was sitting in his lap. He then grabbed Aleu’s hand and arm within his own, and placed it on the throttle, holding her head and upper body upward like she was sitting.

If anyone outside the locomotive looked up, all they would see was Aleu, sitting in the seat, with one hand on the throttle. He even took the show to the next level by lifting her other hand to the whistle cord and like some morbid meat puppet, gave one blast of the whistle as they passed the little dimly lit shack.

They stayed like this for another mile, once Kaltag was sure no one was around, he roughly shoved Aleu onto the floor, and took the throttle himself.

About three miles from the bridge and telegraph shack; he brought the train to a halt behind a switch. The other track was old, and rusty with disuse, the snow between the rails bumpy and rough from never having a plow run down it. In some places it went above the rail tops, clocking the track in a white shroud of secrecy. 

Kaltag opened the switch; it turned with an audible screech. After extinguishing the headlamp and marker lamps, he then climbed back into the cab and started backing the Texas and his train up the old line.

Aleu lay on sprawled out the cab floor, her jacket flung crazily over her back and her bushy tail limp and lifeless, the only sign she was alive was blood seeping from a cut on her forehead. From all appearances she looked unconscious. But her ears swiveled silently and deliberately careful, hearing everything.

Thank god mother thought me a few acting lessons! Aleu thought silently as she lay on the cab floor, feeling the rattle and rocking at her now pirated train moved up the disused branch line.

Its is the machine that thundered into the lives of many, its steel tracks reaching out to every corner of the globe…and yet, it still has a certain personality, that makes it all but human.”-  unknown.




Balto paced the station floor. Outside the snow poured down, wind howling. He looked up as Jenna walked into the depot, her red scarf blowing in the wind. A few traces of snow blew into the building as she closed the door.

“Any sign of her?” She asked.

Balto shook his head no. “She missed the Eagle River Block….if she doesn’t arrive in a day, I’m sending out a search team and alerting the authorities. This railroad is too important to be held hostage by a bunch of railroad pirates!”

“Train robbers.” Jenna corrected.

“Huh?” Balto said rising one eyebrow.

“You said Pirates…pirates are in shipping, Train robbers are the railroad’s version.”   

Balto threw his arms up in submission. “Whatever…but whomever they are, I have a feeling they have our daughter.”

Balto threw himself down at the window, his head bowed against the cold glass. Outside his shadow flickered against the snowy street.

Jenna came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t fret just yet.” She said smiling. “Aleu could just be sitting on the mainline, stuck in snow, or even delayed. Have faith in your daughter Balto, she isn’t as self absorbed as she seems.”

Balto looked up. “I hope your right Jen…I hope you are right.”


**************


Aleu lay on the floor, quite and subdued. The sound of the locomotive’s drivers as they clanked up the hill was accompanied by the occasional crunching of snow under iron wheels, and brush being pushed aside by the steel and wood intruder into the natural world of the dark forest.

She kept her eyes closed, but she heard and understood each click of the throttle and Johnson bar, each clack and squeal of the wheels over the iron rails. Aleu was very much aware of her situation.

Which is why Kaltag never saw the girl slowly moving her hand along her body towards the log her left on the cab floor.

Suddenly the train grinded to a halt. But unlike normal stops, this one wasn’t accompanying by the toll of the bell, or the blats of the whistle…it was simple quietness. The only outside sound was the wind howling threw the crevasse.

Then Aleu heard it…the sound of boots crossing the cab, then stop right next to her head. She mentally braced herself for what was about to occur.  

Kaltag grabbed her by her shoulders and lifted her, but before he could lift her onto her knees, she grabbed the log and jammed it with unbelievable force into the dog’s shin,

Kaltag yelped and tried the reach for the girl, now rising onto her feet. But before he could recover from the display of pain and twisted agony, he felt the sting of his own needle into his arm. The last thing he saw as he blanked out, was Aleu’s smiling face, and one hand waving a simple “good bye”  


After Kaltag fell into the world of dreams, Aleu dragged him into the tender, and pulled him up and over the woodpile. Leaving a divot in the snow collecting atop the tender. Carefully so as not to hurt him, she chucked him off her locomotive. He landed in the snow alongside the tracks with a thud.

