Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1895-01-11

Of the night, so intense was her excite
ment and it was a wan faced little girl
who sat down to the table the next
morning. But Mrs Moore was not very
observing, and made ne comment.
AS soon as breakfast was over Katie
announced her intention of going up the
mountain to procure nuts for the chill
drcn, plan which fortunately met with
no opposition, and she started without
delay. She walked briskly onward for
mile or so, then turned abruptly and
FASTENED to the railroad. Reaching it,
she did a strange thing. With almost
superhuman strength she dragged sew
eral pieces Of old ties on the track,
forming an obstruction that might very
easily have made havoc with the train
Then, hhrrying up the track, she look
ed eagerly outward. If she had calcu-
lated rightly a train was now due, and
about q quarter of mile from the
broken ties she waited its coming nerv-
ously.
Suppose something happened to pre-
vent her from stopping the train, as she
had planned, and it went to destruction
No wonder she turned pale with fear !
She heard distant whistle, and taking
off her red flannel petticoat, ran towards
the train, waving it frantically The
engineer, always on the alert in that
wild district, saw her and whistled for
down brakes, and the cars came to
standstil. Passengers and crew came
out eagerly to question Katie, and she
pointed down below. She had been nut
ting, and seeing the obstruction, has
tened to warn them.
They praised her warmly and went to
remove the ties; but she asked for the
conductor, and to him told the truth, ex-
acting promise not to betray her. She
told of the plan to wreck the evening
train, but refused to give any names.
though her lis.ner made Il shrewd guess
as to that part of it, but she would not
admit its correctness.
81 want to save the train and want
to save him." she reiterated "and
thought if you only knew you could
avoid the danger The rails are to be
torn up in tho gulch. Have the cars
run slow and watch, so that no one will
get hurt"
The conductor was man with chill
dren of his own, and the courage Of this
young girl struck him forcibly. BY a
few well-chosen questions he learned her
history. He promised not to reveal what
she had told him, and the train went on,
leaving tho child al, e. She picked up
all the nuts i e could find and went
home. The hardest thing for her to do
was to tell what she had found on the
track, and how she had stopped the train.
"Twould have served them right TO
let them 60 to perdition," growled Jack
"but thou art brave lass for all"
lle little knew how brave
That night, when the express thun-
dered through Lone Gulch it stopped
suddenly in the middle Of il, and mum.
Der of armed men with lanterns exam
ined the track. They found the rails
torn up for several rods and many strong
men shuddered at the thought of what
might have been.
No one knew just why the train stop
ped at that particular place or the reason
therefor except the conductor, and no
said that the occurrence Of the morning
had made him suspicious, and two men
skulking away in the darkness said the
same.
Some fool tried to ditch the morning
train with no money aboard and spilled
our game. They'll be suspicious now
we'd better get clear of this
A fortnight later, man came to the
village inquiring for Ned Rose, and came
to the cabin of the Moores to learn all
the particulars of his death. He stated
that an uncle of Neds in New York had
learned of his death and had sent for his
daughter to educate and care for, and
took Katie away with him.
Judge Of the surprise when she en-
tered her unclc's house to find the CON
ductor Of the train she had stopped
fortnight before IIe shook her hand
warmly and introduced her to his wife
and children
"You are brave, noble little woman,
and | trust you will forgive the little
fiction of the uncle "
"You are not my uncle, then p she
questioned.
ono, my child, but the president of
the road felt that you must not be left
with that family longer. and he asked
me to SEQ that you were properly edu-
Gated, giving me money for that pur-
pose, and placing one thousand dollars
in the bank to your credit when you
shall come of age | owe you a big
personal debt, for might have lost my
life coming back on the express that
night; so | thought would offer you a
home with us il you wished TO stay
She did, indeed, and few to-day know
that Kate Rose is not Conductor Alwyn's