The Oregon daily journal., October 11, 1914, Page 62, Image 62

FZ&Z THFV ns'HFAnTv & lows
1Sk5P 1 kL I U I ILAkI o Joseph vance
hi? fepfe
' 1 n i .
SLOWLY THE HAND-CAR
The photo-drama correspond-
ing to this installment of "The
Trey o' Hearts" may be seen
at the Star theatre, today, Mon- 4
day and Tuesday.' Subsequent
installments will be published
on this page of UJhe Sunday
Journal Magazine "every Sun-
day until completed and on the
day of publication and for two
days tliereafter readers may
see each installment enacted
at the movies.
SVN'OPSIS The Trey o Hearts is
the "death-siKn" employed by Seneca
Trine In the private war of vengeance
which, .throuch the - aeency of his
dauKhter Judith, a woman of violent
passions like his own, he wages
against Alan Law, son of the man
(now dead) who was innocently re
sponsible for the accident which made
Trine a helpless cripple. Alan is in
love with Rose, Judith s twin and dou
ble but in all other respects her pre
cise opposite. Judith vows to compass
Alan'H death; but under dramatic cir
cumstances he. saves her life and so,
unwlUlnsly, wins her love. Thereafter
Judith is by turns animated by the
oItI hate, new love, and jealousy of
her sister. She causes her father's
distrust and is left behind by him
when he journeys west, taking Rose
with him, in order to lure Alan away
from New York. Alan pursues, Judith
accompanying him against his wish,
and succeeds in rescuing Rose from
Trice's special train.
Part 10-Steel Ribbons.
I Light Engine.
TOWARD the close of that summer's
day it was the whim of that
arch manager of theatricals whom
men call Fate to stage an anticlimax
In the midst of a vast and hilly ex
panse of desolate middle western coun
try a rude and rugged disk of earth
which boasted no human tenancy with
in the circle of its far-flung horizon
and was bisected, not neatly, rather
irregularly, by the flowing double line
of steel ribbons which marked the
railroad's right-of-way over the old
Santa Fe trail.
It was the engineer who started the
trouble. Alter bringing his monster
to a full pause, he turned upon his
passenger and not without plausible
excuse violently Indicted Mr. Alan
Law for abuse of his and his fire
man's trustfulness. This the said fire
man (climbing forward over the ten
der) vigorously applauded.
They had been engaged, both gentle
men asserted vigorously, for nothing
more dangerous than a quick run
across the prairies, in furtherance of
the unspecified plana of Mr. Alan
Trine, After starting out they had
wickedly and maliciously been bribed
by the said Law to put on speed and
catch p with the special, in order that
he might rescue from the latter a
yoorxg woman, his , bride-to-be and the
sister of Miss Trine; it being asserted
that the said young woman was in th
hands of cruel and unnatural enemies,
bent on doing her mischief. All this
the engineer, assisted by his faithful
fireman, had nobly accomplished; the
rescue had been duly effected wit
ness the presence in the cab of Miss
Rose Trine and a gentleman of very
apparent color answering to the name
of Tom Barcus, he having assisted
Miss Rose Trine In her escape.
It was unhappy Mr. Barcus who pre
cipitated the affair. This gentleman
was suffering from a severe sprain to
his sense of decent pride. In the ser
vice of Miss Rose Trine and her be
trothed, Mr. Law, Barcus had black
ened his face and hands to the hue
of ebony and had garmented himself
in the garb of a Pullman porter, sur
rendering himself to humiliating ser
vice to those aboard the special, suf
fering their insolence and scorn with
out a murmur, but with the tides of
wrath mounting ever higher In his
bosom.
And now, when at length he had
won his freedom from that ignomin
ious servitude. It was only to be
sworn at and v-illified. as a common
nigger by railroad hands!
It was the fireman (to be just)
who brought the row to a focus by a
slighting reference to that "shiftless
and misbegotten dinge."
He rpented quite promptly. Mr.
Barcus Jumped for his throat with a
bellow of rage. The fireman leaped
for his shovel and . brandished it
threateningly. Mr. Barcus made noth
ing of that; he closed in without hes
itation and got the fireman by the
throat, proceeding to shake the breath
out of his body with the greatest good,
will and dispatch. In the course of
this entertainment the fireman slipped
on the, cab platform, trod on nothing,
and went over backwards, taking Mr
Barcus with him to the ballast.
