Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-11-07
A RAILROAD YACHT.

81 notice that some pretty fast time in
being made on the eastern railroads lately"
remarked the major ns he laid down his
nuper. ut reminds me Of fairly rapid
,rin / made on the Union Pacific some
years ago
81 was on duty ut Sydney barracks, and
mt having much to do had accepted the In.
vitution Of my friend Ben Winthrop, d.
vision superintendent ut Sydney, to 10 with
him on duck hunt down ut Lone Pine. a
little watering statip,i about twenty miles
down the line. This was quite favorite
Mace for shooting and we had often been
there before on the same errand.
'.1he station keeper, Tom Carter, was an
odd genius, whose literary-dime literary
and philosophical turn Of mind enabled
him to bear the solitude Of his life in a
cheerful way The contentment OF men OF
4 this stamp calls for very peculiar tenn
perainent--about that OF lighthouse
keeper, should judge
"Ths man Carter lived in the little two
room cabin provided by the railroad. with
no family except a couple OF trick dogs, Of
which he w;ts very proud. and which could
do everything but talk, he claimed
.The dog fancier WAS very glad to wee liz
! when we got off the freight that brought us
down and gave us all the information that
he had about ducks and other game The
! ponds were about three miles away, and as
/ il was already after sunrise some time we
hurried right ont to the shooting ground.
II must tell you that Winthrop, my com
/ panon was man In n thousand: he had
/ worked his wav mp to his present position,
and before t.i, air.vssI of the railroad had
/ been an all around stage man. He was well
up in his business, and had n reputation for
pluck and energy second to no man on the
road
I'VE reached the ponds. found lots of
ducks and tended strictly to business all
day; as Carter did not, Of course, own a
horse, we Ind brought sort OF gocart
along to get our game back from the ponds
to the station. 1t was getting quite dark,
and rs we had HI many ducks rs we cared
to drag three or four miles we concluded
to return.
Ave were very tired. very hungry very
wet but very cheerful-in other words, we
A were returning from successful hunt
4 We had trrldged along, taking turns at the
cart. and were about half way In when we
H saw an object lying beside the road. 1t
was dog, and the animal whined when
Winthrop stopped to examine it.
"By George said he, this is Carriers
dog and he's all wet
$50 it proved; it was one of Carter's pct
dogs. II was covered with blood and seemed
weak; yet 1t managed to lick Winthrop's
hand, wag its tail and then limp off in the
direction Of the station.
Something's wrong here, lieutenant
said the railroad man; that dog wasn't
here accidentally Then lie added Car
ter is in some sort of trouble, and his dog
has tried to warn us. Probably tramps,
they make row once in awhile mt these
lonely stations. The only thing to do is to
push on, though
AT last we got within short distance
of the station, but on account of the lay OF
the land it was not in sight
lyon wait here and I'll 20 ahead and
see what's up said my ,panion so, al
though did not much like the idea, |
stopped with the cart and he went cauti-
ously ahead in the dark ness-for it was
now night and the moon had not risen
Soon he returned, and when | asked what
was up he simply replied, Come ahead
From his manner it was plain some
thing had occurred, but said nothing and
mechanically pulled the gocart with its
load Of ducks
Nv hen we reached the little station house
was surprised not to See Carter with
light waiting at his door to welcome u.s.
Tor did not believe anything was wrong
1t was dark and still. We left the cart
and quietly stole up to the building, there
being no one visible. We paused at the
door no bark from Cartcr's other dog
We quietly entered and could make out
the form OF man lying on the floor
Back again?' said weak voice which
we both recognized.
Yes, back again replied my friend
What's the matter?'
Is that you, Mr.. Winthrop was the
response, somewhat louder.
Yes, of course it is; what's up with
you anyway and Winthrop started to
light match.
Don't! Don't make Il lightv exclaimed
carter who had partly risen from the
floor, they'll see you
Who'll see mes Who's thew
IRAN robbersl' was the answer in q
hoarse whisper.
WhatF almost yelled my companion,
starting back
Train robbers, | say the man repeat
co. They're here, an they shot me in the
'eg an they've killed my dogs damn 'em.'
we both knelt down and examined the
mans Leg it was as he said; he seemed to
nave bad wound in the ankle, but us it
was "ahdaged in fairly good way we did
III" examine it very closely. The injured
man did not offer any further explanation
ana We sat down at his table to await his
pleasure
IL was grewsome business sitting
n'ere IN the dark, IA wounded man on the
'o"' ravlng of train robbers, and three
nouls before any train would be in; but as
was any way you took it, purely a rail
roa'l affair, made no comments or sug
geStions
AZ last my friend, the superintendent,
eo"a stand e no longer, and, breaking the
silence, he exclaimed:
Come come, Carter; explain this thing
anu let's light up. always told you to
'ook out for these tramps.'
irampsl tell you it's train robbers,
an 'ney amt done yet We did not believe
. MN, put Thought it best to humor him.
nut IL do 'em upl | dou't care SO much
my dogs
to tell him.
IN, You did, Well, where's the otherf
ttney shot himl ! seen him shot IN that's
now they shot me-
Westill doubted the train robber story,
ouI tnere was evidently something wrong,
anu "oout the quickest way to get at it
vas 10 let him 20 his own gait.
=, lou see, Mr.. Winthrop,' he went on
""out Two hours ago four fellers rides up
hA 4. ~