Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-05-01
A KNIGHT OF THE HIGHWAY By CLINTON Sc0LLARD. Il Author of "A Man at Arms, % ''Ths Son
 of Tsry," Bic.
Copyright, 1901, by J. B. Lippincott Co
 All rights reserved.
CHAPTER I.
THE NEER-Do-WELL.

VOI0 0A 6 nR1SAAs GO hAAAdA W0S 4OB communicated itself from car to car, and each in turn ceased to move. The jar wakened Rossiter, out stretched upon the top of some boxes and bales, from heavy sleep, and on opening his eyes and finding him. self e1ncompassed by 8 breathless tropical blackness he did not for an instant realize where he was. He put out his hand and encountered the boards of the car-roof just above his head. Then he recalled his whereabouts. He was reeling with sweat, for the atmosphere of the con fined space was stifing.
 All day the pitiless September sun had blazed in coppery heaven; all day the parched earth had given back Co tho sky the fumes of heat; and yet R0ssiter had clung to his oven with every revolution of the wheels he was carried nearer to his destina- tion, and in the second place because he could not easily descend from the train while it was in motion. Half loaf of bread and few dry cookies had served to quiet the gnawings of hunger. while two wizened lemons had in a measure allayed the bangs of thirst. But now he sought in vain for the last precious bit of fruit which he had intended to keep. against this time of need. The jolt Ing of the car had evidently caused fais treasure to roll from the spot where he had placed it with such lar1, 1 @xf disappointment, he dragged himself 6 few feet and placed his lips to a crack in the side of the ear, through which he drank eagerly great draugkts of the partially cooled night air. As he was about to resume his former position he inhaled heavy wait of engine smoke.
 s'The deyill" he ejaculated. '9This ss more than I can stand!"
 Hs seized his little bundle of clothes and worked his way over the bales and boxes to the door. For a time he feared that he was hopelessly prisoner, as the obstinate barrier to his escape would not budge. The per- apiration streamed from his forehead into his eyes, and his hair was as wet as though he had soused his head in water. He had taken stock of the fastenings when he had slowed himself away at Clevalo, but he was discovering that an easy entrance into freight car packed with mer- chandise that has space enough to shift slightly does not necessarily mean an eCsy exit.
 At length, after several sharp cYeaks of remonstrance, the door gaped sufficiently to. allow him to squeeze his body through. He cast a glance up and down the adjoining track and then leaped down. As his feet crunched upon the cinders some one sprang from the next car to the top of the one he had just quilted. It was brakeman.
 You damn trampl'' he shouted, and raised his hand as though about to hurl a missile.
 Rossiter ran, lodging as he went, but nothing save harsh guffaw fol lowed from the car-top.
 'sSold, Johnnyl" beloved the brakeman; ''but I can tell ye if I'd had hunk of coal, ye'd have got it blim in the back"
 Just then, with long series of jerks. the train started. An electric light beyond the tracks threw the gesticnlating figure on the car top into strong outline for a moment and his pose held Rossiter's atten- tion, but the effect was quickly spoiled by the onward movement of the train. Rossiter now turned to survey his surroundings. The sput- tering electPics told him that he was ln town of considerable size. Above the rumbling cars several large build tngs loomed blackly. Behind him the ground sloped sharply to a stream, which he could not see on account of white vapor which hung over it. At his left was a bridge, and as he examined this, and the ugly frame structures which lined the street to- wards which it led, sense of fla miliarity gave him swift thrill of surprise.
 '.The deuce!" he exclaimed, 1T won< Her if it is?"
 He wheeled to the right and re- garded a long freight house and ai tall pile capped by huge sign, the letters upon which he vainly strove to distinguish. A puzzled expression crossed his face, and he waited inn patiently for the caboose of the freight train to pass. At length the, tracks were clear. A few rods away, on one side of a small square, the lights of hotel twinkled through the branches of row of elm trees. Directly opposite was 3 railway sta ton, short distance from which freight and accommodation train was about pulling out.
 .'Ilica, by Jove!" cried Rossiter. "WeIl, if this isn't curious!" and his mind went back dozen years to the June day when he had last set foot in ths quiet city on the banks of the Mohondaga. Then he was thought aess youth fresh from college, full of a youths dreams, not without ann bition-and now-well, his present status was not one to be contem- plated with pride, nor did the vista down which he looked in retrospect afford him many gleams of satisfac-