The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-14
AT LARGE.

tended a race meeting and / vowed men
! tally ii would be the last. That, as a
matter of fact, it has no; been the last
by a good many. is neither here nor
there. The resolution (which ] only
mention as an indication of my state of
mind at the timel was a good one in
itself and good resolutions. however sin
cere, are notoriosly difficult to keep.
/ had come over from c. that morn
ing with a few pounds in my pocket;
and not only had l dropped every penny
of this money on losing horses but some
juggler on the racecourse had relieved me
of my watch. plus the return half OF my
railway ticket, which, according to a hab-
ii of mine, i had placed for safety in
side the case.
The serious nature of the predicament
in which l found myself will be at once
appreciated when ! mention that the dis
lance between H where | was. and
c., whittier / wanted to go. is some
thing like forty miles and that. as | did
not know soul in H. there was no
one within reach to whom / could apply
for "A loan sufficient TO cover the amount
of my railway fare. How was l to get
home? The humor Of the situation
flashed on me at later period but i'm
d
solution 10 the problem merely depress-
ed me. To perform the journey on foot
would have been an arduous undertaking
at any time. and seemed altogether out
of the question now, for the evening had
closed in tempestuous and wet, and / was
dead tired
My intention had been to return to
c. by the 6:15 train. and toward that
hour an irresistible attraction drew me to
raj or Ac /
lately watching the trains depart. crowd
ed with people in exasperatingly high
spirits. | formed a desperate resolve.
would travel without a ticket by the next
train for c.. This happened to be the
3 o'clock express. which stopped nowhere
on the journey except for a few minutes
at S. on the outskirts of c.. to en-
able tickets to be collected. Ny idea was
to stow myself away under seat; and
II | could be fortunate enough to secure
a compartment all to myself, ! should
only have to remain in this concealment
until we started from H. and 10 go
back TO II again for the short time we
stood at s..
After pacing the streets. in the dark
ness and driving rain for two miserable
hours and a half ] returned to the station
and took up a position just inside the
door of the deserted waiting-room. which
The train was already drawn up. and
there were signs that IL was not going to
be a heavy one. which so far favored my
project; but ! resolved TO put off TO the
last moment before getting in. Directly
in front OF me stood a third-Class car
riaEe. which as vet was quite empty. IT
remained up to within five minutes of
starting time and then a drunken fellow
came Keeling along the platform and en-
tered one of the compartments. | recog-
nized this person as a man, apparently of
the seafaring profession, who had been
winning all day on the race course. He
had probabl dallied too long in some
public house nd missed the earlier train
by which most of the visitors had left.
I hoped that the hideous bawling which
he kept up necessarily under the impress
sion. doubtless, that he was singing,
might have the effect of soaring intending
passengers from the neighborhood, thus
reserving a compartment exclusively for
me. in accordance with my desire; and
whether from this cause or not, it is q
fact that at SIS o'clock he was still the
sole occupant of the carriage.
| could not well delay any longer. None
of the railway officials were at hand anC
so. leaving my post of observation,
skunk across the platform like a thief
! and got into a compartment next TO that
in which the noisy inebriate sat. Having
closed the door softly | crawled under
one of the seats and lay there, as close
to the partition as possible, quaking and
| ashamed | must have been completely
hidden. for the seat was broad and tho
shadow deep; but although, in one sense
| ] never felt smaller in my life than ! die
| at that moment. ii seemed 10 me that my
| body took up an extraordinary amount
| of space.
Ny chief fear now was lest any one
| should after all, come into the cOmpart
| ment, as this would not only necessitat'
nv lying motionless in an uncomfortable
position for over an hour. which was {
| comparatively small matter, but would
greatly increase my chances of detection
| which was a much more serious consid
Grafton Under these circumstances the
| two minutes of waiting seemed endless
| and the sound of every occasional foot
step passing the door outside threw ms
| into a fever of anxiety, and brought colo
perspiraton to my forehead.
AT last the signal for starting was
given and the train began to move. Thi:
was to me the most painfully trying mo
ment of all. for. until we should gathel
some speed. there were still a few sec
| onds during which IL would be possible
| for some one to jump in, and 50 disap
| point my hopes just when they we're a
| their highest. And, sure enough, scarce
| ly had the motion of the train become
perceptible than a man suddenly thrus
/ his head in at the window and scanned
| the interior of the compartment. / wa'
| at once struck by the extraordinary sal
| lowness of his complexion and a certain
| wildness in the expression of his eyes. II
| my relief he did not come in, but with
| drew his head and vanished almost al
| quickly as he had appeared. An instan
| later the banging of a carriage door ant
| an uproarious welcome from the tips,
sailor told me that the latter had foun,
| a travelling companion.
| The speed of the train rapidly increased
| and i soon felt secure from all possibility
| of intrusion; but l was still in a condi-
| ton of extreme nervousness, and started
| violently at the sudden Gathering of the
| window sash and the fracas of the rain
| beating on the roof and side of the car
riage as we shot out from the shelter OF
| the covered station and became exposed
! to the fury of the storm.
| I crept forth from my lurking place
| and huddled myself up at the end of one
| of the seats. The sailor in the next com
| partment had suspended his efforts at the
| production of melody, but kept talking al
| intervals in a loud voice-whether to him.
self or to his companion / could not make
out. BY and by he gave that up, too, anc
l could hear nothing but the bowling OF