three o'clock
Heavy stock trains crowded down over the short line . The main line , in addition to the regular traffic , had been pounded all night with government stores and ammunition , westbound . From the coast a passenger special , looked for in the afternoon , had just come into the division at Bear Dance . Garry laid out his sheet with the precision of a campaigner , provided for everything , and at three o'clock he gave Bud a transfer and ran down to get a cup of coffee . Bud sat into the chair for the first time with the responsibility of a full-fledged despatcher . For five minutes no business confronted him , then from the extreme end of his territory Cambridge station called for orders for an extra , fast freight , west , Engine 81 , and Bud wrote his first train order . He ordered Extra 81 to meet Number 50 , a local and accommodation , at Sumter , and signed Morris Blood 's initials with a flourish .