The Delta independent., 1912-05-31
CHAPTER w..
A Mouse and a Mountain.

were elOplng, the san FRANCISCO
sleeper was filling up. 1t had been
the receptacle of assorted lots OF hui
mainly tumbling into it from all di.
rections, with all sorts of souls, bodies
and destinations.
The porter received each with that
expert eye of his. His car was his
laboratory. railroad journey is a
sort of test-tube of character; strange
elements meet under strange condi-
tons and make strange combinations.
The porter could never foresee the
ingredients of any trip, nor their &C.
tons and reactions.
He had no sooner established Mr..
Wedgewood of London and Mr.. Ira
Lathrop of Chicago, in comparative
repose. than his car was invaded by
a woman who flung herself into the
first seat. She was flushed with rum
ming, and breathing hard, but she
managed one gasp of relief:
Thank goodness, l made it in
time"
The mere sound of a womans voice
in the seat back of him was enough
to dispense Ira Lathrop. With not so
much as glance backward to see
what manner of woman it might be,
he damned his contract into his peck
ct, seized his newspapers and retreat
ed to the farthest end of the car,
bouncing down into berth numb one,
like sullen swapping turtle.
Miss Anne Gattles modest and
homely valise had been brought
aboard by a leisurely station usher,
who set it down and waited with
speaking palm outstretched. She had
her tickets in her hand, but trans
ferred them to her teeth while she
searched for money in a handbag old
fashioned enough to be called a reti-
| Guile.
The usher closed his fist on the pit
lance she dropped into 1t and depart
ed without comment. The porter ad-
vanced on her with a demand for
Tickets, please"
She began to ransack her reticule
with flurried haste. taking out of 1t
small purse, opening that, closing 1t,
putting 1t back, taking 1t out, search
ing the reticule through, turning out
a handkerchief, few hairpins, few
trunk keys, a baggage check, bot
tie of salts, a card or two and nu-
merous other maideniy articles, re-
storing them to place. looking in the
purse again, restoring that, closing
the reticule. setting it down, shaking
out book she carried, opening her
old valise. going through certain
white things blushingly, closing it
again, shaking her skirts, and shaking
her head in bewilderment.
She was about to open the reticule
again, when the porter exclaimed:
81 see it! Don't look no mo-.
see it,"
When she cast up her eyes in de
SPAR, her hatbrim had been elevated
enough to disclose the whereabouts
of the tickets. With a murmured
apology, he removed them from her
teeth and held them under the light
After a time he said:
1 "As neah as l can make out from
the-the undigested potion OF this
ticket, yo' numba is six"
That's it-six!"
That's right up this way"
Let me sit here till get my
BREATH" she pleaded. Il ran SO hard
to catch the train
well, you caught 1t good and
strong"
/ I'm SO glad. How soon do we
start?"
/ I'm about half houah."
Really? Well, better half an hour
too soon than half minute too late.
She said it with such a copy-book
primness that the porter set her down
as a school-teacher. 1t was not bad
guess. She was a missionary. With
pupil-like shyness ne volunteered:
"Yo' berth is all ready whenever
4 you wishes to go to bald" He caught
her swift blush and amended it to
"to retiah."
"Retire?-before all the carr" said
Miss Anne Cattle, with prim timidity.
mo, thank you! / intend to Sit up
till everybody else has retired"
The porter retired. Miss Cattle
took out a bit OF more or less useful
fancy stitching and set to work like
another Dorcas. Her needle had not
dived in and emerged many times be-
fore she was holding 1t up as a weap-
on of defense against sudden hui
man mountain that threatened to
crush her.
A vague round face, huge and red
as a rising moon, dawned before her
eyes and from it came an uncertain
voice:
'Esscuzhe me. mad'm. no fensh in
tended"
The words and the breath that car