Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-12-11
Well old Hardness kent on with his

much as TO say, - LOOK at me, II you
want to see model man of business.
don't speculate. don't get involved.
Mark my consequent prosperity"
Now when / see man with good
deal of buster and swagger about him,
/ always make up my mind that he is
coward at heart. And when some peo-
pie parade their financial soundness, the
Wall Street animals always snuff rot
tenness somewhere. It must have
been on this principle that / began to
suspect that Hardness wasn't 80 safe at
ter all.
One night | was delayed by an unex-
pected break down in gearing, andstayed
in my cellar long after the girls, the
clerk, and the fireman had gone, hard
at work tinkering at the engine. No one
was in the factory but Hardness and
myself / do not think he suspected my
presence. As / was taking off my over
alls and fixing up, heard heavy dray
come up to our door. There were four
or five men with it, who were not our
regular cartmen. They jumped out,
were let in through the half closed doors
of the main floor above me, and were
led up stairs by Hardness. Presently
they reappeared, bearing cases of vari-
Gus kinds of stock, fancy paper, gliding
stuff, light machinery and different odds
and ends, with which they loaded the
dray, and then drove off again. All
was done in such quiet, mysterious
way, that it was evident that something
wrong was being done. What could it
be? The men were not robbers, for
there was Mr.. Hardness, and he sole
owner Of the factory. A man does not
commit larceny on his own property.
| couldn't make it ont at all.
l started to go. Just as | entered the
office from below, Hardness came in by
the passage way door from the floor
above. He started perceptibly when he
saw me, but instantly regained his
composure, and said, as cool as you
please
''Ah you're late, Bill. What's wrong
to-day (? Hope you won't blow US up
for a week or so yet. We're doing a
STAYING business, Bill" q think | see
him now, g washing his hands with in
visible soap in imperceptible water, p"
with that self-satisfied, hypocritical leer
on his face tsJust sent load of fine
boxes down to the Winged Arrow. She
sails tomorrow, SO we had to ship in q
uuIINs u 1uC DOAGSS dUN q DNddblI III fNo-
sci, Bill. Good night to you. -.
" Good night, SIR said /, and left.
AS l went up the street, another dray
passed, driven toward the factory. /
had the curiosity to turn and watch to
see whether it, too, stopped there. 1t
did, and when | reached the corner of
Broadway, stopped and looked back
once more. There, in the darkening
twilight, the same process of hurried
loading was being repeated. 1t seemed
to be all right. Hardness was there,
but somehow, I wasn't quite satisfied.
Trimming machines are not tine assorted
gilt edged boxes, by any manner of
means, you know. And | knew it too
though, very likely, old Hardness didn't
give me credit for being so well posted.
Well, if I couldn't settle the question,
the next best thing was to give it up.
And give it up did.
Next morning went over, as usual,
to the factory. Jim, the stoker, opened
the doors always, as he had to be early
to tend to the fires, which we banked
every night. / expected to see Jim, but
was much surprised when / saw Hark-
ness. This time 1t was he who came up
through the cellar door and through
the other. AS before, we met unex-
pectedly. Now it was my turn to be
surprised. He was intensely pale, and
seemed much agitated. With strong
effort of the will he stroYe to conceal
his strange manner. He endeavored to
speak calmly, and half succeeded.
Bill" said ne, g Jim has tended to
the engine, it's all right /; come outside
with me, want to talk to you. Is,
He turned to the cellar door and
shouted:
''Jim, come up, come up at once.
Run over to Mr.. Brent's private house.
you know where that Island tell him
not to discount that bill to-day. Be
quick J"
.sYes sir, coming sung out Jim, lei
surely.
Suddenly he tore up the cellar steps.
His face was ten shades paler than
Hardness, an expression of horror was
fixed on his features-an expression. of
agony and fear that shall never forget.
1t haunts me still. 1t will stay by me
till my dying day. Poor fellow, he's
gone, too since then.
Jim hardly stopped in his wild fight,
as he hoarsely whispered, rather than
cried:
Hundred and ten on the steam
guage! Safety valve clogged.! Run
for your lives ~"
/ took in the situation at once. Ter
rible the danger was. The old boiler
was registered at eighty pounds to the
square inch, but we never dared run
higher than thirty. And a hundred and
ten We were standing directly over
it, and while / hesitated, the pressure
must be steadily rising. 1t flashed upon
me that there might be no more danger
in jumping down and pressing the safe
ty valve, than in running away, and in
spite of the awful panic, had preju-
dice against running.
looked down from the doorway, up
on the trembling, painting, struggling
steam demon beneath. The safety valve
apparatus was in plain sight.
From the end Of the lcUer hung seoeraI
huge links Of chain
II doE't think I'm coward usually
at least, i know am not. But that ev-
idence of villainY took me all aback.
staggered and chung feebly to the Intel
for support. The words seemed forced
out of me and not uttered with my vo-
lition:
fYou scoundrel. You'd steal your
insurance, would you ?"
A sudden vindictive push sent me
headlong. As l fell heard demoniac
laugh.
"'Peach, if you want to"
And the door swung to with the click
of spring lock. -a5r
At the foot of the steps an open trap
the sub-cellar hatch. The distance was
SO great that | had time to notice all
this. Would it hurt me much when l
struck? Would it kill me outright I?
And that was all.
When | came to, found myself in q
well-remembered room. Bessie, my
Bessie now, hung tenderly over me,
waiting for the light of recognition to
appear in my fevered eyes. 81
All was soon told. The boiler must
have burst the very instant | struck.
Hardness was killed by flying piece of
machinery the would-be murderer had
exchanged places with his victim, for /,
strange as it may seem, was dug out of
the ruins alive, and got off with only a
hrokeu arm Cod FORGIVE him,