The Red Cloud chief., 1880-02-05

without kin, L had nothiag To attract
me elsewhere. Ny duties had grown 4
sort of second nature, and I had lived
Ia the little town 50 long that the
younger generation had come 10 speak
Of me as "Old Billy" That was, i
suppose. because my hair wa getting
gray and my joints n triic stiff.
The Red RaYine Station wa a wooden
building, about 40 feet long by 20 wide.
II was divided into two compartments,
the larger one being for freight and bag
gage. and the smaller one for passengers.
My own little room IA only q piece
partitioned OF from the freight quarter,
about 10 feet square, and connected By
a door with the box of an Office in the
passengers room, which served both
for selling tickets and holding the teie-
graph key. In this latter apartment,
also, was placed the old-fashioned iron
safe, in which l locked mp valuable
express packages when any happened
10 come To Red Rayine. The village,
! ought to. explain, had grown up
entirely through the influence Of
the great iron-works Of Eldridgc
e. Ricketson. There were rich beds of
ore a few miles to the north, and these,
as well as the big foundry, which en-
ployed four or five hundred hands, were
controlled by the firm I have mentioned.
There has been some trouble at the
works recently-a strike or something
growing out of delay In paying the men
their wages. That is how it happened
that the $4,000 money package came
into my keeping for a night.
Well, when / had made all snug about
the station, and got off my wet clothing,
/ sat down comfortably with pipe and
newspaper, To enjoy my customary read
ing. The storm outside continued TO
rage o and more fiercely, but within
things were as coy as could he. / had
a blazing fire in the stove, a cheerful
light, an easy chair, plenty Of good to-
bacco-the One luxury in which was
really extravaganza fresh newspaper,
and a bottle of good Holland gin,
wherewith to make my regular noe
turnal teddy. Certainly, these were
pleasant surroundings for an old fellow
like me, and, as a rule, they yielded as
much solid comfort as a man has a right
to expect in this world. But that night
things all seemed out Of gear, as / have
said. My pipe didn't soOthe me as was
its wont; try as | might, l couldn't get
interested in the newspaper; an uncom-
Portable feeling of diead-a feeling that
some shadowy but horrible thing was
about to happen-possessed my mind /;
and even when l mixed up a toddy con
siderably stronger than usual it failed To
bring the relief 1 had hoped for.
alt all comes of that pesky money
PACKAGE" ! muttered to myself. "Why
couldn't it have got here on the IL 80,
and saved me the job of keeping it over
nightP"
Just at that moment came a terrific
clap Of thunder, and a fash of light
ming vivid enough to make the lamp
seem dim. l had locked up the pack
age i'm the safe, and put the key-there
was no combination lock-in my pocket.
But l had not the largest faith in the
security of the old safe. 1t had oc-
Cured to me often that a person could
open it, even if he wasn't a skillful
craftsman. 1t was my custom to leave
my door open between my little room
and the Ticket-oilice, SO that if Red Ra-
vine was called on the ~telegraph-key |
could hear it.. The instrument had
been clicking away ut a great rate for
the last hour; but as it IA none of my
business, / had paid no attention To
what was going over the wires. i
Judged now, from the clearness of the
lightning and the jerky sounds of the
instruments, that the storm was play
ing the mischief with the messages. /
passed into the Ticket-oflice, where a
light was left burning, and stood for
some time thinking whether the money
package would be less exposed in the
safe than it would be under the mat
tress of my bed; and | finally concluded
that the latter place would be hardest
for any possible thief to reach. So l
took out the heavy brown envelope, and
slowed it away under the mattress.
Then | took 4 second glass of toddy,
which was usually against my rule, but
which l thought the circumstances war
ranted.
Once more / sat down tony newspa-
per and pipe, but with no better success
than before. The storm seemed now to
have centered right over the little sta
tion. Peal after peal of thunder rent
the air, and the lightning played about
the sky like phosphorus on an inky back
ground. If you have eve CHANGED to be
in a telegraph office during a thunder
storm, you may have seen the electricity
dash down the wires in a way to make
timid people nervous. Even veteran
operators, like myself, wouldn't want to
undertake to receive that sort of mes
sage. was tempted to close the key,
but the meaningless ticking had a sort
of fascination for me in the mood | then
was. 1t was like the %incoherent NUT
terings of a maniac, where now and
then, at long intervals only, could one
distinguish a word or sentence. Maybe
the extra allowance of toddy had made
me more imaginative than usual, and
given a weird coloring to my thoughts;
for, listening to the rapid click-click, l
remember of fancying that some spirit
hand had got hold of the key, and was
pouring out 4 wall of voc over the
wires. p,
l was too restless t. sit still and too
nervous to go to bed. Besides, wen if
hadn't been so upset in my mind, it is
doubtful whether l could have slept
through such a storm as that. To occu-
py myself about something, / relighted
my lantern, went out into the freight
room, examined again the bolts of the
doors and the fastenings of the windows,
and returned to my more worried
and upset than ever. Just as l was m
tering my own nest, the light of the
lantern fell squarely on the wooden box.
Oddly enough, until that moment l had
forgotten all about the dead young wom-
an. Thinkingso steadily of the $4,000
had, l suppose, driven the box out OF
my mind. But / can't say it was any
comfort to have it brought back now
for a corpse is never the most cheerful
of company, and, feeling as l did then,
l would a great deal rather have had no
company at all.
1t must have been the imp of the per-
verse, 1 suppose, that compelled me, af-
ter the box had been brought back to
my mind, to leave the door open SO that
l could sit and stare st it with morbid
curiosity. As l have already said, my
sleeping apartment vas partitioned of