutting off the 
prostrate shadows which the telegraph poles 
threw across the track. 
He was thinking of a home at the end of his 
run, where merry girls were visiting and try¬ 
ing on bridesmaid's gowns, where a cake was 
ripening; and where one girl looked often and 
reproachfully at the lazy hands of the clock. He 
thought of his new frock coat and the white tie 
—would he ever be able to get that straight? 
Would he stammer at the ceremony? Worst of 
all, would he forget the ring?—and his hand 
moved involuntarily toward his vest pocket. At 
any rate, to-morrow noon he would know. 
Small wonder that with the wedding music 
mingling with the snorting of the rocking en¬ 
gine, Stanley could not hear the frantic little 
warning that leaped from pole to pole beside 
him. A warning, that with the speed of light 
was racing back and forth for a hundred miles, 
praying some one to stop him. A keen little 
warning, that darted into vacant offices and beat 
against the dull walls in search of one with a 
voice. A faithful little warning that, finding 
no one, darted out and on again; on by heed¬ 
less Stanley, on by grim old John Avery, and 
back by that place on the track where death 
sat expectantly grinning. 
To the dingy room where Roger slept in the 
sunlight, Frank Carlton sent his first frightened 
cry for help, and then followed it with hun¬ 
dreds more in unnaturally quick succession. 
For many years Roger had known about that 
office, precisely what every dog makes it his 
business to learn, as soon as he is installed in a 
new home. That is, to know every noise con¬ 
nected with the place; to know what makes the 
noise, and what results follow it. Roger knew 
his master’s step from any other step upon the 
platform. He knew that at the sound of cer¬ 
tain locomotive whistles his master always went 
out, and that the train stopped. Other whistles 
told him that his master would sit still while 
the train roared by. He knew that the ringing 
of a tiny bell meant that his master was open¬ 
ing the drawer under the ticket window. The 
dog also knew that no matter how much the 
restless little things upon the telegraph table 
clicked and snapped, his master paid no heed 
to them, except when they made just one 
peculiar noise. When they made that par¬ 
ticular sound, the master went to the table, and 
began doing something with them, and then 
they stopped it. Occasionally, but not often, 
they would-make that noise after the master had 
gone home at night, or on Sundays, but they 
stopped very soon without having anything 
done to them. 
On this particular day. when the sound to 
which the master responded began, he slept on, 
and when it came several times he still slept. 
Only when he heard it very often, and it lasted 
longer than usual, did he open his eyes and roll 
them around as if listening. Then it stopped, 
and he shut his eyes for another nap, but the 
noise commenced anew. This continued repe¬ 
tition was very puzzling to him, and he raised 
his head and tried to cock his long ears. Again 
it stopped, and he was slowly drowsing off 
when it resumed. Now his head came up with 
a jerk, and he turned his face in the direction 
of the instruments. For a time he listened to 
the monotonous oa-oa-oa and then looked in¬ 
quiringly about. As often as the call stopped he 
started to settle down, but with every resump¬ 
tion of the sound he became more interested. 
Finally when there ceased to be any intermis¬ 
sions, he slowly raised his great body and 
walked deliberately to the table. There he stood 
and watched, holding his head up where he could 
