! 11 (Tit Irk t l; fc 1 E i mi mn :A STOSTGIT HKMBMItS EADWAO) HQU ruANK ft S9EA5MAN .. AUTHOR OF - WHISPERING SMITH" "THE MOUNTAIN , DIVIDE," "STRATEGY OF GREAT RAILROAD." ETC ; NOVELIZED FROM THE MOVING PICTURE PLAY OF THE SAME NAME. PRODUCED BY THE SIGNAL FILM CORPORATION. CHAPTER 1. ! In the midmorning quiet, the bath ! Ing bench and the ocean reflected onlj, the brightness of the inviting sunj But a little way back from the glisten ing sand and converging thrgugh al small park toward a suburban statior the streets of the seaside resort were j alive with men and women, hurrying to the city for the grind of the day.) Motor cars, too, glided noiselessly; aiong me oouievaras, urew up In turn before the station and discharged theii passengers. From one of these a mid die-aged, military-looking man, Gen eral Holmes, an ex-army officer and a railroad man, alighted on the platform. A governess and pretty little girl Helen General Holmes' only child had accompanied her father to the train, and when he turned to the open tonneau to say good-by, Helen sprang ; Impulsively half into his arms. His train pulled in as he quite simply but 1 affectionately kissed his child and boarded the nearest tar. Helen, promised a morning in thej park, left the motor car with her gov- j erness the moment they crossed a email scenic railroad running back ol i the beach. She already had her eye ' on what she wanted to ply with. A ; contented dog, at peace with the world i and sunning himself on a grassy slope, j ihad riveted her alert eye; Helen ad- j vanced joyously to get acquainted.' The dog seemed not averse to a pas sive friendship, but the little maid. ' sitting down, sought something more. 'and by pulling hard and wltn confi ' dence at his neck, soon had his un J promising head after a fashion, at 'least in her diminutive lap. The strain on his sensibilities ap ipeared more than her amiable and carefree friend could stand. After "Submitting for a time he rolled over, 'Jumped up and trotted briskly away 1 for a new seclusion and a new peace. Helen, undaunted, sprang to her feet (and followed. Her governess, engaged I with the chauffeur, saw nothing of this part of the incident. But a mo ment later the few spectators in the i scenic railroad square, waiting to 'board one of the miniature trains, saw a protesting dog trotting rapidly away from a curly-haired girl, who briskly and relentlessly followed. ' A newsboy, relaxing against a con venient lamp post after the morning rush, watched the pursuit for a mo ;ment with languid interest, then j turned to look at an approaching (train on the scenic road. He seemed no more than half awake. His wits, In truth, were wool-gathering. Every morning found him absorbed greatly In the mysteries of the miniature en gine that pulled the scenic railroad train. A shout, then a chorus of ries aroused him from his reverie. The puffing train was pulling swiftly to ward the open space. The unhappy Jdog, casting reproachful glances over Ihls shoulder at his pitiless friend, was galloping uncertainly, but directly (down the narrow track toward, the on jcoming train. Helen, seeing or heed ing nothing of the train and fixed only ion her chase, ran after at top speed. A dozen people saw her danger as the 'train rounded the curve just in front i of her only one of them made a imove. , Dropping his unsolds, the day jdreamlng newsboy, waking sharply, Iran headlong after the heedless girl. . It was none too soon. The dog, dismayed alike by the cries and a 'second pursuit, sprang, almost in the teeth of the engine pilot, right across the track. Helen fast on his heels was ready to jump after, but it would hare been pretty certainly a Jump to her death. The newsboy caught her arm and whirled her from the engine Just at it shot past with brakes screeching on the drivers. Helen sprawled headlong beBlde the track, and the boy, unbalanced, rolled on the gravel near her. He was on his feet In a trice, stand ing over Helen. She was frightened and breathless, and without speaking he knelt by her. Her eyes began to fill with big tears. She sat confused- Uly up as her companion brushed the granite dust from her pique skirt and with a coarse handkerchief began wiping the blood from a cut on one of her pink knees. Her rescuer made lit tle of the accident. He told her not to cry. He even brushed the round Iters from her cheeks Helen liked hl)n. "What is your name, little boy?" she faltered in a would-be command ing tone. "I'm no little boy," returned her rescuer gruffly. A crowd had gathered