The National tribune., 1894-06-21

| kA d
!. N1 Tears of angry disappointmentstooG
@v@ IN her eyes as she sat under the low
spreading branches of the old elm
tree in the front yard of her pretty little home
and all this had been caused by the big
broad-shouldered young fellow who was now
making his way across the open prairie toward
the % " roundhouSe, dinner basket in hand
and with the usual roll of overcIothes under
his arm.
The Brotherhood Of Railroad Firemen were
to give the first dance of the season that night.
and Joe Quinn, the bright young engineer,
with whom Polly had been keeping company
for over year, had promised to take her, and
now, just as the evening shades were falling,
and it was nearly time to don the pretty dress
made with such loving care for the event, he
had come to the house and told her that it
I would be impossible for him to keep his en-
gagement He had been called to go out on
No. 5, the Limited" and could not get off,
1t was enough to yex a saint, thought Polly.
John Ward, Poly's father had been in the
employ of the 90" compa' for many years
| and had risen from post sn as laborer to
that of foreman of the rou. dhouse. On the
night ofwhich we write he had been home to
his supper and had been obliged to return to
the shops again to complete some repairs to a
locomotive that could not wait Polly was
alone, and, with nothing else to do, sat
under the big tree and grieved over her lovers
detection.
Across the level prairie she could dimly see
in the growing dusk the outline of the monster
shops and engine-house. On the tumtable
| track, down near the water tank she saw the
bright rays Of an electric headlight that
she well knew was on the big 'ten-wheeler :"
| that her lover was to run that night. She
could see the fiaring torches 'ofQuinn and his
fireman as they worked around the ponderous
machine, getting her ready for the mad rush
Of the fast limited express The schedule of
the train WAS very fast, and she well knew
/ that Joe would take especial pride in showing
his superiors that he had the necessary nerve
and ability to make the time
The mellow tones of the engine bell, soffened
/ by the intervening distance, foated across the
plain, rousing Polly from her reverie, and tell
! ing her that her lover had started for the
| passenger station In the city, two miles away.
| She watched the headlight until ii disappeared
around the curves, and was about to start for
the house, when her attention was attracted
by voices on the other side of the tight board
fence that inclosed one side of the lot scarcely
| 10 feet from where she sat.
Is / tell you it's dead sure go if we only
hustle. That's Quinn backing down now on
| the 81. He'll run the life OF 'em out of here,
and a couple of good oak ties stuck in that
| trestle will do the job slick enough. After the
| tumble they'll get nobody will be watching
| very close, and we can sneak the safe into the
| woods easy enough"
God, Bill, said a second voice, 81 don't
just fancy killing such lot of people as thatll
do. Can't we flag 'em at the trestle III 90
through the car same as the other gangs do I?
% cIv nf' nc 10. Inf hat
express man easy enough
No use to talk about it now, Hank" re-
sponded the first speaker 1.-The boys have
got the thing all fixed now, IN we can't change
| if now. Come on, we'll have to run if we get
to Rock Creek before Quinn does"
As they finished their iow-toned hurried
talk two men came from behind the fence and
started on run down the road toward the
railroad track.
Polly was bright, quick-witted girl and
generally very selt-reliant, but now she stood
in the black shadows of the big tree COM
pietely paralyzed by the atrocity of the awful
plan these men had revealed
They were going to wreck No 5 to rob the
express safe.
How could she give the alarm in time to
avert this terrible sacrifice of human life? 1t
was over half mile from her house across the
prairie to the shops, and from them it was
nearly as far to the main track, to reach which
one would have to cross the intricate tracks of
the great switching yards, which at this time
III the year were crowded with grain cars
Could she get to the shops, find some one trust
worthy, tell her story to them, and still leave
time enough for her messenger to reach the
main track to stop the train :?
While these questions were flashing through
her brain the little clock in the hall chimed
the half hour. 1t was $50, and the train left
the city at 9. She had only 80 minutes left
Suddenly she started toward the house on a
run, crying:
q can do it I know can.''
On Joe's last trip in she had given little
lawn party, and Quinn with the characters
tic love of railroad man for light and color
had brought over from the shops lot of rail
road lanterns, white, blue, red and green, to
hang in the trees, and now they were stacked
IN the hall awaiting their return to the store
room. In second Polly was beside the pile,
holding first one, then another between her
eyes and the great arc light at the shops
She soon found what she wanted, red one,
and with 1t clasped i'll her arms ran to the
kitchen for matches with which TO light it,
Match after match was struck. only to 90
out, but at last success crowned her efforts and
the light burned bright and clear; in another
moment she was speeding down the road
toward the track, bareheaded, thinking only
of Joe and the awful fate that awaited him if
she were not in time
Leaving the city of - the c., B. and Q.
road runs south nearly two miles in almost q
straight line, then makes long curve to the
left and straightens out to the east. In the
inner radius of this curve the company located
the shops and switching yards, and little
farther back, and east Of the shops, had laid
out a little town for its employees. On the
street nearest the shops was the home of the
Wards, and this street crossed the railroad
nearly mile from their house, and consider
ably more than that from the yards.
Polly was thoroughly familiar with all the
surrounding country, for, in the Summer just
passed, on the pleasant Sunday afternoons,
the big engineer would take the little maid