The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-13
THEPIRATEENGINEER
By JOSEPH M. ROGERS.

sleep or steam but asked him where we were
 That seemed to be a poser for him and l surmised that he had been asleep as long as I had but he gave me qualified remark which saved himself, because l could not deny 1t.
 q was now wide awake. was actually scared to death. 1t was in the summer and there was some moonlight but the first glints of dawn were doing something or other which shapespeare tells about which I do not remember.
 Now, I was in mostembarrassing po- sition. Considering the down grade and present low steam l might have been asleep half an hour or more and so might have been the fireman. l could not afford to say any thing for fear he would give me away. The fact that had behind me the president and board of directors who were going to make millions for the com- pany or go into bankruptcy made my po- sition almost intolerable.
 T kept looking nerVously at the fireman expecting him to call out signals of some sort as usual but he was not only silent but seemed to have been suddenly taken with the jimjams or the cerebro- spinal meningitis. He would look out of his window, utter a grunt or groan, throw in a lot of coal, wipe his eyes and once more look out at the landscape, as | worst of all l could SC his shoulders jig gle The thought flased across me that he might have gone insane for want of sleep, though l could scarcely blame him for that.
 Finally I demanded of him where we were and he replied that we were just coming into Walton. That was satisfac- tory, because Walton was just outside of the junction at Aberdeen with the South ar11 brar Of own road bore off to the west and it was forty miles to the Mason City junction we were to make by o'clock, though the Wandervelt plug line here as they called 1t, would have taken us to the main line in less time. l had suggested to the master machinist that we get running rights over this plug line, which was principally milk and coal route, but our folks found that the other people would not get mixed up in the strike situation and so l considered we must make good speed we had lost lot of time. We had only little over an hour to make the nearly forty miles and that was the very best we could possibly do and l feared we could hardly fetch it as we were get ting into rising grade section. Some minutes went by and we should have reached Aberdeen junction, but I saw no signs of it, and asked lthe fire man, who said we were just there, that it was just around the curve. Then he slapped the sides of his head and put on some coal and began to mutter. In three miles more we passed through @ little hamlet, but there was no sign of i a junction, and l got made |" Where in the deuce are We now?' I demanded
 'The fireman looked at me with a face which, in spite of the coal dirt, looked ashed in the light of the open furnace l door.
 We're all right he said; the junc- 1 ton is two miles ahead. The shadows | deceived me-
 "I did not like this a bit. It was bad enough to be rushing through space be- hind battered old teapot with the pres ident and directors in tow, but not to i, know where on the globe we were sit uated was too much for nerves like mine, 1 which had been kept up to the highest 1 pitch by overwork However, saw the dim glimmer of lights ahead, and waited 1 to see what town it was. There was no i Junction and no stop signal, so let her go, and as we passed through I could easily see that it was Mallon. The head light showed the sign on the little wooden i station, and besides there was a big warehouse with immense letters on 1t 1 showing the name, as well as on a brew i cry and coal yard So I got out my running card and looked for Mallon. I 1 did not find it at first glance, and thought l must be nervous. I looked at l my watch to see where we should be. ! and as I live there was no such town as Mallon on the card, and 1t was evi- l dently far-sized town.
 NOW under other circumstances 1 i would have called that fireman more names than he could have appreciated, l but 1t struck me that as he knew I had been asleep I had better play safe. i So I remarked casually:
 I don't see Mallon on the time card 1 Jumping catsP he yelled, did you see that too?
 1 Sc what, you idiot?'
 Mallon.' Yes,' I replied rather gruffIy. T can read letters four feet high when the head ] light is dead on them. Where Is your old i town, anyway
 1 Just then we struck a curve and a ] grade, and we had both as much as we i could do to keep up her speed.
 When we got to a decent stretch I turned on him rather fiercely, thinking l that perhaps could bluff him down from ever telling on me:
 See here, took this run because they i said you had been on 1t for 20 years, and i knew every irch of the road. Back east,
 
 i fence corner il three counties. Now blink blink you, where the blubblety bunk are i we? l must calculate on our time l T should have said more, but looking out l saw q freight train ahead of us just l coming out of a siding. I gave the 'hoot 1 hoot,' put on some air. but the freight
 backed in time, and We went by at a good | speed, while the trainmen on the other side looked at me as if we were crazy.
 What siding is that?' I yelled. We nearly got the dump.
 l T turned to look at the fireman and he i was the picture of terror. He picked up l his shovel in way that made me think 1 he was going to attack me Then he 1 dropped it and looked out of the window. ] At that moment we passed Saunders I l looked at the time card, and there was no 1 such place. By this time you can believe l that l was alarmed. I knew, of course, 1 that we must be somewhere and on a rail- road, but I had never heard of any one being lost on a pair of rails and as the 1 track ahead seemed pretty good I went after that fireman in a way that was a l caution.
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