CHAPTER II. 'HANDLE ME GENTLY.'
CHAPTER III. A GENIUS.
CHAPTER IV. THE TRAPPER AND THE ARTISAN.
CHAPTER V. ON THE YELLOWSTONE.
CHAPTER VI. THE MINERS.
CHAPTER VII. THE STEAM MAN ON HIS TRAVELS.
CHAPTER VIII. INDIANS.
CHAPTER IX. THE STEAM MAN AS A HUNTER.
CHAPTER X. WOLF RAVINE.
CHAPTER XI. THE STEAM MAN ON A BUFFALO HUNT.
CHAPTER XII. THE GRIZZLY BEAR.
CHAPTER XIII. AN APPALLING DANGER.
CHAPTER XIV. THE HUGE HUNTER.
CHAPTER XV. THE ATTACK IN THE RAVINE.
CHAPTER XVI. THE REPULSE.
CHAPTER XVII. HOMEWARD BOUND.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE ENCAMPMENT.
CHAPTER XIX. THE DOINGS OF A NIGHT.
CHAPTER XX. THE CONCLUDING CATASTROPHE.
CHAPTER I. THE TERROR OF THE PRAIRIES.
'HOWLY vargin! what is that?' exclaimed Mickey McSquizzle, with
something like horrified amazement.
'By the Jumping Jehosiphat, naow if that don't, beat all natur'!'
'It's the divil, broke loose, wid full steam on!'
There was good cause for these exclamations upon the part of the
Yankee and Irishman, as they stood on the margin of Wolf Ravine, and
gazed off over the prairie. Several miles to the north, something like
a gigantic man could be seen approaching, apparently at a rapid gait
for a few seconds, when it slackened its speed, until it scarcely
moved.
Occasionally it changed its course, so that it went nearly at right
angles. At such times, its colossal proportions were brought out in
full relief, looking like some Titan as it took its giant strides over
the prairie.
The distance was too great to scrutinize the phenomenon closely; but
they could see that a black volume of smoke issued either from its
mouth or the top of its head, while it was drawing behind it a sort of
carriage, in which a single man was seated, who appeared to control
the movements of the extraordinary being in front of him.
No wonder that something like superstitious have filled the breasts of
the two men who had ceased hunting for gold, for a few minutes, to
view the singular apparition; for such a thing had scarcely been
dreamed of at that day, by the most imaginative philosophers; much
less had it ever entered the head of these two men on the western
prairies.
'Begorrah, but it's the ould divil, hitched to his throttin 'waging,
wid his ould wife howlding the reins!' exclaimed Mickey, who had
scarcely removed his eyes from the singular object.
'That there critter in the wagon is a man,' said Hopkins, looking as
intently in the same direction. 'It seems to me,' he added, a moment
later, 'that there's somebody else a-sit-ting alongside of him, either
a dog or a boy. Wal, naow, ain't that queer?'
'Begorrah! begorrah! do ye hear that? What shall we do?'
At that instant, a shriek like that of some agonized giant came home
to them across the plains, and both looked around, as if about to flee
in terror; but the curiosity of the Yankee restrained him. His
practical eye saw that whatever it might be, it was a human
contrivance, and there could be nothing supernatural about it.
'Look!'
Just after giving its ear-splitting screech, it turned straight toward
the two men, and with the black smoke rapidly puffing from the top of
its head, came tearing along at a tremendous rate.
Mickey manifested some nervousness, but he was restrained by the
coolness of Ethan, who kept his position with his eye fixed keenly
upon it.
Coming at such a railroad speed, it was not long in passing the
intervening space. It was yet several hundred yards distant, when
Ethan Hopkins gave Mickey a ringing slap upon the shoulder.
'Jerusalem! who do ye s'pose naow, that man is sitting in the carriage
and holding the reins?'
'Worrah, worrah! why do you ax me, whin I'm so frightened entirely
that I don't know who I am myself?'
'Its Baldy.'
'Git out!' replied the Irishman, but added the next moment, 'am I
shlaping or dhraming? It's Baldy or his ghost.'
It certainly was no ghost, judging from the manner in which it acted;
for he sat with his hat cocked on one side, a pipe in his mouth, and
the two reins in his hands, just as the skillful driver controls the
mettlesome horses and keeps them well in hand.
