The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-05-19
1919 ON ii 90
Enginas Tells Of d Chase BY an E1s
press Train.

press Train.
eDid 1 ever tell you Of the not
chase / had once after squirrel on
the track?" asked Harry Bentley, who
holds the reins behind Engine No.
948, one day last week. 'Never did,
Ell? Well, I've got you cornered, and
as nobody else would ever stand still
long enough to let me finish that
yarn I'm going to hold you to the fin
ish. 1t was down on the Middle di-
vision between Des Moines and Dav-
export. 1t was a rainy night, and T
was pulling No. 6. She was an hour
late, but you know her time.is pretty
'soon' anyhow. No. 6 doesn't stop
only at county seats when it can be
helped, and I give No. 948 a free rein
that night. I was hittin' 'em up
pretty lively around the curve east Of
the big hotel near Colfax, when on
pokin' my head out Of the side Of the
cab to get a glimpse ahead, I saw
something that appeared to be SPUR
rel skimming along the track about 20
feet ahead Of the pilot.
eff we were movin' a mile a week
we were runnin' a mile a minute, and
when that squirrel hit 'em up SO fast
that he kept at about the same dis
lance ahead of the nose Of the pilot
I says: Mister, you're a bird, but just
keep right where you are a bit and III
trim your sails Igave thesandro
shake, and, grabbing the lever, I
dropped it forard another notch. !
could feel the impulse given to the
engine, and, takin' my hand, I wiped
off the inside of the front window to
see where Mr. Squirrel was 'at.'
"Well there he was, Johnny on
the spot. He had let himself out an
other notch and was hikin' out to beat
the band. Pretty soon we come to a
long trestle and a bridge. Here's
where I get your meat house, says ]
to myself, but blame my lamps if the
varmint didn't skip across the trestle
and ties without a hitch or break,
beating No. 948 to solid ground about
20 feet. Well, then 1 thought I had
'em sure, but, never havin' used liquor
in my life, 1 thought maybeI was go
ing crazy. So I calls the fireman over,
and, pointin' to the track ahead, I
asked him if he could see anything.
Yes, he could. He was sure it was a
squirrel.
owe were running on a down grade
with the air just on enough to pull
out the slack, and, mister, but we were
dancing. The engine was rocking
from side to side, the side rods were
obscured in the mist Of revolving
steel, and the big drivers struck fire
from the track as they pressed the
many tons of resistance against the
outside rails. When l saw the squir-
rel keepin' straight ahead and never.
losin' nor gainin', [ says to myself:
Harry, you and the fireman are both
gone daffy,' cause no squirrel on
earth could keep out OF theway. Then
it struck me it might be a warning
omen of danger, and 1 eased off SOS
to light as easy as possible if we did go
in the ditch.
81 poked along to Newton, and
when we stopped for water I looked
over ahead and there was that con-
founded varmint in the middle Of the
track about 20 feet away, waitin' fol
the race to be resumed. I gets the
coal pick and a club, and the fireman
grabs the CRATE bar and the scoop, and
we goes over. 1t didn't move, and
when we got close enough we both
took a swipe at the varmint. We never
touched him, and I felt the pimples
breakin' out all over me when the
fireman, seeing it was a shadow and
not a squirrel, looked up, and there,
pasted on the headlight, was a wet leaf.
The squirrel was the shadow of the
leaf."-Des Moines Ga) Leader.