Arizona republican., 1912-03-02
66e Dynamite Car By ARTHUR K. AYERS. Copyright, 1910, by the Pearson
 Publishing co.)

and given this reply to. When the seventh arrived, his meager store of | patience was exhausted. Without even reading the papers he returned them
 with his usual statement scrubbed or
 the outside. When McKelly noted it, he smiled wickedly and concluded to lei George remain at North Haven a lit. tie longer. There had been instruc. tions to him to resume his regular
 main line run.
 For Shorty oakes he held dislike
 as great as it WAS unreasonable at the
 time, for the only real drawbacks to
 Shorty were his vast Responsibility
 and his genius for doing the right
 thing at the wrong time. Later on,
 however, he furnished Amhorn ample cause.
 It came about on a windy day in
 February when a westerly gale swept the yard clean of dust and the morn ing train had brought up a perfect hodge podge of freight-mules for the contractors on the grade beyond the rails end, more ties, three cars of steel, and B. & O. 14,67S loaded with dynamite. For two hours George and the switching crew worked at the snarl of cars, striving to get them into some semblance of order and the train of construction material ready to send down to O'Rourke at the front, fifteen miles away.
 Melville, the yardmaster, noticed in passing that the wind had gotten under & badly tackled Explosives" card on the dynamite car and torn it until it was only a question of minutes until the rest of it would go. Further down the yard he met Oakes and instructed him to place a new placard on the car After some searching, Shorty found the obsec of his quest at the far end of the tracks with two cars of rails coupled behind it, and evidently waiting to be made up into the train that was to go down the new line. Making sure that the number was correct, he lacked fresh signs on both doors and departed with his mind on other matters. Among them was not the knowledge that the three cars were on the very apex where the eastern and western slopes met. An unusually strong puff of wind struck them and decided their fate. Happening to glance back, Shorty beheld them rolling with fast increasing speed down the new track to the eastward. With yell he took to his heels in the direction of the switch engine, half the length of the yard ahead of him.
 George spied hm from afar. Look at that idot tryng to do a Marathon" he grumbled to Halliday. Don't he know he's built too near the ground to get up any speed?"
 But the short-legged Oakes was do- ing his very best and when he reached the engine he had little breath left with which to tell his tale.
 Dynamite carl" he gasped. Loose on the grade, Two loads of-steel be- hind iti"
 George Amhorn was many things but he was no coward. Shorty uncoupled the cars that were in tow and thirty seconds later the pathetic old engine was galloping up the yard in pursuit of the runaways like an overdue pig at the trough-what she lacked in grace she made up in speed. Combs declined an invitation to remain be- hind. but he wondered if he were go- ing to be much real comfort to Bettie the next day The situation was clear enough. Scattered all along the line ahead were the section men doing the preliminary ballasting. and at any time the cars might leave the uneven track on one of the numerous curves with results that would not be difficult to imagine With brakes unset and the heavily loaded flat cars behind. the runaway trio would gain tremendous headway in little time.
 Wheezing and protesting at every joint and bearing the veteran locomo- tive stormed over the crest of the hill and struck the most outrageous piece of railroad in the whole system at a gait approaching thirty miles an hour. She lurched, she jumped, she shrieked aloud as her wheelbase ground around the curves. Combs did not need to pull the bell-cord: bell without clapper would have rung while running at that speed over such a track. But there was nothing of the comic in the case to him or. to those who had seen the flying cars thunder by. Above the shouted warnings they were passing down the line rang the high-pitched scream of the engines wide-open whis- He that echoed and re-echoed among rI.l- L.. l.. N.r