Bert Wilson's Fadeaway Ball

by Mrs. Molesworth

  CHAPTER X

  A WILD RIDE

  It was a rather gloomy morning on which the team started for the collegewhere they were to play one of the most important games of the series.If they won, they would eliminate the Grays and have only to contendwith the Maroons; if they lost, all their splendid work of the seasonmight have gone for nought.

  They were a sober bunch, therefore, as they gathered at the railwaystation to await their train. There was little of the usual jokingand horse play to be seen, but this may have been partly due to thedepressing state of the weather. As the train came in sight, however,they chirked up somewhat at the thought of having something to occupytheir minds, and piled aboard their special car in a little morecheerful mood. A dense, clammy fog hung low over the ground, and itwas impossible to see more than a hundred feet or so into it in anydirection.

  The town in which they were to play to-day was almost a hundred milesdistant, and so they had a considerable journey ahead of them. Thetrain was a little behind time, and was making extra speed in an effortto catch up with its schedule. They had traversed several miles, andwere relieving the monotony of the journey with jokes and riddles. Asthey passed over a particularly high trestle, and looked down into thedizzy void below, Sterling, the second baseman, said:

  "Say, fellows, this trestle reminds me of a story I heard a little whileago. If somebody would beg me to real hard, I might be induced to tellit to you."

  "Go ahead!" "Shoot!" "Let's hear it!" came a chorus of supplication, andSterling said, "Well, if you insist, I suppose I will have to tell it toyou. The scene of this thrilling anecdote is laid in the Far West, whenit was much wilder and woollier than it is at present. It seems that twohorse thieves had been captured by a band of 'vigilantes,' and after atrial notable for its brevity and lack of hampering formalities, theywere both sentenced to be hanged. It was in a country in which therewere no trees worthy of the name, and the only available place for theexecution within several miles was a high railroad bridge. To this,accordingly, the 'vigilantes' conducted their prisoners, one of whom wasa Swede and the other of Irish persuasion. The two were forced to drawlots to see which one should be hanged first, and, as it turned out,the Swede drew the short straw, and so was pronounced the first victimof justice.

  "The noose of a stout lariat was fastened around his neck, and wheneverything was ready he was shoved off the bridge. As the strain of hisweight came on the rope, however, the knot of the noose became untied,and the Swede fell to the rushing river below. He was not hurt much, andthose on the bridge saw him swim to the bank and scramble ashore. Therewas no way of getting at him, so the lynchers had to satisfy themselveswith many and varied oaths. The Irishman, of course, had watched theproceeding in a fascinated manner, and as the cowboys tied the ropearound his neck, he said, in an imploring voice, 'For Hivin's sake,byes, tie the rope tight this time, for I can't swim a stroke.'"

  Hearty laughter greeted Sterling's narrative, and the boys felt inbetter spirits after it.

  "That reminds me of a story I heard once," began Hinsdale. "It was whenI was on a visit to my uncle's ranch in Montana, and----"

  But he was interrupted by a crash that sounded as though the end of theworld had come, and the car in which they were riding reared up in theair like a bucking horse. It rose almost to a perpendicular position,and then crashed over on its side. It scraped along a few rods in thisposition, and then came to a grinding halt.

  For a few seconds there was silence, and then a pandemonium of muffledscreams and cries broke forth. Bert's voice was the first to be heard intheir car, and it inquired, anxiously, "Where are you, Dick, Tom, andthe rest of you? Are you alive yet? Here, you, get off my neck, willyou, and give me a chance to breathe."

  There was a general scramble and struggle among the debris, and soon oneboy after another climbed and crawled through the broken windows untilfinally they all stood accounted for. Many had painful scratches andbruises, but none were hurt at all seriously. Reddy, the trainer, drew asigh of relief. "Thank Heaven for its mercies," said he, fervently, andthen, "Well, me lads, get a wiggle on, and we'll see if everybody elsehas been as lucky as we have. From the looks of things up forward there,it's more than I dare hope."

