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      Each moment we expected the worst; to be picked up, tumbled and hurled to destruction across the black and scraggy plains. Certain it seemed that the frail handiwork of man could not withstand the frightful assault of the tearing and deafening gale.

      Yet our train clung to the smooth rails and moved slowly forward. For the last hour we had gone at a snail's pace and had not made to exceed eight miles.

      The wind had raged in wildest fury. It had bellowed and shrieked through the ragged knobs as if angered at the obstruction they offered, and men, gathering its shattered forces as it sped on to the desolate waste, it rushed with the might of an avalanche as if to sweep all before it.

      "Toughest night on these plains in ten years, 'cepting one," stated Old Bernard, our Pullman conductor, during a moments lull; and adding in a loud voice, that his words might lend comfort to the terror stricken passengers, "it did not blow us into the blue beds then, and you bet we will weather it now."

      Bernard had injected all of the semblance of confidence possible into his assertion, but not a soul present would have laid the slightest wager, as he advised, that we would live through the fury of the night. His last sentence had scarcely terminated when we were caught broadsides by an overpowering and thundering gust. Our car almost careened; it swayed spasmodically, as if the very earth beneath the wheels was in convulsions. Fortunately the stoutest gusts were only of momentary duration, pelting the curtained windows with pebbles and sand, tugging at the train as if to shoulder it, and racking our nerves to the very utmost.

      We had gotten out of Torreon at 10.30 o'clock, an hour late, headed through the black night and wild tempest across the cacti plains for the border. The track distance is slightly less than four hundred miles, and when on scheduled time the traveler, after a fair night's sleep and a breakfast, finds himself at the silvery Rio Grande and crosses into the States. I had secured my berth at Torreon, and after my two months' jaunt through the picturesque scenes of Astect lore was eager to again set foot upon the domain over which waves the stars and stripes.

      My coupon was for the lower berth in section No. 12. All the other berths were likewise engaged, our car being filled. Halt of the passengers were ladies, and during the two hours that had elapsed some had fainted a number of times, and others had been rendered wildly hysterical. A few of the male passengers had been almost as severely affected; others, however, including myself, had remained apparently calm and had done what little lay in their power to render assistance and comfort.

      Shortly after midnight the fury of the storm suddenly abated. The mad gusts tempered down into an easy rollicking pace, and our train picked up in speed until it made its forty mile schedule. At 12.30 I reeled my way though the swaying car to the buffet smoker. I was in search of Slick, our black, raw boned, big lipped negro porter, and I found him in one corner of the apartment drawn up into a knot on the floor. He had his coat off and wrapped about his head. Every fibre in him seemed shaking as though palsied.

      "Get up, you black rascal," I said, prodding him with my foot, and feeling angered at his cowardly collapse.

      He gave me no answer and I applied my foot more vigorously and expressed my contempt for his cowardice.

      "It is not de stom, boss; I's not afeard of de wind," he chattered, without showing me his face.

      "Of course you are not frightened," I replied; "you don't look it; but get up at once; the storm is over and you are needed, as the passengers wish to retire."

      "Boss, I dassent move from dis spot; but it 'taint de stom I's afeard ob no wind — it is de missus and her little un a-wailin' for der berf."

      "What missus and little one? If you know there is any one who wants their berth why don't you get up and go and make it?"

      At that moment Bernard entered, and I observed that his face was strangely pallid and his features seemingly rigid as those of a corpse. The change had come suddenly, and I suspected it to be due to reaction, a sequence not unlikely to follow the awful strain to which we had been subjected.

      "Let Slick alone," he said, with a nervous, harsh voice; "he has more than the storm to battle with tonight, and a stouter heart than his might well quail."

      I did not understand, nor did I question; I left the apartment and went back to my seat. Hysterical women were still sobbing, but in the main there was an air of tranquil thanksgiving. All the passengers appeared to be considerably worn from their evening's experience and the majority of them eager to get into their berths, that they might pass the remaining hours of the night in blessed slumber.

      Slick at length emerged, standing weakly on his feet and trembling in every limb. I have never seen so complete a picture of terror as he presented. The whites of his eyes had doubled in size and his black skin was a slate color, the extent of paleness it could assume. His teeth chattered until I could hear the rattle even above the din of the speeding train.

