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' ; Vv j»_ fit! mt D " %! •% - * J* ESTABLISHED 1SSO. » VOL. XI..II. VO. 41. f Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA.. FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1892. A Weekly Local and Family Journal. \uZE* V^V^^VTV—CGPTRICHT«I A-XXLUJXCxtxswroic*. "I know it. Campignon,'' Dunbar said. Campignon—that lie was certain—for the captain's locks were raven black, while this man's hair was a dull yellow, and not all the disease which ever afflicted humanity could cause the sailor's bronze cheek to fade to such a ghastly hue. It could not be a dead body which was lying there? The thought was horrible, and he dismissed it, for he well knew that in tropical countries a very few hours occasion the putrefaction of all dead animal substances."but I have provided against such a contingency. I have left your pay secured to you in the bank at Colombo and enough to make these faithful fellows happy for the rest of their lives il case anything happened to me." short. When the blazing sun dawned, he realized more fully the beauty of his surroundings. He was on the verge of a plain studded with beautiful trees, among which the palm towered iu graceful majesty. Peacocks spread their gaudy plnmage as they strutted over the green turf, pelicans floated like huge balls of snow in the air, and great white land cranes stood as still as though they were carved in marble. But hark! the gurgling, sweet, soft sounds of the bulbul and the crooning melody of the jungle partridge. "Exactly. Now let me introduce you. liy what name, by the bye?" RAMBLING BILL NYE. co Mil a silver mine in Utah. I wae to have $30,000 for it and a share of the stock in the new organization, also to be an officer of the company. "A friend came to me the day before the meeting at which the money was to be paid and the election held. George,' he said, 'for God s sake try to keep sober until this matter is safely settled. It is the turning point in your life. Afterward, if yon want to have a little spree, tare it, bat not now.' Arthur Dunbar daslred boldly at a pseudonym. "Arthur—John Arthur," he said,without a blush. X WRITfS FROM PENNSYLVANIA ABOUT THINGS IN GENERAL. For a few minutes the Frenchman walked on in silence. Suddenly he i turned to Arthur and said, eagerly: "One of the Arthurs of Derbyshire?" "Exactly." .ailroad* and Other Kutdi. How Waiters "Then, by Jove, I know one of your kinsmen—Piers Calvcrly Arthur, of the Queen's Bays—as gay a 'ad as ever crossed a horse or threw a main of dice." m New York Keep the Wolf from tk« rtoor—The Story of a Drunkard—A "What made you tell me that? Hate you no fear that I should play you false? What is to hinder me from ! abandoning yoa in this wilderness? I Why, man, you cannot even speak a word of the native language, while I could talk these natives into any plot before your very eyes, and you be none the wiser." Woman with Three Husbands. [Copyright, 18B2, by Edgar W. Nye.] "Do yon think a sane man would at Juch a time go and fill himself up with whisky? Well I did. When I to nyself it was day after tomorrow. TVs tenderloin of the terrapin and the eggs and fins of the greeg turtle. Once when he awoke it was night. The lamp swung from its pendent ring, but the girl and the do» were gone He glanced nervously at the other couch and shivered as he saw that its occupant was still in its place. It was, he felt, horrible to be alone with this silent efflfry of manhood. He cried for assistance. nis voice sounded strangely hollow, but his heart leaped with joy as he found that he could utter articulate sounds which weak&ess had hitherto rendered impossible. But there was no response to his call. Again he uttered a low, pitiful wail. Would no one hear it? Yes, the sick man on the other bed heard it, and as he heard it he raised his wasted form upon his hands and glared at Arthur Dunbar with eyeslike living jewels set in the face of marble. "Ah, poor Piers!' Dunbar sighed, hypocritically. Today we passed peacefully and univentfully into Pennsylvania. For two reeks we have been devastating the ;reat state of Ohio. Yesterday we came » Bellaire by means of the Baltimore ind Ohio railroad. The Baltimore and Jhio railroad is not a favorite with us. Lt somehow has no magnetism or power o make friends rapidly. But Dunbar's spirit was too vexed for him to revel in the glory of beautiful scenery; for he fully realized the dangers of his position. "Yes, poor beggar, he went to the dogs—lock, stock and barrel, but he was a good sort before he got into th«- hands of the Jews." [comireiD. ] quences of what seems to me a verj j risky experiment." Keeping under the shadows of the crumbling walls, he threaded his way through the labyrinth of ruins, his dog "A waiter friend of mine at Corny [aland made eight dollar* in one day with a bone." "How waa that!" "Wall, he had a sirloin steak bona aad osed it on all hia sirloin customers. He would get a cheap forty cent steak in the kitchen and insert this boos underneath it en route, then he would ask if the guest would hare it carred, and of course the guest woukL Then he would bring the sirloin steaT aa ordered, with the bone apparently cut oat aad laid on one side. After the guest was through, Mr. Waiter again took posessrion of the bone, which he kept under hia jacket ready for another two dollar ririoia steak victim." Waiters ace often, I am afraid, somewhat given to this sort of thing, especially at the snasiile resorts. So alae an proprietors, tfthewaitew "I know it, Campignon, but—" "But?" Then followed the introduction to the baronet, who acknowledged the ceremony with a vacant stare, and betook himself again to strolling the dog's head, which the loving creature had rested on his knee, his brown eyes peering into his master's with an intensity which was. almost human in its muwexpressioo."No. no," Campignon declared, confidently. ' "It only remains for us to discover the whereabouts of the white man, and we have accounted for all the crew of the sampan. If there were more of them in the vicinity we should have had them on us ere this, for the report of a gun iB an unusual sound in these wilds. However, to "But, I trust myself to you without a thrill of misapprehension, for I know that though you would stoop to trickery and deceit in small things, you will be true as steel to the man who trusts you, when once you have bound yourself to follow his fortunes." CHAPTER XIV The New York Central has an air of efinement, of course, and reserve that iays plain enough that it has nothing to As there is in Ceylon no twilight in the evening—no "children's hour" between light and darkness—so the bloodred sun in the morning rises with a leap on the horizon pouring forth the heat of a furnace from the very minute that his blazing shield peeps over the treetops.IN THE WOODS. xaboit gore's statement. lie back and rest, whilst 1 write your deposition." Campignon's eyes glistened. And this is what Art her Dunbar wrote, casting every now and then an anxious glance at the sick man, who lay watching his pencil as it moved rapidly over the paper: Dunbar gladly accepted Capt Archer's make assurance doubly sure, let us patrol the woods and see what we can find." "And you have implicit confidence in tnel" he said, with tremulous tone. "Then, by the Lord, young man, you 6hall never have cause to regret it." Invitation to spend a few Juys under hie hospitable roof, his liocst assuring him that there was an abundance of game in the nei ghborhood, and that he would eventually send him on his way towards Colombo. To t*?l 1 the truth, Capt. Arclier was rather glad of the young man's visit; tirst because it relieved the monotony of the dull life he led. and secondly because it would be s good card to play to send a young man of high family back to civilization with the report that the European gentleman assuming to be Sir llarry Grahame was merely a harmless lunatic under the kind care of friends who sacrificed their own comfort to give him the benefit of a residence in a climate peculiarly adapted for his particular malady. This thev did. making the iroiMt.'tant discovery that it an island they were on at all, bat a small peninsula They had all slept during the brief hours of repose, feeling that as they had risked the danger of freeing their captive, the precaution of a puar 1 was wasting the energies of anyone among them, whose precious strength would soon be taxed to the utmost. Dvjibnr was the first to wake, aroused by the dog which had from the hour they found it manifested the strongest attachment towai ds liiai. nDd now approached him and gently licked his face. There is a prevalent idea that most tropical forests teem with wild fruits, which nature is supposed to produce spontaneously. Nothing can be more erroneous. It is true our adventurers sometimes found the gnava and katumbille, which served to slack their burning thirst, the blackberries and the acid gooseberries, and very rarely the sweet "morra" which grows in grapelike clusters, but none of these were plentiful. The beautiful "jambo" apple hung temptingly over their heads, but though it is exquisite in appearance, being snow-white with pink blushes on its Bide, they soon discovered that it was vapid and tasteless—a Dead sea fruit. But. if the wild bushes did not pander to 1be sense of taste, they gratified those of light and odor, for on every side the most exquisite flowers drooped, ladening the heavy air with their delicious perfume. "Who calls me?" he said, in a voice so feeble that it was little more than a whisper. "I, Aaron Gore, believitafc myself on the point of death, do make the following statement, which I solemnly declare to be true: That I waf in tbe service of Sir Harry Grahame as valet when that gentleman was sick of the fever at Kistmnn, in India, during the early part of January of lafit year; thai there was also in attendance on the sick baronet his friend, Capt. Frank Archer; that Sir Harry Otabame had prepared a will leaving the greater part of his fortune to Mills Kate Grahame, his adopted daughter; that I entered into conspiracy with Capt. Frank Archer to prevent; the accomplishment of this act; that (apt. Archer Induced me to aid him in $Dis fraud by a bribe of one hundred pounds and a promise of a thousand pounds if our scheme proved successful; that, in pursuance of this plan, a groom in Sir Harry's service who lay on the point of death stricken with a fever contracted at the same time as his master, on a hunting expedition in the jungles, was palmed off on the doctor of the Forty-seventh regiment as the baronet; that this doctor gave the certificate of cause of death and burial permit, fully believing that the dead man was Sir Harry Grahame; that the sick baronet was carried by us to the sea coast and shipped in charge of Capt. Archer to Colombo, whence he was removed to the interior of Ceylon; that I, acting under orders of Capt Archer, remained at Kistmun in charge of the supposed deceased baronet's effects; that I received a telegram from Joha Colburn, an attorney in London, who was also in the conspiracy, ordering me to proceed at once to Colombo, where I should find Instructions how to reach Capt. Archer in his retreat; that I was to make my way to him and warn him that two men had left England with the purpose of discovering the whereabouts of the baronet, whom they believed ta be still alive; that 1 sailed for Colombo, found a sealed packet of instructions there, prepared for such an emergency; that I started on my journey in charge of Ashnn Ghooli, son of the chief of a village under whose protection Archer was living; that we reached the end of our passage along the Quagla river, and sent a war-canoe down the stream with Instructions to take prisoners any Euroo*ana thev mitrht meet and remain on guard at a given spot until they were notified to return; that on undertakin1 the journey across tbe wilderness I was seized with the jungle fever, of which I am now dying; and that I heartily repent of my wicktdness, and Implore the forgiveness of my wronged master, whose release, i humbly praj God. may be speedily accomplished." WvaMt Arthur Dunbar, terrified at the ghastly spectacle, made no reply. "Who calls?" wailed the man, imploringly. "Oh. for an English ear to listen to my guilty story! If I could only speak to a fellow-countryman, Sir Harry Grahame might yet be rescued and my soul saved from eternal punishment; but no one here can understand a word I say and I must die unconfessedT'thek . . I am glad. get even with some of the robbers' roosfc in which they an employed. • Once I thought I would like a elan bake at Long Branch. I had done well the previous winter playing to •*— room only, aad ao I aaid to two or threa friends: "Let us make merry. ltA«" the clam is white for the harvest We will go even unto Pleasure hay aad we will open a watermelon." And we weat forth. We had a quart of unahucked clams with draws butter. It wss drawn by an amateur artist from Throgg's Neck. We also had a watermelon. That was all. In Kew this meal would have been seventy-five cents or oae dollar perhaps. Our bill was twenty-three dollan, without wine. Ever since then I take my dinner with me when I go to Loag Branch. "Good old fellow!" Arthur said, taking the animal's head between his hands and looking earnestly into the brown, honest eyes. "Heaven has sent you to aid us in our coming paril; for I have a strong presentiment that your instinct may be more useful to us than our own brain power. Good dog! Fine fellow! I would not take a thousand pounds for you this moment." THROUGH THE LABYRINTH OF KUIK8. well at heel, and every sense acute for a coming peril; but the only things which startled him were the huge lizards which scuttled away to their lairs in the rocks. As for the birds and monkeys, thev D&id no attention to him. (or most of them were sacred animals