Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-05-06

lOuB, weary ulbHt Watches, Twice ne
oversight because his alarm had failed
him, so to insure his "calr' he had run
wire from the station clock to n bell
In his room at the hotel. BY an ingen-
ious connection when the hands mark
ed las the ringing of the bell brought
him violently out of the land of
dreams. When Tom was promoted to
the shorter watch and went to live at
Mrs. Jordan's, Bill Townsend. who sue
ceeded him, fell heir to his room and
'the devils own" as Tom called the
bell. The clock was an imitation of the
old fashioned, big faced, case1ess time
pieces, with weights and chains and
long, heavy pendulum.
Twenty minutes late" he muttered.
The hour hand was less than two
inches from the connection, but how
slowly it crept! If he could only move
that hand! His knees We're free. He
drew them up toward his chin. shot out
his legs and came to sitting position.
Then, by series of short jumps and
bumps, he reached the wall, braced his
back against it and. with great diff
Guilty, worked himself to his feet. The
pendulum swung close to his ear, but
how could he reach the hand? Was
he to fail now?
His eyes quickly searched the room.
few feet to the right was the win
dow. heavily barred. the torn shade
partly down. His glance rested on the
stick that weighted the latter, just
what he needed. New hope gave him
new strength. Inch by inch he edged
himself along the wall to the shade,
caught the stick between his teeth and
sank quickly to the floor. He had sue
ceeded. The stick was torn loose from
It's tilmsy fastenings. Back again, up
and along the wall he worked until he
stood nearly under the clock He turn
ed sidewise, raised his head until the
stick pointed at the hand, made a ter
rife effort to reach it, failed, lost his
balance and fell heavily to the floor.
The bodily pain was nothing to him.
but he groaned in anguish at the loss
of time. He looked up. The clock
had stopped
The hands marked II. He could
reach the pendulum. 1t must be start
ed. There was still chance of more
delay. Again the struggle to regain
his feet, harder now because of his
growing weakness. Nearer and nearer
he crept to the motionless rod A nod
of his head would start 1t.
MY God" he suddenly cried "Why
didn't l think of it before? Is there
still time" And selling the heavy
brass disk at the end of the pendulum
In his teeth he raised his head and de
tached it.
The rod, freed of its heavy weight.
swung rapidly back and forward, i'm
pelling the hands onward at a greatly
increased rate of speed. His eyes We're
following the minute hand. He could
see 1t move, and the hour hand? Yes,
1t was creeping along Toms strength
was going fast. He sank to his knees
and rolled over on the floor, but his
eyes were fixed on that hand. How
long would 1t take to reach IL 40?
Closer and closer II crept Now il
touched the iron connection and moved
slowly past 1t. The alarm had been
sounded, but there were 10 minutes
more before Bill would arrive. He
strained his ears to catch the slightest
sound. The noise of the storm was all
that he could hear.
Click, click, click came from the in
strument-a message from Maysville
TwentysiX had just passed. Maysville
was II minutes up the road-it must
now be Ills Tom tried to calculate
the time since the hands started on
their wild race, but his mind was n
chaos of mad thoughts What If Bill
did not arrive in season? He rolled
over on his face and waited for the
worst.
The door burst open,
Hello, where are youy" 1t was Bills
voice.
"Stop 26-hold up at Dykes siding
get mem But Bill was gone.
The red light flashed up the track
and g. with noisy grinding of wheels
and many jolts. came to stop. a
posse was hastily formed, but when
the siding was reached nothing was
found but the open switch that meant
death and destruction.
The passengers and crew tried to
make Tom believe that he was n hero,
but he only pointed to the clock and
said:
at was the devils own "-Waver-
ley Magazine.
H1fa In Hpuse of f.op,u,oun