      Bernard came closely after him and gently urged him forward with one hand on his shoulder. Slick came first to my seat and it was with difficulty he managed to force out words, asking me to vacate so he could make my berth. I told him to attend to some of the berths for the ladies first, and not to worry about mine.

      "I dassent, boss," he replied, with an agony in look and words; "I'se got ter make dis de very fust."

      I was in the act of giving him a chug, with the hopes of bringing him to his senses, when Bernard again interfered, catching my raised arm and telling me to let Slick have his way. I felt considerably nettled, nevertheless I moved peacefully to the opposite side of the car. The conductor assisted the trembling negro in making my berth. Both paused when the work was completed and seemed to experience a sense of great relief.

      Shortly afterward, Bernard came over to me and asked:

      "Have you the coupon for the lower berth of No. 12?"

      I replied that I had, and he then quickly added: "You can't sleep there tonight; the lower berth of No. 12 is occupied."

      "Occupied?" I queried testily, "and will you pray tell me by whom?"

      "By a mother and her infant child," he said.

      "There is no mother and babe in this car," I stated, eyeing him closely and for the first time suspicioning mental disorder.

      "Well, they are here, and you can't sleep in that berth," he added with emphasis which grated unpleasantly on my nerves.

      I replied that I held the coupon for the berth and I guessed it would not go well with anybody who attempted to deprive me of the apartment.

      "I shall not interfere," he said in softer tones, "you are at perfect liberty to try; but I warn you that you will not sleep there."

      I was a bit confused by his answer and much at sea as to his real meaning; however, I replied, with a desire to conciliate, that if there was really a mother and babe on the train, who had no berth, they would be welcome to mine.

      "Where are they?" I asked, "I will see them and tell them so."

      "They are here. Oh, God, they are always here when the nights are black and the winds sweep over the plains. Great dark eyes look pleading into mine and the sobs of a baby's voice ring in my ears. They are here as surely and truly as the boundless desert around. They claim their berth and no human can slumber in it when they have come."

      I now fancied I held the key to the mystery and I felt a bit angered and a good deal amused.

      "If you have spooks on the brain or trainmen's jimmies," I said, "don't fancy for an instant that such is going to keep me out of my berth or prevent me from getting a few hours good sleep."

      Bernard's eyes rested on me earnestly for a moment, and in their dark depths I believed I saw the gleam of a madman.

      He evidently thought it useless to argue, for without a word he turned his back on me and went to the other end of the car.

      Considerably perplexed, I made my way to my berth. Slick was industriously at work with the others, and I observed that his condition was marvelously calm to what it had been a few moments previous.

      Holding to the draperies of my apartment, I paused, musing on stories I had heard of hobgobblins haunting trainmen — of pale spectres riding the engine s pilot, or fleeing along the track apace with the speeding train.

      I had heard of a phantom stag, which long ago had haunted an engineer on moonless nights. From a certain rocky gorge it would leap upon the track and would caper and frolic just ahead of the moving engine for miles. At length it would disappear by falling and passing under the wheels of the train. The grinding of bones would then grate on the ears of the unfortunate engineer and sicken him to the very heart. When the conditions were perfect the phantom never failed to appear and re-enact in full the ghoulish tragedy. Once, it was said, it had taken place in reality; a noble antlered beast had been run down and mangled to death by a midnight train, and the apparition was alleged to be its departed spirit.

      I recalled a tale I had once read of a phantom, fairy girl. She was always clad in a loose and flowing gown, and she possessed a sunburst of golden tresses as long as her lithe young body. She was known as the spook of 77, the figures being indicative of the engine she haunted. Beautiful as a heavenly dream was the vision, yet it awed, and it chilled the very blood, of those who gazed upon it.

      The apparition always appeared just before the break of day at a point where a passenger train had once been wrecked and many fives lost. The train continued to pass the fatal place at the same hour, and as it approached the engineer would behold the ethereal form, standing in the centre of the track, waving her misty arms above her head as though in signal for him to apply the brake.

      Just as the engine would seem on the point of passing over the figure it would arise, floating gracefully as an angel, and with the long golden tresses billowing gently on the breeze. Ascending over the great laboring engine she would seat herself upon the vapory cloud of steam as it floated upward, hot, and trailed a milky path far behind. In her chariot of steam the girlish spectre would ride in splendor just over the train, until the first bright glow of morn caught her in tender embrace and bore her into the realm of the golden light of day.

