The Argosy, December 1905 — page 157: what you’re looking at

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

BLOCK TOWER SEVEN. “TI got it!” he exclaimed. “ It’s that car we're to drop at Massail. It’s billed to the Norwegian Match Co. Don’t tell me we haven’t such a ear, for I know better!” “ Humph!” observed his assistant. “T reckon that’s so. I remember the ear now. Why, it’s the one we drove those *boes out of.” “'That’s right!” cried Sousa, leaping to the ground again. “ Thunder, who’s Jonahed this run? I never knew of so many derned unfortunate things hap- pening = His remark trailed off into profanity as he strode along the length of the train again, turning the light of his lantern upon the number of each car as he passed. But No. 30-71-11 was not im the string. There was hurrah enough then. The brakemen crowded around, and the en- gineer climbed down and joined them. The car was gone—had totally dis- appeared. Everybody knew it had been in the train at the foot of the grade; nobody could suggest a reasonable ex- planation of its vanishing. Sousa and the flagman finally wrangled to the point where they agreed that the train must have broken at the re ear. If it was attached to the part of the train that ran away, it was easy to say that somewhere in the dark- ness and the storm, while careering down the steep grade, the runaway had dropped the car billed to the Norwegian Match Co. “Y’ twitched it off at the curve down yonder!” declared the engineer. “Why didn’t we see it, then? ’ de- manded one of the brakemen. “ We were out on the roofs when she took the curve.” “And it was as dark as a stack of black cats and raiming great guns,” grumbled the flagman. “ How would we see if the tail car jumped the track? ” “But Pd oughter seen the wreck of her when I came down arter ye,” de- clared the engineer. “Jaekson and I were on the lookout for ye. We ex- pected to find all the cars piled up somewhere beside the tracks.” But here Sousa had an idea. ‘ “We don’t know whether the train 135 broke at the fore or the rear end of that car for the Match Co. Maybe it re- mained coupled to the forward end— these cars you side-tracked,” and he addressed this to the engineer. “Thunder! Whats come of it, then?” demanded that individual. “How do I know? It stands to reason if we’d snapped her off down the grade, we'd seen her lying beside the tracks. You’ve been down and up—both.” “But cars don’t fly!” cried the engi- neer. “ We side-tracked them yonder, and Jackson set the brakes, and then chocked the wheels of the car nearest the switch. You’re bughouse, Jim!” “Maybe I am; but I know we’ve got to find that car. Run this train on to the side track again, and we'll go down and see if we can find it. The company will hold me responsible for the goods in that car, that’s all J know about it.” After a deal of wrangling, the engi- neer complied with this order. The re- maining cars were shunted back upon the siding, and the locomotive bore her crew and Sousa down the mountain-side again in search of car 30-71-11. By this time dawn had begun to trace gray patterns along the horizon. There were early trains coming from the east, too, and Sousa knew that he would be up on the carpet for this night’s work, The engineer would not agree to de- scend farther than the curve, half way dowh the mountain. And at this point, although they left the engine and with their lanterns, now paling in the fast increasing lght, searched on either side of the tracks, no trace of the lost car was visible. On the outer side of the curve, which” turned to the south, the railroad em- bankment dropped away to a deep ra- vine. But there were no marks in the ground beside the tracks, and the tops of the trees which filled the ravine, and which rose to within a few yards of the track, seemed undisturbed. “This is all blanked nonsense!” de- clared the engineer, climbing into his eab again and jerking open the throttle on the reverse. “ If that car had jumped the rails here, we’d found her all right!” And he would listen to nothing fur- COMMICLOOOKS ©)