The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-01-29
EoeningS Story
On Chatterton's Slide.

the train boss, to McNider, the engi-
neer Of the log train.
who saidsso ?" demanded Member,
halting in his task OF tinkering the
leaky cylinder of the queer little loco
motive.
Ills Nibs," replied Peltier with a
shrug of his shoulders that confirm
ed the indication of French descent
provided by his name.
''I thought his sister was going out
with u.s. Evidently McNider couldn't
reconcile the presence of a woman on.
the log train, with the gratuitous
perils of nine-length load. over the
tortuUus curves and breathless gradi-
ents Of the. Burke coinpany's road.
80 she is corroborated the train
boss.
wei III be damnedt"
what are you going to do>xith a
fellow like Greener? p" exclaimed Pei
that Miss Janice was going on the
train,- aud he bawled me out; asked
me who I thought I was: said they
often hauled eleven and twelve on
the Nickamaug's road
Sure! I'd rather haul twenty there
than six here" commented the engi-
neer.
well. there you arei We haul the
nine, and Miss Greerier goes-and like
enough she'll get smashed flat be-
tween a couple tWGENS-inCn DuIIS.
And the train boss took himself SOM
berly off to see that the five lengths"
of great spruce logs were slowed as
safe on their trucks as human care
could make them:
Dave Peltier, middle-sized, strong
and 1.-THE, had been born to the woods
like his father before him. But he
had yielded to the pet desire of the
father and had gone to school and col
lege. For Peltfer, senior, was making
little money as a woods jobber and
was possessed to spend 1t on an educa-
ton for the boy; which is often the
way with men who have had no
schooling themselves. The war came
when Dave was in his sophomore year
at Tech and he had gone over with
the first contingent of foresters.
When he got back 1t was to find his
father dying, the little business melted
away and the task of getting a living
before him. He had been train boss
for the Burke outfit when the new
manager, Greener, came; and he had
at once attracted the-attention of Miss
Janice Greener when that young
woman arrived, month ago, to visit
her brother and, principally, to get
new material for the paintings of
winter woods and lumber camps which
had already brought her some meas
ure of success.
The girl. pluming herself on an
artists contempt for the conventions
alities had permitted herself and per-
mitted Peltier a degree of intimacy
in their friendship that led, as the
downhill flow of water, to a frank
confession of regard by the young
woodsman: for Dave Peltier had never
thought of himself as the inferior of
any being on earth
The consequences had been calami-
tous. Janice Greener suddenly dis
covered that her artist colony democ-
| racy was only skin deep-and she had
stung Peltier as woman can sting
man only when she, realizes that it
| is the difference in their social pasi-
tons which alone makes his proffered
love impossible of acceptance. This
was two days before Janice's departure
from the camp.
Miss Greener should have Travelled
In the cab. Instead she had insisted
| In riding. somehow, on the logs. So
Peltier. obeying an order of the man
| ager, had built an ingenious little
Platform of planks over the rear
truck of the fifth length, above the
| logs. Here, nestled among half a
| girl was snugiy perched as the lurch-
ing train bumped along on its twenty
mile journey to the mills. At the Red
Barn came to her Peltier, urged on by
| visible worry
Miss Greener," he said. won't you
| please ride the rest of the way in the
| cab. It's really dangerous among the
| logs We're going to take ON four
more lengths here; they'll be behind
you. If anything happens you'll be
right in the middle of it,"
Mr.. Peltier," returned Miss
| Greener. II do not wish you to con-
Germ yourself with my safety at all.
I don't understand why my brother
Keeps in position where a little nerve
| is necessary a person 500 extreme
| ~ apprehensive.
| What could a man do after that
but turn on his heel and stalk away ?
And what could a girl do after saying
| as possible-an6 wish she had bitten
her tongue off before she did say it =?
| 1t was halfway down the long
slide" on Chatterton's ridge that it
| happened. McNider had been easing
the ponderous, Notwithstanding. nine
inches and feeling his little engine
grow lighter and weaker under his
hand each instant.
The train crew was running beside
the train. squeezing the brake shoes
| with the ridiculous hand cranks that
must be operated from the ground.
Suddenly McNider turned to Joe KY
! lie. his foreman.
| about here is where We get off,
Joe. Everything's set and she's in
ing to push old Betsy right up into
the air. Wen hit the bottom at a
hundred an hour and pile up sky high
| in the river. Jump
They made it safely enough, and
watched the train. gaining momentum
at every yard, speed past to its doom.
My God, The girl" McNider.
helpless on the ground. had caught
sight of Janice. white-fac iced and now
desperately frightened. clinging to her
pitiful seat of state. mot a chance in
the world for heri" breathed the en-
J gineer.
! But whether there was a chance or
not, some one was trying TO get TO
| her. Running over the lurching,
| shifting logs from the rear of the
long train. Dave Peltier was risking
death at every step.
He had been tending the tail end
brake when the runaway began. At
| the moment when the engine crew
| jumped Dave swung himself onto the