among the natives and utterly indifferent to the approach of man's footsteps. No sign of human habitation among these dismantled halls. Ah, yes—the scene bursts upon him with startling suddenness—an open clearing, a spacious wooden house with a broad verandah, a well built bungalow, in fact, and, sitting on a rocking chair, a man, while another stands beside him rifle in hand and evidently equipped for a hunting expedition—and, both Europeans. As the poor wretch breathed the whispered words he fell back on his couch senseless. And now a strange vitality seemed to possess the frame of the young American. He raised himself from his rough bed, and with tottering steps stumbled across the room to the bedside of the unhappy man. One glance at .Joe Bradley, the reserved brute force, the power behind the throne, was enough to convince Dunbar that he was a villain of the lowest type of human degradation, whose only redeeming quality was a blind love of ardent spirits which he drank morning, noon and night, and which kept him in a state of bemuddled stupor. Two native servants completed the menage of this small establishment. The camp was struck, and, after • hasty mesl, a few minutes were devoted to a council of war between tlie young American and his trusty lieutenant.AN ASHEVILLE ROAD. "Speak out, man," he hoarsely cried. "What have you to say about Sir Harry Grahame?" be ashamed of. Yet it does not come and put its hand on one's shoulder and make one feel like taking off his coat ou a warm day and sitting out on the piazza. The New York Central says in effect, "I lead a blameless life, and of course I like my friends, but I do not care to extend my acquaintance very generally." For five days the wearied men followed the mysterious path, becoming hourly more exhausted with their toil, yet without having met with any adventure worth recording. During the extreme heat of midday and in the darkness which overshadowed them like a curtain before the moon rose, they slept, stretched on light hammocks which they hung to the branches of trees. * It was a sickening sight—one, a ghost of his former self, so weak that he could with difficulty stand, even though his thin hands nervously clutched the side of the couch—the other, exhausted to the very verge of death, yet startled from prostration by the unexpected appeal. projecting from the mainland by a narrow neck of land, along which led a track, which could hardly be called a path, yet where the prickly brushwood had b**n sufficiently cleared to permit the cautious advance of a single person. Up this they penetrated as far as they thought it advisable to go, leaving one of the natives on guard at the landing place. SPRANG UPON CAMPIGNON. "What do you say, Campignon? Shall we follow this track through the woods, or turn back into the lake? For myself, I think that our trail lies by land. What say you?" One thing that had puzzled Dunbar was the absence of the hordes of Cingalese who were said to infest this region —large villages of people kving in a state of semi-barbarism, stories of whose ferocity and lawlessness had reached his ears in Colombo, where every one was eager to add his share to the terrible tales of their misdoings. He had seen no sign of them; the country appeared almost uninhabited, and he came to the conclusion that the information which had reached him had been either exaggerated or was altogether false. But, on the second day after his arrival, this pleasant delusion was dispelled; for just as they were about to start on a hunting excursion Capt. Archer received a message by a runner, which brought a cloud on his brow and a torrent of strong words from his lips. The Illinois Central is a sort of an incorporated hoodlum. It does not . care for God or man. It was given so mnch valuable land for building its road that its head immediately swelled, and ever since then the poor facers along its line have had no rights. ' Yesterday we atw a boose at Lancaster n which natural gas had ban and to ixcesa. One winter day Mr. Natural ias sprung aleak under the street, aad is there was no method of egraas except xD follow the pipe along to thie gentle nan's hoose.it did so, and thaa filled hts •ellar full of aioenew gas that had new been used before. By aad fay the hired nan was heard to scratch a match Kriakly against himaelf, aad m an instant there was not h brick left on top of •oad than I ever another brick. The house waa literally D on the Union demolished and wiped out of nrietencs. There were seven people in the house, peculiarities and, strange to say, not one of them waa United States is a killed. Soma of oourae were injured, indeed to me. 1 but all recovered, and some were hardlv jng all kinda of hurt at all. Yon would not believe it to rat never so hard look at the house. •nore and Ohio. Lancaster is also supplied with a . and Ohio Drunkards' retreat It is not one of the restless night once Keeley brand, but a sort of independent pper eleven was institution, using similar nitwit, hot re» was car sick. Of fusing to pay tribute to the great moid was to blame nopoly at Dwight. I visited the inatttn♦hings he had eaten tion, and can now say that I am a well ly's digestion a man, returned to my family and friends d not try to conceal with no more desire to touch alcoholic He was perfectly liquors than anything. ng the matter. The place Is pleasantly located in the :e in the matter of residence portion of town. I visited it /oads are attract- at the hour when the patient receives his cereat. Two great jab in the arm. There is no mystery to ently printed excel- it except the liquid given. That is not subject, and the known to the average citiasn. All we up to the fact know is that the patient has hie circula- "That you are right, sir. Like most of my breed, .1 am a fatalist, aud I believe that our finding this channel was a little more than luck, and that we should be mad to throw away the clew that fortune has placed in our hands." o'4iure iio c.»u c:ay mm, uie aog nas sprung from his side and is fawningly caressing the man reclining on the chair, literally howling in the ecstacy of his joy at the meeting. "Who are you?" gasped the recumbent fimire. i "One who aeeJk* Sir Harry Orahame. 'Oh, speak quickly, or it may be too late. What have you done with him?" It was during one of these resting spells that the first disaster of consequence occurred. One among them had been accustomed to watch over the sleeper, the being shared in turn by European and native. On this occasion C'ampignon had been on duty. No noise had aroused the tired sleepers, yet when they woke it was to find the Frenchman missing—the Frenchman and the dog. In vain they cried aloud till the woods reechoed their voices; in vain they fired oil their rifles and waited a response. The Frenchman was gone from their midst, and, what was worse, he had taken their best rifle and their dog with him. "It all lies in a nut-shell," Campignon said, decisively. "The white man has taken to the woods here, and we must follow him; bnt not till the men are rested, for they have toiled for nearly twenty hours." "Fortune! Say rather Providence.'' Before Dunbar can spring behind the friendly shelter of a rock, the man ivith the rifle advances and challenges him. The New England road is very gentlemanly, and oven its railroad hands, they tell me, are manicured every day. Yet it is not so cordial as some roads. I came nearer freezing to death last winte: on the New England _ did in a snow blockad* Pacific. "As you will see. I am only a rough sailor, and leave such nice distinctions •to my betters." But though the white lips moved, no sound came from them, and, Arthur Dunbar, feeling that his strength was spent, reeledt back to his couch, on which he fell, quivering with the reaction of an effort which had nearly cost him his life. At a glance Dunbar assured himself that the tall, erect, handsome man of fifty approaching him was the redoubtable Frank Archer, and he had shrewd suspicions that the one in the chair was Sir Harry Grahame. The man's levity jarred upon Dunbar's sensitive nature. Drought up in the atmosphere of a New England home, he felt that, if ever there was a time in his life when he needed the interposition of a Divine influence, it was now, and the Frenchman's words "And yon advise?" Dunbar asked. "That we camp for a few hours and then get on to the man's trail." They found on their return to the boat captive and guard seated silently side side; the one sullen and glum, as though brooding over his defeat; the other exultant in his newly-invested authority, for the native Cingalese dearly "ioves to lord it over his fellows. Presently his little nurse and the dog returned, the former filled with remorse at having left her charge for the brief time that it took her and her fourfooted friend to indulge in a scamper through the wood in the moonlight. The young American had no time to prepare a story suitable to the occasion, thrust as he was by accident into the heat of the adventure; and it was very creditable to his natural courage and peace of mind that he advanced without a tremor on his handsome countenance—nay, even with a smile. The stwdy of the personal of railroads in the very interesting one have been thrown an railroads this season, as I was by the Baltin- It was on the Baltimon that I passed a very in lower eleven. U occupied by a boy w Y course the rough r( mostly for it, but the, would disturb anybod little, I thiuk. He d; anything from me. frank with me regardii "See here, Mr. Arthur," he said, "I cannot go shooting with you this morning. It appears that the natives in the village over yonder hill have got into a row about a white fellow they captured nearly a month ago, and who has been doing a turn at the paddle of a war canoe, for some atrocious crime against the community; for, though patient and far-enduring, these simple people will turn to avenge themselves at last." "Oh, the false-hearted traitor! to leave me like this for a few paltry pieces of gold!" Dunbar groaned, when the natives who had scoured the woods returned after a vain search. He could not communicate to them his suspicions. lie could only sit upon the trunk of a fallen tree and give way to despair. Somehow his memory seemed to be failing him; he forgot where he was; the trees assumed fantastic shapes; the rocks seemed to be perpetually wheeling round, and his head was heavy as lead. lie had an indistinct idea that he was falling, a blurred vision of a tawny coolie twining his arms around him, and his senses failed him utterly. Thus a week passed. Every day the American gained strength and at last was in a condition to assist the girl iu her ministrations of mercy, tending the dying man with a solicitude instigated by the burning desire to secure his secret as much as by human sympathy for his afflictions. But their efforts seemed futile. His was a life in death. The heart beat feebly, the breath lingered on his lips, occasionally the eyes opened and the lips parted as though he were about to speak, but beyond this he gave no signs of animation. From the girt Arthur could learn nothing. She made him understand by gestures that she was to wait on him hand and foot with the docility of a slave and that when he was well enough she would conduct him to a place of safety—at least so he understood her. "Has he spoken?" Campignon asked. "Yes," was the proud reply. "He offered me the gold bangles he wears if 1 would aid him to escape." "I presume I have the honor of addressing Capt. Archer?" he asked. "What do yon want with Capt. Archer?" was the stern response, neither denying nor admitting the identity. "Which you refused?" The Malay's eyes gleamed in trinmpbant consciousness of fidelity, as he nodded a scornful assent. "Some papers belonging to him have accidentally fallen into my possession, and I -have come a tedious journey to restore them to him." "I hardly understand you, Capt. Archer. Do you mean that you are auxious about the white man's safety?" "Tell him," Dunbar said, when the man's action was translated to him, "that when we reach Colombo I will give him five times the value of the golden bangles; but, how comes it, Campignon, that the prisoner is wearing such expensive ornaments?" I am glad to not. highways that country iug a good deal •_ f iu magazines have rec lent articles on the whole country is waking that millions of dollars annually go toward roadbuilding that might as well go to the bottom of Lake Victoria Nyanza."That is very kind of you. May I ask, sir, how you came by these documents? My name is Archer, and they are doubtless mine." "Not a bit! IIo was caught redhanded in crime—the brutal murder oi a native boatman. Through my intervention, they commuted the sentence of death to a term at the canoes, and now he has escaped and I am afraid it will entail trouble on me." "By the oddest accident that ever befell me," Dunbar said, frankly. "I have been on a shooting expedition up the country. Coming down the lake I was attracted by a stream that led inland, and following its course reached a place in the woods where I could land. Here I was abandoned by my coolies, and had a rough time of it. Chance led me to a deserted temple, where I found a white man lying in the agonies of death. He had just time to give me the papers he was carrying to you and extort a promise from me that I would deliver them to you when he breathed his last. Veila tout! I am here!" "Because," replied the Frenchman, looking earnestly at the prostrate figure before him, "he is a chief, or the son of a chief. I wish I knew for certain just what he is." tion brought up to a bichloride of gold standard and he is given fall value - other ***— : The dying man signed this irregular document with feeble hand, for the current of his life was fast ebbing. CHAPTEH XV. A DEATHBED REPENTANCE. "How so?" tmrnig v men. "It is insanity," Mid a graduate of th« worth