{"product_id":"2940013902039","title":"THE WRECKERS","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    CHAPTER                                                  PAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    I. AT SAND CREEK SIDING                            1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    II. A TANK PARTY                                  11\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    III. MR. CHADWICK'S SPECIAL                       23\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    IV. THE TIPPING OF THE SCALE                      36\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    V. THE DIRECTORS' MEETING                         51\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    VI. THE ALEXA GOES EAST                           60\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    VII. \"HEADS OFF, GENTLEMEN!\"                      65\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    VIII. WITH THE STRINGS OFF                        75\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    IX. AND SATAN CAME ALSO                           90\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    X. THE BIG SMASH                                  96\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XI. WHAT EVERY MAN KNOWS                         102\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XII. WITH THE WHEELS TRIGGED                     112\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XIII. THE LOST 1016                              123\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XIV. A CLOSE CALL                                140\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XV. THE MACHINE                                  155\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XVI. IN THE COAL YARD                            169\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XVII. THE MAN AT THE WINDOW                      185\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XVIII. THE NAME ON THE REGISTER                  200\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XIX. THE HOODOO                                  206\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XX. THE HELPLESS WIRES                           216\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXI. BILLY MORRIS EXPLAINS                       225\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXII. WHAT THE PILOT ENGINE FOUND                232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXIII. THE MAJOR'S PREMONITION                   247\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXIV. THE DEAD-LINE                              262\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXV. FLAGGED DOWN                                274\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXVI. THE DIPSOMANIAC                            292\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXVII. THE DESERTER                              312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXVIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END                 319\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXIX. THE MURDER MADMAN                          334\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXX. \"UNDER THE WIDE AND STARRY SKY\"             349\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    XXXI. P. S. L. COMES HOME                        365\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE WRECKERS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt Sand Creek Siding\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a general proposition, I don't believe much in the things called\u003cbr\u003e\"hunches.\" They are bad for the digestion, and as often as not are like\u003cbr\u003ethose patent barometers that are always pointing to \"Set Fair\" when it\u003cbr\u003eis raining like Noah's flood. But there are exceptions to all rules, and\u003cbr\u003ewe certainly uncovered the biggest one of the lot--the boss and I--the\u003cbr\u003enight we left Portland and the good old Pacific Coast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was this way. We had finished the construction work on the Oregon\u003cbr\u003eMidland; had quit, cleaned up the offices, drawn our last pay-checks,\u003cbr\u003etold everybody good-by, and were on our way to the train, when I had one\u003cbr\u003eof those queer little premonitory chills you hear so much about and knew\u003cbr\u003ejust as well as could be that we were never going to pull through to\u003cbr\u003eChicago without getting a jolt of some sort. The reason--if you'll call\u003cbr\u003eit a reason--was that, just before we came to the railroad station, the\u003cbr\u003eboss walked calmly under a ladder standing in front of a new building;\u003cbr\u003eand besides that, it was the thirteenth day of the month, a Friday, and\u003cbr\u003eraining like the very mischief.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust to sort of toll us along, maybe, the fates didn't begin on us that\u003cbr\u003enight. They waited until the next day, and then proceeded to shove us in\u003cbr\u003ebehind a freight-train wreck at Widner, Idaho, where we lost twelve\u003cbr\u003ehours. It looked as if that didn't amount to much, because we weren't\u003cbr\u003edue anywhere at any particular time. The boss was on his way home for a\u003cbr\u003elittle visit with his folks in Illinois, and beyond that he was going to\u003cbr\u003emeet a bunch of Englishmen in Montreal, and maybe let them make him\u003cbr\u003eGeneral Manager of one of the Canadian railroads.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo Mr. Norcross was in no special hurry, and neither was I. I wasn't\u003cbr\u003eunder pay, but I expected to be when we reached Canada. I had been\u003cbr\u003econfidential clerk and shorthand man for the boss on the Midland\u003cbr\u003econstruction, and he was taking me along partly because he knows a\u003cbr\u003ecracking good stenographer when he sees one, but mostly because I was\u003cbr\u003edead anxious to go anywhere he was going.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut to come back to the Widner delay: if it hadn't been for that\u003cbr\u003etwelve-hour lay-out we would have caught the Saturday night train on the\u003cbr\u003ePioneer Short Line, instead of the day train Sunday morning, and there\u003cbr\u003ewould have been no meeting with Mrs. Sheila and Maisie Ann; no telegram\u003cbr\u003efrom Mr. Chadwick, because it wouldn't have found us; no hold-up at Sand\u003cbr\u003eCreek Siding; in short, nothing would have happened that did happen. But\u003cbr\u003eI mustn't get ahead of my story.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070341005552,"sku":"2940013902039","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013902039_p0.jpg?v=1763596936","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013902039","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}