The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-02-01

men. They will stop at nothing to
get their money; in fact they will
think no more of hanging you than of
smoking their evening pipes. Now, we
Will do anything in our power to serve
you; and there are four more of US of
the same kind. Command u.s."
We told them how deeply we ap-
preciated their loyalty to us and asked
what they and we could do SO that we
might leave the camp. They replied:
The train leaves the station at
seven o'clock, a mile and a half below
here, as you know. We will bring
four horses here at Gas. Be sure to be
ready to start immediately Get up
quietly at six and put on only your
mining clothes Do not think of wash
ing or do anything to attract the atten-
tion OF the guard"
i said l would see that they and
their mates were paid in full as soon
as / reached New York: and we prom
ised to be ready for them in the morn
ing.
Little did we sleep that night Be
fore throwing ourselves on the cots in
the rear Office l looked out on the
peaceful, moonlit scene, and there,
pacing up and down. was the faithful
sentinei-doing his best to keep warm.
The sentries relieved each other every
half hour. And SO the night grew old
and we were full of fears for the morn
ing.
Promptly, as may be imagined, we
quietly dressed and were ready and
waiting for our faithful friends Four
horses were suddenly brought to a
stand at the office door. The elder
Malcolm dismounting, rushed in. say
ing:
Now, boys. quick-and be ready to
shoot If necessary"
We jumped on two of the horses
the Malcolm brothers on the others
and leaving two of the trusty ones to
take care of the ''held-up" guards, we
galloped for our lives in the early
morning.
Reynolds was ahead and his horse
threw the frozen particles of ice and
snow all over me, piercing me with a
cold never felt before. During the
night the thermometer had fallen an
other ten degrees.
The noise made by the men and
horses 1T that early hour had brought
out others of the disgruntled who had
lived in the village since the shut
down; and we knew it would not be
long before they secured other horses
and followed US
We reached the station at 6:55 and
asked, nay, implored the conductor to
pull ont Immediately. We explained
the urgent reason for his doing so;
but he said no power on earth would
make him start before his scheduled
time. To our excited imaginations
the five minutes seemed like as MANY
hours At last the final second had
gone and he sIgnaIed ms engineer.
The next station was eight miles
away, at which a stop of ten minutes
WINS to be made. As we pulled out
through the woods a mile beyond
Mater we could See, only two hundred
yards away. eight furious miners ur.s-
ing their horses with whips and oaths,
on, on, on
We pulled away from them and
reached Fairfax on time There again,
the wait was as long as indicated on
the local time-sheet; and although the
conductor had already seen our need,
no instant of the time was given us.
When we started for the next station,
twenty miles down the valley, we
could see in the distance the same
body of men just appearing on the top
OF a rise in the road half mile to our
rear.
When they saw our train had start
ed they gradually slowed up.
Baffiedi-Illustrated American.