Show e v ADVENTURERS ADVENTURERS' i t ti i. i t CLUB M J i i A t 3 Wi I. I Ya l' l pp W j f I Ji 4 The Turn o of 0 a Wheel By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter 1 W. W WHATEVER HA you might say about gambling it takes nerve to do it The best of the professional card sharks are men men who can keep a poker face and never bat an eye when betting their last nickel Yes it takes plenty of nerve to gamble with your money money but but it takes a doggone sight more courage to gamble with your life Ive I've got a yarn here from Adventurer William WiIliam Joseph BrInkley of Brooklyn n N. N T. T and unless Im I'm no good at all at reading between between between be be- tween the tho lines of a n story Bill Brinkley Is one of those lads who can keep a cool head and figure out the odds even at moments when his life lIre Is in the greatest of perIl If Bill hadn't had that faculty he wouldn't be here collecting his ten and joining the Adventurers' Adventurers club today For back fate tested out those Iron nerves of his his and and It was one of the most rigorous tests fate ever dished out to a guy at that Iron never or no Iron nerve Bill admits he was pretty scared when It happened Maybe pretty scared Isn't quite the expression for It either When it was all ov over r Bills Bill's nerves felt more like putty than iron Bill Had a Prosaic Job Checking Freight Cars It was down in the town of Atlanta Ga where he be was working as asan asan asan an Interchange e clerk for the Cent Central al of Georgia railroad Bill was Just Justa justn a n young lad then and his job consisted of checking up on cars that were to be switched from one line t to another It was during the June rune peach season and there was a lot of ot traffic on the line The railroad yard was full tull of ot box cars and It kept both Bill ill and his partner Willie Baker on the Jump most of ot the time The first job In Bills Bill's routine was Vias to get the seal number on the cars as soon as a train entered the yard Bill would get them themon on one side while his partner Willie got them on the other They were supposed to wait walt for those trains at the break up track but sometimes they would walk out to meet them and ride In on the first car That's what they were doing when Old Lady Adventure swooped down and got Bill in to her clutches They had walked out to meet the Special and the Special was late that night so so without realizing It they walked a little farther than they had Intended They met it quite a wa ways s 's out of the yard when it was going at nt a pretty fast clip cUp Willie caught the first car but Bill Bm let three or four go by before he could make up his mind to Jump for It He caught the fifth car and since be he was supposed to check the other side of the train he started to climb over over the top But Falling Under a Train Isn't So Prosaic But Old Lady Adventure didn't ever er Intend that Bill Bm should get to the tile other side of or that train As he reached for the top Iron grab-Iron with his I IC C Lap p I f 0 U f S r. r r l r He tie Threw His Body Over the Rail Just In Time right hand the one he was holding with his left broke away from the side of ot the car His Ills bod body swung out from the side of oC the car and started to fall As Bill fell he clutched at the top grab He caught it but buthis buthis buthis his weight broke the hold His body twisted twisted swung swung around between between between be be- tween the cars Then as he dropped his left leg hit the draw head He swung head downward and fell fell fell- under fell under the train I lay lint flat on my lUj back says Bill and anI watched the bottoms of ot the cars whiz by only a n few Inches from my face The wheels ground past only a few inches from my body on either side sWe I ln lay for a moment utterly ut ut- utterly terly unable to move more Then Ihen my mind began to race Hopper-Bottom Hopper Cars Meant Certain Death In a flash I had fI figured everything out I had been lucky enough to toland toland toland land between the trades not tracks not on them As lon long as I did not move mo I was perfectly safe unless unless and and there was the horrible possibility unless possibility unless there was a hopper-bottomed hopper coal car In that train The rhe hoppers of or those cars are only a few Inches from the ties If one of or them hit me I would be mangled mashed mangled mashed to a pulp spread pulp spread along a n half mile of ot track And there was a darned good possibility that not one but several several several sev sev- eral of these hopper bottomed cars were In the tho train In long trains like the one Bill Sill was under It was the custom to put short empty coal cars between the refrigerator cars to cut down the side sway Bill knew that III His mind was clicking on all four in his moment of peril taking peril taking In every consideration There was just one way out out out-a a perilous wa way way but but but something told Bill BillIt Billit It was a better risk than waiting for one of ot those murderous hopper bot bot- toms He lie began watching the wheels as they clicked by gauging by-gauging gauging their speed and their distance Where two cars were coupled together the wheels were only about four feet teet apart but between two wheels on the same car there was a n space of ot forty feet If he could throw his body over the rail as the front wheel passed and get across before the rear wheel hit him him him-he'd hed he'd be safe There was no time to lose but Bill gauged those moving wheels carefully He nerved himself and tensed every muscle Then as a front wheel flashed by he started to roll He hit the rail and started to go over Would he get across In time Bill dl didn't nt know because his eyes were shut He didn't dare look at th the thing he was doing Then all at once be he felt himself go over the top of or orthe the rail He opened his eyes and saw clear sky sly overhead He ITe had made It Then says Bill came the reaction I began trembling all ail allover allover over and got sick as a dog And to this day the mere sight of a hopper bottom coal car can give me a bad case of chills 0 Service 0 |