The Dolores star., 1921-12-30

| steam and the erackling of the flames
screaming and begging US to break In
the side of the car and kill him be-
fore the fire got to him. Kirgan had
found an ak in the emergency box OF
our day-coach, and was chopping away
like madman.
The minute he got hole big enough.
the big master-mechanic dropped his
ak and climbed down into the chok-
ing hell where the screams were COM
Ing from. Our fireman picked up the
OF the wreck where Jones' the en-
gineer of the special. and his fireman
were trying to break into the crushed
cab of the 416.
The old major, the boss, and stood
by to help Kirgan, and the minute
his head came up through the chopped
hole We saw that he needed help. He
had pried the screaming man loose.
somehow, and was trying to drag him
up out Of the smoking furnace. II was
done, amongst us, some way or other.
kirgan had wrapped the man up in
Pullman blanket to keep the fire from
getting at him any worse than 1t al
ready had. and as we were taking him
out the blanket slipped aside from his
face and l saw who 1t was that the
master-mechanic had risked his life
for. 1t was Hatch, himself, and he
died in our arms, the majors aud
mine, while we We're carrying him cut
to where Mrs. Sheila was tearing Vne
of the Pullman sheets that | had got
hold of into strips to make bandages
for the wounded.
With the chance of saving maybe
another one or two, we couldn't stay to
help the brave little woman who was
trying TO be doctor and nurse TO half
a dozen poor wretches ut once. But
she took time to ask me one single
breathless question:
Have they found him yeti-you
know the one l mean, Jimmie?"
NO" / said. They're digging away
at that side now." and then ran back
to jump in again.
Though the fire was now licking at
everything in sight, Kirgan, who had
taken the AK from our fireman, had
managed to cut some of the car tim
bers out of the way SO that we could
see down into the tangle of things
where the cab of the 416 ought to have
been. There wasn't much left of the
cab. The water-gauge was broken,
along with everything else. but In
spite of the reek of smoke and steam
we could see that Hogan and his fire.
man were not there. But down under
the coal that had shifted forward at
the impact of the collision we could
make out the other man-the murder
maniac-lying on his back, black in
the face and gasping.
That was enough for the boss. 1t
looked like certain death for anybody
to crawl down into that kissing steam
bath, but he did 1t, wriggling through
the hole that Kirgan had chopped,
while two or three of us ran to the
little creek that trickled down on the
far side of the "Y" and brought back
soaking Pullman blankets to try to de-
lay the encroaching Ere and smother
the steam-jets.
l couldn't see very well what the
boss was doing; the smoke and steam
were so binding. But when l did get
a glimpse l saw that he was digging
frantically with his bare hands at the
shifted coal, and that he had sue
ceeded in freeing the head and shoul-
ders of the buried man, who was still
alive enough to choke and gasp in the
furnace-like heat
Kirgan stood it as long as he could
until the licking flames were about to
drive US all away.
you'll be burnt alive-come I'D out
of that!" he yelled to the boss: but
knew 1t wouldn't do any good. With
Collingwood still buried down there
and still with the breath of life in
him, the boss was going to stay and
keep on trying to dig him out, even If
he, himself, got burned to a crisp do
ing it. Loving Mrs. Sheila the way he
did, he couldn't do any less.
1t was awful, those next two or
three minutes. We We're all running
frantically back and forth, now, be-
tween the wreck and the creek, soak
ing the blankets and doing our level
best to beat the fire back and keen it
from cutting off the only way there
was for the boss to climb out But we
could only fight gaspingly on the sur
face of things, as you might say. Down
underneath, the fire was working
around in front and behind in spite of
all we could do. Some of it had got
to the coal, and the heavy sulphurous
smoke was oozing up to make us all
choke and strangle.
Honestly, you couldn't have told
that the boss was a white man when
he crawled up out of that pit of death,
tugging and lifting the crushed and
broken body of the mailman, and max
ing us take 1t out before he would
come out himself. We got them both
away from the fire as quickly as we
could and around to the other side of