Out upon the platform here, in the blinding whirl of snow. The night operator came out and talked to us of the news of the line, while the engine ran on to the tank for water. There was another telegram from Agnew, saying that the Pendleton special was on time, and that Mr. Kittrick was following us with another train “in case of need.”
The operator was full of wild stories of the Brushy Creek flood, caused by the thaw and the cloudburst. We cut him short in this narration, and asked him of the conditions along the Elk Fork.
“She’s up and boomin’,” said he. “The trestle was most all under water an hour ago, and they say the ice was runnin’ in blocks. You may find the track left without any underpinnin’. Look out for yourselves.”
“Al,” said Jim slowly, “can you fire an engine?”
“I guess so,” said I, seeing his meaning dimly. “Why?”
“Al,” said he, as if stating the conclusion of a complicated calculation, “we must run this train in alone!”
I saw his intent fully, and knew why he walked so resolutely up to the engine, now backed down to take us on again. Schwartz leaned out of his cab, a man of snow and ice. Ole stood with his shovel in his hand white and icy like his brother worker. Both had been drenched, as we had; but they had had no red-hot stove by which to sit; and buffeted by the blizzard and powdered by the snow, they had endured the benumbing cold of the hurricane-swept cab.
“Get down here, boys,” said Jim. “I want to talk with you.”
Ole leaped lightly down, followed by Schwartz, who hobbled laboriously, stiffened with cold. Youth and violent labor had kept the fireman warm.
“Schwartz,” said Jim, “there is a chance that we’ll find the trestle weakened and dangerous. We’ll stop and examine it if we have time, but if it is as close a thing as I think it will be, we propose to make a run for it and take chances. Barslow and I are the ones, and the only ones, who ought to do this, because we must make this connection. We can run the engine. You and Ole and Corcoran stay here. Mr. Kittrick will be along with another train in a few hours. Uncouple the caboose and we’ll run on.”