and he was already red in the face. Helen gave the bystanders no heed. "What are you, then?" she demanded gravely. "I'm a big boy. My name Is George Storm; I'm named after my father. He was a railroad engineer. My father got killed pn a train. Who's your fa ther r TTTTiTT r COfYHCHT K),J. tl WANK N SHAVIAN "Where did that dog go Helen, not answering. quivered "Gee! I cVdn't see. You pretty near got killed. That dog wasn't any good," declared the boy scornfully. "Somr day ' he stopped the blood on hei knee nce more with his handker chief, and then added firmly:-"I am going to drive a big engine sometime myself, like my father." -A frantic governess, followed by an open-mouthed chauffeur, came running at that moment toward them. The child parted reluctantly from her new-found friend. "Are you go ing to be a really-truly engineer and smokyed up?" she aBked George faced her unabashed. "You better believe I am." "I don't care," declared Helen, gulping solemnly while the governess tried to hurry her away, "I won't ever forget you no matter what you are. ' At eighteen, Helen had lost none of the characteristics of her childhood, They were held in deeper reserve, but they were Just as persistent. Re strained by convention, she was still adventurous in spirit and her father's one anxiety, old soldier though he was, was that a spirited horse or an ocean undertow would some day be his daughter's undoing. At that, lie was forced to admit, the reckless girl could get more out of a horse than he himself .could. Closest among her father's friends wa3 Arros Rhinelander, a New York man of lare means, and General Holmes, returning on Helen's eight eenth birthday with Rhinelander and Rhinelander's nephew Robert Sea grue. himself a young and ambitious railrond promoter from a trip of in spection of the tiderater terminals of Holmes' road, was eagerly awaited by his daughter at their country home among the San Pablo foothills. A message sent up to her from Signal the suburban station of the country seat, had asked her to meet her father bat day on No. 20, the through eastern passenger tram. The motor car had gone ahead and Helen, taking Rocket, one of her fa vorite hunting horses, rode down at her leisure to the station. While far from being a spoiled child Helen felt very much at home any where on the Copper Range and Tide water railroad. Reared at home, un der a discipline almost military, and under teachers held sternly to account for her education by her only living parent, the growing girl had still pre served an Innate simplicity some thing almost naive which was re flected In her Triendshlp for the em ployees, high and low, of the entire Tidewater line, of which her father was president and in which he owned a substantial interest. On the day that Helen cantered lazi ly down through the foothills toward Signal, a long west-bound freight train 1 1 tl!fr w . v . v 4 i The Air Pump Had Quit. climbing the grade oast of a big hill known on the . division as Blackbird pass,' found Itself In trouble. The air pump, after balking all morning, bad quit, and the conductor going forward found the engineer, after repeated ef forts with the big machine, helpless, Without losing mnch time, the con ductor rigged up his emergency tele phone and asked for instructions from his dispatcher. The answer to his request was curt: "Bring In No. 145 by hand brakes." The crew spread to their posts on the decks and the lumbering string of heavily laden cars painfully got under way up the bill. It was a struggle all the way to the sum mlt; then, dropping over the hill, tho long string began rapidly to pick up It picked up, Indeed, too rapidly The crew vainly Btrove to hold back the unwieldly train. Clubs in hand and with the brakes hard jammed they saw their monster resistless! T 1 Pri nvay from them. The tra;n 1 re w tin:) Lilt-J forward, for a ro;;f. r- ' re. to the cab. Tho conductor, icm ring watches with the engineer. par looked serious within ten minutes ey wnuld be running on No. 20's time; they might even meet her at the bottom of the hill betore they reached Signal. ! The conductor acted quicklv. Pick ing up a lump of coal he scratched a message on a white signal flag and wrapped it around a wrench. Cedar Grove station was hardly a mile ahead. ' As the engine dashed past it. the con-' ductor, In the gangway, hurled the ( message luruuga me onice winaow. Picking it up and hastily reading the rough scrawl, th startled operator Ired the tidings Ustantly to the next station. That station was Signal. I In the bouncing engine cab there were grave faces. 