Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-10-24


for swift glance at tho ganges Ben fed the
fire box with all tho skill he knew, recalling
Mike Murphy's instructions and doing his
| best to keep steady, hot fire without smoth-
ering it by putting on too much coal, the
| common mistake of inexperienced firemen.
Never once since starting had he looked from
his work, or even taken single glimpse
from the window directly in front Of him.
Yet all the time his mind was busy. He
| had set upon this wild race with the single
idea Of chasing the fat car and IN some way
| preventing thu destruction it was sure to
create if left to itself
But now the question was whether the car
could be overtaken, and, if it could, what
| should then be done. Knowing how far the
bridge was away from the station, he men,
+ tally calculated the probable speed of the fat
and the time it would occupy in making the
distance. Then, between shovelfuls Of coal,
he fixed the pace necessary to come up with
the chase sufficiently far from the bridge to
allow opportunity for securing the runaway
by plan which had just occurred to him.
''There it isl" cried Roger, as they swept
around long curve. 'It's running nearly
as fast as we are"
For the first time Ben looked ont at the fly
ing telegraph poles, while counting the jars Of
the wheels on the joints Of the rails.
'Give her little more, Roger" said he.
The engine seemed to drop from under them
with its increased speed on the down grade,
rolling and pitching like ship at sea. Ahead
the fat was bounding along the rails, strew-
ing the track side as it ran with heavy ties.
for its load had been shifted by the shock of
rounding the curve. Several times the DUR
suing engine struck and threw aside some of
the ties which had fallen partly across the
rails
Fearfully dangerous it was, but Roger did
not even think of slowing up. On the con-
trary, he crowded his machine little harder.
There was need of it, for the bridge was less
than Hmile away, and mile at this speed
was only few seconds over a minute.
Ben also knew that He threw down his
shovel. caught up an iron pin, and opened the
doors leading out upon the boiler. Roger
looked at him anxiously, but never spoke.
The thing must be done if both his brother
and himself gave up their lives in doing it,
for there, down under the bridge, were TWEEN
ty men-husbands and fathers, many Of them
working away, unconscious Of the death
that was rushing upon them at fifty miles an
hour
Clinging to the brass railing and almost
choked by the fierce rush of air that the en-
CINE created as it tore along, Ben crawled
slowly to the buffers, and from there let him
self down till his feet rested upon the frame
of the pilot. Half sitting, half standing he
held on to a brace with one hand, and with
the other raised the heavy coupling rod
which hung along the front angle of the pilot
1t was terrible place. Stunned by the
furious noise, smothered in dust and bewil-
dered by the dizzy sweeping of the roadbed
under him, his head swan, and for a moment
he thought he should fall But the weakness
passed away before the thought Of what de-
pended upon him.
He must save those lives. That was what
he was there for
The engine was gaining rapidly, but still
not rapidly enough. A few seconds more
would render all this struggle useless.
He leaned out and waved his hand. In
stantly another of those headlong leaps told
him that Roger had seen his signal, and that
all steam was on.
The distance decreased. A hundred yards
--fifty--twenty-five Now the rumbling,
swaying mass of timber was directly over
head, and Ben rose to his feet as cool as he
had ever been in his life
With pin and coupling rod in hand, he
stood balancing himself on the narrow frame
that Jared and jumped beneath him, MOTTO
ing even then the steady skill with which his
brother was reducing the engines speed to
correspond with that of the car and prevent
heavy shock. Another second, and he
dropped the rod in place, passed the pin
through and fell backward upon the pilot
The wheels screamed and grated, the steam
-oared, and the whole engine groaned under
the racking strain Of the reverse, but the
cars way was being checked, and slower and
slower it went, until its impetus was finally
overcome and destroyed by the drag and pull
behind it. Right before, not fifty feet Oft,
was the bridge, but the car had stopped
Well, you can imagine what scene there
was-the terrified workmen swarning out
from among the timbers down in the ravine,
learning what they had escaped. who had
saved them, and how it had been done And
you can imagine another scene, an hour or
two later, when the shouting procession Of
grateful men and wives and mothers and
sisters, crying for joy, brought the two young
heroes up to the station, where Engineer
Moore was waiting. But you cannot imag
inc what the fathers feelings were OF hearing
the story, nor how he was proud and glad
and frightened and thankful all at once. No
body could imagine that
Mike Murphy was simply uproarious.
'Hurrool Didn't Oh till yezi" he kept say
ing Didn't Oh say ye'd see what was in 'em
whin they had the chancel An they've had
the chance. an We do seel HurrooI'-Man-
lev III Pike in Youths Comnanion