Show A wight FIGHT fon ron A I 1 I 1 sat at breakfast one autumn morning lazily sipping my coffee and try trying 9 to solve a problem that completely I 1 eclipsed the pons ash ask Certai certaine certainly nj that proposition never caused half the perplexity the one I 1 was now cogitating did id the morning paper lay uncut across my knee the rolls had llad gone cold the sunshine came in through the open window bringing with it tile the scent of the late roses and across the road and the adjacent meadows came the shouts of th tile harvestman harvest men gathering in the last loads leads of wheat from the distant cornfields yet I 1 was waa blind to the fair pads peet peel that was waa visible from the wi window of my pretty suburban lodging and opened out into the clear fresh air of the mornin morning and stretched for miles on miles green inea meadows dows yellow stubbles red farmhouses and woods already touched with the marv marvelous elous colors lai lal laid on so lavishly and yet harmoniously by the master land hand hand of autumn bounded by the distant line of hills over which hung the rounded outline or of the frekin only distinguishable from a cloud by its immobility many and oft were the hours I 1 had spent in watching and drinking in all the beauty of earth and tree and sky and why not on oli this particular morning the immediate cause lay in two letters that lay oil on the table one had a narrow pink envelop of that elongated form so much affected by the fair sex the other was an unmistakable business letter addressed in a clerkly liand lland to william herbert esq paradise place metal town it PLACE aux AUS DAMES dawes MY ily DEAREST WILLIE and I 1 really dont see th that t we e nee need d b be e in any hurry to be married we h have av e only been engaged a year you a are re only twenty two and I 1 am but nineteen sowe so we are quite young enough to wait sometime longer longer yet although grandma is a little queer yet I 1 can bear with her easily when I 1 think of the great happiness that is in store for us sometime certainly dear we might manage it as you are so impatient if when whim your uncles will is opened you have the 30 annuity you expect but if you dont betit get it your salary of is rather small to manage with J 1 think darling we had better wait a bit am I 1 not a terribly worldly wise little thing ac this letter was signed mary of course I 1 had read her letter first and had inwardly resolved upon overcoming her fears and getting married off hand but the second letter put a damper on my hopes it was from my uncles solicitor and ran thus N DEAR SIR the six months your deceased relative directed his hla will to be kept sealed lvere ivere were up 4 yesterday arid abid tb the will was read by me before several or ochia his iela lela relatives tives I 1 am desired tomake acquainted with the contents and enclose you copy of will you will see that contrary to our expectations the will which your uncle himself made and kept sealed even from me does not leave you a penny I 1 am astonished at this unaccountable corl conduct duct and am grieved at your disappointment I 1 am sir yours faithfully J H PROCTOR my bright hopes were banished and it was with a sorrowful heart that I 1 came to the conclusion that there was nothing to do but to wait as patiently as possible suddenly awaken awakening ing to the factor that I 1 was half an hour late for the office I 1 hastened town ward inwardly praying that my principal a elarge large contract had bad not arrived As soon as I 1 entered however the chief clerk said to me mr herbert you are wanted in mr heywoods Hey woods room I 1 hurried in feeling defiantly careless of the expected reprimand good morning mr herbert you are late 1 I have had unwelcome news dirand forgot how the time was passing and I 1 told him as much as I 1 thought proper profir after some discursive talk he said 1 I have been well pleased with your business tact and energy mr herbert and have sent for you now to undertake a rather ticklish matter oblige me by listening while I 1 put you in possession of of the facts you know we have discontinued working the brick fields and it appears that our late manager has allowed the royalty to earl to fall into arrears for two years last week a distraint was made on the premises and the en engine ne that used to run on our bran branch ch line anvan and d was lying in the shed has been seized and sold for about a quarter of its value the purchaser has run it a little up the line off our land and taken up the tiie rails behind it lle to prevent its being taken back now I 1 consider that such a distress is illegal and I 1 am determined to seek the remedy known in the law as recaption 1 I 1 do not care for the bother of a replevin act now I 1 want you to go to and see how the land lies and then take as many men ahyou as want from the myneola lead mines together with horses and pull the engine on OD tile tiie main line after the night mail has passed and take her with all haste to Nanty golyn station in time to meet the up luggage train at half haip past two in the morning you will then attach the engine to the train and bring her here here is the necessary permit pernile lt to authorize you kostop to stop the train aud and a letter to tile the captain of the mine if as is quite