Show R A L STORY E IOU M I 1 novelized from the comedy of the same now by illustrated rupert arom of the my a Prod cod bathes by beary W saved IOU by IL 11 IL ny n 00 oo CHAPTER 1 the wreck 07 odthe tho taxicab the young woman in the taxicab scuttling frantically down the dark street clung to the arm ot of the young man alongside as if she were terrified at the lawbreaking neck speed but evidently some greater fear goaded her tor for sho she gasped cant ho he go vi a little faster cant you go a little faster the young man alongside howled as he be thrust his bis head aad shoulders 0 rs through the window in the door but the set self created taxi gale swept hla his voice aft and the taut chauffeur perked ills his ear in vain to catch tho the vanishing syllables that he roared cant you go a little taster faster the indignant charioteer simply bad to shoot one barbed glare of reproach into that passenger he turned his bead and growled say do youse want to lose me in me license for just one instant he turned his hie head bead one instant was just enough the unguarded taxicab seized the opportunity port unity bolted from the track and flung as it were its ita arms drunkenly around a perfectly respectable I 1 lamppost attending strictly to its business 0 on the curb there ensued a condensed reab fourth of july sparks fiew ta tires exploded metals ripped two wheels spun in air and one wheel neatly severed at the axle went reeling down the sidewalk halt half a block before it leaned against a tree and rested A dozen or more miracles coincided to save the passengers from injury the young man found himself standing on the pavement with the unhinged door still around his bla neck the young womans comans arms were round his neck her head was on his bis shoulder it had bad reposed thero there often enough but never before in the street under a lamppost tho the chauffeur found himself in the road walking about ou on all tours fours like a bewildered quadruped evidently some overpowering need for or speed possessed the young woman for even now she did not scream she did not faint she did not murmur where am 1 I she simply said what time la Is it honey and the young man nt not realizing zing how bow befuddled he be really was or how bow his hand band trembled fetched out hla his watch and held it under the glow ot or the lamppost which was now bent over in a convenient but disreputable attitude A quarter to ten sweetheart plenty of time for the train but the minister honey what about the minister the consideration of this riddle was interrupted by a muffled hubbub of yelps whimpers and canine hysterics immediately Immediate lythe the young woman forgot ministers collisions train schedules everything she file showed her first sign of panic get uma they groped about in the topsy taxicab rummaged among a jumble of suitcases handbags umbrellas and minor impedimenta and fished out a small dog basket with an inverted dog inside uma was ridiculous in any position but as he be slid tall tail foremost from the wicker basket he resembled nothing so much as a heap of tangled yarn tumbling out of a workbasket work basket lie he was an indignant skein and had bad much to say before he be consented to 10 snuggle under his bis mistress chin chill about this time the chauffeur came prowling into view ile he was too deeply shocked to emit any language of the garage he was too deeply shocked to achieve any comment more brilliant brIl Hant than that mess dont look much like it ver ever was a taxicab does it the young man shrugged his shoulders and stared up lip and down the long street for another the young woman looked sorrowfully at the wreck and queried do you think you can make it go the chauffeur glanced her WRY way more in pity for her whole sex than in scorn for this one type as tie be mumbled make it go take a steam winch a week to unwrap it from that lamppost the young man apologized 1 I to have yelled at you ha H was evidently a very nice young man not to be outdone in cou courtesy courie ey the chauffeur retorted 1 I ought to have turned me ma head bead alz TCP young woman thought what a nice chauff chauffeur eurl I 1 but she ebb gasped greit great heavens youre hurt its auttin but a scratch on roe me cumb lend mo me a cleav cleao hn the young man ann whipped out ills bla re gerve supply and in a trice it was a bandage ou the chauffeurs chAuffe hand the chauffeur decided that the young worn an was even nicer than the young man dut du t he could not battlo on a way nay to say it so he be suld said nothing ind and grinned ua its ho he said it the rho young man named harry was wondering how they were vere to proceed lie he had already studied the region with dismay dlf when the girl resolved well have to take another taxi harry 11 yes marjorie but we cant take it till we get it you might watt wait here all nigh twit out ketchin a glimp glamp of onia one the chauffeur ventured 1 I como come this way because you wanted me to take a short cut its the longest short abor cut I 1 ever saw the young man sighed as he gazed this way and that the place of their shipwreck was so deserted that not even a crowd bad gathered the racket of the collision had not brought a single policeman thoy they were in a dead world of granite warehouses wholesale stores and factories all locked and forbidding aud and full of silent gloom in the daytime this was a big trade artery of chicago and all day long hang it was thunderous with trucks and commerce at night it was pompeii so utterly abandoned that the night eight watchmen rarely slept outside and no fout footpad prid found it worth while to set up shop the three castaways casta ways stared every which way and e every ory which way was P peace bace the ghost of a pedestrian or two hurried by in the tar far distance A cat or two went furtively tri in search of warfare or romance the lawn posts stretched on and on la in both directions ions in fo revers in the faraway there wn was s a muffled rumble and the taint faint clang of a bell somewhere a street car was bumping along its ratio rails our only hope said harry come along marjorie he handed banded the chauffeur five dollars as a poultice to his wounds tucked the girl under one arm arid and ibe the dog basket under the other and set out calling back to the chauffeur good nighal good night the girl callenback called back good night the chauffeur echoed he stood watching thern them with the tender gaze that even a chau neur may feel for young love hastening to a honeymoon he stood beaming so till their footsteps died in the silence then he turned back to the chaotic remnants of his machine he worked at it hopelessly for some