The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-27

out not 10 move ABOUT. L am going u
let her do her prettiest now."
With this he suddenly drew out some
thing like an organ-stop, and / realized
for the first time in my life, how the in,
haoitants of comet must feel when
under full headway. / had been able to
see occasional objects before at no great
distance from the road, and could make
out the horizon very well. But now all
was blank. Sky, earth, woods, water
all were plain mass of gray indistinct-
ness Directly my companion looked at
his watch, and putting his mouth to my
ear, made an immense effort to speak.
"We have probably passed Spearmint
Bridget" he shouted, "twenty miles in
eight minutes"
The words came family to my ear, and
began to wish that / could see some
thing, if it was only so as to know where
We were, and how fast we had really
come. I began to feel just little un-
comfortable-it seemed something awful
to be sitting there in that silence, seeing
nothing and knowing nothing, except
that we were liable to go out of the
world any moment, at the rate of nearly
two and half miles a minute While
these thoughts were passing through my
brain, | heard faint sound like steam
whistle, and at almost the same moment
saw flash of light, apparently under
our wheels, and felt a slight jar.
81 am afraid we have run over some
thing" yelled my companion.
"What do you think it isY' shouted.
probably locomotiveW he replied.
asked no more questions.
Again / saw him pulling out the little
ivory knob | had before noticed, and i'm
mediately alter found my seat sliding
out from under me. l knew that our
speed was increased, and grasped the
handle with all my strength. A strange
humming noice occasionally attracted
my attention and puzzled me much, un-
I'll found that it only came when i had
my mouth open. 1t was the wind play
ing into my mouth as in the aperture of
humming-top, and as it became louder
and louder, | judged that our rate was
gradually augmenting in swiftness. AS
it progressed it grew darker also, until |
could just make out the form of my
Jehu dimly looming up beside me. 1t
was quite impossible to make our voices
heard now, and Notwithstanding my mo-
nomania for travelling, l confess my sit
uation was hardly pleasant one. l did
not mind the going much, but l thought
that had good reason to fear the conse-
quences of a sudden sloppage.
Once more the machinist's hand sought
the knob, and he raised himself up a
little as if to look over the iron cover or
apron, when his hat, / presume, must
have caught the wind and gone off, for
saw him throw up his hand toward
his head, and as the engine darted for
ward, everything became dark as pitch.
| was terrified now, in good earnest. II
could stand the darkness and the silence
50 long as I could make out the form of
my companion, but now / could see
nothing, and my terror got the better of
me, | put out my hand to press the
machinists arm, as signal for him TO
slacken, when, judge of my feelings-he
was not there! My hand slid along the
seat to the further end without meeting
anything, and | comprehended that he
had fallen overheard when he raised his
arm to catch his hat.
This would have been very shocking
occurrence, and | should have been horri- |
fled by the probably awful nature of his
death, had | not been so much occupied
with thoughts Of my own--as I now
judged, no very remote event. Totally
alone then, in thick darkness and utter
silence, | sat and awaited my doom. I
knew absolutely nothing of the modus
operandi of governing or regulating the
engine except that to pull out the knob
increased the speed, and | had no desire
to 60 faster. The wind, too, was becom-
ing insupportable, in spite of the iron
apron, and altogether the only desire |
felt was that l might die quickly and
easily, without pain.
How long ! went at this tremendous
speed can not imagine. It seemed
year-an age-but / don't think it could
have been quite that. Probably about
two hours, but my minutes magnified
into months, and it really seemed as if l
should never stop. But did. After a
time found myself losing sensation in
all my members. I could no longer feel
the handles in front of me nor the iron
brace under my feet, so l was little sur
prised to perceive cold, wet sensation
come over me, and to find myself cleav-
ing body Of water somewhere, and
going down, down, down, win slower
motion than l had experienced for some
time.
A shock against my feet convinced me
that was at the bottom of river or
lake, and, upon striking out to swim, /
was delighted to feel that 1 arose toward
the surface. Notwithstanding the con-
fused stats of all my faculties, l could
see, on getting above the waves, that |
was sevefalrods from shore-sat about
300 feet-in the bay near Firepan, the
end of my journey-some 28O miles
from Slihgwheel. With considerable
trouble, for was stiff and sore, swan to
the railroad dock, and. climbing out of
the water. asked a bswildered depot- hand