“M-x M-x--stop 83,” tapped Ralph quickly.
“Too late,” muttered Glidden in a sort of groan. “Thunder! she can’t be reached till she gets to Fairview, forty miles ahead.”
Maddox had wired back to headquarters the following message:
“83 just passed after coaling. Fairview reports four feet of snow in the cuts. No stop this side.”
Then Ralph did the only thing he could. He wired to the operator at Fairview:
“Hold 83 on arrival for special orders.”
The sleepy look left Glidden’s eyes and Ralph was all nerved up. There had come a break in the progress of the substitute pay car, and both felt anxiously serious as to its significance.
“There’s something mighty wrong in this business,” declared Glidden.
“It looks that way,” assented Ralph.
“Get Tipton.”