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[Illustration: THE LOCOMOTIVE SETTLED BACK ON A SLANT.
_Ralph on the Engine. Frontispiece (Page 10.)_]
RALPH ON THE ENGINE
OR
THE YOUNG FIREMAN OF THE LIMITED MAIL
BY
ALLEN CHAPMAN
AUTHOR OF "RALPH OF THE ROUNDHOUSE," "RALPH IN THE
SWITCH TOWER," "THE YOUNG EXPRESS AGENT,"
"TWO BOY PUBLISHERS," "THE DAREWELL CHUMS," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
THE RAILROAD SERIES
BY ALLEN CHAPMAN
12mo, Cloth, Illustrated.
RALPH OF THE ROUNDHOUSE
Or, Bound to Become a Railroad Man
RALPH IN THE SWITCH TOWER
Or, Clearing the Track
RALPH ON THE ENGINE
Or, The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail
(Other volumes in preparation.)
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK
Copyright, 1909, by
GROSSET & DUNLAP
Ralph on the Engine
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Night Run 1
II. The Landslide 9
III. Everybody's Friend 19
IV. An Old-Time Enemy 27
V. On Special Duty 35
VI. Zeph 43
VII. Limpy Joe's Railroad Restaurant 50
VIII. The Hidden Plunder 58
IX. A Suspicious Proceeding 66
X. The Special 73
XI. Kidnapped 82
XII. The Railroad President 89
XIII. The Short Line Railway 97
XIV. A Railroad Strike 106
XV. The Runaway Trains 116
XVI. Car No. 9176 124
XVII. Under Sealed Orders 132
XVIII. The Strike Leader 142
XIX. The Wire Tappers 150
XX. In Peril 159
XXI. A Friend in Need 165
XXII. The Limited Mail 173
XXIII. The Picnic Train 181
XXIV. In "The Barrens" 190
XXV. Too Late 197
XXVI. The Mad Engineer 205
XXVII. A New Mystery 213
XXVIII. The Freight Thieves 219
XXIX. A Prisoner 226
XXX. The Lost Diamonds 235
XXXI. Justice at Last--Conclusion 241
RALPH ON THE ENGINE
CHAPTER I
THE NIGHT RUN
"Ralph Fairbanks."
"On hand, sir."
"You are to relieve Fireman Cooper on the Dover slow freight."
"All right, sir."
Ralph Fairbanks arose from the bench on which he was seated in the
roundhouse at Stanley Junction.
Over a dozen men had been his companions for the past hour. There were
engineers waiting for their runs, firemen resting after getting their
locomotives in order, and "extras," who, like the young railroader
himself, were so far on the substitute list only.
Ralph was glad of his appointment. This was his second month of
service as a fireman. It had been by no means regular employment, and,
as he was industrious and ambitious, he was glad to get at work with
the prospect of a steady run.
The foreman of the roundhouse had just turned from his desk after
marking Ralph's name on the list when a man hurriedly entered the
place. He was rather unsteady in his gait, his face was flushed, and
he looked dissolute and unreliable.
"Give me the slow freight run, Forgan," he panted. "I'm listed next."
"Two minutes late," observed the foreman, in a business-like way.
"That don't count on a stormy night like this."
"System counts in this establishment always, Jim Evans," said Mr.
Forgan.
"I ran all the way."
"Stopped too long at the corner saloon, then," put in Dave Adams, a
veteran engineer of the road.
Evans glared at the man who spoke, but recognizing a privileged
character, stared down the row of loiterers and demanded:
"Who's got my run?"
"Do you own any particular run, Jim?" inquired Adams, with a grin.
"Well, Griscom's was due me."
"Young Fairbanks was on hand, so it's his run now."
"That kid's," sneered Evans, turning on Ralph with angry eyes. "See
here, young fellow, do you think it's square cutting in on a regular
man this way?"
"I'll answer that," interposed Tim Forgan sharply. "He was here, you
weren't. He holds the run till a better man comes along."
Evans stood glaring at Ralph for a few minutes. Then he moved to the
youth's side.
"See here, kid," he observed, "I want this run specially. It'll be a
regular, for Cooper is going with another road. I'm a man and must
earn a man's wages. You're only a kid. I've got a family. Come, give
me the run and I'll treat you handsomely," and the speaker extended a
cigar.
"Thank you, I don't smoke," said Ralph. Then looking the man squarely
in the eyes, he said: "Mr. Evans, I'll give up the run on one
condition."
"What's that?" inquired Evans eagerly.
"If you will sign the pledge, work steadily, and give your wages to
your family as you should do."
"I'll do it!" shouted Evans, not a whit shame-facedly.
