The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1873-08-22
Am drunk ?" he muttered, half
aloud. go God have I come to this
-, Sr,ko of o,-ox-tL:a,,

cam drunk ?" he muttered, half
aloud. go God have I come to this
In spite of everything ?"
And the memory of Dorothy Beers
and his sacred promise to her rose up in
his mind, as one sometimes remembers
promises made to the dead. In oil the
wild, wide, reeling. rocking world of his
brain there was but one certainty. He
had lost Dorothy, his soft-stcpping,
sweet-eyed, rcdeeming angel-rhe one
in oil the world who loved and trusted
him most implicitly.
"I don't deserve her." he thought,
scarce able to shape definite thought in
his chaotic mind; "but-if I had fallen
down dead bcforc-before I touched
that accursed stuff She would have
believed in me them" ........
The fresh, cool night air on his brow
was SOLDERING him little; the touch of
the cold river water cleared the mists
of his cloudcd brain in some degree.
He rose up, steady;ng himself by the
slender stem OF a young white birch tree
that grew close beside him, and looked
around. H''
Hark clear whistle, half mile
away, cleaving the silence like the call
of some sweet-throated bird.
1t was the express, whose plume of
lurid smoke spanned half continent =
the long, scrpent-like train, glittering
with lights, and carrying great eye of
fire in front, which nightly thundered
over the line of rails, and shot like a
meteor ont Of sight into the hush and
silence of the woods, westward bound.
The way train passed at 9, making a
brief stoppage at Hurstley station be-
yond, mere wooden shed with plat
form on either side. Half an hour af-
terward slow and heavy freight train
followed it, running off on a side track
toward the river shore until the express
should have safely passed. And it was
the special business of Israel Esmayne
to set the switch for the freight, and
subsequently replace it for the hurrying
express. s5.s
Had he done this?
With an awful doubt poisoning his
heart, he pressed his hands to his tenn
pies and tried to think. He had been
there-he could recall just how the
dewy rails looked, wet and glistcning in
the satrlight. He had had the switch
key in his hand that he could also re-
member. But was that before or after
the freight had switched off? He could
not remember whether the freight had
passed or not. He did not know wheth-
er he had looked the switch twice OF
/, once, or, good Heavens |! not at all.
The past was q swaying vacuum, the fu-
ture strange and dream-like. He closed
his eyes, he pressed his temples as il
either hand had been vice of iron, in
the wild, agonizing effort to recall the
last half hour. y ~ ~
80 God!" he groaned aloud, as he
threw himself on his face in the wet
grass, "am 1 going mad?' A
Something hard struck against his
breast-bone as he flung himself down
it was the fatal flask. He tore it out,
half full of dark-red poison, and dashed
it passionately into the bushes. 1t was
that-t,at that had done all the mis-.
chief.
80 Heavenly Fathcrr' he cried aloud,
in his great anguish, "if it pleases
Thee to avert from me this awful crime
of murder done q thousandfold-and
naught but one of Thy miracles can
avert it now-I swear before Thy pave.
ment of stars to touch that devils broth
no morel O God, hear me! o Christ,
save mep
The earth beneath his groveling breast
thrilled and quivered as the express
train flew over the rails, and Israel Els.
mayne held his breath, momentarily
expecting the awful crash which should
stain his soul with the eternal brand o1
Cain. ,v
Hush An owl hooting afar off in
the woods, the cry of some sad-voiced
mght-bird overhead, and then-anothel
whistle, clear and CHEEKY. The express
had passed through Hurstley-passed
through safe and sound And Israe
Essnayne staggered to his feet, gazed
around him an instant, clutching vague
ly ut the air, and then fell unconscious
"Uncle, he is coming to. Oh, uncle
knew kncw that he WAS not dead !
And the soft eyes of Dorothy Beer
were the first thing Israel EsInayne saw
as his soul came out of the world o.
shadows and oblivion, with old Jonathan
4 leaning on his cane just beyond.
"Tell me, Dotty,' he gasped, "hov
was it? The--the switches ?"
at was my girl did it," said the ole
man. "She come by, and she heard
the freight whistlin', and she see thu
switches wasn't right, nor no signal, mo-
nothin'. Something's happened, say
nv girl 'Israels been took i'll, o.
dead, says she. And there lay the ke,
in the middle of the track, and sht
catches it up, and she unlocks thu
switches-you showed her how to do j
yourself, Esn,ayne, one summer arter
noou-and she hangs up the white Ian