Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 7, 1928 — page 29: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

DAMMING HAIRPIN CANON, through without stop and at top speed. As a matter of fact, the distance was covered even faster than had been hoped. But to Norman, tortured by anxiety, the journey seemed to consume cen- turies. He could hardly believe it was only eleven o’clock when they finally arrived at the scene of the wreck. It was a terrifying enough spectacle in all conscience—the tracks torn up for a quarter of a mile where they ran along the edge of the canon, and cars tossed hither and thither over the right of way. But,-as is so often the case in such affairs, the first reports of the dis- aster had been vastly exaggerated. What had really happened was that the train had broken in two on a steep grade about a mile back. The engine with the two forward cars had put on extra speed to avoid collision, and had passed safely over the dangerous spot at the edge of the cliff, but’ the uncon- trolled rear section, steadily gathering momentum, had crashed there, and the bulk of it now lay a mass of wreckage in the bed of the canon four hundred feet below. It happened, though, that none of the passenger coaches had been among those which went over, although one of them hung perilously halfway over the brink. But all its occupants had been rescued in safety, and, except for one or two cases of fractured bones, no injuries had been sustained more serious than minor cuts and contusions. All this Norman learned as he hur- ried hither and thither trying to gather some information in regard to Molly. But her name was not among the list of the injured, nor, so far as he could discover, had any one seen her among the passengers either before or after the accident. It was presently borne in upon him that his fears in regard to her had been without basis. Like him, she must have failed to take the ill-fated Num- ber Twenty-seven. Then, as panic gave way to a sense x 19 of relief, and he began once more to take account of his own affairs, he real- ized almost with a shock that his solici- tude for Molly had accomplished what otherwise would have seemed an im- possibility. Here he was at Rio Rita—or prac- tically so—and it still lacked half an hour to noon. His spirits soared. Only six miles. Why, of course, it could be done. He began hustling around, making in- quiries. But the luck which had followed his steps up to this time seemed now to desert him. So far as any way of get- ting to Rio Rita before noon presented itself he might as well be at the junc- tion. The passengers from the wrecked train, it appeared, had all been trans- ported to town before his party ar- rived; and now nobody was going in that direction. When any of the busy railroad men engaged in clearing the right of way and replacing the torn-up track would interrupt his labors long enough to an- swer Norman’s questions, it was only to tell him shortly that about all he could do was to hoof it. Hoof it? Over six long miles of rough mountain trails, or else hopping the ties; and only a scant half hour to do it in. But at last, just as all hope seemed to have fled, a bearded settler, drawn by curiosity to visit the wreck, rode up on a calico pony; and Norman, ready to chance anything in the emergency, made a speedy dicker for the use of his mount. It was an exorbitant price the fellow charged him, but there was no time to haggle. Norman tossed him the money, and, seizing the reins, clam- bered a bit awkwardly into the saddle. The pony was a wicked-eyed, hard- mouthed mustang; and Norman’s horseback riding hitherto had been confined almost entirely to the wooden steeds of the merry-go-round. Eomichbooks com