The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-27
THE HOME COMING
 OF ALLESSANDR0
RY DONALD KENNIcOTT. 1908. by Daily Story Pup
 fishing Col

(Copyright, 1908, by Daily story uo'
 fishing Col
 Sandro Manelli trudged up and doWh in the lee of the long construction train and cursed vigorously to keep himself warm-cursed the sleek Judas of a steamship agent who had lured him to America, cursed the rocking Lnp that had borne him to New fork. cursed the padrone who had worked him fifteen hours day at rag-sor rtlhs' until he had run away and sought 70 shift for himself. But most of all dld ha curae inc section boss and the gang of Swedish laborers in whose company he had fallen, and whose plaything ne had become. As he passed under the lighted windows of the bunk-cars, ne raised a cIenched fist and prayed most fervently that the rioting crew within might be smitten of an apoplexy and die unshriven.
 The Saturday night uproar in the cars died down at length. and 'Sandro yentlfred within, in the hope of getting hfs bunk unmolested. The red lantern hanging at the other end of the car was turned low, and with the eXcep- ton of one shock headed giant who sat tugging at his boots on the edge of his bunk, the men were all In then blankets. Cautiously 'Sandro tiptoeo toward his bed and had all but gained 1t when Sir Shock being wit thrust forth a freshly unbooted foot and sent his victim sprawling. The like had happened hundred times be- fore. but even 'Sandro's good nature had it's limits Weeping with rage, h' scrambled to his feet and snatched ou knife. His tormentor retreated tC the end of the car with blanched face swinging a boot in defense. For moment they stood there under the Ian tern, while the other men sat up ir their hunks In sleepy astonishment Then 'Sandro made a frantic lunge tha
 barely reached his opponents arm, ana fled wildly back through the car ant out into the night
 Painting, the Italian flung himself or the ground under a box-car that lay on the siding, but there was no pursuit and after a time he crept out. climbed into the car, and curling up In one cor ner. sobbed himself to sleep. A grind | ing shock. followed by the noise oi closing bumpers reused him from thu chilled terror into which he had fallen
 He stumbled hastily to his feet ant | groped his way to the door, only ts | find it damned shut: even as he tuggeS | at the fastening the car lurched for
 ward, and the clicking of the rails un der the wheels told him he was being borne away into the unknown dark ness.
 How long 'Sandro remained in thu l box car.She never knew, for the dooi stuck fast despite his mightiest efforts and though the days passed he remain ed always in darkness. Hunger cam' and nausea followed, giving place t' | hunger again in horrible alternatior of torture. Once in corner of the cal he came upon a handful of wheat, ane feasted; thereafter. he spent hours 1T crawling about the floor, feeling It ovei inch by inch for the few grains that re warded his search and momentarily re stored his strength. From time tC time the train stopped. and once ol twice he heard some one running along the roof of the car, but his most frantic shoutings brought no friendly hand t' the door. Sleep lulled him into uncon' sciousness occasionally, but always thu dull ache of hunger would quickly re-
 assert itself and rouse him to renew the search for grains of wheat. to hack with his knife at the sides of the cal until he broke 1t against an unseer bolt-head, or to shout in vain conten' tion with the noise of the train. Weak
 ness overcame him at length, and hs lay huddled on the floor in a dark stu DOT, across which gleams of transient consciousness flashed back and fortl like the shuttle of a loom, whose whir ring wheels were simulated by the In cessant rumble beneath him.
 Later still his brain cleared strange ly. and although his bodily weakness grew even greater, he hAnd no conscious ness of pain. nor indeed of the externa
 world at all; even the eternal darknes and the continuous noise faded into tn background and became as a part O the permanent, unconsidered facts O life. He assured himself-and witt some reason-that he was about to die
 but was not greatly perturbed over tn | inference. It served merely to turn hi thoughts from a future over which h
 had no control to the recollection O such past events as gave him pleasure ito dreams of Val D'Arno and of Ma
 ria. The enchantment of distance gild | ed the squalor of the little thatchet hut wherein he had passed his boyhood and the homesickness that had sad | dened him since he first set foot ol | Ellis Island glossed over the miser! | of the hopeless toll from which he ha' | striven to escape; as for Val pArno- l the terraced vineyards rising from tn | gentle river to the sunny hills-tha l needed neither gloss nor guilt nor gla l nor of illusion.
 | And Maria-ah, Maria! who was t. | have waited a year for him until h
 should come back laden with gol
 pieked up from Americas Eenerou