CHAPTER XXXI.AN UNGRATEFUL MAN.
So old Joe took the train through, after all, and he ran the engine right. It made a remarkable difference in Frank’s work, as Merry quickly found out. It was not necessary to bend his back and shovel coal all the time.
The old engineer looked like a wreck when the end of the run was reached, but he had stuck to his post. Scarcely a word had passed between him and Frank after he took the engine the second time. Merry watched him closely, but Hicks never let his eyes meet Frank’s. He paid as little attention to his companion in the cab as possible.
When they pulled back to the roundhouse that night an explanation of the trouble was asked for by the “old man,” who summoned them to his office.
Frank permitted old Joe to tell his story, and the engineer claimed that he had been seized by a fit. Merriwell had fought to handle him.
The manager looked at Frank.
“What have you to say about it, young man?” he asked.
“Nothing,” said Merry. “You have heard Mr. Hicks’ story.”
“Yes; and we can’t keep an engineer on this road who is liable to have fits. You can come around for your time to-morrow morning, Hicks.”
Old Joe staggered.
“Then I’m discharged?” he said, huskily.
“Yes.”
The old engineer turned and went slowly out of the office, bent as with a heavy burden. The sight of him going thus filled Frank’s heart with pity, but he could do nothing for him.
“There will be another man on 33 to-morrow, Merriwell,” said the manager. “You’ll go with him. Good-night.”
“Good-night, sir.”
Larry Logan was waiting for Frank.
“Pwhat’s this they do be afther tellin’ av me?” asked the young Irishman. “Is it old Joe ye had a foight wid? An’ is he discharraged?”
“Yes; old Joe has been discharged.”
“Well, it’s a moighty good thing, fer it’s th’ divvil he wur at toimes.”
“I am sorry for him.”
“Ye are? G’wan! Fer whoy?”
“He has been a good engineer.”
“Thot’s roight, but his day is parrust, me b’y. He moight be roonin’ a passenger engine now, but he’s killed himseluf wid dhrink. It’s a wonder he has been afther holdin’ his place so long.”
Frank knew that well enough.
“Still, I did not want to have anything to do with his losing his position. It’s not likely he will be able to strike another place very soon.”
“Nivver. It’s done fer he is.”
“That is why I am sorry. He is an old man, and he has not saved a cent. How will he live?”
“That’s no consern av yours.”
“Perhaps not; but it is a sad thing to see an old man like him, who might be something, shut out with nothing.”
“It’s tinder-hearruted ye are, me b’y; but it don’t pay to be to saft in this worruld. Ye’re not thought a bit more av fer it. It’s more loikely they will be afther thinkin’ yez too aisy, an’ dispise yez for thot.”
Frank realized that this was true.
“Some day ye’ll be afther havin’ an engine av yer own,” said Larry; “an’ Oi hope it’ll be me luck ter foire fer yez.”
“I hope you may,” said Frank. “I think we’d be able to get along.”
“Foriver, me b’y! Oi’d sthick ter yez loike glue. But it’s ould Joe yez warnt to look out fer now. He’ll thry to do yez th’ firrust chance he gets.”
“Perhaps so; but I doubt it. I won his gratitude to-day by not pushing him to the wall.”
“Mebbe ye did fer th’ toime; but he’ll fergit it th’ firrust toime he is dhrunk, an’ thin he’ll lay fer yez. Marruk my worrud, an’ watch out.”
“All right, Larry, I’ll do so. Good-night.”
As Frank was passing through the yard a man stepped out and confronted him. It was old Joe.
“Ye’ve done it at last!” huskily said the old engineer, raising one shaking hand to his chin. “Ye’ve knocked the old man out for good!”
“I am very sorry, Mr.——”
“Bah! Little good that does. It’s all over.”
“I don’t see how you can blame me.”
“If ye’d never come to work on this railroad it would have been all right.”
“That may be true; but I did come here, and I had a right to do that, as you very well know. If you had not become my enemy in the first place and tried to injure me, you would have been all right.”
“I always hated ye!” grated Hicks. “Something made me hate ye the first time I saw ye. You was so independent, and so polite at the same time. You never was afraid of me. If you’d been afraid it might have been different.”
“And you hated me because I was not afraid of you. That was unreasonable.”
“Mebbe so; but I couldn’t help it. An’ ye came between me an’ my nevvy and niece.”
“No; I kept you from taking advantage of them.”
“Oh, is that the way ye put it? Well, ye won’t keep me no longer.”
Frank started.
“What do you mean?”
“That I’m out of work here. You was goin’ to get me discharged if I bothered Jack and Nell. You can’t keep me back that way now.”
Merriwell stared hard at the man, and then asked:
“Do you mean to make trouble for them?”
“No; but I’m goin’ to take care of them.”
“Take care of them? Why, how can you do that? You are not earning anything.”
There was a crafty look on old Joe’s face.
“That’s why I’m goin’ to take care of them,” he said.
“By that you mean that you are going to rob them of the money they earn by playing and singing on the street? That is your game, you old scoundrel! You shall not do it!”
“Won’t I?”
“No!”
“Who’ll stop me?”
“I will!”
“How?”
“I’ll find a way. You shall not be a burden to those poor children, if there is any justice in the world.”
“There ain’t. Justice is a mockery. The meaner rascal a man is the better show he has.”
“That may be your belief, but it is not mine.”
“There is some law, an’ I reckon it’ll appoint me as guardeen of my dear nevvy and niece, who need somebody to look out for them properly. That’s what’ll happen.”
“You may apply, but you’ll not succeed in getting appointed.”
“Why not?”
“Because I shall appear and show that you are thoroughly incompetent and unable to take care of yourself, much less two other persons. I have all the proof that is necessary. Your game is to rob them, which can be made very apparent. The boy is lame and the girl is blind. They are trying to save some money that her eyes may be treated, and you would take that away from them. You are even worse than I thought you could be!”
Frank was highly indignant, and old Joe cowered a bit before his flashing eyes.
“Well,” he snarled, “if I don’t get appointed as guardeen, I’ll show that you are beatin’ them, and they’ll be taken care of, that’s all.”
Frank knew it was useless to appeal to the man’s generosity, and so he said:
“Go ahead! I have the proof that you tried to murder me by pushing me onto the track in front of an engine, and, by the eternal skies! I’ll do my best to jail you for it if you carry out your threat! Go ahead! We’ll see who gets the worst of it!”
Then he walked swiftly away.