'What are you go ing to do?" shouted the engineer. Without hesitation the conductor cried: "Cut off the caboose and stop it let the train go!" The engineer agreed: "We've only got one life apiece. No lime to lose George!" he yelled to his fireman, "make for the caboose." The fireman, perhaps the youngest man in the two crews, without answer ing, continued to hunt for a wrench. "Wake up, George," shouted the con ductor, "come on!" Searching the tool box, the fireman shook his head. "What do you mean?" demanded 'the engineer, catching in excitement at his companion's arm, "aren't you coming?" The fireman did not hurry his an swer. "No. I'll stay here," he said, turning simply. He was a stubborn, well-set fellow, really a big, clean looking boy with a heavy head of dark hair pushed under his grimy cap and a slow, clear eye matching his deliberate way of speaking. "Stay here!" thundered the conduc tor In surprise. "Are you crazy?" He caught the fireman's other arm and with the engineer talked to the obstinate fellow. The two, who liked him, pulled the boy toward the tender. He shook loose. The brakeman joined '"-"O ' " . H. Helen Headed Rocket Straight for the Open Draw. in the struggle. Again the fireman wrenched away. "That's all right you fellows go ahead." "It's suicide for you, man," pro tested the engineer. "No, Dan," retorted the fireman. "It's every man for himself," he re peated, backing across the footplate. "I'll stay with the cab." "Stay and be hanged," shouted the conductor, with a fiery expletive. "Let him alone, boys,"he cried, angrily. "He's dippy. Come!" And with his companions hustling close after, he started over the coal on the tender. The tranf had attained a frightful pace. Already glimpses of its long, curving roll on the distant hill might be seen from the window of Signal station, where the disturbed operator had taken the message of the runaway from Cedar Grove and was reading it to Helen Holmes, breathless beside his table: "AIR BRAKES BROKEN DOWN. RUNNING AWAY. SIDETRACK NO. 20. NO. 145." It was the import of the last sen tence which for an instant froze her senses. Her father! The passenger train facing that runaway on the sin gle track below Signal. More than once she had heard her father declare that the stretch between Signal and tue next station, Beaman, must be double-tracked -r only, money was so hard to get. If the lack of it should now cost him his life the lives ot per haps half a hundred others! While she was thinking, the opera tor was working furiously at his key with a message for Beaman station. I His one hope of avoiding the head-on collision was to catch the passenger train beyond Beaman. ' "STOP NO. 20. RUNAWAY ON MAIN LINE." He told Helen, closely watching the dots and dashes, what he had sent. "I should have an answer In a minute." It came almost at once. Signal sta tion operator first tried to write it, then threw down his pen and repeated its words unsteadily to the frightened girl. "NO. 20 LEFT ON TIME. BE TWEEN HERE AND THE RIVER." With wide-open eyes she looked In tently toward the mountains. At the moment, the rolling hills now hid tho runaway, but the situation was chart ing itself, like lightning, In her mind. Between where she stood and where the passenger train was coming, the line crossed San Pablo river, a navi gable tidewater stream and a water way that fed a considerable traffic to the railroad. Her father had put across the San Pablo a huge Jack knife drawbrldge-Hhe best an hon est engineer and an honest railroad directorate could build. Just over the river from Signal station he -had al ready put in, as a start towards double-tracking, a long passing track. With everything of this speeding like a fl:n thrmifh her h-i I. IT?! en v. as (lasl'.inT out of the o?ce wV-n th' 8i'rea:n ef a whiftle signal bore down on her ears. Coaft.f'd as she was, it mvar.t nothing to her. A chance, a hope, had llashed across her mind and her resolve had been taken to reach the passing track switch and side track the fatal runaway before it should strike and sc-atter to destruc tion the helpless passenger train. Rocket, without a thought other than ot alfalfa and undisturbed rerose in his drooping head, stood at band in the sunshine. To his amazement his mistress running to him, headlong, vaulted upon his back. In her fear, she cried to him. The horse heard it seemed as If he understood. He woke, quivering, at the impact of her body. Whirling with his charge, at the touch of the rein, so quick he