The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1896-11-05

dark figure of a man bounding towards
me. Instinctively | threw my whole
weight on the pedals, my wheel bound
ed forward, trembled violently, and |
knew in moment that the man had
sprung upon the rear seat of my ma
chine. There was no doubt about it;
heard him adjusting his feet to the
pedals and | felt an added impetuous
to the wheels.
My first feeling was one of terror,
my next of Indignation at the unwar-
ranted outrage; | would stop and de-
mand ali explanation. With this in
tention, made movement to dis
mount, when the long blade of muir
derous looking knife was thrust in front
of my face, and voice Kissed in my
ear to keep on if valued my life All
,, this takes time to tell, but it was the
work of few second. My heart
thumped against my ribs, and a thous-
and fears chased each other across my
mind. Who was this man who dared
to thrust himself SO unceremoniously
upon me? What was his intentiong
What was to be the outcome?
From the added difficulty of steering,
| knew he was not an expert rider and
also guessed from the speed at which
the machine was running without any
assistance from me, that he must be a
powerful man. Further than this, and
the shadow his figure cast upon the
ground, | was unable to make out any
thing, but sat there my brain in a
whirl, expecting every moment to feel
that murderous knife in my back!
We must have gone on in this way
for close upon two miles, when the
road we were following turned in the
direction of the lake, thence descend
ing towards it, / remembered, in a
long steep incline some three miles in
length.
My heart almost stood still when I
felt we were upon this declivity, for it
lead directly to the brow of a lofty
precipice overlooking the lake; and
once fairly started upon it, what power
on earth could intervene to save us.
Already, indeed. felt the wheels gain
ing momentum at every turn; in a
hundred yards or so [ could scarcely
hold the pedals; and to add to the hor-
rors Of the situation, the man behind
me began to whoop and yell at the top
of his voice, as if enjoying the sensa-
hot ha Inn I al
tain; no man, argued, would dare to
coast down this fatal path, but evident
ly incapable of realizing the danger, he
laughed and cursed and shouted by
turns as the machine lurched and
bounded onward.
Our speed was becoming simply
frightful The trees at first quite dis
tinct, were now but blurred and dark
ened shapes that danced and toppled
as we rushed past them. The hedges
were racing with us side by side, and
like the road beneath us, seemed to
toss and heave like restless sea.
And thus for close upon two miles we
flew, until | thought felt my hair
turning gray from the terrors that con-
sumed me, as breathless, half chOked
and blinded, chung to the handlebar.
Over sticks, stones and through deep
ruts we passed, the machine at times
standing almost on end, al others
seeming scarcely to touch tie earth.
How we ever escaped these dangers, or
how the machine held together do not
know, but / shall believe to the end of
my dying day that the hand of Provi-
dence was in it.
But flesh and blood could not much
longer stand the strain. | felt myself
growing old, my life forces were drying
up within me, when | remembe that
a few hundred yards ahead a road
braDched off at an easy angle in an
other direction, and that if could only
turn the wheel upon it all might yet pc
we'll. | strained my eyes, yes, there it
was. / tugged, | strained at the ham
dlebar, bat no held in the iron grasp
of that yelling demon behind me, the
steering wheel swerved not one inch,
and, good Cod in another moment we
were past it.
My heart literally sank within me,
for knew now that unless some mir
acle interviewed in a few moments more
machine and riders would be lying
dashed to pieces on the rocky shore.
Al