The Hero of Panama: A Tale of the Great Canal

by F. S. Brereton

  CHAPTER XIV

  The Runaway Spoil Train

  Barely a mile of the double track of the Panama railway stretchedbetween the inspection car, on which Jim was racing for his life, andthe oncoming passenger train. Glancing over his shoulder he could seethe smoke billowing from the locomotive and the escape steam blowing outbetween her leading wheels. Behind him there was the scrunch, thegrinding roar, of the long line of steel wheels carrying the runawayspoil train. He kneeled on his driving seat and looked first one way andthen the other, hesitating what to do. The rush of air, as he torealong, sent his broad-brimmed hat flying, and set his hair streaking outbehind him. His eyes were prominent, there was desperation written onhis face; but never once did he think of taking the advice which themegaphone man flung at him.

  "Jump for it! No! I won't!" he declared stubbornly to himself. "I'llstick here till there's no chance left; then I'll bring this machine upsharp, and leave her as a buffer between the spoil train and the onebearing passengers. Not that she'll be of much use. That heavy line ofcars will punch her out of the way as if she were as light as a bag; butsomething might happen. The frame of this car might lift the leadingwheels of the spoil train from the tracks and wreck her."

  There was an exhaust whistle attached to his car, and he set it soundingat once, though all the time his eyes drifted from passenger train tospoil train, from one side of the track to the other. Suddenly therecame into view round a gentle bend a mass of discarded machinery. Heremembered calling Phineas's attention to it some weeks before. Brokentrucks, which had once conveyed dirt from the cut at Culebra for theFrench workers, had been run from the main track on to a siding andabandoned there to the weather, and to the advance of tropicalvegetation, that, in a sinister, creeping manner all its own, stole uponall neglected things and places in this canal zone, and wrapped them inits clinging embrace, covering and hiding them from sight, as if ashamedof the work which man had once accomplished. Jim remembered the spot,and that it was one of the unattended switching stations rarelyused--for here the tracks of the railway were less encumbered with spoiltrains--yet a post for all that where the driver of an inspection carmight halt, might descend and pull over the lever, and so direct his carinto the siding.

  "I'll do it," he told himself. "If only I can get there soon enough toallow me to reach the lever."

  He measured the distance between himself and the pursuing spoil train,and noted that it had increased. His lusty little engine, rattling awaybeneath its crumpled bonnet, was pulling the car along at a fine pace.True, the velocity was not so great as it had been when descending thefirst part of the incline, that leading out of the Culebra cut; butthen the swift rush of the spoil train was also lessened. The want offall in the rails was telling on her progress, though, to be sure, shewas hurtling along at a speed approximating to fifty miles an hour; butthe bump she had given to Jim's car had had a wonderful effect. It hadshot the light framework forward, and, with luck, Jim determined toincrease the start thus obtained.

  "But it'll be touch and go," he told himself, his eye now directed tothe switching station, just beyond which the mass of derelict Frenchcars lay. "There's one thing in my favour: the points open from thisdirection. If it had been otherwise I could have done nothing, for, evenif I had attempted to throw the point against the spoil train, the paceshe is making would carry her across the gap. Why don't that fellow onthe passenger engine shut off steam and reverse? Ain't he seen what'shappening?"

  He scowled in the direction of the approaching passenger train, andknelt still higher, shaking his fists in that direction. It seemed thatthe man must be blind, that his attention must be in another direction;for already the line of coaches was within five hundred yards of thepoints which had attracted Jim's attention, and he realized that shewould reach the spot almost as soon as the spoil train would.

  "'Cos she's closer," he growled. "If he don't shut off steam, anything Imay be able to do will be useless. He'll cross the switch and come headon to the collision."

  A minute later he saw a man's figure swing out from the cab of thelocomotive on which his eyes were glued, while a hand was waved in hisdirection. Then a jet of steam and smoke burst from the funnel, whilewhite clouds billowed from the neighbourhood of the cylinders. Eventhough it was broad daylight, Jim saw sparks and flashes as the wheelsof the locomotive were locked and skated along the rails.

  "He's seen it; he knows!" he shouted. "But he ain't got time to stop herand reverse away from this spoil train. If that switch don't workthere's bound to be a bad collision."

