Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1903-07-23
Hold Up
By ROSS FRAME
Copyright, I30', IN r. c. Mcclure
By ROSS FRAME

Copm~jqht 110e IN r. c. Mcclure
The Overland Limited was speeding
east across New Mexico toward the
Texas boundary line The fine allal.
dust Of the high plains siftcd through
every crcyicc in the car, smarting and
irritutiug the thruats and noses Of pas
scngprs. Miss Mary Appleton was one
of the few who had not grumbled nj the
dust. heat. lack of miragcs or slowness
OF the service. Presumably her time
was too fully occupied. The Mayne
children, her three nephews, demanded
her complete attention
When Major Maync of the United
States army was ordered to the Phil
ippincS. his wife elected to 20 with
him. The children were easily dis
posed Of by their little butterfly Of q
mother. Wen send them east. III
telegraph Mary to come out and take
them back 1t viii be a nice trip for
her, poor thing
SO the poor thing who was Mrs.
AIayne's elder half sister, the Cinder-
ella OF the household, age reversed, left
her invalid stcpmothcr behind and jour
ncycd TO san Francisco for her
charges.
wen try and make it pleasant for
you while you are with US" Mrs.
Maync had cooed to her upon her ar
rival but the irresponsible little lady
had left all packing and house clearing
arrangements until the last minute,
and it took all Of Mary's time and
sound sense to evolve order out of con-
fusion Finally all the boxes were
corded, the major and his wife off to
the transport, and Miss Appleton, with
her three rcbcllious charges, seated in
the train for their long ride to the At
lantic coast.
one section had been provided for
her and the three boys, Bobbie, Tom
and Grover, lads of twelve, nine and
six. They were hearty, healthy young
animals who regarded the commands
Of their gentle, mild tempered aunt In
the li.lt OF perpetual joke. The Pull
man was crowded, and their fellow
traveller looked with manifest disfayor
upon the Ioisy, III behaved boys.
Their section was nearest the draw
Ing room, and Miss Appleton occasion
ally caught giimpscs of the tall, stern
looking man with iron gray hair. He
seemed to be always busy, either read
Ing or writing. and her tender con
science prompted the hope that he
might De too much absorbed in his
work to be disturbed by the proximity
of her ncphcws She had noticed his
critical, disappearing glanccs at her
flock in the dining car, and once she
detected smile on his face when she
had made Intellectual efforts to curb
| them.
1t was the fourth day of the journey
and particularly hard one. Bob and
Tom had joined forces and teased Gro
YER who was quick tempered, into
such a fury of passion that he had
sohhod himself asleep on his aunts
knee. She sat in a crampcd, unCom-
Portable position, holding the little tear
stained fac" against her shoulder.
The man in the drawing room looked
at her for a moment, then stepped out
ana said quietly: Let me take your
little boy. He can rest very comforta-
bly, on my sofa" Suiting the action to
the words he carried the sleeping child
to the couch and set the door aJar.
Miss Applotou's lips trembled, and it
| was with difficulty that she kept back
the tears. 1t was almost the first kind
! ly words spoken in those hard and dis
! agreeable days There had been ad-
momtions in regard to the boys being
! left behind at stations and tanks or
| breaking their ucCks from windows
| and platforms There had been many
| complaints IN respect to their noise
and requests that they be kept strictly
to their own seats, but this was tie
| first kindly interest manifested. The
| weary, nervous woman looked out
steadily over the uulnyitlng landscape
| so that the tears that hung heavy on
her mshes might remain undeteCted.
The occupant Of the drawing room
! missed nothing of what was going on.
| His heart gave mn uuaccustomcd throb
! rs he remembered the mute gratitude
expressed hy her dark eyes when he
carried off the sleeping boy. 1t was n
strange and by no means unpleasant
| sensation.
Bob and Tom sat in a virtuous armed
truce Bob's black eyes snapped as no
related to Tom in subducd tones the
| "Advcnturcs of Snake Eyed Sol, the
Terror Of the Western Plains" "If we
could only get off this blamed train, we
would be sure to find lots of Indians
! and gold and Wild horses. We'd have
great time. But there's no use in
trying Aunt Mary has the porter on
| to us" The boy looked decidedly wick
ed as he thought of his lost oppUrtuni-
ties. The man within caught the look
| and a vision of the aunt's sweet face
at the same time "If | had the man
agcmcnt Of you, my lad. l would bring
you up with n round turn" he thought.
Miss Appleton smothcred n sigh and
| leaned back on the luxurious cushions.
Her few days Of more intimate nc
qualntancc with Master Bob had made
her fully aware of the consequences
likely to follow from an interruption
Of the narrative. The comparative
peace and roposc were provocative OF
sleep. She was awakened from doze
| by Il brisk official voice demanding,
Your papers, plcaseY
"Do Won mean our tickctsf"
40. madam. | have nothing to do
with the tickets. | want your quaran.