“’Tisn’t a regular thing to do, but guess it will be all right.”
“I don’t mean that I want to inspect the letters. I only want to see the way they are carried. I wouldn’t ask to touch United States mail without proper authority,” explained Phil.
“Oh, that’s all right,” and Denton led the way to the office, where he opened the safe and showed them a heavy leather sack.
“I lock it here and keep the key, and the postmaster at Coldenham has a key to open it with. Often times there’s registered mail only for the Ferguson mill, and that’s the case today,” said the postmaster, as he locked the safe.
“How is that taken to the train?” questioned Dick.
“I generally take it myself, or else send Bill, my assistant in the store, with it. We give it to the engineer, Gardener his name is, and he gives us a receipt. We have regular blanks for it. Then it’s met by the postoffice man at the other end.”
“What does the crew of that train consist of,” was Dick’s next question.
At this query Denton began to laugh.
“Well, now let’s see. There’s the engineer and the fireman and the conductor and the brakeman and the railway mail clerk. And the name of all of him is Gardner.”
“You mean it’s a one-man train?” asked Dick.