  There was no doubt as to that point. The driver and fireman aboard thelocomotive recognized their danger promptly, and, like the bold fellowsthey were, stuck to their posts.

  "Brakes hard!" shouted the former, jerking his steam lever over, andbringing the other hand down on that which commanded the reverse. "Hard,man! As hard as you can fix 'em! Be ready to put 'em off the momentshe's come to a standstill. This is going to be a case with us, Ireckon. That spoil train's doing fifty miles an hour if she's doing one.We can't get clear away from her, onless----"

  He blew his whistle frantically, and once more leaned out far from hiscab, waving to the solitary figure aboard the flying inspection car.

  "Onless what?" demanded the fireman brusquely, his eyes showingprominently in his blackened face, his breath coming fast after hisefforts; for both hand and vacuum brakes had been applied.

  "Onless that 'ere fellow aboard the inspection car manages to reach thepoints in time and switch 'em over. Guess he's tryin' for it; but thereain't much space between him and the spoil train. There's goin' ter bean almighty smash."

  Thus it appeared to all; for by now men, invisible before, had appearedat different points, and were surveying the scene, holding their breathat the thought of what was about to happen.

  "Best get along to the telephone and send 'way up to Gorgona for theambulance staff," said one of these onlookers. "That 'ere passengertrain ain't got a chance of gettin' clear away. She ain't got the roomnor the time. Fust the spoil train'll run clear over the inspection car,and grind it and the chap aboard to powder. Then she'll barge into thepassenger, and, shucks! there'll be an unholy upset. Get to thetelephone, do yer hear!"

  He shouted angrily at his comrade, overwrought by excitement, and thenset off to run towards the points for which Jim was making. As for thelatter, by strenuous efforts, by jagging at his levers, he had contrivedto get his engine to run a little faster, and had undoubtedly increasedhis lead over the spoil train. He was now, perhaps, a long hundred yardsin advance.

  "Not enough," he told himself. "Going at this pace it'll take time tostop, though the brakes aboard this car are splendid. I know what I'lldo. Keep her running till I'm within fifty yards, then throw her out ofgear, jam on the brakes, and jump for it just opposite the switch. I'llperhaps be able to roll up to it in time to pull that train over."

  It was the only method to employ, without doubt, though the risk wouldnot be light. For, while a motor car on good hard ground can be broughtto a standstill within fifty yards when going at a great pace, whenshod with steel wheels and running on a metal track the results aredifferent. Jim's steed lacked weight for the work. Though he might lockhis wheels, they would skate along the tracks, and reduce his paceslowly. The leap he contemplated must be made from a rapidly moving car.That might result in disaster.

  "Better a smash like that than have people aboard the train killed bythe dozen," he told himself. "Those points are two hundred yards off; ina hundred I set to at it."

  He cast a swift glance towards the passenger train, which was nowretreating, and then one at the spoil train. He measured the distancebetween himself and the latter nicely. Then he dropped his toe on theclutch pedal, and his hand on the speed lever. Click! Out shot thegears, while the engine raced and roared away as if it were possessed.But Jim paid no attention to it. He let it continue racing, and at oncejammed on his brakes. It made his heart rise into his mouth when henoticed with what suddenness the
spoil train had recovered the intervalbetween them. She was advancing upon him with leaps and bounds. Itseemed as if he were not moving. With an effort he took his eyes fromthe rushing trucks, and fixed them upon the points he hoped to be ableto operate. They were close at hand. His glance was caught by theoperating lever. The moment for action had arrived, while still his carprogressed at a pace which would have made the boldest hesitate to leapfrom it. But Jim made no pause, more honour to him. He left his seat,placed one hand on the side of the car, and vaulted into space. Theground at the side of the track struck the soles of his feet as if witha hammer, doubling his knees up and jerking his frame forward. Theimpetus which the moving car had imparted to his body sent him rollingforward. He curled up like a rabbit struck by the sportsman at fullpace, and rolled over and over. Then with a violent effort he arrestedhis forward movement. With hands torn, and every portion of his bodyjarred and shaken, he brought his mad onward rush to a standstill, and,recovering from the giddiness which had assailed him, found that he wasclose to the all-important lever governing the points. With a shout Jimthrew himself upon it, tugged with all his might, and jerked the pointsover.