At almost the same moment Mr.
Law, attempting to restrain the engin
eer from going to the assitance of his
fellow-worker, ducked In under a vi
cious swing tot his chin, grappled
THE
STIRRED ON ITS AXLES
with Ms foe, tripped him up and
went with him to the ground on the
opposite side of the locomotive from
that occupied by Mr. Barcus and the
fireman.
For the next several seconds he war
very busy indeed keeping his face out
of the ballast. The engineer was a
heavy man, but active and infuriated.
He fought like a demon unchained.
It was all very exciting. Mr. Law
was even beginning to enjoy it when
he heard a woman shriek. At the
same instant revolvers began to pop.
Mr. Law released his' foe almost as
quickly as be was released. Both rose
as one man. to find Judith Trine be
side them, a little smile of excite
ment playing round her lips as shfc
looked up the track and watched the
special slow down to a stop several
persons on the back platform plying
busy trigger-fingers all the while.
As these last threw open the plat
form gates and dropped to the bal
last, still perforating the air with
many bull els, Mr. Law, Miss Judith
Trine, and that late belligerent, the
engineer, turned simultaneously and
sought the rear ox tne tenuer.
On the opposite side they found
Rose Trine and Mr. Barcus standing
uncertainly above the body of the fire
man who, It appeared, had stunned
himself in falling and remained in
sensible. The appearance of Law and Judith
from behind the tender, closely pur
sued by the engineer, who was in turn
closely pursued by gentlemen with re
volvers, stirred Barcus and Rose to
action. Alan passed him at a round
pace, pausing only long enough to
seize Rose and drag her with him to
ward the special. Judith flung him
a phrase of well-meant advice in
passing:
"Come along, you simpleton unless
you want to be shot down where you
stand V9
Mr. Barcus acted on that advice, as
immediately as resentfully. Judith
Trine was little before him, at the
steps of the Pullman; Mr. Law had
already assisted Rose aboard. Mr.
Barcus ungraciously gave place to the
lady; his ingrained chivalry sorely
strained by bullets that kicked among
the ballast round his feet when, in
deed, they did not whistle spitefully
past his head. He was persuaded
that that imp of a woman, Judith,
was delaying purposely. Somebody
had already started the Pullman on
ahead before she swung from the
ground. And at the last moment Mr.
Barcus, leaping aboard, was almost
knocked off again by the figure of
one whom Mr. Law bounced handily
to the platform and booted off into
the night.
Surmising this to be the last of the
Trine retinue, Mr. Barcus heaved a
heartfelt sigh, sat down heavily on
a camp chair, and mopped his heated
brow, watching the lighta of the loco
motive drop swiftly back into the
gloaming. The fact that several of
the figures ' grouped, round it contin
ued to fire their revolvers at the fast
departing special troubled him not at
all.
"If any of those guys," he assured
Mr. Law presently, "could hit a barn
door with a gatling gun at twenty
paces well, I wouldn't be proving
myself the giddy ass I am by sticking
to your Ill-starred fortunes. There
wouldn't be any to stick to, because
you'd have been snuffed out long ago
with all the chances they've had to
blow your fool head off, point blntr
II Pullman.
rOME inside," Law suggesteo,
"and introduce me to the brafce-
man. I presume I've got to fix
things up with him "
If there's really any doubt In your
mind as to that," Barcus said, rising,
1 don't mind telling you your'e right."
"He's approachable?"
"Is he?" Barcus laughed. "Would
I be here If he wasn't? He's so ap
proachable he meets you at your own
front door. Never in all his life has
anything happened to him like this:
he's already figuring on baying a
house in Flatbush with the coin he's
grafted off me since we came to an
understanding. Every so often his
conscience begins, to reproach i him
and that's my high sign to dig and
come through." 1
The fear of this last catastrophe
worked together with his fears' of Ju
dith to render that night a sleepless
one for Barcus. He spent it In a chq&r
whence he could watch both the door
to the compartment Judith had chosen
for her own (formerly Marrophat's
quarters) and the endless ribbgna of
steel that swept beneath the trucks
and. shining fugltively In the light
from the observation platform,
streamed away into the darkness
astern.
