Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 27, 1915, Page 9

THE BEE CHAPTER 1. | In the midmorning quiet, the bathing | beach and the ocean reflected only the brightness of the inviting sun. But o Ittle way back from the glistening sand and converging through a small par) ward a suburban station the streets of the seaside resort were alive with men and women, hurrying to the city for the grind of the day. Motor cars, too, &lid- ing nolselessly along the boulevards. drew up in turn before the station and dis- eharged thelr passengers. From one of these & middle-aged, military looking man, General Holmes, an ex-army officer and a raliroad man, alighted on the platform. A governess and a pretty girl, Helen—General Holmes' only child—had accompanied him to the train, and when he turned to the open tonneau to say goodbye, Helen sprang impulsively half way Into his arms. His train pulied in as he quite simply but affectionately kissed his child and boarded theé nearest car. Helen, promised a morning in the park, left the motor car with her governess the moment they crossed n small scenic rallroad running back of the beach. She | already had her eyq on what she wanted to play with. A contented dog, at peace with the world and sunning himself on a grassy slope, had riveted her alert eve Helen advanced joyously to get ac quainted. The dog seemed not averse to a Passive friendship, but the little maid, sitting down, sought something more, and by pulling hard and with confidence at his neck, soon had his unpromising head—after a fashion, at least—in her diminutive lap. 4 The strain on his sensibilities appeared more than her amiable and care-free friend could stand. After submitting for a time he rolled over, jumped up and trotted briskly away for a new seclusion and a new peace. Helen, undaunted, fol- lowed. Hor governess, engaged with the chauffeur, saw nothing of this part ot the Incldent. But a moment later the fow aspectators In the scenlc rallroad square, walting to board one of the minjature trains, saw a protesting dog trotting rapldly away from & ecurly- haired girl, who briskly and relentlessly followed. . A newspboy, relaxing asainst & con- venient lamp post after the morning| rush, watched the pursult for a moment | with languld interest, then turned to look | at an aoproachine train on the sceni~ road. He seemed no more than half awske, His wits In trith. wern wool- gathering. morning found him absorbed greatly t the mysteries of the minjature engine that pulled the mcenic ralirond train. He had long since become fast friends with the enwineer and at ‘he had dreams of greater engines— Amos Rhinelander, s New York man of large means, and (leneral Holmes, return- ing on Helen's elghteenth birthday with Rhinelander and Rhinelander's nephew— Robert Seagrue, himself a young and ambitious railroad promoter—from a trip of inspection of the tidewater terminals of Holmes' road, was eagerly awaited by his daughter at their country home among the S8an Pablo foothills. A mes- sage sent up to her from Signal, the fub- urban station of the country seat, had asked her to meet her father that day on No. 20, the through eastern phssenger train, The motor ear had gone ahead and Helen, taking Rocket, one of her favorite hunting horses, rode down &t her lelsure to the station. ‘While far from being a spofled child, Helen felt very much at home anywhere on the Copper Range & Tidewater rail- road. On the day that Helen cantered lazily down through the foothills toward Signal, a long westbound freight train, after climbing the grade east of & blg hill known on the division as Blackbird pass, reached the summit only to find itself in trouble. The air pump, after balking all morning, had quit, and the oconductor ®oing forward found the engineer, after repeated efforts with the big machine, helpless—the alrbrakes out of service. ‘Without losing much time, the conductor rigged up his emergency telephone and asked for instructions from the dls- patcher. The answer to his request was ourt: “Bring In No. 145 by hand brakes.” The crew spread to their posts on the decks, the lumbering string of heavily laden cars were carefully started down the hill, and the long string began rapidly to pick up speed. It picked up, indeed, too rapldly. The orew vainly strove to hold back the un- wieldy train. Clubs in hand and with the brakes hard jammed, they saw their mon- ster resistlessly getting away from them The conductor hurried forward, for a conference, to the cab, and, comparing Watches with the engineer, looked serious ~within tfenty minutes they would be running on N. 20's time; they might even meet it at the bottom of the hill before they reached Signal The conductor acted quickly. Ploking up & lump of coal he scratched a message on & white signal flag ana wrapped it around a wrench. Cedar Grove station was hardly & mile ahead. As the engine dashed by it, the conductor, in the gang- way, hurled the message through the of- fice window. Ploking it up ana hastily reading the rough serawl, the startied Operator wired the tidings instantly to :“m’l‘,“‘ station. That station was r | In the bouncing engine cab there were &rave faces. ‘What are you golng to do?" shouted the engineer. Without hesita- tion the conductor crled: “Cut Off the caboose. We can't stop it—let the train §0!" The engineer agreed: “We've only §ot one life aplece. No time to lose. George!" he yelled to his fireman, “make for the caboose.' The fireman, perhaps the youngest man in the two crews, without mnswer- e-(. continued to hunt for a wrench. “Wake up, George,” shouted the con- The puffing teain swiftly toward the open dow, casting re- his shoulder at walloning uncer- directly down the narrow the oncoming train, Helen, heed'ng noth'ng of the train an? on her chase, ran after at too dosen people saw her. danger rounded the curve fust in her—only of them made a his unsolds, the day- 3} : s i !*;E i 2 1—They Struggled with the Balky Brake. Smiled, “to See a President’s Daughter S8o Very Oliever.” and Che % RY OF MOUNTAIN RAILROAD LIFE FRANK H.SPEARMAN 2—"You Are Hurt,”” She Said. The two, who liked him, pulled the boy toward the tender. He shook loowe. “Stay and be—hanged, shouted the conductor, with a flery expletive. "Let him alone, he orled, angrily. “He's dippy. Come!" And with his companions hustling close after, he started over the coal on the tender. The train had attained a frightful pace. Already glimpses of its long, eurving roll on the distant hill might be seen from the window of Signal station, where the dlsturbed operator had taken the message of the runaway from Cedar Grove and was. read'ng it to Helen Holmes, breathless besides his table: “Alr brak broken dowm. Running away. §ldetrack No. 20.—No. 145.” It was the import of the last sentence which for an instant frose her senses. Her father! The passenger train facing that runaway on the single track be- low Signal. More than once she had heard her father declare that the stretch between Signal and the next station, Beaman, must be double-tracked—only, money was 8o hard to get. If the lack of it should now cost him his life, the lives of perhaps half a hundred others! While she was thinking, the operator was working furiously at his key with nervous fingers, what he had sent. should have an answer in a minute.” It came at once. The signal station operator first tried to write it, then threw down his pen and repeated its words unsteadily to the frightened girl. the river.” . With wide-open eyes she looked la- tently toward the mountains, At the moment the rolling hills now hid the runaway, but the situation was charting itself like MNghtning, in her mind. Be- tween where she stood and where the passenger train was coming the line crossed San Pablo river, a navigable tidewater stream and a waterway that fed a considerable traffic to the railroad. Her father had put across the-San Pablo & huge jackknife drawbridge—the best an honest engineer &nd an honest railroad directorate could build. Just over the river from Signal station he had already put in, as a start toward double-tracking. & long sidetrack. At Signal there was no siding, nothing, In fact, but the sta- tion butlding. With ‘everything of this speeding lke a film through her head, Helen was dashing out of the office when the scream of a whistle signal bore down on her ears. Confused &% she was, it meant nothing to her. A chance, a hope, had had been takem—to reach the siding switch and sidetrack the fata] runaway before it should strike and scatter to de- struction the helpless pessenger train. Rocket, without & thought other than of alfalfa and undisturbed repose in his drooping head, stood at hand in the sun- shine. To his amasement his mistress, running to. him, headlong. vaulted upon his back. In her fear she cried to him. The horse heard-—it seemed as if he un- derstood. He woke, quivering, at the im- pact of her body. Whirling with his der his mistress, who was trying to seat the brute galloped with Helen the main track toward the river The fireman @id not hu his YT stay hes iery answer. At great drafts of sunny a8 Rocket's