  "JIM TUGGED WITH ALL HIS MIGHT"]

  Meanwhile the thunder of the spoil train had grown louder. The scrunchof steel tyres on the rails, and the grinding of the flanges of thewheels against the edges of the track drowned every other sound, eventhe singing which Jim's tumble had brought to his ears. The runaway,with all its impetus and weight rushing forward to destroy all thathappened to be in its path, was within a yard of the points when ourhero threw his weight on the lever. The leading wheels struck the pointswith violence, and Jim, watching eagerly, saw the rims mount up over thecrossway. Then the bogie frame jerked and swung to the right, while thefour wheels obeyed the direction of the points and ran towards theside track. But it was when the first half of the leading car hadpassed the points that the commotion came. The dead weight of thecontents--projected a moment earlier directly forward--were of a suddenwrenched to one side. The strain was tremendous. Something was bound togive way under it, or the car would capsize.

  As it happened, the wreck was brought about by a combination ofmovements. The front bogie of the truck collapsed, the wheels being tornfrom their axles. At the same moment the huge mass capsized, flingingits load of rock and dirt broadcast across the track. The noise wassimply deafening, while a huge dust cloud obscured the actual scene ofthe upset from those who were looking on. But Jim could see. As he clungto the lever he watched the first truck come to grief in an instant.After that he himself was overwhelmed in the catastrophe; for theremaining trucks piled themselves up on the stricken leader. The secondbroke its coupling and mounted on the first; while the third, deflectedto one side, shot past Jim as if it were some gigantic dart, and swepthim and the lever away into space. The remainder smashed themselves intomatchwood, all save five in rear, which, with retarded impetus, foundonly a bank of fallen dirt and rock that broke the collision and leftthem shaking on the track. When the onlookers raced to the spot, and thepeople aboard the passenger train joined them, there was not a sight ofthe young fellow who had controlled the inspection car and had saved adisastrous collision.

  "Guess he's buried ten feet deep beneath all that dirt and stuff," saidone of the men, gazing at the ruin. "I seed him run to the lever. Run,did I say? He jest rolled, that's what he did. He war just in time,though, and then, gee! there war a ruction. I've seen a bust-up on arailway afore, but bless me if this wasn't the wildest I ever seed. Didyer get to the telephone?"

  His comrade reassured him promptly.

  "I rung 'em up at Gorgona," he answered. "There's a dirt train comingalong with the ambulance and Commission doctor aboard, besides awrecking derrick. That young chap saved a heap of lives you'd reckon?"

  It was in the nature of a question, and the answer came from the firstspeaker speedily.

  "Lives! a full trainload, man. I seed his game from the beginning, andguess it war the only manoeuvre that was worth trying. It was a racefor the points, and the man aboard the inspection car won by a shorthead. He hadn't more'n a second or two to spare once he got a grip ofthe lever; but I reckon he's paid his own life for the work. He war aplucked 'un--a right down real plucked 'un!"

  He stared fiercely into the eyes of the other man, as if he challengedhim to deny the statement; but there were none who had seen this finedisplay of courage who had aught but enthusiasm for it. There was nodissentient voice; the thing was too plain and palpable.

  "Some of you men get searching round to see if you can find a trace ofthat young fellow," cried one of the Commission officials who happenedto come running up at this moment. "If he's under this dirt he'll besmothered while we're talking."

  Every second brought more helpers for the task, and very soon there werea hundred men round the wreck of the spoil train; for the driver ofthe passenger train had stopped his reverse movement as soon as hesaw that all danger for his own charge had gone. Then he had steamedforward till within a foot of the inspection car which Jim had driven.The latter, thanks to the fact that the brake was jammed hard on, cameto a halt some thirty yards beyond the points, and stood there with itsengine roaring. But the fireman quickly shut off the ignition.Passengers poured from the coaches--for it happened that a number ofofficials were making a trip to the far end of the Culebra cut toinspect progress--and at once hastened to the side of the wreck. Butsearch as they might there was no trace of the lad who had saved so manylives by his gallantry and resourcefulness.

