"Hardly a word, but he watches, and seems to understand everything."
"What is that?" asked Ralph, pausing as they passed together through the side door.
The wood shed door was scrawled over with chalk marks Ralph had not seen there before.
"Oh," explained Mrs. Fairbanks, "he found a piece of chalk, and seemed to take pleasure in writing every once in a while."
"And just one word?"
"Yes, Ralph--those three letters."
"V-A-N," spelled out Ralph. "Mother, that must be his name--Van."
[CHAPTER XVI--FACE TO FACE]
Ralph Fairbanks' second day of service at the roundhouse passed pleasantly, and without any incident out of the common.
With the disappearance of Ike Slump a new system of order and harmony seemed to prevail about the place. The foreman's rugged brow was less frequently furrowed with care or anger over little mishaps, and Ralph could not help but notice a more subdued tone in his dealings with the men.