Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-07-25

did not know whether he had locked the
switch twice or once, or, good Heavens
not at all. The past was a swayine
vacuum, the future strange and dream
like. He closed his eyes, he pressed his
temples as if either hand had been wise
of iron, in the wild agonizing effort to re
| call the last half hour.
| 80 Godr' he groaned aloud, as he
| threw himself on his face in the wet grass
"am I going mad ?"
Something hard struck against his
breast-bone as he flung himself down: il
was the fatal flask He tore it out, hall
full of dark red poison, and dashed il
passionately. into the bushes. It was
that-ttat that had done all the mis-
chief.
| 80 Heavenly Fatherr' he cried aloud,
in his great anguish, if it pleases Thee
to avert from me this awful crime of mur.
| der done thousandfold-and naught but
one of Thy miracles can avert it now-I
swear before Thy pavement of stars to
! touch that devils broth no more OGod,
| hear me! 0 Christ, save mep'
The earth beneath his groveling breast
thrilled and quivered as the express train
| flew over the rails, and Israel Esmayne
| held his breath, momentarily expecting
the awful crash which should stain his
soul with the eternal brand of Cain.
Hush! An owl hooting afar off in the
woods, the cry of some sad-voiced night
bird overhead, and then-another whistle,
clear and CHEEKY. The express had passed
through Hurstley-passed through safe
and sound! And Israel Esmayne, stag
gered to his feet, gazed around him an in
slant, clutching vaguely at the air. and
then fell unconscious.
"Uncle, he is coming to- Oh, uncle,
knew-I h,aeao that he was not deadr'
And the soft eyes of Dorothy Beers were
the first thing Israel Esmayne saw as his
soul came out of the world of shadows
and oblivion, with old Jonathan leaning
ou his cane just beyond.
"Tell me, Dotty," he gasped. "How
was it? The-the switches ?'
"It was my girl did it," said the old
man. "She come by, and she heard the
freight a whistlin, and she see the
switches wasn't right, nor no signal, nor
nsthin'. Something's happened,' says
my girl. 1srael's been took i'll, or dead
says she. And there lay the key in the
middle Of the track, and she catches it up,
and she unlocks the switches-you show
Gu ucI HOW W uO III yOuTSell, ESIldyue, one
summer arternoon-and she hangs up the
white lantern. And there she stands, with
her heart a-beatin' fit to choke her, till the
freight gets off. And she calls to one of
the brakesmen, Set these ere right for the
express, says she. Quick! or there may
be a thousand lives lost Where's the
switch-tender? says he. God only knows
says my Dotty. And SO she comes back
arter me. Uncle, '.rshe says, all white and
tremblin' like, come with me- What
for?' says 1. TO look for Israeli says she.
4 don't sleep this night says my Dotty,
till we've found him!'"
"God bless her" cried out Esmayne, in
choked voice. "God be thanked for all
His mercies!"
''Was it a fit?" said the old man, curl
ously. "How did it come on?"
But Israel Esmayne spoke no word on
the subject, either then or ever. He mar
ried Dorothy Beers in the spring, and he
has sacredly kept his VOW. If he lives to
be a hundred years old, he will still keep
it. And Dotty, though she never knew it,
had redeemed him.