Morris tribune., 1906-07-21

fiery surgeon. Morgan" he added
steadily, looking at the surly wrecker,
get UP y0lr crew, quick. Doubleday
make up all the coaches in the yard
for an ambulance train. Get every
doctor in town to go with you. Tracy,
clear the liner
The master mechanic and Benedict
Morgan Gathered downstairs. Carhart
running to the telephone, told central
to summon every medical man in the
Bend and hurried out Before he had
covered block, roundhouse callers,
like flaws of wind before a storm.
were scurrying the streets and from
the tower of the fire house sounded the
harsh clang of the emergency gong for
the WreckerS.
Caught where they could be caught,
out of saloons, beds, poker joints, Sal
walton barracks, churches, the men of
/, the wrecking crew ran down the 81
| lent streets, waking now fast into life.
| Congregations were dispersed, hymns
! cut, prayers forgotten, bars deserted
| bells emptied, barracks raided at that
call, the emergency gong call, fell as a
| fire bell for the Mountain division
wrecking gang.
While the yard crews shot up and
! down the spurs, switching coaches into
! the relief train, Benedict Morgan, with
! solid volleys of oaths. was organizing
| his men and filling them at the lunch
| counters with huge schooners of cot
| fee. Carhart pushed again through
| the jam of men and up to the dispatch
ers' Office Before and behind him
! crowded the local physicians with in
strument bags and bandages. The ON
| nous baggage deposited on the office
floor, they sat down about the room or
lowered around Carhart, asking for
details. Doubleday, tall and grim,
came over from the roundhouse. Ben
edict Morgan stamped up from the
yard The Mountain division was
ready.
All three dispatchers were in the
| room. John Mallers, the day man,
stood near Tracy, who had relieved
Giddings. The line was clear for the
relief run. Elcho had been notified
Of the impending disaster, and at Ira
cy's elbow sat the chief, looking fiXedly
at the key, taking the bob of the sound
er with his eye A dozen men in the
room were talking, but they spoke as
men who, speaking, wait on the life of
fuse. Duffy, with suspense deepen
ing into frenzy, pushed Tracy's hand
from the key and, sliding into the
ohoiy 70
brother at Rat River.
"R, t - R, - r, T - R, T -"
clicked the River call. "R, T - r,
T. r, T - Bob - Bob - Bob" spelled
the sender. Answer me, answer, an
swer. r, T - r, T - r, T - r, T -"
And Barnes Tracy edged away and
leaned back to where the shadow hid
his face, and John Mallers, turning
from the pleading of the current, stared
gloomily out of the window across the
yard, shimmering under the double
relay of arc lights, and young Gid
dings, who couldn't stand it-just
couldn't stand Intending on his stool,
shook with gulping sobs.
The others knew nothing of the heart
breaking in the little clicks. But they
all knew the track-knew where the
trains would meet; knew they could not
by any possibility see each other till
they whirled together on the curve Of
the Cinnamon cut or on the trestle west
of it, and they waited only for the
breaking of the suspense that settled
heavily over them.
Ten, twenty, thirty, forty minutes
went, with Martin Duffy at intervals
vainly calling Then, as the crack
opens on the field Of ice as the snow
breaks in the mountain slide, as the sea
gives up at last it's dead, the sounder
spoke-Rat River made the dispatch
er's call And Martin Duffy, staring
at the copper COIL pushed himself up in
his chair like man that chokes, caught
smothering at his neck, and slipped
wriggling to the floor
Carhart caught him up, but Duffy's
eyes stared meaningless past him. Rat
River was calling him, but Martin Duff
fy was past the taking Like the man
next at the gum Barnes Tracy sprang
into the chair with the I, l., D. The
surgeon, Giddings helping, dragged
Duffy to the lounge in Galatians room
his chief was more to Giddings then
than the fate of Special 1926. But soon
confused voices began to ring from
where men were crowding around the
dispatchers' table They echoed in to
where the doctors worked over the raw
ing chief. And young Giddings, help