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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #67422 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67422)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Black Cat (Vol. I, No. 1, October
-1895), by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: The Black Cat (Vol. I, No. 1, October 1895)
-
-Author: Various
-
-Release Date: February 16, 2022 [eBook #67422]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: hekula03, Brian Wilsden and the Online Distributed
- Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was
- produced from images made available by the HathiTrust
- Digital Library.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK CAT (VOL. I, NO. 1,
-OCTOBER 1895) ***
-
-Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold
-text by =equal signs=.
-
-
-
-
- The Black Cat (Vol. I, No. 1)
-
- October
- 1895
-
- [Illustration]
-
- Contents
-
- In Gold Time.
- Roberta Littlehale.
-
- The Unturned Trump.
- Barnes MacGreggor.
-
- The Secret of the White Castle.
- Julia Magruder.
-
- Miss Wood,—Stenographer.
- Granville Sharpe.
-
- Her Hoodoo.
- Harold Kinsabby.
-
- In a Tiger Trap.
- Charles Edward Barns.
-
- The Red-Hot Dollar.
- H. D. Umbstaetter.
-
- 5
- CENTS
-
- THE SHORTSTORY PUBLISHING CO. 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON, MASS.
-
- Copyright, 1895 by The Shortstory Publishing Co.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: WILLIAMS' SHAVING STICK.
-
- "_It's just like cream, isn't it puss?_"]
-
- Williams' Shaving Soaps
- have been famous for 50 years.
-
- Sold by dealers everywhere.
-
- THE J. B. WILLIAMS CO.,
- Glastonbury, Conn.
- London, 64 Great Russel St., W. C.
-
- Copyright, 1895, by The J. B. Williams Co.
-
-
-
-
- The Black Cat (Vol. I, No. 1)
-
- A Monthly Magazine of Original Short Stories.
-
- No. 1. OCTOBER, 1895. 5 cents a copy.
- 50 cents a year.
-
- Entered at the Post-Office at Boston, Mass., as second-class matter.
-
-
-
-
- CONTENTS
- Title Author Page
- In Gold Time. ROBERTA LITTLEHALE. 1
- The Unturned Trump. BARNES MACGREGGOR. 6
- The Secret of the White Castle. JULIA MAGRUDER. 11
- Miss Wood,—Stenographer. GRANVILLE SHARPE. 17
- Her Hoodoo. HAROLD KINSABBY. 29
- In a Tiger Trap. CHARLES EDWARD BARNS. 36
- The Red-Hot Dollar. H. D. UMBSTAETTER. 42
- Advertisements. 50
-
-
-
-
-In Gold Time.
-
-BY ROBERTA LITTLEHALE.
-
-
-He was straight, and grizzled, and keen of eye. He had worked, and
-fought, and gambled his way through the lawlessness and passion of the
-State's early life into the decency and uprightness of a successful
-contractor.
-
-His name was Bill Bowen.
-
-As a civil engineer, I came more or less in contact with him, and
-rejoiced in the largeness of his mental mold, as well as in the
-business sense of security he let me enjoy.
-
-One summer's night we took a drive to a distant town on the San Joaquin
-River. We were to look at stone for bridge building, and the blistering
-heat of the day made us willing to lose our sleep for the more
-comfortable traveling by starlight.
-
-The horses jogged lazily through the coarse, thick dust on the river's
-levee, and the insects from the grain fields and the frogs from the
-sloughs had things wholly to themselves until Bill suddenly interrupted.
-
-"Mrs. Chase is pretty enough yet to understand why she sent two fellows
-to the devil, isn't she?"
-
-"What are you talking about?" I answered.
-
-"Oh," said Bill, pulling himself up, "I forgot you didn't struggle with
-the rest of us through those groggy days."
-
-I knew Bill well enough to let him relapse just so many minutes; then
-I said: "Judge Chase's wife is lovelier at sixty than most girls at
-sixteen, but I hadn't an idea she figured so romantically in the early
-days as to send anybody overboard."
-
-"H'm," replied Bill reflectively.
-
-The horses traveled on without attention, and I waited in patience.
-
-"You know what it was like," he began at last. "Men with guns from all
-over the Union and gold the heaven we sweated for. Prayers, and court,
-and the gambling tables all running under one roof, and nary a woman's
-face showing up in the mass to give us courage. To be sure, there were
-vixenish ribs o' Satan who robbed, and killed, and drank with the worst
-of us; but until '51 we'd never the woman for reverence. Then, by
-degrees, the lawyers and a stray merchant or two aired their families,
-but things wasn't dizzy till pretty Grace Blanchard got out with her
-father.
-
-"Understand, she carried herself as she'd ought to; but, understand,
-there was men among us as was born and bred to live with blood. The
-mass of us had to take out our satisfaction in looking at her; but for
-two the favor in old Blanchard's eyes was easy reading, and it wasn't
-long seeing the course the straw took.
-
-"Ned Emory was a long, lean, blond fellow, with a blamed fine face and
-a way that made friends of the toughest. They said he looked a swell
-when he called at the Blanchards', but I never saw him but like the
-rest of us,—red-shirted and overalled, and an angle to his pistols
-that made him a joy.
-
-"George Stokes—'Shorty,' we called him—was a man with an answer that
-ripped like a knife and a head that made success of everything, because
-it could work crooked as well as straight. He'd been on the bench, but
-he'd located a vein at Mariposa, and was overseeing up there in '52.
-Naturally, he lost opportunities, not being right on the spot, and the
-danger began.
-
-"The Blanchard house was swelled larger than most of the cabins, and
-had two long windows that opened onto a porch. Things might never have
-been so bad but for those two lidless eyes in front.
-
-"One fatal night Shorty Stokes rode into the settlement,—but I'm
-getting ahead of affairs."
-
-Bill tossed his cigar into the tules, and hurried the horses into
-effort as the interest of his reminiscence swept him on.
-
-"The girl carried herself after the fashion of high steppers, and
-neither fellow could swear where he stood. It was laughter and spirit
-for both of them, they said, and nip and tuck for the yielding. The
-pace was the sort that exhausts men, and Shorty's brain for lawyering
-cooked up a scheme for his rescue. He was for their going together some
-night before her, and, after a formal marriage proposal, each argue his
-claim and fitness for ten minutes by the clock, their honor at stake to
-stand by her decision.
-
-"It got about afterwards that Emory wouldn't consent till he saw the
-devil to pay in Shorty's earnestness, and they swore with their fists
-in each other's to carry the thing through to the finish. The date and
-hour were arranged for the following Sunday night at eight, and they
-drank to it with gall in the cup.
-
-"When the evening came the clock had already struck eight when Stokes
-reached the Blanchard house.
-
-"The lights from the room fell over the porch, and from the shadow of
-the steps he saw the something that in all the world he couldn't bear
-to see,—Emory crossing the room to take Grace Blanchard in his arms;
-Emory with passion paling his face and Grace Blanchard in the beauty of
-a disturbing humility.
-
-"He cursed as he watched them cling to each other, and he cursed his
-way back to the saloons and his Mariposa mining.
-
-"The next day he turned up again in the settlement, with liquor enough
-aboard to put a wheel in his head, and, after a losing fling at the
-tables, he started to find Emory.
-
-"After a little ineffectual riding, he leaped from the back of his
-vicious-eyed piebald at the corner that bulged thickest with saloons,
-and stood close to the stirrup with his hand on his hip. Some one who
-noticed him said his face had the steely intensity of a razor edge.
-
-"Then out of the crowd, unconscious, with the music of love in his
-heart, swung Ned Emory. His hat was pushed back on his fair hair, and
-he was whistling the overflow out of his veins.
-
-"In one instant a bullet rang through the air, followed by another.
-Emory fell in his own blood, and a horseman was riding off wildly and
-safe through the shower of bullets that rained around him. Every
-man with a cayuse tore in pursuit, but they only brought back eight
-half-dead horses. Stokes had staked relay beasts at different points
-along the road, and was then safe in the chaparral cañons toward the
-north.
-
-"The gambling dens choked up with the crowds; gold-dust was heaped on
-gold-dust for the reward of the cowardly hound. Murders weren't rare
-then, but there was only one Ned Emory, remember.
-
-"Four of us wouldn't drop the search. We let the blood-money men get
-out of the way, and then we worked as we'd toil for only our own.
-
-"There was scarcely no scent to follow, for Stokes had bribed the
-greasers who furnished his horses; but we forced our way along on
-nothing. Day and night we rode with our eyes open, sometimes bullying
-and sometimes begging. It began to seem hopeless. The days were running
-into summer again.
-
-"One afternoon, toward twilight, we rested on the crest of a mountain
-where the path took a sudden turn away from a two-hundred-foot
-precipice.
-
-"We were torn with the snapping branches of the greasewood, and full
-of extremest dirt and disgust. Suddenly we heard the rustle of a step
-on the fallen leaves. Under a live oak, not thirty yards away, on the
-very edge of the cliff, stood Shorty Stokes. He had not heard us, and
-he stood looking at the moon which hung a sickle in the hot sky. The
-evening star was showing.
-
-"The four of us were like stones. He could have got to Guinea before
-motion'd have come to us. Then, simultaneously with our steps forward,
-he turned and looked into our faces.
-
-"It was a moment to test the nerve of any man. He stood it as we were
-used to seeing him face all things.
-
-"'I suppose I'm the man you're after,' he said.
-
-"He said it with the dignity of a parson.
-
-"In a second he had thrown down his pistols. He unsheathed his knives
-and dropped them to the ground.
-
-"'Take me,' he said.
-
-"Four of us looked into the unflinching clearness of his eyes. As we
-hesitated, he spoke again.
-
-"'Listen. It is not in excuse that I speak, nor in weakening. It is to
-tell you that those among you who are men will follow my steps under
-like circumstances.
-
-"'Emory gave me his hand and his oath, in the manner of his frankness,
-to stand by an arranged agreement.
-
-"'We were to meet at eight o'clock on that Sunday night. A—a
-beautifully good woman was to decide on our argument which man she
-would marry. In riding to meet my engagement I happened on an accident.
-Within half a mile of the settlement, close onto time, my piebald went
-back on his haunches and the groan of a man came up from the roadside.
-I found an overloaded miner, hurt in the leg, and the hope in my own
-heart aroused my sympathy. I mounted the man on my beast and headed him
-back toward camp.
-
-"'Walk as I never walked, I reached the meeting place three minutes
-late. Ah—God—out in the darkness I saw Emory taking advantage of the
-delay.
-
-"'None of you is so much a cur as to let the life run in a man who,
-under his honor, couldn't yield a rival three minutes' grace.
-
-"'But, with the camp against me and Emory the friend of the sorriest, I
-couldn't face the music when the justice was done.
-
-"'It is not mercy I ask. It is life hereafter. Come.'
-
-"With a common impulse we started forward, only to halt in a frozen
-horror as Stokes' bronco threw up his head in alarm to watch with us
-the backward somersaulting of his master's body over the precipice.
-
-"Though there was but one verdict, even Chase said as we rode down over
-the mountain that night, 'Emory might have given Shorty a few minutes'
-grace.'"
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-The Unturned Trump.
-
-BY BARNES MACGREGGOR.
-
-
-The ferry-boat, "Rappahannock," had an experience in the winter of 1873
-that will never be forgotten by any of her passengers.
-
-During one of her regular trips between New York and Brooklyn this boat
-suddenly quitted her respectable, though somewhat monotonous, career,
-and became a common tramp, without port or destination.
-
-The day awoke in fog such as the oldest inhabitant had never seen. The
-East River was blocked with ice and soon became a shrieking bedlam of
-groping and bewildering craft, whose pilots could scarcely see their
-hands before their faces.
-
-At half past nine the "Rappahannock" left Brooklyn, well laden with
-passengers, and started on her customary trip almost directly across
-the river—a very short and unusually easy voyage. Before even reaching
-the middle of the stream, however, the ice and fog had thrown her
-completely out of her course. Back and forth, up and down stream, the
-pilot vainly groped, amid the shrieking whistles, ringing of fog bells,
-and loud crash of ice boulders, until, in the confused clangor, he had
-entirely lost his bearings.
-
-When, after long and perilous battling with ice jams and many
-hair-breadth escapes from collisions, he suddenly sighted the landing
-place on the New York side, he found it occupied by a sister boat,
-which had been driven there to avoid destruction. He backed out, only
-to be lost again, and for three hours this boat, now become a mere
-tramp, wandered aimlessly up and down the East River with its load of
-excited passengers, whose emotions ranged anywhere between the rage
-and impatience of the belated Wall Street speculator, to whom the
-delay might mean a loss of fifty thousand dollars, to the hysteria of
-a nervous little woman who had left her baby alone at home, and who
-begged the other helpless passengers for the love of heaven to help her
-set her feet once more on land.
-
-Between these two extremes of impatience and excitement was a small
-proportion of passengers who remained calm, even endeavoring to while
-away the time by exchanging pleasantries and making wagers as to the
-time of their deliverance. Among these was a group of men in the cabin
-who, after having read and re-read the morning papers, were casting
-about for some other method of killing time. One suggested a game of
-cards.
-
-"Cards!" laughed one of his companions in misery. "Who'd carry cards on
-a ferry-boat? Who, outside of a lunatic asylum, would start on a ten
-minutes' voyage provided with games to pass away the time?"
-
-"Here is a euchre deck which is at your service."
-
-The speaker, evidently a globe-trotter, drew from under the bench
-a traveling-bag, so much worn and embellished by tags, labels, and
-hieroglyphics that it resembled some old veteran just returned from the
-wars and still covered with surgeons' plasters. From this he produced a
-pack of cards and tendered it to the man who had suggested a game.
-
-"Certainly, if you will join us; but what shall we do for a table?"
-
-"Here is a camp-stool," said the man of the world. And in a moment four
-men were sitting around it, cutting for deal, which chanced to fall to
-the stranger.
-
-The cards were distributed rapidly, and the dealer was about to turn
-the trump when a loud shriek pierced the air and a woman opposite
-suddenly sank fainting to the floor.
-
-The tension among the passengers had become so great that a panic
-seemed imminent.
-
-"Don't be alarmed, gentlemen; it is nothing serious," said the dealer
-calmly. "The lady simply caught sight of her own frightened face in the
-mirror, and the shock caused her to faint. It reminds me of a thrilling
-experience an American traveler had while bumping through Syria. But,
-pardon me, the game!"
-
-Once more he made a movement to turn the trump, when one of the party
-exclaimed:—
-
-"There can't be a better time or place than this for telling a
-thrilling experience."
-
-"Yes," said another; "do give us some other kind of bumping than we are
-having here. Let's have the story before we begin the game."
-
-The stranger leaned back, passed his cigar case, and, having lighted a
-weed himself, began:—
-
-"It is an unwritten law among the wild Bedouins east of the Red Sea
-that if an infidel traveler is attended on his journey by one of the
-faithful he is safe from the attacks of Mohammedan robbers. As long
-as the 'Frank,' as all foreigners are called, is under the protection
-of the Star and Crescent, the rascal's hand is stayed, and as they
-meet, the villain, who would otherwise show no quarter, salutes with
-the grave suavity of a courtier. But let that same traveler become
-separated from the Arab guard that he has bribed to give him safe
-conduct through his own bandit-infested country, and he becomes
-legitimate prey. He will be plundered and perhaps killed, or, worse,
-if the robber thinks that cruelty will extort any secrets of hidden
-spoil, tortured or held for ransom, with each day's delay losing a few
-fingers, which are forwarded to the captive's friends to signify that
-the rascals mean business.
-
-"The party in which this American was traveling had been entering Syria
-from the south, and were progressed some twelve days from the sacred
-base of old Sinai. At a place called Bir-es-Sheba, on the regular
-caravan route to and from Mecca from the north, they heard of some
-interesting archeological treasures just unearthed some two days'
-journey to the east, and, having made the detour, the party snugly
-encamped by the side of a beautiful stream under the shadow of the
-Tubal chain of mountains.
-
-"The treasures were vastly exaggerated, as is the custom with
-everything oriental, and they soon determined to turn back to the
-caravan route and 'bump' on up into Syria—'bumping' being the familiar
-term for camel riding, and a very expressive word at that. But on
-the afternoon of the first resting-day some one suggested a jaunt to
-a famous old well, where it was said were some very ancient tumuli.
-But, knowing the Bedouins to be conscientious liars, and sick of this
-unrewarded chase for phantom treasures, the American begged to be left
-behind in charge of two tents, which were pitched side by side on the
-bank of the stream.
-
-"This was at last agreed upon, the whole party except himself going
-off on their three days' trip, leaving their comrade stretched at full
-length on a rug, his _narghili_, or water pipe, lighted for company.
-
-"This oriental atmosphere, gentlemen, is a powerful drug. Do what you
-will to fight against it, its subtle charm holds you captive. The man
-succumbed to its influences and went fast asleep.
-
-"Out of this sweet, trance-like repose he suddenly bounded into the
-horrible consciousness of a torturing pain in one of his hands, as
-though some wild beast was crunching the bones. But, as he writhed
-to his knees to grapple with the foe, he saw instead three swarthy,
-evil-faced Bedouins bending over him with ghoulish glee. One had just
-cut off, with a hideous dirk-knife, the first three fingers of his
-left hand. In an instant it flashed upon him that these were to be
-sent to his friends with a demand for ransom. He was correct in this
-supposition, for no sooner had the bleeding hand been rudely bandaged
-than two of his captors set out upon this mission, leaving him in care
-of the third, who was heavily armed.
-
-"No one knew better than the prisoner how impossible such a ransom
-would be. His fellow-travelers had brought as little money into Syria
-as would meet their actual necessities while there. He therefore began
-to cast desperately about in his mind for a loophole of escape before
-the fellows should return with these unsatisfactory tidings, which
-would result, no doubt, in further mutilations.
-
-"As his gaze swept the tent for something suggesting a plan for
-deliverance, he saw it had been gutted of everything except two
-articles,—his light silk coat, which hung upon the partition between
-the two tents, and the tourist's shaving mirror which it concealed.
-The coat had been overlooked because it was as grimy as the tent wall
-itself.
-
-"In moments like this one grasps at straws. As it is said a drowning
-person reviews his past experiences perfectly in a brief moment, so to
-this man, facing desperate odds, came a desperate suggestion.
-
-"He called loudly on a supposed protector in the adjoining tent to come
-to the 'window,' and prove to his captor that he was under protection
-of a Moslem. As he spoke he slowly drew the coat from before the mirror
-in front of which the sheik was standing.
-
-"No words can express the unutterable consternation pictured upon
-that blazing face, livid with fright and wonder, as for the first
-time it saw its own awful reflection, not knowing it was its own. One
-instant he stood stock-still, fascinated, horrified, overwhelmed; then
-collapsed, just as that lady did but a moment ago, and the American
-quickly possessed himself of his captor's arms and was master of the
-situation.
-
-"And now, gentlemen," concluded the story teller, "we will have our
-game."
-
-As he spoke he again reached forward to turn the trump. There was a
-quickly drawn breath of horror from those who observed him, for the
-first three fingers of his left hand were missing.
-
-Before he could turn the card, a savage lurch of the boat, accompanied
-by the creaking of timbers, announced the arrival of the Rappahannock
-at her New York slip—and the trump was never turned.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-The Secret of the White Castle.
-
-BY JULIA MAGRUDER.
-
-
-When I became the occupant of the Chateau Blanc, in the neighborhood of
-Fontainebleau, I found that my wish for a place of complete seclusion
-was likely to be realized to the full. I was not in a state of mind for
-society, and I had deliberately given myself three months in which to
-fight out a certain battle with myself, for which I needed solitude and
-reflection.
-
-When the old woman who acted as keeper and caretaker of the place
-took me through it, on a tour of inspection, there were three things
-which, in spite of my preoccupation with my own affairs, struck me very
-forcibly. The first was the forlorn remnants of the body of a white
-swan, which must once have been a creature of splendid size and shape.
-My informant told me that this swan had been a great pet of the former
-owner of the chateau, until some accident had killed it; after which
-it had been stuffed and fastened in its place upon the surface of the
-little lake under his window. There it was still—what remained of
-it—a mass of weather-beaten and dirty feathers.
-
-Another thing that compelled my strong attention was a certain picture
-which hung in the bedroom of the late owner, and which I was informed
-was his own portrait, painted by himself. This room, by the way, was
-sinister and mysterious in its effect beyond any I had ever entered.
-One reason for this was the fact that all the furniture, which was
-elaborately carved and which must once have been of beautiful polish
-and color, had been ruthlessly covered with a coat of black paint,—the
-bed, the table, chairs, wardrobe, chests of drawers, and even the great
-leather easy-chair which was placed just under the picture, facing the
-opposite wall.
-
-It was a wretched piece of work, that picture, representing a man
-dressed in some sort of court dress of the last century, and it would
-have seemed ineffectual and amateurish to the last degree but for the
-truly marvelous expression of the eyes, which were fixed on a certain
-spot in the wall opposite with an earnestness and intensity which made
-me feel that there was some hidden significance in this look. The man
-not only looked at the spot himself, but he compelled me to do the
-same, and forced me, by the insistent command of his eyes, to look
-again and again.
-
-And yet there was nothing to see. The wall was perfectly bare in that
-place and covered with a meaningless sort of wallpaper, which gave me
-no encouragement whatever.
-
-Another thing that I noticed specially, with a feeling of being
-imperiously directed to do so, was a large rusty key that hung on the
-wall directly under the picture. When I inquired of the old woman what
-this key belonged to she answered that she had never known, but that
-it had been hung there by the late proprietor and had been undisturbed
-since his death. That event had occurred a great many years ago, and
-it was owing to the provisions of the will left by him that no one
-had ever occupied the house in the interval. The prescribed time had
-only just expired, and I was the first person to rent the chateau, the
-revenue from which was to go to a nephew, who lived abroad.
-
-The somberness of the black chamber suited my frame of mind, and I
-decided on taking it for my room. Besides this, the picture, the key,
-and the white swan all interested me, and, as it was the first time
-that an outside interest had made any headway against the melancholy
-of my own thoughts, these objects, far from cheerful as they were in
-themselves, afforded a grateful diversion.
-
-So continually did I wonder why the picture looked always and could
-compel me to look at that one spot, and why the key had been hung in
-that place and had kept its position so many years undisturbed, as
-if some ghostly guardian watched over it, and why, ever and always,
-the old white swan compelled me, as if by some irresistible power, to
-connect it with these other things, that I kept myself awake at night,
-weaving all sorts of stories concerning these objects, and spent half
-my days in looking from the picture to the wall, and back again to the
-key, and then out of the window at the battered effigy of a noble bird
-beneath it, until the confusion of mind thus produced seemed likely to
-drive me crazy.
-
-I expended all the ingenuity of which I was master in questioning the
-old woman, who had lived here in the time of the former owner, but the
-satisfaction of my curiosity in that direction was rather meager.
-
-She told me that her former master had had a wife whom he adored, fair
-as an angel, and gifted with a divinely beautiful voice, such as none
-had ever heard, before or since. This young wife had been snatched
-from him by a sudden and frightful death. The fever which seized her
-had been so contagious, the woman said, that every one had fled the
-premises, except one woman servant and the master himself. These, with
-the help of the doctor, had nursed the young wife through her brief
-illness until its end.
-
-My informant had heard it said that the circumstances of her death were
-very peculiar,—that, in her delirium, on the very last night of her
-illness, those who had ventured to linger about the premises had heard
-her singing more gloriously than ever in her life; that it had reminded
-them of the great white swan, which but the night before had sung its
-last sweet song on the lake, in the moonlight, and had been found dead
-in the morning.
-
-The woman who had remained to help the master in his last sad
-ministrations to his dying and dead wife had gone away the day after
-the funeral, and had never been heard of since.
-
-That funeral, in the quaint old church but a few paces from the house,
-had been, from the woman's account, a melancholy affair enough.
-Scarcely any one dared to come to it, so malignant had been this
-fever, and it was feared that the few men who were willing to act as
-pall-bearers would not be equal to the task; but the poor lady had
-always been slight and fairy-like in figure, and so wasted was she
-from this consuming fever that the bearers declared that her weight
-was scarcely more than that of an empty coffin. The woman further said
-that, as the small funeral cortege was leaving the church, it had
-surprised every one to see the husband, who was directly behind the
-coffin, pause abruptly under a statue of the Virgin, and single out,
-from the great bunch of white ribbons which hung there, the long strip
-which his young wife had placed there on the day of her marriage to
-him, less than a year before. It was an old custom connected with this
-church. Every girl ever married there had conformed to it, and some of
-the ribbons were yellow with time and almost dropping to pieces. The
-longest and freshest bit of all had been put there by the beautiful and
-beloved young creature now lying dead in the flower of her youth and
-loveliness.
-
-No one ever knew, the woman went on to say, how the master spent his
-days after the funeral was over. He had forbidden every servant to
-return, and turned a deaf ear to the rings and knocks of visitors.
-Months had passed, and no one held speech with him. They knew he was
-alive, because people who had looked through the palings had seen him
-walking in the garden, and one person reported having seen him carry
-from the house the stuffed body of the great swan and fasten it in its
-place on the lake, where it could be plainly seen from his window. He
-must have embalmed or stuffed it himself, the old woman said, for he
-was known to have remarkable knowledge and skill in such strange arts,
-and had once had a great room filled with birds and beasts, which he
-had preserved by methods studied in foreign lands.
-
-As was inevitable, after hearing all this, my interest in the picture,
-and swan, and the key deepened sensibly. There was certainly a spell of
-the supernatural about these things for me. I had only to stand near
-the spot on which the eyes of the picture were fastened to experience
-the strangest, the most overwhelmingly significant sensations I had
-ever known. The spot was haunted by a _presence_ for me, and as often
-as I stood there I would feel my heart throb and cease throbbing, my
-breath pant and cease panting, my very flesh turn cold and moist with
-consciousness and apprehension. I tried to account for all this on
-natural grounds, but I found it was quite impossible to do so.
-
-One day—it was the 19th of August—a hot, sultry, close, indescribably
-gloomy day, when the heavy clouds that lowered seemed only to darken
-the whole earth without giving forth one drop of moisture, the old
-woman came to my room and chanced to mention that it was the time of
-the death of the young mistress of the Chateau Blanc. She had died, it
-appeared, just at midnight between the 19th and 20th of August. After
-giving me this information, she said good-evening and left me to the
-reflections which it aroused.
-
-I can scarcely call them reflections. They took the form, rather, of
-a sort of compulsion that was laid upon me to obey a certain force by
-which I felt myself suddenly dominated.
-
-It was the picture that did it; this was certain, for, as often as
-I faltered, one look into that insistent, commanding, coercing face
-compelled me to go on. In obedience to its bidding, I did as follows:—
-
-I went to an old desk in the room, and took from it some simple
-carpenters' tools, with which I deliberately cut through, first, the
-wall-papering, and then a thin boarding, which covered all the space
-between a door and window opposite the picture. When this was done I
-saw—I cannot say whether most to my satisfaction or my horror, that I
-stood opposite a door,—a regular, ordinary door, with panels, hinges,
-and, more than all, a keyhole. I glanced at the picture. It seemed to
-me that the canvas positively lived with expression.
-
-The eyes commanded me to get the rusty key. I got it, fitted it in
-the lock, in which it turned with difficulty, and then, with my heart
-almost choking me with its throbs, my knees shaking under me, my body
-covered with a cold sweat, and my tongue dry in my mouth, I opened the
-door.
-
-As it creaked on its rusty hinges, I saw, by the light of the candle
-which I held in my hand, a mass of cobwebs, heavily weighted with the
-dust of years, and, through these, a woman's figure.
-
-It was clad—for I obeyed the eyes, which commanded me to examine it,
-though my heart was cold with terror—in what I made out to be a white
-silk gown, above which was the face, withered and awfully livid, as
-I had heard the faces of embalmed corpses appear years after death.
-Still, it was recognizable as a real human face, and was surrounded
-by masses of yellow hair, which, even through the dust and cobwebs,
-gleamed with the brightness of gold. The hands held something in their
-shrunken fingers,—a white ribbon, with the date of her marriage and
-death upon it, her husband's name and her own, and these words, which,
-under the compelling eyes of the picture, I laboriously studied out:—
-
-"I have been able to keep you near me, even in death. I have never been
-separated from you, or from what was you to me once. But when death
-shall come to me you will have no power over my body, and they will
-take me from you. That I am unable to help. I think only of this: you
-cannot suffer for it, since you have so long ceased to be, and by that
-time my suffering also will be over. I shall put my spirit into the
-eyes of my picture, which will watch over you still."
-
-I looked from the paper to the picture. It seemed dull and
-inexpressive,—mere canvas and paint. The power of the eyes was gone.
-Their spell over me was broken.
-
-Suddenly I felt within me a long-absent yearning for human
-companionship,—for life and love. I had come to this place impelled
-by a morbid and unhealthy desire for solitude, and my experiences here
-had made me more morbid and unhealthy still. They had culminated now
-in this awful revelation of disappointment and death, which threw into
-brilliant contrast the bright possibilities which still remained to me,
-and I resolved to go back into the world and do my best to deserve and
-win these.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-Miss Wood,—Stenographer.
-
-BY GRANVILLE SHARPE.
