Show The Pirate ei Engineer er erI I BY JOSEPH M M ROGERS R GE S I The president and most mos of the directors dIrect tom tors t rs along with some of the chief of ot officials of the road were seated In the there rear re r section of ot the special car smoking smokIng smokIng ing and telling stories s ri s These Thee had a wide range and were so Interesting that though the hour became late bite no one proposed to go to bed bedIn bedIn bedIn In the course of a lull ul the youngest st of the party part being the division sup super r in a sense sens the ilie territorial host in charge of the party remarked remark ed I to the handsome president that while all these strange tales were new to him and dealt mostly with a period before he had been born yet he knew enough of ot the presidents history to understand that there was no acci accident ace dent dento of o fortune which had brought him to the front The president stopped smoking a avery ae avery very e large arge cigar and looked l into the young oung mans face until It was full of ot blushes and the heart was tall full of tre tremor tremor mor Then the president laughed laugh d and andr d remarked marked r I I s t I never yet et told tol 1 It butI Iguess guess t hurt I am the tl ti e great gi at a l e t in c American 1 l railways V There was a murmur of protest st In which V the superintendent had the most volume Not pursued the president but that I 1 might otherwise have ha e got along after ater a fashion but J I am sure I would not have hav l h re except for a corn com combination of f Tr circumstances s which none of you will believe eve unless I assure you youIt Youit youIt It Is true arid and can prove it In a court of or law if necessary The president laughed looked at his cigar and threw it away Then he bent forward as If talking to a i syndicate of bankers concerning g a 11 very verY V VV V largo large l rge deal V Before re I was was 30 10 I had run runa a locomotive locomotive tive tl e fOr f r some somO years yeats ye rs In the th east and I Ido Ido Ido do doV V say y that th I considered myself equal eq al alto l to the best Then came one of the strikes so frequent In those days and andI I was stranded str With a lot of others I hoofed It for the west on some friendly cabs bs and landed In central centa Ohio where there was a strike and alid engineers needed I was always a union man but the engineers Is road had sent men inca tp t throw us out In Inthe Inthe the east eat so I had no qualms of ot con conscience eon science In taking a run That last expression seems see easy caS now but In those days It was not a a run ruu for your yo r money but your life Ute I was wa a husky fellow could handle a revolver or a brickbat and made mad things so live ly that I was soon ace high with the whole push of officials on the Quaker road aa as I will call cai it It Thus Thu It came about that once after I had been out for tor hours on the east e t aBd a d west run I was told by the mUter master m me mechanic that 1 I must go up on a n toward Toledo Toled to make a connection at at Mason City V I 1 kicked Gentlemen I swore round roundly ly that I would not do it I was dead for sleep and the Idea of taking out outS a special of express mails malls arid and a private car full of directors presidents and Wall street magnates was not to my notion I had a girl back east exist and she had never even heard from me m me since I got my my job I had thought to write her herBut herBut herBut But I 1 was as told that this was an ex exceedingly exceedingly C Important J n that the big bigwigs wigs rust must J get up to the lt line by daylight to meet me t a u lot of f Chi Chicago cago fellows who were going to put our own line on the blink I had never been on this line at all alland alland alland and told the master m ter mechanic some things which are oxe not n f fit hut but butin In the endI I agreed to start a little after midnight mId to get to Ma Mason Mason son City to shut Chicago peo people people pie In time for fora a deal that would set tIft ia lOt o of oC things I would not nt have hae done It at atall all if i I had not been given a fireman who ho was wasP said to know every fence corner on the th ili road r d V V I 1 wish I could tell you a lot of things gs but that Is snot not my m tort forte I simply gOt ready and away we flew on ona ona ona a q locomotive V If was Ih in the t days dy when the best besto w o ld be considered archaic now but at that time we took what we could get This old thing thins was better than she looked because e she he had been bat battered battered by the strikers rs until she 19 ked like a a fossil dug out of ot the Jurassic ta taI V Vi strata str I i was young and dared red anything though I was nearly dead for sleep and so SQ we started with nothing but mall mail malland malland mailand and express and the presidents car caron on ori behind so as to fool the strikers strIker They The were even een then thep afraid of ot the thema mails p My mothers ers ancestors an estors came arpe from Vermont Ve and aid In late years yearn I have been up In 1 1 the he old hills and followed cow cow paths which now seem to me straight compared with that combination ol ot two streaks of rust and the right of o way V My was In my throat for about abo t an hour but the