Danger Signals | Page 7

Then I
told her how I had tried to get a letter to the lost sister, and how they
never came back, and were never answered--that I loved the sister and
loved her. She reminded me that she herself got all the letters I had sent,
and was pretty sure of her ground when she threw herself on my
protection.
"It was a strange courting, John, there on that engine at the front, the
boundless plains on one side, the mountains on the other, the winds of
the desert whirling sand and snow against our little house, and the
moon looking coldly down at the spectacle of an engineer making love
to his fireman.
"That night the Kid slept in the bed in the house, and I stayed on the
engine.
"When we got back to headquarters the Kid laid off to go home, and I
made a trip or two with another fireman, and then I had to go to Illinois

to fix up some family business--Kid and I arranged that.
"We met in St. Louis, the Kid hired a ball dress, and we were married
as quiet as possible. I had promised the Kid that, for the present at least,
she could stay on the road with me, and you know that the year you
were there I done most of the heavy firing while the Kid did the
running. We remained in the service for something like two years--a
strange couple, but happy in each other's company and our work.
"I often talked to my wife about leaving the road and starting in new,
where we were not known, as man and wife, she to remain at home; but
she wouldn't hear of it, asking if I wanted an Irishman for a side-partner.
This came to be a joke with us--'When I get my Irishman I will do
so-and-so.'
"One day, as our 'hog' was drifting down the long hill, the Kid said to
me, 'Jim, you can get your Irishman; I'm going to quit this trip.'
"'Kind o' sudden, hey, Kid?'
"'No, been hating to give up, but--' and then the Kid came over and
whispered something to me.
"John, we both quit and went South. I got a job in Texas, and the Kid
was lost sight of, and Mrs. J. E. Wainright appeared on the scene in
tea-gown, train, and flounces. We furnished a neat little den, and I was
happy. I missed my kid fireman, and did indeed have an Irishman. Kid
had a struggle to wear petticoats again, and did not take kindly to
dish-washing, but we were happy just the same.
"Our little fellow arrived one spring day, and then our skies were all
sunshiny for three long, happy years, until one day Kid and I followed
a little white hearse out beyond the cypress grove and saw the earth
covered over our darling, over our hopes, over our sunshine, and over
our hearts.
"After that the house was like a tomb, so still, so solemn, and at every
turn were reminders of the little one who had faded away like the

morning mist, gone from everything but our memories--there his sweet
little image was graven by the hand of love and seared by the
branding-iron of sorrow.
"Men and women of intelligence do not parade their sorrows in the
market-place; they bear them as best they can, and try to appear as
others, but once the specter of the grim destroyer has crossed the
threshold, his shadow forever remains, a dark reminder, like a
prison-bar across the daylight of a cell. This shadow is seen and
recognized in the heart of a father, but it is larger and darker and more
dreadful in the mother heart.
"At every turn poor Kid was mutely reminded of her loss, and her heart
was at the breaking point day by day, and she begged for her old life, to
seek forgetfulness in toil and get away from herself. So we went back
to the old road, as we went away--Jim Wainright and Kid
Reynolds--and glad enough they were to get us again for the winter
work.
"Three years of indoor life had softened the wiry muscles of the Kid,
and our engine was a hard steamer, so I did most of the work on the
road. But the work, excitement, and outdoor life brought back the color
to pale cheeks, and now and then a smile to sad lips--and I was glad.
"One day the Kid was running while I broke up some big lumps of coal,
and while busy in the tank I felt the air go on full and the reverse lever
come back, while the wheels ground sand. I stepped quickly toward the
cab to see what was the matter, when the