at as a pan-cake, and
the water had room to spread.

I worked there until spring and then a longing for my first love, the
railroad, came over me and I gave up my place and bade good-bye to the
commercial business forever. I had had my fling at it and was
satisfied.

CHAPTER XIII

SENDING MY FIRST ORDER

I had now been knocking about the country for quite a few years, and
working in all kinds of offices and places, and had acquired a great
deal of experience and valuable information, so I reached the conclusion
that it was about time for me to settle down and get something that
would last me for a while. Commercial work I did not care for, nor did I
want to go back on the road as a night operator on a small salary. I
thought I had the making of a good despatcher in me, and determined to
try for that place. I knew it had to be attained by starting first at
the bottom, so I went up on the K. M. & O. and secured a position as
night operator at Vining. The K. M. & O. was a main trunk line running
out of Chaminade, and was the best road for business that I had as yet
struck. Vining was midway on the division, and was such a good old town
that I would have been content to have stayed there for some time, but
one day an engine pulling a through livestock express broke a driving
rod while running like lightning, and the result was a smash up of the
first water--engine in the ditch, cars piled all over her, livestock
mashed up, engineer killed, fireman badly hurt, and the road blocked for
twenty-four hours. The wreck occurred on a curve going down a rather
steep grade, so that it was impossible to build a temporary track around
it. A wrecking train was sent out from El Monte, and as I happened to be
off duty, I was picked up and taken along, to cut in the wrecking
office. The division superintendent came out to hurry up things and he
appeared so pleased at my work that, in a few weeks, he offered me a
place as copy operator in the despatcher's office at El Monte. This
appeared to be a great chance to satisfy my ambition to become a
despatcher, so I gladly accepted, and in a few days was safely ensconced
in my new position. The despatchers only work eight hours a day, while
the copy operators work twelve, so they work with two despatchers every
day. I had the day end of the job and worked from eight A. M. until eight
P. M., with an hour off for dinner, so that I really was only on duty for
eleven hours. The pay was g