The Opelousas courier., 1899-04-29
An INLAND Iron CLAD.
BY C.. A.

ne" anu worse tflck on us. Eight @
ten OF us set off to go down singly, on
sled a few yards behind another,when
as we drew near Number Seven school
house, Rufus Rundlett, who @e
ahead, noticed that Matthias Mousen
one of the larger boys at the Corners
was standing on M side of the roa,
and his brother Lem on the other.
"Look out for snowballsi' Ruff
shouted back to u.s.. Neither. he no
any of the rest of us saw that a new
rope lay across the road on the SNOW
till the Monsen boys raised it ant
caught us. Rufus sled was capsized
and all the rest of us were piled up il
a heap. Some of us were scraped of
our sleds, some had their sleds upset
for the Number Seven crowd hat
three or four boys at each end of thu
rope, and as fast as a sled came along
1t was caught by the rope and jerkec
over. Meantime a dozen other Mum
Der Seven boys were raining snow
balls upon us. We had to- pick our
selves up, recoyer our sleds and gel
away as best we could.
"Try it again!' they shouted after
us. eff you think you can run by
Number Seven try it again!"
For a day or two we had little dis.
position to try it again; they were toe
big and too many for us to thrash, as
we would, perhaps have been justified
in doing, aud we did not dare to try
the coast; but we chafed under the re.
straint and beat Our brains for a de-
vice to break it etfectually.
"Dol" Edmunls, who, after Rufus,
was probably the most energetic OF
our boys, proposed to run a big mar
ket pung sleigh down, taking one of
the thills under each arm as he lay
face downward on his narrow coasting
sled between them. This feat had
sometimes been performed on the hill
by the older boys. Dolls idea was that
the pung, loaded with ten or a dozen
boys, would break the rope or jerk it
away from those who tried to hold it.
It was evident. however, that if the
rope were SO held as to upset his sled
the pung thills would drop and the
pung come to grief, to say nothing of
the danger to Dol himself from being
run over by it.
1t was then that Rufus Rundlett
proposed to take the thills off the
pung and steer it down himself, by
|ying directly beneath it on his own
.ow sled and grasping one pung run
ner at the forward upward turn in
each hand and planting a foot against
one OF the iron braces of the INNER
IN each side. He declared he could
steer the pung in that way and be
covered by it.
The most of us we're afraid, how
over, that the bog-trotters would
'crape US off of the pung with their
'ope. At this stage of the argument
proposed making the pung into
wooden armor-clad.
Dol and he worked nearly all the
GLOWING night. They took off the
ow pung-box and replaced it with one
az larger and stronger, made of ioist
nd pine boards. 1t covered the pung
unners entirely. being over eight
eet long by four feet wide, and the
ides rose to a height OF over three
eet, quite sufficient to shield all who
at within them. The box was made
asst to the runners and had a kind of
row i'll front, projecting three or four
eet in a wedge-shaped triangle.
When they hauled it TO the school
:ouse nextday everyone who saw it, in
u woman teacher, agreed it
as the most singular coaster ever
cen in those parts. Rufus, when lying
nder it on his little sled to steer, was
lmost completely hidden from view;
a short trial trip down the first
itch of the hill showed it to be nee
ssary that he should be strapped to
little sled.
Rufus was ready to start at once. |
ut the courage of many of the boys
as not quite equal to taking passage
SO novel a continuance. Indeed,
little bravery was required, for
Rufus failed to steer it broken necks
light be the result. Then, too, no
le knew how strong the bog-trotters'
'pe would prove to be or what would
appen when we ran foul OF it.
But next day, after we had eaten
If noon lunch, Rufus having sent his
theirs hired man, with a span of
'rses, down the hill in advance, placed
mself under the pung in position
I steering.
"Come on, boys!" he called, "who's
Dol Edmunds was the first to climb
, and nine of us followed him.
"Shoye off, exclaimed Rufus, and
a moment more we were gliding
'wn the first pitch. Altogether the
ing. the heavy box and its load of
'ys must have weighed a ton. Tt
pidly gathered speed. Down the
cond pitch it swept, hummed across
e level stretch and took the third
tch, faster and faster.
1t was amazing that Rufus steered
well, but he seemed to know how
u Ny W sensations swung
tween terror and a wild elation.
own the long fourth pitch we shot.
lining tremendous Roadway. The
ing was now going SO fast that the
and jolting motion had entirely
ased. It seemed as if the road had
en- oiled. The keen rush of cold air
t our faces, and brought to my eyes,
remember, was a haze of tears,
rough which I saw dimly a wild pro-
OF hurrying trees and roadside
ices.
The Number Seven boys had seen US
ming. As we headed down the fifth
d last pitch we heard them shouting,
d seven or eight Of them ran across