-
-
-It was Detective Gilbert who told the story to a group of boarders
-seated on the piazza of one of the quaint old Rhinelander houses. These
-dwellings, though situated on West Eleventh Street, in the very heart
-of New York, present an almost rural spectacle, with their green lawns,
-wide piazzas, and vine-covered balconies.
-
-"It was one day about two years ago," said Mr. Gilbert, "that I
-received a card on which was engraved the name, 'Miss Julia Wood.' The
-name was a familiar one. When my wife was living Miss Wood had been an
-intimate friend of hers and a frequent visitor to our house. Since then
-I had lost trace of the girl, and knew only that, owing to her father's
-death and the straitened circumstances of herself and her sister, she
-had taken up the study of stenography and typewriting, with the idea of
-earning her living. So when she rose to meet me in the reception-room
-I was startled by her changed appearance and the haggard, anxious
-expression of her face."
-
-"'Mr. Gilbert, I am in great trouble,' she exclaimed, as I shook hands
-with her, and then, without further preliminaries, she stated her case.
-
-"'You know, Mr. Gilbert, that for over a year I have been studying
-stenography and typewriting, and you can understand that lately I have
-been very anxious to find a place. At first, I supposed that this would
-not be difficult, but I soon discovered that my lack of practical
-experience stood in the way of my getting anything at all. In fact, it
-was not until this week that even a temporary opening presented itself.'
-
-"Here Miss Wood paused for a moment, as if to summon all her strength,
-and then continued:—
-
-"'About eleven o'clock yesterday morning, my teacher, Mr. Lacombe,
-came to the door of the practice room, where I was at work, and,
-calling me to one side, said:—
-
-"'"Miss Wood, didn't you tell me that you understood the deaf and dumb
-alphabet?"
-
-"'"Perfectly," I answered.
-
-"'As you know, Mr. Gilbert, my little sister Helen is deaf and dumb,
-and that is why I understand the sign-language almost as well as I do
-spoken English.
-
-"'"I thought so," said Mr. Lacombe, "and am glad, for your sake, that
-you do, for I've just had an application from a lady who wants a deaf
-and dumb stenographer."
-
-"'"But I am not deaf and dumb," I protested.
-
-"'"No, but you understand the sign-language, and that is the main
-point. You see, this woman wants some notes taken from a deaf and dumb
-relative, who uses, of course, the deaf and dumb alphabet, and she
-thinks, I suppose, that a person who understands the sign-language
-must be a deaf mute, also. She says that this relative of hers is ill;
-possibly hasn't long to live. So no doubt you're wanted for some sort
-of an _ante mortem_ examination; one, maybe, that's connected with
-some family scandal or secret that they don't want to leak out. Just a
-matter for discretion, that's all.
-
-"'"Of course I don't want to urge you into this against your will,"
-he added, "but I know how much you want a position and a chance for
-practical experience. Besides, this engagement is only for a week,
-perhaps even less, and the salary is fifty dollars and all expenses
-paid. The main question is whether you care to be deaf and dumb for
-that time."
-
-"'For just a moment I hesitated. Certainly the conditions were very
-queer. Still, there was the money,—how much fifty dollars would mean
-for my poor little sister! There was the experience, and there was,
-yes—I must confess it—there was the charm of adventure. You know you
-always said that I was of an adventurous disposition, and that spirit
-has grown since I have been thrown upon my own resources, and have made
-up my mind that I must make my own way in the world, as if I were a
-man. As for acting the part of a deaf mute, that seemed a simple matter
-to me, who know so well the habits of the deaf and dumb, through
-constant association with poor little Helen.
-
-"'Money, experience, and adventure! The combination was too much for my
-prudence. In less time than it would take to buy a handkerchief I had
-accepted the position. Forty-five minutes after the time that I walked
-into Mr. Lacombe's office I sat on a Southern-bound train, rushing
-towards a place I'd never heard of before, the companion of a woman who
-was an utter stranger to me, and bound on an errand of which I knew
-practically nothing.
-
-"'You see, in the rush of preparation I'd no chance for reconsidering
-my decision. Indeed, when I was led into Mr. Lacombe's inner office and
-introduced to my prospective employer, Mrs. Westinghouse, by means,
-of course, of pencil, and paper, and gestures, I hardly noticed in my
-excitement what manner of woman she was. I had enough to think of in
-keeping to the character I had assumed and in preparing in half an
-hour's time for a week's journey; for almost the first demand made by
-the strange woman was that I should go with her upon the noon train.
-The invalid had no doubt only a few days left to live, she explained,
-and every minute was precious.
-
-"'Upon reading my pencilled explanation that I must go home to say
-good-by to my sister and get a few articles for my trip, she thrust a
-ten-dollar bill into my hand, telling me to use that to buy whatever I
-needed. Mr. Lacombe, she signified, could explain matters to my sister,
-and with that she hurried me down the stairs and into a cab waiting
-below. In this I was whirled away, first to a big department store and
-then to the railroad station, arriving just in time for the noon train,
-so it wasn't until I was seated in the local express and had actually
-started that I had a chance to review the situation and to examine my
-companion.'
-
-"'What sort of a woman was she?' I interrupted.
-
-"'Oh, she appeared perfectly respectable, and tried to make herself
-agreeable by keeping me busy answering questions on my pad, but
-something in her cold gray eyes, or, perhaps, in her high metallic
-voice, chilled my ardor. For the first time I realized my position.
-Here I was about to enter into the lives of unknown people, under an
-assumed character, and one that might involve me in matters of a
-secret, perhaps a dangerous nature. By this time, however, it was too
-late for me to retreat. All that I could do was to vow, as I did with
-all my heart, that no matter what I learned while with these people I
-would make no use of it.
-
-"'Upon leaving the train, after a ride of about two hours and a half,
-I found myself in Rockwood, a desolate little way station in the
-most dreary section I had ever seen. The only sign of life was a top
-carriage, drawn by a pair of lean horses and driven by the son of my
-companion, a man about thirty years of age. He had handsome features,
-but, somehow, his bloodshot eyes and dissipated look impressed me even
-more unfavorably than had his mother's appearance. I was directed to
-take the back seat, and Mrs. Westinghouse sat in front beside her son.
-
-"'As we drove off the young man put a question at once which I did not
-hear, but his mother in her usual voice assured him that I was a deaf
-mute and had been secured at a large salary for that reason. Then they
-proceeded with their conversation without restriction, but the road was
-so stony and our speed so great that I caught only a little of it. What
-I heard did not serve to make me feel any easier. They spoke of some
-person, who appeared to be a relative, with the most dreadful epithets,
-and appeared to be planning some way to bring him to terms, should he
-prove obstinate after they arrived with the stenographer. Before we had
-gone a mile I was not only sick of my bargain, but ready to jump from
-the carriage to escape it.
-
-"'The aspect of the country, also, was enough to make the most
-hilarious person feel melancholy. It was rocky, sterile, and almost
-uninhabited. The few farmhouses we passed were, all save one,
-untenanted and falling to pieces. The fields were covered with a thick
-growth of bayberry bushes or stunted firs.
-
-"'The house was, as nearly as I can judge, about three miles from the
-station. It had once been a fine mansion, but showed signs of neglect
-and age. The paint was worn off in patches; the floor of the piazza was
-rotten. The inside of the house, however, was fairly comfortable, the
-furniture being extremely old-fashioned and quaint.
-
-"'I could hardly touch a mouthful of supper, and soon excused myself
-from the table. Wandering around the piazza which skirted the house,
-I came upon a rear view of the premises. Here I had another surprise,
-for, detached from the main house and several yards away, stood a long,
-low brick building with a huge chimney, like a smoke-stack, proceeding
-from it. Its windows were close against the roof, and probably about
-twelve feet from the ground, while the only entrance seemed to be by
-way of a rough bridge extending from a curious door on a line with
-these windows to a window in the second story of the dwelling-house.
-
-"'While I stood gazing at this remarkable building I noticed that Mrs.
-Westinghouse had followed me. I could no longer restrain my curiosity,
-but pointed to the mysterious building and raised my eyebrows. With an
-impatient gesture, as though she resented my inquisitiveness, the lady
-caught up my writing-pad and scribbled: "It is my brother's laboratory;
-he is a metallurgist. We wish you to come and take a dictation from
-him."
-
-"'Then, leading me upstairs, she unlocked a door and ushered me into a
-large apartment, in which, at that moment, I saw only one object,—a
-man stretched upon a couch. The coverings, thrown away from the neck
-and face, revealed both to be shockingly emaciated; the eyes were wild
-and staring, the lips drawn away from the teeth, which were white and
-even. But there was strength even in that dying despair—at the first
-glance I saw that. There was a look of dogged endurance in every line
-and feature.
-
-"'"Now, Alfred," wrote Mrs. Westinghouse upon my pad and signifying
-to me that this was my introduction, "here is Miss Wood, a deaf and
-dumb stenographer we have brought from New York, so there's no longer
-any reason for your keeping your precious secret. She understands the
-signs, and can put your words on paper as fast as you can give them
-to her." Then, passing the pad to the invalid, she turned to her son.
-"Victor, love," she said, "the writing paper, pencils, and a little
-table for Miss Wood."
-
-"'"Here they are," said the young man, rolling the table towards me
-with an ingratiating leer.
-
-"'I glanced at the invalid. He gave no sign of having read his
-relative's communication, but lay quite still and breathed softly in
-gasps. I should not have been surprised to have seen him drawing his
-last breath at any moment.
-
-"'The woman stood looking at him appealingly until she caught his
-eye; then she covered her face with her handkerchief, pretending to
-be overcome by emotion. A moment later she turned aside to Victor and
-hissed, "Oh, is it too late? If I only knew some torture that would
-wring from him that secret which would bring us millions."
-
-"'Then, controlling herself, she went on more calmly: "Sit down, Miss
-Wood, and take the dictation."
-
-"'I saw Victor looking at me and had the presence of mind to remain
-perfectly quiet, without noticing what she said, for, indeed, I had
-now begun to feel that I was among desperate people, and that it would
-be best for my well-being to carry out my role as I had begun it.
-Apparently satisfied that I was as unfortunate as I claimed to be, she
-signified by motions that I was to seat myself and write as soon as her
-brother should dictate.
-
-"'I did so, but while Victor had been occupied in arranging my utensils
-and Mrs. Westinghouse was absorbed in her pretended emotions the man
-on the bed had turned his eyes and looked straight into mine. The
-effect was tremendous. I felt calmed. There was almost an understanding
-between us. At least, there was sympathy.
-
-"'As I seated myself and caught up my pencil, he raised his white hands
-and began to sign to me:—
-
-"'"Show no fright at whatever I say. Pretend to take notes, or you will
-betray yourself."
-
-"'Acting on his suggestion, I began tracing disjointed sentences upon
-the paper.
-
-"'Then, after allowing me a few moments to recover from the effects of
-this startling communication, he went on:—
-
-"'"This is no place for you. These people are desperate characters, and
-if they suspected what I am saying might injure you."
-
-"'Again a pause, during which I shaded my face with one hand and
-scrawled senseless marks over the paper with the other. Beneath my
-lowered lids I could see that two pair of eyes, one bloodshot and the
-other steely gray, were watching me from a shadowy recess on the other
-side of the bed. I realized that the slightest expression of my real
-feelings might prove fatal. I set my teeth hard. My old adventurous
-spirit returned. As mechanically as though I were taking a school
-dictation, I followed the movements of the trembling white hand and
-traced those meaningless marks.
-
-"'Apparently, mother and son were satisfied with their scrutiny, for
-they soon retired to the other end of the long room. As they went, I
-heard her murmur to Victor:—
-
-"'"Come; the old miser won't forget his own flesh and blood. At any
-rate, that girl shall stay in the house until her notes are written out
-in plain English and the experiments made. I gave that foolish teacher
-of hers a wrong address."
-
-"'At this she turned on me suddenly, and nothing on earth could have
-prevented my face revealing the fright that was on me. I could hide my
-terror only by sneezing violently into my handkerchief.
-
-"'As soon as they had withdrawn to the farther end of the room the
-invalid hastened to communicate as rapidly as possible the state of
-affairs in this strange household. The woman, Mrs. Westinghouse, was,
-so he said, his sister-in-law, the widow of his only brother, and
-Victor was, of course, his nephew. On the death of his brother, the man
-who now lay dying had invited the widow and her son, then a handsome
-lad, to make their home with him, and, indeed, had treated Victor as
-his adopted son and probable heir. About three years ago, however,
-Victor, who had acted as his uncle's assistant in the laboratory, had
-repaid his generosity by attempting to steal from him the secret which
-he had spent years in perfecting. Failing in this, he had forged his
-benefactor's name for a sum amounting to a large share of his fortune,
-and had applied the proceeds to the payment of gambling debts. Since
-then, Mr. Westinghouse, though allowing Victor to go free, had refused
-to see either him or his mother, and it was only now, when he was
-on his death-bed, that they returned, uninvited, with the hope of
-extracting from the sick man the only wealth remaining to him,—his
-recent discovery.
-
-"'At this point the invalid stopped abruptly, and looked once more deep
-into my eyes. Then, with a sigh that seemed one of satisfaction, he
-continued:—
-
-"'"They think, because they hold me as prisoner here upon my death-bed,
-have deprived me of society, and spirited away my faithful man-servant,
-the only person who understood my sign-language, that they can force my
-secret from me. But your face tells me that I can trust you, that you
-are not their accomplice."
-
-"'"Indeed I am not," I signed hastily. "I came here ignorant of what
-I was to do, and now they say that I must stay until the notes are
-written out and the experiment is made. If it fails it is likely to go
-hard with both of us."
-
-"'The invalid received my communication quietly, without asking how
-I gained my knowledge. Then, after asking and receiving answers to
-several questions in regard to my history, he nodded as if satisfied,
-and signed me to take down with extreme accuracy what he should give
-me. He then dictated by means of the sign alphabet what seemed like a
-technical article, many words of which he was obliged to spell for me,
-and including the finest weights and measures relating to metallurgy.
-After he had completed it he asked me to read it to him by signs, so
-that he could be sure that it was correct. When I had done so he looked
-up, smiled faintly to see that mother and son had left the room, and
-beckoned me to him. He took my hands, clasped them in his, and then
-signed: "Swear that you will never permit that paper to fall into the
-hands of Mrs. Westinghouse or her son."
-
-"'In my fright I took the oath.
-
-"'"Guard it well," he signified, "for it is a fortune beyond your
-dreams. Now sit down and take a bogus paper, which you must give to
-Mrs. Westinghouse. But first conceal this paper in your dress."
-
-"'I did so. He then dictated another paper, different in every way from
-the first as to its methods; and then motioned that I must write out
-the second paper as soon as possible, give it to Mrs. Westinghouse, and
-then effect my escape before the fraud was discovered.
-
-"'As I looked at him doubtingly, he added: "Trust me. I will provide
-the way."
-
-"'"But you?" I said.
-
-"'He tried to laugh. "I shan't live twenty-four hours," he said.
-
-"'I asked if they were to blame. He shrugged his shoulders. "Her son's
-treachery robbed me of health and fortune. And now in their fiendish
-greed to inherit the secret they have locked me in this room and tried
-to wring it from me by their soft words and wheedling caresses. But
-they shall not succeed. They shall never know this."
-
-"'As he spoke he drew from under his pillow a small blade in a sheath.
-It was a bright brownish yellow; the edge was sharp as a razor. He
-handed it to me, signifying that I was to keep it.
-
-"'Hardly had I sheathed the strange weapon and concealed it in the
-folds of my bodice when the door opened and the woman again entered. I
-showed her the pages that I had taken and pencilled a note, saying that
-the formula was complete, but that it would take at least half a day to
-write it out, as it contained many unfamiliar terms which I should need
-to refer to a dictionary. For just a moment the woman scanned my face
-and that of the invalid with that strange air of suspicion that never
-wholly deserted her.
-
-"'Apparently, what she saw satisfied her, for she signified her
-pleasure that I had succeeded in gaining the information in so short
-a time, and added that, as it was now past midnight, I might leave
-the rest of my work for the next day. Upon this, she led me to a room
-opening out of her own, indicating that she thought I might feel less
-lonely if I were near her. Later, I heard the key turn softly in the
-lock on the outside of the door leading from my room into the hall,
-and—well, you can imagine that I got very little sleep that night.
-
-"'Early the next morning the woman unlocked my door, and, after I
-had eaten a hasty breakfast, led me to a library well equipped with
-reference books, where, so she wrote, I was to finish my work.
-
-"'Then she left me, locking me in once more.
-
-"'I had reached about the middle of the false formula when the
-door opened and the woman entered in great haste. From her hurried
-movements and the anxious expression of her face I judged that some new
-complication had arisen. I was right. Snatching up my pad, the woman
-wrote, "He is sinking fast. The experiment must begin at once. How much
-of the formula remains?"
-
-"'I wrote: "Over one half."
-
-"'"Never mind," she wrote in return. "Victor can begin with what you
-have. Give me the papers. You may finish the rest in my brother's room
-and bring it to us in the laboratory."
-
-"'As we entered the invalid's room, I tried to exchange a look with the
-sick man, but the woman drew me away to a large French window at the
-end farthest from the bed, and, opening the sashes, which swung inward,
-motioned me to look out. To my surprise, I saw that the bridge that I
-had noticed the night before as connecting the house and laboratory
-was approached from this window. It was a rough affair, resembling
-those used on shipboard, and consisted of a wide plank guarded only by
-two ropes stretched one on either side of the plank, about three feet
-above it, as a sort of guard rail. On the laboratory side the bridge
-terminated at what seemed to be a heavy door, made of one solid piece
-of timber and provided one third of the way from the top with two small
-windows, or, rather, panes of glass, about eight inches square. Behind
-each there was a heavy iron bar.
-
-"'Hastily signifying that I must cross the bridge in order to bring
-her the remainder of the formula, the woman sent Victor ahead and then
-turned to follow. Before going she intimated to me that while I wrote
-I was to remain beside this window where I could see any sign from the
-workers in the laboratory and be seen by them.
-
-"'For the next two hours nothing was to be heard in the room save the
-scratching of my pen over the paper and the labored breathing of the
-dying man. He seemed to be sinking rapidly, but whenever he caught
-my glance would smile reassuringly, as though to say: "Do not be
-afraid. All will come right." As the hands of the clock on the mantel
-approached the hour of eleven, however, he appeared to grow suddenly
-stronger; a faint color tinged his cheeks, and he half rose in bed,
-as though awaiting some new developments. On the stroke of eleven he
-turned to me and signed: "It is time to go."
-
-"'"But there are still a few pages to write out," I answered.
-
-"'"It's all right," he rejoined. "It is enough. Only go—go at once. It
-is your way of escape."
-
-"'For a moment I hesitated. The words sounded senseless; sick men, I
-reasoned, had strange fancies. But the glance of his eyes was sane; it
-was more,—it was convincing.
-
-"'Without another word, I gathered up my papers and started across
-the bridge. It swayed, but only slightly. There was not the slightest
-danger of an accident. And yet in my passage across that bridge I
-trembled violently. When finally I reached the strangely guarded door I
-had barely strength enough to knock upon the heavy timbers. There was
-no reply. Evidently they were absorbed in their experiment, I thought,
-and knocked again. Still no reply, though this time I seemed to hear a
-faint movement within. I tried to peer through the tiny window-panes
-in the door. They were somewhat above the level of my face and partly
-obscured by the iron bars. So I raised myself on tiptoe and, shading my
-eyes with my hands, looked in.
-
-"'For a moment I could see nothing. Then, as I became accustomed to the
-gloom, I made out a few objects near by,—a charcoal stove, a table
-holding a pair of scales, pincers, blowpipe, a graduating glass, and
-other apparatus with which I was unfamiliar. At the farther end of
-the table sat a motionless female figure, the head thrown back, one
-hand clutching a crumpled sheet of paper, while the other hung limply
-at her side. Directly opposite a man sat, also motionless, his bowed
-head resting on the edge of the table. As I looked, I fancied the hand
-holding the paper twitched slightly.
-
-"'I shifted my position. A faint light fell upon the face of the woman.
-It was that of Mrs. Westinghouse, but white and rigid, with sightless,
-staring eyes.
-
-"'"They are dead!" I cried, as I rushed back into the room of the dying
-man. Then, recollecting myself, I succeeded in repeating my words with
-fingers that trembled so that I could hardly give the signs.
-
-"'For a moment he seemed unmoved; then, with a ghastly smile, he
-signalled:—
-
-"'"This is your time to escape."
-
-"'"But you—"
-
-"'"Never mind me. All I care for is to keep my secret from them.
-Remember your vow—and now go—go—and God bless you."
-
-"'I grasped his hand, then rushed from the room. I snatched my hat and
-coat in the hall below, and ran out of the house and down the road,
-never stopping until I reached the station. There I took the next train
-and reached the city only half an hour ago.'"
-
-Here Mr. Gilbert began to light a cigar, as though his story were
-finished.
-
-"But what became of the dying man—of the mother and son—the little
-stenographer?"
-
-"Oh, yes, to be sure," said the detective; "you wish to know the
-sequel. Well, I went up there that day with two or three men and
-found everything as she'd described it. The mother and son had simply
-been evidently stupefied by drugs purposely introduced into the false
-formula, and soon recovered their senses, but the uncle had breathed
-his last. Mrs. Westinghouse had been smart enough to get a physician,
-who was there when we arrived, and who, honestly enough, I suppose,
-ascribed his death to natural causes. We could do nothing from lack of
-evidence."
-
-"But the secret,—the mysterious formula?"
-
-"Ah, that is the saddest part of the whole affair. Half crazed by her
-horrible experience in this house, and recalling her vow to make no use
-of any information gained while there, Miss Wood had no sooner escaped
-than she tore the true formula into pieces and threw it away. Had she
-kept it, it would undoubtedly have brought her an enormous fortune, for
-an expert metallurgist who examined the strange dagger given to her by
-the dying man pronounced it to be an example of a priceless art,—that
-of tempering copper to the consistency of steel,—a process understood
-by the ancients, but lost now these thousands of years."
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-Her Hoodoo.
-
-BY HAROLD KINSABBY.
-
-
-It was because the doctor insisted that my system needed ozone that I
-went to Colorado on a hunting trip. It was there that I met her, and it
-was there, by the way, that I became convinced that when a man with a
-lame lung undertakes to hunt ozone in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains
-he ought to provide himself with a guide. I went alone, and that's why
-I got lost.
-
-For two days I had tramped, half starved, toward the rising sun, with
-the hope of reaching some cattle ranch near Denver. On the morning of
-the third day, as I was trudging through a thick undergrowth, I was
-suddenly startled by a woman's voice:—
-
-"You didn't happen to spy a little speckled heifer back yonder, did
-you, stranger?"
-
-It is said that upon the approach of a human being the first impulse of
-a man who has been lost in the woods is that biblically ascribed to the
-wicked, namely, "to flee when no man pursueth." But at this time I was
-too far gone with hunger and weariness to flee from anything.
-
-I simply leaned against a tree trunk and awaited the appearance of the
-voice's owner. She came riding a bronco across the crest of a hillock.
-She was slight and wiry, and she wore her huge sombrero and man's
-canvas shooting-coat with an air that at first suggested the cowboy. A
-later glimpse of feminine drapery, however, proclaimed her something
-infinitely more interesting,—a real Rocky Mountain cow-girl in all her
-glory.
-
-"No," I answered weakly to her repeated question as to the heifer's
-whereabouts. "No, I've seen neither hoof nor hide of your heifer, which
-is lucky for you, as I should probably have eaten it if I had."
-
-"You do look hungry," said the strange horsewoman; and as she spoke
-the bold lines of her aquiline face relaxed into an expression of
-womanly solicitude.
-
-"Here, take this," she added in a business-like tone, producing from a
-bag that lay, meal sack fashion, across her saddle, a can of pressed
-beef and a square foot or so of corn bread. "No," as I tried to speak,
-"never mind explanations. Have some lunch with me and talk afterwards;
-that is, if you ain't afraid to eat with a cow-girl.
-
-"You see," she continued, when we were comfortably seated on a
-moss-grown log that served as a whole set of dining-room furniture, "I
-know myself what it is to get lost and nearly starve to death. 'Having
-experienced misfortune myself, I know how to pity others.'"
-
-I choked over a morsel of corn bread and stared at my companion
-with ill-bred astonishment. A cow-girl who quoted Virgil, even in a
-translation, was something not dreamed of in my philosophy.
-
-"Yes, I don't wonder that you look surprised," said my hostess
-good-naturedly. "I suppose I don't look as though I was up in the
-classics, but the fact is I'm a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan University,
-and I've studied Latin, Shakespeare, geometry, and all the rest.
-
-"Yes," musingly, "once I expected to pursue a literary career. Indeed,
-my professors all told me that I might become the George Eliot or Mrs.
-Browning of America. But that speckled heifer I was asking you about
-just now knocked all my plans into a cocked hat."
-
-"How was that?" I asked.
-
-"Well, it was like this," said the cow-girl college graduate, as she
-pushed aside her corn bread, untasted, and, planting her elbows upon
-her knee, propped her chin upon her palms, man fashion. "In the spring
-of 1885, several years after I had graduated, my father died, and
-mother and I came to Colorado and bought a ranch at Plum Creek, some
-twenty-three miles south of Denver. You see, my father had been an
-invalid, and ever since I can remember we'd been chasing round from
-pillar to post, trying to find a climate that agreed with him; so this
-was really what you might call the first chance I had to go to work in
-earnest. It was a lovely quiet spot, an ideal place, I thought, for
-communing with nature and pursuing a literary career. But it was not so
-to be. Like—what's his name with a tender heel?"
-
-"Achilles?" I suggested.
-
-"Yes, like Achilles, I had one weak spot that was going to be my ruin.
-I was crazy about pets. Why, if it hadn't been for that weak spot I
-might be wearing literary laurel instead of lassoing cattle—but this
-is neither here nor there. What I was going to say was that before I'd
-been settled on that ranch three days some men came our way driving a
-herd of Texas cattle to Denver, and, as a late snowstorm came up just
-then, they decided to camp on good feed in the hills in front of my
-ranch. That afternoon they came over to our house to buy bread, and
-while they were there they mentioned to me that they had a nice cow
-that had just calved, and offered if I would buy the cow to throw in
-the calf, as they were just going to kill it. Well, here was where
-my weak spot came in. No sooner did I hear about those animals than
-nothing would do but that I should have them for pets. Besides, the cow
-was offered mighty cheap, only eighteen dollars, while I'd been going
-without milk rather than pay the fifty or seventy-five dollars asked
-for a milch cow; so now I thought was my chance to close a good bargain
-and get two nice pets, beside. Yes, sir, I even planned while the men
-were gone after those animals how I would domesticate them in a few
-days."
-
-"And it took longer?" I asked.
-
-"Domesticate! I might as well have tried to domesticate an active
-volcano—but I mustn't anticipate.
-
-"My first impression of my pet cow wasn't exactly encouraging. I had
-imagined her ambling serenely up to the house, mild-eyed and gentle,
-with the little calflet trotting at her side. Instead, she was dragged
-upon the scene by four men who had spent at least an hour in catching
-her and bringing her to me. The calf, meantime, after an equally
-exciting chase had been led up and tied to a large plum bush.
-
-"However, I wasn't one to let a little thing like that phase me. I was
-determined to make friends with that cow; so when, about two hundred
-yards from the house, the men threw her and took off the rope I
-advanced with that idea. But I wasn't half so anxious to make friends
-as the cow was. As soon as she set eyes on me—and if ever an animal
-had the evil eye, that cow did—she made a bee line for yours truly.
-
-"'Look out,' shouted the men. But I was already footing it pretty
-lively towards the thicket where the calf was tied, the cow after me,
-snorting like a steam engine almost in my ear. The next thing that
-I knew I had slipped and fallen on the ice in the north side of the
-bushes with the cow on top. I believe that I tried to grab the creature
-by her horns, with a wild hope that I might hold her down until the men
-came to the rescue.
-
-"I might as well have tried to hold down a hurricane. As she rose so
-did I, and was on my feet twenty yards away before she could see where
-she was at. Just as she rushed from the bush and lunged after me, I saw
-a rope swing through the air, and the next thing that devil-possessed
-cow knew she was tied to a clump of thicket and left to meditate upon
-the evil of her ways."
-
-"What did the men say to this?" I asked.
-
-"Of course they made out that they were awfully surprised at the cow's
-antics, fearfully scared at my close call, and all that; but I saw them
-grinning and chuckling as if they were ready to burst as they rode off,
-and I felt dead sure they'd planned to have a double funeral, cow and
-calf both, if they hadn't found a tender-foot to unload them on.
-
-"However, I never was one to give in that I was beaten by anything,
-first off, especially by a cow. Besides, that idea of having two nice
-pets had got a great hold on me. I made up my mind that if kindness
-could reclaim that erring cow she should be coddled like an infant.
-So next morning, bright and early, I started for the plum bush where
-she and the calf were tied, determined to make peace. Fortunately, two
-gentlemen, who had heard of the episode of the day before, rode over
-to see me that morning and joined me on my peace-making expedition. No
-sooner did the cow see me within thirty feet of her than she gave a
-fearful surge; the rope that she was tied with—worn thin by rubbing
-against the tree all night—gave way, and the cow made for me as though
-fifty devils had taken possession of her and were urging her on.
