The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-07-07
BOYS TO THE RESCUE.
How Trude and Kit Saved the Limited Express.

BY WILLIAM MURRAY GRAYDON.
Copyright. 1895. by William Murray
Gr2ydOn.)
It was wild and fearful June night,
and the great storm that had begun
three days before gave no signs Of
drawing to an end. The rain still
poured at intervals, and the wind blew
in fierce gusts. The Susquehanna
river was a raging, yellow food, swol-
len a dozen feet or more above its
normal boundaries. Submerged islands
peeped out of the waters like grass
bars, and borne along by the furious
current were fences, pig-stys, sections
of bridges and ali SORTS of smaller
driftage
4 snug place that night was the tele-
graph tower at Beaver station. 1t
stood well up the bank and on level
with the railroad tracks. Dave Junkin,
the operator on duty. was resolute-
looking young man Of %. At O'Clock
he had relieved the day operator and
the latter had gone TO his home two
miles away, net to return again till o
the next morning.
It's terrible night Tor railroaders,"
said Dave to himself, as he filled and
lit a briar-roOt pipe. a quarter past
9 and no visitors. 1 don't suppose III
see q soul till morning except me
track-Nalker."
But just then the door opened and
two bright faced lads of Is entered the
L ser. They shook the water off their
leaky rubber coats and stamped their
muddy boots on the floor.
''Hulior' said Dave, with a smile Of
welcome. Here's two people that
ain. afraid OF the storm"
''Oh, We don't mind it." replied Trude
Hallam, as he sat down on the bench.
We've been hooking driftwOOd," adj
ded Kit Fletcher, and when it got
too dark to see we thought we'd drop
in here Bit
I'm glad you came" said Dave.
Its sort Of lonely tonight, and need
ed cheering up
Trude and Kit lived about a quarter
of mile up the river, where stood the
half score IF houses that composed
Beaver station. Their fathers were
freight brakemen, ard as each had
large family, they found it no easy
matter to keep the wolf from the door.
The present food was a wind-fall for
the boys, since what wood they caught
could be sold OF stored away for Win
ter.
The river is still rising" remarked
Kit. after a silence that was broken
only by the monOtonous clicking OF I he
instrument How are things on the
road. Dave?"
All right. so far" replied the oper-
atOr The eaSt-bOund accOmmcda tfen
is fifteen minutes late; it will be along
at 1850. 1 have not heard from the
limited express west, but suppose it's
on time"
No bridges or wires DOWN." said
Trude And no landslides?"
nov ms or
Il this pour keeps up
The Alarm.
a summons at tie instrument caused /
Dave to wheel around in his chair with /
a Jerk. and pressing his finger on the /
button he listened intently. Click
click-clic5, click-click-so il went on
sharply. and as word after word was
raped off Dawes face turned from red
10 gray, and his pipe dropped unheed-
ca from his lips.
The boys could endure the suspense
no longer. Whats Wrong?" they de-
manded with one voice.
Something terrible" cried Dave, as
he ran his fingers nervously through |
b:s hair. ''Etter's big dam on Hun /
locks creek has Just broken, and the /
flood has washed the trestleS from I'M /
der the railroad bridge, and sagged |
part of No l track and cut the en- |
ton tower on all sides. Kirke, the /
operator. and the track-walker are /
shut up there together, and they eX-
pect it to cave at any minute. They /
can't escape, for there's d raging cur
rent ali around them
Again the summons interrupted, ana |
this time Dave read the message out /
aloud in quick, husky accents: Have /
Just wired TO Georgetown to stop the /
limited express west. Reply came that /
it passed there two minutes ago, and I
then connection was suddenly cut off. /
Wires are down somewhere. / am sur
rounded by water, and the tower is
likely 10 topple into the flood at any
minute. If it does, 1 can't signal lin
ited to stop. The bridge won't bear ii.
You must do something to prevent ter !
rible loss OF life. Try to get an en-
CINE
Dave turned toward the boys, his
face as haggard as an old mans.
You heard that?" he gasped And |
now Kirk is cut of. The tower must /
have slipped into the creek and snapped |
the wires as it fell
With trembling fingers he vainly
tried the call eastward, and then rap
ped off a brief message in the opposite