Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-02-05
THE MAN on THE Box
BY HAROLD MacGRATH.


Knee from the hornt I can't keep them
; together any longer. Now"
Brave and plucky and cool she was.
She obeyed him instantly. There was
a mighty heave, a terrible straining
Of the back and the knees, and Pirate
was freed of his precious burden. The
hardest part of it came now. Dick
could not be made TO slow down
abruptly He wanted to keep right on
after his rival. So, between holding
the girl with his right arm and pulling
the horse with his left, Warburton
saw that he could keep up this terri
bic effort but very short time Her
arms were convulsiyely wound around
his neck. and this added to the strain.
Not word did she say: her eyes were
! closed. as if she expected any moment
10 be dashed to the earth.
| But Dick was only mortal horse.
! The fierce run and The double burden
began 10 tell. and shortly his head
came up. Warburton stopped him.
| The girl slid to the ground and in a
moment he was at her side. And just
in time The reaction was too much
| for her Dazedly she brushed her
! hair from her eyes, stared wildly at
Warburton and tainted. He did not
catch her with that graceful precision
| which on the stage is so familiar to US.
No He was lucky to snatch one of
her arms. thus preventing her head
from striking the road. He dragged
her to the side of the highway and
rested her head on his shaking knees.
Things grew dark for time. To tell
the truth. he himself was very close
to that feminine weakness which the
old fellows, in their rough and ready
plays, used to call "vapours." But he
forced his heart to steady itself.
And what do you suppose the rascal
did-with nobody but Dick to watch
him? Why, he did what any healthy
young man in love would have done;
pressed his lips to the girls hair,
his eyes filling and half sob in his
parched throat. He dolefully pictured
himself modern Antiochus, dying of
love and never confessing it. Then he
kissed her hair again; only her hair,
for somehow he felt that her lips were
as yet inviolable to his touch.
Painting is but transitory; by and
by she opened her eyes and stared
vaguely into the face above her. do
not know what she saw there; what
ever 1t was caused her to struggle to
her feet. There was color enough
in her cheeks now; and there was a
question, too, in her eyes. OF War
burton 1t asked. What did you do
when / lay there unconscious?" I'm
afraid there was color in his face, too.
Her gaze Immediately roved up the
| road. There was no Pirate, only
haze of dust. Doubtless he was still
going it, delighted over the trouble he
had managed to bring about. Warbur-
ton knelt at the girls side and brushed
the dust from her skirt. She eyed
him curiously. I shan't say that she
smiled: / don't know, for l wasn't
there.
Meanwhile she made several futile
attempts to put up her hair, and as
(, finality she braided it and let it hang
! down her back. Suddenly and unac-
/ countably she grew angry--angry at
| herself, at James, at the rascal!y horse
that had brought her to this pass.
Warburton saw something of This emo
| ton in her eyes, and to avoid the storm
he walked over to Dick, picked up the
reins, and led him back.
eff you will mount Dick, Miss he
said, "I'll lead him home. It's about
five miles, should say"
The futility and absurdity OF her
anger aroused her sense of the ridicu-
lous; and a smile, warm and merry,
flashed over her stained face. 1t sur
prised her groom.
Thank you, James. You were
right. l ought not to have ridden
Pirate l am punished for my conceit
Five miles? 1t will be long walk"
/ ST shan't mind it in the least" re-
piled James, Unfortunately happy; and
he helped her to the saddle and adj
justed the left stirrup.
/ So the journey home began.
Strangely enough, neither seemed to
care particularly what had or might
become of Pirate. He disappeared,
mentally and physically. One thing