-
-"I tell you I didn't stop to think about the power of kindness on the
-brute creation. I simply yelled, 'Murder,' and made for a sand gulch
-near by as though a band of wild Indians were on my trail. As I reached
-the gulch and dropped ten feet or so down the steep bank, digging my
-heels into the loose sand to stop myself, that acrobatic cow sailed
-straight over my head and lit about twenty yards below. At first I
-thought that she was dead, but no such luck. In a moment she got up,
-looking foolish and dazed, but very much alive, and began shaking her
-head and pawing fiercely, when the two gentlemen reached down and
-lifted me out, as much as to say, 'This is what I'll do when I get hold
-of you.'"
-
-"Which she didn't, I hope," I put in.
-
-"No, indeed; you can be precious sure that I took particular care that
-she didn't have another chance to get hold of me or to get back into
-the yard again. For an hour or so after she had hoisted herself out
-of the gulch she stood outside the fence that separated the yard from
-the field, shaking her head and pawing whenever she saw any of us at
-the doors or windows. At last, towards evening, she trotted off with a
-zigzag wabble down the bank towards the creek among the willows, and
-there she lay in ambush, you might say, so that for a week after we
-didn't dare to go down to make a garden or do anything else, for fear
-of having that cow descend like a wolf on the fold."
-
-"And after that week?" I inquired.
-
-"Well, finally she grew bolder, and ventured on the mesa near the
-railroad track, where she made war on the section hands, and I was
-warned that I must take her out of the field or they would shoot her.
-So to prevent her from demoralizing the entire neighborhood I had
-her killed and used her for beef. And tough eating she was," said my
-hostess, laughing; "but in any case she was better dead than alive, for
-there wasn't room for that cow and me in the same country."
-
-"But you've been telling me about the cow. What about the heifer? I
-thought that you said that she was the cause—"
-
-"Oh, yes. The heifer was the calf. Now, whether the cow disowned the
-calf, or the calf the cow, I never found out. Anyway, the day that
-the cow disappeared into the bottom land that little calf trotted up
-to the house and tearfully begged to be loved. Well, you might have
-thought I'd had enough of pets for one while, but, no; the helplessness
-of that poor little calf so went to my heart that for weeks I rode nine
-miles every day for milk, and fed it to that little creature with my
-own hands."
-
-"A sort of foster-mother," I suggested.
-
-"Yes, I was a mother to that little orphan calf. But, if you'll
-believe me, it was a case of 'how sharper than a serpent's tooth is an
-ungrateful child,' or however that goes. Yes, sir, that calf followed
-in the evil course of its mother, only if anything it was worse, sort
-of like Agrippina and her son, Nero, only this was a daughter.
-
-"You see, the cow was perfectly open about her evil deeds, but the
-calf was underhanded. After trotting around me, looking as innocent
-as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, she'd all of a sudden
-disappear, and come back after a few days with an ear torn and the skin
-raked off her side; and pretty soon I'd hear that she'd been attacking
-horses or fighting other cows.
-
-"One day she chased an unlucky workman out onto the railroad bridge
-and kept him there until a train came along and the engineer slackened
-enough to take him on and carry him to Plum Station. Another time
-she got after a tramp that was camping on the bottom land among the
-willows, and forced him to take refuge in the forks of a crooked tree,
-where he roosted until one of us went down and called off Miss Bossie.
-In fact, the only return that calf ever made for all my loving care was
-to scare away tramps. If I could have kept her around the house just
-for that purpose she would have been one of the best investments I ever
-made.
-
-"But as years went by that calf became more and more abandoned to evil.
-She would wander farther and farther from home, until now I spend half
-my nights worrying about her and more than half the day following her
-up and taking her home with me."
-
-"I should think you'd get rid of the creature," I interrupted.
-
-"Kill her? Yes, I suppose that would be the most sensible thing to do,
-but you know how it is about always loving the prodigal son the most.
-Yes, sir; wherever that animal goes it takes my heart with it, and,
-though it's nigh onto eleven years old, I never can think of it as
-anything but a pet calf."
-
-"And so it was bringing up that heifer that interfered with your
-literary career?"
-
-"Interfered? Well, I should say so! Back at the start I did publish
-some poems in the local papers, and I read one or two essays at the
-Zion Church literaries. But people wouldn't believe they were original.
-No woman, they said, who spent her time chasing wild cows over the
-country could write odes to spring and essays on Shakespeare.
-
-"My literary career was killed, blighted in the bud. And, as my income
-was small and I had to do something to make out a living, I've just
-turned my hand to anything that came along.
-
-"Instead of gaining fame as the American George Eliot, I've been called
-Colorado Cow-girl and Bronco Buster. Instead of wielding the pen, I've
-driven a four-horse stage, branded cattle, broken saddle horses, sung
-in a church choir, run a blacksmith's shop, kept school, given music
-lessons, run a hotel, taught painting, carried mail, roughed it on
-horseback all the way from Colorado to Oregon, and taken a hand in
-pretty much everything else, except shoveling wind off the roof. But
-there"—breaking off suddenly—"you aren't interested in all this. What
-you want now is rest and shelter.
-
-"Take my outfit and make tracks for Wilkins ranch. Just give the pony
-his head and he'll land you all right.
-
-"It's over that way," rising and gesturing toward the southeast.
-
-I tried to protest against this plan, but the Colorado cow-girl was
-already several yards away.
-
-"That's all right; meet you later at the ranch," she cried, turning for
-a moment before she plunged into the thicket. "But first," she added,
-with almost maternal solicitude, "I think I'll just look around and see
-if I can't find that little speckled heifer."
-
-
-
-
-In a Tiger Trap.
-
-BY CHARLES EDWARD BARNS.
-
-
-The royal Malay tiger is no gentleman. If he were, the following would
-never have been told.
-
-Punda-Tsang was an innkeeper. He was sole proprietor of the
-Ballawari-Dâk, which is a very big name for a very small native
-hotel about sixty miles north of Penang, and on the high road to the
-hunting-steppes of the Bukit, or hill-country. The quaint little
-hospice clung to the mountain side like a swallow's nest, high over the
-jungle-bedded Sungei, whose foaming, crashing torrents came down from
-the upper mountains like an endless charge of white cavalry to the sea.
-Punda was a good sort of a Malay, which means a bad sort of anything
-else. That is, he would plunder only on the securest principles, and
-never quarrel with a bigger man nor a better armed one than he. In this
-he differed from other Malays, who would plunder and knife upon no
-principle or provocation whatever, if they thought there was a ten-anna
-piece in the job.
-
-But a deeper reading of this prosperous boniface of the jungles
-revealed the fact that he was capable of love,—yes, even a tender,
-human affection; and that little Iali, his five-year-old daughter, was
-the object of a worship in his heart even more fervent than that which
-he bestowed upon the five home-made clay gods before which, in a dark
-corner of the Dâk, he burned a vast deal of ill-smelling punk. The
-second year of Tsang's married life had hardly begun when his beautiful
-wife was bitten by a yellow viper while gathering healing herbs down
-in the valley. When they found the poor creature she was dying—with a
-little new-born babe in her arms. This calamity the bereaved husband
-regarded as a direct visitation of the clay gods in the corner; only
-the day before he had robbed a Kling hunter of his rifle, leaving
-the poor fellow to make his way unarmed down to the sea, where he ran
-upon a pair of half-starved _kukangs_, a vicious species of Malay
-chimpanzee, in fleeing from which he fell over the cliff and was dashed
-to pieces. And Punda-Tsang always felt that that yellow viper was sent
-direct from the land of the judging gods to avenge the blood of the
-poor Kling hunter. But there was one thing that mitigated the harshness
-of this vengeance,—the presence of the little child, whom he tenderly
-cherished, and whom he had called Iali, which is to say "forgiven."
-But even were not the little creature a messenger of forgiveness to
-the penitent savage heart, she was more than worthy his worship and
-love,—this child of the tropic forest, restless and agile as a young
-panther, with lustrous black eyes and a wild, wayward nature, much
-spoiled by the wayfarers and fawned upon by the coolies that swarmed
-about the compound.
-
-One day two British naval officers stopped at the Dâk on their way
-down from a hunt in the hill country. We were seated under the palms
-before the bungalow after tiffin, smoking cheroots, while I listened to
-their exploits with interest. Suddenly four native Malays approached,
-wheeling a live tiger in a clumsy wooden cage, and halted before the
-Dâk. They were going to dispose of him to a naturalist down on the
-coast, who had a method of killing and stuffing animals by which the
-marvelous luster of their skins was preserved. The forest king was
-certainly a magnificent specimen. If you have never seen a live tiger
-fresh from the jungles, take my word for it, the ordinary caged tiger
-at the Zoo is as much like the former as canned strawberries are like
-the fresh, lustrous fruit of June. The Englishmen evidently thought so,
-too, as they concluded to buy him, and swear that they had captured
-him, and then to present the beast to the London Zoo. They bought the
-animal for forty Mexican dollars, sent the natives back rejoicing, and
-started down towards the coast, while Punda-Tsang, not contented with
-exacting fifty per cent commission from the poor fellows for using his
-Dâk for a tiger mart, committed the meanest act of his life. He slyly
-sawed one of the cage bars nearly through in four places. Then he went
-to work planning to waylay the tiger on his way back to his haunts
-after he should break loose, which he knew would happen before the
-Englishmen could get many miles down the valley. He quietly pursued his
-planning until late that night, when he heard upon good authority that
-the tiger had broken jail and nearly killed one of his owners. Then he
-prepared to put his plans into action.
-
-Here we reach the illustration of the first-mentioned fact, of
-which Tsang was ready to take advantage: that the Malay tiger is no
-gentleman. He knew that the beast will never walk up leisurely and
-take his bite like a smooth and oily clubman at a free lunch, but that
-the very instant that he smells blood he will drop flat, and, even if
-the feast is a mile away, will begin a slow, creeping journey towards
-it, wasting hours, perhaps, and working up a terrific hunger in the
-meantime. When he has approached within twenty feet of the prize,
-quivering with desire and terrible with greed, he will leap into the
-air like a cannon ball and plunge down upon his victim. Punda-Tsang
-knew all this; so he dug a pit down the valley, constructed a network
-of branches over it, and laid the quarter of a bullock upon it. Then
-he waited for the tiger to scent the blood and make his slow, crawling
-journey, knowing that when he made the grand twenty-foot leap he
-would go crashing through the network into the pit below. Then Tsang
-planned he would starve the beast, let down a cage baited with more
-fresh meat, and, sliding the bars from above, haul the captured tiger
-out and sell him over again. All of this might have happened, but it
-didn't. Events somewhat stranger and more terrible for Punda-Tsang
-interfered, doubtless as another direct visitation of the vengeance of
-the little clay gods in the bungalow corner, half concealed in clouds
-of punk-smoke.
-
-As little Iali was the innkeeper's constant solace and companion, she
-went with him to the pit-digging, her father explaining to her the
-manner of capturing the "four-footed jungle-god," which facts, instead
-of frightening the child, only helped to increase the stock of her
-play gods and demons which she molded deftly from the red clay of
-the ravine. With the appearance of the new moon, that mascot of the
-Orientals, the pit was baited. For two days nothing was heard of the
-tiger, and Punda-Tsang began to fear that he had gone back to the hills
-by another route.
-
-On the afternoon of the third day I sat on the cliff's edge, watching
-the mists rise from the roaring river bottom, a phenomenon which
-always accompanies the closing day. Suddenly there was a great
-shuffling of sandals about the compound, and I knew something
-extraordinary was taking place. I turned quickly; the big form of
-Punda-Tsang, the innkeeper, burst upon me suddenly, his flat face as
-pallid as a demon's, ferocious, but with the ferocity of nameless fear.
-
-"Iali!" cried he hoarsely. "Have you seen Iali?"
-
-"No!" I replied, almost in a whisper. He did not wait, but sped towards
-the so-called bullock-sheds, which were really caves cut in the
-solid rock beyond the Dâk. I had become attached to the child, whose
-marvelous beauty had charmed, and whose weird ways mystified me. But I
-had never been alone with her, knowing that any accident happening to
-Iali while in my keeping would result seriously for me—perhaps cost
-me my life. The coolies were flying hither and thither, making the
-air ring with their loud wails. Such agitation on the part of these
-vagabonds roused me to a realization of the child's danger. Suddenly
-I turned my eyes and thoughts in the direction of the ravine where
-the tiger trap lay. I recalled vividly the child's interest in the
-"jungle-god" who was to be captured in the deep pit; and, knowing the
-little creature's absolute fearlessness, thought that, acting upon some
-childish impulse, she might have strayed down the narrow path to the
-pit. Meanwhile the wailing about me increased.
-
-I dropped over the ledge, soon reaching the pathway by a short route.
-As I penetrated the jungle, now suffused with mist in the ruby glow of
-the expiring day, I realized with what risks to myself I was entering
-this dangerous spot, all unarmed. I was still debating whether or not
-to return for a weapon of defense, when, as I leaped over a soft spot
-in the red clay, I saw two footprints that shot terror into my heart;
-one was that of a mammoth tiger, the other belonged to a little child.
-I dropped down beside them. No. There was no mistaking them, so clear
-and fresh were both. I rose to my feet, my head whirling, my ears
-half-deafened by the noise of the jungle insects and the increasing
-roar of that river beyond. Then I crept forward, scarcely daring to
-breathe, my heart beating faster and faster with apprehension.
-
-The distance to that tiger pit seemed to be doubled, and the time that
-elapsed before reaching it everlasting. The crackling of the leaves
-and twigs on the moss beneath my feet added to my trepidations. Almost
-before I realized it I had reached the big trap, and then halted short,
-thrilled by the sound of something human. I looked up. Through the
-deepening mists and intervening boughs I saw the little child-figure
-of Iali creeping out upon the withered branches over the pit. For the
-instant I had no power to move, nor dared I speak, lest, overcome with
-sudden fright, the frail little one might lose her foothold. Suddenly
-a new horror disclosed itself. What were those two glaring, cold,
-yet fiery points just beyond the pit, burning their way through the
-shadows? My God! It was the tiger. He was lying flat on the ground,
-couchant, paws extended, quivering, ready for the fatal spring.
-
-In moments like these one's reasoning powers become super-human. I saw
-that in all probability either Iali or I was to be sacrificed, which
-one depended merely upon the caprice of the wild beast. I had heard
-that the calm, steady, fearless stare of a human is more terrifying to
-wild animals than guns that kill. On the instant I resolved to practise
-it; it was my only expedient. So I stared at those two coldly bright
-and glowing points of light like a madman, without a quiver, without a
-doubt.
-
-Suddenly I saw the little figure waver on the dead branches over the
-mouth of the pit, and then—oh, horrors! with a weak cry poor little
-Iali had lost her foothold and slipped slowly through the yielding
-boughs into the cave beneath. For a moment all was silent. Then I
-heard her childish prattle. The soft sand had broken Iali's fall and
-saved her life, while I was brought face to face with the most awful
-problem of my life. For what seemed hours, I stood like a pillar of
-stone, the sweat pouring down my neck, my tongue hot and parched. One
-show of fear would, I knew, be fatal. The "jungle-gods" are keen, like
-demons, measuring strength with man. How long could I keep up this
-maddening strain?—how long force upon the king-beast this illusion of
-my superior will?
-
-Suddenly, as I stood like one in a trance, facing this growing problem,
-I was conscious of a stir in the reeds and underbrush at my right
-hand. Though the sound caused me to tremble, I dared not take my eyes
-from the crouching monster beyond. The next instant, a strange, huge
-shape crept stealthily out of the underwood, and advanced into the
-clearing toward the pit,—a ponderous black monster with the body of a
-beast, but lifting through the grass the head and shoulders of a human
-colossus. It was a mammoth orang-outang!
-
-The tiger crouched lower. He seemed to be as nonplussed, as stunned by
-the intrusion of this huge interloper as I was. In motionless silence,
-he transferred his burning gaze to the mammoth monster.
-
-Advancing to the very edge of the pit, the huge ape slipped, but he
-recovered. Sly beast! He saw that the branches were only a blind.
-Then he walked around the edge of the trap, and knelt down like a
-human being, slowly, deliberately reaching out his long hairy arm till
-his giant hand clutched that bullock bone. Oh, what joy that calm,
-providential deed brought to my heart! Then, to my intense relief,
-the orang slowly dragged the great mass of flesh off the network of
-branches upon the solid ground.
-
-For a moment longer the gleam of those two terrible eyes, now like
-peepholes into hell, followed the unsuspecting pilferer. Then came a
-rustle, a strange shriek like sudden thunder, a bound, and a roar, and
-the "jungle-god" had sprung into the air, and came down like a flashing
-avalanche full upon the broad body of the kneeling orang. A single
-paw struck the mammoth ape in the small of the back, and never shall
-I forget the sound of that blow which broke the bones of the orang's
-spine like a cannon ball. With an almost human groan, the rescuer of
-my life and hers I came to save gave up the booty, together with his
-own life. Then the tiger, with a final flash of eyes full into my own,
-snatched up the carcass of the bullock in his flaming jaws, and slid
-off into the thick of the jungle.
-
-I have often wondered since how things would have turned out if that
-tiger _had_ been a gentleman.
-
-
-
-
-The Red-Hot Dollar.
-
-BY H. D. UMBSTAETTER.
-
-
-It lacked three minutes of five by the big clock in the tower when the
-east-bound Chicago express rumbled into the station at Buffalo. The
-train had not yet come to a standstill when a hatless man jumped from
-the platform of the rear sleeping-car and ran across the tracks into
-the depot restaurant. A few minutes later he reappeared, carrying a cup
-of coffee in one hand and a small paper bag in the other.
-
-With these he hurriedly made his way back to the car through a
-straggling procession of drowsy tourists, who were taking advantage
-of the train's five minutes' stop to breathe the crisp morning air.
-The last of these had already resumed his seat when the man without a
-hat again appeared at the lunch counter, returned the borrowed dishes,
-and ordered coffee for himself. He had just picked up the cup and was
-raising it to his lips when the conductor's "All aboard" rang through
-the station.
-
-Leaving the coffee untouched, he thrust a five-dollar bill at the
-attendant, grabbed his change, and started in pursuit of the moving
-train. He had almost reached it when an unlucky stumble sent the
-coins in his hand rolling in all directions along the floor. Quickly
-recovering himself and paying no heed to his loss, he redoubled his
-efforts, and, though losing ground at every step, kept up the hopeless
-chase to the end of the station. There he stopped, panting for breath.
-The slip had proved fatal. He had missed the train!
-
-As he stood staring wildly through the clouds of dust that rose from
-the track, a young woman, evidently deeply agitated, suddenly appeared
-in the doorway of the vanishing car. Upon seeing him, she made frantic
-attempts to leap from the platform, when she was seized by a man and
-pulled back into the car. When the door had closed upon the two
-the bareheaded man in the station faced about and philosophically
-muttered:—
-
-"It's fate!"
-
-Then, after pausing a few moments, as if to collect his thoughts,
-he slowly retraced his steps to the scene of his mishap and began
-calmly searching for his lost change. Circling closely about, his eyes
-scanning the floor, he succeeded in recovering first one and then
-another of the missing coins, until finally, after repeated rounds, he
-lacked only one dollar of the whole amount. At this point he paused,
-clinked the recovered coins in his hand, looked at his watch, and then
-started on a final round. As this failed to reveal the missing piece,
-he gave up the search, transferred the contents of his hands to his
-trousers' pocket, and started in the direction of the telegraph office.
-
-He had proceeded perhaps twenty paces when it occurred to him to turn
-about and cast one more look along the floor. As he did so his eye
-fell upon a shining object lodged in an opening between the rail and
-planked floor, a few feet from where he stood. He stooped to examine
-it, and, seeing that it was the missing coin, reached for it, but
-found the opening too narrow to admit his fingers. He tried to recover
-the piece with his pocket-knife, and, failing in this attempt, took
-his lead-pencil, with which, after repeated attempts, he succeeded in
-tossing it upon the floor.
-
-With an air of subdued satisfaction, he walked away, and was about to
-convey the coin to his pocket when a sudden impulse led him to examine
-it. Holding it up before his eyes, he stopped, scrutinized every
-detail, and as he turned it over and over the puzzled look on his face
-changed to one of rigid astonishment. For fully a minute he stood as if
-transfixed; then, rousing himself and looking anxiously about as if to
-see if any one had observed him, he hurried to the cashier's desk in
-the restaurant, and, producing the bright silver dollar, asked the girl
-if she happened to remember from whom she received it.
-
-She didn't remember, but would exchange it for another, she said, if
-he wished. Politely declining the offer and apologizing for having
-troubled her, he said that, as the coin he held in his hand was
-separating a loving wife from her husband, he wished very much to find
-some trace of its former owner. The girl looked up, thought for a
-moment, then, pulling out the cash drawer, and examining its contents,
-said she might have received it from the conductor of the Lake Shore
-express which had left for Cleveland at 3.15. She now recalled that
-when she came on duty at midnight there was no silver dollar among
-the change in the cash drawer, and that the only one she remembered
-receiving was from Sleeping-Car Conductor Parkins.
-
-The man thanked her and hastened to the telegraph office, where he sent
-this message:—
-
-
-"CONDUCTOR, EAST BOUND CHICAGO EXPRESS,
- UTICA, N. Y.
-
- "Please ask lady in section seven of sleeping-car Catawba to
-await her husband at Delavan House, Albany.
-
- "A. J. HOBART."
-
-
-After requesting the operator to kindly rush the despatch, he proceeded
-to the ticket office, procured a seat in the 5.45 fast mail for
-Cleveland, and, with his hand clutching the coin in his pocket and his
-eyes fixed upon the floor, meditatively paced up and down the platform,
-waiting for the train to arrive.
-
-As he did so he was disconcerted to find himself the object of
-wide-spread curiosity; even the newsboys with the morning papers
-favored him with an inquiring stare as they passed. Wondering what was
-amiss, he suddenly put his hand to his head, which furnished an instant
-explanation. He was hatless.
-
-Looking at the big clock, he saw that it lacked ten minutes of train
-time, and, hastily crossing over to the farther track, he disappeared
-through the west end of the station.
-
-Among the passengers who boarded the 5.45 fast mail for Cleveland when
-it thundered into the station, ten minutes later, was the bareheaded
-gentleman of a few minutes ago, now wearing a stylish derby. Once in
-the train, he settled himself in his seat with a sigh of relief and
-satisfaction. Not until then did the really remarkable character of the
-situation dawn upon him. On the very day which he had hailed as one of
-the happiest of his life he was traveling at the rate of about sixty
-miles an hour away from the girl he loved devotedly and to whom he had
-been married just seventeen hours. A queer opening of his honeymoon! In
-his anxiety to get a cup of coffee for his wife, he had lost his hat,
-then lost his change, and, lastly, lost the train.
-
-Why did he not follow his bride at once? What mysterious spell had come
-upon this seventeen-hour bridegroom that he should fly from her as
-swiftly as the fast express could carry him? His hand held the solution
-of the problem—simple, yet unexplainable—a silver dollar! It held
-the secret he must unravel before he could return to her; it was not
-then that he loved her less, but that this bit of precious metal had
-suddenly developed an occult power that had turned their paths, for the
-present, in opposite directions.
-
-At the first stopping place he sent another message, which read as
-follows:—
-
-
-"MRS. A. J. HOBART, Delavan House, Albany, N. Y.
-
- "Cannot possibly reach Albany before to-morrow morning.
-
- "ANSEL."
-
-
-With his brain filled with excited thoughts, the young man entered
-the sleeping-car office at Cleveland four hours later and asked for
-Conductor Parkins. He was told that this official would not be on duty
-before night, though possibly he might be at his home on St. Clair
-Street.
-
-To the address given him the indefatigable young man repaired at once,
-and found the genial gentleman for whom he sought breakfasting with his
-family. He kindly gave audience at once to his visitor.
-
-"This coin, which you gave the cashier of the restaurant in Buffalo,"
-said the latter, revealing it in the palm of his hand; "can you tell me
-from whom you received it?"
-
-Parkins remembered receiving cash from but two passengers the night
-before, one a traveling man who got off in Cleveland, and the other a
-woman whose destination was Erie. The stranger might ascertain their
-names by consulting the car diagram at the ticket office. "You seem
-interested in the coin," he added, smiling.
-
-"I am, for a good reason," laughed the young man in reply. "It is
-separating a man from his wife." And with these engimatical words he
-made his adieu, with thanks, hastened to the ticket office, and an hour
-later was scouring the city for one Richard Spears.
-
-The register of the Stillman House contained the freshly written name
-of "Richard Spears, Providence, R. I.," but that gentleman, when
-found in his room showing samples of hardware to a prospective buyer,
-regretted that he could not throw any light on the particular dollar
-his visitor held up to his gaze, and remembered distinctly that he had
-given the conductor a two-dollar bill in payment for his berth. He came
-from a section, he said, where people took no stock in silver dollars.
-
-It was three o'clock in the afternoon when a man got off the train
-at Erie and inquired of the cabmen and depot master regarding a lady
-who had arrived on the early train from Buffalo. An hour later he was
-driving along a country road some miles south of the town inquiring for
-the Wickliffe farm.
-
-As he finally drove up to the house which was his destination he was
-conscious of a strange excitement. This, he realized, was probably
-his only remaining chance to trace the coin by whose mysterious power
-he had been drawn into this wild chase with the hope of identifying
-its former owner. He took a hasty note of the general features of the
-place. It had a comfortable, well-to-do look; a two-story house, white,
-with green blinds. Most of these were closed, as is customary with
-country houses, but the windows at the right of the big front door,
-opening on a small porch, were shaded only by white curtains. There was
-a sound of voices within as he stepped up to the door and rapped.
-
-Mrs. Wickliffe, a pleasant-faced little woman, sat surrounded by
-three children and a neighbor's wife, to whom she was displaying some
-purchases. As one of the children opened the door, admitting the
-stranger into this animated scene, she was standing before a mirror
-trying on a new bonnet, which was eliciting extravagant praises from
-the neighbor.
-
-After listening to his story, Mrs. Wickliffe said that her memory was
-so treacherous that she really couldn't say for certain whether or not
-she gave the conductor the shining dollar, but that if she did she
-must have received it from her son in Germantown, Pa., from a visit
-to whose house she had just returned, and who before her departure had
-exchanged some money for her. She added that, as she took no interest
-in coin collecting, a dollar was simply a dollar to her and that she
-thought a woman was very foolish to take up with a fad which might ruin
-her happiness.
-
-Her unknown caller thought so, too, admired her taste in millinery,
-took the address of her son, and, clutching the fatal coin more firmly
-than ever, drove back to Erie, where he boarded the New York night
-express.
-
-To the young man who still clutched the silver dollar sleep was
-impossible. A multitude of exciting fancies crossed his brain. The
-developments he hoped to bring about, the curious solution of the
-problem, its effect upon his future, and the future of one so dear to
-him,—all this murdered sleep for him as effectually as did the crime
-on Lady Macbeth's soul. It drove him into the smoking-car, where he
-sank into a seat and planned and conjectured between puffs of Havana
-smoke until the train reached Albany. So completely absorbed had he
-become in the solution of this knotty problem in which his accident
-of the morning had involved him, and so convinced was he that the
-information must be for the time kept a secret, that he actually began
-to dread what was clearly inevitable,—the explanation he must shortly
-make to his wife.
-
-His inclination was to tell her all. His duty to others forbade this.
-After pondering over the matter, he decided to explain that he had a
-happy surprise in store for her, one that had an important bearing on
-their future, and which unfortunately necessitated a change in their
-plans for a honeymoon in Europe.
-
-This, on reaching the Delavan House, he expressed to a very pretty and
-very anxious little woman who was awaiting him, together with a good
-many other things not necessary to this story. And, instead of the
-steamer for Europe, the reunited pair took a train for Philadelphia.
-Early the next day the young man presented himself at the office of Dr.
-James Wickliffe, at Germantown, who smilingly admitted having given
-the shining dollar to his mother two days before. He had received the
-coin from a patient, a letter-carrier named John Lennon, and remembered
-it because of the following strange story, related to him by Lennon
-himself.
-
-A few days before, the carrier was engaged in delivering mail from door
-to door along Vine Street, Philadelphia, when a zigzag trip across the
-street and back again brought him to the narrow stairway of a dingy
-brick house, in front of which hung an enormous brass key bearing the
-word "Locksmith." Here he paused to draw a little parcel from his
-bundle. As he did so he heard something fall with a metallic clink upon
-the stone pavement. He looked and saw that it was a silver dollar,
-which rolled toward the gutter and came to a stop close by the curb.
-Hastening to pick it up, he instantly dropped it with a cry of pain.
-
-_The coin was almost red hot!_
-
-The letter-carrier stood nursing his hand and thinking for two or three
-minutes. Silver dollars do not commonly drop out of the sky. But that
-this one should thus fall like a meteorite in a condition too heated
-for handling was certainly more than surprising—it was astounding! The
-man looked up at the dingy brick house and examined it attentively,
-noting that the ground floor was occupied as a green grocery and that
-all of the windows were shut save one in the third story.
