A BATTLE WITH TRAMPS.
After quieting Juniper, and having the satisfaction of seeing him begin to
eat hay quite as though he were in his own stable, Rod left the car and
followed his railroad friends in order to learn something about getting a
train ready for its run. He found them walking on opposite sides of it,
examining each car by the light of their lanterns, and calling to each
other the inscriptions on the little leaden seals by which the doors were
fastened. These told where the cars came from, which information, together
with the car numbers, and the initials showing to what road they belonged,
Conductor Tobin jotted down in his train-book. He also compared it with
similar information noted on certain brown cards, about as wide and twice
as long as ordinary playing-cards, a package of which he carried in his
hand. The destinations of the several cars could also be learned from
these cards, which are called "running slips." Each car in the train was
represented by one of them, which would accompany it wherever it went,
being handed from one conductor to another, until its final destination
was reached.
At length, about ten o'clock, through Freight Number 73, to which car
number 1160 was attached, received its "clearance," or order to start,
from the train-dispatcher, and began to move heavily out from the yard, on
to the main west-bound track. Juniper now did not seem to mind the motion
of the car in the least; but continued quietly eating his hay as though he
had been a railroad traveller all his life. So Rod, who had watched him a
little anxiously at first, had nothing to do but stand at the open door of
his car and gaze at what scenery the darkness disclosed. Now that he was
beginning to comprehend their use, he was deeply interested in the bright
red, green, and white lights of the semaphore signals that guarded every
switch and siding. He knew that at night a white light displayed from the
top of a post, or swung across the track in the form of a lantern, meant
safety, a red light meant danger, and a green light meant caution. If it
had been daytime he would have seen thin wooden blades, about four feet
long by six inches wide, pivoted near the top of the same posts that now
displayed the lights. He would have learned that when these stretched out
horizontally over the track, their warning colors must be regarded by
every engineman; while if they hung down at an angle, no attention need
be paid to them.
Being a very observant boy, as well as keenly interested in everything to
be seen on a railroad, Rod soon discovered that the semaphore lights also
appeared at intervals of a few miles along the track, at places where
there were no switches, and that these always moved as soon as the train
passed them. He afterwards discovered that these guarded the ends of the
five-mile blocks, into which the road was divided along its entire length.
Each of the stations, at these points, is occupied by a telegraph operator
who, as soon as the train enters his block, displays a red danger signal
behind it. This forbids any other train to enter the block, on that track,
until he receives word from the operator at the other end of the block
that the first train has passed out of it. Then he changes his signal
from red to white, as a notice that the block is free for the admission of
the next train. This "block system," as it is called, which is now in use
on all principal railroad lines, renders travel over them very much safer
than it used to be before the system was devised.
After watching the semaphore lights for some time, and after assuring
himself that Juniper was riding comfortably, Rod spread a blanket, that
Brakeman Joe had loaned him, over a pile of loose hay, placed his M. I. P.
bag for a pillow, and in a few minutes was sleeping on this rude bed as
soundly as though he were at home.
Some hours later the long, heavily laden train stopped at the foot of the
steep grade just east of Euston, and was cut in two in order that half of
it might be drawn to the top at a time. Rear Brakeman Joe was left to
guard the part of the train that remained behind, and he did this by
walking back a few hundred yards along the track, and placing a torpedo on
top of one of the rails. Then he went back as much farther and placed two
torpedoes, one a rail's length behind the other.
These railroad torpedoes are small, round tin boxes, about the size of
a silver dollar, filled with percussion powder. To each is attached two
little straps of lead, which are bent under the upper part of the rail to
hold the torpedo in position. When it is struck by the ponderous wheels
of a locomotive, it explodes with the sound of a cannon cracker. The
explosion of two torpedoes, one directly after the other, is the signal
for caution, and bids the engineman proceed slowly, keeping a sharp
lookout for danger. The explosion of a single torpedo is the signal of
immediate danger, and bids him stop his train as quickly as possible. Thus
Brakeman Joe had protected his train by arranging a cautionary signal,
which would be followed immediately by that of danger. Before his train
started again he intended to take up the single torpedo, leaving only
those calling for caution, to show that the freight had been delayed. In
the meantime he decided to walk back to the cars left in his charge and
see that no one was meddling with them.
Rod was too soundly asleep to know anything of all this, nor did he know
when an ugly-looking fellow peered cautiously into his car, and said, in a
low tone: "This here ain't it. It must be the one ahead." The first thing
of which he was conscious was hearing, as in a dream, the sound of blows,
mingled with shouts, and a pistol shot, and then Brakeman Joe's voice
calling: "Rod! Rod Blake! Help! quick!"
An instant later the boy had leaped from the car, and was by his friend's
side, engaged in a desperate struggle with four as villainous-looking
tramps as could well be found; though, of course, he could not judge of
their appearance in the darkness. Joe was wielding the heavy oak stick
that at other times he used as a lever to aid him in twisting the brake
wheels; but Rod was obliged to depend entirely on his fists. The skill
with which he used these was evidently a surprise to the big fellow who
rushed at him, only to receive a stinging blow in the face, which was
followed by others delivered with equal promptness and effect. There were
a few minutes of fierce but confused fighting. Then, all at once, Rod
found himself standing alone beside a car the door of which was half-way
open. Two of the tramps had mysteriously disappeared; he himself had sent
a third staggering backward down the bank into a clump of bushes, and he
could hear Brakeman Joe chasing the fourth down the track.
A few minutes later the locomotive came back, sounding four long blasts
and one short one on its whistle, as a recall signal for the rear flagman.
It was coupled on, and some one waved a lantern, with an up-and-down
motion, from the rear of the train, as a signal to go ahead. The engineman
opened the throttle, and the great driving wheels spun round furiously;
but the train refused to move. He sounded two long whistle blasts as a
signal to throw off brakes. Then a lantern was seen moving over the tops
of the cars, the brakes that had been holding them, were loosened, and the
signal to go ahead was again waved. After this the lantern disappeared as
though it had been taken into the caboose, and the train moved on.
Its severed parts were re-united at the top of the grade, and it passed
on out of the block in which all these events had taken place, before
Conductor Tobin, who had wondered somewhat at not seeing Brakeman Joe,
discovered that the faithful fellow was missing. He was not on top of any
of the cars, nor in the caboose, and must have been left behind. Well, it
was too late to stop for him now. Freight Number 73 must side-track at the
next station, to allow the night express to pass, and it had already been
so delayed, that there was no time to lose.
When the station was reached, and Conductor Tobin had seen his train
safely side-tracked, he went to look for Rod Blake. He meant to ask the
boy to take Brakeman Joe's place for the rest of the run, or until that
individual should rejoin them by coming ahead on some faster train. To his
surprise the young stockman was not in car number 1160, nor could a trace
of him be found. He, too, had disappeared and the conductor began to feel
somewhat alarmed, as well as puzzled, by such a curious and unaccountable
state of affairs.