88
XI. The Master Mechanic 95
XII. A Good Friend 104
XIII. The "Black Hand" 114
XIV. A Serious Plot 123
XV. "The Silvandos" 129
XVI. Zeph Dallas and His "Mystery" 138
XVII. In Widener's Gap 145
XVIII. At the Semaphore 153
XIX. The Boy Who Was Hazed 160
XX. "Lord Lionel Montague" 171
XXI. Archie Graham's Invention 179
XXII. Ike Slump Again 188
XXIII. A Critical Moment 195
XXIV. The New Run 203
XXV. The Mountain Division 209
XXVI. Mystery 217
XXVII. The Railroad President 225
XXVIII. A Race Against Time 233
XXIX. Zeph Dallas Again 244
XXX. Snowbound 254
XXXI. Conclusion 264

RALPH ON THE OVERLAND EXPRESS

CHAPTER I

NO. 999

"All aboard."

Ralph Fairbanks swung into the cab of No. 999 with the lever hooked up
for forward motion, and placed a firm hand on the throttle.

It looked as though half the working force of the railroad, and every
juvenile friend he had ever known in Stanley Junction, had come down
to the little old depot that beautiful summer afternoon to especially
celebrate the greatest event in his active railroad career.

Ralph was the youngest engineer in the service of the Great Northern,
and there was full reason why he should center attention and interest
on this the proudest moment of his life. No. 999 was the crack
locomotive of the system, brand new and resplendent. Its headlight was
a great glow of crystal, its metal bands and trimmings shone like
burnished gold, and its cab was as spick and span and neat as the
private office of the division superintendent himself.

No. 999 wa