The Washington herald., 1909-01-03

work the telegraph be Sloan calling the house
the crag Il he had found the ends Of the tee
phone wire then his mother could tell Sloan OF the
terrible situation.
There was one thing that could be done-a chance
he would take the chance for not second must be
wasted II he not bruised and battered
and shaken and II his hands did not trembe so, He
tired with all his soul 70 steady himself He laid one
wire end down upon stone and with the other
wrote upon It in Morse dots and dashes by tapping
wire end upon other, breaking and closing the
circuit does with telegraph key
-The-shed-is-o n-hre-at-Big-oend.' he tapped
slowly, uHevenIy lsbOriousiy- ~Teil-Berg-are-in-
she5-Big-bendr
He placed the wire ends against rs tongue. The
current came in little sharp spurts and then ceased
Had Sloan heard2 Had he gone TO tel Berg2 The
youth on the mountain side sat stu moment, star
ing at the distant conagation The radiance Of the
fell upon the rocks and against his dripping face
in dly quverngs and the forest n the Hopper rOared
ike a cataract Could Sloan have read message sent
bunglingly? Doubt smote him; he began hunting
for the broken telephone wire like half mad with
fear
sloan had rsad the message Sitting snong his
instruments IN the station at Gap. he suddenly awoke
the fact that all the wires dead The private
wire 10 the Fuller mine alone was alive He called
the Office: a tired grunt came back
Is that YOU Davis" Sloan asked
Sure"
Say IS Berg there2"
Yes; damming the TOW from the tunnel he can
I'll his
Tell him the wires are all dead-something wrong
maybe fire in the shed He'd better get move on
him"
That so? All right"
Sloan went out and looked toward the shed, came
back and began testing for and walking and
fro in the stone house Forked mountain Mrs
Taylor went from window 10 window. white faced and
twisting her hands together; in the long house pa
troll leisurely toward Gap unconscious Of peril
and away Of the fire the second walker stroled
toward Muley Point He began TO smell burning wood
and faced about; the OdOr, mixed with thin vapor
through the long tunnel borne draft Of air
that sucked through the shed from the west He in
stsntly started westward swift run looking eager
" shead-but the fire eight OF nine miles away.
Davis, the accountant. stepped out OF the Office at
the Fuller mine after his conversation with Sloan. and
shouted the substance of the operators message over
Il Berg. where he working with his the
mouth Of the drift
All right" yelled Berg Here. jim you couple
train them three there the sidetrack
snake EN- out and kick EN- back the main line out
Of the way; back the tanks in the sdetrsck
TO the water here you can. Hurry Tell the en-
gineer Boys. be lively Burkeu the whole push Of
tomorrow. I expect"
The fretran was backed in on the spur and coupled
to the three obstructng cars-two box and
nat-2nd the were drawn out and " Kicked west
ward on the main line. Jim Harvey. tie brakeman
having pulled pin the they shunt
ing fretrain threw the switch for the
back in again the spur thinking he would run
the three the main track and set their brakes
as soon the retrain in on the siding By that
Just when the train in upon the spur and he had
closed the switch Davis burst from the Office door
with yell that swept every heart with terror.
Sloan has got message from Forked mountain
he cried; the s on Big bend She's burn
ing up! SHE'S BURNING up"
Harvey, with a sudden thrill Of CONSERVATION,
dashed toward Berg and the at the mouth CT the
mine Panic swept the veins OF every man. shouts.
mingled oaths and orders and counter orders cleft the
night heavy rushed here and there and away from
confusion. OF through the gloom. crept the box
cars and the fat, the wind at their backs and a
falling track ali the way the Big bend! Harvey got
glimpse Of them they disappeared, and with a
swift vision Of the closing Of his career Western
Central started in vain pursuit yelling he
Davis, seeing what had befallen, stopped in lis
tracks and stood for with outstreehed hands
and cutcled breath. unconscious Of what he doing.
The cars-the boxcars-sre loaded with powder
giant-basting," he burst out and whirled around.
Berg do you hear?" he cried Our three cars have
gone down the grade the fire. Two Of EN- are
loaded with powder; just got EN- in today"