Year: 1873

three times on the floor. Next he
sprang upon his feet, yelled Sma-a-sh"
again at the top of his voice and ended
the extraordinary performances by dart
ing out Of the house rs uncercmonous-
ly us he had come.


Anastasia, as soon Ns she had recover
ed in some measure, from her astonish-
mcnt, began to gather up his disiointcd
sentences, connecting them with his
strange dcmcanor, and trying to make
ont what it meant, She could not
doubt that whatever his work, it had
been for purposes Of revenge. That
prolonged "sma-a-sh" seemed to ring in
her ears again, coupled with the nsscr-
ton, "hc'll never tell what hurt him. "


She shivercd and grew palo. 4
thought Of horror had grown into her
meditation. 1t would be impossible to
go to bed in quiet with her blood curd-
ling in her veins in this way. The night
was not an inviting one for indulging i'll
constitutional Besides, she was
hardly ever out after dark now, aud felt
Il dread Of going forth alone. But all
she put aside. With that terrible un-
certainty in her mind she must not
think Of herself. Putting on hood and
shawl, she lighted u lantern and went
out.


Her walk was along the railroad, and
she scrutini2cd the ground carefully ~
she went. For the first half mile all
was us it should be. She began to think
that she had had her scare for nothing
4 forest Of considerable extent now lay
before her. One moment she allowed
herself to think of its blaclncsS, and
done all that need be done to satisfy
herself in coming thus far. The next
moment she was pushing on into the
forest. To abandon the investigation
now would, she felt, be to yield herself
a prey to worse tcwora than any the
dark woods held for her. A little far
thcr ON the diabolical nature of Dicks
revenge was revealed i'll Il huge log ~
ing directly across the track.


1t was not in vain, then, that she had
come; at least the alarm was no false one,
though the obstruction looked formid-
able enough to her womanS strength.
She pushed against it with her hands,
but could not move it in the least. She
wished now that she had gone for help
before coming here. 1t was two miles
to the village, and in all the houses be-
tween, Anastusia knew that only small
children and weak women were at home,
Everybody else had gone on the cXcur-
sion. Plainly, the undoiug of Dicky's
work belonged to her; she must not
finch for want of strength. She grOpcd
about with her lantern until II lever was
found, with which she was able to lift
the log little. Inch by inch, with the
cXcrtion Of her utmost strength, the OBJ
struction gave way, and was finally roll
ed quite off the track. She sat down
upon it exhausted, but thankful. Her
power seemed to her to have been God
given, and she praised him silently.


Weary as she was it would not do to
sit long in her wet clothes. On getting
up she walked little further down and
/ her heart seemed to die within her.
Here were more logs, some of them
larger than the first, and two great
stones which it seemed to her none but
Il Jitan's strength could stir. The re-
vulsion of feeling was too great the dis
appointment TOO bitter She threw her
| hands, which achcd already with cold,
over her face, and cried weakly. But
| the thought of what dcsolatiOn there
would he in peaceful Skyrberg ON the
morrow unless something was done;
what lamentations, what anguish, what
voices Of Rachcls weeping for children
and refusing comfort because they were
not, reused her to renewed effort. She
did not know the time, and fancicd it
later than it was. Consequently, she
did not dare to leave her post to 90 TO
the village for help. She would have
expected every moment to hear the snort
Of the engine If once she had turned
her back upon the point Of danger
So she picked mp her lever and set to
work once more, compelling will to serve
in great degree for strength. A sec
Ond simple mechanical power she re-
mcmbcrcd now, the tulcrrm, and
brought that to her aid. This and the
lever served her so well that after an
hours hard work, and much bruising
and battcring Of her half-frOzen hands,
and many intervals of thinking that she
could not lift another pounds weight
and the task must be abandoned, and
some admonitory twitchings from an old
enemy, the rheumatism, she had the
satisfaction of seeing the last obStruc-
tion rolled off the track.


Yet remembering her disappoint-
mcnt. she walked on some distance fur
thcr, throwing the light of the lantern
before her as she went Within the
space of quarter of a mile n Scylla to
the Charybdis already surmounted was
found. Here the rails had been torn
mp for the space of some yards. 1t was
n FOOLS work. truly, this multiplying of