St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-08-24
Ten Minutes Late.

confirmed invalid of the rheumatic Oh
der, and George played the dutiful son
to him in a way that would astonish the
young men of to-day.
Somehow, nobody knew exactly how
George had managed to pick up good
education, and he had polished it off,
so to speak, by a two years course at a
commercial college.
Kirke began on the Stony Hill Rail
road when he was about twenty-One or
twenty-five years old. First, he was a
brakeman. This railway business is a
regular succession, and generally speak
ing, man has to work his way up. 1t
isn't often that he works his way up to
the dignity of conductor at one step,
with the chance to pocket ten cent
scrips, and with the privilege of help
ing all the good-looking and we'll
dressed young ladies out of the cars,
and letting the homely ones, with babies
and bandboxes in their arms, stumble
out as best they may.
George did his duty so well that he
was soon promoted to fireman, and after
he had learned the workings of the ma
chine, he was made engineer and given
an engine.
and best OH the line, and was called the
Flyaway, and George was very proud
of her, you may well believe.
| tell you, sir, your true engineer
one that is out and out for the business,
and feels his respOnsibility-take as
much pride in his engine as the jockey
does in his favOrite race-hOrse, and
would sit up nights, or neglect his
sweetheart, to keep the brasses and
flagrees of his machine, SOS you could
see your face in 'em.
There was another man wanted
Georges chance. There's" generally
more than one after every paying job.
Jack Halliday had been waiting some
time to be engineer of the Flyaway, and
when he lost it he was mad enough to
pull hair. He was a brakeman, like
wise, and had been on the road two
years longer than Kirke, and it would
seem that the chance really belonged to
him, yet he was qurrelsome, disagreed
ble fellow, with independence enough
to have set an Emperor up in business,
and still have some left.
When Jack realized that George had
got the inside track of him, his anger
was at a white heat. He cursed Kirke,
and cursed the company, and old Whate-
ly, the Superintendent, and things gen
orally, until it seemed pity there was
not somethin else to curse, he was in
such fine cursing order.
There was more than one thing which
made Jack Halliday down on George
Kirke. George had been his rival in
many respects, and particularly where
the fairer creation was concerned.
George was great favorite with the
girls, for he was handsome and gen.
erous, and goOd-natured, and Jack was
sarcastic, and always on the contrary
side, and the girls avoided him as they
always should such man.
We always expected that i'll would
come to George from Jacks bad blood
against him, and we warned him more
than once, but he always laughed, and
reminded us of the old saw that 'bark-
ing dogs seldom bite" which is true in
| the main.
And, as the time went on, until two,
three, four months had passed since
Kirke's promotion, and nothing had
occurred, we forgot all about our ap-
prehensions of vii, and if we thought
of the matter at all, we thought we had
wronged Halliday by our suspicious.
1t was a dark night in November,
with considerable fog in the air, and
strong appearances of rain.
| was at Golosha, the northern termi-
nus of the road, looking after some re-
pairs on defective boiler, and | was
going down to New York on the ESQ
train-Kirke's train.
About seven there came telegram
from old Whately, whose summer resi-
dence was nearly midway between Col
osha and New York; and the old
heather had not yet forsaken it for the
city. The telegraph operator came into
the house where Kirke was at work
for he was always at work-and read it
to him. Kirke made note of it in his
pOcket-boOk.
''Pay train on the line. Will meet
you Just west of Leeds at 10:15. Shunt
on to the siding at Deering's Cut, and
wait WHATELY."
Kirke's watch hung on a nail beside
the clock. 1t was fancy of his always
to hang it there when he was off the
train, so that he could make no mis-
take in the time.
He glanced at the clock and from ii
to his watch. Both indicated the same
hour-7.15.
''7.15," said Kirke meditatively, "and
we leave at 7.2O, and the pay train
meets us at Deering's Cut at 10.15.
Scant time to make the run in this thick
weather, but it must be managed"
And he turned away to give some
brief orders to the fireman.
Jack Halliday was there-he had
been strOlling in and out of the room
for the past half hour, smoking a cigar
and swearing at the bad weather. His
train did not leave till near midnight
so he had plenty of time to swear.
We all went to the door and took q
look at the weather and unanimously
voted it deuced bad, and then we walk
ed up and down the platform and
smoked our after supper cigars, and by
the time we were through, it was time
for the train hands to be getting into
their places. Both the clock in the
engine room and Kirke's watch indi
Gated 7.1S.
Kirke was putting his watch in hii
pocket as he said
"Garth, are you going with me OF
the Flyaway ?"
"No, thank ye," said l. II get enough
of that sort of thing in my every day
life. am going to do a little swell
business tonight, and take passage il
the palace car. Want to rest my back
Good might to you, and hold her in wei
round Rocky Bottom curve. The road'
little shaky."
"Aye, aye, sir" responded Kirke, ant
swung himself to his position on th'
Flyaway.
The bell rang. 1 scrambled to m.