"Half-way down the grade I felt, sir, a thrilling and creaking, Then a lurch to one side, as we hung on the bank of the canyon; Then, looking up the road, I saw, in the distance behind me, The off hind wheel of the coach, just loosed from its axle, and following. "One glance alone I gave, then gathered together my ribbons, Shouted, and flung them, outspread, on the straining necks of my cattle; Screamed at the top of my voice, and lashed the air in my frenzy, While down the Geiger Grade, on THREE wheels, the vehicle thundered. "Speed was our only chance, when again came the ominous rattle: Crack, and another wheel slipped away, and was lost in the darkness. TWO only now were left; yet such was our fearful momentum, Upright, erect, and sustained on TWO wheels, the vehicle thundered. "As some huge boulder, unloosed from its rocky shelf on the mountain, Drives before it the hare and the timorous squirrel, far leaping, So down the Geiger Grade rushed the Pioneer coach, and before it Leaped the wild horses, and shrieked in advance of the danger impending. "But to be brief in my tale. Again, ere we came to the level, Slipped from its axle a wheel; so that, to be plain in my statement, A matter of twelve hundred yards or more, as the distance may be, We traveled upon ONE wheel, until we drove up to the station. "Then, sir, we sank in a heap; but, picking myself from the ruins, I heard a noise up the grade; and looking, I saw in the distance The three wheels following still, like moons on the horizon whirling, Till, circling, they gracefully sank on the road at the side of the station. "This is my story, sir; a trifle, indeed, I assure you. Much more, perchance, might be said--but I hold him of all men most lightly Who swerves from the truth in his tale. No, thank you-- Well, since you ARE pressing, Perhaps I don't care if I do: you may give me the same, Jim,--no sugar." A QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE REPORTED BY TRUTHFUL JAMES It was Andrew Jackson Sutter who, despising Mr. Cutter for remarks he heard him utter in debate upon the floor, Swung him up into the skylight, in the peaceful, pensive twilight, and then keerlessly proceeded, makin' no account what WE did-- To wipe up with his person casual dust upon the floor. Now a square fight never frets me, nor unpleasantness upsets me, but the simple thing that gets me--now the job is done and gone, And we've come home free and merry from the peaceful cemetery, leavin' Cutter there with Sutter--that mebbee just a stutter On the part of Mr. Cutter caused the loss we deeply mourn.