The paroxysm lasted only for a moment, then Nevins pulled himself together with a mighty effort, looking about him with a pitiful attempt at bravado. Mr. Schofield glanced at him, then turned his back, for Nevins’s countenance, not engaging at any time, was now positively hideous.

“Go ahead with your story, Welsh,” he said.

“Well, sir,” Jack began, “I waited fer Allan this evenin’ t’ tell him that Nolan had come back, an’ when he told me that Nolan had been out here—”

“Nolan out here?” interrupted the trainmaster, and Allan related the conversation of the night before.

“When I heerd all that,” began Jack, again, "I knowed that Nolan was up to no good; I knowed that he had come out here t’ do th’ boy dirt; an’ all th’ whinin’ an’ crocydile tears in th’ world couldn’t convince me no different. So when Allan got on th’ accommydation, I left a message with th’ caller fer my old woman, tellin’ her I’d be late, ? 161 ? an’ jumped on th’ back platform jest as th’ train pulled out."

Mr. Schofield nodded. He was beginning to understand the occurrences which had seemed so mysterious.

At that moment a freight pulled in, and the conductor entered to get the orders. He cast an astonished glance at Nevins, but the presence of the trainmaster stifled any questions which may have been upon his lips, and he read his order, signed for it, and went out again. Allan went to the door, assured himself that the signals were properly set, then shut the door and resumed his seat on the table beside the instrument.

“Well,” Jack continued, "I knowed th’ boy’d be mad if he thought I was follerin’ him—he never did like it, even when Nolan was arter him last year—so I stayed there on th’ back platform, an’ dropped off in th’ dark down there by th’ water-plug. I set down in th’ shadder of a pile o’ ties an’ waited. I see Allan come over here, an’ purty soon th’ other feller come out and hiked away fer th’ village, like he had a date with his best girl an’ was an hour late.

“I was gittin’ mighty hungry, and beginnin’ t’ feel purty foolish, too; fer I really hadn’t nothin’ t’ go on except that Dan Nolan had been here th’ day afore. It was gittin’ cold, too, but I turned up my collar, pulled my cap down over my ears, lighted my pipe behind th’ ties, an’ arranged myself ? 162 ? as comf’table as I could. I rammed my hands down in my pockets, t’ keep ’em warm, an’ snuggled up agin th’ logs. Somethin’ jabbed me in th’ side, an’ when I felt t’ see what it was, I found I had a torpedy in my pocket. I’d put it there in th’ mornin’ thinkin’ I might need it afore night, and hadn’t been back t’ th’ section shanty since. Well, I eased it around so’s it wouldn’t jab me, and leaned back agin.

“But th’ minutes dragged by mighty slow, an’ nothin’ happened. I could see Allan, through th’ windy, bendin’ over th’ table, or readin’ in a book. I couldn’t see my watch, it was too dark, an’ I didn’t dare strike another match, fer fear somebody’d see it, but I jedge it was clost to seven o’clock, an’ I was sort o’ noddin’ back agin th’ pile o’ ties, with my eyes shet, when I heerd two men a-talkin’ on th’ other side o’ th’ pile, an’ in a minute I was wide awake, fer I knowed one o’ th’ voices belonged t’ Dan Nolan.”

Jack paused to enjoy the effect of the words. He could certainly find no fault with his audience on the score of inattention. Allan and Mr. Schofield were regarding him with rapt countenances; and at the last words, Nevins, too, had started to a strained attention, his quick, uneven breathing attesting his agitation.

“Yes, it was Nolan,” Jack repeated, “an’ th’ other one was that felly there,” and he indicated Nevins with a motion of the finger.

? 163 ?

“‘Well, did ye do it?’ Nolan asked.

“‘Yes, I done it,’ said th’ other. ’How about th’ freight?’

“‘I left her three mile back,’ says Nolan, ’with th’ wust hot-box ye iver see. An’ when she tries t’ start she’ll find an air-hose busted. She can’t git here till way arter seven.’

“‘Th’ special’ll be along about seven-five, I think,’ says Nevins, ’an’ it’ll be a-comin’ a mile a minute.’

“‘Bully!’ says Nolan, an’ laughs to himself. ’I guess that prig’ll hev suthin’ t’ think about th’ rest of his life. I guess he won’t stay much longer with this road.’

“I knowed they was talkin’ about Allan,” Jack went on, "and I tell you my blood was a-boilin’ considerable; it was all I could do t’ keep myself from jumpin’ up an’ grabbin’ them two scoundrels an’ knockin’ their heads together till I’d smashed ’em. But I couldn’t see yet jest what it was they was up to. So I thought I’d set still an’ try t’ find out. An’ purty soon I did find out.

“‘But you’ve got t’ git th’ order back on th’ hook,’ says Nolan. ’If y’ don’t, it’ll be you who’ll suffer an’ not that rat.’

“’Niver worry,’ says Nevins, ’I’ll git it back. I’ve pervided fer all thet.’

“Even yet I couldn’t understand,” Jack added. “I couldn’t believe that any two human bein’s would be sich divils as them words’d indicate. I thought ? 164 ? mebbe I was dreamin’, but I pinched myself an’ it hurt. Then I thought mebbe I hadn’t heerd right. I jest couldn’t b’lieve my own ears.

“‘Well, I can’t stay here,’ says Nevins. ’I must be gittin’ over by th’ shanty. I’ve got t’ watch my chance.’

“‘I’ll go along,’ says Nolan. ’Mebbe I kin help. Anyway, I’m a-goin’ t’ stay till th’ thing comes off.’

“They come around from behind th’ pile o’ ties, and I see them run across th’ track an’ dodge in among that little grove o’ saplings down yonder. In a minute, they come out at th’ edge by the shanty, an’ I see one o’ them creep up an’ look through th’ windy. Then he fell flat on th’ ground, an’ I see Allan git up an’ come t’ th’ door. Th’ semyphore and train-signal both showed a clear track. I jumped up t’ start acrost an’ warn him, an’ jest then I heerd th’ special whistle. I knowed then what ’d happen unless somethin’ was done mighty quick t’ keep th’ special from runnin’ past. I grabbed out th’ torpedy an’ jabbed it over th’ rail, an’ then started on a run fer th’ shanty, but th’ special was comin’ lickety-split, an’ I hadn’t hardly gone a rod afore it come singin’ along. I stopped t’ see what’d happen when it hit that torpedy. I knowed they’d be some mighty lively times fer a minute.”

“There were,” said Mr. Schofield, ruefully, and rubbed an abrasion on his wrist.

“An’ then,” Jack continued, "my heart jumped ? 165 ? right up in my throat, fer I heerd that freight come chuggin’ up th’ grade. It hadn’t been held as long as Nolan thought it would, an’ it looked to me fer a minute as though th’ trains’d come t’gether right by the semyphore. But that special was comin’ like greased lightnin’. I see th’ signal go up with a jerk, then th’ ingine hit my torpedy, and th’ brakes went on. I turned around t’ see what Allan was doin’, an’ I see him kind o’ keel over in th’ door. An’ then I see somethin’ else—I see that scoundrel there raise th’ windy, put th’ stick under it, climb up to th&rsqu............