New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-06

freight aboard, his native instinct OF pivnI :
life rot the better OF him In spite OF Dinseli
lie coudn't let those innocent souls die by M
oyn act-thOugh If lie removed the pO'e, az, ~
Meta was killed, he didn't lnow glmsell 10"
lie H Gou n1oycd with all his heart that the train
The guard and the driver ran hastily along the
train Nobody was hurt, though many were
shaken or slightly bruised. Even the carriages
had ESCAPED with a few small cracks. The Holm
bury smash was nothing very SERIOUS: ...o.
Rnt the man with the pole? Their preseTver
fneir friend Where was lie all this time? What
ON earth had become of him .o.oa
They looked along the line. They searched
the track in vain lie had dlsappeSdreIt al bir, "
After looking long and uselessly, again ahd
again. the guard and the driver both gave II up
about that-and so had several of the passengers
os we'll But no sign of blood was 10 be dis
covered along the track. The mysterious being
who. as they all believed Tisked his own lie To
save theirs, had vanished as he lau COME ohe
might almost say by miracle
And indeed, as n matter of fact, when
Ughtred Carnegie fell on the track before the
was all up with him. lie was glad OF that;
TOO; for he had murdered Meta; lie had saved
the train but he had murdered Meta 1t would
dash on now, unresisted, and crush his darling
70 death 1t was better he should die, having
murdered Meta So he closed his eyes tight and
waited for it to kill him.
But the train passed on, iarring and scraplng,
partly with the action Of the brake, though
Dartlv too with the wheel digging into the
ground at the side; it passed on and went over
him altogether, coming as 1t did So TO sudden
standstill As it stopped, ferc0 Joy rose upper
most in Ughtreds soul. Thank Heaven, all was
we'll He breathed once more easily. He had
fallen his back across the sleepers in the middle
of the track. H. not really the tram tl0t
had knocked him down at all. but the recoli
Of the telegraph post. The engine and carriages
had gone over him safely. lie wasn't seriously
hurt. lie was only bruised, and sprained' ana
Jared, and shaken.
Rising mp behind the train as it slackened he
ran hastily along the off side. toward Where
Meta lay still unconscious on the line III tront
Of il. Nobody saw him run past: and no wonder
either, for every eye was turned toward the
near side and the obstruction. person running
fast by the opposite windows was very HUE
likely 10 attract attention at such a moment
Every step panied him. to be sure for he was
bruised and still but he ran on none the less
till he came up at last to where Meta aY
There, he bent over lnr eagerly. Meta raised her
head, opened her eyes, and looked. In moment
tho vague sense of terrible catastrophe averted
came somehow over her. She flung her arms
around his neck oh. Ughtrcd. you've come
back" she cried in a torrent of emotion
Yes darling lghred answered, his IS voice
half choked with tears. I've come back TO
You now, for ever and ever"
lie lifted her in his arms, and carried her some
little way OF up the Ieit-hana PAIN ms near Err
was very full; Twas a terrible moment FOR
rs vet he hardly knew what harm he might have
done by his fatal act. lie only knew he had
tried his best u undo the wrong he had nail
uncOnsciOuSly wrought: and II the worst came,
he would give himself up now like a man to Of
Tended Justice,
But the worst did not come. Blind fate had
been mcrciful. Next day the papers were full
of the accident TO tie Great Southern Express
evually divided between denunciatiOn Of the mis-
creant who had placed the obstruction in the
way Of the train, and admiration for the heroic,
hut unrecognizabe stranger who had rescued from
death so many helpless passengers al 50 imminent
n risk TO his own life or safety. Only Cghtred
knew that the two were one and the same person;
And when Ughtrcd found ont how little harm mad
been done by his infatuated act-an act he felt
he could never possibly explain in It's true light
10 any other person-hc thought 1t wlscSt on the
whole to lay no claim to either tie praise or
the censure The world could never be made
to understand the terrible dilemma in which he
was paccd-the onc-sded way in which the
problem at first presented itself to him-the
deadly struggle through which he had passed
before he could make up his mind, at the risk
of Netta's life. 10 remove the obstacle. Only
Nctta understood: and even Netta herself ?Ik knew
no more than this that Ughtred had risked his
own life TO save lier.-Grant Allen in The Strand
Magazine.