The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-01-24

out or our caDO0SeA QUICK. maA. II
going to throw Cameron into the cat
tle'
1t was a chance-single. desperate. F
but yet a chance-the only chance that +
offered to save the helpless passengers f
in his charge
If he could reach the siding switch .
ahead of the runaway train he could
throw the deadly catapult on the sid /
ing and into his own train and so /
save the unconscious travellers. Be +
fore the words were out of his mouth /
he started up the track at topmost
speed.
The angry wind staggered him. 1t
blew out his lantern, but he flung it
away. for he could throw the switch
in the dark. A sharp gust tore half
his rain coat from his back. Ripping
Off the rest, he ran on. When the wind
took his breath he turned his back and
fought for another. Binding sheets
Of rain poured on him. Water stream
ing down the track caught his feet. A
slivered tie tripped him, and. falling
headlong. the sharp ballast cut his
wrists and knees like broken glass. In
desperate haste he dashed ahead again.
The headlight doomed before him like
q mountain of fame. There was light
enough now through the sheets of rain
that swept down on him, and there
ahead, the train almost on 1t, was the
/ switch.
/ Could he make it,
/ A cry from the sleeping children rose
in his heart. Another breath, an In
slant houndering, slipping leap, and
he had 1t. He pushed the key into the
lock, threw the switch and snapped it
and, to make deadly sure, braced him
self against the target rod. Then he
looked
No whistling now. 1t was past that.
He knew the fireman would have
jumped. Cameron too? No, not Andy,
not If the pit yawned in front of his
pilot.
He saw streams of fire flying from
many wheels, he felt the glare Of a
dazzling light, and, with a rafting
crash, the ponies shot into the switch.
The bar in his hands ratified as If it
would Jump from the socket, and.
lurching frightfully, the monster took
the siding. A fare of lightning lit the
cab as it shot past, and he saw Cam
eron leaning from the cab window with
face of stone, his eyes riveted on the
gigantic drivers that threw sheet of
fire from the Sanded rails.
"Jumpr' screamed Ben, useless as
he knew 1t was. What voice could live
in that hell of noise? What man es-
cape from that cab now?
One, two, three, four cars pounded
over the split rails in half as many
seconds. Ben, running dizzily for life
to the right, heard above the roar of
the storm and screech Of the sliding
wheels a ripping. tearing crash, the
harsh scrape of escaping steam, the
hoarse cries of the wounded cattle
And through the dreadful dark and
the fury of the babel the wind howled
in a gale and the heavens poured q
food.
Trembling from excitement and ex
, haustion, Ben staggered down the
, main track. A man with lantern rar
, against him. 1t was the brakeman
, who had been back with the torpedoes
He was crying Historically.
They stumbled over a body. Seizine
the lantern, Ben turned the PROSTATE
man over and wiped the mud from bis
face. Then he held the lantern close
and gave a great cry. 1t was Andy
! Cameron-unconscio true, but sooI
very much alive and no worse thar
badly bruised. How the good Coz
a who watches over plucky engineer
had thrown him out from the horribl,
wreckage only he knew. But ther,
:. Andy lay, and with a lighter hear
, Ben headed a wrecking crew to begin
the task of searching for any VIII
might by fatal chance have beel
caught in the crash.
And while the trainmen Of tn
freights worked at the wreck the pas
senger train was backed slowly-s
slowly and so smoothly-up over tn
switch and past, over the hill and pas
and so to Turner Junction and aroun
by Oxford to GAINESVILLE.
When the sun rose the earth glove
in the freshness Of its June shove
| bath. The tlier, now many miles froT
Beverly hill. was speeding in towar
| Omaha, and mothers. waking their If
4 tie ones In the berths, told them no,
close death had passed while the
slept The little girls did not quit
understand it, though they tried yer
hard, and were very grateful to thu
l man, whom they never saw and whol
/ they would never see. But the littl
boys-never mind the little boys-the
4 understood 1t, to the youngest urchi
! on the train, and fifty times their papa
Il had to tell them how far Ben ran an
I how fast to save their lives. And OF
little boy-I wish l knew his name
8 went with his papa to the depot mast,
4 at Omaha when the fiier stopped ar
4 gave him his toy watch and asked hi