Louisiana capitolian., 1880-08-24

side Of the engine got opened, a!ld tue
water rose in the boiler 80 fast as to
run the steam down +" 100 pounds be-.
foro | discovered where the difficulty
was.
AT first Roberts didn't appear to no
tice the decrease Of speed, aud kept at
work at the wood az il for dear life.
Bnt presently le looked up, and, seeing
that tho speed had decfesssd, he shout
sd! Harry. we are stopping, aud then,
coming over to where was, he said /:
Why, here we have been ton minutes
on the last ten miles, and l believe we
will come to o dead stand if something
is not done. The speed is continually
stacking. What is the matter !!
4 explained the cause He was ap-
purently satisfied with nv explanation.
and, after having tied down the safety
valve, he climbed back over the tender,
exhortiug mo to put her through, for
God's sake, or we are all heggas toge-
ther'
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 loft only
twenty seven minutes to do tLirty-tOnr
miles in.
4 had shut the water Oft from both
my pumps u little distance back, when
| discovered what was the matter, and
she was now making steam finely down
aslight grade. From loss than one hun
dred with which we started over that
mile stretch, she had two hundred
pounds before we finished il and, as
the gauge Indicated no higher than
that. and tho valve was tied down, i
could not toll how much over two hun
drcd pounds she carried, but she cor
tainly carried none less the rest OF the
Journey. And we'll might she carry
such an enOrmOus head of stean,, for,
after passing over that ten miles in
eight minutes, there lay ton miles of
iivo feet upgrade and fourteen milos
of twenty feet to-the-milo depression
between us and c., and it was now
thirteen minutes to twelve o'clock.
Now tho engine was hot in earnest.
The furnace door, smoke arch and chin
ney all were red while she seemed tt
fly onward as if the very Evil Ono him
self operated her machinery.
six minutes carried us over that tel
miles, and we darted by tho last station
that had lain between It's aud c.
Now we had fourteen miles to go, and
my time showed tifty-three miuutes past
eleven o'clock.
"Ifl live, said ! to myself, I vii
make it, And we plunged down that
twenty -fo"t grade with all steam on
Persons who saw the train on that wilt
run said that it was so soon after the!
heard the first sound of her approach
when tho strange object, which looked
.as If it was a flame of fire, darted by
and then tho sound of its travelling dice
away in the distance, that they could
hardly convince themselves Chat they
had really seen anything. It seemed
more like the creature of a wild dreau
than q sober reality.
And now lot me tell you that no othe
engine ever beat the time we made OF
those fourteen miles. Those great
{ wheels, seven feet in diameter, spul
around so swift that you couldn't begin
to count tho revolutions. The engin
barely seemed to touch the track al
, she flew along aud although the tract
. was as true as it was possible for it t
be, she swayed fearfulIy, and sometime
made such prodisious jolts that it re
t quired considerable skill for one to keel
D his feet. No engine could bold togethe
if crowded to q greater speed.
!, well, Just as | came to standstl
! in the depot at C the big cloc
doomed ont twelve, and the steamboa
9 was getting her steam on. Roberts 20
on board in time and nothing to spare
y But he saved the money. He found
t hid away in some old boxes as Aldric
4 had directed him
+ Remarkable Gases.