-
-Then he kicked the mysterious coin into a puddle, fished it out again
-with his fingers, and put it into his trousers' pocket. He was about to
-investigate further, when some small boys called his attention to the
-fact that it was the first day of April, whereupon he proceeded on his
-way. He gave no further thought to the matter until that night, when
-he found that his thumb and forefinger had been so badly burned as to
-require treatment.
-
-The next morning he called upon the doctor, who dressed the painful
-hand and received the mysterious coin in payment for his services.
-
-That night, behind locked doors in one of the officers' rooms of the
-United States Mint in Chestnut Street, two men were engaged in a long
-whispered conference. The wife of one of the men, as she sat in her
-room in the Continental Hotel, anxiously waiting for her husband, was
-beginning to wonder whether, after all, marriage was a failure!
-
-Two days later, in speaking of the seizure of over forty thousand bogus
-silver dollars and the clever capture of three of the most dangerous
-counterfeiters that ever attacked the currency of the United States,
-the _Daily News_ said:—
-
-"The most remarkable part of the whole story is that one of the coins,
-fresh from the machine of one of the counterfeiters, fell out of a
-third-story window near which he was working, was picked up while
-almost red hot by a letter-carrier, and passed as genuine through
-various hands until it reached Buffalo, where, by the merest accident,
-it came into the possession of Mr. Ansel Hobart of the Secret Service.
-That gentleman noticed an imperfection at one point of its rim, and
-succeeded in tracing the coin to the headquarters of the gang on Vine
-Street in this city, where, under the cloak of a locksmith shop and
-green grocery business, six hundred of the spurious coins were turned
-out daily. So admirably were these counterfeits executed as to defy
-scrutiny save by experts of the Government. The coins were not cast
-in molds after the ordinary fashion, but were struck with a die, and
-plated so thickly with silver as to withstand tests by acids. The
-defect which led to the discovery was found only in the one coin
-already spoken of, and it is supposed that it was this defect that
-caused the piece to spring from the finishing machine and fall out of
-the window."
-
-And the New York newspapers of three days later contained the
-intelligence that the White Star steamer "Majestic," which sailed for
-Liverpool that day, had among her passengers Mr. and Mrs. Ansel J.
-Hobart, of Chicago, Illinois.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-Advertisements.
-
-[Illustration]
-
- "I cannot speak too enthusiastically of what my dressmaker has done for
- the last two seasons. All the former annoyance of heavy sleeves (which
- are also very hot in warm weather) has been done away with, and it is
- such pleasure to me to use no special care of the skirt when either
- riding or boating as I am sure every fold will instantly disappear the
- moment I walk."
-
- "What different materials do you use to accomplish this?"
-
- "Why, really the same, only you know the AMERICAN HAIR CLOTH CO.—I
- believe that is the name—make one grade of linings so thin as not
- to be objectionable to the thinest white material even, and then the
- heavier grades which are just as suitable for winter use as for summer,
- and all their styles in either gray, black or white."
-
- "How much does this really add to the weight of the skirt without any
- lining?"
-
- "My dressmaker says that an entire skirt if it were made up as a
- separate skirt of seven yards would weigh but 12 ounces, and if one
- should use their 170/3 it is almost as light as air itself."
-
- "Why, these figures are new to me; what do they mean?"
-
- "I took pains to investigate that, and their =10/4=, =10/5= and =98/3=
- is the style usually used for skirts and can be had in either gray or
- black, though of course they make heavier grades, principally used by
- tailors."
-
- "Either the =84/3=, =146/3=, =170/3=, =184/4= or =200/4=, is all right
- for thin sleeves, so that if the dealer has not all these styles he
- ought to have one surely."
-
- "I am very glad for this information, for I confess that while I have
- been forced to follow the fashion. It has been at great discomfort,
- especially in the hot weather, with what I have had used for linings;
- and I had really no knowledge of these different grades, or in fact
- that HAIR CLOTH CRINOLINE was really the perfect thing to be used for
- both skirts and sleeves."
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- Hair Cloth Crinoline
-
- Ask your Dealer for Ours
-
- =It Lasts Forever=
-
- We do not sell at Retail
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- American Hair Cloth Company,
- PAWTUCKET, R.I.
- CHARLES E. PERVEAR, Agent
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- =If you are thinking= about advertising in any newspaper, magazine, or
- program =anywhere=, send to
-
- DODD'S Advertising & Checking AGENCY
- =265 Washington St., — Boston.=
-
-_=We write and illustrate advertisements for our clients.=_
-
- RELIABLE DEALING.
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-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- =If you are thinking= about advertising in any newspaper, magazine, or
- program =anywhere=, send to
-
- DODD'S Advertising & Checking AGENCY
- =265 Washington St., — Boston.=
-
-_=We write and illustrate advertisements for our clients.=_
-
- RELIABLE DEALING.
- CAREFUL SERVICE.
- LOW ESTIMATES.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- SEARCH LIGHT
-
- =Is what it is named.=
-
- It is =not= a signal to show that a bicycle is coming,
- but an =aid=, recognized by such riders as R. P. Searle,
- who says:—
-
- GENTLEMEN: I have just finished my second record-breaking trip
- from Chicago to New York. I used your lamp on all my night runs,
- sometimes running at a speed of fifteen miles per hour in the dark. I
- was only able to make this fast time by the splendid light which I was
- enabled to obtain with the use of your lamp. I used your lamp because
- I considered it the best in the world to-day, and it has far exceeded
- my expectations. Yours very truly,
-
- _R. P. Searle_
-
- Points of Superiority over every other Lantern Made:
-
- =Central draft—burns ten hours.=
- =Burns kerosene oil unmixed.=
- =Flame absolutely adjustable (by set screw).=
- =Filled and lighted from outside.=
-
- _Saves Doctors' Bills_, barked shins, soiled clothing, and =makes
- riding= when there is the most leisure =a pleasure=.
-
- =Don't be insulted= by having a cheap Lantern offered you which may
- possess possibly one characteristic, =but insist= _on having_ the
- =Search Light=, which will be delivered free, if your dealer won't
- supply you, for the price, =$5.00=. Circulars free. Address
-
- BRIDGEPORT BRASS CO.,
- Bridgeport, Conn., or 19 Murray Street, New York.
-
-
-
-
- =The Stomach was made for a purpose—a food wholly digested was not
- what the Almighty intended—=
-
- =No Child Can Live=
-
- =upon these thin, slippery Foods, but must have something to satisfy
- the stomach in order to give development and growth.=
-
- =Ridge's Food= has all the requirements; but =it does need boiling=,
- and care =after= boiling, and a Mother that is not ready to take this
- care is a very queer Mother. We have never known, in our =30 years
- of experience=, of a single case of indigestion, loss of sleep, skin
- disease, or scurvy while faithfully using =Ridge's Food=.
-
- The stomach requires action—it is so constructed that from the very
- first it is made for action. With the youngest infant the quantity of
- nourishment from the natural food (the mother's milk) is much less,
- because the stomach is incapable of taking care of as much as it can
- later, but at the same time action is going on, and nature does its
- work as the child grows, so it can take stronger food; therefore, the
- special directions which have been the result of experience so adapt
- themselves to the age of the child as to fulfill those requirements.
-
- Little babies cannot be successfully fed daily by pouring hot water on
- something that makes food. =It must be properly cooked=, and properly
- prepared especially for the babies' delicate stomachs, if you wish to
- save them.
-
- It has been said by some that children could not assimilate starch,
- yet we believe it is a proper carbon to have in food. The only carbon
- in many foods is sugar. Scurvy is not uncommonly a result of the
- continued use of food not sufficiently nutritious. The disfiguring
- eczema seen on the face and scalp is a result from the same cause.
-
- =Ridge's Food= is so prepared that only the normal action of the
- stomach is required to produce healthful growth and development, and
- the result has been good digestion, sound, healthy bodies, good teeth,
- strong, straight limbs, and a well-formed brain; the child becomes a
- model of healthful strength and childish beauty when fed on =Ridge's
- Food=, properly prepared—and its long continuance does not produce
- Scurvy and skin disease in its many forms. Do not take our word for
- it, but please make the test yourself. =It has stood the test for 30
- years=, and abundant testimonials are at hand to prove our assertions.
- _Sample free to any physician or mother._
-
- =Ridge's Food,
- Used for 30 Years,
- Still Unexcelled.=
-
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-ANNOUNCEMENT.
-
-The Black Cat
-
-... FOR ...
-
-NOVEMBER, 1895,
-
-Will contain the following Original and Complete Stories:
-
-A Calaveras Hold-Up. By Roberta Littlehale.
-
- A vivid account of an actual California stage robbery, linked with a
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-From a Trolley Post. By Margaret Dodge.
-
- A comedy-drama of the city streets, in which a pocket edition of a
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-
-An Andenken. By Julia Magruder.
-
- An absorbing and unusual story of artist life, love, and adventure,
- whose scene is laid in the Tyrolean Alps.
-
-The Man from Maine. By J. D. Ellsworth.
-
- Some picturesque facts showing that prohibition doesn't always
- prohibit.
-
-A Wedding Tombstone. By Clarice Irene Clinghan.
-
- A curiously fascinating tale of New England village life, showing the
- same unconventional charm as the author's prize story, "Six Months in
- Hades," for which she received $1.000.
-
-The Other One. By A. H. Gibson.
-
- A gruesome but impressively interesting story of robbery, murder,
- and terrible retribution, whose startling ending cannot possibly be
- foreseen.
-
-Stateroom Six. By William Albert Lewis.
-
- A dramatic incident of Mississippi steamboat travel twenty years ago,
- told just as it happened.
-
-Her Eyes, Your Honor! By M. D. Umbstaetter.
-
- A famous criminal court trial, a mysterious woman whose life hinges on
- circumstantial evidence, and a legal trap resulting in an unparalleled
- climax are the features of this stirring tale.
-
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-undersigned, and it will be mailed to you, postpaid, for one year.
-
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- 144 High Street, Boston, Mass.
-
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- show to the Singer Hook and Eye. Sold everywhere.
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- The Black Cat
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-
-=Important Announcements for the Fall of 1895.=
-
-
-The publishers take pleasure in announcing an unusual amount of good
-fiction. Early issues of the Atlantic will contain =The Apparition
-of Gran'ther Hill=, by _Rowland E. Robinson_; =Pilgrim Station=, by
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-=The End of the Terror=, by _Robert Wilson_, a Southern writer. Aside
-from these, there will be stories by Mrs. _Wiggin, Henry James, L.
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-
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-Cranford. _Bradford Torrey_ will publish further sketches of life and
-nature in his Tennessee haunts. Other articles of special interest,
-which can perhaps be classed under this head, will be =Reminiscences of
-Eastern Travel= by Miss _Harriet Waters Preston_; and _Josiah Flynt_,
-who has become an authority on the vagrant, will contribute one of his
-entertaining studies of tramp life, =The Children of the Road=.
-
-The subject of =Education= will, as usual, receive attention. The
-Atlantic was the first of the leading magazines to make the discussion
-of important educational questions one of the features of its pages.
-In early issues will be printed articles by President _Tucker_, of
-Dartmouth, and Professor _J. H. Wright_, of Harvard.
-
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-be features of each issue.
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- BALZAC.
-
- Translated by KATHARINE PRESCOTT WORMELEY.
-
- =Duchesse De Langeais.=
- =Pere Goriot.=
- =The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau.=
- =Cousin Bette.=
- =Eugenie Grandet.=
- =The Magic Skin.=
- =Bureaucracy.=
- =Fame and Sorrow.=
- =The Country Doctor.=
- =Louis Lambert.=
- =Cousin Pons.=
- =The Two Brothers.=
- =The Alkahest.=
- =Modeste Mignon.=
- =Seraphita.=
- =Ursula.=
- =A Start in Life.=
- =The Marriage Contract.=
- =Beatrix.=
- =The Daughter of Eve.=
- =Sons of the Soil.=
- =The Lily of the Valley.=
- =An Historical Mystery.=
- =Albert Savarus.=
- =Pierrette.=
- =The Chouans.=
- =Lost Illusions.=
- =A Great Man of the Provinces in Paris.=
- =The Brotherhood of Consolation.=
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- =Catherine d'Medici.=
- =Lucien de Rubempre.=
- =Ferragus.=
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- Balzac's Works. With Portrait taken one hour after death by Eugene
- Giraud. 12mo, half Russia, price $1.50.
-
- _Mailed, postage paid, on receipt of price by the Publishers._
-
- ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston, Mass.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
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- L^E PAGE'S
- LIQUID GLUE
-
- Will not mend broken
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- that 'twill stay mended
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-
- S MONDAY
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- A TUESDAY
-
- P WEDNESDAY
-
- O THURSDAY
-
- L FRIDAY
-
- I SATURDAY
-
- O SUNDAY
-
- * * * * *
-
-TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES.
-1. Table of Contents created by the transcriber.
-2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard spellings and typographical
- errors as printed.
-3. Lines 259 and 1161. Double quotes added.
-
-
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-<body>
-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Black Cat (Vol. I, No. 1, October 1895), by Various</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Black Cat (Vol. I, No. 1, October 1895)</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 16, 2022 [eBook #67422]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
- <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: hekula03, Brian Wilsden and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK CAT (VOL. I, NO. 1, OCTOBER 1895) ***</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
- <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="r20" />
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxlarge">The Black Cat (Vol. I, No. 1)</span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="xlarge">October<br />
- 1895</span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="xxlarge">Contents</span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>In Gold Time.</b></span><br />
-Roberta Littlehale.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>The Unturned Trump.</b></span><br />
-Barnes MacGreggor.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>The Secret of the White Castle.</b></span><br />
-Julia Magruder.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>Miss Wood,&mdash;Stenographer.</b></span><br />
-Granville Sharpe.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>Her Hoodoo.</b></span><br />
-Harold Kinsabby.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>In a Tiger Trap.</b></span><br />
-Charles Edward Barns.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>The Red-Hot Dollar.</b></span><br />
-H. D. Umbstaetter.<br /><br />
-
-5<br />
-CENTS<br /><br />
-
-<span class="xlarge">THE SHORTSTORY PUBLISHING CO. 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON, MASS.</span><br />
-
-Copyright 1895 by The Shortstory Publishing Co.
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p class="center">THE SHORTSTORY PUBLISHING CO. 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON, MASS.</p>
-<p class="center">Copyright 1895 by The Shortstory Publishing Co.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="figcenter">
- <img src="images/i_ad.png" alt="" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace1">
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="large"><b>WILLIAMS' SHAVING STICK.</b></span><br />
-<br />
-"<i>It's just like cream, isn't it puss?</i>"<br />
-<br />
-Williams' Shaving Soaps<br />
-have been famous for 50 years.<br />
-Sold by dealers everywhere.<br />
-<br />
-THE J. B. WILLIAMS CO.,<br />
-Glastonbury, Conn.<br />
-<br />
-London, 64 Great Russel St., W. C.<br />
-<br />
-Copyright, 1895, by The J. B. Williams Co.<br />
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<h1>
-The Black Cat (<span class="small">Vol. I, No. 1</span>)
-</h1>
-
-<p class="center xlarge">October 1895</p>
-
-<p class="center">A Monthly Magazine of Original Short Stories.</p>
-
-<p class="center">No. 1.<span class="linespace10">OCTOBER, 1895.</span>
-<span class="linespace10">5 cents a copy.</span><br />
-<span class="linespace44">50 cents a year.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">Entered at the Post-Office at Boston, Mass., as second-class matter.</p>
-
-<hr class="r5" />
-
-<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2>
-
-<table summary="contents">
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">Title</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;Author</td>
-<td class="tdr">Page</td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">In Gold Time.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Roberta Littlehale.</span></td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#IN_GOLD_TIME">1</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">The Unturned Trump.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Barnes MacGreggor.</span></td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#THE_UNTURNED_TRUMP">6</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">The Secret of the White Castle.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Julia Magruder.</span></td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#THE_SECRET_OF_THE_WHITE_CASTLE">11</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">Miss Wood,&mdash;Stenographer.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Granville Sharpe.</span></td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#MISS_WOOD">17</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">Her Hoodoo.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Harold Kinsabby.</span></td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#HER_HOODOO">29</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">In a Tiger Trap.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Charles Edward Barns.</span></td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#IN_A_TIGER_TRAP">36</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">The Red-Hot Dollar.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">H. D. Umbstaetter.</span></td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#THE_REDHOT_DOLLAR">42</a></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl">Advertisements.</td>
-<td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
-<td class="tdr">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#ADVERTISEMENTS">50</a></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="IN_GOLD_TIME" id="IN_GOLD_TIME"></a>In Gold Time.</h2>
-</div>
-<p class="center">BY ROBERTA LITTLEHALE.</p>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_001.png" width="100" height="97" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span style="margin-left: 0.2em">HE </span>
-was straight, and grizzled, and keen of eye.
-He had worked, and fought, and gambled his
-way through the lawlessness and passion of
-the State's early life into the decency and uprightness
-of a successful contractor.</p>
-
-<p>His name was Bill Bowen.</p>
-
-<p>As a civil engineer, I came more or less in contact with him,
-and rejoiced in the largeness of his mental mold, as well as in
-the business sense of security he let me enjoy.</p>
-
-<p>One summer's night we took a drive to a distant town on the
-San Joaquin River. We were to look at stone for bridge building,
-and the blistering heat of the day made us willing to lose our
-sleep for the more comfortable traveling by starlight.
-</p>
-<p>The horses jogged lazily through the coarse, thick dust on the
-river's levee, and the insects from the grain fields and the frogs
-from the sloughs had things wholly to themselves until Bill
-suddenly interrupted.</p>
-
-<p>"Mrs. Chase is pretty enough yet to understand why she sent
-two fellows to the devil, isn't she?"</p>
-
-<p>"What are you talking about?" I answered.</p>
-
-<p>"Oh," said Bill, pulling himself up, "I forgot you didn't
-struggle with the rest of us through those groggy days."
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span></p>
-
-<p>I knew Bill well enough to let him relapse just so many minutes;
-then I said: "Judge Chase's wife is lovelier at sixty than
-most girls at sixteen, but I hadn't an idea she figured so romantically
-in the early days as to send anybody overboard."</p>
-
-<p>"H'm," replied Bill reflectively.</p>
-
-<p>The horses traveled on without attention, and I waited in
-patience.</p>
-
-<p>"You know what it was like," he began at last. "Men with
-guns from all over the Union and gold the heaven we sweated
-for. Prayers, and court, and the gambling tables all running
-under one roof, and nary a woman's face showing up in the mass
-to give us courage. To be sure, there were vixenish ribs o' Satan
-who robbed, and killed, and drank with the worst of us; but until
-'51 we'd never the woman for reverence. Then, by degrees, the
-lawyers and a stray merchant or two aired their families, but things
-wasn't dizzy till pretty Grace Blanchard got out with her father.</p>
-
-<p>"Understand, she carried herself as she'd ought to; but, understand,
-there was men among us as was born and bred to live with
-blood. The mass of us had to take out our satisfaction in looking
-at her; but for two the favor in old Blanchard's eyes was
-easy reading, and it wasn't long seeing the course the straw took.
-</p>
-<p>"Ned Emory was a long, lean, blond fellow, with a blamed fine
-face and a way that made friends of the toughest. They said he
-looked a swell when he called at the Blanchards', but I never saw
-him but like the rest of us,&mdash;red-shirted and overalled, and an
-angle to his pistols that made him a joy.</p>
-
-<p>"George Stokes&mdash;'Shorty,' we called him&mdash;was a man with
-an answer that ripped like a knife and a head that made success
-of everything, because it could work crooked as well as straight.
-He'd been on the bench, but he'd located a vein at Mariposa, and
-was overseeing up there in '52. Naturally, he lost opportunities,
-not being right on the spot, and the danger began.</p>
-
-<p>"The Blanchard house was swelled larger than most of the
-cabins, and had two long windows that opened onto a porch.
-Things might never have been so bad but for those two lidless
-eyes in front.</p>
-
-<p>"One fatal night Shorty Stokes rode into the settlement,&mdash;but
-I'm getting ahead of affairs."</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span></p>
-
-<p>Bill tossed his cigar into the tules, and hurried the horses into
-effort as the interest of his reminiscence swept him on.</p>
-
-<p>"The girl carried herself after the fashion of high steppers, and
-neither fellow could swear where he stood. It was laughter and
-spirit for both of them, they said, and nip and tuck for the yielding.
-The pace was the sort that exhausts men, and Shorty's brain
-for lawyering cooked up a scheme for his rescue. He was for
-their going together some night before her, and, after a formal
-marriage proposal, each argue his claim and fitness for ten minutes
-by the clock, their honor at stake to stand by her decision.</p>
-
-<p>"It got about afterwards that Emory wouldn't consent till he
-saw the devil to pay in Shorty's earnestness, and they swore with
-their fists in each other's to carry the thing through to the finish.
-The date and hour were arranged for the following Sunday night
-at eight, and they drank to it with gall in the cup.</p>
-
-<p>"When the evening came the clock had already struck eight
-when Stokes reached the Blanchard house.</p>
-
-<p>"The lights from the room fell over the porch, and from the
-shadow of the steps he saw the something that in all the world
-he couldn't bear to see,&mdash;Emory crossing the room to take Grace
-Blanchard in his arms; Emory with passion paling his face and
-Grace Blanchard in the beauty of a disturbing humility.</p>
-
-<p>"He cursed as he watched them cling to each other, and he
-cursed his way back to the saloons and his Mariposa mining.</p>
-
-<p>"The next day he turned up again in the settlement, with liquor
-enough aboard to put a wheel in his head, and, after a losing fling
-at the tables, he started to find Emory.</p>
-
-<p>"After a little ineffectual riding, he leaped from the back of
-his vicious-eyed piebald at the corner that bulged thickest with
-saloons, and stood close to the stirrup with his hand on his hip.
-Some one who noticed him said his face had the steely intensity of
-a razor edge.</p>
-
-<p>"Then out of the crowd, unconscious, with the music of love
-in his heart, swung Ned Emory. His hat was pushed back on his
-fair hair, and he was whistling the overflow out of his veins.</p>
-
-<p>"In one instant a bullet rang through the air, followed by
-another. Emory fell in his own blood, and a horseman was riding
-off wildly and safe through the shower of bullets that rained
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span>
-
-around him. Every man with a cayuse tore in pursuit, but they
-only brought back eight half-dead horses. Stokes had staked
-relay beasts at different points along the road, and was then safe
-in the chaparral cañons toward the north.</p>
-
-<p>"The gambling dens choked up with the crowds; gold-dust was
-heaped on gold-dust for the reward of the cowardly hound. Murders
-weren't rare then, but there was only one Ned Emory, remember.</p>
-
-<p>"Four of us wouldn't drop the search. We let the blood-money
-men get out of the way, and then we worked as we'd toil for only
-our own.</p>
-
-<p>"There was scarcely no scent to follow, for Stokes had bribed
-the greasers who furnished his horses; but we forced our way along
-on nothing. Day and night we rode with our eyes open, sometimes
-bullying and sometimes begging. It began to seem hopeless.
-The days were running into summer again.</p>
-
-<p>"One afternoon, toward twilight, we rested on the crest of a
-mountain where the path took a sudden turn away from a two-hundred-foot
-precipice.</p>
-
-<p>"We were torn with the snapping branches of the greasewood,
-and full of extremest dirt and disgust. Suddenly we heard the
-rustle of a step on the fallen leaves. Under a live oak, not thirty
-yards away, on the very edge of the cliff, stood Shorty Stokes.
-He had not heard us, and he stood looking at the moon which
-hung a sickle in the hot sky. The evening star was showing.</p>
-
-<p>"The four of us were like stones. He could have got to Guinea
-before motion'd have come to us. Then, simultaneously with
-our steps forward, he turned and looked into our faces.</p>
-
-<p>"It was a moment to test the nerve of any man. He stood it as
-we were used to seeing him face all things.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I suppose I'm the man you're after,' he said.</p>
-
-<p>"He said it with the dignity of a parson.</p>
-
-<p>"In a second he had thrown down his pistols. He unsheathed
-his knives and dropped them to the ground.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Take me,' he said.</p>
-
-<p>"Four of us looked into the unflinching clearness of his eyes.
-As we hesitated, he spoke again.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Listen. It is not in excuse that I speak, nor in weakening.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span></p>
-
-<p>It is to tell you that those among you who are men will follow
-my steps under like circumstances.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Emory gave me his hand and his oath, in the manner of his
-frankness, to stand by an arranged agreement.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'We were to meet at eight o'clock on that Sunday night. A&mdash;a
-beautifully good woman was to decide on our argument which
-man she would marry. In riding to meet my engagement I happened
-on an accident. Within half a mile of the settlement, close
-onto time, my piebald went back on his haunches and the groan
-of a man came up from the roadside. I found an overloaded
-miner, hurt in the leg, and the hope in my own heart aroused my
-sympathy. I mounted the man on my beast and headed him back
-toward camp.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Walk as I never walked, I reached the meeting place three
-minutes late. Ah&mdash;God&mdash;out in the darkness I saw Emory taking
-advantage of the delay.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'None of you is so much a cur as to let the life run in a man
-who, under his honor, couldn't yield a rival three minutes' grace.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'But, with the camp against me and Emory the friend of the
-sorriest, I couldn't face the music when the justice was done.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'It is not mercy I ask. It is life hereafter. Come.'</p>
-
-<p>"With a common impulse we started forward, only to halt in a
-frozen horror as Stokes' bronco threw up his head in alarm to
-watch with us the backward somersaulting of his master's body
-over the precipice.</p>
-
-<p>"Though there was but one verdict, even Chase said as we rode
-down over the mountain that night, 'Emory might have given
-Shorty a few minutes' grace.'&thinsp;"</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<div class="figcenter">
- <img src="images/i_005.png" alt="Decoration" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span></p>
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="THE_UNTURNED_TRUMP" id="THE_UNTURNED_TRUMP"></a>The Unturned Trump.</h2>
-<div class="center">BY BARNES MACGREGGOR.</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-</div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_006.png" width="100" height="100" alt=""/>
-</div>
-<p class="drop-cap"><span style="margin-left: 0.2em">THE </span>
-ferry-boat, "Rappahannock," had an experience
-in the winter of 1873 that will never be
-forgotten by any of her passengers.</p>
-
-<p>During one of her regular trips between
-New York and Brooklyn this boat suddenly
-quitted her respectable, though somewhat monotonous,
-career, and became a common tramp, without port or
-destination.</p>
-
-<p>The day awoke in fog such as the oldest inhabitant had never
-seen. The East River was blocked with ice and soon became a
-shrieking bedlam of groping and bewildering craft, whose pilots
-could scarcely see their hands before their faces.</p>
-
-<p>At half past nine the "Rappahannock" left Brooklyn, well
-laden with passengers, and started on her customary trip almost
-directly across the river&mdash;a very short and unusually easy
-voyage. Before even reaching the middle of the stream, however,
-the ice and fog had thrown her completely out of her
-course. Back and forth, up and down stream, the pilot vainly
-groped, amid the shrieking whistles, ringing of fog bells, and loud
-crash of ice boulders, until, in the confused clangor, he had
-entirely lost his bearings.</p>
-
-<p>When, after long and perilous battling with ice jams and many
-hair-breadth escapes from collisions, he suddenly sighted the
-landing place on the New York side, he found it occupied by a
-sister boat, which had been driven there to avoid destruction. He
-backed out, only to be lost again, and for three hours this boat,
-now become a mere tramp, wandered aimlessly up and down the
-East River with its load of excited passengers, whose emotions
-ranged anywhere between the rage and impatience of the belated
-Wall Street speculator, to whom the delay might mean a loss of
-fifty thousand dollars, to the hysteria of a nervous little woman
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span>
-
-who had left her baby alone at home, and who begged the other
-helpless passengers for the love of heaven to help her set her feet
-once more on land.</p>
-
-<p>Between these two extremes of impatience and excitement was
-a small proportion of passengers who remained calm, even endeavoring
-to while away the time by exchanging pleasantries and making
-wagers as to the time of their deliverance. Among these was
-a group of men in the cabin who, after having read and re-read
-the morning papers, were casting about for some other method of
-killing time. One suggested a game of cards.</p>
-
-<p>"Cards!" laughed one of his companions in misery. "Who'd
-carry cards on a ferry-boat? Who, outside of a lunatic asylum,
-would start on a ten minutes' voyage provided with games to pass
-away the time?"</p>
-
-<p>"Here is a euchre deck which is at your service."</p>
-
-<p>The speaker, evidently a globe-trotter, drew from under the
-bench a traveling-bag, so much worn and embellished by tags,
-labels, and hieroglyphics that it resembled some old veteran just
-returned from the wars and still covered with surgeons' plasters.
