The Stayton mail., July 13, 1906, Image 6

Prisoners and Captives
By H. S. MERRIMAN
C IIA P T E R X IV .— (C on tin u all
“ If,’ hs said presently, “ you wen* my
• ¡•ter, or if 1 wers fortunate enough to
po««*«* a right to comment upon your
action«, I ahould be etrongly tempted to
throw cold water upon your charity.”
“ O f courae you would," ahe replied.
“ Nine men out of ten would do the
same."
“ I hope eo."
“ I am sure of H, Mr. Tyars, and.
moreover, I do not defend rayeelf. It ia
very difficult to find a channel for char­
itable motive» to run in. At any rate, I
do no harm to these old men."
“ I have no doubt you do them a great
deal of good." he said, rather bluntly:
“ but you are hardly the person to do It.
This ia not the place for a lady to wan­
der about in alone. Wait twenty year«."
She laughed, and stepped aside to hold
out her arms in expostulation.
“ I'm not a girl," «he said: “ and look
at me. A thick veil and a clumsy old
ulster without a waist to it. I think, in­
deed. it is foolish of me to ask you to
look."
He did look, gravely, from the top of
her simple hat to the toe« of her small
boots peeping out beneath the ulster.
“ It is no use,” he said, “ you cannot dis­
guise yourself. No woman.” he added,
“ with your— advantages can.”
He was quite right. Plainness is easi *r
to conceal than beauty. There is nothing
more difficult to hide than a pretty face
and a graceful figure. They walked on
again.
“ If,” she said, “ we waited for men to
tfll us what we can do and what we
cannot, a great deal of good would remain
undone.”
He would not argue; and his silence
softened her humor, for it betrayed a
determination to interfere no further.
“ It is not,” she said, continuing her
defense with womanlike persistence, “ as
If I dragged other people into it. I do
not, for instance, bring Helen here.”
As she said this she glanced up at him.
“ No,” he answered, calmly, returning
her gaze.
They were now at the dock gates, and
the constable on duty touched the brim
o f his helmet in double recognition.
“ May I call a hansom?” inquired Ty-
ars.
“ Thank you,” she said. “ There is one
coming.”
While waiting for the cab stw spoke
again.
“ I feel,” she said, lightly, “ like a run­
away school girl. W ill you please tell no
tales out of school?"
“ You can trust me. Miss Winter,” he
said, as he helped her into the cab, “ to
hold my tongue. It is one of the few ac­
complishments I possess.”
C H A P T E R XV .
Claud Tyars had taken up his abode
in a residential club in London. This
change had been dictated by motives of
economy. He said that be found cham­
bers in the Albany too expensive for a
man who was seldom in London. No one
to whom he made this statement was
posted as to the extent of his income,
and the excuse passed readily enough.
He was certainly freer in »his new
quarters— free to come and go when the
spirit moved him, and to some extent he
took advantage of his newly established
liberty. His absences were frequent, but
he was seldom away from London for
more than a night or two. He frequently
ran down to Glasgow, and once to Peter­
head, where he spent two nights.
One morning in early December he was
partaking o f a very hearty breakfast at
the Wanderers’ Club, where he had tem­
porarily taken rooms, when Matthew
Mark Easton was shown in. The Ameri­
can was also a member of this club, which
was, singularly enough, composed of mem­
bers of some university or another, duly
qualified by the power and means to sat­
isfy the cravings of a roaming spirit.
Without a word he threw down upon
the breakfast table a letter, of which the
envelope had been torn. Tyars was quite
equal to the American in quickness of
thought. Preserving the same stoic si­
lence, he tossed across the table another
envelope identical in every way, and ad­
dressed by the same hand.
Then he con­
tinued his breakfast. Easton spoke the
two words :
“ Wednesday week.”
,
“ Yes; Wednesday week.”
“ The night,” said Easton, “ that we
fixed for Guy Fawkes.”
“ Yes. We must have the meeting on
Tuesday night. We must go to this.”
Tyars laid his hand on the lettei. The
American’ s quick little eyes were danc­
ing over his whole person, even to the
tips of the quiescent brown fingers.
"Must we?” he inquired.
Tyars looked up sharply.
“ I do not believe,” he said, "that you
appreciate the importance of Oswin
Grace.”
“ Good
sailor man!” answered
the
American, “ but too many women folk.
They will give us trouble.”
"Grace is worth it. He is something
more than a good sailor. I cannot de­
fine it, but he has something which make*
him Just the man I want.
Easton was silent. lie had a great re
spect for his big, calm Englishman ; the
sort of respect that one has for anything
larger than one’s self in the way of an
animal.
“ Well, then,” he said, “ we will go. I
shall call the meeting on Tuesday week
at my rooms as before. It is the last full
meeting we shall ever have.”
With that he roee and held out his
hand. When ha waa gone, Claud Tyars
turned to his breakfast again. Ha spent
the morning at the docks, and la the af­
ternoon returned to hia rooms tired and
rather dirty. Iu I few minutes ail eigne
of fatigue and work were removed, and
he set off on foot to call at Brook street,
one of the beet dreaaed men in Piccadilly.
