The Republican journal., 1920-04-22

get pdck ABOARD the engine,
"Can't get this DANCED key to turn
In the lock-" the brakeman shouted
presently. Locks rusty, and some
things gone bust inside"
Minutes passed. Bryce's assumed
abstraction became real, for he had
many matters to occupy his busy
brain, and it was impossible for him to
sit idle without adverting to some OF
them. Presently he was subconsGous-
ly aware that the train was moving
gently forward; almost Immediately,
1t seemed to him, the long string of
trucks had gathered their customary
speed; and then suddenly it dawned
upon Bryce that the train had started
off without a single jerk-and that 1t
was gathering Roadway rapidly.
He looked ahead-and his hair grew
creepy at the roots. There was no To-
connective attached to the train! 1t
was running away down two per
cent grade, and because of the ire
mendOus weight of the train, it was
gathering momentum at fearful rate.
The reason for the runaway dawned
on Bryce instantly. The road. being
privately owned, was like most log
ging roads, neglected as to roadbed
and rolling stock; also it was under
manned, and the brakeman, who also
acted as switchman. had failed to set
the hand-brakes on the leading truck
after the engineer had locked the air.
brakes. AS result. during the five or
six minutes required to spot in" the
caboose, and an extra minute or two
lost while the brakeman struggled
switch, the air had leaked away
through the worn valves and rubber
tubing. and the brakes had been re-
leased-so that the train, without
warning had quietly and almost noise
lessly slid out of the log-landing and
started on its mad career. There was
nothing to do now save watch the wild
runaway and pray, for Of all the mad
runaways in a mad world, loaded
logging train is by far the worst,
For an instant after realizing his
predicament, Rr-ce Cardigan was
tempted to jump and take his chance
on a few brok IN bones. before the
train could reach a greater speed than
twenty miles an hour His next i'm
pulse was to run forward and set the
mandrake on the leading truck, bur
glance showed him that even with
the train standing still he could nor
hope to leap from truck to truck and
land Oh the round. freshly peeled sur
face of the logs without slipping for
he had no calks in his boots. And to
slip now meant swift and horrible
death.
Then he remembered. In the wildly
rolling caboose Shirley Sumner rode
with her uncle. while less than two
miles ahead. the track swung in a
sharp curve high up along the hillside
above Mad river. Bryce knew the
leading truck would never take that
curve at high speed even if the an
cient rolling stock should hold togeth-
err until the curve was reached. but
would shoot off at tangent into the
canyon, carrying trucks. logs, and ca
boOSe with it. rolling over and over
down the hillside to the river
"The caboose must be cut out of
this runaway" Bryce soIiloquized
land it must be cut out in II devil of
a hurry. Here goes nothing in par
tjoJjar bn TO
dear old man."
He jerked his axe ont of the log
drove it deep into the top log toward
the end, and by using the haft to cling
TO. crawled toward the rear of the
load and looked down at the cahoose
coupling. The top log was a sixteen
foot butt; the two bottom logs were
eighteen-footers. With a silent prayer
of thanks to Providence, Bryce slid
down to the landing thus formed He
was still five feet above the coupling,
however: but by leaning over the
swaying. humping edge and swinging
the axe with one hand he managed to
cut through the rubber hose on the
air connection.
After accomplishing this. axe in
hand. he loaped down to the narrow
ledge formed by the bumper in front
of the DEMONSTRATING his face into
the front of the caboose: and he only
grasped the steel rod leading from
the brake-chains to the wheel on the
roof in time to avoid falling half
stunned between the front of the ca
boose and the rest of the logging
truck. The caboose had once been a
box car: hence there was no rallied
front platform to which Bryce might
have leaped in safety. Clinging peril
ously on the bumper. he reached with
his foot, got his toe under the lever
on the side. jerked 1t upward, and
threw the pin out of the coupling
then with his free hand he swung the
axe and drove the great steel jaws Of
the coupling apart
The caboose was cut out! But al
ready the deadly curve was in sight !;
in two minutes the first truck would
reach it; and the caboose, though cut
loose had to be stopped. else with the
Roadway it had gathered. it, too. would
follow the logging trucks to glory.
For a moment Bryce chung to the
brake-rod. weak and dizzy from the
effects of the blow when, leaping down
from the loaded truck to the caboose
H,,,,