He was seated upon a large pile of wood, while near nestled a little
hump-backed, bright-eyed boy, whose eyes sparkled with delight at the
performance of the strange machine.
The speed of the steam man gradually slackened, until it came opposite
the men, when it came to a dead halt, and the grinning 'Baldy,' as he
was called, (from his having lost his scalp several years before, by
the Indians), tipped his hat and said:
'Glad to see you hain't gone under yit. How'd you git along while I
was gone?'
But the men were hardly able to answer any questions yet, until they
had learned something more about the strange creation before them.
Mickey shied away, as the timid steed does at first sight of the
locomotive, observing which, the boy (at a suggestion from Baldy),
gave a string in his hand a twitch, whereupon the nose of the
wonderful thing threw out a jet of steam with the sharp screech of the
locomotive whistle. Mickey sprung a half dozen feet backward, and
would have run off at full speed down the ravine, had not Ethan
Hopkins caught his arm.
'What's the matter, Mickey, naow! Hain't you ever heard anything like
a locomotive whistle?'
'Worrah, worrah, now, but is that the way the crather blows its nose?
It must have a beautiful voice when it shnores at night.'
Perhaps at this point a description of the singular mechanism should
be given. It was about ten feet in hight, measuring to the top of the
'stove-pipe hat,' which was fashioned after the common order of felt
coverings, with a broad brim, all painted a shiny black. The face was
made of iron, painted a black color, with a pair of fearful eves, and
a tremendous grinning mouth. A whistle-like contrivance was trade to
answer for the nose. The steam chest proper and boiler, were where the
chest in a human being is generally supposed to be, extending also
into a large knapsack arrangement over the shoulders and back. A pair
of arms, like projections, held the shafts, and the broad flat feet
were covered with sharp spikes, as though he were the monarch of
base-ball players. The legs were quite long, and the step was natural,
except when running, at which time, the bolt uprightness in the figure
showed different from a human being.
In the knapsack were the valves, by which the steam or water was
examined. In front was a painted imitation of a vest, in which a door
opened to receive the fuel, which, together with the water, was
carried in the wagon, a pipe running along the shaft and connecting
with the boiler.
The lines which the driver held controlled the course of the steam
man; thus, by pulling the strap on the right, a deflection was caused
which turned it in that direction, and the same acted on the other
side. A small rod, which ran along the right shaft, let out or shut
off the steam, as was desired, while a cord, running along the left,
controlled the whistle at the nose.
The legs of this extraordinary mechanism were fully a yard apart, so
as to avoid the danger of its upsetting, and at the same time, there
was given more room for the play of the delicate machinery within.
Long, sharp, spike-like projections adorned those toes of the immense
feet, so that there was little danger of its slipping, while the
length of the legs showed that, under favorable circumstances, the
steam man must be capable of very great speed.
After Ethan Hopkins had some what familiarized himself with the
external appearance of this piece of mechanism, he ventured upon a
more critical examination.
The door being opened in front, showed a mass of glowing coals lying
in the capacious abdomen of the giant; the hissing valves in the
knapsack made themselves apparent, and the top of the hat or
smoke-stack had a sieve-like arrangement, such as is frequently seen
on the locomotive.
There were other little conveniences in the way of creating a draft,
and of shutting it off when too great, which could scarcely be
understood without a scrutiny of the figure itself.
The steam man was a frightful looking object, being painted of a
glossy black, with a pair of white stripes down its legs, and with a
face which was intended to be of a flesh color, but, which was really
a fearful red.
To give the machinery an abundance of room, the steam man was
exceedingly corpulent, swelling out to aldermanic proportions, which,
after all, was little out of harmony with its immense hight.
The wagon dragged behind was an ordinary four-wheeled vehicle, with
springs, and very strong wheels, a framework being arranged, so that
when necessary it could be securely covered. To guard against the
danger of upsetting it was very broad, with low wheels, which it may
be safely said were made to 'hum' when the gentleman got fairly under
way.
Such is a brief and Imperfect description of this wonderful steam man,
as it appeared on its first visit to the Western prairies.