St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-05-14

I
and John can arrange the rest. Fortu-
nately | selected insulated wire. as we
shall have to carry our line through the
woods to cut off that bend in the road"
Thus talking and planning to herself.
she examined her purchase. and then
carefully placing the bell and the wire
in a closet under her desk, she closed
up the station and went demurely home,
conscious of the innocence of all her
dark plottings.
The third day after seemed like the
Sabbath, and was not. 1t was Thanks
giving day. and John Mills. engineer,
did not ride on No. 80 that day. He
had II holiday. and came to see Kate
quite early in the morning. She pro-
posed a walk in the woods, as the day
was fine.
did You bring the boots ?"
Il did, my love, spikes and all.
tried 'em on an apple-tree, and found
| could walk up the stem us nicely as a
| fly on the ceiling"
That is good for, on the whole, |
think we must shorten the line, and
cut off that great bend in the road"
''And save battery power .
"ies. My pickle-.itr battery works
well. bnt find that it is not particular
! ly powerful. 1t rings the bell furinusly
when | close the circuit, but the cmcmit
Is not two yards long. What it will do
when the line is up remains to he seen"
"Where did Nou place the bell p
"Oh, hung it up in the cupboard
under my desk. can hear it and no
one will bc likely to look Tor it there.
! But that is not the great difficulty.
How are We to hide the wires that cn
| ter the station
Il wouldn't try. Let them stand in
plain sight Not ii soul will ever notice
them among the crowd of wires that
/ pass the station.
BY this time the two had reached the
railroad station. and, opening her little
office. they both went in. Presently
/ they reappcared. each with Il brown
paper parcel. and. with the utmost
gravity. walked away down the line
towards the woods.
In few moments they were lost to
/ view round Il curve i'll the road, and
they turned off toward the bank and
sat down on a large. Hat stone.
The boots. Kate.
She opened the bundle she had in her
hand. and displayed Il pair of iron
strrupS having an iron rod on one side
and n sharp steel point on the bottom.
There were also leather straps and
buckles, and John. laNiug aside his
burden. proceeded to strap them to his
feet. When ready. the iron rods. "I
bars. reached uearlv To the knee. and
the steel points were Just below the
in>tcp. Kate meanwhile took pair oi
To open the other bundle. Ii con
tanned Il large roll of insulated cop
per wire. some tack>. and n hammer.
Then they started down the track
with sharp eyes on the abandoned wire
hanging in long festoon> from its in
sulatur~ All right 81 far. Ah {;
break : they must repair 1t. Like :
nimble cat John mounted the pole, anc
: Kate uur"lled the wire as he took il up
In moment or two he had it securet
to the old wire. Then up the next pole
and while Kate pulled it tight he Sc
cured it. and the line was reunited.
Then on and on they walked. watch
the wire. and still finding it whole. A
last they reached the great iron bridge
and auNinu>ly scanned the dozen Z"
more wires. To see if their partIcula
p thread was still continuous.
We must cross the river. John. Ih,
, line seems Ia hc whole. aud We can tax,
our new line through the woods on tn,
| other shore till We reach the tow
: bridge"
Ii WAS Il relief To leave the dizzy opel
! sletpers of the bridge and stand once
more on firm ground.
/ This must he the limit of our cir
cult. wish it WAS larger. for il viii
. moi give me more than three minutes
I time. Now. if You'll break the line ol
that pole. john.
There was Il sound of falling glass
and then the new insulated line wa
secured to the old line the broken cn'
fell To the ground and WAS abandoned
p For half an hour or more the tw
were busy oven their work. and then
was finished. 1t was querrl lookiu
| affair. and no one would ever CUES
+ where it WAS or what il WAS designe
to do. y slender maple tree beside til
, track had a hit of bare copper wire lin
:, sulated ut the endS.) hung upright /
:. its branches. Near bv stood Il larg
: oak tree. also having Il few feet of wir
:. secured horizontally to its branche.
1 From the slender maple wire ran t
the old telegraph line. From the oil
II oak our Young people quickly ran
new line through the woods by simpl
tackiug it up ont of sight in the tree.
:. Then they came to the wooden brldg
!. where the town road crossed the stream
Ii took but few moments to tack tn
i. insulated wire to the under side of on
E of the string pieces well ont of sigh
Il and they struck off into the deep wOod
n again.
n Three hours later they struck tll
!. railroad. and found the old wire som
Il distance beyond the station up the lin'
+. Again the two-legged cat ran up tn
V pole. and there was Il sound of break
il ing glass The old wire fell dow
q amoug the bushes. and the new one Wi
IS Joined to the piece still on the line.
q short time after two young people wit
IS rather light bundles and very ligf
|. hearts gravely walked into the static
"a and then Soberly went to their Dime
y That night two mysterious figures iii
y ted about the platform OF the deserte
!, station One like a cat ran up I'll
if duskv poles. and the other unrolled
+ bit of copper wire. There was a soun
of boring, aud two minute wires wei
ID pushed through Il nolt I'LL tne NlHuo
n frame. The great scientific enterprls
- was finished.
Il V.
ALMOST TELESCOPED.
Of 1t WAS very singular how absen
y minded and inattentive the operate
was that day. She sent that order fl
flowers to the butcher. and Mrs. Robin