The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-03

ant smile, and he muttered phrases to
himself as he scanned the motion Of
the needle. The young woman was
about to accost him, but before a
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 Nir to the inch, and
was going higher. In other words,
that powerful, relentless, modern
force, compressed air, was flowing
fercefy, yet silently into the chamber
far beneath the river, which, did it
possess an occupant. would prove per-
haps a chamber of death.
Edward Dartv' cried Kate passion
aiely, 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 hereT he
asked roughly.
TEL me-ls any one inside the
lock?'
Tel yOut Wnat IorE
Because / must-I will know. Be
cause Mr.. Blatchford explained to me
the working of this lock. and | know
that that pressure is dangerous.
cannot trust you" Then she added,
trembling Ike a leaf, where IS Robert
Robert LeslieY
How 10 l known be sneered. al
though beads of sweat stood out Oh his
brow. His hand was back on the steel
rod
Then take your Lald Off that lever,
/ tell you-reduce that pressure of
airs'
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 Help she screamed. A
piece of iron lay near by. She seized
1t and struck him a blow full on the
temples. and the fellow collapsed like
an emptied sack.
Then she instantly ciutched 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.
i
| xty-fiye-sixty- y-six-sixty- -
Merciful heavens, what should she
90?
Instantly she grasped The other lever
and exerted all her strength. Every
second Of suspense seemed an eternity,
Kate Maxwell was now firmly cch-
ylnced 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-fiye she would
depress the leyer and stay its (the
needless course. Fifty-forty five
forty figure by figure it turned slow
| ly. Thank God, the danger was past!
/ But horrors-what was thisl AL
though she pressed with all her might,
the needle continued to turn, after
thirty-fiye 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 flow into the air-chamber, and
Leslie would be drowned like a rat
in trap.
Thirty = twenty-five = twenty-four-
twenty y-three-twenty- Could moth
ing be done!
Twenty -cne-twenty nineteen-eigh gh-
teen. Ia vain the young girl put forth
her full remaining strength. Darts
fail must have destroyed the nice
mechanism OF the instrument. and
Kate had thus become, unwittingly,
an accessory to her lovers murder.
The needle pointed to nine and was
still descending when she tainted ut
the door Of the lock.
A few moments later, John Blatch-
ford. engineer Of the AIarbury Tunnel,
at last completed after many months
of labor, came up the shaft, smiling,
followed ly his little gang of faithful
workmcn.
At the spectacle which met their
eyes, they stopped short. and Robert
Leslie. as pale as death, flung him
self beside the recrnbent form OF his
sweetheart, who lay white and still,
scarce two fcet from the great iron
door which barred tho way into the
tunnsl. Several of his comrades
turned their attention to Dart. who
was subsequently, borne homo, suffer
ing from shoc.s.
When Kate 1Ia5well recovered con
sciousness, shc clasped her lover close
ly. "The gauge" she nurnured,
I o,,4 f,os, I. 81 4l,o.,xl,