The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-06-03

held in an iron grip slender, writhiue
form that Indignantly rebelled against
his assault. But when light dawned tc
a comforting brightness again the stout
gentleman was found to hold captive an
innocent and much-injured newspaper
and popcorn boy, who had entered the
car just in the nick of time to be made
prisoner, while the thief slid noiselessly
away to vanish forever. Then each pas
senger was morally certain that the thiet
had crept past him while he was pursu
ing the respectable gentleman opposite
and the newsboy was surest of all that
he had been propelled into their midst
by some unseen power on the platform
| The inevitable result of so much excite
ment was chilling doubt if Miss May
hew's alarm had NOT been only woman's
scare after all.
"Look at her for yourselves" she said
Indignantly, reading skepticism on every
side.
The old lady's appearance was GER
tainly dilapidated and battered, while
her beautiful beads were lying in her
lap. Ruth replaced them preparatory
to her getting out at the crowded termi.
nus where she changed cars. The old
lady fluttered away almost before the
train had stopped, and when they had
gone fully five minutes Miss Mayhem
ratified the beads on the floor with sud-
den crash. The thief had weakened the
clasp in his efforts to secure them
Something must be done. In vain she
appealed to selfish men; they were not
going to lose their places. Much good
but vague advice was volunteered about
keeping the necklace until she could for
ward it some time, which she cut short
with decisive:
81 will go myself"
The emergency required prompt action,
and she was equal to the emergency
Without moments hesitation she rushed
out.
"How long do we stop?" she inquired
of brakeman, who exhaled hot oil from
his very countenance.
"Twenty minutes" replied the brake
man, surely melted by the Evil One.
Where, oh, where will that brakeman
60 when he dies? Was his conscience
deadened as well as his outer ear by the
din of his life; or did he view with indif-
ference the possibility of any future state
being worse than the pandemonium of
his present existence? Our traveller was
beset by crowd of clamorous hackmen
desirous of driving her out of her wits, if
not to the end of the earth. Escaping
this snare, she fell into another of babies
and dusty parents. How many tender
innocents she upset in her haste, thus in
creasing the general uproar, Ruth,
although naturally humane, never knew.
Everywhere a hopeless blockade of
baggage, trucks and struggling humani-
ty-everywhere insane panic of hurry
in the fear of being left behind. The be-
wildcred woman could not approach
within ear-shot of the perspiring ticket
master, whose suf1used face glared
vengefully through his pigeon-hole as he
snapped short the incoherent questions of
distracted passengers. If she could only
ascertain where the old lady had gone!
(which is the Locust Valley trains"
she asked of a baggage-man who was
pausing to take breath after lifting a
Saratoga trunk of gigantic dimensions.
The baggage man, with agonizing de-
liberation, rested his great hands on his
hips, thrust a quid of tobacco into his
cheek, stared at his interlocutor, and said:
"Hey?"
Miss Ruth repeated her question with
the energy of despair.
Where do you want to go?" inquired
the baggage man, warily.
And then it became painfully-evident
fact that where Miss Mayhem wanted to
go and where she was going were two
widely sundered matters, for she beheld
her train in motion. To rush toward it,
to signal blindly-as if the insensate
monster would stop-to be beld back
from jumping on board in a gentlemanly
fashion, and then to be left gazing blank
ly into space-that was her experience.
A voice came back on the wind:
81 will keep your things for you"
To inveigh bitterly against the deceit
fulness Of brakemen was an impulse
which our unfortunate lady checked with
true dignity of character.
II will find the old lady, at all events"
she decided, "even though she should
prove the proverbial needle in that hay
stack of depot"
There never were so many trains look
ing exactly alike, and apparently headed
in the same direction, with their engines
prancing aimlessly up and down. Oh,
the satisfaction CT at length beholding
familiar old face, spectacles on nose,
beaming behind window. Miss May
hew dashed frantically forward waving
the necklace aloft. The old lady started,
felt instinctively at her throat, and be-
gan to tumble no less frantically at the
closed sash. Varnish and springs defied
her. Horrors! The train, after david
ling any length of time, at this inauspi-
cious moment concluded to move. 1t
was a pleasant sight to behold Miss
Mayhem racing along the platform, cast
ing dignity to the winds, and the old lady
on the verge of apoplexy within the car
in her efforts to raise the window. How
the people stared, to be sure! But Miss
Mayhem did not care. She was long
past personal sensitiveness; and when
the sash finally yielded, just as she
reached the extreme edge of the plat
form, she threw in the beads, and, retir-
ing, seated herself on a carpetbag to
burst into tears. Her courage complete
ly failed her; the weak, silly, feminine
sobs mo,ld come.
A gentleman had approached to claim
the carpet-bag. He was tall, bronzed
and bearded, and he wore scarf about
his throat of some curious Eastern fab
ric. Miss Mayhem, the tension of ex-
citement having snapped, was left as
weak as an infant. Her pocket had
been cut, and her porte-monnaie was
gone. Had she, 10 securing her compan-
ions safety, fallen victim to the snaky
young man herself? She now rose,
making some confused apology for the
condition of her late throne, the carpet
bag.
Ruth Mayhew" exclaimed the
stranger. "I cannot be mistaken. Sure
ly you wear my gift, the little brooch, sill
yer and pearls"