But nothing happened. He napped
uneasily from time to time, waking
with, a start of fright, but always to
find nothing ttH Ever Judith stop
ped behind that closed door, and ever
OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAI PORTLAND, SUNDAY
OVERHEAD. THE SPECIAL ENGINE STRUCK THE CABOOSE WITH A CRASH
the track behind was innocent of the
glare of a pursuing headlight.
Interim, it was tolerably comforta
ble traveling aboard this- special of
Trine's; and the1 fact that it was all
at the expense of his enemy detracted
no whit from Alan's relish of the situ
ation; while the other considerable fact
that Trine himself was in his hands
and helpless, in effect a hostage, added
measurably to Alan's peace of mind.
He had only to fear the activities of
Trine's creatures aboard the light en
gine and they were a stupid lot in
Alan's esteem, Marrophat the only pos
sible exception. As Barcus had pointed
out, they couldn't even shoot straight;
while, according to Judith and Rose,
Marrophat himself had never been
more than the willing instrument of
that master mind penned up forever in
the drawing room
On the other hand, of course, there
was Judith to be remembered one fac
tor never to be either ignored or de
pended upon, rendering every calcula
' tion based "on probabilities the sheer
est and most fatuous guesswork until
her attitude had been demonstrated.
As to this, he was not, however, left
long in doubt; it was demonstrated
and established as disturbingly as con
clusively in the course of that after
noon which followed the capture of
the special.
Ever since lunch time the girl had
been closeted with her father; Barcus
had been getting some well earned and
sorely needed rest in his quarters; Alan
standing his watch on the observation
platform, in company -with Rose; and
the train booming along through an
uncouth wilderness of arid mountains,
barren mesas, and sun smitten flats
given over to the desolate genius or
sagebrush.
Whatever had been the tenor of the
communication between father and
daughter, Judith eventually emerged
from the drawing room in an ominous
temper. Barcus, coming drowsily away
from his compartment at the same
time, was jarred wide awake by a
sight of the foreboding countenence she
wore: and after a moment of doubt
followed her back to the lounge at the
rear of the car.
He got there in time to see her at
rigid standstill, staring steadfastly at
the two figures so close together on
the observation platform. But on his
appearance Judith shook herself to
gether, snatched up a magazine, and
plumped wrathfully into an easy chair,
burying her nose between the pages of
the publication with every indication of
deep interest in its text.
Mr. Barcus, however, had learned the
lesson of bitter experience to the ef
fect that the outward bearing of Miss
Judith Trine was no sure index to her
inward humor unless, that is, it might
be taken to indicate the direct contrary
of its semblance; though even this was
no reliable rule. ' Reminding himself of
this, he therefore invented a morbid
interest in another magazine round
the edge of which he kept a wary eye
upon the young woman.
That she was not deceivedby his
Strategy but intensified her deep-root-ed
resentment of existing conditions
in toto. With this, she was utterly
unable to keep her eyes from straying
toward the observation platform
where in blissful unconsciousness of
the audience, Alan was embracing his
sweetheart.
For all her exasperation, Judith
contained herself longer than might
have been expected. Her continued
show of placidity, indeed, lulled ' Bar
cus into a dangerous feeling of se
curity. Persuaded that she meant to
behave, he gradually ceased to watch
her as narrowly as at first, and lost
himself in a morose reverie whose sub
ject was the seemingly permanent
mourning into which he had
plunged hts face and hands for the
purpose of his masquerade staining
them a shade of ebony upon which
soap and water and scrubbing had no
effect whatever. And he had invented
a most excruciating method of re
venging himself upon the druggist who
had taken advantage Of his confidence
and sold him the ineradicable dye
when he was roused by the sudden
flight of a magazine across the car,
missing his head by a bare two inches,
and the bang of a chair overturned by
Judith as she jumped up and flung
herself furiously toward the door.
