Ralph in the Switch Tower; Or, Clearing the Track

by Frank V. Webster

  CHAPTER XXXI--HALF A MILLION DOLLARS

  "Name?"

  "Fairbanks."

  "Ah, I have heard of you. Towerman at Stanley Junction--first nameRalph?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Wasn't it you who made that terrifically heroic run through the fire atthe Acton freight yards with engineer John Griscom?"

  "I was there, yes," admitted Ralph modestly.

  "Thought so. Shake. Proud to know you, Mr. Fairbanks, and glad to seeyou are keeping your name clean and bright on the railroad roll ofhonor."

  "Thank you."

  Ralph sat in the room of the assistant superintendent at Dover, an hourafter taking the special into safety. He had made a brief explanationto the towerman. The freights were sidetracked, a dozen watchmenguarded the cars, as many specials were sent back to South Dover toattempt the capture of the robbers.

  "Here," spoke the assistant superintendent, summoning a messenger, "takethat wire for Stanley Junction. Fairbanks, do you happen to know thatyou have done an amazing thing?"

  Ralph shook his head with an uncertain smile.

  "Well, you have. I have wired the Junction that you can't go backto-night."

  "But my leave of absence was only temporary."

  "Don't let that disturb you at all," said the assistant superintendent."The road needs you here at present. I fancy the road will be verylikely to acknowledge your services of to-night. You have prevented thetheft of half a million dollars."

  Ralph started at this monstrous statement. It seemed incredible.

  "That is right. The real owner of the sum will probably give you a bankcalendar free, or sue the Great Northern for delay. All the same, theroad feels its obligation to you, and I want you to know it. You willhave to stay here till we get this matter straightened out. You see,you are the only person who can identify those robbers--if they arecaught. You will stay at my home to-night."

  The assistant superintendent then went over the entire matter in detail,and Ralph heard an interesting story.

  A parsimonious country banker--who seemed to be a sort of second editionof Gasper Farrington--had decided to move his bank from its originallocation to a point two hundred miles distant.

  Too niggardly to purchase the security of his money by sending it byexpress, he had put it and his securities in a small safe. This he hadboxed up, and had shipped it by special freight as merchandise.

  How Slump and Bemis had got wind of the proceeding, Ralph could onlytheorize. They had certainly planned well to make off with thismagnificent booty.

  How Van Sherwin had been able to send the intimation he had to Ralph,was yet to be explained.

  The railroad official treated Ralph like a prince. Both of the trampswere captured and placed in jail. They claimed they had simply beenhired by Slump and Bemis to work for them.

  The next morning the banker who had so nearly lost his banking capitalarrived in hot haste.

  He proceeded to express his precious belongings the rest of the way--forwhich the express company proceeded to charge him as strong as the casewould stand.

  "Ha, hum," this individual observed, as he shook Ralph's hand--"aslight--ha, hum--testimonial. Don't mention it!"

  Ralph exhibited a dollar bill to the curious and furious assistantsuperintendent as the banker withdrew. Then he handed it to themessenger, with the remark:

  "You take your own risk in trying to pass it!"

  Just before noon Ralph was given a telegram from Stanley Junction,signed by Slavin.

  It read:

  "Hear you are at Dover, so I will wire. Needed in S.J. V.S. and Mrs.D. here, G.F. in a panic. Quick action needed. Come."

  Ralph told the assistant superintendent of the urgent message.

  "Of course you must go," said the latter, "but you will have to comedown and identify the two prisoners in court in a day or two. By theway, we have sent a full report of the case to headquarters. I wouldsuggest, Fairbanks, if you are tired of tower service, you won't have toask for promotion."

  "Not tired of it, sir," explained Ralph, "only anxious to get higher upthe ladder as fast as I can."

  "Very good. You've earned a good boost this time," declared theassistant superintendent.

  Ralph reached Stanley Junction just after dark. He left the train atthe limits and took a short rut home.

  The front of the little cottage was aglow with cheerful light, and heknew there was "company."

  Ralph burst in upon his good friend, Van, with a boisterous welcome.More gently, but none the less sincerely, he greeted Mrs. Davis. Shesat in a comfortable armchair, rather pale and feeble-looking, butsmiling through her happy tears.

  Young Slavin occupied a humble seat at one side of the room.

