The Worthington advance., 1878-12-26

the reason why the wages had been cut
down; understood it all. and nv blood
boiled. l felt; that |. would iaYe. the
road if lived, and told Roberts rs, Is. 's@'s
See that you doit, Harry l''he replied
as he climed up on to the steps Of the
coach which was coupled to nv engine.
II sprang up into the foot hoard, got
the switch tender to help nv fireman,
opened the throttle, and Just as sbc COM
menced moving, looked Ut my .watch--it
hadsjust struck eleven O'Clock, sog that l
had the hour to make my seventv-Bve
miles in.
From Y to c. there wei few
curves on the road ; but there were several
heavy grades. l was perfectly acquaint-
ed with every rod of it; SO that i Knew
exactly what had to encounter; and
when saw how the engine. moved felt
very little fear of the result.
"The road for the first five miles. was an
air line, and so We flew along with scarce
!; pelcep,ible jar. l waa SO busy,
posting myself up, as to the amount of
wood and water aboard, etc, s-that we
danced by the first station almost before
I was aware of it, having been ivo min
utes out, and having five miles accom-
plisbed. .s.5
"'You are losing time!' yelled: a voice
from the coach. looked around, ard
there stood Roberts with his watch in his
hand. -
II knew very we'll we would have to
increase our speed by some means, if we
carried out our plans of reaching c.
by midnight and looked anxiously around
to see what could do to accomplish that
purpose. She was blowing off steam
tiercely at one hundred and ten pounds !;
SO turned down the valve to two hun.
dred, for knew we should need it all to
make some Of the heavy graaes which
lay between us and c..
ut was three miles to the next station.
With the exception of few rcurves.ihe
track was as good as the last. Aswe
darted around what commonly seemed
to be rather long curve, at the station,
but which was, at our high speed, short
enough, looked at my watch; and we
had done it in two minutes and half.
"'Gaining,' shouted back TO Roberts,
who was yet standing on the platform of
the coach.
"'Look out for the heavy grades he
replied, and went inside the car.
The next six mics rose gradually
from a level the first, to ten aud half
feet grade the last, which lay between US
and the next station. My fireman kept
ner full; and now she began to get hot.
The furnace door was red, and the steam
raised continually, 80 that she kept her
speed, and passed the station. like a
streak Of light, in five minutes
"Now came nine miles like the last,
over which she kept pace with her time,
and passed the station in seven and half
| minutes.
"Here, for ten miles, we had a twenty
foot grade to encounter; but the worst of
it al was, at that place we would be
obliged to step for wood. was just 60
ing to speak to Roberts about it, when
looked around, and saw him filling the
tender from the coach with wood, which
had been placed there before starting,
while he was gone after me.
II believe We would have made this ten
miles at the same speed as before. but,
through the carelessness of the fireman,
the tountain-valve, on the left hand side
OF the engine, got open and the water rose
in the boiler SO fast as to run the steam
down to one hundred pounds before
discovered where the difficulty lay.
At first, Roberts didn't appear to notice
the decrease OF speed, and kept at WORK
at the wood as if for dear life. But pres
emily he looked up, and seeing that tho
speed had decreased, he shouted: "Harry
We are stoppingl' and then, coming ovel
to where was, he said: Why, here We
heve been ten minutes On the last ten
miles, and believe we will come to &
dead stand if something is NOT doae. The
speed is continually slacking.F. What is
the matter2'
II explained the ,use. He was ap
parently satisfied with my explanation
and after having tied down the safety
valve he climbed back over the tender
exhorting me to put her through, fol
| Gods sake, or we are all beggara to-
gether9'
"Just then we passed the next station
having taken nine minutes for eight miles
We were now more than half over the
road but we had lost nearly ten minutes
time, and had left only twenty-scven
minutes to do thirty -four miles in.
II bad shut the water off from both my
pumps, little distance back, when dis.
covered what was the matter, and she
Was now making steam finely down a
slight grade. from less than one hund
red, with which we started over that ten,
mile stretch, she had two hunderd pounds
before we finished it; and, as the gauge
indicated no higher than that and the
valve was tied down, could not tell
how much over two hundred pounds she
carried, but she certainly carried none
less the rest ni u i,.rney. And we'll
| might she car -; j. 4 enormous head
Of steam; IOr, ;.itcr PASSING over that ten
miles in eight minutes, there lay ten
miles of tive-feet upgrade, and fourteen
miles of twenty -tect-to- the-mile depres.
sion between US and c., and it is now
eleven o'clock and forty. seven minutes
Now the engine was hot in earnest
The furnace door, smoke arch and chin
ney, ali were red; while she seemed to fly
on as If the very evil one himself operat.
ed her machinery.
"six minutes carried 1s over that ten
miles; and we darted 5y the last station
that had lain between US and c.
Now we had fourteen miles to go; and
my time showed eleven o'clock and fifty
three minutes.
"'lf livc,' said to myself, Il will
make it, and we plunged down that
twenty.foot grade with ali the steam on
Persons who saw the train On that wild
run, said that it was so soon after they
heard the first sound Of her approac b
J when the strange object, which looked
as If it were flame Of fire, darted by
and then the sound Of its travelling died
away in the distance, that they coulG
hardly convince themselves they had
really seen anything. It seemed more
like the creature of q wild dream than 6
sober reality.
"And now let me tell you, that no en-
gine ever beat the time we made on those
fourteen miles. Those great wheels, sever