Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-27

zMMy -
ing bird in the big blackjack tree there By
the water tank. He presently came clamb-
ering back. 81 was afraid of the tarantu-
las, said he.
"Welli fl ever saw. There isn't a
tarantuls in Texas that isn't in bottle for
c show. I thought you'd get some of the
mulberries over there"
''I'll gol'' and Laddy ran to gather a cap
full of the black delicious if unhealthy fruit
of the mulberry trees, which had been
planted by some old ranchman and left as
he moved on. As he climbed about and
picked and ate and picked he heard little
shrek and puff, and looked around only in
time to see the engine, where little Tim had
put up his hand to trv his strength on a
lever, move slowly off, and then, as little
linn in terror threw himself on the wrong
handle, give whas seemed bound and a
! roar and rush of up the track.
1t was in vain for Laddy to bound after
| IT, to run screaming and hallooing. The en-
| glne slipped along like comet, up the les
senlng perspective, and became a speck
upon the horizon.
What would happen now? Tim couldn't
| manage that machine. He'd have an e1-
| Plosion He'd run off the track. He wouldn't
| know where to shunt when it was time
for the day train coming down from San
| Antoine. And Laddy sat down upon the
track and gave way to his feelings. He was
no longer the hero, the champion, the proud
and e1ultant Laddy running off with an en-
glne; he was miserable little vagrant hun
! grv and tired, .tramping up the bed of the
railway. For he must either tramp up in
the hope that little Tim might have brought
the engine to stop; or he must tramp down
and make the best of his way home, crest
fallen and downharted and sorefoot On
the whole it seemed best to follow littls
Tim, which then he proceeded to do, wip-
ing his wet face on his shirt sleeve as he
went, for in spite of himself fresh burst
OF grief would now and again make that
necessary.
But bitter as this desertion was to Laddy,
it was bitterer yet to little Tim, who, fright
ened almost out of his wits, stood staring
from the cab window like little white
image, more than palsied by fear, struck as
you might say to stone. On and on the
monster that bore him sped the wind of its
motion blew by him in a gale, a wind that
had no relation to the sweet southeast wind
that always blew across the prairie Things
slid by him like phantoms; he felt it, with
out saying ss much, quite within the power
Of that engine, going at that rate, to spia up
to the edge of the earth and off into infinite
space.
Suddenly q worse horror even than this
added itself to the rest. The track ran
through defile here, the walls of which,
although only few feet high, were vet too
high for cattle to climb, and bunch of
cattle had broken loose from some ranch
and were trotting down this defle, alarmed
by the coming uproar of the engine. And
in moment the engine was upon them,
Into them, over them, rearing, plunging,
and the air was full of believing, of the
hiss of escaping steam, of great white horns,
of infuriated red ewes, of lashing of long
tails, of cracking and grinding. And then
q crash fight, fall through space, I'd
the engine was a mass of ruins across the
track in the midst of dead and diving
steers, and the rest Of the yelling
and leaping creatures had bounded on and
sway, and little Tim lay iEsensible on the
soft hides of mound of dead cattle when
nearly an hour afterward Lsddy reached the
spot, white himself with heat, with terror,
and fatigue. His CONSERVATION, however,
had given him new life afar off; he called
and shouted to Tim, succeeded after while
in reviving him, and when they found no
bones were broken he proceeded to drag
Tim away from the dreadful scene, and they
hid themselves in the mesquite of the
prairie till the day train should come down.
There was no need of tagging the place
with any danger signal-in all the long, low
line of the railway there the engineer of
the day train could see the obstruction
many mile away.
Of course that keen-sighted man, the en-
gineer of No. ., when in process of time he
drew near, saw the wreck before him,
slowed up his train in dismay, and by and
by set all hands to work to clear the track
"a wild engine" they said, "that ran into
bunch of cattle. But where in thunder
was the driyer-the freman-anybodv
Were they all ground to dust?"
But no driver or fireman was to be found
in all the debris; and more amazed than
ever, trainmen and passengers, when the
track was cleared some hours afterward,
climbed back to their places When the
train proceeded two little tramps, unnoticed
BY any, were securely braced and hidden
among the tracks under the last car and car
ried safely back over the road on which |
they had that morning begun their conquer
ing career. They crept down and off at the |
last stopping place, still escaping observa-
ton; and that night, worn out and Just |
alive, hailed their mothers doorsteps as if |
they were the gates Of heaven.
never snail tell the punishment those |
two boys had. 1t was no more than they |
deserved. And both Laddy and Tim have |
made a solemn pact to save their pocket |
money and all the pennies that by any pos
sibility they can earn, till it makes sufi- |
cient sum to pay the railroad for the loss of |
that engine and for the killing of the cattle |
for every one of which cattle bill was |
brought in by the owner as for a thorough |
bred Jersey. really cannot imagine how
old they will be when that bill is paid
1t rests entirely on their honor, for unless |
the railway people read this story they |
never will know who the culprits we're that |
did that fatal business.