The Western news., 1904-08-17
The LIMITED EXPRESS.

GH HE general manager sank into
his chair, his face CHASTITY under
the yellow rays OF the electric
light as the yellow 'himsy" that start
ed up at him from his desk and burned
its message into his brain, Lost"
He hung on the final word he read
there as one who repeats death sen
tence that has just been pronounced
upon him, then with groan his head
sank on his desk and the fatal mes
sage was swept to the floor.
The door opened and a man entered
briskly-with the air Of one who is
sure of his ground and Of welcome
"Ah, John; thought I'd find you here.
1-why-old man, what's the matterY'
the newcomers voice lost its cheer
full ring, became anxious-"speak to
me-JOhn's what's
The general managers head rose
slowly; he stared ut the other with
eyes that saw nothing, eyes that We're
guled upon something far away.
Prank" he said slowly; Frank, l
wantN'you to answer a question-just
one-~and l want the truth? Am l
crazy: Have | been crazy all these
years? AM
For Gods sake, man. What-has
this S train turned your mind? Tell me
what's s--''
That's what wanted you to tell
me, Frank" The general manager
spoke SLOWLY, calmly. now. Look
he turned and reached for the dispatch
After moments search he found il
on the floor where 1t had fallen.
Understanding it-"read this This
is the twentieth century, man! Read
1t; tell me it can't be true!"
Vanished" was wrung from the
mans lips when he has hastily sur
veyed the brief message. "Surely-
but 1t must be authentic, all right;
from you own man. But great heav-
ems, John-this is not the day of
Aladdin and his lamp! Disappeared!
A whole train-and the limited mail,
at that!''
mo. 6; crack train Of the west
New Orleans to Los Angeles In fifty
four hours,' echoed the general man
ager mechanically.
when did you get thisY They
both sat down.
Just moment before you came in
But she was gone two hours ago Dis
patcher reported that she had passed
Salton on time-6:lO-was due at Los
Trail. ten miles farther west at 6:22
where 40 was waiting for her to pass
When G:3O came and 6 hadn't shown
up and the Lost Trail operator wired
Salton and found she had passed there
he knew something had happened, and
wired in I've lived in hell ever since
At 1880 No. 49's engine cut loose and
started slowly ahead to look for 6. Sh.
just pulled into Salton a few minutes
ago-6 wasn't on the track! And the
Salton man swears before God she
hasn't backed past his place!
"Where is she. That's what I'm
asking you, Frank. Where is she p
The cold sweat stood out on the gen
eral managers forehead
The big, old-fashioned clock in tn,
corner was striking II. Midnight. Ant
he had slept more than three hours
had slept while the crisis of his lif,
was drawing him deeper into the eter
nal sands somewhere down there /,
the southern California desert! TIL,
general manager rose and flung open ,
window, letting In flood of cool
balmy air. The sleep had refreshed
him, the air invigorated him.
When John Harding turned to leay,
the window there was the old-time
dauntless glitter in his eyes and th,
accustomed vigor In his step. He wa
once more the indomitable master VIII,
five years before had. by his own shee
will power and force Of personality
faced an enraged army of employe
and dissuaded them from calling
strike that would have cost the com
pany hundreds Of thousands of dollars
Suddenly he stepped toward a rack a
one side Of the room and unrolled ,
map. showing in. detail the section o.
the road where had vanished The1
his finger began to travel slowly oyel
the black line that zig-zagged its way
across the sheet. Deadlands-and the
finger passed 1t. Simpson; still the I'm.
ger passed on. Then Salton, and as
slowly 1t dragged across the line, one
inch. two-then 1t suddenly stopped