The Argosy, June 1904 — page 69: what you’re looking at

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

THAT RUN TO HELENA. DOD He said it was a big railroad stock, and that he had contracted to deliver to some man at Helena a bunch of this “ Nipper ” stock—I don’t know how many thousands’ worth, but morn I’d want to lose out of a month’s pay— when he didn’t have a smell of the stock about him. Fool trick, wasn’t it? But they tell me that’s what them brokers do right along. So? Hum—no wonder you went broke, mister. Well, to get down to cases. Jed Oliver come down to me as the General Custer was standing under the shed at Acramack, a clean hundred miles from Helena, and he was some excited. Id just backed down, and my stoker had tackled the General to the one o’clock express. We had a baggage, mail, parlor, smoker, and two day coaches to our tail -——~a strong train for the run, when you consider the grades. Jed had just dropped off the Junc- tion train, having been up that erway to get the certificates of the stock he was short on. He knew a man who had ?em, and he’d taken up a certified check representin’ more of his capital than he cared to talk about, and got the stock. “T must have these in the office at two:thirty to the second,” says young Jed to me, “ or ’m a goner.” Not meaning that he’d be entirely up the spout. But the old man had only given him so much to make good on, and if he didn’t deliver the stock he’d sold, he’d be posted in the stock ex- change. I caught on that it would be a bad thing for him if he didn’t get to Helena in time to reach his office at half after two, and I liked Jed. “ You leave it to me,” said I. “ Your Uncle Danny’ll see you through all right—if the General keeps the rails.” “Do this for me and you'll never be sorry, Danny,” says he, and went back to the parlor ear. An hundred miles in an hour and a half isn’t so much. Well, it may not be now, but it was in those days—and over that road. And he’d got to have five minutes to spare, sure, when we came into Helena. There were two stops. Old Oliver had put the express on a schedule that looked fine on paper; but every man. down to the last wiper in the round- house, knew that we weren’t expected to keep up to that schedule. I had a minute to spare, and I ran up-stairs to the despatcher’s office. “Larry,” I said, “ give me right of way to-day in fact as well as theory. If there is a freight or accommodation gets on my time, I’ll ram ’em.” And I told him why. He promised to send orders ahead to hold anything off my schedule, and I had little to worry me then but the weather. And that was nasty as could be. I don’t remember a run when the conditions looked worse for making good time than it did that day. Tt had rained a good part of the week, and the hollows were steaming, while more than one bad washout had been reported along the line. The trackmen had had all the forenoon to repair these, however; but it was what might come vet that troubled me as the General Custer pulled our tail out of Acramack. Youre from the East, I take it? Well, the sort of runs we have out this way are some different from what you’re used to, eh? They tell me even the fast trains there stop at about every pair of bars. On that run to Helena there was one stretch of thirty miles where vou couldn’t spot a house bigger’n a track- man’s shanty. Make time? Well! But the confounded mist on this day —pretty near a fog it was—hampered me some. I didn’t dare let the old General out same as I ought. Not at first. All the time I was expecting the mist to thin out, you see, so’t the track would be plain. JI didn’t care to ditch the express, even to save the credit of Jed Oliver. But when we pulled in at Harriman’s, a run of twenty miles, and my watch told me it had taken twenty-seven min- utes, I didn’t need Jed to remind me that we’d never do it in the world at that rate. He was some white-faced, was the boy, but there was a down-grade not far ahead, so I encouraged him. PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG COMMiclooo ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED