“No; but—what is it Kipling, or Shakespeare, says?—‘While there’s life there’s soap?’” observed Ryan, a sudden twinkle appearing in his eye.
The inspector explained the meaning of his facetiously garbled quotation when Elder left the table. The proposal he made was greeted with enthusiasm.
Work had been started on the branch road itself that morning, and on returning to the telegraph-car at noon the superintendent’s clerk found most of the party there before him, preparing for dinner. An animated debate which was in progress ceased as he entered, and someone exclaimed, “Here he is now. He’d soon straighten them up.”
“What is the trouble, men?” inquired Elder, with the air of a sergeant-major.
“Our two head-spikers had a disagreement this morning, and have gone across the yards to settle it,” explained one of the time-keepers through his towel. “Couldn’t you go after them, and interfere? They may put each other out of commission. Refused to listen to me or the foreman.”
“The childish idiots! Certainly,” agreed Elder, turning back to the door. “Which way did they go?”
“Straight across the yard. But hadn’t you better take your gun?” the time-clerk suggested. “They are a pair of pretty tough customers.”
“Well—perhaps I had, since you mention it,” Elder responded. Going to his bunk, he secured and buckled on the belt, drew the revolver from its holster to examine it, and set forth grimly. As he disappeared the men in the car broke into barely-subdued splutterings of laughter, and crowding to the door, waited expectantly.
With an air of responsibility and determination the clerk made his way between the adjacent cars. There were six tracks filled with the long trains of construction material. He had passed the fifth, and was stooping beneath the couplings of two flats beyond, when from the other side he heard footsteps.
One hand on the butt of his revolver, he leaped forth. Uttering a choking cry he sprang back. Within a foot of his eyes were the barrels of two big Colt’s-pistols, and looking over the tops of them was a villainous handkerchief-masked face.