The Huge Hunter | Page 2

eye fixed keenly upon it.
Coming at such a railroad speed, it was not long in passing the intervening space. It was
yet several hundred yards distant, when Ethan Hopkins gave Mickey a ringing slap upon
the shoulder.
'Jerusalem! who do ye s'pose naow, that man is sitting in the carriage and holding the
reins?'
'Worrah, worrah! why do you ax me, whin I'm so frightened entirely that I don't know
who I am myself?'
'Its Baldy.'
'Git out!' replied the Irishman, but added the next moment, 'am I shlaping or dhraming?
It's Baldy or his ghost.'
It certainly was no ghost, judging from the manner in which it acted; for he sat with his
hat cocked on one side, a pipe in his mouth, and the two reins in his hands, just as the
skillful driver controls the mettlesome horses and keeps them well in hand.
He was seated upon a large pile of wood, while near nestled a little tramp-backed,
bright-eyed boy, whose eyes sparkled with delight at the performance of the strange
machine.
The speed of the steam man gradually slackened, until it came opposite the men, when it
came to a dead halt, and the grinning 'Baldy,' as he was called, (from his having lost his

scalp several years before, by the Indians), tipped his hat and said:
'Glad to see you hain't gone under yit. How'd you git along while I was gone?'
But the men were hardly able to answer any questions yet, until they had learned
something more about the strange creation before them. Mickey shied away, as the timid
steed does at first sight of the locomotive, observing which, the boy (at a suggestion from
Baldy), gave a string in his hand a twitch, whereupon the nose of the wonderful thing
threw out a jet of steam with the sharp screech of the locomotive whistle. Mickey sprung
a half dozen feet backward, and would have run off at full speed down the ravine, had not
Ethan Hopkins caught his arm.
'What's the matter, Mickey, naow! Hain't you ever heard anything like a locomotive
whistle?'
'Worrah, worrah, now, but is that the way the crather blows its nose? It must have a
beautiful voice when it shnores at night.'
Perhaps at this point a description of the singular mechanism should be given. It was
about ten feet in hight, measuring to the top of the 'stove-pipe hat,' which was fashioned
after the common order of felt coverings, with a broad brim, all painted a shiny black.
The face was made of iron, painted a black color, with a pair of fearful eves, and a
tremendous grinning mouth. A whistle-like contrivance was trade to answer for the nose.
The steam chest proper and boiler, were where the chest in a human being is generally
supposed to be, extending also into a large knapsack arrangement over the shoulders and
back. A pair of arms, like projections, held the shafts, and the broad flat feet were
covered with sharp spikes, as though he were the monarch of base-ball players. The legs
were quite long, and the step was natural, except when running, at which time, the bolt
uprightness in the figure showed different from a human being.
In the knapsack were the valves, by which the steam or water was examined. In front was
a painted imitation of a vest, in which a door opened to receive the fuel, which, together
with the water, was carried in the wagon, a pipe running along the shaft and connecting
with the boiler.
The lines which the driver held controlled the course of the steam man; thus, by pulling
the strap on the right, a deflection was caused which turned it in that direction, and the
same acted on the other side. A small rod, which ran along the right shaft, let out or shut
off the steam, as was desired, while a cord, running along the left, controlled the whistle
at the nose.
The legs of this extraordinary mechanism were fully a yard apart, so as to avoid the
danger of its upsetting, and at the same time, there was given more room for the play of
the delicate machinery within. Long, sharp, spike-like projections adorned those toes of
the immense feet, so that there was little danger of its slipping, while the length of the
legs showed that, under favorable circumstances, the steam man must be capable of very
great speed.

After Ethan Hopkins had some what familiarized himself with the external appearance of
this piece of mechanism, he ventured upon a more critical examination.
The door being opened in front, showed a mass of glowing coals lying in the capacious
abdomen of the giant; the hissing valves in the knapsack made themselves apparent, and
the top of the