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As it was I stood in the snow by the barn gazing till my feet were like blocks of ice and I knew not if I were in Track's End or in the moon. Kaiser at first barked at the sight, then growled, then whined, and next ran yelping away to the shed, where I found him crept beneath a bench. Never in my life before nor since have I seen anything to equal the heavens that night.
Then the door of the jewelry shop was tried. Mr. Track's face was pressed against the glass. "Open the door! Let me in, Tom!" he called. "I've caught the thief," and as the lad unlocked the portal he saw that the jeweler held by the arm a ragged lad. "Ah; you scoundrel! I've caught you!" cried the diamond merchant, shaking the small chap, while Tom looked on, more mystified than ever. While Mr.
"What, Harry Vane?" ejaculated Fox, in genuine surprise. "Tell me all about it, Mrs. Brock." "Well, you see, he ran into my yard all out of breath, and grabbin' a red tablecloth from the line, asked me if I would lend it to him. 'Land sakes! says I, 'what do you want of a tablecloth?" "'The track's washed away, he said, 'and I want to signal the train.
"Track's gone down not far ahead; snow-slide, I guess." He shrugged when Foster asked if it would be a long job. "You can see for yourself, if you like," he remarked, indicating a plume of smoke that rose above the pines. "There's a construction gang at work round the bend. It's a sure thing we won't pull out before you're back."
Track's now probably fifty or more miles west of Benton and there's liable to be another passenger terminus to-morrow. So it might pay you to wait." "No," I said. "Thank you, but I'll try Benton. I can go on from there as I think best. Could you recommend local accommodations?" He stared, through the bars of the little window behind which lay a six-chambered revolver. "Could I do what, sir?"
"I was man enough to catch you a couple of times and it was only your good luck that you weren't hung up here in Track's End by the neck," I said, a little put out by the way he spoke, because I was almost as big as he was. "Oh, well, no matter. Now you " "I'll tell you the reason I was sent out," I broke in, just thinking of something. "What is it?"
Though, indeed, I was soon to wake up in another and worse place than Track's End; but of this I will tell later. I had very foolishly forgotten to wind the clock the night before, and it had stopped, and I had no watch by which to set it; but I started it, and trusted to find the clock at the depot still going, as it was an eight-day one.
At the moment that Morrison took hold of the key Giddings opened the door from the despatchers' room. "Mr. Callahan, there's a message coming from Francis, conductor of Number Two. They've had a cloudburst on Dry Dollar Creek," he said, excitedly; "twenty feet of water came down Rat Cañon at five o'clock. The track's under four feet in the cañon."
"Same with me," said a man named West. "I know when I've got enough, and I've got enough of Track's End." Mr. Clerkinwell, who happened to be present, laughed cheerfully. He was by far the oldest man left, but he always seemed the least discouraged. "Oh," he said to the others, "that's nothing.
I guess the track's wide enough for twelve." "Wal, Brack, there'll likely be one hoss out in front an' some stretched out behind," replied Bostil, dryly. "The track's sure wide enough." "Won't thet be a grand race!" exclaimed an enthusiastic rider. "Wisht I had about a million to bet!"
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