The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1908-07-17

o1Btt32 Mn could hear saw
s39& sSys) mill goin' to beat
EV4E the band.
~ CHOW that's a
V- fine layout 1 says
to Hank Simms, in the next bunk.
How under the canopy do they ex-
pect man to sleep, buildin' a bunk
shanty right near a sawmill?'
"Sawmill nothin'!' says Hank.
That's Jerry Day, the new flagman
for Archie Dunn, snorin' over in the
trainmen's bunk room. Amt he a
pippin?'
II that anti-noise society gets hep
to him. says, they'll hotfoot him out
OF this community instanter.'
There was no more sleep for us
mat afternoon, SO we got up and sat
In hot game of pinochle.
Jerry Day was first out with
Archie Dunn that evenin' on the first
70 n was second out on second 70,
freight runnin' so heavy them days
that they were runnin' the fast
frefghts in two or three sections.
when it came time for us to leave
the freight yards the fog was so thick
you couldn't shoot holes into it with
machine gun. l tell you l was
mighty cautious goin' over the Jersey
meadows. movin' along on only about
two notches of steam on the throttle.
Pretty soon on the heavy air
| teard sawmill goin' full blast.
Strange I says to myself, thet
they're runnin' a sawmill in these
parts this time of the night
There was peculiar sound to that
sawmill that I'd heard before.
All Of a sudden it came over me like
flash what it was. That's that green
aagman of Archie Dumas it came to
me; he's just hidin' his red lantern
Under bushel of shores while his
train is stalled
$50 quicker'n a deaf m dumb man
can say Jack Robinson got my en-
CINE in back motion. I couldn't see
thing, but from the sound of that
foghorn ahead we'd stopped about a
caboose length this side of that warn.
m snore.
"The fog shifted for a minute n
there was the tail lights of Archie
Dunn's caboose almost restin' on the
nose of my cowcatcher. 1t was a
lucky thing for me that 1 had recog-
1ized the deep snore of that f1agman.
"Mebbe 1 didn't climb onto that ca
boose n give that new hand brief
n pointed speech on the rules n reg
ulations of sleepin' on duty, especial
y dwellin' on the necessity of the flag
man totin' his red n white lights II
telegraph poles back when his train
| stopped on the main track
| "a week or so after that l was sec.
ond out again behind Archie Dunn
An it was just such foggy night as
the one was speakin' of before Sher-
lock Holmes himself couldn't pene-
trate the density of that Jersey mead.
NV mist.
II was movin' along again under
two speeds forward, keepin' my wealth
er goggles trimmed for trouble ahead.
Just as sure as you're born, over the
meadows there came to me again that
40 sawpill power snore of Archie
Dunn's rear guard. &c. says to my
self, MY little heart-to-heart talk with
that f1agman bore no fruit, Ell? Well,
I'll just give him little bump this
time n see what little scare will do
Tor him.
"You can just imagine was pref
ty warm under the collar, comm up
on that Teller snoozin' on the breast.
works twice in two weeks. kept
gettin' closer n closer to the snore,
but there didn't come along any hind
end for me to bump into.
Il got a little scared myself then,
thinkin' mebbe might hit 'em too
hard, so 1 sot up in the air n we
swung to under the lee Of that warn
In snore. Well, now, mebbe l hadn't
made up my mind to write up a round
robin on that careless fagman of
Archie Dunn's.
1--WE laid there a few minutes, with
that teller snorin', me jawin' to my
self m mebbe envyin' him just lit
tie OF his sound sleep, when all at
once the fog cleared away as If it had
been sent for. You could have bowled
me over with a toothpick! Scan that
track ahead of me as far as could
zee straight across the meadows I
could detect no tail lights of train
ahead. But of to the right in the
fields was a really n truly sawmill
merrily on the works which was prob
ably workin' overtime on some little
extra job. .
Now, say, mebbe I didn't feel as
cheap as pair of ice skates in the
summer time. nearly got laid of for
ten days myself for delayin' that fast
freight. However, can truly say
that have never been so fooled be.
fore or since"