The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-01-09

ed against the white wall. neaved and
stumbled ahead and. with veil fro~,
Sinclair and Sankey and the fireman
the double header shot her nose into
the clear over the Blackwood gorge
As engine after engine flew past fine
divided walls each cab took I'M tba
cry. 1t was the widest shout that
ever crowned victory.
Through they went and halfway
across the bridge before they could
check their monster catapult. Then
at a half full they shot it back at the
cut. 1t worked as well one way as
the other
THE thing is done" declared San.
key. Then they got into position nm
the line for Il final shoot to clean tbe
eastern cut and to get the head for q
dash across the bridge into the west
end of the canyon, where lay another
mountain of snow to split.
Look the machines over close
boys" said Sankey to the engineers
IF nothing's sprung Wen take a full
head across the gorge-the bridge Will
carry anything-and buck the west
cut. Then after we get No. through
this afternoon Neighbor can get his
baby cabs In here and keep 'em chas-
ing all night. But it's done showing"
he added, looking into the leaden sky.
He had everything figured out for
the master mechanic-the shrewd
kindly old man. There's no man on
earth like good Indian and, for that
matter, none like a bad one Sankey
knew by military instinct just what
had to be done and how to do it. IF he
had lived he was to have been assist
ant superintendent That was the
word which leaked from headquarters
after he got killed.
And, with a volley of jokes between
the cabs and a laughing and q yelling
between toots, down went Sankey's
double header again into the Black
wood gorge.
At the same moment, by an awful mis-
understanding of orders, down came
the big rotary from the West End
with a dozen cars of coal behind it
Mile after mile it had wormed east to-
ward Sankey's ram, burrowed through
the western cut of the Blackwood
crashed through the drift Sankey was
aiming for and then whirled 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
Through the swirling snow which
half hid the bridge and swept between
the rushing plows Sinclair saw them
coming. He yelled. Sankey saw them
fraction of 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 whiskers. Oil it |
self 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 com |
mon enemy overcome, they dashed at
each other, frenzied, across the Black |
wood 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 hesitat-
ing an instant, Sankey caught him in
his arms, tore him from the levers. |
planted mighty foot and hurled Sin |
clair like a block Of coal through the
gangway out into the gorge. The 9th
er cabs were already emptied, but the
instant's delay in front cost Sankey's
life Before he could turn the rotary
crashed into the o66. They reared like
mountain lions and pitched headlong
into the gorge. Sankey went under
them.
He could have saved himself. He
chose TO save George. There wasn't
time to do both. He had to choose,
E nm m NIAgISaMSMILlZA