The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-02-23
The Danger Signal
BY OSKAR REICH
copyrighted by Short Stories Co., Ltd)

| gulden to insure no one entering hi,
| compartment.
BY the time the train had reached
Anstetten It had picked up five young
girls. three small groups Of people
and four unhappy looking couples.
I'VE reach Linz in twenty minutes
do we not? They wait there fifteen
| minutes for lunch"
TOO little time to eat, and toe
long to go hungry. However, as We
are a little late, the train will prob
ably not make so long STOP"
I'VE might at all events have the
heat turned of"
Pardon me, my dear lady, but the
lever you were about to grasp Is the
danger signal"
"Ah might have brought about a
strange result"
mot so dreadful. after all. As you
see, It would simply be a penalty OF
fifty gulden."
Il hardly know why, but l always
think that would like to give the sig.
nal once. Just to see what would hap.
pen.
THAT idea, fancy, occurs to mos
OF us; to me. at any rate. whenever ]
travel by train. It is the same when
I cross bridge, I always wonder
what would happen If were to jump
over; or If l were to say something
unheard Of, something wildly sensa.
tional. when am out in society"
Il have the same feeling, precisely"
"Then-if you like, Frau Hofrathin
Two souls with but a single
thought'-let us put 1t to the test"
"But think of the consequences
You would be arrested and impris
oned, and then-imagine the panic of
our fellow passengers. BY the way
could they tell who had given the
signal?"
II rather think the machinery reg
listers that. But, really, this would
be the best possible opportunity, and
l am curious to the limit. There is
long stop at Linz, time enough for
the station master to prefer charge
against me and for me to pay the
penalty, for that is all there is to it. ]
will simply tell him that l intended
to turn off the heat, and made a mis-.
take. So" and before the young
woman could prevent him he had
pulled the lever.
A shrill whistle and a jerk, the
wheels creaking and grooming beneath
the grinding pressure of the breaks
another jerk, and the train stopped.
Passengers rushed to the windows,
guards ran from carriage to carriage.
Then suddenly followed a binding
crash.
The local had, as usual, been de.
layed, and behind 1t came rushing on
the Orient express, which was due
IN Linz few minutes after the local,
and preceded 1t from there on. The
guards, startled by the danger signal,
thought only of discovering where
help was needed, and in the excite.
ment and confusion no one had re.
membered the danger that threat.
ened and no precautions had been
taken to flag the train.
Owing to the heavy, impenetrable
fog, and also to the fact that the
local had come to stop just around
a curve, the engineer of the Orient
express had first seen it when only
a few yards distant, and though he
blew his whistle and applied the
brakes, the express dashed into the
train ahead at almost full speed. FIT.
teen dead, more than forty severely
injured!
The examination disclosed nothing
definite. So much was certain, that
the danger signal had been given. BY
whom and why remained mystery.
Some thought that perhaps a passen.
ger had seen the Orient express com.
Ing, and had thought thus to avoid a
possible collision.
Edgar's friends wonder that he,
once the gayest of the gay, is now SO
often sad and melancholy. "You
know" they say, "he was in that ter.
rible railroad accident near Linz, and
was the only one in the rear carriage
to escape with his life. That is why
be is always SO unwilling now to
travel by train"