The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-11-04

wouldn't hurt i'm; but if he was to wake
what with the wet n the cold m the
fright, like as not it might kill i'm. So
the boys takes i'm up to carry i'm to
tie house. and 1 followed along. but l
couldn't hev carried a kitten. The doc
to. he tells 'em to be keerful and not
wake m, for it was as much as his life
was worth. So Crazy takes i'm and
two of 'em hold blanket over i'm to
keep the sleet of, N one goes ahead
with a lantern, and two or three more
about with lanterns, SOS to light the
way. Wen we got to the break it was
just as l expected. Track, culvert,
everything gone, clean SIS you could cut
it with knife. The water was pitchin'
down the run six feet deep carryin' big
rocks and boulders that bounced and
bumped from side to side and up into
the air, clear out of the water. It was
awful to look ut. How the child got
over the gap, which was at least twenty
feet wide, l don't know. A tree he'd
come down and lodged crossways, and
suppose he must have gone over on
that. Wen we came to it we was most
afraid to try it, for if you slipped of the
log it was all day with you. l didn't
like to trust the boys. and l seq to
Jake, "Crazy, you won't drop the baby,
will you?" He points down into the
break, and sez, Latham, we'd all been
down there, every mothers son of US,
but for your little pard. I'd drop my
soul first.'
Well! We got i'm home safe at last.
Mary was asleep when we got to the
house, and was scared as bad as me
when she heard what was up. We put
i'm back in his bed, and sure enough
he never walked up. Next mornin'
they threw treStle over the break and
trains was runnin' agin. But the doc
tor stayed with us. just out of his own
head, you know, but he seemed anx-
ious. Seemed as though he took to the
child. Don't wonder at that, neither.
Most everybody did.
l watched by i'm all that night, and
toward day 1 got out all his old Christ
mas things aud set 'em on to O. table
near the bed, where he could see 'em
the first thing. But fever came on i'm,
m wen he woke up he was out of his
head. I speaks to i'm and ses, ''HOw
goes it, pard9" But he didn't know
me. That was Thanksgiving Day, you
know, m I sat there by him, hopin'
every mint as he might come round, so
l could give i'm his things and we could
hev our holiday jest as we used to do.
But he KEEP gettin' worse from hour to
hour.
He was sick jest a week and wan
derin' and wild from first to last. I
stayed with i'm all the time, for 1
hadn't wits enough left to handle n ma
chine, and the boys sent word not to
bother myself about business m they d
see me through. So, between 'em they
did my duty and No. 80 went up and
down in her reg lar runs jest as if l was
at the lever. You know l was tellin'
about the water-tank near the house.
1t didn't use to be used much, but that
week it seemed as though there wasn't
a train either way that didn't get out O.
water just there. and some of 'em
would come over to see about the boy.
And their wives kept sendin' nice
things-and they were poor people,
too. You see, somehow it travelled
about as fast as what little Pard had
done, stoppin' the train that night, m
he SIGH a mite of a child. An it got
into the newspapers, and the president
of the road came to see i'm and all that.
But he just went on from day to day,
for death struck i'm from the first mo-
ment as he stood there in the winter
rain.
From his talking while he was de-
lirious we found out pretty much all
how it was. I reckon he heard the
storm IN his sleep and the roarin' of the
run and that set him to dreamin'. OF
course he knew it was my night, n l
had often told i'm what bad place it
was and what to do if anything hap
pened-never thinking that he'd 90 to
dom of it hisself. But he gifts up in
his sleep, takes his lantern and goes
out to meet me. I'd be sittin' there
watchin' of i'm by his bed, n he'd be-
GIN first, jest kind O. mutterin', and I'd
hear him say, softly like, as eff he was
talkin' to hisself:
"Pard's due at the run in twenty
minits. I kin get there in time"
Pears like it was all goin' through
his mind agin and he was doin' over
jest what he did that night. We could
tell wen he got to the place where the
road broke, for he ses, "Kin l git over
on that log? Eff don't my pard IL be
killed."
Then seemed as though he was goin'
down to the curve where we found him.
An he'd SILVER like, as eff the cold rain
was strikin' i'm.
You see we could mostly foller i'm by
watchin' i'm and ketchin' what he said.
Onct or twice he shook right hard, and
his teeth chartered. We thought it was
the cold he was feelin' agin as he felt
it out there in the night with nothin'
on i'm. Then he keeps still awhile like
he was a waitin' and listenin' for the
train. and you'd see i'm hold his breath
fearin' he couldn't ketch the sound.