Daily British Whig (1850), 10 Jun 1916, p. 17

The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"SA 'The bridgetender, at the door, fronted her. - The dripping girl, : ed on her yuivering horse, told tonished man in a few ed what had happened, an ried into the tower the draw Helen ur run down the ark it her ears bubbled and ra rumble of the two wl but her brain note of oF psy born. resolve to reach track switch--she, could getting away from them. The train', gike a film through her head, Helen créw tumbled forward, for a confer- | was dashing out of the office when the ence, to the cab. 'The conductor, com- | scream of & whistle signal bore down paring watches with the engipeer, looked serious--within ten minutes they would be running on No. 20's time; they might even meet her at the bottom of the hill before they reached (Signal, ; the fatal runaway before it The conductor acted quickly, Piek- strike and scatter to destrue- ing up a lump of coal he scratched a | tion the helpless passenger train, message on a white signal flag and Rocket, without a thought other wrapped it 'around a wrench. Cedar | than ot alfalfa and undisturbed repose Grove station was hardly a mile ahead: | tn his drooping head, stood at hand in "I'm T Fa " he exclaimed, exad ve i of a sudden to his feet--s0 1 easily it surprised her. "It was the | beach," he went on, slowly. "You were hurt--the miniature railroad!" | She regarded him a moment in Si lence, Then she spoke: "Is it possi- ble?" she murmured. "You are?" "I'm the lttle boy," he smiled grimly. "Till now, I've never seen the little girl since." H A sense of confusion assailed her; she wanted to escape his look. "You 'the passing track switch and side- As the engine dashed past it, the con: ductor, in the gangway, hurled the message through the, office window. Picking it up and hastily reading the rough scrawl, the startled operator wired the tidings instantly to the next vaulted upon his back. the sunshine. To his amazement his mistress running to him, headlong, In her fear, she cried to him. The horse heard--it seemed as if he understood. He woke, quivering, at the impact of her body. lowering the knife for the termined, while in the river, to are hurt," she said, dismissing an effort all consciousness of strange meeting. 4 thought he understood. He hesitated; then he saw, and he "No," he said 5 brusquely, afmost rudely, "only a few had been whistling wildly, now heeled | scratches." violently toward the wharf, where the! A cry of recognition and amase- captain, a game sport, had resolved | ment cut off their words. The passen- to make fast and see the excitement| ger train had backed down on the St., Montreal. April 4th, "For over two years I was sick and. miserable. I suffered from constant teadaches, and had Polpitation of the Heart so badly that I feared I would die. Whirling with his charge, at the touch of the rein, so quick he almost bolted from under his mistress, who was try- ing to seat herself, the brute galloped with Helen down the main track for etatfon. That station was Signal. In the bouncing engine cab there 'were grave faces. "What are you go ing to do?" shouted the engineer. Without hesitation the conductor TION, corvmant, i915, BY FRANK H, SHARAN, "Where did that dog go?" quivered CHAPTER I. 3 4 Av -- In the midmoming quiet, the bath- g beach and the. | 1 of inviting sun. ut & 'way back from the glisten- : ng ad converging through a li "foward a suburban station § streets of the seaside resort were live with men and women, hurrying 0 the city for the grind of the day. otor cars, too, glided noiselessly the boulevards, drew up in turn the station and discharged their Hel neral ad accompanied her father to the min, and when he turned to the open to say good-by, Helen ly half into his arms. 8 nately kissed his child and )oarded the nearest car. Helen, promised a morning in the k, loft the motor car with her gov- ness the moment they crossed a 1 scenic raflroad running back of beach. She already had her eye what she wanted to play with. A tented dog, at peace with the world sunning himself on & grassy slope, riveted her alert eye; Helen ad- ced joyously to get acquainted. dog seemed not averse to a pas Helen, not answering. : "Gee! I ¢dn't see. You pretty near got killed. That dog wasn't any good," declared. the boy scornfully. "Some day--" he stopped the blood on her knee once more with his Handker- chief, and then added firmly: "I am going to drive a big engine sometime myself, like my father." : A frantic governess, followed by an open-mouthed chauffeur, came running at that moment toward them. The child parted reluctantly from her new-iound friend. "Are you go- ing tn be a really-truly engineer and smokyed up?" she asked. George faced her unabashed. better believe I am." "I don't care," declared Helen, gulping solemnly while the governess tried to hurry her away, "1 