Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-12-19

| WHISTLE iSYSf w set tuG CoIlyou eCiU0s
| yelling in the hope of arousing Gal
lagher. and Graham slammed his
engine into the forward motion with.
out pausing to close the throttle.
, There was a grinding of fire from the
wheels, a running jangie, Of slack-tak-
ing down the long line of empties, and
the freight train shot ahead, s%natching
its rear end out of BARNS way just
as Gallagher, dreaming that his boiler
had burst and that all the iends Of
the pit were screeching the Jews Of
1t, came to life and snapped on the
air.
When the stop was made. the lit.
tie ITishman reused his fireman, got
off and footed it UP the line TO see
what he had done. Graham had stop
ped his engine when he was sure his
train was clearing the lower switch.
and was on his way back to find out
what had happened to Gallagher. The
two men mel in the shadow of the
halted material empties, and it was
the Irishman who began it,
Paste me wan, Scntchie,i he said,
"'Tts OWN TO me-
Without q word the Scotchman gave
the blow, catching the little man full
in the chest and knocking him half a
~car.Iength. That was enough. Gal
lagher picked himself up out of the
gravel, the lust of battle hot upon him.
Wan more like thot, We diyyle, and
| can lick ye if We wor F~in-mac-Coul
himself" he painted; and Graham gave
it iudiciously. this time or the. point
of the jaw. For five bloody minutes
it went On. give and take, down and
up; methodically on Graham,s part,
fiery hot on Gallagher's. And in the
end the Irishman had the heavier man
backed against the string of empties
and yelling for quarter.
Are you full awake now, We red
hot blastoderm2" ! gasped Graham,
struggling to free himself when Gal
lagher gave hfrh leave,
81 am thot, thanks to- you, Sandy
lad. Twas q foine nfs ny a scrim.
mage, an I'm OWN We q Good
night to We
we've got a clear track from this
| called Graham, %swabbing his battered
face with a piece of cotton waste
drawn from one of the pockets of
method, But ye'd better not take
any more cat-nsns. Go on with ye, We
wild Irishman; ye're ohstructin' the
traffic
For twenty miles below Ten Mile
Gallagher sat on his box like a mar
refreshed, Then the devil Of sleep
postponed beset him again. Once
more the fireman was asleep on the
coal, and to the little Irishnan's bonn
! IL =, l,-z 500 80 -. - ,l #-fL1,- ,,,s-
sles he returned only sodden groans.
Gallagher neryed himself to fight 1t
through alone. Mile after mile of the
time-killing track swung slowly to the
rear, and there was not even the flick
Of speed to help in the grim battle.
Dawn came when the end-of-track
| camp was still forty miles away, but
the breaking day brought no surcease
Of strugglings. When it came to the
bitter end, when his eyelids would
close involuntarily and he would wake
with q start to wonder dumbly how
far the 956 had come masteTless, Gal
lagher took a chew of tobacco and be
gan to rub the spittle in his eyes -
the last restort OF the sleep-tormented
engineman, Like all the other ex.
pedients it sufficed for the time; but
before long he was nodding again, and
dreaming that a thousand devils
were burning his eyes out with the
points Of their redhot pitchforks,
Out of Il of these nightmares he
came with a yell of pain to see what
figured for the moment as another
nightmare. Three hundred feet ahead
the track seemed to vanish for three
or four rail lengths. II was second
nature to jam on the brakes and to
! make the sudden stop, Then he sat
still and rubbed his smarting eyes and
stared again. The curious hallucina,
ton persisted strangely. Fifty feet
ahead OF the stopped engine the glis-
tening lines of thei steel ended
abruptly, beginning again a ar
length or two beyond. Without dis
turbing the sleeping Jackson, Gala,
CHER got down and crept cautiously
out 10 the break. 1t was a break. He
stopped and felt the rail ends with. his
hands.
When be Strengthened up his pas
senger was standing beside him.
What it is?' asked Adair. Have
We lost something"
Gallagher waved a grlmy hand at
the gap.
"The thrack,' he said. :. Twas there
whin L pulled me stirring av empties
out over ut lasht night. 'Tis gone
now, I'm thot near dead for sleep I
a naytber see nor feel straight
Adair was calmly lighting a cigar
cite,
Your senses are still in commits
sion" he said: there Is a sood-sized
piece of track missing. Who sniped
ii, do you suppose?"
The engineer was shaking his fiery
head.
"'Tis beyond me, Misther Adair.'
That's the deuce of it." smiled the
young man. Its beyond the train.
How is your engine-pretty good on
| the broad junp?"
Gallagher vas not passed laugh,
ing.
"Sshe'll not lep thot this day. But
who'd be dom this job betune dark
an morning, dye Think"
81 W.. I'LL l-z- IN i, I'll S,,1