Page:Cy Warman--The express messenger and other tales of the rail.djvu/142

130 hard that the tears came in my eyes and blinded me. Then the thought came to me that we were a long time coming together, so I looks ahead, an' there was n't a thing in sight. I asked Harry if he see anything, an he lied an' asked if I see anything, an' I lied, too, an' opened up the throttle again. That's all I know about it."

There was a noticeable increase in the attention of the company, and Tim Flarrity, the flagman, leaning low toward the table, crossed himself and ventured the prediction that they would have a head-end collision before they reached the junction. "I never see a ghost train show up yet that did n't mean something," he added, but the burst of laughter that followed closed his circuit, and he said no more.

Now the agent came in with a number of messages for the superintendent, and as the official began reading the first of the lot, he began to smile.

"Read it out," said the Colonel. "Perhaps it will tell us something about the ghost." The superintendent read:—