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the race for life a true story of the adventure of carlo e chruty a young american mining engineer in mexico by charles e christy there was nothing particularly ordered the intruders off the train bandits were pillaging ami burning in alarming in the fact that the rebel their answer was to beat him with the town and things began to look or probaby a band of brigands and the flats of their swords and to throw yaqui indians masquerading as rebels him onto the floor of the car had posted manifestos on trees and then they began to collect au the roadmarks threatening death to all j jewelry and money from the peope in americans who were not out of mexico our coach we could do nothing but before april 17 1911 nevertheless look on whie they took rings from the we all thought it best to have the wo- fingers of the women and went men leave benito juarez mine before through the pockets of the mentak- real danger arose fing everything of value before they accordingly we had them throw to- had finished their work someone shout gether all the articles which seem ab solutely necessary for feminine com fort and packed them off to san luis where they took the mexican national railroad for the states we didnt take the manifestos seriously but we felt a whole lot better when the wo men were out of tho way later it proved fortunate things went along just about the same as usual after the ed an order to march the passengers from the train we all lined up alongside the tracks and the mexicans stood opposite covering us with their rifles meanwhile another band had rifled the express car blown open the safe wen w and the strong box and smashed the cash drawer in the ticket office on tho train i had made the ac- 17th of april tho peons and yaquis j quaintanee of a mr and mrs william were just about as sullen as ever and quite ns lazy but thoro was no out break about the first of may there were rumors of rebel victories from all over the republic and then we had to close up shop not because of any violence but because every man within a radius of fifty miles flocked to the maderist armies lured by the hope of plunder we wired new york and our bosses told us to pack up and quit until tho country became settled again jimmy hargan my chief duncan macfar lane and myself rode the seventyfive miles to san luis without mishap and took train for vera cruz to return to new york by water san luis looked like a county town at fair time tho hotels were packed pretty serious with the mexicans get ting drunker and drunker every min ute moran and i were in a corner with we could do nothing but ja man named phelan whispering over a plan to escape with his wife when four men in shabby uniforms whom we had noticed scrutinizing the faces of all the prisoners stepped up to us and touching phelan and myself on the shoulder said como with us we want to see you the dangerous end of a revolver pressed against my ribs was more eloquent than any oratory and we our captors i should say we walked about a mile up into the mountains far away from the main body of the bandits two of our guards i recognized as men who had rifled the pockets of the passengers in my car and as they had not reached me by tho time the officer ordered us all from the train i began to suspect that they hoped to get money from us as a precaution i had sent all my money to a friend in vera cruz keep ing only enough in my clothes to cover the incidental expenses of the trip i did not know how much phelan had with him from the height to which we climb ed we could see almost the whole of tho neighboring town in flames in a lonely spot in the woods we were halt ed and the spokesman addressed me in less serious circumstances his ex treme courtesy would have been hum orous senores he said bowing i re- m moran and when the trouble first came moran whispered to me to keep close to him in order to protect his wife i was more than glad to do so for sho was a charming woman and i knew that if her husband was in jured or killed she would be liable to all sorts of insults it must have been an hour that we were lined up by tho railroad track while a party of soldiers went ahead and burned a bridge to prevent the train being sent through to mexico city if the engineer should succeed in breaking away a man in uniform who called him self col nicolas torres was in com mand and after the burning of the bridge he gave orders that we should be mnrched to a sort of shed that tt ss lesson overflowing and a whole lot of people j stood near a siding they formed us inform cq were sleeping in the plaza and on tho j in doube file and we were herded into frora the drawer in the outskirts of tho town in tenia every a sort of shed and the doors barred aisappbihted tram which left was crowded to over- j outside we could hear the tramping the fundg meet te flowing and it was impossible to get of horses and the occasional sound of j jn fc more than one train a day out of tho firing at somo distance i climbed to ana an j ed against him they seemed to have forgotten us completely now is our time whispered phelan and with the words he landed a good stiff punch on the jaw of the leader the man toppled backwards sprang to his feet again and tore off through the brush without waiting for more in the fall his revolver had clattered to the ground and i pounced upon it before the others could tackle phelan i had fired and struck one man in the arm it hung limply at his side and his friends dragged him away with them into the bushes from there they fired at us but the shots went wild and we started to run down the trail hearing the bandits crashing after us w leaped behind a tree and i used two of my remaining cartridges there