      I had always thought such fancies to have originated from diseased brains or to be due to mere hallucinations. I felt sure Bernard was mentally afflicted, and more — that he had imparted his ghoulish ideas to the susceptible Slick.

      I pulled back the curtain of my berth and inspected the interior. All seemed right and far from having any supernatural appearance. Slowly I undressed and as I stretched out in bed I felt that I should soon sink into deep slumber, for I was tired and worn and even then drowsy.

      I think I had just began to doze when I suddenly sprang into a sitting position with a chilly sensation creeping over me. Surely I had felt baby fingers clasping my hand and also the stinging slap of a small palm of a woman upon my cheek.

      "Pshaw!" I muttered, "Bernard has given me a bad subject to dream about."

      I lay down again wide awake, and almost immediately I heard the sobbing of an infant. Then came a stout tug at my hair; a breath passed over my face as chilled as ice and tiny fingers dug at my throat. I am sure my blood ran cold and I experienced the feeling of my hair standing on end. I believed I was in the throes of a horrible nightmare, and I pinched myself to shake off the spell, but it would not leave.

      A strange glamor affected my vision, and at intervals I caught the vapory outlines of a form in black. Unveiled, was the misty features of a beautiful face, with great dark, pleading eyes. With shadowy arms the vision tenderly pressed to its bosom the shadowy form of an infant. The apparition would last but for a moment and then fade away. Following it smart slaps would be rained upon my face by unseen hands; silken tresses were drawn across my brow and their very touch stung like nettles. Tear drops descended upon my face with the lightness of falling snowflakes, at first icy cold, they were quickly transformed into burning drops like molten lead.

      The torment was continuous, and I was not only thoroughly frightened, but was in great pain. I fought wildly at the air with my hands and at the vapory forms which now appeared more frequently. The tugging, pinching and slapping were incessant, and there was but little intermission between the icy breaths, burning tears and plaintive sobs.

      I could endure it no longer, and I was on the point of screaming and springing out into the aisle, when the curtains of my berth were drawn back and the terror distorted face of Slick was presented.

      "Fo de lub of de good Lawd, Masser, do get up quick; you's killen me and de Cap."

      "Yes, I will get up," I replied with difficulty, and I lost no time in doing so. I hastily dressed and went back to the smoking apartment. There sat Bernard with his head between his hands. Slick had preceeded me and was again helplessly wilted in a corner.

      "In the name of God will you tell me the meaning of this?" I meekly asked of Bernard.

      A pale, yet not unhappy face was turned toward me, and with a faint smile he replied:

      "Yes, sit down and I will tell you all I know of the spirits of these plains."

      I lighted a cigar, as a means of composure, and seating myself listened attentively to the story he related:

      "It was a year ago," he said, "that we had another, just such a night as this, and it was then that I met them in life. Since, they have never failed to come to me in spirit form when the nights are black and the elements rage. They come and demand their berth, the lower of section 12.

      "When the moon smiles on the plains and the nights are peaceful they are content to dwell in space. It is only when they wish protection from the terrors of storm and darkness that they come to me.

      "We had left Torreon late, the same as we did tonight. This car, which has made this run continuously during the past ten years, with me in charge, was the last one of the train. I stood on the rear platform as we were moving out. The black air was filled with pebbles and sand, and the wind was howling through the hills like a thousand demons. We had passed the border of the town, when I heard a sob, just as I was upon the point of re-entering the car. The sound came from under the lower stoop of the platform, and, hastily investigating, I found a young female crouching there, with a small bundle in her arms.

      "I gently assisted her to arise and led her into the car. She was very slight in form and was quivering with agitation. I do not think she was past sixteen years of age and she. had the most beautiful face I had ever beheld. It was small, oval and most delicately featured. A pair of wonderfully dark eyes, fringed with long silken lashes, looked timidly into mine and a sweet girlish voice pleaded with me for protection. The grief which had nearly crushed her had driven the rich color from her beautiful cheeks. Her lips trembled and her young bosom, to which she pressed her tiny offspring, heaved convulsively.

      "'I must go,' she said, freeing one little, white hand, and as if in supplication placed it on my arm; 'I have no money, but I pray you to help me for the sake of my child.'

      "For a moment I was powerless to speak. Mistaking my silence for a refusal, hope seemed to fade in her lustrous eyes, and in words scarcely audible she said: 'Then we will die on the plains, for we will never go back.'

