Evening star., 1896-01-25

new line. and bored the big tunnel through
the Blue Eagle mountain. The old line
wasn't entirely abandoned until about two
years ago, but after the tunnel was finished
there only one passenger train each
way daily on the old line, and freight
train three times a week.
Il had a brother who lived up at Man
Illus, town on the old line, about seventy
miles from here. That is to say, Manlius
was his post office address, but he lived in
a house that was three miles from the sta
ton, and there wasn't any town of Man
Hus, except the station house and a little
shanty that was used a post office. 1
was kind of a general assistant at this
hyer station where We are now, and there
not being very much work on hand, I got
two days leave and took the train up to
see my brother. 1t was just about year
after the new line had been opened, and
the company meant to abandon the old
line. they hadn't put any repairs on it
worth speaking Of and it was about the
toughest road you ever travelled over.
Il was little scared myself, though, as
a rule / never troubled myself about rail-
road accidents. knowing that they're bound
to come. and you can't help yourself. There
had been@a terrible bad accident on that
very road just before the expresses quit
funning over it. A train with a Pullman
car full of passengers went off the track
just as she had struck a bridge over the
Muskahoot river. and as the bridge was
over eighty feet high, and the river was
over twenty feet deep, nobody ever saw
hide or hair of that train, or of anybody
connected with 1t, from that day to this.
We'll, 1 got up to my brothers along
about 5. or mebbe half-past o'clock in the
evening, and found him gone away and the
house locked up. I hammered the doors
and tried the windows till 1 had settled
that there wasn't any one at home, and
that 1 couldn't break in, and then 1 mean
dered back to the station, calculating to
pass the night in the WOOD shed. and take
the train back TO Jericho the next day. 1t
had been showing hard, and there was
foot rf ar,nrx on loxya Of lone
the big drifts that were here and there. /
was pretty well tagged out when 1 got to
the station, which, of course, was shut up
for the night, and if 1t hadn't been that
had a quart of whisky in my pocket, I
should have come near freezing to death.
Il went into the wood shed and got round
behind the wood. where the wind couldn't
reach me, and after cussin' my brother for
a spell, on account of his having gone off
and shut up his house, l made my prepara-
tions for taking nap. Just then l heard
the rumble of a train. This naturally as
tonished me, knowing as did exactly what
trains were running on that road, and that
there wasn't any sort of train due at that
station for the next fifteen hours. How
ever. the train kept coming nearer and
rearer, and pretty soon 1 heard the grind
ing of the brakes, and understood that the
train was coming to a stop. L didn't lose
any time in getting out of that wood shed,
and going for that train / could see 1t
standing cloA to the water butt, about
fifty yards down the road, and knew, of
course, that the engineer was taking in
water. When 1 reached her, 1 that the
train consisted only of a baggage car and
Pullman sleeper. I swung myself up on
the rear platform of the sleeper and push
ed the door open with a good deal of trou-
BILE. for the woodwork seemed to have
swelied, and there wasn't anybody to help
me from the inside of the car.
when I got inside 1 looked around for
the passengers, but there wasn't a single
one. Neither was there any sign of the
porter, who ought to have been there to
ask me for my ticket. and to pretend that
/ was making him lot of trouble by ask
ing for bed. You know the ways of por-
ters, and how they always make you feel
that If you don't give them pretty big
tip. you are good deal worse than slave
driver. The car was lit up after fashion
by single oil lamp, and all the berths
looked as if the passengers had just jump
ed out of them, and the porter hadn't been
round to make up the beds. 1 couldn t
think what had become of the passengers,
seeing as they couldn't have gone into the
baggage car, and it didn't seem probable
that a whole carful could have distributed
themselves at way stations. However, that
wasn't any affair of mine. I opened both
doors of the to let a little air blow
through, for it was very musty, and then
/ picked out good berth, and calculated
to turn In for the night. / soon found that
those berthS weren't fl for any Christian
to sleep in, for the bed clothes were as
damp as II they had been left out in a rain
storm. Where the water had come from
that had soaked them / couldn't imagine,
for 1t hadn't rained any for a week. and 1t
stood to reason that the snow couldn't have
drifted into the car, shut up as tight as 1t
vas Then 1t puzzled me to imagine why
the porter hadn't taken the wet clothes
away,,and what had become of him any
how. The whole business was enough to
throw a man off his balance. and gave up
thinking about it, and. going into the wash
room, / sat down iii the wash basin, which
vas the only dry seat in the car. and. lean
Ing up against the corner, tried to get a
rap.
by this time the train had left the sta
ton several miles behind, and was run