Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-10-23
those keen hight eyes would be small in

adverse circumstances. ana poured IOrtn
abuse like water. Others followed
some angry. soIne silent, all cold and
miserable. Astout woman in black who
had been sent for to a dying child was
weeping aloud; q dazed man with bound
up head and terrified wife We're pounced
upon Immediately by ~sxpectant friends
and borne off with voluble sympathy.
One or two people slightly hurt were
helped out after the others. The train
was emptied at last. Aurelia was not
there. Charles went down the length of
the train, looking into each carriage, and
then came back, answering Ralph's
glance with a shake Of the head. The
man in black, who seemed to have been
watching him, came up.
Have all come back by this train?"
Charles asked.
"All, sir, except"-and he hesitated-
except a few. The doctor who went
has not returned, and the guard says
there were some of the passengers badly
hurt-that he would not allow to be
moved from the farm when the train
came for them. The engine driver and
one or two others were"-
Charles made a sign to him to be ST.
lent.
"How far is itT' he asked.
Twenty miles, sir"
care the roads p~racticablsy
mo, sir. At least they would be very
uncertain once you got into the lanss."
I'VE can walk along the line" said
Ralph. THAT must be clear. Lea US
start at once"
Gould not the station master send US
down on an engine|' asked Charles.
I'VE would pay well for it."
The police inspector shook his head.
but Charles Ven off to inquire never
theless, and he followed him. Thought
him a very pushing, inquistive kind Of
person. have always had = great dis
like to the idle curiosity which is con-
tinually prying into the concerns of
| others. Ralph and l walked up and
| down, up and down the now deserted
platform. Ispoke to him once or twice,
but he hardly answered, and after a
time l gave it up and we paced in silence.
At last Charles returned. His request
| for an engine had been refused, but a
further relay OF work1nen was being sent
! down the line in a couple of hours time,
| and he had obtained leave for himself
and Us TO go with them. After two
| long, iater1ninable hours of that ever.
lasting pacing we found ourselves in an
| opsa truck, full Of workmen, steamine
slowly out Of the station. AT the last
moment the man in black jumped in and
accompanied us.
The pace may have been great, but te
us 1t seemed exasperatingly slow, and II
the open truck the cold was piercing
The worknen, who laughed and talked
among themselves, appeared to take NJ
notice of it; but l Saw that Charles wa
shivering, and presently he made hi
brother light his pipe and began X
smoke hard himself.
Ralph's pipe, however, went out un
needed in his fingers. He sat quite still
with his back against the side Of ttit
truck, his eyes fixed upon the gray hori
brother and said, as If unable to kee,
silence On what was In his mind:
What was her objectY'
Charles shook his lead.
"They were hers already" he went on
"She would have had them all. II sh
had had debts I would have paid them
What could her object have beenT' AM
seemingly, without expecting a reply, b
relapsed into silence.
We had left the suburbs now, an,
were passing through a lonely country
Here and there a village Of stragglinl
cottages met the eye, clustering roun'
their little church. In places the hedge
rows alone marked the lie Of the hiddel
lanes; in others men were digging on
the roads through drifts of snow, an,
carts and horses We're struggling pain
fully along.
La n place q little walking funera
was laboring Gro the fields from
lonely cottage in the direction of tn
church, high on the hill, the bell O
which was toning through the quiet all
The sound reached US az we passed, ant
seemed to accompany US on our way.
heard the men talking among themselve
that there had been no now storm lk
to this for thirty years, and as they spok
some of them began shading their eye
and trying to look in the direction il
which we were going.
We had now reached q low waste o
~uninclosed land, with sedge and gors
pricking up everywhere through tn
snow, and with long lines of pollard
marking the bed of a frozen stream
Near the line was a deserted brick kiln
surrounded by long, uneven mounds an,
ridges of ice, with three poplars mount
ing guard over it. Flights of rock
hung over the barren ground an'
wheeled in the air with discordan
clamor as we passed-the only livinI
moving things in the utter desolation o
the scene. AS l looked there was an ez
clamation from one of the workmenfan IN,
the engine began to slacken. We wer
there at last.
[To BE CONTINUED