Marion Marlowe in St. Paul, or, The Company's Mascot in a Double Deal — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

24 mill in Minneapolis this afternoon, straight out and look for him,” said Marion, stoutly. “As it is, his mother has gone—lI could not stop her. What time are we due at the mill, Mr. Temple?” The manager had just entered the room and answered her question promptly. | rd The owner invited us to bring you at three o clock,” he said, glancing at his watch. He's a man that I knew nearly twenty years ago. <A fine fellow, too; I shall be glad to renew the acquaintance.” “And I-shall be glad to see a flour mill,” said Miss Allyn, smilingly. “It will be in- teresting to see where the foundation of the ‘staff of life’ comes from; also how they make ambitious flour!’ “Alma, what in the world do you mean by ‘ambitious flour?’”’ asked Marion, curiously. “Self-raising, of course,’ answered Miss Allyn, loftily. ‘“‘And, as there’s no time to spare, | move that we start instanter.”’ “Couldn’t start, if we didn’t move,” re- marked Bert, good-naturedly. “Don’t be funny, Bert!’ laughed Marion. “And now you good people, hurry! I am all ready to go! Perhaps, after all, we'll get hack in time to look for ‘Jackets.’ ”’ ‘Let him alone and he’ll come home,” sang Bert, as he vanished from the parlor. An hour later a party of six were looking on at a busy scene, and one that was ‘by no means lacking in interest. They were on the top floor of one of the big flour mills, gazing at an endless chain of buckets: which were bringing grain from the long line of canal boats far down below, and dumping it into huge bins, into which the loft seemed sub-divided. The air was filled with the fine dust from tle grain, and hete and there were splashes of white, while the slightest touch of a fin- ger dislodged some of the dusty substance. “It's just a trifle choky, isn’t it?” whis- pered Miss Allyn, as the gentlemen of the party walked on a little distance ; “but I’m vlad I came, for it’s a sight worth seeing, al- though I must confess I’m a bit tangled on I'd go the process of ‘high milling.’ Lets see, what have I learned, anyway; I’m sure I rr ‘ can’t remember. Those were the ‘nether millstones’ that we saw down below, I sup- pose, and the ‘hopper is on the floor below “What is that?”asked Marion, with an tn- terested look. “CQ. T didn’t catch it exactly ; only these hins. one after another, are emptied into it. [ think it has a capacious opening and a small mouth that they call a feeder, and there’s a stream of grain running through it all the time when the mill is working, MY QUEEN. “I wonder if this is the ‘Mill of the Gods,’ ” spoke up Miss Ellis, laughingly ; “you know, they grind slowly, but they grind ‘exceeding small.’ Kind fate, please deliver me from ever falling into a ‘hopper!’ ” ? “Not an easy thing to hop out of,” laughed Pert, coming up. Then he gave a little nod toward the mill owner, who was standing at a little distance, talking with Mr. Temple and the doctor, , “A fine man, Mr. Foley,” he said, in a low tone, “but they say he has a partner that’s a good deal of a rascal. He was just telling Mr. Temple that he wished he could get rid of him.” “What a pity,” said Alma Allyn, as Dr. Brookes beckoned to her. ‘Excuse me a minute, Marion, the doctor wants me. He’s going to explain an Archimedean screw or a ‘Child’s decorticator’ for my edification !”’ She moved away, laughingly, and Bert went with her, slipping his arm through the imgénue’s at the same time, so that he could walk between them. Marion caught sight of something at the other end of the long, narrow aisle between the bins that interested her, and she waiked slowly along until she was some distance from them. Suddenly she heard a sound that almost | made her heart stop beating. She stood per- fectly still for a minute and, as she heard it again, she was sure that it came from an aisle that crossed at right angles. Without a thought of the others, she darted forward and, as she turned from the main -aisle, she was completely lost to sight from the rest of her party. The sound that had reached her ears was the cry of a child which was stifled in what seemed to her to be a peculiar manner. The soft hum of moving grain attracted her as she listened. It had a rushing sound, as if moving with great velocity. Z She glanced up, quickly; the bin in front of her was not so high as the others, and there was a narrow ladder leaning against it. In an instant she was up the steps and peering over the top. : What she saw was merely the contents moving swiftly downward, as though through a trough or monstrous funnel. The next instant she witnessed a scene that made her heart stand still. ; A man’s head appeared over the opposite side of the bin; then two hands that were fiercely clutching the struggling form of a boy rose over the rough edge of the board and Marion knew that a child was about to be murdered. In a second, the blood flew back to the young girl’s heart. She took one more comichooks.com