Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-06-04

chat moment showed me that l might
have to use them. ! also crouched be-
hind the ties after this warning, and
looked cautiously over the top at our
pursuers.
They gained nearly half the distance
during the first five minutes, but the
increasing quickness of the click OF the
wheels at the Joints Of the rails gave
me a little hope as | watched them.
As to George, he was so terrified as to
be unconscious; but long life of en-
gineering upon the plains had hard.
ened me a little; neither was this my
first adventure.
The sun poured down on us, and but
for our motion, it would have pros
tratrd us; the wind was blowing the
same way that we were going, but we
were moving faster than it, and this
gave us faint breath of air. / took
off my light coat and formed shade
over George, who was helpless, and
looked ahead.
Far away, through the moving waves
of heat, | could see the smoke rising
lazily from the engine, and the two
ails stretching in a long perspective.
until they were lost where the grass
seemed dyed brown: but the steady
clck-a-click-c Of the wheels re-
minded me that it was a long way Off,
and ! fastened my eyes on the Indians
They were spreading out. One Of
them, on my right, hal left the main
body behind, and was circling around
to get ahead of us. Then thought
how lucky it was there were no curves
to give them an advantage.
When had first sighted them they
were making great many eXtravagant
motions: but now they were ready for
action, and | could see the foam on the
dark breasts Of their ponies as they
leaned well forward. But in proper
ton as their steeds tired, our steed
gathered new energies, and the two
thousand feet that separated us did not
appear to lessen very rapidly, Whether
they wanted to adorn their belts with
our scalps, or wanted to hold us for a
ransom, was another question, for they
had fired but once, and doubtless, that
as a "long TOM" fired on ship, re-
tards in slight degree, its motions
so their rifles, fired at us, would check
them. They did not fire, anyway, but
their reasons for not doing 50 can only
be guessed at.
SO far as | could judge, only one of
them was gaining on us, and | Srasped
the handle of my revolver as | saw
that he aCaS lcssening the distance be-
tween us. lie was covered behind his
horse, excepting his right leg and foot,
brit | did not see iit to waste shot
vet; there was no knowing what might
happen, | thought Besides, my re-
yolyer would not carry accurately that
distance, and every ball might be re-
qnired.
| ventured to look ahead u moment,
and saw that the smoke was nearer,
and that the outlines Of the engine and
a few cars were distinct against the
blue sky beyond; and then another
thought flashed across my mind. We
were going down grade Of thirty-!ive
feet to the mile, hardly fail enough, |
reasoned. to move the stiff truck along
over the scaly surface of the rails.
could even see the change Of grade,
nearly mile ahead, and | hoped (and
only Il mind in danger knows ho,c to
hope) IL at the sun would beat down
more numerically and overcome those
tough ponies.
was helpless; the truck was run
ming as fast as the laws of gravitatioa
and friction would let it, and did not
doubt but that the Indians were urg-
ing their ponies to the utmost. Any
word or action, of mine, however,
would not increase our speed, and as
near as l could Judge, we were going
at the rate of fifteen miles an hour.
This may seem cXtrayagant, but !
think it is not so. am sure the truck
did its best. Perhaps the Indians saw
that they were not gaining much, for
| heard another bullet whiH over our
barricalc, and cautiously lowered my
head. The report was lost to my ears,
full of the click-a-click-click.
Then / determined to shoot. The
nearest pony was but little over a
thousand feet away, and the change of
grade was not much more than that
ahead. ] took n careful aim, holding
the sights so they centred two feet
above the pony's head, and fired.
heard them yell at this aggression,
( ut the bullet, instead of hitting the
forward pony, carried strong. | think,
over its head, and struck one of the
rear riders. One Of them fell back,
anyway, and deliberately cooked the
revolver again.
This time / dill not aim so high ]
5anld fee! my heart beating rapldly
when thought how much might d.
ugul on nv acpuFlrv Thp tpn-fOyt