The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 4, 1903, Page 12

12 {THBE SUNDAY OALL. THENIGHT WAICHM This Is the Third of Frank H. Spear- man’s Thrilling Two-Page Railroad Stories, the Best Ever Written. was James Glllespie his real name was B head class man iz the car, looked up su the German, thinking the fun of him, head would ri day. he engaged eman was making e water cooler was lo- A n, smoking head’s own mother, who did to believe t to know, but him- work he tried meon the ay they were drift- Junetion b a sharp ead of climbing out for dear life, e what the excitement was. By the time he had decided what rule covered the emer- gency his train had driven a stray flat through the eating-house east the depot. Kenyon, after hearing Bull- head’s own candid statement of fact, coughed apologetically and said three ; whereupon Bullhead resigned per- from the trafm ‘service and ap- for a job in the roundhouse. plied But the roundhouse—for & boy like Bull- head. It would hardly do. He was put g Pete Beezer, the boiler washer. e night Pete was snatching his custo- nap in the pit when the hose got from Bullhead and struck his boss. confusion Peter, who was nearly drowned, lost a set of teeth; that was sufficlent in that department of the mo- tive power; Bullhead moved on, sudden- ly. Neighbor thought he might do for a wiper. After tne Doy nad learned mome- thing ebout wiping he tried one day to back an engine out on the turntable to see whether it was easy. It was; dead easy; but the t table happened to be arranged wrong for the experiment: and N bor, before calling in the wrecking gang, took occ kick Bu ad out of the roundhouse bodily. Nevertheless, nead, like every Medicine Bend boy, ed to rallroad. He was offered the presidency of a Cincinnati bank by a pri- ad of the institution for ; but as Bullhead could not ar- range transportation east of the river he was obliged to let the opportunity pass. When the widow of Lyons asked Calla- han to put Jamie at telegraphing the as- sistant superintendent nearly fell off his chair. Mrs. Lyons, however, was in earn- est, as the red-haired man soon found by the way his shirts were starched. Her son meantime had gotten hold of a sound- er and was studying telegraphy, corre- sponding at the same time with the Cin- cinnat! detective agency for the town and ghts to all “‘hidden and undiscov- e” on the Mountain division— rights offered at the very reasonabie price of 310 by registered mail, bank draft or express money order,, currency at send- er's risk. The only obligations imposed by this deal were secrecy and a German silver star; and Bullhead, after holding his trusting mother up for the tem, be- came a regularly installed detective with proprietary rights to local misdeeds. Days he plied his sounder and nights he lay awake trying to mix up Pete Beezer and Nelghbor with the disappearance of vari- ous bunches of horses from the Bar M ranch. About the same time he became inter- ested in dentistry; not that there Is any obvious connection between. raflroading and detective work and filling teeth—but his thoughts just turned that way and following the advice of a local dentist, who didn’t want altogether to discourage him, Bullhead horrowed a palr of forceps and ed all the teeth out of a circular saw to get his arm Into practice. Before the dentist pronounced him proficient, though, his mother had Callahan reduced to terms, and the assistant superintend- ent put Bullhead among the operators. That was & great day for Bullhead. He bad to take the worst of it, of course, sweeping the office and that; but what- ever his faults, the boy did as he was told. Only one vicious habit clung to him —he had a passion for reading the rules. In spite of this, however, he steadlly mas. tered the taking and as for sending he could do that before he got out of the cuspldor department. Everybody around the Wickiup bullied him, and may be that was his salvation. He got used to expecting the worst of it and nerved himself to take it, which in railroad: sy FOR BENEFIT OF ‘BOTH---By Channing Pollock (Copyright 1908, by T. C. McClure.) ight but one of their ion they sat on the ocean hotel end d the sea climb over the r feet. The last of 4 exchanged the view for the delights of dressing gown he f loiterers end slippers some ten minutes before, leaving to them the wide veranda and &n grgument begun an hour earlfer. A mile away & sma eamer forged on- ward; its trail of smoke lay drowsily on the water like a black monster stretching ftself for a long rest. “It's ridiculous’” he remarked, staring st the lighted tip of a fresh * whe replied, “we find it true of writers. Nearly eve vel is & multiple picture of the novelist. Why should we expect 8 piayer to portray emotions he or she has never felt? You would make it necessary for all “heavies’ 10 be former criminals and all comedians fearful fools. Your Cleopatra must needs have been a wanton, your Lady Macbeth must have planned mur- der, and your Mrs. Malaprop could mot be 8t once an educated and & sueceasful woman.” “That is & trifie radical” she urged. And, ss her