-From this he produced a pack of cards and tendered it to the man
-who had suggested a game.</p>
-
-<p>"Certainly, if you will join us; but what shall we do for a
-table?"</p>
-
-<p>"Here is a camp-stool," said the man of the world. And in a
-moment four men were sitting around it, cutting for deal, which
-chanced to fall to the stranger.</p>
-
-<p>The cards were distributed rapidly, and the dealer was about
-to turn the trump when a loud shriek pierced the air and a woman
-opposite suddenly sank fainting to the floor.</p>
-
-<p>The tension among the passengers had become so great that
-a panic seemed imminent.</p>
-
-<p>"Don't be alarmed, gentlemen; it is nothing serious," said the
-dealer calmly. "The lady simply caught sight of her own frightened
-face in the mirror, and the shock caused her to faint. It
-reminds me of a thrilling experience an American traveler had
-while bumping through Syria. But, pardon me, the game!"</p>
-
-<p>Once more he made a movement to turn the trump, when one
-of the party exclaimed:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span></p>
-
-<p>"There can't be a better time or place than this for telling a
-thrilling experience."</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," said another; "do give us some other kind of bumping
-than we are having here. Let's have the story before we begin
-the game."</p>
-
-<p>The stranger leaned back, passed his cigar case, and, having
-lighted a weed himself, began:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"It is an unwritten law among the wild Bedouins east of the
-Red Sea that if an infidel traveler is attended on his journey by
-one of the faithful he is safe from the attacks of Mohammedan
-robbers. As long as the 'Frank,' as all foreigners are called, is
-under the protection of the Star and Crescent, the rascal's hand is
-stayed, and as they meet, the villain, who would otherwise show
-no quarter, salutes with the grave suavity of a courtier. But let
-that same traveler become separated from the Arab guard that he
-has bribed to give him safe conduct through his own bandit-infested
-country, and he becomes legitimate prey. He will be
-plundered and perhaps killed, or, worse, if the robber thinks that
-cruelty will extort any secrets of hidden spoil, tortured or held
-for ransom, with each day's delay losing a few fingers, which are
-forwarded to the captive's friends to signify that the rascals mean
-business.</p>
-
-<p>"The party in which this American was traveling had been
-entering Syria from the south, and were progressed some twelve
-days from the sacred base of old Sinai. At a place called Bir-es-Sheba,
-on the regular caravan route to and from Mecca from the
-north, they heard of some interesting archeological treasures just
-unearthed some two days' journey to the east, and, having made
-the detour, the party snugly encamped by the side of a beautiful
-stream under the shadow of the Tubal chain of mountains.</p>
-
-<p>"The treasures were vastly exaggerated, as is the custom with
-everything oriental, and they soon determined to turn back to the
-caravan route and 'bump' on up into Syria&mdash;'bumping' being
-the familiar term for camel riding, and a very expressive word at
-that. But on the afternoon of the first resting-day some one suggested
-a jaunt to a famous old well, where it was said were some
-very ancient tumuli. But, knowing the Bedouins to be conscientious
-liars, and sick of this unrewarded chase for phantom treasures,
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span>
-
-the American begged to be left behind in charge of two
-tents, which were pitched side by side on the bank of the stream.</p>
-
-<p>"This was at last agreed upon, the whole party except himself
-going off on their three days' trip, leaving their comrade stretched
-at full length on a rug, his <i>narghili</i>, or water pipe, lighted for company.</p>
-
-<p>"This oriental atmosphere, gentlemen, is a powerful drug. Do
-what you will to fight against it, its subtle charm holds you captive.
-The man succumbed to its influences and went fast asleep.</p>
-
-<p>"Out of this sweet, trance-like repose he suddenly bounded into
-the horrible consciousness of a torturing pain in one of his hands,
-as though some wild beast was crunching the bones. But, as he
-writhed to his knees to grapple with the foe, he saw instead three
-swarthy, evil-faced Bedouins bending over him with ghoulish glee.
-One had just cut off, with a hideous dirk-knife, the first three
-fingers of his left hand. In an instant it flashed upon him that
-these were to be sent to his friends with a demand for ransom.
-He was correct in this supposition, for no sooner had the bleeding
-hand been rudely bandaged than two of his captors set out upon
-this mission, leaving him in care of the third, who was heavily
-armed.</p>
-
-<p>"No one knew better than the prisoner how impossible such a
-ransom would be. His fellow-travelers had brought as little
-money into Syria as would meet their actual necessities while
-there. He therefore began to cast desperately about in his mind
-for a loophole of escape before the fellows should return with
-these unsatisfactory tidings, which would result, no doubt, in
-further mutilations.</p>
-
-<p>"As his gaze swept the tent for something suggesting a plan
-for deliverance, he saw it had been gutted of everything except
-two articles,&mdash;his light silk coat, which hung upon the partition
-between the two tents, and the tourist's shaving mirror which it
-concealed. The coat had been overlooked because it was as grimy
-as the tent wall itself.</p>
-
-<p>"In moments like this one grasps at straws. As it is said a
-drowning person reviews his past experiences perfectly in a brief
-moment, so to this man, facing desperate odds, came a desperate
-suggestion.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span></p>
-
-<p>"He called loudly on a supposed protector in the adjoining
-tent to come to the 'window,' and prove to his captor that he was
-under protection of a Moslem. As he spoke he slowly drew the
-coat from before the mirror in front of which the sheik was standing.</p>
-
-<p>"No words can express the unutterable consternation pictured
-upon that blazing face, livid with fright and wonder, as for the
-first time it saw its own awful reflection, not knowing it was its
-own. One instant he stood stock-still, fascinated, horrified, overwhelmed;
-then collapsed, just as that lady did but a moment ago,
-and the American quickly possessed himself of his captor's arms
-and was master of the situation.</p>
-
-<p>"And now, gentlemen," concluded the story teller, "we will
-have our game."</p>
-
-<p>As he spoke he again reached forward to turn the trump.
-There was a quickly drawn breath of horror from those who
-observed him, for the first three fingers of his left hand were
-missing.</p>
-
-<p>Before he could turn the card, a savage lurch of the boat, accompanied
-by the creaking of timbers, announced the arrival of the
-Rappahannock at her New York slip&mdash;and the trump was never
-turned.</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_010.png" alt="" width="300" height="194" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="THE_SECRET_OF_THE_WHITE_CASTLE" id="THE_SECRET_OF_THE_WHITE_CASTLE"></a>The Secret of the White Castle.</h2>
-<div class="center">BY JULIA MAGRUDER.</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-</div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_011.png" width="100" height="100" alt=""/>
-</div>
-<p class="drop-cap"><span style="margin-left:-0.2em">WHEN </span>
-I became the occupant of the Chateau
-Blanc, in the neighborhood of Fontainebleau,
-I found that my wish for a place of complete
-seclusion was likely to be realized to the
-full. I was not in a state of mind for society,
-and I had deliberately given myself three
-months in which to fight out a certain battle with myself, for
-which I needed solitude and reflection.</p>
-
-<p>When the old woman who acted as keeper and caretaker of the
-place took me through it, on a tour of inspection, there were three
-things which, in spite of my preoccupation with my own affairs,
-struck me very forcibly. The first was the forlorn remnants of
-the body of a white swan, which must once have been a creature
-of splendid size and shape. My informant told me that this swan
-had been a great pet of the former owner of the chateau, until
-some accident had killed it; after which it had been stuffed and
-fastened in its place upon the surface of the little lake under his
-window. There it was still&mdash;what remained of it&mdash;a mass of
-weather-beaten and dirty feathers.</p>
-
-<p>Another thing that compelled my strong attention was a certain
-picture which hung in the bedroom of the late owner, and which
-I was informed was his own portrait, painted by himself. This
-room, by the way, was sinister and mysterious in its effect beyond
-any I had ever entered. One reason for this was the fact that all
-the furniture, which was elaborately carved and which must once
-have been of beautiful polish and color, had been ruthlessly covered
-with a coat of black paint,&mdash;the bed, the table, chairs,
-wardrobe, chests of drawers, and even the great leather easy-chair
-which was placed just under the picture, facing the opposite
-wall.</p>
-
-<p>It was a wretched piece of work, that picture, representing a
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span>
-
-man dressed in some sort of court dress of the last century, and it
-would have seemed ineffectual and amateurish to the last degree
-but for the truly marvelous expression of the eyes, which were
-fixed on a certain spot in the wall opposite with an earnestness
-and intensity which made me feel that there was some hidden significance
-in this look. The man not only looked at the spot himself,
-but he compelled me to do the same, and forced me, by the
-insistent command of his eyes, to look again and again.</p>
-
-<p>And yet there was nothing to see. The wall was perfectly
-bare in that place and covered with a meaningless sort of wallpaper,
-which gave me no encouragement whatever.</p>
-
-<p>Another thing that I noticed specially, with a feeling of being
-imperiously directed to do so, was a large rusty key that hung on
-the wall directly under the picture. When I inquired of the old
-woman what this key belonged to she answered that she had
-never known, but that it had been hung there by the late proprietor
-and had been undisturbed since his death. That event
-had occurred a great many years ago, and it was owing to the
-provisions of the will left by him that no one had ever occupied
-the house in the interval. The prescribed time had only just
-expired, and I was the first person to rent the chateau, the revenue
-from which was to go to a nephew, who lived abroad.</p>
-
-<p>The somberness of the black chamber suited my frame of mind,
-and I decided on taking it for my room. Besides this, the picture,
-the key, and the white swan all interested me, and, as it was
-the first time that an outside interest had made any headway
-against the melancholy of my own thoughts, these objects, far
-from cheerful as they were in themselves, afforded a grateful
-diversion.</p>
-
-<p>So continually did I wonder why the picture looked always
-and could compel me to look at that one spot, and why the key
-had been hung in that place and had kept its position so many
-years undisturbed, as if some ghostly guardian watched over it,
-and why, ever and always, the old white swan compelled me, as
-if by some irresistible power, to connect it with these other things,
-that I kept myself awake at night, weaving all sorts of stories
-concerning these objects, and spent half my days in looking from
-the picture to the wall, and back again to the key, and then out
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span>
-
-of the window at the battered effigy of a noble bird beneath it,
-until the confusion of mind thus produced seemed likely to drive
-me crazy.</p>
-
-<p>I expended all the ingenuity of which I was master in questioning
-the old woman, who had lived here in the time of the former
-owner, but the satisfaction of my curiosity in that direction was
-rather meager.</p>
-
-<p>She told me that her former master had had a wife whom he
-adored, fair as an angel, and gifted with a divinely beautiful
-voice, such as none had ever heard, before or since. This young
-wife had been snatched from him by a sudden and frightful
-death. The fever which seized her had been so contagious, the
-woman said, that every one had fled the premises, except one
-woman servant and the master himself. These, with the help of
-the doctor, had nursed the young wife through her brief illness
-until its end.</p>
-
-<p>My informant had heard it said that the circumstances of her
-death were very peculiar,&mdash;that, in her delirium, on the very last
-night of her illness, those who had ventured to linger about the
-premises had heard her singing more gloriously than ever in her life;
-that it had reminded them of the great white swan, which but
-the night before had sung its last sweet song on the lake, in the
-moonlight, and had been found dead in the morning.</p>
-
-<p>The woman who had remained to help the master in his last
-sad ministrations to his dying and dead wife had gone away the
-day after the funeral, and had never been heard of since.</p>
-
-<p>That funeral, in the quaint old church but a few paces from
-the house, had been, from the woman's account, a melancholy
-affair enough. Scarcely any one dared to come to it, so malignant
-had been this fever, and it was feared that the few men who
-were willing to act as pall-bearers would not be equal to the
-task; but the poor lady had always been slight and fairy-like in
-figure, and so wasted was she from this consuming fever that the
-bearers declared that her weight was scarcely more than that
-of an empty coffin. The woman further said that, as the small
-funeral cortege was leaving the church, it had surprised every
-one to see the husband, who was directly behind the coffin, pause
-abruptly under a statue of the Virgin, and single out, from the
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span>
-
-great bunch of white ribbons which hung there, the long strip
-which his young wife had placed there on the day of her marriage
-to him, less than a year before. It was an old custom connected
-with this church. Every girl ever married there had conformed
-to it, and some of the ribbons were yellow with time and almost
-dropping to pieces. The longest and freshest bit of all had been
-put there by the beautiful and beloved young creature now lying
-dead in the flower of her youth and loveliness.</p>
-
-<p>No one ever knew, the woman went on to say, how the master
-spent his days after the funeral was over. He had forbidden
-every servant to return, and turned a deaf ear to the rings and
-knocks of visitors. Months had passed, and no one held speech
-with him. They knew he was alive, because people who had
-looked through the palings had seen him walking in the garden,
-and one person reported having seen him carry from the house
-the stuffed body of the great swan and fasten it in its place on
-the lake, where it could be plainly seen from his window. He
-must have embalmed or stuffed it himself, the old woman said,
-for he was known to have remarkable knowledge and skill in
-such strange arts, and had once had a great room filled with birds
-and beasts, which he had preserved by methods studied in foreign
-lands.</p>
-
-<p>As was inevitable, after hearing all this, my interest in the
-picture, and swan, and the key deepened sensibly. There was
-certainly a spell of the supernatural about these things for me. I
-had only to stand near the spot on which the eyes of the picture were
-fastened to experience the strangest, the most overwhelmingly significant
-sensations I had ever known. The spot was haunted by a
-<i>presence</i> for me, and as often as I stood there I would feel my
-heart throb and cease throbbing, my breath pant and cease panting,
-my very flesh turn cold and moist with consciousness and apprehension.
-I tried to account for all this on natural grounds, but I
-found it was quite impossible to do so.</p>
-
-<p>One day&mdash;it was the 19th of August&mdash;a hot, sultry, close,
-indescribably gloomy day, when the heavy clouds that lowered
-seemed only to darken the whole earth without giving forth one
-drop of moisture, the old woman came to my room and chanced
-to mention that it was the time of the death of the young mistress
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span>
-
-of the Chateau Blanc. She had died, it appeared, just at
-midnight between the 19th and 20th of August. After giving me
-this information, she said good-evening and left me to the reflections
-which it aroused.</p>
-
-<p>I can scarcely call them reflections. They took the form,
-rather, of a sort of compulsion that was laid upon me to obey a
-certain force by which I felt myself suddenly dominated.</p>
-
-<p>It was the picture that did it; this was certain, for, as often as
-I faltered, one look into that insistent, commanding, coercing face
-compelled me to go on. In obedience to its bidding, I did as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>I went to an old desk in the room, and took from it some
-simple carpenters' tools, with which I deliberately cut through,
-first, the wall-papering, and then a thin boarding, which covered
-all the space between a door and window opposite the picture.
-When this was done I saw&mdash;I cannot say whether most to my
-satisfaction or my horror, that I stood opposite a door,&mdash;a regular,
-ordinary door, with panels, hinges, and, more than all, a keyhole.
-I glanced at the picture. It seemed to me that the canvas positively
-lived with expression.</p>
-
-<p>The eyes commanded me to get the rusty key. I got it, fitted
-it in the lock, in which it turned with difficulty, and then, with
-my heart almost choking me with its throbs, my knees shaking
-under me, my body covered with a cold sweat, and my tongue dry
-in my mouth, I opened the door.</p>
-
-<p>As it creaked on its rusty hinges, I saw, by the light of the
-candle which I held in my hand, a mass of cobwebs, heavily
-weighted with the dust of years, and, through these, a woman's
-figure.</p>
-
-<p>It was clad&mdash;for I obeyed the eyes, which commanded me to
-examine it, though my heart was cold with terror&mdash;in what I
-made out to be a white silk gown, above which was the face,
-withered and awfully livid, as I had heard the faces of embalmed
-corpses appear years after death. Still, it was recognizable as a
-real human face, and was surrounded by masses of yellow hair,
-which, even through the dust and cobwebs, gleamed with the
-brightness of gold. The hands held something in their shrunken
-fingers,&mdash;a white ribbon, with the date of her marriage and
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span>
-
-death upon it, her husband's name and her own, and these words,
-which, under the compelling eyes of the picture, I laboriously
-studied out:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I have been able to keep you near me, even in death. I have
-never been separated from you, or from what was you to me
-once. But when death shall come to me you will have no power
-over my body, and they will take me from you. That I am
-unable to help. I think only of this: you cannot suffer for it,
-since you have so long ceased to be, and by that time my
-suffering also will be over. I shall put my spirit into the eyes of
-my picture, which will watch over you still."</p>
-
-<p>I looked from the paper to the picture. It seemed dull and
-inexpressive,&mdash;mere canvas and paint. The power of the eyes
-was gone. Their spell over me was broken.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly I felt within me a long-absent yearning for human
-companionship,&mdash;for life and love. I had come to this place
-impelled by a morbid and unhealthy desire for solitude, and my
-experiences here had made me more morbid and unhealthy still.
-They had culminated now in this awful revelation of disappointment
-and death, which threw into brilliant contrast the bright
-possibilities which still remained to me, and I resolved to go back
-into the world and do my best to deserve and win these.</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_016.png" alt="" width="300" height="100" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="MISS_WOOD" id="MISS_WOOD"></a>Miss Wood,&mdash;Stenographer.</h2>
-
-<div class="center">BY GRANVILLE SHARPE.</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-</div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_017.png" width="100" height="101" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span style="margin-left: 0.2em">IT </span>
-was Detective Gilbert who told the story to a
-group of boarders seated on the piazza of one
-of the quaint old Rhinelander houses. These
-dwellings, though situated on West Eleventh
-Street, in the very heart of New York, present
-an almost rural spectacle, with their green
-lawns, wide piazzas, and vine-covered balconies.</p>
-
-<p>"It was one day about two years ago," said Mr. Gilbert, "that
-I received a card on which was engraved the name, 'Miss Julia
-Wood.' The name was a familiar one. When my wife was
-living Miss Wood had been an intimate friend of hers and a
-frequent visitor to our house. Since then I had lost trace of
-the girl, and knew only that, owing to her father's death and the
-straitened circumstances of herself and her sister, she had taken
-up the study of stenography and typewriting, with the idea of
-earning her living. So when she rose to meet me in the reception-room
-I was startled by her changed appearance and the haggard,
-anxious expression of her face."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Mr. Gilbert, I am in great trouble,' she exclaimed, as I
-shook hands with her, and then, without further preliminaries,
-she stated her case.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'You know, Mr. Gilbert, that for over a year I have been
-studying stenography and typewriting, and you can understand that
-lately I have been very anxious to find a place. At first, I
-supposed that this would not be difficult, but I soon discovered
-that my lack of practical experience stood in the way of my
-getting anything at all. In fact, it was not until this week that
-even a temporary opening presented itself.'</p>
-
-<p>"Here Miss Wood paused for a moment, as if to summon all
-her strength, and then continued:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'About eleven o'clock yesterday morning, my teacher, Mr. Lacombe,
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span>
-
-came to the door of the practice room, where I was at
-work, and, calling me to one side, said:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Miss Wood, didn't you tell me that you understood the
-deaf and dumb alphabet?"</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Perfectly," I answered.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'As you know, Mr. Gilbert, my little sister Helen is deaf and
-dumb, and that is why I understand the sign-language almost as
-well as I do spoken English.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"I thought so," said Mr. Lacombe, "and am glad, for your
-sake, that you do, for I've just had an application from a lady who
-wants a deaf and dumb stenographer."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"But I am not deaf and dumb," I protested.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"No, but you understand the sign-language, and that is the
-main point. You see, this woman wants some notes taken from a
-deaf and dumb relative, who uses, of course, the deaf and dumb
-alphabet, and she thinks, I suppose, that a person who understands
-the sign-language must be a deaf mute, also. She says
-that this relative of hers is ill; possibly hasn't long to live. So
-no doubt you're wanted for some sort of an <i>ante mortem</i> examination;
-one, maybe, that's connected with some family scandal or
-secret that they don't want to leak out. Just a matter for discretion,
-that's all.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Of course I don't want to urge you into this against your
-will," he added, "but I know how much you want a position and
-a chance for practical experience. Besides, this engagement is
-only for a week, perhaps even less, and the salary is fifty dollars
-and all expenses paid. The main question is whether you care to
-be deaf and dumb for that time."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'For just a moment I hesitated. Certainly the conditions
-were very queer. Still, there was the money,&mdash;how much fifty
-dollars would mean for my poor little sister! There was the
-experience, and there was, yes&mdash;I must confess it&mdash;there was
-the charm of adventure. You know you always said that I was
-of an adventurous disposition, and that spirit has grown since
-I have been thrown upon my own resources, and have made
-up my mind that I must make my own way in the world, as
-if I were a man. As for acting the part of a deaf mute, that
-seemed a simple matter to me, who know so well the habits of
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span>
-
-the deaf and dumb, through constant association with poor little
-Helen.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Money, experience, and adventure! The combination was
-too much for my prudence. In less time than it would take to
-buy a handkerchief I had accepted the position. Forty-five minutes
-after the time that I walked into Mr. Lacombe's office I sat
-on a Southern-bound train, rushing towards a place I'd never
-heard of before, the companion of a woman who was an utter
-stranger to me, and bound on an errand of which I knew practically
-nothing.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'You see, in the rush of preparation I'd no chance for reconsidering
-my decision. Indeed, when I was led into Mr. Lacombe's
-inner office and introduced to my prospective employer,
-Mrs. Westinghouse, by means, of course, of pencil, and paper, and
-gestures, I hardly noticed in my excitement what manner of
-woman she was. I had enough to think of in keeping to the
-character I had assumed and in preparing in half an hour's time
-for a week's journey; for almost the first demand made by the
-strange woman was that I should go with her upon the noon train.
-The invalid had no doubt only a few days left to live, she explained,
-and every minute was precious.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Upon reading my pencilled explanation that I must go home
-to say good-by to my sister and get a few articles for my trip,
-she thrust a ten-dollar bill into my hand, telling me to use that
-to buy whatever I needed. Mr. Lacombe, she signified, could
-explain matters to my sister, and with that she hurried me down
-the stairs and into a cab waiting below. In this I was whirled away,
-first to a big department store and then to the railroad station,
-arriving just in time for the noon train, so it wasn't until I was
-seated in the local express and had actually started that I had a
-chance to review the situation and to examine my companion.'</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'What sort of a woman was she?' I interrupted.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Oh, she appeared perfectly respectable, and tried to make
-herself agreeable by keeping me busy answering questions on my
-pad, but something in her cold gray eyes, or, perhaps, in her high
-metallic voice, chilled my ardor. For the first time I realized my
-position. Here I was about to enter into the lives of unknown
-people, under an assumed character, and one that might involve
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span>
-
-me in matters of a secret, perhaps a dangerous nature. By this
-time, however, it was too late for me to retreat. All that I could
-do was to vow, as I did with all my heart, that no matter what I
-learned while with these people I would make no use of it.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Upon leaving the train, after a ride of about two hours and a
-half, I found myself in Rockwood, a desolate little way station in
-the most dreary section I had ever seen. The only sign of life
-was a top carriage, drawn by a pair of lean horses and driven by
-the son of my companion, a man about thirty years of age. He
-had handsome features, but, somehow, his bloodshot eyes and dissipated
-look impressed me even more unfavorably than had his
-mother's appearance. I was directed to take the back seat, and
-Mrs. Westinghouse sat in front beside her son.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'As we drove off the young man put a question at once
-which I did not hear, but his mother in her usual voice assured
-him that I was a deaf mute and had been secured at a large salary
-for that reason. Then they proceeded with their conversation
-without restriction, but the road was so stony and our speed so
-great that I caught only a little of it. What I heard did not
-serve to make me feel any easier. They spoke of some person,
-who appeared to be a relative, with the most dreadful epithets,
-and appeared to be planning some way to bring him to terms,
-should he prove obstinate after they arrived with the stenographer.
-Before we had gone a mile I was not only sick of my bargain, but
-ready to jump from the carriage to escape it.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'The aspect of the country, also, was enough to make the
-most hilarious person feel melancholy. It was rocky, sterile, and
-almost uninhabited. The few farmhouses we passed were, all
-save one, untenanted and falling to pieces. The fields were covered
-with a thick growth of bayberry bushes or stunted firs.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'The house was, as nearly as I can judge, about three miles
-from the station. It had once been a fine mansion, but showed
-signs of neglect and age. The paint was worn off in patches; the
-floor of the piazza was rotten. The inside of the house, however,
-was fairly comfortable, the furniture being extremely old-fashioned
-and quaint.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I could hardly touch a mouthful of supper, and soon excused
-myself from the table. Wandering around the piazza
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span>
-
-which skirted the house, I came upon a rear view of the premises.
-Here I had another surprise, for, detached from the main house
-and several yards away, stood a long, low brick building with a
-huge chimney, like a smoke-stack, proceeding from it. Its windows
-were close against the roof, and probably about twelve feet
-from the ground, while the only entrance seemed to be by way of
-a rough bridge extending from a curious door on a line with
-these windows to a window in the second story of the dwelling-house.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'While I stood gazing at this remarkable building I noticed
-that Mrs. Westinghouse had followed me. I could no longer
-restrain my curiosity, but pointed to the mysterious building and
-raised my eyebrows. With an impatient gesture, as though she
-resented my inquisitiveness, the lady caught up my writing-pad
-and scribbled: "It is my brother's laboratory; he is a metallurgist.
-We wish you to come and take a dictation from him."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Then, leading me upstairs, she unlocked a door and ushered
-me into a large apartment, in which, at that moment, I saw only
-one object,&mdash;a man stretched upon a couch. The coverings,
-thrown away from the neck and face, revealed both to be shockingly
-emaciated; the eyes were wild and staring, the lips drawn
-away from the teeth, which were white and even. But there
-was strength even in that dying despair&mdash;at the first glance I
-saw that. There was a look of dogged endurance in every line
-and feature.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Now, Alfred," wrote Mrs. Westinghouse upon my pad and
-signifying to me that this was my introduction, "here is Miss
-Wood, a deaf and dumb stenographer we have brought from New
-York, so there's no longer any reason for your keeping your
-precious secret. She understands the signs, and can put your
-words on paper as fast as you can give them to her." Then, passing
-the pad to the invalid, she turned to her son. "Victor, love,"
-she said, "the writing paper, pencils, and a little table for Miss
-Wood."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Here they are," said the young man, rolling the table
-towards me with an ingratiating leer.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I glanced at the invalid. He gave no sign of having read
-his relative's communication, but lay quite still and breathed
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span>
-
-softly in gasps. I should not have been surprised to have seen
-him drawing his last breath at any moment.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'The woman stood looking at him appealingly until she
-caught his eye; then she covered her face with her handkerchief,
-pretending to be overcome by emotion. A moment later she
-turned aside to Victor and hissed, "Oh, is it too late? If I only
-knew some torture that would wring from him that secret which
-would bring us millions."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Then, controlling herself, she went on more calmly: "Sit
-down, Miss Wood, and take the dictation."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I saw Victor looking at me and had the presence of mind to
-remain perfectly quiet, without noticing what she said, for, indeed,
-I had now begun to feel that I was among desperate people, and
-that it would be best for my well-being to carry out my role as I
-had begun it. Apparently satisfied that I was as unfortunate as
-I claimed to be, she signified by motions that I was to seat myself
-and write as soon as her brother should dictate.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I did so, but while Victor had been occupied in arranging
-my utensils and Mrs. Westinghouse was absorbed in her pretended
-emotions the man on the bed had turned his eyes and looked
-straight into mine. The effect was tremendous. I felt calmed.
-There was almost an understanding between us. At least, there
-was sympathy.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'As I seated myself and caught up my pencil, he raised his
-white hands and began to sign to me:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Show no fright at whatever I say. Pretend to take notes,
-or you will betray yourself."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Acting on his suggestion, I began tracing disjointed sentences
-upon the paper.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Then, after allowing me a few moments to recover from the
-effects of this startling communication, he went on:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"This is no place for you. These people are desperate
-characters, and if they suspected what I am saying might injure
-you."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Again a pause, during which I shaded my face with one
-hand and scrawled senseless marks over the paper with the other.
-Beneath my lowered lids I could see that two pair of eyes, one
-bloodshot and the other steely gray, were watching me from a
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span>
-
-shadowy recess on the other side of the bed. I realized that the
-slightest expression of my real feelings might prove fatal. I set
-my teeth hard. My old adventurous spirit returned. As mechanically
-as though I were taking a school dictation, I followed the
-movements of the trembling white hand and traced those meaningless
-marks.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Apparently, mother and son were satisfied with their scrutiny,
-for they soon retired to the other end of the long room. As they
-went, I heard her murmur to Victor:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Come; the old miser won't forget his own flesh and blood.
-At any rate, that girl shall stay in the house until her notes
-are written out in plain English and the experiments made. I
-gave that foolish teacher of hers a wrong address."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'At this she turned on me suddenly, and nothing on earth could
-have prevented my face revealing the fright that was on me. I could
-hide my terror only by sneezing violently into my handkerchief.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'As soon as they had withdrawn to the farther end of the
-room the invalid hastened to communicate as rapidly as possible
-the state of affairs in this strange household. The woman, Mrs.
-Westinghouse, was, so he said, his sister-in-law, the widow of his
-only brother, and Victor was, of course, his nephew. On the
-death of his brother, the man who now lay dying had invited the
-widow and her son, then a handsome lad, to make their home with
-him, and, indeed, had treated Victor as his adopted son and probable
-heir. About three years ago, however, Victor, who had acted
-as his uncle's assistant in the laboratory, had repaid his generosity
-by attempting to steal from him the secret which he had
-spent years in perfecting. Failing in this, he had forged his benefactor's
-name for a sum amounting to a large share of his fortune,
-and had applied the proceeds to the payment of gambling debts.
