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Show THE RUNAWAY ENGINE By LLEWELLYN LORD "I never, nover will marry you unless un-less papa consents." Sho said this so often that I began to fear that sho meant It, and her father was ono of those hard-headed men who take prldo in tho fact that they never chnngo their minds. "Then I'm going nway," said I, des-nerately. des-nerately. "Where?" sho asked. Her lucredu-Ion lucredu-Ion tone maddened me. "You think It nn Idle threat. Nell, nut unless you decide by this day week to become my wife, either with )! without your father's consent, I will go to tho fnrthest place fn tho world to New Zealand." Her eyes filled with tenrs. Sho be' seeched me to havo patience, but I vefused. When tho week was up she still was obdurate, and f made all my arrangements arrange-ments to go to New Zealand. Her father was glad to see me go, I be-, lleve. Nell was nt the station the day I left. Onco more I pleaded with her, but ir vain. Sho loved me, but sho cotrtd not believe that any happiness would como to our marrlago unless sho obtained her father's blessing. It happened that the truln was late. Wo waited at tho sfatlon with other passengers, including her mother and father. I think the old man had como down to bo sure Nell did not weaken and go away with mo the laBt minute. Rut I began to think that his adorable daughter was as obdurato as her father. fa-ther. As wo waited on tho platform for tho train that was to bear mo'away from tlio girl I, loved a switch engine pulled up on ono of tho farther tracks nnd my wandering eyes noticed that, tho engineer and fireman left tho locomotive lo-comotive alone whllo hey went Into tho restaurant for thelrdlnhcrs ''Oh, Will," murmured Nell, in my car. "I always havo wanted to get In an engine. Do you, suppose they would enro If wo should look1 at that ono whllo tho man Is nway?" "Yes, they would bo sure to care," I said, gloomily. "Resides, It Is against tho rules for passengers to bo on tho .trncks." "Couldn't you got permission for us to look ut It?" sho asked. "Come on, we'll not nsk for permission," permis-sion," I said. It occurred to mo that tho engine cnb would give mo an opportunity op-portunity for ono flnnl and tender good-by. Wo went to the locomotive and Inspected In-spected its drivers and cylinders, and at last I helped Nell into tho cab. Sho looked at tho quivering monster mon-ster with little exclamations of delight nnd amazement. "I'm going to mako It whistle," sho cried, daringly as sho climbed upon tho engineer' sent. "If they arrest us and send us to Jail, then you can't go away." She seized hold of tho lover nnd gave It u Jerk. Instead of whistling tho onglno coughed. She laughed llko a pleased child. "Why, it's moving," sho cried. So It was. I saw tho engineer running run-ning from tho restaurant door and wildly waving his arms. "Oh, I can't stop It," cried Nell, in dismay. I looked at her and saw that sho was pulling and pushing at all tho levers within rench. Presently sho struck tho whistling apparatus, nnd tho englno gave two short, sharp whistles, tho stnrtlng signal. Wo ran off tho sidetrack to tho mnln lino nnd tho switch cngtno was picking pick-ing up speed amazingly. Nell was about to leap out, when I raught her md held nor. "It Is too lato for that," I said, as I pressed her in my arms. Sho clung to mo In fright. As I looked back toward to-ward tho station I saw her father was shaking his fist. "Don't you know how to stop It, Will?" shu sobbed. "No, Indeed. Hut don't bo frightened. fright-ened. They will telegraph ahead and clear tho track for us, and It will stop when tho steam dies down." ''iBii't it dreadful!" sho exclaimed. -'Father nnd mother will think wo nro running away. They will believe I did It on purpose." "Didn't you7" I aBkod, Innocently. "You know 'i didn't," sho declared, withdrawing from my nrms. "It looks much llko you arc running nway with me," I said. "If you am, I can't help it, can 1?" "You aro ridiculous," sho laughed. "Any wny, you can't start to New Zealand Zea-land to-dny." "Unless you go with 1110," said I. Hy this timo tho onglno was going so rapidly and tho racket was so great that wo could not converse. I iniido Noll sit on tho engineer's seat nnd to he sure that sho did not fnll out I hold my arm about her waist. Thero was a crowd of peoplo lined up ut tho first station to see us go by and now I hnd no further fear of a collision. col-lision. Tho trnln dispatcher would ho suro to clear the truck. I saw by the gaugo that tho stcuin was dying out, and nfter wo had passed tho third station tho englno ran perceptibly slower. It stopped dead still on tho outskirts of Cherrydale. I helped Noll from the engino and wo walked to the station house. Tho telegraph operator met us at tho end of tho platform. Ho had n condescending giin on his face. "It's nil right," ho said, us ho thrust a yellow envelope lu Nell's hands. I looked oer her shoulder and read tho message. "Come buck hums and he married with our blessing. All Ih fontlvou." Chicago Tribune. |