"Mr. Reade is all in, I guess," thought the operator. "I don"t wonder. I hope he goes to sleep where he sits."
Ten minutes later the receiver of one of the up the terminal station.
The operator broke in, sending back his response. Then a telegram came, which he penned on paper.
"Mr. Reade," called the operator, "this is for you."
Tom sat up, brushing his eyes, and read:
"If you can spare time wish you would ride down track to point about two miles west of Miller"s where brook crosses under roadbed.
Have something to show you that will interest you. Nothing serious, but will fill you with wonder. My men all along line report all safe and going well. Come at once." (signed) "Dave Fulsbee."
Tom"s first instinct was to start and tremble. He felt sure that Fulsbee had bad news and was trying to conceal the fact until he could see the young chief engineer in person.
"But that"s really not Dave"s way," Reade told himself in the next breath. "Fulsbee talks straight out from the shoulder.
What has he to show me, I wonder! Gracious, how tired I am!
If Fulsbee knew just how I feel at this moment he wouldn"t send for me. But of course he doesn"t know."
Stepping outside, Tom looked about, espying his pony standing where it had been tied to one of the porch pillars of the station.
"I"ll get Harry to ride with me," Reade thought, but he found his chum engaged in testing a stretch of rails near the station, a dozen of the college students with him.
"Pshaw! I"m strong enough to ride five miles alone," muttered Tom. "Thank goodness my horse hasn"t been used up. Never mind, Tom Reade. To-morrow you can ride as far as you like on the railroad, with never a penny of fare to pay, either!"
Unnoticed, the young chief engineer untied his horse in the dark, mounted and rode away.
How dark and long the way seemed. Truth to tell, Tom Reade was very close to the collapse that seemed bound to follow the reaction once his big task was safely over. Only his strength of will sustained him. He gripped the pony"s sides with his knees.
"I wouldn"t want anyone to see me riding in this fashion!" muttered the lad. "I must look worse than a tenderfoot. Why, I"ll be really glad if Dave Fulsbee can ride back with me. I had no idea he was so near. I believed him to be at least fifty or sixty miles down the line."
Tom was nearing the place appointed when a sudden whistle rang out from the brush beside the track.
Then half a dozen men leaped out into view in the darkness, two of them seizing the bridle of his horse.
"Good evening, Reade!" called the mocking voice of "Gene Black.
"Down this way to see your first train go through? Stay with us, and we"ll show you how it doesn"t get through---not tonight!"
CHAPTER XXII
"CAN YOUR ROAD SAVE ITS CHARTER NOW?"
"Oh, I guess the train will go through, all right," replied Tom Reade, with much more confidence expressed in his tone than he really felt.
"Stay with us and see it go through," mocked "Gene Black.
"If it"s just the same to you I"d rather ride on," Tom proposed.
"But it isn"t all the same to us," Black chuckled.
"Then I guess I prefer to ride on, anyway."
"You won"t, though," snapped Black. "You"ll get off that horse and do as we tell you."
"Eh?" demanded the young chief engineer. He appeared astonished, though he was not.
"You came down the line to meet your railroad detective, Fulsbee,"
Black continued sneeringly. "You"d better give it up."
"You seem to think you know a good deal about my business," Tom continued.
"I know all about the telegram," "Gene retorted. "I sent it---or ordered it sent."
Tom started in earnest this time.
"Did you ever hear of ways of cutting out a telegraph wire and then attaching one of the cut ends to a box relay?" queried the scoundrel.
"I---I believe I have heard of some such thing," Reade hesitated.
"Was that the trick you played on me?"
"Yes," nodded Gene Black. "We cut the wire just below here.
We"ve got a box relay on the wire going both ways. Your operators can"t use the wire much tonight. Your company can"t use it from Lineville at all."
Tom"s face showed his dismay. "Gene Black laughed in intense enjoyment.
"So you cut the wire, oh, and attached box relays?"
"Surely," Black nodded.
"I"m glad you confess it," replied Tom slowly. "Cutting telegraph wires, or attaching box relays without proper authority is a felony.
The punishment is a term in state"s prison."
"Bosh!" sneered Black. "With all the political pull our crowd has behind it do you suppose we fear a little thing like that?"
"I"ll talk the crime over with Dave Fulsbee," Tom continued.
"A lot of good Fulsbee will do you," jeered "Gene. "We have him attended to as well as we have you."
"That"s a lie," Reade declared coolly.
"Do you want us to show him to you?"
"Yes," nodded Tom. "You"d have to show me Dave Fulsbee before I"d believe you."
"Yank the cub off that horse!" ordered "Gene Black harshly.