e learned the next day that
they ran three or four miles before coming to a halt.

"We saved the station and ourselves without shedding a drop of blood.
The story was told by the blacks far and wide that we 'shot a star at
them.' This gave us a hint on which we acted, and we took pains to
circulate the report that we had power to bring all the heavenly bodies
to our aid whenever we needed them. Several times we offered to chief of
the tribe to bring down the moon, or any of the stars that he might
designate, but for fear that he would take us at our word, we always
said that we would not be responsible for the consequences. In view of
these circumstances, he invariably asked us to leave the denizens of the
heavens alone.

"All the attacks on our stations have not been as bloodless as the one I
have just described," the gentleman continued. "Three or four years
after the line was opened the blacks attacked a station about one
thousand miles north of Adelaide. One of the operators, Mr. Stapleton,
was mortally wounded, and so was one of the line repairers. Both the
other white men at the station were slightly wounded, and one of the
blacks in our service was killed. The attack lasted only a short time,
and the assailants were driven away by the well-directed fire of the
people at the station.

"The mortally wounded operator, Mr. Stapleton, was placed on a couch,
while the other operator was telegraphing the news of the occurrence to
Adelaide. A doctor was called to the telegraph office in the city, and
on learning the nature of the wound he pronounced it mortal. Mr.
Stapleton's wife was a telegraph operator, and was then employed in the
station at Adelaide. A telegraph instrument was placed at the bedside of
the dying man, and connected with the instrument on his wife's desk. The
two exchanged loving messages for a few minutes, and then the husband
with his last efforts telegraphed an eternal good-by to his wife,
dropped the instrument from his hand, and fell back dead. I was in the
office at Adelaide at the time of this occurrence, and was one of those
in the room where Mrs. Stapleton sat. Nearly all of those present were
experienced operators, and could understand the clicking of the
instrument. Every eye was filled with tears, and every heart was full of
sympathy for the woman who had been so tragically widowed. As she
received the final message of farewell she fell from her chair in a dead
faint, from which she did