Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-19

several feet above the boiler, where the cool
ar began to condense it.
jarvis instantly shut off, and then climbed
out the door of his cab to make an investga-
tlon; A minute was enough to tell him the
truth.
In the upper part of the dome was an open
ing which was kept shut by means of long
lever with a spring attachment. 1t was, IN
TACT, safety-valve-one of the two with which
| "99'' was provided Ordinarily this opening
was kept closed-a tremendous pressure OF
steam being required from within to lift the
covering.
| Some disarrangement had been produced by
which all this was blown out of the top OF
the dome-the cover lever and appurtenances
spinning so far out of sight in the darkness
that 1t was useless to make any search for
them except by daylight.
"Well, this is a pretty scrape," concluded
jarvis Il never saw an accident like that
before and it's the last one that / ever
thought would happen to '99.' l guess she's
laid up now for good"
The, rule IN such cases is for the engineer
to call for help by means of his whistle, The
signal would be understood by any railroad
man whose ears it reached
But he was several miles from Hadley and
from Bayington, and it was impossible for
the sound to travel that far and be recog
nized. What was needed was another engine
to come down the road and take ''99' back
There seemed but one thing to do, and that
was to 60 to Hadley and get the operator to
walk, and he hoped that "99" would be
available until good part of the distance
should be covered. You will understand that
the trouble was that the supply of steam was
escaping through. this opening with such ra-
pidity that in few minutes it would be lost
altogether.
Nov that Jarvis could use his headlight and
sand, he pulled upon the throttle and start
ed toward Hadley with all the speed at his
command. The small lamp which burned in
thn asV-fn ~ tha l.,.., A.lI
that little time was to spare. When the acci-
dent occurred the steam gauge indicated 12O
pounds; when he looked at it again it was
down to 80 But that was plenty, if it would
only continue few minutes
AS the engine began moving, Jarvis kept
continually glancing at this gauge. He saw
the index sliding slowly back over the fig
ures, as a spot moves around on wheel,
until 1T came to rest almost at the figure 90"
The steam had escaped through the boiler,
while that which was generated continued to
pass through the opening, more than two
inches in diameter. The rushing roar had
subsded to a sullen growl, which marked the
fight of the steam.
Jarvis had been able to run less than
quarter of a mile when all moving force was
gone, and the engine kept on only short
distance further, driven by its own momentum.
Then it slowly came to rest, and he was
forced to decide what he would do.
lnasmuch as he had concluded to walk to
to Bayington fog another engine, it was
necessary to draw his fires before his de-
parture.
He opened the furnace door, and was in
the act of lifting the long iron rod, when he
laid it down with an exclamation:
II wonder now whether it can be donel'
Lifting the lid of the box on which he had
been sitting, he found, as he expected, num-
ber, OF hammers ,wrenches, nuts and tools
such as are most likely to be of use in case
Of the hrpa KING down Of an
Mixed among them was a quantity of cot.
ton waste, hatchet and two or three pieces
of pine wood like those often used in starting
the fires under locomotive.
Selecting one with straight grain he be-
gan carefully choppng an end into the shape
OF a circular wedge He did this with con-
siderable skill until the hatchet was no longer
available. Then he took out his jack-knife
smooth and round as bung, The point, as
it may be called, was whitfield down to an
inch and a half in diameter, whence Il ex-
panded regularly to more than double that
thickness, and 50 on until it ended in the
rough figure OF the piece of wood itself.
He knew very nearly the diameter Of the
opening Through which the steam had es-
capped. With the huge plug in one hand and
the hatchet in the other, he now climbed mn
in front OF his cab, until he was on top Of
was small quantity Of steam passing through
the opening, enough to scald his hands un-
less he was careful.
Taking off his coat, he bandaged his left
gasping the plug, he pushed the smaller end
down into the opening against the steam.
The instant it was checked he struck the ton
Of the plug with the hatehet, instantly fof
lowing it with several blows delivered with
all the strength of which he was master He
drove it downward until it was pressed so
rigidly on all sides that it could be forced
no further.