CHAPTER XXVI
THE MAD ENGINEER
"Well, good-bye, Zeph."
"Good-bye, Ralph. Another of my wild dreams of wealth gone."
"Don't fret about it, Zeph."
"How can I help it?"
Ralph had decided to return home. He was now fully recuperated, and his vacation period would expire in a few days.
It was the evening of the day when they had discovered the missing box car only to find that others had discovered it before them. Ralph had arranged to flag a freight at the terminus of the Short Line Route and was down at the tracks awaiting its coming.
The freight arrived, Ralph clambered to the cab, waved his hand in adieu to Zeph, and was warmly welcomed by his friends on the engine.
They had proceeded only a short distance when a boy came running down an embankment. So rapid and reckless was his progress that Ralph feared he would land under the locomotive. The lad, however, grasped the step of the cab, and was dragged dangerously near to the wheels. Ralph seized him just in time and pulled him up into the cab.
"Well!" commented the engineer, "it's a good thing we were going slow. Here, land out as you landed in, kid."
"Please don't," cried the boy, gazing back with tear-filled eyes and trembling all over. "Please let me ride with you."
"Against the rules."
"See, there they are!" almost shrieked the boy, pointing to two men who came rushing down the embankment. "Oh, don't let them get me."
"Give him a show till I learn his story," said Ralph to the engineer, so the latter put on steam and the two men were outdistanced.
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" panted the boy, clinging close to Ralph.
"Come up on the water tank," said Ralph, "and I'll have a talk with you."
The lad, whom the young fireman had befriended, was a forlorn-looking being. He wore no shoes, was hatless, and had on a coat many sizes too large for him.
"Now then, what's the trouble?" inquired Ralph, when they were both seated on the water tank.
"Those men were pursuing me," said the lad.
"What for?"
"I was running away from them. They are my uncles, and they have been very wicked and cruel to me. They want to send me to a reform school to get rid of me, and locked me up. I ran away this morning, but they got trace of me again."
"What is your name?"
"Earl Danvers. My father died and left them my guardians. They are after the property, I guess."
"What do you propose to do?"
"Oh, anything to get away from them."
Ralph talked for quite a while with the boy and learned his entire history. Then he said:
"This is a case for a lawyer. Would you like to come to Stanley Junction with me and have a lawyer look into the matter for you?"
"No. I only want to escape from those bad men."
"That will follow. You come with me. I will interest myself in your case and see that you are protected."
"How kind you are—you are the only friend I ever knew," cried the boy, bursting into tears of gratitude.
Ralph took Earl Danvers home with him when they reached Stanley Junction. His kind-hearted mother was at once interested in the forlorn refugee. They managed to fit him out with some comfortable clothing, and Ralph told him to take a rest of a few days, when he would have him see their lawyer and tell him his story.
Two days later the young fireman reported at the roundhouse for duty, and the ensuing morning started on a new term of service as fireman of the Limited Mail.
The first trip out Griscom was engineer. Ralph noticed that he looked pale and worried. The run to the city was made in a way quite unusual with the brisk and lively veteran railroader. Ralph waited until they were on their way home from the roundhouse that evening. Then he said:
"Mr. Griscom, you have not been your usual self to-day."
"That's true, lad," nodded the engineer gravely.
"Anything the matter especially?"
"Oh, a little extra care on my mind and under the weather a bit besides," sighed Griscom.
"Can I help you in any way?" inquired Ralph.
"No, lad—we must all bear our own troubles."
The next day Griscom did not report for duty at train time. A man named Lyle was put on extra duty. Ralph did not know him very well nor did he like him much. He understood that he was a fine engineer but that he had been warned several times for drinking.
As he came into the cab, Ralph noticed that his eyes were dull and shifty, his hands trembled and he bore all the appearance of a man who had been recently indulging in liquor to excess.
As soon as they were out on the road, Lyle began to drink frequently from a bottle he took out of his coat. He became more steady in his movements, and, watching him, Ralph saw that he understood his business thoroughly and was duly attentive to it.
After the wait at the city, however, Lyle came aboard of the locomotive in quite a muddled condition. He was talkative and boastful now. He began to tell of the many famous special runs he had made, of the big salaries he had earned, and of his general proficiency as a first-class engineer.
He ordered full steam on, and by the time they were twenty miles from the city he kept the locomotive going at top notch speed. There was a tremendous head on the cylinders and they ran like a racer. Frogs and target rods were passed at a momentum that fairly frightened Ralph, and it was a wonder to him the way the wheels ground and bounded that they always lit on the steel.
Lyle took frequent drinks from the bottle, which had been replenished. His eyes were wild, his manner reckless, almost maniacal. As they passed signals he would utter a fierce, ringing yell. Ralph crowded over to him.
"Mr. Lyle," he shouted, "we are ahead of time."
"Good," roared the mad engineer, "I'm going to make the record run of the century."
"If any other train is off schedule, that is dangerous."
"Let 'em look out for themselves," chuckled Lyle. "Whoop! pile in the black diamonds."
"Stop!" almost shrieked Ralph.
Of a sudden he made a fearful discovery. A signal had called for a danger stop where the Great Northern crossed the tracks of the Midland Central. Unheeding the signal, Lyle had run directly onto a siding of the latter railroad and was traversing it at full speed.
"Stop, stop, I say—there's a car ahead," cried Ralph.
Lyle gave the young fireman a violent push backwards and forged ahead.
Chug! bang! A frightful sound filled the air. The locomotive had struck a light gondola car squarely, lifting it from the track and throwing it to one side a mass of wreckage. Then on, on sped the engine. It struck the main of the Midland Central.
Ralph grabbed up a shovel.
"Lower speed," he cried, "or I will strike you."
"Get back," yelled Lyle, pulling a revolver from his pocket. "Back, I say, or I'll shoot. Whoop! this is going."
Ralph climbed to the top of the tender. He was powerless alone to combat the engineer in his mad fury. A plan came into his mind. The first car attached to the tender was a blind baggage. Ralph sprang to its roof. Then he ran back fast as he could.
The young fireman lost no time, dropping from the roof between platforms. As he reached the first passenger coach he ran inside the car.
Passengers were on their feet, amazed and alarmed at the reckless flight of the train. The conductor and train hands were pale and frightened.
"What's the trouble?" demanded the conductor, as Ralph rushed up to him.
"A maniac is in charge of the train. He is crazed with drink, and armed. Who of you will join me in trying to overpower him?"
None of the train hands shrank from duty. They followed Ralph to the platform and thence to the top of the forward coach. At that moment new warnings came.