Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-10-15

something must have dissatisfied him, /
asked him what was the matter.
"'Ihat derned coyotes the matter, said
he. We don't gain an inch on him, and
do most eyerlastingly hate to be beat by
n coyote Here, you take the lever while
lie her jints a little I'm bound to beat
that coyote between here and the river or
to pile up this engine. never see such
an impudsnt, derned brute since took to
railroading.'
swell, Sam went out on the engine with
his oil can, and when he had oiled her to
his satisfaction he came back and raked
up the fire again and fused around with
his gauges He seemed to have forgotten all
about the danger we were in and to think
of nothing but racing with that coyote.
Pretty soon we could see that we had
gained a little on the beast, and Sam was
as cheerful as he would have been if he
had been sitting comfortably in Blu
cephalus saloon. He never so much as
looked back at the prairie fire, that was as
near as ever and as bent on gathering us in.
The ground is sort of loose and
swampy just below here, II | remember
right, said /. Will she keep the track,
do you Think
kJdul uluu duSWoT luo, LUZ lc Was
leaning out of the cab and watching the
coyote Suddenly he sings out: 'Hurrah,
boys! The coyotes losing his wind.
There amt ten minutes more run In him,
and we'll be atop Of him in less than that
time"
just then we struck the swampy part of
the road that had been speaking of, and,
one side Of the track sinking little too
deep the engine jumped the rails and
struck out across the prairie on her own
hook. Sam and jumped at the same
minute, and when we picked ourselves up
the engine was lying on it's side about a
rod away from the track and the tender
was trying to climb over the wreck.
That there coyotes won, after ALL
said Sam. He's got fresh wind, and
he's safe to make the river in time to save
his bacon
Whats the use of talking about him?'
says I. Tell me what we're going to do.
There amt any sort of use in trying to
run, suppose?'
Not the smallest derned grain says
Sam. That fire is due here in about Is
minutes, and we might as we'll sit down
quiet and wait for it.
II saw that Sam didn't consider that
there was the least bit of chance for us,
and you can imagine whether was scared
or not.
:" I did read once, says Sam, about a
chap who was riding on the prairie and
was chased by fire same as we are now.
He shot his horse and ripped the hide off
and wrapped himself UP in it. The hide
being green, you understand, didn't burn,
and the man came through all right. It's
middling tough yarn, but all the same
it's thing that might have happened. l
was thinking that if the fire would wait
half an hour till my boiler tubes cooled
down. could pull them out and we could
get into the boiler, the same as the man
got into his horses hide. But there's no
use in signaling that fire to stop and lay
up on siding for half an hour just to
suit us.
There's water in the TENDER said l.
Couldn't we do anything with that9'
"'Your head, pardner, says Sam, get
ting up and going toward the tender,
amt SO far from being level. Let's see
how much water we've got
"With that he opened the water tank
and looked in. We're all right, says he.
You come along here and get into that
tank with me. Well put the cover Oh
when the fire reaches us, and expect WE
can stand it for five minutes or so. It's "a
scheme that lays way over that fellows
horsehide game, and I shouldn't wonder
if 1t turned out satisfactory for ALL
The manhole was big enough to let
man through, and when Sam and got
into the tank and crouched down in sort
Of sitting position the water came just up
to our ohins, and we had about ten inches
of head room. Sam pulled the iron cover
part way over the hole and said: Now
we're pretty certain not to be roasted,
which that fire is aiming at It'll be some
satisfaction to get the better of it,
i don't see, said l, that we're better
ing things very much by putting ourselves
in the way of being boiled instead of
roasted
I don't suppose, said Sam, that
there is any great things to choose between
being roasted or billed or fried or, you
might say, baked, but that fire has set its
mind on roasting us, and if we're billed
it'll be disappointed. Besides l amt so
sure about the billing. It'll take some
time to heat up this water, and we may
pull through after ALL
''Just then the noise of the fire showed
that it was getting close to us, and Whit
of smoke came into the tank. Sam pulled
the cover on and says to me: Just sit
and take it easy There's air enough here
to last us for some time if we don't use it
up talking.
~ kept quiet and said my prayers to
myself. The fire came down ON us with
whoop like ten tribes of Injuns, and the
top of the tank was hot in less than no
time. The roaring of the fire seemed to
pass on and away from us, but there was
tremendous lot Of cracking going on in
our neighborhood, which showed that the
fire was still all around us. We waited
and waited, hoping every minute that the
fire would die out and let us open the
tank. The water kept getting warmer
and warmer, and when Itouched the top
of the tank, where the water didn't reach
kept getting more and more choky, until |
was very near my last gasp, and Sam
was about the same When he couldn't |
stand it any longer, he threw of the cover
and put his head out. Then he broke into
big laugh that was little hoarse by rea-
son of the choking he had undergone, and
he climbed out Of the tank, calling to me
to follow him, which naturally did with.
out wasting time
1.-THE prairie fire was miles away, and
the cracking which we heard was made
by the woodwork Of the tender and the
wreck Of the engine cab, which was all in
blaze. There wasn't anything to hurt |
us when we were once outside of the tank,
but If we had staid In 1t long enough we
should have been boiled without the least !
doubt. We jumped down on the ground |
and stood there to see the wreck burn, and |
with the exception Of my burned fingers |
and little hair that was singed of the |
top Of Sans head we were as cool and |
comfortable as man could want to be-
Eve walked back to Bucephalus. and |