The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1900-11-08

Saved from Ruin I


THINK you had better attempt
mo explanation, Mr.. Halbon," the
senior partner was saying to me, very
quietly. "No," he went on, as I was
on the point of i~nterrupting him,
seithers to excuse or to incriminate
yourself. For the sake of your IA
Their, who was one of the staunchest
and best servants the firm ever pos
sessed, and Tor the sake of his widow,
Mr.. Sampson and myself have deter
mined to make his son every allow
ance. AS the matter stands, there lie
q balance of G97 u~naccounte. 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 "Then, 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 OF
references, would be ruin to you. We
trust, therefore, that you will be able
to rectify the mistake. Good after
noon"
Ruin! That was just the word for
it all, and it rang in my ears with
terrible significance as I left the
presence of the two partners and took
lemy 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-
ment. They had discovered it all.
Fool that / had been; alas! the dupli-
cate of many. Not half a dozen years
out of my teens, with a berth that
many an older man might have en-
We'd, the under-cashier in the wealthy
firm of Marsh & Sampson, of Silk
minister, one of the largest houses in
the Midlands.
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! l dared not face
her now. So I sat alone in an agony
of anxious thought. Time after time
I counted out my resources. The ut
most I could scrape together was
"a shillings, and, look where 1 would,
I could not see my way to laying my
hand Oh more.
The game was up; that was evident.
And out of the situation there grew
the desire, stronger mi stronger, to
get away, anywhere from Silkminster
Ito London, perhaps-London, with
er every fortune-hunter or fortune
loser turns his steps. At length a
definite plan took possession of me,
I had one article Of value left, my
bicycle, and I determined to ride it
up to London, a distance of a hundred
odd miles or so, and sell it when ]
got there. More than that, I made uE
my mind to start that very night. ]
was just in the mood for it. I wanted
to do something, and here was The
chance.
Hastily I packed a few things in
my bicycle "%hold-all," filled my lamp
knocked at my landlady's door, and
said: 81 am going for a 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"
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 I wa:
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 a stretch of road hat was more
than usually dreary and secluded. Or
my right was an open expanse of com
mon, and on my left, on the top of al
embankment, the main line of the
Great West-Northern railway ran fol
some two or three miles parallel will
the road, a hedge between me and the
bottom of the embankment. The mo
mentary flash of a warning red ligh'
on a signal-post as I began riding b,
the side of this embankment set M,
mind flowing in a new channel. TIL,
whole country had recently beer
aroused to the sense of a terrible dan
ger. The most cold-blooded and das
tardly attempts were being made OF
certain of our great trunk railways tt
wreck express trains. Some of these
attempts were successful, and NOR,
!, than one accident was the result.
: some were discovered only just in tim,
to prevent an appalling disaster; Will,
others fortunately proved powerles.
to upset the magnificent engines ant
trains for which they were intended
: Engine drivers, one of the pluckiest
class of men in the kingdom, grew ner
vous and ~distrustful. The foot-plat,
: became a post that meant a terribl,
and sudden danger. Strong mel
I clutched tremblingly at the regulator
handle as they dashed away through
the open countryi in the darkness of tn,
night, and heaved a sigh of relief a,
I they signed "off duty" at the Journey
end. Many a man actually refused pro
! motion point-blank because he feare,
t. drive a night express. The matter was
in short, becoming serious, and NOR
. than one railway company offered
very large reward for the discovery ar
arrest of the train-wrecking fend. AL
I this flashed across me as I plodde,
along slowly now, for I was riding OF
rising ground, and my legs were begin
! ming to give out a bit. Ihad ridden owe:
/ 30 miles with only a few minutes stop
: and the nervous and physical strait
I was telling on me a little.
! Suddenly as I was riding thus slow
ly, happened to glance upward at tn,
railway embankment, and started vic
Z lently at what I saw There, outline,
against the dim sky, was the figure of
I man, now standing, now stoopin,