The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1894-10-11

hlnd me, and succeeded in getting
the handkerchief on my mouth to fall
around my neck. I had scarcely ac-
complished this when there was q tap
on the inner door.
Robert" Alice said.
Yes, Lowell" Speak low-there is
man under my window"
81 am going to Paris. There is no
man under my window, and 1 can get
out there. I have six long roller
towels here knotted together, and
have cut my wide skirt into wide strips
to join them. The rope made SO
reaches nearly to the ground. shall
fasten it to the door-knob and let my
self down. 1t will not take long to
reach home, saddle Selim, and reach
Paris in time. Don't fear for me.
Nine o'clock AS the bell of the
church clock ceased to strike, rum
BILE, a flash, told me that thunder
storm was coming rapidly. Oh, the
long, long minutes of the next hour.
Ten o'clock. The rain falling in tor
rents, the thunder pealing, lightning
flashing Alice was SO afraid of light
ming. Eleven o'clock. The storm
over, though still the night was inky
dark.
The midnight down train was COM
ing, swiftly, surely, to certain destruc-
ton. Where was my wife? Had the
ruffians intercepted her at the cottage?
Was she lying dead somewhere upon
the wild road. Her heroism was Of
no avail, but was her life saved? In
the agony of that question the ap-
preaching rumble of the train was far
more the bitterness of Alice lost than
the doomed lives it carried. Why had
l let her start upon her mad errand?
The heavy train rumbled past the
telegraph Office. 1t was an express
train, and did not stop at Deering sta
ton; but as I listened, every sense
sharpened by mental torture,i it seemed
to me that the speed slackened. Lis
tening intently, 1 knew that it stop
ped at the embankment, as nearly as |
could Judge. Not with the sickening
crash expected, not with walls and
groans from the injured passengers,
but carefully. A moment more and [
heard shouts, the crack of firearms,
sounds of some conflict.
What could it all mean? The min
utes were hours, till 1 heard key
turn in the door of my prison, and
moment later two tender arms were
round my neck and Alice was hisper-
ing in my ear:
"They will come in few minutes,
love, to set you free!"
"But have you been to Paris?"
"Yes, dear.
"In all that storm?"
"Selim seemed to understand. He
carried me swiftly and surely. 1 was
we'll wrapped in my waterproof cloak
and hood. When reached Paris the
train had come from D."
''But it is here"
"Only the locomotive and one car,
In that car were sheriff, deputy
sheriff, and twenty men, armed to the
teeth, to capture the gang at the en-
bankment. l came, too, and they
lowered me from the platform, when
the speed slackened, so that 1 could
run here and tell you all was safe.
While we spoke my wife's fingers
had first united the handkerchief
around my neck, and then, in the dark,
found some of the knots of the cord
binding me. But l was still tied fast
and strong, when there was rush OF
many feet upon the staircase, and IN
another moment, light and joyful
voices. -,
"we've captured the whole nine !"
was the good news. Three, including
John Martin, are desperately wound
ed, but the surprise was perfect. Now'
old fellow, for your
A dozen clasp-knives at once sew
cred my bonds. and dozen hands
were extended in greeting. As for the
praises showered upon my plucky
little wife, it would require volume
IN tell half of them. The Pathfinder.
al Ha