  The front part of the train, which had sustained the greatest shock ofthe collision, was indeed a terrible spectacle. Running full speed, thetwo trains had crashed into each other out of the fog before theirengineers had fairly realized that anything was amiss. The locomotiveswere practically demolished, and one huge Mogul lay on its side besidethe roadbed, steam still hissing from its broken pipes. The other enginestill was on the rails, but its entire front had been demolished, and itwas a total wreck. The coaches immediately back of the locomotives hadbeen driven on by the momentum of the cars back of them, and had beenpartly telescoped; that is, the cars in the rear had plowed half waythrough before their progress was checked. To add to the horror of thescene, thin red flames were licking up from the wreckage, probablystarted by the coals from the engine. Many of the passengers were unableto extricate themselves from the wreckage, being pinned down by beams andother heavy articles. Their cries and supplications to be saved werepitiful as they saw the hungry flames gathering headway and eating theirway toward them, and Reddy turned fiercely to the horror-stricken boys."Here, what are ye standing around for?" he snarled. "Git back to our carand get out the axes and fire extinguishers there. You can get at them ifyou try. Come on; hurry!" and the trainer sprinted back toward the rearcars, followed in a body by the willing and eager boys. In less timethan it takes to tell it, they returned, some with axes and some withextinguishers. The latter could make little progress against the flames,however, which by now had gained considerable headway, so the boys,assisted by such other of the passengers who were in a position to doso, proceeded to chop and dig their way to the imprisoned unfortunates.Person after person they dragged out in this manner, until they hadrescued all but one man.

  He was pinned down by a timber that had all the weight of one of theheavy trucks on it, and it seemed impossible that they could get him outbefore the fire got to him. Already they could feel its intense heat asthey chopped and pulled, wrenched and lifted, in a frenzy of haste.Nearer and nearer crept the all-embracing fire, until eyebrows and hairbegan to singe with the deadly heat, and they were forced to work inrelays, relieving each other every minute or so.

  "For God's sake, if you can't get me out of here before the fire reachesme, kill me," pleaded the unfortunate prisoner, "don't let me roast hereby degrees!"

  "No danger of that," gasped Bert, as he swung a huge timber aside thatunder ordinary circumstances he would have been unable even to move."We'll have you out in a jiffy, now."

  "Come on boys, we've got to move this truck," yelled Reddy. "Here,everybody get hold on this side, and when I say pull, _pull_ for yourlives! Now! get hold! Ready?"

  "Yes!" they gasped between set teeth.

  "Pull!" fairly screamed Reddy, and every man and boy grasping theobstinate mass of twisted metal put every ounce of strength in his bodyinto one supreme effort. The mass swayed, gave, and then toppled backwhere it had been before!

  "Don't give up!" yelled Bert, frantically, as he saw some of the menrelease their hold and turn away, evidently despairing of accomplishingtheir object. "Try it again! For God's sake remember you're men, and tryagain! It's a human life that's at stake!"

  Thus adjured, they returned to the task, and at the signal from Reddy,wrenched and tore frantically at the inert mass that appeared to mocktheir puny efforts.

  "Keep it up, keep it up!" gritted Reddy. Slowly but surely, every musclestraining to its utmost and threatening to snap under the terrificstrain, they raised the heavy truck, and with one last mad heave andpull sent it toppling down the railroad embankment.

  With a wild yell they fell upon the few light timbers lying between themand the imprisoned man, and soon had him stretched out safely beside thetrack. On examination it proved that he had an arm wrenched and severalminor injuries
, but nothing fatal.

  "Nothing I can say will express half the gratitude I feel toward youyoung men," he said, smiling weakly up into the faces of the boysgrouped about him, "you have saved me from a horrible death, and I willnever forget it."

  While waiting for the arrival of the wrecking crew and a doctor, therescued man had considerable further talk with the members of the team,and they learned, much to their surprise, that he was an alumnus oftheir college. Their pleasure at this discovery was very great, and thatof the stranger seemed little less.

  "The old college has done me a whole lot of good, all through my life,"he said, "but never as much as it did to-day, through her baseball team.You will hear further from me, young men."

  "Oh, it was nothing much to do," deprecated Bert, "we did the only thingthere was to be done under the circumstances, and that was all there wasto it!"

  "Not a bit of it," insisted the gentleman. "Why, just take a look atyour faces. You are all as red as though you had been boiled, and youreyebrows are singed. I declare, anybody looking at us would think thatyou had had a good deal harder time of it than I had."

  And nothing the boys could say would induce him to alter his opinion oftheir heroism in the slightest degree.

  Soon they heard a whistle far down the track, and shortly afterward thewrecking train hove in view. It consisted, besides the locomotive andtender, of a tool car, in which were stored all kinds of instruments,jacks, etc., that could possibly be required, and a flat car on which asturdy swinging crane was mounted. The railroad company had also sentseveral physicians, who were soon busily engaged in taking proper careof the injured.

  In the meantime, the crew of the wrecking train, headed by a burlyforeman, got in strenuous action, and the boys marveled at the quick andworkmanlike manner in which they proceeded to clear the line. As is thecase with all wrecking crews, their orders were to clear the road fortraffic in the shortest time regardless of expense. The time lost intrying to save, for instance, the remains of a locomotive or car forfuture use, would have been much more valuable than either.