institution. "It was » ny case at least Ucoholic insanity. No lane man would hare dooe as I did. Practically I was not a right sober man lor two yean. Finally I had a chance rayers of the mine had gone away, aad hough it was three yean ago they have Dot yet returned. "I started oat for Dwight then, I impose. I did not quite know where I was oing, hat on the way I strode Leavenworth, a branch institution, and stopped here. Everybody deserted me. My father-in-law, to whom I wrote for • little - a savage letter When Arthur Dub bar recovered consciousness it was to find himself ift a small apartment, whose interior was so remarkable that for the moment he felt tli at he must be the victim of some delirium, which peopled his fancy with strange shapes and unusual objects. "You quite understand that I am going to use your papers and charts?" Dunbar asked. "Well, do you not sec that if it had not been for my interposition, he would have paid the penalty of his crimebut, I cannot waste words of explanation. The m:in is gone now, and I must go and help to find him." Our wagon roads throughout the country are generally a disgrace to civilization, and before we undertake to supply Jaeger underwear and sealskin covered Bibles with flexible backs to the African, it might be well to put a few dollars into the relief of galled and broken down horses that have lost their health on our miserable highways. "For the reason that if he is really what I think he is I would make an appeal to his native sense of chivalry. You smile, but, sir, let me tell you that these pirate chieftains have a code of honor as sensitive as it is remarkable. One act of generosity from an enemy will accomplish m*Dre than a thousand blows." "Why?" LED TO UNKNOWN DANGERS One mystery to Arthur was where the food came from that his active nurse always had in preparation, and a still greater surprise was how quickly he regained his strength when once the fever had left him, for each morning he arose with a renewed energy, which promised soon to restore him to his pristine vigor. Put he argued with himself if he recovered too quickly he would be called upon to leave the spot before he had secured the sick man's confession. This would never do, so he feigned weakness and allowed bis gentle attendant to minister to his wants. His patience met with its reward a* last. were not pleasant to hii ear; but he restrained the reproach that rose to his lips, and quietly asked: C1IAPTEH XVI. AN EVELKSS EUKN. "I can be of no use, of course," Dun bar said, coldly. "Shall we leave a guard with the boat?" There were strange doings in tha chamber in the woods, Arthur Dunbar thought, when he awoke the morning after Aaron Gore's untimely end; for how could the corpse have been removed without his awakening? And where had the CingakM* g.'rl betaken herself? Yes, he was alone; and the object of his sudden desertion filled him with surprise. That his young nurse hajfcleft him for good was self-apparent, for she bad tied the dog by a piece of cord to the root of a tree at the entrance of the rude apartment. "What is the use? If we ever come back—which I very much doubt—even if the sampan is stolen, we can build a raft; whereas, if the natives mean mischief, a man singlehand would be no more protection to our property than a lady's pet spaniel." The walls were of solid rock, the roof was oval, and on its rounded sides stalactites glittered like precious 6tones. He was lying on a couch hewn out of the virgin stone and covered with pan' ther skins. From an iron ring in the ceiling hung an oil lamp which gave a flickering light. By the side of his bed the dog lay apparently sound asleep. But what caused him the greatest surprise was another couch, the fac-simile of the one upon which he was lying, on which was stretched the figure of a man whose waxen face showed that he was either very sick or even dead, for his eyes were closed and his hands were crossed ou his breast. In vain he listened for a sound, but all was as silent as a tomb. "Well, yes, indeed, you might do m« a great service. 1 should like to takt Bradley with me, and if you would only look after my invalid friend while 1 am gone, 1 should be immensely grateful." The country system, as I recall it, was in my boyhood about as poor and insufficient as it could well be. Each township was divided up into road districts, and each road district was presided over by an overseer of highways, whose duty it was to collect so many days' work or so many dollars from each taxpayer in the district. Of course no taxpayer would pay a dollar when he could come and make mud pies on the road all day and visit and gossip with the neighbors and save his dollar too. The result aeemed to be that the work'done was misdirected and an injury to the road. With.all due respect to the fanner,! will state right here that he does not know how to make roads. An all wise Providence never intended that he should know. The professional roadbuilder, with the money used by ignorant sapheads and self made road architects, would in a few years make roads in the United States over which two or three times the present sized load could be aasily drawn, and the dumb beasts of the republic would rise up and call us blessed for doing it. "If I were to unloose that nianH bonds and let him go free, he would die sooner than barm me." "As, for instance?" "You said, air, I think, that you were coming doten the lake, when this happened?""Oh, that I can do with pleasure," Arthur replied, not too eagerly. "Well, as we must either kill him or set him loose when 'we iharch, the experiment is perhaps worth a trial." "Then what shall we do?" Dunbar saw in a moment the importance of the queation, and resolved on equvocatkra. help, wrote dm tbont myfefcrf"" "Find a hollow tree and hide our traps in it—the food we cannot take with ub, the ammunition we should be foolish to overburden ourselves with. It will be short commons with us for a time, I fancy, but we must march against the enemy with light baggage, or we shall die by the roadside before we can reach his lair, which I fancy lies some distance up this wooded wilderness." "He will be of little trouble to you— just simply see that he does not wandei away, and, above everything, do nol contradict him. If he declares that he is King Solomon, humor the freak of his imagination." in* "Have I your consent to act as I think best?" Campignon demanded. tnd then lame, etc., One night the sick man raised liimseb on his bed, as he bad done once before and in a weak voice begged Dunbar to come to him. In a minute Arthur was by his side, supporting the trembling frame on his arm and bending his head over him. "What I said I meant," he replied sternly, "but, had I known that my exertions would be so little appreciated, I-" lance. "Everybody forgot me but my wife! She sold the cow and came oo to enrourageme at Leaven worth. Yon think, perhaps, it's all easy after yon get to the institute. ▲ little jab in the ana, a few teaspoonfuls of medicine and a bath and you are well. Do not believe it. For weeks and weeks I would jump oat of my skin if a man dropped a shingle nail an the sidewalk fifty feet away. Ton cant give a man new nerves in three weeks when he has been ten years destroying them. But yon can quell that insanity for a few weeks and in that time get the best of it, if you really want to be a human being instead of a sorrowful joke on humanity aad a feeble minded horror to your friends. i'My wife stuck by me. Hurrahed for me even when I sat and cried and almost gave up the fight; read to me aad patted me on the back and gave me good things to eat instead of telling me what a worst I was. She talked about everything else except my lost and undone oooditkw. Even when she prayed for me she did not come down to the footlights aad hold the center of the stage while she did it She did it on the sly, and drew me into a game of 'high fire* between whiles to sort of take my attention off my misery. "Why, eertainly, my friend. You know more about the ways of this strange people than ' do; besides, as I said before, it is the least obnoxious of the only two alternatives we have." He was half glad to be alone, yet regretful that the opportunity had been denied him of making her understand how grateful he was for her tender solicitude, especially when he saw that to the last she had been mindful ot his interests; for his knapsack, rifle and ammunition were placed ready to his hand, and a skin bag lay beside them filled with dried meat and the heavy, sodden maize cakes, which did duty for bread in that region. All these preparations spoke as plainly as words that the unknown friends, who had been playing special providence to him, meant him to take his immediate departure. His boldness disarmed suspicion. "I will. "I do tStDt know, but as the fellow has got a good start, it will be 1 robably before we return. f am sorry to appear so inhospitable, but we are living here in a very strained position with regard to our neighbors, and I cannot afford to appear indifferent in a case like this." How long will you be gone?1 "Nay, ray dear air, do not feel disappointed at your reception. I have reason to know that persons were coming up the river, whose motives were not as friendly aa yours. You have done me a great service by bringing me these papers, and another by affording me the opportunity of welcoming a countryman to these wilds, where white visitors are as rare as they are highly esteemed. Pray, let me take you to your quarters—" Campignon's reply «ras to move quietly to the side of the captured Malay, who was lying prone on the sand, the bleeding cuts in his wrist* and ankles showing how he had str*H«d the ropes [in his efforts for freedom. One cheek displayed a ragged gash, where in his fall he had struck it against a sharp stone, and which was bleeding freely. The Frenchman spoke softly to the man for a few moments, but Dunbar noticed "Have you sti en eth enough to tell me /our story?" he said, gently. This being agreed upon, they put the project .in V) execution, and each man carrying a rifle, pistols, a limited supply of ammunition and a few day's rations, they turned their footsteps to the winding path, which led to unknown dangers. When he tried to call out his tongue 'clove to the roof of his mouth and words refused utterance; but, the effort, slight as it was, aroused the faithful dog, whieh sprung to his side and began to lick his hands and face with every manifestation of joy. Suddenly the entrance to the nlacn was darkened, and there entered a young girl lightly clad in native costume who uttered a glad exclamation and ran to his side. IIow tenderly she bathed his brow, and with a great lotus-leaf fanned the flush back into his w an cheek. "Yes," came the faint reply. "My brain is strangely clear and my tongue la loosened." "Then tell me all you can, for it is sad to see you die with this unconfessed guilt upon your soul." Arthur Dunbar witnessed the departure of his host and his villainous satellite with the keenest satisfaction. Hardly were their backs turned than he was by the side of the baronet, who was sitting in his usual fashion on the broad verandah, with the dog, which never left him now, lying at his feet. Every step they took was fraught with peril. The forest and jungle were alive with the distant cries of wild animals. strange reptiles lurked in the grass beneath their feet, and a thousand 1 smaller pests retarded their progress and drove them nearly to madness with their persistent annoyance. Thus nyriads of "'eye flies,*' 110 bigger than »in#' heads, my "Then, listen. Ah. how clearly I can think now, how easy talking seems to me. I have heard that the last hour of a man's ilfe who is dying of swamp fever is always like this—a sudden anc* mysterious strength, and then—" that his words only Nerved to make the savage eyes of the prisoner gleam more fiercely. Even when Campignon got a sponge and water and bathed the wound, the Malay's intense glance of hatred was In no wise softened. Presently the Frenchman pointed to the golden bangles and asked if, as he surmised, he was a chief among his eople. The question was the first which had apparently arrested his attention. "My father's ipears are countless as the reeds on the river shore," was the muttered response he made as he turned his face away from his questioner. ;1 IL,.! y Mftll ; For a moment Campignon could not quite realize the import of the tnan*.s words, for his knowledge of Cingalese was only limited and the captive spoke in a dialect that was almost incomprehensible, but when the words had been analyzed by the quick-witted Frenchman, he proceeded to put in action hi» .meditated experiment. Stepping back to where Dunbar waa standing he considerably startled the young American by an extravagant pantomimic expression of servility, bowing to the very ground before him and approaching him with every sign of humility. ' "Do not look astonished," he said, in a low tone. "I want the prisoner to realize that you are the chief personage among us, and that he owes his freedom to your commands." His first act was to examine the outaide of the dwelling which had so long afforded him shelter. He found it to be simply a cave in the solid rock, partly natural, partly the work of man, and doubtless one of the many little temples of Buddha, abandoned aa a place of worship centuries ago, which are to be found all over this interesting country. His next task was to examine Gore's papers, the most valuable of which was a chart and a long description of the country he would have to travel. From this it appeared that he was even now within a few days' march of the place where Capt. Frank Archer had carried the victim of his treachery. This was described as a ruined city. Dunbar expressed his thanks without faltering, though he felt there was a something under the courteous manner and