Eugene register-guard., June 21, 1936, Image 16

9 O
'
HERE was no fill
at all that year.
Winter . bean to
ward the close of
September and
h;rdly once loosened
its grip, bringing
with it such cold
and such hardship!
as the oldest in
habitant of Port
Charles could not
remember,
Alice 'Fayne sel
dom paid more than
passing attention to
the weather. She
haSn't paid much attention to anything, really,
since her quarrel with Bob Chalmers duripg
the summer. She had gone on as always, de
fiant, proud, her head held high, and had
become engaged to Herman Fallon less than
three weeks after Bob had left the city.
But though her love for Bob was dead, she
knew that while she had been in love with
him everything that went on around her had
seemed more interesting. Life had, day after
day, been t grand adventure. Now the days
were stretches ot time to be lived through as
painlessly as possible.
There was a heavy blizzard late in October,
and a more severe one in November, With
the end of the snowfall the thermometer
dropped to twenty below zero and stayed there
for live days. The harbor froze. The broad
lake snapped across and the rubber ice began
to thicken.
It was during this cold snap that Bob came
back to Port Charles. Alice saw him soon
afterward in the post office, and pretended
not to see him. When he came across and
spoke to her, she tried not to let him see
how much his coming had disturbed her.
"Alice," he said, "I want to talk to you.
May I come up tonight?"
"I'm sorry," she answered, "I'm busy tonight.
Herm Fallon and I are going to k dance."-
"Well," he demanded impatiently, "may 1
see you this afternoon ? Or now ? Any time,
I don't care when. I tell you I've got to talk
to you."
: She made a date with him for early after
noon. "If things were the same as always, we'd
probably be just starting out to skate or some
thing together," he said on his arrival.
"You mean," Alice corrected him bitterly,
"that I'd be going to skate, and you'd be
going skate-sailing. Ordinary skating wouldn't
be speedy enough for you. You were never
satisfied unless you were traveling sixty miles
an hour or more. You always left me the
minute we got down to the harbor with our
skates, and I never saw you again till "
"Alice" reproachfully, "that's not fair. I
never left you, You know I didn't."
"Maybe not. But you made me go with
you, which was worse."
" "I'll admit," Bob said, "I couldn't see why,
when we were out driving together, you al
ways wanted to poke along at thirty-five miles
an hour."
"You know," Alice told him dully, "that
speed terrifies me. It always has. You can't
understand the panic I feel because you've
never felt that sort of terror. Terror that
makes you almost insane. Speed is like wine
to you."
"But, Alice, I've told you over and over,
that the only way to cure fright like yours, is
to go fast. Then you'll get used to it.".
"And I've told you " passionately, "that
it's physically impassible to make myself uscd0
to speed. "It's torture, You knew that was
how it affected me, attd you deliberately kept
on opening up your car wide, or took me iot
boating, and told me you wouldn't go fast.
And then you tote along like the? wind. Is it
any wonder I decided that you either didn't
love me, or you were the most selfish man in
the world and I was through with you?"
"But it's so childish to spoil our whole lives
just over the speed of a car. I was wrong,
I'll admit. I didn't realize how real your fear
was. Forgive me for the blunders I've made
and let's start again."
"Do you think," Alice demanded slowly,
"that I could ever forgive you for that last
night when I sat thete and begged and begged
you to go slower, and you just laughed at me
and held the car at seventy until I fainted from
fright? Do you think I'll ever forgive that?
No," Alice slowly shook her head. "There's
no use talking about it. I made up my mind
then, and I sha n't change it. You killed any
love 1 had for you that night. And besides,
I'm engaged to Herm now."
"But you don't love him. You and I both
know you don't love him."
"I do," Alice stormed. " I do love him,
and I'm I'm going to marry him, and I
never want to see you again as long as I live!" '
BOB was not going on to Montreal until
the next night on the sleeper and they
met again the next afternoon, the day of the
second blizzard.
3r rsLi s.
x
She was walking
and could only gasp
he had to tell.
"Alice," he said, "will you do me a favor?
I happen to know that Herm is ou: of town
today, and he'll, never be able to get home
tonight unless it stops snowing. Won't you
come down to the train to see me off? That's
the least you can do."
"All right," she said, "I'll go down. But
it won't do any good."
The snow had stopped when Bob called
for her. But the mercury had taken a de
cided drop and a biting wind had come up
from the south. A wind which sifted the
fine snow, making driving difficult even in the
main streets' of the town.
"Boy,, what a night to be traveling any
where." Bob shivered. "I ll be lucky if the
trains arc oinning."
After almost an hour of waiting they heard
the whistle of a train above the noise of the
wind. It roared to a stop beside them and at
the steps of the Pullman Bob turned to Alice.
,"Kiss me goodbye," he begged. Wordlessly
she turned her lips up to his, her eyes misty.
