" He looked at me for a
moment and smilingly said, "Why, bless my soul, my lad! I thought you
were a messenger boy." He then asked me for my story of the wreck. When
I had given it he seemed satisfied, and gave me lots of good advice; but
in the end he said I was too young to have the position, and I was
discharged. But he kindly added, that in a few years he would be glad to
have me come back on the road, after I had acquired more experience. The
next day I returned to school.
CHAPTER II
AN ENCOUNTER WITH TRAIN ROBBERS
My first attempt at holding an office had proved such a flat and dismal
failure that I thought I should never have the heart to apply for
another. I worked faithfully in the school for about a month, and then
the fever to try again took hold of me. I knew it would be of no use to
apply to my former superintendent, Mr. Brink, so I wrote to Mr. R. B.
Bunnell, Superintendent of Telegraph of the P. Q. & X. Railroad at
Kansas City, Missouri, saying I was an expert operator and desired a
position on his road. Mr. Bunnell must have been laboring under a
hypnotic spell, for by return mail he wrote, enclosing me a pass to
Alfreda, Kansas, and directing me to assume charge of the night office
at that point at the magnificent salary of $37.
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