V. "Flag Number Two!" 43 VI. A Private Line 54 VII. The Call to Duty 67 VIII. An Old Enemy 88 IX. An Unwelcome Guest 98 X. A Professional Friendship 107 XI. The President's Special 116 XII. Placing the Blame 127 XIII. Probing the Mystery 138 XIV. To the Rescue 150 XV. Light in Dark Places 160 XVI. All's Well That Ends Well 171 XVII. Allan Entertains a Visitor 185 XVIII. Facing the Lion 200 XIX. The First Lesson 211 XX. What Delayed Extra West 221 XXI. A Call for Aid 237 XXII. The Treasure Chest 248 XXIII. "Hands Up!" 260 XXIV. Jed Hopkins, Phoenix 270 XXV. How the Plot Was Laid 281 XXVI. The Pursuit 292 XXVII. A Gruesome Find 303 XXVIII. Jed Starts for Home 313 XXIX. The Young Train Dispatcher 326 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "Hurled itself on across the waiting-room and through the outer door to safety" (_See page 271_) _Frontispiece_ "'Look out!' he cried, and seizing him by the arm, dragged him sharply backwards" 21 "Snatched up the fusee, and fairly hurled himself down the track" 56 "In the next instant, the tall figure had been flung violently into the room" 153 "The afternoon passed happily" 200 "'It b'longs t' th' mine company,' said Nolan" 291 THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER CHAPTER I THE NEW POSITION Stretching from the Atlantic seaboard on the east to the Mississippi River on the west, lies the great P. & O. Railroad, comprising, all told, some four thousand miles of track. Look at it on the map and you will see how it twists and turns and sends off numberless little branches; for a railroad is like a river and always seeks the easiest path--the path, that is, where the grades are least and the passes in the mountains lowest. Once upon a time, a Czar of Russia, asked by his ministers to indicate the route for a railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow, placed a ruler on the map before him and drew a straight line between those cities, a line which his engineers were forced to follow; but that is the only road in the world constructed in so wasteful a fashion.