  A gang of Italians were set to work clearing off the lighter portion ofthe wreckage, and the wrecking crew proper proceeded to get chains underthe locomotive that remained on the tracks. It was so twisted and bentthat not one of its wheels would even turn, so it was impossible to towit away. The only solution of the problem, then, was to lift it offthe track. After the crew had placed and fastened the chains to thesatisfaction of the foreman, who accompanied the process with a stringof weird oaths, the signal was given to the man operating the steamcrane to "hoist away."

  The strong engine attached to the massive steel crane began to whirr,and slowly the great mass of the locomotive rose, inch by inch, into theair. When the front part was entirely clear of the tracks, the operatortouched another lever, and the crane swung outward, carrying the hugelocomotive with it as a child might play with a toy. It was a revelationof the unlimited might of that powerful monster, steam.

  Further and further swung the crane, until the locomotive was at rightangles to the track, with its nose overhanging the embankment. Then,with the foreman carefully directing every movement with upliftedhand and caustic voice, the locomotive was lowered gently down theembankment, partly sliding and partly supported by the huge chain, everylink of which was almost a foot long.

  In speaking of this chain afterward one of the boys said he wished hehad stolen it so that he might wear it as a watch-chain.

  The engine finally came to rest at the foot of the incline, and thechain was slackened and cast off. Then the crane took the next car inhand, and went through much the same process with it. Car after car wasslid down the embankment, and in an incredibly short time the roadwaywas cleared of wreckage. Then it was seen that several rails had beenripped up, but these were quickly replaced by others from racks builtalong the right of way, such as the reader has no doubt often seen.

  In a little over an hour from the time the wrecking crew came on thescene the last bolt on the rail connecting plates had been tightened,and the track was ready again for traffic.

  "Gee," exclaimed Tom, "that was quick work, for fair. Why, if anybodyhad asked me, I would have said that no train would have been able touse this roadway for at least a day. That crew knows its business, andno mistake."

  "They sure do," agreed Dick, "they cleared things up in jig time. But itonly shows what can be done when you go about it in the right way."

  "I only wish we had had that crane when we were trying to lift the truckup," said the trainer, who had sauntered up to the group. "It wouldn'thave been any trick at all with that little pocket instrument."

  "No," laughed Bert. "I think that in the future I will carry one aroundwith me in case of emergencies. You don't know when it might come inhandy."

  "Great head, great head," approved Dick, solemnly, and then they bothlaughed heartily, and the others joined in. After their recent narrowescape from death, life seemed a very pleasant and jolly thing.

  But suddenly Bert's face sobered. "How the dickens are we going to getto the game in time?" he inquired. "The service is all tied up, and itwill be hours and hours before we can get there."

  This was indeed a problem, and there seemed to be no solution. There wasno other railroad running within twenty miles of this one, and while atrolley line connecting the towns was building, it had not as yet beencompleted. As Tom expressed it, "they were up against it good andplenty."

  While they were discussing the problem, and someone had despairinglysuggested that they walk, Mr. Clarke, the gentleman whom the boys hadrescued from the wreck, strolled up, with his arm neatly done up in asling. His face looked pale and drawn, but aside from the wrenched armhe appeared none the worse for his harrowing experience.

  When informed of the problem facing the team, he appeared nonplussed atfirst, but then his face lightened up.

  "My home isn't more than a mile from here," he said, "and I haverecently bought a large seven-passenger automobile. You could all packinto that without much trouble, and there is a fine macadam road leadingfrom within a few blocks of my house to the town for which you arebound. But there," and his face clouded over, "I forgot. I discharged mychauffeur the other day, and I have not had time as yet to engageanother. I don't know whom I could get to drive the car. I can't do iton account of my broken arm."

  "Shucks, that's too bad," said Reddy, in a disappointed tone, "thatwould be just the thing, if we only had someone to run it. That's what Icall tough luck. I guess there's no game for us to-day, boys, unless wethink of something else."

  But here Bert spoke up. "If Mr. Clarke wouldn't be afraid to trust thecar to me," he said, "I know how to drive, and I can promise we willtake the best care of it. I know that car fore and aft, from radiator totaillight."

  "Why, certainly, go as far as you like," said Mr. Clarke, heartily. "Ifyou are sure you can handle it I will be only too glad to let you haveit. Nothing I can do will repay a thousandth part of what I owe youboys."

  "You're sure you're capable of handling a car, are you, Wilson?"inquired the trainer, with a searching look. "I don't want to take achance on getting mixed up in any more wrecks to-day. The one we've hadalready will satisfy me for some time to come."