  "Lawyer made me come," he whispered to Ralph,--"waiting for him now."

  "What lawyer?" inquired Ralph in surprise.

  "One Van got. Oh, he's been running all the switches this afternoon, Ican tell you!"

  Just there Van beckoned to Ralph, and led him into an adjoining room,closing the door on the others.

  CHAPTER XXXII--CONCLUSION

  "You had best know just how things stand," remarked Van Sherwin, as heproceeded to tell an interesting story.

  Van had learned from Ralph's note sent to him to the town jail that IkeSlump or Mort Bemis had the documents stolen from Mrs. Davis' little tinbox.

  He had watched his fellow prisoners closely, finally discovering thatthe papers were carried by Slump in a secret inner coat pocket.

  The very night that Slump and Bemis escaped, Van with a window polereached into the cell, got the garment in question, and left his owncoat in its place.

  He secured the stolen documents. Folded in with them was a receipt forsomebody's board at a place called Millville. Van decided that this wasthe place where Mrs. Davis was imprisoned, or detained.

  He intended to gain his freedom in the morning early. In the meantime,as the reader is aware, Slump and Bemis escaped. The former wasprobably unaware in the darkness that he was wearing Van's coat insteadof his own.

  Van started forthwith to locate Mrs. Davis. He found there were twoMillvilles, and it was several days before he settled down on the rightone. It took several more to locate Mrs. Davis' present guardians.

  They proved to be a wretched couple in an isolated farmhouse. They kepttheir prisoner in a barred attic room.

  Mrs. Davis had missed a paper which told where the tin box was secreted.This her jailers had probably given to Slump, who thus obtained a clewas to the whereabouts of the documents.

  Van managed to rescue Mrs. Davis without being discovered by herguardians. That very day he came upon Slump and Bemis near the oldfarmhouse.

  He secreted himself and overheard some of their conversation. They hadsquandered all of their ready money, and dared not return to StanleyJunction. They had come to the farmhouse to remove Mrs. Davis, and withher in their hands blackmail Farrington afresh.

  They had discovered her escape, and then they talked of a last desperatescheme. It was to "hold up" something or somebody at South Dover.

  Van could not leave Mrs. Davis, to follow or pursue them. He wrote thehurried postal to Ralph that had got wet and blurred in transmission,but, despite which fact, Ralph had managed to utilize with such grandresults.

  Mrs. Davis' secret was a simple one. As has been said, her husband wasnone other than Van's adopted father, Farwell Gibson, who had beenfleeced by Gasper Farrington along with Ralph's own father.

  The magnate had maligned Gibson so that Mrs. Gibson left him. Theybecame strangers, and later Farrington claimed he was dead.

  Mrs. Gibson, or Mrs. Davis as she now called herself, became quite poor.She discovered among some old papers an agreement between herself, Mr.Fairbanks, and Gasper Farrington about the twenty thousand dollars'worth of railroad bonds.

  This document showed plainly that in equity she had a quarter interest,and Mrs. Fairbanks the balance in these bonds really held in trust byFar
rington.

  She had come to Stanley Junction to sell this paper to Farrington.Embittered by her sad past, she had no thoughts of the rights of others,until Ralph did her a kindly act and changed all the motives of herlife.

  Now, after learning from Van how her husband had been wronged andmisrepresented by Farrington, she longed to secure her five thousanddollars to assist him in beginning his short-line railroad.

  "There will be a happy reunion," Van told Ralph. "As to the money, thetwenty thousand dollars, I have had a lawyer working on her claim andyours all day long. They say that Slump wrote a letter to some friendhere, telling all about Farrington's dealings with him. The local paperthreatens an expose, and this, with the factory fire and our claim, hasdriven the miserable old schemer nearly to his wits' end. Ah, there isthe lawyer now."

  Ralph knew the legal gentleman in question. They rejoined the others inthe front parlor.

  "Have you seen Farrington?" asked Van promptly.

  "No," responded the lawyer. "He has secluded himself, and refuses to beseen. I have had to deal with him through his attorney. It has beenquibble and evasion all day long. Just now, however, they arrived at anultimatum."

  "What is it?" inquired Ralph.

  "Farrington is near to nervous collapse. His losses and his fears ofdisgrace have driven him to leave Stanley Junction until the storm hasblown over. His lawyer admits the justice of our claim. He asks thatthey be given a little time to settle it."

