Page:Frank Packard - On the Iron at Big Cloud.djvu/272



Hill Division was proud enough over it, of course, for Carleton was its old chief; but, none the less, it read General Order Number 38 with dismay and misgiving.

"T. J. Hale," the G. O. ran, "is hereby appointed Superintendent of the Hill Division, with headquarters at Big Cloud, vice H. B. Carleton promoted to General Manager of the System."

"Now who in the double-blanked, blankety-blanked blazes is Hale?" demanded the roundhouse and the engine crews.

"Carleton was all to the good, h'm?—what!" growled the dispatchers.

The train crews swung their lanterns with a defiant air, and the passenger conductors juggled their punches around their little fingers, smiling a superior smile to themselves. Hale might be a good man, perhaps he was, but Carleton was—"Royal" Carleton. "I guess he'll get along all right with us, but he don't want to get fresh, that's all. Where'd he come from, h'm?"

That question, at first, no one seemed able to answer. The general impression was that the Transcontinental had got him from some Eastern road. Certainly he was a new man, bran new, to the System.