Adventure, August 1917 — page 75: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

With His Record Clear “You did!’ shouted Barnes—his voice had been gradually mounting until it was nearly a scream—“You did! How about that light at the west end of the platform?” The agent peered out of the window. “Why,” he said mildly, as if in surprise— ‘“‘why, it’s out.” ‘““Yes,”’ shrieked Barnes, “‘it’s out because I just turned it out, myself. I want to know why you do not follow my instruc- tions. Why didn’t you put it out?” “Well,” said Donnelly, facing the sup- erintendent squarely, ‘‘I’ll tell you.” He glanced out the window again, saw a man he knew come hurrying onto the platform, then hastened with his explana- tion, a faint sparkle suddenly appearing in his eye which only Carruthers, seated in the corner with studiously inexpressive face, noticed. ‘““You see,” explained Joseph, carefully, “TI had no right to put that hight out. It doesn’t belong to the railroad—the borough owns it. For three years I tried to get the company to put a light there because it’s a dark, dangerous crossing at night, but my requests were always turned down. I mentioned the matter to some of the bor- ough councilmen one day and they said certainly it was a bad crossing and if the railroad would not put the light there they would. And they did—name-plate and all. It’s not even on company property, being on the curb, that way. So they might not have liked it if I had turned their light out.” Young Donnelly hesitated a second and held his embarrassed, flustered superior with a steady eye. ‘“‘Besides,”’ he concluded as he perceived the man he knew pass the office window, ‘“‘there is a borough ordinance against turn- ing out street lights.” There was a step in the waiting room and a square, heavy-set man appeared in the office doorway. He looked at Superin- tendent Barnes. “Y’m the constable,” said the heavy-set man, turning back the lapel of his coat to show his badge— ‘“You’re under arrest.” “‘What!”’ exploded Barnes. Things were coming too fast. “Tam? For what?” “For turning out that light. I was standing on the corner and saw you do it. 73 “But you can’t arrest me. I’m Superin- tendent Barnes—the superintendent of this division.” Barnes was in a panic of rage and morti- fication. “You can’t arrest me!” He turned to Donnelly for support. “Sorry,” said Joseph—‘that ordinance, you know.” The constable was a determined man. And he once had had a shipment of house- hold goods smashed up on the railroad and he’d been waiting ten years to get even— the mention of the superintendent’s name and position only made him all the more re- solved. ‘“‘Makes no difference,” he told Barnes, shortly. “Come along.” And the superintendent, willy-nilly, fum- ing and red in the face, protesting with hands and words, was led before the local justice of the peace. It cost him ten dollars. And that is the way the thing started. _ For of course the tale spread. It was much too good to keep. All over the division it” went, and then all over the other divisions. Wherever two or more employees met they retold the tale of the platform light and slapped their legs and guffawed with abandon. And if Barnes, coming unexpectedly upon his men, interrupted them in the midst of laughter, and if they fell suddenly silent and eyed him strangely, he knew at once of what they had been talking. Likewise it spread among the officials and the bigger ones twitted the unfortunate superintendent about it mercilessly. Hence Barnes came to hate the name of Maple Creek, the town—and the agent there. For, with the strange perverseness of his narrow mind, he placed it all upon Joe Donnelly. To himself he cursed Don- nelly, and vowed vengeance, and swore he’d make his life a Hades. And for six months he did, to the best of his ability. He sent spotters out to watch the agent at Maple Creek, sly men who at- tempted to bribe Donnelly to break some of the company’s rules and regulations, or tried to catch him up on tricks of change in buying tickets. He had inspectors and traveling auditors drop in on Donnelly at unexpected, frequent intervals, dubiously solemn men who strained every effort to discover something wrong. He accused Donnelly of being late with CoOMmiclsoo CO 5}