high-bred politeness of his host which would quickly rise to the surface if his real intentions were once fathomed—a case of the velvet glove lined with a coat of mail. But things are looking brighter all the time. Even North Carolina is beginning to wake up. Asheville has sold her strict touds, and Buncombe county fully realizes that good highways will make it a paradise, while poor ones will scare away everything but the buzzards. "Sir Harry Grahame," Dunbar said, plunging at once in media* re*, "try and rouse yourself. I have come from England to your assistance to rescue you from the toils of your false friend, Archer." "Wfcere am i? Who are you?" he He shuddered. "If these moments are so precious, do not waste them," Arthur urged. every no , .laIf blinded them, n and oi the pi i*e to stop/to pour ftil on n eech whi 'H had buried itsel r one breath of fresh air; of clear writer! Dnrsoft rights roekih(? with ma i drop of lluiil for tho par ut the dliroy wttei* they me statmact ptfujl, which nly drink after straiuii a piece of linen. and v rm and bitter to the taste the strongest amoAg tlx hold of death's drx/r. A among them was not A\ with hid mansivc frame "I will not. First, promise me that you will do your best to repair the mischief I have wrought, even at your own personal danger." * r "By the bye," said Archer, as he led him toward the bungalow, "I must prepare you for a little unpleaaant experience—the gentleman you see sitting on the verandah—you would not take him for a lunatic, now, would you?" would hi The invalid simply glane?d at the speaker, and said, in a low, careless tone: tick or I The other day we ran across a young man who was formerly a caterer for a big Broadway restaurant. Now he is runniag a thriving hotel ont west. He is a cordial and bright young Qerman, and in the course of an evening told ns a good deal about the New York waitei and caterer. his flesh. "Does it refer to the rescue of Sir Harry Grahame?" Arthur asked. "It does." Oh, fc dra tight 'ng heat wf Ttrratiia,"Archer! Yes, Archer—capital fel low, Frank Archer!" "Indeed, I would not," Arthur replied, gazing with interest on the handsome, though wasted, features of the invalid, who was fondling the dog. "He is your deadliest enemy—oh, do try and rouse yourself, Sir Harry." ind net ; iliro«t 1 froin so could o through was wr cLed gnt liey d hich ind "Then I most solemnly promise you that I will do all man can to carry out your wishes." "But Bradley is a beast, a drunken brute; he is very rough with Frank Archer and me. When I get well, 1 mean to kill Bradley, but don't say I so." There was a look of pitiful imbecility in the man's face. The truth flashed across Dunbar's brain—he was the victim of some noxious drug, doubtless administered day by day, which sapped his intellect and left him in this clironic state of stupor. He resolved on making one more appeal to the baronet's powers of memory. "We are happy now. When I tell bar will be home on the 5 o'clock train ah* mows I will. She is the happiest warnin I ever saw in my life. Jke has a few small wrinkles around where the tears have sort of left their marks, but I know who pnt 'em there, and God helping me there shall be no more of tbem." "Ah, sir, you have taken a load off my mind. Now hear my story. My name is Aaron Gore. I was born on Sir Harry's estate, played with him when a boy, served him as a man, and traitorously sold him to his enemies, when he had none near, him but myself in whom to put his trust." Arthur Dunbar had read enough to know that there were hundreds of such mysterious ruins scattered over the face of the country, even in neighborhoods now almost inaccessible—cities of remote eras, displaying in their moldering fragments relics of a civilization far in advance of the barbarian inhabitant* scattered over the miserable villages in the present day. "Yet he is mad as a March hare, as they say—not dangerously insane, but crotchety. Why, my dear fellow, it is for his sake that I am here; for they said that the climate and that sort of thing might have a beneficial effect on him—fact, I assure you." "There is a regular system," he said, "governing waiters in New York, and the man who is not in it gets left away behind. Waiters do not of course denend unou tiwir salaries and not entirel* •n their tips. At big dinners no one mows just exactly what quantity of •nything is actually used, especially the rine. broutfh the thrC •trongeb Dunbar1, limbs of a Hercules, nor the two na tires who mi?ht have been expected to endure the miseries with less suffering than the Europeans; but Capt. Campignon, whose stout frame shrank from the exposure, but whose troad was the most elastic, and whose cheery words animated his companions to fresh exertion. 3 ,m to nd the ♦hur lud "You are generosity itself, Capt. Archer; now, what is the form of your friend's malady?" Beads of agony stood on the man'a brow, as he uttered these words. And yet I am not interested financially in the Keeley institute. I do not know Dr. Keeley. In fact I am told that he ia a selfish, grasping and ignorant man, hot I welcome any good that anybody may do even accidentally. Now and then a graduate dies, but probably he would have died of drink if be had not gone to the hospital, whereas he now dies sober. "You see, sir," he continued, "it all came about of the doings of Capt. Frank Archer." "In the kitchen two bottles out of each ase are turned bottom up in the case at Dnce, which means that they are empty. Chey are clear gain. Then you know waiters are instructed to keep the glasses ull, so even tfie host does not know how tiany glasses are actually consumed at he table, for glasses half and two-thirds fall are filled up as well as those that are impty. Many guests do not drink or imoke, Their wine and cigars of course jecorne the property of the waiter. Needless to relate Arthur's tramp over the rough path through the woods, of the risks he ran and the dangers he encountered. "Hysteria and tricks of the imagination—supposes himself to be persons of consequence—once he had the idea that he was the duke of Wellington; now I think his pet Illusion is that he is Sir Harry Grahame, the hero of the Indian mutiny." THEBK ENTERED A YOUNG GIKL. "Kate, your adopted daughter, Kate, 6ent me here to rescue you. She is breaking her heart with sorrow, for they told her that you were dead." managed tD gosp, hut she only put her finger to her pretty lips, and motioned him to silence. Then she gave him food, a awaet cereal broth in a yellow earthen cup, which she held to his lips, muttering the while a low sonorous chant in the tone of a mother soothing a child to sleep. "Sometimes I think he is only a man like the rest of us, but at other times I believe he is a devil in human shape, tor surely no fiend could have wrought more mischief thgjBhe has done. He has been at thebottom of all my misery. If he were to show himself in this room I do not know that I dare tell you what has happened." "Frank Archer! Who is he?" Behold him as he steps from the dark shadows of the forest one moonlight night into the broad expanse of a lovely plain, and gazes awestruck at the ruins of a city, once magnificent, whose grandeur has vanished like a tale that is told. The palaces have fallen, the walls have tottered to their foundation, the leopard crouches in the porch of the temple, the owl roosts in its casements, the jackal roams its deserted streets. Omly the great granite slabs of Buddha, mocking time, stand perfect in their lonely grandeur. Gigantic idols, before whom millions once bowed, vacantly stare at the utter desolation. No man can say what fate befell those hosts of heathens, who, centuries before the time of Christ, trod the streets of this once fair city. •'You bear a charmed life," Dunbar said to him, fretfully, One day. "As for myself, I feel as though thk cursed climate was stealing my very manhood from me. If we do not end our journej soon- there will be nothing left for me but to lie down and die." "Ah, how sad; but I have met with hundreds of such cases." "Ah, Kate! Pretty, bonnie Kate! Kate with the golden hair! I always said the sunlight never left those soft tresses," he said, in a mild, dreamy manner, with a far-away look in his eyes. Suddenly his appearance underwent a complete change. In an instant the vacant expression left his face, his eyes beamed with a fierce, savage fury, as he cried: "Eh! What! Kate Grahame in danger! Dead, did you say? Speak! My brain is in a whirl Kate, my little Kate, in danger, and I not by her side. Speak, or I will—" We stopped the other night at a house where the landlady had three husbands all living quietly and joyfully in the same nouse witn ner. w e saw tnem an. They all sat at the same table, eating breakfast and chatting gavly together, it was at Bellaire, O. So, with mach gravity, Dunbar gave bis orders for the native's release. "Yes, sad indeed, for the poor fellow is still in the prime of life. And now, let me warn you. We humor these little tricks of the imagination." 15.V degrees the vision faded before his imagination, and he fell into a grateful slumber. When Campignon cut the man's bonds, and with the grace of a Frenchman handed him the murderous crease, which two hours before had been within an ace of costing him his life, emotions of surprise, joy and gratitude played on the Malay's features; but the siient expression of feeling was only momentary, for quickly the accustomed look of dignified indifference repossessed his features, and with a deep inclination of Ida head to the two white men, be turned hia back upon them and walked slowly up the path which led into the woods. "Cool as a cucumber!" was Dunbar's commentary. "Weil, Campignon, as the little boys say, we've been and gone and done it now, and nothing rep»|n« to us hut to abide tur the consc- At the big balls, like the Arion, the jvaiters, if on good terms with the head waiter, tip him a little add get desirable joxes to wait on, boxes occupied by wealthy and liberal people. With two such boxes, and if he is able to "put up" 'or two he will, of course, for thus he an serve wine in a way to make each xDx pay for the same bottle. With such i chance, I say, the waiter easily makes :wenty-five to fifty dollars in one even,ng, and then before the dance is over :akes off his badge and dances with one Df the society girls, chastely swinging tier two times on the corner with great lefference and aplomb. "Which you most not think of doing," Campignon observed, with a smile which showed eveiy one of his gleamingteeth, "for if anything happened to you, whet would become of these brave fellows who are trotting along with their tonjrues lolling out of their mouths like dogs?" "Well, he is not here and should not harm you if he were. Speak out, man," Arthur said, impatiently. "Of course—I understand." "So that it would be kind of you to carry on the deception." When he awoke, the same sight presented itself: The room unchanged, the rflent figure in its place, the girl and the dosr still there. Thus the time passed. It seemed to him that he only opened his eyes to gaze upon his strange surroundings, to receive sustenance at the hands of his young nurse, and to doze off again into a dreamless sleep. But by degrees he noticed that the wakeful periods grew longer, that he had even vigor enough to raise his head and gaze around him. The figure on the other couch sorely perplexed him. Who was this strange person who lay so still that he did not seem 9H0 to breathe? It was not Capt. "Yes, I must be quick," the man groaned. "I feel already weaker," then, evidently nerving himself for tha supreme effort, he poured forth his story of crime in hurried words, sometimes unintelligible, but conveying to his breathless listener its full meaning. The name of the lady was Husband, and Mr. H. and the two children made up the other three. Mr. Husband gives me permission to nint this in the paper. Good room and board at his hotel, two dollars per day. "Certainly. I will be discreet." "Occasionally he breaks out, In which case I have a reserve of brute force in the shape of a stout Englishman, once a trooper in my regiment, who has strength enough to manage him." " Yov did not tell me the name of your Invalid, Capt Archer''" "You would lead them back again, I suppose," was the weary reply. But before Dunbar's lips could frame the words, an incident occurred, which produced such a shock on his nerves that for the moment Sir Harry and his troubles were forgotten—the figure of a "Assuredly I would for my own sake as well as theirs; but you forget that if we reached Colombo without you, our chances of renumeration would be disagreeably curtailed. You see, we are not undertaking the adventure for chivalry, but are selling our services for mirar cprency." "I must write this down, if I can only find means to do so, and you must sign it," Arthur said, when he had finished. Arthur Dunbar gazed at the sight in solemn awe; then, calling the dog to his side, he sought shelter under a ruined gateway, to await the dawn of the day, which he knew would be so fateful to him. Aaron Oore's reply was to the point: "No! And for family reasons I do not care to do so. With us he goes by the name of the particular hero with whom he for the time being is identifying himself." half-naked nan, with limbs torn and bleeding, sprang from the side of the bungalow to the veranda and gnwped him by the arm. Lady (who has accidentally knocked down the artist's newly finished picture)—Oh, dear, I am so sorry. And what a pity it should have fallen on the smeary ride,—London Tit~$ita, I A Great Pity. "You will find several lead pencils with the package of papers under my pillow, sir." "The waiter also eats the titbits, the oest nieces of the steak, the liver aqd "Ah, yes, here they ar$. Nqw you [to be costixced ] Hla hnnra ct . smalaut iImd wero \'Ju» Sir Hajrv GrahuaA for instance?"
