The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-06-30

road that led away toward the north
4 At six every morning and evening tn,
| freight trains passed over the road bed
Land 1t was among Harry Rivers mos
| important duties to turn the switch tina
connected this branch road with tn,
main track, after the freight train hat
gone by.
Had he remembered to do SO tonight
Or was the long and heavily laden ex
press from the west even now sweepini
onward to its certain doom or death ant
| destruction?
Hero knelt down to feel of the track
Her deadly doubt had too much founda.
| ton in fact-the switch had not been al
| tered since the freight came up at SIX
O'clock,
A chill dew beaded over her forehead
A sinking sensation struck to her heart
What was she to do? Were she gifted
with the flying Footsteps OF Mercury'i
self, she could not get to Miners Arms
in time to avert the impending catastro
phe. AID even supposing that che
could, was Harry Rivers in a condition
to comprehend what was said to him
And with a bitter groan raising from the
depths OF her heart, she realized all the
horrors which have their beginning and
end in the wiHe-cup.
her brain. She knew where the switch
key was kept-she remembered having
once seen Harry slip it under u PROJECT
ing ledge OF rock upon sort OF natural
shell, secure from dew. rain or tempest,
|just beyond where she stood. Wnat il
she herself should attempt to save the
lives OIL the doomed passengers every An
stant coming nearer to their fate. The
idea and to act upon it We're teiegraphed
almost simultaneously from brain to
hand. Snatchlng the key from its rest
ing place, she stopped Ia the faint twi-
light now beginning 70 glimmer through
tue breaking clouds, ana strobe with all
the force OF her weak woman's strength
tn move the iron rails.
Gp& be tAankedl they ,stirred-they
grated In their secke ts--and, even at the
moment in which tne gray ned eye OF the
approaching express train blazed an the
toggy distance, Hero dragged The switch
into it's proper place.
Yet even then she could scarcely be-
lieye that it was right, as with the key
dangling by her side, she leaned panti nd
against '7the rocks Until, with q shrieR
like that OF some fire throateA demon oil
Avernus, the train swept by dizzy sdo.
cession of lighted windows, and dark
ness and silence again settled over her.
Hero Lewis neither faTnted or wept.
She was not of the material that Shrek
ers and fainters are made of. She knew
she had saved all the lives upon that ex-
press train; she knew that she had
ayerted great crime from Harry
Rivers soul and that was enough for
her. .l.......
AS she climbed the hillside few min
utes later, she met Harry Rivers stag
gering down the road. She stopped him
peremptorly.
"Harry, where are you going97
"DOn't get in my way, my lass, for
Heavens sake" he cried, in thick, un-
certain voice. "ltS the midnight ex-
press. IL ain't quite sure about that
swnchw
"1ne midnight express train passed
by fifteen or twenty inmates ago." said
Hero, firmly. II heard the Whistle.o +
fare you sure" -.
sQuite sure.o
"Inen God have mercy on nv soul.u
cried Rivers, fairly sobered at last by
the shock. 'l
"You need have no feo.s,n said Hero.
coldiy. 81 was thefe. turned the
switth.'
"fou?" t1.1
"Yes. I. Ithave seen you do 1t. 4
knew WheresGhe Key was kept"
Hcroi cricd Airers,t.itA q streng cob
In his Throat, ''you are my guardian
angeL Hero, yoa are a woman among a
bneGsand. Kiss me, my daringn
/"Neyer again, Harry Rivers" she an
swered, shrinking from him. "This
night has opened my eyes. Hereafter
we are the merest strangers TO one an.
ouher.n ~
So she left him, scarcely believing the
evidence OF his own senses.
The next day his formal dismissal
from the service Of the railroad company
came, and he accepted it without pro
test. He knew how dark record would
have lain against his name had Hero
chosen to SPEAK, and did not hazard
trance.
AS for Hero herself, she never saw him
again.
"My GIRL" said Uncle Royal, "you are
worthy of your name. And believe me,
you never could have respected Harry
Rivers as a wife should respect her Aus-
band"
81 know it, uncle," she said, softly.
But albne within the depths of her
own soul she kept the secret Of the Mid
night Express Train.