Mexico weekly ledger., 1878-06-13
MEXICO. MISSOURI, THURSDAY. JUNE Is, 1873

guess as TO the ceuSe OF our chase,
nor when it would end. The pres
fpect seemed that we might be driven
to the end of the road If we were not
oyertaken and smashed before it could
/ be reached. 1if" Z 'Es .a .~a~s
i C. That's the Franklin, sure
broke ont Jake once more. No 9TH
er engine on the road could overhaul
US as we are going now. What can
that fool Of Simpson mean by driv-
ling her at such q rate? He fnnst be
drunk. II the boss doesn't break.
him tomorrow he wont get his de-
serts. He will be into us in two min
ates.' '7+' -'sl-- s'-sl Fss'' =. 9saeEs
1 " You are right, -Uake. said /.
Go forward and see if you cannot
get up little more headway. Empty
q few of those petroleum-cans on the
wood and pitch it in and see what
can be done.' +f..s ...as. .s
"While Jake was forward on his
errand l thought over the situation.
Here | was with hundred or two
passengers under my care, all ignor-
ant of the danger which 1 knew they
were in. If we should be overtaken
and crushed in the rear, the disaster
| would be serious one and would
probably cause the death or injury at
least Of some of the passengers. II
we were not smashed in this way
there was another and perhaps great
er danger before us. The train of
which I have spoken, which left
Greenport when we left Brooklyn,
was on its way to meet Us on the
same track. 1t should switch off ct
Lakeland in the middle of the island
and allow rs to pass an hour after We
started, or at II O'Clock. 1t was
now half-past 10, and we were close
20 Lakeland already and would pass
there long before the arrival Of the
Greenport train beyond Lakeland
without warning Of our approach,
and collision in front as we'll as the
rear would be the consequence.
1--WE reached and few through the
Lakeland depot nearly half an hour
ahead of time. OF course the Green
port train was not there yet, but was
coming down the road. Our speed
was now little ahead of any ever
before made upon thu Long Island
road. The telegraph poles fairly
danced behind us, and the bushes on
either side Of the track seemed con-
tinuous wall Of fire as they were light
ed up by the flame which was pouring
out Of our sfhoke-stack. But dam !
gerous as it was for us to keep on, it
was just as dangerous to slacken
speed, ana so on we went
The conductor rolled his quid from
one cheek 10 the other, raised the
window by his side and expectorated
into the outer. darkness, and became
silent for several moments as if bur
dened by the recollection OF his for
mer perils. After waiting reasona-
bic length of time for him 10 resume
his story, / said, "When the collision
occurred. was it with the train in
front or in the rear, or with both"'
"Oh, the collision! !" said the con-
ductor. "Well, now you come to
the ridiculous part Of the story. The
collision did not take place at all,
he said, in en- apologetic tone, as IL
there ought to have been a serious ac-
cident after SO much preparation.
" While 1 was standing on this plat
form thinking whether had better
warn the passengers TO hold them
selves ready for shock, Jake came
from forward dragging after him two
large petroleum cans, each of which
would hold quarter of barrel of
oil. --s..
" Now then, said Jake to me, ii
you will oil one side of the track /
will try the other H.5f ... /
81 saw at once what his plan was.
We each brought the mouth of an oil
can as near to the polished surface of
the rail as possible and commenced
pouring on it the kerosene. In less
than q minute q half mile Of the iron
rails on both sldes was nicely oiled
and as slippery as the tongue of q
Hebrew dealer in secondhand cloth
e." s- .3it aaest-.
"You have raised my expectations
of eatastrope 80 high that you have
been oblighed to grease the track sol
as to let them down again easily"
said /, for felt little nettled at the
unexpected turn the story had taken,
and was inclined to believe that the
conductor was drawing largely upon
his imagination for the facts. HItl'
"Why don't you know that an en-
gine can no more make headway on
a creased track than tom-cat can
climb steep roof covered with ice"
said the conductor, with Q plying |
glance at one SO profoundly Ignorant
of railroad matters as myself. 1
slapped Jack on the back, and said,
old fellow, your cuteness has
brought US all out of q bad scrape.'
SIN a few seconds the lantern Of
the train behind US was getting dim
in the distance. We Stacked speed
and backed down to see what the
~, altar uas with SimnsOn aa lack