The National tribune., 1899-06-01
81 and His Squad Have a Protracted Skrmish with
Railroad Trains.

Railroad Trains.
whats the program" ST inquired O
the conductor, as the boys were being formed
OH the bank, preparatory to entering tn,
cars. 81 s'pose it's to &C over there and pu
in week o. hard work rebuildin' thai
bridge. Have you got any axes and saws or
the train? How long is the blamed ole
bridge, anyway"
Not much it aint," responded the CON
ductor. ''If you think the army's goin' to
wait a week, or even n day, on a bridge
you're simply not up to date, that's all
The old Buell. and Rosecrans way O. doin
things is played out since Sherman took com
mand. Your Uncle Billy's hustler, and don't
let that escape your mind for minute, or it'll
likely lead yOu into trouble. You'll find
| when you get down to Chattynoogy that no.
body's asleep in daylight, or for good part
o. the night. They're not only wide-awake,
but on the keen jump The old man kin
see four ways at once, he's always where he
aint expected, and after everybody with a
sharp stick. In Buell's time a burnt bridge
80 foot long ID stopped US for two weeks.
Now that bridge IL likely be finished by the
time we git there I've just been over there,
and they were layin' the stringers"
"Why, how in the world did they man
| age?" asked 81.
| go, Sherman's first move was to order
down here duplicates for every bridge on the
road. He's got 'em piled up at Louisville,
Nashville, Murfreesboro and Chattynoogy.
The moment bridge is reported burned, q
gang starts for the place with another bridge,
and they're at work as sOOn's it's cool enough
to let 'em get to the abutments Pve seen
'em pullin' away the burnin' timbers to lay
| =
soon's we did that the bridge was burned.
The operator at the next station must we
seen it, and telegraphed the news, and they
dOuble-quick's g the time around where old
Cump Sherman is"
duplicate bridges" gasped 81. "Well,
tina: is All idee."
"What does he mean bv duplicate.
Corpril? asked Harry Joslyn Of Shorty.
80, duplicates something that you ring
in on feller like cold deck"
:" don't understand" said Harry.
| etn-dnplicate' the new.
tangled college word for anything that you
have up your sleeve to fatten a feller when
he thinks he's got yon euchered. You want
to deal the other feller only left bowers and
keep the right bowers for yourself Them's
duplicates If you give him aces, have the
jokers handy for when you want 'em. Them's
duplicates. Duplicates IS Sherman's great
lay-leaned it from his old side-partner
Unconditional Surrender Grant-iust as
strategy was old McClellan's. There's this
difference: Sherman always stacks the deck
to win himself, while Mcclellan used tc
shuttle the cards for the other feller to win. y
''Still, don't understand about the du.
plicate bridges" PERSISTED Harry
"Why, old Sherman Just plays doublets
on the rebels. He leads a king at 'em, and
then plumps down an ace, and after that the
left and right bowers. They burn one bridge,
and he pumps down o better one instead
They blow up tunnel, and he Just hauls il
out and sticks bigger one in its place.
Great head, that Sherman. Knows almost as
much as old Abe Lincoln himself"
DO you say that Sherman has extra tun-
nels, too, to put in whenever one is needed ?"
asked Harry, with opening eyes.
80, cert" replied Shorty carelessly. "You
seen that big iron buildin' we went into to
git on the cars at Louisville? That was
really a tunnel, all ready to be showed ont
on the road when it was needed. If you
hadn't bin so keen on the lookout for guerril-
las as we como along, you'd "a seen pieces O.
tunnels layin' all along the road ready for
USE"
As the train dashed confidently over the