Part 37 (1/2)

A MAD ENGINE-DRIVER

A startling event happened at an early hour yesterday(Jan 8th, 1884), in connection with the mail train from Brest, which is due in Paris at tenat full speed the passengers observed the brakes to be put on with such suddenness that fears were entertained that a collision was imminent, especially as the spot at which the train was drawn up was in utter darkness Upon the guard reaching the engine he found the stoker endeavouring to overpower the driver, who had evidently lost his reason After blocking the line the guard joined the stoker, and succeeded in securing the unfortunate man, but not until he had offered a desperate resistance The locomotive was then put in motion, the nearest station was reached without further misadventure, and the driver was placed in custody The train ultimately arrived in Paris after two hours' delay

A MEXICAN CHIEF'S RAILWAY IMPRESSIONS

Steaunpowder have often proved the most eloquent apostles of civilization, but the iuly illustrated than at the little railway station of Gallegos, in Northern Mexico When the first passenger train crossed the viaduct, and the Wizards of the North had covered the festive tables with the dainties of all zones, the governor of Durango was not thethe spectators on the platfornise the Cabo Ventura, the senior chief of a hill-tribe, which had never fornty of the Mexican Republic The Cabo, indeed, considered himself the lawful ruler of the entire _Comarca_, and preserved a document in which the Virey Gonzales, _en no-appointed him ”Protector of all the loyal tribes of Castro and Sierra Mocha” His diploical value, and several amateurs had made him a liberal offer, but the old chieftain would as soon have sold his scalp

His soul lived in the past All the evils of the age he ascribed to the deainst the lawful king; and as for the countryueses_, his vocabulary hardly approached the measure of his contempt when he called thes

”But it cannot be denied,” Yakoob Khan wrote to his father, ”that it has pleased Allah to endow those sinners with a good deal of brains;” and the voice of nature gradually forced the Cabo to a similar conclusion, till he resolved to come and see for himself

When the screech of the iron Behemoth at last resounded at the lower end of the valley, and the train swept visibly around the curve of the river-gap, the natives set up a yell that waked up the mountain echoes; men and boys waved their hats and jumped to and fro, in a state of the wildest exciteaze was riveted upon the pheno up the valley; his keen eye enabled hirade, the breadth, the length, the height of the car When the train approached the station, the crowd surged back in affright, but the Cabo stood his ground, and as soon as the cars stopped he stepped down upon the track He examined the wheels, tapped the axles, and tried to ine backed up for water, he closely watched the process of locomotion, and walked to the end of the last car to ascertain the length of the train He then returned to the platfor his face with both hands

Two hours later the Governor of Durango found him in still the same position

”Hallo, Cabo,” he called out, ”how do you like this? What do you think now of America Nueva?” (”New America,” a collective term for the republics of the American continent)

The chieftain looked up ”_Sabe Dios_-the Gods know-Senor Commandante, but _I_ know this much: With Old America it's all up”

”Is it? Well, look here: would you now like to sell that old diploma? I still offer you the same price”

The Cabo put his hand in his bosom, drew forth a leather-shrouded old parchale, Usted-it's worthless and you are welcome to keep it” Nevertheless, he connived when the Governor slipped a gold piece into the pouch and put it upon his knees, minus the document

But just before the train started, the Governor heard his name called, and stepped out upon the platfor up the track

”I owe you a debt, senor,” said he, ”_y le pagare en consejo_, I want to pay it off in good advice: Beware of those strangers”

”What strangers?”

”The caballeros who invented this hed the Governor as the train started