possible you meet with resistance refrain from using any more force than is necessary I 1 wish to avoid any fighting if you conduct this matter successfully it is quite probable I 1 may raise your salary for I 1 have been well satisfied with your conduct in the office are you quite sure that you perfectly comprehend my instructions I 1 withdrew to make the necessary preparations and cogitate about my anticipated good fortune aud nud the strange service service I 1 was engaged upon it had all the charm of adventure for I 1 was not so sanguine ulue as to hope that such a proceeding edini could be taken entirely without resistance I 1 determined to say nothing about it to mary lest she slie should be alarmed I 1 wrote lier her a short note saying that I 1 should be away on important business for the next two or three days and urging her to keep a good heart as I 1 might milk have some good news to tell her when we next met IT I 1 alighted at Nanty golyn station and engaged a room at the sole inn the village boasted of it was still early in the evening and I 1 started after dinner to walk as far as a distance of about two miles to reconnoitre the road ran along the hillside hill side nearly all the way A shower had laid the dust and the wet foliage of the trees that clung to the rock on my right hand and overhung the path gleamed lightly in the dying light far down on my left ran raa tile tiie brawling river just colored with the rain and from all about arose the soft steam from the moistened earth speaking eloquently in its grave like odor of the sad end of the year that was coming so quickly autumn is pleasant enough amid the gardens of kent but very sad is it among the hills the trees are stunted and the leaves soon flutter slowly downward from their baring branches and those who have only heard the mu musical sighing of the wind through the trees of a lowland landscape can eau have no conception of the weird like feeling that steals over one as he listens to the soughing of the gale among the swaying and cereald creaking ng boughs bouclis of the mountain pines an and d bire birc birches h es and its fiercer shriek ag as it sweeps up the ravines and over the de desolate salate moor the wind was rising laden with occasional showers as I 1 reached the brick brlek fild the state of affairs was worse than I 1 had imagined the engine had been left on an exposed part of the line and where there was a sharp curve causing the outside rail to be much higher than the other inclining at such a sharp angle it had been exposed to the full fury of a recent gale which catching it atso at so great a disadvantage llad had tilted it comple compie completely lely iely over and it bowlay now lay 0 on nits aits its ils side on the embankment with the hindermost wheels however resting or only partly off the rails it was a small and very light engine and had been originally intended for fur the crimea it was a wide and onely lonely place where the brick brlek baid was waa situated it where the moorland commences and where there was nothing to interrupt the eye as it roamed over the purple flat strangely lit up ul in places by crimsoning gleaming and patches of golden brown as the light of the stormy sunset was reflected from the surface of a pool or shone on a lighter ground of dead rushes and ling beyond all was a long gray line which could not be mistaken for anything but what it was tile the bonny open sea if you istenes intently you could id even catch borne borno on the wind the faint roar of the surf on the flat sandy ady shore noth nothing in could be done that night and on me the morrow I 1 mounted a sorry animal which mine host called a saddle horse and rode off to the mines to bespeak the services of a dozen men and three horses all they had to spare for 8 that night and then back to the station to put all right with the stationmaster station master to disarm sus bus mon men I 1 took a rod and made my way down n to the now swollen stream few fish were there in it for the deadly water from the mines hab haa had played sad havoc with the tinny tribe more time was passed in reverie than in fishing and tender memories of the past mingled strangely with dreams ot of the future how happy mary and I 1 could be in a little cottage ornee I 1 had my eye upon and which I 1 knew was to be had at a low rent how pleasant to burral ame from business and find a bright me nice to welcome me with a kiss kisa and a bonny smile instead of my lonely bachelor rooms all ah me would it ever come to pass I 1 wondered surely it must some day and yet somehow I 1 could not look hopefully forward perhaps it il was the lowering weather and the dull spiritless air that everybody wore that depressed me and it was absurd yet I 1 felt as if I 1 were going to be hung or meet with some serious accident in this midnight abduction I 1 was engaged in vainly trying to shake off the feeling I 1 retraced my steps to theann the inn at 8 it was already quite dark when I 1 reached the bank bunk over the line 1 I saw that the tile men by the light of lanterns had rigged up a temporary crane and were tugging lugging away at the ropes trying to raisse rahme tile the fallen engine and prying away with levers and screw jacks jaeks working quietly and well moat alost of them were brawny englishmen