almost bolted from under his mistress, who was try ing to seat herself, the brute galloped with Helen down tho main track foi the river bridge. She panted at great drafts of sun ny mountain air as Rocket's wiry legs stretched and bounded under her. With every strids her mind rler.red. With tlfis, her courage mounted. It Wa S ra ffe f aTtr n oni ore th aaTTsma rf dash for her to attain for everyone safety. The bridge was a difficulty, but Rocket, who could thread a lava bed without bruising a fetlock, or cross a prairie-dog town at full speed and hold his mistress as steady as If she were sitting a rocking horse, was not likely to balk at galloping over mere ties besides, she would give him his time. At tho worst, any bridge, she aid to herself, must be reached before it can be crossed, and her eyes were already fixed hard on the one she must cross, when she thought she saw the great Jack-knife span ahead moving mysteriously on its balanced bed. Urging her horse to his best, centering all of her facul ties on mastering the ticklish task ahead, Helen's eyes set in a stare on the Jack-knife, to determine whether It. was moving" or tricking her strain ing senses. In almost an instant her doubt was resolved; to her consterna- r 1 1 r 'i it,, X ..... )-:- tlon she saw the huge knife draw moving unmistakably upward. Hei eyes sought the bridge tower tho bridge tender was standing at the open window. Her glance swept the stretch of river; then she remem bered, then she understood, then she knew, all a river tug was bearing rapidly downstream; she could see the pilot and the captain In the wheel house; the bridge was lifting for the boat's passage. She had heard its loud whistle at the moment she rushed from the station. The balked girl drove her little spurs into Rocket. The horse sprung, infuriated, to greater effort. If she could make the draw in time she would Jump it a slight rise noth ing should keep her back. She wildly waved her free hand at the bridge-' tender. He was watching the boat and the span was slowly rising; but a few strides closer and she would have risked making the jack-knife she realized now she was too late. Without swerving for an instant from her purpose; without shrinking from her single alternative, and only praying for time still to make good her endeavor, Helen headed Rocket straight for the open draw. His feet struck the pier. She gave the horse his head. The wiry beast Baw what yawned ahead. ITq heard , his mis-1 tress' quick word. As his feet touched the brink of the abutment the horse coiled likea spring,' and fof an in stant quivered. His mistress with a sharp cry of command rose in her stirrups; then launching himself and his burden, like an arrow far out, the hunter Bprang with Helen cleanly Into the river. There was a great splash and the parted water closed over their heads. A pilot, captain and bridgetender stood as men dazed, looking on. The river captain, yelling the crew to quar ters, hurried fprward to throw out lines as soon as the tug should come within reach' of the imperiled girl. The bridgetender, in the window, glued to the scene, watched the cir cling bubbles where horse and rider had plunged down, waiting for them to reappear. For an Interminable in stant the onlookers waited. It seemed as if the two would never come up. Then a girlish head ot soaked curls rose among the ripples, a young face emerged from the troubled pool, and Helen, throwing herself free from Rocket, shook the water from her eyes and nose with a swimmer's quick certain puff and struck out for shore. Rocket was not far away. With a few powerful strokes his mistress' caught his mane and recovered blm. The tide, running heavily through the channel, carried th two together be low the pier on the opposite bank. But Rocket, scrambling in a moment from the water, bore hla charge un hurt up the steep bank, and under her urging ran up the track to the tower. in Th" br:-!.'it.Ti'!fr, at the doir. con fronted her. The drirpi'.'