fireman kept me posted and I made fairly good for over three hours when he mentioned that t at we were w re now on a tong song down grade giad tangent and amid d the way wa was certain c to be b clear Now NoV I had no more Idea Id a of go goIng g lug Ing to sleep that I 1 have now hut but butna na nature ture turO got In her work I thought I would close my eyes for a few tew seconds and let the fireman look out and give me mea a chance cha Oe e I do not know how long they were closed L never ever have hav found out but the first thing X I knew kiew the old engine was as as a It If she were w reg up an Allegheny grade gl de deI and almost aIm st stopped I I confess I 1 had bad been dreaming and andI I when I i awoke oke it took to k a few seconds to get my latitude l I Then I looked across at the fireman and he ho was sound asleep on his hid seat eat I looked at the steam gauge and we were at about the lowest moving notch not h In a minute I Irous roused rous d him up and he began to pile in Ino coal o l and ld Soon soon we w were able bleto to move a little better and finally got under fast motion a again sain sainI lr I was much disturbed I wondered ed edIf If he had seen me ma go to sleep I pre presumed presumed he had and therefore It was hardly up to me to be too harsh I omitted all reference to sleep p or steam but asked where we were That seemed to be a for him and I surmised that he had been asleep as long as I had but he gave me a qualified remark which saved himself because I could not deny den It ItI ItI itI I was now wide awake a I was ac as actually c tu Uy scared to death It was in the summer v sand and there was some moon moon moonlight light but the first glints of ot dawn were something or r other which Shake Shakespeare Shakespeare speare tells about which I do not re remember remember remember member V Now I was In lit a most embarrassing embarrass ng position tl the e down d wn grade and the present low steam I might have been asleep half halt an pour hour our or more and so might have hae been the fireman I could not afford to say anything for tor fear he ha would give me away wa The fact that I had haI behind me the president pr and board of directors who were going to fl for the company or r go Into bankruptcy made my position al aJ almost most Intolerable I kept looking nervously at the fire fireman man expecting him to call cail out signals Is Iso of o bm ome sort as usual ual but he be was w sot ot only silent but he seemed to have nave been be n suddenly taken t ken with the or o the thO spinal meningitis He would il look out of ot his window utter a grunt or ora ora ora a groan groan throw In alot a lot of ot coal wipe ills lils eyes and once more look out ut at the landscape as If he expected to see a alot alot loto lot of spirIts But worst of all I IC could see his shoulders Jiggle The thOught th flashed across acos oss ma tIe m that he might have ve gone Insane for want ant of sleep though gh I could scarcely blame bIame him for forth r lh that t t I demanded of him where wh re we were and a he replied d that we wew were r just j st coming into Walton WaIto That was satis satisfactory s factory because b Walton et t out outside J t side of the Junction at Aberdeen with wl the southern south rn branch bi n h of ot the road r adOu Our own road oad d bore off to the west est and I t was forty miles to the a ason son City Junction we were to make by 4 though the line Une here as they called It It would have taken us to the tha maln Tine line In less time I had h suggested to the master 1st that we set get running rights over ver this plug line which was w s principally a milk and coal route but ut our folks found foun that Continued on Page 7 I 1 The Pirate Engineer BY JOSEPH M ROGERS a r G 1 S i 4 T i l t P 4 f r rrt rt sl 7 9 r n h Y 1 y v 4 I J T r By this time you can believe beli ve that I was alarmed Continued from Page 1 the other people would not get mixed up nit in fn the strike situation and so O I con considered we must make good speed as time We had only w WI we e hud had lost a lot of ot little over oer an hour to make the th nearly fort forty miles and that was vas the very best W vo could QuId possibly do and I feared we uld hardly fetch it as we were get gett getting tins ting t 1 into a II rising grade section Some minutes went by and we wet wes s t should rould have hae reached Aberdeen Junction but I 1 saw no signs of ot It and asked aked the fw man who said we were just there that it was nas Just around the curve Then Thenh hr hv h Mapped lapped the sides of ot his head and andrut andl l rut put ut on Oil some Orne coal and began to mutter In three miles more we passed through I p 1 littlE hamlet but there was no sign sIgnI signe I rf If e a t I junction and I got mad Where 1 here in the deuce are we now I iV PM tided Th The fireman looked at me with a face i t huh hh hi h in spite of ot the coal dirt looked hen jn n the light of or the open furnace d Mir w r x Were re all right be said the junc june is two miles ahead The shadows d i rived me meI I did not like this a bit It was bad nugh to be rushing through space belia be beIn In lia rt a battered old teapot with the ident and directors in ht tow but not nott b t know where on the globe we were wt re mated s was too much for nerves like liker