The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-01-28

the counter, big Irishman stroIled up
smote the page with his hand and
yelled:
''Oi'm Dimmycratv'
"So'm l." said Henry. Shaker
"Oim an Irishman."
''Tm not"
you're d. Dutchmanr'
"Well." said Henry, smiling and
blushing like a schoolgirl. I'm a
Dutchman."
AN Oh kin lick amy Dutchman that
walks"
81 ride most of the time"
"Thin Oh kin lick amy Dutchman
that rides"
''Well, guess that means me-"
The night clerk came out from his
little box and locked the door. Those
who were to take the part of noncom-
batants began to pile the chairs up
around the stove which stood in the
sawdust floor and had just been fired
up that day to take the November
chill off the air.
1t was understood that there should
uc ~ hiChlHS VI Dl1uS, Oul thdI tAO
fight would not necessarily end or
even lag with Touchdown.
The men fought silently. When they
had been at 1t ten minutes. the Irish
man was perfectly sober, and Henry
had recovered from the fatigue of
two hundred mile run. Five minutes
later Henry lay under the Irishman,
but holding both of his wrists.
you're licked" said Henry.
''Oi know ut Sore you"
"But don't know it."
1.-THE more fool you"
The men tried to laugh. but they
couldn't make much of success of it
in view of the way their mouths were
disarranged.
will we git up?"
"Just as you say"
Then Henry released the big black
smiths wrists. and they both got TO
their feet
Henry was a sight to see. but the
lrishman could not see him.
Noah. who fired for High Henry,
was of another piece. He was meek
and lowly, quiet as Quaker. guileless
and good. But Noah had one deplor-
able weakness. He could not stay
awake. He was probably sound asleep.
though it WIS only 9:33 in the even
ing, when he went down to the bottom
of the Guhnison river under the noto-
rious No. LOT. 1t would have come to
the same thing in the end. asleep or
awake, for you remember how the en-
CINE was cut off the train by big
bowlder that shot down the mountain
with the speed of a cannon ball.
Noah had gone to sleep on Henry
exact even with himself. would stand
no foolishness that might lead him into
trouble He had taken Noah by the
neck once and had said with his teeth
set and his steel blue eyes flashing fire
like a trolley wheel: Noah. like you.
You are about the best fellow | ever
saw, but, darn you, if you ever go to
sleep on this engine again I'll break
you in two"
Poor Noah was shaking like an as
pen, for he knew how High Henry was
tempered, and he promised never to
nod again.
About a O'Clock one morning they
were coming down the mountain on
freight. 1t was a warm spring morn
ing. The frost had gone out of the
earth and left the dumps and fills (the
road was comparatively new soft and
springy. They had been on the road,
doubling the hill, for forty-eight hours,
and Noah was making the effort of his
life to keep awake. The three brake
men were sitting at intervals along the
top of the train, looking like black crows
on a fence. The time card gave them
two hours and twenty minutes to make
twenty miles, and all you hear Is the
clickety click of the idle valves, the
squeak and cry of the brake shoes on
the smoking wheels and the low meas
ured snore of the airpump, and that
sound will put you to sleep like the
patter of rain on a roof or the sound OF
horses munching hay when you're ~
ing in the haymow. Noah had nodded
once or twice, and Henry once had
yelled at him.
They had crawled down within five
miles Of the foot of the hill when Noah
broke the stiffness: "Wope, wopei Look
out there. Stop 'er. stop 'err'
Henry hooked the engine over, put
the air on full, screamed for brakes to
warn the rainmen. and the 40 set
against the train as mule sets back
at bad bridge, her wheels going
round the other way and food Of fire
going out of her stack.
well" said Henry when they had
"ome to stop, what Il it,.