Short Story.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 12, Issue 27, 5 April 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

Short Story.

An Engine-driver’s Story. There h.itl been a sn nr siskin of extensive frei.fflit-rir robberies iieriiefvateij alonjr tile line of Hie W„ G., ami 11. ra'iirofftl, ami the compitnyV’ officials were at their wits’ end. Au aerident enabled Freight-engineer Billy Burton N> discover the thieves, and enabled the company to recover a largo quantity of the stolen goods. A substantial money reward was tendered him for his si i vices, hut. it was only after being repeatedly urged to accept it by the president of the road him self that; he look it. “ You've earned, it: honestly." urged Ids superior, " for our offer extended to everybody. Mow I'm going to put yon ' on the Imperial." And this was more graufying to the young engineer than that money reward, for the Imperial was a through fast express of Pullman ears, and tiie engine which whirled it from one end to the other of the W.. C.. and B. line was the fastest ami handsomest piece of mechanism that ever delighted the heart of a locomotive engineer really loving ids profession and the implements of his calling. As a further evidence of the trust reposed iu him, Billy was given a two weeks’ vacation with full pay. Une of his tirsi nets was to " dress up” and pay a visit to his sweet heart, pretty little Nettie Byrnes, whose father, old Larry Byrnes, had died while Billy was serving an apprenticeship at “ tiring” on the engine which Larry had run for many years. For a year past they had been engaged, and there was no reason, Bill# 7 thought, why the marriage day should not be fixed upon. Of course Nettie was delighted to hear of her lover’s good fortune, and when he pressed her she blush! ugly consented to fix the wedding day. It was nothing strange to them that Billy should consider himself a man very much to be envied when upon the expiration of his leave of absence he laid a firm hand on the throttle and felt the big express locomotive throb beneath his touch. For a month he continued without adventure in Ids new position. Then, much to ids tegret, he was obliged to " lay off” for several clays to testify in court against the freight-ear robbers who bad been arrested through his efforts. When they wore called up for Sentence, tin' leader, a white-faced, snakyeyed man. turned fiercely upon the engineer, and, shaking his fist, called down upon the young man's head the vilest and most horrible curses. “ I’ll have your life for this, you hound !” lie cried. Nettie- had been sitting beside Billy, and when the robber turned upon Imr lover she uttered a frantic cry, and clung to him convulsively. . About a week after the trial Billy and Nettie were married, and began housekeeping in a pretty little cottage at the end of the young engineer's run, so that lie could ” lay off” at homo. Nettie had often ridden on the engine with, her father, and as Billy could not afford (o take her upon an extensive wedding tour, she had laughingly declared that she would make a. honeymoon trip upon the big express locomotive. So it happened that the morning after the wedding found her snugly coiled upon the engineer’s box,” looking very fresh and-charming in her pretty, neatfitliing white dress. And. seeing that she was comfortably fixed, he kissed her again, and, jumping from the engine, walked down the platform to the despateher's office to deliver a message to his friend. Tom Stafford, one of the telegraph operators. “ By the way, Billy,” said Tom, when the engineer declared that “ time was up,” and he must get hark to Ids engine to he ready for the signal, “ the head of that gang of freight-ear thieves (‘scaped from the penitentiary early yesterday morning.” His face was so grave l whim he returned to his engine that Nettie inquired anxiously if he were ill. For the first thirty miles of the run the Imperial made no stops, and they had nearly completed that: distance when they entered a considerable forest, and approached a sharp curve just before crossing a high trestle bridge that spanned a rocky gulch, through which tumbled a shallow, brawling stream of water. As lie approached the curve he •seized thi> throttle with one hand and the airbrake lever with the other, and leaned out of the ea)> window. Like a Hash they rounded the curve. As they did so Billy’s trained eyes saw a terrible sight. Four heavy ties, one on top of Lie other, had been spiked across the rail in the centre of the bridge. At the same time a strange, overpowering influence seized Billy, and he stood rigid, helplessly dinging to the throttle and the brake lever. On dashed the engine towards certain destruction, and Billy’s brain reeled with horror. Suddenly there was another terrible Hash of lightning, and a great tree in the valley below was splintered from top to base and fell with a crash. Simultaneously (lie power of action returned to Billy’s paralysed body, and with his teeth firmly set he threw his nought upon both throttle and Jirake lover. So sudden was the cheek that the shock nearly threw him from Ids feet, and Nettie tumbled from her perch. Would it never stop ? Slower, slower, ami not ten inches from the obstruction. %e great locomotive came to a standstill, and Billy, with a cry of joy, reeled back upon his bench unconscious. When he recovered his senses Nettie was crying and sobbing over him, and men were coming up th> bank bringing between them a dead man—the miscreant who had spiked down the ties. He had been killed as he was running across the valley by the Hash of lightning Unit had seemed to loosen. Billy’s momentary paralysis, Nettie took one frightened look at the face, and a cry of wonder escaped her. It was the robber who had threatened Billy in the courthouse. A gentleman said that some time before ho had broken the guy of a largo spider’s web. The spider came out of his dim, made a careful examination of the accident--for accident he evidently look it to be—-and then —what ? Resecuml his web by two guys •instead of with one, both of them differently attached from the one that was broken. I am sure the spider reasoned, "Carmen Sylva” (the Queen of Rou‘manta) has received the decoration for Arts and Science from the Emperor of Austria. She Is the first woman to be awarded this Ustlnotlon.