It was not much to ask in return for his services, but the conductor was tired of being second in command. He growled:
"Not a minute. We're 'way behind time."
"You might wait till I'm married," Mallory pleaded.
"Not on your life!" the conductor answered, and he pulled the bell-rope twice; in the distance, the whistle answered twice.
Mallory's temper flared again. He cried: "This train doesn't go another step till I'm married!" He reached up and pulled the bell-rope once; in the distance the whistle sounded once.
This was high treason, and the conductor advanced on him threateningly, as he seized the cord once more. "You touch that rope again, and I'll——"
"Oh, no, you won't," said Mallory, as he whisked a revolver from his right pocket and jammed it into the conductor's watch-pocket. The conductor came to attention.
Then Mallory, standing with his right hand on military duty, put out his left hand, and gave the word: "Now, parson."
He smiled still more as he heard Kathleen's voice wailing: "But I can't find my bracelet. Where's my bracelet?"
"Silence! Silence!" Dr. Temple commanded, and then: "Join hands, my children."