Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-09

other end of the line to receive it. The
wire is private-belongs to the railroad
company-isn't operated except in the day
time. You'll have to wait until to-mor-
row."
Tomorrow I'll be 100 years old or else
dead" the man almost walled in despair.
"What?"
81 was only 10 years old yesterday. To-
night I'm 60. To-morrow'n be too late.
Here-here-send it tonight, Miss. Please
send it tonight.
The mystified girl mechanically took the
piece of paper which he thrust into her
hands, but her eyes did not drop before
they discovered the insanity in his face, and
when they did rest on the paper they saw a
scrawl of hieroglyphics. 1t was plain that
this midnight visitor was a maniac. Against
Overlook's civil and sane men Mary had
entreEched herself confidently behind her
apathy, but within the round of the
clock she had been beset by agreeable senti-
ment, by violent passion, and now by ira
tional delusion. She screamed for help.
A watchman responded almost instantly
to her call. He was stalwart fellow, en-
ployed to guard the companv's tools and
machinery against mischief at night, and
his patrol, since Mary inhabited the cabin,
had brought him very frequently past the
place. He CHANGED to have come almost
there when he heard the outcry. Upon
seeing the cause of the girls fright, he
dropped all perturbation of his own, and
treated the incident as matter of course.
The lunatic wobbled like drunken man,
about to collapse, as he mumbled his re-
quest over and over again.
"Here, now, Eph," the watchman said,
with as much cajolery as command, ''you
e&vtk ho4 %ha 1o1- in1f
ashamed to scare her this way? Get right
out of this"
The watchman took the other by the arm,
and, as they started off-one insisting and
one objecting-the official looked back to
say: "He won't hurt nobody, Miss War
riner-he's just little cranky, that's all. ="
Mary watched them out of sight, and
while she was doing so Gerald Heath ap-
preached from the contrary direction. He
had heard the girls scream. Why he was
within ear-shot he might not have been able
to explain satisfactorily, for it was not his
habit to take midnight walks, even when
the air was so brightly moonlIt and so tenn
porarily fine; but if cross-questioned he
would doubtless have maintained that he
had sought only to escape from the darkness
and closeness of his shanty quarters. Be-
sides, where would he so likely wander, in
quest of good sight and breath, as to the
spot whence he could view the scenery which
he in vain asked the railway company to
exhibit to their passengers? As he turned
the corner of the cabin, he saw Eph and the
watchman departing, and comprehended
the disturbance
"Eph has been frightening you, Miss
Warriner," he said.
Mary screamed again, but this time it
g
She had not observed Gerald's approach.
She clutched the blanket closely around her
white throat, which had been almost as much
exposed as by an ordinary cut of frock, and
drew under cover the cleaning wrists which
had all day been barred to greater extent
by sleeves of handy working length. Then
she reached out one tape: arm, and swung
the sash around on its hinges, so its inner
cover of muslin made screen between her
and the visitor. He did not apologize for
his intrusion, and she pouted little, on her
safe side of the sash, at his failure to do so.
81 see it was Eph that alarmed you" he
said. "What did he do?'
She told him, and then asked: who is
he, and what ails him?"
''He is a common laborer with an uncom-
mon atliction," was the reply. Zone day
an excavation caved in, and for an hour he
was buried. Some timbers made a. little
space around his head, but the rest of him
was packed in earth. He had breathed the
enclosed air two or three times over, and
was almost suffocated. When we got him out
he was insensible. He never came back to
his senses. He believes he is living at the
rate of more than year every hour. That
is why he was in such hurry with his
imaginary message.
''Poor fellow came from the diverse
side of the sash.
Eyes, poor fellow" the narrator assented.
''I understood his hallucination at once
When a man is suddenly placed in mortal
peril his past life dashes before him. Half
drowned men afterward tell of reviewing in
minute the events of years. 1t is curious
mental phenomenon. Well, this poor chap
had that familiar experience, but with a
singular sequence. The impression that all
his lifetime before the accident happened in
mind. He believes that his whole
earthly existence is condensed-that
future years as we'll as his past
ones are compressed into days, and his days
into minutes Nothing can disabuse him of
this idea. Everything is to him ephemeral
That's why 1 nicknamed him Eph-short
for Ephemeral, you see. He doesn't remem-
ber his real name, and on the roll he had
only a number. He has done his work we'll
enough, until within few days, but now
his malady seems to have turned to the
worst. He has talked wildly of getting
some physicians to check the speed Of time
with him, and it may have been that he
wished to telegraph to this fancied expert. i"
"It is singular" Mary said, "and very
sad"
The midnight incident seemed to have
come to a conclusion. 1t was proper time
for Gerald to say good night and go away
He still stood on the opposite side of the
half open sash, around the edge of which
appeared small set of finger tips which
pulled the screen a little closer, showing
that the girl was minded to shut herself in.
But hand twice as big opposed hers,
gently vet strongly, and in doing so it
touched her, upon which she, let 60 and the
window few open.
20, you mustn't see me, " Mary exclaimed,
as Gerald got vanishing glimpse of the
white draped figure. GOOD night"
"You will be afraid if left alone" Gerald
protested; ''you can't go to sleep, nervous as
you must be.
81 surely can't go to sleep talking" was
her reioinder, with the first touch of CO.
quetry she had INDUCED in at Overlook.
'tI won't talk then, I'll only keep guard
out here until daylight. Eph may return. %
but there's the watchman. 1t is his
duty"
''It would be my delight"
That silenced the invisible inmate of the
cabin The moon shone into the square
opening, but Mary was ensconced somewhere
in the darkness that bordered the income Of
light.
f'Should 1 apologize?" Gerald at length
began again. at is like this, Miss War
riner. 1 used to know how to behave
politely to lady. But for six years I've
lived in wildernesses-in railroad camps
| from Canada to Mexico. We've had no