wiry legs bounded under her. With “No. % left on time. Between here and flashed across her mind and her resolve OMAHA, MONDAY, G 8—*Very Gratifying,” Ho was a difficulty, but Rocket, who could thread a lava bed without bruising a fet- lock or eross a prairie-dog town at full speed and hold his mistress as steady as If she were sitting on & rocking horse, was not likely to balk at galloping over mere ties—besides, she would give him his time. At the worst, any bridge, she sald to herself, must be reached before it can be crossed, and her eyes were al- ready flxed hard on the one she must cross, when she thought she saw the great jackknife span moving mysteri- ously on its balanced bed. Urging her horse to his best, centering all of her faculties on mastering the ticklish task ahead, Helen's eyes set in a stare on the Jackknife, moving or tricking her straining senses. huge knife draw, moving unmistakably upward. Her eyes sought the bridge the open window. streteh of river; then she remembered, then she understood, then she know, all— & river tug was bearing rapidly down- captain in the wheelhouse; was lifting for the boat's passage. into Rocket. The horse sprang, ated, to greater effort, If she back. DEAEM B to determine whether it was In almost an instant her doubt was re- solved; to her consternation she saw the tower—the bridge tender was standing at Her glance swept the #stream; she could see the pilot and the the bridge The balked girl drove her little spurs infurt- could make the draw in time she would jump it—a slight rise—nothing should keep her AME AUTHOR OF DIVIDE,” “ST | beach,” he went on, slowly. “You were hurt—the miniature railroad!" Bhe regarded him a moment in silence. Then she spoke: “Is it possible?’ she | “You are—?" | murmurea | “I'm the little boy,” he smiled grimly. “Till now, I've never seen the little girl | since.” | A sense of confusion assailed her; she wanted to escape his look. “You are | hurt,” she sald, dismissing with an ef- | fort all consciousness of the'r strange meeting. | A ery of recognition and amazement cut off their words. The passenger train had backed down on the scene. Her father | his friend Rhinelander, yo! Seagrue, ‘thr Signal station operator, the tug cap tain and the train passengers crowded the observation platform looking at her | ana tre shaken-up fireman | | The flagman could hardly raise the step-cover qu'ck enough . to release Holmes &f that he might get down to his daughter. He knew nll—the operator had | tola the story. He caught his daughter |in his arme with a shower of misty re proaches. “What!" he cried. “Have you | tost your mi Are von mad?" Helen's ‘l‘\l‘l fell befor her father's anger. 8 | was a dutiful girl. “Who's this bo | he demanded, pointing to the grimed and | distigured fireman. “What's your name?" Storm. General Holmes—George Storm, | tireman,”” responded the boy, unmoved. “What were you sticking like a leech | to a rinaway engine for—why didn't you g0 back with the rest of the crew?" de manded the head of the road severely Storm met the assault calmly. “T thought T might be able to get the air | pump going,” he countered “DId you do it?" asked Holmes, sarcasm. plainly ahead. The bridgetender was| “I'q have done it it I'd had time,” per- hastily lowering the knife for the freight. | sisted the somewhat dismantled tireman Determined, while in the river, to leave | “I guess' he added calmly, look'ng back the bridge open and wreck the freight, |at the mees of cars, “I needed 4 couple Helen believed she could avold even that, | with “WHISPERING SMITH,” “THE MOUNTAIN | -7 RATEGY OF GREAT RAILROADS,” ETC. COPYRIOHT, 1913, BY FRANK H. SPEARMAN. of days more."” ‘How many cylinder heads did you blow out?" sputtered the general “I didn’t have but two, and as they really didn't belong to me, T blew out only one. .The other side is running fine yet. I reckon." Amos Rhinelander took the scens in with an abundance of satisfled humor He was a blg, wholesome fellow. Be |side him stood Seagrue, silent and oh- servant. Both before and after her father introduced him, he ventured something of a compliment—tried, as it were, for a moment, to take the stage and seemed to | awalt confidently an appreciation of his | remark. | But Helen, whether confused by her much-wilted plight, or engrossed by the recollection of her adventure, could hardly notice his effort to be agreeable. Storm had gone to his engine. Her father was | helping his daughter back: to the ob- servation platform. From it Helen looked steadily back to Storm, standing | down the track ‘n the midst of the wreck- age. The passenger engine sounded two sharp blasts of the whistle. Storm looked aronnd; the passenger train was moving ahead. He saw in the group on the rear platform one figure—that of ‘a slender girl in a wet jockey costume, a smile lighting ber face as she looked to- ward him. She was lifting her hand to his Bruised forehoad and waved back her greeting. Reside ¥elen stood Seagrue He d'd not seem pleased with her attituds |and dropped an fironical remark in her now ear. This one she quite plainly heard and understood: “Very gratifying,” he smiled, “to find a president’s daughter so very clever. And,” he added softly, “she seems to take a real interest in engine- men!” Helen looked deliberately around at him—but whatéver may have been: her thoughts, she made no reply. (To Be Continued.) |and had given the tender his orders ac- | cordingly. The tug, which had been whistling wildly, now heeled violently to- | ward the wharf, where the captain, a | game sport, had resolved to make fast |and see the excitement 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 scattered the cinders under his flying feet, and in what seemed another mo- ment—so fast had she flown—checking the horse cruelly, she threw her lines and slid from his back beside the sidetrack switch. Running to it, she grasped the lever only to fined the switch locked. She could see smoke streaming from the stack of the engine. Behind, she had no need to look, the rumble of the head- end of the runaway was thundering on the bridge. Desperation cleareq her, head. She caught up a heavy stone from the r'ght-of-way and pounded fiercely 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 as- sault for long. The ground under her feet was vibrating with the fearful pound of the great freight engine as it dashed with its heavy drag over the closeby rall joints. She knew the reeling mach'ne | must be almost on her and the thought spurreq her to unnatural strenght. The lock gave way. The excited girl jerked the lever clear and threw the switch, half fainting beside it as the monster engine struck madly at the points. Then, with a shock that tore the heavy road- bed and the roar almost of an earth- quake, engine, tender and train lurched and heavily Into the siding. Car after car and the - - its celebrated dining-car service. The ‘Washington 845 a. m, and New York 2.35 of $1 charged to New York: refunded if st route. No extra fare to Washington. The New York! Leaves Chicagoat$. ‘The Washington-New York Express—! at 825 a.m. Arrives Washington 7.10 a. m. ‘The New York Express—Leaves Chicago at Arrives Washington 10.30 p. m. leave 63d Street Statio: Jumped and pounded at the stubborn H. C. STROHM, rails, On and on they came, shaking Traveling Passenger the solid earth under Helen as she . 912-14 W i gasped. Bwt the thundering, jumping g ‘World Building, wheels continued to pass the switch in Omaha, Neb. safety and the points held. The long traln made the slding to the very end and Helen, almost stunned, saw, in something like a vision, the passenger train, its brakes throwing streams of fire from the grinding wheels, race past her down the main track toward the “Qur Without swerving for an instant from |y i e 7 heér 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 pler. She gave the horse his head. The wiry beast saw what yawned below. He heard his mistress’ quick word. As his feet touched horse colled like a spring, and for an instant quivered. His mistress with a sharp cry the brink of the abutment the of command rose in her stirrups; then Helen cloanly Into the river. a great splash and the closed over their heads. tain, yelling forward to throw out lines {mperiled girl. reappear. For an interminable the onlookers waited the two would never come up. mer's quick certaln puff and struck out for shore. Rocket was not far away ‘With a few powerful strokes his mistress caught bis mane and recoyered him. The tide, running heavily through the chan- nel, carried the two together below the pler of the oppgsite bank. But Rocket, scrambling in & moment from the water, bore his charge unhurt up the steep bank, and junder her urging ran up the track to the tower. The bridgetender, at the door, con- fronted her. The dripping girl, seated on her quivering ho'rlt, told the astonished man in & few words what had happened, and as he whi into the tower agape to lower the draw Helen urged Rocket at & run down the track. It seemed as it her ears bubbled and rang with the rum- ble of the two approaching trains, but her brain had ceased