UNDER SEALED ORDERS
The young fireman was soon headed for the railroad yards. A good many
people were bound hurriedly in the same direction, for the explosion
had aroused the town.
As he neared the place, he could hear considerable shouting. He came
to the tracks at a point where there was a switch shanty. The man on
duty looked worried and scared.
"What is the trouble?" inquired Ralph.
"The strikers have blown up a freight car with dynamite," replied the
flagman. "They have threatened me, old and feeble as I am. I'm afraid
I'll have to lay off till this trouble is over."
In the distance Ralph saw the mere skeleton of a freight car. It was
in flames, and a number of men were pushing other cars from its
vicinity to prevent them from catching on fire. A man tapped him on
the shoulder. Turning, Ralph recognized one of the strikers.
"See here, Fairbanks," he said, "I'm of the decent sort, as you know,
but I think our position is right."
"Does that look like it?" demanded the young fireman, pointing to the
burning car.
"I'm not responsible for that," said the man, "and I can't prevent the
hot-headed ones from violence. I know you won't join us, but I'm just
friendly enough to give you a warning. Don't go on duty to-day."
"I certainly shall, if I am needed," replied Ralph. "Your union is in
bad hands, and can't last."
The man shrugged his shoulders and Ralph passed on his way. A piece of
coal came whizzing through the air a few minutes later from the
vicinity of a crowd of loiterers. It knocked off the young fireman's
cap. He picked it up and walked slowly on.
When he came to the roundhouse, he found the doors shut. Most of the
windows in the place were broken in. Several target rods near by lay
on the ground, and at a glance Ralph saw that considerable damage had
been wrought during the night.
"There must be a crisis soon," he said, and went to the roundhouse
door. Before he was admitted several stones rained about him, thrown
from behind a pile of ties. Inside, Ralph found Griscom and several
others among the older engineers and firemen. All hands looked
serious, the foreman particularly so.
"Glad you came," said Forgan. "There's bad trouble brewing. The strike
has reached the danger point. We can't run any regulars from the depot
and won't try to to-day, but the Limited Mail must go to terminus.
Griscom is ready for the run; are you? The regular engineer and
fireman say they won't risk their lives."
"I did not see the train anywhere," observed Ralph.
"There is to be no regular train, only one postal and one express car.
They will back down here in half-an-hour from the limits. Here is a
wire for you. Came early this morning."
With some surprise Ralph read a brief telegram. It came from the
headquarters of the Great Northern in the city, was signed by the
president of the road, and read:
"Come to my office immediately on reaching terminus."
Ralph showed this to Griscom. The situation was discussed by the men
in the roundhouse, and the time passed by until a sharp whistle
announced the arrival of the Limited Mail.
As Griscom and Ralph went outside to relieve those temporarily in
charge of the locomotive, they were pelted from several points with
pieces of dirt, iron and coal. A crowd surged up to the engine. Then a
startling thing occurred that dispersed them more quickly than they
had gathered.
As if by magic there appeared on the platforms of the two coaches
fully a dozen guards armed with rifles. The train now proceeded on its
way without molestation. At the limits the guards left it to protect
other railroad property.
The only trouble experienced during the run was between Afton and
Dover, when some missiles were thrown and two switches found spiked.
When they reached the city, Ralph tidied up and went to see the
president of the road.
Mr. Grant received him with a pleasant smile, beckoned him to a
comfortable seat, and, closing the door of his private office, said:
"Fairbanks, we think a good deal of you, and I know you deserve that
favorable opinion. There are many trusted and reliable men in our
service, but they do not think as quickly as you do. You are familiar
with people at Stanley Junction, and on that account I wish you to do
an important service for us."
"I shall be pleased to," said Ralph.
"It is this: Some one is working against us, some one is undermining
us. We now believe that the sympathetic strike, as it is called, is
more the result of some plot than a genuine sentiment of unionism. A
man named Delmay, from the Midland Central, and a man named Evans, a
discharged employe of our road, are at the head of the movement. Both
are persons of bad record in every way."
"I know that," murmured Ralph.
"We believe that these men are hired to promote the strike."
"Why, by whom, Mr. Grant?" inquired Ralph in considerable surprise.
"That we wish you to find out. All we suspect is that some outside
party is inciting them to the strike to carry out some selfish
personal ends. You must find out who he is. You must discover his
motives."
Ralph was perplexed. He could not understand the situation at all.
"I will do all I can in the line you suggest, sir," he said, "although
I hardly know where to begin."
