Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-07-06

with sleeves rolled up above his elbows
displaying brawny, muscular arms, ant
with wild, excit laugh upon his coun
tenance. was before me, pulling tn bell
rope violently, and taxing apparently ou
little notice Of my p-esencf. In less tim
than l have BEEN telling il. had close'
with him
"Wha, are you dOing' Arsyou crazy :
cried.
ale looked at me for minute, witt
tina. same devilish lee- In his eye, an
pushing me back as II were q feather
said, abstracteily:
"Dot.'t annoy me now, l beg Of you
I'm busy
AZ summoned ali my strength and rush
ed upon him again, for BIZ this time tn
train was well Ia motion, and tie rate o
speed was moueptArily increasing.
He let go Of the bell rope, and, as
seized him by the arms, grasped mine il
turn, and holding me in vice-iiae grip
looked me full in the face.
"Didn't tell you said he, in harshel
voice than before, that | didn't wish U
be annoyed
Il glanced into his face closely as hs
spoke, and then, for the first time, the
horrible truth broke in upon ne-sI man
| e1s H1di
II felt shudder run through my veins,
and great drops Of cold sweat stood out
upon my face, as in single moment re.
| allied the dreadful danger before me.
thought Of my little children, whose kisses
we're yet warm upon my face, and OF that
| long train behind Us, full Of passengers so
little suspecting their peril. All the sto-
/ ries | had ever heard or read Of crazy
! people aud their freaks, flashed through
my mind In that instant, a. / felt myself
pushed backward 10 destruction
"But no: quietly seating me upon the
| bench, on the other side, he loosened his
hold and returned To his post, saying, in
the same distracted voice as at first
"There, now don't want to be both
eredr
by this time we were dsshing along At
pretty rapid rate, and | could see that
ne knew how 70 handle the engine almost
as well as did myself | jumped to my
feet and third time he leaned forward to
reach the throttle lever.
80 For Gods sake, stop herr / exclaim-
ed. Who are your
"Mef' be answered, with quiet laugh.
I'm a practical engineer, working in the
interests Of science. I've studied for years,
and years, and years, and now | want 10
make an experiment. Don't interrupt
mel
He gave me another look, full of wild
determination, and then burst into fit of
hilarious laughter.
"Good good! goodr he cried. But
she'll do better, better, better, by and-by
Now-shc fiiesr
He gave the throttle lever another
ever, and trees, telegraph poles, fences
"For a moment sunk down upon my
seat in utter despair. To measure strength
with the mailman was, saw, simply sui
cidal. A struggle could only result in
certain destruction 70 myself, and probable
destruction TO the train and all on board
Of It, But one possible chance Of regain
ing control Of the engine presented itself,
and that would require all the nerve and
cooiness had In me. / must draw him
into conversation, and watch for my OPP
portunity to gain advantage, either Of his
credulity or his vanity, sufficiently to in
duce him TO give me his place. Once
there, must trust TO Providence and
my own courage TO prevent further mis-
chief
II scanned him closer than ever for a
moment or two. He seemed To have en-
tirely forgotten my presence; now jump.
ing up, and laughing and clapping his
hands now letting more steam on; now
looking eagerly out ahead, and murmur-
ing: Better, better, better still!
my heart was thumping against my
chest, as ] said:
" You seem to understand your bust
ness pretty well, anyhow, my friend Been
long at it?'
"He looked at me, looked away again,
but did not answer.
60 see you are good, practical eDgi-
neer, as you say l continued. How
long have you been In the business?'
90 Years, and years, and years, tell
you!' he answered. 1t was l who fitted
out Pegasus, the winged steed. who
gave that fellow, Icarus, the WAX wings
but he flew too near Old Sol, and they
melted and let him down into the water
Ha! ha! hat
"' wish only had your experience al
it, said l what team we'd make to
gether, pulling in the cause Of science, eh =
A new light, an expression OF un
speakable delight, lighted up his face as
catching my words, he turned toward mi
and, looking me full in the face, answered
but no longer abstractedly:
scare you for science, too'
I" Science, every inch Of me ! said l.
"'Give us your hand! and he shool
mine with fervor which sent Jingle Il
my very collar bone. Hurrah TO
science. You're the man I've been search
ing for with lantern these Thousand
years. You can help me. But and h
leaned and whispered in my ear, so dis
tinctly that could hear every word ant
letter of 1t above the racket around US
can you keep secrety
Certainly cam replied, while a sol
of creeping horror stole over me, as fel
his hot breath upon my face.
80 You swear you can ? he continued
looking inquiringly into my face.
80 swear l canr said /, with des
perate effort, looking back at him.
Because, he grated out, between hi
: teeth, If thought you meant to betra
, me, I'd tear your tongue Out!
Never fear one man Of science bt
! traying another answered, with sickl
attempt at bravery. I'm your man!
Well, then, mind what say said tn
} mailman, apparently treasured, and pull
ing from his coat pocket bunch Of dirt
rov,Qrc sera wiad all over with lead memo