The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-12-21

.ee r
And even with the last speaker
ords the train again felt the impuls
| Ben Miles hand on the lever. The
as no sudden jerk, but gradual an
ant-like on ward sweep ihat brought
sir seats the last who had been tryiD
stand The momentum was becon
z fearful. 1t seemed to make theT
| Servc with dizziness even IN then seat
ely Jove, this has PASSED the point
| S here it was interesting, T.
s'Gifo insurance companies would
scream if they knew of this r.
Great Scott, I'm afraid we're IN dan
ger of foreclosing the mortgage y
| "My landscape gone in dizzy maze. "
But the speed increased and the alarm
was no longer concealed One inquired
FOR the conductor. Another seized the
bell-rope and pulled g down brakes !"
| Two more, with blanclling faces, cried
| to each other:
"The locomotive is running away p"
"Or else the engineer is drunk
The message reached the cab and
rang its impeTious "halt on the gong
cha, ha, hal Brave boys back there,
| Jake Stood it better than I thought
they would; but they may as well screw
their courage to the sticking point /;
there's moro speed left In the shorter
yeti"
phe stoker heard the implied threat
with terror that shook him to the
center. Any further increase of his
reckless speed would put the lives of all
to the brink of criminal hazard. No, it
should not be! Jake Saunders was a
strong man and desperation pushed him
to a daring resolve
He crept close to the engineers back
with huge lump Of coal in his hand.
Ben had adjusted the lever after giving
it another forward movement, and was
watching intently the track ahead OF
them.
'No, no; I can rot hit him with
that /" And Jake laid down the chunk
of coal to use only in extremity; ne
| loved his chief too much to use it even
under this pressing need.
Then quick as thought Jake seized
Ben from behind and threw all his
strength into one huge effort to wrench
him to the floor. The powerful jerk
bent him backward; but Ben's muscles
acted with his mind. The instant it be-
came apparent to him that he was at
tackled, he turned in the arms of his as
sailant, released himself, and Jake, IN
stead of Ben, went crashing to the floor
of the cab with terrible force.
'What do you mean, Jake Saunders"
cried Ben, stopping over his fireman.
His rage at first BODIED i'll to the fallen
man but Jake did not get up, and it as
rapidly gave way to kindness, and he
raised him bodily to his feet "What,
MGR, ara Won bT1t 2"
ono" answered Jake, after feeling
of himself, "only at my failure.
"Ah, 1 see /; you wanted to run her
yourself Well, it was brave attempt,
but exceedingly rash See, you have
broken the lookout; now keep your
eyes on the road ahead and I'll stoke
myself till you're rested.
The belI-rope sounded another signal
on the gong.
"That thing makes me nervous,
sad Ben, as he disconnected the rope
and fastened it to a hook in the ceiling
OF the cab. "Now they may jerk to
their hearts content. Poor fools Do
not value my life as much as they do
theirs +? ="
"Look-look +" cried Jake, as he
grasped Ben's arm. ''Ahead on the left
rail F."
Robbers, as I'm q sinner And
Ben seized an iron bar and started to-
ward the front of the engine, shouting
to Jake as he went, "Let her run It's
our only chance
Jake knew that Ben was right, and
that even that chance was small. He
gazed with shuddering horror at the
superhuman task that Ben had taken
upon himself.
The broad plain they we're crossing, a
wilderness without trees but with more
terrors to those who knew its dangers,
was dotted with clumps of high grass
and infested in places by robbers and
rufians of the worst type. They had
mistaken this short especial for the
pay train, and had practlced a common
device to throw it from the track. They
knew large obstruction could be seen
far enough ahead to admit of stopping
the train, and they had no time to tear
up enough track to serve their purpose
so they had taken up a single rail, bent
it to a right angle two feet from the end,
and put it back very near its place but
Just outside the range of the cowcatcher,
with the bent end sticking up. This
obstruction was difficult to discover and
sure to do its work, unless it could be
thrown down before the train struck it.
When the fireman spoke, it would
have been impossible to stop had the
speed been forty miles an hour, and
they were running seventy.
Ben had gone forward to throw down
this rail-a thing no man in his senses
would have attempted. Perhaps you
have not thought of the feat. A fly
might cling with little trouble to the
outside of locomotive, for the mass
carries along to slight extent its own
atmospheric surroundings; but a man
is clear outside this small sphere of at
traction, and must possess the force
himself to displace the dense air. At
mospheric pressure, at a standst1l, is
fourteen and seven tenths pounds to the
square inch. A locomotive going through
it at a rate of seventy miles an hour is
therefore a mammoth cleaver. Ben
Miles was a barnacle that chung to its
side by mere force of muscle.
He had but few seconds in which to
get down to the cowcatcher. At first he
was flattened against the front of the
cab. He saw he must exert himself. He
writhed, twisted, tugged himself along
by the hand rail. The muscles on his
bare arm knotted themselves like a
bundle of withes. It was the work of
giant, but Ben went forward.
" He never could do that but for the
liquor that's in him, said the astOnished
fireman.
Ben reached the front just in time to
poise himself and swing his iron bar. He
struck the blow. The rail rolled over.
A click Of tho huge wheels as they
cleared the spot with scarcely depres-
sion told that the speed of the train and
Ben Miles rashness had saved the lives
IN his keeping.
g Hurrah We're safe p shouted the
fireman.
But not so Ben Miles. Just as he had
raised the iron bar to cast it at the twist
ed rail, half a dozen puffs of smoke arose
from as many clumps of grass not far
from the track, and q shower of bullets
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