Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-16

Be- beyond control made up my mind
what to do, and the next time he turned
away from meo some pretense or other
caught hold of his arm
Now look here, Jem," ! said, 81 won't
have that You've had far too much already,
and while you are on this engine you are not
to touch a drop more Do you hearF'
Jem turned furiously upon me and broke
out into storm of abuse.
sits no use going on like that" said
firmly. Now, mark my words, II see you
touch it again, shall stop at the next station
and report you"
Jem glared angrily, but said nothing, and !
was weak enough to think that he knew he
had met his match and would give In. For
some time he was quieter, but only to put me
of my guard, for at last looking round sud-
denly, caught Master Jem in the very act
of draining the last drop from the bottle be
had managed to hide.
"Jem" exclaimed angrily, Selling bis
arm and shaking him; ''you ought to be
ashamed Of YOURSELF"
Jem laughed noisily. "Why, what's the
harml 1t warns one up a bit, mate. Take
a drop, too, to keep fellow company" hold
ing out the empty bottle with another laugh.
VIII Cuooi 1ou uP thsSAy'
"Il cheer you up, my fine fellow re-
turned. AT the very next station out you
60. neck and cropl And a pretty scrape
you'll find yourself In, reckon"
Don't care" muttered Jem, struggling
violently Jas still held him by the arm. Let
go Of me- can't your
You had better keep quiet" said, for
If you don't I'll All, good heavensl" for at
that instant saw something that made my
blood run cold-that made me thrust Jem
aside, careless Of what happened to him.
We 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-
cuIsion train. My heart almost stopped beat
ing with unutterable terror, and for moment
l was nearly paralyzed. Then l shut off
steam, seized the brake, and called to Jem to
whistle to the guard. We were going at
smart pace, but If we could attract the atten-
ton Of the other driver he might put ON steam
and keep ahead long enough to enable US to
stop.
whistle, Jem! whistler" / shouted, but to
my horror Jem only roared with laughter
Pushing him aside l 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
overpowered, but by 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 l nearly succeeded, but Jem
seemed possessed by some fend, and each
time he wrenched my hand away In sheer
desperation threw all my strength into one
effort, hurled myself at Jem, and succeeded
IN forcing him backward with one hand,
while with the other l made a snatch at the
handle; but, unfortunately, just as touched
it, stumbled over something, and we both
came down with e crash
/ must have struck myself violently against
something as fell, though in the excitement
Of the moment ! hardly noticed it, for when
l tried to get up found could not novel
was utterly powerless In that instant all the
terrible scene of the next few minutes seemed
to flash before my eyes, and groaned in an
agony Of despair. Ny only comfort was, that
at least / should not live to see it. With an
almost instructive prayer for help made a
frantic attempt TO get on my feet, only to
sink back helpless and half beside myself
with pain But In falling back l knocked
against can Of water that was close to my
hand Snatching it up and wrenching OFF
the lid, threw the whole canful straight
into Jem's face. He sprang up, shaking his
head like an angry bear, and as he did so he
caught sight of the train. l saw his face
grow white with horror, and In another
moment the loud shrek Of the whistle rang
In my ears, and grating sound and Earring
vibration under me assured me that Jem was
holding on the brake with all his might. II
1t had only been few seconds soonerl
From the position was lying In l could
see the terribly short distance between our
engine and the doomed train-I could see the
white face Of the guard as he frantically sig
nailed to the driver, and held my breath in
agony as l waited for the crash knew must
come. But the brakes were telling-we were
slackening speed-the driver was putting Oh
utes more!
could bear 1t no longer. was completely
unnerved by those fearful minutes, which
seemed Ike lifetime Of misery. fancied
the buffers were actually touching, and max
ing an effort to turn from the sight, tainted
dead away,
When / came round again WIS lying on
the ground; Jem, with face as white as q
sheet, was kneeling beside me, and a gentle
man was bathing my head and face with
cold water. / remembered all about it
directly, and looked anxiously at Jem, dread
ing to ask any questions. Jem knew what /
wanted
SITS all right" he said hoarsely. ''She got
away-we didn't touch.
"Thank God for thati" said; and then it
all came over me once more, and I nearly
went Off again.
Some one lifted my head and gave me
something to drink, and presently opened
my eyes and saw was at O station where we
were timed to stop while the express went by
"Have you shunted her, Jemf' / asked
eagerly.
Eyes, it's all right, A." said Jem again. 1.-THE
fast isn't due yet"
lay still a minute or two, and then tried
TO raise myself on my elbow, but q horrible
pain shot through me, and l could not help
giving bit Of q groan Is sank down again
"You must not try to move" said the gen
teman kindly, putting his hand lightly on
my shoulder TO prevent my getting up.
Keep quite still, my poor fellow"
Something in his grave face struck me, and
began to suspect what he meant; but some
how M the relief at finding nothing had hap
pensd did not seem to care much
'tt's all up with me, is it, siri" ! said
"Wel, I'm thankful it's no worse"
"Oh, Dick, Dick" Jem burst forth.
"Dontl Don'tl I've killed you, Dickl p
Never mind, Jem," managed to say.
"You didn't mean to do it" Then thought
of something Look here, Jem, don't
know how it came about. l didn't see any
signals; am certain they were not up; but
there's no uss your getting into mess Let
them think it was me-"
II WON'T /. won't" Jem burst out. 1t
was all my fault don't care what they DO
to me, only get well, Dick"
1T wasn't altogether your doing" went
ON, trying to comfort him II slipped some
how. 1t doesn't matter-and they may as
well think 1t was the reason-we didn't stop
sooner Promise me you'll say nothing