The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1900-11-02
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4 SaVedfrOln Ruin !
'IhTHINIe YOU had better attempt

" ~ w wv " W fFTsVvt
W I THINK you had better attempt
no explanation, Mr.. Halbon," the
senior partner was saying to me, very
quietly. NO." he went on, as I was
ON the point OF interrupting him,
'either to excuse or to incriminate
yourself. For the sake of your ia
t;her. who Was one of the staunchest
and best servants the firm ever pos
sessed, and Ior the sake of his widow,
Mr.. Sampson and myself have deter
mined to- make his son every allow
ance. AS the matter stands, there is
balance of s97 unaccounte~, for, and
you are the, only person who can
make it right If the amount is
ahem!-replaced by this day fort
night, nothing more will be said.
But if not 'sThen, went on Mr..
Sampson, the junior partner, "the firm
will require your services no longer,
Mr.. Halbon. Possibly, for the sake
of those whom Mr.. Marsh has men
toned, we shall not take any more
Stringent measures; but, of course,
such a dismissal, without reason or
references, would be ruin to you. We
I trust, therefore, that, you will be able
to rectify the mistake. Good after
noon"
Ruin! That was just the word for
1t all, and it rang in my ears with
terrible significance as / left the
presence of the two partners and took
my seat at a desk in the office outside.
For although. they had not named the
word, the terrible charge that was
staring me~in the face was embezzle-
3lent. They had discovered it all.
Fool thatsI had been; alas! the dupli-
cate of many. Not half dozen years
out of my teens, with a berth that
many an older ma n might have en-
eNed, theEunderscashier in the wealthy
firm of Marsh & Sampson, of Silk
minister, one of theflargest Houses IN
the Midlands. n, S;;Sfl II tyaI a,g4
Could i. do it? i asked myself the
question that night in the. solitude of
my lodgings. I had been invited out
to spend the evening. at the house
of my fiancee. Alas! I dared not face
her now. So I sat alone in an agony
of anxious thought. Time after time
/ counted out my resources. The ut
most 1 could scrape together was
"a shiHings, and, look where ! would,
1 could. not.see my way to laying my
hand on more.
1.-THE game was up; that was evident.
And out Sof the situation there grew
the desire, stronger anus stronger, to
get away anywhere from Silkminster
to London, perhaps London. with
er every fortune-hunter or fortune
loser turns his steps. Ats.length a
definite plan took possession of me.
Hastily packed few things in
my bicycle 'hold-all," filed my lamp,
knocked at my landlady'ss door, and
said: 81 am going for long ride,
Mrs. Smith-to see a friend. He'll be
almost sure to ask me to stay the
night, so don't expect me till to-mor-
row evening .'a't,sisSe 9at&si1
And in another minute I was bowl
ing through the suburbs of Silkmin-
ster, until the houses became more
and more scattered, the lamp-posts be-
gan to Disappear, and at length + was
out in. the open country speeding
away on the road that led to London.
!. Dullminster was now a good five
miles behind me, and 1 had entered
upon stretch of road that was more
than usually dreary and secluded. On
my right was an open expanse of COM
mon, and on my left, on the top of an
embankment, the main line of the
Great .West-Northern railway ran for
some two or three miles parallel with
the road, d hedge between me and the
bottom of the. embankment. The mo-
mentary flash of warning red light
on a signal-post as I began riding by
the side of this embankment set my
mind flowing in a new channel. The
whole country had recently been
aroused to the sense of a terrible dam
ger. The most cold FLOODED and das-
tardly attempts were being made on
certain of our great trunk railways to
wreck; express trains. Some Of these
attempts were successful and more
than one accident was the result;
some. were discovered only just in time
to prevent an appalling disaster; while
others fortunately proved powerless
to upset the magnificent engines and
trains for which they were intended.
Suddenly asI was riding thus slow
ly, I happened to glance upward at the
railway embankn1ent, and started vio-
lently at what / saw. There, outlined
against the dim sky, was the figure of a
man. now standing, now STOPPING
downward, seemingly doing something
to the metals The situation flashed
across me in a moment. It was the
train wrecking iend at work! Careful
" I salighted from my machine, max
ing up my mind the while how to act.
The whole thing came as flood of re-
lief to me. If he were really placing
something on the line he was a desper-
ate fellow, and to'attack him would be
desperate just the very thing for a
man in my mood. And then there came
across me another thought. The Great
West Northern had offered e1Oo re-
ward. What if / should win it? If so,
I was saved! i
This idea: gave me courage as I clam
4. 49,. - :. \ !. ,