Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1884-06-13

'oAed cautiously over the top at our
buTsuers.
lney gained nearly half the distance
ufiag the first five minutes, but the
increasing quickness of the click of the
"neels at the joints of the rails gave
me a little hope as | watched them.
AS to George, he was so terrified as to
y unconscious; but long life of en-
gineerng upon the plains had hard
ehed me little; neither was this my
first adventure.
Ihe sun poured down on us, and but
ior our motion, it would have pros
trated Us; the wind was blowing the
same way that we were going, but we
We're moving faster than it, and this
gave US FAINT breath Of air. took
OF my light coat and formed a shade
over George, who was helpless, and
looked ahead.
Far away, through the moving waves
OF heat, | could see the smoke rising
lazlly 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
click-a-click-click 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, had left the main
bod! behind, and was circling around
to get ahead of us. Then | thought
howlucky it was there were no curves
to give them an advantage.
Ven | had first sighted them they
w laking a great many extravagant
my bptssw they were ready for
sAsr@sAA.-- .ss4mm~
feasts of theiTg0nles as they
LEI well forward. But in proper
ti( Va their steeds tired, our steed
etHsered new energies, and the two
thpsand feet that separated us did not
appear to lessen very rapidly Whether
the! wanted to adorn their belts with
our scalps, or wanted to hold us for
ransom, was another question, for they
had fired but once, and doubtless, that
as %ong tom, fired on a ship, re-
tards, in slight degree, its motions
50 their rifles, fired at us, would check
them. They did not fire, anyway, but
then reasons for not doing 50 can only
be guessed at.
ofar as could judge, only one of
them was gaining on us, and | grasped
the handle of my revolver as saw
that he 'ras lessening the distance be-
tween u.s. He was covered behind his
morse, excepting his right leg and foot,
bh | did not see fit to waste a shot
yet' there was noknowing what might
happen, | thought. Besides, my re-
Nol'er would not carry accurately that
distance, and every ball might be re-
quired.
yenturcd to look ahead moment
and saw that the smoke was nearer
ana 'nat the outlines of the engine and
a lew cars were distinct against the
blqe sky beyond; and then another
thought Dashed across my mind. We
were gong down a grade of thirty-fve |
ie9' 10 the mile, hardly fall enough, |
leSS0ned' to move the stiff truck along |
over the sealy surface of the rails.
could even see the change of grade.
neaF a mile ahead, and | hoped and |
ON! mind in danger knows how to
nope tfat the sun would beat down
lli9ie numerically and overcome those
tough ponies.
was helpless; the truck was rur.
ny as last as the laws of gravitation
''9' "lcuon would let it, and | did not
uopo' but that the Indians were nrg-
i"Y uelr ponies to the utmost Anv /
"Y'1 OF action, of mine, however
IT, not Increase our speed, and as
~ ~ N l could Judge, we were going
- ~. N rate OF fifteen miles an hour.
). Us may seem cxtravagant. but
'ap& ~ x it is not So am sure the truct
,ha,s ~ y pest Perhaps the Indians saw
,"p. , ~. 'ney were not gaining much for
l.ar,' @u another bullet whiz over our
,asa DIa'aae, 1, and cautiously lowered nv NV
fnil f''r% =, :. The report was lost to nv ears,
a a. VI The click-a-click-click.
,os,. ~ | determined to shoot rho
,hSn. l''''a' pony was but little over =
Grade ,a wa. 'se' away and the change of
ahem was not much more than that
the r's% ,iu,i took careful aim, holdjng linz,
abOa s'tp,s ,sa So they centred two feet t
,.s su1 pony's head, and fired.
but be r SnnD, mem yell at this aggression,
forward Iu'le'' nnD instead of hitting the
rear ridars s'''' and struck one of the
anyvav a., one of them fell back,
reloIyer again. '0''"''ly cooked the
copa tes ,,'p' Il. , did not aim 50 high. |
v4a / 'tb, tSonnyy, my heart beating rapidly