"You will find a way to make your investigation," declared the
president of the Great Northern. "I rely a great deal upon your
ability already displayed in ferreting out mysteries, and on your
good, solid, common sense in going to work cautiously and
intelligently on a proposition. You can tell Forgan you are relieved
on special service and wire me personally when you make any
discoveries."
Ralph arose to leave the room.
"Wait a moment," continued Mr. Grant, taking up an envelope. "I wish
you to hand this to Griscom. The Limited Mail will not make any return
trip to-night. Instead, a special will be ready for you. You need
mention this to no one. That envelope contains sealed orders and is
not to be opened until you start on your trip. The superintendent of
the road will see you leave and will give you all further instructions
needed."
There was a certain air of mystery to this situation that perplexed
Ralph. He reported to Griscom, who took the letter with a curious
smile.
"Must be something extra going on down the road," he observed. "Wonder
what? Start after dark, too. Hello, I say--the pay car."
They had come to the depot to observe an engine, two cars attached,
and the superintendent standing on the platform conversing with a man
attired in the garb of a fireman.
The latter was a sturdy man of middle age, one of the best firemen on
the road, as Ralph knew. He nodded to Griscom and Ralph, while the
superintendent said:
"Fairbanks, this man will relieve you on the run."
Ralph looked surprised.
"Why," he said, "then I am not to go on this trip?"
"Oh, yes," answered the official with a grim smile,--"that is, if you
are willing, but it must be as a passenger."
Ralph glanced at the passenger coach. Inside were half-a-dozen
guards.
"Not in there," replied the superintendent, "We want you to occupy the
pay car here. Everything is ready for you."
"All right," said Ralph.
"Come on, then."
The superintendent unlocked the heavy rear door of the pay car, led
the way to the tightly sealed front compartment, and there Ralph found
a table, chair, cot, a pail of drinking water and some eatables.
"You can make yourself comfortable," said the official. "There will
probably be no trouble, but if there is, operate this wire."
The speaker pointed to a wire running parallel with the bell rope to
both ends of the train. On the table lay a rifle. The only openings in
the car were small grated windows at either end.
The official left the car, locking in Ralph. The young fireman
observed a small safe at one end of the car.
"Probably contains a good many thousands of dollars," he reflected.
"Well, here is a newspaper, and I shall try to pass the time
comfortably."
By getting on a chair and peering through the front ventilator, Ralph
could obtain a fair view of the locomotive. The train started up, and
made good time the first thirty miles. Then Ralph knew from a halt and
considerable switching that they were off the main rails.
"Why," he said, peering through the grating, "they have switched onto
the old cut-off between Dover and Afton."
That had really occurred, as the young fireman learned later. The
officials of the road, it appeared, feared most an attack between
those two points, and the sealed orders had directed Griscom to take
the old, unused route, making a long circuit to the main line again.
Ralph remembered going over this route once--rusted rails, sinking
roadbed, watery wastes at places flooding the tracks. He kept at the
grating most of the time now, wondering if Griscom could pilot them
through in safety.
Finally there was a whistle as if in response to a signal, then a
sudden stop and then a terrible jar. Ralph ran to the rear grating.
"Why," he cried, "the guard car has been detached, there are Mr.
Griscom and the engineer in the ditch, and the locomotive and pay car
running away."
He could look along the tracks and observe all this. Engineer and
fireman had apparently been knocked from the cab. Some one was on the
rear platform of the pay car, a man who was now clambering to its
roof. The guards ran out of the detached coach and fired after the
stolen train, but were too late.
Rapidly the train sped along. Ralph ran to the front grating. The
locomotive was in strange hands and the tender crowded with strange
men.
"It's a plain case," said Ralph. "These men have succeeded in stealing
the pay car, and that little safe in the corner is what they are
after."
The train ran on through a desolate waste, then across a trestle built
over a swampy stretch of land. At its center there was a jog, a
rattle, the tracks gave way, and almost with a crash, the train came
to a halt.
It took some time to get righted again, and the train proceeded very
slowly. Ralph had done a good deal of thinking. He knew that soon the
robbers would reach some spot where they would attack the pay car.
"I must defeat their purpose," he said to himself. "I can't let
myself out, but--the safe! A good idea."
Ralph settled upon a plan of action. He was busily engaged during the
next half hour. When the train came to a final stop, there was an
active scene about it.
Half-a-dozen men, securing tools from the locomotive, started to break
in the door of the pay car. In this they soon succeeded.
They went inside. The safe was the object of all their plotting and
planning, but the safe was gone, and Ralph Fairbanks was nowhere in
the pay car.