TALES OF THE ROAD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1618, 9 December 1912, Page 8

TALES OF THE ROAD.

THE LITTLE CONQUEROR. (By Will Lawson,—All Rights Reserved.) Her driving wheels were enormous and flat-footed, w ; th broad treads to hold thodr ground on a greasy road; sire had a beautiful, shiny flywheel spinning at the side of her rather narrow boiler and her funnel, towering high above the ordinary traffic of ;the road, rocked and roared as. she hauled her three wasons of ton tons each along the level stretch. She was the idol of the man who drove her, and because she had never beenheld by any load on any road, they called her tho Little Conqueror. Her rivals were the Black Hand and Old King Coal, though tho latter had, in late years, taken to an agricultural life, hauling a number of ploughs around a paddock. The Black Hand was still on tho road. In fact, sho was running-just about an hour ahead of the Little Conqueror (they were both hauling wool to the railway). Through a world of sunlight and clean wir and pleasant fields the Little Conqueror snorted, in reality a'blot on. the landscape, a discordant note tearing through a perfect symphony of nature's orchestra; yet since utility comes ever foremost in Anglo-Saxon lands, the traction engine's was a necessary note and as musical as any of the others to the ear attuned to her song. So she progressed with clumsy agility up hills and down dales, over bridges and across bad places at,the same steady pace. And quite suddenly her men realised' : that they had overtaken the Black Hand. This engine had made a mess of things. When approaching, a railway crossing where the low road rose on a hump to cross at a level, her front wheels being relieved of much weight by the- drag of the.-wagons, ha-d skidded off the road on to the cattlestops. Then the couplings broke and the weight falling suddenly on the front wheels caused them to crash through the cattle-stops till the smoke-box rested on the permanent way, and all the efforts of her powerful driving wheels could not back her off. In any case it was impossible to keep her fire going because tho water was all at, the forward end of the boiler and there was danger of melting the tubes.

The Express was due to pass within 15 minutes when the Little Conqueror arrived. Already a lineman, who happened to be on the spot, had gone off to stop the train, so there was no fear of a collision. Still, if would not do to hold up the Express for long." The Black Hand's wagons had rolled back to the level road again; and the Little Conqueror, having been uncoupled ,from her load, took them a little distance, all wobbling in the steering because they were running backward. That done, she snorted up to the Black Hand. The sizzle of steam from a leaking gland sounded very like laughter, while the . Black Hand was rumbling with rage and chagrin, "Taking to the rails?" the Little .Conqueror giggled. ■ "Tou'd better be civil, growled the Black Hand. ... , . "Come on, yon lame duck," hissed her rescuer, and with reversed engine jerked backwards. But the Black Hand only groaned. - "Bettor turn round and give a decent pull. Hurry up or that swagger express engine will see me." "She would laugh," agTeed the Little Conqueror, as'she turned about and backed up to her task. Just then there rang a clarion note away down the metalled way; it was the Express taking notioe of the lineman s little red flag. Presently the hutfylooking, big-wheeled- railway enginecaine creeping up to the Scene of the accident; her cow-catcher paused just a foot away from the Black Hand's smoke-box. Trainmen and passengers, came along to see what had happened and the Black Hand's disgrace was complete. Not that the ex-; press engine made any unkind remarks; after a lew exclamations of surprise, she dropped off into a doss—those common, road-engines made heT very tired. The traction-engine men were working "with desperate speed to get the line clear; and the trainmen were assisting as much as they were able, which was not very much, for the methods of the road-drivers are beyond the ken of other men. They fastened chains to the top spokes of the Black Hand's driving wheels; ihe other ends of the chains were made fast to the Little Conqueror. Then the end of a long beam was thrust under the Black Hand's smoke-box to act as a lever. The Little Conqueror's driver moved her ahead till the chains were taut. "When you're ready, he shouted to the men with the'lever. At that, every man who <!ould get a grip on it, strove to pull the lever down. The Black Hands smoke-box rose an inch. ' "Pull away yelled the Black Handls driver. And the Little Conqueror PiHed; snorting and belching smoke _ she pulled for her life. Her drivers slipped, gripped, slipped again, and then took hold m real earnest. The Black Hand began to rise and roll backward. "Hurrah!" someone shouted. Just then the beam snapped, spilling the men right and left, but fortunately hurting no one. Now, it all lay with the Little Conqueror. It.was a hard, long pull and it seemed for several moments that the Black Hand would sink into the cattlestops again. But once again the Little Conqueror justified her name-. By slow degrees, the crippled engine's wheels came clear of the line, and, with brakes on, she rolled down the hump on to the level. The express engine woke up with a snort, her whistle blew and with passengers jumping and clambering aboard, the train pulled away, leaving the men of the road alone on their domain.

The Black Hand, ouite uninjured, was preparing for her journey again, while tho Littlo Conqueror took the lead and passed over tho hump with triumphant ease to lurch down the other side with wagons pushing and tumbling behind. Some miles further on, she passed the paddock where old King Colo tramped steadily, round and dragging his six ploughs after him. Perhaps the Little Conqueror felt pleased to be on the .good road and perhaps she longed for tho sheltered life, he led; however, that may be, she snorted cheerily onward and came at last, to the railway township % where the wool in the first two of her wagons was transhipped to railway trucks. In the last wagon the loading was chaff and this had, to be. delivered to a" warehouse standing in a blind street which led off the main street. This, of course, necessitated that tho engine and wagon should proceed along tho main street for a short distance. But, against this, thero is a law that traction engines must not traverse the main streets of the more ambitious townships. Moreover, in this case the police station had to bo passed. To load tho chaff into drays for that short distance was too expensive to contemplate. The Littlo Conqueror's driver was a seasoned law-breaker, and at a pace that did not make too much noise,.he turned her into tho main thoroughfare.

A large policeman lounged at the gate of the' station, and his eagle eye saw tho Little Cohquoror as she came round the corner. It looked rather as though sho was trying to sneak past the bobby unobserved, out he was too alert for that. Still, hor driver sent her. Amazed citizens stood to staro at his audacity; tho lounging constable did not move, ho just watched the Little Conqueror as bo would a suspicious character trying to pass unnoticed in a crowd, and the Little Conqueror came puffing proudly up the street. Whon sho was opposite the police station tho constable stirred. By degrees his limbs became ambiilistic—they moved, and, consequently, he walked over to the engine-driver. "What do you mean by bringing your engine here? "Want to get this chaff to A. and J.'s." "Can't help that. Under By-law 5010 I arrest this onginc—and I hopo she comes quietly,'\ he added with a grin. He took the name of' the driver and the number of the enginf, and strolled back to watch for more dare-devil machines which might daro to break a by-law. And tho Little Conqueror, making uproar enough to waken the dead, swaggered insolently 'along tho forbidden ground to deliver her load of chaff.