-One of the more unusual characters I encountered on the Sunset Limited. He was somewhat frightening.Call him what you will -- Reeper and Ripper are humorous misspellings -- he is a popular character. Here we have a typical literary treatment, from Pellucidar
by Edgar Rice Burroughs:
"Not a step did we take
in advance but the grim reaper strode silently in our tracks.
There were the great cave bears in the timber, and gaunt, lean
wolves--huge creatures twice the size of our Canadian timber-wolves.
Farther up we were as-sailed by enormous white bears--hungry,
devilish fellows, who came roaring across the rough glacier tops
at the first glimpse of us, or stalked us stealthily by scent when
they had not yet seen us.
It is one of the peculiarities of life within Pellucidar that man
is more often the hunted than the hunter. Myriad are the huge-bellied
carnivora of this primitive world. Never, from birth to death,
are those great bellies sufficiently filled, so always are their
mighty owners prowling about in search of meat.
Terribly armed for battle as they are, man presents to them
in his primal state an easy prey, slow of foot, puny of strength,
ill-equipped by nature with natural weapons of defense."
Dickens' LAST OF THE SPIRITS chapter in A Christmas Carol is also worth referring to:
"The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached. When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.
It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.
He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.
“I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?” said Scrooge.
The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.
“You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us,” Scrooge pursued. “Is that so, Spirit?”
The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its head. That was the only answer he received.
Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. The Spirit paused a moment, as observing his condition, and giving him time to recover.
But Scrooge was all the worse for this. It thrilled him with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black."
Series Description: Scenes from my vacations aboard the Sunset Limited, Coast Starlight, California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Cardinal, etc. Destinations included the Bahamas, the Olympic Peninsula, and Cape Hatteras. LA Union Station was often my starting point.
