The San Francisco call., 1904-06-12

get his baby cubs In hare and keep
EN- chasing all night; but it's done
snowin,' he added, looking into the
leaden sky.
He had everything figured out for
the master mechantc-the shrewd,
kindly old man. There's no man on
earth like a good Indian; and for
that matter none like bad one, San
key knew by a military instinct Just
what had to be done and how to do II
II he had lived he was to have been
assistant superintendent; that waS
the word that leaked from headquar-
ters after he got killed.
And with a volley OF jokes between
the cabs and a laughing and . yell
ing between toots down went Sankey's
double-header again into the Black
wood gorge.
At the same moment. by an awful
Misunderstanding of orders, down
came the big rotary from the West
End with a dozen cars OF coal behind
it. Nile after mile 1t had wOrmed
east toward Sankey's ram, burrowed
through the western cut OF the Black
wood, crashed through the drift San
key was aiming for and whirled then
out into the open, dead against him.
at forty miles an hour. Each train,
in order to make the grade and the
blockade. was straining the cylinders.
half hid the bridge and swept be-
tween the rushing plOws Sinclair saw
them cOming-he yelled. Sankey saw
them fraction OF a second later and
while Sinclair struggled with the
throttle and the air. Sankey gave the
alarm through the whistle to the poor
fellows in the blind pockets behind
But the track was at the worst. Where
there was no snow there were Whts-
kers; oil itself couldn't have been
worse to stop on. 1t was the old and
deadly peril OF fighting blockades from
both ends on a single track.
The great rams OF steel and fire
had done their work and with their
common enemy overcome they dash
ed at each other frenZied across the
Blackwood gorge.
The fireman at the first cry shot out
the side. Sankey yelled at Sinclair TO
jump. But George shook his head;
he never would jump. Without hesi-
tating an instant Sankey caught him
in his arms. tore him from the lev
ers, planted a mighty foot and hurled
Sinclair like a block Of coal through
the gangway out into the gorge The
other cabs were already empued; but
the instant's delay In front cost San
keys life. Before he could turn the
rotary crashed into SIS. They reared
like mountain lions and pitched head
long into the gorge; Sankey went un-
der them
He could have saved himself; he
chose TO save George. There wasn't
time to do both; he had to choose and
he chose instinctively. Did he, maybe,
think in that fash Of Neeta and OF
whom she needed most-of a young and
stalwart protector better than an old
and a failing one? I do not know.
only know what he did
Every one who jumped got clear.
Sinclair lit in twenty feet II snow, and
they pulled him out with a rope. Hs
wasn't even scratched Even the bridge
was not badly strained No. 1 pulled
over IL next day. Sankey was right:
there was no more snow; not enough 70
hide the dead engines on the rocks thu
line was Open
There never was q funeral In Mo-
Cloud like Sankey's Georgo Sinclair
and Neeta followed together; and OF
mourners there were as many as there
were people. Every engine on the d.
vision carried black for thirty days.
His contrivance for fighting snow has
never yet been beaten on the high
line. It Is perilous to go against
drift behind it-something has to give.
But 1t gets there-as Sankey got
there-always: and IN time OF block
ade and desperation on the West End
they still send out Sankey's Double
Header; though Sankey-so the con-
ductors tell the children, travelling east
or travelling west-Sankey isn't running
any more.