The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1897-09-17

hook. sam and | jumped at the same
minute, and when we licked ourselves up
the engine WAS lying on It's side about IL
rod away iruin The track and the tender
was trying To climb over the WRECK.
" That there coyuto's won, after all,
| said sam Hes go; IA fresh wind, and
he's safe 10 make the river in time to save
his bacon.
What the use OF talking about him.?
says l. Tel! mo what we're going 10 do
There ain'U any sort OF use i'll trying Il
run, l suppcAe
Not The smallest derned grain, says
Sam. That fire Is due here in about 10
| minutes, and we might as we'll sit down
quiet and wait Tor it,.
- saw that sam didn't consider that
there was the least bit of a chance for US,
and YOU can Imagine whether was scared
or not.
g" 4 did read once says Sam, about n
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 of
and wrapped himself up in it. The hide
being green, you understand. didn't burn,
and the man came through all right. It's
a miGdling tough yarn, but all the same
it's thing that might have happened. i
I
half an hotr till my boiler tubes cooled
down. I could pull them out and we could
get into the boiler, the Same the man
| got into his horses hide. But there S no
use in signaling that fire to stop and lay
up on Il siding for half an hour just to
suit us.
There's water in the tender said !.
| Couldn't we do anything with that!'
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 on
| when the fire reaches us, and l expect we
can stand it for five minutes or so. It's II
| scheme that lays way over that fellows
| h0rsehide game. and l shouldn't wonder
| if 1t turned out satisfactory for all.
THE manhole was big enough to let a
man through, and when Sam and l got
| into tho tank and crouchad down in "a sort
| of sitting position the water came just up
to our chins, and we had nbc:.u ten inches
| of head room. Gam pulled the iron cuN or
| 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.
81 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
4 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 were billed
| it'll be disappointed. Besides l amt 50
sure about the billing. tn 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 tnke it easy. There's air enough here
to last Us for some time if we don't use it
up talking.
! IL kept quiet and. said my prayers to
| myself The fire came down on us with n
| whoop like ten tribes of lnjuns, 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 neighbC"huod, which showed thGt the
! fire WAS still all around us. We waited
and waited. hoping every minute that the
| fire would die out and let us open tho
| tank The water kept getting warmer
| and warmer, ard when touched the top
| of the tank, where the water didn't reach
| it, | burned my fingers. The air, too,
kept getting more and more Choky, until
was very near my last gasp, and Sam
| was about the same. When no couldn't
stand il any longer, he threw off the cover
| and put his head out. Then lie broke into
| big laugh that was u little hUarSn iy rea-
| son of the chokiI- he had undergone, and
| he climbed out OF the tank, calling To NE
| to follow him, which naturally did with.
out wasting timo.
| 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 cub, 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 it long enough we
| should have been boiled without the least
doubt We jumped down On the ground
| and stood there to SEQ the wreck burn, and
| with the exception of my burned fingers
| and u little hair that was singCd off the
| top of Sans head we were as cool and
comfortable as IL man could want To DC.
| I'VE walked back to BuccphElus. and
| had considerable difficulty i'll getting my
| chief to believe that sam and lad saved
| ourselves by hiding III il talk. | WAS 50
| well pleased at NY escape that it made
| very little odds to me what he thought
| about it, but Sam was that DISCONTINUED
| at having his engine beat hy IL coyote than
| nobody could get civil word out III him
for the next week Pail Mall Magazine
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