  "Come here and tell me what you think of this," suddenly said one of theofficials, drawing his comrades after him to the tail end of the train,to the shattered remains of the two trucks which had overturned at abend, and which had been trailing and clattering along the track in wakeof the spoil train. He invited their inspection of the couplings whichhad bound the last of the cars to the locomotive. There came a whistleof surprise from one of his friends, while something like a shout ofindignation escaped another.

  "Well?" demanded the first of the officials. "What's your opinion?"

  "That this was no accident. This train broke away from her loco. whenshe was on the incline because some rascal had cut through thecouplings. That, sir, 's my opinion," answered the one he addressed,with severity.

  There was agreement from all, so that, at the first examination, andbefore having had an opportunity of questioning those who had been incharge of the spoil train, it became evident that there had been foulplay, that some piece of rascality had been practised.

  "But who could think of such a thing? There's never been any sort ofmean game played on us before this. Whose work is it?" demanded one ofthe officials hotly.

  "That's a question neither you nor I can answer," instantly respondedanother. "But my advice is that we say not a word. There are but six ofus who know about the matter. Let us report to the chief, and leave himto deal with it. For if there is some rascal about, the fact that hiswork is discovered will warn him. If he thinks he has hoodwinkedeveryone there will be a better opportunity of discovering him."

  The advice was sound, without question, so that, beyond arranging to getpossession of the coupling, which showed that it had fractured oppositea fine saw cut, the party of officials preserved silence for the moment.Meanwhile American hustle had brought crowds of helpers to the spot. Alocomotive had steamed down from Gorgona, pushing a wrecking derrickbefore it, and within thirty minutes this was at work, with a crew ofwilling helpers. A gang of Italian spademen was brought up from theother direction, and these began to remove the rock and dirt. As to Jim,not a trace of him was found till three of the overturned and wreckedtrucks had been dragged clear by the wrecking derrick. It was then thatthe actual site of the lever which operated the points was come upon,the most likely spot at which to discover his body.

  "We'll go specially easy here," said the official who was directingoperations. "Though one expects that the man is killed, and smothered byall this dirt, yet you never can say in an accident of th
is sort. I'veknown a life saved most miraculously."

  The hook at the end of the huge chain run over the top of the derrickwas attached to the forward bogie of the overturned car, then the wholething was lifted. Underneath was found a mass of dirt and rock which theimpetus of the car had tossed forward. At the back, just beneath theedge of the truck, where it had thrust its way a foot into the ground,one of the workers caught sight of an arm with the fingers of the handprotruding from the debris. "Hold hard!" he shouted. "He's here. Bestwait till we've tried to pull him out. The car might swing on that chainand crush him."

  They kept the end of the wrecked truck suspended while willing handssought for our hero. A man crept in under the truck, swept the earthaway, and passed the listless figure of the young car driver out intothe open. Jim was at once placed on a stretcher, while the Commissionsurgeon bent over him, dropping a finger on his pulse. He found itbeating, very slowly to be sure, but beating without doubt, while a deepbruise across the forehead suggested what had happened. A rapidinspection of his patient, in fact, convinced the surgeon that there wasno serious damage.

  "Badly stunned, I guess," he said. "I can't find that any bones arebroken, and though I thought at first that his skull must be injured,everything points to my fears being groundless. Put him in theambulance, boys, and let's get him back to hospital."

  An hour later our hero was safely between the sheets, with a nursesuperintending his comfort. By the time that Phineas arrived on thescene he was conscious, though hardly fit for an interview; but on thefollowing morning he was almost himself, and chafed under the nurse'srestraint till the surgeon gave him permission to get up.

  "As if I was a baby," he growled. "I suppose I fell on my head, and thatknocked me silly. But it's nothing; I haven't more than the smallestheadache now."

  "Just because you're lucky, young fellow," quizzed the surgeon. "Let mesay this: the tumble you had was enough to knock you silly, and I daresay that if you hadn't had something particular to do you would havegone off at once. But your grit made you hold on to your senses. Thatcar, when it overturned, as near as possible smashed your head into theearth beneath it. You'll never be nearer a call while you're workinghere on the canal. Low diet, sister, and see that he keeps quiet."

  Jim glowered on the surgeon and made a grimace. "Low diet indeed! Why,he felt awful hungry."

