Amador ledger., 1905-02-10
On the
Journey
By CICELY ALLEN
Copyright, 1904, by T. c. Mcclure

Il am very sorry it cannot be ar
ranged" said the young man, with
deprecatory wave of his hand, but
"All the latest popular novels! Last
chance to get your reading matter!
No books sold on train after 1t startsv'
The newsboy bawled this in Amy Cur
tis' ear, and she lost all the young man
said except the words cant climb
those beastly steps,"
Not that she cared. She was quite
able to climb the little ladder to the
upper berth. Her lip curled scornfully.
"Oh, 1t doesn't matter in the least,
you know. 1t was the conductors idea,
assure you. Only in the south, where
come from, men, as a rule, are more
obliging."
She picked up her novel and pro-
ceeded to ignore McKean's presence.
He looked at her blankly, then flung
himself down the sleeper to the smok-
ing compartment "Well, 1 do think
she's bit harshr' He pulled out a
paper and tried to forget the scorn in
the eyes but recently lifted to meet
his.
In the meantime the girl in section
stared wrathfully at the letters in her
book, which fairly danced before her
eyes. "a nice beginning for my trip!
never wanted to go to Colorado
Springs anyhow. 1 had much better
remained at Bar Harbor than to let
the Carriers inveigle me into coming
west"
With this final reflection she COM
menced to read in earnest, but some
how her mind went back to the very
disagreeable young man who had dis
regarded the sleeping car conductors
request that he yield the lower berth
to the young woman, whose Pullman
ticket had been duplicated by a care
less employee in an uptown office. She
could not forget the real regret in his
eyes nor the nervous, embarrassed way
in which he had smoothed his hair
while he was offering his halting eX-
PLANTATION. She could not reconcile
this, however, with the fact that he
had declined to climb the little steps
in her stead. 1t was most annoying,
she argued, that she could not forget a
certain fascination which his long, firm
hand had held for her and the hair he
had smoothed.
She could imagine that he had spent
hours trying to brush out certain
tendency to crisp curls. She was very
glad there was something that could
defeat him, if it was nothing more than
curls, and after decid1g thus she was
more content.
She did not see him again until she
entered the diner at dusk. The only
place left for her was a single seat at
a table meant for four. The three pas
sengers already seated were men, talk
ing business in rather loud tones. Amy
hesitated. A figure at the table oppO-
site rose suddenly. The very disagree
able young man who had sentenced her
to the upper berth was standing beside
her.
"Take my place." he said eagerly,
"and 1 will go over there with the
men," He had been occupying a seat
at one of the small tables, and u gray
haired woman was sitting opposite
him.
Amy saw all this at a glance and
with a surprised uplifting of her eye
brows and mechanical "Thank your
accepted the seat. The young man had
not yet been served, and she realized
that the change had not embarrassed
him in the least.
"Quite willing to do things that do
not incommode him." she thought
scornfully.
The young man did not presume up
on the reception Of this courtesy. Di-
to the smoking compartment, and Amy
early ordered the porter to make up her
berth. Once tucked snugly away, she
forgot her grievance. The steady clunk
clunk of the wheels was singular lul-
laby to which she soon yielded.
1t seemed as If she had not been
asleep more than three minutes when
she awoke to the most horrible noises
that she had ever heard. What had
happened? Had the train run into a
circus or jungle of wild beasts? No,
the train was still moving. Its unre-
mitting clunk-clunk could be heard
Gt intervals between the awful sounds
which now assailed her ears. If it was
not>wild beasts, then maybe some one
around her was dying.
This pretty, carefully reared, ever
protected southern girl had never seen
any one die, and In her ignorance Of
this and various other matters she was
working herself up into a fine frenzy.
A particularly deep and agonized roar
was followed by q sound that was a
cross between a penny whistle and a
sob. She could stand the suspense no
longer. She pushed the tiny button and,
carefully arranging the curtains, stuck
out her head to meet the look Of in
quiry in the porter's black face. Up
and down the car she gave a hasty
glance. Apparently no one else realized
the tragedy that was going on so close
at hand, for no other curtains were
swaying, no other heads were thrust
out.
"Sumfn you want, missT'
'lWhy-why, don't you hear that
dreadful noise?' she said "I think
some one in the berth next to me is
dying"
In the dim light she could see the
darky's teeth gleam ivory white In q
grinythat reached from ear to ear.
Its just the gentleman in the low
er,sbertH, miss, snoring. I will wake
hfr1 UP. Soon as he rolls over he'll
stop"