Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-08-07
high grass and bushes, all fringed with |

or, rather, the Tuut 10y -CdDlH WAlou vac ="
sort of hostage that one day real home
should rise on its foundations, holding the
flat bottle close to him, and glanclng
round with furtive, wandering eyes.
81 needed it." he said to himself; yes,
I needed it. | didn't know how much
until tasted it. Just one more taste. 1t
slips over ones palate like glass, so
smooth, so rich so full of strength. One
more taste, and then"
When the clock struck nine the whistle
of the way train sounded faint and far OIL,
and Israel Esmayne rose uncertainty to
his feet. The subtle, burning fumes OF
the LIQUID flame had entered into his
brain the walls seemed to reel about him,
the stars to swim in the great blue tirma-
nent overhead. Nothing was real-all
was faint and far off and visionary. But
the chains of habit are hard to shake Oft F:
and Israel had gone out at nine O'Clock
every night for year. Cropping his way,
and walking with slow, unsteady steps,
he went, still clasping the partially emp
tied flask to his breast in the inner pocket
of his coat.
He could hear the rush of the river be-
low: he could see the rails of the track
glistening in the faint starlight; and me-
chanically feeling under cluster of
spice bushes for the switch key, he knelt
down and stupidity fumbled there an in
slant.
"The way traln," he muttered to him
self. cts all right. And then the
freight train-halfpast nine-a quarter to
ten; and"
He stopped down by the river house and
wet his burning forehead with the cool
drops he could scoop up in the hollow of
his hand He sat down on fallen tree,
and let his head fall on his palms.
Am I-drunk?' he muttered, half
aloud. 90 God. have | 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 prom
Uses made to the dead. In all the wild,
wide, reelng, rocking world of his brain
there was but one certainty. He had lost
Dorothy, his soft-stepping, sweet-eyed re
deeming angel--the one in all the world
who loved and trusted him most i'm
plicitly.
Il don't deserve her." lie thought,
scarce able to shape definite thought in
his chaotic mind; "but-if [ had fallen
down dead before-before | touched that
accused stuff! She would have believed
in me them
The fresh, cool night air on his brow
was SOLDERING him a little; the touch of the
cold river water cleared the mists of his
clouded brain in some degree. He rose
up, steadying himself by the slender stem
of a Young white birch tree that grew
close beside him, and looked around.
Hark a clear whistle, half a mile
away, cleaving the silence like the call of
some t-throated bird.
It was the express, whose plume of
lurid smoke spanned half a continent
the long, serpent-like train, glittering
with lights, and carrying a great eye of
fire in front, which mighty Numbered over
the line Of rails, and shot like meteor
out Of sight into the hush and silence of
the woods, Westward bound.
The way train passed at nine, making a
brief stoppage at Hurstley station beyond,
a mere wooden shed with a platform on
either side Half an hour afterward a
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
switch for the freight, and subsequently
replace it for the hurrying express.
Had he done this?
heart, he pressed his hands to his temples
and tried to think He had been there
he could recall just how the dewy rails
looked, wet and glistening in the star
light. He had had the switch key in his
hand-that he could also remember. 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 whether he had locked the
switch twice or once, or, good Heavens
not at all. The past was a sU-aying
vacuum, the future strange and dream
like. He closed his eyes, he pressed his
temples as if either hand had been a 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 tie wet grass,
"am l going mad?"
| Something hard struck against his
breastbone 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-tItat that had done all the mis-
| chief.
go Heavenly Father.' he cried aloud,
in his great anguish, if it pleases Thee
to avert from me this awful crime of muir
| der done thousandfOld-and naught but
one of Thy miracles can avert it now
swear before Thy pavement Of stars to
touch that DEVILS broth no more! God
hear me. 0 Christ, save mei''
| The earth beneath his grOveling breast
thrilled and quivered asshe 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 kaeao that he was not deadn'
And the soft eyes of Dorothy Beers were
he first thing Israel Esmayne saw as his
| soul came out of the world of shadows
and oblivion, with old Jonathan leaning
gu his cane just beyond.
Tell me, Dotty,' he gasped. "How
| was it? The-the switches?''
ut was my girl did it, said the ole
man. "She come by, and she heard the
freight a whistlin', and she see the
switches wasn't right, nor no signal, MOI
nothin. Something's happened,' says
my girl. 1sraels been took i'll, or dead,
says she. And there lay the key in the
middle of the track, and she catches it up