Mexico weekly ledger., 1878-06-13

ulAS up any HShSAousoS e<foA@S s-'
road.
I ''Probably not," said 1.
"You may be sure 1 was q ittl'
surprised. ;" SAID the, conductor, ''foI
there wasn't an extra train once .
week upon that road, and / knew
there was none going out from Brook
lyn that night, anyhow. / waited fol-
q few minutes, until saw that it wal
really an engine coming, and, whal
was more, was gaining rapidly on us,
although we were going at our usua
rate of speed. When I was satisfied
of this fact I hurried forward and
said to the engineer, Jake, there d
train close behind U.S. . :.
"Jake dropped his oil-can and his
lower jaw at about the same moment,
and looked to see whether / was era
zy or joking.
&" We'll let the fireman attend to
matters here, and come back and
see, said /.
ave hurried to the rear, and in q
moment Jake saw as well as myself
that if there was any joke in the mat
ter we were the victims of one; and
of rather serious one too, for the
train in the rear had gained on us a
full mile while / had been forward.
The red einders were pouring out OF
the smokestack as if from a blast fur
mace; the headlight threw q glare
along the road. furnishing the iron
rails to our very wheels. Close as he
was upon US, the engineer of tae ad-
vancing train had not given us the
slightest signal to warn us of his ap-
proaeh, and made no response to our
repeated whistles of alarm. He was
violating all rules, and if he had de-
termined to secretly run us down he
would act just as he was then doing.
Jake at first seemed to be. struck
SO much because he then
thought of danger as at the cool i'm
pudence of the engineer behind. He
looked as il he would like to throttle
him. HIS tongue after while got in
working order, and he broke out,
What does that crazy fool mean"
g The engineer must be either
crazy or drunk, said L. IF he keeps
on in that way ten minutes longer he
will surely be into u.s. and signall-
ed the fireman to put on more steam.
what business the train has upon
the road at all tonight is what puz-
zles me-
8. i wonder If it isn't. an engine
the old man is sending down to Ja-
maica to tile shops for repairsi" said
Jake. Il saw the Ben Franklin stand
ing on the side-track with steam upI
just as we started. Form the way
she everhauls us there can't be muck
Of train behind her.
II did not know but that jake might
be right, for / had seen the Franklin
in the depot when we left.
That engine was just as fast Us our
D,yn, and if it was without train at
tached, as Jake supposed, might east
" gain on US, as it seemed to be do
ng. AT any rate, we shall see when
ne pass Jamaica station wheter Jake's |
theory is correct 1 thought and said
TO him.
"By this time the fireman, acting
As engineer, had given our engine all
.he steam she would take, and we
were slashing along at lively rate,
;ell you," said the conductor. -.The
good people along the road who were
put of their beds must have thought |
hat a railroad Gilpin was riding an
,ther race according to the new style.
was angry enough to have sent a
,ullet at the crazy engineer following |
Is, and 1 determined that my first
the next day should be to
to the superintendent Of his
l thought that possi-
by, being for the moment his own
master and no longer under the i'm
Mediate orders OF a conductor, he
vas indulging in akind Of Q railroad
'pree, and for d lark, was driving us
o the top of our speed, expecting to
md the rsee, ana his days work at
he same timeat Jasnaiea.s : a.& -
"Well, we tore through that sleep
ng village without stopping long for |
i can assure you, and
hen Jake and looked to see our
,omical friend in the rear pull up ct
the station and take lodgings for the
night. But we were mistaken in our
guess. Net q whistle was given by
our pursuer as signal that he inten-
ded to stop; moi signal Of slacken-
ing was shown but, on the contrary,
he was gaining upon US even when
we were doing our very bestA i Some
times curve in the road would shut
him q moment from our view. blt he
would round it in an instant, and eve
ry new turn brought him more close
ly upon US. Jamaica had been left
far Behind, and we were out ION kthe
wide Hampstead plain. The old
Constitution was on her muscle. Our
train was actually swayfng and rock
ing with speed like yacht on the
waves. The telegraph poles. upon
which the light from our 5windows
..,o,,lJ <xl;,% -, Tho Jaoao lo~lyro.c