INDEPENDENCE OR PRIDE.

Smiler, the railroad dog, appeared on the scene with the bridge gang, though no one knew where he came from; and, quickly discovering Rod, he followed him into the cab of locomotive number 10. Here he took possession of the cushion on the fireman’s side of the cab, and sat on it with a wise expression on his honest face, that said as plainly as words: “This is an important bit of work, and it is clearly my duty to superintend it.” Rod was delighted to have this opportunity of introducing the dear dog to Eltje, and they became friends immediately. As for the President, Smiler not only condescended to recognize him, but treated him with quite as much cordiality as though he had been a fireman or a brakeman on a through freight.

Rod got a few hours’ sleep that night after all, and in the morning he and Engineman Stump accepted an invitation to take breakfast with President Vanderveer, his daughter, and Smiler, in the President’s private car. This car had just returned from the extended western trip on which it had started two months before, when Rod was seeking employment on the road. As neither Eltje nor her father had heard a word concerning him in all that time, they now plied him with questions. When he finished his story Eltje exclaimed:

“I think it is perfectly splendid, Rod, and if I were only a boy I would do just as you have done! Wouldn’t you, papa?”

“I am not quite sure that I would, my dear,” answered her father, with a smile. “While I heartily approve of a boy who wishes to become a railroad man, beginning at the very bottom of the ladder and working his way up, I cannot approve of his leaving his home with the slightest suspicion of a stain resting on his honor if he can possibly help it. Don’t you think, Rodman,” he added kindly, turning to the lad, “that the more manly course would have been to have stayed in Euston until you had solved the problem of who really did disable your cousin’s bicycle?”

“I don’t know but what it would,” replied the young man, thoughtfully; “but it would have been an awfully hard thing to do.”

“Yes, I know it would. It would have been much harder than going hungry or fighting tramps or capturing express robbers; still it seems to me that it would have been more honorable.”

“But Uncle turned me out of the house.”

“Did he order you to leave that very night, or did he ask you to make arrangements to do so at some future time, and promise to provide for you when you did go?”

“I believe he did say something of that kind,” replied Rod, hesitatingly.

“Do you believe he would have said even that the next morning!”

“Perhaps not, sir.”

“You know he wouldn’t, Rodman. You know, as well as I do, that Major Appleby says a great many things on the impulse of the moment that he sincerely regrets upon reflection. He told me himself the morning I left Euston how badly he felt that you should have taken his hasty words so literally. He said that he should do everything in his power to cause you to forget them the moment you returned, as he hoped you would in a day or two. He gave Snyder instructions to use every effort to discover you in the city, where it was supposed you had gone, and provided him liberally with money to be expended in searching for you. I am surprised that Snyder has not found you out before this, especially as you are both in the employ of the same company. Didn’t you know that he was private secretary to our superintendent?”

“Yes, sir; I did,” replied Rod, “and——” He was about to add, “And he knows where I am”; but obeying a more generous impulse, he changed it to “and I have taken pains to avoid him.”

“I am sorry for that,” said the President; “for if he had only met you and delivered your uncle’s message you would have been reconciled to that most impetuous but most kindly-hearted of gentlemen long ago. Now, however, you will go home with us and have a full explanation with him, will you not?”

“I think not, sir,” replied Rod, with a smile. “In the first place, I can’t leave Mr. Stump, here, to run number 10 without a fireman, and in the second I would a great deal rather wait until I hear directly from my uncle that he wants me. Besides, I don’t want to give up being a railroad man; for, after the experience I have gained, I am more determined than ever to be one.”

“It would be a great pity, sir, to have so promising a young railroader lost to the business,” said Truman Stump, earnestly, “and I do hope you won’t think of taking him from us.”

“I should think, papa, that you would be glad to have anybody on the road who can do such splendid things as Rod can,” said Eltje, warmly. “I’m sure if I were president, I’d promote him at once, and make him conductor, or master of something, instead of trying to get rid of him. Why, it’s a perfect shame!”

“I’ve no doubt, dear, that if you were president, the road would be managed just as it should be. As you are not, and I am, I beg leave to say that I have no intention of letting Rodman leave our employ, now that he has got into it, and proved himself such a valuable railroad man. He sha’n’t go, even if I have to make him ‘master of something,’ as you suggest, in order to retain his services. All that I want him to do is to visit Euston and become reconciled to his uncle. I am certain the dear old gentleman has forgotten by this time that he ever spoke an unkind word to his nephew, and is deeply grieved that he does not return to him. However, so long as Rodman’s pride will not permit him to make the first advances towards a reconciliation, I will do my best to act as mediator between them. Then I shall expect our young fireman to appear in Euston as quickly as possible after receiving Major Appleby’s invitation, even if he has to leave his beloved number 10 for a time to do so.”

“All right, sir, I will,” laughed Rod, “and I thank you ever so much for taking such an interest in me and my affairs.”

“My dear boy,” replied the President, earnestly, “you need never thank me for anything I may do for you. I shall not do more than you deserve; and no matter what I may do, it can never cancel the obligation under which you and Truman Stump placed me last night.”

“It looks as though you and I were pretty solid on this road, doesn’t it, Rod?” remarked the engineman, after the bridge had been repaired, and they were once more seated in the cab of locomotive number 10, which was again on its way toward the city.

“It does so,” replied the young fireman.