Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-20
he second cooks place. and it will not be diff

l
Roma said lmpetuously: "What is your name.
anyhow! can't call you by such an abomins-
Vie title as that
81 am known here as Eel Misterio,'" he re-
flied evasiveIy.
THAT isn't a name," she blurted out in her
surprise. 1T is simply Spanish for the
Mystery"
''Yes," he returned quietly. and Miss Roma
knew she had run across good story if she could
only chase it to cover. There was no oppor-
tunlty for that then, however. for he re-
turned to the previous question.
Il think can press Jose. the engine wiper,
| into service for the bosses table. He is a
Mexican with limited command Of English, but
| he is devoted to your brother and will serve
you faithfully. 1 will look in on the table and
any easier for YOU" And waiting for no reply
Ell Misterio lifted his hat again and disap-
peared.
Dinner was dispatched without incident or
accident. except that most of the bosses eyed
Miss Roma curiouslv, seeming to note her ap.
pearance for the first time. and few of them
removed their hats, but finding them decidedly
in the way on the narrow benches, thought bet
| ter OF it and replaced them on their heads.
The kitchen car was fitted up with cupboards
and lockers. great iron water tanks, huge
| ranges, mess boilers. &c. Everything was fas-
| tened with bolts and bars and Stats, for the
boarding train was a town on wheels. 1t was
designed to care for the $50 and often 800 men
who were grading. LAYING track, stretching
telegraph wires, building bridges and water
tanks. 1t was composed Of forty-fve cars. Mr..
| and Mrs. Roma had q box car fitted up in q
very home-like manner. and but for the lack OF
society the life they lived on the boarding train
was not unpleasant.
Ell Misterio's arrangement for helping Miss
Roma worked admirably. Jose was quick
aud careful as the man Of mystery, and the
plucky newspaper woman felt quite happy.
Sta bad L. @1n<a but
ter and emptied the sugar bowls to surprise all
Of them with some soapsuds, under Jose's skill
ful manipulation. when his dark face, full OF
trouble, appeared at the door.
'Senorita, it must that 20 eenstantlee!'
"Why? What's the matter?" asked the star
tied girl as she thought OF that awful pile OF
dishes from which twenty-five men had fed. ]"
MY engineer. he have say noventa y siete-
you call it what, 81? he must wiped be p d. q. :"
Evidently the engineer talked United States. J"
"And must you 60 at once?"
Isl, senorita. causa mi infeiicidad, no am
much sorrow. but my engineer he have said
p. d. O. return pocotiempo,' and of he went.
Miss Roma bethought her OF Ell Misterio.
He seemed fruitful in expedients, but the
kitchen car was tenantless. The dishes had to
be washed. She hated dish washing, another
intensely feminine trait, but she didn't pro-
pose to be baked that way. An exploring ex-
petition discovered plenty of hot water, a sup
ply OF questionable dish towels, made Of un-
washed flour sacks, and a monstrous dish pan.
She pinned bran new flour sack about her
and attacked the enemy, who gradually sue
cumbed The air was SO light and balmy, the
day so rarely perfect and the solitude in which
the boarding train seemed enveloped SO dense,
that Miss Roma felt as though she was in a lit
tie world OF her own, in which she was the
female Pooh Bah. Even the tent saloons on the
edge OF the 200-feet limit seemed empty.
and 81 having returned from taking the
sf,vv cd tr orE
quarter Of a mile distant. The utter freedom
OF the situation filed her soul with exuberance.
She felt like the cowboy after he had sur
rounded his second supply of tangle foot. ''She
was coyote and il was her time to howl"
Accordingly she howled-in her way. In other
words, she sang. As she washed and dried the
dishes and slowed them away in the cavernous
cupboard she trilled arias. ditties. oratorios,
ballads ana hymns. Whatever came into her
head rolled out of her mouth set TO music. The
composers OF tho various numbers she rendered
would have been stricken dumb with horror at
her utter disregard OF time and method, style
and sentiment but she was not singing for
eroct. She was simply intoxicated with the
sound Of her own voice. as she had right to
be. for it was sweet and clear as orioles
The There were ninety and nine
In the shelter Of the fold,
fs a. on one ,r msn ont ,S on the nils away
Away from the tender shepherds care"
She sang 1t all and stopped in sheer ex-
hausrion, as her shoulders bent TO the effort of
packing pile of heavy plates across the long
car. wild cheer startled her to the point Of
disaster to the crockery of the railroad
hostelry. As she hurriedly deposited the pile
OF plates on the table her Mortified gaze fell
upon dozen upturned faces framed in the
lower part of the wide doorway. A burly
chaw. whose shirt was folded far back on his
rod IL xrk~
to the shoulders, slapped a silver dollar on the
car floor and with a twitch Of the suu-burned
hair that hung almost in his eyes, said with
gruf courtesy:
"Av ye'd be afther singin' that song av the
lost sheep agin we'd be plain us amaziu'. II
air a moighty foine chune."
Before Miss Roma's paralyzed tongue could
frame reply another chsw stepped to the
front and with That's whatever" deposited
another silver dollar, and in less time than il
takes to tell pint of silver dimes, quarters.
halves and dollars was heaped up on the fioor at
her feet. The poor girl was the verge of
Mysteries with the suddenness of il all She
had lost her equilibrium in the ecstasy of her
musical fervor and for the moment YVES unable
to regain her balance. "Where did they come
fromi' she pondered. She had made 80 sure
she was alone. but they had to be answered
certainly, so. swallowing a lump that she felt
must be her humping heart, she said bravely:
~ don't want your money. but am glad il
the singing pleased you. didn't know / had
SC ap2reciative an audience. Isupposed was
alone"
''Oh. We sabes all that safe enough" said one
of the chaws encouragingly, but yer kin
gamble tibet we wouldn't a missed it, none allie
samee. passel OF we alls was under the cyar
smokin' OF our pipes peaceful when We chuned
up, an We lowed that it might stampede We
Unpleasant If we showed our hand. SO we Laws
low. Now. if veil iist give us that last oprey
agin the piles yourn.'
The suggestion OF Ninety and Nine" being
an opera was too much for Miss Roma. and she
laughed merrily, but when abe saw that thew were
determined that she should face them and sing
the laughter died on her lips Just then FL
Misterio appeared from kitchenward
II hope you have not been seriously an
noyed he SAID earnestly. "A lot of us were
lying in the shade under the cars smoking ard
we really enjoyed your singing. They mean
to compliment you and il YOU are not too tired
Indeed. it isn't that" Miss Roma FASTENED
to assure him. "but ii was all so sudden the
way they appeared, when didn't know there
was a soul within a mile. Please make them
take back the money!
"They won't do that" replied Ell Misterio in
tone OF evident disappointment, but il Won
won't sing for them, I'll make them 60 away"
I'm so nervous l don't believe could carry
tune alone" she said falteringly. as she looked
out over the eager faces.
I'LL you do not object I-think-I can
assist you." he replied with some hesitation.
II used to sing with nv sister and mother.
N-aE hnx-o