IO. 10. "Couldn't you run as fast as the car will go?" suggested Fritz. "And II. "Not on the bridge," said his father. as soon as I get out of the woods it will be down grade, and I can make better time." 12. The two were already dragging out the heavy hand car from the shed close by, Fritz working with a man's strength in his excitement. Suddenly a thought struck him. 13. "You must let me go, father," said he. "I can manage as well as you can, and your post is here. If a message should come, what could I do? And the up train will be here in an hour." " 14. But you may meet the train on the bridge, my boy," he said. "I can't let you take the risk." 15. "It's no greater for me than it would be for you," said Fritz stoutly. "I shall have the red lantern and a rope, and I'll take care of myself. Don't worry, father." 16. The big man patted the boy's shoulder. My brave lad," he said. "I believe you can do it, you can only cross the bridge safely. Remember, hear the train coming, give yourself time to you get off." 17. The hand car started slowly up the track. It was hard work at first, but presently the grade lessened, and Fritz found to his joy that he was making fairly good headway. Soon the woods grew thinner and he came out into the open country. He was now moving at a very fair rate of speed, and soon ran out on the weakened bridge. He could hear the water rushing and tumbling below him. 18. "Suppose this bridge should go!" The thought sent a sudden terror to his heart, and for an instant his grip on the bar relaxed. Then he brought himself to his work, listening intently for the distant rumble of the approaching train. 19. The car swung out round a curve on the trestlework of the bank. It was not so dark here as in the woods behind him, but the roaring of the storm and the noise of the rushing waters shut out every other sound. 20. "I couldn't hear the train even if it were just across the river," he thought. "I must take my chances, that's all. There are hundreds of lives to save, and I'm only one." 21. If the track had been a straight one, the chances would have been greater, but it twisted and wound like a snake, as Fritz well knew, on its way to the city among the hills. He bent to his task with aching back and weary arms. How widehow wide the river looked! Could he ever reach the other side? 22. Suddenly out of the roar and rush came an other sound-the scream of a locomotive whistle. It seemed far away, to be sure, but Fritz was not deceived. It was the whistle for Gray's Crossing, not a mile beyond the bridge. 23. He is almost across now. Below he can see a line of white at the water's edge. It only needs a minute more but there, through the rain, is the gleam of the headlight. Fritz seizes the lantern, and waving it aloft jumps down to the planking of the bridge. Fortunately it is too dark to see how far beneath him the ragged shore line lies, and in a few moments the trestle work ends, and he is upon solid ground again. 24. Away he runs, swinging his lantern back and forth over his head, stumbling among the loose stones of the railroad bed, but keeping his footing in some wonderful way that he can never afterwards explain. The blazing headlight comes nearer and The grind of the wheels rises above the noise of the storm, and for an instant Fritz thinks the engineer does not see him, but the train is already slackening its speed, and scarcely runs its length beyond the boy as he stands there by the track. nearer. 25. The rest is easily told. A brakeman is sent back to flag the other train, and the danger of collision is averted the express is saved. 26. "But the worst of it was, the fuss they made over me," Fritz tells his mother when he goes home. "I hope I shall never have to go through that again." XLII. THE BUILDERS 1. All are architects of Fate, Selected. Working in these walls of Time; 2. Nothing useless is, or low; 3. Each thing in its place is best; For the structure that we raise, Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build. 4. Truly shape and fashion these; 5. Leave no yawning gaps between; Think not, because no man sees, In the elder days of Art, Builders wrought with greatest care For the gods see everywhere. 6. Let us do our work as well, Both the unseen and the seen; 7. Else our lives are incomplete, 8. Build to-day, then, strong and sure, 9. Thus alone can we attain To those turrets, where the eye HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. XLIII. WHY A BALLOON ASCENDS I. A teacher and some of the scholars were talking about the balloon ascension which they had just seen on the Common. 2. "Would you like to go up in a balloon?" The question was asked a bright-looking boy who stood by the teacher's side. |
