Page:Ralph on the Railroad.djvu/573

Rh "Good evening, Mr. Cooper," said Ralph, as the fireman leaped from the cab.

"Hello," responded the latter. "You got the run? Well, it's a good man in a good man's place."

"That's right," said Griscom. "None better. In to report, Sam? Good-bye. Shovel in the coal, lad," the speaker directed Ralph. "It's a bad night for railroading, and we'll have a hard run to Dover."

Ralph applied himself to his duties at once. He opened the fire door, and as the ruddy glow illuminated his face he was a picture pleasant to behold.

Muscular, healthy, in love with his work, friendly, earnest and accommodating, Ralph Fairbanks was a favorite with every fair-minded railroad man on the Great Northern who knew him.

Ralph had lived at Stanley Junction nearly all of his life. His early experiences in railroading have been related in the first volume of the present series, entitled "Ralph of the Roundhouse."

Ralph's father had been one of the pioneers who helped to build the Great Northern. When he died, however, it was found that the twenty thousand dollars' worth of stock in the road he was supposed to own had mysteriously disappeared.