Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

hind time owing in part to delay in starting, and partly to a detention at Philadelphia, where the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio crossed those of the Pennsylvania road. It was decided to make up this time before reaching Cincinnati. On this side of the Alleghanies, the train was. met by a heavy snow storm which more or less delayed the ascent. The best engine on the road was put on the train at the summit, and "Chickahominy Chickahominy" was given charge of her. The engineer was given the name because of some daring experience he had had at that battle, and whatever that experience may have been "Chickahominy" will linger with us forever as the synonym for boldness in locomotive driving.

66

When everything was ready for the downward trip, Mr. Lord went forward and said a few words to the engineer. There was a hurried consultation of railroad officials and the signal to start was given. Chickahominy" tried his valves, looked forward into the driving snow; blew an unearthly whistle and opened the throttle. We were off! The whistle was like the wail of some monster, plunging into a bottomless abyss. Faster fell the snow and faster flew the heavy train. It was well that few of the party really knew the horrors that encompassed them. On either side were mountainous caverns, in the far depths of which could they have seen the giant trees were dwarfed to insignificence. Through tunnels, over bridges, around curves, we plunge with frightful speed and

"Mountain on mountain exultingly throws Through storm, mist and snow its bleak crags to the sky."

It was an awful ride, down those mountains. The pace grew faster as the moments passed, until no one could sleep.

"Fifty miles an hour" whispered one railroad man to another.

66

'Yes and getting faster," was the response.

"Its sixty now" was said in less than five minutes, and the men closed their watches, and with close knit brows, held firmly to the nearest support. The great sleeping coaches made lurches now and again that prevented anyone from staying in bed. Everything movable was thrown about, and the pitching was like a ship in a heavy sea. Very many of the party were sea-sick, and all were ready for the final lurch which seemed to approach with every curve. Swaying from side to side, flying through space, the trair sped on. There was no slaking, no uncertainty about it. Every man realized that when "Chickahomny" had opened the throttle valve, he intended to make the fastest run on record. He was the man to do it, and he did it. He knew that every approaching curve might be his last, but he also knew that the track had been cleared ahead, and that he was responsible for nothing but the speed of his train. Down and further down the mountains we plunged, over a grade of 125 feet to the mile, and nothing could be heard but the howling of the wind and intermingling with it, an occasional exulting shriek from the engine as some mountain station whisked by. As the first break of day chased the gloomy shadows and showed

the rocky passes through which we whirled, all covered with a snowy fleece, the final lurch came. With the roar of a wounded lion, the engine slakened and stopped, all smoking and panting like some high bred steed, that had done its best devoir, and awaited the plaudits of the crowd. "Chickahominy" wiped his brow, lighted his pipe and got down from the foot board all white and nervous, like a man who had passed through the ordeal of a lifetime. The boys of Ours flocked about the iron monster, and with a soldiers disregard of dangers passed, laughed and joked with each other. The snow ceased falling, and the sun came out. 66 Chickahominy” had done his duty.

We were on time to the minute !

CHAPTER III.

A CINCINNATI WELCOME.

[ocr errors]

Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round,
Where'er his stages may have been,
May sigh to think he still has found

The warmest welcome at an inn.

-Shenstone.

They eat, they drink, and in communion sweet
Quaff immortality and joy.

-Milton.

WHEN the Delaware river was crossed, the men thronged the windows and platforms of the cars, and shouted where is George, oh where is George!" Several natives who stood about the train, and who evidently bore the first name of the father of his country, blushed with conscious pride, and stood out in bold relief, as if to say "there

may be a number of George's about here, but if you refer to the George, why here I am". The boys continued to shout however for "George" with an occasional addenda of "Wash," until the river was far in the stern. The ice

was there, the flat boat was there, but the figure of the General was wanting. The remembrances of the crossing of the Delaware seemed to linger with the party, and so when the whistle blew for Cincinnati, the platforms were filled again, and the boys began to ask for the pigs.

"Where are the pigs? asked one, of a laborer who was standing near the track, as the train drew up at the station. "In the cars bedad!" was the ready response.

If the pigs of Cincinnati were not seen in great numbers in the streets, the mud upon which their fellow creatures thrive in the North certainly was. There was mud everywhere. The First Regiment of Infantry, Ohio National Guard, was found waiting at the depot. They were uniformed in the old United States fatigue, and one effect of our visit, was a movement on the part of the city to properly uniform this command. They deserve recognition, for they marched well and were a steady and soldierly body of men. They were, of course, muddy and so were we after marching 15 minutes. At Cincinnati, we were to leave the Baltimore and Ohio, and take the Ohio and Mississippi and Jackson routes for the far South. A perfect swarm of railroad men came down on us at Cincinnati. With the combination of talent that interested itself in our behalf, it was really a remarkable thing that

« AnteriorContinuar »