That kiss blotted out the world. For a
long moment before the conductor's, "All
aboard," tore their lips apart, there was noth
ing anywhere but Bob. It brought back in
poignant reality the sweet ecstasy of the kisses
of the past.
Then Bob stumbled up the steps of the al
ready moving train. Alice was alone on the
platform, blind from unshed tears, shaken by
that kiss as she had never before been shaken.
Scarcely knowing what she did, Alice went
back into the waiting room and slumped down
onto a scat in a corner.
The outside door was flung pen letting
in a gust of icy wind. A man sprinted for
the ticket office.
"Sam," Alice heard the man pant, "the
trestle is gone just above Wessex. Stop the
sleeper."
"My God," she heard the station agent
say, "I can't stop it. The wires are til down."
Alice was on her feet. That must be the
train Bob was on! The train that was hardly
out of the yard limits in its flight up along the
shores of Lake Champlain. '
"You've got to do something," Alice found
herself storming. "You've got to. They'll
die. They'll be "
"But the roads are closed, and the wires
are down." The agent was already working
with the telephone, trying desperately to dial
a dead line. "I can't even gat central."
"I know, but tfMj-e's the Take," Alice said.
"The ice outside th? harbor wouldn't hold
a car. There's no othr way to head them off."
"But there must be" frantically. "There
must be somt way. With a skate sail it could
r done. The train pulls up grade between
here and Fastport." ' g
"It mould take too much time to find some
body to do it. There wouldn't- "
"I'll do it. There's a chance, isn't there?"
She whirled on the messenger. "You've got
car. Get me down to the yacht tlub."
"Love Will Find
Said . . . and
AT the club she was out before the car
stopped, running down into the boat
house for her skates. She put on her skate
shoes faster than she ever had before. She
pulled a heavy sweater out of Herm's locker
and dragged it on over her head. At the end
of the runway, she took the largest sail, the
one Bob had always used. She had never
tried one herself. But she had seen other do
it hundreds of times seen them skim across
the smooth ice at an unbelievable rate.
She swung the sail into position, and in
stantly it was as if some invisible hand took
hers and began to pull her along, faster and'
faster. A young moon though hidden then
by scudding clouds gave enough light to let
her see the snow patches.
She moved out across the harbor at a mod
erate pace, almost sideways to the wind. Grad
ually, as she began to angle the sail to get the
full benefit of the wind, she made better time.
Now, with the wind at her back she picked
up speed until she had the feeling that she was
hurtling through the air, hardly touching the
ice.
And with that increased, blinding speed,
came the old fear. She screamed once, but the
scream was torn from her mouth and smoth
ered into nothingness by the wind. -
Instead of trying to slacken, she tried con
stantly to go faster. She was so deathly
afraid that it seemed as if something in her
mind must snap with the strain of it.
The railroad followed the lake, but there
was no sign of the train. She had not ex
pected to see it because she had been so far
behind. Yet when it was not there she ex
perienced a sharp feeling of disappointment,
f despair.
LIGHTS showed on the New York side of
the lake, and she knew she was nearing
Mullen Brook. It was here that she must
catch up with the train or not at all. Mullen
Brook flowed into the lake at the foot of a
deep bay. The tracks skirted the curve and
Alice could cut across its mouth.
Then she caught her first glimpse of the
train. A long snake of lights panting up the
steep grade, the glow from its firebox reflected
on the trees it passed.
She hadn't expected the train to be so far
along. She almost gave up then. A feeling
of hopelessness assailed her The chail was
too slim. Why was she mad enough to
believe that she, aided only by the force of
the wind, could overtake a train?
As she watched, the train whistled and
slowed down a bit for the grade crossing.
Alice's terrific speed increased if anything.
The train swung left and plunged across a
Oto tha Way," the Poet
Whett a Way it was for
Alice . . . B&ttling with her Fears as
She Sped Through the Night . . . .
trestle, and then hit the steep part of the
incline when it swung out again.
She was almost even with it. She could
see the engineer sitting in the cab, looking
ahead. And the fireman's head appearing '
and disappearing in regular rhythm. It seemed
as if they must see her, she was so close. She
cried out twice, but the cries were pitifully
inadequate.
Suddenly before her she saw open water. It
, was dark and forbidding, like the ice. But
she caught the gleam of reflected moonlight,
and knew what it was. She knew she had to
cross it.
She gathered herself at the edge and jumped.
There was a fleeting sensation of flying through
air, and then the toes of her. skates caught
against something solid, tripped- her, sent het
body forward, downward, crashing with brutal
force against the hard ice. ' The sail was torn
from her grasp and she slid along, spinning
iike a top, sick -ith the pain in her right hip.
She lost consciousness for a few seconds and
then the cold and the pain brought her to.
