The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-08-10
Chasing a Phantom.

NClC lulCC OtuClS Ou ulC IOSO-
motive, whose names were Thomas,
Richard and Henry; may abbreviate
these appellations as l proceed with this
sad narrative. We logged along quietly
to St. Thomas, the only excitement being
running into a COW, and then the excite
ment was monopolizcd mostly by the COW.
1t was dark when we left St. Thomas and
the night was wet. So we crowded into
the engine-cab. We ratified along through
a Canadian wilderness and the engineer
kept his arm over the bell-rope and laZily
pulled the bell to and fro, for the track
was unfenced and we had to give con-
tinued warning of our coming; besides,
the engine was running backwards, as
there was no turn table at st. Thomas
Besides, the ordinary headlight, there was
one perched on the top of the cab which
shnne back wards, and by the light of this
on the glistening rails we now travelled.
When we struck into the forest primeval
the woods were cleared away just enough
to allow the track to be built, and the wet
branches of the overhanging trees scraped
along the engine, and the headli ght
Illuminated long arcade ahead that
looked like green tunnel, and once a
herd of startled deer jumped across the
track one after another looking like the
pictures that follow each other in magic
lantern. Dick was just commencing to tell
about how he chased a buffalo once, on the
Union Pacific, when Tom cried out
"There's squirrel or something on the
track; let's run it down. A few rods
ahead of the engine was some small
animal jumping from tie to tie and run
ming about as fast as we were. We all
commenced throwing sticks of wood at it,
RI dad IN,
laughed at our efforts, and drew on a
little creature crept ahead. Sometimes
disappeared in the darkness ahead, but it
never left the track; some fascination kept
it between the rails, running its wild race
for life. The driver, with keen eye
ahead, gave the engine more and more
steam, till our pace became terrific Old
No. swayed to and fro like ship in the
storm, the bell rang out of its own accord
as we rushed along through the night,
each of us clinging to some object in
whose stability we had confidence.
And still that strange object kept ahead of
us. Some one suggested that it mi ght
have been ghost Turing us on to destruc-
ton, but the driver resolved, like Hamlet,
to follow it, and probably make four
ghosts where one would have done just as
well. So he threw on all the steam
the engine would take, and then
we fairly flew over the track; onward,
with the speed of the lightning and the
roar of thunder, scattering fire in our
wake and piercing the gloom ahead with
our quivering headlight, while the shrek
of the whistle startled the country for
miles around. Now tearing through the
forest, then rushing out into the open
fields, and the swaying bell rang out a
wild alarm as we sped onward through
the night like tornado. Suddenly Tom
shouted out, "There's the end of the
track!" Instantly the engine was revers-
ed, and old No. ground and groaned in
its efforts to stop. We stopped; that is,
the engine stopped when it struck the
boarding house train, but induced us to per-
form the most brilliant double somersault
act ever seen outside of a circus, and also
knocked the headlight from the top of the
cab, and as it lay on the ground we noticed
some wet leaves sticking to the face of the
lamp, and after some minutes deep
study we came to the conclusion that this
accouted for the ghost on the track that
we found it impossible to oyertake. AS
we all stood around that Pickering lamp
we clasped hands and solemnly vowed
never to let the outside world know of our
midnight ride, and l would never have
limited about it were it not that believe
we beat the time of Jarrett & Palmer's
fast train.-C0r. Detroit Free Press.