The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1907-09-24

The city rose from the yards as from
an amphitheater. They were bathed
in dust, though a red cash still showed
In the west where the hostile sun with
drew after a day that had filed the
hospitals. The heat was intensified by
reflection from the labyrinth Of rails
and the metal Of the rolling stock.
A switch engine coughed unseen far
down the yards, where harsh, Jarring
sounds accompanied the shunting and
coupling Of cars Lanterns danced and
fiickered In jerky undulations.
Pete was saturated with perspiration.
He pressed his chest against the slope
of the car roof, where it fell away from
the footboard, to still the pounding of
his heart His temples throbbed, his
mouth was dry as ashes, and he
breathed with wheezy sobs. Yet, in
the midst of his torture, he listened
with a sense so sharpened by preda-
tory habit and present danger that the
physical consciousness of 1t added to
his pain.
AS yet he dared not move Voices
floated to him, muf1ed and indistinct,
and he strained his ears to catch what
was being said, or, falling that, to
gather from their tones some clew to
the Identity of the speakers. A burst
Of laughter relieved him. The police
would not laugh.
The revolver, thrust into the tight
hipped trousers that he wore In COM
mon with his type, pressed against his
ribs as he lay on 1t. He drew it out
and placed 1t under the foetboard with
in easy reach. There were still three
cartridges in it. The other two had
done their work-done 1t well, he hoped,
with a grim tightening of his thin lips.
Mulligan had been looking for 1t
since the section mems down the river
picnic, when Pete proved himself the
better man, as everybody had de-
clared. Mulligan deserved it too.
Couldn't he have taken a beating
without making such a rumpus about
1t and then spinning Old Man Leary
whole string of hes2 And Leary
was just on the point Of adding his
consent to Norahs and letting them hit
It off together on the next picnic down
the river Even the priest had been
spoken to with Leary's knowledge.
Oh, well, there was no use whining
about It now. Mulligan was soft on
Norah. too. as everybody knew, and
that was the real bone of contention
and Mulligan was brother-in-law to
the section boss. who was supposed to
have a pull with the division superin-
tendent himself. The end was as
plain now as If pronounced in the
crisp tones Of judges sentence.
Mulligan was In the doctors hands
and good for at least month in the
hospital. When he came out he would
marry Norah, who would be mad
through the lies told her, and-and-
we'll, he, Pete, would either have to
skulk around in hiding or give himself
up and take his medicine And, Of
course, he had forever lost all chance
of a job on the road with Muiligan.
Pete dug his nails into his palms and
writhed. Remorse he had none. He
would have done 1t all over again.
What had happened was, from his
viewpoint, inevitable, the one honor
able thing He would resist to the
last Of course. Now that Norah was
lost to him, what was the use Of Hv-
ing?
They would search the freight yards,
though they seemed to have lost the
scent The growing darkness favored
him. Perhaps he might venture now
on change of position.
He raised his head. The switch en-
CINE still puffed, and the uneasy re-
Election of lanterns glimmered In spots,
their bearers hidden by intervening
cars The tracks shook with the VI
bration of trains passing on the main
line To the north a massive bridge
overhung the yard where 1t narrowed.
Under the arc light that snapped and
fiickered above it two policemen were
posted, their faces blue black under
the shadow Of their summer helmets.
He was about to descend between
the cars when the sound of approach
ing feet arrested Linn even as his hand
closed upon the top rung Of the iron
ladder to swing of. He noiselessly
cooked the revolver.
The car door rolled open. There was
a scramble and the crack Of a match
within. Pete lowered his weapon and
peered downward just as a dark form
emerged from the interior, closely fol-
lowed by a second. There was that
in each shambling figure which needed
no more than outline to declare the
tramp.
They stood leaning with their backs
against the sill.
Hes goin' to croak," asserted one
Of them. me for Beertown."
You've lost your nerve. It's nothin'
but the heat I seen kids like that be-
fore"
II tell ye he's goin' to croak," reiter-
ated the first voice. Listen to him
breathe"
There was a short silence.
you're chump." the other struck
In presently. Didn't we find him lost
near the yards an lock him In the car
for safe keepin'2 What have we done
Nothin'-only took care of him. An
won't his folks make good when we
write 'em how we rescued little Willie
from hoboes up the line? 1t ought to
be good for fifty apiece the way he's
rugged out An you want to weaken"
A thin, querulous cry sounded from
the depths Of the car. The second
tramp stuck his head into the door
and growled ferocious threat.
II won't stand for It," protested the
other. "It's plain kidnapin'."
"Huhl We only takaA him up the
line hundred miles or So This train
pulls out at IL. It's cinch."
"Stay with 1t, then, If you want TO-
I amt takin' no chances with a dead
kid"
The speaker dived under the rods
and disappeared. His companion swore
looked into the car and hesitated. A
sight of the officers on the bridge de
cided him, and he followed the other.
Again the cry sounded family from
the interior. Pete hung motionless, his
hand still clutching the rung of the
ladder The sound haunted him. Pos
sibly something In the helplessness OF
the child dimly suggested an analogy
with his own situation.
He descended the ladder and swung
himself lightly into the car. 1t was
pitch dark there, and the air was like
an oven. He heard painting. flutterine
respiration and struck match, mask
ing the fame with his hands.
Bred in the tenements, he had seer
enough of heat prostration to recog
nize the symptoms which precede the
final collapse. A moment later ht
leaped down, bearing a little boy
across his left arm. The child hat
been subjected to the terrible heat Of
the closed car perhaps for hours. Ter
rified into silence at first by the
threats Of his captors and then after
little incapable of effective cutlery