.

It had been at a water-tank, near Socorro, that the Limited, churning
furiously through brown Arizona in pursuit of a lost half-hour,
jarred to a sudden halt that shook sleep from the drowsy eyes of bored
passengers. Through the window of her Pullman the young woman in Section
3 had glimpsed a bevy of angry train officials eddying around a sturdy
figure in the center, whose strong, lean head rose confidently above the
press. There was the momentary whirl of a scuffle, out of the tangle
of which shot a brakeman as if propelled from a catapult. The circle
parted, brushed aside by a pair of lean shoulders, muscular and broad.
Yet a few moments and the owner of the shoulders led down the aisle to
the vacant section opposite her a procession whose tail was composed of
protesting trainmen.

"You had no right to flag the train, Sheriff Collins, and you'll have
to get off; that's all there is to it," the conductor was explaining
testily.

"Oh, that's all right," returned the offender with easy good nature,
making himself at home in Section 4. "Tell the company to send in its
bill. No use jawing about it."

"You'll have to get off, sir."

"That's right--at Tucson."

"No, sir. You'll have to get off here. I have no authority to let you
ride."

"Didn't I hear you say the train was late? Don't you think you'd arrive
earlier at the end of your run if your choo-choo got to puffing?"

"You'll have to get off, sir."

"I hate to disoblige," murmured the owner of the jingling spurs, the
dusty corduroys, and the big, gray hat, putting his feet leisurely on
the cushion in front of him. "But doesn't it occur to you that you are a
man of one idea?"

"This is the Coast Limited. It doesn't stop for anybody--not even for
the president of the road."

"You don't say! Well, I ce'tainly appreciate the honor you did me in
stopping to take me on." His slight drawl was quite devoid of concern.

"But you had no right to flag the train. Can't you understand ANYTHING?"
groaned the conductor.

"You explain it again to me, sonny. I'm surely thick in the haid,"
soothed the intruder, and listened with bland good-humor to the
official's flow of protest.

"Well--well! Disrupted the whole transcontinental traffic, didn't I? And
me so innocent, too. Now, this is how I figured it out. Here's me in
a hurry to get to Tucson. Here comes your train a-foggin'--also and
likewise hittin' the high spots for Tucson. Seemed like we ought to
travel in