Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-10-02

years old he had picked up no small
amount of information, especially on
railroad topics. He knew every locomo-
tive on the road, understood the intri-
cacies of sidetracks and switches,
and could tell the precise mo-
ment when any particular train might be
lexpectcd with the accuracy of time
table.
Yet the very quickness and ardor of
! his nature deepened his sense of his in-
trinity. The glances cast upon him by
stranger eyes, some pitiful, some curious,
others, alasl expressive only of annoy
ances or disgust, ranked like so many
arrows in his heart; not one missed itsi
mark. How wistfully his eyes followedl
boys of his own age-straight, hand-l
some, happy-who sprang lightly up andi
down the steps of the coaches, or
threaded their way along the crowded.
platforms. For one day of such perfect, +,
untrammeled life he would have bar
tered all the possible years before him.
Yet he never put his yearuing into
words, even to his mother.
"Crooked Joes a rum un," said one
of his rough acquaintanceS. "He senses
his trouble well enough, but he don't lett
on to nobody"
Mr.. Crump, the telegraph operator,
was Joe's constant friend. 1t was he'
who, at odd moments had taught thei
boy to read, and had initiated him into
some of the mysteries of the clicking int
strument which to Joe's imaginative
mind seemed some strange creature with
hidden life Of its own.
1t was growing toward dark one Mol
yember afternoon. Joe-never an UNI
welcome visitor-sat curled in a corner
of Mr.. Crumps office, waiting for his'
mother to finish her work. He was Ia !
boriously spelling out, by the fadingI
light, the words upon a page OF an illus !
tiated newspaper, quite Obliviou' of the
ticking, like that of a very jerky and'
rheumatic clock, which sounded in the,
room.
Mr.. Crump, too, had paper before. I.
him, but his ears were alive. Suddenly
be sprang to his feet, repeating aloud the
MESSAGE which that moment flashed y
along the wire.
Engine No. 10 running wild. ]
Clear track.
He rushed to the door, shouting the I
news.
"Not a second to spare! She'll be-
down in seven minutcs2"
The words passed like lightning. In
moment the yard was in wild CON-
motion. Men flew hither and thither,
yard engines steamed wildly away, the
switches closing behind them.
The main track was barely cleared
when 10 came in sight, swaying from
side to side, her wheels threatening to
leave the track at each revolution. She
passed the depot like a meteor, her bell
Changing with every leap of the piston,
the steam escaping from her whistle with
the continuous shriek of demon, and
the occupants of the cab wrapped from
view in a cloud of smoke.
Some hundred rods beyond the depot
the track took a sharp upward grade,
from which it descended again to strike
the bridge across narrow but deep and
rocky gorge.
Men looked after the flying locomo-
tive, and then at each other with
blanched faces.
They're gonel A miracle cant save
'em, " said one, voicing the wordless ter
ror of the rest. "If they don't fly the
track on the upgrade they'll go down as
soon as they strike the trestle."
The crowd began to run along the
track, some with vain instinct of help
fulness, some moved by that morbid
curiosity which seeks to be Sin at she
death"
But lookl Midway the long rise the
speed of the runaway engine suddenly
slackens.
"What does it meant She never
could "a died out in that time!" shouted
an old yardman.
Excitement winged their feet. When
the foremost runners reached the place
the smoking engine stood still on her
track, quivering in every steel-cl
nerve, her great wheels still whizzing
round and round amid fight OF red
sparks from beneath.
"What did it3 What stopped herr
The engineer, staggering from the cab
with the pallid face of the fireman behind
him, pointed, without speaking, to where
a little pale-faced, crooked-backed boy
had sunk down, painting with exertion,
beside the track At his feet huge oil
can Law overturned and empty.
The crowd stared, one at another, open
mouthed. Then the truth flashed upon
them.
"He oiled the trackl"
"Bully for Crooked Joel"
They caught up the exhausted child,
flinging him from shoulder to shoulder,
striving with each other for the honor
of bearing him, and so, in irregular,
tumultuous, triumphal procession they