Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1903-03-06


after a brief examination of the in
jured arm, declaring that immediate
amputation was necessary.
"All the time l was In absolute ig-
norance OF how the accident had hap
pened. or how 1t was that Beattie had
come to Brighton in Colonel Jim's
company.
1T was not until the operation was
over, and Mrs. Fame who was wired
for at once, had arrived to look after
her wandering daughter, that /
learned the whole story from Beattie's
lips.
"As some little explanation of what
took place, let me say that both Col
onel Fame and Colonel Jim we're ar
dent motorists. each possessing
twelve-horse-power Panhard, which
they were eternally pitting the one
against the other
Colonel Jim always drove his car
himself, but Colonel Fame, not being
SO expert, employed a French chauf-
feur, at fabulous wages.
well, 1t seems that the day before
! recovered consciousness my land
lady, who, up to then, had no clew
to the whereabouts of my friends, came
across a letter of Beatties while get
ting some clean linen for me out of
my portmanteau. Without staying to
think who the writer might be she at
ward appeared, gave very exagger-
ated account of my condition.
When the landlady's letter arrived
the colonel's motor was waiting at the
door for him on his return from pa
rade.
Without pause or thought my fool
ish, loving little girl imperiously or
dered the driver to set of for Brigh-
ton there and then, silencing his OBJ
jections with threats of her fathers
displeasure if he disobeyed her.
WAS there ever such a mad journey,
a Journey, too, at which her social
world would hold up it's hands in holy
horror ~
'On through Guildford, Tunbridge
Wells, Horsham, till the outskirts of
Lewes were reached. And there the
trouble began.
"The chauffeur had insisted more
than once on descending at certain
inns and refreshing himself with
brandy.
by the time Lewes was in sight the
man was in a state of semi-intoxica-
ton, and was quite incapable of con-
trolling the machine.
CHANGING to turn her head at this
point, Beattie saw coming up behind
them at racing speed half a mile or so
astern, another motor, which, even at
that distance, seemed strangely ia
miliar to her.
Nearer and nearer it drew, the
stupefied Frenchman in charge of the
leading car becoming more and more
unable to steer it. i
TT was at bend in the road that
the catastrophe happened
ION the right hand was high bank,
and into this the driver made to run
Beattie's car.
by miracle of mercy he could not
turn the steering wheel, balancing
himself and falling out under the
wheels in front, which passed over his
body.
Though bewildered and panic
stricken, Beattie caught hold of the
gear with both trembling hands and
tried to keep the car straight What
would have been the result of her
efforts it is hard to say, though it is
almost morally certain that in the
streets of Lewes she would inevitably
have come to grief
Now for Colonel Jim's part in it.
Putting on the pace for a final
squirt, he raced alongside of the run
away. managed to stop his own ma
chine. at the same moment leaping |
on to the other one
Selling the steering wheel with his
left hand-his right arm was broken
on the leap-he wrenched it round and |
brought the car to a full stop.
Then appeared the representative |
of the law, who, running back, dis
covered that the chauffeur was fatal |
ly injured.
"The rest you know, though there |
is one little thing more which 1 will
tell you in confidence, as it renders.
from my point of view, all that !
Colonel Jim did that day the more
heroic
'Beattie told me, more than year
after we were married, that some /
words that escaped her rescuer's lips
as he reached her side in the flying car,
convinced her beyond all doubt that
he loved her, and that he .risked his |
life for the sake of woman whom
he knew had given her heart to an
other man.
How Colenel Jim came to follow
after Beattie was owing to a servant
at the house, who overheard her or
ders to the chauffeur, telling him, as
ne drove up in his own machine al
most directly afterward and inquired
for her. He knew that her action
would compromise her with her
friends and society, and, in her in
terests, decided sto persuade her to
come back.
"Of course. the dear old fellow had
to leave the service, though he has
since got his step on the retired list
Now, what do you think of him, Tai
bot?"
Think of him?" said why, that
for man among men, never expect
to meet another like Colonel Jimi"
AS you certainly never will" said
Maxwell, raising his glass. Here's to
Colonel Jim, and God bless him!"-
New York News.
His Offer.