-g si.'l. soat- j ed t.n her quiverng horse, told the as tonished r.inn in a few hurried words what hai happened, and as he hur ried into the tower afrare to lower the draw Helen urged Rocket at a run down the track. It seemed as If her ears bubbled and rang with the rumble of the two approaching trains, but her brain had ceased to take note of anything beyond her one stub born resolve to reach the passing track switch she could see it plainly ahead. The bridgetender was hastily lowering the knife for the freight. De termined, while in the river, to leave the bridge open and wreck the freight, Helen believed she could avcid even that, and bad given the tender his orders accordingly. The tug. which Jiad been whistling wildly, low heeled violently toward the wharf, where the captain, a game sport, had resolved to nu;kA fast and see the excitement out With tha boat crew ashore and dashing pcross the wharf to watch Helen, she crouched like a jockey over Rocket as, ho crushed and scat tered the cinders under h;3- flying feet, and In what seemed another moment so fast had she flown checking the horse cruelly, she threw her lines and slid from his back beside the passing-track switch. Running to it, she grasped the lever only to find the switch locked. She had feared, almost expected, as much but now, how to open It! She looked ahead. A shrill engine whistle startled her. and her cup filled the passenger train, bearing down the -long tangent at full speed, was whis-. tling for her home crossing, hardly two miles distant. She could see smoke streaming from the 6tack of the engine. Behind, she had no need to look, the rumble of the head-end of the runaway was thundering on the bridge. Desperation cleared her head. She caught up a heavy stone from the. right of way and pounded fiercely at the switch lock. She struck at the stout bow and hammered In a fury at the resist ing cover. No mechanism could stand such an assault for long. The ground under her feet was vibrating with tho fear ful pound of the great freight engino as It dashed with its heavy drag over the close-by rail joints. She knew the reeling machine must be almost on -her and. tho thought spurred her to unnatural strength. The staple gave way. The excited girl Jerked the twist ed bow rfnh ftM threw" thP 8Ucn, half fainting beside It as tho monster engine struck manly at the switch points. Then, with a shock that tore tho heavy roadbed and the roar al most of an earthquake, engine, tender and train lurched heavily into the sid ing. Car after car Jumped and pound ed at the stubborn rails. On and on they came, shaking the solid earth under Helen as she panted and gasped, But the thundering, jumping wheels continued to catch the switch In safe ty and the polr's held. The long train made the siding to the very end and Helen, almost stunned saw, In some thing like a vision, the passenger train, Its brakes throwing streams ol fire from the grinding wheels, race past her down the main track toward the bridge. The sight meant little to her now her senses were too numbed to realize what It meant that the pas senger train at last was quite safe. The runaway freight was less for tunate. At the farther end of the passing track three box cars stood pa tiently waiting for orders. They had been standing there unmolested for days; they had tarried one moment too long. The runaway engine with Its still obstinate fireman, at times on the running board and at times In the cab, was heading viciously for them. But the fireman saw the game was clearly up. He chose his moment and Jumped, landing violently In the cin der ballast. Bruised and cut, he lay breathless, almost insensible. He heard confusedly the terrific crash Into the idle box cars. The huge en gine scattered them In dust and kindling high in the air. He tried to roll farther from the threatening wreck for the head-end of the train had been derailed by the Impact and the Jammi"": string of cars was zig zagging wildly across the right of way. Tho first realization, that came to the stunned boy was of someone struggling to help him get away from the wreck some puny strength ex erted to drag his heavy body to great er safety. With a breath, the first he had been able to draw, he opened his eyes. A young woman was bend ing over, him. He was a forbidding sight. Blood, dust and gravel hung In half a dozen cuts on his forehead hardly a feature of his face, except his eyes, had es caped the smash of the cinders. Some one with a very little and very wet handkerchief wiped his eyes and he could see more clearly when ho opened them again. He could see the face bent over him and two eyes fixed anxiously on his a girl's face, strange and yet what could It be of recollec tion that struggled through his whirl ing senses? Nor had Helen, as she knelt and worked over the Injured man, dreamed of seeing any face she had ever looked Into before Even had it been uninjured she would hardly have re called it under ordinary conditions. But two people, a young man, now, and a young woman, were meeting under extraordinary circumstances and their eyes wero very close