  "Not an hour, if the claim is just and right!" declared Ralph sternly."We have been kept out of our rights all these years."

  "Then I have a suggestion to make," said the lawyer. "I have no doubtwhatever of your forcing payments in time. The only thing is, thatcrafty old fox, Farrington, will scheme for delay. He intends to get itby taking a trip to Europe."

  "Out of the country?" exclaimed Ralph.

  "So I learn. In fact, he has left, or is leaving now. That will beunfortunate for your case. Now, if you could get service on him beforehe leaves, you head off his dilatory arrangements."

  "What kind of service?" asked Van.

  "A legal demand of your claim, to be proven in court if he does notsettle. That would bring his lawyer to time. I have prepared thedemand--in fact, I have a man waiting outside to serve it--if you cansuggest any way to reach Farrington."

  "Why, if he is leaving for Europe to-night," said Ralph, arising to hisfeet and consulting his watch, "he will have to take the southerntrain."

  "Not from the Stanley Junction depot, I fancy," observed the lawyer.

  "No, he will probably get on at the limits, or down at Acton, and takethe train there."

  "See here," spoke up Slavin suddenly--"leave this to me, will you?"

  "How do you mean?" inquired Ralph.

  "Send your man with me," said Slavin to the lawyer. "The railroadpeople will give me every chance to nab my man, if I tell them it's forRalph Fairbanks."

  "Very good," nodded the lawyer with satisfaction, "try it with my man,if you will."

  There was so much to discuss, that Ralph, Van, and the two ladies sat upuntil long past midnight.

  Just as they were retiring, the lawyer's messenger appeared at the frontdoor of the cottage.

  "O.K.," he said, with a chuckle.

  "Got your man?" asked Van.

  "Sure thing. Farrington sneaked on to the train at Acton, disguised,and hid in a sleeper. The conductor knew Fairbanks here, and Slavin didthe rest. Snaked him out of his berth, and made him acknowledge ourlegal demand. He's off for Europe, but I'll warrant won't tangle up hisaffairs here by letting you sue. But he has already wired his lawyer tosettle with you people."

  "Good!" shouted Ralph, and his face showed his pleasure.

  Everything seemed working out happily. Ralph came up into the switchtower with a bright, cheery face, next morning.

  "Hello, Slavin," he said, noticing his muscular young friend at thelevers--"practicing?"

  "No, sir--on duty," answered Slavin with great dignity.

  "What's that?" demanded Ralph sharply.

  "Sure," coolly nodded Slavin, giving the levers a truly professionalswing. "Don't talk to the leverman when he's busy--rule of the office,you, know, for outsiders."

  "Ho! ho!" chuckled old Jack Knight.

  "Outsiders?" repeated Ralph. "Call me one?"

  "Ask Mr. Knight."

  Ralph looked inquiringly at the veteran towerman.

  "That's right," assented Knight. "Superintendent was just here. PutSlavin on the levers, and wants you up at headquarters."

  "What for?" asked Ralph.

  "Says you're due for promotion. Asked me what I thought about yourchoice. I told him fireman."

  Ralph's eyes sparkled with pleasure.

  "Thank you, Mr. Knight," he said. "If it's to be another step up theladder, I would like it to be in just that line."

  "You take another rung sure, that's settled," declared old Jack proudly."And--you'll get to the top!"

  One hour later Ralph Fairbanks was officially instructed by thesuperintendent of the Great Northern, that he had been promoted to a newbranch of service.

  How did he succeed? How well, and how his influence and example helpedthe success of his loyal railroad friends, will be told in a succeedingvolume to be called "Ralph on the Engine; or, The Young Fireman of theLimited Mail."

  For the time being he was very happy and so was his mother. Mrs.Fairbanks felt certain that they would soon be in possession of theproperty Gasper Farrington had so long kept from them.

  "I think so myself, mother," said Ralph, and then he added withenthusiasm: "Isn't it wonderful how we have prospered!"

  "Yes, Ralph."

  "And to think that I am to be a regularly appointed fireman," hecontinued.

  "I can see that you are bound to be a railroad man, Ralph," answered thefond parent with a faint smile. "Well, you take after your father. Isurely wish you the best of luck in your chosen calling."

  And so do we; is that not so, gentle reader?

  THE END