Object Description
Title | Pittston Gazette |
Masthead | Pittston Gazette, Volume 42 Number 42, May 13, 1892 |
Volume | 42 |
Issue | 42 |
Subject | Pittston Gazette newspaper |
Description | The collection contains the archive of the Pittston Gazette, a northeastern Pennsylvania newspaper published from 1850 through 1965. This archive spans 1850-1907 and is significant to genealogists and historians focused on northeastern Pennsylvania. |
Publisher | Pittston Gazette |
Physical Description | microfilm |
Date | 1892-05-13 |
Location Covered | United States; Pennsylvania; Luzerne County; Pittston |
Type | Text |
Original Format | newspaper |
Digital Format | image/tiff |
Language | English |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Contact | For information on source and images, contact the West Pittston Public Library, 200 Exeter Ave, West Pittston, PA 18643. Phone: (570) 654-9847. Email: wplibrary@luzernelibraries.org |
Contributing Institution | West Pittston Public Library |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Description
Title | Pittston Gazette |
Masthead | Pittston Gazette, Volume 42 Number 42, May 13, 1892 |
Volume | 42 |
Issue | 42 |
Subject | Pittston Gazette newspaper |
Description | The collection contains the archive of the Pittston Gazette, a northeastern Pennsylvania newspaper published from 1850 through 1965. This archive spans 1850-1907 and is significant to genealogists and historians focused on northeastern Pennsylvania. |
Publisher | Pittston Gazette |
Physical Description | microfilm |
Date | 1892-05-13 |
Location Covered | United States; Pennsylvania; Luzerne County; Pittston |
Type | Text |
Original Format | newspaper |
Digital Format | image/tiff |
Identifier | PGZ_18920513_001.tif |
Language | English |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Contact | For information on source and images, contact the West Pittston Public Library, 200 Exeter Ave, West Pittston, PA 18643. Phone: (570) 654-9847. Email: wplibrary@luzernelibraries.org |
Contributing Institution | West Pittston Public Library |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Full Text | ' ; Vv j»_ fit! mt D " %! •% - * J* ESTABLISHED 1SSO. » VOL. XI..II. VO. 41. f Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming Valley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA.. FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1892. A Weekly Local and Family Journal. \uZE* V^V^^VTV—CGPTRICHT«I A-XXLUJXCxtxswroic*. "I know it. Campignon,'' Dunbar said. Campignon—that lie was certain—for the captain's locks were raven black, while this man's hair was a dull yellow, and not all the disease which ever afflicted humanity could cause the sailor's bronze cheek to fade to such a ghastly hue. It could not be a dead body which was lying there? The thought was horrible, and he dismissed it, for he well knew that in tropical countries a very few hours occasion the putrefaction of all dead animal substances."but I have provided against such a contingency. I have left your pay secured to you in the bank at Colombo and enough to make these faithful fellows happy for the rest of their lives il case anything happened to me." short. When the blazing sun dawned, he realized more fully the beauty of his surroundings. He was on the verge of a plain studded with beautiful trees, among which the palm towered iu graceful majesty. Peacocks spread their gaudy plnmage as they strutted over the green turf, pelicans floated like huge balls of snow in the air, and great white land cranes stood as still as though they were carved in marble. But hark! the gurgling, sweet, soft sounds of the bulbul and the crooning melody of the jungle partridge. "Exactly. Now let me introduce you. liy what name, by the bye?" RAMBLING BILL NYE. co Mil a silver mine in Utah. I wae to have $30,000 for it and a share of the stock in the new organization, also to be an officer of the company. "A friend came to me the day before the meeting at which the money was to be paid and the election held. George,' he said, 'for God s sake try to keep sober until this matter is safely settled. It is the turning point in your life. Afterward, if yon want to have a little spree, tare it, bat not now.' Arthur Dunbar daslred boldly at a pseudonym. "Arthur—John Arthur," he said,without a blush. X WRITfS FROM PENNSYLVANIA ABOUT THINGS IN GENERAL. For a few minutes the Frenchman walked on in silence. Suddenly he i turned to Arthur and said, eagerly: "One of the Arthurs of Derbyshire?" "Exactly." .ailroad* and Other Kutdi. How Waiters "Then, by Jove, I know one of your kinsmen—Piers Calvcrly Arthur, of the Queen's Bays—as gay a 'ad as ever crossed a horse or threw a main of dice." m New York Keep the Wolf from tk« rtoor—The Story of a Drunkard—A "What made you tell me that? Hate you no fear that I should play you false? What is to hinder me from ! abandoning yoa in this wilderness? I Why, man, you cannot even speak a word of the native language, while I could talk these natives into any plot before your very eyes, and you be none the wiser." Woman with Three Husbands. [Copyright, 18B2, by Edgar W. Nye.] "Do yon think a sane man would at Juch a time go and fill himself up with whisky? Well I did. When I to nyself it was day after tomorrow. TVs tenderloin of the terrapin and the eggs and fins of the greeg turtle. Once when he awoke it was night. The lamp swung from its pendent ring, but the girl and the do» were gone He glanced nervously at the other couch and shivered as he saw that its occupant was still in its place. It was, he felt, horrible to be alone with this silent efflfry of manhood. He cried for assistance. nis voice sounded strangely hollow, but his heart leaped with joy as he found that he could utter articulate sounds which weak&ess had hitherto rendered impossible. But there was no response to his call. Again he uttered a low, pitiful wail. Would no one hear it? Yes, the sick man on the other bed heard it, and as he heard it he raised his wasted form upon his hands and glared at Arthur Dunbar with eyeslike living jewels set in the face of marble. "Ah, poor Piers!' Dunbar sighed, hypocritically. Today we passed peacefully and univentfully into Pennsylvania. For two reeks we have been devastating the ;reat state of Ohio. Yesterday we came » Bellaire by means of the Baltimore ind Ohio railroad. The Baltimore and Jhio railroad is not a favorite with us. Lt somehow has no magnetism or power o make friends rapidly. But Dunbar's spirit was too vexed for him to revel in the glory of beautiful scenery; for he fully realized the dangers of his position. "Yes, poor beggar, he went to the dogs—lock, stock and barrel, but he was a good sort before he got into th«- hands of the Jews." [comireiD. ] quences of what seems to me a verj j risky experiment." Keeping under the shadows of the crumbling walls, he threaded his way through the labyrinth of ruins, his dog "A waiter friend of mine at Corny [aland made eight dollar* in one day with a bone." "How waa that!" "Wall, he had a sirloin steak bona aad osed it on all hia sirloin customers. He would get a cheap forty cent steak in the kitchen and insert this boos underneath it en route, then he would ask if the guest would hare it carred, and of course the guest woukL Then he would bring the sirloin steaT aa ordered, with the bone apparently cut oat aad laid on one side. After the guest was through, Mr. Waiter again took posessrion of the bone, which he kept under hia jacket ready for another two dollar ririoia steak victim." Waiters ace often, I am afraid, somewhat given to this sort of thing, especially at the snasiile resorts. So alae an proprietors, tfthewaitew "I know it, Campignon, but—" "But?" Then followed the introduction to the baronet, who acknowledged the ceremony with a vacant stare, and betook himself again to strolling the dog's head, which the loving creature had rested on his knee, his brown eyes peering into his master's with an intensity which was. almost human in its muwexpressioo."No. no," Campignon declared, confidently. ' "It only remains for us to discover the whereabouts of the white man, and we have accounted for all the crew of the sampan. If there were more of them in the vicinity we should have had them on us ere this, for the report of a gun iB an unusual sound in these wilds. However, to "But, I trust myself to you without a thrill of misapprehension, for I know that though you would stoop to trickery and deceit in small things, you will be true as steel to the man who trusts you, when once you have bound yourself to follow his fortunes." CHAPTER XIV The New York Central has an air of efinement, of course, and reserve that iays plain enough that it has nothing to As there is in Ceylon no twilight in the evening—no "children's hour" between light and darkness—so the bloodred sun in the morning rises with a leap on the horizon pouring forth the heat of a furnace from the very minute that his blazing shield peeps over the treetops.IN THE WOODS. xaboit gore's statement. lie back and rest, whilst 1 write your deposition." Campignon's eyes glistened. And this is what Art her Dunbar wrote, casting every now and then an anxious glance at the sick man, who lay watching his pencil as it moved rapidly over the paper: Dunbar gladly accepted Capt Archer's make assurance doubly sure, let us patrol the woods and see what we can find." "And you have implicit confidence in tnel" he said, with tremulous tone. "Then, by the Lord, young man, you 6hall never have cause to regret it." Invitation to spend a few Juys under hie hospitable roof, his liocst assuring him that there was an abundance of game in the nei ghborhood, and that he would eventually send him on his way towards Colombo. To t*?l 1 the truth, Capt. Arclier was rather glad of the young man's visit; tirst because it relieved the monotony of the dull life he led. and secondly because it would be s good card to play to send a young man of high family back to civilization with the report that the European gentleman assuming to be Sir llarry Grahame was merely a harmless lunatic under the kind care of friends who sacrificed their own comfort to give him the benefit of a residence in a climate peculiarly adapted for his particular malady. This thev did. making the iroiMt.'tant discovery that it an island they were on at all, bat a small peninsula They had all slept during the brief hours of repose, feeling that as they had risked the danger of freeing their captive, the precaution of a puar 1 was wasting the energies of anyone among them, whose precious strength would soon be taxed to the utmost. Dvjibnr was the first to wake, aroused by the dog which had from the hour they found it manifested the strongest attachment towai ds liiai. nDd now approached him and gently licked his face. There is a prevalent idea that most tropical forests teem with wild fruits, which nature is supposed to produce spontaneously. Nothing can be more erroneous. It is true our adventurers sometimes found the gnava and katumbille, which served to slack their burning thirst, the blackberries and the acid gooseberries, and very rarely the sweet "morra" which grows in grapelike clusters, but none of these were plentiful. The beautiful "jambo" apple hung temptingly over their heads, but though it is exquisite in appearance, being snow-white with pink blushes on its Bide, they soon discovered that it was vapid and tasteless—a Dead sea fruit. But. if the wild bushes did not pander to 1be sense of taste, they gratified those of light and odor, for on every side the most exquisite flowers drooped, ladening the heavy air with their delicious perfume. "Who calls me?" he said, in a voice so feeble that it was little more than a whisper. "I, Aaron Gore, believitafc myself on the point of death, do make the following statement, which I solemnly declare to be true: That I waf in tbe service of Sir Harry Grahame as valet when that gentleman was sick of the fever at Kistmnn, in India, during the early part of January of lafit year; thai there was also in attendance on the sick baronet his friend, Capt. Frank Archer; that Sir Harry Otabame had prepared a will leaving the greater part of his fortune to Mills Kate Grahame, his adopted daughter; that I entered into conspiracy with Capt. Frank Archer to prevent; the accomplishment of this act; that (apt. Archer Induced me to aid him in $Dis fraud by a bribe of one hundred pounds and a promise of a thousand pounds if our scheme proved successful; that, in pursuance of this plan, a groom in Sir Harry's service who lay on the point of death stricken with a fever contracted at the same time as his master, on a hunting expedition in the jungles, was palmed off on the doctor of the Forty-seventh regiment as the baronet; that this doctor gave the certificate of cause of death and burial permit, fully believing that the dead man was Sir Harry Grahame; that the sick baronet was carried by us to the sea coast and shipped in charge of Capt. Archer to Colombo, whence he was removed to the interior of Ceylon; that I, acting under orders of Capt Archer, remained at Kistmun in charge of the supposed deceased baronet's effects; that I received a telegram from Joha Colburn, an attorney in London, who was also in the conspiracy, ordering me to proceed at once to Colombo, where I should find Instructions how to reach Capt. Archer in his retreat; that I was to make my way to him and warn him that two men had left England with the purpose of discovering the whereabouts of the baronet, whom they believed ta be still alive; that 1 sailed for Colombo, found a sealed packet of instructions there, prepared for such an emergency; that I started on my journey in charge of Ashnn Ghooli, son of the chief of a village under whose protection Archer was living; that we reached the end of our passage along the Quagla river, and sent a war-canoe down the stream with Instructions to take prisoners any Euroo*ana thev mitrht meet and remain on guard at a given spot until they were notified to return; that on undertakin1 the journey across tbe wilderness I was seized with the jungle fever, of which I am now dying; and that I heartily repent of my wicktdness, and Implore the forgiveness of my wronged master, whose release, i humbly praj God. may be speedily accomplished." WvaMt Arthur Dunbar, terrified at the ghastly spectacle, made no reply. "Who calls?" wailed the man, imploringly. "Oh. for an English ear to listen