Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1903-05-12
NEW SERIES. VOL. XXXvIII, NO. 10.

Before the mogul could gather herself
to back UP and catch the breakawav
the fugitive section was slowly moving
on. very slowly, down the head end al
the Long Misery.
Back up. Irishl Back IN and catch
emf scrceched Hitters.
You can't do itr' yelled a breathless
brakeman who came up from the rear.
because the gears Just completely out
O. the head O that section and there
wouldn't be nothin' to make Il couplin'
to If You caught EN-. which it amt
likely you'll do anyway"
Bitters was thinking of Hennessy
and No. s. If No. s were on time, she
was just lsaving l.yshon. Chances
were she was late. lie knew Hennes-
| sy. 1t was for him 10 lAlch 0ldtovn
in time to stop No. ut Lyshon. Bit
tiers sickened at the thought of the
| Saturday night rush of women and
| children which had given Hennessy's
| train the name CT the nursery ex-
| press"
They worked quickly then. In thirty
seconds Bitters was in the cab, and his
Irish engineer was giving the mogul
steam enough and some to carry. Bit
tiers figured it was four miles to the
goal, and the way they paced it off
made 1t impossible for him to say he
was disappointed when he jumped off
at Oldtown.
mo. s, hold her at Lyshon. My
freight's busted, an thirty-three OF
'em are on the grade, goin' to beat
thunder,-'
mo. 81 The dispateher's face was
pie crust. 'She left Lyshon six min
utes ago, late" He went back to his
instrument and sent Seventeen the
clear out signal. to warn the road
south of him, but as he did so he knew
that No. was coming up Long Misery
ten minutes late, straight into the
teeth of the worst runaway the A. and
b. had known.
Hennessy was Tuning at Lyshon,
for he couldn't afford another second |
yet Oldtown had seen nothing of the |
wild freight,
~etNA wax lVl dIOttltT TtDOEI from /
Oldtown," said the operator. But
Hennessy was six minutes late then
and resolved to go on up the grade.
He signaled his engineer and Jumped
on the rear. The brakeman was there
and grinned when the conductor cursed
his luck
Hennessy. half way through the
Ha0r yphnalod
the station platform, only fading bit
of dismal detail in the familiar view.
was old Tympan standing in the mid
die of the track and waving crossed
arms.
Left and signaling Us 10 come back
for him" said the rear brakeman.
Hennessy spoke eloquently, looking
at his watch. The time frightened
him. III not so back for him." he
cried. II can't be-
There was that in the rear brake
mans eyes which stopped Hennessy
Suppose he should leave Tympan at
Lyshon over Sunday, with no trains
either way, and suppose the old mans
pun with Il. III, +. were still working.
and suppose tho young husband of her
who was Nell Tympan, he who worked
In the G, =. AS office, should
And there was old Tympan himself
standing in the middle of the track
and signaling, Back up, back ND.
back up Could he afford to ignore
the old fellow? Though it hurt him to
do it, he said:
mo, | believe III go back for the
old guy, Bill" II
The rear brakeman pulled the cord. T
and Hennessy went in to reckon Just
how much over thirty minutes late
he would be into Oldtown. II
There was no denying that old Tym- | !
pan was exceeding drunk Hennessy
his wrath with difficulty as ,
No. backed into Lyshon. for he ,
hadn't relshed what he had heard go
ing through the day coaches. He leaned /,
out toward the dirty figure reeling +
across the platform and heard Tym- {
pans idiotic laugh as he boosted of
having called back the biggest train
on the road. Il jus went out there
ri OUT there-and signaled, Back up,
and yer backed up. didn' yer? l tell
yer. gents there amt er man o. the
rod darst ter dis-disobey my orders"
There was a scramble on the plat
form behind them, and the dispatcher
came shrieking like pillow train at a +
blind crossing.
Back UP, Hennessy, for all you're !
WORTH" he shouted. Runaway freight
thirty something cars off the wild
train coming down the grade-be here
IN less than minute 0ldtovvn vvtrad