ex opened his
key.

It worked strongly and sharply.

"Thank God! Thank God!" said the superintendent, fervently. "Now, hurry,
boy!"

Already Alex was whirring off a string of letters. "Z, Z, Z, WS!" he
called. "Qk! Qk! Z, Z--"

The line opened, and at the quick sharp dots that came Alex could not
restrain a cry of triumph. "It works! I've got him," he exclaimed. Then
rapidly he sent:

"Has Number 12 passed?"

The line again opened, and over the boy leaned a circle of white, anxious
faces. Had the train passed? Had it gone on to destruction? Or--

The instruments clicked. "No! No! He says, no!" cried Alex.

And then, while the crowd about him relieved its pent-up feelings in wild
shouts and hurrahs, Alex quickly sent the order to stop the train.

"And now three good cheers for the little operator," said one of the
passengers as Alex closed his key. In confusion Alex drew back in his
chair, then suddenly recollecting the others who had taken part in the
night's work, he told the superintendent of the part played by Mr. Moore
and his sons, and of the sacrifice of Mrs. Moore's new wash-boiler.

"And then there was the man on the horse, who told us of the slide in the
cut across the river. He was the real one to save the Mail," said Alex,
modestly.

"I see you are as fair as you are ingenious," said the superintendent,
smiling. "We'll look after them all, you may be sure. By the first
express Mrs. Moore shall have two, instead of one, of the finest boilers
money can buy. And as for you, my boy, I'll see that you are given a
permanent station within a year, if you wish to take it. We need
resourceful operators like you."

III

A TINKER WHO MADE GOOD

Most telegraph operators, young operators especially, have a number of
over-the-wire friends. Alex Ward's particular telegraph chum was Jack
Orr, or "OR," as he knew him on the wire, a lad of just his own age, son
of the proprietor of the drug-store in which the town, or commercial,
office was located at Haddowville, a small place at the end of the line.
The two boys had become warm friends through "sending" for one another's
improvement in "reading," in the evenings when the wire was idle; but
also because of the similarities of taste they had discovered. Both were
fond of experimenting, and learning the "why and wherefore" of things
electrical.

And not infrequently they got themselves into trouble, as young
investigators will.

One evening that s