-Since then, Mr. Westinghouse, though allowing Victor to go
-free, had refused to see either him or his mother, and it was only
-now, when he was on his death-bed, that they returned, uninvited,
-with the hope of extracting from the sick man the only wealth
-remaining to him,&mdash;his recent discovery.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'At this point the invalid stopped abruptly, and looked once
-more deep into my eyes. Then, with a sigh that seemed one of
-satisfaction, he continued:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span></p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"They think, because they hold me as prisoner here upon my
-death-bed, have deprived me of society, and spirited away my
-faithful man-servant, the only person who understood my sign-language,
-that they can force my secret from me. But your face
-tells me that I can trust you, that you are not their accomplice."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Indeed I am not," I signed hastily. "I came here ignorant
-of what I was to do, and now they say that I must stay until the
-notes are written out and the experiment is made. If it fails it
-is likely to go hard with both of us."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'The invalid received my communication quietly, without
-asking how I gained my knowledge. Then, after asking and receiving
-answers to several questions in regard to my history, he
-nodded as if satisfied, and signed me to take down with extreme
-accuracy what he should give me. He then dictated by means
-of the sign alphabet what seemed like a technical article, many
-words of which he was obliged to spell for me, and including
-the finest weights and measures relating to metallurgy. After he
-had completed it he asked me to read it to him by signs, so that
-he could be sure that it was correct. When I had done so he
-looked up, smiled faintly to see that mother and son had left the
-room, and beckoned me to him. He took my hands, clasped
-them in his, and then signed: "Swear that you will never permit
-that paper to fall into the hands of Mrs. Westinghouse or
-her son."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'In my fright I took the oath.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Guard it well," he signified, "for it is a fortune beyond
-your dreams. Now sit down and take a bogus paper, which you
-must give to Mrs. Westinghouse. But first conceal this paper in
-your dress."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I did so. He then dictated another paper, different in
-every way from the first as to its methods; and then motioned
-that I must write out the second paper as soon as possible, give it
-to Mrs. Westinghouse, and then effect my escape before the fraud
-was discovered.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'As I looked at him doubtingly, he added: "Trust me. I
-will provide the way."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"But you?" I said.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span></p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'He tried to laugh. "I shan't live twenty-four hours," he
-said.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I asked if they were to blame. He shrugged his shoulders.
-"Her son's treachery robbed me of health and fortune. And now
-in their fiendish greed to inherit the secret they have locked me in
-this room and tried to wring it from me by their soft words and
-wheedling caresses. But they shall not succeed. They shall
-never know this."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'As he spoke he drew from under his pillow a small blade in
-a sheath. It was a bright brownish yellow; the edge was sharp as
-a razor. He handed it to me, signifying that I was to keep it.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Hardly had I sheathed the strange weapon and concealed it
-in the folds of my bodice when the door opened and the woman
-again entered. I showed her the pages that I had taken and pencilled
-a note, saying that the formula was complete, but that it
-would take at least half a day to write it out, as it contained many
-unfamiliar terms which I should need to refer to a dictionary.
-For just a moment the woman scanned my face and that of the
-invalid with that strange air of suspicion that never wholly
-deserted her.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Apparently, what she saw satisfied her, for she signified her
-pleasure that I had succeeded in gaining the information in so
-short a time, and added that, as it was now past midnight, I might
-leave the rest of my work for the next day. Upon this, she led
-me to a room opening out of her own, indicating that she thought
-I might feel less lonely if I were near her. Later, I heard the key
-turn softly in the lock on the outside of the door leading from my
-room into the hall, and&mdash;well, you can imagine that I got very
-little sleep that night.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Early the next morning the woman unlocked my door, and,
-after I had eaten a hasty breakfast, led me to a library well
-equipped with reference books, where, so she wrote, I was to finish
-my work.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Then she left me, locking me in once more.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I had reached about the middle of the false formula when
-the door opened and the woman entered in great haste. From
-her hurried movements and the anxious expression of her face I
-judged that some new complication had arisen. I was right.
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span>
-
-Snatching up my pad, the woman wrote, "He is sinking fast. The
-experiment must begin at once. How much of the formula
-remains?"</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I wrote: "Over one half."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Never mind," she wrote in return. "Victor can begin with
-what you have. Give me the papers. You may finish the rest
-in my brother's room and bring it to us in the laboratory."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'As we entered the invalid's room, I tried to exchange a look
-with the sick man, but the woman drew me away to a large
-French window at the end farthest from the bed, and, opening
-the sashes, which swung inward, motioned me to look out. To
-my surprise, I saw that the bridge that I had noticed the night
-before as connecting the house and laboratory was approached
-from this window. It was a rough affair, resembling those used
-on shipboard, and consisted of a wide plank guarded only by
-two ropes stretched one on either side of the plank, about three
-feet above it, as a sort of guard rail. On the laboratory side the
-bridge terminated at what seemed to be a heavy door, made of one
-solid piece of timber and provided one third of the way from the
-top with two small windows, or, rather, panes of glass, about eight
-inches square. Behind each there was a heavy iron bar.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Hastily signifying that I must cross the bridge in order to
-bring her the remainder of the formula, the woman sent Victor
-ahead and then turned to follow. Before going she intimated to
-me that while I wrote I was to remain beside this window where
-I could see any sign from the workers in the laboratory and be
-seen by them.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'For the next two hours nothing was to be heard in the room
-save the scratching of my pen over the paper and the labored
-breathing of the dying man. He seemed to be sinking rapidly,
-but whenever he caught my glance would smile reassuringly, as
-though to say: "Do not be afraid. All will come right." As
-the hands of the clock on the mantel approached the hour of
-eleven, however, he appeared to grow suddenly stronger; a faint
-color tinged his cheeks, and he half rose in bed, as though awaiting
-some new developments. On the stroke of eleven he turned
-to me and signed: "It is time to go."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"But there are still a few pages to write out," I answered.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span></p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"It's all right," he rejoined. "It is enough. Only go&mdash;go
-at once. It is your way of escape."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'For a moment I hesitated. The words sounded senseless;
-sick men, I reasoned, had strange fancies. But the glance of his
-eyes was sane; it was more,&mdash;it was convincing.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Without another word, I gathered up my papers and started
-across the bridge. It swayed, but only slightly. There was not
-the slightest danger of an accident. And yet in my passage across
-that bridge I trembled violently. When finally I reached the
-strangely guarded door I had barely strength enough to knock
-upon the heavy timbers. There was no reply. Evidently they were
-absorbed in their experiment, I thought, and knocked again. Still
-no reply, though this time I seemed to hear a faint movement
-within. I tried to peer through the tiny window-panes in the
-door. They were somewhat above the level of my face and partly
-obscured by the iron bars. So I raised myself on tiptoe and, shading
-my eyes with my hands, looked in.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'For a moment I could see nothing. Then, as I became accustomed
-to the gloom, I made out a few objects near by,&mdash;a
-charcoal stove, a table holding a pair of scales, pincers, blowpipe,
-a graduating glass, and other apparatus with which I was unfamiliar.
-At the farther end of the table sat a motionless female
-figure, the head thrown back, one hand clutching a crumpled sheet
-of paper, while the other hung limply at her side. Directly opposite
-a man sat, also motionless, his bowed head resting on the edge
-of the table. As I looked, I fancied the hand holding the paper
-twitched slightly.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I shifted my position. A faint light fell upon the face of the
-woman. It was that of Mrs. Westinghouse, but white and rigid,
-with sightless, staring eyes.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"They are dead!" I cried, as I rushed back into the room of
-the dying man. Then, recollecting myself, I succeeded in repeating
-my words with fingers that trembled so that I could hardly
-give the signs.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'For a moment he seemed unmoved; then, with a ghastly smile,
-he signalled:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"This is your time to escape."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"But you&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span></p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'&thinsp;"Never mind me. All I care for is to keep my secret from
-them. Remember your vow&mdash;and now go&mdash;go&mdash;and God bless
-you."</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'I grasped his hand, then rushed from the room. I snatched
-my hat and coat in the hall below, and ran out of the house and
-down the road, never stopping until I reached the station. There
-I took the next train and reached the city only half an hour ago.'&thinsp;"</p>
-
-<p>Here Mr. Gilbert began to light a cigar, as though his story
-were finished.</p>
-
-<p>"But what became of the dying man&mdash;of the mother and
-son&mdash;the little stenographer?"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, yes, to be sure," said the detective; "you wish to know
-the sequel. Well, I went up there that day with two or three
-men and found everything as she'd described it. The mother and
-son had simply been evidently stupefied by drugs purposely introduced
-into the false formula, and soon recovered their senses, but
-the uncle had breathed his last. Mrs. Westinghouse had been
-smart enough to get a physician, who was there when we arrived,
-and who, honestly enough, I suppose, ascribed his death to natural
-causes. We could do nothing from lack of evidence."</p>
-
-<p>"But the secret,&mdash;the mysterious formula?"</p>
-
-<p>"Ah, that is the saddest part of the whole affair. Half crazed
-by her horrible experience in this house, and recalling her vow to
-make no use of any information gained while there, Miss Wood
-had no sooner escaped than she tore the true formula into pieces
-and threw it away. Had she kept it, it would undoubtedly have
-brought her an enormous fortune, for an expert metallurgist who
-examined the strange dagger given to her by the dying man pronounced
-it to be an example of a priceless art,&mdash;that of tempering
-copper to the consistency of steel,&mdash;a process understood by the
-ancients, but lost now these thousands of years."</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_028.png" alt="" width="300" height="100" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="HER_HOODOO" id="HER_HOODOO"></a>Her Hoodoo.</h2>
-
-<div class="center">BY HAROLD KINSABBY.</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-</div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_029.png" width="100" height="100" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span style="margin-left: 0.2em">IT </span>
-was because the doctor insisted that my system
-needed ozone that I went to Colorado on a
-hunting trip. It was there that I met her, and
-it was there, by the way, that I became convinced
-that when a man with a lame lung
-undertakes to hunt ozone in the wilds of the
-Rocky Mountains he ought to provide himself with a guide. I
-went alone, and that's why I got lost.</p>
-
-<p>For two days I had tramped, half starved, toward the rising
-sun, with the hope of reaching some cattle ranch near Denver.
-On the morning of the third day, as I was trudging through a
-thick undergrowth, I was suddenly startled by a woman's voice:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"You didn't happen to spy a little speckled heifer back yonder,
-did you, stranger?"</p>
-
-<p>It is said that upon the approach of a human being the first
-impulse of a man who has been lost in the woods is that biblically
-ascribed to the wicked, namely, "to flee when no man pursueth."
-But at this time I was too far gone with hunger and weariness to
-flee from anything.</p>
-
-<p>I simply leaned against a tree trunk and awaited the appearance
-of the voice's owner. She came riding a bronco across the
-crest of a hillock. She was slight and wiry, and she wore her
-huge sombrero and man's canvas shooting-coat with an air that at
-first suggested the cowboy. A later glimpse of feminine drapery,
-however, proclaimed her something infinitely more interesting,&mdash;a
-real Rocky Mountain cow-girl in all her glory.</p>
-
-<p>"No," I answered weakly to her repeated question as to the
-heifer's whereabouts. "No, I've seen neither hoof nor hide of
-your heifer, which is lucky for you, as I should probably have
-eaten it if I had."</p>
-
-<p>"You do look hungry," said the strange horsewoman; and as
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span>
-
-she spoke the bold lines of her aquiline face relaxed into an expression
-of womanly solicitude.</p>
-
-<p>"Here, take this," she added in a business-like tone, producing
-from a bag that lay, meal sack fashion, across her saddle, a can of
-pressed beef and a square foot or so of corn bread. "No," as I
-tried to speak, "never mind explanations. Have some lunch with
-me and talk afterwards; that is, if you ain't afraid to eat with a
-cow-girl.</p>
-
-<p>"You see," she continued, when we were comfortably seated
-on a moss-grown log that served as a whole set of dining-room
-furniture, "I know myself what it is to get lost and nearly starve
-to death. 'Having experienced misfortune myself, I know how to
-pity others.'&thinsp;"</p>
-
-<p>I choked over a morsel of corn bread and stared at my companion
-with ill-bred astonishment. A cow-girl who quoted Virgil,
-even in a translation, was something not dreamed of in my philosophy.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I don't wonder that you look surprised," said my hostess
-good-naturedly. "I suppose I don't look as though I was up in
-the classics, but the fact is I'm a graduate of Iowa Wesleyan
-University, and I've studied Latin, Shakespeare, geometry, and
-all the rest.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes," musingly, "once I expected to pursue a literary career.
-Indeed, my professors all told me that I might become the George
-Eliot or Mrs. Browning of America. But that speckled heifer I
-was asking you about just now knocked all my plans into a
-cocked hat."</p>
-
-<p>"How was that?" I asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, it was like this," said the cow-girl college graduate, as
-she pushed aside her corn bread, untasted, and, planting her elbows
-upon her knee, propped her chin upon her palms, man fashion.
-"In the spring of 1885, several years after I had graduated, my
-father died, and mother and I came to Colorado and bought a
-ranch at Plum Creek, some twenty-three miles south of Denver.
-You see, my father had been an invalid, and ever since I can remember
-we'd been chasing round from pillar to post, trying to
-find a climate that agreed with him; so this was really what you
-might call the first chance I had to go to work in earnest. It was
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span>
-
-a lovely quiet spot, an ideal place, I thought, for communing with
-nature and pursuing a literary career. But it was not so to be.
-Like&mdash;what's his name with a tender heel?"</p>
-
-<p>"Achilles?" I suggested.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, like Achilles, I had one weak spot that was going to be
-my ruin. I was crazy about pets. Why, if it hadn't been for
-that weak spot I might be wearing literary laurel instead of
-lassoing cattle&mdash;but this is neither here nor there. What I
-was going to say was that before I'd been settled on that ranch
-three days some men came our way driving a herd of Texas cattle
-to Denver, and, as a late snowstorm came up just then, they
-decided to camp on good feed in the hills in front of my ranch.
-That afternoon they came over to our house to buy bread, and
-while they were there they mentioned to me that they had a
-nice cow that had just calved, and offered if I would buy the
-cow to throw in the calf, as they were just going to kill it. Well,
-here was where my weak spot came in. No sooner did I hear
-about those animals than nothing would do but that I should
-have them for pets. Besides, the cow was offered mighty cheap,
-only eighteen dollars, while I'd been going without milk rather
-than pay the fifty or seventy-five dollars asked for a milch cow;
-so now I thought was my chance to close a good bargain and get
-two nice pets, beside. Yes, sir, I even planned while the men were
-gone after those animals how I would domesticate them in a few
-days."</p>
-
-<p>"And it took longer?" I asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Domesticate! I might as well have tried to domesticate an
-active volcano&mdash;but I mustn't anticipate.</p>
-
-<p>"My first impression of my pet cow wasn't exactly encouraging.
-I had imagined her ambling serenely up to the house, mild-eyed
-and gentle, with the little calflet trotting at her side. Instead,
-she was dragged upon the scene by four men who had spent at
-least an hour in catching her and bringing her to me. The calf,
-meantime, after an equally exciting chase had been led up and tied
-to a large plum bush.</p>
-
-<p>"However, I wasn't one to let a little thing like that phase me.
-I was determined to make friends with that cow; so when, about
-two hundred yards from the house, the men threw her and took
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span>
-
-off the rope I advanced with that idea. But I wasn't half so
-anxious to make friends as the cow was. As soon as she set eyes
-on me&mdash;and if ever an animal had the evil eye, that cow did&mdash;she
-made a bee line for yours truly.</p>
-
-<p>"&thinsp;'Look out,' shouted the men. But I was already footing it
-pretty lively towards the thicket where the calf was tied, the cow
-after me, snorting like a steam engine almost in my ear. The
-next thing that I knew I had slipped and fallen on the ice in the
-north side of the bushes with the cow on top. I believe that I
-tried to grab the creature by her horns, with a wild hope that I
-might hold her down until the men came to the rescue.</p>
-
-<p>"I might as well have tried to hold down a hurricane. As she
-rose so did I, and was on my feet twenty yards away before she
-could see where she was at. Just as she rushed from the bush
-and lunged after me, I saw a rope swing through the air, and the
-next thing that devil-possessed cow knew she was tied to a clump of
-thicket and left to meditate upon the evil of her ways."</p>
-
-<p>"What did the men say to this?" I asked.</p>
-
-<p>"Of course they made out that they were awfully surprised at
-the cow's antics, fearfully scared at my close call, and all that;
-but I saw them grinning and chuckling as if they were ready to
-burst as they rode off, and I felt dead sure they'd planned to have
-a double funeral, cow and calf both, if they hadn't found a tender-foot
-to unload them on.</p>
-
-<p>"However, I never was one to give in that I was beaten by anything,
-first off, especially by a cow. Besides, that idea of having
-two nice pets had got a great hold on me. I made up my mind
-that if kindness could reclaim that erring cow she should be
-coddled like an infant. So next morning, bright and early, I
-started for the plum bush where she and the calf were tied, determined
-to make peace. Fortunately, two gentlemen, who had
-heard of the episode of the day before, rode over to see me that
-morning and joined me on my peace-making expedition. No
-sooner did the cow see me within thirty feet of her than she
-gave a fearful surge; the rope that she was tied with&mdash;worn thin
-by rubbing against the tree all night&mdash;gave way, and the cow
-made for me as though fifty devils had taken possession of her
-and were urging her on.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span></p>
-
-<p>"I tell you I didn't stop to think about the power of kindness
-on the brute creation. I simply yelled, 'Murder,' and made for
-a sand gulch near by as though a band of wild Indians were on
-my trail. As I reached the gulch and dropped ten feet or so
-down the steep bank, digging my heels into the loose sand to
-stop myself, that acrobatic cow sailed straight over my head and
-lit about twenty yards below. At first I thought that she was
-dead, but no such luck. In a moment she got up, looking foolish
-and dazed, but very much alive, and began shaking her head
-and pawing fiercely, when the two gentlemen reached down and
-lifted me out, as much as to say, 'This is what I'll do when I
-get hold of you.'&thinsp;"</p>
-
-<p>"Which she didn't, I hope," I put in.</p>
-
-<p>"No, indeed; you can be precious sure that I took particular
-care that she didn't have another chance to get hold of me or to
-get back into the yard again. For an hour or so after she had
-hoisted herself out of the gulch she stood outside the fence that
-separated the yard from the field, shaking her head and pawing
-whenever she saw any of us at the doors or windows. At last,
-towards evening, she trotted off with a zigzag wabble down the
-bank towards the creek among the willows, and there she lay in
-ambush, you might say, so that for a week after we didn't dare
-to go down to make a garden or do anything else, for fear of
-having that cow descend like a wolf on the fold."</p>
-
-<p>"And after that week?" I inquired.</p>
-
-<p>"Well, finally she grew bolder, and ventured on the mesa near
-the railroad track, where she made war on the section hands, and I
-was warned that I must take her out of the field or they would
-shoot her. So to prevent her from demoralizing the entire neighborhood
-I had her killed and used her for beef. And tough eating
-she was," said my hostess, laughing; "but in any case she
-was better dead than alive, for there wasn't room for that cow and
-me in the same country."</p>
-
-<p>"But you've been telling me about the cow. What about the
-heifer? I thought that you said that she was the cause&mdash;"</p>
-
-<p>"Oh, yes. The heifer was the calf. Now, whether the cow
-disowned the calf, or the calf the cow, I never found out. Anyway,
-the day that the cow disappeared into the bottom land that little
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span>
-
-calf trotted up to the house and tearfully begged to be loved.
-Well, you might have thought I'd had enough of pets for one
-while, but, no; the helplessness of that poor little calf so went to
-my heart that for weeks I rode nine miles every day for milk, and
-fed it to that little creature with my own hands."</p>
-
-<p>"A sort of foster-mother," I suggested.</p>
-
-<p>"Yes, I was a mother to that little orphan calf. But, if you'll
-believe me, it was a case of 'how sharper than a serpent's tooth
-is an ungrateful child,' or however that goes. Yes, sir, that calf
-followed in the evil course of its mother, only if anything it was
-worse, sort of like Agrippina and her son, Nero, only this was a
-daughter.</p>
-
-<p>"You see, the cow was perfectly open about her evil deeds, but
-the calf was underhanded. After trotting around me, looking as
-innocent as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, she'd all
-of a sudden disappear, and come back after a few days with an
-ear torn and the skin raked off her side; and pretty soon I'd
-hear that she'd been attacking horses or fighting other cows.</p>
-
-<p>"One day she chased an unlucky workman out onto the railroad
-bridge and kept him there until a train came along and the
-engineer slackened enough to take him on and carry him to Plum
-Station. Another time she got after a tramp that was camping on
-the bottom land among the willows, and forced him to take
-refuge in the forks of a crooked tree, where he roosted until one
-of us went down and called off Miss Bossie. In fact, the only
-return that calf ever made for all my loving care was to scare
-away tramps. If I could have kept her around the house just for
-that purpose she would have been one of the best investments I
-ever made.</p>
-
-<p>"But as years went by that calf became more and more abandoned
-to evil. She would wander farther and farther from home,
-until now I spend half my nights worrying about her and more
-than half the day following her up and taking her home with
-me."</p>
-
-<p>"I should think you'd get rid of the creature," I interrupted.</p>
-
-<p>"Kill her? Yes, I suppose that would be the most sensible
-thing to do, but you know how it is about always loving the
-prodigal son the most. Yes, sir; wherever that animal goes it
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span>
-
-takes my heart with it, and, though it's nigh onto eleven years
-old, I never can think of it as anything but a pet calf."</p>
-
-<p>"And so it was bringing up that heifer that interfered with
-your literary career?"</p>
-
-<p>"Interfered? Well, I should say so! Back at the start I
-did publish some poems in the local papers, and I read one or two
-essays at the Zion Church literaries. But people wouldn't
-believe they were original. No woman, they said, who spent her
-time chasing wild cows over the country could write odes to
-spring and essays on Shakespeare.</p>
-
-<p>"My literary career was killed, blighted in the bud. And, as
-my income was small and I had to do something to make out a
-living, I've just turned my hand to anything that came along.</p>
-
-<p>"Instead of gaining fame as the American George Eliot, I've
-been called Colorado Cow-girl and Bronco Buster. Instead of
-wielding the pen, I've driven a four-horse stage, branded cattle,
-broken saddle horses, sung in a church choir, run a blacksmith's
-shop, kept school, given music lessons, run a hotel, taught painting,
-carried mail, roughed it on horseback all the way from Colorado
-to Oregon, and taken a hand in pretty much everything else, except
-shoveling wind off the roof. But there"&mdash;breaking off
-suddenly&mdash;"you aren't interested in all this. What you want
-now is rest and shelter.</p>
-
-<p>"Take my outfit and make tracks for Wilkins ranch. Just
-give the pony his head and he'll land you all right.</p>
-
-<p>"It's over that way," rising and gesturing toward the southeast.</p>
-
-<p>I tried to protest against this plan, but the Colorado cow-girl
-was already several yards away.</p>
-
-<p>"That's all right; meet you later at the ranch," she cried, turning
-for a moment before she plunged into the thicket. "But
-first," she added, with almost maternal solicitude, "I think I'll
-just look around and see if I can't find that little speckled heifer."</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="IN_A_TIGER_TRAP" id="IN_A_TIGER_TRAP"></a>In a Tiger Trap.</h2>
-<div class="center">BY CHARLES EDWARD BARNS.</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-</div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_036.png" width="100" height="100" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span style="margin-left: 0.2em">THE </span>
-royal Malay tiger is no gentleman. If he
-were, the following would never have been
-told.</p>
-
-<p>Punda-Tsang was an innkeeper. He was sole
-proprietor of the Ballawari-Dâk, which is a
-very big name for a very small native hotel
-about sixty miles north of Penang, and on the high road to the
-hunting-steppes of the Bukit, or hill-country. The quaint little
-hospice clung to the mountain side like a swallow's nest, high
-over the jungle-bedded Sungei, whose foaming, crashing torrents
-came down from the upper mountains like an endless charge of
-white cavalry to the sea. Punda was a good sort of a Malay,
-which means a bad sort of anything else. That is, he would
-plunder only on the securest principles, and never quarrel with
-a bigger man nor a better armed one than he. In this he differed
-from other Malays, who would plunder and knife upon no
-principle or provocation whatever, if they thought there was a
-ten-anna piece in the job.</p>
-
-<p>But a deeper reading of this prosperous boniface of the jungles
-revealed the fact that he was capable of love,&mdash;yes, even a
-tender, human affection; and that little Iali, his five-year-old
-daughter, was the object of a worship in his heart even more fervent
-than that which he bestowed upon the five home-made clay
-gods before which, in a dark corner of the Dâk, he burned a vast
-deal of ill-smelling punk. The second year of Tsang's married
-life had hardly begun when his beautiful wife was bitten by a
-yellow viper while gathering healing herbs down in the valley.
-When they found the poor creature she was dying&mdash;with a
-little new-born babe in her arms. This calamity the bereaved
-husband regarded as a direct visitation of the clay gods in the
-corner; only the day before he had robbed a Kling hunter of his
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span>
-
-rifle, leaving the poor fellow to make his way unarmed down to
-the sea, where he ran upon a pair of half-starved <i>kukangs</i>, a
-vicious species of Malay chimpanzee, in fleeing from which he
-fell over the cliff and was dashed to pieces. And Punda-Tsang
-always felt that that yellow viper was sent direct from the land
-of the judging gods to avenge the blood of the poor Kling hunter.
-But there was one thing that mitigated the harshness of this vengeance,&mdash;the
-presence of the little child, whom he tenderly
-cherished, and whom he had called Iali, which is to say "forgiven."
-But even were not the little creature a messenger of
-forgiveness to the penitent savage heart, she was more than
-worthy his worship and love,&mdash;this child of the tropic forest,
-restless and agile as a young panther, with lustrous black eyes
-and a wild, wayward nature, much spoiled by the wayfarers and
-fawned upon by the coolies that swarmed about the compound.</p>
-
-<p>One day two British naval officers stopped at the Dâk on their
-way down from a hunt in the hill country. We were seated
-under the palms before the bungalow after tiffin, smoking cheroots,
-while I listened to their exploits with interest. Suddenly four
-native Malays approached, wheeling a live tiger in a clumsy
-wooden cage, and halted before the Dâk. They were going to
-dispose of him to a naturalist down on the coast, who had a method
-of killing and stuffing animals by which the marvelous luster of
-their skins was preserved. The forest king was certainly a magnificent
-specimen. If you have never seen a live tiger fresh from
-the jungles, take my word for it, the ordinary caged tiger at the
-Zoo is as much like the former as canned strawberries are like the
-fresh, lustrous fruit of June. The Englishmen evidently thought
-so, too, as they concluded to buy him, and swear that they had
-captured him, and then to present the beast to the London Zoo.
-They bought the animal for forty Mexican dollars, sent the natives
-back rejoicing, and started down towards the coast, while Punda-Tsang,
-not contented with exacting fifty per cent commission
-from the poor fellows for using his Dâk for a tiger mart, committed
-the meanest act of his life. He slyly sawed one of the
-cage bars nearly through in four places. Then he went to work
-planning to waylay the tiger on his way back to his haunts after
-he should break loose, which he knew would happen before the
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span>
-
-Englishmen could get many miles down the valley. He quietly
-pursued his planning until late that night, when he heard upon
-good authority that the tiger had broken jail and nearly killed
-one of his owners. Then he prepared to put his plans into action.</p>
-
-<p>Here we reach the illustration of the first-mentioned fact, of
-which Tsang was ready to take advantage: that the Malay tiger
-is no gentleman. He knew that the beast will never walk up
-leisurely and take his bite like a smooth and oily clubman at a
-free lunch, but that the very instant that he smells blood he will
-drop flat, and, even if the feast is a mile away, will begin a slow,
-creeping journey towards it, wasting hours, perhaps, and working
-up a terrific hunger in the meantime. When he has approached
-within twenty feet of the prize, quivering with desire and terrible
-with greed, he will leap into the air like a cannon ball and plunge
-down upon his victim. Punda-Tsang knew all this; so he dug a
-pit down the valley, constructed a network of branches over it,
-and laid the quarter of a bullock upon it. Then he waited for the
-tiger to scent the blood and make his slow, crawling journey,
-knowing that when he made the grand twenty-foot leap he would
-go crashing through the network into the pit below. Then
-Tsang planned he would starve the beast, let down a cage baited
-with more fresh meat, and, sliding the bars from above, haul the
-captured tiger out and sell him over again. All of this might
-have happened, but it didn't. Events somewhat stranger and
-more terrible for Punda-Tsang interfered, doubtless as another
-direct visitation of the vengeance of the little clay gods in the
-bungalow corner, half concealed in clouds of punk-smoke.</p>
-
-<p>As little Iali was the innkeeper's constant solace and companion,
-she went with him to the pit-digging, her father explaining
-to her the manner of capturing the "four-footed jungle-god," which
-facts, instead of frightening the child, only helped to increase the
-stock of her play gods and demons which she molded deftly
-from the red clay of the ravine. With the appearance of the new
-moon, that mascot of the Orientals, the pit was baited. For two
-days nothing was heard of the tiger, and Punda-Tsang began to
-fear that he had gone back to the hills by another route.</p>
-
-<p>On the afternoon of the third day I sat on the cliff's edge,
-watching the mists rise from the roaring river bottom, a phenomenon
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span>
-
-which always accompanies the closing day. Suddenly there
-was a great shuffling of sandals about the compound, and I knew
-something extraordinary was taking place. I turned quickly; the
-big form of Punda-Tsang, the innkeeper, burst upon me suddenly,
-his flat face as pallid as a demon's, ferocious, but with the ferocity
-of nameless fear.</p>
-
-<p>"Iali!" cried he hoarsely. "Have you seen Iali?"</p>
-
-<p>"No!" I replied, almost in a whisper. He did not wait, but
-sped towards the so-called bullock-sheds, which were really caves
-cut in the solid rock beyond the Dâk. I had become attached to
-the child, whose marvelous beauty had charmed, and whose weird
-ways mystified me. But I had never been alone with her, knowing
-that any accident happening to Iali while in my keeping
-would result seriously for me&mdash;perhaps cost me my life. The
-coolies were flying hither and thither, making the air ring with
-their loud wails. Such agitation on the part of these vagabonds
-roused me to a realization of the child's danger. Suddenly I
-turned my eyes and thoughts in the direction of the ravine where
-the tiger trap lay. I recalled vividly the child's interest in the
-"jungle-god" who was to be captured in the deep pit; and, knowing
-the little creature's absolute fearlessness, thought that, acting
-upon some childish impulse, she might have strayed down the
-narrow path to the pit. Meanwhile the wailing about me increased.</p>
-
-<p>I dropped over the ledge, soon reaching the pathway by a short
-route. As I penetrated the jungle, now suffused with mist in the
-ruby glow of the expiring day, I realized with what risks to myself
-I was entering this dangerous spot, all unarmed. I was still
-debating whether or not to return for a weapon of defense, when,
-as I leaped over a soft spot in the red clay, I saw two footprints
-that shot terror into my heart; one was that of a mammoth tiger,
-the other belonged to a little child. I dropped down beside them.
