The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-10-02
SELECTED STORY.
In the Race.

Vllle, going W CIcohhi oplibR, WueTe,
beside the spring, there was a grove, q
band-stand, and a dancing platform.
Half the village went, as is the way
with villagers when on pleasure they
are bent.
A long train of coaches stood ready
to take them. Aud the railroad officials
had put John Mckee in charge of the
human cargo, for, though a young man,
he was reckoned as one of the best en-
gineers on the ro~ad-careful, cool and
quick witted; qualities much priced by
railroad officials in this day of heavy
damages. He had need of all these
good qualities before the day was out,
as will presently be told.
Mckee had been looking forward for
some time to this picnic. Daleville was
his native place, and he had an engage
ment to escort one of the village beau
ties to it. He had been halfway en-
gagged to her, but that was off now, a
dandy drummer coming in between
them. Dazzled by his dnery and airs,
Jenny considered him quite a feather in
her social, village cap, and Mckee was
very sore about it..
Of course the railroad officials did not
know of all this when they selected him
for the engineer for the run, railroads
taking no stock in love affairs.
Mckee now stood in his engine in
his working clothes, and watched the
crowds as they arrived and disappeared
in the train. His keen eye Don spied
out Jenny, escorted by the dressy drum
mer. AS he leaned out of the window
Jenny saw him. She turned away her
head and talked to his rival faster than
ever.
All aboard" shouted the conductor.
Mckee laid his hand on the throttle,
and the engine gave vent to an ear
splitting scream. He envied the thing.
He wished he could scream, too. Then
they started off.
They passed through Tapton without
stopping. On a siding there was an
engine all steamed up, waiting to take
out a train as soon as it was made up
A mile or two beyond the town, Mckee
halted at q water station. AS the
thirsty engine drank, the engineer
jumped out and peeped about to see if
all was right.
The gay picnickers called to each
other from the windows, laughing and
joking, whilst some of the boys felt
obliged to get out and stretch their legs.
Amid the din and clatter the watch
full engineer heard a strange noise, and,
looking up the road, he saw the engine
they had left on the siding laundering
down on them. Somebody had fooled
with the switch, and somehow the
throttle had gotten open, and in the
temporary absence of the crew the en-
CINE felt it incumbent on it to join the
picnic party. Another m and it
would be on them.
Mckee spraDg on his engine, threw
the throttle wide, and, leaving some of
his crew and passengers behind, started
off as fast as he could with his human
freight.
The engine behind ran along at a
moderate pace, as though, unlimited, it
felt some hesitation in joining the
pleasure-seekers. But every moment
this hesitancy lessened, and its speed
increased.
Faster and faster it came down on the
long train, whose engine, like a thing
of life, struggled and strained to bear it
out Of danger. The astonished passen-
gers, when the train so suddenly started
off, wondered what was the matter.
Some pulled the bell-cord, some shouted:
"Stopl Stop! The conductor, the boys
are left behindl"
Indifferent to their circumstances,
Mckee increased his speed.
Then some of the passengers spied
the engine in pursuit of them, and their
cries and screams rent the air. "Oh,
We are lost!"
Some were dumb with fright, while
Othars valla6 ap6 ooraapal ouroaI opl
prayed. cit is almost upon us! Lord,
help us!"
They were now running at frightful
speed. The heavy train, jerking from
side to side along the road, seemed like
a fugitive fleeing for its life.
Faster, faster, ever faster, they ran,
but nearer, nearer, ever nearer, came
the runaway engine.
The frightened passengers now began
to leap from the windows, or jump from
the platforms. They flew like balls
through the air, and went whirling
down the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES is, the
men did.
The women never b~udged-they
never do. Some swooned, some prayed,
some threw themselves about their
male companions and wildly begged
them to IA them.
These hapless wretches sat, some
weak with fright; some swore, some
wept, and some burst from the detain-
ing grasp of their female companions
and jumped off, as has already been
told.
The drummer did this. He cast off
Jenny's arms with unnecessary vio-
lence, and a few words that better have
not been said, standing as they were in
the presence of death, and then he
burst out of a window and was gone.
He went hurting through the air like
a new sort of cannon ball. He struck
the earth half way down the embank-
ment, and rolled to the bottom, blowing
up the ground as he did.
Before Jenny could take it in, he had
vanished, for the flying train had borne
her on. But when she did, she felt
shocked at his desertion.
To think that he should leave her al
such a time! If die they must, why MOI
IL t-.O TL- ~ 49,