Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-03-20
A SOLITARY PASSENGER.

asleep behind the pane of ground glass
over which the word tickets" was in
scrbed in half circle, and toward which
a most inartistically foreshortened hand
was depicted as extending gilt finger for
the enlightenment of the general public
Not that the Big Pine telegraph office
was ordinarily open at so late an hour as
this Seven o'clock was the usual period
of closing Nor had Eunice Barlow any
official right to the tall wooden stool be-
hind the semicircular gilt legend referring
to Tickets" In u manner she had had
greatness thrust upon her. Old MIR.
Pettyclove, who represented the majesty
of the railway company in this particular
spot, had gone home in the early dusk
with raging facial neuralgia. and in
common humanity Eunice could not have
refused temporarily to assume his position
with its duties.
at will only be another hour of work,
she told herself, cheerfully, as she put an
additional log of frost frlnged wood into
the little air tight stove. when the
1880 has passed can shut up the place
and go home There are only two night
freights, and the conductors on both of
them have keys to the freight house"
But in the course of these sanguine
meditations Eunice had neglected to take
into account the driving snow storm and
the consequent block" along the rails;
and she was beginning to glance rather
anxiously at the unmeaning dial of the
wooden clock on the pine shelf above her
head. for she would have to walk nearly
half mile through the lonely wooded
road ere she could reach her home, after
the station was shut for the night, and
she had plumb, timid natured little
mother sitting beside the fire, who was
sure to imagine all sorts of possible and
impossible horrors if Eunico Glanced to
he n few minutes behind the regulation
time of arriving at the doorstep.
II wish" Miss Barlow mused, that
had thought to ask Mr.. Pettyclove to
send his boy Zenas over to tell mother
! that was likely to be detained little,
But therel the train can't be long now. :"
Outside the wind howled like an infu
rated dgmon in the worst possible of tenn
pers The tops of the pine trees kept up
a constant moaning, like the waves of
some black green sea Within, the clock
licked Justify on, the logs of wood cracked
and sputtered in the stove, and Eunice
Barlow yawned over her paper covered
Ivanhoe, with growing Indifference to
the fate alike of the fair haired Rowena
and Rebecca the beautiful
Suddenly the silence was broken by the
tiniest sound. like the throbbing of some
small silver heart, Eunice jumped up,
instinctively obedient to the call of her
autocrat, the telegraph.
"A messagel' She thought. And at
this time of tho night. Well, wonders
never will cease"
A message it was; to Peter Pettyclove,
station agent at Big Pine station.
II. Z. l.. hn,, oil
passenger on train 81 Small, dark, wear
ing fur trimmed coat. Keep in custody
until further notice II. V. CARTER,
Chief of Police at White Peak.
Almost before she had deciphered these
words, Eunice Barlow telegraphed back
IAN right" and once more the small sill
yer heart left off its tumultuous throb
bings And not until then did the tele
graph operator realize what very pecu
liar position she was in. All alone at Big
Pine station and officially authorized, il
right of her substitution. to arrest banl
defalcator ON the spoil
Even while she pondered on this unex
pected state of things there was curious
= thrill and tremble of the floor beams under
her feet, shrill steam whistle rising
, above the sustained roar of the tempest
The 1880, officially known as No. 81, wa.
swinging around the curve.
In an instant Eunice Barlow was ont il
the deep snow of the rude board platform
, with the lighted lantern in her hand. Tn,
conductor of the train was not at all sur
prised to see her there He knew tina
/ Peter Pettyclove was old and feeble, anC
a spirited young female telegraph operate
! is rated at her full value in tho Big PIN
section. She tried to signal to him tina
r she wanted to speak TO him, but the blind
Q ing snow drove its shroud like sheets be
tween them He smiled and nodded t.
a her in the aggravating way that men hay
f when they are particularly obtuse, shoute,
$ some incomprehensible comment on tn
, weather, helped to loosen the brakes, am
j was au eighth of Il mile up the track be
i9re Eunice lantern ilSh5 lell on slngl
p4uoS ~ NY w. Ia. l.'liioG O,ei i'' W.
! It's form closeiy Duttoheu up m-a III
i trimmed oVeicoatl
y IS ms INC stalioil, s"lu LOW we
nouuiateq VOICE Willcn gave MISS i .lrl.
'he iue" Oha' 'Io unhappy FlcOiil ot luS'lc
was gentleman porn anu orea; w her
! are tue porteiS' oPon my Wofu NioohIn
! around alter a oeWliaereu Iashlohl,
y airalu they Ve lorsol'eh 20 put on III
= luggage isn there ure Sonle"heF
n neTeapoutS' ,,,,
Il Eunlce BARLOW looked sole1nnly at mn
u as she opened me door INTO the prigh'
y eheeriuliy lighted niue station. les IN
: telegrapheu ae cIlptloli hal oeen correct
ne was sinai ana uaIN eiiu' poor '9lloW