Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-12-17
a ROAD ON WHICH THE TRAIN
STARTS WHEN "JlM" FIRES up.

On landing in Honduras, the gentleman
took his family to the little native hotel
kept 10y mulatto woman in Central Amer
lean style, with frijoles and tortiIas for tn,
principal food and canvas stretched over
| frames for beds-and then started out TO fine
the railroad, hoping TO catch the morning
train. After a long search through tn,
town, he came upon single track in the
outskirts, which ended in a dilapidated
wooden shed, but nobody was in sight and
there was no sign Of train He made in
quiries and learned where the railway super
intendent lived. That officer of the Hondu
ras trunk line came out OF his house when
summoned, and was immediately asked when
the train would start
The trninf he repeated, in Spanish, oi
course
Yes; what time does it goFn his questioner
asked; lit has not gone today, has it,"
No; don't think it has gone today; no
Tn sure it hasn't gone today"
viii 1t go this morningm
No, don't think il will go this morning. ~
viii 1T 30 this afternoonr
"Quien sahef But don't think so. No,
don't think so. How can | tellr
You ought to know if anybody does, " the
New Yorker replied, "as you are the super
intondentn
While they were talking the officer was
shading his eyes with his hands and looking
across little bay in the distance.
Can You see across the bayi' he asked
my eyes are not as good as they used to be- y
The New Yorker looked, and replied that
he could see across the bay distinctly.
DO you see any smoke coming up out of
the treesf the superintendent asked.
No, there was no smoke.
Then | guess Jim won't fire up today, he
went on; Il sent him out in the country YES
terday to repair an engine on a sugar estate,
and most likely he hasn't got through yet.
But I'm pretty sure he'll fire up tomorrow.
Just come In on the steamerf And got a
family with youi Well, you'n find it very
comfortable down at the hotel, and think
therel bea train out tomorrow; yes, think
there will"
There was nothing for it but to wait, for
the chance of deducting forty miles from the
long mule ride was not 70 be lost. Next
morning the New Yorker was out bright and
early watching for smoke across the bay.
The smoke was there; evidently Jim" was
firing up. He hastened to the superin tendent
with the news and asked what time the train
would start
@N'cuN pNiCChY u she goes, the Off1Cer
answered; may be little earlier, may be a
little later; but you may as well be on board
by S, to make sure"
Shortly after O'Clock the train was ready
TO start. Ii consisted of an engine of the
style OF forty years or more ago, a tender
containing some wood, and one of the ear!i-
est passenger cars made, with no glass in the
windows, bench running lengthwise on
each md hfr Nfr.ll
the benches to give the car weight enough to
keep 1t on the track. There were a number
of passengers, and when all was ready and
the conductor had shouted "All aboard" in
Spanish, and the engine bell had begun to
ring, one of the passengers, a merchant in
the town, clapped his hand to his pocket and
exclaimed that he had forgotten to write
some letters, and jumped off and went back
to his Office to write them The train start
ed with vast amount Of whistIing and bell
ringing, and began to dash furiously across
the country at the rate OF seven or eight
miles an hour. 1t had not gone far before
the wood gave out, and the engine stopped
and the fireman and another trainman went
into the woods with an az to cut fresh sup
ply. These stops to cut wood were made
about once an hour throughout the journey.
AT the first station, which was reached at
about ii O'Clock, the man who had stopped
to write his letters came galloping up on a
mule, which he gave in charge of friend,
and resumed his seat In the car
When noon arrived the train was stopped
and the engineer, fireman. conductor and the
two or three other men employed on the road
made a little fire near the track and placidly
proceeded to cook and eat their dinner. This
occupied nearly an hour, and everything
went slowly but well till 2 O'Clock, when a
little stream was reached, crossed by an old
wooden bridge. Here the engine was stopped
over the middle Of the stream, and the fire
man got of, and, without any hesitation, re-
moved all his clothes. The New Workers
imagined that he was about to take a bath
but he was strictly in the performance OF his
duty. He lowered himself to the bed of the
shallow stream, with pail in his hand. and
the other trainmen made line 10 the tank
Of the engine, which they proceeded to fill
with water from the brook, handing up pail
after pail and pouring it in.
Ii was not till the middle OF the afternoon.
however, that the most interesting part Of
the journey was reached The train came to
n stop without any apparent cause, and stood
still for some time. The New Yorker Mt
length got out to see what was the matter.
He found that short distance ahead of the
engine rail was missing; If the train had
gone two rods further it would have run of.
without the remotest chance of getting back
again, for there is no machinery for such
uses in Honduras. The engineer had taken a
crowbar and walked back past the rear end
of the car, and was feeling about with the
bar for "a loose rail Presently he found one
to suit and pried it up, and he and the other
men carried it ahead and spiked 1t down in
the plnce of the rail which was missing Then
the train went ahead leaving, of course, one
rail missing in the track On making in
qnries the New Yorker learned that some
years before somebody stole one of the rails.
and that 1t had never been replaced because
there were no extra rails in the country, so
every time the train reached that point the
engineer had to stop and replace the missing
rail with one that the train had already gone
over
The train reached its destination at Q
O'clock in the evening, having averaged about
three and a half miles an hour in the twelve
hours consumed In the journey; and the New
Yorker who made the trip is emphatic in ad-
yising all other Americans who visit Spanish
Honduras t. stick TO the mules If time Is Of
any value to them.-New York Times