CHAPTER XI
SPOILING FOR A FIGHT
As Ralph spoke the special was a blur as it passed the tower, a flying spot as it flashed to the in rails, a speck as it turned the curve.
Ralph sat motionless till he caught its whistle past the limits tower. Then he realized that his crucial test was past and done.
The telephone bell rang noisily. The dial indicator began to move. The delayed freights set up a piping call for service. For five minutes Ralph jumped actively from lever to lever. He was glad of the task—it diverted his mind from the harrowing ordeal that had so nearly unmanned him.
As there was a lull in the service, Ralph thought of the tiger below. He started to send a message for relief over the 'phone. Just then he noticed a familiar form smoking a pipe on a baggage truck near by.
"Hey, Stiggs!" he called from the open window.
The person addressed was a simple-faced, smil-