was a yell and i judged that i had hit one of them we waited silently for more trouble but the mex icans knew there was much loot to be had elsewhere for little orno fighting january- 17 jesus and nicodemus john 3 117 7 4w2 19 3842 golden text god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever belleveth in him should not perish but have ever lasting life john 3 16 analysis il a man of the pharisees 1 2 ii born again 3 4 iii new birth explained 59 iv further explanation 915 v the evangelists comment 16 17 introduction johns gospel con tains many striking character studies and of these one of the most important is that of nicodemus last lesson told of the way in which five disciples gave their hearts in loving surrender to flhrist they were impelled by a true and living faith and jesus had given himself to them but this faith of tho livo is here placed in contrast with another kind of faith some were drawn to christ by seeing the won ders which he wrought and in such cases of imperfect faith jesus could not give his best gifts this is ex plained in ch 2 2325 nicodemus is 1 introduced as an oxample of the clas3 behind us the yeng of men and the whose faith of a g nowe t trampling of horses my pistol and snd wh needs correction he is the riflle phelan had taken from tho impressed by the 6igns wrought by guard were the only firearms wo had j jesus and draws an inference that among us sorao of the fugitives left j this must be a great leador it is an the tracks and scrambled into the intellectual faith not aj full surrender woods but most of them when theyj tho heart to christ nicodemus is knew they were discovered preferred educ pr j but km t- it i x u est an timid about taking any bold to give themselves up rather than he is mentioned on two other risk being shot j occasions 751 where he tries to we four and two other men kept to j defend jesus in an indirect manner the track and were outdistancing our and 1938 where he helps in the en- pursuers when we heard the galloping tombment of jesus the synoptic of a horse an officer was riding us i f aro sllent bout him but later i tradition represents him as a true down but just as we swerved toward of t lord the woods his mount stumbled in a pharisees 1 2 sluiceway across the track and he was t thrown down the embankment j sdss presently we all but stumbled into upon fulfilling the law they were a hand car resting alongside the held in high regard by the nation and tracks the six of us frantically tug- j represented much of what was best in gcd it onto the rails jumped upon it judaism paul was one of this class and began to pump for all we werel f a member of 1 the sanhedrin which was the great it wa the work of seconds to unbar the doors of the train shed i jewish court he was evidently a mrs moran helped us at the levors of considerable importance and apparently decided to give us upi had to travel on up grade but wej v 2 came iby night to escape for something easier developed considerable speed we were j the notice and criticism of the people i had paid strict attention to the congratulating ourselves upon our ami i also to have a private interview wo w r kifiii 1 escape when around a curve we had tt p liust nassed inttl a bright ucht na miraces better signs we know- town sometimes that missed fire a small window and saw a and at best there was no schedule mounted guards outside the shed time for departure it was first come j there was a small town about two first served on any train the railroad miles distant and a red glare in the could get out of the city sky showed that the brigands were wo waited four days for our turn burning and pillaging cries and and then one night had to satisfy our selves with a grimy day coach but it was not more than a thirtysix hours trip to vera cruz and we comforted ourselves by being glad it wasnt a week the train rattled along merrily for a time then stopped almost as suddenly as though we had rammed a stono wall we had not gone far from san luis and it wa3 about 10 oclock there were many women among the shouting added to the terror of the women we had been in the shed about two hours when an officer entered and singling out eight men and women ordered a guard to conduct them into the train yards they were gone about twenty minutes and then eight more were marched out mr and mrs moran and myself were in the third party of eight who were ordered into line of 5000 this is a very regrettable incident and we realize that you senores aro not responsible but you are americans and we feel sure that your generous impulses will prompt you to make up the deficit in other words i retorted you would blackmail us for 5000 and what if we refuse to submit i regret that a very severe and sudden malady might in that case terminate your existence said the spokesman but we have not 5000 between us i argued well said the brigand some men hold life very cheap i am dis- to the point where the fight with the j passed 1 jutted a bright light and were ea w fop robbers had taken place and we re- j wo heard the rumbe of an engine j bigng or outw work by which the traced our steps as fast as we could my first impulse was to grab tho new kingdom was to be introduced in the darkness about 200 yards woman and jump from the car but j the jews require a sign 1 cor 122 from the building we came out on the presently we rounded another curve this approach shows a measure of railroad track and ran squarely into and the light was out of sight again earnestness but it also suggests traces the hand car the yard once there the bandits appointed that you do not value yours passengers and they became panicky j forced us to stand with our backs as high as 2500 we have notlong right away most of the men tumbled j