The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1874-12-23

- 10 be married, SAID he" to be
married, eh2 Who is the fortunate fair,
/ wonder2'
I was rather relieved to find that Dick
was taking it thus lightly, and L went
on "I have proposed to Ellen Lanford
tonight, and she has accepted me. If
I've interfered in any way with YOU,
Dick, I'm sorry L didn't intend to,
but
! " "Interfered with me?" interrupted
| Dick, with n sort of n sneer. "What on
earth should make you think that2 1
may have firted little with her, but
that's my way with girls. 1 assure you
L had no intentions except little diver
sion."
" That's lucky" said I, coldly, for I
didn't like his tone.
ALI of sudden we heard low muir
muring sound, caused by the humming
of the wires of the telegraph overhead,
and the gentle vibration of the wood
work about us.
cts the EXPRESS" cried Dick, his
face turning quite ivid, "and haven't
locked up the points ! Come and help
me, Ned. The goods dropped truck
at the siding, and 1 never locked the
points"
| He hurried out upon the platform and
away to the switch that turned the points
off and Oh. followed him closely, not
expecting, however, that my services
would be required, rs the affair was only
one of an instant.
Dick ran to the switch, and I stood by
the line watching him and looking. out
for the express. The line, rs I have
said, ran through a wood and just be-
yond the station the ground rose little,
so that there was cutting twenty or thirty
feet deep. At the top OF the bank was
the distance signal, which now showed
white light to the up line. Beyond that
the track ran straight away over broad
| level country. 1t was a fine piece of
engineering that n road as straight us IL
dart, spanned here and there by bridges,
converging gradually till it vanished to
nothing on the horizon. Five miles or
more away you could discern the lamps
of an advancing train on n clear night.
| could see the lights now, merged into
one yellow point that twinkled like
star in mist and the hum of the ap-
preaching train was distinctly to be
! heard, and yet she was two miles away.
Two miles away! That meant two
| minutes-that was her headlong speed !;
for every throb of ones heart that mighty
moving mass had leaped O flying stride
some sixty feet. And behind this rush
ing coil of iron, fire, and hot scalding
| vapor, luxurious men and soft-imbed
women sat and dozed away the moments
reading, perhaps, or busy at some
trif1ing task, or talking drowsily, the
lamps shining softly down upon their
heads and here in this quiet country
nook, the moon looking placidly down
and the stars twinkling through the riffs
in the white feecy clouds, lurked death
in wait.
CT can't close the points, Ned ~ cried
| my friend, in hoarse excited whisper
come and help me-
Had thought for moment should
have rushed to the handle of the dis
tance signal and turned it to danger :"
but was confused by the imminence of
| the peril.
" "Theres something between the
points" he said, that prevents their
| closing"
ran along the track where the two
sets of rails converged-the main line and
the siding. The siding was now open, so
that the advancing train would be turned
bank and massive timber structure at the
end. Stay had found the source of
the mischief-between the end of one of
the moving points and the iron fange
that acted as stop when it was fully
closed was round white stone. kicked
the stone away with my foot the points
were spring ones, and closed sharply with
n clang, plnning my foot between the
fange and the iron rail.
Dick, cried, "open the points
| I'm caught !''
saw his face in the moonlight it was
like the face of corpse, but his eyes
| cleaned with ferocity and malign tri-
umph. Deliberately he fastened the
chain and paddock to the switch and
| locked it up +; then he made few quick
strides across the line and threw his arms
round my struggling frame.
| "Youu be married, will you," he
Missed into my ears, "to your pet, your
darling, your Ellen2"
In that moment remembered her face,
and that L was then speaking some such
endearing words. Then, and now All
my newborn happiness seemed to return
upon me in flood of sudden, unspeaka-
BILE bitterness. Yonder came the train,
the earth quaking at its passage, rushing
upon us with horrible, staring eyes
whistling, shrieking, roaring, frothing
out great gusts of white, hot steam, the
glare of its furnaces sweeping like light
ming flashes across the dark, steep cut
ting. Pinned to the ground by my foot,
the strong grasp of a mailman about my
arms, made one desperate, Intellectual
struggle, gave oLe despairing cry-I re-
member nothing more. Other hands
must tell you the rest.
| ELLEN CONTINUES THE STORY.
oAfter my dear Ned had left me on the
night he first said that he loved me,
rested for some time on the sofa, feeling