Mower County transcript., 1890-05-07

instead Of headache is what you
mean"
There were twenty miles of straight
driving before we made the first stop.
We had got over about half the distance
and was just settling down to steady
work, having my furnaces we'll loaded
and seen that my water gauges were
we'll up, when was startled by sharp
exclamation from Shelly. Looking up
quickly, I was shocked at his appear
ance. He was leaning forward, gazing
out of the cab window, which was open,
his eyes starting from his head and his
whole air expressive of the most in
tense terror and expectancy. Above the
clanking of 'he machinery and the whizz
of the oscar ng steam, I could hear his
loud, quick breathing.
SHELLY" cried, "what is it?"
He did not heed me until I had re-
peated my question in louder tone.
He put out his hand as if to silence
me without turning. "Hush!" he said,
in strange, choked voice; ''hush, Tom!
she is there"
''She! who?'' 1 asked, in alarm
There is no one there. You are i'll,
Shelly"
''No, no." he answered, in the same
husky tone. "She is there, tell YOU"
''You are mad, Shelly" cried, nerv-
ously, hardly knowing what was say
ing. "What woman would be out on
such night as this?"
He slowly turned his face toward me
and by the faint light of the gauge lamp
could see how locked and rigid his
features were.
mo lspiaeg woman," he said in slow,
penetrating whisper, every syllable of
which was audible above the noise. of
the engine. IA dead woman, Tom"
I am not naturally a nervous man, and
at times, at least, in the prime of my
youth and strength, feared neither
man nor ghost, but I confess I was thor
oughly shaken. There was something
so uncanny about the whole thing. The
unnatural expression of the mans face,
the blood-curdling accents of his voice,
his evident belief in his own i'm
pressions, all contributed to send an icy
chill down my skin and bring the per-
spiration out upon my forehead.
''Shelly!'' I cried, "Shelly, don't look
out there. Shut the window and sit
down. I'll run her to Sharp's and
give you time to get over this.'
For reply he beckoned me to his side
and against my will I crossed to where
he stood.
"Look there!" he muttered in my ear,
while his fingers closed upon nv arm
with vise-like grip. 'There just
ahead of the pilot in the glare of the
head-light-and tell me what you see."
In the lane of light flung far ahead
upon the tracks, making brilliant
wedge in the darkness, the steam,
driven downward by the icy wind, rolled
in dense white volumes, at times shut
ting off the view as with thick, wav-
ing curtain. And there just beside the
engine, not ten feet distant, I saw
what? l rubbed my eyes and stared. I
gard face in bewildered inquiry, too
much Mortified to speak, rubbed my eyes
again and looked. Yes, there it was!
Was mad or dreaming? Could trust
my own senses and was there, almost
within reach of my outstretched arm,
floating in the air and keeping pace
with our swift motion a aooman's .Jarm?
''Shelly," I whispered, breaking the
spell of terror which was upon me with
an effort. ''What does it mean? What
is this awful thing?"
''See," he replied in tone which I
hope never again to hear from the lips
of mortal man while live. ''She has
come to accuse me for the deed I did.
She has come to exact retribution from
the man who loved her better than his
own soul, and yet took her innocent
life"
''Shelly, Shelly!" cried, shaking SO
violently that could hardly keep my
feet. "What are you saying?"
''Look," he said, pointing with
trembling finger through the open win
dow. ''See what is upon her breast!
did that. I, lost wretch that am, gave
her the blow in my mad jealousy that
let out her pure young life. And I
loved her, oh; Heaven! loved her."
He covered his face with his hands
and heard him sobbing aloud, as with
clang of wheels and rush of steam we
swept onward. Meanwhile with eyes
starting from their sockets I continued
to gaze at the nameless thing before
me.
Unnerved and distracted though I
was, there could be no mistake in what
| I saw. In the midst of the rolling clouds
of steam, seeming to be formed out of
it and at times to melt with it again,
the tall, slender form, clad in . long
floating robe Of white, was as plainly
visible as the dark bulk of the. engine
beside which It fioated. It was, as I
have said, the figure Of woman; young,
in the very flower OF her early prime,
and beautiful beyond any thing bad
ever imagined. Her long, pale brown