The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-12
A RACE AGAINST TIME.

| TA A @S% EH M AHA
 l had been stationed on the main line of the great Genital railway for some. thing more than year, attending to all the day and night duties at that poin, with such unfAiling regularity, that no thought of possible accident had ever oc- cured to me.
 The duties were not especially arduous but the responsibility was far greater
 There was an express day and night, both ways, for which the main line had to be always clear; local express each way, which ran on the turnout, and waited for the through train to pass; a mail train night and morning which had the right ot way one ordinary passenger, and a nals 2 dozen, perhaps, accommodation and freight
 To see that the main iiuc was always closed at the proper moment, that the turnout was always ready when it should be, that the branch where the local made up was open. and. in short, that every. thing was in condition for prompt and satisfactory working, kept me almost con. ssan'ly at my post, though, as have al- ready sad, the duties were not especially arduous
 In order to be handy to my business, I lived in cottage close by, from the open door of which looking eastward, | could sec any coming train for a mile away, l and notice whether the signals of "dan- ger" or safety were in their proper po- sltons.
 One morning, just after the loca! had made up and gone, my wife came run. nlng 10 me with an alarmed face. Our 'it.le girl was missing She had seen her only few minutes before the departure of tue train, and had made hasty search tor her as soon as she discovered her ab- sence. She feared she knew not what. cslmed her with few brief words. and, h0rrying around to the station. build. ing, began Care f Il examination of every possible place where l deemed it likely the child might be. She was only five years old. The seasch resulted in my hoding her asleep on tue sunny side of a pile of railroad ties, with her doll, half as large as herself lying beside her. That night l had singul 1T dream. l thought was in the middle of vast plain, through which stretched, broad and clear before me, the double track of the man line. Like ours, yet unlike, for every few rods could see open switches and blood'red signals, that gave me an agony ct apprehension. As looked agaln at the line, my eyes fell upon an oblect--a small form lying upon one of the rails. My child With a mighty effort awoke, turned over and went to sleep, and dreamed the same thing again. with the addition that seemed mounted on a winged horse, and riding for l,te to close the switches.
 Aga'n l awoke, bathed in precipitation. and reused myself sufficiently to get up and visit my little darling's crib, ot course, to find her safe. l walked the fl .or in my stocking feet for awhile, 'oked at the clock, and again turned in, U dream tor the third time the same thing, to start suddenly and bro Awake a' It the voice waich reused the Ihane of CaoU6or had hi ssed In my ear, as in nis Sleep no more"
 To awake, and fad the first gleam of the incoming day glowing gray on the eastern wall.
 However, visit to the switches-mine. not those of the dream--a dash head. foremost, into a cool, deep, running stream near. and a warm break seemed to cle 1T away whatever mained ot the lingering effects of my noctur- n nA vis.ons, and l felt like myself once more.
 Between the passage of the down mail which stopped, and the through express which did not, there was an interval of an hour and half, that was essentially | my own. But taat morning a dispatch mad come for one of the directors, who lived three miles to the south of us, and as 1t so happened, the agent, who was ousy, requested me to take 1t, offering the use ot his fast mare, which stood in b ArneSs under the shed-an animal re- markable for its speed and endurance, as 1 ascertained thereafter.
 had been to the directors house on one or two similar occasions, and neither the agent nor myself deemed the time necessary to go and come any considera ioa when an hour and half was at my cis s2osal. Besides had such a course been necessary, he could have taken the tejs and acted for me. But there was no thought ot that.
 ] drove leisurely over, enjoying the ride much, for the mare Fanny" was ID excellent spirits, and the air was clear and bracing.
 l had de ,vered the dispatch, received a brief word of thanks, aud was already turning home~ard, when the director came himself toward the paling, calling out to me by name.
 l refined up.
 There IS some mistake here, Jen- nings," he said, with some excitement, waving tae dispatch. This should not have oeea seat to me, but to our agent" On reflection: " He knows the contents. l supposeT
 ca reflection, couldn't say, and % stated.
 Then 90 back to your post at once, and give it to him. A special train of