San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-03-02

zee him going down bill and running himself
| hodv and soul for want Of a little self con-
troll; so made up my mind to try again and
see if | could not stop him. dare say
should have done my best for wanted them
both to be happy; but am afraid If had
been able to see how it was to come about
should have shrdnk back from my share In
L. The next day was bank holiday, and quite
late in the day | was ordered to run special
that for some reason or other was unex-
pectedly wanted. We had done our usual
| trip, and had dismissed Jem, and by this
| time | knew he was probably INDUCING HIM
| self after his usual fashion, and doubted
very much whether he would be fit to come.
| However, there was no help for 1t; could
not get any one else without making fuss
over it, so | hurried off in search of him.
After some time found him in one OF his
tavorite resorts, and with good deal OF
trouble succeeded in getting him to leave bis
choice companions and come with me. We
had to hurry TO the station, Jem growing ana
grumbing the whole way. and had no time
to spare, so was very much provoked when,
lust at the last moment, Jem gave me the
slip and disappeared | waited few min
MES in a great worry, and was just gong 10
send one of my mates to ask for goods ire
nan. when he appeared and bundled on to
vhe engine | relieved myself by storminS
at him Indignantly, at which he looked very
surly, though he said nothing, and we started
In a very short time discovered that
might almost as well have been alone, for my
companion was jim horrid temper, and either
could not, or would not, do anything prop
erly, venting his i'll humor by banging the
things about and dropping the Goals all over
I 1 in
state BEFORE he was often rather surly at
first, but could generally manage to smooth
him down, and he was too good tempered
fellow too keep it up long. But this time he
got worse and worse, and more and more ex
cited, till at last began to suspect that he
had some drink with him | watched him
narrowly, and soon saw that my suspicious
were correct, and that, what with the spirits
and the pace we were going, he was getting
into a state of excitement that would soon
be beyond control made up my mind
what to do, and the next time he turned
| away from me on some pretense or other
caught hold of his arm.
Now look here, Jem," | said, Il won't
| have that You've had far too much already.
| and while you are on this engine you are not
| to touch drop more Do you hear"
| out into a storm Of abuse.
Its no use going on like that" | SAID
| firmly Now, mark my words, if | see you
touch it again, shall stop at the next station
| and report you"
Jem glared angrily, but said nothing, ard
was weak enough to think that he knew h.
had met his match and would give in. For
some time he was quieter, but only to put me
o(p,,, III Of
| denly, caught Master Jem in the very act
of draining the last drop from the bottle be
mad managed to hide.
"Jem" | exclaimed angrly, Selling his
arm and shaking him; you ought to be
ashamed of yourselfw
Jem laughed noisily. why, what's the
| harml 1t warns one up bit, mate. Take
a drop too, to keep a fellow company" hold
ing out the empty bottle with another laugh
Twill cheer you up finely"
IN cheer you up, my fine fellow" re
turned AT the very next station out you
go, neck and crop! And a pretty scrape
you'll find yourself in, reckon"
Don't care" muttered Jem, struggling
violently as | still held him by the arm. Let
| 90 of me, can't youf'
You had better keep quiet" said, for
that instant | saw something that made lly
blood run cold-that made me thrust Jem
aside, careless Of what happened to him
| W had just turned slight curve, and
there, as it seemed to me, close in front Of US
on the same line of rails, was monster eX
cursion train My heart almost stopped beat
Ing with unutterable terror, and for momcr,
was nearly paralyzed Then | shut OH
steam, seized the brake, and called to Jcm to
; whistle to the guard. We were going at u
smart pace, but if we could attract the attcn
ton Of the other driver he might put on steam
and keep ahead long enough to enable US to
stop
Whistle, Jcm! whistler" shouted but to
ny horror Jem only rOared with laughter
Pushing him aside | seized the handle, but
either the last drop had overset the balance,
or the struggle with me had excited him be
yond control With a fierce imprecatiou
he threw himself on me and tried to throw
me down Taken by surprise | was almost
ovcrpowered, but by a violent effort recov.
cred myself and endeavored to force Jem
back and reach the handle.
shall never forget the horror of those few
seconds, which seemed to me like endless
hours. Twice | nearly succeeded, hut JON
| sCClLICd lJ'H'GoStl W SO!Ile IclNl, uIlQ Cctu
time he wrcnched my hand away In sheer
desperation threw all my strength into one
effort, hurled myself at Jom and succeeded
in forcing him backward with ono hand,
while with tho other made snatch at the
handle but, unfortunately just as touched
1t, stumbled over something, and we both
came down with crash.
must have struck myself violently against
something as | fell, though in the excitement
Of the moment hardly noticed it, for when
| | tried to nct Mn | found cnull not Lnnun-L