Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-11-09

BY ELAINE CARTWRIGHT.
ii, there goes my basket

sob, there goes my basket
The basket certainly was going. Down
the steep embankment above which these
four were walking-Elise and her three
beauX. whom the wit Of the town had
nicknamed 'tLree beaux to her string
the little beribboned. chip-twisted thing
tumbled and hoped and som%ersaulted,
spilling all its load of wild anemones as
it went, until it rested in the ditch, just
this side Of the shining steel rails at the
bottom.
1t was early spring, but already the
woods above the railroad track We're rich
" carpeted with anemones. Elise Cabel
may nave been strictly truthful when she
said that she would give her life to gather
wild anemones, but it is just possible that
her ndnes for that particular flower
may have been partly due to the oppor-
tunities afforded by its quest for long
rambles with one or more of her three
uteIlites. On the whole she seemed to
prefer being accompanied by all three of
them, like Il young queen. Now that
her basket was gone down the embank-
ment she stood with clasped fingers, look
ing from Il to the other of the young
men, as if in displeased surprise that all
three did not at once back down the en-
bankment to retrieve the fallen treasures.
III go and get it" said Ben Scadleigh.
Il see where it is" said Breck Nc
knight.
Then these two began to get into posi-
ton for q careful descent of at least four
teen feet. to the track below. The face
of the cutting was covered with loose
shale, and the pieces rolled away to the
bottom under the pressure of their feet.
But for the third swain, a tall and some
what loosely-built example OF young
Southern manhood, he quietly made his ar
engagements to sit On the edge and rest
himself.
Take d seat, Elise" he said, "and
make yourself comfortable"
Aren't you going DOWN. Elise asked
him.
NO, l amt. I'm going to wait here
till they break their necks, or get run
over by that Cincinnati Southern express
must be about due here by now-then
I'll go and fetch what's left of them-and
the basket"
well. l did think you were more gal
liant than that. joe" said Elise. with sar-
castle emphasis. All the same, she too
settled herself on the grass to watch the
competitive exhibition of acrobatics going
on below them.
"WeIl, I reckon it won't take three Of
us to bring up that little bit of a basket"
said Joe, beginning to chew at u stalk of
grass.
Here comes the train, sure enough
Elise cried.
n IOIS WHISTLE Interrupted Her GAcldu1d-
ton, and out Of the TUNE that opened
where the hill rounded, only a score or
two of yards away from them, the eX-
press came Changing and roaring at full
speed. Just then Scadleigh turned
quickly to see where Mcknight was; a
mass of shale, either shaken by the vibra-
ton of the approaching train, or dis
turbed by Scadleigh's sudden movement,
fell to the bottom of the steep incline, and
Scadleigh rolled down with it.
AS the express rolled by, passengers
idly looking through the windows of the
cars saw on the verge of the precipice
above them a terrified girl staring wildly
down upon them; by her a young man
apparently paralyzed for the moment;
half way down the embankment, another
young man who. by his gestures was try
ing to communicate with someone on the
level of the track. Conductors and train
men leaned over the platform guards and
looked intently along the rail on the in
side. There was a bump and a rush of
steam; the air brakes were being applied.
When half a dozen ~trainhands some
minutes later reached the spot, running
from where the brakes had at last
brought the trains speed down to a safe
j%umping-off rate, they found Mcknight
and Joe Benton STOPPING over Scadleigh,
who lay in the drain that separated the
roadbed from the face of the cutting.
rs he dead?' one of them asked.
"No. he's only tainted" Joe answered.
"Well, served him right"
And the Disguised officials, pulling out
their watches, turned and hurried back
to catch their train, thinking only of the
time lost through this absurd approach 10
4 fatality.
"His ankle is sprained," Joe shouted
up to Elise. You go on to the slope
over the tunnel, and we'll get him up
all right"
II VOC NOT a worry cavnra Snrain in
truth, but poor Ben Scadleigh had gone
through the most terrible experience of
his life while he slid dOWn-as it seemed
to hlm-at full speed to catch the driv-
ing wheels of the great monster that
rushed at him from out of the tunnel.
In that little moment he had not remem-
bered that the drain would be sure to
catch him. He awoke to Consciousness
after what seemed a long and terrible
dream of clanking wheels laundering
over him, in the shallow, muddy chan
mel. The other two men dashed some
handfuls of water in his face. and then
he recovered sufficiently 10 ask, rs my
hair grayT'
The laughter that greeted this question
was a welcome sound to him. Mcknight
and Benton were wandering along the
drain, trying, if possible. to find some
old pieces of timber that might serve to
make an extempore litter on which to
carry away their wounded comrade, but
nothing light enough for the purpose was
to be found.
AS for Elise Cabel. she was thoroughly
Subdued by the mishap, for which she
felt herself mainly responsible. When
Scadleigh had been slowly helped I'D to
the top of the gentle slope over the tunnel
she found an outlet for her p~enitent feel
ings in bathing his face with her hand
kerchief dipped at a spring close by. Nc
Knight and Benton watched this treat
ment, and one at least of them was hop
ing that the girl would put off yet a little
longer the choice she must sooner or later
make between the three. This accident
had certainly given Ben Scadleigh an I'M
fair advantage.
"Joe," said Mcknight to his lanky
rival a few days later, as they both left
Elise at her gate after escsrting her home
from her evening visit to the enyiable in
valid, Scadleigh, Il guess Ben has beaten
both our times. We might as we'll quit.
What do you say?"
ooh. | don't know about that" said
Joe. I'VE might wait a little longer"
You and | ought TO come to some I'M
derStanding about this thing. loo How