time before he be had reason to look within there he found the handbags and suitcases umbrellas find and other equipment lie he ran to the corner to call after the owners they were as absent of body as aa they had been absent of mind lie he remembered the street number U henry mallory and marjorie newton they had given him as their destination tion he waited till at last a yawning policeman sauntered that way like a lonely beach patrol and left him in charge while lie be went to telephone his garage for tora a wagon and a wrecking crew it was close on midnight before he be reached the number his fares had given him it was a parsonage leaning against a church ile he rang the bell and finally produced from an upper window a nightshirt topped by a frossy frowsy head bead ile he explained the situation and hla his possession of certain properties belonging to 10 parties unknown except by their firsch names the clergyman drowsily murmured oh yes I 1 remember the young man was lieutenant henry mallory and he said he would stop laere here with a young lady and get married on the way to the train but they never turned up lieutenant mallory eh ch where could I 1 reach him he said he was leaving tonight for the philippines the Philipp philippines inest t well ill be the minister closed the window just in time CHAPTER it 11 the early birds and the worm in the enormous barn of the railroad stood many strings of cars as if a gigantic young gulliver stabled hla his toys toya there and indis invisibly bly amused now whisking this his ore ase anav now backing thai other in some of the trains were noble eruti ages fitted to glide across the inal gnap with cargoes of Lilliput lilliputian tan vill mil lion alres and their lilliputian ladles indies others were hutti bit and linked up day and ding smoking cars packed with wo rhora like ants cars are more mere vehicles but locomotives have souls boula tho the express ex rass engines roll in or stalk out with gran deur arid and ease they are like em cm porous they seem to look with scorn it at the suburban engines snorting and grunting slid and shaking the arched roof with their plebeian choo choo na they putt puff from shop to cottage and back ahr trat trainmen ninon take their cun from the lie behavior of theli locomotives the tha conductor cou ductor ot a transcontinental nods noda to the conductor of a shuttle train with less cordiality than to a brakeman of his bis own the engineers ol of tue the look like senators ini in overalls they are far traveled men lending leading a mighty life of nd venturo they are pilots of land ships acroca land oceans they have a right to a certain condescension of manner but no one feels or shows so lucli arrogance as the sleeping car porters they cannot pronounce unco super cili ous but they can be it their disdain for the entire crow crew of any train that carries merely day coaches or half baked chair cars cara Is expressed as aa only a darkey in a uniform can ex cx press disdain for poor white trash ot of all the haughty porters that ever curled a lip the haughtiest haught iest lest by tar far was the dusky ati attendant in the san ban francisco sleeper on the aruns amer ican acan limited ills hla was the train ot of trains in that whole system ills car the car of cars ills his passengers the of nil all ills train stood now waiting to set forth upon a voyage of two thousand miles a journey across seven imperial states a journey aljourney that should end only at that marge where the continent dips and vanishes under the break breakers bre akira of the pacific ocean at the head of his car with hla his lit t alo to box step waiting for the toot foot of 0 the first arrival the porter stood hla his head swelling under hla his cap his bla breast swelling beneath hla his blue blua blouse with its brass buttons like reflections lecUona rel ot of his own eyes ills hla name was ellsworth jefferson but he was waa called anything from coarr to Paw tah and he be usually did not come when he was called tonight he be was wondering perhaps what passengers with what dispositions would tall fall to his lot perhaps he be was wondering what his chicago sweetheart would be doing in the eight days before his return perhaps he be was wondering what hla his san francisco sweetheart had been doing in the five days since he be left her and how she would pass the three bays days that must intervene before he be reached her again it lie ile had bad Ot othellia Oth elloa hellos obon color did ho he have othellous Ot hellos green eye whatever his thoughts ho he chatted gaily enough with his neighbor and colleague of the portland sleeper suddenly ho he stopped in the midst of a soaring chuckle lordy man looky com acom a lne the portland porter turned to gaze 1 I got my fingers crossed 11 t hope you git him 1 I hope I 1 dont hell work you hard and cuss you out and he wont give you even a much obliged thata right lie ho aint got a usher to carry his things and hes bes got enough to oil fill a van the ori comer was plainly of english lish origin it takes all sorts of people to make up the british empire and there la Is no sort lacking glorious or pretty or sour or sweet hut but this was the type of english globetrotter globe trotter that makes himself as unpopular amon among g foreigners as he Is among his fala own people he Is almost as unendurable as the althe americans abroad who twang their banjo brag through europe and berate france and italy tor for their innocence of buckwheat cakes the two porters regarded mr air harold wedgewood with dread as he bore down doati on them he was almost lost in the plethora of his bis own luggage he asked for the san francisco sleeper and the portland porter had to turn away to smother his gurgling relief ellsworth jeffersons heart beart sank he made a feeble effort at self pro lection tec tion the pullman conductor not being present at the moment he inquired have you got yo ticket of cawse could I 1 see it ot of cahwee not too much trouble to fish it out the porter was adang fading L do 0 o you remember yo numba anumba of cawse take these ile he began to pile things on the porter like a mountain unloading an avalanche the porter stumbled as he clambered up the steps and squeezed the strait path of the corridor into the slender aisle lie he turned again and again to question the invader but he was motioned and hunted bunted down the car till he was halted baited a this will do the englishman selected section three for or his own the porter ventured are you sho this Is yo nun bat ba of cawse im shaw how dare you question nl my Y 11 1 I quest questioning ionin you boss A was just astin you TO BE CONTINUED |