The Saint Paul globe., 1899-03-05
She Of the Three BeauX


oh, there goes my basket"
Inc oasket certainly was going. Down the
steep 'embankment above which these four
were Walklng-Elise and her three beaux.
Wnom the wit of the town had nicknamed
th1ee beaux to her string''-the little be-
rlbboned, chiptwsted thing tumbed and
noPpeo and somersaulted, spilng all it's load
ol WIo naemones as it went, until it rested
IN the ditch, just this side of the shining steel
rails a the bottom
1t was early spring but already the woods
ABOVE the railroad tracks were richly car
peted With anemOneS Elise Cabel may have
been strictly truthful when she said that she
would give her life gather wild anemones
put IL Is just possible that her fondness for
tnat particular flower may have been partly
oue 10 the opportunities afforded by it's quest
for long rambes with one or more of her
| tLree eutell1tes. On the whole she seemed to
prefer be1ng accompanied by all three of
them, like young queen Now that her bas-
ket was gone down the embankment she stood
with clasped fingers, looking from one to the
| other OF the young men, as if in displeased
surprise that all three did not at once back
down the embankment to retrieve the fallen
treasurer.
I'll go to get it,, said Ben Scadleigh
:! see where it is said Breck Mcknight.
Ihen these two began to get into position
Tor a careful descent of at least fourteen feet
to the track below. The face of the cutting
was covered with loose shale, and the pieces
roied 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 South
ern MANHOOD, he quietly made his arrange
rnents to sit on the endgs and rest himself.
yourself comfortable
Aren't you going down?" Elise asked
him.
No, I amt I'm going to wait here till
that Cincinnati Southern Express-must be
due here by now-then I'll go and fetch
what's left Of them-and the basket
wen, l d1d think you were more gallant
thaE that, Joe," said Elise, with sarcastic
emphasis. All the same she too settled her
seit on the grass to watch the competitive
exhlpltlon of acrobatics going on below them
We'll, L reckon it won't take three of US
to brlng up that bit of a basket said joe
beginning to chew at stalk of grass.
| Here comes the train, sure enough" Elise
cried.
A long whistle interrupted her exclamation.
and out of the tunnel that opened where the
hill rounded. only a score or two of yards
away from them, the express came changing
ana roaring at full speed. Just then Scad-
| leigh turned quickly to see where Mcknight
was; mass of shale, either shaken by the
vibration of the approaching train or dis
turbed by Scadleigh's sudden movement, fell
to the bottom of the steep incline and Scad-
| leigh 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
|
py her young man apparently paralyzed
Tor the moment; half way down the en-
pankment another young man who by his
gestures, was trying to communicate with
! some on the level of the track. Conductors
and trainmen leaned over the platform
guards and looked intently along the rail on
the inside. There was bump and rush
| OF steam; the air brakes were being applied.
When half dozen train hands some min
ues later reached the spot running from
where the brakes had at last brought the
traln S speed down to a safe jumping off rate
they found Mcknight and Joe Benton stoop-
ing over Scadlelgh, who lay in the drain that
separated the road bed from the face of the
cutting.
is he dead?" one of them asked
No, he's only fainted' Joe answered.
We'll. serve him right
And the disgusted officials pulling out their
watches turned and hurried back to catch
their train, thinking only of the time lost
through this absurd approach to a fatality.
His ankle is sprained,' Joe shouted up to
Elise. You go on to the slope over the tun-
mel. and we'll get him up all right
1t was not very severe Sprain, in truth
but poor Ben Scadleigh had gone through the
most terrible experience of his life while he
slid down-as it seemed to him-at full speed
to catch the driving wheels of the great mon
ster that rushed at him from out of the tun-
mel. In that little moment he had NOT re-
membered that the train would be sure to
catch him. He awoke to consciousness after
what seemed long and terrible dream of
clanking wheels laundering over him, in the
shallow, muddy channel. The other two mon
dashed some handfuls of water in his face
and then he recovered sufficiently to ask. rs
my hair gray?"
The laughter that greeted this question was
a welcome sound to him. McKnight and
Benton were wandering along the drain try-
lng if possible, to find some old piece of TIM
Der 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