Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1915-01-28


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 tre-
NOR ran through his frame. Four
minutes: he raised his head, opened
his eyes, muttered and relapsed into
more easy slumb2r. 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 CT 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
gyroscopic 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 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 on
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 it. The speed slackened. The
blurred wall resolved itself again into
an embankment. The hand traversed
the indicator in retrograde direction
One hundred, ninety, eight, sev.
enty.
Through the glass windshield, very
far distant, Theobald saw monster
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 it 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 bound that shook them from
their seats the car left the metals. 1t
raced over the sleepers, not quivering,
but tossing them and deftly catching
them again, as might some springless,
wheelless wagon Of palaeolithic 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 miles from Buffalo Ford.
Haynes grasped him by the hand.
You have fulfilled the first part of
your task" he said. Hold yourself
ready, for soon l shall call on you to
complete your reparation. Goodbye"
He woke from sleep hours later at
the cottage which had been prepared
for his convalescence, so far away
that none could have traced them. AS
Eleanor helped him within, John
Haynes uttered an exclamation of
pain, which changed to joy.
BE careful, dear" he said. You
struck my foot against that door,
felt the blow"