The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-05-30

1ACoACA ~ Oth0A tOAG anu u1H6h duu
| quickly instructed her In the use Of
them. And as John Haynes quietly
composed himself upon the glass ia,
BILE, his daughter leaned over him sa-
turating the mask until her fathers
breathing became stertorous and he
nank into sleep, watching him and
pouring on the fluid from time TO time,
at the first CULVER OF his limbs. with
calm faith In the success of the out
come.
She did not faint or even turn her
eyes away when the doctor set to
his task. 1t was only afterward that
the revulsion came.
Presently 1t was ended and the
wound bound and the clothing ad-
justed once again over the antiseptic
bandages. Then, for the first time.
Theobald remembered the danger of
his predicament. During that long
hour he had worked swiftly, as a sur
gebn must, and deity as BELTS n
trained; but he had not FASTENED o
imperiled his patients life because,
miles distant, but ever bearing down
toward them with dreadful speed, the
transcontinental express was rushing
from coast to coast upon those lines
of steel. But now, when all was end
ed, Theobald tore his watch from
his pocket and looked at it. Ten
twenty. What If the express should
be in advance of time? Whatti If the
distance had been miscalculated?
What If the gyroscope, INTENDED dur
ing that hour, had increased speed?
He glanced at the indicator; the car
was running steadily at a hundred
and fifty miles. Then he set to arouse
his patient. One minute passed. Two
passed-there was no response, and,
with white face and features sternly
set, John Haynes remained motion
less. Three minutes. They chafed
his hands. An eyelid quivered, a ire
NOR ran through his frame. Four
minutes: he raised his head, opened
his eyes, muttered and relapsed into a
more easy slumber. Five minutes,
The train was due.
John Haynes opened his eyes again.
Eleanor's voice in his ear brought
back that soul, lowering upon the CON
fines of the misty borderland.
Father! The train! Wake! Wake
Touch the spring."
Why had he not confided to her that
secret? 1t was the impulse of the
man, born from long confinement in
the penitentiary, to be sparing of
words and self-restrained. Perhaps
he had feared that Theobald might
wiring the secret from his daughters
lips If he had told.
He had sunk back to sleep again.
They looked round desperately for the
spring and could not. find it. The train
might be delayed-one minute or five.
But, travelling at that fearful rate, the
g%yroscopic car was eating up the
miles. Even in his ~predicament Theo-
bald's brain worked at the mathemat-
ical computation. One hundred and
fifty in sixty minutes: two and a half
miles each minute. He snatched at
his watch again; it was seven and
twenty minutes to eleven. Haynes
must wake speedily or
He dashed his face with alcohol,
raised him and shook him. Haynes
eyes opened again. A name was IN
his lips. Eleanor bent her ear to catch
the word; it was her mothers name.
And by the power of that name, re-
peated softly by the daughter, the
sleeping man awoke. Consciousness
struggling back, this time had come
to stay. John Haynes peered out
through the glass windows, and sud.
denly he understood. A look of ,hor
ror passed over his face.
Raise mel" he murmured. Put
the steering wheel in my hands"
mo. no, father. the spring-the Sc
cret spring."
Now he understood fully He sign
ed to them to turn him on his side.
From the uplifted seat OF the machine
he pulled a pin, cleverly concealed;
he pressed it back. pulled it forth,
pressed 1t. The speed slackened. The
blurred wall resolved itself again into
an embankment. The hand trave-sed
the indicator in a ~retrograde direction.
One hundred, ninety. eight, sew.
enty.
Through the glass windshield, very
a Lobd1iI ASObalu bdW q ulODolSl
crawling over the fiat prairie land.
Sixty, fifty. 1t was necessary to
slow to thirty before the car could
leave the rail. Travelling at a higher
speed, the jolt from the smooth metal
to the depressed roadbed, set irregu.
larly with sleepers, would have shat.
tered the car. Forty-the indicator
ceased to move. That tiny thing was
now a rushing serpent, coursing to-
ward them with terrific fury. If they
should meet 1t would annihilate them
and then sweep on as though the car
had never existed. The indicator hand
was moving again. Haynes closed his
eyes in WEAKNESS. But Eleanor had
grasped the steering wheel.
With a bound that shook them from
their seats the car left the metals. 1t
raced over the sleepers, not quivering,
but tossing them and deity catching
them again, as might some %springless,
wheelless wagon of p%alaeolithic men.
Then the embankment quivered, the
air was filled with sound, and the
black cars Of the train tore past them.
Five minutes later Theobald dis.
mounted two -uiles from Buffalo Ford.
Haynes grasped him by the hand.
you have fulfilled the first part OF
your task" he said. Hold yourself
ready, for o o l shall call on you to
complete you reparation. Goodbye"
He woke from sleep hours later at
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