A deafening crash, a splash, a cloud
of dust--
With a protesting squeal, the caboose came to the point where the
logging-train had left the right of way, carrying rails and ties with
it. The wheels on the side nearest the bank slid into the dirt first
and plowed deep into the soil; the caboose came to an abrupt stop,
trembled and rattled, overtopped its centre of gravity, and fell over
against the cut-bank, wearily, like a drunken hag.
Bryce, still clinging to the brake, was fully braced for the shock
and was not flung off. Calmly he descended the ladder, recovered the
axe from the bumper, climbed back to the roof, tiptoed off the roof
to the top of the bank and sat calmly down under a manzanita bush to
await results, for he was quite confident that none of the occupants
of the confounded caboose had been treated to anything worse than a
wild ride and a rare fright, and he was curious to see how Shirley
Sumner would behave in an emergency.
Colonel Pennington was first to emerge at the rear of the caboose. He
leaped lightly down the steps, ran to the front of the car, looked
down the track, and swore feelingly. Then he darted back to the rear
of the caboose.
"All clear and snug as a bug under a chip, my dear," he called to
Shirley. "Thank God, the caboose became uncoupled--guess that fool
brakeman forgot to drop the pin; it was the last car, and when it
jumped the track and plowed into the dirt, it just naturally quit and
toppled over against the bank.
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