The Virginia enterprise., 1909-10-22
The Nerue of Banty Burns
Bv ALVAH MILTON KERR

jostling, plunging loads, the brakemen
fatty refused to peril their lives.
Banty Burns got up from q seat. In
his brown eyes burned kind Of dre.
I'm going over ahead help John
son. he said. I'll twist up the brakes
as 60. II you fellers are scared. you
can pull the pin, and cut the caboose
loose: But il I was you, Sid, I'd stay:
by my train
That was all. He jumped across
onto the first CAV, and began to clam
Der over the heaped-up logs, screwing
up the brakes as he went; but the
wheels slipped on the icy rails like
sled-runners. The loads swung and
dipped as they flew, the rocky slides
of the cuts shot backward in glimmer-
ing sheets, the pine trees whirled
rearward, the hills lying far below
seemed twisting like live things in the
lap of the unstable landscape. Banty
soon had to crawl along the logs on
his hands and knees, clutching fast
like shaken insect Hearing 4
snarling rip of sound, he glanced back,
and saw. the caboose snap like whip
cracker against stony bank, and
burst open. In an instant it was lost
to view. And onward and downward
the train roared, scorning the brake.
When Banty, hatless and with bleed
Ing fingers, at last tumbled over the
tatl-board into the shaking coal Of the
tender, he found the cab empty. John
son and the fireman had jumped. The
plucky youth got to his feet and stag
gered to the engineers seat, and tried
the levers. Everything had been done
that man could do. He leaned out the
window. Should he, too, abandon
the runaway? The rocking of the
engine was terrifying.
If she stays on the rails, and has
two or three miles of clear sailing on
the main line, I'll get her under con.
troll" thought Banty.
His teeth were set hard, and his
face was drawn and strange. The log
ger seemed now within two or three
miles Of the switch, flying at dizzying
speed along the groove that dropped
downward around the northern front
of Tortoise mountain. AS the engine
rushed into more open ground, Banty
swung over to the firemans window,
and looked out. Away below him wa
vered the main track, stretching east
and west, and there was express
train No. 2 coming eastward! Could
he get out on the main line ahead of
her? AS he gaZed, picture Of the
ground near the switch flashed into
view, the sharp curve of the branch
track, as it met the main track, and
| the extension of the branch track in a
safety spur for nearly quarter of a
mile parallel with the main line.
Should he 60 on the safety spur, or
take the hazard of getting on the main
line ahead of the express?,
Just then he saw Shrader's engine
coming swiftly from the east, back.
ing up. His face turned gray. That
engine must be moving on a. cross
order or running away, for it would
meet and crash into the express SEEM
ingly half-mile west of the switch.
| AV6OIAOA LAO l"O ~ d1uS duu CA6luO
were hurting, and no one man knew
but he! If he whistled to the An
archist" to open the switch, then the
logger would 60 out on the main track
and strike the engine, or, If he did
not reach the switch first, the engine
would turn in upon the branch track
and plunge into the logger. Should he
whistle to the Anarchist" to keep the
switch closed, and so let the express
and runaway engine collide? A vision
of havoc and loss of life rose before
him, awe-compelling, fearful. He
seized the whistle-grip and called for
the switch to be thrown; he would
meet the great ram rushing from the
east himself. His was but single
life; there were many on the ex-
press.
Like thunderbolt the logger went
down to strike the runaway engine
! from Gooman. All the way Banty
clung among the levers, white-faced
and feeling every nerve drawn tense,
but sounding the whistle for the
switch to open. The Anarchist
could not see the runaway engine, oW'-
ling to a curving cut, and the express
was still three-fourths of mile away
With all her loads reeling in cloud
of dust, and her engine screaming for
the switch to be held open, the logger
plunged over the frogs onto the main
track. Shrader's engine was then 200
feet away, and Banty, seeing the deed
was done, jumped into the gangway
and leaped feet foremost into the air.
In an instant he was swallowed up
in Inconsistencies. A moment later
there was a thunder Of bursting mat
ter that shook the solid hills.
Banty awoke in the hospital at Ray
mer. When the officials had heard his
story several mysterious things were
made clear; one was that he had de-
liberately wrecked logger No. and
Shraders engine, in order to save the
express and it's precious human
freight. Six months later he was run
ming an engine between Raymer and
Duluth.
| Pieasee the Walters.
Two men were wrangling as to who
should settle with the waiter for the
luncheon. When the question had
been finally decided and the contest
L. "A