“We drove in about an hour ago,” Penny replied carelessly. “We want to ship a spinning wheel by freight to Riverview.”
“I’d advise you to send it by express,” Quigley said briskly. “That way you’ll have it delivered to your door and the difference will be trifling.”
“Any way you say,” Penny agreed.
Joe went outside with the girls. Silas already had unloaded the spinning wheel. He turned it over to the station agent and after a bit of goodnatured joshing, drove away.
“I can get this out for you on No. 73,” Joe promised the girls. “Come on back to the office while I bill it out.”
Penny and Louise followed the station agent into the little ticket room. Their ears were assailed by the chatter of several telegraph instruments mounted around the edge of a circular work desk.
“How many wires come in here?” Penny asked curiously.
“Three. The Dispatcher’s wire, Western Union and the Message wire.”
Penny listened attentively to the staccato chatter of one of the wires. “D-A, D-A,” she said aloud. “Would that be the Delta station call?”
“It is,” Quigley agreed, giving her a quick look of surprise.