The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-10-16
CHAPTER y.
Without Benefit of Clergy.

Without Benefit of Clergy.
At ten forty-forty on the Saturday
morning Kent was standing with the
general manager on the Union station
track platform beside the engine which
was TO make the flying run to CASTOR.
Nine hours Of sharp work lay be-
tween the hurried conference in LOr-
ing's bedroom and the drive to the sta
ton at a quarter before eleven. BUs-
ton had been wired; divers and sundry
friends of the railway company had
been interviewed; some few affidavits
had been secured, and now they were
waiting TO give Boston its last chance.
with clerk hanging over the oper-
atOr in the station telegraph Office 10
catch the first word of encouragement.
IF the Advisory Board doesn't send
us something pretty solid I'm going
into this thing lame" said Kent, dun
biously "Of course, what Boston can
send us Will be only .corrobOFative: Un-
fortunately we can't wire afhdavitS.
But it viii help. What we have Sc
cured here lacks direcness.
D. Necessarily" said -Loring. Bit I'm
banking on the board. II we don't get
the ammunition Before YOU have TO
start ] can wire it to you al Castor.
That gives Us three hours more to go
and come on"
Yes. and if it comes to the worst
II the decision be unfavOrable-it can
only embarrass us temporarily. This Is
merely the preliminary hearing, and
nothing permanent can be established
Until we have had q hearing on the
merits. and we can go armed to that,
at all events
The general manager was looking at
his watch. and he shut the case with
snap.
Don't you let it come to that. as
long as you have a leg to stand on, Da-
vid," he said, impressively. An inter
regnum of ter days might make il ex-
ceedingly difficult for us TO prove any
thing" Then, as the telegraph office
watcher came TO the door and shook
his head as a sign that Boston was
still silent: Your time is up on
with you, and don't let Oleson scare
you when he sets 219 in notion He
is a good runner. and you have a clear
track"
Kent eIambered to the footplate OF
the smart eiEht-wheeler.
Can you make il by O'clock?h he
asked, when the engineer. a big-bOned,
blue-eyed Norwegian, dropped the re-
versing lever into the corner for the
start
'Ay tank maybe so. ain'd it? Yust
you climb OPP dat odder box, Mester
Kent. and hOF you hair on We bane
gone TO maig dat time ais We preak
engine spinning down the yards to q
quickstep of forty miles an hour.
Kent's after-memOry of that dis
lance devOurinG rush was blurred
picture of plunSing, rocking, clam
oring engine bounding over mile after
mile of the brown plain; of the endless
dizzying procession Of Oncoming tele-
graph poles hurting like great side
flung prOjectiles past the cab windows;
OF now and then a lonely prairie sta
ton with waving semaphore arms
sighted, passed ard LETT behlnd IN
whirling sandclOud in one and the
same heartbeat. And for the central
figure in the picture. the one constant
ouantitv when all elss was mutable
ard shifting and indistlnCt, the big,
caln1-eyed Norwegian on the opposite
oox, hurting his huge machine dog
gedly through space.
AT 12:45 they stopped for water at
a solitary tank in the midst of the
brown desert Kent got down stiff1y
from his cramDed seat on the 1reman's
box and wetted his parched lips at the
nozzle of the tender hose.
DO we make it, Jarl?" he asked
The engineer wagged his head.
CAV tank So We maig it all right
if dey haf bane got dose track clear"
There are other trains to meet%'
ia. two bane comm dis way: ant
hummer Samteen We pass OPP by.
Oleson dropped of to pour little oil
into the speed-wOundings while the
tank was filing; and presently the dir
lying race began again. For time all
things were prOpitious. The two trains
TO be met were found. snugly win
drawn on the sidings at Mavero and
Agriculta and the station semaphores
beckOned the flying special past at 1ull
speed Kent checked OF the dodglns
nile-posts; the pace was lettering the
fastest run ever made on the Pralrle
Division-which was saying a good
deal.
But at Juniberg. q miles out Of Gas
ton there was a delay Train Number
II the east bound time freight, had
left Juniberg at I o'clock, having ample
time to make Lesterville. the next sta
ton east, before the light engine could
possibly Overtake it. But Lesterville
had not yet reported its arrival; for
which cause the agent at Juniberg was
constrained TO put out his stop signal, =
and Kent's special came to stand at
the platform.
Under the circumstances there ap-
peared to be nothing for it but to wait