  "Watch me," was all Bert said, but Dick and Tom both chimed inindignantly, "I guess you don't know whom we have with us," said Tom,"why, Bert has forgotten more about automobiles than I ever knew, andI'm no slouch at that game."

  "That's right," confirmed Dick. "Bert's some demon chauffeur, Reddy.Believe me, we'll have to move some, too, if we expect to get to D----in time for the game. Why!" he exclaimed, glancing at his watch, "it'safter one now, and we're due to be at the grounds at 2:30. How far isit, Mr. Clarke, from your house to D----?"

  Mr. Clarke calculated a moment, and then said, "Why, I guess it must befrom fifty to fifty-five miles. You'll have to burn up the road to getthere in anything like time," he said, and glanced quizzically at Bert.

  "That's easy," returned the lat
ter, "a car like yours ought to becapable of seventy miles an hour in a pinch."

  Mr. Clarke nodded his head. "More than that," he said, "but be carefulhow you try any stunts like seventy miles an hour. I don't care aboutthe car, but I don't want the old college to be without a baseball teamowing to an automobile smashup."

  "Never fear," said Bert, confidently. "You may be sure I will take nounnecessary chances. I don't feel as though I wanted to die yet awhile."

  "All right," said Mr. Clarke, and proceeded to give them directions onthe shortest way to reach his home. When he had finished, Reddy sangout, "All right, boys, let's get a move on. Double quick now! We haven'ta minute to lose."

  Accordingly the whole team started off at a swinging trot, and it wasnot long before Mr. Clarke's handsome residence came into view. Mr.Clarke had given them a note, which they presented to his wife, who metthem at the door. She was much agitated at the news contained therein,but, after a few anxious questions, proceeded to show them where themachine was located, and gave them the key to the garage. They raceddown a long avenue of stately trees, and soon came to the commodiousstone garage. Reddy unlocked the doors, and swung them wide.

  "Gee, what a machine," breathed Bert, and stood a moment in muteadmiration. The automobile was of the very latest pattern, and was thefinest product of an eminent maker. The sun sparkled on its polishedenamel and brass work. But Bert had no eyes for these details. He raisedthe hood and carefully inspected the engine. Then he peered into thegasoline and oil tanks, and found both plentifully supplied.

  "All right," he announced, after this inspection. "Pile in someway, andwe'll get a move on. What time is it, Tom?"

  "Just twenty-five minutes of two," announced Tom, after consulting hiswatch. "I hope we don't get arrested for speeding, that's all. Thisreminds me of the old 'Red Scout' days, doesn't it you, Dick?"

  "It sure does," agreed the latter, with a reminiscent smile. "We'll haveto go mighty fast to break the records we made then, won't we, oldsock?" slapping Bert on the shoulder.

  "That's what," agreed Bert, as he cranked the motor.

  The big engine coughed once or twice, and then settled down into acontented purring. Bert threw in the reverse and backed out of thegarage. He handled the big car with practised hands, and Reddy, whohad been watching him carefully, drew a sigh of relief. "I guess heknows his business, all right," he reflected, and settled back on theluxurious cushions of the tonneau. The car was packed pretty solidly,you may be sure, and everyone seated on the cushions proper had somebodyelse perched on his lap. This did not matter, however, and everybody wastoo excited to feel uncomfortable.

  As they passed the porch, they stopped, and Mrs. Clarke, who had beenwaiting to see them off, gave Bert directions on how to find the mainroad. "Follow the road in front of the house due south for about half orthree-quarters of a mile," she said, "and then turn to your left on thebroad, macadam road that you will see at about this point. That willtake you without a break to D----. Be careful of that car, though," shesaid to Bert, "I'm almost afraid of it, it's so very powerful."

  "It will need all its power to-day," said Bert, smiling, and they allsaid good-bye to Mrs. Clarke. Then Bert slipped in the clutch, and thebig car glided smoothly out on the road in front of the house, and in avery short time they came to the main road of which Mrs. Clarke hadspoken.

  "Now, Bert, let her rip," said Dick, who was in the seat beside ourhero. Bert did.

