be noticin' that we have 'em here and there along the
line," and he showed them where, a little distance down the track, there
were a number placed in racks made of posts, so that they might not rust.

From his pocket the track-walker pulled a red flag. It seemed that he
carried it there for just such emergencies. He tied it to his pick
handle, and stuck the latter in the track some distance away from the
broken rail.

"The engineer'll see that," he said, "and stop. Now I'll go get Jimmie
and we'll put in a new rail. You young ladies--why, th' railroad
company'll be very thankful to you. If you was to stop here now, and the
passengers of the train were told of what you found--why, they might even
make up a purse for you. They did that to Mike Malone once, when he
flagged the Century Flier when it was goin' to slip over a broken bridge.
I'll tell 'em how it was, and how you--"

"No--no--we can't stay!" exclaimed Betty. "If you will look after the
broken rail we'll go on. We must get to Broxton."

"Oh, sure, it'll not take the likes of you long to be doin' that,"
complimented the man, with a trace of brogue in his voice. "You look
equal to doin' twice as much."

"Well, we don't want to be caught in the rain," spoke Mollie.

"Ah, 'twill be nothin' more than a sun shower, it will make your
complexions better--not that you need it though," he hastened to add.
"Good luck to you, and many thanks for tellin' me about this broken rail.
'Tis poor Jimmie who'd be blamed for not seein' it, and him with a sick
wife. Good-bye to you!"

The girls, satisfied that the train would be flagged in time, soon left
the track, the last glimpse they had of the workman being as he hurried
off to summon his partner to replace the broken rail.

That he did so was proved a little later, for when the girls were walking
along the road that ran parallel to the railroad line some distance
farther on, the express dashed by at a speed which seemed to indicate
that the engineer was making up for lost time.

Several days later the girls read in a local paper of how the train had
been stopped while two track-walkers fitted a perfect rail in place of
the broken one. And something of themselves was told. For the
track-walker they had met had talked of the young ladies he had met, and
there was much printed speculation about them.

"I'm glad we didn't give our names," said Grace. "Our folks might have
worried if they had read of it."

"But we mig