Warren sheaf., 1900-11-29
BEND ]| IN THE Road.
BY PERCIE w. HART.

SCopyright, 1899, Daily Story Publishing Coz
It was pretty spot. Upon the
one hand stretched the broad river,
with its swiftly gliding waters dane
ing and ripping in the clear sunlight.
Upon either shore, and spreading well
about, was atlusty patch Of woodland.
The macadamized road made sharp
turn at this point, and, crossing side
walled culvert, disappeared again
among the trees. Afew steps beyond
the culvert, and somewhat hidden
from the roadway by graceful clump
of shrubbery, the kindly winds Of
heaven had supplied an ideal rustic
.seat-a great fallen tree trunk.
With crisp flutter Of wings spar
row lit upon the macadam and vainly
strove to find a sufficient dust bath
in its hard surface. Then a little red
squirrel ran boldly out from under
meath the PROSTATE forest giant and,
Jumping upon the culvert's sidewall,
commenced to chatter noisily. Pres
emily the sharp clump-clump and rat
tie Of an approaching horse and We
hicle became audible. Away flew the
bird. The squirrel gave one flip Of his
bushy tail and disappeared. The
.equipage came in sight from around
the corner. s&zs 65s
First of all, wretched horse, of a
,adirty-white hue, with bones protrud-
ing so far that they well nigh pierced
the skin. His head hung low and a
great running sore showed plainly up
his withers. He plodded along'at a
slow walking gait. A poor, miserable,
cast out, scarecrow Of horse, and yet
his eyes still shone with their old
faithful light Attached to him by a
.dilapidated set Of harness, profusely
mended with pieces of cord, rope and
carpet was an express wagon OF un-
certain age. The reins were wound
'carelessly about a tree-branch stuck
through a hole in the bottom of the
wagon. The seat was unoccupied. In
the rear part Of the vehicle. could be
seen a pile of bags, bones, old metal
and a few odd bottles. From some
where among this mess protruded
two roughly shod human feet. They
belonged to the driver and proprietor
of the caravan. He was thus sleeping
while the patient beast trudged on
ward. a.: s.
Over the culvert bridge went the
outfit. The wagon jolted a tride.
The sleeping man groaned aloud.
The horse pricked up his ears for an
instant and then allowed them slowly
to relax. But the quadruped made no
pause in his slow gait. In a few mo-
ments horse, boots, junk heap and
wagon had passed out Of sigh around
the bend. Everything was as it had
been before, with the exception Of a
small piece Of rusty wire lying in the
middle Of the roadway The wagons
jolt had accomplished this slight
change.
No sound heralded the next per-
formance. A young lady on a bicycle
came suddenly into view. The ma
chimes well adjusted bearings moved
without even a murmur. The nick
eled parts flashed and glittered in the
sun. The booted feet Of the rider
went around like. tread-mill mice.
She was travelling at good speed.
Suddenly ssclickety, clickety, click
ety. sounded the rear wheel. Quick
as a flash she dismounted and came
to an abrupt halt. She bent eagerly
over the machine to see what could be
at fault. It did not take very long
to discover. A piece Of rusty wire
protruded an inch or more from the
rubber tire. Grasping hold oft firm
ly with one tiny gloVed hand she.
pulled hard upon it. The wire came.
out. But to thus extract any thing
that has actually y Ipene ettrated the tube
is very much like withdrawing a.
poniard that has pierced the heart.
It hastens the end. Withsa great
gasp the tire breathed its last at
least for the time being.
Pshaw'' CALCULATED the young
lady. Seven miles from home and
rear tire puneturedl # I was q man
I'd swear a blue streak! Z!
Being q woman, she stamped her
foot iimpatiently and gave the bicycle
a look that should have simply made
it sink into the ground with conf fusion
No a n bno,, - ~ q I, @