  Little by little he opened the throttle till the great machine wasrushing along the smooth road at terrific speed. Faster and faster theyflew. The wind whistled in their ears, and all who were not holding onto their caps lost them. There was no time to stop for such a trivialitem, and indeed nobody even thought of such a thing. To get to thegame, that was the main thing. Also, the lust of speed had entered theirhearts, and while they felt horribly afraid at the frightful pace, therewas a certain mad pleasure in it, too. The speedometer needle crept upand up, till it touched the sixty-mile-an-hour mark. Reddy wanted totell Bert to slacken speed, but feared that the boys would think he was"scared," so said nothing. Bert's heart thrilled, and the blood poundedmadly through his veins. His very soul called for speed, speed! and hegradually opened the throttle until it would go no further. The greatcar responded nobly, and strained madly ahead. The whirring gears hummeda strident tune, and the explosions from the now open muffler sounded inan unbroken roar. The passengers in the machine grew dizzy, and somewere forced to close their eyes to protect them from the rushing,tearing wind. The fields on both sides streaked away in back of themlike a vari-colored ribbon, and the gray road seemed leaping up to meetthem. The speedometer hand pointed to eighty miles an hour, and nowthere was a long decline in front of them. The boys thought that thenBert would surely reduce the power somewhat, but apparently no suchthought entered his mind. Down the long slope they swooped, andthen--What was that in front of them, that they were approaching at suchterrific speed? At a glance Bert saw that it consisted of two farmwagons traveling along toward them at a snail's pace, their driversengaged in talk, and oblivious of the road in front of them. Berttouched the siren lever, and a wild shriek burst from the torturedsiren. The drivers gave one startled glance at the flying demonapproaching them, and then started to draw up their horses to oppositesides of the road. They seemed fairly to crawl and Bert felt an awfulcontraction of his heart. What if they could not make it? He knew thatit would have been folly to apply the brakes at the terrific speed atwhich they were traveling, and his only chance lay in going between thetwo wagons.

  Slowly--slowly--the wagons drew over to the side of the road, and Bertcalculated the distance with straining eyes. His hands gripped the wheeluntil his knuckles stood out white and tense.

  Now they were upon the wagons--and through! A vision of rearing horses,excited, gesticulating drivers--and they were through, with a scant halffoot to spare on either side.

  A deep sigh went up from the passengers in the car, and tense muscleswere relaxed. Gradually, little by little, Bert reduced the speed untilthey were traveling at a mere forty miles an hour, which seemed quiet,safe and slow, after their recent hair-raising pace. Reddy pulled outhis handkerchief and mopped his forehead, which was beaded withperspiration.

  "We looked death in the face that time," he declared, gravely. "I neverexpected to get out of that corner alive. If we had hit one of thosewagons, it would have been all up with us. For heaven's sake, Wilson,take it a little easier in the future, will you? I don't want todecorate a marble slab in the morgue just yet awhile."

  Tom pulled out his watch, and found that it was after two o'clock. "Wecan't be far from the town now," he declared. "I'll bet that's it, whereyou see the steeple over there in the distance."

  "That's what it is," chimed in several of the others, who had been tothe town before; "we'll get there with time to spare."

  The intervening mile or so was covered in a jiffy, and the car enteredthe town. Almost immediately they were recognized by some in the crowd,and were greeted with cheers. A couple of young fellows whom they knewjumped up on the running-board as Bert slowed down for them.

  "Gee," said one, "there's some class to you fellows, all right, allright. It isn't every baseball team that can travel around the countryin a giddy buzz wagon like the one you have there. Who belongs to it,anyway?"

  "Oh, it's too long a story to tell now," said the trainer. "We'll tellyou all about it after the game. It's about time we were starting in topractise a little."

  They soon arrived at the grounds, and were greeted by an ovation. Thenews of the wreck had just been telegraphed in, and the spectators hadbeen a sorely disappointed lot until the arrival of the car bearing theBlues. The news had spread over the field, and some of the spectatorshad started to leave, thinking that, of course, there would be no game.

  These soon returned, however, and settled down to see the struggle.

  It would seem as though the Blues would have little energy left aftersuch an exciting day as they had passed throu
gh, but such is thewonderful elasticity and recuperative powers of youth, that they playedone of the snappiest games of the season, and after a hotly contestedfight won out by a score of four to two.

  As they returned to the clubhouse after the game, they were surprisedbeyond measure to see Mr. Clarke waiting for them. He greeted them witha smile, and shook hands all around with his uninjured arm.

  "I caught the first train that went through," he explained, "and gothere in time to see the last inning. You fellows put up a cracker-jackgame, and I think you are an honor to the old college. It was a wonderyou did not lose. After what you have been through to-day I should nothave been a bit surprised or disappointed."

  They thanked him for his kind speech, and then nothing would do but thatthey must have supper with him at the most expensive hotel in town.Needless to say, this meal was done ample justice, and when Mr. Clarkeinformed them that he had hired rooms for them for the night theannouncement was greeted with a cheer.

  "I have telegraphed home, so nobody will be worried about you," he said."They know you're in safe hands," and his eyes twinkled.

  It was a tired lot of athletes that tumbled up to bed that night,and soon they were sleeping the deep, dreamless sleep of healthyexhaustion.