Table Of Content
NOW IT CAN BE TOL
INNY was tired and look.
ing for a place to sleep.
He biked along the side of
the track looking for a soft
st to lic on... a clump of
em a culvert under the
rack. Out here he didn't
have to worry about the rail-
road police, there wouldn't
be any around. What he'd
really like to find would be
a shanty and the thought of
is kept him walking and
ing up a dozen places
That might have done, Net
‘that there was much of a
chance finding a shanty out
here im the middle of the
Arizona desert, yet he kept
Tooking.
Darkness came with a grad~
ual fade of color and then a
freight train roared through,
but Danny, 2 seasoned “bo
didn’t give it a glance. He
had ridden so many freighes,
he knew they were all alike
= just a string of cars, re-
Erigerators, boxes, flat-cara...
fast o slow, all the same .--
engineers, brakemen, coalers,
scattered at their jobs over
the train.
The caboose swung past
and the train was gone, and
by
GEORGE TRACY
Ihe saw « signal tower across
the track and a brakeman's
shanty beside it. Here the
tracks forked and two spurs
spread away across the roll-
ing sand, through the sharp
rock formations of the bleak
desert.
He crossed the tracks fur-
tively, examining the shack
from a distance, decided it
must be empty. The door wa:
unlocked, so he stretched out
on the ditty floor to sleep.
The sound of the passing
trains wouldn't wake him.
‘That was friendly, a drowey
lullaby helping him sleep.
‘When he was younger, it had
rounded like 2. challenging
call to adventure. A shout to
come, join it, rum to the west,
follow the sum to a pot of
gold in the sunset. He felt
Rearest to it that first time he
stood by the bay'in San Fran-
cisco, and watched the sun
teace gold figures in the
peaceful Pacific.
Bu couldn't ever get
to touch it, and ypu knew
there was ‘no sense going
further, for the cold nights
discourage the grandest
dreams . . . so Danny af
and dreamed of it ins
Later that night he
the hard floor but he
suddenly wide awake
cold... . He could hear 1
in the distance.
‘Then he heard voices
clear voices, directly 0
the shack and they #p
come Sree
they broke out
SAIL right, now the
I fixed thote ewitches
‘and the signal man
bothering anybody.
‘troop trains come th
night they'll be all
off onto that old sid
ence until they land
gulch, and then they 1
Know’ anything
‘Then a guttural voice:
hash out of some perf
hitting inside the sha
ny strained forward
the voice that spoke
reply. J
“Naturally, i'm
(urn to page 33)
pe UE oF rent comes
spur was put out of use eight
years ago when « landslide
carried part of the track
away about fifteen miles
north of here. The railroad
never repaired it. They plan-
ned building a new road into
Flagstaff to cut off a couple
of miles, so they built it and
left these tracks to rust. Now
with the metal shortage, they
are going to pick up these
tracks and use them for
serap.”
Danny was wide awake
The German speaker
again, then: “Quit stalling,
T want my dough... . The
deal was these trains wouldn't
get through here tonight, so
I fixed it. Now pay me and
welll say goodbye. You go
your way, I'll go mine.”
Suddenly there was a shot,
a scream, the dull thud of a
fallen body, then silence.
Then voices in German. In-
side the shack, Danny was on
hhis feet. For once he had a
purpose, there was a job to
bbe done and he was prepared
to do it. Footsteps approach-
ed the door.
‘There were two of them,
but Danny had the advantage
of surprise, He w: for
his fifty years and living in
the open had kept him
strong. They grappled for
moments in the dark and
then he was running down
the track, struggling desper-
ately at the rusty switch. His
keen ears picked up the first
low roar of a fast train eating
up the track, coming nearer
and nearer. Certain doom
awaited it if he didn't get
the switch across in time,
The moonlight cast an
eerfe shadow of Danny far
across the tracks as he tugged
the mwiteh over and saw the
short section of rail swing
about and lock into position.
Then the train was only a few
feet away and the glare of its
light blinded him as it wept
by.
The first of the troop
trains passed and became a
low echo im the distance as
Danny crossed the tracks,
climbing into the signal
tower. The dead signalman
was sprawled grotesquely,
head foremost on the stairs,
one Hand, stained with his
own blood wae still clutching
the handle of an ancient re-
volver he had tried to protect
himself with. His body was
riddled with bullets and a
crimson flood still dripped
from step to step, splashing
in the pools on the worn run-
Danny pushed him aside
with his foot, sloshed through
the red puddles and climbed
into the tower. He knew that
the troop trains had a clear
‘track all the way through 60.
hhe just signaled them on. All
night Jong, onc after the
other, trains carried troops
to the coast to catch « waiting
‘hip. A ship that would car
zy them across the ocean and,
into the big fight. Troops go-
ing out to keep the enemy
on the other side of that
He was still there in the
morning, working the signal
switch when a handear came
out with the relief for the
next shift. He told them what
had happened and then show-
ed them where he had the
two enemy agents tied up in
the brakeman’s shack.
They tried to make a hero
out of him, put his picture in
the paper, have him talk on
the radio, but he wouldn't
stand for that. “Just let me
walk along the tracks, keep-
ing an eye open for trouble,”
‘he suggested shyly.
So he walks along the
tracks, watching the trains go
hy, and the railroad police
don't bother him unymore.
True, they did try to per-
suade him to take a railroad
job, but he wouldn't listen
to them. “Why should any-
body get paid for simply get-
ting the trains through to win
this gosh-darn war?” He just
wanted to walk by the tracks
and watch those troop trains
going out, and be there when
they are headed the other
‘way, coming back too. That
‘was good enough for him.
ead
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FIGHT COMICS
FIGHT COMICS
