The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-05
THE COURTING OF
! THE ENGINEER.
A Romance of the Railroad That
Was Helped Along BY
Collision.


Strictly speaking there were two OF them,
with only short forty mile run intervening.
and there was no doubt about his having
earned them.
1t happened In this wise. Harrison was
running the Fast Mail with his regular en-
CINE, the big eie. Train No. Z. the Pacific
Flyer, was badly Of time; and the Mail,
which had left the Missouri River terminal
six hours later. overlook the passenger at
Grand Butte.
Here the division dispatcher made q slip.
The Mail's time was faster than that Of the
delayed flyer. hence Dispatcher Perkins
should have let 1t pass No. at the Butte.
But Perkins gave the order TO 90: and
ten minutes later he let the Mail follow.
A It ohanced. was passenger on No. 7
that morning; the guest Of Supt Blaisden.
OF the Prairie Division. Our car, which
was the superintendent private oface-on-
wheels, was the last In the long train.
Through the plate-glass rear windows we
had frequent glimpses Of the Mail a. Lar
rison whisked into the tangents just as We
were leaving them.
If we were on the other side of the hill
that young Berserker would have . good
chance to repeat MacCartney's bad break,
remarked the superintendent, chewing
grimly on his half-burned cigar.
nodded. MacCartney was ono OF the
Mail engineers who, under precisely similar
conditions, had chased No. z to within q
hands breadth OF rear-end collision.
Perkins viii doubtless hold us at the
summit and let the Mail pass. ventured.
n..s H. L. ~ -.
portunity. And few minutes later the
chase had transferred itself TO the western
slope. with the added hazard Of q precipitous
down-grade to make 1t more exciting.
Say. by Georgei this thing Is getting
Interestingly said the superintendent, when
McGrath, our engineer. slammed tho long
Flyer at curve In q way to make our heavy
special dirt with her trucks like a light
footed dancer trying to kick OF the clogs.
I glanced up at the dial Of the speed
measuring mechanism with which the
special car was fitted. The index had
passed the sixty-mile-an-hour mark, and
was still mounting by imperoeptible jerks.
And Harrison, with his ten-minute handi-
cap now cut down to less than ono. was
pacing US % evenly that we might have been
towing him with hawser.
The catastrophe came on bit OF straight
track near the bottom Of the hin. A herd
Of range cattle browsing near the line took
Q notion to stampede and cross ahead Of
US. McGraths whistle shrieked the danger
signal, and the pointer of our speed recorder
dropped like the arm Of miniature sema-
phore.
The next instant Mr.. Blaisdell and his
guest were doing involuntary somersaults
on the brown plain to right and left OF the
rear platform. and Teddy Harrison had
earned bis vacation without pay.
1t was pretty bad smash; though. thanks
to the vestibule and the empty private car
to take the force Of the blow. there were
no lives lost. But big ois had ploughed
a third Of the way through Mr.. Blaisdell's
private ofioe.
Harrison was the only cool atom in the
chaos.
you fellows had ought to KEEP out o.
my way he growled. when we had dug
him out Of the wreck.
In the hills to the northwest Of Grand
Butte lies the seigniory Of one Barton Howl
son. cattle king. and thither Teddy betook
himself At the beginning Of his month Of
leisure. Now from the Bad Lands to the
Three Tetons you would not find q curpter
Ish iaelite than this man Howison. But
like every other unattached bachelor in the
love with Mary Howison.
Teddy's standing with the cattle king
dated back TO the time when he was pulling
fast freights. Howison had driven into
the Butte one day with train load Of prime
beef. The Chicago market was up and
posing for q plunge; wherefore time in
transit meant money.
Ted happened to be sent out on that par
tioular run. and he gave Howison and the
beef outfit the ride Of their lives. By oonse-
quence. the cattle king, known far and wide
a. q hater Of railroad men on principle,
gave him the latch string Of the ranch house
to pull ,. when he Please I,.. from
as the crow flies. But the mail run, with
It's thirty six hour ayover at the division
station. brought possibilities: By dint Of a
little practice q man may learn to catch
back and forth between town and the
Howison ranch when he was supposed to
be sleeping the clock around.
1t was matter OF course that he should
be .jeered numerically by the men. He
took II all in good part till one day old man
that Bart Howison was an escaped convict
from one Of the Southern States Then he
struck back smartly.
IT'S a lie, and you all know IT, he re-
hint that 10 Bart Howison's facet
Targis laughed.
sMebbe not But II were you wouldn't
mix up too thick with the family, Buddy
IF an ourang-outang on this railroad
wants TO make my business his BUSH
neee-
A chorus Of derisive groans drowned tho
defiance, and 30 the matter rested.
II was during the final week OF Iarison's
enforced vacation that a short-whiskered
man with sleepy eyes arrived at the Butte
one morning on the Flyer and put up at the
Arroyo Hotel. Then this whisper went
around that he was an Officer Of some sort
looking for his man. Its effect on the
colony AZ Grand Butte was interesting.
There were mysterious disappearance not
O few.
As you would suppose. the town grinned
broadly every time q man dropped out;
grinned and looked to see the short whis-
kered one give chase. But as yet he had
made no sign.
One afternoon I CHANGED TO be the only
other occupant O the shaded porch. and he
removed his cigar to say:
Wasn't some buddy tellin' me you was
Q lawyerf'
Possibly
sThen maybe you can tell me what I
want TO know. They tell me the Govern
msnt amt Just the same in the Territories
as tits in the States