There waa a aailor-iike frankneaa in
the way in which Halter, the admiral's
butler, opened the door when the visitor
waa fortunate enough to Hud any one at
home. The formal threshold question
was dispensed with by the genial welcome
or the heartfelt sorrow expressed by the
■uan’s brown and furrowed face.
He welcomed Tyars with a «pedal grin
and an ill-concealed desire to grab at a
forelock now brushed scrupulously back.
Halter had always endeavored through life
to adapt himself ungrudgingly to circum­
stances, and he succeeded fairly well in
remembering on most occasions that he
was a butler, but his love for all marin­
ers was a thing he never fully managed
to conceal.
I .and-lubbers ho tolerated
now, and he liked a soldier, but iris hon­
est, dog-like heart went out to all who.
like himself, loved a breeze of wind and
the sweet, keen smell of spray. There
was a bond in mutual love, whether it be
of dog or horse, of sport or work, of land
or sea, and Tyars always felt an Inclina­
tion to shake honest John Salter by the
hand when he saw him.
To these feelings of sympathy must be
attributed the fact that Tyars forgot to
inquire whether the admiral
were at
home. That some one was to be found
upstairs in the drawing room was obvi­
ous enough from Salter's beaming coun­
tenance ; but the maritime butler omitted
to give particular*.
Thus it happened that the surprise was
mutual when Tyars and Helen Gracs
found themselves face to face alone in
the drawing room.
She had been seated at a small table
near the window and she rose to receive
him. without, however, moving toward the
door.
He came forward without appearing to
notice a slight movement of embarrass­
ment on her part, and shook hands. Most
men would bare launched into unneces­
sary explanations respecting his presence,
his motive for coming, and bis firm re­
solve to leave again at once. But Claud
Tyars occasionally took it upon himself
to ignore the usages of his fellows.
“ I have much pleasure,” he said, with
grave jocularity, •‘in accepting your kind
invitation to dine on Wednesday week;
and I am yours truly, Claud Tyars.”
Helen laughingly expressed her pleas­
ure that he was able to come, and return­
ed to her chair beside the little table.
She was quite her gentle, contained self
again. The signs of embarrassment, if
such they were, had quite disappeared,
and she asked him to find a chair for
himself with just that modicum of famil­
iarity which one allows one's self toward
the intimate friend of a brother or sister.
This he did, frankly bringing a seat near­
er to the small table.
" I f , ” he continued, “ it will be any sat­
isfaction to your hospitable mind, I will
disclose the fact that my friend Easton
is also able to avail himself of your
kindness.”
" I am glad,” she said, glancing across
at him with those gravely questioning
eyes of hers, which somehow conjured up
thoughts of olden times, of quieter days
when there was time to think and live
and love. “ Mr. Tyars,’’ she continued,
“ I have an apology to make to you.”
He looked at her without speaking for
some moments.
In another man o«w
would almost have suspected a desire to
prolong the contemplation of a very
lovely, seamed face.
“ For what?” he said at length.
"F o r disliking you— I mean for begin­
ning to dislike you.
I don’t— I — that
was at first.”
“ I wonder,” be said, with quick mer­
cy, “ if you know why you began by
disliking me.”
" I think I do.”
He smiled and turned away his eyes
rather suddenly. There was a paper
knife lying on the table, and he took it
up, subsequently balancing it on his fin-
ber, while she watched him with vague
and mechanical interest.
“ Tell me,” he said.
“ Jealousy.”
“ Ah !”
He glanced almost birtively toward
her and caught a passing smile. It was
now his turn to look ill at ease. Hbe
maintained silence in a determined way
which somehow threw the onus o f the
pause on his shoulders. A t last he threw
the paper knife down on the table with a
clatter.
“ You are right,” he said, almost blunt­
ly. " I have acted like— a— coward.”
“ And you are not a coward?”
He raised hia eyebrows. The glance
of her eyea as they rested on his great,
stalwart frame canceled the interroga­
tion.
" I have never thought so until now.”
She shook her head with rather a
wistful smile.
"Then I have reason,” she said, "to
be jealous. You are drawing Oswin away
from me?”
Before replying he rose, and during
the reat of their converaation he never
took a seat again, but continued moving
about the room with a certain atrange
reatleaanesa which ia very uncommon in
big men.
“ What if your mission?" she asked.
Again he «topped. He atood before her
with bla strong arma hanging motionless,
his great brown hands half closed and
quite still, as they always were unless
actually at work. He certainly waa a
picture of strength, a perfect specimen
of the human animal, aa he had called
himself.
“ Anctle exploration,” be answered. “ I
m?an to reach the north pole eorne day.”*
It happened that Helen knew a good
deal about Arctic matters. The admiral
bad been bitten by the atrange craie In
his younger days. Like many others, ha
had for a time given way to the spirit of
exploration which Is hiddeu somewhere In
every Englishman's heart. Every book
of Arctic travel yet printed was to be
found in hia smoke scented den, and
Helen had read moat of them.
