The last spike, and other railroad storiesWarman, Cy
General
The last spike, and other railroad stories
Warman, Cy
American fiction -- 20th century; Railroad stories
Suddenly he saw a man, fully dressed, leap from a lower berth in the
last section and make a grab for the bell-rope. The man missed the rope;
and before he could leap again the detective landed on the back of his
neck, bearing him down. At that moment the conductor came through; and
when he saw the detective pull a pair of bracelets from his hip-pocket,
he guessed that the man underneath must be wanted, and joined in the
scuffle. In a moment the man was handcuffed, for he really offered no
resistance. As they released him he rose, and they squashed him into a
seat opposite the section from which he had leaped a moment before. The
man looked not at his captors, who still held him, but pressed his face
against the window. He saw the posts of the snow-shed passing, sprang
up, flung the two men from him as a Newfoundland would free himself from
a couple of kittens, lifted his manacled hands, leaped toward the
ceiling, and bore down on the signal-rope.
The conductor, in the excitement, yelled at the man, bringing the rear
brakeman from the smoking-room, followed by the black boy bearing a
shoe-brush.
Once more they bore the bad man down, and then the conductor grabbed the
rope and signalled the engineer ahead.
Men leaped from their berths, and women showed white faces between the
closely drawn curtains.
Once more the conductor pulled the bell, but the train stood still.
One of the passengers picked up the man's hand-grip that had fallen from
his berth, and found that the card held in the leather tag read:
"JOHN BRADISH."
"Go forward," shouted the conductor to the rear brakeman, "and get 'em
out of here,--tell McNally we've got the ghost."
The detective released his hold on his captive, and the man sank limp in
the corner seat.
The company's surgeon, who happened to be on the car, came over and
examined the prisoner. The man had collapsed completely.
When the doctor had revived the handcuffed passenger and got him to sit
up and speak, the porter, wild-eyed, burst in and shouted: "De bridge is
gone."
A death-like hush held the occupants of the car.
"De hangin' bridge is sho' gone," repeated the panting porter, "an' de
engine, wi' McNally in de cab's crouchin' on de bank, like a black cat
on a well-cu'b. De watah's roahin' in de deep gorge, and if she drap she
gwine drag--"
The doctor clapped his hand over the frightened darky's mouth, and the
detective butted him out to the smoking-room.
The conductor explained that the porter was crazy, and so averted a
panic.
The detective came back and faced the doctor. "Take off the irons," said
the surgeon, and the detective unlocked the handcuffs.
Now the doctor, in his suave, sympathetic way, began to question
Bradish; and Bradish began to unravel the mystery, pausing now and again
to rest, for the ordeal through which he had just passed had been a
great mental and nervous strain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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