The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-12

Just before we reached Elizabeth Mclean
turned to me sharply:
." What are you loafn' there for?' he
CRIED. D'you think you're in your society
now? Take your pretty poses out on the
engine and oil her up. Step quick about it,
too
THE order was a strange one He knew
perfectly wen that there was no need OF
oil out there at that time Moreover. at
that speed and In that high wind the task
would be by no means devoid of danger.
looked at him in surprise.
" Are you scared to do It, Mr.. DUDE? he
sneered. Don't stand smirkn' at me there
Get out to your work, an see you go all
around the boiler. Ill have no college
shirks about me.
''out went, oil can in hand, with little
relish for my job. The wind plucked at me
like the grasp of hands. and it was no
small matter to keep from being blown
away Ike bit of paper. l worked along,
however, till ] came TO the front of the
cowcatcher. There was a bad place. To get
around the angle l would have to relin-
quish my hold for a second and grasp the
bar on the further eide, a very ticklish bit
of business. We were approaching the sta
ton in Elizabeth when did It, Now, do
not say that Mclean was watching me and
l cannot prove that he had reckoned on
pened
cat the instant when I was standing,
without hand-hold, reaching for the fur
Their bar, l felt a great and sudden shock
that threw me off my balance With the
thought that / was lost came the realiza-
ton Of the cause. Mclean had put on the
air brakes, knowing that the fierce check
would shake me from the cowcatcher. 10
be thus tossed from the cowcatcher of a
lin fs,sf.r -.
reckoned as tolerably sure death, and
regard my escape as a sort of marvel The
instinct of self-preservation electrified
every muscle for the one chance that re-
manned, to throw myself off to one side.
l kicked out fiercely, struck on the wood
en- platform of the station, rolled and
bounded with momentum that
brought me up on my feet and sent me
rushing down the boards at tremendous
pace until l collided with a baggage man
and we both went sprawling. / was unhurt,
but twenty feet beyond the point where
my mad rush ended was the big wing of
the fence that borders the track Had /
been thrown five seconds later death would
have been certain. At the time the thing
that struck me more forcibly even than
my hairbreadth escape was the ludicrous
paralysis of establishment of the baggage
man. He had seen the whole thing and in
sisted tnat Snould go TO hoSpltal, on
the ground apparently, that a man as near
death as l had been was fit subject for
the doctors.
THE train was stopped and backed ana
Mclean climbed out of his cab When he
saw me alive he was struck white. There
was no time to lose, and we got back into
the cab. There / said to him
" I've got one more score to settle with
you, Mclean. You're a murderer on this
days work
=" I didn't mean 1t; didn't mean it, he
said in choked voice, but he had nothing
further to say when / gave him the lie.
Shortly after / was transferred from 10.
How Mclean and | had IL out is no part
of the story but i came out of the fight
with marks that 1 carried for weeks. He
went to hospital. FIe had pluck and cour-
age enough, In spite of his hellish mean
ness"
Didn't you have him discharged when
you rose to position where you had the
power?" asked the senior railroad man
of the gathering.
ooh, no." said the young man. Hes
there yet. AS an engineer he is valua-
BILE man. They tell me, too, that he's
changed, and that he treats his fremen
like human beings now"