imported by mr heywood heswood hey wood the rest were welshmen Welsh men smaller made but wiry and strong steadily tile tiie work went on un ler ier my directions and all the while a soft unpleasant drizzle gradually soaked us through and through the wind was fitful and many and mysterious were the sounds that it brought out of tile the glens it moaned dismally through the pine woods showing that the spirit of the storm was a abroad road load and ere ong would bo be upon us in all its savageness sava geness genesa suddenly a form flirted flitted by then another and another and three strange men wen passed by the engine and vanished in tile tiie gloom other eyes were as quick as mine and saw them we instinctively knew that they were the vanguard of the enemy and that soon we might expect opposition As we afterward learned one ot of the men at the mine had not been able to keep the secret from his delilah look sharp lads and get her on the line before they come I 1 cried and lent a hand to the ropes myself at last with a thud she was righted and then the screw j lacks lucks acks were again applied to lift her properly on the rails ralls this was done without interruption the horses horbes were harnessed to and she be began bean 0 an to move merrily enough though a rattling noise inside made it evident that some of her machinery was broken I 1 was beginning to hope that wo we might soon gain the main line about half a mile mlle away when over the bank there camo came some twenty oi or thirty men and lads ladas the wheels were scorched scotched scot ched before we could prevent it they harnis harnessed sed a couple of horses hordes and half a dozen donkeys to the other end of the engine two tar barrels they had brought with them were set alight and blazed furiously affording plenty of light I 1 g warned my men not to nave have recourse to violence and in this I 1 was seconded by the leader or of the opposite side who was i in fact the purchaser of the engine it shall be a fair fight he said let us see who can pull the hardest now and you take your chance in the law afterward by mutual consent we the wheels and the tournament began first one party gained a few yards then the other the animals lugged their very hardest aided by the men men were the strongest although the fewest in number but the incline was in favor of the welshmen Welsh men and at first it seemed as if they would triumph and drag the engine back to where the rails were broken up no blows passed between us and the good humor shown by every one surprised me very much I 1 felt that teat I 1 was losing patience and must have some hand in it so I 1 took up a lever and inserting it behind a wheel strove to urge it onward my aly friend the commander in chief of the enemy did the same but in I 1 in an opposite direction what was to be done things must rapidly end in a free fight Nob odys patience could stand it much longer the sons of cambria in particular were becoming excited an and one or two stones had already struck the engine thrown by some outsider in the darkness the mail had passed some time ago and the luggage train was nearly due if the struggle continued much longer the neighborhood would be aroused and we should stand no chance at all risks the engine must be carried away before daylight As soon as one side gained an advantage the fneels were scotched scorched scot ched by the ot herrand herand a deadlock dead lock seemed inevitable A bright idea struck me and abandoning my lever I 1 went up to the overseer of the mine who was working as hard as as any or of them and asked him who was the best runner among the men there will by bo none as good as you sir I 1 and they be all tired with this pulley hauley work well then im off to kanty Nanty golyn station and ill come back with the engine of the luggage train do you yon see look to the points at the junction aca capital ital itai sir birl exclaimed he as I 1 turned tu anet and dashed over tile the bank and I 1 into the narrow road I 1 had scarcely got out of the glare of the fire aben when I 1 was roughly collared by somebody As he was evidently nota not a friend and there was wag no time for explanation even if I 1 wished to give any I 1 placed my hand over his shoulder and m my arm under his chin and with a suzen sudden wrench taught me b by y a welsh collier forced his head back and left him half insensible on the ground that was a run along a rutty stony road and the night or rather morning pitch dark it was tolerable good running that covered the two miles in a quarter of an hour and I 1 was thoroughly puffed as I 1 got into the station the train had bad been waiting a few minutes and although it was exceeding in 0 my power I 1 took the responsibility on myself of taching detaching detaching le the engine and tind going forward along the line the junction was soon reached a lantern held heid up showed us that all was clear and we steamed slowly up to the engine both parties had drawn off their forces and were sitting and standing in groups a little apart while rude chaff was freely interchanged the firelight cast long and wavering shadows around and made the outer darkness look blacker and more impenetrable than ever the rain still came steadily down and hissed on the blazing fires while the wet ground was trodden |