against a stone wall then what ap out of the coaches to see what was the pearcd to be a firing squad faced us trouble just as i jumped off a plat form a big fellow on a horse and brandishing a sabre which looked to me about as long as a fishpole gal loped up and shouted quien vive that means who lives i didnt language with level rifle3 an officer who was so intoxicated that he reeled about unsteadily on his feet stood a little to one side and ex plained to us in ludicrously polite know what to reply at first but i wanted to please him for that snbre looked mighty deadly madero he yelled and i repeated madero got back in the train ho said i had no pistol and there wero at least fifty of the mounted soldiers sur rounding the train so i obeyed with tho rest of tho passengers who had detrained by tho tlmo i returned to my car there wero half a dozen armed men in each conch coering tho passengers with rifles or revolvers and command ing the men to surrender tholr arms there was not a chance to fight and the men were speedily disarmed in the midst of thertrouble the con ductor entered our car and f to wait and i would suggest that in ten minutes you make up your minds to pay us the amount otherwise his sentence ended with a shrug of the shoulders i will lay hero and rot before i give you a penny voluntarily i al- j most shouted for tho insults which a cloaked figure hurrying in the direc tion of the shed i was notin the mood for any more bullying and without ceremony i the men in the locomotive would not levelled the pistol at the strangers be able to drive it along tire perilous head and shouted to him to stand trails as fast as we could run who are you asked phelan j hand car we listened eagerly to the twisted and turned j selfsufficiency he has the pride of ins nation and is a bit patronizing along thefaceof a ciff in aarming doos not recognize j subim fashion but we began to hope that- recognize grandeur of jesus as nathanael did i ii born again 3 4 i the story of nicodemus is a frame our i in which to present the great lesson vhicli jesus would teach it isthe for reply the man threw open the snorting of the ongine but it did not miracle of the second birth that he wore the seem to grow louder we twisted and j v 3 verily verily found only in turned recklessly and i remembered j john the synoptics have the simple i that the train had crawled very slow- amen it mean3 in truth or ly down the tortuous grade for the truly see luke 425 locoriiotive not anchored by the heavy v bor b t transitions cars behind it the teailold u- s2froafe doubtedly bo more dangerous from heaven jesus would have afterward i learned- that tho ban- 1 nicodemus know that the change dits had found an engine with steam which he has brought is so radical up in the railroad yards at tho town that no mere teacher can suffice we had seen burning one of their ne does membership in the jewish i think they will be numb claimed to be an engineer at jj xfvh trm i than two or three any rate fi w enough of one to i sf it hk ne birth if you could escape- meanwhile start the locomotive which our purf i8 a boundless heritage waiting id be wel lhey have eft a suo had taken past the stalled train all who accept christ v 4 th con- guard at tho train shed but i think by means of the siding you might get away if there are ary we seemed hod our own fc the among you who know how to run a race and unies8 forced vm un cloak and we saw garb of a priest lam a friend he said perhaps ypineed help if so i am at your service i have done my best to re strain these marauders but they have gotten away from us we explained to him the situation at the train shed and ho promised to help us they have just left for the next town he said there for more hours it wou when i have the pleasure of ad- had beon hea one after an- dresslng to you tho question quien j olner had stung mo into desperation vive you will very kindly shoutjj wait a minute said phelan in madero those who do not so honor spanish senores my friend speaks mo will be respectfully shot down a little hastily he is exasperated i knew there were some of the party quite as much by tho thought that you locomotive you might take the train out of danger j on tho way to the building we talk- willing to jump from the hand car wo dared not slow down for fear of being smashed by the engine on ono fusion of nicodemus is complete ho almost suggests that jesus statement is absurd iii new birth explained 59 v 5 born of water and of the spirit water refers to baptism the act of admission to this outward mem- who might not understand spanish were so grievously disappointed in the p hiding behind trees and rocks if we jumped at the speed we were so i hurried to explain the meaning cash box as ho is by what he considers wo psm coser tothe building and travelling of tho officers threat your unfair demands i think presently ho shouted quien vivo fl entirely in tho right i ask only ed over plans for escape the bandits sido the precipice dropped probably s adm v outward had left a guard but they had been 500 feet and on the other side tto tmtfri attracted by the possibility of more s0 nurrow b margin ot ievel xo ope iheir uves to clirist ni pillage and it looked to us as though ground that we were afraid of being demus thought he had this salvation all but one of themen had left their dashed lifeless against the rocky wall by birthright jesus tolls him he must l come as all others do by humble sub mission and willing acceptance of gods spirit nicodemus is the gospel equivalent to paul before conversion were relieved to find that there was j actually only the slngloarmed man our backs ached as though they were breaking mrs mornns breath p expected to be saved by law but edtho previous