Page:Weird Tales volume 36 number 02.djvu/116



THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

By SIGMOND MILLER

T'S a long stretch between Jackson City and Logan, every bit of three hundred miles. The fast trains that come through here, if they're behind time, can easily build up a good speed and make the schedule, for it's a straight run. No need to slow down; no difficult bends and very few cross roads.

On this spring night the fog was unusually heavy. Engineer Timson pulled out his big watch. "On time," he said laconically.

I wiped my brow; I'm the fireman. "Kinda heavy fog t'night."

Timson grunted and busied himself at the controls. The huge panting locomotive got under way. Soon the click-clack of the wheels beat rhythmically and the crack Western Limited moved along at high speed.

For an hour neither of us said anything, but attended to our duties. We were making good time despite the fog. Suddenly Timson shouted out in a strange voice. "My eyes must be goin' back on me. Do yuh see what I see?"

I looked out of the cab and saw directly ahead and above what seemed to be nothing else but a silhouette of a black Angel. The wings were wide and black and the apparition rode the sky with the same speed as the train. "Almighty God!" I said in an awed whisper. "What is that!"

"Yuh see it too, don't yuh?"

I nodded.

"It looks like the Angel of Death," said Timson, his voice packed with fear.

"It's a warning!" I shouted, quite frightened. "Put on the brakes!"

The engineer needed no urging. The locomotive came to a quick halt.

Both of us got off. The apparition remained stationary in the sky. It moved or seemed to beckon. "It's trying to warn us. Maybe something wrong with the engine," I said.

We walked around the huge boiler tube examining the eccentric crank, the reversing links, the connecting rods, but found nothing wrong.

The figure in the sky remained where it was.

"Well, I'll be hanged!" I said with great relief.

"What yuh find?" asked the engineer walking over to me.

"It's just a moth stuck on the headlight Just threw a shadow in the sky like a movin' picture." I handed Timson the fluttering moth. 119