won't ever forget you--no matter what you are." * - . » . -. . "You At eighteen, Helen had lost none of the-characteristics of her childhood. They were held in deeper reserve, but they were just as persistent. Re- strained by convention, she was still adventurous in spirit and her father's one anxiety, old soldjer though he was, was that a spirited horse or an ocean undertow would some day be his daughter's undoing. At that, he was forced to admit, the reckless girl could get more out of a horse than he himself could. Closest among her father's friends, cried: "Cut off the caboose and stop it--let the train go!" The engineer agreed: ' "We've only got one life apiece. No time to lose George!" he yelled to his fireman, "make for the caboose." 3 The fireman, perhaps the youngest man in thé two crews, without answer- ing, continued to hunt for a wrench. "Wake up, George," shouted the con- ductor, "come on!' Searching the tool box, the fireman shook his head. "What do you mean?" demanded the engineer, catching in excitement at his companion's arm, ' "aren't you coming?" The fireman did not hurry his an- swer. "No. I'll stay here," he said, turning simply. He was a stubborn, 'well-set fellow, really a big, clean- looking boy--with a heavy head of dark hair pushed under his grimy cap and a slow, clear eye matching his deliberate way of 8. , "Stay here!" thundered the condue- tor in surprise. "Are you crazy?" He caught the fireman's other arm and with the engineer talked to the obstinate fellow. The two, who liked him, pulled the boy toward the tender. He shook loose, The brakeman joined the river bridge. She panted at great drafts of sun- ny mountain air as Rocket's wiry legs stretched and bounded under her. With every stride her mind cléared. With this, her courage mounted. It was, after all, no more than a smart dash for her to attain for everyone safety. The bridge was a dificulty,. but Rocket, who could thread a lava bed without bruising a fetlock, or cross a prairiedog town at full speed end hold his mistress as steady as if she were sitting a rocking horse, was not lkely to balk at galloping over mere ties--besides, she would give him his time. At the worst, any bridge, she said to herself, must be reached before it can be crossed, and her eyes were already fixed hard on the one she must cross, when she thought she saw the great jack-knife span ahead moving mysteriously on its balanced bed. Urging her horse to 'his best, centering all of her facul- ties on mastering the ticklish task ahead, Helen's eyes set in a stare on the jack-knife, to detedmine whether it was mofing or tricking her strain. ing sen In almost ah instant her doubt was resolved; to her consterna- out. With the boat crew ashore and dashing across the wharf to watch | Helen, she crouched like a jockey over Rocket as he crushed and scat: tered the cinders under his flying feet, and in what seemed another moment -80 fast had she flown--checking the horse cruelly, she threw her lines and slid from his back beside the passing-track switch. Running to it, she grasped the lever {only to find the switch locked. She | had feared, almost expected, as much | --but now, how to open it! She | looked ahead. A shrill engine whistle startled her, and her cup filled--the passenger train, bearing down the long tangent at full speed, was whis- tling for her home crossing, hardly two miles distant. She could see smoke streaming from the stack of the engine. Behind, she had no need to look, the rumble of thundering on the bridge. Desperation cleared her head. She caught up a heavy stone from the right of way and pounded flercely at the switch lock. She struck at the stout bow and hammered in a fury at the resist- ing cover. No mechanism could stand such an assault for long, The ground under her feet was vibrating with the fear ful pound of the great freight engine as it dashed with its heavy drag over the close-by rail joints, She knew the the headend of the runaway was | "You Are Hurt," She Sald. scene. Her father, his friend Rhine. lander, young Seagrue, the Signal sta- tion operator, the tug captain and the train passengers crowded the obse tion platform looking at her and the shaken-up fireman. There seemed to be a lump in my stomach and the Constipation was dreadful. I suffered from Pain in the Lack and Kidney Disease, Iwas treated by a physician fora year dnd a half and he did me no good at all. I tried * Fruit-a-tives " as a last resort. After using three boxes, I was greatly improved and twelve boxes made me well. Now I can work all day and there are no Headaches, no Palpitation, no leart Trouble, no Constipation, no Pain or Kidney Trouble and J feel like. a new being--and it was "Fruit-a-tives" that gave me back my health". Mapa ARTHUR LAPLANTE, 0c. a box, 6 for $2.50, trial size, 25c, At all dealers or sent postpaid by Fruit. a-tives Limited, Ottawa, "My trouble commenced