Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-07-15
ToLDM THEssMoKER

old wound takes me back to the mo-
ment ana the place. Under foot. the
shifting platform. ON each side the
swaying partitions. which buffet me
back and forth with. seemingly devil
ish intent. I am cIutching now at
anything that viii keep me from fall
ing while brush the blood out of my
eye that is trucking in a warm
stream from the cut In my forehead.
My breath is coming short and fast
now and q new feeling is taking pos
session OF me. A sort Of madness
With the blow that 80 nearly OYER
eaKne me am seized with sense
that as I have been summoned to
this task by who can say what I'M
known agency so, now. some other
maligant force is trying to hold me
back.
NO. mol" I cry. Let me goi"
The rumble of the train and the
storm drown my voice.
raise my head, struggle for a mo-
ment with a thousand darting fingers
of pain that are graphing with my
consciousness and then free, plunge
once again into the lighted aisle. Still
no one wakes.
am creeping again now, steadying
myself by thel chairs. am getting
weaker and cold, hideously cold. but
am gaining foot by foot. ] am going
Harki What is that?
@%0ONO eAAC AAO4SC VI the Eu6Ql0E tram
and the shrieking wind a pistol shot
rings out,
Another.
ooh. Godi Give me strength, I'll
do it, whatever it is"
I can run now. Ny head is growing
clearer: Ny hand steadies itself.
am in the first car now. can see the
engine ahead,
Ah-h!I am out in the open night.
at last. And what a night! The rain
blinds me. Except the flare from the
engine can see nothing.
task?
For one instant I wait, crouching.
for the answer. A flash of lightning
that seems to tear the heavens apart
ana crash or thunder such as man
never heard before brings it to me.
stretched upon the Goals not ten
feet from me lies the body OF a man,
and beyond in the cab, huddled
against the side, his head hanging out
OF the window. can see the Hfeless
form OF the engineer.
The engine is running wild!
MY feet touch the couplings. Now
feel the Goals, as on hands and
knees / crawl toward the cab. 1 dror
| to the floor of the cab.
Tnere Is a second flash of lightning
another boom of thunder, and out OF
the dariness--what is that thai
waves red and glowing as far as eye
can see ahead?
An! Now know my task. am
TO stop the engine. But how? How
| am I to do it?
II Is useless to think. yield N.Y.
self to the unseen guide. I close my
eyes tight, so. Ny hands reach out
deftly, firmly, and 1 feel obedience
follow each movement. We are, slow
ing down. The engine pants and
throbs like a creature taken in the
chase Row-now-NOWl-
Motionless, at last.
! NOT nifty feet away in the rear end OF
baggage car looms out of the night
Men are boarding the Nengine. They
are holding me in their arms. ! hear
cheering. Then all is dark.
| didn't know anything more for
many days. Brain fever, they called
II you'll have to excuse me for get
ting q little dramatic It's still the
most vivid thing in my experience,
| NO Nothing was ever really known
| something like a mile back there were
marks as If a man had dragged him
self to a piece of road that crossed
the track at that point No other clue
was ever found that would lead to a
solution. The engineer was quite
dead: The fireman lived, but they said
was hopelessly, insane.
The other train? Yes. tt was a
| passenger train with over a hundred
excursionists on board
| One odd circumstance I haven't told
| you. wasn't on my regular train at
all. l must have been more done up
from fatigue of the day when j
reached the station than I realized
for l had stepped on to a train going
IN the opposite direction from the one
intended to take.-Roston Record