The Meeker herald., 1892-05-07

liah, was to be mo.
m.ntaF.ly blind. Il.
ON orc oil the hills. on, Of sight o..
the yillnsr. were two boys. dressed in
warm and sny.coiofci 'oboss:nn suits.
Both wore mocca,ins. and snow- shoe,
were bound upon their feet with
thongs OF dccrsLin. Behind them
they drn.sssi n ;oho..nn.
a, the top OF hlilock. rough. ir.
regular mound near TIA. SUNNI, OF tho
hill itself. they stopped TO rest. throw.
inc themselves down in tho yi-ldin.
snow. They had had grca, spor. nj
ready. To feel the sprinsin. web OF
snow shoe under III, foot. to feel the
mir cold against tho face. to sec the
freshness and beauty OF sunny win.
tcr's mornin. NIL about is rarely cshil.
nra;in:. Merely to walk on snow.
shoes on such n day Is n delight; on.
cnn 30 so ias, and no far and 30 east.
ly'
Bu, tho walkin. had been only
means TO mn end. The tobbors.nn
was the thing. Tho rough and undul.
attn. hills presented n succ--.ion o,
splendid "slil-.." and III, bushes. OF
this superb Saturday mornin. had
b~cn to climb one eide OF u ridge IN
order to slide down the other. laugh.
ing bois,crous. jubiian..
To do 30 /. indeed fun. The glare o!
tho sunshine makes IL impossible to
scr clearly whether here are drifts tina,
will send the ;obosaan twis;in; oil to
one side and capsize its rider.
The snow-shocr knows these tricks
OF the sunshine. For him to bc
walking across field which seems
perfectly level. md suddenly to
tumble five or six feet straight down
ward. like man who has walked oil
n platform. to pull himself out OF tn.
so.; snow. md then. on looking back.
to SEQ that he had stepped without
knowing 1t oil the top OF large drift,
is nh occurrence by no means uEc com.
mon.
Such traps. of course. catch tho to-
boggan.ridcr as well ms the walker. and
give adventurous slides down unex-
pccted hillsides charming and
thrilling uncertainty.
II the slides are short, the toboYan
does not gain enough Roadway to
make them dangerous; but on n long
hill, where the tobog.nn might attain
the speed OF railway train, the
chances are that such "a slide would
end in disnAtcr.
The boys knew this, and had limited
themselves to short rides. for boys
are not. after all such reckless per-
t,r To hn
These two rested in the snow.
Among his Christmas presents Charley
had found a pair OF field .glasses-th
gift OF an uncle. lie carried them
everywhere, and used them, it may
be added. to look at n great many
things which he could see well enough
without them. He drew them out
now, and began to examine the coun-
try in detail.
Below the boys, Mt the foot OF the
large hill, ran the raiiroad--a long
black line in the midst of the general
wilderness. Directly in front and be-
low them n side track detached itself
from the main line, ran along beside u
hslf.empty woodshed water-tank
covered with icicles, and stopped
abruptly where the embankment
pitched down twelve feet or more. At
the end OF the track an old cross-tie
was boltcd down over the rails by
way OF buffer.
Through the glasses Charley could
Tee the very knots in the wood split
md piled in the shed ready to he
tossed into empty tenders. The sight
gave him nm idea.
Say" he cried, abruptly, "there
ought to be some spruce sticks down
there! bet We could find some gum"
"Nawl" said Dick. disapprovinsly.
Lets slide some first. We can go
down there later. Thegum will keep"
That switch" Charley announced
presently, sis set for ..the side track"
He handed tho glass to Dick, who
saw AS plainly ms hc did that the
switch was set so that n train must
leave the main track Mt this point,
end take the side track.
The fact indicated gross carelessness
on tho part OF some employee; but
this did not occur to the boys in any
forcible way ut first. The circuni-
stance merely set their imaginations
at work.
I'D like to see n railway accident"
said Dick.
Yes, you'd like lot OF people to
get killed now, wouldn't your"
~ didn't say that. and you know
u. OF course don't want any one
hurt; but ii nm accident had got to
happen, you know ,-now,- right down
there,-whether we were here ornot,-
shouldn't care il was on this hill to
ssit. Ii one had got to happen. any.