The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1877-08-03
lad something very solemn in it, as he

| passengers. GOd DleSS you; ana, harE
ye, ride for your life. will fire the sig
nal cannon as a warning. Good bye.'
Ammering Junction was some miles
away. My route lay through an un
known country, across moorland inter
sected by flooded streams and swept by
the fierce wind and rain.
l must do it, thought, as my horse
| picked his cautious way amid the loose
stones down the steep byfoad we had a.
cended the previous day. | should need
all my strength, though, to execute my
task, so l pressed ON. A valuable slice
J out of my time had been expended when
| l reached the broad highway and urged
my horse to speed. l had to turn of
again, 1 knew, but 1 fancied l should
easily find the path. Besides, was there
not sign-post?
I reached the turning and pulled up to
read the direction l should take. 1
nearly tainted with horror as 1 read. The
fatal finger pointed up the cross-road 1
| was pursuing-To Holmesdale and Sea
ham. The opposite index pointed-to
| Ruddall and Ammering. / could scarce
credit my senses. Surely / was right
We had COME Dip the previous day, and
up the hill to the reservoirs. had merely
to reverse the route had travelled. This
was terrible mistake. 1t was now past 6
o'clock. One of the three precious hours
had elapsed, and was farther from Am
mering than when l started. | was
seized with despair; whatever could do
now? Two hoursremained, and l had
three uphill miles to ride, and then
about seven more across the moor before
/ could reach the Junction, and before
that the trains might have started, and
thIen-i
1 burst out into cold perspiratiOn at
the thought, and then desperate, and
only half conscious, | rode madly back
to the Ammering road, and up the hill
again.
The SUBMITS of the neighboring hills
were shrouded in veil of mist, but far
in advance, OH the level, / could trace
the railroad line. From the elevation
at which stood, could trace the Chan
mel of the Apps river down the valley;
and could guess the spot at which
the food would strike the railroad, and
the branch line over the spur, of the hill.
| could just distinguish the Junction in
the middle distance. A dark smoke
appeared to be rising from it ; an engine
perhaps waiting to start with a train,
and | was lingering on the hill. All
this, and more, / could perceive as l
rested on the summit. Somewhat refresh
ed, rode manfully forward into the
storm.
How my horse kept his feet do not
to this hotir understand.
was quite alone, not human being
in sight, but suddenly the whistle of a
locomotive was carried to my ears. An
engine moved out of the station. An
other whistle shortly afterward. That
train was safe. / watched it glide away
| over the viaduct. Five minutes later
rode into the station, and called for the
station-master. As l dismounted the
clock struck eight. The time was up
and no signal from McCausland. Tele-
graphing would now be easy. A porter
came out in response to my summons.
"Fm sorry ye lost the ezpress,' -
he began.
Il don't want the train," l replied, " I
must telegraph at once through. Where
is the station-master? ?"
HELL be here in minute. But ye
| can't telegraph. The wires are blown
| down. We had to send pilot with the
express to clear the line up to Hand
leigh"
" Not telegraph I tell you, man, l
must stop the traffic. The South Holmes
dale reservoir. will burst this very hour"
"Can that be triie?" inquired a COOL
gentlemanly man at my elbow. 1t was
the station master himself.
"Truer' ! echoed. Its only too
true. have ridden to tell you. We
must stop the trains"
d" The excdrsion leaves Handleigh at
S:O5," unused the station-master. There
may be time; come with me-" He
crossed the line and entered n shed oppo-
site. | followed. Just then loud BOOM
ing sound rentthe air. The sound came
back from the hills like thunder.
at is the signal" exclaimed. 'The
water is out. Heaven help t1s now ~
The statiOn-master called out. A
yes, sir, waiting for the excursion" +"
"Ruu and open the points. Now, sir,
get up.
| obeyed mechanically, and before /
quite realized the situation we had crossed
to the up line. The station-master
stopped to get red flag and give few
| instructions to his subOrdinates L now
perceived that we were to race the flood
Steam versus water. Which would
| conquer?
A whistle; we started. "The flood,
the flood " shouted the porter. We
turned one glance up the valley. A NOV
ing brown wall, capped with a snowy
ridge, was tearing down the devoted
viaduct. No time to lose. "GO ahead, :"
| cried the station master. turned on
steam, put the lever on another "nOtch," !"
and the race began in earnest.
1t was an exciting race, and one never
to be forgotten. On rolled the flood.
We we're running "neck and neck" for
| one terrible half minute. Now the re-
sistless food bore directly to the bridge.
| Stones were rolling before it like mar
bles. Trunks of trees, haystacks, debris
| of every description came headloDg down
upon the doomed structure. We fed
like lightning over the rails. Our speed
told now. Sparks flew from the Chin
ney. Another "notch the heat of
the piston quickened to an almost incon-
ceivable rapidity. We were on the
bridge. Hurrah The curling wave be-
meath seemed to spring forward. 1t
| broke against the buttresses. In sec
! ond we were across. l shut off steam,
station-master put down the breaks-a
| CRASH we lOOhGu DdCh. 1nC INV
dropped behind us like a stage-trap.
The bridge gave way, and with roar.
that was heard two miles off, the pretty
viaduct was swept away by the boiling,
| furious water.
We were truly thankful for our mar
row escape. And now to save the ex-
cursion. Speeding forward again, whist
| ling like demon, our engine Vigilant by
name-soon came in sight of the ex-
cursion train. By waving our red flag we
averted another daDger-a collision.
The telegraph-posts being down, trains
had to run upon the same line as far as
Handleigh, but our timely action set all
to rights at last
We soon gave the bewildered passengers
to understand the narrow escape they
had had. Fervent and sincere were
the thanks we received from all. except
one man. He was escaping from jus
tice, and was captured. From the eleva-
! ted embankment we could trace the
flood for miles. The train put back
to Handleigh. whence the passengers
were forwarded by another company.
By the time we bad arranged matters
and returned to the broken viaduct the
water had subsided. = footway was
constructed across the muddy river bed