CHAPTER XIX
THE DOUBLE WRECK
Ralph Fairbanks had disobeyed orders.
That was the first overwhelming thought that rushed through the young leverman's mind. He stood in the midst of the storm, still clasping the red switch light.
The echo of that ominous crash was in his ears. Louder and fiercer, it seemed, thumping away at his heart with a dull, depressing force, was the realization that he had violated the stringent instructions of his superior, Jack Knight: "Never disobey orders!"
Something had been wrong at the limits tower—hence, two wrecks within sixty minutes. But that was not Ralph's business. Limits had ordered track 7. He had sent the through freight down track 6. No matter what humane sense had prompted his choice, the railroad regime was strictly inviolable. There had been a wreck, how bad he did not yet know, and he was responsible for it.
The freight had come to a stop. Lanterns now