with and a creeping feeling under the x and in a few da i The flagman could hardly raise the would appear more or less itchi was always a in the skin. The Triendship, but the little maid, g down, sought something more, by pulling hard and with confi ce at his neck, soon had his un ing head--after a fashion, at ~in her diminutive lap. strain on his sensibilities ap more, than her amiable and stand. reeling machine must be almost on her and the thought spurred her to unnatural strength. The staple gave way. The excited girl jerked the twist- ed bow clear and threw the switch, half fainting beside it as the monster step cover quick enough to release Holmes so that he might get down to. his daughter. He knew all--the oper- ator had told the story. He caught his daughter in his arms with a show- er.of misty reproaches. '"What!" he engipe struck madly at the switch |eried. "Have you lost your mind? points. Then, with a shock that tore | Are you mad?" Helen's eyes fell be- the heavy roadbed and the roar al- |foro her father's anger, She was a most of an earthquake, engine, tender | dutiful girl. "Don't you know what by | and train lurched heavily into the »id- {danger is? Have you no sense of Xd ing. Car after ar Jumped and yond. fear?" he stormed. She raised her | Box 13, Bright, Ontario, ed ot the stubborn rails. On and on |eyes and paused an instant: then she . 3 n Sample Each Free by Mall With 32-p. Skin Book. Address post- was Amos Rhinelander, a New York man of large means, and General Holmes, returning on Helen's eight- eenth birthday with Rhinelander and Rhinelander's nephew--Robert Sea- grue, himself a young and ambitious railroad promoter--from a trip of in- spection of the tidewater terminals of Holmes' road, was eagerly awaited by bis daughter at their country home a the "San Pablp foothills. A y mesgage sent up to her from Signal] bn, undaunted, sprang to her fet | the kuburban station of the country followed. Her governess, engaged | geat, had asked her to meet her father the chauffeur, saw nothing of | that day on No. 20, the through part of the Incident, But & mo | eastern passenger train. | they came, shaking the solid earth nsked, shyly: "Where was I to get it,| father"--she looked queerly up at him ~"from you?" Helen Headed Rocket Straight for the Open Draw. 0. the struggle. in' the fireman under Helen as she panted and gasped, aife draw | ut the thundering, jumping wheels ent later the few spectators in the fc railroad aquare, waiting to one of the miniature trains, saw BA protesting dog . trotting rapidly mway from a curly-haired girl, whe Ppriskly and relentlessly followed. i {A newsboy, relaxing against a con penlent lamp post after the morning rash, watched the pursuit for a mo ent with languid interest, then 'to look at an approaching on the scenic road. He deemed 10 more than half awake. His wits in truth, were woolgathering. Every ng found him absorbed greatly the mysteries of the minfature en A shout, then a chorus of cries him from his reverie. The The motor car had gone ahead and Helen, taking Rocket, one of her fa- vorite hynting horses, rode down at her leisure tp thé station, While far from being a spoiled child, Helen felt very much at home any: 'where on the Copper Range and Tide. water railroad. Reared at home, un- der a discipline almost military, and under teachers held sternly to account for her education by her only living parent, the growing girl had still pre- served an Jdnnate simplicity--some- thing almost naivée--which was re flected. in her friendship for 'the em- ployees, high and low; of the entire Tidewater line, of which her father was president and in which he owned a substantial interest, On the day, that Helen cantered lazl- ly down through the foothills toward 'Signal, a long west-bound freight train, [| train facing that runaway on the sin- wrenched away. "That's all right-- you fellows go ahead." : . "It's suicide for you, man," pro- tested the engineer. "No, Dan," retorted the fireman. "It's every man for himself," he re- peated, backing across the footplate. "I'll stay with the cab." "Stay and be--hauged," shouted the conductor, with a fiéfy expletive. "Let him alone, boys," he cried, angrily. He's dippy. Come!" And with his companions hustliig close after, Se started over the coal on the tender. The train had attained a frightful pace. Already glimpses of its long, curving roll on the distant hill might be seen from the window of Signal station, where the disturbed operator had taken the message of the runaway from Cedar Grove and was reading it to Helen Holmes, breathless beside his table: ! "AIR BRAKES BROKEN DOWN. UNNING AWAY. SIDETRACK NO. 0. NO. 1456." It was the import of the last sen- tence which for an instant froze her menses. Her father! The passenger igle track Below Signal. More than she had heard her father declare the stretch between Signal and © next