Newspaper Page Text
A Prohibitive Price
Ti eck in the mass
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imix adroitly barter
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Davis.
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By MELVILLE F. FERGUSON
absorbed in booths speculation about his interest
ing^eighbor. Why was such a frail little creature
traveling alone? \\ here was her brother, her lather
Her natural protector? For whom was she in
mourning was it her mother? Gilbert ascertained
by an unpardonable craning of his neck that the
ticket she presented to the conductor read to
IVnver "So." he concluded, "she is a lunger. 1
« Hat a raty! Going to the mountains for her health
Mother dead; tather m the East keeping the pot
boiling; no cue to look out for her." And his con
cern in a problem which was distinctly none of Ins
affair rcd< >übled.
Fortunately for the young woman, who could n<>t
but be conscious of the strong, almost obtrusive,
interest she had aroused in the athletic looking,
clean-shaven man ol thirty or thereabouts across the
aisle Gilbert's thoughts were speedily diverted to
matters to which he might address himself with
greater propriety. A broken-down freight ahead
involved a delay <>f the train two hours, the conse
quent disarrangement of tin- schedule meant a
I'i.j halt farther "ii to allow the east-bound express
to pass, and, to cap the climax, in trying t«. make up
■ time, theengineer developed a hot
box on the locomotive. Thus in the first two hundred
miles oui of Omaha the speculator's margin, which
had '■■ 1 i" six hours on accouni of a delay
in Chicago, was eul down t.> two and a quarter.
Long before the difficulty with the overheated
journal was encountered the farter had made up
erths for the night, and Gilbert's divinity had
': Midnight found him in the smoking-room,
all hojx. 1 of sleep abandoned, vainly endeavoring to
solace hi> shaken nerves with a strong cigar, and
ng, time table in hand, on the hour at which
he ought to pass through intervening points it the
lule should thenceforth be maintained. Again
and again he cursed his folly for having trusted to a
regular train when the emergency ten times over
would have justified the engagement of a special;
but there was no use of crying over spilled milk.
The moments spent at an isolated water tank
seemed interminable; the two minutes consumed
in the regular stop at Julesburg in the early hours
• m< >rning were as so many hours.
All night long Gilbert sat in the smokers" r<
" I'll Be Under an Everlasting
Debt of Gratitude to You."
s
tion, fuming and fretting, and steeping himself in
nicotine. It was almost a relief to him when, two
or three hours after the early dawn of a Colorado
summer's morning, the train ran into a terrific
thunder-storm near Fort Morgan. Nature seemed
to l>e in accord with his own mood. Brilliant light
ning played among the lowering clouds, and peal
alter peal of deafening thunder reverberated even
above the roar of the onrushing express. So
absorbed was he in watching the magnificent spec
tacle, his face pressed close to the window,
that he was oblivious to the presence in
the doorway of a timid, shrinking little
figure that pitifully besought his atten
tion But in the almost imperceptible
interval between an unusually vivid Hash
and its accompanying crash a shriek of
feminine terror fell upon his ears, and he
turned, to confront the girl whose frail
ness, so strongly in contrast with his own
robust physique, had moved him to pity
the night before.
"< >h!" she gasped, "I don't know what
you'll think of me— but I'm so frightened!
1 can't bear the lightning and the
thunder! May I— would you mind if I sit
here until we pass through it ? There's no
one else up. I know it's ridiculous; but
I shall go mad if there's no one near.
Oh-h-h!" And with her tingers in her
ears she awaited the answering peal to
another tongue of electric flame.
No woman looks her best after a
wakeful night in a sleeper and a hasty
toilet in a three-by-four room. Yet as
Gilbert took in every detail of the ap
pearance of his fellow-traveler there
seemed to him to be nothing lacking to
Bee a perfect picture, save a little color.
1 how suppliant she looked! His
lion of himself began to enlarge •«
c as lie fancied himself in the role of
her comforter and protector. Her blue
eyes sought his in mute appeal, anil in
his enjoyment of the delicious sensation
they produced lie forgot that she awaited
his reply. But in a moment he recollected
"I beg your pardon," he cried, rising and offering
her a wicker arm-chair as far removed from the win
dows as possible. 1 musi seem dreadfully stupid,
but I've been soaring. I'll try to get back lo earth
at once."
With a grateful acknowledgment, she accepted
tlie chair and sat there in abject terror, her hand
over her eyes, fairly trembling at every pea] of
thunder.
"Allow me to turn on the light and draw the
shades." said Gilbert, "and the lightning, at least,
will not distress you so much." At an acquiescent
nod lie stretched out his arm toward the nearest
window; but at that very moment a blinding glare
burned itself into his eye-balls, simultaneously
with an ear-splitting crash, and the train, which had
been descending a short but steep grade at top
speed, came to so sharp and jolting a stop that
Gilbert was hurled forcibly against the partition;
and the girl thrown from her chair to the floor.
Recovering his equilibrium, the young man spran »
to the assistance of Ins companion. White as mar
ble, she lay where she had fallen, in a dead faint.
Tenderly he lifted her and laid her on the leather
covered scat that occupied one side of the compart
ment. Meanwhile, passengers in all stages of dress
and undress came tumbling >ut of their berths,
with frightened faces, to ask what had happened.
Summoning one of the cooler of the woman travelers,
Gilbert committed his charge to her care, and.
linding that his own presence was not desired, went
forward along the track in the driving rain to in
vestigate.
It was a quarter of an hour before lie returned, as
pale and shaken as had been the girl herself during
the storm that had now passed away. Hi 1 found
that young woman again in the possession of her
faculties, her nerves restored with the cessation
of the lightning, and her broken wall of reserve
somewhat repaired. The passengers crowded round
him to inquire concerning tin- delay.
A remarkable and distressing accident had oc
curred. That last el i mar tic bolt of the passing
had struck the engineer, who, with his hand on the air
lever, coasting down the grade, was instantl) killed.
involuntarily throwing the air on with full for.
as lie fell. With a vicious lurch the huge engine,
with a dragging load behind it, responded so Mid
denly to the pressure of the brakes that the fireman,
standing with a shovelful of coal poised to throw
into the furnace, was hurled headlong to the road
side and probably fatally injured. The j r fellows
the de.nl arid the d\ ing -were now stretched out
in the foremost baggage car, anil several travelers
were discussing the situation with the conductor
"There's only one thing to do," said that official,
in response to eager inquiries. "We'll have to
