The St. Johns herald., 1901-12-21

ed to follow Jamison.
 The hands of the clock showed the time to be just midnight, and 1t now lacked but thirty-five minutes until the train Harry had orders to hold would be due; but she knew 1t not. All she knew was that Jamison was acting suspiciOusly, and she would follow him.
 Silently she opened the door and passed out into the darkness and storm. A strange impulse seemed to lead her in the direction of the. section house. She paused irresolutely when she had reached the section house, and seemed at loss which way to proceed.
 Suddenly a bright flash of lightning revealed to her startled gaze the form of Jamison hurrying swiftly along in the direction Harry had taken.
 The same flash shows the face of Mary Strand, the lady Harry had so nObly defended.
 She sped on after the villain, being careful to keep at safe distance, lest he should turn and flash of lightning reveal her presence to him. And then! she shuddered to think of the result. She has reached a turn in ;the road. What is it that causes her to start sud- denly and then spring away in the di- rection she has been pursuing? One glance toward the east and we see the faint glimmer of light and hear the shreak of the engine as it ap- breaches a crossing two miles below the junction!
 The bridge is yet half a mile away and the signal board at B. gives no warning to the fast-apprOaching train!
 Will God, in His infinite mercy. per init the plot of this arch demon in hu- man shape to succeed?
 It seems that no power can arrest them in their onward rush to destruc- ton.
 But what of Harry?
 After passing the section house he hurried swiftly forward in the direction of the bridge At last he has reached 1t and starts across! The center of the bridge is reached at last! He listens a moment and then hurries forward. He has no time to lose. Full 800 feet of trelliS work must be examined before he has completed his mission, and 1t will be but few moments before the special should appear.
 At last he has completed his mission and sits down to rest a moment before starting to return.
 Once he starts to return, but some un- seen power seems to hold him to the spot. Suddenly he starts up and his face blushes to an ashen hue.
 And we'll 1t may, for the alarm he re- ceives is the roar of rushing water and sounds like the stormy pillows upon & rock-bound coast.
 My God! the dam at Kennedy Falls has given way, and little chance is there now to save the bridge. Can warn the special in timer" he cries.
 The roar grows louder and more sul- len. He can now see the dark bank of water as it rushes on in the direction of the bridge
 Another moment and the bridge will be swept away.
 He turns and looks up the track. The special is coming down grade not a quarter of a mile away.
 He darted forward, lantern in hand, to give the warning signal. AS he does so he hears the crack of timbers and knows the bridge has parted.
 Great beads of precipitation cover his brow as he realizes the danger men, acing the special. He stops, swings the lantern to and fro, once, twice, three times, and then reels, falls, and sees the revengeful eyes of Jamison upon him and hears him hiss: My time of re- venge is at hand, and you die with the rest! Let the special go over the bridge to her doOmw and then, flash of light ming, a deafening roar, and he knows no more until the engineer is bending over him, holding flask to his lips.
 Number meets you at E.. The bridge is gone," he murmurs, and the engineer waits to hear no more.
 He can hear Number S's whistle as she passes out of the yard and knows she has not been notified. His wife and only child are on the train, going to visit friends in a neighbOring town.
 He finds the first and second spans of the bridge all right, but at the third he pauses and can proceed no further. A dark gap, offering no means of sup port. looms up before him..
 My God. My wife and little Edith are on Number and can do nothing to save them," he cried, sobbing like a child.
 But other hands are at work even while he sits helplessly on the bridge.
 We left Mary Strand hurrying around the curve in pursit of Jamison. She sees him start across the bridge, and starts to follow, but turns back when she hears the roar of the flood. As she reaches the bank the bridge parts with crash and she sinks to the ground, stunned by blow from piece of tim Der. But the blow was but glancing lick, and the falling rain soon revived her.
 Springing to her feet she starts to- ward E. to notify the trainmen of the washout; but ere she has gone hundred feet she hears the roar of the approaching train and sees the head light as it rounds the curve.
 What shall she do to save them? She has no lantern and but few matches which it would be next to impossible to I;~5,t ,,,;tb +I,o roi0 folIiD0 in cr,oh for