“Any damage?—I see,” muttered the conductor, going forward a few steps and surveying the scratched, bruised face of the locomotive. 25
“There’s a gondola derailed and a derrick smashed where we struck,” reported Ralph. “I acted on my duplicate orders, Mr. Danforth,” he added earnestly, “and had the clear signal almost until I passed it and shot the siding.”
“I don’t understand it at all,” remarked the conductor in a troubled and irritated way. “You had the clear signal, you say?”
“Positively,” answered Ralph.
“Any serious damage ahead?”
“Nothing of consequence.”
“Back slowly, we’ll see the station man about this.”
The conductor mounted to the cab step, and No. 999 backed slowly. As they neared the end of the siding the train was again halted. All down its length heads were thrust from coach windows. There was some excitement and alarm, but the discipline of the train hands and the young engineer’s provision had prevented any semblance of panic.
The conductor, lantern in hand, ran across the tracks to the station. Ralph saw him engaged in vigorous conversation with the man on duty there. The conductor had taken out a memorandum book and was jotting down something. The station man with excited gestures ran inside the depot, and the signal turned to clear tracks. Ralph 26 switched to the main. Then the conductor gave the go ahead signal.
“That’s cool,” observed young Clark. “I should think the conductor would give us an inkling of how all this came about.”