The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1893-09-14
The Secret of Kate MiddlctOn's
Bracelet


Ii had been a dull, tirrsome week
Several days before her husband lll,
started oil on hunt in the mountains
in company with Il party of friends
She was thinking with envy of TN
merry hunting party, and wondering
half bitterly Why amusemcnts that vert
conceded To be proper and healthful TO
men should not be i:calthful and propel
for women.
There Was a rush of feet through tn
house. the door of her room opened ant
the two children burst in.
mamma, the creek is up, Take II
down to STE it,
II WAS refreshing 10 evadc Bridget
vigiIaut eyes and steal out of the from
door in her loose house dress. bare
headed, and with only her slippers OF
her feet.
They followed garden path for :
little distance, aud then entered narro"
| lane leading To n place where they wer,
accustomed 10 ford the stream in tn,
summer time. but over which now
swept "A -rething, tcmpestuouS flood.
| Even n they looked she saw Il wall ol
water suddenly rear up above and cont
down toward them like miniature tia
wave.
The dam built by the new water com
pany had given way
The stream rose several feet in Il
second. II cut into the solid banks on
either side; bushes and young trees
rooted up III sucked in by the greedy
current. vent spinning by.
\ giant sycamore Wavcrcd, flung out
its bare aud skeleton limbs a. if in ghost
w protest. ard fell far out into the
stream, interviewing its branches with n
sturdy evergreen oak. which stood on
the opposite bank, while lis trunk, loose
lv anchored by long, snake-like roots,
tossed helplessly in mid-stream.
Kate looked TAR up stream and saw a
great piece ot timber sailing towards
them. Behind ii was another, and yet
another-the stream was black with
them.
The railroad bridge. And the after
noon train nearly due, soon to rush
down the steep grade-to leap into that
vawning chasn.
Her first impulse was to start up the
canon, but she instantly checked her
self What folly. when miles of over
flow lay between her and the doomed
train,
Word must be sent down to the sta
ton, aud from there the telegram to the
next stopping place above the bridge.
But how?
She looked at the PROSTATE sycamore;
down the stream leisurely, but nearer
and nearer still sailed the great logs.
Marion 90 straight to the house and
stay there till mamma comes back.
She had already pulled herself up by
one of the roots, and was creeping
steathily along the swaying trunk.
Once she slipped and lost her hold,
and was nearly sucked into the eddy
ing current, but she caught at stout
projection and swung herself up again.
She commenced Il pcrilOu- climb along
the limb. slippery and naked in places,
wavering so that she grew dizzy and
Shut her eyes to keep from falling.
\ great mass of timber struck heavily
across the failing sycamore, and just IA
Kate swung herself into the branches OF
the oak she felt her support give way
the old tree tore loose from its moorlngs
and WAS swept down stream.
There was IA mile of rough, rocky
ground to be covered before she reached
the station and the tran--oh, but to pos
sess once more the agility of her girl
hood
Which would be first?
How many times she asked herself
that question she could not have told.
She was crossing the bed of one of the
many abandoned channels of the I'M
petuous mountain stream. when she
fatered, smitten by new and awful
thought,
What if Tom-roni. her husband, who
WAS not to come home for two days
more-should have cut short his eXcur-
sion, or driven home by the continued
rains. somehow wandered to one of the
upper stations and entered the train
there?
Where was her vaunted physical
strength now?
Thank heaven, her brain kept clear
and true to its purpose, urging on the
tagging body. On. on, over little hill
locks, across level stretches of sand,
down new ravines, she ran.
Once she cut her foot cruelty upon a
sharp stone. and remembered for the
first time, that she had on her slippers.
With all the rest of her senses dulled,
her hearing appeared to have become
preternaturally sharp. She seemed to
discern the CHATTER of the approaching
train II miles away. The throb. throh
throb OF the engine kept pace with her
beating heart.
Would she never reach the little red
statiou-house, now plainly in sight at the
end of the smooth gravelled road: She
was passing the post office, where peo
pie idly gazed at her What matter?
The Station-mastcr was in his Office
talking with a gentleman who had come
down from the mountains, and was
waiting to take the train for tle city.
at has rained all the week " he was
saving. "Iou think it rains here in the
valley, but, great guns, you should be
up in the mountains in II rain storm
We broke camp yesterday. | took 4
straight line down here. The rest
crossed the hills to the station above
They'll be down by the 1 O'Clock
| train"
Then her premonitions were true, ant
Tom-Tom was in the faied train
Again her body reeled, but her steady
brain saved her.
stop the train. The bridge is gone. :
she cried.
Both men looked up, startled at thu
words. With the prompt movement o
a man trained to obey orders, the sta
tion-master leaped to his instrument.
There was IA brief silence, The oper
ator listened intently, with his heat
resting on his hand. Kate Middleton
remained standing in the doorway, he
hands clasped, her face blanched Will
dread. and all her soul absorbed in listen
ing.
Jack Spencer, slowly comprehendin: