Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-08-26
ITn get you there. returned Gibbs.

fifteen when we get there" he added
Then the horse began to lame. Glib:
muttered an oath, stopped the horse and
got out. Merrill saw that he was look
ing at the hoofs for stone. Evidently
he didn't find anything of the kind
The limp continued and Gibbs kept the
beast at walk, pace that made the
sweat start on Merrill's temples.
Merrill wondered if ever bridegroom
was in such a plight before. If he had
read Of such thing in book he would
have impatiently condemned the ex.
aggcration of the author. 1t began to
be a comfort that the Gibbs contract
only extended to Mandy's. At the sick
ening rate of the Gibbs horse the bride.
groom calculated that he would reach
the bride at about A. NJ. which seemed
like a preposterous thought. There
could not be worse horse at Mandy's.
Merrill twice asked Gibbs how much
further they had to 60, but as Gibbs
each time seemed to allow the horse to
walk at still slower pace, Merrill con-
cluded that it would be unsafe to say
another word.
At the foot of a long hill the horse
stopped. 1t was quarter to three. 81
guess we'll have to leg this" said Gibbs,
eff we ever want to get there" At the
top of the hill Gibbs told Merrill to get
in, but he himself continued walking at
the head of the horse. The sky had be-
come overcast. "Going to be bad
night" growled Gibbs. Merrill mental
ly remarked that the night had already
been pretty bad for him.
They reached Mandy's at four o'clock.
The rain was falling. Gibbs called up a
man who lived in white house, after
having made Merrill wait until he had
bestowed the horse and buggy in the
barn back of the village store. "Giles,"
said Gibbs, to the head that appeared at
window, "this gentleman wants to get
to.Pittston Have you got horse y
can let him have"
"Waal, l dunno" responded Giles.
"Got to go south with my mare at six. 5"
"Hain't y got that bay9"
9th bay amt fit, said Giles. He
added, "What's it with 2"
Ten," said Merrill, "if you'll drive
me over III hurry.
Gibbs disappeared after getting the
balance of his money. 1t was twenty
eight minutes later by Merrill's watch
wien the second start was made, and it
way at the end of the first mile that the
second horse stumbled in the wet morn
ing twilight and splintered the shaft of
the buggy.
Merrill sprang into the road "Good
morning p he shouted, striding off
through the soft clay But when he
heard protesting snort from Giles he
turned about for moment and showed a
S. bill into the mans hand. For an
hour he struggled on through the dim
road, which grew but little lighter dur
ing that time, and became increasingly
wet. At the fork of the road he had to
delay for ten minutes until he could find
a sleepy man with red whiskers who
gave him instructions to keep to the left
all the way. Merrill looked at his watch
with a shudder. A quarter past 8. He
kept to the left with persistency born
OF lovers faithfulness and expectancy,
until he came against a huge barn.
When he appealed brokenly to solitary
woman at we'll she yelled back at him
that he would have to 90 back about
three-quarters of a mile to where the
quarry was, and then take the road just
beyol.d the tobacco barn.
Poor Merrill, who pitiably timed every
turn, reached the tobacco barn at twenty
minutes to six. He then put in straight
half hour on the right road, and at the
end of this very muddy period he heard
the low whistle of locomotive. 1t was
the train he might have comfortably
taken if he had kept out of the Gibbs
contract.
At seven o'clock he reached the out
skirts of a towE.
as this Pittston9' Merrill asked of a
boy with a pail.
East Pittston," said the boy.
Glow do you get to the Pittston sta
tion?"
There's horse car down there" the
boy said, pointing through side road
Merrill found the track. The car was
not so easy to find. The bob-tal car
with sad horse hove in sight at the end
of seven minutes. That this car could
actually be going direct to the station
seemed to Merrill too good to be true.
He twice asked the driver about the sta
ton, and was twice assured that the sta
ton was at the end of the route.
Merrill was on the platform of the car
when the station became visible. He
rushed almost madly into the waiting
room. No bride was in sight. Nor could
he see any welcome figure in the ladies'
waiting room.
He was almost running across the sta
tion to the inquiry window when the VIC
lent tapping Of pencil on the ledge of
the telegraph Office attracted his atten-
ton. The pretty girl behind the grating
was bockoning to him.
As he paused there the pretty tele.
grapher was asking: care you the gen
tleman-that is looking for the lady
who-who was waiting for the gentle
man"
Eyes, | am" gasped Merrill.
DWELL, she is in here"
Merrill found her sleeping on a sofa.
Her eyelids were red AS the bride
groom we'll wet and spattered with mud.
knelt down beside the sofa and took hold
OF one Of her hands the bride awoke
with a start and the pretty tcle-
grapher turned her face away. -lP hila.