New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1921-05-20

young woman Shrleked AFTER her,
"Maisie Ann come back here-yOu'll
be left - and then took her turn at
disappearing by the same route; and,
on top Of 1t all, the boss jumped off
and sprinted after both of them. leav-
ing a string of large. VANISHED com
ments on the foolishness Of women
as a sex trailing along behind him as
he flew.
Right then 1t was my golden moment
to play safe and sane With three of
them off and lost in the gathering
night, somebody with at least n grain
Of sense ought to have stood by to
pull the emergency cord if the train
should start. But, Of course, | had to
take n chance and spill the gravy all
over the tablecloth. The stop was at
a blind siding in the edge of a noun
tain desert, and when | squinted up
ahead and saw that the engine was
taking water, it looked as if there
were going To be plenty of time for a
bit of promenade under the stars. So
| swung OFF and Went to join the muff
hunt.
Amongst them, they had found the
pillow thing before | had a chance to
horn in. They were coming up the
track, and the boss had each of the
two by an arm and was telling them
that they'd be left to a dead moral
certainty if they didn't run. They
couldn't run because their skirts We're
too fashiOnably narrow, and there were
still three or four car-lengths to go
when the tank spout went up with Il
clang and a clatter of chains and the
Old Pacific type" gave Il couple of
Kisses and a snort.
They're going :" gritted the boss,
sort Of between his teeth. and with
out another word he grabbed those
two hobbled women folks up under
his arms, just as if they'd been a
couple of sacks of meal, and broke
into a run.
1t wasn't a morsel of use, you know.
Old Hercules himself couldn't have
run very far or very fast with the
handicap the boss had taken on, and
in less than half a minute the "Paci-
tic type" had caught her stride and
the red tail lights of the train were
vanishing to pin points in the night.
We We're beautifully and artistically
left.
When he saw that It was no man
ner of use, the boss quit on the handi-
cap race and put his two armfuls
down while he still had breath enough
left to talk with.
well" he said, in his best rusty
hinge rasp, you've done 1t! Why. in
the name of common sense, couldn't
you have let me go back after that
muff thlng?"
1t was the young woman who IN
swered the boss.
II didn't stop to think !" she
fluttered, taking the blame as IL she
had been the one to head the process
sion. Isn't there any way w can
stop that train?"
The boss said there wasn't, and !
know the only reason why he didn't
say a lot of other things was because
he was too much of a gentleman to
say them In the presence of n couple
of women.
SO far as we could see, the SURE
roundings consisted of n short side
track. n spur running Off into the hills,
and the water tank. The siding
switches had no lights, which argued
that there wasn't wen q pump-man at
the tank-as there was not, the tank
being filled automatically by a gravity
pipe line running back to a natural
reservoir in the mountains.
BY this time the boss was beginning
to get a little better grip on himself
and he laughed.
We've all earned the leather medal,
I guess" he chuckled. ITS done now,
and 1t can't be helped"
"But isn't there anything we can
dor" said the young woman. Cant
we walk somewhere to where there is
a station or a town with people In
II 2"
| saw Mr.. Norcross look down at
her skirts and then at the girls.
"You two couldn't walk very far
or very fast In those things you are
wearing" he grunted. Besides, we
are in one Of the desert strips, and 1t
is probably miles TO n night wire sta
ton In either direction"
We tralled off together up the track,
and two. the boss walking with
the young After we'd counted
a few of the cross-ties, the girl said:
is your name Jimmie Dodds?" And
| admitted 1t: milne is Maisie
Ann. I'm Sheila's cousin on her moth
er's side. I think this is a great lark
don't your"
II can tell better after it's over" I
said. Maybe we'll have TO stay here
all night"
II shouldn't mind" she came back
airily. Il haven't been up all night
| vas a little kiddie and our
house burned down."
We reached the big water tank. and
The boss picked out one of the square
timbers for a seat. Ii seemed
rs If he were finding it a good bit
harder to get acquainted with his half
Of the combination than ! was with
mine, but after a little the young wo-
nan thawed out q bit and made him
talk-to help pass away the time, I
it-and the little girl and l sat
and listened. When the young woman
finally got him started, the boss told
her all about himself, how he'd been
-ailroadlng ever since he left college,
md a lot of things that I'd never even
lreamed of. It's curious how a pref
woman can make a man turn him.
elf inside out that way, just for her I
amusement.