The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-07-20
A Brave coward.
By Robert Louis Stevenson. j

/ liant repartee when my humorous darts
were leveled at herself.
This may all seem enigmatical to the
reader, but will assume am aspect Of
entire plausibility in the light Of the
fact that she and / were telegraph OPP
orators at widely-separated stations on
a western railway. She knew as little
OF the young man with whom she dali
ly cPatted as / did Of herself We had
each drawn an ideal picture Of the per-
sonal appearance Of the other, and in
our frequent conversations over the
wire, each had in mind a face and fig
ure to whom the remarks were ad-
dressed. had pictured her as a
bright-eyed, laughing, jolly little crea-
ture, with golden curls and silvery
voice. often wondered what sort Of
a mortal picture she had drawn of my
SELF Il. b > -
| Red Rock, where was located, was
a station on the Santa Fee railway, in
| the -Cherokeen strip Of Oklahoma, be-
fore that now famous stretch of land
was purchased by the government from
the Indians and thrown open for set
Element. The population Of the town
60 consisted of burly section fore
man, of Milesian extraction; his wife,
a red-faced, redarmed woman, who
had no aspirations outside the limits
| of her not over-clean kitchen; four
section laborers, and myself, the agent
and operator for the railway company:
The country was, at the time of which
/ write, wild one, inhabited only by
Indians, a few cattlemen who leased
| grazing lands from the aboriginal own
ers, the cowboys who looked after the
scattered herds, and rowing bands of
desperadoes under the leadership of the
Dalton brothers, the most famous of
whom, Bill Dalton, was punctured by
well-directed bullet from the rifle of a
deputy United States marshal but
few days ago, and who died with pistol
In hand cursing the shot which had
laid him low. ... .~s
Miss Rankin was my predecessor in
the position of agent and operator at
Red Rock. She learnt the art of tel
egraphy in the train dispateher's Office
| at Arkansas City, where her widowed
mother resided, and when competent
to. assume charge of a small station,
had asked for and been given a posi-
ton at Red Rock. She tired, of a
while, Of the lonely monotony of that
obscure station, and asked to be sent
to one less isolated from mankind: and
when one day the operator at Ed
mond, further down the line, reported,
that his fingers had been '.pinched"
while endeavoring to couple two cars
together, and that he must hasten to
Arkansas City for surgical attention,
the Red Rock agent was telegraphed
instructions to lock up her depot, leave
the key in the care Of the section fore
man, and proceed on train then al
most due to Edmond, and assume
charge until the injured agent should
return. I was at the time an ssextra
operator" on Kansas division, and
on the afternoon Of the day on which
Miss Rankin left Red Rock, I found
myself sitting in her recently vacated
chair for an Indefinite stay at the lone
1y station.
My first train report had scarce an
nounced my presence to the operators
up and down the line, ere Edmond
called me up. She expressed regret
that. she had been denied the priyi-
lege of extending to me personal wei
come to my new home, said she hoped
I would find the station pleasant one,
and asked me i'll would not kindly
collect number of feminine trifes
which she had overlooked in packing
her trunk, and then send them down
to her. She would be ever so much
obliged, and should an opportunity pre-
sent itself, would certainly reciprocate
nay kindness. That was my first
injecting" with a lady who was. soon:
destined to play heroic part in a
thrilling adventure in which / was =
prominent figure. ,y.
Little by little Miss Rankin and my
self became acquainted over the wire.
We were soon holding daily converse
tons, then semi-daily, and then our
chats became so frequent that at times
| jealous operators at other stations
| would break in on our conversation
with hints that some one was ssmash-
ed" on some one else, and that we had
better give the suffering wire a rest
and do our spooning by mail To these
ungentlemanly Interruptions we paid
but little attention, but continued our
long-distance intercourse, as I be-
| fore remarked, falling more shopelessly
in love with my new friend as the days
sped by, and often wondering if a reci-
| predatory feeling was not growing in
warmth at the other end of the wire
was a young man of but 20, very
susceptible to female charms, and as
was then denied even a look at a
pretty face, aside from deeting glimps-
es of female passengers on passing
i trains, came to regard Miss Rankin
as my best girl, z and her personal
/ telegraphic signal, CIR, !" became the
sweetest sound my instrument clicked
/ into my ears. .3
Modesty, coupled with a fear of be-
! ing guyed, !" had prevented nae from
q y -