The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-01-21

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man was about to aecost him, but be-
fore a syllable had left her lips, her
eye fell on the figure to which the fatal
needle pointed.
The gauge already registered 81
pounds of air to the inch. and was
going higher In other words, that
powerful, relentless. modern force,
compressed air, was flowing fercely.
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!7 cried Kate passion
ately, pointing to the gauge, what
dons that near? p
The mans hand sprang back from
the lever, as to wrench the latter in
its socket.
what are you doing here?" he
asked roughly.
Tell me-is anyone inside the loclS?"
4TelI you? What for?''
Because I must will know. Be
cause Mr.. Blatchford explained to me
the working of this lock. and know
that the pressure is dangerous | can
Tot trust you" Then she added, trem-
bling like q leaf, Where is Robert
Robert Leslie?"
How do I know2" he sneered, al
though beads of sweat stood out on his
brow His hand was back on the steel
rod
Then take your hand of that lever.
| tell yotl-reduce the pressure OF air."
Dart made no movement. The needle
now pointed to 81. 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!s she screamed. A
piece OF iron lay nearby. She sliced
it and struck him a full blow on the
temples, and the fellow collapsed like
an e1nptied sack.
Then she instantly clutched the
right lever and lowered it, gasplng
and choking in her excitement. She
expected it to turn the opposite di-
rectien, but, to her terror, It continued
to revolve as before.
Sixty-fiy e-(i6-+- ct = Mereiful heaY-
ems, what should she do?
Instantly she grasped the other lev
er and exerted all her strength. Every
second eff suspense seemed an eterni-
tF 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 a hound. To
reduce The volume Of air would bring
relief at onee-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 way-
cred il the balance, then began to
slowly move in the opposite direction.
When it got TO 35 she would de-
press the lever and stop its tthe
needle's) course. F'ifty--45-40-fg
IRE by figure it turned slowly. Thank
God, the danger was past! # Robert
were Ii the air chamber and lived,
his rescue had come in the very nick
Of time.
But horrors-what was thiss Al
though she pressed with all her might,
the needle continued to turn, after 50
was passed. She sprang at the other
lever: she gripped it with both hands;
she. shrieEed 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 rat in
trap.
Thirty -25-24- % %. Could
nothing be done!
Twenty -20-19-18. 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.
e 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 their
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 iron
door which barred the. way into the
tunnel. Several Of his comrades turned
their attention to Dart, who was SUBJ
seluently borne home. suffering from
shock.
When Kate axWe1I recovered con-
sciousness, she elasped her lover close
~. 1.-THE gaua she murmered.
stretching out hel niger 7 thought
you were dead down there And the
levers would not work.
Mr.. BIatellford examined the indi-
Gator ana levers while She spoke
Then he gave a low whistle.
by Jupiter!' he said quietly, you
turned on less air at the right mo-
nent, Mistress Kate. I was out six
feet IN my reckoning. and the two ends
Of the tunnel met sooner than 7 ey-
pected. But il We had met. with the
pressure here at 65, whether there had