to take note of any- thing beyond her one stubborn resolve to reach the siding ywitch—she could see it funching himsel? and his burden, like an arrow far out, the hunter spring with There was parted waters A pilot, captain and bridgetender stood | The first realization that came to the | as men dased, looking on. The river cap- e crew to quarters, hurried s soon as the tug should come within reach of the The bridgetender, in the window, glued to the scene, watched the elrcling bubbles where horse and rder had plunged down, walting for them to instant It seemed as if Then n girlish head of soaked curls rose among the ripples, a young face emerged from the troubled stream, and Helen, throwing herself free from Rocket, shook the water from her eyes and nose with a swim- The runaway freight was less for- tunate, At the farther end of the side- track three box stdod patiently walting for orders. They had been stand- ing there unmolested for days; they had tarried one moment too long. The run- away train with its still obstinate fire- man, at times on the running board and at times In the cab, was heading vici- ously for them. Its speed was much re- duced after reaching level grade. But the fireman saw the game was clearly up. He chose his moment and jumped. lond- ing violently in the cinder ballast Brulsed and cut, he lay breathless, al- | most insensible. He heard confusedly the terrific crash into the idle vox cars. stunned boy was of someone strugglng to help him away from the wreck—some puny strength excerted to drag his heavy body to greater safety. With a breath, the first he had been able to draw, he opened his eyes. A young woman was bending over him. He wi forbidding sight. Blood, dust and gravel hung In half a dozen cuts on his forehead—hardly a feature of his face, except his eyes, had escaped the | smash of the cinders. Someone ‘Wwith a | very little and very wet handkerchief | wiped his eyes and he could see more | clearly when he opened them again. He |could see the face bent over him and |two eyes fixed anxiously on his—a girl's face, strange and yet—what could it be |of recollection that struggled through his whirling senses? Nor had Helen, a8 she knelt and worked over the injured man, dreamed of seeing any face ghe had ever looked into before | || Even had It beén uninjured she would | ! hardly have recalled it under ordinary | || condgtions. But two people, a young | man, now, and & young woman, were | meeting under extraordinary circum- | Stavcey and thelr eyes were very close | together. The man caught at her hand as it passed with the poor little stained handkerchief across his forehead, stop- | ped it, and looked kneenly into Heler | eyes, “T surely know you," he sald, not tak ing his eyes from hers. Unequal to re- - leasing her gaze. she stared at him with- out speaking. “I'm sure | know he exclaimed, perplexed. He rose of a sudden |eastly it surprised her IEnjoy the Southland’s winter—beautiful beaches, that makes for a summer in to Havana, Cuba, with corres, in the South and Southeast, Absolute Rock Island { tion, you," to his feet—so | "It was the | Visit Washington | en route to New York ! This is the gayest season in many years in Washington, with Congress in session Four splendid all-steel through trains from Chicago daily Leaves Chicago at 1045 a. m. Limited—! ‘Waghington 445 p. m. Daylight ride through the mountaina. Leaves Chicago All trains leave Grand Central Station, Chicago, 0, 25 minutes later. kIsland Lineg balmy climate during this coming groves o‘l palm trees and everything winter in the semi-tropics. Tickets on sale daily to April 30th with return limit of June 1st, 1916‘”l ! Only $50.68 for the round trip to Jacksonville, Fla., $87.18 ponding reductions to other points Liberal Stopover Privileges Connecting service via Rock Island Line Automatic Bl Finest Modern ;ll-?k Sigaals Superb Dining Car Service . mejt-. phone or call at Rock Island Travel Bureau, 1323 Farnam Street, for tickets, reservations, infe J. 8. McNALLY, Division Passenger Agent Phone Douglas 428 See real estate columns for bargains social life of the capital at its height. The shortest line to Washington, and the only one running solid all-steel, | electric-lighted trains without change | between Chicago and Washington is the Baltimore & Ohio Every modern convenience of travel over the “$100,000,000 Better” route with its new roadbed, its luxurious trains and Liberal stopover privileges. Arrives P. m. An extra fare opover is made en 45 p.m. Arrives %p.m teel Equi, ] < o quipmen forma- e x \ - /