Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-04-19

Tile IulldWdo leSScnluS. IL sSSi'SN 80
And now, borne back on the wild rush
OF mountain air, came a sound like a
wall. The child was singing:
| Jesus lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly"
Gentleman Jim gave a great gulp as
he caught the words. "Ah, flyings the
word for it," he muttered, Straight for
kingdom come. Send her for'ard, mate
for ard, for all you're worth
The quivering trolly fairly leaped.
Again that wailing note floated to his
ears:
"Otiher refuge have none.
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee"
IT'S lie, cursed lie, / tell yer"
muttered Gentleman Jim. There amt
no Thee-theres none to help cept me
and my mate here"
The words were still on his lips when
the trolly shot into mid-air upon dizzy
trestle bridge which here spanned the
gulch. Hundreds OF feet elbow a noun
tain torrent foamed A few seconds,
only so long as it took to draw one deep,
| fearful breath, and the chasm lay be-
hind them. But to Gentleman Jim those
few seconds brought a swift revelation
OF his own powerlessness. In that other
trolley the child sat motionless, looking
neither TO the right nor left, singing
STILL with face upturned:
"All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee | bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing"
Gentleman Jim looked about him
quickly. He almost expected to see the
swift, lowering wings then and there
Certain it is that he heard them.
THE lass is right and I'm fool'' he
| said reverently. When it comes TO this
God A'mighty's all a chaps got to look
to God help us"
With renewed hope and strength he
bent to the crank. When next he looked
up it was to discover that the distance
between he trolleys had diminished by
half
Mate" he said. his voice thrilling
! with joy, we're gaining on her-we're
getting nearer!"
Nearer to the wash-out," replied the
other with an oath. Look on the left
To the left, short halfmile away,
appeared long. ragged break in the
dump. With that yawning gap In view
| the margin OF life or death must be
measured by seconds. Desperately the
two men strained at the cranks; the
car shot forward with the velocity of
the wind. At every turn Of the handles
the distance between pursuers and pur-
sued grew perceptibly less; but so also
did the stretch of track between the run
away and the fatal gap.
I'VE don't calkilate on follerin' the
gal into kingdom come, do you, mater"
growled the man at the other crank.
"Ay, If need be-" replied Gentleman
jim.
- IL yer a-goin' ter yank Pete
Pete Copeland along with ye, then"
| muttered the other.
The trolleys were now but few yards
apart, the gap but stones throw
ahead. Gentleman Jim sprang to the
front of the car, whipped out his re-
volver, and took deliberate aim at his
companion.
"Whichll We take?" he demanded,
sternly; your chance Jerking his
thumb in the direction Of the gap "or
this?" glancing significantly at the
weapon.
The chance" said Copeland, sui
lenly.
Then listen. Take hama off that
crank, apd you're a dead man; but
mark well what I say-the instant /
turn my back slow the car down for all
/ you're worth
"You kin bet your bottom dollar !
will" replied the other And, say
pard, let's see that purity back O yourn
as soon"
The remainder OF the sentence was
lost in an involuntary cry of astonish-
ment and horror. Gentleman jim
leaping upon the low boxwork which
surrounded the car, balanced himself
there for an instant, as though calcu-
| lating the distance-now reduced TO
perhaps ten feet-which separated him
from his-beloved lass, then. with one
tremendous bound, he cleared the space
between and alighted square upon the
runaway trolley. which, in another in
slant. he had brought to a standstill on
the very brink Of the gap.
At an early hour on the morning fol-
| lowing this incident, "the lass" was
playing in front Of one of the shanties
when she was startled by the sharp re-
port of a pistol. The sound came from
the part of the gulch above the shan
ties, where the claims are located, and
where most OF the miners were now al
work.
"a row among he men" she said Ia
| herself, divining the meaning OF the
shot with ready instinct. I'D better
go and look after jim"
She set off at a run in the direction oil
miners as were not at work. Rounding
the end of the row of shanties she saw
whence the report had come.
| Fifty yards up the gulch a group oil
excited miners swayed and jostled and
shouted about a man who was strug-
Cling in the midst of them. Close be-
hind them lay another man at full
length upon the ground
AT sight of the child a sudden hush
fell upon the throng, several ofwhom
stepped quickly in front OF the man on
the ground, as If to hide him from view
of the child.
But she had already seen and recog-
nized him. jim! Oh, they've killed
my JIM" she cried piteously, strug.
Cling to force her way through the line
| of men.
One Of these, lanky New Highlander
| Long Zeke by name, whose chin and
gray goatee were dyed dirty yellow