The final blow came when Elder entered the telegraph-car. Carefully laid out in his bunk were the garments he had surrendered to the “tramp.”
The incident had its final good result, however. The mangling of Elder’s vanity disclosed an unsuspected streak of common-sense and manliness, and a day or so after he frankly thanked Ryan, the perpetrator of the joke, for “having put him right.” And finally he became one of the most popular men on the train.
XIX
THE ENEMY’S HAND AGAIN, AND A CAPTURE
“Good morning, Ward. Any word of the progress made by the K. & Z.?” inquired Construction Superintendent Finnan the following morning, Sunday, looking into the telegraph-car.
Alex threw down his towel and stepped to the instrument table. “Yes, sir; here’s one that came late last night.
“It says they started from Red Deer yesterday morning, and made nearly three and a half miles.”
The superintendent looked somewhat glum as he read the message. “That beats us by half a mile,” he remarked. “If the news is reliable, that is. They may plan to give out inflated distances, in order to discourage us. That would be a small matter to them, after trying to burn us out.”