, 1905-03-01

and cTuug TO him. trying TO tell MIN Tue
situation OF the inlperiled trains as the
roll of the engine banged me Dack anu
forth.
There's no operator at Fruitiane,
YOU know | shouted near his ear,
land the man at Treetor is at dinner
The oil wild will come through Ifeetor
without stopping, making for Fruit
lane, and the special will pass Fruit
lane without stopping. making 10 meet
the oil wild at Treetor. They Will col
lide about two miles this side OF Tree
tor, Charley said
Ibid he give the cross?'
| nodded, a choking lump rising into
my throat.
Stevens kicked his feet against the
%footboard and ground his teeth. lie
had the throttle lever back in the last
notch, and we were going like the wind.
The roar of the giant machine was q
kind of continuous thunder.
'.Drant will drive the go like Satan!'
he shouted. He is probably making
over fifty miles an hour. We will have
to make sixty an hour, and then we
will probably not catch him. l hate
this. If they should happen to stop
and we struck 'em in the rear. Say,
get up in the window on the other side
and yell to me if you see 'em. This is
a crazy idea, sending us after EN- in
this way. Burns'-to the fireman.
pound the stuff under herT Keep her
hot!'
Sweat was dripping from the fire
mans chin. He rocked back and forth
like a machine. Stevens held his watch
in his right hand, his left on the throt-
tie. Now and then he glanced at the
timepiece, then strained his eyes ahead.
In seven minutes we rushed through
Fruitlane like a meteor. | saw a glim-
mer of small houses, a man falling
back with his uplifted hands against
the side of the little depot, and then,
as with a breath, we We're in the open
again.
From Traynor to Fruitlane we had
come i'll almost a straight line, but here
we struck the lanking hills of the
broad valley, and from thence east
ward the track flowed forward in long
curves, following in some degree the
textures of a small river. Here the
drawn, intent look on Stevens features
deepened, and his hand on the throttle
worked %nervously. as If he would glad
ly close the valves. but he pluckily held
her throat wide open, and we flew on
ward. To one not strung to the Keen
est pitch of excitement our speed would
have been terrifying, but personally I
was not strongly impressed by this, for
the transcendent danger of crashing
into the passenger train somewhere be-
fore us, the fact that In five or ten min
utes the splendid special and the oil
wild might rush together, eclipsed all
else save fleeting bits Of thought that
raced through my mind like sparks:
How was Charley bearing this? Would
the Treetor operator return to his office
before the oil wild passed his station?
How should we stop the special if we
overlook it?
Then somehow l became aware that
the hot, still atmosphere had turned a
brown green hue, n as we whirled
round a long bend suddenly miles and
miles of level valley lay open before
us. To the northeast of it, indeseriba-
bly, majestic and awful, hung a lean
ing mountain of cloud, black green at
the base and smoky through all its
foamy crags. 1t seemed pitching for
ward as if to fall upon and overwhelm
the world. Halfway down the boiling
mountain an immense island of brassy
vapor was plunging into it like a NOV
ing continent. l saw the two twisting
together like mighty serpents and
knew that death was abroad in the
sky.
Stevens did not seem to notice it.
His eyes were feeding on the reaches
of track before us. Swinging in to-
ward the hills for half a mile or more,
l lost sight of the cOlliding storm
clouds for a little space, but when half
a minute later we rushed round an out
ward bending curve l saw miles away
to the northeast, a forest being torn in
to fragments. Above it whiried an in
describable cylinder of cloud, an APP
palling monster of destruction. Almost
black at the base. it lowered heaven
ward for thousands of feet ami spread
out against the sky, dark green and
veined with curling forks of lightning.
AS it spun round it seemed an infinite
auger boring into the earth and tearing
the very hills into ruin. 1t was moving
toward the southwest with far greater
speed than ever a locomotive ran.
l was on my knees in the left hand