to gether. Tho man caught at her hand as It passed his forehead, stopped it, nnd looked keenly Into Helen's eyes. With that look, a vision swept across their rie;norlcs. "I suroly know you." he said, not tnjeing his eyes from hers. Unequal to rrkreing r-.T ga?e. she. stared at bin without speaking. "I'm ears I. know you," he exclaimed, perj-lexea. - He rose of a sudden to his fett so easily it surprised her. "It was tbo train," he went on, slowly. "You were hurt the miniature railroad!" She reearded him a moment in si lence. Then she spoke: "Is it possi-i ble?"' she murmured. "You are ?" "I'm the little boy." he smiled grimly. "Till now, I've never seen the little girl since." A sense of confusion assailed her; she wanted to escape his look. "You are hurt." she said, dismissing with an effort all consciousness of their strange meeting. lie hesitated; then he saw, and he thought he understood. "No," he said brusquely, almost rudely, "only a few scratches." A cry of recognition and amaze ment ci:t off their words. The passen ger train had backed down on the, 'v. t '' a .-... r'k "You Are Hurt," She Said. Rppnft Mot taihor ha fHpnd Rhino. rm - uv lanthip VAiinw Q n o rrriia tha C ? cm n 1 afit tlon operator, the tug captain and the train passengers crowded the observa tion platform looking at her and the Bhaken up fireman. Tho flagman could hardly raise the step cover quick enough to release Holmes so that he might get down to his daughter. Ilo knew all the oper ator had told the Etcry. Jlp caught j i'S (latiilif. !n Ins arms with a show er of misty reproaches. "What!" he cried. "Have you lost your mind? Aro you mad?" Helen's eyes fell be fore her father's anger. She was a dutiful girl. "Don't you know what danger Is? Have you no sense iof fear?" he stormed. She raised her eyes and paused an instant; then she asked, shyly: "Where was I to get it, father" she looked queerly up at him w-J'frnm vnu V "Gammon!" he blustered, edging away from the subject, beaten. "Who's this boy?" he demanded, pointing to the grimed and disfigured fireman. "What's your name?" "Storm, General Holmes George Storm, fireman," responded the boy, unmoved. "What were you sticking like ft leech to a runaway engine for why didn't you go back with the rest of the crew?" demanded the head of the road severely. Storm met the assault calmly. "I wiuukui i inigni i uuie 10 gei ids air pump going," he countered. "Did you do it?" asked Holmes, with sarcasm. "I'd have done it if I'd had time,", persisted the somewhat dismantled fireman. "I guess," he added calmly, looking back at the mess of cars, "I needed a couple of days more." "No matter, Storm," declared Holmes, secretly pleased, "you're all right." "I should think as much," cried Helen, breaking through her reserve. "If you had many men like that!" Amos Rhinelander took the scene In with an abundance of satisfied hu mor, lie was a big, wholesome fel low. Beside him Btood Seagrue, si lent and observant. Both before and after her father Introduced him, he scrutinized Helen a. Jong time.. With, his introduction, he ventured some thing of compliment tried, as It were, for a moment, to take the stage and seemed to await confidently an appreciation of his remark. But Helen, whether confused by her Ynimh.wfHorl rtltcrVif nr BntrmaaaA hv .."." . , ....... A' P. .... I VA .-' " n . UUU'.l. U J the recollection of her adventure, could hardly notice bis effort to be agreeable. Storm had started hack to his engine. Her father was helping his daughter back to the observation platform. From It Helen looked stead ily back at Storm, now standing down tbe track in the midst of the wreck age. The passenger engine sounded four sharp blasts to call in the flag man. Storm looked around; the pas senger train was moving ahead. Ha saw in the group on the rear platform one figure that of a slender girl, In a wet Jockey costume, a smile lighting; her face as she looked toward Mm. She was lifting her hand In a good-by. He started, touched bis hand to nls bruised forehead and waved back her greeting. Beside Helen stood Sea grue. He did not seem pleased" with, her attitude and dropped an ironical remark In her ear. This one sher quite plainly beard and understood: "Very gratifying,;' be smiled; "to find: a president's daughter so very clever.. And." ho added softly, "she seems tc take a real Interest In enginr men!'" Helen looked deliberately around at him but whatever may havo been her thought, she made no. reply. (TO BE CONTINUED.) V

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