The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-07-18

4 II y spine.
| ( "What liar you are, Bill" said ht
with one of his queer laughs. ether
is petticOet in it after all"
4 l couldn't speak. If had opene
my mouth, l should have strucI
him.
$50 that's the favored one, Mis-
BELIEF" pointing at me with hi
thumb.
Belle was greatly put out. She wa
red and pale by turns, and presse,
close against me for protection.
~ told you that was engaged, Mr.
Handley," she said. "And Pm sur,
never gave you any encourage
ment."
"Well, there's more fish in the sea,
he returned, and went back to TIN
engine, roaring with laughter.
Belle told me that she had met hin
at a ball in Decatur, and he had beset
her ever since
She prayed me not to quarrel with
him, and l pacified her the best way
could with promises.
"JOe," said I, as we ran down to the
cutting, al never thought Ofyour be
ing my rival"
"Faith," said he, AZ never put yoU
and Belle Carroll together in my
thoughts before to-day"
"You bear no malice 81 1 asked, of
fering him my hand, for Bellies sake
"What would L bear malice for ?"he
returned. "'If she be not fair for me
what care for whom she be?" -
But he pretended not tO see my
hand, so drew it back, and was au-
cry with myself for offering it.
1 was nervous all that afternoon for
the first time in my life, I believe. /
don't know that L had any positive
what do you call it?--presentiment it OF
evil; but L was uncomfortable, and al
together unlike myself.
Joe staid il the tender all day, and
whistled. He was the best whistler
ever heard, and the men used to stop
picking to listen 70 him.
The day wore away painfully. We
got q good load on the flat cars, and
dumped the dirt two miles further
down, on q road that crossed the
track. BY that time it was nearly
dark, and / gave the word for Decatur.
At HarristOwn, we stopped TO get
the engine before the cabOOSe, and
IeAhC OA a NOASA b"SNNJ 'N1A wv
rails.
The men threw UP the last rail Just
as the first flakes of a terrible snow
storm tell around us. Then they
Jumped into the cabOose, where there
was q good fire.
L waved my lantern above my head
to joe, and OF we started.
was talking with the fireman who
was still sulky, and l determined to
demand his discharge, when q remark
of one of the Irishmen called my at
tentiOn to the fact that we were trav-
cling at a much faster rate than Ordi-
nary. In a few seconds, the caboose,
which was = condemned freight car,
as old as the line itself, commenced to
jump off the rails, and bump down on
them again, in an alarming manner.
There was 10 weight on it TO keep it
steady, you see, and we were going at
a rate far beyond regulation speed. d.
Faster and faster we went, and the
cabOose swayed from side to side, and
bumped and jumped more and more
The men got frightened, and strug-
gled from their seats, with their eyes
on me, qUestiOningly, and then fell
back again, because they couldn't
Keep their feet.
''rhat born divil means TO murder
yez all % cried an IrisEman, wiping
the sweat of fear from his forehead.
All this time / had thought Joe was
playing off one of his mad practical
jokes on us, and l was shaking with
rage.
"HelI never drive that engine
again :" said, as 1 gained my feet.
pushed back the sliding door, and
swung myself out so that / could see
the light in the tender. The wind was
blowing gale, and the snow blinded
me. got better idea of the pace at
which we were going, looking out,
and fear crept into my heart as / esti-
mated the danger.
L swung the lantern low down,
backward and forward, and shouted
out at the top of my voice.
Joe answered with a shrill laugh
that rose above the bowling wind ,and
l felt the cabOOse under me leap and
come down with a sickening crash. L
knew that he had let on more steam,
and that the joke he was playing us
was sne of those practical jokes that
Satan delights IN! 1t means MUIR
derI
We were about seven miles from
the SangamOn, which is crossed by
trestie work, forty rods or more in
length, over which no train is allow
ed to pass faster than man can
walk.
1 knew very well that the caboose
would never 90 over that elastic bridge
at the rate of twenty miles an hour,
let alone sixty, the pace at which Joe
was driving US then; and l felt as
sure that he meant to keep ihe throt-
tle-valVe open until he smashed US,
as was that I'd cut 4 poor figure
before my Maker, if called away that
night.
l thought of my gray old mother,
knitting stockings for me by the fire.
side in Toledo; thought of Belle, so
beautiful, and good, and happy and
thought how nice it would be to
have Joe under me on the floor of the
cabOose-tO have my knee on the pit
of his stomach, and my hands on his
thoat.
There was a panic among the men.
Some of them were swearing and
some were praying. Two or three
hung on my coat as l swung the Ian
tern mechanically to and fro outside,
and implOred me to save them.
men, said l, turning round, and
setting down the lantern, a. there's a
raving madman on that engine, and
he means to have our lives. There's
one chance for US, and am going to
try it. If I can reach the locomotive
and choke the life out of him, we may
be saved yet ~
1t was a desperate risk. If I hadn't
had an old mother, and there had
been no Belle to think OF, don't be-
Ieve should have had the courage to
take it. To get to the engine, L had
to climb 10 the top of the cabOOse,
cross the corner of the roof, go down
the ladder in front, and jump over
the couplings. It was easy enough TO
get at the top of the car, in spite of
the viOlhnt motion, of the fierce wind
and binding snow, because there
whre rungs for the purpose; but eros
sing the roof was another matter.
l threw myself on my stomach, and
and crawled forward, sliding this way
and that with the fearful sWaying. If
ever | prayed in my life 1 did then,
you bet, for 1 had nothing to take
hold of but the Lords mercy, till L
made desperate clutch at the brake,
and caught it, just as the cabOOse gave
a jump that threw me bodily off the
roof Then I swung myself over, and
went down the ladder.
Ieaping on the tender was another
sickkening risk; ; but it was a matter
of life and death, and dared not hes
itate, so I jumped blindly forward,