STEALING A RIDE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 139, 18 July 1914, Page 3

STEALING A RIDE.

UNDER THE VANCOUVER TRAIN.

I wanted to do it, because a man had told me I could not do it, and I was young, and he was ten years older than I, and the curve of. his lips, as he said I could not do it, exasperated me, writes Frederick Niven in an English exchange. Despite the incentive my heart came up into my throat when I took the first step in the adventure. .The train stood at the railway platform in Vancouver, and as I looked at it I felt so drawn about the gills that I recalled, urgently, the curling lips of the man who said ,1 couldn't. There were a good many people about on the platform, and on the other side was the man who taps the wheels with a hammer and; flicks up the lids of the oil-boxes. I could'hear him going past; among the hum of talk on this platform I could hear him because I was listening for him. I walked down to the end of the platform, and there discovered a brakesman who was -watching me, so I paused to light up, blew smoke, tossed the match away, and went on in business-like fashion. There were various kinds of \cars*""in.. the string, but some I thought I had better not attempt. - I had, indeed, Jaeen jwarned against going under certain kinds as I would find nothing to hang on "to once I got there. Anyhow, I went .forward to the Colonist car, of the underside of which I had received full explanation from' a man who had " held her down" into Vancouver from up the line. . V ■,.'" The M4n,inth the Hammer. The man with the hammer, now away ahead, turned to look'at me. Suddenly I was hailed from the offside window of the car which I was passing, and, looking up, saw a friend sitting", there. .V "Looking for a job?" he enquired, nodding over at • the ~ ;v?hite-painted Japan-Vancouver steamer that lay at the ; wharf, probably thi?jdang that I was. on my way, across to see if-.truckers were required. Whatever he thought, he served my purpose, for the man with the ham--:mer, taking it 1 for 'granted - that I was thereto talk to'a friend, paid no further attention to me. As I stopped I glanced back. and saw that the brakesman was .still watching me; I gave him but a casual glance, and when next I glanced rearwarde he had gone. : , ' | in the aisle of-the car spoke | to liim and he withdrew.'his head. I looked forward and back. Nobody! I «wa.llhwfla ..iny' -heart and- made one dive :of it, under '-the ~car, ■ down on hands and; and crawled to the vf tfbnt\ axle. It vt'&h just as Fhad been told it would be. I sasr .rod a .foot from .the -ground, the ..great -timber of, the truck,,; with the springs on it, • behind. But as J approached a, voiced said: '' Full up, ;I Wanted to yell. Yet it bucked me to hear that voice. I scuttled back to the rear truck, crawled under its axle,, and there, again, was a brace rod. ; ' / ■ ■ ,■•■ ■ There was a drumming/in my ears, aid through that drumming I -heard' a bell /ing:.. I «®n "to' -thst ■.rod-.;ia.;-;a. cold sweat, perched; .on it, .leant backwards so that my shoulders were against. j the; truck. The, rod .seemed thmy aa a match as the «ar revived a- -b\iri«p, ahd> 'theh-was twitched ahead and jerked slightly back"ag'ain, as the one .behind, received its tug. My feet,stretehing Out in .front, v j ust :grazed a tie I. .(*>£ faleeper )- and, drawing them up cautiously, I got tiie heels to: catch on the rod on whicU' I sat, Staking care,' you may Jbe'. sure, to lean, back against i the track with some .force, remembering that the. point was for me to make myself into a wedge :between rod'and . truck. , Speeding. We got up speed;- ;: :W«''fwent;pv«r ; 'tVe i «riss-cross iof terminal lines in a dance with a rebounding -motion. Then we slowed down/ "stopped, puffed back. I took it for granted then'that I had been seen, or man ; ahead had been, .seen, and tijiat she had stopped so jthat; we might be hauled out and committed to -prison. -Then the bell clanged-again, >1 .sat back, took the . jerk forward-safely-rand we were"off once more. -I don't know what-she backed for. I ■don't care. We were off in earnest this'time. The sleepers kept running-underneath as if . Someone were drawing lines -in haste, more hasten frantic haste, to dazzle -my eyes. They charged on me- and slid under sickerinigly. Presently the whole world seemed going from, under my; feet. I wanted to lean forward and grab it, dust flying in iriy face, pricking; in my ears, tingling on my cheeks as flies do on summer nights when motoring. For safety 's sake I looked up to the floor of the car over me, and glared at it steadily for the next quarter of an hour perhaps, though it seemed a lifetime. The next thing I had to protect myself against was trying to balance the cars! At curves the solitl body of the car overhead moved like a lorig 'compass finger, or behaved like a ship going against the wind when the wind suddenly thrusts her a point or two off, and before the steersman brings her up again. After a little while, however, I -began to feel (as they.say but West) "good." A great hilarity filled me. My heart was down again -where it shpuld be; it was ■ not going vto** burst affeer ail. I puckered''my. eyes because oi the dust And iwjml,that rushed at me. jOEyer and •fltgain, in. sbme rocky cutting,#he f sound -Went up from deafening toawesome, But it was the long trestle over the Fraser that gave me the greatest sense of being attached to life by a mere thread. These bridges are not filled in underneath; between the ties one looks down on the river. On to Yale.

I "held her down" to Yale, where I •dropped from the rod and crawled out feeling as if I had been beaten all over, or as if I had the severest symptoms' of influenza. I crawled out and stood lip, and then went down on my knees, hauled myself up again, and with wibbly knees crossed to the bushes south-of the track and sat down there. A brakesman, stepping down from the cars, saw me, crossed over to the bushes, and stood : looking at me long and thoughtful.

(i Got it in the neck all right,'' he said at last.

I merely ..looked up and made some kind of smile at him. I did not care very much what he did, severe though he looked, and helpless though I was. II Got any dojigh?'' he said. '' Dough'' is money.

I put my hand in my pocket, and fished out a handful of dust and small cinders, and extracted 25 cents ("two bits"), which 1 tendered to him. The fare would be about six dollars, but it was Oftt money-saving I was after that day. He pocketed his perquisite and strolled away contented. I, too, was contented. I had "beaten my way" underneath —"tangling up with the trimmings," in the slang of the country —to show myself that I could do it. I had done it—but I never want to do it again.