Just what had happened on the ob
servation platform Barcus didn't know,
but he could readily believe that the
lovers bad just indulged in some espe
cially provoking and long-drawn-out
caress. When he saw them they were
standing Alan on one side of the
platform. Rose on the other, both lean
ing out over the rail and watching
something in the distance and to one
side of the track. What had excited
this show of Interest he neither knew
nor ever learned; he had no time to
see for himself.
He overhauled Judith, none too soon.
In another moment she would have had
her sister by the throat if her purpose
had not been to throw Rose bodily
overboard, as Barcus suspected. Hap
pily, he was as quick on his feet as
Judith on hers; and almost before he
had grasped the situation, he had
frrasped her had seized her arms and
drawn them forcibly behind her back,
at the same time swinging her round
and endeavoring to propel her' back
through the doorway.
It was a man-size job. For the en
suing five minutes he had his hands
full of violently resentful and superb
ly ablebodied young woman. Only with
the greatest difficulty did he succeed
in wrestling her up the aisle and to the
door of her compartment, where an
even more furious resistance for some
additional minutes prefaced the ultl- ,
mate closing of the door upon the
maddened Judith. Even then he
might not draw a free breath; there
was no way of locking that door from
the outside; and he dared not leave
go the handle, lest the girl again fly
out and renew the battle.
Waving aside Alan's proffer of as
sistance, he acidly advised that gentle
man to return to his post of duty and
not let his infatuation blind him to
what might at any moment loom up
on the track behind them, Barcus
stoutly held the door against the girl's
attempt to pull it open and through
another period when she occupied her
self with kicking its panels as if hope
ful of breaking a way out. A long
pause followed. He heard no sounds
from within. And wearying, he won
dered what the devil she was up to.
Then her voice penetrated the barrier,
its accents calm and not unamiable;
"Mr. Barcus 1"
-Ilellol" he replied startled. "What
Is it. Miss Judith?"
"Please let me out,
"Not much."
"Oh please!"
Struck by the fact that she hadn't
lost her temper on hearing his refusal,
he hesitated. It was very true that
he couldn't stay there forever, hold
ing on to that knob.
"Will you be good if I let you out?"
"Perfectly."
"No more shenanigan?"
"I promise."
"Word of honor?
"If my word of honor means any
thing to you you have it."
"Well ... I" he said dubiously.
In tli same humor he turned and
released the knob; promptly Judith
opened it wide and swept out into the
corridor, aer mood now one of really
fetching mockery.
"Thank you so much!" she laughed
into his face of discomfiture; and
dropping him an ironic curtsey, she
turned forward and swung into the
drawing room occupied by Trine.
"Wonder what she put that on for?"
he speculated, with reference to the
ankle-long Pullman wrapper which
Judith had seen fit to don during her
period of captivity. "Heaven knows
it's hot enough without wearing more
clothing than decency demands. . . .
But you never can tell about a woman.
... I bet a dollar I've made a blith
ering ass of myself letting her loose
at all!"
He took his doubts aft, communicat
ing them to Alan and Rose.
Later, he had cause to believe that
giving Judith her liberty had not' been
his only blunder. He should have re
mained in sight of the drawing room
door, to make sure that she kept her
word. This because of the treachery
of the engine crew and brakeman-; un
questionably these three had been quite
content with Alan's liberal-handed con
tributions to their bank accounts up
to that hour. Furthermore, they had
his promise of a munificent reward if
they finished the run to California, to
say nothing of the word of Law, son
of the railroad builder, that they would
be protected in event of losing their
jobs, through any contingency of this
mad' adventure.
Certainly, Barcus thought, nothing
but a greater bid from Trine, through
Judith, substantiated by a heavy ad
vance on account, could have won their
allegiance from Alan.
And his long conference with Alan
and Rose on the observation platform
afforded Judith ample opportunity in
which undetected to suborn the train
crew to treachery.
Whether she did or no, this is what
happened in the course of the next
hour: the special was forced to take a
siding to make way for the California
limited, eastbound; and when this had
passed, the engine of the special
coughed apologetically and pulled
swiftly out, leaving the PulKnan stalled
on the siding.
From the rear of the tender the
brakeman and fireman waved affecting
farewells to the indignant faces of
Alan and Barcus when they showed in
the front doorway.
III Hand Car.
