Ralph on the Engine Part 14

"You try to put me off, youngster," drawled the fellow, with an ugly look in his eyes, "and I'll use this," and he drew a revolver from his pocket. "I want a free ride, and I intend to have it."

"Will you make me stop at the tower to get you put off?" threatened Ralph.

"You won't. There's no one there but the towerman, and he can't leave duty, and you won't stop because you're on a fast run. Take it easy, sonny. I don't weigh much, and I won't hurt your old locomotive."

Ralph could do nothing better than submit to the imposition for the time being. He returned to the cab. His face was quite anxious. He called again to Griscom.

"I can't understand it," he said. "What can have befallen him? Keep a close watch here for a few minutes, will you?" he asked of his pa.s.senger.

Ralph took a lantern and ran down the tracks, flashed the light across the empty freights lining the tracks, and returned to the locomotive more anxious than ever.

"I can't think what to do, Mr. Trevor," he said.

The young man consulted his watch nervously.

"Tell you, Fairbanks, we mustn't lose time. You can't find your partner. Run to the tower and have the man there telegraph the circ.u.mstances and get someone to look for Griscom. We will have to run on without him."

"Without Griscom!" cried Ralph. "Why, we cannot possibly secure a subst.i.tute this side of Dover."

"Don't need one--you know how to run an engine, don't you?"

"In a fas.h.i.+on, probably, but I am worried about Mr. Griscom."

"The towerman can attend to that. I don't want to appear selfish, Fairbanks, but you must get this special through on time or get to some point where we can find another engineer."

"I don't like it," said Ralph. "Without a fireman, too."

"I'll attend to that department," said Trevor, briskly throwing off his coat. "Now then, the tower, your word to the operator there, and make up for lost time, Fairbanks, if you want to earn that hundred dollars."

CHAPTER XI

KIDNAPPED

Ralph climbed to the engineer's seat with many misgivings and very anxious concerning his missing partner. He knew how to run an engine, for the young fireman had watched Griscom at his duties, had studied every separate piece of machinery thoroughly, and more than once had relieved the veteran engineer for brief periods of time between stations.

"That was all well enough on a regular run," thought Ralph, "but a special is a different thing."

Then, coming to the switch tower, he called up to the operator there, who was at the open window. He explained hurriedly about the disappearance of Griscom. He also asked the towerman to telegraph ahead to Dover for a subst.i.tute engineer. The operator said he would have some men come down from the first station back on the route on a handcar to search for the missing rail-roader.

"Man on your cowcatcher there," he called down as Ralph started up the engine.

"No time to bother with him now. Let him ride to Dover, if he wants to," advised Trevor. "Now, Fairbanks, you to the throttle, me to the furnace. Just give me a word of direction when I need it, won't you?"

But for his anxiety concerning his missing partner, the young fireman would have enjoyed the run of the next two hours immensely. There was a clear track--he had only to look out for signals. He was entirely familiar with the route, and Trevor proved a capable, practical a.s.sistant.

"Don't look much like the man who left a palace car to step into a locomotive at Stanley Junction, eh?" laughed the young man, reeking with perspiration, and greasy and grimed. "How do I do--all right?"

"You must have had experience in the fireman line," submitted Ralph.

"Why, yes," acknowledged Trevor. "My uncle made me work in a roundhouse for a year. Once I believe I could run an engine, but I've forgotten a good deal. Fairbanks, look ahead!"

There was no occasion for the warning. Already the young fireman had discovered what his companion announced. As the locomotive glided around a sharp curve a great glare confronted them.

Not two hundred yards ahead was a ma.s.s of flames shooting skywards.

The bridge crossing a creek that was located at this part of the route was on fire.

Ralph started to slow down. Then, discerning the impossibility of doing so this side of the burning structure, he set full speed.

"It's make or break," he said, in a kind of gasp.

"Put her through--take the risk," ordered Trevor sharply.

Swis.h.!.+ crackle! cras.h.!.+--it was an eventful moment in the career of the young fireman. There was a blinding glow, a rain of fire swayed through the locomotive cab, then, just as they cleared the bridge, the structure went down to midstream.

"We must get this news to Dover quick," said Ralph, applying himself anew to lever and throttle. "We have ten minutes to make up then."

Clink!--snap!--a terrific jar shook the locomotive. Contrary to signal given at the nearest switch ahead, the engine veered to a siding.

"What does this mean?" demanded Trevor sharply.

"Mischief--malice, perhaps," said Ralph quickly. "Freights ahead--we shall have to stop."

"Don't do it," directed Trevor. "Drive into them and push them ahead to the main line again. I'll stand all damage."

"They are empties, I noticed them on the afternoon run," said the young fireman. "Mr. Trevor, all this complication, all these happenings are suspicious. We will have to slow down to the freights."

"Slow down entirely," growled a sudden voice. "Do it, or I'll have it done by my partner, who is aboard all right."

Both Ralph and Trevor turned sharply. Standing on the coal of the tender was a man. He was dripping with water, and in one hand held a revolver.

"No delay, Fairbanks," he cautioned sternly. "We've taken too much trouble to miss this last chance to get you and your pa.s.senger."

Ralph stopped the engine. Then calmly, but with a certain sense of peril and defeat, he faced the man.

"Where did you come from?" demanded Trevor in amazement.

"Only from inside the water tank," responded the stranger coolly.

"Been there since we left Stanley Junction."

"Why, you are one of the fellows who were following me at the depot!"

cried Trevor.

"Correct, boss," chuckled the stranger. "Here's my partner," he announced, as the man Ralph had discovered on the cowcatcher appeared at the side of the cab. "We'll relieve you two now," continued the speaker to Ralph and Trevor. "Move back on that coal. We'll try a bit of engineering ourselves."

"See here, my man," called out Trevor sharply. "What is the object of all this?"