The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-04-24

is something that every man will have
| to imagine for himself; it is incapable of
being put down in black n white.
Without knowing what l was doing, or
why l was doing it, l put on my hat and
| coat. Then walked out of the door and
| up the track to the mouth of the tunnel.
| listened for the crash that must surely
| come. l strained my eyes in a vain en-
deavor to penetrate the tunnel black
| mouth. | thought of the human lives that
| were going swiftly and surely to their
awful death, and | their murderer l
wished might be in the tunnel when the
| monsters met in combat, and be the first
to die.
Soon this mood gave way to another
! the instinct of self-preservation. l turn
cd about and faced the open country.
Surely. in that wide, illimitable expanse
which stretched far away to the east,
there was some place where | might
hide myself-sOme haven where | might
be secure from the vengeance of the law
l leaped over the ditch at the side of the
track, and climbed the fence. Bllndly |
| stumbled across the swampy bottom, 60
ing | knew not nor cared not where, but
simply that | was going.
One | turned and looked back. | could
| see the signal light at the entrance Of
the tunnel. showing through the black
, ness of the night the danger signal, red
Curse you" | cried out in my despera-
ton. you can show danger nov shat it
is too late
But as | looked there came from the
mouth Of the tunnel a white light, large
and brilliant, causing grim shadows TO
dance up and down on the glistening rails.
| AT first | thought l was dreaming: but
7 1Oclya1 aooin and know GVaD in the
face of the utter impossibilty OF the
| thing, that it was the headlight of au
engine-the extra" Then, like a crazy
man, laughing one minute and crying the
| next. | ran back toward the office. Sew
eraI times | fell, but in an instant | was
! up again and on. l did not ask myself
how this could be; l made no attempt to
reason it out. | knew, simply and only
that the miraculous had happened-that
the two trains had passed each other
| without a collision. And SO, covered with
(, mud from my falls in the swamp, / reach
ed the office which a few moments before
, | had left bearing with me a terrible
burden. The instrument was ticking Off
my call as | walked in the door. | sank
down en- the chair and answered.
Where in the name of God have you
! been?'' asked Dawson's substitute. =
, InOugnL you ndu Sklppeu the COUNTRY.
Don't ask me where I've been. Tell
me how the trains passed in the tunnel"
You fool he retorted. "They didn't
pass in the tunnel. | held the extra
here until "a had cleared"
you told me you had let the extra
n
Yes my boy, l did that to teach you
a lesson. Dawson told me of your little
scheme. After he left l got to thinking il
over. When you called me to get track
of "a l was standing in the doorway. l
knew that you would let the train come
anyway, so | didn't trouble myself to an
swer. Then the extra came. | thought
you might be holding the train, SO
called you. When you didn't answer there
flashed over me the possibility Of what
| might have occurred had been asleep
when you called for "a. You would have
let them in, as you in fact did. Then
| the extra would have Weakened me, and
| should ave called you for track. Re
ceiving no answer, | should have presunl-
ed you to be sleeping and let the extra
so. Now you see what your little scheme
might have led tor
Yes | said, Il see"
| | was too much relieved at the happy
outcome of the affair to be angry at his
deception. But | told Dawson what had
happened, and the next night we aban-
doned our system and thereafter used
the old one.