The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-01-11

about to accost him, but before n
syllable had left her lips, her eye fell
on the figure to which the fatal needle
pointed.
The gauge registered already fifty
seven pounds Of air to the inch, and
was going higher. In other words,
that powerful, relentless, modern
force, compressed air, was flowing
fiercely, yet silently into the chamber
far beneath the river, which, did it
possess an occupant, would prove per-
haps chamber of death.
Edward Dartw cried Kate passion
ately, pointing to the gauge, what
does that mean?"
The mans hand sprang back from
| the lever, as to wrench the latter in
| its socket.
"what are you doing hereY he
asked roughly.
Tell me-is any one inside the
| lock?"
"Tell you? What for?"
because | must-I will know. Be-
cause Mr.. Blatchford explained to me
| the working of this lock, and | know
that that pressure is dangerous. l
cannot trust you" Then she added,
trembling like leaf, "Where is Robert
Robert Leslie"
"How do l know?" he sneered, al
though beads of sweat stood out on his
brow. His hand was back on the steel
rod.
"Then rake your hand off that lever,
l tell you-reduce that pressure Of
air"
Dart made no movement. The
needle now pointed to sixtyfour. In
her frenzy for the supposed safety Of
her lover, Kate sought to drag Dart
away from his post. He seized her in
stantly with both hands, thus show
ing that his broken limb had entirely
healed, although he had seen fit to
hide the cure, for purposes of his own.
Help! Helpw she screamed. A
piece of iron lay near by. She seized
it and struck him blow full on the
temples, and the fellow collapsed like
an emptied sack.
Then she instantly clutched the right
lever and lowered it, gasping and
choking in her excitement. She ex-
pected it TO turn the opposite direc-
ton, but to her terror, it continued to
revolve as before.
ty-fve-sixty- y-six-sixty-seven -
Merciful heavens, what should she
do?
Instantly she grasped the other lever
and eXerted all her strength. Every
second of suspense seemed an eternity.
Kate Maxwell was now firmly con-
vinced that her lover, Robert Leslie,
was in the air chamber at the bottom
of the shaft. How could she save
him? She pictured him fallen upon
the slime of the river bed, with the
terrible compressed air, gripping his
body and slowly crushing it, as boa
constructor would crush hound. To
reduce the volume of air would bring
relief at once-perhaps save his life.
Her lips formed a silent prayer, and
as if in answer TO that supplication,
the needle of the gauge at last wav-
cred in the balance, then began to
slowly move in the opposite direction.
When it got to thirty-five she would
depress the lever and stay its (the
needle's) course. Fifty-forty-
forty-fgure by figure it turned slow
ly. Thank God, the danger was past!
But hOrrors-what was this! AL
though she pressed with all her might,
the needle continued to turn, after
thirty-fve was passed. She sprang at
the other lever; she gripped it with
both hands; she shrieked for help.
If it reached a certain point, the
water would be unchecked, and it
would fow into the air-chamber, and
Leslie would be drowned like rat
in trap.
Thirty - twenty-five - twenty four
twenty y-three-twenty-tw Could moth
ing be done!
Twenty twenty-nineteen-
teen. In vain the young girl put forth
her full remaining strength. Darts
fall must have destroyed the rice
mechanism of the instrument, and
Kate had thus become, rnwittingly,
an accessory TO her lovers murder.
The needle pointed to nine and was
still descending when she tainted ct
the door of the lock.
A few moments later, John Blatoh-
ford, engineer of the Marbury Tunnel,
at last completed after many months
of labor, came up the shaft, cmilinS,
followed by his little gang Of faithful
workmen.
At the spectacle which met thei-
eyes, they stopped short, and Robert
Leslie, as pale as death, flung him.
self beside the recumbent form Of lis
sweetheart, who lay white and sti-l,
scarce two feet from the Great iron
door which barred the way into the
tunnel. Several of his comrades
turned their attention to Dart, who
was subsequently borne home, suffer.
ing from shock.
When Kate Maxwell recovered cen.
sciousness, she clasped her lover close.
ly. THE gauge" she nrrnrred,
stretching out her finger. Il thought
you were dead down therc. And the