tiable. The shock
was not great, the advance seemed very slow; but it plowed on
through car after car with a steady and determined course, which
suggested at that critical moment a vast and resistless living
agent. When motion ceased, I knew my time of trial was near; for if
Colonel Williams had not been thrown from the top of the cars into
the gorge below, he would soon be forward to execute his threat,--to
shoot me if any accident occurred. I stepped out of the cab on the
railing running along to the smoke-stack, so as to be out of view to
one coming forward toward the engine, and yet to have him in the
full light of the lantern which hung in the cab.

Exactly as I had surmised,--for I had seen a specimen of his fierce
temper and recklessness,--he came stamping and cursing; and jumping
from the car on to the tender, he drew a pistol, and cried out,
"Where is that cursed engineer, that did this pretty job? I'll shoot
him the minute I lay eyes on him."

I threw up my six-shooter so that the light of the lantern shone
upon it, while he could see me but indistinctly, if at all, and said
with deliberation, "Colonel Williams, if you raise your pistol you
are a dead man; don't stir, but listen to me. I have done just what
any man must have done under the circumstances. I stopped the train
as soon as possible, and I'll convince you of it, if you are a
reasonable man; but not another word of shooting, or you go down."

"Don't shoot, don't shoot," he cried.

"Put up your pistol and so will I," I replied.

He did so, and came forward, and I explained the impossibility of
seeing the train sooner, as I had no head-light, and they had
carelessly neglected to leave a light on the rear of the other
train. I advised the choleric colonel to go forward and expend his
wrath and curses on the conductor of the forward train, that had
stopped in such a place, and sent out no signal-man in the rear, nor
even left a red light. He acknowledged I was right. I then informed
him that I was an officer in the ordnance department, and was in
charge of a shipment of ammunition for Bowling Green, and would have
him court-martialed when we reached there, unless he apologized for
the threats he had made. This information had a calming effect on
the colonel, who at heart was really a clever fellow. He afterward
came and begged my pardon; we shook hands cordially, and were good
friends.

Having settled this talk of shooting, and put the responsibi