Or
w
rELLf" Mr. Barcus broke a si
lence whose eloquence may
not be translated In print
"can you beat it?"
"Not with this outfit." Alan admit
ted gloomily.
MORNING, OCTOBER 11,
"But damn it! we've got to."
"Profanity even yours, my friend
won't make this Pullman move without
an engine."
"All the same, we can't stop here
like bumps on a log, waiting for that
gang of thugs to sail up in the light
engine and cut our blessed throats."
Mr.' Law answered this unanswerable
contention only with a shrug. Then,
stepping out on the forward platform
of the Pullman, he cast a hopeless eye
over the landscape.
Raw, rugged hills hemmed in the
right of way, hills whose vast flanks
were covered with dense thickets of
mesquite, chapparal, sagebrush and
cacti, the haunt of owls and rattle
snakes and solitude. No way of es
cape from that pocket In the hills oth
er than by the railroad itself.
He lowered his gaze to the tracks
and siding and started sharply.
"Eh what now?" Barcus inquired
with interest.
"Some thoughtful body has left an
old handcar over there in the ditch,"
Allan replied. "Maybe it Isn't be
yond service "
"With me supplying the horsepower,
I suppose!"
"Horse isn't the word," Alan correct
ed meticulonsly; and escaped the oth
er's wrath by dropping down to the
ballast and trotting dver to the ditch,
where the handcar lay.
"Looks as If it might work," he an
nounced. "Come along and lend me a
hand."
"Half a minute," Barcus answered,
dodging suddenly back into the car.
When he reappeared, after some five
minutes. Rose accompanied him, and
Barcus was smiling as brilliantly as
though nothing whatever was Wrong
with his world.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, old top,"
he explained; "but I was smitten with
an inspiration. There didn't seem to
be any sense in letting the amiable
Judith loose upon this fair land, bo I
found a coil of wire in the porter's
closet and wired the handle of the
drawing room door fast to the bars
across the aisle. It'll take her some
time to get out, now, without assist
ance." "What about the window?"
"It doesn't open wide enough for
anybody but a living skeleton to get
through. She'd have to smash the
glass, and I fancy she'll wait some
time before risking cuts from broken
glass.""
"The way you talk one would think
you'd never met the lady," Alan com
mented acidly. "Jump down here and
give us a heave."
Ten minutes more had passed before
the two grimy and perspiring gentle
men succeeded in placing the handcar
upon the tracks.
"It's a swell little handcar," Barcus
observed grimly; "no wonder they
threw it away."
"What" s the difference how it looks,
as long as it will go."
"But will it?" Barcus doubted.
Somewhere far back along the line
a locomotive hooted mournfully.
"It's got to go!" Alan replied, help
ing Rose aboard. "If we can only get
out of sight before they get here"
"Don't worry," Barcus advised;
"that's a freight whistle."
"Maybe you can distinguish the
whistle of a freight from that of a
passenger train I don't say you can't;
but I'll take no chances on your judg
ment being good. Hop aboard here If
you're coming with us!"
Groaning soulfully, Barcus hopped
aboard.
"It Isn't the hard work I mind," he
explained, laying hold of the handle
bar, "it's my sill pride: it's this swift
descent from the' sublime to the utili
tarian that irks me so sore. Think of
It: yesterday a Pullman porter, today
a donkey engine V
None the less, he put a willing back
into the work. Slowly the handclr
stirred on its grease-hungry and com
plaining axles; slowly it gathered mo
mentum and surged noisily up the
track as Alan and Barcus, on opposite
sides of the handlebar, alternately rose
and fell back: slowly It mounted the
slight grade to the bend In the track,
rounded it, lost sight of the stalled
Pullman on the siding and began to
move more swiftly on a moderate
down grade.
Behind it the thunder of an ap
proaching train grew momentarily in
volume, Jending color to the theory
of Mr. Barcus that what they had
heard had been the whistle of a
freighter rather than of the light en
"gine. But just as Alan was about to
advocate leaving the tracks and tak
ing 'the handcar with them, to clear
the way for the train, its rumble be
gan to diminish, grew less and beaa
tifully less and was stilled.
"What do yoa make of that? Alan
panted across the racking bar.
