Evening star., 1902-02-22

| and grim, and Bossuet pale to the ears
with very natural alarm
Dear me!' he said striving like the
brave little man he was to speak calmly !;
Il am very much afraid are in for it.
1t looks that way said Savage 1t
means a race straightaway to the juno
tion. There isn't a station this side of the
I main line where could stop and raise a
corporal's guard to fight them
You know both engines said /. Can
the 256 do it?'
He shook his head. With Simmons at
the throttle and chance to take water at
Tyree she might AS it is the $40 carries
two gallons OF water to our one, and our
! tank will go dry somewhere on the Whisky
mountain hill.
But the wires,' I broke in 1.-The alarm
will go down the line, and surely somebody
Will nave wit enough to throw stitch and
ditch them!'
The superintendent shook his head again
We may as well look it fairly in the face
Those fellows are bigger fools than l take
them to be II they haven't dropped a man
OIL to cut the wires long before this. No, l
nave given Simmons his orders. IL his
water holds out he is to run to Summit
siding on Whisky mountain. Then, if moth
ing mas happened to change the Situa tion
we shall put the women on the engine, let
Simmons drop down the farther grade with
them out of harms way and Wen stay by
the carat least, l shall"
There were three more alternatives to
that vote, and little Mr.. Bossuet stumbled
those hard money days the pay car went
Well provided with arms
Notwithstanding her great weight and
the smailness of her driving wheels tha
1relsht engine was holding us well in leash,
curve after curve was passed at hair-rais-
ing speed but on the reverses we could see
the .e great man-covered machine.
They've got a good runner" said Rlenk
insop, lingering his piece like a soldier
enamored of battle. If 1 could get a fair
sight at him."
With the word he stood clear of the hand
rail- ana MS rifle went to his face At the
crack OF 1t man on the tender of the
pursuing locomotive flung his arms abroad
and pitched headlong.
NO good, said the marksman, as coolly
as II he had shot at and missed clay
pigeon. We've got to think up some other
way Of stopping them"
II we had anything to drop on the
track said BosSeut, and thereupon we be-
came potential wreckers stripping the paw
car OF everything movable that could be
nung out upon the rails.
Nothing came OF this forlorn hope, and
Wnen In the last resort we trundled the
small cash safe out and heaved it over only
to see 1t bound from the ties and go rolling
on down the embankment, we were at the
end OF that expedient.
The superintendent laughed grimly at tho
sight OF our final petard bounding off into
the creek, laughed and reached for one of
the rifles.
I'VE shall reach Whisky in five Minutes
more at this gait; our business now is to
keep them back far enough to give us time
to transfer the women at Summit Siding"
he said; and when next the storming en-
| gine came in sight a rattling volley from
the rifles played upon it.
| When we had our next glimpse of the
| brigands we We're climbing the Whisky
mountain grade and our pursuers were
well out of ritie-shot to the rear
Savage turned to me. Go up ahead and
see how our water is holding out" he com
| manded; and l obeyed running forward
| "a ar Uhor
telling the frightened women of the plan
! to send them ahead on the engine, and
| scrambling over the tender of the footplate
Of the labOring 256. The fireman was SHOW
| cling the coal one who tolls for dear
| life, and Bronco Pete was standing at his
| levers, his angular jaw set and the sleepy
| eyes ablaze for the first and only time in
| my seeing them.
THE water!'' 1 shouted, coming close to
| his ear to make myself heard above the
Gathering din of the engine.
| Gone" he answered; "She sucked dry at
| the foot of the HILL
| What are you going to DOR
| Make Summit Siding if l have to burn
the crown sheet out Of her." he said.
, passed the line over the mountain In
quick mental review. In it's climb it skirts
| the spurs and heads the gulches in alter
| nate loops. Rounding the last of the shoul-
ders 1t describes huge "U'' in passing
| around the final and most abyssmal of the
| gulches. In the bend of the ~" the mar
| rowing chasm is spanned by a light bridge
OF the overhead type, and the approach
! to this bridge from either direction Is down
/ grade. The southern end Of the great loop
| is the summit of the mountain: and lust
| beyond the cutting In the summit shoulder
I through which the line passes Is Summit
| Siding.
| We were skirting the shoulder of the
| northern approach when Bronco Pete
sprang to his box and leaned far out for a
| look to the rear. Our three pay-car rifles
barked sharply and they were answered
| promptly by a dropping volley from the
51O Pete ducked inward and gave his en-
| gine another notch Of the throttle.
"'Tain't no use." he said, soberly; I'VE
| amt goin' to have no time to transfer them
wimmen." Then he called sharply to his
fireman and gave the boy an order which
/ did not hear, and moment later we
were on the inner curve OF the "U." racing
down to the bridge at a speed which prom
ised anything but safe passage over the
/ spidery structure.
Nevertheless. before could gasp a sec
ond time we had stormed up the opposite
| grade and were laundering through the
| cutting at the precise moment that the bel
lowing freight engine came In sight on the
| northern shoulder.
Once more Pete yelled to his fireman.
Get move, nowy' he commanded, and