"Mr. Scouping of _The London Times_ would like to see you for a few
minutes," said the jailor.
"I don't care to see any newspaper man," said Moran, closing his book.
"I knew that," said the jailor, "but this man is a personal friend of
mine and in all the world there is not his equal in his chosen
profession, and if you will see him just for a few minutes it will be a
great favor to me. I feel confident, Dan, that he can be of service to
you--to the public at least--will you see him?"
The jailor had been extremely kind to the engineer and when he put the
matter as a personal request, Moran assented at once and Mr. Scouping
was ushered in. He was a striking figure with a face that was rather
remarkable.
"Now, what are you thinking about?" asked the visitor, as Moran held his
hand and looked him full in the face.
"Oh!" said the prisoner, motioning the reporter to a chair which the
jailor had just brought in, "I was thinking what a waste of physical
strength it was for you to spend your time pushing a pencil over a sheet
of paper."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure. What were you thinking about?"
"The trial of the robbers who held up the Denver Limited at Thorough-cut
some eight or ten years ago. You look like the man who gave one of them
a black eye, and knocked him from the engine, branding him so that the
detectives could catch him."
Moran smiled. He had been thinking on precisely the same subject, but,
being modest, he did not care to open a discussion of a story of which
he was the long-forgotten hero. "It strikes me," said Moran, "as rather
extraordinary that we should both recall the scene at the same time."
"Not at all," said the reporter. "The very fact that one of us thought
of it at the moment when our hands and eyes met would cause the other to
remember."
"Perhaps you reported the case for your paper, that we saw each other
from day to day during the long trial, and that I remembered your face
faintly, as you remembered mine. Wouldn't that be a better explanation?"
"No," said the journalist cheerfully. "I must decline to yield to your
argument, and stick to my decision. What I want to talk to you about,
Mr. Moran, is not your own case, save as it may please you, but about
the mysterious death of Engineer Cowels."
"I know less about that, perhaps, than any man living," said Moran
frankly.
"But you know the fireman's story?"
"No."
"Well, he claims that they were running at a maddening rate of speed,
that he and the engineer had quarrelled as to their relative positions
in the estimation of the public in general, the strikers in particular.
Cowels threw a hammer at the fireman, whereupon Guerin, as he claims,
caught the man by the left arm and by the back of the neck and shoved
his head out of the window. The engineer resisted, but Guerin, who is
something of an athlete, held him down and in a few moments the man
collapsed."
"How fast were they going?"
"Well, that is a question to be settled by experts. How fast will
Blackwings go with four cars empty?"
"Ninety miles an hour."
"How fast would she go, working 'wide open in the first notch,' as you
people say, down Zero Hill?"
"She would go in the ditch--she could hardly be expected to hold the
rail for more than two minutes."
"But she did hold it."
"I don't believe it," said the old driver; "but if she did, she must
have made a hundred miles an hour, and in that case the mystery of
Cowels's death is solved--he was drowned."
"But his clothes were not wet, and he was still in the window when they
reached Galesburg."
"I do not mean," said Moran, "that he was drowned in the engine-tank,
but in the cab window--in the air."
"That sounds absurd."
"Try it," said the prisoner. "Get aboard of Blackwings, strike the
summit at Zero Hill with her lever hooked back and her throttle wide
open, let a strong man hold your head out at the window, and if she
hangs to the rail your successor will have the rare opportunity of
writing you up."
"Do you mean that seriously?"
"I do. If what you tell me is true, there can be no shade of doubt as to
the cause of Cowels's death."
"I believe," said the reporter, "that you predicted his death, or that
the train would go in the ditch, did you not?"
"No."
"I was not present at the examination, but it occurs to me that the man
who claimed to be a detective, and who made the arrest, swore that you
had made such a prediction."
"Perhaps," said Moran. "The truth is when that fellow was giving his
testimony I was ignorant of Cowels's death, upon whose evidence I hoped
to prove that the fellow was lying wilfully, or that he had
misunderstood me, and later, I was so shocked and surprised at the news
of my old fireman's death that I forgot to make the proper explanation
to the magistrate."
"Why not make that explanation now? These are trying times and men are
not expected to be as guarded in their action as in times of peace."
"If you hope to learn from me that I had anything to do with Cowels's
death, or with the placing of the dynamite upon the locomotive, I am
afraid you are wasting your time. Suppose you are an army officer, the
possessor of a splendid horse--one that has carried you through hundreds
of battles, but has finally been captured by the enemy. You are fighting
to regain possession of the animal with the chances of success and
failure about equally divided, but you have an opportunity, during the
battle, to slay this horse, thereby removing the remotest chance of ever
having it for yourself again, to say nothing of the wickedness of the
act,--would you do it?"
"I should say not."
"And yet, I venture to say," said the prisoner, "that there is no love
for a living thing that is not human, to equal the love of a locomotive
engineer for his engine. To say that he would wilfully and maliciously
wreck and ruin the splendid steed of steel that had carried him safely
through sun and storm is utterly absurd."
"But what was it, Mr. Moran, that you said about the train going in the
ditch?"
"I have a little motto of my own," said the engineer, with his quiet
smile, "which makes the delay of an express train inexcusable, and I was
repeating it to George, as I had done scores of times before. It is that
there are only two places for an express train; she should either be on
time or in the ditch. It may have been rather reckless advice to a new
runner, but I was feeling a mite reckless myself; but, above all the
grief and disappointments (for the disgrace of my fireman's downfall was
in a measure mine) arose the desire that Blackwings should not be
disgraced; such is the love of the engineer for his engine."
The old engineer had shown much feeling, more than was usual for him to
display, while talking about his engine, and the reporter was impressed
very favorably. "This has been most interesting to me," said the
journalist; "and now I must leave you to your book, or to your bed,"
and then the two men shook hands again and parted.
* * * * *
It was almost midnight when a closed carriage stopped at the general
office of the Burlington Company, and the man who had been representing
_The London Times_ stepped out.
The Philosopher, who was still on duty, touched his cap and led the
visitor to the private office of the general manager.
"By Jove, Watchem," said the railway man, advancing to meet his visitor,
"I had nearly given you up--what success?"
"Well," said the great detective, removing his heavy coat, "I have had a
talk with Moran. Why, I know that fellow; he is the hero of the
celebrated Thorough-cut train robbery, and he ought to be wearing a
medal instead of irons."
"What! for attempting to blow up an engine?" asked the general manager.
"He never did it," said the dark man positively. "He may know who did
do it, but he will not tell, and he ought to be discharged."
"He will never be until he is proved innocent," said the railroad man.
"One of the conditions," began the detective deliberately, "upon which I
took charge of this business was that I should have absolute control of
all criminal matters and I am going to ask you to instruct the
prosecuting attorney's office to bring this man before Judge Meyer
to-morrow morning and ask that he be discharged."
"The prosecuting attorney will never consent," said the general manager.
"He believes the man guilty."
"And what do I care for his opinion or his prejudice? What does it
matter to the average attorney whether he convicts or acquits, so long
as his side wins? Before we proceed further with this discussion, I want
it distinctly understood that Dan Moran shall be released at once. The
only spark of pleasure that comes into the life of an honest detective,
to relieve the endless monotony of punishing the wicked, is the pleasure
of freeing those wrongfully accused. Dan Moran is innocent; release him
and I will be personally responsible for him and will agree to produce
him within twenty-four hours at any time when he may be wanted."
The general manager was still inclined to hold his ground, but upon
being assured that the Watchem detective agency would throw the whole
business over unless the demands of the chief were acceded to, he
yielded, and after a brief conference the two men descended, the
Philosopher closed the offices and went his way.