“No, I can’t say that I did,” Winston answered.  “They’re precious rare, here in Arizona.”

“And this one was due south,” Steve said, “not north where it was supposed to be, and electric blue.  It filled the sky, well part of the sky, like a pyramid.  Saw it with my own eyes, I did.  Schoolmaster, next door neighbor, said regular auroras are red or green or white, seen to the north, wondered what it was.”

“Not something I know much about,” Winston said, “I’ve seen a  few while I was in Europe.  But mine were red and sometimes green..  But blue? To the south?  That’s strange, once in a life time, but you saw it.  You’re lucky.  I wish I’d seen it.”

“Thank you, sir,” Steve answered.  He paused to feed the firebox more coal.

“Signal light up ahead, sir,” Winston finally announced.  “You said I should tell you when I saw it. And it’s bright red, just the way you said I should expect.”

“Good eyes,” Gordon responded. “You may need those spectacles, but you see right well with them.” 

Gordon eased off on the throttle, sounded the whistle three times to alert the signal tower, and carefully pulled up to a stop at the two-story structure. One of the crew at the tower was waiting near the rails.

“You two can wait here,” Gordon announced. “I get to find out which of the deputies gets off to take a leak, even after I told them they stay in the caboose until I tell them to get out. Yes, I know I have a conductor back there to tell them that, but I’m also used to having passengers with less good sense than the Good Lord should’ve given a horse.”

The top of the tower picked up a gentle breeze, so the air was not as miserably hot as it was at ground level.   Gordon took a moment to check the windmill, which was slowly turning, pumping water from some depth underground, enough that the crew always had plenty to drink. It wouldn’t have been the first time, he thought, that he’d arrived at a signal tower and the crew had paid no attention to the fact their supply of water was not working.

“Gentlemen,” he said to this two signalman, “any messages from Prescott?”