A Matter of Temperance (The Adventures of Ichabod Temperance Book 1) by Ichabod Temperance

for the bullet. I respect this man’s love for his machine. This is his ‘Lady’ and I am not treating her with the respect she deserves. I indicate for him to climb into the coal feeder. The tractor, which has been steadily increasing in speed, gets a little faster as I uncouple the feeder car.
    With a natural knack for things mechanical, I am able to quickly work out the controls of this leviathan. By the opening of certain valves, and then the closing of others, I am able to maximize the full power of the machine.
    I lean out and look ahead for the Doktor’s carriage. I am gaining on him.
    The tearing rain hits broadside as the full force of the pent-up storm finally bursts against us. The wind, rain, and lightning that have chased Miss Plumtartt and me these past two days at last has us at its mercy.
    Good grief, what a racket! The great engine of my commandeering is being pushed way past its tolerances. This brute was never intended to achieve the speeds that I exhort from it. The monster is so clattery that it barely touches the ground except in hops, skids, and skips. The tractor was built to be stabilized by its trailing cars. Without even her coal bin in tow, she has difficulty remaining vertical. The gigantic steel wheels chew up the stone thoroughfare. Sparks and gravel spew behind as smoke and steam billow to Heaven.
    An Alabama Fury is driven inexorably forward.
    I am an unstoppable juggernaut.
    Another forty feet and I’ve got him, who has made away with her!
    “Dang it!”
    Herr Himmel has turned to see what is approaching him in so dread a manner and realizes his position! He makes to gain speed and thus escape!
    “Yikes!”
    The glass dials of the gauges are starting to pop. The needles in the gauges are actually bent from being driven so far past the red line. A valve shoots by my ear! Rivets are popping. Scalding steam forces me from the controls.
    The German’s smaller steamer dodges obstacles on the wide Parisian street. My runaway locomotive runs over or through any obstruction. Carts and wagons explode as the rambling wreck crashes down the boulevard.
    As the Doktor gains speed, the borrowed behemoth is shaking itself apart.
    Herr Himmel will escape with Miss Plumtartt! I am close enough now to see that she has regained consciousness and is giving the Doktor what for!
    “Atta girl, Miss Plumtartt. I don’t know how much damage you’re gonna do with that little ol’ parasol, but I admire your gumption!”
    This poor tractor ain’t gonna go no faster, and that’s a solid fact. I gotta slow down that villainous baron.
    Quickly tearing it in two, I wrap my hands in the Engineer’s discarded shirt and climb out to the front of the disintegrating tractor. With the material of the rags protecting me from the red hot train, I attempt to draw a bead on the steamer. This rickety ride does not make for good aim. This thing is gonna crash. If I don’t take my shot now, I won’t get another chance. I have to time my shot with the fraction of a second that the engine is in the air, and not being jolted by the pavement. I fire. I miss! A cloud of glass shards explodes as I have hit a safety lantern on the steamer, rather than the Doktor himself.
    The Bavarian bully is outraged as he realizes he is under fire. I shoot again, hitting the steamer’s body. The pressure tank for her boiler is punctured, forcefully shooting scalding steam into Herr Himmel’s face. Gratefully, Miss Plumtartt is spared the heated release. The truculent Teuton screams in pain and rage as the steamer quickly loses speed from her pressure drop.
    I, on the other hand, have quite lost control of my steed.
    An angry hum brings my attention to the hub of the tremendous drive wheel behind me. It is smoking and whining in tortured defiance.
    The wheel begins a drunken weave at unbelievable velocity. This disharmonic imbalance severely throttles the entire machine before the wheel releases its hold on the axle.
    It is an unreal and