Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1879-11-28

"Here, madam. I wouldn't advise yol
to go down. They will bring him up a
soon as found. If you aoitl go, though
you'd better take little something stimu
lating -here!''
Meb didn't turn. Down the rough de
clivity-over Lodges, bushes. boulders-
, tripping against Understanding over
mass of broken sidings sinking ankle deep
in grAin-Babcock and the doctor follow
ing with confused murmur of, 'Great
strain''- s'nervous system''-"a little
something stimulating"
The shattered Bucephalus had been
drawn out, and fires that had started up
from the scattered Goals been extinguish-
ed; but no man knew what flames might
be slyly creeping on beneath tie mass.
The men working in the debris did not
observe Meb until her voice, like a steel
javelin, smote the sides of the gully:
'sWinn!''
Involuntarily every hand paused, and
the cry broke through the silence:
il "Winn, Winn!''
i Then, faint and feeble, only few feet
away-a little back, a little beneath, came
the response:
s'Here, Meb; here!"
They clustered upon that part of the
ruins; they piled axe, and pulley, and le-
yer-lifting wheels and trucks, tossing
aside grain, throwing off girders and frag-
ments of sidings.
| Up on the track stood three petroleum
! cars; a fourth lay halfway down with its
stout guard broken, its sides battered, but
i thank God! whole. A fifth, hurled on the
4 sharp projecting rocks, had been rent, and
poured its contents through the wheat. A
i dozen grain cars had been crushed and
/ piled in between this place and the engine,
but how rapidly the petroleum would pen
citrate, or how quickly it might be ignited
4 by some unextnguished ember, no man
| could tell.
| A sudden pause in the work-they had
reached VIM. A Silence like that follow
ing Meb's cry-they had drawn him forth.
Up the sides of the ravine struggled the
! Observation-Disclosures woman, physicians,
men with AIDES, axes, shovels, crowbars.
No one observed slender spire of blue
smoke that curled up at the edge of the
saturated grain; but in less than ten
minutes all the wreck was a mass of crack
1 ling, roaring fame-fame blazing up in
red and blue points to the cool, m0on-lit
heavens, tapping the weather-beaten sleep
ers of the bridge, and swapping through
the branches Of the overhanging hemlocks,
i h,,% FL 70 no fy.oo 1r
| He had lain with his lower limbs too
| near the escaping steam. Fastidious
} people, reading Of the accident in the
morning papers, wished reporters would
spare the public such horrible details.
| The doctors administered brandy and
| injected morphine, and VIM was uncon-
scious of much pain. While the train
backed rapidly down to the Clinchy turn
table he lay with his head upon pillow in
Meb's lap, looking up at her silently. His
eyes fell at length from her face to her
shoulders.
''Oughtn't you to have worn something
thicker?"
go, don't, Vim; you'll kill me if you
think of me now!''
| The first tears Meb had shed since those |
elected by Mr.. Charlie Fordyce's tender |
sympathy, rained on WINS upturned
face.
The rush onward was electric with hope. |
spoken! The engine shouted its ecstacy;
| the plumy pines of Gobble thrilled, and |
| the rocky crags of Bear lifted grateful |
! faces.
He's alive!' shouted Ebal. 'sAlive!'
echoed Gerzarlm. ''Alive!' repeated the |
shining river in a thousand variations.
The Flyer was racing through the tor
tuous defile now. On and on to the open
plain again, and familiar buildings rush.
ing past
s'We're almost home, VIM home! Do
you understand"
Meb bent, covering one side of Winn's
face with her tears and kisses; wiping it |
/ dry with the precious illusion that had un-
fastened and dangled from her throat.
The house was lighted, linen airing by |
the kitchen fire, and that colorless Mrs. |
Weir moving about with wet bandage |
around her head.
Railroad men thronged in, proffering |
assistance.
''Under the circumstances she can't |
wish him to live," Mr.. Charlie Fordyce
had remarked on his way down.
Once, INF passing through the hall, Meb
encountered Mr.. Fordyce.
''Is there anything in my power to do |
for you?" he inquired impressively.
Mr.. Fordyce had nothing in his own /
nature, observation or experience, to |
teach him the revulsion of healthy soul |
towards any individual once instrumental |
| in diverting it's sentiments from legitimate |
channels.
AS he stood attitudinizing with his |
grandmother's eyes, Meb turned and sur
veyed him.
She hated his soft voice, hated his great
limpid eyes, hated him. hated him, hated |
him
''You? OH yes; you might go to the |
druggists. The doctor wishes to send. If !
VIM dies there is nothing in the whole |
wide world for which care.''
Mr.. Fordyce shrank little. He had
expected nothing less than opportunity to |
console her with an honorable reticence
in expression.
There followed weeks wherein the rival
powers Of the physical world, life and
death, locked arms and commended for do
minion over Vim. Life came off hard
pressed. wounded victor. 1t was long af-
ter he was out of danger before the man
seemed to lift for observation the remain