-No. There was no mistaking them, so clear and fresh were both.
-I rose to my feet, my head whirling, my ears half-deafened by the
-noise of the jungle insects and the increasing roar of that river
-beyond. Then I crept forward, scarcely daring to breathe, my
-heart beating faster and faster with apprehension.</p>
-
-<p>The distance to that tiger pit seemed to be doubled, and the
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span>
-
-time that elapsed before reaching it everlasting. The crackling
-of the leaves and twigs on the moss beneath my feet added to my
-trepidations. Almost before I realized it I had reached the big
-trap, and then halted short, thrilled by the sound of something
-human. I looked up. Through the deepening mists and intervening
-boughs I saw the little child-figure of Iali creeping out
-upon the withered branches over the pit. For the instant I had
-no power to move, nor dared I speak, lest, overcome with sudden
-fright, the frail little one might lose her foothold. Suddenly a
-new horror disclosed itself. What were those two glaring, cold,
-yet fiery points just beyond the pit, burning their way through
-the shadows? My God! It was the tiger. He was lying flat on
-the ground, couchant, paws extended, quivering, ready for the
-fatal spring.</p>
-
-<p>In moments like these one's reasoning powers become super-human.
-I saw that in all probability either Iali or I was to be
-sacrificed, which one depended merely upon the caprice of the
-wild beast. I had heard that the calm, steady, fearless stare of a
-human is more terrifying to wild animals than guns that kill.
-On the instant I resolved to practise it; it was my only expedient.
-So I stared at those two coldly bright and glowing points of
-light like a madman, without a quiver, without a doubt.</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly I saw the little figure waver on the dead branches
-over the mouth of the pit, and then&mdash;oh, horrors! with a weak cry
-poor little Iali had lost her foothold and slipped slowly through
-the yielding boughs into the cave beneath. For a moment all
-was silent. Then I heard her childish prattle. The soft sand
-had broken Iali's fall and saved her life, while I was brought face
-to face with the most awful problem of my life. For what seemed
-hours, I stood like a pillar of stone, the sweat pouring down my
-neck, my tongue hot and parched. One show of fear would, I
-knew, be fatal. The "jungle-gods" are keen, like demons, measuring
-strength with man. How long could I keep up this maddening
-strain?&mdash;how long force upon the king-beast this illusion
-of my superior will?</p>
-
-<p>Suddenly, as I stood like one in a trance, facing this growing
-problem, I was conscious of a stir in the reeds and underbrush at
-my right hand. Though the sound caused me to tremble, I dared
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span>
-
-not take my eyes from the crouching monster beyond. The next
-instant, a strange, huge shape crept stealthily out of the underwood,
-and advanced into the clearing toward the pit,&mdash;a ponderous
-black monster with the body of a beast, but lifting through the
-grass the head and shoulders of a human colossus. It was a
-mammoth orang-outang!</p>
-
-<p>The tiger crouched lower. He seemed to be as nonplussed,
-as stunned by the intrusion of this huge interloper as I was. In
-motionless silence, he transferred his burning gaze to the mammoth
-monster.</p>
-
-<p>Advancing to the very edge of the pit, the huge ape slipped, but
-he recovered. Sly beast! He saw that the branches were only a
-blind. Then he walked around the edge of the trap, and knelt
-down like a human being, slowly, deliberately reaching out his
-long hairy arm till his giant hand clutched that bullock bone.
-Oh, what joy that calm, providential deed brought to my heart!
-Then, to my intense relief, the orang slowly dragged the great
-mass of flesh off the network of branches upon the solid ground.</p>
-
-<p>For a moment longer the gleam of those two terrible eyes, now
-like peepholes into hell, followed the unsuspecting pilferer. Then
-came a rustle, a strange shriek like sudden thunder, a bound, and
-a roar, and the "jungle-god" had sprung into the air, and came
-down like a flashing avalanche full upon the broad body of the
-kneeling orang. A single paw struck the mammoth ape in the
-small of the back, and never shall I forget the sound of that blow
-which broke the bones of the orang's spine like a cannon ball.
-With an almost human groan, the rescuer of my life and hers I
-came to save gave up the booty, together with his own life.
-Then the tiger, with a final flash of eyes full into my own,
-snatched up the carcass of the bullock in his flaming jaws, and slid
-off into the thick of the jungle.</p>
-
-<p>I have often wondered since how things would have turned out
-if that tiger <i>had</i> been a gentleman.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="THE_REDHOT_DOLLAR" id="THE_REDHOT_DOLLAR"></a>The Red-Hot Dollar.</h2>
-<div class="center">BY H. D. UMBSTAETTER.</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-</div>
-
-<div>
- <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_042.png" width="100" height="100" alt=""/>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span style="margin-left: 0.3em">IT </span>
-lacked three minutes of five by the big clock
-in the tower when the east-bound Chicago
-express rumbled into the station at Buffalo.
-The train had not yet come to a standstill when
-a hatless man jumped from the platform of the
-rear sleeping-car and ran across the tracks into
-the depot restaurant. A few minutes later he reappeared, carrying
-a cup of coffee in one hand and a small paper bag in the
-other.</p>
-
-<p>With these he hurriedly made his way back to the car through
-a straggling procession of drowsy tourists, who were taking advantage
-of the train's five minutes' stop to breathe the crisp morning
-air. The last of these had already resumed his seat when the man
-without a hat again appeared at the lunch counter, returned the
-borrowed dishes, and ordered coffee for himself. He had just
-picked up the cup and was raising it to his lips when the conductor's
-"All aboard" rang through the station.</p>
-
-<p>Leaving the coffee untouched, he thrust a five-dollar bill at the
-attendant, grabbed his change, and started in pursuit of the moving
-train. He had almost reached it when an unlucky stumble sent
-the coins in his hand rolling in all directions along the floor.
-Quickly recovering himself and paying no heed to his loss, he redoubled
-his efforts, and, though losing ground at every step, kept
-up the hopeless chase to the end of the station. There he stopped,
-panting for breath. The slip had proved fatal. He had missed
-the train!</p>
-
-<p>As he stood staring wildly through the clouds of dust that rose
-from the track, a young woman, evidently deeply agitated, suddenly
-appeared in the doorway of the vanishing car. Upon seeing
-him, she made frantic attempts to leap from the platform, when
-she was seized by a man and pulled back into the car. When the
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span>
-
-door had closed upon the two the bareheaded man in the station
-faced about and philosophically muttered:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"It's fate!"</p>
-
-<p>Then, after pausing a few moments, as if to collect his thoughts,
-he slowly retraced his steps to the scene of his mishap and began
-calmly searching for his lost change. Circling closely about,
-his eyes scanning the floor, he succeeded in recovering first one
-and then another of the missing coins, until finally, after repeated
-rounds, he lacked only one dollar of the whole amount. At
-this point he paused, clinked the recovered coins in his hand,
-looked at his watch, and then started on a final round. As this
-failed to reveal the missing piece, he gave up the search, transferred
-the contents of his hands to his trousers' pocket, and
-started in the direction of the telegraph office.</p>
-
-<p>He had proceeded perhaps twenty paces when it occurred to
-him to turn about and cast one more look along the floor. As
-he did so his eye fell upon a shining object lodged in an opening
-between the rail and planked floor, a few feet from where he
-stood. He stooped to examine it, and, seeing that it was the missing
-coin, reached for it, but found the opening too narrow to
-admit his fingers. He tried to recover the piece with his pocket-knife,
-and, failing in this attempt, took his lead-pencil, with which,
-after repeated attempts, he succeeded in tossing it upon the floor.</p>
-
-<p>With an air of subdued satisfaction, he walked away, and was
-about to convey the coin to his pocket when a sudden impulse
-led him to examine it. Holding it up before his eyes, he stopped,
-scrutinized every detail, and as he turned it over and over the
-puzzled look on his face changed to one of rigid astonishment.
-For fully a minute he stood as if transfixed; then, rousing himself
-and looking anxiously about as if to see if any one had
-observed him, he hurried to the cashier's desk in the restaurant,
-and, producing the bright silver dollar, asked the girl if she happened
-to remember from whom she received it.</p>
-
-<p>She didn't remember, but would exchange it for another, she
-said, if he wished. Politely declining the offer and apologizing
-for having troubled her, he said that, as the coin he held in his
-hand was separating a loving wife from her husband, he wished
-very much to find some trace of its former owner. The girl
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span>
-
-looked up, thought for a moment, then, pulling out the cash
-drawer, and examining its contents, said she might have received
-it from the conductor of the Lake Shore express which had left for
-Cleveland at 3.15. She now recalled that when she came on
-duty at midnight there was no silver dollar among the change in
-the cash drawer, and that the only one she remembered receiving
-was from Sleeping-Car Conductor Parkins.</p>
-
-<p>The man thanked her and hastened to the telegraph office,
-where he sent this message:&mdash;<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Conductor, East Bound Chicago Express,</span></p>
-<p><span class ="smcap sig-left16">Utica, N. Y.</span></p>
-
-<p><span class="p3">"Please ask lady in section seven of sleeping-car Catawba to</span><br />
-await her husband at Delavan House, Albany.</p>
-
-<p class="sig-left16">"A. J. HOBART."<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p>After requesting the operator to kindly rush the despatch, he
-proceeded to the ticket office, procured a seat in the 5.45 fast
-mail for Cleveland, and, with his hand clutching the coin in his
-pocket and his eyes fixed upon the floor, meditatively paced up
-and down the platform, waiting for the train to arrive.</p>
-
-<p>As he did so he was disconcerted to find himself the object of
-wide-spread curiosity; even the newsboys with the morning papers
-favored him with an inquiring stare as they passed. Wondering
-what was amiss, he suddenly put his hand to his head, which furnished
-an instant explanation. He was hatless.</p>
-
-<p>Looking at the big clock, he saw that it lacked ten minutes of
-train time, and, hastily crossing over to the farther track, he disappeared
-through the west end of the station.</p>
-
-<p>Among the passengers who boarded the 5.45 fast mail for
-Cleveland when it thundered into the station, ten minutes later,
-was the bareheaded gentleman of a few minutes ago, now wearing
-a stylish derby. Once in the train, he settled himself in his
-seat with a sigh of relief and satisfaction. Not until then did
-the really remarkable character of the situation dawn upon him.
-On the very day which he had hailed as one of the happiest of
-his life he was traveling at the rate of about sixty miles an hour
-away from the girl he loved devotedly and to whom he had
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span>
-
-been married just seventeen hours. A queer opening of his honeymoon!
-In his anxiety to get a cup of coffee for his wife, he had
-lost his hat, then lost his change, and, lastly, lost the train.</p>
-
-<p>Why did he not follow his bride at once? What mysterious
-spell had come upon this seventeen-hour bridegroom that he
-should fly from her as swiftly as the fast express could carry him?
-His hand held the solution of the problem&mdash;simple, yet unexplainable&mdash;a
-silver dollar! It held the secret he must unravel before
-he could return to her; it was not then that he loved her
-less, but that this bit of precious metal had suddenly developed an
-occult power that had turned their paths, for the present, in
-opposite directions.</p>
-
-<p>At the first stopping place he sent another message, which
-read as follows:&mdash;<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Mrs. A. J. Hobart</span>, Delavan House,
-Albany, N. Y.</p>
-<p><span class="p3">"Cannot possibly reach Albany before to-morrow morning.</span></p>
-<p><span class="sig-left21-5 smcap">"Ansel."</span><br /><br /></p>
-
-<p>With his brain filled with excited thoughts, the young man
-entered the sleeping-car office at Cleveland four hours later and
-asked for Conductor Parkins. He was told that this official
-would not be on duty before night, though possibly he might be
-at his home on St. Clair Street.</p>
-
-<p>To the address given him the indefatigable young man repaired
-at once, and found the genial gentleman for whom he
-sought breakfasting with his family. He kindly gave audience at
-once to his visitor.</p>
-
-<p>"This coin, which you gave the cashier of the restaurant in
-Buffalo," said the latter, revealing it in the palm of his hand;
-"can you tell me from whom you received it?"</p>
-
-<p>Parkins remembered receiving cash from but two passengers
-the night before, one a traveling man who got off in Cleveland,
-and the other a woman whose destination was Erie. The stranger
-might ascertain their names by consulting the car diagram at the
-ticket office. "You seem interested in the coin," he added, smiling.</p>
-
-<p>"I am, for a good reason," laughed the young man in reply.
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span>
-
-"It is separating a man from his wife." And with these engimatical
-words he made his adieu, with thanks, hastened to the
-ticket office, and an hour later was scouring the city for one
-Richard Spears.</p>
-
-<p>The register of the Stillman House contained the freshly written
-name of "Richard Spears, Providence, R. I.," but that gentleman,
-when found in his room showing samples of hardware to a prospective
-buyer, regretted that he could not throw any light on the
-particular dollar his visitor held up to his gaze, and remembered
-distinctly that he had given the conductor a two-dollar bill in payment
-for his berth. He came from a section, he said, where
-people took no stock in silver dollars.</p>
-
-<p>It was three o'clock in the afternoon when a man got off the
-train at Erie and inquired of the cabmen and depot master regarding
-a lady who had arrived on the early train from Buffalo. An
-hour later he was driving along a country road some miles south of
-the town inquiring for the Wickliffe farm.</p>
-
-<p>As he finally drove up to the house which was his destination
-he was conscious of a strange excitement. This, he realized, was
-probably his only remaining chance to trace the coin by whose
-mysterious power he had been drawn into this wild chase with
-the hope of identifying its former owner. He took a hasty note
-of the general features of the place. It had a comfortable, well-to-do
-look; a two-story house, white, with green blinds. Most of
-these were closed, as is customary with country houses, but the
-windows at the right of the big front door, opening on a small
-porch, were shaded only by white curtains. There was a sound of
-voices within as he stepped up to the door and rapped.</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Wickliffe, a pleasant-faced little woman, sat surrounded
-by three children and a neighbor's wife, to whom she was displaying
-some purchases. As one of the children opened the door,
-admitting the stranger into this animated scene, she was standing
-before a mirror trying on a new bonnet, which was eliciting extravagant
-praises from the neighbor.</p>
-
-<p>After listening to his story, Mrs. Wickliffe said that her memory
-was so treacherous that she really couldn't say for certain whether
-or not she gave the conductor the shining dollar, but that if
-she did she must have received it from her son in Germantown,
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span>
-
-Pa., from a visit to whose house she had just returned, and
-who before her departure had exchanged some money for her.
-She added that, as she took no interest in coin collecting, a dollar
-was simply a dollar to her and that she thought a woman was
-very foolish to take up with a fad which might ruin her happiness.</p>
-
-<p>Her unknown caller thought so, too, admired her taste in
-millinery, took the address of her son, and, clutching the fatal
-coin more firmly than ever, drove back to Erie, where he boarded
-the New York night express.</p>
-
-<p>To the young man who still clutched the silver dollar sleep
-was impossible. A multitude of exciting fancies crossed his brain.
-The developments he hoped to bring about, the curious solution
-of the problem, its effect upon his future, and the future of one
-so dear to him,&mdash;all this murdered sleep for him as effectually as
-did the crime on Lady Macbeth's soul. It drove him into the
-smoking-car, where he sank into a seat and planned and conjectured
-between puffs of Havana smoke until the train reached Albany.
-So completely absorbed had he become in the solution of this
-knotty problem in which his accident of the morning had involved
-him, and so convinced was he that the information must be for the
-time kept a secret, that he actually began to dread what was clearly
-inevitable,&mdash;the explanation he must shortly make to his wife.</p>
-
-<p>His inclination was to tell her all. His duty to others forbade
-this. After pondering over the matter, he decided to explain that
-he had a happy surprise in store for her, one that had an important
-bearing on their future, and which unfortunately necessitated
-a change in their plans for a honeymoon in Europe.</p>
-
-<p>This, on reaching the Delavan House, he expressed to a very
-pretty and very anxious little woman who was awaiting him,
-together with a good many other things not necessary to this
-story. And, instead of the steamer for Europe, the reunited pair
-took a train for Philadelphia. Early the next day the young
-man presented himself at the office of Dr. James Wickliffe, at Germantown,
-who smilingly admitted having given the shining dollar
-to his mother two days before. He had received the coin from a
-patient, a letter-carrier named John Lennon, and remembered it
-because of the following strange story, related to him by Lennon
-himself.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[48]</span></p>
-
-<p>A few days before, the carrier was engaged in delivering mail
-from door to door along Vine Street, Philadelphia, when a zigzag
-trip across the street and back again brought him to the narrow
-stairway of a dingy brick house, in front of which hung an
-enormous brass key bearing the word "Locksmith." Here he
-paused to draw a little parcel from his bundle. As he did so he
-heard something fall with a metallic clink upon the stone pavement.
-He looked and saw that it was a silver dollar, which
-rolled toward the gutter and came to a stop close by the curb.
-Hastening to pick it up, he instantly dropped it with a cry of
-pain.</p>
-
-<p><i>The coin was almost red hot!</i></p>
-
-<p>The letter-carrier stood nursing his hand and thinking for two
-or three minutes. Silver dollars do not commonly drop out of
-the sky. But that this one should thus fall like a meteorite in
-a condition too heated for handling was certainly more than surprising&mdash;it
-was astounding! The man looked up at the dingy
-brick house and examined it attentively, noting that the ground
-floor was occupied as a green grocery and that all of the windows
-were shut save one in the third story.</p>
-
-<p>Then he kicked the mysterious coin into a puddle, fished it
-out again with his fingers, and put it into his trousers' pocket.
-He was about to investigate further, when some small boys
-called his attention to the fact that it was the first day of April,
-whereupon he proceeded on his way. He gave no further thought
-to the matter until that night, when he found that his thumb
-and forefinger had been so badly burned as to require treatment.</p>
-
-<p>The next morning he called upon the doctor, who dressed the
-painful hand and received the mysterious coin in payment for
-his services.</p>
-
-<p>That night, behind locked doors in one of the officers' rooms
-of the United States Mint in Chestnut Street, two men were engaged
-in a long whispered conference. The wife of one of the
-men, as she sat in her room in the Continental Hotel, anxiously
-waiting for her husband, was beginning to wonder whether, after
-all, marriage was a failure!</p>
-
-<p>Two days later, in speaking of the seizure of over forty thousand
-bogus silver dollars and the clever capture of three of the
-
-<span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span>
-
-most dangerous counterfeiters that ever attacked the currency of
-the United States, the <i>Daily News</i> said:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"The most remarkable part of the whole story is that one of
-the coins, fresh from the machine of one of the counterfeiters, fell
-out of a third-story window near which he was working, was
-picked up while almost red hot by a letter-carrier, and passed
-as genuine through various hands until it reached Buffalo, where,
-by the merest accident, it came into the possession of Mr. Ansel
-Hobart of the Secret Service. That gentleman noticed an imperfection
-at one point of its rim, and succeeded in tracing the coin
-to the headquarters of the gang on Vine Street in this city, where,
-under the cloak of a locksmith shop and green grocery business,
-six hundred of the spurious coins were turned out daily. So admirably
-were these counterfeits executed as to defy scrutiny save
-by experts of the Government. The coins were not cast in
-molds after the ordinary fashion, but were struck with a die, and
-plated so thickly with silver as to withstand tests by acids. The
-defect which led to the discovery was found only in the one coin
-already spoken of, and it is supposed that it was this defect that
-caused the piece to spring from the finishing machine and fall out
-of the window."</p>
-
-<p>And the New York newspapers of three days later contained
-the intelligence that the White Star steamer "Majestic," which
-sailed for Liverpool that day, had among her passengers Mr. and
-Mrs. Ansel J. Hobart, of Chicago, Illinois.</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_049.png" alt="" width="300" height="100" />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="ADVERTISEMENTS" id="ADVERTISEMENTS"></a>Advertisements.</h2>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_050.png" alt="" width="600" height="939" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<p>"I cannot speak too enthusiastically of what my dressmaker
-has done for the last two seasons. All the former
-annoyance of heavy sleeves (which are also very hot in
-warm weather) has been done away with, and it is such
-pleasure to me to use no special care of the skirt when
-either riding or boating as I am sure every fold will instantly
-disappear the moment I walk."</p>
-
-<p>"What different materials do you use to accomplish
-this?"</p>
-
-<p>"Why, really the same, only you know the <span class="smcap">American
-Hair Cloth Co.</span>&mdash;I believe that is the name&mdash;make one
-grade of linings so thin as not to be objectionable to the
-thinest white material even, and then the heavier grades
-which are just as suitable for winter use as for summer,
-and all their styles in either gray, black or white."</p>
-
-<p>"How much does this really add to the weight of the
-skirt without any lining?"</p>
-
-<p>"My dressmaker says that an entire skirt if it were
-made up as a separate skirt of seven yards would weigh but 12 ounces, and if one should use their 170/3 it is
-almost as light as air itself."</p>
-
-<p>"Why, these figures are new to me; what do they mean?"</p>
-
-<p>"I took pains to investigate that, and their <b>10/4</b>, <b>10/5</b> and <b>98/3</b> is the style usually used for skirts and can
-be had in either gray or black, though of course they make heavier grades, principally used by tailors."</p>
-
-<p>"Either the <b>84/3</b>, <b>146/3</b>, <b>170/3</b>, <b>184/4</b> or <b>200/4</b>, is all right for thin sleeves, so that if the dealer has not all
-these styles he ought to have one surely."</p>
-
-<p>"I am very glad for this information, for I confess that while I have been forced to follow the fashion. It has
-been at great discomfort, especially in the hot weather, with what I have had used for linings; and I had really
-no knowledge of these different grades, or in fact that <span class="smcap">Hair Cloth Crinoline</span> was really the perfect thing to
-be used for both skirts and sleeves."</p>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<p class="center xxlarge"><b>Hair Cloth<br />
-Crinoline</b></p>
-
-<p class="center">Ask your Dealer for Ours</p>
-
-<p class="center large"><b>It Lasts<br />
-Forever</b></p>
-
-<p class="center">We do not sell at Retail</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxlarge">American Hair Cloth Company,</span><br />
-<span class="smcap large">Pawtucket, R.I.</span>
-<br />
-<span class="smcap large">Charles E. Pervear</span>, Agent
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center"><b>If you are thinking</b> about advertising<br />
-in any newspaper, magazine,<br />
-or program <b>anywhere</b>, send to<br /><br />
-
-<span class="smcap large">Dodd's</span><br />
-Advertising &amp; Checking<br />
-<span class="smcap">Agency</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="center large"><b>265 Washington St., – Boston.</b></span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="center large"><i><b>We write and illustrate<br />
-advertisements for our clients.</b></i></span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="center smcap">Reliable Dealing.<br />
-Careful Service.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Low Estimates.</span>
-</div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center"><b>If you are thinking</b> about advertising<br />
-in any newspaper, magazine,<br />
-or program <b>anywhere</b>, send to<br /><br />
-
-<span class="smcap large">Dodd's</span><br />
-Advertising &amp; Checking<br />
-<span class="smcap">Agency</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="center large"><b>265 Washington St., – Boston.</b></span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="center large"><i><b>We write and illustrate<br />
-advertisements for our clients.</b></i></span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="center smcap">Reliable Dealing.<br />
-Careful Service.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Low Estimates.</span>
-</div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="break-before">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_051.png" alt="" width="600" height="936" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="smcap xxlarge">Search<br />
-Light</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="xxxlarge"><b>Is what</b></span><span class="xlarge"><b> it is named.</b></span><br />
-<br />
-It is <b>not</b> a signal to show that a bicycle is coming,<br />
-but an <b>aid</b>, recognized by such riders as R. P. Searle,<br />
-who says:&mdash;<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<div class="blockquote-ad-searchlight">
-<span class="smcap">Gentlemen</span>: I have just finished my second record-breaking trip
-from Chicago to New York. I used your lamp on all my night runs,
-sometimes running at a speed of fifteen miles per hour in the dark. I
-was only able to make this fast time by the splendid light which I was
-enabled to obtain with the use of your lamp. I used your lamp because
-I considered it the best in the world to-day, and it has far exceeded
-my expectations.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yours very truly,
-<span class="sig-left10"><i>R. P. Searle</i></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<p class="center large"><b>Points of Superiority over every other Lantern Made:</b></p>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad4">
-Central draft&mdash;burns ten hours.<br />
-Burns kerosene oil unmixed.<br />
-Flame absolutely adjustable (by set screw).<br />
-Filled and lighted from outside.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xlarge text-ad-decor-2"><b>Saves Doctors' Bills</b></span>,<br />
-barked shins, soiled clothing, and<br />
-<b>makes riding</b> when there is the most<br />
-leisure <b>a pleasure</b>.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad-searchlight">
-<b>Don't be insulted</b> by having a cheap Lantern offered you which may<br />
-possess possibly one characteristic, <b>but insist</b> <i>on having</i> the <b>Search<br />
-Light</b>, which will be delivered free, if your dealer won't supply you,<br />
-for the price, <b>$5.00</b>. Circulars free. Address<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxlarge">BRIDGEPORT BRASS CO.,</span><br />
-Bridgeport, Conn., or 19 Murray Street, New York.<br />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="break-before">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_052.png" alt="" width="600" height="959" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<b>The Stomach was made for a purpose&mdash;a food<br />
-wholly digested was not what the Almighty<br />
-intended&mdash;</b><br />
-<span class="xxlarge"><b>No Child Can Live</b></span><br />
-<b>upon these thin, slippery Foods, but must have<br />
-something to satisfy the stomach in order to<br />
-give development and growth.</b>
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad">
-
-<p><b>Ridge's Food</b> has all the requirements; but <b>it does need boiling</b>,
-and care <b>after</b> boiling, and a Mother that is not ready to take this care is a
-very queer Mother. We have never known, in our <b>30 years of experience</b>,
-of a single case of indigestion, loss of sleep, skin disease, or scurvy while
-faithfully using <b>Ridge's Food</b>.</p>
-
-<p>The stomach requires action&mdash;it is so constructed that from the very
-first it is made for action. With the youngest infant the quantity of nourishment
-from the natural food (the mother's milk) is much less, because the
-stomach is incapable of taking care of as much as it can later, but at the
-same time action is going on, and nature does its work as the child grows,
-so it can take stronger food; therefore, the special directions which
-have been the result of experience so adapt themselves to the age of the
-child as to fulfill those requirements.</p>
-
-<p>Little babies cannot be successfully fed daily by pouring hot water on
-something that makes food. <b>It must be properly cooked</b>, and properly prepared
-especially for the babies' delicate stomachs, if you wish to save them.</p>
-
-<p>It has been said by some that children could not assimilate starch, yet
-we believe it is a proper carbon to have in food. The only carbon in many
-foods is sugar. Scurvy is not uncommonly a result of the continued use of
-food not sufficiently nutritious. The disfiguring eczema seen on the face
-and scalp is a result from the same cause.</p>
-
-<p><span class="xlarge"><b>Ridge's Food</b></span> is so prepared that only the normal action of the stomach
-is required to produce healthful growth and development,
-and the result has been good digestion, sound, healthy bodies, good teeth,
-strong, straight limbs, and a well-formed brain; the child becomes a
-model of healthful strength and childish beauty when fed on <b>Ridge's
-Food</b>, properly prepared&mdash;and its long continuance does not produce
-Scurvy and skin disease in its many forms. Do not take our word for it,
-but please make the test yourself. <b>It has stood the test for 30 years</b>,
-and abundant testimonials are at hand to prove our assertions. <i>Sample
-free to any physician or mother.</i></p><br />
-<div class="p2">
-<span class="xlarge"><b>Ridge's Food,</b></span><br />
-Used for 30 Years,<br />
-<span class="xlarge"><b>Still Unexcelled.</b></span><br />
-</div>
-<div class="sig-right">
-WOOLRICH &amp; CO., Sole Mfrs.,<br />
-Palmer, Mass.
