The Ordway new era., 1921-08-19
The
Weckers
BY
FRANCIS
LYNDE
Copyr.xhs sY Chas. Scroncrs Soma
CHAPTER xlx-continued.

mie?" she asked.
Before l could open my mouth the
black shadows OF the crooked valley
beyond the switch were shot through
with the white. shimmering glow Of
a headlight beam. and second later
the special flicked into view on the
curve of approach.
As we looked. there was short
sharp whistle yelp, the brakes gripped
the wheels, TIA .ensttar train. with fire
grinding fyestern Ps brake-shoe. came
to a jerking. and a short car-length on
our side Off l. switch, and man
dropped from Y,e engine step to go
sprinting to thu rear. And 1t was
plain that neither the engineer nor
the man who was running back saw
our outfit waiting on the leg of the old
.Y."
Tlirgan was the first one to under
stand. With a shout of warning. he
Jumped and ran toward the stopped
train, yelling at the engineer for Gods
sake to pull out and go on. Back in
the hills beyond the curve of approach
another hoarse murmur was jarring
upon the air. and the specials fire
man. who was the man we had seen
jump Off and go running back, and
who. of course. didn't know that we
hal our man there. was apparently
trying to reach the switch behind his
train to throw it against the following
sngine to shoot It off on the "Y."
BY this time the boss was off of our
eagIne and racing across the angle OF
the "Y" only little way behind Kir
gan. He realized that his plan was
smashed by the stopping of the spe-
ciai. and that the very catastrophe we
haS come out to try to prevent was
due 70 happen right there and then.
Whatever our man waiting at the
switch might do. there was bound to
De collision. If he left the points
SET ;pr the main line, the wild engine
weud crash into the rear end of the
ssoeped special; and If he did the 9TH
er Stng. our engine and coach stand
Ing ca the 'Y" would get it.
'Gct the people out of that carl" I
heart the boss below, but even as he
said 1t the pop-valve of the stopped
engine went Off with roar, filling the
shut-in valley with clamorings that
n0tninS could drown.
Two minutes, two little minutes
more. and the sleep-sOdden bunch of
msn In the specials car might have
been reused and turned out and saved.
But the minutes were not given US.
While the racing fireman was still
few feet short of the switch the throw
lag of which would have saved the
trof only IN 1at fho Il 70
engine In on our engine and COACH and
cur mEn-already at the switch-was
too scared to know which horn of the
dilesptna to choose. the end came.
There was the flash of another head
light on the curve, another whistle
shrek. and l turned to help the major
take Mrs. Sheila Off our car and run
with her, against the horrible chance
that we might get it instead of the
special
But we didn't get it. Ten seconds
later the chasing engine had crashed
headlong into the standing train, bury
Ing itself clear up to the tender in the
heart sf the old wooden sleeper, roll
Ing the whole business over on its side
In the ditch. and setting the wreck
age afire as suddenly as If the old
Pullman had been fagot of pitch-plne
kindlings and only waiting for the
match
Ii could write down any real de-
scription of the way things stacked up
there In that lonesome valley for the
little bunch of US who stood aghast at
the awful horror, / guess 1 wouldn't
need to be hammering the keys of a
typewriter iD railroad office. But
never mind; no soldier sees any more
OF battle than the part he is in.
There were sever of us men, includ-
ing the engineer and fireman of the
special. who were able to jump in and
try to do something, and, looking back
at 1t now. it seems as If we all did
what we could.
That wasn't much About half of
the people in the sleeping-car-six by
actual count as we learned after
ward-were killed outright in the
crash or so badly hurt that they died
pretty soon afterward; and the fire
was so quick and so hot that after
we had got the wounded ones out we
couldn't get all of the bodies of the
Others
As you'd imagine. the boss was the
head and front of that fierce rescue
fight. He had stripped OF his coat,
and he kept on diving into the burn
Ing wreck after another end yet an
other of the victims until it seemed as
II he couldn't possibly do it one more
time md. come out alive. He didn't
6oafu fo remember fhat these verv mon
we're the ones who had been trying to
tti1n hin that at lenst once they had
~ 4 trnp for him and tried to kill
Gl1b. He was too big for that.
Aftef We had xot out all the victims