  But no amount of entreaty could influence the nurse, and, indeed, itbecame apparent to even our hero himself that the course of procedurewas correct. For that evening he was not so well, though a long,refreshing sleep put him to rights.

  "And now you can hear something about the commotion the whole thing'scaused," said Phineas, as he put Jim into a chair in his parlour, andordered him with severity to retain his seat. "Orders are that you keepquiet, else back you go right off to the hospital. Young man, there wereforty-two souls aboard that passenger train, and I reckon you saved 'em.Of course, there are plenty of wise heads that tell us that the driver,when he'd stopped his train, should have turned all the passengers out.Quite so, sir; but then it takes time to do that. You might not haveopened the points, and the spoil train would have been into them beforethe people could climb down out of the cars. So the general feeling isthat everyone did his best, except the villain who cut that couplinghalf through. They've told you about it?"

  Jim nodded slowly. "Who could have done such a miserable and wickedthing?" he asked. "Not one of the white employees."

  "It don't bear thinking about," said Phineas sharply. "No one can evenguess who was the rascal. Leave the matter to the police; they're makingquiet enquiries. But there's to be a testimonial, Jim, a presentationone evening at the club, and a sing-song afterwards."

  "What? More!" Jim groaned. "Let them take this testimonial as presented.I'll come along to the sing-song."

  "And there's to be promotion for a certain young fellow we know,"proceeded Phineas, ignoring his remarks utterly. "One of the bosses of asection down by Milaflores locks got his thumb jammed in a gear wheel aweek back, and the chief has been looking round to replace him. You'vebeen selected."

  Jim's eyes enlarged and brightened at once. He was such a newcomer tothe canal zone that promotion had seemed out of the question for a longtime to come. He told himself many a time that he was content to work onas he was and wait like the rest for advancement.

  "The wages are really good," he had said to Sadie, "and after I've paideverything there is quite a nice little sum over at the end of the week.I'm putting it by against a rainy day."

  And here was promotion! By now he had learned the scale of wages andsalaries that were paid all along the canal. Such matters were laid downdefinitely, and were decidedly on the liberal side. With a flush of joyhe realized that, as chief of a section, he would be in receipt of justdouble the amount he had had when working the rock drill.

  "And of course there'll be compensation for the accident, just the sameas in the case of any other employee," added Phineas, trying to appearas if he had not noticed the tears of joy which had risen to Jim's eyes.For who is there of his age, imbued with the same keenness, with greaterresponsibilities on his young shoulders than falls to the lot of theaverage lad, who would not have gulped a little and felt unmanned bysuch glorious news? Consider the circumstances of our hero's life forsome little time past. It had been a struggle against what had at timesseemed like persistent bad fortune. First his father ruined, then thewhole family compelled to leave their home and drift on the Caribbean.The loss of his father and then of his brother had come like final blowswhich, as it were, drove the lessons of his misfortunes home to Jim. Andthere was Sadie, at once a comfort and an anxiety. Jim alone stoodbetween her and charity.

  "There'll be compensation for the accident," continued Phineas, "andreward from the Commissioners for saving that train of passenger cars.You've got to remember that it is cheaper any day to smash up a spoiltrain than it is to wreck one carrying people. One costs a heap more toerect than the other. So there you saved America a nice little sum. Ineedn't say that if the people aboard had been killed, compensationwould have amounted to a big figure. So the Commission has receivedpowers from Washington to pay over 500 dollars. I rather think that'llmake a nice little nest egg against the day you get married."

  Phineas roared with laughter as he caught a glimpse of Jim's face afterthose last words. Indignation and contempt were written on the flushedfeatures. Then our hero joined in the merriment. "Gee! If there ever wasa lucky dog, it's me!" he cried. "Just fancy getting a reward for such ajob! As for the nest egg and marrying, I've better things to do withthat money. I'll invest it, so that Sadie shall have something if I'munlucky enough next time not to escape under similar circumstances.Bein' married can wait till this canal's finished. Guess I've enough todo here. I'm going to stay right here till the works are opened and I'vesailed in a ship from Pacific to Atlantic."

