Fair play., 1880-04-10

toward US in slantlng direction, so as
to break the force of the wind-already
about as strong as we could stand.
Hold on your hair,'' he said, "and
look out not to move about. | am going
to let her do her prettiest now."
With this he suddenly drew out some.
thing like an organ stop, and l realized
for the first time in my life how the in.
der full headway. 1 had been able to
see occasional objects before at no grea,
distance from the road, and could make
out the horizon very well. But now al
was blank. Sky, earth, woods, water
all were plain mass of gray indis-
tinctness. Directly my companion look.
ed at his watch, and putting his mouth
to my ear, made aa immense effort to
speak.
ave have probably passed Spear.
mint bridget" he shouted" twenty
miles in eight minutes!"
The words came very family to my
ear, and began to wish that | could
see something, if it was only SO as to
know where We were, and how fast We
had really come. began to feel just a
little uncomfortable seemed some
thing awful to be sitting there in tina,
silence, seeing nothing and knowing
nothing, except that we we're liable Ia
20 out of the world at any minute
While these thoughts were passing
through my brain, l heard fain!
sound like a stoam-whistle, and almost
at the same moment 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 Isl" j
shouted
"Probably locomotive!" he re-
piled.
l asked no more questions.
Again saw him pulling ont the little
ivory knob had before noticed, and
Immediately found my seat sliding ou,
! from under me. | knew that our speed
was increased, and grasped the handle
with all my strength. a strange hum
ming noise occasionally attracted my
attention and puzzled me much, until l
/ found that it only came when had my
mouth open. It was the wind playing
into my mouth as in the aperture of II
humming top, and as it became louder
and louder l judged that our rate was
/ gradually augmenting in swiftness. AS
we progressed it grew darker also, until
could but 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 moHomania for travelling, confess
that my situation was hardly pleasant
one. | did not mind the going much,
but thought that had good reason to
fear the consequences of a sudden stop
page.
Once more the machinist's hands
sought the knob, and he raised himself
up 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 arm
toward his head, and as the engine
darted forward every thing became
dark rs pitch. | was terrified now in
good earnest. could stand the dark
ness and silence SO long as | could
make out the form of my companion,
but now l could see nothing, and my
terror got the better of me. put out
my hand to press the machinist's arm,
as a signal for him to slacken, when,
Judge of my feelings, he was not there!
My hand slid along the seat to the fur
ther end without meeting any thing,
and comprehended that he had fallen
overheard when he raised mis- arm to
catch his hat!
This would have been avery shocking
occurrence, and | should have been hor-
rified by the probability of the awful ma
ture of his death, had l not been SO
much occupied with thoughts of my
own-as now judged, no very remote
event. Totally alone then, in thick
darkness and utter silence, l sat and
awaited my doom. knew absolutely
nothing of the modus operandi of gov
erning or regulating the engine, except
that to pull out the little knob increased
the speed, and l had no desire to go
faster. The wind, too, was becoming
insupportable, in spite of the iron apron,
and altogether the only desire 1 felt
was to die quickly and without pain.
How long l went at this tremendous
speed can not imagine. 1t seemed 4
year-an age-but l don't think it could
have been quite that. Probably about
two hours, but my suspense magniticd
the minutes into months, and it really
seemed as if should never stop. But
l did. After time | found myself
losing sensation in al! my members. l
could no longer feel the handles in front
of me nor the iron brace under my feet,
SO was little surprised to perceive
cold, wet sensation overcome me and to
find myself cleaviag body of water
somewhere, and going down, down,
with slower motion than l had expert
enced for some time.
A shock at my feet convinced me that
was ut the bottom of a river or lake,
and upon striking out to swim was de-
lighted to feel that rose toward the
surface. Notwithstanding the confused
state of all my faculties | could see, on
getting above the water, that was sev-
eral rods from the shore-say about 800
feet-in the bay near Firepan, the end
of my journey, some $50 miles from
Slingwheel. With considerable trouble,
for was stiff and sore, | SWAN to the
railroad dock, and, climbing out of the
water, asked bewildeYed depot hand
how came there.
"Shure, sir" said he, 81 don't
know; but I'm after belavin' twas the
devil that fetched ye!"
BY dint of close questioning. l learned
that he was list asettin' on his thruck
a-smokm' his dhudeen," when he
heard singular noise, such as he had
never heard before, and Immediately
after saw tremendous splash in the
bay, many yards from the end of the
long dock. The truth was plain. My
Internal machine had run the whole
length of the road, and. stopping for
nothing, had shot over the dock The