      "'I would give my life to help you,' I replied, with emotion. 'Yes, you may go on this train and I will do all that I can for you.'

      "I gently placed her in a seat, making her as comfortable as possible. She seemed very young, and I was much alarmed lest she was ill. I asked ber no questions: I fancied I knew the stinging sorrow which had blighted her fair young life, had robbed her of loving friends and cast her adrift on a bleak world.

      "Every berth was occupied, but I made up my mind that some one should give way to her and her child. I approached a commercial man, explained to him the situation in part, and asked if he would release his berth, offering to pay him three times the amount he had advanced. He savagely refused, saying he would not do as much for his grandmother. I replied that he would at least part with it for that night, and tersely warned him that Slick and I would drop him from the train if he made any loud complaint. I meant what I said, and he comprehended it, too. He left the car, going into another, mumbling threats about sueing the company and seeing that I lost my run. I rather expected that he would make trouble at the end of the line, but he did not, nor have I since heard of him.

      "His berth was the lower of No. 12. I had Slick make it up at once, and, going to the child mother, told her she might retire.

      "She seemed overpowered with gratitude, and before I could realize the action she had taken my hand in one of her tiny ones and pressed her lips to it.

      "'My poor little girl,' I said, vainly attempting to restrain my tears, 'may God always see that you have some one to protect you.'

      "I assisted her to the berth, and in reply to my question as to how far she wished to go she said, to the end of the line, anywhere across the border into the States.

      She placed the infant in the berth, and then lay down beside it. I was sure she was too much fatigued to make any attempt at disrobing. I buttoned the curtains tightly and then, went about my duties.

      "I am sure the spirit of mother and child left their bodies at a point now some forty miles back, and where the hills branch to the Southward, parting their dismal company with the plains. At least it is there they always join us.

      "I walked past her berth many times during the night, and attentively listened for signs of complaint. Not until we had reached Rio Grande and our journey was at an end did I go to arouse her, and to summon her to a delicate breakfast which I had ordered prepared for her.

      "There was no response to my tappings upon the berth curtains, nor was there any answer to my calls. At length, somewhat alarmed, I peeped within. One of her little hands was stretched out toward me and I took hold of it to awaken her. It was cold and rigid. My senses reeled and I almost fell.

      "Steadying myself, I frantically tore the draperies apart and gazed upon the forms within. She was still clad in her black garb and one arm was gently folded about the infant on her breast. I placed my hand upon it and found it likewise cold in death. The eyes of the young mother were closed as if in peaceful slumber, the long lashes laying gently on the icy cheeks. I stooped and pressed my lips to the waxen forehead, then I staggered from the coach and gave the alarm to the officials at the station. The next train bore back the bodies of mother and babe to the ones from whom they had fled on the wild night.

      "It was a week later and on a bleak night that they first came to me in spirit form. They appeared at the point mentioned, and while I was standing in the aisle. The young mother placed her hand upon mine, and, bowing her head, kissed it as she had done in life. I saw them as plain as I do you at this moment. If I sat in the smoker she would seat herself beside me, and the sobbing of the babe would sound in my ears. She would remain still only for a moment, and then would move toward the berth she had occupied. Her great pleading eyes would be fixed upon mine, and I could not fail to understand her desire. It was the berth they had come to claim, and I was not long in having it made up for them, it fortunately being vacant. On other nights when I have peered out of a window into the darkness she has pressed her little forehead to the pane from without for me to kiss. Or if I stood upon the rear platform sobs would come from the lower stoop and I would see the frail form huddled there. She would always soon after appearing demand her berth, and, if it was taken, woe to the occupant. No one within could sleep when the two spirit claimants were present.

      "I began regularly purchasing the berth for them in advance, on nights when there was no moon or there were indications of a storm. Then I would always have it in readiness when we arrived at the point where they were sure to join us. On such nights I would see but little of them unless I peered within the curtained berth, which I never failed to do. There they would always be, just as they were on the morning when I pressed my lips to her forehead.

      "Through an error I failed to get the berth yesterday, although I telegraphed orders ahead for it. You secured it and now you understand what words can never tell.

      "As you have given up your berth the babe and mother are now slumbering there," he said, arising, "and I shall go and look upon them and shall kiss the girl-mother's forehead. I love them better than anything on earth: they are my only dear ones and some night, when the stars are barred from heaven and the elements weep, my soul will go to join them and with them forever haunt the cacti plains."