opponent did not seem to feel that she had recovered her lost ground, she added: “I mean merely that the able impersonator must at some time or other have been conscious of the sentiments which produced: ] understand,” be Interrupted. “Well?" sald she. *“Well,” came the reply, “you and I played lovers all last season—rather ac- ceptably we both think. And yet I have mpever been in love. Have you?” 0" she have not.”" “Yet we seem to get along.” “Yes,” she admitted. A man and a women somewhere on the beach were singing an absurd song and the breeze brought the words to their ears. She paused an instant to listen. Finally she continued: ‘Neither of us has done so well that there is no room for improve- ment. Often I have had to guess in the vaguest way at some sentimental pas- sage, and many of them may have been spoken In a fashion that lacked the true ring. All this might be remedied if I had ever been in love.” “Why don’t you experiment?” the man queried facetiously. “Because 1 have no one with whom to experiment. 1 couldn’t very well fall in love with myself.” “It has been done.” The girl laughed and rose to go. A chill had come into the air, and the porch was no longer comfortak ““Hold on!” he sald. “T'll be & subject.” Bhe had forgotten already. “A subject for what?” “T'll be & subject for your experiment. You may be right after all, and 1f you are we owe to the management to test your theory.” She blushed—a faint, puzzied blush. “Oh, neither of us will be in earnest,” he hastened to add. “We will take up the affair as a course of study. You and 1 can adore each other for two months. It will help to pass the time here, and at the end of our vacation we can drop it What do you say?” “1 don’t exactly lke it,” the theorist confessed. And she took hold of the door knob. answered, thoughtfully, “I *“Nonsense!” jquoth the man. *You must have the strength of your convie- t! Let's test the thing for benefit of both.” He took her hand in the enthu- siasm of the moment. ““All right,”” she said. “Good! We'll begin by going boating to-morrow."” “Perhaps,” she remarked quietly, and walked into the hotel. She met him at the wharf the next even- ing and he rowed for over an hour; his arms bared and the smoke from his cigar floating behind them In imitation of that which had drifted from the steamer fun- nels. Neither mentioned the talk of the night before until he helped her back on shore. Then: *I hope,” he sald, “that your ride has been a pleasant on “I gave learned something,” quoth she. Through July and into August the les- sons continued. He took her driving, salling, walking along the strand. She began to feel quite as though they were in earnest, and grew a little jealous of the friend whom he devoted an hour a day and two quires of paper a week. The other people gossiped, people will who have nothing better to do, and they laughed at the gossip. At last he pulled her out of the surf one afternoon when she had been caught by the undertow. “We are progressing finely,” he ob- served. Late in the month: “The season begins soon,” sald he. “Our time is all but gone.” 3 “We have spent it well,” she replied. “Think how our work will have begn im- proved. It was a delightful summer. And on the 'ast night but ¢ne of thelr 2 mutual vacation he and she sat together on the porch as they had seventy days before and watched the tide climb vigor- ously as of old—for the sea is a restlessly ambitious monster and will not tire until it has won the eurth back again. “We re- turn to-morrow,” the man sighed. “To-morrow,” sald the girl. never been really happy before.” “l have had a jolly time,” he admitted. “And it ends to-morrow." “To-morrow.” She paused, scanning the horizon for the steamer, which was long overdue. But there was no motion anywhere ex- cept at the ragged meeting place of sky and sea. “We shall be going on the road again,” the man remarked, “to stuffy theaters and crowds of people who recognize trag- edy only when It is accompanied by siow music, ‘We shall be in the same cast,” sald the girl. And then, as he leaned against his chair and took to pufing placidly, she rose to go. “Hold on,” quoth he, “I want to tell you something.” She walited. ““When I get back,” he went on, half- Jokingly, “when I get back I am to be married. She's a charming little thing and you must know her.” The girl was looking out to sea, though all chance of the steamer passing had vanishred. “But you sald—" she began, hesitatingly. “That 1 had never been In love!” He Jaughed. “That was not quite true. I'm afrald the lessons bave been wasted—I 91d not need them.” T had lfi"llfl. “I have learned ing is half the battle. A few months after he becams compe- tent to handle a key the nightman at Goose River Junction went wrong. When Callahan told Bullhead he thought about giving him the job the boy went wild with excitement and in a burst of confi- ~ classified as ammunition, loaded and re- leased, O. R. It was Nellie's cruelty that made the frequent shifts at Goose River. Not that she was unimpressible, or had no heroes. She had pleaty of them In the engine and train