station, Beam#n, must be double-tracked -- only, money was so tion she saw the huge moving unmistakably upward Her eyes sought the hridge tower bridge tender was standing at the open window. Her glance swept the stretch of river; Fhe remem- bered, then she underStood, then she knew, all--a river tug was bearing rapidly downstream; she could see the 'pilot. and the captain in, the wheel house; the bridge was lifting for the boat's passage. She had heard its loud whistle at the moment she rushed from the station. The balked girl drove her little spurs into Rocket. The horse sprung, infuriated, to greater effort. If she could make the draw in time she 'would jump it--a slight rise--noth- | ing should keep her back. She wildly waved her free hand at the bridge | tender. He was watching the boat and the span was slowly rising; but a | few strides closer and she would have risked making the jack-knife--she | realized now she was too late, Without swerving for an from her purpose; without shrinking from her single alternative, and only | praying for time still to make good her endeavor, Helen headed Rocket straight for the open draw. His feet struck the pier. She gave the horse his head. The wiry beast saw what yawned ahead. He heard his mis- , | 3% and the points held. The long train instant | | continued to catch the switch in safe: { made the siding to the very end and | Helen, almost stunned saw, in some- | thing like a visicn, the passenger | train, its brakes throwing streams of fire from the grinding wheels, race | past her down the main track toward | the bridge. The sight meant little to her now--her senses were too numbed | to realize what it meant--that the pas- | senger train at last was quite safe. The runaway freight was less for- | tunate, At the farther end of the passing track three box cars stood pa- tiently waiting for orders. They had been standing there unmolested for, days; they had tarried one moment top long. The runaway engine with its still obstinate fireman, at times on the running board and at times in the cab, was heading viciously for them. { But the fireman saw the game was clearly up, He chose his moment and Jumped, landing violently in the cin- der ballast. Bruised and cut, he lay breathless, almost insensible. He | heard confusedly the terrific crash iirito the idle box cars. The huge en: { gine scattered them in dust and | kindling high In the air. He tried to |iroll farther from the threatening | |wreek--for the headend of the train | |nad been derafled by the impact and | | { away from the subject, beaten. "Who's this boy?" he demanded, pointing to |! the grimed and disfigured fireman. "What's your name?" Btorm, fireman," responded the boy, unmoved. leech to a runaway engine for--why didn't you go back with the rest of | the crew?" demanded the head of the | road severely. i, thought I might be able to get the pir pump going," he countered. | parcasm. persisted the somewhat dismantled fineman, looking back at the mesg of cars' "Il needed a couple of days more." Helmes, secretly pleased, "you're all right." Helen, breaking through her reserve. "If you had many men like that!" In with an abundance of satisfied hu- mor. low. lent and observant. "Gammon!" he blustered, edging { "Storm, General Holmes--George "What were you sticking lke a Storm met the assault calmly. "I | ' | { | card: "Cuticura, Dept. J, Boston, U.S.A Bold throug out the world, 3 NEW METHOD Cleaning, Pressing and Repairing Neatly dome. We make an specials ty of Ladies' Work, M. F. PATTON, Prop. 149 SYDENHAM ST. (Near Prin. eens St.) Phone 214, "Did you do it?" asked Holmes, with | _ "I'd have done it if I'd had time," "I guess," he added calmly, "No = matter, Storm," declared "I should think as much," cried Amos Rhinelander took the scene He was a big, wholesome fel- Beside him stood Seagrae, si- Both before and Liver Sluggish? You are warned by a sallow skin, dull eyes, biliousness, and that grouchy feeling. Act promptly. Stimulate your liver -- remove the clogging wastes --make sure your digestive organs are working right and-- when needed --take est Sale of Any Medicine in the World, everywhere. In boxes, 25 cents. , a lithe jamming string of cars was 'zig- tress' quick word. As his féét touched |! & g ii Idly atross the right of the brink of the abutment the horse | 2888Ing wildly icolled like' a spring, and for an in- | ay. The Bist feanzition Jat Same stan! | ito unn y was of someone Stun yee: oy Wha Me | struggling to help him get away from stirrups; then launching himself and |/the Wreck--some puny strength ex- 'his burden, like an arrow far out, the | ©rted to drag hia heavy body to great- hunter sprang with Helen cleanly into | = a > besuth, bi frst 'the river. - There was a great splash | i a Ww, he open land the parted water closed over their | jils ye young woman was bend- 'heads. | 'ing over him. . A pilot, captain and bridgetender | o He vas a orbiddiug sight Blood, stood as men dazed, looking on, The dust and gravel hung in a dozen river captain, yelling the crew to quar- Dy i ite Jonch aa dy 8 fasture ters, hurried forward to throw out | Of his face, exce, 8 eyes, es- lines as soon as the tug should come | C8Ped the sninsh of the cinders. Some- jwithin reach of the imperiled girl. | ome with 3 SL litle and very wet I erchiel is eyes and h Be Tl ae cttag bubbles where horse and rider | them hi, He ud | see the Jace unged down, waiting for them |; over him a eyes to Ee anges For an interasinable in- | anxiously on His--a girl's face, strange | enger train was moving ahead. He stant the onlookers waited. It seemed [30d Yet--whit could it be of recollec- | B3W in the group on the rear platform 'as if the two would never come up. | tion that struggled through his whirl | one figure--that of a slender girl, in a Then a girlish head of soaked curls :Ing senses? wet jockey costume, a smile lighting rose among the ripples, young face |! Nor had Helen, as she knelt and her face 24 she Jooked Joward im, emerged from the troubled pool, and | 'worked over the injured man, dreamed H find oo ng sr] an is 4 Sou ei Helen, throwing herself free from | Of Seeing any face she had ever Ho started. touched bis band to hia Rocket, shook the water from her | looked into before. Even had it been pois He an i eyes and nose with a swimmner's quick | uninjured she would hardly have re BE a ide gion Sood Bese certain puff and 'struck out for shore. | called it under ordinary conditions. | S7I¢. He 4 and dropped an fronteal .| remark in Ler ear. This one she quite plainly heard and understood: "Very gratifying," he smiled, "to find & president's daughter so very clever, And," he added softly, "she seems fo keenly futo Helen's 'eyes, | 145€ & real interest in engine men! that look, a vision swept across| Helen looked deliberately around af o | Mim--but whatever may have been hes ow you" he said, not thought, she made no reply. Bis eves from hers. Unequal (TO BE CONTINUED) after her father introduced him, he scrutinized Helen a long time, With his introduction, 'he ventured some- thing of compliment--tried, ks it - * & were, for a moment, to take the stage Dominion Fish Co. and seemed to await confidently an : appreciation of his remark. resh Sa gue But Helen, whether confused by her F eal) mY... muck;wilted plight, or engrossed by mon, the recollection of her adventure, Fresh Mackerel, Fresh Lobsters, could hardly notice his effort to be agreeable, . Storm had started back to Fresh F Legs Phone 520, to get. If the lack of it should 4 'w cost him his life, the lives of per 'haps half a hundred others! i While she was thinking, the opera- tor was working furiously at his key with a message for Beaman station. 'His one hope of avoiding the head-on collision was to catch the passenger train beyond Beaman. "STOP NO. 20. RUNAWAY ON MAIN LINE." He told Helen, closely watching the dots and dashes, what he had sent. "I should have an answer in a minute." It Se most at once. Signal sta 'Had Quit. tion operator first tried to write it, The Ale Pumg fa au then threw down his pen and repeated climbing the grade east of a big hill] its words unsteadily to the frightened known on the division as Blackbird] girl pass, found itself in trouble. The ait} "NO. 20 LEFT ON TIME. BE pump, after balking all morning, had| TWEEN HERE AND THE RIVER." quit, and the going forward! with wide-open eyes she looked in- found the engineer, after repeated ef | tently toward the mountains. At the forts with the big machine; helpless. moment, 'the rolling hills now hid the {Without losing much time, the eon | runaway, but the situation was chart- ductor rigged up his emergency tele| ing itself, like lightning, in her mind. plone and asked for instructions from| Between where she stood 'and where his dispatcher. 'The answer to his] she passenger train was coming, the request was curt: "Bring in No. 14{| jing crossed San Pablo river, a navi- by hand brakes." The crew spread) gahle tidewater stream and a water to 'their posts on the decks and the! way that fed a considerable traffic to lumbering string of heavily laden cart| the railroad. Her father had put painfully. got under way up the hill. | 5.ross the San Pablo a huge jack- was a struggle all the way to the sum mit; then dropping over the hill, the long string began rapidly to pick up It picked np, jndeed, too rapidly The crew vainly strove to hold bach the unwieldly train. Clubs In hand , 8nd with the brakes hard jammed his engine. Her father was helping his daughter back to the observation platform. From it Helen looked stead- fly back at Storm, now standing down the track in the midst of the wreck. age. The passenger engine sounded four sharp blasts to call in the flag: man. Storm looked around; the pas

Powered by / Alimenté par VITA Toolkit
Privacy Policy