The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-11-05

wouldn't hurt i'm; but if he was to wake
WHAT with the wet n the cold m the
i,ignt, like as not it might kill i'm. So
tne boys takes i'm up to carry i'm to
tIe mouse, and / followed along, but |
couion hev carried a kitten. The doc
VI ne tells EN- to be keerful and not
wake m, for it was as much as his life
was worth. So Crazy takes i'm and
Two Oh EN- hold blanket over i'm to
Aeep the sleet off, n one goes ahead
win lantern, and two or three more
aoout' with lanterns, SOS to light the
way w ZEN we got to the break it was
JUST as l expected. Track, culvert.
everything gone, clean as you could cut
~ Win knife. The WATERWAYS pitchin'
oown the run six feet deep carryin' bic
rocks and boulders that bounced and
pumped from side to side and up into
Inc ar, clear out of the water. 1t was
awful to look at. How the child got
over the gap, which was at least twenty
leet wide, | don't know. A tree he'd
come down and lodged crossways, and
! suppose he must have gone over on
lnat: Wen we came to it we was most
AFRAID to try it, for if you slipped off the
iog II was all day with you. | didn' t
IKE to trust the boys, and l seq to
JAKE, Cray, you won't drop the baby,
will you?" He points down into the
preak, and SEE, Latham, we all been
down there, every mothers son of us,
put for your little pard. I'd drop my
soul first"
Well! We got i'm home safe at last.
wary was asleep when we got to the
mouse, and was scared as bad as me
when she heard what was up. We put
I'M back in his bed, and sure enough
ne never walked up. Next mornin'
they threw trestle over the break and
t6Sasis was runnin' agin. But the doc
torstayed with us. Just out of his own
head you know, but he seemed anx-
lous. Seemed>as though he took to the
GNU. Don't wonder at that, neither.
Mos everybody did.
Watched by i'm all that night, and
towah day 1 got out all his old Christ
mas hings and set EN- on to a table
near tie bed, where he could see 'em
the frs thing. But fever came on i'm,
n wen he woke up he was out of his
head. 4speaks to i'm and ses, "How
goes it, pard?" But he didn't know
me. That was Thanksgiving Day, you
know, MI sat there by him, hopin'
every mint as he might come round, so
| could givt i'm his things and we could
hev our holiday jest as we used to do.
But he kep'gettin' worse from hour to
hour.
He was siGk jest a week and wan
derin' and wild from first to last.
stayed with i'm all the time, for |
hadn't wits enough left to handle 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 / was
at the lever. You know was tellin'
about the water-tank near the house.
1t didn't use 10 be used much, but that
week it seemed as though there WASH
train either way that didn't get out O.
water just there, and some of 'em
would come over to see about the bov.
And their wives kept sendin' nice
things-ard 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
raiaI s77ss'ra'.ss77gaa-
~ From his talking while he was de-
lirious we found out pretty much all
how it was. [ 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 60 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 L d
hear him say, softly like, as eff he was
talkin' to hisself:
"Pard's due at the run in twenty
minits. l kin get there in time.'
Pears like it was all goin' through
his mind agin and he was dom over
lest what he did that night. We could
tell wen he got to the place where the
road broke, for he ses, kin | git over
on that log? Eff don't my pard IL be
killed"
Then seemed as though ne 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 waitin' and listenin' for the
train, and you'd see i'm hold his breath
fearin' he couldn't ketch the sound.
Pretty soon he speaks agin, gently like,
and SEE:
kin he see the light in timer"
IN he waits a bit. Next he jumps
right up in bed on his knees and screams
ont at the top of his voice:
" Stop her. Pard! Stop 29r'
Stranger, I've seen frightful things in
my time, but never see anything sc
awful as that was. Pale and wild, with
the fever on i'm, that mere baby wa,
tryin' to make me hear. and the wind
howlin' and the train roarin' the way il