The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-11-18

Ie to escape.
% 1t was Brisket. My hands fell by m
side. Irose with difficulty to my feet. W
ie were standing in the passage-way of tn
; car, in front ofmy state-room. Ny eye RAJ
Ie along the wfole length of the car. No on
l. stirred. The train was running at higl
= rate of speed; the car swayed wildly to ant
fro, and the noise was tremendous. No on
/, had seen or heard what had happened.
h That was at first my only thought; and then
d for a moment or two, Twas almost uncon
scious, SO sudden and extraordinary wa
d the effect of my situation.
s "Get your hat, he said.
! / obeyed mechanically.
: "Here, and he helped me on with my
= coat. the revolver still close to my face.
9 ''Now, let US step out on the platform
g and talk. = 80 49,
o He gently pushed me ahead. As pass.
cd the water-eooler, 1 was reminded ofmy
' thirst stepped aside to let him pass
{ he ,misinterpreted my movement, and
!. clutcbed my arm with aforce that l should
have little thought him possessed OF. s.No
nonsense, now he said; s'you are at my
mercy now, not at yours, and you must bet
me have my say" pointer TO the water,
cup, while with his left hand he turned
!. the faucet, still hslding the pistol in his
right drank long refreshing draught,
and, as drank, somewhat recovered my
scattered thoughts. Why did he want me
on the platform? Ny life he could have
taken before. I had even q better chance
on the platform than inside the car; for de.
spite the unexpected strength he had
shown, I knew / was three times as strong
as he, and, somehow or other, his pistol
did not alarm me. Without q tremor, /
stepped on to the platform in advance of
him.
The night was dark had no idea where
we were. The train was running fast The
car, being the last on the train. swayed
tremendously. The noise was deafening
clung to the rail, and pulled my hat
down over my face, but without taking my
eyes off Brisket's revolver. With the ut
most eoolness, he asked me to smoke; but
declined. He did not smoke himself; but,
perching himself upon the rail, with his
feet twisted round the stem of the brake,
quietly began;
"You are ayoung man, Mr.. Hartley, very
young to do SO large business as you are
doing. am old enough to be your father.
bear you ne ill-vill. / suppose YOU only
do what you are advised to do. At the
same time, it seems to me, that YOU have
been ill-advised. II would have been far !
better to have arrested me quietly in New |
York, instead of attempting to follow me,
and dog my footsteps day and night. What |
do you expect to gain by it?"
was about to answer. that / did not |
know what he was talking about, but quick |
ly rehecten that might find out more by |
being silent. He evidently did not expect |
to get an answer, for he hurried on:
elf you expscted to get any money by
following me, you are mistaken. The mon
ey was gone long ago. Gone a year ago
and more. 1t went, sir, loyalty, patriotic
ally, sir what there was Of it Not that
there ever was much of it. But, what lit
tie there was, went in supporting the gov
ernment, the credit of the country-went
in doing my share toward keeping down
the price of gold. When gold went to a
hundred and twenty last July, sir, was
busted higher than kite. 1t was the great
est joke you ever saw. Without one cent
Of money, subscribed for three hundred
thousand dollars worth of five-twenties,
and my credit was as good as new.
bought them for investment, you know"
and he nudged me with his elbow. 81
needed thirty Thousand dollars to pay On
account Those borrowed on my indi-
vidual note. with my Office boys indorse-
ment Oil New York Is q glorious place.
Such fooIsl And the way they keep it upl
Why, If you once get one good look behind
the scenes, you need no more. 1 tell you.
half the houses uptown and downtown
are bankrupt, rotten shells, living on their
credit, sir-as did. Why, I tell you, sir,
it makes man rogue almost, to merely
think of it. When / was an honest young
fellow, making my way in the world with ,
my own little money, was nobody, AS !
soon as lost little money of nv own, :
and went it strong on other peop'o s, 1 at |:
once became the great house Of Brisket, I,
Moss i Co. Oh, the farce! And, do you :
think, the people inside don't know il?- !
Why, OF course they do. It's that that keeps !
Us all up. Many time I've come down in !
the stage In the morning, with half dozen
of our most eminent, most highly respect
ed merchants, smiling, dignifed, the pic
lure of eminent solvency-bankrupt, sir, !
every id one of them, if the world only : :
knew 1t. And do you suppse they didn't :
know where stood? Why, of course they
do. But when my paper came up in their :
bank, didn't they swear they knew had !,
quarter of 8 million of governments as an
n7estmenti and, when their paper came
lp in my bank, didn't swear ditto. Do
you suppose such eminent men are bank ,
directors for nothing? Not, by long shotl v
You are young, Mr.. Hartley; you may be 7
,ank director yourself, one of these days.
lake my advice, sir, don't go back on your );
riendsl But don't hold too much stock in !
our own bank, that is to say-with your
wn money. It don't pay oyer-well-on z
he stock, that is-it pays moderately well 7
therwise-" G
I listened in smazement Was this h
'risket? The man would have sworn by? n,
VhoEe paper would sell at eight per cent. "
4 the sharpest note-ofices in the city? n
7as 1t not all dream? MOL there he sat, h
aim and impertursble, with Just enough v;
the devil IN his eye 10 make it glisten in AZ
le darkness. There was the track stretch oS
lg out behind us IN the dim distance, the a
ID lamp on our car throwing back stream ~
dull, blood-red Light. that showed the n
ills and ties, and even the gravel-flling, (,
ith the utmost distinctness; but all the :,
,lor of blood. The LOCOMOTIVES had Just h.
own for the brakes; scented saltwater IN
Z; the train was slowing. he
"Its Hsvre de Grace" he said. pausing m
T an instant, while the locomotive So
1--WE are behind time. Yes, sir; an
lbble bubble Our boosted wealth is de
bubble. Commercially speaking, we al
9 rotten to the core Oh :! the quiet
ughs I have had when people would come -,
i'd beg my paper Of me, and grave, wise, bs
rewd bank presidents, hat in hand, ask is
3 for my sccount, and half you Wall st. to
en- bow and scrape to me as though had ns
the treasury at my back Cad, If 1 "
d wanted to, could have made it mil IN
ms instead of tens of thousands. But I an
yer believed in big figures. Ionly want ms
my own money back. and, by thunder, sci
Eould have hadit, hadn't it been for that see
u Chase" BE paused monent and br,
en- wen. on: How refreshing the breeze tbr
You see, our car is the last to get on in
3 boat We shall have the air all the far
v across But es was saying, fools
they are down town. mp town in our n
uses they are caution. Why, 1 have
ne home many a time intending to tell ~ -
J wife that 1 was ruined and must give on:
up; but before could commence, q, a.
g had to tell how it was all In
3 talk, at Mrs.. Grestcheek's ma
lcheon, that had made SO much SO
,ney, and that it was mean she shouldn't acc
We new coupe; or, how attentive young otn
bory was to Oracle, ah I poor, Door exp
acis, what will she say? See, how the dor
ter eddies, now We turn to run up nee
INST the tide Itis running out fast. pen
w long. think you, viii it take TO reach mo
, cao2 Prrf Grooia x-il ~ cur