The Prescott daily news., 1909-11-09
Lower Eight
 By Caroline Lockhart
Copyright. by J. B. Lippincott Co)

NCopyrlsht, Dy d. b. Llpplncott CO.,
 The Pullman car porter had settled himself for a comfortable nap, having snugly tucked away the last of his charges, including the fat man in Lower Eight" and the timid young thing who had boarded the train at Norfolk. The porter stirred uneasily in his nap, for the snoring that was arising from Lower Eight" drowned the roar of the train. The snoring came in gurgles, moans and whistling, the like of which had never been heard in heaven above or on the earth beneath. The curtains of Lower Eight had swung slightly open with the lurch of the train, and the fat back, with his mouth gaping wide.
 As his slumber deepened, he was apparently in the last throes of chok- ing when a neatly rolled umbrella, held in a slender white hand, crept out from Lower Seven,' where the timid young thing was shrinking, and made vicious jab between the cur tains of Lower Eight
 Porter! Porter." came a whoop from Lower Eight" and the bell trilled wildly.
 What is it, sah?" cried the startled porter as he bounded down the aisle.
 Did you stab me in the side?" de- manded the fat man in dire wrath.
 "Oh, no, sah!" replied the porter. "1 never done no thing like that! You must have been dreaming, sah.''
 "Confound you I'm not dreaming!" growled Lower Eight"
 Well, sah." argued the porter, his black hand concealing his gleaming worries, you know that when you turned in you had took little noah than was jess good fo' any gemman."
 It's mighty funny" muttered LOW CT Eight" but he was not in a posi- tion to contradict this statement, so he subsided. The porter returned to the smoking room, ruminating on the strange Authorizations produced by too long dallying in the dining car.
 The snores began again in rising crescendo. Just as the teeth of nerv- ous passengers were we'll set, the um- brella stole again from Lower Sev- en," and another vicious lunge made the snore change to howl of rage
 "Porter!" yelled Lower Eight" T tell you some one is stabbing mel"
 "Kain't be muffin like that, sah,'' re- piled the porter, coming up soothingly. "I ain't slept wink, and nobody's been movin' in this car, or I'd a-seen them. You're jess havin' bad dream"
 It's no dream," shouted the fat man. Why my side is sore. Feels like there's hole there you could stick your fist in
 Now you go to sleep again, sah," coaxed the porter, and
 that you ain't tetched"
 The rumble of the train was once more lost in the vocal exercises from Lower Eight" and the porter, pull ing his cap over his eyes, mapped in the smoking compartment.
 "..mch, Ouch Help, Help" and a red face shot out of Lower Eight" The porter slouched up the aisle, dis gust written on his countenance
 "Gawd, porter" groaned the fat man. Is there a doctor on boardg I'm horribly punctured Did you see the villain when he stabbed me?"
 ''Kain't nobody stab you, sah." re- monstrated the porter sternly. No body ain't moved in this car You've got the deleriam trimmins, that's what's the matter wifi you. If you don't lie still and stop your hollerin', me and the conductor is goin to strap you down."
 T don't see what they mean by putting drunken brutes in the car with ladies" exclaimed an acid voice from Upper Ten" Ha &
 Put him of at the next station. This is supposed to be a sleeping car," growled Lower Four" He hasn't done a thing but keep every body awake with his internal grunt- ing since he turned in"
 From all along the line of curtains came uncomplimentary comments, but there was silence in Lower Seven" where lay the timid young thing who had got on at Norfolk. q
 Never had such bar