The morning call., 1893-02-18

breath became short, before finished it;
/ but although | found the water higher than
1t had been, it was not more dangerous to
| the bridge.
| Upon my return I took care to have my
switch-lights trimmed and placed out earlier
| than usual, and hastily paTtO0k of supper.
| for already the low mnttering of distant
/ thunder f0retold a heavy Storm and bad
| night. When it broke at last was alone In
| my office. and the cracking OF the telegraph
| Instruments as the lightning played around
| them, reSembled the firing of a small pistol.
! The rain fell in torrents and the wind blew
as If il would demOlish everything before it.
| sat listening to the efforts of the dis
| patcher TO make his train orders plain. and
when his continued repetitions made me
nervous. fell back on my guitar for conSola-
| ton. After playing every mOurntul mel
| ody | could think of. l spread out my bed
! and dropped on 1t 10 rest. II not to sleep.
| For some time | heard the rain beating
| against the window and the wind rushing
! under the cornice of the depot and creeping
/ along the rafters with sohs like those Of a
| child then l dOZed off to sleep; and moth
| ing troubled me.
! awoke suddenly TO find myself sitting
| up in bed, and to hear the pony ms rument
working clearly, as if handled by mastery
fingers. l was spelibound, for the appa-
ratus was connected with the main line, and
| there was no one in the room; but it clicked
! distinctly. and my blood curdled as | recog-
niZed the call that is used on the wires only
for those messages thai are always sent TO
an operators ear-the death signal" Who
| was sending IL?
| sprang out of bed, turned my lamps
| higher, seized my fountain-pen and made
ready 10 copy. The message ran as follows
From Austin to c. w. g.. Oelwein. Number
| -Four Night Limited went down at Big stowe
| bridge. Fifth and sixth treslle washed ont:
| Seventyihree killed. *. Z.
| read and reread this till my own writing
| looked strange to me as it lay on the desk,
| and then glanced at the clock. IL was a
| quarter to l. Number Four was due at
| Westgate at half-p 2. So the message
| was sent an hour and quarter before the
! train would reach the place of the wreck!
| Al that minute the piercing whistle Of a
| locomotive broke upon the night air. l
| glanced from the window and saw the red
| light OF an approaching train some fifty
| yards away. Throwing on my coat and
| picking up my lantern l made my way to
the platform, saying aloud:
"The bridge was ali right last night. 1t
| is surely all right now"
stood a long Zine waiting for the train
to pass by. No. - Limited stopped at
Westgate, but IL came no nearer and it
made no sound. Then l saw that il was
going at full speed through n country with
| which was not familiar The faithful en-
ginear stood in his cab with his hand on
the throttle. guiding through the darkness
the human freight that was trusted to him
for safe delivery; and the fireman. in the
shadow, looked out with pallld face. They
| crossed streams and halted at stations; the
bell rang and the whistle echoed, but there
was no mbe OF wheels.
By and by | began to recognize the sta
tons as they came to them There was the
New Hampton depot, with the passengers
crowdng about the steps and friends meet
ing and parting at the door Of the ear. The
conductor walked out with his train orders
in his hand. The mail pouches were ex-
changed and the phantom train went on
again.
Next came Fredercks burg, then Sumner,
and then-0 terrible fate II could h-aI the
humming roar and the painting of the en-
CINE; | could see the turbulent waters of
the Big Stowe lashiDg the approaches OF
the long bridge. The train was slowing up
to cross it. | held my breath. 1t was in the
center Of the great structure. The engineer
was calling for brakes. | could hear the
| escaping steam. and the next instant it had
plunged headlong into the black, Seething
mass Of water beneathl
dropped Oh my knees and gave, not a
scream, but the widest yell that ever came
from mortal lips. A moment later, | was
fully awake. lying on the office floor, where
l had fallen during my nightmare.
Some time elapsed before | could deter
mine that 1t was all a dream. l turned up
my lamps, examined the little instrument
that had clicked off the warning message,
looked for a copy Of it on my desk, and at
last resolved that, as | had ample time,
would 60 out to Stowe and examine the
bridge before No. was due. If everything
WAS right no one on the trip would ever
know Of my dream.
1t WAS but the work Of a moment to get
cut my tricycle. and light up the head-lamp.
and L was soon whirllug away toward the
river. The storm had Passed, leaving q
bank of copper-colored clouds in the east
and the moon shining dimly in the far west.
AS drew nearer, the hOarse voice Of the
Big Stowe became a roar. and found the
| track covered with water The tricycle. had
| to be abandoned, and | continued my way
| Oh feet through still deeper waters till |
| reached the bridge. | passed easily over
| the first four trestles, and was angry to find
| that ] had such faith in the mysterious
! message that / was expecting danger IN the
| fifth and sixth. When stopped and swung
| my lantern out ahead OF me. It's CLEAN,
| aided by the MOONLIGHT. showed NE thirty
| swo feet Of rail vibrating 10 and fro over a
| yaWniug chaSm, where the mad waters
| laughed and leaped and sbrieked as II a
| demon controlled them. The fifth and
| sixth trestles were washed away. and /
| knew hy a warning scream OF the locomotive
that Number Four had just left Sumner.
There was no help for it; L must cross
that gap on the rail and flag the train that
was coming through the darkness TO death
and obstruction. | crOuched down and be.
gan my passage for life. taking my lantern
between my teeth. that might have the use
| of both hands. The least dizziness or weak
ness. the slightest loss of balance, would
plunge me- into the waves below. and the
train would be lost.
| erawled carefully along: now l was
moving successfully, now l was trembling
now the swaying of the rail was turning
nv head | was twO-thirds of the way
across when | heard the train coming; a
few steps more, and the headlight Of Old
No. came swiftly around curve and bore
down the long grade.
| was like mailman. In my excitement
ny teeth shut themselves tightly on the
wire handle of my lantern, and | cfept like
a beast of prey TO the firm footing that lay
before me, where | stopped long enough to
take my light in my hand and wave the
danger signal. AS | ran lightly up the
track | waved it in dozen shapes and
shouted at the top of my voice, tn ough |
knew no one would hear me. The terrible
strain on my nerves gave way when /
climbed up on the engine and tried TO eX-
| plain matters to the engineer. who had
halted 800 feet from the bridge. | got
through with an ineoherent sentence, in
which message" and phantom train" re-
peated themselves, and then l believe |
cred-at least the boys say did: but they
never called it babyish, and the whole crew
called my dream a wonderful coincidence
Archie L. E sgleston.