Well, this was the end. Her hip was broken
anyway so badly battered that she could not
use it. She had escaped death in icy water by
a miracle. Why tempt Fate further? She
at up, dizzy and nauseated, looked back at
the water and shuddered. She couldn't go on
now. Nobody could expect her to.
But when she thought about Bob, the panic
in her heart was forgotten. She gave a little
cry and came to her feet.
Her hip wasn't broken. She stood for an
instant, and then her head cleared Painfully,
slowly, she skated over and regainer" the sail
which had skidded along far ahead of her
body. She held it up to the wind.
O WINGING around the point she could setO
f the lights of the town. She had po pos
sible way of knowing whether she was in
time. But she had been only even with the
train when she had lost sight of it. And she
had fallen down and lost consciousness.
Then she made a grave error ( judgment.
She cut too close in when she rounded the
rxjgt, so that the trees on shore cut off the
wind from her s'Si.
She realized instantly that her speed was
slackening, and why. But the damage was
dor.?, She swerved out then, but had lost
many precious seconds. When she came with
in sight of the steamboat wharf and the sta
tion beyond, the train was standing there.
She was still an eighth of a mile away when
she saw it start ,
movnout hP;"W,b,ib,.
"-"un yard,
she came to a ston t
he. face. The fea fhVbd
had been bom, ; . fa
... ,4in. r;,
On across the ice toward We?
faster she went. She diKov f
you can go faster at rieht "t '
you h.
Then she rounded the end ofif " 1
and the broad lake lay before
light- She headed for t,ellh
'-v, picked
course, and shot onward. " "
She and the train converged on vH
from different directions and ,llh?, ?
could see the occasional Osm
firebox, matching her speet'
The train beat her at Wessex.
low down while she Z,mt
creep into the station yar", d
dead ,,op , . fcw lr;:t;
start and she would lose he- i C1U(L ,
outside of Wessex was fc
Nothing to do now but keep on until
train started.
As she drew nearer and nearer .he
aware of smnh;.. - L . .
. , s ",U"S out that tnii.
There was only the engine light Hot.
surged in her again. She realized that that ,
a freight train waitinn . .u. ..... ...
,v, ..." . , , b mooa Mini.
Waitmg for the sleeper which was now i
proaching from her left.
There was a chance!
SHE reached the ferry slip as the aleepet
drew into the station. She tossed the sail
aside, and ran through the snow. Ha Ana
made running difficult, bringing exquisite tot.
ture to her hip at every step. But the tu
. with all the strength she had. Her limp be
gan to ache.
It was only a matter of a hundred yards to
the station. She could see the conductor ctanj
ing beside the day coach. And u she rtn she
watched him. It seemed as if she rude so
progress at all. Her tired ankles turned undet
her again and again.
Then she saw the conductor raise his rand
to signal the engineer. She tried to all to
him but there was no breath left in her. It
was cruel to come so close and then to lose
because you hadn't the breath to shout
As the conductor started to swing his arm,
he saw her and stopped, waiting. And thai
when he saw her falter, he started toward
her. She was walking now and could only
gasp what she had to tell.
"The trestle just above town is out You
can't go on!"
His face went dead white, but outside of
that he showed no emotion. Alice stumfcled
into the waiting room. She heard the station
agent shout to a taxi driver to bring I doctor,
The room was warm; hot it seemed to her.
And suddenly she became aware of At paia
in her face. People began to crowd into the
room. And then Bob was there, trfnj
through to her side.
"Sweet, are you all right?" he demanded.
And Alice could only nod wordlessly and s
Then the doctor pushed through theciwi,
ordered them all from the room, and took
care of Alice's face, her hip.
"You'll be all right " he kept savinj.
"A
girl as brave as you are won't let I tele Burg
like a hip worry her. tour
and it may be painful when it thaws out M
you're a heroine, young lady."
When he finished with her, he nude
comfortable on the bench, until in mt
should come to take her to the hosf t
An instant later Bob came in alone. ' Honrj.
he said, "I don't know how I can
you. I know how brave you were oecau.
know how frightened you must ha
at the speed you had to travel. I
a.owdowndog.dear. You desene f ,
than twanty-five miles an hour all tM
your life if you want to."
"Bob." she whored, and
made a great effort to f j,
"her hip, her fatigue, ''"fj1, ,K,i
wanted him to understand.
out when you kissed me twt'
And that I c.Idn't l'to
our love was far above petty thmc
have'you. And . moment
out that I was going to lose (ot
was only one chance and I M, fco.
those people. Not for anything W J"
For us!" whjt ,he hid
Again she read in MJ
seen when he had k.ssM
whelming completeness o. -
her in his arms and gr .!
cu- .;,A A blissful, tired W
li
Shushed. Abhsstu. --.
knSv that never ign the
fear, or .&J$ "
save, wouja oe
Otpyrifkt,