The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1861-10-31

foot grade to encounter but the worst of
it all was, at this place We would have to
stop for wood. 1 was just going to speak
to Roberts about it, when looked around
and saw him filing the tender from the
coach, with wood which had been placed
there before starting, while he was gone
after me.
81 believe he would have made his ten
miles at the same speed as before; but
through the carelessness of the fireman,
the fountain-valve, on the left hand side
Of the engine, got opened, and the water
rose in the boiler, so far as to run the
steam down to one hundred points, before
discovered where the difficulty lay.
"At first Roberts didn't appear to notice
,he decrease of speed, and kept at work at
the wood as if for dear life. But present
ly he looked up and seeing that the speed
had decreased, he shouted:
"Harry, we are stopping"
"And then coming over to where | was,
he said:
"Why, here we have been ten minutes
on the last ten miles, and [ believe we will
come to dead stand, if something is not
DONE The speed is continually slacken-
w
81 explained the cause. He was appa-
rently satisfied with my explanation, and
after having tied down the safety valve, he
climbed back over the tender, exhorting
me to put her through, for Gods sake, or
we are beggars together
"Just then we passed the next station,
having taken nine minutes for eight miles.
We were now more than half over the
road, and we had lost nearly ten minutes
time, and had left only twenty-seven min
utes to do thirty-four miles in.
II had shut tie water off both my
pumps little back, where / discovered
what was the matter, an3 she was now
making steam finely down slight grade.
From less than one hundred, with which
we started over that ten miles stretch she
had two hundred before we finished it !;
and as the gage indicated no higher than
THAI, and the valve was tied down, [ could
Lot tell how much over two hundred she
carried, but she certainly carried none less
the rest of the journey. And well might
she carry such an enormous head Of steam !;
FER after passing over tha. ten miles in
eight minutes, there lay ten miles of FIVE
feet up grade, and fourteen miles of twen-
TITO -the-mile depression between us and
L., and it was now eleven o'clock and
fGty-seven minutes.
"Now the engine was hot in earnest
The furnace-door, smoke-arch and Chin
ney, all were red while she seemed to fly
onward as if the very evil one himself op-
Grated her machinery.
"Six minutes carried us over that ten
miles, and we darted by the last station
that had lain between us and c.. Now
we had fourteen miles to 90, and my time
showed eleven O'Clock and fifty-three min
utes
i" IF I live,' said / to myself, Il will
make it, and we plunged down the twen-
~ feet grade with all steam on. Persons
who saw the train on that wild run, say
that it was so soon after they heard the
first sound of her approach, when the
strange object, which looked as if it was
fame of fire, darted by, and then the sound
of its travelling died away in the distance,
that they could hardly convince themselves
that they hal seen anything 1t seemed
more like a creature of wild dream than
a sober reality.
"And now let me tell you that no engi-
neer ever beat the time we made on those
fourteen miles. Those great wheels, elev-
en- feet in diameter, spun round so swiftly
that you couldn't begin to count the revo-
lutions. The engine barely seemed to
touch the track as she flew along, and al
though the track was as true as it could
be, she swayed fearfully, and sometimes
made such prodigious jolts that it required
considerable skill Cor one to keep his feet.
No engine would hold together if crowded
to a greater speed.
"Well, just as l came to a stand at the
depot in c., the big clock doomed out
twelve, and the steamboat was getting her
steam on. Roberts got on board in time
aud nothing to spare"
"And he saved the money, did he?"
asked, when saw that my friend had flu
ished his story.
"Yes; he found it hid away in some Old
boxes, as Aldrich had directed"
off you are passenger for c." said
the waiter, the 'bus' is ready"
SO l thanked my friend for his story,
and bade him goodbye
Bty- We say to young ladies :-"As
you prize your beauty, as you value your
L l..