A new plan occurred to him, and immediately upon his arrival at
McAlister he wired Mr. Sparling to send a brigade into the next
town ahead, to bill the place, in order that Car Three might make
a jump and get away from its rivals.
A brigade, it should be known, is a crew of men that does not
travel on a special car. They go by regular train, traveling as
other passengers do, dropping off and billing a town here and
there, as directed by wire.
The answer came back that the brigade would relieve him at the
next stand.
While this had been going on young Tucker had been listening to a
most interesting tale of a deserted town some twenty miles beyond
where they were then working. The deserted town was known as
Owls' Valley. It had been a prosperous little city up to within
two months previous, when, for reasons that Teddy did not learn,
the inhabitants had taken a sudden leave.
This information set Teddy Tucker to thinking.
A deserted village? He wished that he might see it.
He had heard of deserted villages, and this one was of
more than ordinary interest, because, the moment he
heard of it, a plan presented itself to his fertile mind.
"I'll bet they will not only nibble at the bait, but will swallow
it whole," he decided exultingly after he had thoroughly gone
over the plan, sitting off by himself on a pile of railroad iron.
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