Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-05-11
A BRAVE MECHANIC.

NiahsA<iiioh Hc CohSCiho aii'
efforts of Prussian artillery officer Il
compel a French machinist to repair ;
road-engine destined to draw a monster
cannon to the Siege of Paris. The German
machinists and engineers have been killed
the Frenchman refuses TO do the work
Finally, by Selling and maltreating the
wife and child of the mechanic, he il
forced to obey How he obeys the follow
ing recital will tell
The place where the Prussians had left
their locomotive was about half League
from the village, on the plateau. o.
course, we were all anxious to see the
thing-just as anybody is curious to see
what comes from distance So / said
ana fol, let US all go look at it, The Prus
slams are not going to eat u.s." Six or seven
of rs started after Jacques, keeping ster
behind the Prussian escort.
We soon saw in the middle of the road q
big black thing guarded by small force
of men who seemed to have been en-
camped there all night. 1t was the
damnable machine, sure enough-a road
locomotive, / believe they call it; and be-
hind it, upon two cars all bound with iron,
was cannon and its carriage. Lord sir,
If you could have seen that cannon! A
monster cannon, God have mercy on us
to think that people can invent such
things. Why, two men could easily have
sat in the muZzle of it! God knows how
many quintals it weighed! One shot from
ii would have made a hole in a house from
the attic to the CELLAR And when we
heard that a gun of that calibre had a
range of nearly seven miles, we thought to
ourselves, sadly enough, that the Parisans
were not going to have a pleasant time Of
it. Only, you can understand, it was no
easy job TO move a mass like that. 1t
would have taken more than thirty horses
just to move it. Nothing but steam could
move the thing; and there was the en-
gineer killed and the locomotive broken!
All" we thought to ourselves, what a
pity Jacques ever allowed himself to be
caught If he could only manage now to
disarrange something, SO that the ma
chinery wouldn't work."
But no-he went to work at once: and in
the turn of hand the locomotive was all
right again; for Jacques was a tip-top ma
chinist, let me tell you! Then, while they
were getting up steam heard him giving
all sorts of explanations to the German
corpmandant. The officer was sly old
dog, and he was afraid about moving the
gun down the slope of the hill. But
jacques tried to reassure him: he said he
would slacken of at the entrance OF the
village; he would put on the brakes; he
would lock the hind-wheels; II necessary,
he could reverse steam. Don't he at all
AFRAID, he SAID; III answer Tor every
thing. All those kind of engines know me
when put my hand on them. Only you
had better send some men there TO shovel
away the snow upon the slope 1t might
cause us TO slip
You must know that it had showed very
heavily eight DAVIS AGO Since then the
snow had been trampled down by the feet
Of people passing by, but between the
paving tones it had remained solid, and
during the night there had been a hard
frost, so that the road glittered like look
ing -glass The commandant had noticed
all this "You are right he said to
JACQUES And 4 few MINUTES afterward
all the Prussians in the village were ut
work clearing the highway with picks and
shovels and brooms; and with spades they
spread clay over the slope, from the top to
tine bottom
Jacques was waiting there all the time.
The locomotive was all right; he sat down
on it, and smoked his pipe as carelessly as
il he was at home. Still the German COM
mander was not quite confident about
things. When the time came To start
saw him call a lieutenant up, and say
something in German. l heard every syl- |
lable-but | could not tell what it was |
The lieutenant kept answering va COM
mandant. va, commandantr Then |
SAW him pull out his revolver and climb |
on the locomotive besides jacques; and |
the officer shouted from his horse:
"See here YOU engineer-the first move |
ment you make to get away, you will he |
shot"
@Shoty-that was all the brute knew
how to saw, .Jacaues simply shrugged his |
shoulders.
Il don't want to get away" he an
swered. But to make sure of things the |
German officer ranged his men in two |
lines, one ON either side OF the engine;
then he took the head of the column, and |
shouted something in German, and gave
the command. Forward, marchF The |
engine whistled, painted, tugged with all |
steam; the cannon quivered and moved |
with tremendous. gathering OF iron; and |
the whole affair began to advance slowly |
between the two lines OF soldiers slowly |
along the level road.
We-the rest OF us,-ran ahead TO the |
village TO tell the people that the cursed
machine was coming; and all the folks
men, women and children-ranged them
selves along the roadside to see II pass. In
n little while somebody shouted, Here she
she comesT And there IT
way, sure enough, on top OF the slope,
right against the sky-all black and smok-
ing. tIcu can see the place from here,
sir, II you lean httlo this way.D IL is Just
ten steps from orr house. You see where
the road ends, and the street pavement
pesihsE mat where the descent pegins,
and there is little slope before You come
TO the big one
AT that moment the German officer
turned in his saddle, and shouted TO
Jaques:
Take care,"
"All right" said Jacques, Pm going TO
put on the brakes
Wen. sir. if | live 100 years. I'll never
forget what happened the next minute
no-and nobody who saw il could ever
forget it. Then understood why Jacques
had ordered his wife and son TO leave the
village, and 90 10 their uncle's. Ii would
have made them crazy for life 10 have
seen what did.
Lord instead of putting on the brakes,
he suddenly put on all steem-leaped at
the heutenant-wrenched the revolver
from his hands, and held him fast with an
iron grip, shouting with all the force of
his great lungs, "vive la Francer'-And
The engine leaped forward. and rushed
down the hill, reboundlng over the paving