“Did you ever hear of ways of cutting out a telegraph wire and then attaching one of the cut ends to a box relay?” queried the scoundrel.
“I—-I believe I have heard of some such thing,” Reade hesitated. “Was that the trick you played on me?”
“Yes,” nodded Gene Black. “We cut the wire just below here. We’ve got a box relay on the wire going both ways. Your operators can’t use the wire much tonight. Your company can’t use it from Lineville at all.”
Tom’s face showed his dismay. ’Gene Black laughed in intense enjoyment.
“So you cut the wire, oh, and attached box relays?”
“Surely,” Black nodded.
“I’m glad you confess it,” replied Tom slowly. “Cutting telegraph wires, or attaching box relays without proper authority is a felony. The punishment is a term in state’s prison.”
“Bosh!” sneered Black. “With all the political pull our crowd has behind it do you suppose we fear a little thing like that?”
“I’ll talk the crime over with Dave Fulsbee,” Tom continued.
“A lot of good Fulsbee will do you,” jeered ’Gene. “We have him attended to as well as we have you.”