The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1913-02-07


Mallory gasped. as he tried to olsen
gage himself and Marjorie from kath-
leen.
The passengers began to regain
their courage with their equilibrium.
Little Jimmie Wellington had flown
the whole length OF the car, clinging
to his wife as il she were Francesca
da Rimini, and he Paolo. fitting
through Inferno. The flight ended at
the stateroom door with such thump
that Mrs. Fosdick was sure a detec-
tive had come for her at last. and
with a battering ram.
But when Jimmie got back breath
enough to talk, he remembered the
train-stopping excitement OF the day
before and called out:
Has Mrs. Mallory lost that pup
AGAIN."
Everybody laughed uproariously at
this. People will laugh at anything
or nothing when they have been
frightened almost to death and sud-
denly relieved of anxiety.
Everybody was cracking a joke at
Marjorie's expense. Everybody felt q
good.natured grudge against her for
being such a mystery. The car was
ringing with hilarity, when the por-
ter came stumbling In and paused at
the door, with eyes all white, hands
waving frantically, and lips Tapping
like flannel, in vain effort to speak.
The passengers stopped laughing at
Marjorie, to laugh at the porter. Ash
ton sang out:
What's the matter with you. por-
ter? Are you trying to crown"
Everybody roared at this, till the
porter finally managed to articulate:
"T-t-t-train rob-rob-robbersi"
Silence shut down as If the whole
crowd had been smitten with paraly-
sis. From somewhere outside and
ahead came a pop-popping as OF fire
crackers. Everybody thought, Re
volvers!" The reports were mingled
with barbaric yells that turned the
marrow in every bone to snow.
These regions are full OF historic
terror. All along the Nevada route
the conductor, the brakemen and old
travellers had pointed out scene after
scene where the Indians had slaked
the thirst OF the arid land with white
mans blood. Ashton, who had trav.
eied this way many times. had made
himself fascinatingly horrifying the
evening before and ruined several
breakfasts that morning in the dining
car, by regaling the passengers with
stories of pioneer ordeals, men and
women massacred in burning wagons,
or dragged away to tiendish cruelty
and obscene torture, staked out supine
on burning wastes with eyelids cut
off. bound down within reach OF rat.
tlesnakes, subjected to every misery
that human deviltry could devise.
Ashton had brought his fellow pas.
sengers to state Of ecstatic excit-
ability. and, like many recounter OF
burglar stories at night, had tuned
his own nerves to high tension.
The violent stopping OF the train,
the heart-shaking yells and shots out
side, found the passengers already apt
to respond without delay to the ap-
peals of fright. After the first hush
of dread, came the reaction to panic.
Each passenger showed his own
panic in his own way. Ashton whirled
round and round, like a horse with
the blind staggers, then bolted down
the aisle, knocking aside men and
women. He climbed on a seat, pulled
down an upper berth. and, scrambling
into 1t, tried to shut it on himself.
Mrs. Whitcomb was so frightened that
she assailed Ashton with fury and
selling his feet, dragged him back in
| to the aisle, and beat him with her
fists, demanding that he protect her
and save her for Sammy's sake
Mrs. Fosdick, rushing out OF her
stateroom and not finding her lus-
cious-eyed husband, laid hold of Jim.
mic Wellington and ordered him to
go to the rescue Of her spouse. Mrs
| Wellington tore her hands loose, cry.
ing: Let him go, madam. He has q
wife of his own to defend"
Jimmie was trying to pour out dy
ing messages. and only suffering, for.
getting that he had put his watch In
his mouth to hide 1t, though its chain
was still attached to his waistcoat.
Anne Cattle, who had read much
about Chinese atrocities to mission
aries, gave herself up to death. yet re-
joiced greatly that she had provided
a timely man to lean on and should
not have to enter Paradise spinster
providing she could manage to con
vert Ira in the next few seconds, be
fore it was everlastingly too late She
was begging her first heather to joir
her in gospel hymn. But Ira was
roaring curses like pirate captain II
hurricane, and swearing that the
villains should not rob him OF his
bride.
Mrs. Temple wrung her twitchint
hands and tried to drag her HUSBAND