Part 4 (2/2)
”h.e.l.lo!” he said. ”h.e.l.lo, this you, Saidee? Say, Saidee, give me Franklin Official, seventeen. Yes ... all right! h.e.l.lo! This you, Tupper? Say, Tupper, I went over the junction-box in the alley back of the house. Everything O. K. there. I'll go over the leads in the house.
Loose connection somewhere, I guess.”
A clicking of tools followed as the lineman selected a pair of pliers.
They rattled over the binding-posts at the receiver. They tightened the connections. He went over the transmitter, and then every inch of the exposed wiring. He removed the cover of the ringing-box and examined the connections. Replacing this cover, he rose with a puzzled expression.
”All right,” he said to Stockbridge, who was standing with his back turned. ”It's all right here, sir. I don't find a thing. See--it's all right.”
The trouble-hunter lifted the receiver from the hook. ”h.e.l.lo,” he said in a low voice. ”h.e.l.lo, Saidee. Say, Saidee, what number is this on your board?”
The lineman glanced around the room. His eyes widened. He whistled with nave admiration. ”h.e.l.lo,” he said softly. ”Yes ... Gramercy Hill 9763.
That's right. O.K. Tell Franklin Official--tell Tupper that I took forty minutes on the job. Forty minutes at time and a half. Don't forget that. Yes ... bridle--everything, all right, Saidee. See you later.”
The trouble-hunter reached for his satchel. He hitched it over his shoulder.
”Hold on!” said Drew. ”What _was_ the trouble? Why couldn't we get Central?”
”You can search me--sir. It wasn't in this room, mister. That's a Western-Union cinch!”
”Where was it?”
”I don't know.”
”How about the junction-box in the alley? Could it have been there?”
”Well it could--come to think of it. I sc.r.a.ped an' cleaned th'
connections to make sure. They're all right now.”
”Did you see anybody about?”
The lineman hitched up the satchel and scratched his ear. ”Seems to me, I did. A fellow climbed over the fence from the back yard of this house just as I swings in from the side street. It was snowin' a bit an' I couldn't see very well.”
”What kind of looking fellow?” snapped Drew with awakened interest.
”German?”
”You took th' very words right out of my mouth,” said the trouble-hunter. ”He looked like a German.”
”Describe him! Tall, fat or small?”
”I wasn't near enough to notice for sure. Tall, I think. He went out the alley and turned toward Fifth Avenue.”
”Could he have called us up from that junction-box?”
”Sure--if he had a set of testers like this.” The lineman tapped his s.h.i.+rt with his left hand. ”He could have talked with you, but he couldn't ring your bell without a magneto or an alternating current of some kind.”
”Could he have cut the wires and connected them again without Central noticing anything out of the ordinary?”
”He might. But who would do that, sir?”
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