Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-02-15
CHAPTER I.
"A Person Named Elisha Warren"

man, opening the car d door ora and
yelling his loudest. so as to be
heard above the rattle of the train and
the shrek Of the wind. "Ostable !"
The brnkeman's cap was soaked
through, his hair was plastered down
on his forehead, and in the yellow light
from the car lamps his wet nose glis-
tened as II vanished. The windows
strcamed as each succeeding gust flung
its miniature freShlet against them.
The passengers in the car did not
PEI greatly interested in the brake
mans announcement. The red-faced
person In the sea nearest the rear
slept soundly, as he had done for the
last hour and a half. He had boarded
the train at Brockton and after re-
Iuesting the conductor not to "Iemme
git by Bayport, BILL" at first favored
his fellow travellers with a song and
then sank into slumber.
Mr.. Atwood Graves, junior partner
in the New York firm Of Sylvester,
Kuhn & Graves, lawyers. stirred I'M
easily on the lumpy plush cushion,
looked at his watch, then at the time
table in his hand, noted that the train
was now Seventy-two minutes late and
for at least the fifteenth time mental
ly cursed the railway company, the
whole of Cape Cod from Sandwich to
Provincetown and the fates which had
brought him there.
The train slowed down in a jerky,
hiccupy sort Of way and crept on till
the car in which Mr.. Graves was seat
ed was abreast the lighted windows of
small station, where it stopped. Peer
ing through the water-streaked pane
at the end of his seat, the lawyer saw
dim silhOuettes of uncertain outline
moving about. They moved with pro-
yOking slOwness.
Then. behind the door which the
ton, had closed again, sounded a big
laugh. The heartiness of it grated on
Mr.. Graves nerves. What idiot could
laugh on such a night as this aboard u
train over an hour late?
The laugh was repeated. Then the
door was flung briskly open, and Il
man entered the car. He was a big
man, broad %shouldered, inclined to
stoutness, wearing a cloth cap with a
visor and q heavy ulster, the collar of
which was turned up. Through the
gap between the open ends of the col
lar hristled a short grayish beard. The
face above the beard and below the
visor was sunburned, with little wrin-
klcs about the eyes and curving lines
from the nostrils to the corners of the
mouth. The upper lip was shaved, and
the eyebrows were heavy and grayish
black. Cap, face and ulster were drip
ping with water.
"Wcll, | tell you, Ezra" he called
over his shoulder, IF it's too deep to
wade maybe l can swim. Fat floats,
they tell me, and Abbie says I'm get
tin fleshier every day. So long"
He closed the door and, smiling
broadly, swung down the aisle.
Hello, cap'n!" cried one passenger.
whats the south shore dom owe
here in this 1ood?"
Whats the matter, cap'nT demand
ed another. Broke loose from your
moorin's, have you? Did you ever see
such a night In your life?"
The man In the ulster shook hands
with each of his Que~stioners, removing
a pair of wet, heavy leather gloves as
he did so.
Don't knows l ever did, DAN" he
answered. Couldn't see much Of this
one but its color, and that's black. l
come over this mornin' to attend to
some business at the courthouse
deeds to some cranberry bog property
7 lust bought-and Judge Baxter made
me 20 home with him to dinner. Stayed
M his house all the afternoon, and
then his man, Ezra Hallett, undertook
to drive me up here to the depot. Talk
about blind pilotin'. Whew! The
mage = hui SC was a Y cNN W. NbN
to the roads; Ezra's n~ear-sighted, and l
couldn't use my glasses count of the
r,,n. Let alone that, twas darkern
the fore hold of Noah's ark. Ho, no
Sometimes we was in the ruts, and
sometimes we was In the bushes. l
toIJ Ez we'd ought to have fetched
along a dipsy lead, then maybe we
could get our bearin's by ~soundln's.
couldn't see EN- if we did get en-
saws he. No says l, but we could
taste EN-. Nal that's driven through
rs much Ostable mud as you have
ought to know the taste OF every road
in town.
We'll, you caught the train any
how" observed Dan.
..Yup. If we'd been crippled as WEI