The San Francisco call., 1904-06-19

peared to weigh about two hundred and
sixty.
what do I say?" echoed Murray,
with decision. as he looked FOR A soft
spot to aIight along the track Il say
IN drop out right here. I don't mind
train robbers. but I don't tackle a
burning b-idge-not II know II, and
he jumped on
We'll. Peaters." asked Ferguson, OF
the second man, coolIy. do you want
to stay?'
'Me?"echoed Peaters, looking ahead
at the mass OF fame Ieaping upward
me stayH Well. not In q thousand
years You can have my gun, Mr..
Ferguson, and send my check to 439
Milwaukee avenue, II you please.
Gentlemen, good day" And oR went
Peaters.
And or went every last man OF the
valorous detectives, excepting one lame
fellow, who said he would just as
lief be dead as alive, anyway, and de-
clared he would stay with Ferguson
and die rich!
Sinclair. thinking he might never
get another chance, was whistling
sharply for orders. Francis, breath
less with the news, ran forward.
Coin? How much? Twelve hun
dred thousand. Whew!" cried Sin
clair. Swing up, Pat. We're off,
The Five-Nine gathered herself with
a spring. Even the engineers heart
quailed as they got headway. He
knew his business, and he knew that II
only the rails hadn't bucked they were
perfectly safe, for the heavy truss
would stand a lot OF burning before
giving way under q swiftly moving
train Only, as they flew nearer. the
blase rolling up in dense volumes.
looked horribly threatening.
After all It was foolhardy and be
felt II; but he was past the stopping
now. and he pulled the choker to the
limit. 1t seemed as II she never COW
cred steel so fast. Under the head she
now had the cracking bridge was less
than i've hundred-four hundred
three hundred-two hundred feet. and
there was no longer time to think
WITT a stare. Sinclair shut on. He
wanted to push or pull on the track.
The McWilliams Special was Just .
tremendous arrow shooting through .
truss Of fire, and half a dozen speech
less men on either side OF the river
waiting for the catastrophe.
Jerry MacElroy crouched low un-
der the gauges. Sinclair jumped from
his box and stood with a hand on the
throttle and a hand on the air, the
glass crashing around his head like
hail. A blast Of fiery air and flying
cinders burned and choked him. The
engine, alive with danger, few Ike q
great monkey along the writhing steel
So quick, so black. so hot the blast.
and so terrific the leap. she struck her
nose into clean air before the men In
the cab could rise TO 1t.
There was a heave In the middle
like the lurch OF a sea-sick steamer,
and with it the F1ve-Nine got her
paws on cool iron and solid ground.
and the Mattaback and the blaze-all
except a dozen tongues which licked
the cab and the roof OF the baggage
car a minute-were behind. George
Sinclair. shaking the hot glass out Of
his hair, looked ahead through his frtz-
zled eyelids and gave her full head
for the western bluffs OF the Valley
then looked at his watch.
1t was the hundred and ninetieth
mile-post Just at her nose. and the dial
read eight o'clock and ffty-fvs min
QlGS " q 6GCOUQ- mere was an QOQE
to the good and seventy-six miles and
water to cover; but they were sew
enty-six OF the prettiest miles under
ballast anywhere. and the Five-Nins
reeled them OF like a cylinder press.
Seventy-nine minutes later Sinclair
whistled for the Denver yards.
There was a tremendous commotion
among the waiting engines. II there
was one there We're fifty big locomo-
tives waiting to charivari the McWil-
liams Special. The wires had told the
story in Denver long before. and as
the Five-Nine sailed ponderously up
the gridiron every mogul, every con-
solidated, every ten-wheeler. every hog.
every switch-bumper, every air-hoss
screamed an uproarious welcome to
c 5rgie Sinclair and the Sky-scraper.
They had broken every record from
McCloud to Denver, and all knew IL;
but as the McWTliams Special drew
swiftly past, every last man IN the
yards stared at her cracked, peeled.
blistered. shasgard looks.
What the deuce have you bit into1''
cried the depot-master. as the Five
Nine swept splendidly up and stopped
with her battered eye hard on the depot
clock
'Mattaback bridge Is burned; had to
crawl over on the strtngsrs.~ answered
Sinclair, coughing up a cindsr.
Where's McWilHamsT'
Back there sitting on his grief. I
reckon"
While the crew went up to register
two big four-horse trucks backed up to
the baggage car, and In 4 minute a
dozen men were rolling specie-kegs
out Of the door. which was smashed IN.
as being quicker than to tear open the
barricades.
Sinclair, MacElroy and Francis, with
his brakeman, were surrounded by q
crowd Of railroad men AS they stood
answering questions. a big, prosper
ous-looking banker. with black rings
under his eyes. pushed in toward them.
accompanied by the lame fellow, who
had missed the chance OF q lifetime
to die rich, and by Ferguson, who had