Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1893-09-23

| ping place Oey0nQ the gorge, SO w
had nothing to do save to hang OIL
and let the car GO How we few!
''We'll beat it il we don't ge
: ditched." Teddie observed, and a
he spoke we flashed past the mould
OF Jones gulch and caught glimps,
of black moving wall of water
fifteen feet high, rolling down toward
Us.
''The car will outrun > it," yelled
Teddie in my ear. Don't get scared.
"What if we meet wildcat
freight" 1 screamed back. A wild
cat train is one not running on regu
lar time, but whenever the usua
trains happen toleave the track clear.
Got to take our chances on that,
yelled Teddie in reply.
And now we entered the gorge
proper. The roar of the river as il
whirled along over huge bouIders be.
tween the side of the gorge and the
stone-bound railroad embankment.
united with the rattle Of our Cal
wheels in a volume of deafening
sound. Overhead hung the weather.
SCARED granite walls of this cavern
GUS canon, and the eye Travelled
upward thousands of feet before reach
ing their summit. Il looked up in
despair at the narrow strip Of blue
sky above US and thought that the
bright sunshine away up there was
only hooking our hopeless race But,
upon glancing behind us, my heart
gave great leap of JOY for that
death-bringing wall of water had
been left out Of sight in our rear.
On and on we flew. Hooked up at
Teddie's face The color had re-
turned to his cheeks, but his mouth
had lost it's usual grin and was firmly
set across his tightly shut teeth, while
his eyes had quite forgotten to blink
and were looking straight down the
track. At the sharpest curves he
steadily applied the brake, but never
slackened our speed as we tore around
the slighter ones. though more than
once the little car careened until l
thought we must surely fly the track.
lllumined as it was by calm courage,
that ugly face of Teddie's grew hand
some to my eyes, while my admiration
for his cool judgment grew apace as /
noted how he ran no extra risks yet
lost'not second of time that could
be saved. And time meant life or
death not only to US but to that
train-load OF passengers.
And now We had reached the hang
ing bridge and had flashed under
those V-shaped beams of solid steel
inserted in the living rock of the
granite walls of the gorge. upon which
the structure is supported. The
grade grew sleeper and sleeper and
we flew the faster. The wind created
Dy our swift motion made my eyes
water, while the rails Of the track
seemed to be devoured by our little
car And still we went faster
"Here's the last big curve"
screamed Teddie in my ear as he put
on the brake We slackened our
speed and rounded the curve safely,
but just as we reached the straight
track beyond, a little stone lying
against one Of the rails upset the car,
fortunately for US, on the uphill side.
We both shot headIong into the sand
that covered the bed of a dry ravine
whose mouth broke the rocky walls
of the gorge. Had we fallen a hun
dred feet on either side of this point,
we must have teen dashed to pieces
against the cliffs.
Picking ourselves up hastily we ran
tC our faithful car which luckily lay
close beside the rails, and threw it on
the track again. I shuddered as [ |
looked down the rock rip-rapping of
the railroad embankment and thought
what would have been our fate had
we fallen down there into the river
that ragged below.
And now we were going once more, |
but not moment too soon for close |
behind US rolled that horrible black |
wall of water.
"We'll beat it yet" cried Teddie.
l read the words on his lips but the
air was too full of the roaring noise |
Of the flood for me to hear him.
The little car flew faster than ever,
but to my excited fancy that huge
wave Of liquid mud that reached |
from wall to wall of the gorge and
overwhelmed the track as it came
was surely gaining on us
"Now, we're SAFE" Teddie shouted |
so loudly that heard him above the |
roar of the waters, and as he spoke
we shot past the bridge across Grape
Creek where the Silver Cliff branch
of the Denver and Rio Grande turns
off, and were flving down the widen
ing valley Of the Arkansas River with
Canon City right before us.
Barely half mile down the track
was the train running straight to-
ward us! Teddie never touched the
brake but began to make the railroad /
signal that means, "Back up" while
waved his red cotton handkerchief
in lieu Of danger signal.
The engineer put on the reverse as
we tore toward him and then Teddie
applied our brake, but we had to
jump for it when we reached the en-
CINE aud our car climbed the cow
catcher as If it meant to 60 in at one
OF the cab windows. The train was
moving very slowly, having just
1tN1 a 4 Il