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Science Fiction Fan, v. 5, issue 9, whole 56, April 1941
Page 5
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FAN 5 sweat to think of what I did next! Reaching the end of the car I paused a moment, fixed my feet, then jumped. The train lurched sideways and a burst of wind caught me simultaneously which sent me stumbling off balance down the board walk. I fell flat purposely to avoid a possible lurch while I was off balance and throw me clear off the car. This taught me a valuable lesson (which I took no heed of later in the journey, of course) and threw a hell of a scare into me. When I picked myself up I crawled to the end of the second car and down the ladder on the rear end. When down on the last rung I couldn't see anything and stretched my foot experimentally out to locate the coupling. Unable to find it I was about to settle there to continue the journey till the next stop when I happened to think that Olon might get worried about me, and I was frankly concerned about him as I thought he had been following me and then I found he was gone. I made another attempt. I found it this time but was afraid to shift my weight on something I couldn't see so drew back my foot. Suddenly 1 remembered my fountain pen flashlight my dad had given me for the trip and quickly extracted It from my shirt pocket underneath my sweat shirt. One flash showed all the details, but it was difficult to distinguish anything in my eyes' condition and the ties and weeds and gravel between the tracks rushed by making a delirious blur that almost made me sick. I stepped on the coupling with my right foot and grasped a small pipe that extended up the center of the end of this particular car. Not trusting it completely I brought the other foot over gingerly, turned around, and repeated the procedure to the ladder on the front of the other car. Climbing up on top I crawled back to the next junction. Two or three more times I climbed down and up again until I finally reached the well Wiggins was in. With a silent but relieved greeting on both our
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FAN 5 sweat to think of what I did next! Reaching the end of the car I paused a moment, fixed my feet, then jumped. The train lurched sideways and a burst of wind caught me simultaneously which sent me stumbling off balance down the board walk. I fell flat purposely to avoid a possible lurch while I was off balance and throw me clear off the car. This taught me a valuable lesson (which I took no heed of later in the journey, of course) and threw a hell of a scare into me. When I picked myself up I crawled to the end of the second car and down the ladder on the rear end. When down on the last rung I couldn't see anything and stretched my foot experimentally out to locate the coupling. Unable to find it I was about to settle there to continue the journey till the next stop when I happened to think that Olon might get worried about me, and I was frankly concerned about him as I thought he had been following me and then I found he was gone. I made another attempt. I found it this time but was afraid to shift my weight on something I couldn't see so drew back my foot. Suddenly 1 remembered my fountain pen flashlight my dad had given me for the trip and quickly extracted It from my shirt pocket underneath my sweat shirt. One flash showed all the details, but it was difficult to distinguish anything in my eyes' condition and the ties and weeds and gravel between the tracks rushed by making a delirious blur that almost made me sick. I stepped on the coupling with my right foot and grasped a small pipe that extended up the center of the end of this particular car. Not trusting it completely I brought the other foot over gingerly, turned around, and repeated the procedure to the ladder on the front of the other car. Climbing up on top I crawled back to the next junction. Two or three more times I climbed down and up again until I finally reached the well Wiggins was in. With a silent but relieved greeting on both our
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