The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-31


so much SO that my altered manner
was noticed by Mary, who anxiously in
CURED II L was Ill. 1 treasured her to
the contrary, but I lapsed into a eondi-
ton of seriousness and silence, which
could plainly see caused uneasiness on
her part. Finally asked:
Mary, did you notice that man in the
caboose?"
In the first place she did not know
what the caboOse was and / had to eM-
plain; and in the second place she had
| neither taken notice of the caboose nor
the nan at it's window. I dismissed the
| matter and eased her mind by remark
ing that I had seen face at that win
dow which I had somewhere seen be-
fore, but that was unable to recognize
| It, and there, for the time being, the
subject was dropped.
But, although my mind and thoughts
were directed to other matters, that
strangely familiar face, with It's ex-
preston so full Of meaning, persisted
In reappearing before me, and this it
continued to do long after / had re-
tired to my berth, where it seemed to
haunt me as If demanding recognition
before I should close my eyes in sleep.
l tightly pressed my, eyelids together
against the dim light of the car,
as if to shut out that piercing glance,
but it was of no avail. I fanced there
was malice in the sudden glare and
flash of the eyes of that man in the
| caboose, and yet 1 was unable to To-
cate a cause for It's existence But
upon every ebb and flow Of the tide
of my reflections 1 seemed to be ap-
proach1ng more nearly to an identifi-
cation Of that face. Several times I
mad almost dropped into forgetfulness,
When l was aroused either by the jolt
ing of the car, the Shrek of a whistle
or the ringing of bell, and upon every
frSt hi fcIn
ION appeared to encounter was the
gf1 mvisage of the man in the ca
boose. 1t chung like a nightmare upon
me, and 1 was becoming almost des-
perate. rolled and tossed in my mar
row berth like one in a fever, and
position l might place myself in. And
this was my condition when, long after
midnight, on arousing into wakeful-
ness from one of my doing spells,
started up so violently that I struck
my head upon the roof of my berth
as | involuntarily exclaimed:
Good heavens 1t is Sergeant Croftw
TIE next morning I delivered my fair
travelling companion safely into the
hands of her sister. My identification
OF the face of the man in the caboose
had not contributed to my nights rest
On the contrary, it had excited me to
increased wakefulness, and I was suf-
ferlng from a violent headache. Not
Withstandng this fact however, I pro-
ceeded Immediately to carry into eff act
the plans l had formulated during the
hours l was lying awake. These had
for their object the location of Sergeant
Croft, and my meeting with him, face
TO face again, at the earliest practicable
moment. 1t was evident that he was
| In the service Of the railway COMPANY
over whose line I had made my tourney
westward. 1t might be that this was
not the name by which he was now
| known, but I felt confident that in
| some manner I would he able to run
| him down, no matter by what name he
might have disguised hims elf, or sought
! to cover his tracks or conceal his
| Identity. 1t was apparent, too. that he
| was associated with the TRANSFORMATION
department, and from my knowledge OF
| rallroadlng l was quite certain that he
was attached to some particular divis-
| ion. l went directly to the railway
| superintendent office and began my
| Inquiries, and my reward was prompt
| WHY, OF course, everybody on the west
| ern end of the road knew Billy Croft.
| He was a civil engineer and one of the
best in the service, at that. He had
!, only one arm and that was the left one:
but he had more skill and ability and
| performed more work than a good
many men favored with two arms. Yes.
ne had lost his right arm in battle but
| he never talked about that In fact.
he never talked about much of any
thing to anybody, but he knew a good
deal more than some people, who talked
! all the time. Yes, he was all right in
every way; had no bad habits, was Xix
ed by everybody and had made good
| deal of money in one way or another,
i but he was peculiar and, perhaps, &C.
| centric in some respects, though these
qualities did not affect unfavorably his
| popularity with his associates or the
Value of his services as measured by
the officials of the company. Yes, it
J would be easy enough to find him and
to come on him suddenly, if need be,
| for though he Travelled considerably, his
home was in M. and it would not be
difficult for the telegraph operator to
| quietly learn when he would next be
there. And this is what I requested the
operator to ascertain.
Mary's visit in Chicago was to con-
tinue fortnight, if possible, provided
| l would not be required to leave for
home earlier, but she held herself sub
| Ject entirely to my convenience in the
matter of accompanying her home
I saw her several times meanwhile, and
finally suggested that it would be well
for her to hold herself in readiness to
start at any moment. One morning
I received a message from the tele-
graph operator saying: BILLY Croft
will be in, M. all Of next week, plan
ming for an extension to a stonequar-
ry about five miles OUT
I proceeded with elaboration in
winding up any business in Chicago,
and early the following Monday morn
ing Mary and I took the east-bound
train with the understanding that it
would be necessary for me to stop
over at M. for possibly day. We
arrived in M. late in the afternoon,
and, comfortably locating Mary in the
best hotel, I started out forthwith on
my search for Sergeant Croft 1 did
not have far to go, for I found him
in room of the company's building
where he was occupied in the prepa-
ration of some plans. He was alone
when I entered, and I noticed an ex-
preston, not only of embarrassment.
but of ill-concealed displeasure, creep
recognized me. I advanced towards
! him with my right hand outstretched.
/ as I exclaimed:
MY DEAR Billy! How are YOU old
fellow? So I have found you at last"
He looked at me with an almost saw
| age glance, the full meaning of which I
comprehended at once But for excel
| lent reasons 1 was not discounted. a
fact which he appreciated, for he shifted
his eyes to the scroll in front of him on
| which he was working, though he fail
| ed to outstretch his hand in greeting.
Come, Billy" said. This is a cold
| welcome and an unmerited one when
we consider how long it has been since
| we last had an opportunity to shake
hands. How are you, anyhow, old fol-
| I added hiy,o ~,