"The - obvious," Barcus returned.
1914.
LOUIS
ROSE DROPPED
"The freight has taken the elding to
wait for some other through train to
pass. We'll have to look sharp and be
ready to Jump.
The grade became a trace' more
steep; the car moved with lesa reluc
tance. "Let go," Alan advised; "it'll coast
down the balance of this incline and
we'd better save our strength."
But they had barely regained their
breath and mopped the streaming
sweat away from their eyes when a
second whistle, of a different tone,
startled both back to their task.
Catching the eye of Barcus, Alan
nodded despairingly.
"Afraid it's all up with us now,"
he groaned; "that sounded precisely
like the whistle of the light engine."
"Sure it did!" Barcus agreed. "It
wouldn't 'be us if we had any better
luck- The saints be praised for this
grade!"
For all its age and decrepitude the
handcar made a very fair pace at the
urge of the two who rose and sagged
again without respite on either side
the handlebar; and the grade was hap
pily long, turning and twisting like a
snake through the hills.
A little grace was granted them,
moreover, through the circumstances
(as they afterward discovered) that
the light engine had stopped at the
siding long .enough to couple up
Trine's Pullman thus automatically
ceasing to be a light engine, and be
coming a special.
It was fully a quarter of an hour be
fore the growing rumble of the latter
warned the trio on the handcar, just
as it gained the end of the' grade and
addressed itself to a level though tor
tuous stretch of track.
And at this point of discovery of
the switch of a spur line that shot off
southward into the hills furnished
Alan with his independent Inspiration.
Stopping the handcar after it ha"d
Jolted over the frogs, he Jumped down,
set the switch to shunt the pursuit off
the spur, and leaped back upon the
car. Meeting his eye, Barcus, too
breathless for speecn, nodded his ap
pro vaL
There was a bare possibility that
the stratagem might deceive those
aboard the special and gain them an
other half hour's respite.
It so served them. Hardly had they
succeeded in working the handcar up
round the shoulder of the next bend
when the special took the switch with
out pause and the roar of its progress,
shut off by an Intervening mountain,
was suddenly stilled to a murmur.
But even so, there was neither rest
for the weary nor much exruse for self
congratulation; the rumble of the
special was not altogether lost to
hearing when the thunder of., the
freight replaced and drowned it out
Of a sudden, releasing the handle
bar, Alan stood up and signed to Bar
cus to imitate his example.
Well T' this last panted, when he
had obeyed.
"Jump off leave the handcar where
it Is they'll have to stop to clear it
off the track."
"And then?"
"I'll buy a lift from them if it
takes my last dollar in the world."
Alan promised. "It's our only hope.
We can't keep up this heartbreaking
business forever and it can't be long
before Trine and Marrophat discover
their mistake!"
IV Caboose.
FOR once, in a way. it fell out pre
cisely as Mr. Law had planned
and prayed.
Constrained to pull up in order to
remove the obstruction from the track,
the train crew of the freight choked
down its collective wrath on being
presented with a sum of money. In
the hopes of further ' largesse it lent
its common ear to Alan's well worn
tale, which had so frequently proved
useful in similar emergencies, of an
eloping couple pursued by an unrea
soningly vindictive parent; and had
Its hopes rewarded by the price Alan
bargained to pay in exchanga for ex
clusive use of the caboose as far as
the next town.
An hour passed without event. Even
ing drew its shades athwart that bar
ren and Inhospitable waste of tumbled
bills and arid plains. The freight
trudged onward at its accustomed
pace, with an air of Infinite freedom
from the goad of haste. A brakeman
climbed back over the cars, lighted
and hung out the rear lanterns, tarried
a time to be sociable, and returned as
be had come.
Neither he nor any other aboard the
freight suspected for an instant that,
in the box car next forward of the
caboose, a woman in man's clothing
lay perdue, now and again chuckling:
Impishly to herself In anticipation of
the time and the event she was biding
with such patience as she could mus
ter time and event alike being bidden
from her unders tandln g. She knew no
more of these than that the one most
Jt-
1
TO THE GROUND
surely come in Its fullness, and that
when that happened ie would be
there to contrive the oier and bring
confusion like a thunderbolt down
upon the heads of thoe three inno
cents in the caboose !se her name
was not Trine and hr nature not
that of Judith! : K .
