The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1905-01-04
EQUAL TO THE
EMERGENCY
By FRANK II. SWEET
Copyright. 1904. BY Frank II Sweet
By FRANK II. SMEE


ried down track . With basket GOV
cred hy Il napkin, evidently containing
Il lunch
Messenger IL WAS swnyng INSTEAD
lily ut the open door of II car, and the
girl went straight To him. her eyes
bright, her cheeks flushed. But as she
drew near she suddenly recoiled,
look of terror coming to her face.
BEN" her white lips tried TO say,
but no sound came from them.
The man passed II hand across his
brow weakly holling TO the ear by the
other The girl went II step nearer
What does II meanT Her voice
quivered hoarsely. "0h. Ben
Something Of the agony in the cry
seemed To penetrate the mans dulling
BRAIN for II tremor went through him
and he Strengthened suddenly, rs
though by II great effort The dull
eyes opened and shut heavily, and
again the hand passed across the fore
head as though TO force some intellI-
gcnee into the clogged brain. Then:
"D-don't speak like that, grille" an
unrecognlzable voice mumbled. "Im
not drunk. never drank II drop In my
life. You know speak true. It's
n drug" his voice drifting back again
into the stupor
The girl WIS beside him with swift
movement, the basket thrust into the
ear her hands placed firmly upon his
shoulders, her eyes close and gazing
straight into his. lovingly. compelling
ly.
BEN" the voice forcing Itself into
clearness and stcadiness look ut me
now, hard What is It? Think
The man made IL supreme r.fort
1t was messenger l. Tmson. you
know"
She knew. She had refused Tim
sons love
He offered me II drink of "ater, and
| took it. Then he crosse > track 3
and jumped on board his 1t was
the one thai just pulled ou,
But what did he do II for
Don't you understand, DellaT
sharp agony qulyering In tie voice.
This trip was to furnish TIE money
for our wedding. Timson knew It. lie
planned 1t just before my train starts,
SO | Will lose the trip. There Is no time
to find substitute. My train Will go
without Inc, and the company will be
angry and discharge me for drunken
ness, and and his eyes ny lin becom
ing dull and his form swaying more
heavily land I'm losing myself 1
cant see YOU. Quick, grille. find the
manager and tell him it isn't drink. A
n discharged messenger cannot get
work anywhere"
He lurched forward and would have
fallen, but she caught him In her
strong. supple arms.
A quick glance both ways showed no
one WIS in sight. The fruit train on
track 3 was just leaving the wharf, and
q was sounding It's last warning call.
Half carrying and half leading him,
she hurried messenger Ii T. the near
est entrance, only Il few yards away.
Several drays were standing about
waiting for II job. She motoned impe-
riously to the owner Of the nearest.
Listen, Ben" she said $ ,wly. put
ing her lips close to the ears Il the now
almost insensible man In effort 10
make him hear and CON c.icnd. Il
am going to send you me You
mustn't worry II bit. fix ii all
right" He was holding h train pa
pers tightly. and she incl ped them
III H,,. "a,
drayman came forward: Take this
man to his home at once, II l,ue Citro-
nellie Here is dollar"
Inside she again glanced sharply
around \ man was running In her III
rection, heading toward the rear of the
train She recognized him as friend
Of Ben's
Hello. Miss Della" he called. "Come
to see Ben Off again, have your He's
II lucky dog. But you must excuse my
hurry. This train pulls out In three
minutes and must reach my section"
Della could hear her heart humping
In Its anxiety.
your section IL In the rear, | sup
pose" she questioned, with assumed
carclessncss
Yes over his shoulder the eight
cen rear ears, I'm messe- % Ben
has the forward twenty cars switch
off at Memphis for jefferson City aud
Ben goes on to Columbus.
As he hurried away Delia's face
cleared She had learned all she want
ed to know Placing her hands upon
the floor of the car she gave light
spring and was within sliding the door
quickly behind her. A few moments
later her own bell rang, and then the
car began to move forward
She had never been on train be
fore, never been out Of New Orleans,
but her father had been messenger,
and Ben had many times told her the
details Of his trip. She must manipulate
the yentilators Of her twenty cars SO
AZ to have the heat just right to bring
the bananas to prime, marketable con
dtOn when she reached her destina
ton. a few degrees too much either
way might mean the loss Of a good
many thousand dollars to the company.
~ NLS iuih UP iDi AhF
thermometer rose from 81 degrees to
20 degrees in six hours. and the next
morning was back again to 81 degrees
and falling 1t meant constant shift
Ing Of the ventilatOrs, with an impos
sibillty Of keeping the car tEermome-
ters from fiuctuatIng uneas'ly. Zero
weather would have been infinitely
preferable. for then the ventilatOrs
could have remained closed and the
fruit would generate enough heat OF
its own. That night and the next day
Della did nos trust herself to sit down
once, for fear she might 80 drowsy
and momentarlly relax her vigilance.
Too much depended upon o5tdning the
best results just now.
She was careful to keep herself out
Of sight, and this she was able to do
the more readily on account OF the
fruit train making few stops. At Mem
pills the rear section was switched Off
to connect with train west, and her
own was attached to train which had
just pulled In from Galveston, the en-