Marion Marlowe on the Prairie, or, A Thrilling Ride Across Kansas — page 21: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

.‘ ‘ + MY QUEEN. use er fightin’ agin it. Yer mought ’s well give in an’ knuckle under.” Dr. Brookes got his breath, but he could only repeat the same question. “What on earth do you mean, Ajax? What the deuce is the matter?” There was a shrick from the locomotive, and the train began slowing up. The next minute Ajax jerked a loaded re- volver from his pocket and thrust it into the doctor’s hand. ' “Take thet thar ‘pop,’ boss, an’ tuck it in yer pocket! Keep yer mouth shet an’ yer eyes open! Ther’s sumthin’ er goin’ ter hap- pen, if this hyar duck ain't allfiredly mis- taken !”’ we CHAPTER IX. THE NEW ENGINEER. Before the doctor could reply Ajax was gone and the train had slowed down at an- other station. Miss Ellis and Bert came in, laughing gayly over their ride on the engine. The ingénue’s face was black with cinders, but she had enjoyed the experience immensely. After that the hours flew by, with the doc- tor growing more and more nervous. He dreaded the coming of night after the “cow- boy’s’” ominous warning. More than once he tried to talk with him, but it was absolutely impossible, for Ajax de- veloped a silence that could not be broken, and the doctor did not like to mention the matter to the others until he had decided for sure that there was really occasion for anxiety. Over and over again he strolled through the train, and at every station he got out and looked for the express messenger, and found him every time as grim and watchful as ever. Asthe train pulled into the, station at Hutchinson he came into the car and was greeted by an eager appeal from Marion: “Oh, doctor! now for our ride on the en- gine! The conductor tells-me we have a long run through open prairie!” “But it is growing chilly,” “Be began Dr. Brookes, discouragingly. “Tt will be almost - cold in the cab after sundown.” 19 Marion caught up a scarf and wound it around her head. “You can’t frighten me a bit! I’m not afraid of the cold,” she said, laughingly, “and, besides, I must see how the sun sets in this part of the country.” The doctor glanced at Ajax as he spoke, and was genuinely perplexed at his appear- ance. When the young girl insisted upon riding on the engine, the “cowboy” half rose with a startled look upon his face; then he immediately sank back, and a smile of reliet crossed his features. | What it meant was a mystery, but the doc- tor dared not ask him. He must go on for a while longer with “his mouth shut and his eyes open,’ in order not to arouse needless anxiety. He led Marion out upon the plat- form, and then both clambered upon the en- gine, and in a moment more the train pulled out of the station, and they were off to the West, with Marion watching for the sunset. “TIsn’t it perfectly glorious?” The young girl uttered the words as she stood in the narrow space, her hair flying in the breeze that fairly whistled through the open windows of the cab, with Dr. Brookes and the engineer squeezed in tightly beside her. é Dr. Brookes tried to answer, but the wind caught the words and almost tore them from his lips. It was as if some madcap spirit had possession of the prairie and was making merry with their voices and laughter. The sun was sinking in the west and the sky was glowing with color, the clear orange of the great orb melting away into pale yel- low, while the heaped masses of clouds ranged from faint azure to royal purple. There was nothing to be seen but the level stretch of prairie and the railroad track that looked like a mere thread spun out to the horizon, but only visible in flashes as they dashed madly over it. , As Marion had said, she was flying through space, and, in a few moments, her attention was riveted upon the begrimed en- gineer, whose hand rarely left the throttle for a minute. Bending as close to him as she could, she fairly screamed in his ear: “Do you have to wales ReLWOLSMeON