to my guilty story! If I could only speak to a fellow-countryman, Sir Harry Grahame might yet be rescued and my soul saved from eternal punishment; but no one here can understand a word I say and I must die unconfessedT'thek . . I am glad. get even with some of the robbers' roosfc in which they an employed. • Once I thought I would like a elan bake at Long Branch. I had done well the previous winter playing to •*— room only, aad ao I aaid to two or threa friends: "Let us make merry. ltA«" the clam is white for the harvest We will go even unto Pleasure hay aad we will open a watermelon." And we weat forth. We had a quart of unahucked clams with draws butter. It wss drawn by an amateur artist from Throgg's Neck. We also had a watermelon. That was all. In Kew this meal would have been seventy-five cents or oae dollar perhaps. Our bill was twenty-three dollan, without wine. Ever since then I take my dinner with me when I go to Loag Branch. "Good old fellow!" Arthur said, taking the animal's head between his hands and looking earnestly into the brown, honest eyes. "Heaven has sent you to aid us in our coming paril; for I have a strong presentiment that your instinct may be more useful to us than our own brain power. Good dog! Fine fellow! I would not take a thousand pounds for you this moment." THROUGH THE LABYRINTH OF KUIK8. well at heel, and every sense acute for a coming peril; but the only things which startled him were the huge lizards which scuttled away to their lairs in the rocks. As for the birds and monkeys, thev D&id no attention to him. (or most of them were sacred animals among the natives and utterly indifferent to the approach of man's footsteps. No sign of human habitation among these dismantled halls. Ah, yes—the scene bursts upon him with startling suddenness—an open clearing, a spacious wooden house with a broad verandah, a well built bungalow, in fact, and, sitting on a rocking chair, a man, while another stands beside him rifle in hand and evidently equipped for a hunting expedition—and, both Europeans. As the poor wretch breathed the whispered words he fell back on his couch senseless. And now a strange vitality seemed to possess the frame of the young American. He raised himself from his rough bed, and with tottering steps stumbled across the room to the bedside of the unhappy man. One glance at .Joe Bradley, the reserved brute force, the power behind the throne, was enough to convince Dunbar that he was a villain of the lowest type of human degradation, whose only redeeming quality was a blind love of ardent spirits which he drank morning, noon and night, and which kept him in a state of bemuddled stupor. Two native servants completed the menage of this small establishment. The camp was struck, and, after • hasty mesl, a few minutes were devoted to a council of war between tlie young American and his trusty lieutenant.AN ASHEVILLE ROAD. "Speak out, man," he hoarsely cried. "What have you to say about Sir Harry Grahame?" be ashamed of. Yet it does not come and put its hand on one's shoulder and make one feel like taking off his coat ou a warm day and sitting out on the piazza. The New York Central says in effect, "I lead a blameless life, and of course I like my friends, but I do not care to extend my acquaintance very generally." For five days the wearied men followed the mysterious path, becoming hourly more exhausted with their toil, yet without having met with any adventure worth recording. During the extreme heat of midday and in the darkness which overshadowed them like a curtain before the moon rose, they slept, stretched on light hammocks which they hung to the branches of trees. * It was a sickening sight—one, a ghost of his former self, so weak that he could with difficulty stand, even though his thin hands nervously clutched the side of the couch—the other, exhausted to the very verge of death, yet startled from prostration by the unexpected appeal. projecting from the mainland by a narrow neck of land, along which led a track, which could hardly be called a path, yet where the prickly brushwood had b**n sufficiently cleared to permit the cautious advance of a single person. Up this they penetrated as far as they thought it advisable to go, leaving one of the natives on guard at the landing place. SPRANG UPON CAMPIGNON. "What do you say, Campignon? Shall we follow this track through the woods, or turn back into the lake? For myself, I think that our trail lies by land. What say you?" One thing that had puzzled Dunbar was the absence of the hordes of Cingalese who were said to infest this region —large villages of people kving in a state of semi-barbarism, stories of whose ferocity and lawlessness had reached his ears in Colombo, where every one was eager to add his share to the terrible tales of their misdoings. He had seen no sign of them; the country appeared almost uninhabited, and he came to the conclusion that the information which had reached him had been either exaggerated or was altogether false. But, on the second day after his arrival, this pleasant delusion was dispelled; for just as they were about to start on a hunting excursion Capt. Archer received a message by a runner, which brought a cloud on his brow and a torrent of strong words from his lips. The Illinois Central is a sort of an incorporated hoodlum. It does not . care for God or man. It was given so mnch valuable land for building its road that its head immediately swelled, and ever since then the poor facers along its line have had no rights. ' Yesterday we atw a boose at Lancaster n which natural gas had ban and to ixcesa. One winter day Mr. Natural ias sprung aleak under the street, aad is there was no method of egraas except xD follow the pipe along to thie gentle nan's hoose.it did so, and thaa filled hts •ellar full of aioenew gas that had new been used before. By aad fay the hired nan was heard to scratch a match Kriakly against himaelf, aad m an instant there was not h brick left on top of •oad than I ever another brick. The house waa literally D on the Union demolished and wiped out of nrietencs. There were seven people in the house, peculiarities and, strange to say, not one of them waa United States is a killed. Soma of oourae were injured, indeed to me. 1 but all recovered, and some were hardlv jng all kinda of hurt at all. Yon would not believe it to rat never so hard look at the house. •nore and Ohio. Lancaster is also supplied with a . and Ohio Drunkards' retreat It is not one of the restless night once Keeley brand, but a sort of independent pper eleven was institution, using similar nitwit, hot re» was car sick. Of fusing to pay tribute to the great moid was to blame nopoly at Dwight. I visited the inatttn♦hings he had eaten tion, and can now say that I am a well ly's digestion a man, returned to my family and friends d not try to conceal with no more desire to touch alcoholic He was perfectly liquors than anything. ng the matter. The place Is pleasantly located in the :e in the matter of residence portion of town. I visited it /oads are attract- at the hour when the patient receives his cereat. Two great jab in the arm. There is no mystery to ently printed excel- it except the liquid given. That is not subject, and the known to the average citiasn. All we up to the fact know is that the patient has hie circula- "That you are right, sir. Like most of my breed, .1 am a fatalist, aud I believe that our finding this channel was a little more than luck, and that we should be mad to throw away the clew that fortune has placed in our hands." o'4iure iio c.»u c:ay mm, uie aog nas sprung from his side and is fawningly caressing the man reclining on the chair, literally howling in the ecstacy of his joy at the meeting. "Who are you?" gasped the recumbent fimire. i "One who aeeJk* Sir Harry Orahame. 'Oh, speak quickly, or it may be too late. What have you done with him?" It was during one of these resting spells that the first disaster of consequence occurred. One among them had been accustomed to watch over the sleeper, the being shared in turn by European and native. On this occasion C'ampignon had been on duty. No noise had aroused the tired sleepers, yet when they woke it was to find the Frenchman missing—the Frenchman and the dog. In vain they cried aloud till the woods reechoed their voices; in vain they fired oil their rifles and waited a response. The Frenchman was gone from their midst, and, what was worse, he had taken their best rifle and their dog with him. "It all lies in a nut-shell," Campignon said, decisively. "The white man has taken to the woods here, and we must follow him; bnt not till the men are rested, for they have toiled for nearly twenty hours." "Fortune! Say rather Providence.'' Before Dunbar can spring behind the friendly shelter of a rock, the man ivith the rifle advances and challenges him. The New England road is very gentlemanly, and oven its railroad hands, they tell me, are manicured every day. Yet it is not so cordial as some roads. I came nearer freezing to death last winte: on the New England _ did in a snow blockad* Pacific. "As you will see. I am only a rough sailor, and leave such nice distinctions •to my betters." But though the white lips moved, no sound came from them, and, Arthur Dunbar, feeling that his strength was spent, reeledt back to his couch, on which he fell, quivering with the reaction of an effort which had nearly cost him his life. At a glance Dunbar assured himself that the tall, erect, handsome man of fifty approaching him was the redoubtable Frank Archer, and he had shrewd suspicions that the one in the chair was Sir Harry Grahame. The man's levity jarred upon Dunbar's sensitive nature. Drought up in the atmosphere of a New England home, he felt that, if ever there was a time in his life when he needed the interposition of a Divine influence, it was now, and the Frenchman's words "And yon advise?" Dunbar asked. "That we camp for a few hours and then get on to the man's trail." They found on their return to the boat captive and guard seated silently side side; the one sullen and glum, as though brooding over his defeat; the other exultant in his newly-invested authority, for the native Cingalese dearly "ioves to lord it over his fellows. Presently his little nurse and the dog returned, the former filled with remorse at having left her charge for the brief time that it took her and her fourfooted friend to indulge in a scamper through the wood in the moonlight. The young American had no time to prepare a story suitable to the occasion, thrust as he was by accident into the heat of the adventure; and it was very creditable to his natural courage and peace of mind that he advanced without a tremor on his handsome countenance—nay, even with a smile. The stwdy of the personal of railroads in the very interesting one have been thrown an railroads this season, as I was by the Baltin- It was on the Baltimon that I passed a very in lower eleven. U occupied by a boy w Y course the rough r( mostly for it, but the, would disturb anybod little, I thiuk. He d; anything from me. frank with me regardii "See here, Mr. Arthur," he said, "I cannot go shooting with you this morning. It appears that the natives in the village over yonder hill have got into a row about a white fellow they captured nearly a month ago, and who has been doing a turn at the paddle of a war canoe, for some atrocious crime against the community; for, though patient and far-enduring, these simple people will turn to avenge themselves at last." "Oh, the false-hearted traitor! to leave me like this for a few paltry pieces of gold!" Dunbar groaned, when the natives who had scoured the woods returned after a vain search. He could not communicate to them his suspicions. lie could only sit upon the trunk of a fallen tree and give way to despair. Somehow his memory seemed to be failing him; he forgot where he was; the trees assumed fantastic shapes; the rocks seemed to be perpetually wheeling round, and his head was heavy as lead. lie had an indistinct idea that he was falling, a blurred vision of a tawny coolie twining his arms around him, and his senses failed him utterly. Thus a week passed. Every day the American gained strength and at last was in a condition to assist the girl iu her ministrations of mercy, tending the dying man with a solicitude instigated by the burning desire to secure his secret as much as by human sympathy for his afflictions. But their efforts seemed futile. His was a life in death. The heart beat feebly, the breath lingered on his lips, occasionally the eyes opened and the lips parted as though he were about to speak, but beyond this he gave no signs of animation. From the girt Arthur could learn nothing. She made him understand by gestures that she was to wait on him hand and foot with the docility of a slave and that when he was well enough she would conduct him to a place of safety—at least so he understood her. "Has he spoken?" Campignon asked. "Yes," was the proud reply. "He offered me the gold bangles he wears if 1 would aid him to escape." "I presume I have the honor of addressing Capt. Archer?" he asked. "What do yon want with Capt. Archer?" was the stern response, neither denying nor admitting the identity. "Which you refused?" The Malay's eyes gleamed in trinmpbant consciousness of fidelity, as he nodded a scornful assent. "Some papers belonging to him have accidentally fallen into my possession, and I -have come a tedious journey to restore them to him." "I hardly understand you, Capt. Archer. Do you mean that you are auxious about the white man's safety?" "Tell him," Dunbar said, when the man's action was translated to him, "that when we reach Colombo I will give him five times the value of the golden bangles; but, how comes it, Campignon, that the prisoner is wearing such expensive ornaments?" I am glad to not. highways that country iug a good deal •_ f iu magazines have rec lent articles on the whole country is waking that millions of dollars annually go toward roadbuilding that might as well go to the bottom of Lake Victoria Nyanza."That is very kind of you. May I ask, sir, how you came by these documents? My name is Archer, and they are doubtless mine." "Not a bit! IIo was caught redhanded in crime—the brutal murder oi a native boatman. Through my intervention, they commuted the sentence of death to a term at the canoes, and now he has escaped and I am afraid it will entail trouble on me." "By the