Omaha daily bee., 1889-05-19

fireman was lighting his lamp, the en-
gineer, Edwards, experienced a strange
feeling creeping over him, and as he
pulled into the canyon the silence
seemed deeper than usual, the night
darker and the air colder. Several
times before they reached the
gys grrae caasea hs P5Gpp4g 5 m ss of the 0 safety
they were winding in and about the
labyrinth Of small canons and over deep
arroyos, and as his trained eye swept
the glittering rails ahead he forgot his
uneasiness. Engineers seldom speak to
their firemen-aS rule they are too
busy: the constant watching requires
that their minds should be on their
work, and tonight Edwards was more
like sphinx than usual, for it was re-
ported that there was a bridge in dan
ger of going down, and q defective rail
in one of the canons, and ever and
anon he slackened the speed of his
train as a matter of safety.
THE DANGER SIGNAL.
The engineer passed under a snow
shed, and the strange roar so peculiar
on such occasions followed. While in
the shed, far away there came the long,
warning whistles of an approaching
train. Edwards remarked to his fire.
man that No. s was following too close.
Again, when about five miles farther
on, ne recognized the same whistle,
this time nearer, and at short intervals
the signal was heard, coming rapidly
nearer.
1T must be a wild train" Whitehead
grumbled, as the engineer reached for
the rope and gave two short, sharp
whistles, only to hear the long, danger
GUS answers. Again in n asnowshed, , it oc-
FOL hot hfl 1, alt tot btr1' N
east-bound freight at the next switch,
twenty-five miles further up the noun
tain, and as he left the shed the bell
sounded three times, and he brought
his train to a standstill as quickly as
! possible. He could hear the doleful
sounds of the followers as the pistonrods
travelled back and forth in the cylin-
| ders, in the crisp night air, but Il sound
| more omnious than that was the long
| drawn whistles of the engine that was
| rapidly overhauling him. The conduc-
tor ran forward at this juncture and
| asked:
What did you stop for?"
What did you pull the bell-cord
for?" rejoined Edwards.
You're crazy" the conductor said.
Now pull her wide open and light out
| for the switches, because we've got to
| pass No. 10 there, and, besides. there's
wild train a-climbing up on us. Dye
| hear?
| RACING FOR LIFE.
! Edwards drew back the lever with Q
strange feeling. He opened the throt-
tie, the wheels slipped on the rails, but
as they caught the sand the long, heavy
train began to move forward slowly
Both men in the cab could hear the
sand grind beneath the enormous
weight of the engine. The train in
creased in momentum as it moved for
ward, and in about five minutes was
running as fast as practicable on tina
| portion of the road. The following trair
was approaching nearer and nearer
Again the short series OF warn
ing whistles was heard, which
Edwards ansn cred, but only Il
hear the wild train give the danger sig
nal again. He looked out of the window
as he was rounding curve and noticed
the other train rapidly approaching
Cold beads of sweat stood out on hi
forehead as he pulled the throttle wide
open. Faster and faster the speed 0
/, the train increased, and more danger
Gus was the track. They were now II
the very worst portion Of the pass