Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-25

sand for that night and that minute. The
instant the words flashed into the room he
dashed out into the waiting room, where
the sheriff, Ed Banks, sat with his prison.
ers, the cowboys.
I'D" cried Harvey. there's runaway
In the wind. If we can't trap it here, tn
knock 80 into kindling wood. Turn the
boys loose, Ed, and save the passenger
train. Boys, show the man and square
yourselves right now / don't know what
you're here for, but believe it's to save 50.
VIII you help?"
Banks slipped the handouts off in q trice.
Never mind the rest Of it. Save the pas
senger train first" he roared. Everybody
from Ogalalla to Omaha knew Ed Banks.
(which way? How2' cried the cowboys,
in lather of excitement
Harvey Reynolds, reckoning as he ran,
rushed out the door and up the track, his
posse at his heels, stumbling into the gale
like lunatics.
Smash in the dollhouse door," painted
Harvey as they neared it.
Ed Banks seized the ak from his hands
and took command naturally as Dewey.
Pick up that tie and ram her., he cried,
pointing to the door. "All together-now!"
Harvey and the cowboys splintered the
panel in twinkling, and Banks, with a
few clean strokes. cut an opening. The
cowboys, jumping together, ran in and be-
gan fishing for tools in the dark. One got
hold of wrench, the other pick. Harvey
caught up a clawbar, and Banks grabbed
spike maui. In bunch they ran for the
point of the curve on the house track. 1t
lies there close to the verge of a limestone
bluff that looms up fifty feet above the
river.
But 1t is one thing to order contact
opened and another and very different thing
to open 1t at in the morning on December
%, by men who know no more about track
cutting than about logarithms. Side by side
and shoulder to shoulder the man OF the law
and hn of 20 Ia
riders and the railroad boy, pried and
wrenched and clawed and struggled with
the steel. While Harvey and Banks clawed
at the spikes the cowboys wrestled with the
nuts on the bolts of the fish plates. 1t was
a battle. The nuts wouldn't twist, the
spikes stuck like piles, sweat covered the
assaiantS, Harvey went into a frenzy.
Boys we must work faster" he cried, tug
ging at the frosty spikes; but flesh and
blood could do no more.
There they come-there's the runaway
train-do you hear it? I'm going to open
the switch, anyhow Harvey shouted,
Needless of the warning, Banks struggled
with the plate bolts in silent fury. Sud
denly he sprang to his feet. Give me the
maul!'' he cried.
Raising the heavy tool like tack ham
mer. he landed heavily on the bolt nuts;
once and again; and they flew in stream
like bullets over the bluff. The taller cow
boy, bending close on his knees, raised
the other rail, Banks stripped the bolts even
after the mad train had shot into the gorge
above them. They drove the pick under
the loosened steel, and with pry that bent
the clawbar and yell that reached Harvey,
trembling at the switch, they tore away the
stubborn contact and pointed the rails over
the precipice.
1.-The Shrek of a locomotive whistle cut
the wind. Looking east, Harvey had been
watching SOS headlight. She was pulling
In on the siding. He still held the switch
open to send the runaways into the trap
Bucks had set, If the passenger train failed
to get into the clear; but there was a min
ute yet-a bare sixty secondhand Harvey
had no Idea of dumping ten thousand dol
lars worth of equipment into the river I'M
less he had to.
Suddenly up went the safety signals from
the east end. The 1O1 was coughing noisily
up the passing track-the line was clear.
Banks and the cowboys, waiting breathless,
Harvey with determined lurch close
the main line contact.
In the next breath the coalers, with the
sweep of the gale In their frightful velocity,
smashed over the switch and on. a rat
Ting whirl of ballast and dizzy CHATTER OF
noise, and before the frightened crew Of 30
could see what was against them. the run
away train was passed-gone!
II wasn't going to stop here tonight"
muttered the engineer, as he stood with the
conductor, over Harvey's shoulder at the
operators desk minute later and wiped
the chill from his forehead with piece of
waste. WED have met them in the canon
Harvey was reporting to Bucks. Gala
han heard it coming: Rails cut. but 50
safe. Runaways went by here fully sew
enty miles an hour
1t was easy after that Griffin is the foot
of the grade; from there on the runaway
train had a hill to climb. Bucks had held
$50, the local passenger, sidetracked at Da-
Wis, thirty miles farther east. Sped by the
wind, the runaways passed Davis. though
not at half their highest speed. An instant
later 25Os engine was cut loose and start
ed after them like a scared collie. Three
miles east of Davis they were overhauled
by the light engine. The fireman, Donahue.
crawled out of the cab window, along the
foot rail. and down on the pilot caught
the ladder of the first car, and, running up.
crept along to the leader and began setting
brakes. Ten minutes later they were
brought back In triumph to Davis.
When the multitude of orders was out of
the way Bucks wired Ed. Banks to bring
his cowboys down to McCloud on 60. Sixty
Cloud at $50 m. 1t turned out that the
cowboys had been arrested for lassooing a
Norwegian homesteader who had cut their
wire. 1t was not heinous offense. and
after it was Strengthened out by the inter-
vention of Bucks-who was the whole thing
then-they were given jobs lassooing sugar
barrels in the train service. One of them,
the tall fellow, is a passenger conductor on
the high line yet.
1t was three o'clock that morning-the
25th Of December in small letters. on
the West End-before they got things
decently Strengthened out; there was SO
much to do-orders to make and reports to
take. Bucks, still on the key in his flow
ing robes and tumbling hair. sent and took
them all Then he turned the seat over 10
Callahan, and getting up for the first time
in two hours, dropped into another chair
The very first thing Callahan received
was a personal from Pat Francis at
Ogalalla, conductor of SO. 1t was for
Bucks:
'Your mother Is aboard 50. She was car
ried by MCloud in the Denver sleeper.
Sending her back to you on 60. Merry
Christmas"
1t came off the wire fast. Callahan. TAX
ing b, didn't think Bucks heard; though
It's probable he did hear. Anyway, Gala
han threw the clip over toward him with a
laugh.
Look there, old man. There's your
mother coming, after all your Rockingham
ried by on go"
AS the boy turned he saw the big dis
patcher's head sink between his arms on
the table. Callahan sprang to his side;
but Bucks had tainted.
Care Of the Hair.