  Phineas smiled, and, leaning across, gripped his young friend's hand andshook it hard. Open admiration for the pluck which our hero haddisplayed, now on more than one occasion, was transparent in the eyes ofthis American official. But there was more. Jim had caught that strangeinfection which seemed to have taken the place of the deadly yellowfever. It was like that pestilence, too, in this, that it waswonderfully catching, wonderfully quick to spread, and inflicted itselfupon all and sundry, once they had settled down in the zone. But therethe simile between this infection and that of the loathsome yellow feverended. That keenness for the work, that determination to relax noenergy, but to see what many thought a hopeless undertaking safely andsurely accomplished, had, in the few months since he came to the canalzone, fastened itself upon Jim, till there was none more eager all alongthe line between the Pacific and the Atlantic.

  "Yes," he repeated, "I'll stay right here till the canal's opened. Bythen that nest egg ought to be of respectable proportions."

  A week later there was a vast gathering at the clubhouse, when one ofthe chief officials of the canal works presented Jim with a fine goldwatch and chain to
the accompaniment of thunderous applause from theassembled employees. At the same time the reward sent or sanctioned bythe Government at Washington was handed over to him. A merry concertfollowed, and then the meeting broke up. It was to be Jim's last eveningin the neighbourhood of Gatun.

  "Of course you'll have to live in one of the hotels at Ancon," saidPhineas, when discussing the matter, "for it is too long a journey fromthere to this part to make every day. It would interfere with your work.You can come along weekends, and welcome. Sadie'll stop right here; Iwon't hear of her leaving."

  The arrangement fell in with our hero's wishes, for there was no doubtbut that his sister was in excellent hands. She had taken a liking toPhineas's housekeeper, and was happy amongst her playmates at theCommission school close at hand. Jim left her, therefore, in the care ofhis friend, and was soon established in his quarters in a vastCommission hotel at Ancon, within easy distance of Milaflores, the partwhere he was to be chief of a section of workers. He found that thelatter were composed for the most part of Italians, though there were afew other European nationalities, as well as some negroes.

  "You'll have plans given you and so get to know what the work is," saidhis immediate superior. "Of course what we're doing here is getting outfoundations for the two tiers of double locks. You'll have a couple ofsteam diggers to operate, besides a concrete mill; for we're puttingtons of concrete into our foundations. A young chap like you don't wantto drive. Though it's as well to remember that foreigners same as theseain't got the same spirit that our men have. They don't care so much forthe building of the canal as for the dollars they earn, but if you takethem the right way you can get a power of work out of them."

  The advice given was, as Jim found, excellent, and with his sunny natureand his own obvious preference for hard work, in place of idleness, hesoon became popular with his section, and conducted it for some weeksto the satisfaction of those above him. Nor did he find the work lessinteresting. The huge concrete mill was, in itself, enough to rivetattention, though there was a sameness about its movements which was aptto become monotonous when compared with the varied, lifelike motions ofthe steam diggers. Rubble and cement were loaded into its enormoushopper by the gangs of workmen, and ever there was a mass of semi-fluidconcrete issuing from the far side, ready mixed for the foundations ofthe locks which, when the hour arrives, will carry the biggest ships theworld is capable of building. On Saturday afternoon, when the whistlesblew earlier than on weekdays, Jim would return to his hotel, wash andchange, and take the first available car down the tracks to Gatun. Aconcert at the club was usually arranged for Saturday night, while onSunday he went to the nearest church with Phineas and Sadie, and thenreturned in the evening to Ancon.

  "Strange that we should never be able to get any information about thatrunaway spoil train," said Phineas, on one of the occasions when Jimwent over to Gatun. "There's never been a word about it. The police havefailed to fathom what is at this day still a mystery. But there's arascal at work somewhere. There's been a severe fire down Colon way,sleepers near pitched a passenger train from the rails opposite the damthere, while one night, when the works were deserted, someone took thebrakes off a hundred-ton steam digger, and sent her running down thetracks. She smashed herself to pieces, besides wrecking a dozen cars."

  The news was serious, in fact, and pointed unmistakably to a criminalsomewhere on the canal, someone with a grudge against the undertaking,or against the officials. It made Jim think instantly of Jaime deOteros, though why he could not imagine. But he was soon to know; littletime was to pass before he was to come face to face with the miscreant.