The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-01-10
nd it made me all the more ridicu-

1Hcu JOIlH DdIIdSS again pdceQ up
and down and consulted his watch. ct
will be dark in a half-hour. But l
don't care a snap about being alone.
And what is likely to be the conclusion
OF this business? The girl invariably
marries some other man, and is happy
with the new fellow. And the first
chap-who cares what has become of
him? Now, there is that Bob Bryant,
why hasn't he written? Two months
have l been away from civilization,
and not line from anybody, only old
rigamarole rubbish from railroad di-
rectors."
just then there was shout away
off in the distance. John Dallass drew
out his map, and was, apparently,
deeply engrossed in the study of it
when his men came in. At once the
engineer found fault with them for
being behind time.
''See here" said the spokesman, sit
was rough walking through the slough,
and we went to where the mail was,
and it was ten miles out of the way.
There was nothing"
''Where's the fourth man? '' inquired
Jack Dallass, angrily.
'You cut me too short, boss. There
was next to nothing, only letter for
you. The fourth hand, the man that
sorts the mail, he said this here letter
had been there a month, and that an
other mail was expected, but we could
MT all stay for it, so the fourth man he
allowed he would wait. See here,
hot oh I'll -,
the east somewhat, and he said he'd be
blowed, or something like it, if he
wouldn't wait and see if she had wrote
him. So we lit out without him. He'll
be up afore long"
John Dallass felt like forgiving the
fourth man, especially since the letter
he had now in his hand he recognized as
coming from Robert Bryant. While the
men were building a fire Mr.. Dallass
read his letter. There was nothing in
it. Club talk and nonsense, absolutely
unsatisfactory. Stop! There was a
postscript. "Saw Miss Royal at the
theater. She looked cbarmingly. Such
an amusing play! 1 had heard she
was going abroad. I asked her about
it. She seemed to put some insistence
in denying it. That's ALL"
What crumh of comfort was there?
1t was ever SO small a crumb, and yet
Jack Dallass read it over and over
again, until the last flicker of the light
went out, and then he lay down in his
blanket and did not go to sleep for
he heard during the night the coming
of the fourth man. 1T was too dark
to see whether be had a mail satchel.
In a moment the man was stretched his
length before the fire ard was asleep
At dawn DallHHs was awake. Yes, the
man had small Gag. Ec had used it
for pillow. Tie engineer flched
from under the h@avy sl>c2er's head
med. There were news 2ers and blue
envelopes. Yea Is in t.uct ors, i'm
possible TO carry uii. ;i.d requests FOR
more details WA Il thy may whistle
for" cried .JclD n3lass. ir~ratiently.
What. no letter, 20; even from Bob?''
Then in fever h@"te Daiass shooh
Zach new Il cr. :, out tumbled
letto,. - ;e col 'oUlGrd lazy fellow
l.u5t Lave Ia.! 4 i whole mail in
toGe,.lor. ia .2;.iiu,.i' face did not
bear an r,rrievr, 10 X. l. did not teal
osen t.c ,nyclo lut :. Il the opening
u,cel'y Il $. d "a sacrlege to lose
4 SIR, i O" lie or. II was barely
dam. nj there seemed to be Ger
tai.1 fosity in the mans eyes
vi ich coni.l Lac permitted him to
have I "d2 out a certain handwriting
in the tar.l. Then he read:
In ii corvers;t ON of a purely bust
ness character Robert Bryant informed
Miss Ecyall that q new line of road was
being built to Puget sound. MIR. Bryant
having expressed himself favorably as
to the future of this enterprise, and
Miss Royal having need for some minor
investments, she had begged Mr.. Bry-
ant, who is familiar with Wall street,
to purchase some of the bonds at the
current figures.
Great heavens! What does the girl
mean? All in the third person! She
is cruel, cruel" And it goes on: miss
Royal would never have been led to
make this venture if she had not by
chance read in some newspaper an ac-
count of this road, and she takes the
liberty of inclosing the cutting, and
her curiosity is some little excited, be-
cause there is the name of an engineer
having charge of the road which she
thinks has been ludicrously mis-
spelled"
That's ALL" cried Jack Dallass, the
tears in his eyes. "She is cruel, ma
licious with her persifage, and l never
will forgive her. Let me see this rub
bishly bit of printing. I'm, UNI. Great
advantages union of the re-
mote Pacific Um, UNI. Wealth Of
the Indies pouring into the lap of the
remote west Rot and drivel. What
is this at the end of this printed balder-
dash? It's underscored: John Dali
lass, the well-known young engineer,
is now occupied in making surveys
There is pencil line under that, and
Please, John Dallass, be at Seattle
as soon as you can. My aunt wants to
see the Alaskan glaciers Thank God!
No third person there, and when," said
John Dallass, reverentially, recalling
the Talmud, "your friend calls for an
ass, hasten and buy saddle"
Why did John Dallass leave that
morning for Seattle? Maybe il WIS