spectacle each time play their own game boldly we left the shad we could see that the little it doesnt mean but it is their way if wo should come to a straight reach hav the same truth put in a different of track our pursuers would have tho new rresponia to j i in v ji- l i conversion advantage ihe headlight was never v 8 the wind jesus illustrates visibe now but sometimes we heard llis lesson by the wind which perhaps tho snorting of tho ongine even that died aday at lastjnt this time was rustlingthe leaves of the trees the sound was heard the it seemed weeks that we had driven power was invisible gods spirit was unseen but the effects were manifest 915 xtei i think 1 bit be man madero we allyelod at the top for a few moments to consult with l f t v came in short sobs but she stuck to found out that he must accept salva- of our lungs for wewore taking no him j xo ke care oi mm wnispered her taak with the regt of ug event a3 a gift from god the kingdom chances with the ugly black muzzles tho brigands smiledand relaxed w wc 7 tt when tho puffing of the locomotive of god involves a new heart flesh of the rifles held steady not more than their belligerent attitude at this they buk d0 t nre u w1 not grew dimmer we dared not relax for begets only flesh in matt- 183 we forty feet from our breasta even ceased to finger their pistols i necessary three times in ihvnexthwo hours look here eahi phelan to i and o desire to kill this performance was encored for the you know those followe as well a i 5 7 wm determmed to neasure of some officer wbn hi j ti i w as wen as i frco our f when we were pleasure of some officer who had miss- do the only way to treat then u to i thirty feet of the brigand i sai th6n a hlm pheifln jn thj an nythingtous behind him with the pistol i had i ri b i 13 taken from our captors i was not lms a good deal of bravado about them t0 8hoot unless phelan was in danger hand car although it could not g d in we will beat thern yet the ma not wad an my have been more than three hours y whfr e on 9- then he walked back to tho leader friend seized his rifle with both hands wn red and green signal ljghts shone y- proceed to internret and said to him my friend and my- crashed tho barrel up against the u in a wndow high tove j pj d sef are sorry that wo cannot give you mexicans chin and had him sprawl- tha roadbed and we knew that we du 0 nicodemus what you ask but we will gladly turn ing on the grass both of u3 wero were approaching tho san luis signal v 10 art thou a master of- israel over to you every centavb in our pos- on top of him in a second i holding tower the grade changed thero and one who had read such books as session will that not bo fair my hand over his mouth tha sound we could coast down into tho town j hosea isaiah psalms ought to know tho brigand grumbled but invited of running behind us made me start but wo t0 tno levers not to let j about the spiritual work of god us to be quick about giving him tho but i turned to see our friend tho- car aw from us v we speak that wo dp know jnoney phelan and i went dswn in priest he dropped on his knees and as we passed the tower mrs moran sssjf tho our jeans and pooled 3771 that quickly tied a handkerchief around groaned her hands slipped from the n was every penny we could scrape to- the mans mouth making an effectual lever and she would have fallen if her y 13 son of man jesus has come gether the leader snatched it greed- gag j husbandhad not caught her she was dow from heaven and he alone ily and began to count the gold and get your friends out he whisper- exhausted but she was game to the therefore can guide men back to god silver pholan and i meanwhile turn- ed to us i last we reported to the ruralos in v 14 the future is shadowed forth ed our pockets inside out to show that we ran for the shed and the last san luis and a band went to the relief in a mysterious way the brazon sor- we were playing fair w saw of the priest ho was sitting on of the prisoners at tho train shed the pont was lifted up and all who looked senores said the spokesman pre- the bandits chest reinforcing moral j bridge was repaired in two days and sssg senty you are more than generous suasion with a little physical force we all proceeded to vera cruz the cr splendor of the saviours- i fear that we would embarrass you it was the work of seconds to unbar two men who had been on tho car with jf t car did jesus realize that should we ask you to return to tho the doors of the train shed us were james churchwarden an ne was to die for the world train without a single centavo it is the rebels havcygone to the next englishman and robert phillips of v the evangelists comment 16 17 my desire that you should accept at town yelled phelan get out of j boston i the verses contain the heart of tha our hands the odd changc here while you can gospel and were probably a comment- with a grand flourish he returned there was a rush for tho doors ary on the mission of christ made by to phelan tho 75 cents which was his phelan and i found mr and mrs sir charles a parson english j w w f god if othr idea of the acme of generosity the moran and stuck close to them we j scientist wants to sink a granite- s are mysterious ovo i not and four began to haggle over the main knew the bridge ahead was burned i lined shaft 12 miles into the bowels of we trust entirely to our heavenly booty quarreling about the division of a wo a started n b up the the earth and use as a source of bound- father who has given us his best gift it the leader claimed the lions railroad traci we had not gone a i less power tho heat of the earths tho meaning of the new birth is found share and tho three others were band- hundred yards when we hoard a shot j interior in the love ef god