The Argosy, December 1905 — page 164: what you’re looking at

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

142 again. The threatening fire seemed to have no terrors for him. . But Belle sat there upon Jetty, turn- ing these mystifying discoveries over and over in her mind, and wondering whether she should believe the strange child or not. CHAPTER XIX. “OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN.” Anp the condition of affairs sug- gested to Belle Howard’s mind by Pippin’s superstitions were correct. Car 30-71-11 was up-ended in the deep ravine, just at the elbow in the grade of the railroad~ below Gridiron, and the “ha’nt ” inside the car was a very vig- orous reality. Being on the tail of the runaway sec- tion of the freight trai, car 30-71-11 had been snapped off the string, just as the end boy is flung off at the game of “ snap-the-whip.” . And with such momentum’ had the runaway rounded that curve that the lost car jumped completely over the edge of the embankment, without touching gravel or tie, and plunged into the depths of the ravine with a velocity and a final crash which quite drove the breath from Dan Crompton’s body. The roadbed of the A. & C. here verged upon the extreme brink of the precipitous wall of the ravine. The thick trees hid its depths. Through the upper branches of these trees the car dived, the branches closed again behind it, and the bottom of the gulley was completely hidden from ob- servation above. Indeed, the searching parties did not even suspect the great depth of the pit, although the building engineers of the road could easily have informed them on this point. Bound and helpless as he was, the signalman was panic-stricken long be- fore the doomed car went over the em- bankment. He felt, as the train gath- ered speed, that a wreck was certain. Even when he heard the rattling of brake chains and squealing of shoes against the car wheels below, he gained no confidence. The train crew were too THE ARGOSY. slow in discovering the accident to re- duce the speed in season. Crompton really expected the entire rear end of the train to leave the track. What really happened was quite as bad for him, *however. The coupling be- tween the last®two cars broke just as 30-71-11 struck the curve. The forward wheels left the rails, followed by the rear trucks, and we have seen how the entire car landed in the depths of the ravine. ; It was some time before Crompton had a very clear realization of its condi- tion—and of his own—however. He was in darkness, of course. He was bruised, and the wound in his head received that memorable morning had broken out afresh and he felt the sticky blood upon his face and matted in his hair. He lay in a most uncomfortable way * on the boxes and cases with which the car had been more than two-thirds filled. Now, however, having been at the ex- treme rear of the car, he was on top of the load. Had he been thrust by the men who had bound him in the other end, this accident would have given him his cer- tain quietus. The boxes had now heaped themselves together, and both doors were com- pletely blocked. The cleared space in which he was a prisoner was perhaps four feet deep, very close, and the condition of both his mind and body most unfortunate. It was easy to guess how the car came to be in this situation; not so easy to figure how he was to get out. The men who had captured and gagged him be- fore being driven from the car by the railroad crew had done their work well. HKven after the tossing about Cromp- ton had suffered, he was unable to dis- cover wherein his bonds had been loos- ened in the least. Writhe as he might, he could not seem to stretch the ropes at wrist and ankle, and the gag grew more painful as time went on. At first he hopéd that the freight crew would quickly find the ear, and, in seeking to right it, release him from his prison. He had no idea how deep COmMICLOOokKs (C@