“What reason?”
“There is as good a railroad man as ever lived,” said Baxter, referring to the black-bearded conductor. “He is the master of us all in the handling of trains. He could be anything anybody is on this line to-day that he might want to be but for one thing. If he hadn’t ruined his own life, Dave Hawk could be superintendent here. He knows whereof he speaks, Bucks.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he is a gambler. Did you hear the shooting after I left you?”
“No, what was it?”
“It must have been while you were in Perry’s. Not five minutes after we parted, a saloon-keeper shot a woman down right in front of me; I was standing less than ten feet from her when she fell,” said the despatcher, recounting the incident. “But I was too late to protect her; and I should probably have been shot myself if I had tried to.”
“Was the brute arrested?”
“Arrested! Who arrests anybody in this town?”
“How long is this sort of thing going on?” asked Bucks, sitting down and signing a transfer.