The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1910-06-10
The mad ENGINEER.
By ARTHUR |. MESERVE.

What is the matter with you.
Kirk? Somehow you have looked
and acted strangely to me to-day?"
l said this to the engineer of my
train as we stood on the platform of
the station at w, about ready to
start. Mine was late train. We
left w at $50 p. m. for a run of
three hours and half to the june
tion at x River. 1t was in Novem-
Der, and the days were so short that
it was dark already. 1t would be a
black night, for the sky was overcast
and there was no moon.
My engineer stood on the platform
q little ahead of his engine, so that
the glow from the headlight revealed
him plainly. to me without the aid of
the lantern which l held in my hand.
He stood motionless, looking away
down the track as though he were
gazing upon the rails stretching out
ward like two bars of cleaning light,
becoming less and less brilliant until
Whey were swallowed up in the dark
ness beyond.
That afternoon, whenever I CHANGED
to see him, Kirk had appeared strange
to me. He seemed excited, and there
was a wild look about his eyes such
as | had never noticed before. He
did not look or act like a man who
had been drinking, and 1 had no rea-
son to think that he had, for to my
knowledge he had never taken a glass
of liquor in his life.
As I spoke to him he turned quick
iy, and I saw again the look I have
mentioned. 1t was only for a mo-
ment, and then it was gone, and he
seemed himself again.
What do you mean?" he said.
There is nothing the matter with
me Why do you ask?"
Because you have hardly seemed
yourself to-day. You don't look sick;
still, there seems to be something the
matter. There has nothing gone
wrong with you, I hope?"
Nothing" he answered. 81 never
was in better spirits. 1t is almost
time to go, is it not?"
at the time. He did the same, and
we compared our timepieces. 1t still
lacked three minutes of the time of
starting. There was hardly Sec
ond's difference in our watches.
| turned and walked back to the
other end of the platform. The pas
sengers were pouring into the cars,
and | saw that was to have large
train. AS l watched them passing in,
l was oppressed by feeling such as
l had never felt before 1t seemed
that they were intrusting their lives
to my keeping, and that if any acct
dent happened l would be guilty of
their death.
| shouted Gall aboard" gave the
signal to start. and we were off into
the gloom and the darkness of the
night.
We were to make but three stops
between our starting point and X
River junction. The first one was
twenty miles away, and therefore
there was no necessity of haste in 60
ing through the train. For several
minutes l remained in the baggage
car, and then commenced my work
OF examining the tickets of the pas
sengers. / had gone through the
smoking car, and was passing between
that and the first passenger coach,
when it occurred to me that we were
going at higher rate of speed than
was necessary for us to reach the
first stopping place on time. Still
did not know but that / might be mis-
taken. Kirk had always been care
between stations, so that our pauses
might be as short as possible.
The thought regarding our speed
was uppermost in my mind as l slow
ly made my way through the next
car, which was a crowded one, and
1t took me some time to get through.
One woman had lost her ticket, and
after looking everywhere except in
the-right place, it was found at last
in her satchel.
Before this was accomplished the
certainty was forced upon me that
we were going at terrible rate of
speed. The car swayed from side to
side with motion peculiar to rapid
travelling, and knew that we were
shooting onward at the rate of fully
mile a minute
Swiftly, then, the horrible suspi-
cion flashed across my brain that all
was not right with Kirk-that we
were in the power of a mailman.
Surely it must be so. or he would
never be driving the way he was.
l wondered why it was that the
fireman did not endeavor to stop him
or to communicate in some way with
me.
He was a slight built youth, and
II the engineer were mad he would
stand but slight chance with him.
Perhaps he had endeavored to reason