A Fool For Love | Page 8

But she suffered him to walk
back to the private car beside her; and in this sudden retreat from the
scene of action he missed hearing the comments of his fellow
craftsmen.
"You bet, he's no 'prentice," said the fireman.
"Not much!" quoth the engineer. "He's an all-round artist, that's about
what he is. Shouldn't wonder if he was the travelin' engineer for some
road back in God's country."
"Travelin' nothing!" said the conductor. "More likely he's a train-master,
'r p'raps a bigger boss than that. Call in the flag, Jim, and we'll be
getting a move."
Oddly enough, the comment on Winton did not pause with the
encomiums of the train crew. When the Limited was once more rushing
on its way through the night, and Virginia and her cousin were safe in
the privacy of their state-room, Miss Carteret added her word.

"Do you know, Bessie, I think it was Mr. Adams who scored this
afternoon?" she said.
"How so?" inquired la petite Bisque, who was too sleepy to be
over-curious.
"I think he 'took a rise' out of me, as he puts it. Mr. Winton is precisely
all the kinds of man Mr. Adams said he wasn't."

III
IN WHICH AN ITINERARY IS CHANGED
It was late breakfast time when the Transcontinental Limited swept
around the great curve in the eastern fringe of Denver, paused for a
registering moment at "yard limits," and went clattering in over the
switches to come to rest at the end of its long westward run on the
in-track at the Union Depot.
Having wired ahead to have his mail meet him at the yard limits
registering station, Winton was ready to make a dash for the telegraph
office the moment the train stopped.
"That is our wagon, over there on the narrow-gage," he said to Adams,
pointing out the waiting mountain train. "Have the porter transfer our
dunnage, and I'll be with you as soon as I can send a wire or two."
On the way across the broad platform he saw the yard crew cutting out
the Rosemary, and had a glimpse of Miss Virginia clinging to the
hand-rail and enjoying enthusiastically, he fancied, her first view of the
mighty hills to the westward.
The temptation to let the telegraphing wait while he went to say good
morning to her was strong, but he resisted it and hastened the more for
the hesitant thought. Nevertheless, when he reached the telegraph office
he found Mr. Somerville Darrah and his secretary there ahead of him,
and he observed that the explosive gentleman who presided over the

destinies of the Colorado and Grand River appeared to be in a more
than usually volcanic frame of mind.
Now Winton, though new to the business of building railroads for the
Utah Short Line, was not new to Denver or Colorado. Hence when the
Rajah, followed by his secretarial shadow, had left the office, Winton
spoke to the operator as to a friend.
"What is the matter with Mr. Darrah, Tom? He seems to be
uncommonly vindictive this morning."
The man of dots and dashes nodded.
"He's always crankier this time than he was the other. He's a holy terror,
the Rajah is. I wouldn't work on his road for a farm down East--not if
my job took me within cussing distance of him. Bet a hen worth fifty
dollars he is up in Mr. Colbert's office right now, raising particular sand
because his special engine wasn't standing here ready to snatch his
private car on the fly, so's to go on without losing headway."
Winton frowned thoughtfully, and he let his writing hand pause while
he said, "So he travels special from Denver, does he?"
"On his own road?--well, I should smile. Nothing is too good for the
Rajah; or too quick, when he happens to be in a hurry. I wonder he
didn't have the T. C. pull him special from Kansas City."
Winton handed in his batch of telegrams and went his way reflective.
What was Mr. Somerville Darrah's particular rush? As set forth by
Adams, the plans of the party in the Rosemary contemplated nothing
more hasty than a leisurely trip to the Pacific coast--a pleasure jaunt
with a winter sojourn in California to lengthen it. Why, then, this
sudden change from Limited regular trains to unlimited specials? Was
there fresh news from the seat of war in Quartz Creek Canyon? Winton
thought not. In that case he would have had his budget as well; and so
far as his own advices went, matters were still as they had been. A
letter from the Utah attorneys in Carbonate assured him that the

injunction appeal was not yet decided, and another from Chief of
Construction Evarts concerned itself mainly with the major's desire to
know