The Adair County news., 1921-12-27
Copyright By Charles Scribners Sons

EgHShed the small motor to its limit
4szEE GEas getting along beautifully until
tssESzSnty, on a grade that was a bit.
sHM4Rer than usual, the popping ex-
kzuEc quit short off, the engine slowed
dekEH. and the car, squeaking and
gzszSIng, came TO a stand on a low
eEnszxnkment between two Of the hill
ETEfxsgs.
There wasn't anything very cOmpli-
SSBfssS about the little motor, and l soon
discovered that a broken ignition wire
~sR gwhar had killed it, Happily,
-FfEzzz was a small tOOlbOX under the
seat and in the kit there was a pair
sOE gJIierS. But sOmetimes-and this
<aRsIzE one of them-a bit of material is
as asgDortant as the tools to work with.
7THs= broken wire was too short to COIL
gysss up again, and there wasn't an inch
ar spare wire to be found in the
XII
They say that necessity is the moth
81 caf invention; but I'll defy anybody
1G EoSent piece of wire in the middle
eef tfsae Great Sahara desert. Every
1lsiiEs1te I was expecting to hear the
T-SsAGble and roar of train. q
h1 this extremity it was little
sEs1-eS5tt zephyr that gave me the great
4s4s2- A gentle breeze came signing up
&fse draw from some Overheated area
'ifsHE Beyond, and finding no trees on
ttzf~ ioarren hills, it sang its little song
tx EtAe -thickly clustering telegraph
.s7scss ,en the poles. Why, sure. l
sssz&sil to myself; here was my wire
MFRS and miles of it. All had to do
7sasss 10 climb up and get it.
sS,antIe reader | wonder if you've
ever tiled 40 climb a telegraph pole
w4Ihaaut the c0ntrivances that line
He'd snIckleS upon his feet? If you
hzStEu't. the advice of this amateur is
-sisnsfs- Half - dozen times | shinnied
suD 80 .ssetlfapS the height of mans
-hesstz- only to come sliding down again
OH - run At last, by a series of inch
2HSs1 u scontEived to get within arms
TEscsza-sSf the lowest crOsSpiece. Pliers
IN HzDd, l strained for the nearest
WIZ prOgged it, and beg An TO twist it
BACK and forth to break il.
NsstztO let me miss any of the thrills
S01izs5areaking that my straining ears
~GzsltEaS Ehe sound they had been lis
zaesazfRss for; a far-away, drumming rum
alke that seemed to come from nowhere
In particular. Then, out of the same
11asfeszaElte circumambience came a
0SaEntng that was still more unmistak-
ssssssH-the lOng-drawn blast of loco
.xsssEtssse ghistle.
r sMdn't climb down that pole: I
se-zEszse down like the time-ball on the
aEzsktaff in Washington at high noon.
, SssWTs0Zer, / struck the ground rum
Ssi1SE- as one might say. All thoughts
or CAnkering that COMPOUNDED motor
HzS vanished and my one great object
IN 8Ete was TO get the car off the track
tzssszse worse thing should happen.
4 gzsssE doing fairly well with the lifting
-aIEd 1ugging when the enemy hove in
'sIzS1- lsesS than five hundred yards
-aT-z<z- and that wasn't all, either At
4IEs~sSeiy the same instant. as if it had
bc5-s, timed by the same mechanism
H1at had brought the freight train,
her came "a wild engine around the
curve in the opposite direction, with
lis Szhistle valve held open and making
a Sschet to wake the dead. The be-
riff notor-car riders had found a To-
narrative somewhere and were chasing
Iz1H
tGAe mad heave at the stranded gas
s41fIfe car, mighty boost that got all
@1EE one wheel of it in the clear, and
K was gme-Streaking it like a jack
rabbit for the tall timber-Only there
wasn't a stick of timber nearer than
IL slopes of the backgrOunding noun
z-ajns
One glance over my shoulder as
1ss'sd showed me what l was in for !:
hat the story was to be Immediately
~saontinued in our next. Both engineers
T1ried to stop; did stop in time to avert
Tshe greater catastrophe. Three or four
xnen Jumped from the freight and two
from the wild engine to come tearing
AFTER me. fancied could give them
SF.heir moneys worth at that game
e3Sesng in pretty fair training-so l
2lbched out TO try to turn the hypO-
;afhetical theory into condition.
1t .waS a great race. Through one
gap and into another we went, max
ing figure Fights around the hills and
sack again, lodging into new ravines
and out OF them into others, circling
among great sandstone bOulders that
took all sorts of weird shapes in the
passing glimpse.
NJ don't know just how long the chase
lasted, but lie was long enough to give
s1e z very considerable degree of re
.1Pet for the nerve and persistence OF
those highly indignant railroad men
We must have been miles away from
the scene OF the disaster when final
~ left them behind and lost them
When looked back and found myselt
ALONE with the solitudes sat down up
IN a fiat rock to gasp and laugh.
had all been so supremely ridiculous
- and so beautifully in keeping with tn,
reputation I had left behind me a
Angels, that felt sure that now moth
ing less than q verdict of expert alien