Assuredly, indeed, .Success must
crown her efforts now It was all
so easily ordered to ;er hand she
.could hardly fall.
-VI
And already she had aj plan.
Conning it, she hugged herself and
rocked to and fro in Malicious glee,
blinding herself deliberately to the
hideous business that mfsht attend her
success, forcing hersei to remember
one thing only the pledge she had
renewed on her knees tf her father.
The whistle of a locomotive over
taking the freight sounded the signal
for her to take action on her cherished
plan. "
Rising, she glanced out of the open
door. A curve in the Jtl-afck below th
freight, laboring up a steep grade, en
abled her to catch a glimpse of a
headlight, followed bjf - a string of
lighted windows, indicating a single
car; the special, beyond a doubt.
Without hesitation, ;sjnc the train
was not running at speed- she dropped
out to the ballast, weeled smartly
about, caught the handbar at the end
of the box car as it rasied and swung
herself up between it afd the caboose
A trifle later the freight gained the
summit of the grade and began to run
more smoothly. A
Climbing to the top fjf the box car
she peered keenly through the gloam
ing, which was not yeS so dense that
she might not discern two heads pro
truding from the wlndbw of the spe
cial's engine, one on 4lner side.
At a venture, she natched off her
. coat and waved it wildly in the air.
' An arm answered thi3ignal from one
window of the pursulrffe locomotive.
Marrophat. of coursK, :
She turned and peed ahead. The
freight was approaching a trestle that
spanned a wide and fhallow gully.
So much the better .
Dropping down again between the .
cars, she set herself to solve the prob
lem of uncoupling thecaboose.
In this she was successful Jast s
the last car rolled of i on the tres
tle. ...
Its own impetus cfffled the caboose
to' the middle of theV trestle before it .
stopped. a
As this happened, Aian and Barcus.
already warned of at; emergency by
the slowing down of: She car, and for
some time alive to te fact that the
special was again inj pursuit, leaped
out upon the tiefi and3 helped Rose to
alight.
Already the last ofthe freight was
whisking off the tresSe. its crew thus
far unconscious of tH$r loss.
And behind them ;jhe special was
plunging forward at .abated speed.
There was no timejto execute their
plan of the first despSrate instant to
run along the ties t) safety an the
solid earth; the distance was too great;
they could not posiblj make It.
With common irapifse rhe two men
glanced down (to the frttom of the gul
ly, then looked at eartiij other with eyes
informed by ommonl inppiratlon.
Barcus announced lna breath' "Thir
ty feet not more."
Alan replied: "Cprp you hold the
weight of the two ofis for half a min
uter' '?:S
Barcu-s shrugged: ? 31 can try. We
mlrht as well even ij I can't"
While speaking, hjg. was lowering
himself between the fc?S.
"All right," he annujneed briefly.
With a word to Rse, Alan slipped
down over him untilie was nupported
the body of the latter, and climbed
dwn over him until ;h was supported
solely by the grasp ojqhis two hands on
Barcus' ankles. If
Instantly Rose fojfijwed him, slip
ping like a snake dbvn over the two
men till she in turn iaing by ber grasp
of Alan's ankles. thn released her'
. hold and dropped thS balance of the
distance to the grouridi a scant ten feet,
landing without in JiAry.
A thought later Aln dropped lightly
to her side, staggered trifle, recovered
and dragged her ouiOf .the way.
Barcus fell with f!heavy thump and
went upon bis back) ibut demonstrated
his lack of Injury by immediately pick
ing himself up. and j loin In g the others
In a mad scramble Sea- safety.
Overhead the spec3l engine, hurtling
onward like some tijianic' bolt, struck
the caboose with alirash like the ex
plosion of a cannon4l.It collapsed upon
Itself like a thing ofs paste board.
That it had bei constructed of
more solid stuff was Abundantly proved
by the shower of timbers, splinters
and broken iron than rained about the
beads of the fugitlif.
For all that thet ods smiled upon
them for their cou5"ge; they escaped
without a scratch. jj-
(To Be Continued Next San
day)