Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-02-24

aboard, and when sufficiently thawed
he reported the caboose deserted and
not q trace Of anything edible in It
He had seen nothing of train 10, and
he said that all the engines on the road
coupled together would not be able to
collide with our hind end.
This merry Christmas to which
had so long looked forward was about
over. 1t soon became dark. We shov.
eled coal against the curtain to keep
the cold air out, calked our window
sash with waste, and pumped her
full again, and we shivered and doZed
and starved through the longest night
ever knew.
The reappearance Of the cab win
dows notified me Of the approaching
dawn. What a dismal sight! Our usu-
ally neat cab was thickly begrimed
with coal dust. Every bolthead and
bit of iron in the cab itself, as well as
the windows, was disguised by the
delicate tracery Of that master silver
smith, Jack Frost. To the artistic sense
of the we'll fed and comfortably clad 1t
would have been beautiful; to my dull
ed mind it was emblematic only Of the
biting cold that ragged without. Harry,
tied in a hard knot, was snoring sound
ly in his corner. 1 had him spread the
fire, and l pumped her full again.
We must have food at any cost. l
knew Of but one house in that locality,
an ordinary story and half farmhouse
on crossroad about half mile from
where we lay. 1t was invisible through
the storm, but we knew its approXi-
mate direction. We left everything in
the best order possible and started, the
wind at our backs Harry in the lead.
1 shall never forget that trip, foun-
dering aimlessly through the drifts like
q pair of blind mice, il live to be a
hundred. Three minutes after leaving
the engine we could not have found
our way back to it, no matter what
the necessity. Harry being younger
and lighter than |, I had all could do
to keep him in sight. We fell into an
II
already nearly full of snow; so, barring
| q few bruises, we received no injuries.
We would surely have died here, for
the well was smoothly lined with brick,
and we were too deep in it to get out,
had not the overhanging crest OF the
drift fallen from top heaviness, burying
us at the same time that 1t raised our
level sufficiently to enable us to crawl
out.
Shortly after this that Providence
which so often intervenes on behalf of
the helpless led us stumbling and half
frozen to the back door Of the house.
Farmer Belknap had essayed a trip
to the barn to look after his stock, and
his good lady had lain down for her
regular after dinner nap, leaving the
clearing up to her buXom daughter,
Susie The old lady had just dozed of
on the sitting room lounge when, like
incarnate spirits of the storm, we two
derelicts fell into the entry. The last
of our strength left us there, and 1t
was merely two heaps Of rags, ice and
snow that confronted the frightened
women when they opened the inner
door. Susie was the first to identify us
as human beings, and together they
dragged us inside.
The next thing | saw was brown
eyed Susie bustling about the table,
where Harry was manfully attacking
stack of buckwheat cakes which
Mrs. Belknap was straining every
nerve to keep replenished. | was soon
seated opposite Harry. Susie double
banked her mother ut the griddle, and
we sent the level Of the buckwheat
-four barrel down as though the bot
tom had fallen out Of it. The famine
relieved, we cleaned up bit, and the
old gentleman came in and indorsed
the.hearty welcome we had already re-
ceived from his women folks. He told
us the well we fell into was forty feet
deep and had been abandoned when
he was a boy because the water got
spilled somehow" AS none but his
own folks ever went there and nobody
had ever fallen into it before. he hadn't
bothered to cover it up. We knew now
that the avalanche that enabled us to
get out was not the first that had fallen
into 1t, and we thanked our lucky stars
that we didn't start the day before.
Mrs. Belknap and Susie soaked out my
wounded finger and dressed it with
some of the soothing salve homemade
for father when he cut his foot with
the ak.
The warmth. light and comfort Of
the cozy parlor, not to mention the con-
genial company, contrasted so strongly
with the bitter gale and the dirty,
cheerless cab that we found it impossi-
BILE to combat the urgent invitation OF
our kind friends to remain with them.
That night we slept on feathers be-
tween blankets. and rs drowsed off |
remember Harry droning lot Of rap
turous twaddle in my ear about sweet
Susie Belknap.
In the morning the storm had mod
Grated somewhat, and began to wor-
ry about the engine Should anything
happen to her in my absence the cold.
fshy eye Of the master mechanic would
fail to discern eXtenuating circum'
stances. We each took on another big
tank of homemade sausage and PAN
cakes and felt fit for the deed Of our
lives.
had to speak twice, little sharply
the last time. to Harry, who was bid
ding Susie goodby in the kitchen.
thought l heard suspicious smack,
but won't swear to that. Still, these
redheaded fellows-hang him, he came
away and forgot the coffee!
Mr.. Belknap told us a better road
than the way we came, 80 we got back
without much trouble. The curtain
had caught fire from the furnace door
and broken every pane Of glass In the
cab, rendering 1t uninhabitable. The
clock had thawed out. run seven min
utes and frozen up again. But there
were both fire and water In her. SO /
didn't much care.
The storm was about over. l had
kept my engine alive, my stomach was
comfortably filed, and my mind was
easy. Lit nv pipe and was doing OH