The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1873-11-14
VOLUME l.

ters, but not so dull that there va
any special mystery 70 her mind IN such
a thing as q change Of trains by a con-
ductor. She did not let Grandfather OF
Grandmother Crowninkhield see her
however, the next evening when she
again erept ou, 10 the gate, almost smoth-
ering her little lantern; for she had q
half-Auttering sort OF dread that this
second experiment might fail.
Fail? No; the greeting from the train
was as ready as was Katie's own good
evening" and the little lantern was
thenceforth 10 be the very foremost OF
( prime favorites with its mistress. And
now, while the October days grew cooler
and the glorious evenings longer, Grand
mother Crowninshield began to grumble
little at the disposition her darling
evinced to pay so very many visits to
Aunt Betsey.
'It's long walk for you, child" she
said; "and it's through the cut, too
What if railway train should come
along before you could get out?"
80 grandmama, that'll never happen, "
laughed Katie; "tEe railroed and l are
very good friends.'
"You ought to be-" zaid grandmother.
/ Il never saw any living being care more
for dumb thing than you've always
done for that there train"
But grandmother was nearer light than
Katie; for only night or % after that
it must have been that Aunt Betsy's
clock wa. slov-for Katie was in the
very middle of the cut when her ears
were sudd sly filed with the shrek and
roar with which the train dashed in at
the upper end.
Her heart beat quickly for moment,
but not with fear; for, az she sprang
lightly upon projecting rock that she
had often before noted as veW availa-
BILE perch, she gathered her futtering
dress more closely about her and ex-
claimed:
"There, Tn safe enough; but to think
of its coming so near"'
Near enough, indeed, and Katie lean
ed back hard against the crag behind
her: for it seemed as if she could feel
the breath of the iron monster on her
cheek. In one hand she clutched more
tightly the folds of her shawl, and in the
other she raised her lantern, as if its
feeble star could be of some protection,
and then her grasp of it grew suddenly
very tight, indeed; for, leaning out a lit
tie from the platform of car, end look
ing forward, as if impatient for the train
to clear the cut, stood tall, handsome,
bearded man, in dark-blue clothes, with
lantern in his hand, and his eager,
watching, expectant face, came so very
close to her own.
1t was like flash of lightning; but
Katie knew the face, and she knew also
had even marked the swift paling of the
bronzed visage as it recognized her, and
then swept on into the darkness beyond.
"He was afraid would be hurt" she
thought; and then she said aloud: -"But
he must have seem how safe I was up
here on this rock. I don't believe he
swung his lantern at our garden-gate to-
night"
Katie did not relate her adventure
even to her grandmother, and on her
next visit to Aunt Betsy's she was care
full TO come away in time.
81 don't want to get home so very
much too early" as she finished her visit
and hurried her departure; "but 1 don't
like being caught in the cut at all. I'm
glad I'm sure not to meet anybody. I
believe I'd want to hide away from a
stranger, tonight, almost as much as
from a railway train."
1t was indeed an unusually dark and
gloomy night, but Katie was destined to
be disappointed in her hope of getting
through the cut without seeing any body.
AS has been said the granite ledge had
necessarily been pierced on curved
line, SO that no one standing at one end
! Oh iIS CUT IhOOCttttS hNAC 1lS htiAOAi-
sions, could see more than halfway
through.
Aunt Betsy's house was some little dis
tance from the upper entrance, and the
approach to the latter was gloomy
enough, that night, even for one who
knew every inch of the way as well as
| Katie did; but her little lantern shoNe
out cheerily against its bright reflector,
throwing its radiance ahead, as if it were
trying to tell her: "There, dear, that's it;
don't be afraid now, I'll show you the
track" But Katie remembered, just
then, that it was getting later every min
ute, and she tripped briskly into the cut,
wondering why the lantern-light should
make it look so strangely high and mar
row. She had not gone far, however, be-
fore the granite walls brought to her
ears, all the way from the lower end and
round the curve, as if the cut had been a
speaking-tube, the sound of voices that
were evidently meant to be low and
guarded. There were other sounds
mingled with the voices, and Katie could
not make out more than a word or SO
here and there, but there was something
about it all that startled and frightened
her. At first she was half inclined to
turn and make the best of her way back
to Aunt Betsy's, but that would be fool
ish, and Katie was really courageous
little soul. She hid her lantern under
her shawl, however, and stepped very
lightly and swiftly forward, trying to re.
member if there were not rock or hol-
low where she would be as safe from
men az she had been from the passing
train. She did not think of or find any
such place, and, after all, the parsons
whose voices troubled her were not il
the cut, nor were they coming to NEE
her. She was very nearly through, her
self, before she could any way make ou
what it all meant; but as she paused il
the deep shadows Of the rocks and peer
ed timidly out toward the now dull anC
muffled sounds, with which the voice