Page 189 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

The mat!man was standing beside him, as quiet and meek as could be,
lie looked quite as .sane as his keeper, as he courteously nodded to me;
A n d my friend said at Limes he was harmless, whilst at others his fury
was such
That ci person unused to such people would be just like a child in his
clutch.

TTien a down train ran into the station, and I had to cross over the line,
(ii t when it had gone I returned, sir, when T saw that old schoolmate
of mine
I'’all. struck by the hand o f the madman. T took in the scene at a glance,
As the madman leaped on to the rails, sir, to make the best use o f his
chance,

I thought it was right to pursue him, so T went for him jusL like a shot,
For 1 feared what w ould happen to him, sir, if into the tunnel he got.
Oil he went, without halting an instant, right into the darkness and
gloom ,
W hile I ran like the wind, sir, to save him from meeting a horrible doom.

The up train was due in a minute— how I hoped T might reach him
ere then [
Then the thought o f his strength burst upon me, for Fin not the
strongest o f men ;
Still, I wouldn't g o back, I would vi.sk it, and put up with a bit of a strife,
If I could but reach him and keep him from toohshly losing his die.

Directly I entered the tunnel I was caught in a terrible grip,
And I lost all hope as my captor clutched m y throat in a vise-like nip.
\cz I struggled as well as I con'd, sir, and T. managed to loosen his
clasp,
But he I’ ew at me then like a tiger, and again I was tight in his grasp.

I heard the loud .screech o f the engine as the up train came dashing
along,