The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1895-02-21
A JUMP FOR LIFE.

John Saggart stood in dark corner Of
the terminus, out Of the rays Of the gilt
tering lamps and watched engine No. SO.
The engineer was oiling her, and the fire.
man, as no opened the furnace door and
shoveled in the COAL stood out like red
Rembrandt picture In the cab against tho
darkness beyond. John knew every joint
and bolt In that contrary old engine-the
most cantankerous iron brute on the road,
and yet, If rightly managed, one Of the
swiftest and most powerful engines the
company had, Notwithstanding the many
Improvements that had been put upon To-
comotives since old SO left the foundry.
The cry of "All sboardi' rang out, and
John Saggsrt climbed into the smoking
carriage at the front part of the train. He
found place in one Of the forward seats
and he sank down into 1t with vague
feeling Of uneasiness at being inside
coach instead Of on the engine He gazed
out Of the window and saw the glittering
electric lights slowly slide behind, then
moro quickly the red, green and white
lights of the station lamps, and finally
there fickered swiftly past the brilliant
constellation of city windows, showing
that the town had not yet gone to bed. At
last the flying train plunged into the dark
country, and Saggart pressed his face
against the cold glass of the window, I'M
able to shake off his feeling Of responsible
ity, although he knew that there was an
other man at the throttle
He was aroused from his reverie by
touch on his shoulder and curt request,
"Tickcts, please.
''Hcllo, John, is this yous' cried the
conductor as soon as he saw tho face turn
ed toward him. Hang 1t, man, you did
not need pass travelling with mo.
II know it, !" said the engineer, "but
they gave it to me to take me home and
may us well use it as not. ! don't want
to get you into trouble"
HOh, I'd risk the trouble, " said the con-
ductor, placing his lamp on the floor and
taking his seat beside the engineer. II
heard about your worry today. It's too
cursed bad. If IA man had got drunk at
his post as you and have known 'em to do,
1t wouldn't have seemed so hard, but at its
worst your case was only IN error Of judg
ment, and then nothing really happened.
Old SO seems to have the habit of pulling
herself through. l suppose You and she
have been in worse fixes than that with
not word said about it,
"Oh, yes, " said John. "Weve been in
many eight place together but we won't
be any more It's tough, us you say, I've
been 10 years with the company and seven
on old S6, and at first It comes mighty
hard. But l suppose III get used to it. -
Look here, John, said tho conductor,
lowering his voice to confidential tone,
"the president of the road is with us to-
night. His private car is the last but one
on the train. How would IL do to speak
10 hlmf If you're afraid to tackle him,
III put in a word for you in a minute and
tell him your side of the story
John Saggart shook his head.
ut wouldn't do" he said HE would
not override what one of his subordinates
had done, unless there was serious injus-
tice In the case. It's the new manager,
you know. There's always trouble with
new manager. He sweeps clean. And 1
suppose he thinks by bouncing one Of the
oldest engineers on the road he'll scare the
rest"
'Well, / don't think much of him, be
tween ourselves, said the conductor.
"What do you think he has done to-
night2 He's put new man on Sea man
from one of the branch lines, who doesn't
know the road. / doubt If hos ever been
over the main line before. Now, it's an
anxious enough time for Inc with all the
Christmas traffic moving, with the Their
mometer at zero and the rails like glass,
and like to have man in front that
can depend on, .
IT'S bad enough not to know the road, +"
said John gluumily, but its worse not to
know old SO. Sho's brute IL she takes o
notion"
al don't suppose there's another engine
that could draw this train and keep her
time.
mo She'll do her work all right If
you'll humor her, admitted Saggart who
could not conceal his love for the engine,
even while he blamed her.
"Well, " said the conductor rising and
| picking up his lantern, 1.-The man in front
may be all right, but / d feel safer if you
were further ahead on this train than the
smoker. I'm sorry l can't offer you n
berth tonight John, but we're full clear
through to the rear lights. There isn't
even vacant upper on the train. 3"
"Oh, IL doesn' t matter, said Saggnrt,
IL couldn't sleep anyhow. I'd rather sit
here and look out the window"
"Wcll, SO long, said the conductor
"I'll drop in and see you us the night
passes on,
Saggart lit his pipe and gazcd out into
the darkness. lie knew every inch Of thu
road-all the up grades and the do~r
grades and the levels. He knew it ever
better In the darkest night than in tn,
clcarest day. Occasionally the black hull
of barn or n clump of trees showed fo
moment against the less black sky ant
Saggart would say 10 himself Now HI
should shut off an inch of steam, or
"Now he should throw her wide open"
Tho train madn few stops, but he saw
that they We're losing tlmc-s6 was sulk
ing very likely The thought of the cn
CINE turned his mind to his own fate, NJ
man was Of very much use in the worlC
after all, for Che moment he steps dow
another is rendy to stand III his place, TIL
wise men in the city who had listened t,
his defense know we'll that un cngin
was merely combination Of iron, stce
and brass, and that given number o
pounds Of steam Wassld get il over n Hivcl