"No, you won't," announced Forgan. "Fairbanks, kindness is kindness,
but business is business. If you drop this run, it goes to the next
extra on the list according to routine."
"Bah, you're all down on me!" flared out Evans, and left the place in
a rage.
"It would do no good, Fairbanks, to help that man," observed Dave
Adams. "He would sign anything to secure a personal advantage and
never keep his word. He squanders all his money and won't last long in
the Great Northern, I can tell you."
Ralph went outside as he heard a whistle down the rails. Evans was
standing near a switch.
"Some kind of a plot, eh, you and your friend?" he sneered at Ralph.
"I don't know what you mean, Mr. Evans," replied Ralph.
"Oh, yes, you do. Forgan is partial to you. The others don't like me
because I'm a crack man in my line. One word, though; I'll pay you off
for this some time or other," and Evans left the spot shaking his fist
at Ralph menacingly.
"One of the bad kind," mused Ralph, looking after the fellow, "not at
all fit for duty half the time. Here comes one of the good kind," he
added as a freight engine with a long train of cars attached steamed
up at the roundhouse. "It's my run, Mr. Griscom."
"That's famous news," cried old John Griscom, genuinely pleased.
"Good evening, Mr. Cooper," said Ralph, as the fireman leaped from the
cab.
"Hello," responded the latter. "You got the run? Well, it's a good man
in a good man's place."
"That's right," said Griscom. "None better. In to report, Sam?
Good-bye. Shovel in the coal, lad," the speaker directed Ralph. "It's
a bad night for railroading, and we'll have a hard run to Dover."
Ralph applied himself to his duties at once. He opened the fire door,
and as the ruddy glow illuminated his face he was a picture pleasant
to behold.
Muscular, healthy, in love with his work, friendly, earnest and
accommodating, Ralph Fairbanks was a favorite with every fair-minded
railroad man on the Great Northern who knew him.
Ralph had lived at Stanley Junction nearly all of his life. His early
experiences in railroading have been related in the first volume of
the present series, entitled "Ralph of the Roundhouse."
Ralph's father had been one of the pioneers who helped to build the
Great Northern. When he died, however, it was found that the twenty
thousand dollars' worth of stock in the road he was supposed to own
had mysteriously disappeared.
Further, his home was mortgaged to old Gasper Farrington, a wealthy
magnate of the village. This person seemed to have but one object in
life; to drive the widow Fairbanks and her son from Stanley Junction.
Ralph one day overheard Farrington threaten to foreclose a mortgage,
and the youth suddenly realized his responsibilities. Leaving school,
he secured a job in the roundhouse at Stanley Junction. Here,
notwithstanding the plots, hatred and malice of a worthless,
good-for-nothing fellow named Ike Slump, whose place he took, Ralph
made fine progress. He saved the railroad shops from wholesale
destruction, by assisting John Griscom to run an engine into the
flames and drive a car of powder out of the way. For this brave deed
Ralph secured the friendship of the master mechanic of the road and
was promoted to the position of junior leverman.
In the second volume of this series, entitled "Ralph in the Switch
Tower," another vivid phase of his ability and merit has been
depicted. He rendered signal service in saving a special from disaster
and prevented a treasure train from being looted by thieves.
Among the thieves was his old-time enemy, Ike Slump, and a crony of
his named Mort Bemis. They had been hired by Farrington to harass
Ralph in every way possible. Ralph had searched for the motive to the
old man's animosity.
He learned that Farrington had appropriated his father's railroad
stock on an illegal technicality, and that the mortgage on their
homestead had once been paid by Mr. Fairbanks.
Once knowing this, Ralph undertook the task of proving it. It required
some clever work to unmask the villainous miser, but Ralph succeeded,
and Farrington, to escape facing disgrace, left the town, ostensibly
for Europe.
In unmasking the old man Ralph was assisted by one Van Sherwin, a poor
boy whom he had befriended. Van and a former partner of Gasper
Farrington, named Farwell Gibson, had secured a charter to build a
short line railroad near Dover, in which project Ralph was very much
interested.
As has been said, Ralph had now been a fireman for two months, but
heretofore employed in yard service only.
"It's the chance of my life," he cried cheerily, as he piled in the
coal, "and what a famous partner is dear, bluff, honest old John
Griscom!"
"Won't have me for a partner long, lad," replied the veteran engineer
with a slight sigh, as he moved the lever.
"Why not, Mr. Griscom?" inquired Ralph.
"Eyes giving out. Had to drop the Daylight Express. I'm going down
the ladder, you are going up the ladder. Stick to your principles,
lad, for they are good ones, as I well know, and you'll surely reach
the top."
"I hope so." said Ralph.
The locomotive gave a sharp signal whistle, and the slow freight
started on its night run for Dover.