St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1905-02-04

phrases to himself as he scanned the
motion OF the needle. The young wo
man was about to accost him, but be.
fore a syllable had left her lips, hel
eye fell on the figure to which the fatal
needle pointed.
The gauge already registered 5;
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 down
beneath the river, which, did it possess
an occupant, would prove perhaps a
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? ?"
"Tell you? What for?"
ocSdGSt uuSt"l WILL KNOW. De-
cause Mr.. Blatchford explained to me
the working of this lock, and l know
that the pressure is dangerous. l can
not trust YOU" Then she added, trem-
bling like leaf, Where is Robert
Robert Leslie?" .
How do 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 "a. In her frenzy for
the supposed safety Of her lover, Kate
sought to drag Dart away from his
post. He sieZed her instantly with
both hands, thus showing that his
broken limb had entirely healed, al
though he had seen fit to hide the
cure for purposes of his own.
Help! Help!" she screamed. A
piece of iron lay nearby. She sieZed
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 di-
rection, but, to her terror, It continued
to revolve as before.
Sixty-fve-66-67- Merciful heay-
ems, what should she do?
Instantly she grasped the other lev.
err and cxerted all her strength. Every
second CT suspense seemed an eterEi-
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 a boa
constructor would crush hound. To
reduce the volume Of air would bring
relief at once-perhaps save his life.
Her lips formed silent prayer, and
as if in answer to that supplication,
the needle of the gauge at last way
cred in the balance, then began to
slowly move in the opposite direction.
When it got to So she would de-
press the lever and stop it's (the
needle's) course Fifty-45-40-6g-
IRE by figure it turned slowly. Thank
God, the danger was past! If Robert
were in the air chamber and lived,
ais rescue had come in the very nick
If time.
But horrors was this! AL
:hougil she pressed with all her might.
he needle continued to turn. after IS
vas passed. She sprang at the other
ever: she gripped it with both hands;
'he shrieked for help.
II 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 |
j trap.
Thirty %! Could |
nothing be done!
Twenty -one-20-!9-18. In vain |
he young girl. put forth her full re-
naming siren 9Th. Darts fall must |
ave destroyed the nice mechanism Of |
he instrument, and Kate had thus be-
ONE, unwittingly, an accessory to her
overs murder. The needle pointed to
inc and was still descending when she
ainted at the door of the lock.
n few moments later, John Blatch-
ord, engineer of the Marbury tunnel,
t last completed after many. months
+ labor, came up the shaft, smiling,
ollowed by his little gang of faithful
yorkmen. z
At the spectacle which met their
yes. they stopped short, and Robert
'eslie. as pale as death, flung him
elf beside the recumbent form of his
weetheart, who lay white and still,
carce two feet from the great iron
oor which barred the way into the
lnnel. Several of his comrades turned
heir attention to Dart, who was SUBJ
borne home, suffering from
hook.
When Kate EEoywell recovered con-
,iousness, she ciasped her lover close
:. "The gauge she .murmered,
out her Gnger. ~ thought
OIL were dead down there. And the
.vers would not work.
Mr.. Blatchford examined the indi-
ator and levers while she spoke.
hen he gave low whistle.
by Jupiter!" he said quietly, you
lrned on less air at. the right mo-
ent. Mistress Kate was out six
et in my reckoning, and the two ends
the tunnel met sooner than l ex-
ected. But if we had met, with the
ressure here at 65, whether there had
zen an explosion or not. it would
I've been rather rough on Leslie. He