Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1918-09-05

Tor Inat baggage nNSnI IL III HeT.
I Deed, an she doesn't make him happy
even now"-which was true enough, as
the most casual could observe.
Myrtle, aiming at the witcheries OF
coquetry, achieved pertness and
habit Of nagging, and kept her lover in
! state of irritation far enough re-
moved both from the bllssful uncer-
tainty which she intended and the
comfortable assurance which he re-
garded as his right
BY and by the March gales began to
beat along the coast. The waters OF
! The bay rose and dashed themselves
with oceanic fury. The winds threat
ened the houses, the piers, the railroad.
I One morning there came a telephone
report to the station that the trains
from the region west of Falmouth Cape
would be unable to reach the cape sta
| ton and to go on to Falmouth Town
on the other side of the bay. Floods
| had washed away bridges and road
| beds in the interior, and for IS hours,
at least, there would be no traffic. Fall
mouth Cape settled itself to the ex-
cited security Of mere watcher of
calamities but in two hours it ceased
| even to watch, for the storm had
wrought havoc with the telephone
wires, and it was cut off from the
world.
Two things drove Larry stubbornly
to town that morning. One was boy
ish pride in the fact that he had
never missed days work since he OBJ
| tained a position; the other was that
| Myrtle had been uncommonly trying
! the night before with her weak CO.
quetries and her bad temper, and he
! wished 10 escape her neighborhood for
| a while. He harnessed the old horse,
wrapped himself well, and drove
across the road bridge that paralleled
the railroad bridge across the bay and
| into Falmouth Town.
| In the afternoon the section of the
road bridge next to Falmouth Cape
succumbed to the strain of the winds
and the rising pillows. Cracking and
crashing, it was swept away, and the
| flooring of the structure terminated
abruptly over the seething, tar-black
waters an eighth of a mile from the
cape shore The arch still stood, and
the wooden Orders on which the floor
| ing had been laid.
All that afternoon Mrs. Doherty
| rushed about beseeching some one to
! go and save her boy Every one an
swered that her boy would not at
| tempt to make the journey home that
| evening. In the morning, perhaps, the
wires would be working again. and the
town end of the bridge could be
| warned of the damage at the cape end.
| Any way, they said, there was no
practicable way of reaching her grand
son.
Myrtle, to whom the old woman
went in final appeal, scQffed at the no.
! ton of Larry's attempting to return
in the evening.
"He wouldn't be such a fool ~ she
said conclusively.
"FoolW cried his grandmother, in
anguish and evaporation. TITS us that
knows the bridge Is broke, not him.
All was safe an well whin he went
over this mornin'. Why wouldn't he
| be. comm home tonight? He'll start,
alp in the dark an the wind, an he'll
drive, an therell be no SEEM the end,
an'-are We goin' to do nothin' at all,
at all?"
"What could l do?" demanded
Myrtle, sullen. but sufficiently reason
able.
IF it was the man l was goin' to
marry" declared the old woman, with
red spots in the wrinkled hollows of
her cheeks, and glittering points in
her eyes, I'D crawl along the broken
wood, over the pillars there, till l
could reach the boarded part of the
bridge. An thin I'd walk an run, an
run an walk, till l came to Falmouth
Town, an there I'd stand to wait an
warn himp
La, Mrs. Doherty, you certainly do
make me tired" retorted Myrtle. IL
amt so dead set on keepin a beau as
you'd be, if you had one"
Something in the brutal egotism
which she had uncovered silenced Mrs.
Doherty She started and shook her
head In dumb uncomprehension, then
turned and walked back to the cabin.
maybe I was meant for the say,
afther ALL" she said, as she moved
about putting the cabin to rights. Then
she went out, quaint and sturdy fig
ure with her tight. white cap, her
short quilted skirt, and her red shawl
crossed on her bosom and tied at her
waist in the back. Down to the place
where the bridge had been she trudged.
Later, one Of the cape children came
home screaming that old Mrs. Doherty
was crawling along the Orders that
remained on the demolished section of
the bridge-he had seen her red shawl.
"A nice notion Of lovin' you've got"
stormed Myrtle, angry tears in her
eyes. Thrown me over for an old
woman-an old scorecrowl Some girls
wouldn't put up with i'll They'd make
you suffer, you an her, too. But L
won't. | don't believe could have