Page:George Collins - A Strange Railroad Wreck.pdf/41

Rh minutes dragged slowly by; one would think she was about to walk to the altar with the man of her choice, instead of merely seeing him pass on a freight train, and in the dark, too. But the waving of his lantern, and a glimpse of his face as the light flashed in the darkness, gave this girl more pleasure than the attentions of all other men. So she waited anxiously for the train to come. Hearing the engineer's signalling whistle, a few minutes later, she pulled a semaphore lever and changed the north bound signal from red to white; then raising a front window of the office to its full height, she waited for the coming of her lover.

The train went thundering by at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour, and several lamps were waved by brakemen who were always anxious to win a smile from her; but she knew that none of the lanterns were in the hands of Joe Fleming. She knew his way of swinging the lamp, and he always held it close to his face, as she had requested him to do. Smothering her disappointment, she lowered the window, took hold of the lever which changed the signal light outside, and threw it rather heavily back to its old position, to show a red light. She was heartsick, and almost tired of life itself. On this particular night, the disappointment at not seeing him seemed to weigh more than usual upon her tired mind.

Reopening the book, Mercedes once more tried to