The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1884-01-24
BILL SMlLEY'S SCARE.

BILL SMILEY'S SCARE.
Bill Smiley Was allRht- fingered, enter.
prising young man, who improved his
leisure by appropriating other people 9
property whenever he got the chance.
He Was jobbing carpenter by trade,
but his chief occupation was that of a
railway thief. The method he adopted.
wss to travel short distances on the
dif'erant suburban lines, with the object
OF picking up stray umbrellas, hand
bags, and other portable articles which
were insufaciently guarded bv their
owners. He had an innocent way OF
rushing from railway carriage Just
~ the train was moving off.
seizing.in his hurry and confusion some
body else's hat box or umbrella from
tho rack. On the comparatively rare &C.
casions when his mistake was discovered
before it was too late to rectify it, his
protuse apologies we're generally accept.
ed with more or less credulity. But, az
rule, he managed to get clear away
with his spoil. and 80 akillfully and eau
tiously did he conduct his operations
that he has never yet been convicted,
though he Was painfully conscious that
the police had their eye upon him.
One evening, feeling inclined for lit.
re excitement, he took q thiyd.class
ticket at the CLEARING. Cross station o..
the district railway. and strolled down
on the platform. Keeping sharp look
out as he loung.d about waiting for
train to the West End, his attention was
attracted bv the suspicious demeanor
OF 4 tall. Yankee.looking man, who
seemed anxious to avoid observation.
anu made his way to the far end of thu.
station. He carried y carpet bay, which
ne carefully placed on the ground,
while he walked tie yard in front
ofit. Bill remarked that, when any one
CHANGED to appros CHI, the man mounted
guard over the carpetbag in very reso
lutte manner. He tried the experiment
himself, and felt convinced that the con-
tents of the bag must be valuable. Az
the result of deliberate observation, he
came to the conclusion that the mysteri-
Gus stranger was not easy in his mind
about having the bag in his possession,
from which 1t was no. difficult to surmise
that he had not come by it lawfully.
While these reflections were crossing
Bills mind, a train came into the station
and In the midst of the confusion which
eneued. he saw the stranger take step
forward and accost passing guard. A
them. during which Bill yielded to a
sudden impulse which prompted him to
seize bold of the strangers bag and
make of with it.
Before there wasa chance of his delin-
quency be" g discovered Bill had !eaped
into the train. which was already begin
ming to move. He ielta little dismayed
At what he had done, for he was accus-
toned to act with much more circum
spection. The chances were that the
stranger would immediately communi.
cate his loss to the railway
officials who would at once teIe.
graph down the line. This uncomforta-
BILE prospect caused Bill to break into
cold perspiration. for familiarity with
the danger of being apprehendeI for
robbery had not bred contempt tor the
orde j. But by degrees he began to
breathe more freely as he recoilected
the strangers eviden' reticence. If. as
desiring to conceal his identity, he might
prefer to put MP with lis loss rather
than create a disturbance.
Eut still, B II did not feel at all COM
fOrtable, and he fastened to stow the
bag under the seat, 80 that it might not
attract the attention of the guard in case
he was warned to look out for it. While
he was thus occupied, the passenger
who Was seated opposite to him OBJ
served, facetiously:
"That amt dynamite, is it mate?"
no." replied Bill with grin, though
he was secretly vexed his movements
having been noticed. Its the coat I'm
agoin' to wear to night when have sup
per with the Prince of Wales and the
rest Of the royal 'auily."
But strange to say, tho facetiOus re.
mark of his fellow. passenger made an
uncomfortable impression upon Bill
Smiley. by suggesting TO his mimi very
disQuieting suspicion. He had hitherto
assumed that the bag contained valu-
point, Ct course, he had no actual knowl-
edge. Now he came to think Of it, it
was possible that the contents of the bag
might I've very different from what he
bar9ained for. This view Of the Ques-
ton assumed an ominous significance
when he recolIected the demeanor of
the stranger and his outlandish ap-
pearance. Bill was familiar. like every
one else, with the recent Fenian out
RACES. Surprising the stranger belonged
to the dastartlly gang who went about
causing death and desolation by means
Of infe- nal machinea!
Bill could not help shifting uneasily in
his seat when he thought OF the bag re.
posing snngly underneath him. 1t was
very easy to scott at the notion Of its be-
Ing tho instrument Of diabOlical ou'-
rage. For some reason or other, he
found 1t impossible to dismiss the suSpi-
cion from his mind. His fellow passen-
gers aimless remark seemed 10 have
acted like a revelation, and, in spite Of
to q sort of dreadful foreboding. He
now recollected that when he lifted the
bag he heard a strange RAFT inside it,
aud the sound was repeated when he
was putting it under the seat. Tr'1,ng
as this circumstance was, i helped to
inc ease his uneasiness. Whether his
adventure had Hurried his nerves, or
his state of health rendered him liable
to morbid fears, it is certain that he
soon became firmly convinced that the
prize for which he had risked his liberty
was an Internal machine which might
blow him to atoms ut any moment.
The face:ious fellow passenger. re-
marking Bilr. perturbation, which
plainly show d itself in his pale face:
good-naturedly asked it he was i'll, and
offered to put the window down. Thie
1rie' dly interference caused Bill to col
lect his scattered wita, and to reflect Sc
riously what he had bettvr do. His inn
pulse was to seize the bag and hurl it in
to the darkness. But he was restrained
from doing this, partly from lingering
hope that his booty might be really val
uab'e after all. lfan explosion resulted
from the bag being dropped into the
tunnel, he would be Immediately appre-
hended xs the author OF the outrage
On the other hand, some fendish ma
chinery might be at work inside the
bag ut that very moment, which rem
dered his hesitation almost suicidal.
This last reflection brought on a sort
of frenzied desperation which impelled