Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-12-24

eN>1g 1es -
sledge descending. He sprang for
ward. and 1t was only the handle that
struck him on the head. He was
iazed by the shock, but beat his an
tagonist down with heavy blows, and
knelt upon him.
Suddenly there was the sound OF
loosened brakes, and next the slow
bump of a loaded car moving. He
looked up, and there, Just where the
car had stood, were two men shaking
their fists at him. but The a was
slowly coming down toward him. or
a sudden he realized what 1t all
meant; these were men who had been
discharged. They wanted to have the
dynamite blow itself up on the track.
and so get even.
He had the charity to believe that
they did not think Of the possible
consequence to the express.
Suddenly his imagination filled with
a sickening spectacle. A passenger
train smashed all to bits, the smell OF
dynamite and fire, and of burning
wood and burning flesh! Dead people
everywhere along the right of way!
He struck his fallen foe q sharp
blow across the head with the sledge,
and with an awful sense Of fear and
horror he caught the side ladder OF
the passing car, and with the sledge
still in his hand, swung himself
aboard. He hurriedly clambered up
and sticking the sledge under the foot
deck tried to set the brakes as he had
so often seen the brakeman do.
The wheel spun around easily, but
1t seemed to have nothing at the bot
tom Of it. The car was now humping
merrily along, like an. irresponsible
} calf broken from its yard. He ran
back to the rear end, and stopped
there ir~resolutely.
J Swanson's first impulse was 70 leap
from the car, but the ground below
) was flying back very fast now. He
) saw that he had done a very foolish
thing in getting aboard.
, He looked down at the flying earth
! beneath and at the ragged blur of rock
7 and cacti rushing by. To leap meant
/ certain death! To ride on meant
death in the explosion that must
come when the flying car should dash
p, against the engine!
. As his eye roved down the flying
track and back to the car again the
!, CLINT of the sun on the face OF the
drill-hammer arrested his attention
j He looked at it. It was an ordinary
. eight-pound sledge, and a plan like
an inspiration came to him-a plan
not to save his W life, for he looked
. upon that as lost, but to save the train
d below him.
d He hurried to the forward end and
peered over. Like a narrow ledge
s barely as wide as the sole Of his heavy
shoe, hung the forward brake-beam
and down to that led the iron rod o.
the brake-staff. He looked only fol
a moment, nodded, his head confident
o ly, and reaching back for the sledge
!, gripped 1t firmly and slid down the
h rod. His feet touched the swayint
brake-beam, and he exulted in the cum
ming of his plan.
e The wind whistled in his ears ant
drove his long yellow hair into hi!
eyes. The jolting jerks seemed al
Q ways about to throw him off. HI
n waited, for 1t needed a curve to maxi
his plan effective. Suddenly his ey'
d caught the coveted curve barely a hun
a bred yards away.
d Just at the middle Of the turn h
s thrust. the maul.head down on the fly
ing rail Just forward Of the wheel
n There was a sudden, tremendous jerk
he had a feeling Of being thrown
mile, and that was all!
IL Afterward, when the crew of the eS
a press came up to find out whether !
O was an earthquake or a volcano tina
a had broken loose and d~isarrarged tn,
landscape, they found him lying II
4 the middle of the right Of way
n thrown there by a strange trick o
= fate, while the box car, with its dead
v ly cargo, had been hurled clear int
AL the canyon below.
h They poured water on his head an
listened to his story. Then they too
= him with them to the end of the run
When the superintendent heard hi
a tale and found that It was really tru
he asked him what he could do t
square" the business. Swanson
whose mind was simple, and who still
= feared mines and dynamite, made ar
!, swer:
- SAY tank Ay like to go back t
I, Meester McQuirk. Ay TL': ha
q might haaer from his. frand by di
tame"
N So, he went back, and McQuir
n shook him by the hand and put hear
70 and hope into him with a few NOR
n. w~ell.chosen words:
Swanson, yez have no more init
lict than a jack-rabbit, although ye
have improved 1t. but yez do be haviI
! an amazin' intelligence now. an there
no denyin' it. OF, have changed tn
: moind Of me about yez, an me frin
the prisidint Of the Raypublic Of Me,
leo will have to take a back safe ont
the prisidint Of this railroad caa
a have a thry for yez.
4 Swanson, be gobs, yez a a ha
yer Job back II yez kill aal the dagoe
10 on the division"
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