The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-21

Callahan, that he was q good deal of
chump, and he wanted to get away
from the r1d1cule that had always and
everywhere made life a burden There
appeared to BuI1head nothing for it but
the Klondike. On the table before the
moody operator lay his letter of resig-
Bucks, superintendent. Near it, under
the lamp, lay a well-thumbed copy of
the book of rules, open at the chapter
on designations, with subheads on:
Resign, who should.
Resign, howsto.
Resign. when to- (See also Time.9
The fact was 1t had at last painfully
forced itself on Bullhead that he was
Francis had unfeelingly told him so;
Callahan had told him so; Neis hbor
had told him so; Bucks had told him
So On that point tn e leading West End
authorities Were agreed Yet in spite
of these discourageme he had per-
sisted and at last made show. Who
was it now that had shaken his Stub
born convictfon2 Bullhead hardly
dare confess
While he reread his formal letter
and compared on spelling with his
pocket Webster train whistled. Bull
head looked at the clock; 11:40 p m
1t was the local freight, 80, coming IN
from the west working back to Medi-
cine From the east NO. had not
arrived. She was six hours late. and
Bullhead looked out at his light for
he ndQ ORDERS lot the -IEGlSIll.. IL Was
not often that such a thing happened,
because No i rarely went Off schedule
badly enough to throw her into MS
turn He had his orders copied ana
Q. X and waited only to deliver them.
It was fearfully windy The z66 en-
CINE, pulling SO that night, wheezed IN
the gale like man with the apoplexy.
She had new fireman on who was
burning the life out Of her, and as she
puffed painfully down on the scrap
rails of the first siding and took the
her overloaded safety gasped violently.
When the conductor of the No. 30
train opened the station door the wind
followed him like a catamount. Ine
stove pulled open with down draft
and shot the room full of singing
smoke. The lamp blaze few up the
chimne y--out-aud left the nightman
and the conductor in darkness. Tho
trainman with a swear showed to the
door. and BulIhead, the patient. turned
over his letter of resignation quick in
the dark, felt fer a match and relignted
his lamp. Swearing again at Bull-
head, the freight conductor staggered
over to his table, felt in all the oper-
ator's pockets for a cigar, tumbled all
the papers around and once more, on
| general principles, swore.
Bullhead took things uncomplain-
ingly, but he watched close and was
determined to fight If the brute dis
covered his letter Of resignation. When
the trainman could think of no fur
/ tnGr lnU1RulIlSS ne look AlH OTQGISs 70
meet No. / at Sackley. the second sta
ltion east of Goose River After he
had signed Bullhead asked him about
/ the depot f1re at Bear Dance that had
been going over the wires for two
hours, reminded him of the slow or
der for the No. culvert and as the
rude visitor Stunned the door behind
him held his hand over the lamp. Then
! he sat down again and turned over
his letter of resignation.
/ 3 To ffN hff1ff11rr IT fac1p6 OnIV
his observation-disclosures Gillespie Blaine
| 1lyons=now himself of the opinion Of
every one else on the West End that
he was just a natural born blooming
fool. He lifted his pen 70 sign off the
aspirations OF a young lifetime when
/ the sounder Began TO snap and sput-
/ ter his call. 1t rwaE the dispatcher. and
he asked hurrfed13 Il NO. so was there.
head.
Then came a train order. Hold NO.
80 TIL no. ! arrives
Bullhead repeated the order and got
and hurried out Of the door to deliver
the new order to sthe local freight be-
fore it should pub out.
To reach the train Bullhead had to
cross the short line tracks. The wind
was securing the fats and as he tack
ed up the platform the dust swept dead
1 into him. At the switch he sprang
1 across the rails, thinking of nothing
but reaching the engine cab of the
j local, forgetting about the track he
was crossing. Before he could think
or see or jump a through freight on
the short line, wild. from the west,
| stormlng down the grade behind him,
! struck Bullhead as a grizzly would a
Enat hurled him, doubling, fifty feet
out on the spur and stormed on into
| the east without a culver out OF the
/ ordinary One fatality followed an
i other. The engineer of the short line
In ri
and with the nightman lying uncon-
/ scicus in the ditch the local freight
4 pulled out fer Sackley.
! Bullheads never knew Just how Iona
! he Law under the stars. When his head
began to whirl the wind was blowing
cool and strong on him and the alkali
I dust was eddying into his open mouth
1t was only q matter OF seconds
though It seemed hours, to pull him
self together and to put up his hand
unsteadily to feel what 1t was soaking
warm and sticky into his hair then to
realize that he had been struck by q
short line train 70 tnlnk OF Wnat Z
failure he had flately ackno wledged
4 himself to be and of what It was he
clutching so lightly in his right hand
the holding order for NO 80 He raised
his Keeling head. There was drift
4 of starlight through the dust cloud
but no train in sight; No. 80 was gone
With that consciousness came a recol-
lection=he had forgotten to put oul
his red light.
His red light wasn't out. He KEEP
repeating that to himself to put the
picture Of what it meant before him
He had started to deliver an ordel
without putting out his light, and No
80 was gOne-against No. /, a head
end collision staring the freight and
the belated passenger in the face. No
80, running hard on her order to make
Sackley for the meeting, and No.
running furiously, as she always ran
tonight worse than ever.
He lifted his head, enraged with
himself, enraged. He thought abou
the rules, and he grew enraged. Only
himself he blamed, nobody else
STUDYING the rules for a lifetime, anC
just when it would mean the death o.
a trainload of people forgetting his ret