Year: 1873

and my wide open eyes were blan


and expressionless! Sir, you thin


/ am dazed, but am telling you th
trnth. While I stood staring at thi
vision, it disappeared, and weak ant
trembling L came to town. By mex
day-yesterday Il had reasone
myself out of the belief of anything
of the kind. 1t was hallucinatioT


[ said, and to prove it would g
out there again and see if it woul,
appear the second time. 1 wen
again yesterday, and sir, the sam,
thing was repeated! 1t will com
once more-and then shall go tC
my DEATH"


"Nonsense!" said ]. "Come Ear
? be honest, and confess that you haC
: been taking too much whisky"
" 1 never drink anything, as yoi
know, Mr.. Woodbury." returned be
"and this thing was frightfully real
and of one result I am satisfied. l
run the mail train out tonight
shall be killed, and heaven knows
what will be the fate of the train.
suppose it could not be taken of
for to-nightS'


"Taken off! What the deuce dc
you mean?' snapped 1. "This road
runs trains as advertised-cowardly
engineers to the contrary nOtWith
standing"


He looked at me sadly, reproach
fully, and 1 could have kicked my
self for the way had talked to him


'It is not on my account sir" he
said, "but it is only few days be-
fore Thanksgiving, and the train
will be full one. If there is an &C
cident it may be a bad one"


"Accidentm said l contemptuous-
ly, "come in tomorrow and let US
laugh at you.''


He bid me good night grayely and
went out.


Presently the clock struck twelve
and l heard the sharp successive
whistles, that told me the train was
nearly ready.


A strange feeling of apprehension
seized me. What if anything should
happen?


Yielding to an impulse which
would not be controlled, I threw on
my overcoat, turned out the gas
locked the Office, and hurried to the
depot just in time to catch the rail
of the rear car and swing myself on
board.


Earl Rogers stood at his post, pale
and silent, yet altered and watchful.


By the headlight of the locomo-
tive he could see the track for half a
mile ahead, and his keen eye scanned
every inch of the way as the train
swept on.


Past Roman statiou-past the
Mill Cut-past Hills 3 bankment,
and they ploughed into The belt Of
woods which skirted Rocky river.


Suddenly, as they swept round
the curve, Earl's cheek Whitened
and he drew his breath in quick and
hard!


What he saw before the train
warned him that only death and de-
struction lay ahead.


He could probably save himself
by leaping off, but that would doom
all on board.


Not a second did he hesitate.


The sharp whistle to down breaks
sounded-he reversed steam and did
everything in his power to stop the
train.


When he saw that his efforts were
in vain; that the obstacle which lay
across the track only a few rods in
advance could not be avoided, he
sprang over the woOd-box and un-
hooked from the coaches. The en-
CINE, released from the drag, shot
ahead, and plunged into the gulf.


There was a crash-a succession
of shrill whistles from the escaping
steam, and all was still.


Not one of the carriages went
down; the first one halted on the
very brink of the abyss, as if more
fearfully to impress upon the minds
of the passengers the terrible dan
ger they had escaped.


Before the train came to a stop /
had jumped out, and was flying for
ward, looking for Earl Rogers.


They pointed into the river in an
swer to my inquiries, and seizing a
lantern from one of the brakemen, /
soon climbed down the bank and
found him.


He lay under the wreck of the To-
comotive, pale and bloody, with no
breath coming from his lips.


The two stokers were a little ways
of, stone dead.


l am an old man, but I did not
feel the weight of the poor fellow as
1 carried him up the bank, and on to
the house of Demain, which happen
ed to be the nearest residence.


OF course old Domain could not
refuse him admittance under the
circumstances, and in five minutes
Laura was with me trying to restore
the lifeless man to consciousness.


She was all courage and hope.
But for her we should have given
him up for dead, and 1 to this day
firmly believe that her presence and
care brought him back from death.


She never finched while the sur
geon amputated his leg at the knee;
it was the only way to save him DR..
Green said, and Laura held the poor
head of the patient to her bosom
and his hand in hers, through the
whole operation.


The accident, it was found, had
been occasioned by a stick of timber
pinned across the track, and the
railroad company offered a reward
of thousand dollars for the rascal
ly perpetrator.


No matter how we found it out,
but it was ascertained beyond a
doubt that Prince Carleton was the.
guilty party.


He confessed it when we had him
snug and safe, and said that because
he wanted Earl Rogers out of the
way, and because he hated the whole
concern (meaning the road and cor
poration), J, he had formed this plan
of diabolical revenge.


His father was q millionaire and


III -. -. -sIa-.. L.