The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-03-09


Threw His Whole Weight on tho
Brake.
careful aim, threw 1t up on top Of tho
car. The men secured the shoe ana
read the note:
Passenger dIe-Must ditch
c~ar-Jump.
Rhinelander and Storm looked at
each other and looked down the line.
The smoke of the passenger train roze
on the horizon. There was nothing 10
do but what Helen directed. They
thought of Spike below, but Helen was
calling to them and without further
delay the two men Jumped one after
the other down into the machine.
They told Helen OF Spikes plight,
She nodded as if the difficulty were
no more than a dettdl, slued the ma,
chine from between &he rails, drove
around the outfit car, slowed along.
side it and all three shouted. Spike.
hearing his name, listened and sat up.
He saw the machine tfstside the door
and crawled forward Rat he was un-
equal to a leap. Rh;nelander and
Storm urged him to make VERY eff
fort. He got to his feet and did the
best he could toward g. jump. The
men together half caughE and half
pulled him into the maSfine. With
the three aboard, Helen spSt on ahead
Of the runaway.
Storm had decided what G: do. "Ill
drop off the hind end, Helefr" he ex-
claimed, "and derail the car
She caught his idea. "Qu2k!" she
cried. mo time to lose"
Storm rolled over the back Of the
machine and dropped to the ground.
A bridge spanned an arroyo just
ahead. Running forward, Storm caught
up such loose rocks as he could reach
and placed them along the track.
Helen, choosing a negotiable point,
turned her machine c~ourageously off
the right of way and steered it safely
down the embankment. The outfit car
struck the rocks Storm had thrown on
the track. 1t reeled, plunged wildly
into the air and shot headlong over
the bridge into the bottom Of the ar.
royo.
In the distance the oncoming pas
senger train was whistling for a CROSS
ing close ahead. Storm running back
to the track, cleared it hurriedly of the
Instructions. The engineer of the
train, seeming trouble, tried to check
his train, but it was too late and
Storm, to save himself, dropped down
between the ties and hung there stll
the heavy train hurtled past. No cn-
CINE driver was ever more relieved
than the man in the passenger cab,
when he saw himself safely across.
He stopped his train. From the foot
of the bridge, Helen, Spike and Rhine
lander were making their way to the
top and were with Storm when the
crew and passengers came back. The
engineman angrily told the conductor
the trouble. But after Storms brief
story, he was as grateful as he had
been indignant.
The conductor, knowing the anxiety
among the dispatchers, urged his pas
sengers on board and the train has
tened on. The moment it pulled into
Arden the conductor gave the details
to the operator and the latter wired
headquarters.
In the dispatchers' office it was the
chief himself who jumped to the in
strument when he heard the Arden
call. 1t was the chief who took the
message telling how Helen and Storm
had saved the train. But the chief. as
he wiped his face with his handker-
chief, reflected that 1t was only an
other incident in the days work on the
rail. happily. instead of tragically.
closed.
At the bridge Spike was trying to
express his gratefulness to the three
who had rescued him. They left the
scene together In the Communicated
machine; and with perhaps a little
better understanding of one another
than any OF them had yet reached.
(TO BE CONTJNUND.)