The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-08-27

spectral bridges, with the indrawn breath
Of uncertainty with which man ever ap. !
proaches the insubstantial and mysterious
"Fire upw cried the engineer; ''he is mo-
burntw
Since our first start he had been leanin,
on his rest, rave when he mechanically
tended the machine. But now he turned
with a swift whirl, caught the chain door.
swing of the fire-bOx, swung 1t open with
the stoker's accustomed swaying pull.
peered into the fiery gap with searching
gaze, and slammed the iron door as if upon
q foe.
Sire upi Why don't you put in coal9n
1t wanted half the usual time, bot 1 was
constrained to obey. I had not yet wiped
the blackened sweat from my brow, when
he whirled about again and opened the
furnace door.
"Plainsr and plainerl" he cried; "put in
He turned to the window again as ]
brought the scoop. That coal never was
burned. I threw it over the side, impelled
by prudential motives less than by a
curious appearance thai arrested me when
I opened the fre-box door. And so,
through the rest of the run, while the
smoke gathered thicker, denser and more
f1tid, again and again, and q score of
times again, We repeated that same formula
hit commanding, I alternating actual
obedience with simulated compliance.
The way-stations were t~hickening
toward Belen, when the engineer ap-
preached me, after one of his wistful, re-
luctant visits to the fire.
.You are good lot, he said, "you have
away-they couldn't stand it. Yes, you're
good pluck. Come" he said, i~ngratiating-
ly, ''you look and see if he is there"
1opened the iron door. Eyes, he is there"
He caught the loaded scoop n thrust it
cried. sand burn him up. Perhaps you can
do it,"
I shoveled in the coal, then turned and
took him by the arm.
"Why did you burr him up?" I said.
He covered behind me toward thet tender,
turning his face from the furnace, yet
glancing back at it askant, as he had done
all along, drawn toward it by reluctant
fascination.
"Now I win tell you," he said. "Iknew
all along that he was Julius Wright. We
lived behind his rooms, up yonder in the
city-my wife and I-my Josie. Why
yes-he got me this berthl Do you sup
pose Pd have given him away to the COM
pany-not for ninety millions when he
came out acre and told me he was sweet on
Miss Dame, and had robbed the company
to get a start for her? No, sirl He carried
that pile of notes with him day and night
you know how much of it I could nave
got by giving him up. He fred for me two
months, ate with me, slept in my bed. The
boys wondered to see me SO thick with Sam
Barnes, my fireman. Fire upi Is he:
o, it's no usel" He took up his recital
"He got a letter that night at Belen. There
was q picture in it See"
He took from his breast a letter and q
photograph. Blood was on them both.
The face In the picture was the face of q
woman I had seen often enough in a luxu.
rious little cottage on our northern bay-a
merry, blonde face, with perfect teeth
peeping through the parted lips-the type
Of woman who could smile into q mans
auaa whila aha dishOnorad him
81 happened to come behind him while
he read. I saw the picture, and knew it
I knew the writing. She signed: sYoul
loving Josiep I stole away without hi'
Belen I struck him down, and took my falls.
wife's picture from him, and
burned himl But mark you I killed
him irst-he was dead when 1 thrus
ing-through him-in the flames of hell
and burning alivel Fire up, and see-is h
there? o, yes! / knew it. You see, OF
this run it is all reversed. He begins t.
grow into shape back near Walling, wher
, his bones fell into ashes as I stirred then
!. into the Goals. The melted Jumps of hi
jewelry are in my trunk at Walling-
toould clean my engine that night, and
found them. Well, he grows and grows il
the fire, until he stands like life on the spo
where 1 killed him. You'll see soon-yon
, der ahead, where a pile of rock is over
Mexican grave"
!, And in truth, when the headlight flashes
! on an upheaped cairn of stones, topped b,
a rough brown cross, ono more John Stacy
, cried in my ear Fire up!' and from tn
open fire-box door appeared to issue some
thing in human form, pallid and bleeding
the shape of julius Wright. Farther an
. farther the dead man pressed the living, t
the very edge of the tenders slippery steI
Then I succeeded in stopping the train
The cab was empty, and afew rods farthe
, hack .John Stacy Law beside the rails ston
dead.-Y. II. Adds, in San Francisco Ar
OOnuut,