oddest accident that ever befell me," Dunbar said, frankly. "I have been on a shooting expedition up the country. Coming down the lake I was attracted by a stream that led inland, and following its course reached a place in the woods where I could land. Here I was abandoned by my coolies, and had a rough time of it. Chance led me to a deserted temple, where I found a white man lying in the agonies of death. He had just time to give me the papers he was carrying to you and extort a promise from me that I would deliver them to you when he breathed his last. Veila tout! I am here!" "Because," replied the Frenchman, looking earnestly at the prostrate figure before him, "he is a chief, or the son of a chief. I wish I knew for certain just what he is." tion brought up to a bichloride of gold standard and he is given fall value - other ***— : The dying man signed this irregular document with feeble hand, for the current of his life was fast ebbing. CHAPTEH XV. A DEATHBED REPENTANCE. "How so?" tmrnig v men. "It is insanity," Mid a graduate of th« worth institution. "It was » ny case at least Ucoholic insanity. No lane man would hare dooe as I did. Practically I was not a right sober man lor two yean. Finally I had a chance rayers of the mine had gone away, aad hough it was three yean ago they have Dot yet returned. "I started oat for Dwight then, I impose. I did not quite know where I was oing, hat on the way I strode Leavenworth, a branch institution, and stopped here. Everybody deserted me. My father-in-law, to whom I wrote for • little - a savage letter When Arthur Dub bar recovered consciousness it was to find himself ift a small apartment, whose interior was so remarkable that for the moment he felt tli at he must be the victim of some delirium, which peopled his fancy with strange shapes and unusual objects. "You quite understand that I am going to use your papers and charts?" Dunbar asked. "Well, do you not sec that if it had not been for my interposition, he would have paid the penalty of his crimebut, I cannot waste words of explanation. The m:in is gone now, and I must go and help to find him." Our wagon roads throughout the country are generally a disgrace to civilization, and before we undertake to supply Jaeger underwear and sealskin covered Bibles with flexible backs to the African, it might be well to put a few dollars into the relief of galled and broken down horses that have lost their health on our miserable highways. "For the reason that if he is really what I think he is I would make an appeal to his native sense of chivalry. You smile, but, sir, let me tell you that these pirate chieftains have a code of honor as sensitive as it is remarkable. One act of generosity from an enemy will accomplish m*Dre than a thousand blows." "Why?" LED TO UNKNOWN DANGERS One mystery to Arthur was where the food came from that his active nurse always had in preparation, and a still greater surprise was how quickly he regained his strength when once the fever had left him, for each morning he arose with a renewed energy, which promised soon to restore him to his pristine vigor. Put he argued with himself if he recovered too quickly he would be called upon to leave the spot before he had secured the sick man's confession. This would never do, so he feigned weakness and allowed bis gentle attendant to minister to his wants. His patience met with its reward a* last. were not pleasant to hii ear; but he restrained the reproach that rose to his lips, and quietly asked: C1IAPTEH XVI. AN EVELKSS EUKN. "I can be of no use, of course," Dun bar said, coldly. "Shall we leave a guard with the boat?" There were strange doings in tha chamber in the woods, Arthur Dunbar thought, when he awoke the morning after Aaron Gore's untimely end; for how could the corpse have been removed without his awakening? And where had the CingakM* g.'rl betaken herself? Yes, he was alone; and the object of his sudden desertion filled him with surprise. That his young nurse hajfcleft him for good was self-apparent, for she bad tied the dog by a piece of cord to the root of a tree at the entrance of the rude apartment. "What is the use? If we ever come back—which I very much doubt—even if the sampan is stolen, we can build a raft; whereas, if the natives mean mischief, a man singlehand would be no more protection to our property than a lady's pet spaniel." The walls were of solid rock, the roof was oval, and on its rounded sides stalactites glittered like precious 6tones. He was lying on a couch hewn out of the virgin stone and covered with pan' ther skins. From an iron ring in the ceiling hung an oil lamp which gave a flickering light. By the side of his bed the dog lay apparently sound asleep. But what caused him the greatest surprise was another couch, the fac-simile of the one upon which he was lying, on which was stretched the figure of a man whose waxen face showed that he was either very sick or even dead, for his eyes were closed and his hands were crossed ou his breast. In vain he listened for a sound, but all was as silent as a tomb. "Well, yes, indeed, you might do m« a great service. 1 should like to takt Bradley with me, and if you would only look after my invalid friend while 1 am gone, 1 should be immensely grateful." The country system, as I recall it, was in my boyhood about as poor and insufficient as it could well be. Each township was divided up into road districts, and each road district was presided over by an overseer of highways, whose duty it was to collect so many days' work or so many dollars from each taxpayer in the district. Of course no taxpayer would pay a dollar when he could come and make mud pies on the road all day and visit and gossip with the neighbors and save his dollar too. The result aeemed to be that the work'done was misdirected and an injury to the road. With.all due respect to the fanner,! will state right here that he does not know how to make roads. An all wise Providence never intended that he should know. The professional roadbuilder, with the money used by ignorant sapheads and self made road architects, would in a few years make roads in the United States over which two or three times the present sized load could be aasily drawn, and the dumb beasts of the republic would rise up and call us blessed for doing it. "If I were to unloose that nianH bonds and let him go free, he would die sooner than barm me." "As, for instance?" "You said, air, I think, that you were coming doten the lake, when this happened?""Oh, that I can do with pleasure," Arthur replied, not too eagerly. "Well, as we must either kill him or set him loose when 'we iharch, the experiment is perhaps worth a trial." "Then what shall we do?" Dunbar saw in a moment the importance of the queation, and resolved on equvocatkra. help, wrote dm tbont myfefcrf"" "Find a hollow tree and hide our traps in it—the food we cannot take with ub, the ammunition we should be foolish to overburden ourselves with. It will be short commons with us for a time, I fancy, but we must march against the enemy with light baggage, or we shall die by the roadside before we can reach his lair, which I fancy lies some distance up this wooded wilderness." "He will be of little trouble to you— just simply see that he does not wandei away, and, above everything, do nol contradict him. If he declares that he is King Solomon, humor the freak of his imagination." in* "Have I your consent to act as I think best?" Campignon demanded. tnd then lame, etc., One night the sick man raised liimseb on his bed, as he bad done once before and in a weak voice begged Dunbar to come to him. In a minute Arthur was by his side, supporting the trembling frame on his arm and bending his head over him. "What I said I meant," he replied sternly, "but, had I known that my exertions would be so little appreciated, I-" lance. "Everybody forgot me but my wife! She sold the cow and came oo to enrourageme at Leaven worth. Yon think, perhaps, it's all easy after yon get to the institute. ▲ little jab in the ana, a few teaspoonfuls of medicine and a bath and you are well. Do not believe it. For weeks and weeks I would jump oat of my skin if a man dropped a shingle nail an the sidewalk fifty feet away. Ton cant give a man new nerves in three weeks when he has been ten years destroying them. But yon can quell that insanity for a few weeks and in that time get the best of it, if you really want to be a human being instead of a sorrowful joke on humanity aad a feeble minded horror to your friends. i'My wife stuck by me. Hurrahed for me even when I sat and cried and almost gave up the fight; read to me aad patted me on the back and gave me good things to eat instead of telling me what a worst I was. She talked about everything else except my lost and undone oooditkw. Even when she prayed for me she did not come down to the footlights aad hold the center of the stage while she did it She did it on the sly, and drew me into a game of 'high fire* between whiles to sort of take my attention off my misery. "Why, eertainly, my friend. You know more about the ways of this strange people than ' do; besides, as I said before, it is the least obnoxious of the only two alternatives we have." He was half glad to be alone, yet regretful that the opportunity had been denied him of making her understand how grateful he was for her tender solicitude, especially when he saw that to the last she had been mindful ot his interests; for his knapsack, rifle and ammunition were placed ready to his hand, and a skin bag lay beside them filled with dried meat and the heavy, sodden maize cakes, which did duty for bread in that region. All these preparations spoke as plainly as words that the unknown friends, who had been playing special providence to him, meant him to take his immediate departure. His boldness disarmed suspicion. "I will. "I do tStDt know, but as the fellow has got a good start, it will be 1 robably before we return. f am sorry to appear so inhospitable, but we are living here in a very strained position with regard to our neighbors, and I cannot afford to appear indifferent in a case like this." How long will you be gone?1 "Nay, ray dear air, do not feel disappointed at your reception. I have reason to know that persons were coming up the river, whose motives were not as friendly aa yours. You have done me a great service by bringing me these papers, and another by affording me the opportunity of welcoming a countryman to these wilds, where white visitors are as rare as they are highly esteemed. Pray, let me take you to your quarters—" Campignon's reply «ras to move quietly to the side of the captured Malay, who was lying prone on the sand, the bleeding cuts in his wrist* and ankles showing how he had str*H«d the ropes [in his efforts for freedom. One cheek displayed a ragged gash, where in his fall he had struck it against a sharp stone, and which was bleeding freely. The Frenchman spoke softly to the man for a few moments, but Dunbar noticed "Have you sti en eth enough to tell me /our story?" he said, gently. This being agreed upon, they put the project .in V) execution, and each man carrying a rifle, pistols, a limited supply of ammunition and a few day's rations, they turned their footsteps to the winding path, which led to unknown dangers. When he tried to call out his tongue 'clove to the roof of his mouth and words refused utterance; but, the effort, slight as it was, aroused the faithful dog, whieh sprung to his side and began to lick his hands and face with every manifestation of joy. Suddenly the entrance to the nlacn was darkened, and there entered a young girl lightly clad in native costume who uttered a glad exclamation and ran to his side. IIow tenderly she bathed his brow, and with a great lotus-leaf fanned the flush back into his w an cheek. "Yes," came the faint reply. "My brain is strangely clear and my tongue la loosened." "Then tell me all you can, for it is sad to see you die with this unconfessed guilt upon your soul." Arthur Dunbar witnessed the departure of his host and his villainous satellite with the keenest satisfaction. Hardly were their backs turned than he was by the side of the baronet, who was sitting in his usual fashion on the broad verandah, with the dog, which never left him now, lying at his feet. Every step they took was fraught with peril. The forest and jungle were alive with the distant cries of wild animals. strange reptiles lurked in the grass beneath their feet, and a thousand 1 smaller pests retarded their progress and drove them nearly to madness with their persistent annoyance. Thus nyriads of "'eye flies,*' 110 bigger than »in#' heads, my "Then, listen. Ah. how clearly I can think now, how easy talking seems to me. I have heard that the last hour of a man's ilfe who is dying of swamp fever is always like this—a sudden anc* mysterious strength, and then—" that his words only Nerved to make the savage eyes of the prisoner gleam more fiercely. Even when Campignon got a sponge and water and bathed the wound, the Malay's intense glance of hatred was In no wise softened. Presently the Frenchman pointed to the golden bangles and asked if, as he surmised, he was a chief among his eople. The question was the first which had apparently arrested his attention. "My father's ipears are countless as the reeds on the river shore," was the muttered response he made as he turned his face away from his questioner. ;1 IL,.! y Mftll ; For a moment Campignon could not quite realize the import of the tnan*.s words, for his knowledge of Cingalese was only limited and the captive spoke in a dialect that was almost incomprehensible, but when the words had been analyzed by the quick-witted Frenchman, he proceeded to put in action hi» .meditated experiment. Stepping back to where Dunbar waa standing he considerably startled the young American by an extravagant pantomimic expression of servility, bowing to the very ground before him and approaching him with every sign of humility. ' "Do not look astonished," he said, in a low tone. "I want the prisoner to realize that you are the chief personage among us, and that he owes his freedom to your commands." His first act was to examine the outaide of the dwelling which had so long afforded him shelter. He found it to be simply a cave in the solid rock, partly natural, partly the work of man, and doubtless one of the many little temples of Buddha, abandoned aa a place of worship centuries ago, which