“I do not think so, sir; but, if I am tempted, I shall resist.”
“That’s right,” nodded Hobson, gravely. “If you never take your first drink, you’ll be all right. I would have been myself. I was a passenger engineer once, and now I am on a switch engine. What put me here? Rum! Couldn’t let booze alone. I don’t like to talk about it, for it makes me feel ugly. I’ve sworn off a thousand times, but it’s no use. I always break over. You see I know so many of the boys who take something. After I have been without it a long time, I get a hankering to do something. Then I run into some of the men. I think I won’t drink, but the man who has done so once is always tempted. His friends say that a little snifter will do him good. He ain’t lookin’ well, and he thinks he ain’t feeling well. He says he’ll just take a small one as medicine. Then it’s all off. That small one starts him in again, and he’s just as bad off as he was before. Yes, if you never take the first one, you’ll be all right, and you will get somewhere in the world. Drink is what holds men down. It keeps them from rising. It wastes their money and keeps them poor. It makes hard times for the laborer. Oh, I know! I know all about the man who gets plumb full, loses his job, and curses the hard times.”
The man’s manner, as much as his words, showed how deeply he felt what he was saying.
It was not necessary to read Frank Merriwell a temperance lecture. He fully realized the truth of Hobson’s words. Years before he had promised his dying mother that he would not drink, and although he had been greatly tempted, that promise had never been broken.
Finally, when the work slackened somewhat, Hobson swung down from the engine and went into the yardmaster’s office, saying he would be back in a minute.
The main track was clear, and Hobson had not been gone a minute when Frank was directed to run up past the freight house and change onto another switch. This was to be done on the main track, as no trains were due.
But just as 91 was running along the main track past the freight house, the operator came jumping out of the little office, showing great excitement.
“Get off the track!” he cried. “Clear the track. There is a wild engine coming, and she ought to be here now!”
Frank’s heart gave a leap. A wild engine was coming, and he was on the main track.
“Which way is she coming?” he cried.