The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-06-09
The 0bstructed Track.
BY CAPT. CHARLES HOWARD.

nj VAIL bhhiNLEo iiONAhDs
1t was crisp night in October, and the
winds rustled the leaves in the woods that
surrounded Ytol Vathek's house. Above
the fair girl who looked out of small dor
mtory window shone countless stars she
might have seen Bootes and Orion had she
looked up, but that night the worlds of
Heaven had no attraction for her.
She was listening to strange sound
borne from the west by the nocturnal
breeze that chilled her cheek. | might
have SAID with propriety a succession of
sounds, for it seemed that some persons
were cording wood or moving heavy tim
bers not far away. Save this roise, the
terrupt!on from the window of her simple
boudoir.
81 believe ii is in Gwynnes Cut" she
said at last to herself. "Perbaps some viii
liam is obstructing the track for devilish
purposes. The Red Bird will soon be due,
and this is Eds trip down"
Her face grew trifle paler as she spoke,
and a moment later she stood before the
ancient wall sweeper in one of the lower
rooms.
The moonbeams stealing IN at the win
dow fell upon the face of the dial, and told
Ytol that it was twelve o'clock.
"Twelve" her lips murmured. "What!
twelve o'clock, and he whistles to me at
half past My heavens what if the track
is obstIucted in the cut !"
With the last word on her lips she turned
and soon lett the house.
At the gate she paused moment and
listened. The sounds were still TO be heard,
and she believed that they emanated from
a spot in the cut near the c4ttle-guard.
Then she started forward again, and crossed
the meadow that lay between her house
and her destination.
The stars looked down upon little OBJ
iect that glittered like silver in Ytol Vath-
ek's hand. 1t was revolver, and her fing-
ers held 1t firmly. Once or twice she
glanced at it as if to satisfy herself that j.
was there. Then looked up again with an
air of determination.
She was the belle of the country she IN
habiued. Her father was dead, and with
her widowed mother and little brother OF
twelve, she dwelt in the humble house wor
by the sweat of that fathers brow. A rail.
way station called Beaumont was the only
settlement near, and it was six miles from
her home. She seldom went thither, for
there was no society there, and she could
enjoy herself better at home.
The track of iron was the making OF
Beaumont, for the road was new, anC
towns we're springing up all along the line
Ytol could see the cars from her window
and often had she sat there until the fam
| ing headlight of the midnight express haC
appeared and disappeared. An opening IL
| the woods enabled her to see the light fo
| moment, and then the lighted Windows
| of the coaches.
Md ha b ohm xxyao fnh ipo
that his engine gave two shrill shrieks a
| it reached the opening-two shrieks thai
seemed to say, "Ytol Ytolr" She Away
smiled when she heard the sounds, and witt
| the smiles lingering on her face, or blush
she would listen till the rumbling of tn
train died away beyond the cramped boun
| daries of monumental Beaumont.
That brace of shrieks, loud and shrill
told her who drove that engine toward thu
great city on the Mississippi's banks. The.
recalled the day, one year since, when tn
first engine she had ever seen stopped a
Beaumont, scarcely a station then. Th
engineer was young and handsome, an
when he saw her examining the great driv
wheels and looking with wonderment up
on the mighty beauties of his iron pet, b
leaped to the ground.
"a pretty piece of machinery" he sai
to her, sand she goes like bird"
She blushed when she caught his eye
and the sound of his voice thrilled her.
Overcoming her timidity, he helped he
into his cosy apartment on the engine an
explained TO her the wondrous mechanism
of the beautiful monster Then be sai
good-by, and she saw the train move of
and his hat waving from the engine wa
the last thing she saw as it darted roun
the curve.
A week later she found herself at til
station talking to him again. Their NEE
ing seemed purely accidental, and no dout
It was such but am sure that the meet
ings that followed 1t were not. BY an
by Ed. Gordon, the engineer, carried pit
ture over his heart, and on Ytol's burea
lay the photographers semblance of b
face.
Thus the acquaintance at the station du
ing the Red Bride trial trip over the me-
road, had ripened into love, and the tw
midnight shrieks told her that he was sal
and driving his engine toward the river MI
tropolis. She sat at her window oft-timt
with the lamp on the sill, and often fai
ced that she could see him leaning frol
his engine with eyes fixed to catch gllmps
of her before the train would be swallowe
up by the woods again.
This life was excitement and Joy to Yto
but IL was paseing away. The time Wi
| xrha. n Gardan would IaaUa III