are to be found all over this interesting country. His next task was to examine Gore's papers, the most valuable of which was a chart and a long description of the country he would have to travel. From this it appeared that he was even now within a few days' march of the place where Capt. Frank Archer had carried the victim of his treachery. This was described as a ruined city. Dunbar expressed his thanks without faltering, though he felt there was a something under the courteous manner and high-bred politeness of his host which would quickly rise to the surface if his real intentions were once fathomed—a case of the velvet glove lined with a coat of mail. But things are looking brighter all the time. Even North Carolina is beginning to wake up. Asheville has sold her strict touds, and Buncombe county fully realizes that good highways will make it a paradise, while poor ones will scare away everything but the buzzards. "Sir Harry Grahame," Dunbar said, plunging at once in media* re*, "try and rouse yourself. I have come from England to your assistance to rescue you from the toils of your false friend, Archer." "Wfcere am i? Who are you?" he He shuddered. "If these moments are so precious, do not waste them," Arthur urged. every no , .laIf blinded them, n and oi the pi i*e to stop/to pour ftil on n eech whi 'H had buried itsel r one breath of fresh air; of clear writer! Dnrsoft rights roekih(? with ma i drop of lluiil for tho par ut the dliroy wttei* they me statmact ptfujl, which nly drink after straiuii a piece of linen. and v rm and bitter to the taste the strongest amoAg tlx hold of death's drx/r. A among them was not A\ with hid mansivc frame "I will not. First, promise me that you will do your best to repair the mischief I have wrought, even at your own personal danger." * r "By the bye," said Archer, as he led him toward the bungalow, "I must prepare you for a little unpleaaant experience—the gentleman you see sitting on the verandah—you would not take him for a lunatic, now, would you?" would hi The invalid simply glane?d at the speaker, and said, in a low, careless tone: tick or I The other day we ran across a young man who was formerly a caterer for a big Broadway restaurant. Now he is runniag a thriving hotel ont west. He is a cordial and bright young Qerman, and in the course of an evening told ns a good deal about the New York waitei and caterer. his flesh. "Does it refer to the rescue of Sir Harry Grahame?" Arthur asked. "It does." Oh, fc dra tight 'ng heat wf Ttrratiia,"Archer! Yes, Archer—capital fel low, Frank Archer!" "Indeed, I would not," Arthur replied, gazing with interest on the handsome, though wasted, features of the invalid, who was fondling the dog. "He is your deadliest enemy—oh, do try and rouse yourself, Sir Harry." ind net ; iliro«t 1 froin so could o through was wr cLed gnt liey d hich ind "Then I most solemnly promise you that I will do all man can to carry out your wishes." "But Bradley is a beast, a drunken brute; he is very rough with Frank Archer and me. When I get well, 1 mean to kill Bradley, but don't say I so." There was a look of pitiful imbecility in the man's face. The truth flashed across Dunbar's brain—he was the victim of some noxious drug, doubtless administered day by day, which sapped his intellect and left him in this clironic state of stupor. He resolved on making one more appeal to the baronet's powers of memory. "We are happy now. When I tell bar will be home on the 5 o'clock train ah* mows I will. She is the happiest warnin I ever saw in my life. Jke has a few small wrinkles around where the tears have sort of left their marks, but I know who pnt 'em there, and God helping me there shall be no more of tbem." "Ah, sir, you have taken a load off my mind. Now hear my story. My name is Aaron Gore. I was born on Sir Harry's estate, played with him when a boy, served him as a man, and traitorously sold him to his enemies, when he had none near, him but myself in whom to put his trust." Arthur Dunbar had read enough to know that there were hundreds of such mysterious ruins scattered over the face of the country, even in neighborhoods now almost inaccessible—cities of remote eras, displaying in their moldering fragments relics of a civilization far in advance of the barbarian inhabitant* scattered over the miserable villages in the present day. "Yet he is mad as a March hare, as they say—not dangerously insane, but crotchety. Why, my dear fellow, it is for his sake that I am here; for they said that the climate and that sort of thing might have a beneficial effect on him—fact, I assure you." "There is a regular system," he said, "governing waiters in New York, and the man who is not in it gets left away behind. Waiters do not of course denend unou tiwir salaries and not entirel* •n their tips. At big dinners no one mows just exactly what quantity of •nything is actually used, especially the rine. broutfh the thrC •trongeb Dunbar1, limbs of a Hercules, nor the two na tires who mi?ht have been expected to endure the miseries with less suffering than the Europeans; but Capt. Campignon, whose stout frame shrank from the exposure, but whose troad was the most elastic, and whose cheery words animated his companions to fresh exertion. 3 ,m to nd the ♦hur lud "You are generosity itself, Capt. Archer; now, what is the form of your friend's malady?" Beads of agony stood on the man'a brow, as he uttered these words. And yet I am not interested financially in the Keeley institute. I do not know Dr. Keeley. In fact I am told that he ia a selfish, grasping and ignorant man, hot I welcome any good that anybody may do even accidentally. Now and then a graduate dies, but probably he would have died of drink if be had not gone to the hospital, whereas he now dies sober. "You see, sir," he continued, "it all came about of the doings of Capt. Frank Archer." "In the kitchen two bottles out of each ase are turned bottom up in the case at Dnce, which means that they are empty. Chey are clear gain. Then you know waiters are instructed to keep the glasses ull, so even tfie host does not know how tiany glasses are actually consumed at he table, for glasses half and two-thirds fall are filled up as well as those that are impty. Many guests do not drink or imoke, Their wine and cigars of course jecorne the property of the waiter. Needless to relate Arthur's tramp over the rough path through the woods, of the risks he ran and the dangers he encountered. "Hysteria and tricks of the imagination—supposes himself to be persons of consequence—once he had the idea that he was the duke of Wellington; now I think his pet Illusion is that he is Sir Harry Grahame, the hero of the Indian mutiny." THEBK ENTERED A YOUNG GIKL. "Kate, your adopted daughter, Kate, 6ent me here to rescue you. She is breaking her heart with sorrow, for they told her that you were dead." managed tD gosp, hut she only put her finger to her pretty lips, and motioned him to silence. Then she gave him food, a awaet cereal broth in a yellow earthen cup, which she held to his lips, muttering the while a low sonorous chant in the tone of a mother soothing a child to sleep. "Sometimes I think he is only a man like the rest of us, but at other times I believe he is a devil in human shape, tor surely no fiend could have wrought more mischief thgjBhe has done. He has been at thebottom of all my misery. If he were to show himself in this room I do not know that I dare tell you what has happened." "Frank Archer! Who is he?" Behold him as he steps from the dark shadows of the forest one moonlight night into the broad expanse of a lovely plain, and gazes awestruck at the ruins of a city, once magnificent, whose grandeur has vanished like a tale that is told. The palaces have fallen, the walls have tottered to their foundation, the leopard crouches in the porch of the temple, the owl roosts in its casements, the jackal roams its deserted streets. Omly the great granite slabs of Buddha, mocking time, stand perfect in their lonely grandeur. Gigantic idols, before whom millions once bowed, vacantly stare at the utter desolation. No man can say what fate befell those hosts of heathens, who, centuries before the time of Christ, trod the streets of this once fair city. •'You bear a charmed life," Dunbar said to him, fretfully, One day. "As for myself, I feel as though thk cursed climate was stealing my very manhood from me. If we do not end our journej soon- there will be nothing left for me but to lie down and die." "Ah, how sad; but I have met with hundreds of such cases." "Ah, Kate! Pretty, bonnie Kate! Kate with the golden hair! I always said the sunlight never left those soft tresses," he said, in a mild, dreamy manner, with a far-away look in his eyes. Suddenly his appearance underwent a complete change. In an instant the vacant expression left his face, his eyes beamed with a fierce, savage fury, as he cried: "Eh! What! Kate Grahame in danger! Dead, did you say? Speak! My brain is in a whirl Kate, my little Kate, in danger, and I not by her side. Speak, or I will—" We stopped the other night at a house where the landlady had three husbands all living quietly and joyfully in the same nouse witn ner. w e saw tnem an. They all sat at the same table, eating breakfast and chatting gavly together, it was at Bellaire, O. So, with mach gravity, Dunbar gave bis orders for the native's release. "Yes, sad indeed, for the poor fellow is still in the prime of life. And now, let me warn you. We humor these little tricks of the imagination." 15.V degrees the vision faded before his imagination, and he fell into a grateful slumber. When Campignon cut the man's bonds, and with the grace of a Frenchman handed him the murderous crease, which two hours before had been within an ace of costing him his life, emotions of surprise, joy and gratitude played on the Malay's features; but the siient expression of feeling was only momentary, for quickly the accustomed look of dignified indifference repossessed his features, and with a deep inclination of Ida head to the two white men, be turned hia back upon them and walked slowly up the path which led into the woods. "Cool as a cucumber!" was Dunbar's commentary. "Weil, Campignon, as the little boys say, we've been and gone and done it now, and nothing rep»|n« to us hut to abide tur the consc- At the big balls, like the Arion, the jvaiters, if on good terms with the head waiter, tip him a little add get desirable joxes to wait on, boxes occupied by wealthy and liberal people. With two such boxes, and if he is able to "put up" 'or two he will, of course, for thus he an serve wine in a way to make each xDx pay for the same bottle. With such i chance, I say, the waiter easily makes :wenty-five to fifty dollars in one even,ng, and then before the dance is over :akes off his badge and dances with one Df the society girls, chastely swinging tier two times on the corner with great lefference and aplomb. "Which you most not think of doing," Campignon observed, with a smile which showed eveiy one of his gleamingteeth, "for if anything happened to you, whet would become of these brave fellows who are trotting along with their tonjrues lolling out of their mouths like dogs?" "Well, he is not here and should not harm you if he were. Speak out, man," Arthur said, impatiently. "Of course—I understand." "So that it would be kind of you to carry on the deception." When he awoke, the same sight presented itself: The room unchanged, the rflent figure in its place, the girl and the dosr still there. Thus the time passed. It seemed to him that he only opened his eyes to gaze upon his strange surroundings, to receive sustenance at the hands of his young nurse, and to doze off again into a dreamless sleep. But by degrees he noticed that the wakeful periods grew longer, that he had even vigor enough to raise his head and gaze around him. The figure on the other couch sorely perplexed him. Who was this strange person who lay so still that he did not seem 9H0 to breathe? It was not Capt. "Yes, I must be quick," the man groaned. "I feel already weaker," then, evidently nerving himself for tha supreme effort, he poured forth his story of crime in hurried words, sometimes unintelligible, but conveying to his breathless listener its full meaning. The name of the lady was Husband, and Mr. H. and the two children made up the other three. Mr. Husband gives me permission to nint this in the paper. Good room and board at his hotel, two dollars per day. "Certainly. I will be discreet." "Occasionally he breaks out, In which case I have a reserve of brute force in the shape of a stout Englishman, once a trooper in my regiment, who has strength enough to manage him." " Yov did not tell me the name of your Invalid, Capt Archer''" "You would lead them back again, I suppose," was the weary reply. But before Dunbar's lips could frame the words, an incident occurred, which produced such a shock on his nerves that for the moment Sir Harry and his troubles were forgotten—the figure of a "Assuredly I would for my own sake as well as theirs; but you forget that if we reached Colombo without you, our chances of renumeration would be disagreeably curtailed. You see, we are not undertaking the adventure for chivalry, but are selling our services for mirar cprency." "I must write this down, if I can only find means to do so, and you must sign it," Arthur said, when he had finished. Arthur Dunbar gazed at the sight in solemn awe; then, calling the dog to his side, he sought shelter under a ruined gateway, to await the dawn of the day, which he knew would be so fateful to him. Aaron Oore's reply was to the point: "No! And for family reasons I do not care to do so. With us he goes by the name of the particular hero with whom he for the time being is identifying himself." half-naked nan, with limbs torn and bleeding, sprang from the side of the bungalow to the veranda and gnwped him by the arm. Lady (who has accidentally knocked down the artist's newly finished picture)—Oh, dear, I am so sorry. And what a pity it should have fallen on the smeary ride,—London Tit~$ita, I A Great Pity. "You will find several lead pencils with the package of papers under my pillow, sir." "The waiter also eats the titbits, the oest nieces of the steak, the liver aqd "Ah, yes, here they ar$. Nqw you [to be costixced ] Hla hnnra ct . smalaut iImd wero \'Ju» Sir Hajrv GrahuaA for instance?" |
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