service. It was the smart uniformed young conductors and kerchiefed juvenile engineers on the fast runs to whom Nellle paid deference, and for whom she served the preferred doughnuts. But this was nothing to Bullhead. He had his head so full of things when he took his new position that he falled to observe Nellle's contempt. He was just passing out of the private detective stage; Just getting over dental beginnings: just rising to the responsibiiity of the key, and & month devoted to his immediate work and the study of the rules passed like a limited train. Previous to the coming of Bullhead no Goose River man had tried study of the rules as a remedy for lonesomeness; it proved a great scheme; but it aroused the unmeas- ured contempt of Nellfe Cussidy. ocorned Bullhead unspeakably, her only uneasiness was that yseemed unconscious of i and he B STORY gray string of sleepers at the Junction platform, and Bat Mullen climbgd down to ofl ‘round—as he always dld—there were the livellest kind of heels bebind the counter. - Such were the moments when Bullhead sat In the » unnoticed, some- what back where files were bad, and helped himself aimlessly to the sizal rustling back @nd ho ran in for ited, after each open-faced gold e eagle; for Bat at trains and car ead feed- despatr, and maplq syrup—Nellie forth for Engineer Mu ing on flannel cakes and Nellle Ca her smartes! Mullen w head’'s way—a head. What was a night man, id any way? much &s a min walk forward ers chatting with went completely fra It was being ignored In that way, after Before He Could Think or See a Through Frelght Struck dence showed Callahan his star. the best thing that ever happened, for the assistant head of the division had an impuisive way of swearing the nonsense out of the boy's head, and when Bull- head confessed to being a detective a flery stream was poured on bim. The foolish- ness couldn’t quite all be driven out in one round: but Jamie Lyons went to Goose River fairly well informed as to how much of a fool he was. Goose River Junction fs not a lively place. It bas been claimed that even the buzzards at Goose River Junction play solitaire. But apart from the utter loneil- ness it was hard to hold operators there on account of Nellis Cassidy. A man rarely stayed at Goose River past the second pay check. When he got money enough to resign he resigned; and all be- cause Nellle Cassidy despised operators. The lunch counter that Matt Cassidy, Nellle’s father, ran at the Junction was just an adjunct for feeding train crews and the few miners who wandered down feom the Glencoe spur. Matt himself took the night turn, but days it was Ne| lie who heated the Goose River coffee and dispensed the pie—contract ple made at Medicine Bend, and sent by local freight no idea of letting him escape that way. When scorn became clearly useless she tried cajolery—she smiled on Bullhead. Not till then did he give up: her smile was his undoing. It was so absolutely novel to Bullhead—Builhead, who had never got anything but kicks and curses and frowns. Before Nellle’s smiles, ju- diclously administered, Bullhead melted like the sugar she began to sprinkle in his ccffee. That was what she wanted; when he was fairly dissolved, Nellle, like the coffee, went gradually cold. Bullhead became miserable, and to her Iife at Goose River was once more endurable. It was then that Bullhead began to sit up all day, after working all night, to get a single smile from the direction of the ple rack. He hung, utterly miserable, around the lunchroom all day, while Nel- e made Impersonal remarks about the colorless life of & mere operator as com- pared with life in the cab of a ten- wheeler. She admired the engineer, Nei- lle—was there ever a doughnut girl who a1dn’t? And when One or Two rose smoj- ing out of the alkali east or the alkall west and the mogul engine checked its It was However, the little Goose River girl bad her smiles had once been his, that crushed the night operator. It filled his bead with schemes for obtaining recognition at all hazards, He began by quarreling violent- ly with Nellle, and things wers coming to a serious pass around the depot when the Kiondike business struck the mountain divigion. It came with & rush, and whes they began running through freight ex- tras by way of the Goose River short line, day and night, the Junction station caught the thick of It. It was something new altogether for the short line rails and the short line operators, and Bullhesd's night trick, with nothing to do but poke the fire and pop at coyotes, became straightway a busy and important post. The added work kept him jumping from sundown till dawn, and kept him from - loafing daytimes around the lunch eounter and ruining himself on fermented syrup. On a certain night, windler than all the November nights that had gone before, the night operator sat alone in the office facing a resolve. Goose River had become intolerable. Medicine Bend was not to be thought of, for Bullhead now had & sus- picion, dte to Callahan, that he was a good deal of & chump, and he wanted to get away from the ridicule that had al-