The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-07-10
<<$$$ UNDER THE COUNTERWE|GHT. $$$$$
AAAAM BY ". ToLMAN AAMAM
BY ALBERT w. TOLMAN.

farther the walls rose above him. He
had no means of ascertaining, for
there was nothing to give him foot
hold.
Harvey realized with sudden terror
| that deadly peril threatened him
when the counterweight should next
descend. In grouping round his
| dungeon he had lost his sense of po-
! sition, and could not be sure of the
| corner into which he had fallen. So
| far as he knew, it was the only spot
| that had not been occupied by the
tons of metal now suspended above
his head. When the bridge was
raised again and the weight fell,
what chance had he to avoid being
crushed to Jelly!
Cold and fright set Harvey's teeth
to chattering; his legs shook so that
he could hardly stand. Unless he
could make his cries audible to the
bridge-tenders or some pedestrian the
next whistle, signifying that tug
was approaching from up or down
river, would mark his doom. At all
hours of day and night the harbor
was busy place, and no very long
period could elapse before the dread
ed signal would be heard.
AS the horror of his situation
dawned fully upon him a wild wave
of unreasoning terror swept over the
unhappy merchant. Almost crazed,
hn n a mr. at.n1 hn oil wi G,t,
dashing round and round through the
icy water, and making the well re-
verbrate with his cries. Then he be-
came more calm. OF what use to
wear himself out thus vainly! He
must save all his energies for an at
tempt to gain the notice of some ap-
preaching pedestrian.
He stood in the middle of the pit in
dead silence, broken only by vague
sounds from outside and the gentle
tapping of water against his dungeon
walls. Presently he heard a faint
tapping of feet on the plank walk ap-
preaching the bridge. Now was his
opportunity. At the top of his lungs
he screamed hoarsely for help.
The feet stopped, as if their owner
had heard his voice and was trying to
locate it. Hope buoyed the prisoner
up. He Tedoubled his shouts, listen
ing painfully at short intervals. Then
to his bitter disappointment the steps
passed hurriedly on.
Despair smote Harvey. OF what
avail to try again If those cries that
had almost burst his throat had ac-
complished nothing! But death was
sure If he remained silent. Perhaps
the man above had been deaf, and the
next would have better ears. He
waited, hoped, trembling.
All this time the dread of an ap-
preaching whistle hung over him.
Again and again he seemed to hear
it, faint and penetrating, and at every
suspicion his hair bristled. The
bridge lifted often at that hour. AL
ready it had remained down much
longer than he had supposed possible.
Any second might herald his doom.
There was little prospect of attract
ing the notice of the bridge-tenders,
snugly ensconced in their house on
that cold night. Would another Pc
destrian never come?
Waiting there in the centre of the
pit Harvey forgot the freezing water
in which he stood, forgot his smart
ing hands and numbly aching joints.
All else was overshadowed by the
nightmare of those tons of iron sus-
pended over hrs head. ready at any
instant to descend and crush out his
life. He knew that men had fallen
into these wells before, and that their
bodies had been taken out unrecogniz-
able days and weeks afterward. Was
that to be his fate?
On a sudden another football
sounded above, firm, unhesitating,
rapid. Evidently its owner was bent
| on business A thought of his own
appointment, of his friend waiting in
the comfortable station, consulting
his watch and wondering why he did
not come, flashed through Harvey's
mind, and he remembered that it was
| his fatal habit of being behind time
that had involved. him in this predica-
fment. All this shot through the mer-
chants brain even as he raised his
voice to shout again.
This time the passerby, apparently
preoccupied with his own thoughts,
was not. arrested by the faint cries
under him. Without hesitating the
footsteps passed on and died away.
Monroe had been almost deafened by
the echoes of his own clamoring.
Strange that no one else could hear
it, rr
Then. almost paralyzing brain and
body, came the thing he had SO long
dreaded A faint whistle penetrated
hts dungeon. He knew that IN the