"That's right. Speakin' of handcuffs an' badges, didn't you have a nephew or a cousin 'sociated with a police force somewheres?"
"Bennie, you mean? Oh, yes. He's a policeman out in Chicago."
"Fine! Fine! Just now he's laid up in the hospital, but he 'spects to be out again 'fore long. Got shot through the arm a couple of weeks ago."
"You don't say? Huntin'?" Elisha queried pleasantly.
"Huntin'? Mercy, no! He got winged by a stray bullet while chasin' up a guy that had broke into a store. The shrimp hit him. Luckily he didn't kill him. Ben thought he got off pretty easy."
"These fellers that's at large now don't give a hang who they murder," went on the station agent affably. "They're a desperate crew. They'd as soon kill you as not. Bennie landed his man, though, 'spite of bein' hurt. 'Twill, most likely, mean a promotion for him. He'd oughter be promoted, too, for he's done great work on the force. Been shot three or four times while on duty. 'Tain't a callin' I myself would choose, but he seems to get a big kick out of it."
Elisha, pale to the lips, suddenly decided he had heard enough of Bennie and shifted the subject.
"S'pose you're still goin' round in the same ole treadmill over at the station, Art," he observed.
"Yep. Same ole rut. Two trains a day as usual. I've had, though, a bit more telegraphin' to do of late than formerly. It's all come from your part of the world, too. Know a feller over to Wilton named Heath? He's sent off several wires."
Both Elisha, perched on the box, and Eleazer astride a keg straightened up.
"Heath? Yes, indeed. He's stoppin' in town for a while."
"So I gathered. Lives in New York at one of them big hotels."
"He sent a wire to his wife. Leastways, I figger 'twas his wife. He signed himself _Lovingly, Stanley_, an' addressed it to Mrs. Stanley Heath."
"You don't say! That's news to me," Elisha cried. He darted a glance at Eleazer.
Artie, gratified at seeing he had created a sensation, beamed broadly.
"'Course I ain't permitted to divulge messages that go through my hands. They're confidential. But for that I could tell you somethin' that would make your eyes pop outer their sockets."
"You might give us a hint," Eleazer suggested.
"I couldn't. Was I to, I might lose my job."
