The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-09-19

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~ha ha desisted
St,,I an the ba,pbts sbove and even
f,o,,, tho vessals On the river and mar.
| t;culorlv from the direction of the great
| citv IN tbe left he saw rockets cutting
tbrourh tho black night and bursting
info a rain of mony-colored fires. Now
and then the sound of music came to
his ears. blending with the cheers and
delighted cries of small boys who are
never so happy as when playing with
fire.
| Resembling the lines Of quick, pallid
lights that penciled their course on the
clouds, there shot across Mr.. Brownies
mind green flashes OF jealousy as he
gave sudden and momentary thought tn
Col. Johnson and the beautiful widow
whom he imagined riding hastily home
through the storm on their wheels ana
now enjoying tete-a-tetein the draw
ing-room OF the latter
II Mr.. Browne had not strengthened
his muscles by months or bicycle ef-
fort he could not nave retained MS po-
sition astride the stunted cedar Tor
twenty minutes, but he was in no mood
for congratulating himself on his abil-
ity to defer for q Few black hours what
seemed to him inevitable death.
Now and then Mr.. Browne gave n
| thought to his daughter, and he felt u
! pang of remorse as he recalled his op-
position to the attentions of Commo-
| dore Blakely Horton-Smith. and he
promised himself that if by any chance
he should survive long enough to see
| the young people he would give them
| his consent and his blessing.
How long the minutes seemed! Each
hour was an eternity Of indescribable
| suffering. Although his position astride
| the cedar tree was much like that in
| the saddle of a bicycle, there was no
correspondence in the comfort. BY mid
night he began to feel that if the tree
| In a
bottom he would soon split in two and
the halves would go crashing down the
| Jagged sides of the palisades.
Mr.. Browne came at length to think
that the sun had gone down for the
last time, or at least that the earth
had ceased to revolve on its axis, which
| amounted to the same thing; and,
strange to say, this gave him a. spark
of comfort, for it meant that the peo-
pie cheering and setting off fireworks
in the upper world could not long sur
vive him in the eternal darkness.
The wretched mans hands were un-
fitted for the work to which they were
now subjected; white, soft and shape
ly, they were torn by his efforts to
cling to the rocks on either. side and
| above his head.
At length the rockets ceased. the
glow Of roman candles died out. the
shrill yell of the small boy was no long
! er heard, and the footing of the steam
boat whistles ceased to come up from
the river.
An appalling silence came to the
heights above. but the wind coming
down the river and the murmur of the
water in the black depths beneath
struck his strained ears like the sad
dest dirge ever heard by mortal. 1t
was like the dead march played in ad-
vance to the condemned soldier as he
is carried blindfolded to the place Of
execution.
We are told that when the box Of
Pandora was opened all the evils that
now afiiict mankind flew out. and that