On the Iron at Big CloudPackard, Frank L. (Frank Lucius)
General
On the Iron at Big Cloud
Packard, Frank L. (Frank Lucius)
Canadian fiction -- 20th century; Railroad stories; Short stories, Canadian
Carleton, the super, and the men before Carleton, understood what the
doctors didn’t, so Lee’s working for the railroad yet. Not braking--he’s
not fit for that, but he keeps the job they gave him--and it’s kept for
him--when he gets back after his spells. I------there’s the foreman
shouting for me. Sorry, but I’ll have to go. “If you’re going out on
Number One she’s just coming down the gorge now. Good night, sir.”
I lost him in the shadows of the big mogul on the pit behind me. Then I
turned and walked slowly out of the roundhouse, over the turntable, and
across the tracks to the station platform. Number One’s mellow chime
floated down from the gorge, then the flare of the electric headlight,
and the rumble of the train. And in quick, fierce tempo, the beating,
drumming trucks caught up the name I had heard the foreman shout, and
rang it over and over again in my ears:
“Oh-you-Lee! Charlie-Lee! Lee! Charlie-Lee--Lee!”
XI--“WHERE’S HAGGERTY?”
“The Hill Division was proud enough over it, of course, for Carleton was
its old chief; but, none the less, it read General Order Number 38 with
dismay and misgiving.
“T. J. Hale,” the G. O. ran, “is hereby appointed Superintendent of
the Hill Division, with headquarters at Big Cloud, vice H. B. Carleton
promoted to General Manager of the System.”
“Now who in the double-blanked, blankety-blanked blazes is Hale?”
demanded the roundhouse and the engine crews.
“Carleton was all to the good, h’m?--what!” growled the dispatchers.
The train crews swung their lanterns with a defiant air, and the
passenger conductors juggled their punches around their little fingers,
smiling a superior smile to themselves. Hale might be a good, man,
perhaps he was, but Carleton was--“Royal” Carleton. “I guess he’ll get
along all right with us, _but_ he don’t want to get fresh, that’s all.
Where’d he come from, h’m?”
That question, at first, no one seemed able to answer. The general
impression was that the Transcontinental had got him from some Eastern
road. Certainly he was a new man, bran new, to the System.
And then the renown of one Haggerty, who was braking on a passenger
local, became great, and, in consequence, the displeasure of the
Division increased.
Said Haggerty: “When I was on the Penn five years back, this fellow Hale
was assistant super. I knew him well. You wanter look out for him, you
can take my little word for that. He’s a holy terror, an’ that’s a fact.
Got any chewin’?”
Haggerty got his chewing, being an egregious liar; and Hale got a
damaged reputation for the same reason.
But Haggerty got more than his chewing--and he had not long to wait. On
the day that the new super was expected, Haggerty, on passenger local
Number Seven, got into Big Cloud about noon, and, taking advantage
of the ten-minute wait for refreshments, straddled a stool at the
lunch-counter. Between bites, he fired questions at Spence the
dispatcher, who was bolting his mid-day meal.
“Hale come yet?” he demanded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account