catching up to the car, so fast was it rolling.
“Don’t you leave us!” Santelli shouted. “Don’t you dare leave us!
Beyond that, Matt couldn’t hear him. Santelli’s words faded as the distance increased, and were quickly silenced by the growing roar coming from the mountaintop.
“Look!” Bailey shouted in awe, pointing to the top of the mountain.
A fifty-foot-high wall of snow, half a mile wide, came sliding down the side of the mountain, its churning white wave filled with rocks and broken tree trunks.
Santelli, Compton, and Kelly stood looking up at it, their mouths and eyes wide open in horror. Matt was sure they were crying out a death scream of terror, though from his position on the car, he couldn’t hear anything but the roar of the avalanche.
The gunmen disappeared under the huge wave of snow, rocks, and broken tree trunks as the avalanche smashed against the train cars, crushing them as if they were naught but children’s toys.
As the men watched from the free-rolling car, the avalanche was increasing in width as more and more of the mountain began coming down. It moved fast, racing down the track behind them, easily matching the car in speed.
Fortunately, it wasn’t going
The engineer had gone to the other end of the car and was standing out on the platform, looking ahead as the car swept rapidly down the track. Matt joined him, and felt the cold air knifing through him as the car rushed ahead.
“We are really going fast,” Don said. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never gone this fast.”
“I don’t know how fast we are going, but we needed every bit of it. The avalanche was coming down the track toward us, and we barely escaped.”
“Count off twenty seconds. I’ll count the number of rail joint clicks. The number of clicks we hear in twenty seconds will tell us how fast we are going in miles per hour.”
Matt counted off the seconds, but when he got to twenty, Don shook his head. “We’re going too fast for me to get an accurate count, but my guess would be that we are doing at least sixty miles per hour.”
“Wow! Sixty miles per hour? Is there any danger of us running off the track?”
“I don’t think so. Most of the turns are long and gentle. Though, certainly none of them have ever been taken at this speed.”
“What do you say we go back inside the car and get out of this cold wind?” Matt suggested.
“Yes,” Don replied. “That’s a good idea.”
Duff was standing just inside the car, and he had a question. It was a question Matt had already considered, but hadn’t yet asked.
“How do we stop this thing when we get there?” Duff asked.
“That won’t be a problem,” Don said. “The track flattens out for the last half mile before we get into the station. By the time we get to the depot, we won’t be going any faster than a walk.”
Senator Daniels came over to join them. “Well, all I can say is this. Gentlemen, this has certainly been an adventure.”
“You can say that again,” Don replied.
“We sure are going fast,” Becky said. The little girl’s words stunned everyone into shocked silence. She was standing just behind her father.
“Becky!” Senator Daniels shouted.
“Oh, Becky, Sweetheart! You are up!” Millie said, hurrying over to her, and sweeping her up into a big hug.
“Jarred! The fever! I don’t feel it! It’s gone!” Millie said excitedly.
Everyone else in the car reacted in amazement at seeing the little girl who, but a short time ago, had been in an unresponsive state of unconsciousness. Now she was up and talking. All called out in excitement, and Barbara ran over to her, spontaneously giving her a hug.
“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Becky said.
Half a dozen passengers offered her food, and she accepted a piece of bread from Anita.
“How do you feel, honey?” Millie asked.
“I feel good, Mama. I feel real good. Just like Mr. Preacher said I would.”
“
“An old man. He was dressed in funny clothes, with a furry coat and a little furry cap that looked sort of like a squirrel.” Becky laughed. “You know who he is. You were with him out there in the cold. I saw you. You were with him, weren’t you?”
Smoke glanced over at Duff and smiled at the expression of shock on his face. “Yes, honey. I was with him.”
When the car finally rolled in to the depot at Buena Vista the news was spread far and wide. A Christmas celebration was held at the depot, and the entire town participated. People brought roast turkey, duck, chicken, beef, and ham, as well as vegetables of every hue and description, along with pies, cakes, and candy.
“Hey!” one of the railroad employees shouted, coming into the depot. He was holding up a Hawkens .50 caliber buffalo rifle. “Somebody left this back in the car. Anybody know who it belongs to?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
An article appeared in the
The Denver and Pacific Railroad has cleared the track through Trout Creek Pass of the terrible wreckage left by the avalanche, which has, for these last three weeks, rendered traffic through the pass impossible.
Our readers are well aware of the ordeal the passengers who took the Red Cliff Special five days before Christmas, with the intention and full expectation of spending Christmas with their loved ones have endured.
The nefarious scheme of Michael Santelli and the four brigands he had enlisted to aid him ruined Christmas for the innocent passengers. They suffered great hardships during the time they were trapped in the train, with no food and little fuel for warmth.
The train was subsequently reached by Smoke Jensen and Duff MacAllister, their bravery supplying a happy ending to the unhappy adventure. It may also be said that poetic justice was served, as the perpetrators of the crime: Michael Santelli, Felix Parker, Roy Compton, Gerald Kelly, and Melvin Morris, were all killed by avalanche. Their mangled bodies were found in the wreckage.
Also found were the bodies of five innocent men: Deputy Braxton Proxmire, Dennis Dace, and Andrew Patterson of this city, Paul Clark, Deputy City Marshal of Red Cliff, and Fred Jones, a colored porter.
Abner Purvis was a passenger on the first train to make the trip to Red Cliff after the pass was reopened. He
