Amador ledger., 1904-02-19
THE MILLIONTH
-CHANCE
copyright, 1903, by T. C. Mcclure.

pass wonders of vision. Then she
flushed rosily.
you are very hard on him." she
breathed softly, careful of the nearby
clerk at the glove counter in the big
department store.
Hard nothing" grumbled Mr.. Brad
ford. ''If there's any impractical ami
NAL ON the face of the globe it is an
inventor. Take that Internally foolish
scheme of his, for instance-that spring
cushion he has invented to attach to
the bottom of elevators in case of a
fall, Now, what do you suppose the
percentage of accidents on an elevator
isr'
"How should 1 know?" retorted his
daughter, with superb feminine con-
tempt for statistics.
LESS than one in q million jour
neys," said her father triumphantly if
not veraciously.
"Just the same" returned his daugh-
ter obstinately, ut must be very dis
agreeable when that millionth acci-
dent does happen"
Her father walked stolidly toward
the machine in question, Sarah trail
ing obediently after him, though her
thoughts were otherwhere, and her
eyes now vainly swept the crowd for
a glimpse of young Fielding.
Il suppose you are not afraid to go
up? jeered Mr. Bradford as the two
found themselves the only occupants
of the cage as it rose to the fourth
floor.
"Of course I'm not" said Sarah re-
sentfully. Then she added artfully,
you talk about inventing as though
it was like-well, like drinking"
"It is as bad as drinking" said her
father solemnly, cor as the cocaine or
the poetry habit. Any one of these
will ruin a mans career. Now, Sarah,
don't be all day choosing that scarf for
your mother"
This last as they stepped from the
car. Mr.. Bradford was secretly afraid
of the majestic females that swept to
| and fro on this special floor, their demi-
| trains gliding noiselessly over the deep
carpets, their eyes fronting his with
an insolent scorn that quite abashed
him, tyrant as he was apt to be at
| home.
"Mere man." they seemed to be whis-
| pering among themselves. Finally the
banker solaced himself by going to a
window and looking out on the street.
Hence he did not see Fielding step
| from the elevator in the next moment.
He was not aware that two heads were
bending together over the scarf, on
which neither of the young people saw
aught of the colors.
But even the choice of q scarf cannot
last forever. 1t was prematurely ended
| by the return of the magnate who
turned as purple as the Persian silks
| tableau.
He grew more purple still when Field
| Ing quietly entered the car with them.
But the banker choked down his wrath
on rejecting that even inventors can
lawfully ride in any public convey
ance. Then he snapped angrily at the
elevator boy:
"Why are we stopping before this
blank wall, you young procrastinator?
Do you think this sort of thing is en-
| joyableW
But the boy, lad of sixteen, newly
on duty, went white with terror.
"Somethin's wrong up above" he
stammered. Josh, he's. been drinkin'
[ knowed, though 1 never told. Some
| thin's wrong, and the brake amt hold
In right. It's slippin," he ended in q
shrill yell.
"Three floors to fall" thought Field
Ing as he seized the half fainting girl
In his arms. Aloud he cried cheerily:
Don't be frightened, any Of you! My
cushion attachment was sold the firm
last week. If it's on
Aye-if! How large a word! As
the cage shot downward at fearful
speed, very slightly broken by the
yielding ropes, the banker found
whole century Of thought compressed
into that brief period. A voice cried
In his ear that it was a judgment on
him, the cushion would not be there,
that the cage would strike the ground
with the sound so happily denominated
by the newspapers as "sickening
thud." He saw himself and his child
piled in a mangled heap-he to whom
life had always seemed so substantial
and sure.
Then half a dozen women waiting
In the basement saw the falling cage
shoot downward and rise again like a
| rubber ball. When it came down the
second time it rested quiveringly on
the springs, while inside was an undig-
nif1ed mass, which presently astonish-
ed the watchers and the component
parts Of the heap by resolving into
four badly shaken but quite undam-
Rged people.
The elevator boy staggered out first.
"Geew he stammered, holding his
head. "If I don't get even wild Josh
for dat! I never thought we'd stop
this side Of Chinyi''
Fielding followed, half carrying
Sarah, who clung to him with de-
llcious abandon which made him wish
such accidents might be frequent.
AS to the banker, he spoke but little
until Fielding had landed father and
daughter at their brownstone front
Then he held out his hand.
"Inventing," he said very seriously,
'is not SO bad a habit as 1 thought.
In fact, I may say that both poetry
and cocaine are infinitely worse Come
to see us when you please"
n q @