The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-03-26

self when the lamp flashed red and then
back to yellow again in answer to the
engineers chi for signals. After that
II was too late: there was rush and a
roar, Discount changing of the ell
CINE bell min, 4 with the Kissing OF
steam. and Def he could cross the
street the train I'd Numbered past
without stopping.
Circumstances, AIN the power to
pick and choose among the possibili-
ties, have much to do with ones peace
of mind. Half an hour earlier Philip
had debated with himseK the neces-
sity for hurrying back to Allacoochee
that night. The small hotel was clean;
the supper had been of the kind which
rrophesies a wholesome breakias7
and he was weary enough to cal
day's work and go to bed. None thv
less, when he realized that his last
chance for reaching Allacoochee had
faded into a distant roar and two red
eyes staring back at him down the
long stretch of straight track
north of Glenco, he was i'm
lnediately possessed with an i'm
Fortunate devil of Impotence. AS a
matter of fact, since there was an earl
train in the morning, it could make 1t
tie difference whether he slept at Glen
co or at his room at the Johannisberg
but it was part of his plan that b;
should reach Allacoochee at once, and
go he must, if he had to walk. So
much he said to the hotelkeeper, who
was at loss to understand the impa-
tience of his guest. A man might
walk, he said it was only ten miles.
And then, again, man might ride, if so
be he were willing to pay for horse.
Philip caught at the alternative and Of
fered to pay literally. The horse was
found, and after many minute direc-
tions about the road, which were quail
fled, repeated and amended until they
were hopelesssly obscure, Thorndyke
rode away in the darkness.
Having set out in haste, he had ar
pie time to repent in leisure. The road
little used at any time, and practical
abandoned since the opening of tbs
railway, soon led away from the valley
and ran in tortuous windings and in
genious doublings over a spur of Johns
mountain. At the top of the spur it
speedily lost it's identity in a succession
Of wood roads, and, after following sey
eral of the latter to their vanishing
points, Philip gave up the struggle and
determined to let the horse find the
way if he could. In common with IN
equestrian mankind in general, Ph:liT
shared the belief in the inerrant path
finding instincts of horse; but after ar
other hour of hesitant wandering. dur
| ing which time he had been thrice gar
roted by low-swinging branches, and
impartially bruised about the legs by
the efforts of the horse to squeeze be-
tween close-growing trees, his conf
dence in the sagacity of the animal be-
gan to waver. From doubt to GER
tainty is but a step, and Philips faith il
| horses went the way of all dalusion,
when the clumsy beast stumbled or th(
edge of ravine, slid helplessly to the
bottom, and ended by throwing his
rider into heap of stones.
Philip was half stunned by the fail.
! and when he came to himself he found
that he had gained sprained ani az.
lost horse. Remembering ru ia.
the maxim about great haste and su,u.
| speed, he got up with some difficulty
and continued his wanderings afoot I'LL
| til the pain in his ankle became unbear-
able. After that there was nothing for
it but to sit down and wait for daylight,
and he was about to resign himself to
this comfortless alternative, when he
heard cock crow. Chickens argued
inhabitants, and Philip dragged him
self painfully in the direction of the
sound until he came to the log cabin
| of mountaineer. 1t was but miser
able howell of a single room and a loft.
and its indwellers were doubtless
Bedouins in other respects than in their
hospitality; but of the latter Philip
soon had grateful assurances. He was
taken in and cared for; the man making
up a fire in the crumbling stone fire.
place while the woman bathed his swol-
len ankle and called half-grown boy
from the loft to go out after red clay for
a poutlce. And afterward they would
have made him take the only bed in the
cabin if he lad not insisted upon Sleep
ing on the floor before the fire.
When Philip awoke the next morning
he found hiIcshlf as completely a pris-
| oner as even Srarpless could have de-
sired. Walking, was out of the cues
ton, and his host had neither a horse
| nor the disposition to go to Glenco to
procure one, though his offers of hos
pitality were as generous as he knew
how to make thepn. Philip guessed at
the mans reason for not wishing to an
pear in Glenco when the mountaineer
offered him pOtation from a ing
drawn from it's hiding-place beneath tho
puncheon floor, and forbore to press
the point, contenting himself with re
quest that the boy might be allowed to
| carry letter to Allacoochee. The
permission was given, and Philip wrote
note to Duncan, telling him of the
accident and urging him to spare L.
pains to keep Kilgrow out of the hands
| of Sharpless and his emissaries Guri.c
the enforced armistice. This he in
| closed in a line to Protheroe, in which
he begged the young engineer to de-
liver the message to the Scotchman.
Not having an envelope, he took that
from Heien's letter, drawing his pencil
| through his own name and writing
! Protheroe's above it; and, after mar Y
explicit and precise instructions, the
boy left the cabin on Thorndyke's err
rand. An hour afteryvard he xnoS CT