The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-07-13
The 0bstructed Track.

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. l might
have said, with prOpriety, succession
of sounds, for it seemed that some per-
sons were eOrding wood or moving
heavy timbers, not far away. Save
this noise, the night was quiet, and she
heard without interruption from the
window of her simple boudoir.
81 believe it is in GWynn's Cut" she
said at last to herself. "Perhaps some
villain is obstructing the track for dew
ilish purposes. The Red Bird will soon
be due, and this is Eds trip down.
Her face grew a trifie paler as she
spoke, and a moment later she stood be-
fore the ancient wall-sweeper in one of
the lower rooms.
The moOnbeams stealing in at the
window fell upon the face of the dial,
and told Ytol that it was twelve o'clock.
"Twelve W her lips murmured.
"What twelve O'Clock, and he whistles
to me at half-past My heavens what
if the track is obstructed in the cut !"
With the last word on her lips she
turned and soon left the house.
At the gate she paused moment and
listened. The sounds were still to be
heard, and she believed that they ema-
mated from a spot ia the cut near the
cattle-guard. Then she started forward
again, and crossed the meadow that lay
between her home and her destination.
The stars looked down upon a little
object that glittered like silver in YtOl
Vathek's hand. 1t was a revolver, and
her fingers held it firmly. Once or
twice she glanced at it as if to satisfy
herself that it was there. Then looked
up again with an air of determination.
She was the belle of the country she
inhabited. Her father was dead, and
with her widowed mother and little
brother of twelve she dWelt in the hum
BILE house won by the sweat of that
fathers brow. A railway 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, and
towns were springing up all along the
line. YtOl could see the cars from her
window, and often had she sat there
until the flaming headlight of the mid
night express had appeared and disap-
peared. An opening in the woods en-
abled her to see the light for a moment,
and then the lighted windows of the
coaches.
Did the engineer know that she was
watching-that his engine gave two
shrill shrieks as it reached the opening
two shrieks that seemed to say, "YtOl
Ytol r' She always smiled when she
heard the sounds, and with the smiles
lingering on her face, or a blush, she
would listen till the rumbling of the
train died away beyond the cramped
boundaries of uneOm mercial Beaumont
That brace of shrieks, loud and shrill
told her who drove that engine toward
the great city on the Mississippi banks
They recalled the day, one year since,
when the first engine she had seen
stopped at Beaumont, scarcely station
then. The engineer was young and
handsome, and when he saw her exam.
lining the great drive-wheels and look.
ing with wonderment upon the mighty
beauties of his iron pet, he leaped to the
ground.
"a pretty piece of machinery" he
said to her, "and she goes like bird p'
She blUshed when she caught his eye,
and the sound of his voice thrilled her.
Overcoming her timidity, he helped
her into his cosy apartment on the en-
gine and explained to her the wondrous
mechanism of the beautiful monster.
train move off, and his hat waving from
the engine was the last thing she saw
as it darted around the curve.
A week later she found herself at the
station, talking to him again. Theil
meeting seemed purely accidental, anC
no doubt it was such; but / am SURE
that the meetings that followed it were
not. By and by, Ed Gordon, the en-
gineer, carried a picture over his heart
and on YtoIs bureau lay the photog
rapher's semblance of his face.
Thus the acquaintance at the station
during the Red Birds trial trip owe
the new road, had ripened into love
and the two midnight shrieks told he
that he was safe and driving his engin,
toward the river metropolis. She sa
at the window, oft-times, with the LAM
on the sill, and often fancied that shl
could see him leaning from his engine
with eyes fixed to catch a glimpse o
her before the train would be swallowed
up by the woods again.
This life was excitement and Joy t
Ytol; but it was passing away. Th
time was coming when Ed Gordon
would leave the road, and accept tn
superintendency of the company's car
shops in fiOurishing city.
But let me return to the Octobe
night when Ytol left her home to in
Vestigate the sounds that seemed Il
come from Gwynn's Cut.
She felt that distractions were beinj
placed upon the track in the disma
places. OF late the company had in
CURED the hatred of certain persons re
siding in the vicinity of the station
and once or twice the track had beel
tsmpered with, but, fortunately, to n
serious extent. The night express gen
orally went through the cut with undi
minished speed, for no distractions hat
been encountered there, though the cat
tIe-guard in the center would assist tn
evilly disposed.
Ytol at last reached the cut into whicl
the mellow moonbeams fell, and paused
Something high and dark obstructe
the track before her, at the very spo
where the cRttle-gusrd seemed to be
and she held her breath. 1t was twelv
o'clock when she left the house, and he
walk had occupied number of preciou
minutes. The shrieks of the Red Bir
would soon be heard, and a momen
thereafter its headlight would flasl
into the cut or gorge
She saw more than a pile of stron
fnn l. -