r T ne which had been kept up to the highest lt pitch by b overwork However I the dim glimmer of o lights ahead and waited lo to o see Eee what town it was There was wal no junction and no stop sig signal c nal nalo o 0 I let her go and as we passed through I could easily see that it was Mallon The headlight showed the sign on Oil the little wooden station and besides ber be befi sides fi there was a big warehouse e with J immense letters on it showing the I name lIa as well wen as on a brewery breer and a ai aI arual i rual oal al yard So Sol I got out my running I ard rd and looked for Mallon Mallen I did not find fin it at first glance and thought I must be bt nervous I looked at my watch to see here where we e should be and as I live there was no such town as ag a Mallon on the 01 card and It was evidently evident a fair sized fiZ ft town No Now under the circumstances I 1 would have hae called that fireman mote more nines flumes than he could have appreciated hut but ut it struck ruck It me that as he knew I had hadi i been II asleep I 1 had better play safe So SoI I remarked casually 1 dont see Mallon on the time timet t ua ird rd Jumping cats he yelled elIed did you y o that too toof See Soe f what you Idiot Mallon Yes Y I replied rather gruffly gruff I 1 in m read letters four our feet reet high when the h idi adi ht is deed dead to then Where Is nr lIr old oM town anyway anway Just then we struck a curve and a agrade agrade agrade grade and we had haa both of t as much as we could do to keep up her speed When we tie got to a decent stretch I turned on him rather fiercely thinking that perhaps I could bluff him down from ever telling on me See here I took this run because they the said you had been on it for twenty years and knew every inch of the road Back east where I came from I 1 could tell every ever fence corner in three counties Now blink blink you where the bub blunk are we I must calculate on our time I should nave have said more but looking out I saw Saw a freight train ahead of ot us just coming coining out of o a siding I gave the hoot hoot put on some air but the freight backed in time and we went by b bat at a good speed while the trainmen on the other ether side sWe looked at me Is If we were crazy What siding Is that I yelled We nearly got the dump I turned to look looR at atthe the fireman and he was the th picture of terror He picked up his shovel in a way wa that made me think he was going to attack me Then he dropped It and looked out of the window At that moment we ve passed Saunders I looked at the time card and there was was wa no such place pace p ce By this time you can believe that I was alarmed I knew of course that we must be somewhere on a railroad but butI I had never beard heard of anyone anone being lost loston loston loston on a pair of rails calls and as the track ahead seemed pretty good I went after aCter that fireman in a way wa that was a cau caution caution caution tion I come out on an expedition to the north pole DOle nor to find Living Livingstone Livingstone Livingstone stone If you know where you ou are spit It out If not tell me how we got here Also I 1 said things I wont repeat Finally I managed to make out that we ue had by some ome 1 means gotten oft orr our road and onto the plug line that I have mentioned The fire fireman fireman fireman man knew this because he was fa fl familiar familiar with the names of the stations we had passed and nd these had thrown him into a fit Well Yell how in creation did we get here tell me that This was rather difficult but he said down at the junction point there was a T Y connecting the two roads and we must have been switched oft with without without without out our knowing it Evidently this remarkable re remarkable r occurrence had taken place while we were both asleep but why wh or how I could not tell But I saw saw my chance Yes I thought the way wa we curved oft ot was in the wrong direction but I you to say so if I we were wrong You were asleep and let me get off oft here on a foreign road with a of ot of millionaires and anel all of us liable to spill all over ov r the landscape any an min minute minute minute ute in a collision Then I jumped Jump d on him some some more just to cow him and square myself It I was a good bluff and it worked fine However I 1 kept the engine suing going g for thinks I we are going in the right ight I direction dir and if we go back we wont make that train and are as liable to get ditched as if we keep ahead But when I tried to get something out of ot the fireman as to the road the distance and the like he was little better b posted post posted posted ed than I 1 Luckily I remembered that I had an art advertising folder of our road containing a map of Ohio and adjoin adjoining ing lag states which I 1 had kept in my jacket for study at odd moments After some study study I located loc ted our po position position position with relative accuracy find and we e appeared to be about thIrty miles south of or Benton Junction where the plug line of the struck str ck the par parent parent parent ent stem As this was east of or Mason Iason City where our own line crossed and whither hither we were w re supposed to t be speed speeding ng mg ing It gave gae us that much more time timeto to catch that train eastbound |