The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-30

Fisk was about to make some SHARP
reply, but 1 shook my head warningly at
him and the sheriff went on.
1T won't do to make him mad, L said.
I'VE are in bad fix. and it will only
make matters still worse to get the off,
Gals down on u.s.. But. groaned Fisk.
TO think what precious pair OF fools
we are" Yes, it's pretty tough. old
man., l remarked sadly. ..An our money
and all our prospects gone at one sweep
and all owing to the rascality of that
Gleason and our greennesS.
Clayton l exclaimed a moment later.
sDringing I'D electrified with an idea
bring me your rubber boots and step
quick, too
and l quickly slit open the legs and then
drew several circles upon the rubber, ard
began cutting them out with my knife. "
Il guess this will work all right for a
little while. If it Does, L cried, I'VE may
give them the slip yet Break up that
old tar barrel and stick il into the fire
box If | can get the cylinder to hold
It's steam, L ii bet five to four that we can
outtrevel that apology of a horse the
sheriff had
Not a breath of air was stirring, and
the dense black smoke from the burning
ta- barrel rose from our funnel DerDen-
d.cula-ly in the clear morning sunshine.
giving our pursuers an inkling of our
intentions before they could have other
Use imagined IL possible for us to eS-
cape The smoke could be plainly seen
at Fort Scott, which was about three
miles away. 1 soon had the packing
rings cut out and the cylinder heads
bolted back into place again, and all we
could do now was to wait for the steam
to raise before we could start, and it
seemed as if the indicator never moved so
slowly before. If we could only get back
over the line into Missouri the laws there
would protect us and we would save the
Comic. Only Y miles lay between us and
the border line-could We reach it before
they overlook us?
l run the governor belt off so that we
could travel to the full capacity OF our
power without being automatically
checked then l pulled open the throttle,
and the next moment we were rolling out
across the open prairie toward Missouri,
in a race with a stake of 1000
The Comic did nobly. With a roar like
small thunder she belched up huge clouds
of blacl. smoke and steam, and fairly
quivering with the full pressure upon
her, as she rolled along. Now and then
we ran afoul a line of barbed wire fence,
but we tore through like network of
Irvine.
[ looked back just after we had got
well started and saw on knoll about
rifle back the pursuing Darty-three of
them-the sheriff and two men with him
in his buggy, and their horse at a run,
and then l opened the throttle a little
wider. 1t was now all a question of speed
if they overlook US before we reached
the state line they might take us and
our, machine, too; if, however, we crossed
first we would be beyond their jurisdic-
ton. and they could not serve the attach
ment. One. two, four miles we passed
over, our engine at full speed, with an
average of 80 pounds of steam on, and
we could plainly see that we were still
holding our own against them. Eight
miles we had Travelled now, and 1 was
beginning to feel pretty highly elated over
the success of our scheme when 1 heard
Fisk utter a cry of dismay.
The Goals all gone he exclaimed.
had not noticed its rapid depletion, until
now. and not more than four or five show
elfuls remained. This new calamity al
most stunned us both for a moment
perhaps we might be able to make it hold
out-but 1 doubted it greatly. Ten miles
the coal was all gone now, and I emp
tied one of the oil cans into the fire box
to keeD up the steam. and then we be-
the tender
Eleven milestone one mile more now
and we would save the Comic, but the last
stick of fuel was gone even to the last
splinter, and [ could see that the speed
was already beginning to slacken down.
The sheriff seemed to notice that We
were beginning to slacken up a little, for
he now laughed sneeringiy and rose to
his feet and stood upright in the buggy
and began to urge his almost exhausted
horse on with shouts and free use of the
whip. The light vehicle Swayed and
plunged about from side to side as the
horse broke into a headlong gallop. while
the two men hung desperately on as the
horse plunged frantically forward, still
urged by the whip and furious shouts of
the sheriff. They were rapidly overtak-
ing us now, and the Comic was lost
unless we could manage in some way to
keep up the steam a few moments longer.
| looked back again and saw that the
sheriff was still coming and was now
within 100 yards of us and still gaining
on us at the rate we were moving. He
saw me as I glanced back at him, and
be began to shout something at me. but
the engine made so much noise that I
was unable to understand what it was
that he said but I could guess almost, I
for I could see the look of eXultant salts
faction in his face and hear his hooking
laugh as we began to slack down and al
most stand still-the fire in the furnace
having died down to a few smoldering
ambers. They were now almost within
speaking distance and still coming nearer
each moment. I could plainly hear the |
abored breathing of the sheriff's exhaust |
ed horse. and knew that he could not