Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1904-02-12


any great favor "Tafry." as he was
called, disappeared below, aud sue
ceeded within an hour In completely
reversing the engineers opinion. The
latter. who stood by to watch him
could see with half an eye that the
man was quite at home among the
throbbiDg, pulsing engines, and turned
away with the growing comment
! Hell do"
| They had few passengers aboard
| that trip, and in the dusk Of the even.
ing. when Taffy stole up for a mouth.
! full of fresh air he noticed q dainty,
little childish figure 90 skipping along
the deck. He stood there with his
grimy head poked out Into the softly
changing twilight, watching her. Every
time she turned and skipped past him
his notable eyes followed her. And as
he gazsd wistfully after the merry,
innocent, little creature the apple" In
his bare throat moved as II with a gulp.
Ay, perhaps he could have told a tale
II he had chosen.
Every evening after that he Aipped
away from the engine room at the
same hour, and looked anxiously out
along the deck. The child was nearly
always there. Sometimes she smiled
up at the greasy, watching face as she
went past, and Taffy carried that smile
below with him, wrapped up In soms
odd corner of his heart.
The steamer had run into ". Pierre,
and was lying snugged up close to the
shelving beach. They were to sail
again next day. and It was a busy
night on board Cargo had to be un-
loaded, and fresh freight shipped from
the barges alongside.
Taffy, being an odd man." had been
put on the donkey engine which he
worked steadily throughout the even
Ing. Many a time while waiting for
the word to ''heave," his eye turned
reStlessly to the distant summit Of
Mont Pelee, towering high up there In
the darkling heavens. The huge noun.
tain was growing and rumbling omin-
ously, and there was a strange lifeless
lull In the air. like that which betoksus
an approaching thunder clap.
1t was far into the night before he
was released from his post and free to
turn in for a few hours. Hsavy-eyed
and weary, he tumbled into his bunk,
and was soon fast asleep.
What was 1t that woke him? A
strange, moaning sound coming from
the land broke ON his ears He sat up
in his bunk. Something was about to
happen. He felt the mysterious. I'M
known calamity coming.
The air seemed to shiver and then
to stand still A fash. more vivid and
binding than the lightning, followed.
and then II seemed to him as II all the
machinery In the world-an that he
had ever seen or handled-had been
collected In one spot and had exploded
at the same instant.
For one breathless second he sat
there in his bunk. staring wildeyed
and open-mouthed The next he was on
the floor, as II he had been hurled
there He dashed up ON deck, whence
screa s-agonised screams-reached
him,
His shipmates, passengers and crew
were running madly about there And
no wonder; people run from a driving,
spla shing downpour Of rain, but now
1t rained fire.
They ran. seeking any shelter from
that awful hail OF redhot, scorching
cinders Tafy ran also, but his eyes
were searching frantically through the
fiery deluge. The child-the child
He found her-found her screaming
and panic-stricken under the bridge
with her little hand pressed to her nos
trils to shut out the deadly, suffooating
fumes He picked her up, Struggled
her to his breast and ran again. The
burning hail beat upon his bent back,
the fire In the air scorched and shrivsl-
cd him, but still he ran. Down he
plunged-far down into the body Of the
ship, where the bllghting fumes had
not penetrated and the fire from the
sky could not reach them. And there,
in some dark corner, he fell.
When the intrepid rescuers vino
eventually saved the pltiful remnant Of
the crew explored the hold of that
steamer they found a mana man who
had evidently been In his bunk when
the fire smote the Simplifying dead
there. But underneath that SCARED
and blackened body there was living,
breathing child
And 50 he persisted.
In the official list OF those who lost
their lives on board the steamer he
was rated as One Unknown. Chit