lure?"

"Yes; or anyone else. To me it seems braver than anything I ever read
of--to drive a great thing like this with so many precious lives behind
it. The responsibility must be terrible."

"It would be if a fellow thought of it all the time; but one doesn't,
you know. Now I'll venture a guess that Mac is just speculating as to
how much of the 'Kestrel's' lost time he can get back between this and
the end of his run."

But the shrewd old pioneer with the Scottish name was thinking of no
such prosaic thing. On the contrary, he was wondering who Miss Vennor
was; if she would be a worthy helpmate for the passenger agent; and if
so, how he could help matters along.

The switch-lights of Arriba were twinkling in the distance, and his hand
was on the whistle-lever, when the engineer reached a conclusion. The
next instant Gertrude shrieked and would have tumbled ignominiously into
the fireman's scoop if Brockway had not caught her.

"How silly of me!" she said, shame-facedly. "One would think I had never
heard a locomotive whistle before. But it was so totally unexpected."

"I should have warned you, but I didn't think. This is Arriba; do you
want to go back?"

Gertrude was enjoying herself keenly, after a certain barbaric and
unfettered fashion hitherto undreamed of, and she was tempted to drink a
little deeper from the cup of freedom before going back to the
proprieties. Moreover, there was doubtless a goodly measure of reproof
awaiting her, and when she remembered this, she determined to get the
full value of the castigation.

"I'll go on, if you'll let me," she said.

"Let you!" Brockway had been trembling for fear his little bubble of joy
was about to burst, and would have multiplied words. But before he could
say more, the 926 thundered past the station and came to a stand.

Maclure released the air-brake, and clambering down from his box,
dragged the passenger agent from his seat and so out to the gangway.

"Say, Fred, is she goin' back?" he whispered.

"No, not just yet."

"Bully for her; she's got sand, she has. Reckon you could run a spell
and talk to her at the same time?"

Brockway's nerves tingled at the bare suggestion. "Try me and see," he
said.

"It's a go," said Maclure. "Get her over there on my side, and I'll
smoke me a pipe out o' Johnnie's window. Swear to bob I won't look
around once!"

IX

FIFTY MILES AN HOUR

"Let me promote you, Miss Vennor," Brockway said, helping Ge