The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-02-01
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
The Fast Freight and the Boy Who
FI2gged the Express.
by Eliot fIcCOrmick.J


car that was standing on a side track in the
Wentworth depot, and concealed himself as
we'll Is he could in the far corner. He was
! playing hide-and-seek, and his companions
/ were searching for him outside the car-yard
/ fence.
They won't he likely to find me here" he
/ said, Glcefuly, to himself, while he listened to
( their cries
Presently he heard them scaling the fence
near to the car, but lust at that moment man
came along and pushed to the heavy door
''Tbanl you" said Walter, half aloud. "Now
they'll never find me-
With the closing of the door. however, the
noise Of their cries was shut out, and Walter
could no longer tell how near to the car they
( might be. In u moment something bumped
/ against the far end of the car with Jolt that
sent it back quite distance on the track, and
would have knocked Walter over if he had not
already been sitting. Then the car began to
move slowly forward. They were going to
shift it to another track, Walter concluded !;
but as this would throw the boys still further
OIL the scent, and give him besides free ride,
he did not mind it.
SO he sat still while the car bounced over
the switch, and felt somewhat disappointed
when it came to a stop little way beyond.
hal was only for a moment, however. Very
soon II backed down, until with another jolt it
bumped into a car behind. Walter supposed
that the shifting process was now done, and,
getting up, went to the door with the intention
OF opening it and jumping ont He had hardly
risen, however, before the car began to move
forward again, and this time it seemed to be
part of q heavy train They must be making
up the fast freight he determined; and ne
began to wonder how near it was to five o'clock,
when the fast freight would start On its east
ward journey.
Meanwhile the car was moving faster and
faster, and Walter found it difficult to walk as
far as the door. He would roll it back, he
thought, and be ready to get out when the
car stopped. But try as hard as he might, he
could not roll it back, and the speed Of the car
kept all the time increasing. With growing
sense Of alarm, Walter pulled ont his watch,
and looked at the face by a ray of light which
streamcd in through the door.
1t was as much as he could do now to keep
on his feet, and he had to hold on to the frame
work of the car with one hand, while he stead
led the watch with the other hand Was his
watch fast? That could not be; it had not
gained or lost a minute in a month. But the
hands pointed to ten minutes after five; and
while the car jOted over switches and swung
around curves, until ne could no longer stand,
the dismaying thought forced itselfupon Walter
that this was the fast freight, already on its
way.
For moment he hardly realized the situa-
ton; but as he began to think over what he
knew about the train the outlook became very
unpleasant indeed. Except FOR water it would
not stop until it reached New York. Even if
it did stop, the sides of the car were so solid
that he might kick and pound and call out all
night without being heard by the few brake
men who had the train in charge, and who, IL was
quite likely, would not come near his car at
all. IL was called fast, but fast freight is
very different from a fast express, and Walter
could not hope that it would reach New York
within thirty hours. BY that time he might
be starved to death. The very prospect of so
long fast made him hungry. How long could
people live, he wondered, without eating? The
recollection of DR.. Tanner gave him some COM
fort, but then DR.. Tanner had all the water he
wanted, while Walter did not have a drop.
By this time he had crept back to his corner,
where he braced himself as vel. as he could
though as the train went still faster, and
gthe empty car swaved from side to side like
ship at sea- the boy was shaken and jolted until
every bone in his body began to ache. Before
him stretched out the long and weary hours.
How should he ever endure them? If he could
stand the hunger and thirst, how could he bear
the cold Of the autumn night, already begin
ming to creep in through the cracks of the car?
What report would the boys carry back when
they didn't find him? And what would his father
and mother think? He had never staid away
from them a night in his life. How frightened
they would be- and how completely at loss
for any cleW to his whereabouts. IfWalter had
been a fugitive from justice he could not more
completely have covered up his tracks.
On and on went the train, around curves over
bridges-as Walter could tell from the sound
past other trains through towns and villages,
battering and bruising the boys slender frame
with every bounce and jolt, until at last, out
Of weariness, Walter fell asleep. Once or twice
III the night he woke up, cramped, hungry, and
chilled, though it was not so cold as he had
feared it would be, and the flight of time gave
him little more courage.
By-and-by, through the Crevice of the door,
he discovered the welcome daylight. So much,
at any rate of his journey was accomplished;
but what would he not give for good break
fast? As the day went on, and his watch told
him it was nine o'clock, he fancied the boys
going TO school, and wondering why ne did not
appear: his father and mother, filed with in
creasing alarm, going here and there in search
of him; the papers getting hold of it, and an
nouncing in startling headlines, Boy lOst!"
But all Walter could do, though he was tired
and faint and anxious about the anxiety of
those at home was to wait-and this is always
the hardest duty in the world.
1t wanted a few minutes of noon when Wal
ter was suddenly startled by feeling the onward
motion of the train checked, ana the car in
which he was imprisoned violently shaken
from side to side. For moment, as he HIM
self was rO,!sd about on the floor, he thought
that the car was going to upset; but presently
it righted and stood still. Evidently an acc-
dent had happened, though as to what it was
Walter could not form any idea.
Now, when the train had stopped, however,
was his chance to make himself heard. With
all his might he kicked against the door, and
cried out at the top of his voice; but no one
came. He thought of stories he had read about
people who were shut up in dungeons and
imagined himself to be one of them. If he had
been uneasy before, he was almost villa now.
What could be the matter? How could he make
any one hear? He was putting these questions
TO himself, when all at once, from the rear of
the train, came terrible roar and crash, with
the sound of splintering wood. Before he could
think what had happened his own car rose up
on end, and Walter found himself swiftly hurled /
down its inclined loOr.
As the boys senses cleared he realized that n
rear end of the car, now above his head, he saw
that IL was broken away, and through n wide
gap he could see the blue sky. If he could only /
climb up to il, here was way of escape. For /
tuuutely though a good deal bruised, he was !
not hurt and the excitement Of the occasion |
gave him strength. The ear had been raised |
up no an angle OF more than forty-five degrees; |
its four was smooth and slippery, and it was |
with the greatest difficulty that Walter could /
scramble 20 the end.
When. after several reyerses he finally /
reached il, and put his head out OF the opening, /
he witnessed a scene Of the widest confusion. |
Whatever might have happened before, this |
time the train had been run into from behind. |
.N..4 l.. 4. /