On the Rack.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue XII, 21 September 1901, Page 537

On the Rack.

“Have us from our friends" may well lie the cry of those unlucky burghers whose lot it will henceforth be to ride in the South African trains as a precaution against, the train wreckers. Only when one is very young indeed does the life of the ordinary railway guard commend itself as a particularly desirable occupation, but these gentlemen who are to act as guards in another sense over the Transvaal and Orange State lines hold a billet infinitely less enviable. The uneasiness of the head that wears a crown can be nothing to the discomfort of the unfortunates who are selected for this dangerous sinecure. Not the softest of air cushioned chairs or spring back lounge can afford rest io their apprehensive frames, while such divej-tissement as novel reading or light conversation will be quite out of the question. If Dante had lived in these days I -feel sure he would have regarded as an inspiration this device for euchring the train wrecker, and probably would have added it to the list of the tortures in the nether world. Surely the suspense of Damocles from the danger that threatened him from above would be less than that of the travelling burghers will experience. What an interesting book he could write under the title “Impressions of a Traveller.”