The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-09-14


Catholic Youth.
go
TIIE FLYING ECUD.
To many persons there are few ecn-
sations more pleasant than that ofrap-
i'll motion. AsArtl,ur Granarl belong.
ed emphatically to that class of
travellers. he invariably made n point
of using the celebrated express train
popularity known as the Flying scud
whenever business or pleasure caused
him to journey away from the quiet
little town OF Blantlcombo in which he
lived.
Inthis preference ho was not alone,
or tho Flying scud was perhaps moro
used by iirst-class passc,gers-"cx-
press" furcs notwithstanling-than
any other train OH that line; in fact,
there were not q few residents in every
county through which sllc ran who
would almost us soon have thought
of posting to London by road
MS of travelling in amy other train
than the scud. There WIS
no other train like it, either on that
line or any othor-at le,tst such was
the popular belief. Naturally the Of
ficials were very proud OF this. their
premier train, and made no smallfuss
over it and all connected with it. In
decd, it seemed to DO relisiously ielt
by every one, high and low, that, ,.l-
though the carriages might be exactly
similar to those OF every other express,
and the engine III no respect different,
yet for the fastest train the world
could show, it WIS only proper to dis
play more zeal than usual in perform
ing even the commoncst OF Their du-
ties.
On ono hot day in July-after join
ing the Scud ut WINFIELD, where she
had arrived some twenty minutes late
Arthur Granard WIS sitting lnzily
back in IL litst-class compartment,
dreamily comparing his fellow passcn-
gers with Others of pleasant memory,
not much to the advantage of those
present. for OH this OCCASION the 9TH
or occupants OF the carriage seemed to
him oxor.raaci,ui., dull nntl common.
place.
A young man of detected appear
ancc and fast asleep was huddled up
in tho cornor on tho opposite seat,
his back to the engine; u schoolboy
sat on GranGrd's right greetlily de-
vourlng IL '.Nlidshipman Easy" and %
snoring Frenchman was slumbcriny
Justify Oh his left; while the remain
ing places ON the opposite seat were
occupied by u newly married couple,
the most hopeless OF companions.
| At least Granard concluded that such
were their condition, for they both
looked tagged and bored, and seldom
exchanged remarks, yet both seemed
ready to attend lovingly to anything
the other might say; but the impctu-
GUS light OF wooing and being woocd
WIS no longer in their eyes, so what
could they be but Il couple who had
just passed through the pcrilous days
OF Observation-Disclosures peculiar to IL
honeymoon
The man was n tamc.looking crca-
ture, without q single strong feature
in his f,tce, unless thin sprinkling OF
light wlIiskers-of tho hue vu!garly
dubbed 'ginger"-could he so de-
scribcd.
The wifo WIS better. She was
pretty little woman OF u plump home
ly typo, dressed in clothes which
seemed u little too smart. though her
general appearance was not altogether
unplcasing.
But conversation WAS clearly out OF
the question with any OF them, and
Granard soon laid back in his seat
with yawn, md presently gave HIM
self mp to enjoying TO tho full what
seemed to him tho best pace he had
ever known tho train travel ut. lie
was just about to set himself to ascer-
tain the speed by counting thrqnarter-
milo post which the glare OF he mid
day sun was suddenly exchanged for
darkness as the flying scud dashed in
to Dorton tunnel.
"Dorton already! didn't think
we'd got so far" he said to himself.
II haven't noticed the down fast pass
us yet. She must be pretty late,
too"
1t was usual for the scud to pass IN
express rs speedy rs herself before
reaching Dorton, and Granard never
failed to notice with interest the rapid
swishing sound produced as they flash
I'd past each other.
When the daylight burst in on him
asain, us the train rushed madly out
into open ground, he gathered up his
newspaper, and WAS settling down to
| it's contents, when suddenly violent
shock, IL crashing, grinding, shivering
shock, sharply reused him from list
lessness to painful intentness. The
sudden conclusion and the continued
violent motion set him literally dnnc-
| in. on his seat.
He knew well enough what the cause
was. lie was railway engineer by
profession: and derailments on the
temporary tramways used in railway
making were sufficiently frequent to
have made him thoroughly familiar
with the kind OF shock caused an en-
! CINE or truck leaving the track. Inan
instant he graspcd the fact that some
part OF the train had left the rails,
and, conscious OF the speed ut which
they were moving, he knew that
terrible crash was imminent and i'll
evitable.
Shouting to his fellow passengers.
"Holi on, every one!" he quickly
gripped the arm-rest on his left with
all his strength, stiffcncl himself in
his place by placing lis feet firmly
against the opposite seat threw his
right arm across his chest, elbow out
ward, to protect his face as far ,,s
possible from injury in tho coming
smash. lIo had not prepared HIM
self an instant too soon! At that
moment huge portmantcau came
crashing against tho door-framc, and
q splash Of other luggage scemed to
fly past the window, followed by q
cloud OF dust and coal; then Il fierce
gust os hot steam burst through the
open window, covering them all for a
moment as il in q black cloud. The
Frenchman yelled out n fearful oath,
the bride uttered a piercing shrek,
and the sclloolboy screamed and fran