He closed the switch on track 6. Then, somewhat faint and badly worried, he sank into the armchair. Nothing was due on regular schedule. The express was reported stalled. Still, so many strange mix-ups had occurred during the night, that Ralph watched the dial, on the keen edge of suspense and distraction.
"Hello!" he cried finally, and started to his feet in wonder.
The dial disc transfixed his glance. It had begun to work. Within thirty seconds it indicated as many varied orders. It scheduled freights, passengers, "chasers." It called for one switch after another.
In stupefaction Ralph watched the brass index finger flit, whirl, and tremble. Then it circled round and round several times, vibrated at "blank," and rested there.
"Why!" gasped the stupefied Ralph, "am I crazy, or is someone else at the other end of the line?"
Voices below made Ralph start, listen, and watch. A grimed face came up through the trap. Ralph recognized the fireman of the through freight.
"Three empty freights kindling wood, front of the engine stove in," reported the fireman.
"Thank Heaven!" murmured Ralph presently.
"I jumped, after the shutting down of the air brakes," went on the fireman. "So did Foster. But say, kid, why in the world didn’t you give us the long siding?"
"Orders from limits for 7," explained Ralph. "It was a desperate chance. I took it, and gave you 6, for 7 was in use with a sleeper. Are you going to the depot? Please tell the dispatcher our ’phone is burned out, something wrong at limits, and to send to me for a report right away."
"There’s a mix-up all along the line, the way things look," observed the fireman, disappearing.
Ralph took up a position at an open window. He watched the lanterns bobbing along the tracks and at the depot.
He was unnerved and in a direful condition of suspense. Only the glad thought that no loss of life attended the collision sustained him.
The train dispatcher’s assistant put in an appearance in about twenty minutes. He looked flustered as he told Ralph that they had two wrecks on their hands.
Ralph made his report clearly, concisely. His visitor looked astonished as he learned of the amazing gyrations of the signal dial.
"You’re a brick, just the same, Fairbanks!" said the man, as Ralph concluded his report. "If the freight had got track 7, there would have been a fine slaughter for the railroad company to pay for."