"All right. Come on," said Jack. And ten minutes later, working like
beavers, they had transferred to the barn the entire office battery of
twenty cells.
In nervous haste Jack connected the cells in series, then to the wire.
Instantly the instrument closed with a solid click.
"Hurrah! We win! We win!" cried West, and Jack, springing to the key,
whirled off a succession of H's. "H, H, H, ON! Rush! H, H--"
"I, I, H! Where have you been? What's the matter?" It was the chief, and
the words came sharply and angrily.
"The wire was cut both sides of the village," shot back Jack. "I think it
was Raub and Simpson's work. And two roughs chased me out of the office
with a revolver. Hired by them, I suppose. I've fixed up an office in the
barn, and am sending for a mile through a wire fence, to bridge the cut.
Orr."
For a moment the chief was too amazed to reply. Then rapidly he said:
"Orr, you are a trump! But come ahead with that report now. And make the
best time you ever made in your life. I'll copy you myself."
And there, in a corner of the big barn, by the dim light of the lantern,
and to the strange accompaniment of munching cattle and restlessly
stamping horses, West wrote as though his life depended upon it, and Jack
sent as he had never sent before. And exactly an hour later the young
operator sent "30" (the end) to one of the speediest feats of press work
on that year's records of the Hammerton office.
Though it was 3 A. M. when Jack got back to Hammerton, he found the chief
operator at the station to meet him. "I had to come down, to congratulate
you," said the chief. "That was one of the brightest bits of work
all-round that I've heard of for years."
"But did we beat them?" asked Jack.
"We assuredly did. For didn't you know? Those two roughs later went up
and cleaned out the other office--the very men who had hired them to
disable us! And what with having had a slow-working wire previously, the
'Bulletin' didn't get in more than five hundred words. We gave the 'Star'
over three solid columns."
The manager's congratulation the following morning was as enthusiastic as
that of the chief. "And as a practical appreciation, Jack," he added, "we
are going to give you a full month's vacation, with salary. We think you
earned it."
When Jack returned to his wire one of the first remarks he heard was from
Alex Ward, at Bixton.
"Well, old boy," clicked Alex, "your adventure came, didn't it. And it
has me beaten to a standstill."
[Illustration: THERE, IN THE CORNER OF THE BIG BARN, JACK SENT AS HE
HAD NEVER SENT BEFORE.]
"Nonsense. It was your stunt at Hadley Corners that suggested the trick
that got me out of it," declared Jack. "But say, the manager has given me
a month's vacation. What do you think of that?"
"He did! Look here," sent Alex quickly, "come to Bixton and spend some of
it with me. I'll promise you all kinds of a good time. Though I am not
sure I can guarantee anything as exciting as last night's work," he
added.
Jack readily accepted the invitation. And, as it turned out, Alex might
as well have made his promise. He could have kept it.