“Sorry, but I didn’t think I could get you down the stirrups.” She said mockingly. She then grabbed some rope from atop the tender and jumped down alongside him. She then found a sturdy enough tree next to the right of way, and tied him tightly against it.  

One she was sure he would be no threat, she stood up and looked around. She was on the old mine siding, facing outward. The mine was long since abandoned and the old loading structure looked ghastly as it spiked against the dark moonless sky.

The mineshaft was covered with a large iron door, and Aleu was sure she could penetrate it without some kind of dynamite.

But alongside Texas on the loading sidings sat three long dark shapes. Aleu grabbed a lantern from the cab, and walked to the nearest form. She saw it was covered in a tarp, white so as to blend in with the snow. She brushed some of the snow off and lifted the tapeline up. Shining her light into the darkness underneath she recognized the paint scheme of a WRR 4-4-0 steam locomotive, her light ominously hit the nameplate.

“Barbara Luddy…that’s a WRR locomotive if there ever was one. These must be the missing freights.”

Aleu carefully pout the tarp down and continued alongside the train. The whole freight train was wrapped up like a cocoon. But each car had been relieved of its load. The whole train was empty.

After half an hour of looking, Aleu came upon the caboose. Ducking under the tarp, she mounted the steps. Letting the tarp fall behind her.


It was a gloomy and surreal world under the tarp, only her lantern illuminating the door and back platform. Her breath clearly visible in cold puffs. Aleu carefully pulled out her skeleton key and unlocked the door. She then braced herself for whatever was…or wasn’t…inside.

She opened the door and shined the light around. The inside of the caboose was a mess, every drawer opened and empted, cabinet doors hung on their hinges, and broken lanterns littered the floor.

But what caught Aleu’s attention were the ten canvas bags lying in the bunks. Large enough to hold a person, they slowly moved up and down as if the occupants where in a deep sleep. She had a good feeling what was inside. Carefully she approached the nearest one and began undoing the laces.

Aleu was startled by the face of a female husky looking back at her, bug eyed and shaking, the husky was just as startled. She moaned threw a bandana that was knotted in her mouth.

“Its all right…I’m with the Railroad.” Aleu whispered.

This put the girl at ease. Aleu approached and carefully pulled the bandanna out.

“What took you so long?” the husky asked.

“Sorry, but Casey Jones rear ended me, and the robbers didn’t help.” Aleu smiled.

“Thank you.” The husky said, her voice now fully relived. Aleu helped her up, and undid the canvas bag from around her. As she set abound removing the hemp rope holding the husky down, the husky told her story.

All the trains had fallen victim the same way. The engineers falling unconscious at the throttle. The conductors and brakemen fell the same way. No one got a good look at their captors, they where blindfolded and led into the caboose. One conductor was killed in a resistance, but everyone else was mowed over pretty easily.

“And you are sure, you have no clue why or what these guys are up too?” Aleu asked as the husky stood up.

“Feels good to be on my own legs again…no I have no clue.”

Aleu nodded, and then looked around the caboose within the circle of light the lantern threw out. “I guess there are no weapons aboard.”

The husky shook her head no. “They raided all the cabooses.”

Aleu nodded. “Look, I have a locomotive standing outside at steam. Release the crews, and couple him up to your trains. He has steam and is ready to go.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going after these screwballs. By the way, what’s your name?”

The husky smiled. “Dusty.”

Aleu smiled. “Your very brave. Now get going, I have a mountain to climb!”

                                         ************

Curiosity Killed the Cat- unknown proverb  




The mineshaft bored into the hillside in a small alcove, above it toward the deep dark steep embankment. Snow had already accumulated here and made the climb tough and gritty. Aleu found that she could make good time by grabbing onto the trees and pulling herself up and over. She had a hunch that the mine’s water pump station wasn’t bored up, and it would provide access to the old shaft.
The wind howled in her ears, and snow gathered in her hair and on the bridge of her muzzle. Her own breath looked like a cloud of exhaust plumes trailing from a hard working steam locomotive.

Twice she lost her grip, and twice she almost rolled down the hill and fallen onto the rails