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="break-before"></div>
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_053.png" alt="" width="600" height="940" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxxlarge">"For Dress&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">Binding it is</span><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">Unequaled."</span><br />
-<br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxlarge">GOFF'S BRAND</span><br />
-<span class="smcap large">IS THE </span><br />
-<span class="xxlarge">BEST MADE</span>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center large blockquote-ad-8">
-This is the opinion of experienced
-Dressmakers who have
-tried so-called substitutes during
-the past thirty years.</p>
-
-<div class="center smaller">
-<span class="smcap">Red Spool</span>, five yards, mailed for 8 cts., stamps, or<br />
-<span class="smcap">Black Spool</span>, 3¼ yards, 5 cts., if you cannot find the<br />
-proper shade at the stores.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<p class="center xxlarge">D. GOFF &amp; SONS, Pawtucket, R.I.</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxlarge">The BRIDGEPORT</span><br />
-<span class="xlarge">"New" Rochester</span><br />
-<b>has these advantages over any other</b><br />
-<span class="xlarge">LAMP</span><br />
-<b>manufactured to-day.</b><br /><br />
-
-<span class="smaller">Better combustion; Larger perforations; No crawling<br />
-of oil; Chimney springs riveted (not soldered);<br />
-Patent filler float (cannot run over in tilling).<br />
-<b>As a test, send</b></span><br /><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge"><b>$1.20</b></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-for this Nickel or Gilt
-<span class="xxlarge text-ad-decor-2"><b> SEWING LAMP</b></span>,<br />
-
-mailed, postpaid (without glassware), or complete, $1.75;<br />
-which will give the points of<br /><br />
-<b>OUR SEVENTY OTHER STYLES.</b><br />
-<br />
-<span class="xxlarge"><b>Bridgeport Brass Co.</b></span>,<br />
-BRIDGEPORT, CONN.<br />
-19 Murray Street,<br />
-New York.<br />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_054.png" alt="" width="600" height="908" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="sig-left8">
-<p class="xlarge">Society everywhere refreshes itself with</p>
-<p class="center xxlarge">"Sparkling Londonderry Lithia."<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Copyright, 1805, by Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Co., Nashua, N. H.</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span></p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad6">
-<div class="xxlarge text-ad-decor-2">Londonderry<br /></div>
-<div class="xxlarge sig-right text-ad-decor-2">Lithia Water.<br />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<p>How many people realize the necessity of drinking large
-quantities of water in order to keep in absolutely good health?
-When it is remembered that nearly two thirds of the substance,
-by weight, of the human body is in the form of water, included in
-the composition of the various tissues, the importance of using
-water in liberal quantities internally becomes at once apparent.
-The most eminent physiologists have computed that, in order to
-supply the losses by excretions and evaporation taking place in
-the human body, it is necessary to drink from a half to one gallon
-of water daily. This, too, in addition to the water contained in
-the beverages, such as tea, coffee, etc., which are in common use.
-It is an uncontested and fundamental truth of hygiene that water
-supplied for drinking purposes must be of the very best quality
-and perfectly pure and free from the slightest trace of organic
-matter. The desire for water of this kind among intelligent
-people is seen in the large number of natural waters now offered
-for sale. It is known, too, that in the treatment of many
-common forms of disease natural mineral waters are one of the
-most important factors.</p>
-<p>Of all of these waters, none are equal to the Londonderry Lithia
-Water. The array of reliable medical testimony in its favor is
-overwhelming and shows that all good livers should use this
-water liberally from time to time. Londonderry stands decidedly
-ahead of all the lithia waters, a fact that has been proven by
-actual investigation and experience.<br /><br /></p>
-
-<div class="xlarge">LONDONDERRY LITHIA SPRING WATER CO.,<br /></div>
-<div class="xlarge sig-right">NASHUA, N. H.<br /></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="break-before">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span></p>
-
-<div class="center xxxlarge text-ad-decor-2">Two Great Books.</div><br />
-
-<div class="xlarge center">2045 Pages!!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-760 Illustrations!!</div>
-<div class="xlarge center">Handsomely Bound!!</div>
-
-<div class="topspace1"></div>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Publisher's Price, $7.50 for both, or $3.75 each.</i></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Our Price, $2.00 for both, or $1.00 each.</i></p>
-
-<p class="center smaller">Delivered to any part of the United States,<br />
-express or postage prepaid.</p>
-
-<hr class="r5" />
-
-<div class="topspace1"></div>
-<div class="blockquote-ad5">
-<p class="large"><b>The Story of Our Post Office.</b></p>
-
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Marshall Cushing</span>, Private Secretary to Postmaster-General Wanamaker.<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p>A complete story of our National Post Office Department, turned inside out; crammed full of
-information and the most romantic, laughable, tragic, and wonderful incidents on record. It
-includes descriptions of mail transportation in this country and across the water; of the manufacture
-of stamps and postal cards; of the methods and treasures of the Dead Letter Office. It
-gives pictures and sketches of the chief postmasters of the country, relates the government's encounters
-with frauds, lotteries, and green goods men, and describes the work of women in this department.
-The author is widely known as one of the raciest and ablest writers in America. The
-position he has occupied with the Postmaster-General of the United States for four years is the
-highest commendation of his work.</p>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<p class="large"><b>The Story of Government.</b></p>
-
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Henry Austin</span>.<br /><br /></p>
-
-<p>This work treats of Evolution and Government, as traced from animals to savage tribes,
-upwards through the successive stages of barbarism and civilization. By means of a wealth of
-anecdote and allusion it introduces the reader into gypsy camps, Fenian and Nihilistic meetings,
-criminal colonies, modern republics, and picturesque courts of bygone centuries. It is a treasury
-of knowledge previously unpublished, taught in no text-book, and unknown in universities;
-written so plainly and picturesquely that a child will understand and a philosopher enjoy. Its
-field is the world, and its audience humanity. Indorsed by Edward Everett Hale, Vicar-General
-William Byrne, Gen. Douglas Frazar, Edward Bellamy, and many others represented in the world
-of letters. One of the foremost women of the day, Mary A. Livermore, says: "<i>The section relating
-to modern women is admirable.</i>"</p>
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r5" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<p class="smaller">Either of the above superb books, handsomely bound, will be delivered to any part of the United
-States, express or postage prepaid, for $1.00.</p>
-
-<p class="small sig-right">
-<i><b>Address Trade Company, 148 High Street, Boston, Mass.</b></i>
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_057.png" alt="" width="600" height="925" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxxxlarge"><b>Illustrated<br />
-Story of<br />
-Under Dress</b></span><br />
-<span class="xlarge">42 large pages of healthful<br />
-art and comfort&mdash;Just<br />
-send your address on a<br />
-postal to</span><br />
-
-<p class="center xlarge">
-Jaros Hygienic Underwear Co.,<br />
-831 Broadway, New York.</p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<div class="center">
-<div class="xxlarge">Now is the<br />
-Time<br />
-
-To select your<br />
-
-<span class="xxxlarge sig-right"><b>Camera</b></span><br />
-
-<span class="small">We have all styles and prices, from</span><br />
-
-<span class="center"><b>$5 to $150.</b></span><br />
-
-Send for Descriptive Manuals of the<br />
-"<b>WATERBURY</b>" and "<b>HENRY CLAY</b>"<br />
-Cameras.<br /><br />
-
-We are the oldest established<br />
-house in this business . . . . . <br /><br />
-
-The Scovill &amp; Adams Co.<br />
-of N.Y.<br />
-423 Broome Street, New York.<br />
-</div>
-<p class="smaller center">Send 35 cents for a copy of <i>The Photographic<br />
-Times</i>, containing about 100 handsome illustrations.</p>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxxlarge">The Barta Press</span><br />
-Printers of The Black Cat.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad-left">
-<span class="xxxlarge">Artistic,</span><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">Original</span>,<span class="xxlarge"> and</span><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">Unique<br />
-Typography.</span><br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<p class="large center">Boston, Mass.</p>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad-left">
-<span class="xxxxlarge"><b>Can't<br />
-Bend<br />
-Pins</b></span><br />
-
-<p>You can stick Puritan Pins<br />
-through everything.</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_058.png" alt="" width="600" height="924" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="smaller"><i>It cures from Head to Foot!</i></span><br /><br />
-<span class="xxxxlarge">Puritana</span><br /><br />
-<span class="xxlarge">Nature's Cure</span><br /><br />
-<span class="smaller">(<i>Prize Formula of Prof. Dixi Crosby, M.D., LL.D., over thirty years
-at the head of Dartmouth Medical College.</i>)</span><br /><br />
-
-Puritana cures disease by naturalizing and vitalizing the Power Producer of the human<br />
-system&mdash;<i>the stomach</i>.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="small">TRADE MARK REGISTERED.</span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="large"><b>Puritana makes weary men and women strong and happy.</b></span><br /><br />
-</div>
-<div>
-<span class="smaller">It cures case after case, <i>from head to foot</i>, whether the suffering is due to disordered<br />
-<i>Blood, Liver, Stomach, Kidneys, Lungs, Brain, Nerves</i>, or <i>Skin</i>. Its effects are marvelous.</span><br />
-<br />
-
-<span class="smaller">If you are a sufferer get this great disease-conquering discovery (the price is $1 for the complete treatment, consisting of<br />
-one bottle of Puritana Compound, one bottle of Puritana Pills, and one bottle of Puritana Tablets). If your druggist hasn't<br />
-it and won't get it for you, write to the undersigned, and you will bless the day when you heard of Puritana. The Puritana<br />
-Compound Co., Concord, N. H.</span><br />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_059.png" alt="" width="600" height="967" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad7">
-<span class="xxxxlarge">Fit</span>
-<span class="xlarge"> and</span><br />
-<span class="xxxxlarge">Misfit</span><br />
-<br />
-</div>
-The Corset that fits costs<br />
-no more than the Corset<br />
-that doesn't.<br /><br />
-<span class="text-ad-decor-2">Dr. Warner's Coraline Corsets</span>
-<br />
-<span class="sig-left10">are fitted to<br /></span>
-<span class="sig-left10">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;living models.</span><br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="smcap">Hyacinths.
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-Tulips.</span></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xlarge smcap"><b>Elegant flowering<br />
-BULBS.</b></span><br />
-<span class="center smaller"><i>Sent by Mail, postpaid, at the following</i><br />
-<i>special prices.</i></span><br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<table summary="plants">
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl"><b>3</b> named</td>
-<td class="tdl"><b>HYACINTHS</b>, different colors, fine, for&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
-<td class="tdr"><b>10c.</b></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl"><b>5</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdl"><b>TULIPS</b>, lovely sorts, all different,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdr"><b>10c.</b></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl"><b>4</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdl"><b>NARCISSUS</b>,
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdr"><b>10c.</b></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl"><b>3</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdl"><b>JAPAN LILIES</b>,
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdr"><b>10c.</b></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl"><b>10</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdl"><b>CROCUS</b>, 5 sorts, named,
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-
-&nbsp;&nbsp;"
-</td>
-<td class="tdr"><b>10c.</b></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl"><b>10</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdl"><b>FREESIAS</b>, fine mixed sorts,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-
-&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-
-&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdr"><b>10c.</b></td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="tdl"><b>1</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdl"><b>BLACK CALLA</b>, new, from Palestine
-&nbsp;&nbsp;-
-&nbsp;"</td>
-<td class="tdr"><b>10c.</b></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class="center small">or the whole <b>36 Bulbs</b>, postpaid, for <b>50 cents</b>.
-<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xlarge"><b>Our Catalogue,</b></span><br /><br />
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad">
-<b>ELEGANTLY ILLUSTRATED</b>, of all kinds of Plants
-and Bulbs, for Fall Planting and Winter Blooming,
-also new Fruits, Shrubs, etc., is now ready, and
-will be mailed <b>FREE</b> to all who apply. Choicest
-Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissus, and other Bulbs,
-at greatly reduced prices. Write for it at once.
-Address<br /><br />
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="center smaller">
-JOHN LEWIS CHILDS, FLORAL PARK, N. Y.
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad2">
-<span class="sig-right small"><i>Every Description of Printing Plates made
-by us, by every process.</i></span><br />
-<span class="smcap xxxlarge">c. j. Peters &amp; son</span>, ...<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center">Finest Half-Tones<br />
-a Specialty.<br /><br />
-</div>
-<div class="blockquote-ad2">
-<span class="xxlarge">Photo Engravers<br />
-Electrotypers<br />
-Wax Engravers<br />
-Typographers
-</span>
-<br /><br />
-</div>
-<div class="blockquote-ad2">
-<span class="sig-left11">BOSTON, MASS.</span><br /><br />
-
-<span><i>Special Designs and Drawings made to order.<br />
-References in all parts of the United States.</i>
-</span>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_060.png" alt="" width="600" height="913" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxlarge">ANNOUNCEMENT.</span>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r5" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<span class="xxxxlarge">The Black Cat</span><br />
-
-<span class="small">... FOR ...</span><br />
-
-<span class="xxlarge">NOVEMBER, 1895,</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="smaller">Will contain the following Original and Complete Stories:</span><br />
-<br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="sig-left10">
-<span class="large"><b>A Calaveras Hold-Up.</b></span> By Roberta Littlehale.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-A vivid account of an actual California stage robbery, linked with a touching love-story,
-told in the writer's graphic and individual style.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<span class="large"><b>From a Trolley Post.</b></span> By Margaret Dodge.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-A comedy-drama of the city streets, in which a pocket edition of a Texas cowboy and a
-hand-organ monkey are the chief actors.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<span class="large"><b>An Andenken.</b></span> By Julia Magruder.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-An absorbing and unusual story of artist life, love, and adventure, whose scene is laid in
-the Tyrolean Alps.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<span class="large"><b>The Man from Maine.</b></span> By J. D. Ellsworth.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-Some picturesque facts showing that prohibition doesn't always prohibit.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<span class="large"><b>A Wedding Tombstone.</b></span> By Clarice Irene Clinghan.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-A curiously fascinating tale of New England village life, showing the same unconventional
-charm as the author's prize story, "Six Months in Hades," for which she received $1.000.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<span class="large"><b>The Other One.</b></span> By A. H. Gibson.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-A gruesome but impressively interesting story of robbery, murder, and terrible retribution,
-whose startling ending cannot possibly be foreseen.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<span class="large"><b>Stateroom Six.</b></span> By William Albert Lewis.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-A dramatic incident of Mississippi steamboat travel twenty years ago, told just as it
-happened.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<span class="large"><b>Her Eyes, Your Honor!</b></span> By M. D. Umbstaetter.
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-A famous criminal court trial, a mysterious woman whose life hinges on circumstantial
-evidence, and a legal trap resulting in an unparalleled climax are the features of this stirring
-tale.
-<hr class="r25" />
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<span class="smcap">The Black Cat</span> is issued monthly at five cents a copy. If your newsdealer
-hasn't it, and won't get it for you, send fifty cents to the undersigned, and it
-will be mailed to you, postpaid, for one year.
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-</div>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<span class="xxlarge center">The Shortstory Publishing Company,</span><br />
-144 High Street, Boston, Mass.<br />
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/i_063.png" alt="" width="600" height="942" />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad1">
-<div class="xxxxlarge">T<sup>he</sup> Hook<br />
-That's<br />
-Flat<br />
-</div>
-
-<p>The Hook that shows isn't<br />
-so good as the Hook that<br />
-doesn't. There's no show to<br />
-the Singer Hook and Eye.<br />
-Sold everywhere.</p>
-
-<div>
-<span class="xlarge">Singer Safety Hook &amp; Eye Co.,</span><br />
-<span class="smcap">Grand Rapids, Mich.</span><br />
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxxxlarge">The Ink</span><br />
-used in<br />
-printing<br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">The Black Cat</span><br />
-is manufactured<br />
-by<br />
-<span class="large">Geo. H. Morrill &amp; Co.,</span><br />
-Boston, Mass.<br />
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center">
-<span class="xxxxlarge">Williams' Shaving Soap</span><br /><br />
-<span class="text-ad-decor"><b>"It's just like cream."</b></span><br /><br />
-
-<i>Williams' Shaving Soaps have been<br />
-famous for fifty years.</i>
-
-<span class="p2">Sold by dealers everywhere.</span><br /><br />
-
-<span class="xxxlarge">THE J. B. WILLIAMS CO.,</span><br />
-GLASTONBURY, CONN.<br /><br />
-<span class="sig-left15">London, 64 Great Russel St., W. C.</span><br />
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="xxxxlarge center">The Atlantic Monthly.</div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<div class="xxxlarge center"><b>Important Announcements for the Fall of 1895.</b></div>
-
-<hr class="r25" />
-
-<p>The publishers take pleasure in announcing an unusual amount of good
-fiction. Early issues of the Atlantic will contain <b>The Apparition of
-Gran'ther Hill</b>, by <i>Rowland E. Robinson</i>; <b>Pilgrim Station</b>, by <i>Mary
-Hallock Foote</i>; <b>Athenaise, a Creole Story</b>, by <i>Kate Chopin</i>; <b>The End of
-the Terror</b>, by <i>Robert Wilson</i>, a Southern writer. Aside from these, there
-will be stories by Mrs. <i>Wiggin, Henry James, L. Dougall, Ellen Mackubin</i>,
-and others.</p>
-
-<p>Conspicuous in the Fall issues will be papers of Travel. <i>Lafcadio Hearn</i>
-will contribute sketches and interpretations of the new Japan. There will
-be further papers in Mr. Peabody's <b>An Architect's Vacation</b> series, the
-forthcoming one being entitled <b>The Venetian Day</b>. A delightful paper of
-Spanish travel by Mrs. <i>Miriam Coles Harris</i> can be promised, and <i>Alice
-Brown</i> will write of a visit to the original Cranford. <i>Bradford Torrey</i> will
-publish further sketches of life and nature in his Tennessee haunts. Other
-articles of special interest, which can perhaps be classed under this head,
-will be <b>Reminiscences of Eastern Travel</b> by Miss <i>Harriet Waters Preston</i>;
-and <i>Josiah Flynt</i>, who has become an authority on the vagrant, will contribute
-one of his entertaining studies of tramp life, <b>The Children of the Road</b>.</p>
-
-<p>The subject of <b>Education</b> will, as usual, receive attention. The Atlantic
-was the first of the leading magazines to make the discussion of important
-educational questions one of the features of its pages. In early issues will
-be printed articles by President <i>Tucker</i>, of Dartmouth, and Professor
-<i>J. H. Wright</i>, of Harvard.</p>
-
-<p>The usual departments and the exhaustive book-reviews will continue to
-be features of each issue.</p>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<p class="center">35 cents a copy. $4.00 a year.</p>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<p class="center">Houghton, Mifflin &amp; Company,<br />
-4 Park St., Boston.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;11 East 17th St., New York.<br />
-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="ad-box">
-<div class="center large">HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN &amp; CO.'S
-</div>
-
-<div class="center xxxlarge">RECENT STORIES.
-</div>
-
-<p><b>The Story of Christine Rochefort.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Helen Choate Prince</span>. <i>Third Edition.</i> $1.25.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"Mrs. Prince, granddaughter of Rufus Choate, has written a novel particularly
-strong in its well-knit style.... The personal touches, scenes, and conversations
-are delightful."&mdash;<i>Chicago Times-Herald.</i></p>
-
-<p>"The story throughout exhibits a sweetness and elevation of tone which is in
-charming contrast to the generality of novels."&mdash;<i>Literary World.</i></p>
-<p>"I like everything about it."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Horace Howard Furness</span>, LL. D.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>Daughters of the Revolution.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Charles Carleton Coffin</span>, author of "The Drum-Beat of the
-Nation," etc. With illustrations. <i>Second Edition.</i> Crown, 8vo, $1.50.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"Mr. Coffin's story is one of thrilling interest, and is at the same time an historically
-accurate presentation of the scenes, events, and the spirit of the people of the
-colonies at the fateful outbreak of the Revolution."&mdash;<i>Boston Advertiser.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>A Soulless Singer.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Mary Catherine Lee</span>, author of "A Quaker Girl of Nantucket,"
-and "In the Cheering-Up Business." 16mo, $1.25.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"The story's motive is the power of human passion to give to a voice which is
-otherwise noble and well trained the quality of feeling, of soul, which is essential to
-the really great singer.... The story is well written."&mdash;<i>Springfield Republican.</i></p>
-<p>"A daintier, prettier love-story than this it would be hard to find."&mdash;<i>Chicago Interior.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>Under the Man-fig.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">M. E. M. Davis</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"A story of the old South by a writer who knows well how to use the rich material
-afforded by that picturesque time and people."&mdash;<i>Nashville Banner.</i></p>
-<p>"An exciting story and a strong study of character."&mdash;<i>Portland Transcript.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>Stories of the Foot-hills.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Margaret C. Graham</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"The glimpses of manners and social usages of the Western foot-hills are, in our
-opinion, more irresistible than the weather-worn peculiarities of New England that
-have been dragged through so much of the storm and sun of modern fiction."&mdash;<i>New
-York Times.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>Philip and His Wife.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Deland</span>, author of "John Ward, Preacher," "The Old Garden,"
-etc. _Eighth Thousand._ 16mo, $1.25.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"An interesting and absorbing romance, one of those rare creations in our slip-shod
-era of a story as well written as it is interesting."&mdash;_London Telegraph._</p>
-<p>"A book of genuine originality and power."&mdash;_New York Tribune._</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>The Story of Lawrence Garthe.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Mrs. Kirk</span>, author of "The Story of Margaret Kent," etc. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"I have had a delightful feast, charming and absorbing from beginning to end....
-It is all fascinating, and the plot is managed so admirably throughout."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Horace
-Howard Furness</span>, LL. D.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>Sweet Clover.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Clara Louise Burnham</span>, author of "Dr. Latimer," "Miss Bagg's
-Secretary," etc. _Ninth Thousand._ 16mo, $1.25.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"Mrs. Burnham has laid the scene of her pleasant, pure-toned romance among the
-glories of the White City. It is delightful to have them reanimated in such a vivid
-manner."&mdash;_Literary World._</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><b>Cœur d'Alene.</b></p>
-<p>By <span class="smcap">Mary Hallock Foote</span>, author of "John Bodewin's Testimony,"
-"The Led Horse Claim," "In Exile," etc. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
-<div class="blockquote-ad3">
-<p>"The movement of the story is rapid, the interest most intense, and the event
-almost tragic; but the narrative is interspersed with many a scene sparkling with
-humor and brilliant dialogue."&mdash;_Books, Denver._</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>_Sold by all booksellers. Sent postpaid, by_</p>
-
-<p class="large center">
-HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN &amp; CO., Boston.<br />
-11 East 17th Street, New York.<br />
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="center">
- <img src="images/i_064.png" width="600" height="946" alt=""/>
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center blockquote-ad">
-<span class="xxxlarge">Mason &amp; Hamlin<br />
-Co.</span><br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center blockquote-ad">
-<span class="large"><i>The Mason and Hamlin Pianos are the only
-pianos manufactured, containing the patented Screw Stringer, by virtue of
-which they do <span class="text-ad-decor"> not require one quarter as
-much tuning as any other piano made: thus reducing expense of keeping
-and inconvenience to a minimum.</span></i>
-</span>
-
-<br /><br />
-
-<i>Full particulars and
-catalogues mailed free on
-application.</i>
-<br /><br />
-
-<span class="xxxlarge">Mason &amp; Hamlin Co.</span><br />
-<span class="large">BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.</span><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="center blockquote-ad">
-<span class="xxxxlarge">Lablache Face Powder</span><br />
-<span class="xxlarge">The Queen of Toilet Powders.</span><br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad">
-<span class="large">The purest and most perfect Face Powder that science and skill can
-produce. Makes the skin soft and beautiful and removes Sun-burn, Tan,
-Freckles, and all shiny appearance. Invisible on closest inspection.
-Absolutely harmless. We invite chemical analysis and the closest
-search for injurious ingredients. It is used and indorsed by the most
-prominent society and professional ladies in Europe and America. Insist
-upon having <b>Lablache Powder</b>, or risk the consequences produced
-by cheap powders. <b>Flesh, White, Pink, and Cream Tints.</b></span><br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="center">
-Price, 50c. per box.<br />
-Of all druggists, or by mail.<br /><br />
-
-<span class="xxlarge">BEN. LEVY &amp; CO., French Perfumers,</span><br />
-34 WEST STREET, BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A.<br /><br />
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-<hr class="r25" />
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="chapter"></div>
-<div class="xxxxlarge center">BALZAC.</div>
-
-<div class="center">Translated by <span class="smcap">Katharine Prescott Wormeley</span>.</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="left small">
-<div class="blockquote-ad1">
-
-<b>Duchesse De Langeais.</b><br />
-<b>Pere Goriot.</b><br />
-<b>The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau.</b><br />
-<b>Cousin Bette.</b><br />
-<b>Eugenie Grandet.</b><br />
-<b>The Magic Skin.</b><br />
-<b>Bureaucracy.</b><br />
-<b>Fame and Sorrow.</b><br />
-<b>The Country Doctor.</b><br />
-<b>Louis Lambert.</b><br />
-<b>Cousin Pons.</b><br />
-<b>The Two Brothers.</b><br />
-<b>The Alkahest.</b><br />
-<b>Modeste Mignon.</b><br />
-<b>Seraphita.</b><br />
-<b>Ursula.</b><br />
-<b>A Start in Life.</b><br /><br />
-<b>The Marriage Contract.</b><br />
-<b>Beatrix.</b><br />
-<b>The Daughter of Eve.</b><br />
-<b>Sons of the Soil.</b><br />
-<b>The Lily of the Valley.</b><br />
-<b>An Historical Mystery.</b><br />
-<b>Albert Savarus.</b><br />
-<b>Pierrette.</b><br />
-<b>The Chouans.</b><br />
-<b>Lost Illusions.</b><br />
-<b>A Great Man of the Provinces in Paris.</b><br />
-<b>The Brotherhood of Consolation.</b><br />
-<b>The Village Rector.</b><br />
-<b>Memoirs of Two Young Married Women.</b><br />
-<b>Catherine d'Medici.</b><br />
-<b>Lucien de Rubempre.</b><br />
-<b>Ferragus.</b>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center">
-Handsome 12mo volumes.<span class="linespace5">Uniform in size and style.<span class="linespace5">Half Russia, $1.50 each.</span></span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="center xxlarge">HONORE DE BALZAC. A Memoir.</p>
-
-<p class="center">Compiled and written by <span class="smcap">Katharine Prescott Wormeley</span>, translator of Balzac's<br />
-Works. With Portrait taken one hour after death by Eugene Giraud. 12mo, half Russia,<br />
-price $1.50.</p>
-
-<p class="center">_Mailed, postage paid, on receipt of price by the Publishers._</p>
-
-<p class="center large">ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston, Mass.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="center">
- <img src="images/i_065.png" width="600" height="966" alt=""/>
-</div>
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad1">
-<span class="xlarge">"My Boy&mdash;</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="xxxxlarge">L</span><span class="xxxlarge"><sup>E</sup></span><span class="xxxxlarge"> PAGE'S</span><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">LIQUID</span><span class="xxxxlarge"> GLUE</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="xlarge">Will not mend broken<br />
-bones but I don't know<br />
-anything else it won't<br />
-mend&mdash;and mend it so<br />
-that 'twill stay mended<br />
-too."</span>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="r5" />
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad1">
-Ten-cent bottles for household use.<br />
-<span class="smcap">Cans</span> with patent cover for Mechanics.
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span></p>
-</div>
-<div class="center">
- <img src="images/i_back.png" width="600" height="904" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad1">
-<span class="xxxlarge">USE IT<br />
-EVERYDAY</span><br />
-<span class="xxlarge">IN THE</span><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">WEEK</span><br />
-<span class="xxlarge">&amp;</span><br /><br />
-</div>
-<div class="blockquote-ad1">
-<div class="xxlarge">
-<span style="color: red;">S</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="small">MONDAY</span><br />
-<span style="color: red;">A</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="small">TUESDAY</span><br />
-<span style="color: red;">P</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="small">WEDNESDAY</span><br />
-<span style="color: red;">O</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="small">THURSDAY</span><br />
-<span style="color: red;">L</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="small">FRIDAY</span><br />
-<span style="color: red;">I</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="small">SATURDAY</span><br />
-<span style="color: red;">O</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="small">SUNDAY</span><br /><br />
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquote-ad1 xxxlarge">
-
-<span class="xxlarge">THEN</span><br />
-<span class="xxxlarge">REST</span><br />
-<span class="xxlarge">ON</span><br />
-<span class="smcap xxxlarge">SUNDAY</span>.
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<div class="transnote">
-<p><span class="smcap">Transcriber's Notes.</span></p>
-<p> 1. Table of Contents created by the transcriber.</p>
-<p> 2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard spellings and typographical
-errors as printed.</p>
-<p> 3. Lines 259 and 1161. Double quotes added.</p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="topspace2"></div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK CAT (VOL. I, NO. 1, OCTOBER 1895) ***</div>
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