The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1905-02-04


eye fell on the figure to which the fatal
needle pointed.
The gauge already registered 81
pounds of air to the ineh. and was
going higher. In other words, that
powerful, relentless, modern force,
compressed air, was flowing fiercely.
yet silently, into the chamber far down
beneath the river, which, did 1t possess
an occupant, would prove perhaps
chamber of death.
Edward Dart" 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
it's socket.
what are you doing here?" he
asked roughly.
Tell me-is anyone inside the lock?'
'sTell you? What for?"
Because l must-I will know. Be-
cause Mr.. Blatchford explained to me
the working of this lock, and know
that the pressure is dangerous. / can
not trust YOU" Then she added, trem-
bling 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 take your hand off that lever,
/ tell you-reduce the pressure of air!"
Dart made no movement. The needle
now pointed to GA. In her frenzy for
the supposed safety of her lover, Kate
sought to drag Dart away from his
post. He sliced her instantly with
both hands, thus showing that his
broken limb had entirely healed, al
though he had seen at to hide the
cure for purposes of his own.
"Help! Hclp!" she screamed A
piece of iron lay nearby. She sliced
| it and struck him full blow 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
| expected it to turn the opposite d.
rection, but, to her terror, it continued
to revolve as before.
| Sixty-five-G6-67" Merciful heav-
ems, what should she do?
Instantly she grasped the other lev
er and exerted all her strength. Every
second CT suspense seemed an eterni-
| ty. Kate Maxwell was now firmly con-
WINGED that her lover, Robert Leslie,
was in the air chamber at the bot
tom 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 a hound. To
reduce the volume of air would bring
relief at once-perhaps save his life.
Her lips formed a silent prayer, and
| as IL 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 S5 she would de-
press the lever and stop its (the
needle's) course. Fifty-45-40-fg-
ure by figure it turned slowly. Thank
God, the danger was past! If Robert
were in the air chamber and lived,
his rescue had come in the very nick
of time.
But horrors-what was this! AL
though she pressed with all her might,
the needle continued to turn, after 80
was passed. She sprang at the other
lever: she gripped it with both hands;
she shrieked for help.
1 If it reached a certain point, the
water would be unchecked, and 1t
would flow into the air chamber, and
Leslie would be drowned like a rat in
/ trap.
Thirty - 25- "a = 23-22! Could
nothing be done!
nty-one-20-19-1S. In vain
the young girl put forth her full re-
naming strength. Darts fall must
have destroyed the nice mechanism OF
the instrument, and Kate had thus be-
come, unwittingly, an accessory to her
lovers murder. The needle pointed to
nine and was still descending when she
tainted at the door of the lock.
4 A few moments later, John Batch
ford, engineer of the Marbury tunnel
at last completed after many months
of labor, came up the shaft, smiling
followed by his little gang Of faithful
workmen.
At the spectacle which met theil
eyes, they stopped short, and Robert
Leslie. as pale as death, flung him
self beside the recumbent form of his
sweetheart, who lay white and still
scarce two feet from the great iror
door which barred the way into the
tunnel. Several of his comrades turned
their attention to Dart, who was sub
sequently borne home, suffering from
shock.
When Kate Maxwell recovered con
seriousness, she clasped her lover close
, ly. The gauge" she murmered
stretching out her finger Il though
| YOU were dead down there And tn
{ levers would not work"
!, Mr.. Blatchford examined the indi
Gator and levers while she spoke
{ Then he gave low whistle.
{ by Jupiter!" he said quietly, "yol
turned on less air at the right mo
, ment. Mistress Kate I was out 81,