Hhe knew, therefore, what the end
would be. To hear a man «ay rtat be
intende to reach the north |*>l* le one
thing; to know what he is talking about
and believe in hia intention ia quite an­
other. To Helen Grace the fuller knowl­
edge was given, and she sat looking at
('laud Tyars with a dull anguish iu her
eye«.
Th e greitt Rock o f Olb. altar, on Ku-
ropa point, looks llon-llke In It« so li­
tary majesty. Th e town pro|s*r clim b«
the mountain'« lower slot*. A ll about
t are turhnned Moora, who walk along
proudly, with the slow, hut swinging,
kingly tread o f desert tribe«. There
la the aouud at hngpl|>.M. and the font
ou» Black Watch march by. They are
"And you want Oswin?” ahe whis­ tall, Isuidaonie Highlanders, and !m
pered.
prcsslve Because o f the plaid.
The
He did not answer, hut turned away as tmsit form idable parts o f the defenses
from something that he could not face, of G ibraltar are Invisible
There are
and stood by the wiudow, looking down
into the street.
He atood beside the window, not mov­
ing a muscle. All this had been thought
out. This interview had bean foreseen.
Oswin had asked that he might break
the news to his sister and fattier, but
Tyars had claimed the right himself. Ilia
waa the onus, and hia must lie the blame.
There was no desire to shirk responsi­
bility ; indeed, he seemed to court it.
Helen Grace must he dei-eived It waa a
contemptible thing to do—and he would
have uone other hut himself. He stub­
bornly took it all upou his own shoul­
ders.
“ 1 suppose," said Helen at last, “ that
he wants to go.”
“ O f course." was the answer. “ What
sailor would not? But I persuaded him
— the fault is all mine.”
She looked up sharply.
“ And Mr. Easton 1" she Inquired, with
keen logic.
“ Yes, yes; but I chose your brother.
The matter rests with
me, and—the
nook or uiHHsi.raa.
blame.”
"W hat has Mr. Easton to do with it?” many places where strangers mny not
she asked ; and be knew that she was al­ go. marked by patches o f light green at
ready prejudiced agninst the American.
regular Intervals u|*ou the outside of
“ He is gettiug up the expedition—the
ti»e
rock, which, though
apparently
first one.”
moss, are actually tlsi covering o f hat
"And he goes with you?”
“ No.” replied Tyars; " I have already terlea that command the harbor.
G ibraltar marks a definite point In
told you— he is physically incapacitat­
the progress o f the tourist. It is the
ed.”
Hhe gave a little laugh a very un­ big mountain dog o f the British, which
pleasant laugh for a man to hear frqm guards the entrance to the M editerran­
the lips of a woman. Fortunately Mat­ ean Hea. with a fortress and a tower
thew Mark Easton was spared the cru­ that hugs the rock below. Traversing
elty of hearing it.
the neutral ground along the sandy
“ I like you.” she said, “ for
telling Isthmus beyond It, the traveler has a
me. There were so many other ways of
view o f the outskirts o f Algeclra*,
doing it—-so many easier ways for you—
where the Franco-German conference
but you chose to tell me yourself."
T o this he said uothing. I «'spite his over reforms in Morocco waa receutly
capable air, despite an unusual rapidity held. It 1» here that the traveler has
of thought which took the form of action his first glimpse o f the fa r famed Med­
in emergencies, he was not able to reel iterranean sunsets, with A lgiers the
off glib phrases at the proper moment.
next stopping point o f the steamer, 410
Huddenly her proud self-restraint seem­
miles away.
ed to give way.
A panoramic view o f France's North
“ I suppose,” »lie said, softly, almost
pleadini^y, "that nothing will deter you?” A frican possessions as they look from
"One word from you would deter me.” h alf a mile or le»* at *eu I* something
he said, “ hut I do not think that you to remember. A lgiers Itself Is beauti­
will say its”
ful, rising to the old fortress on tin-
“ No,” she answered, with a smile; ” 1 height above It In an nnhrokeu mass
am not going to ask you to let my broth­ o f minarets and cui>oUs and
white
er off.”
house«, on whose terrai'ed roof* the
“ I did not know how he was circum­ flowers bloom. W estward the hills de­
stanced when I first met him,” said T y ­ cline to a promontory, Midi Fernich.
ars; " I did not know of your exlstem-e.”
nineteen m ile« away, and eastward to
“ O f course,” she said, with a little
Cape Mat I foil, so that the land where
shrug of the shoulders, “ I am not going
to be silly and stand in my brother's Algiers Is built Is crescent-shaped. Far
way. Only it would have been so much away to the South the Atlas mountain*
Nearer this side o f the fertile
better could you have found some one— rise.
like yourself— without brother or sister, plain o f the Metjeda are the pictur­
or any one to care much for him. It is esque and fertile highlands o f the
not only for myself----- ”
Sahel, Just behind the city, where are
Hhe stopped suddenly. There was a
palm trees and eucalyptus, cypres* and
moment of tense silence. Then he slowly
approached her anti] the little table alone olive, where fruits grow In nhundan<*e.
Th e entrance to the city 1* decidedly
separated them.
"Miss Grace,” be said, slowly, “ what pleasing, for the fine esplanade o f tin-
lower French quarter faces the sea.
do you mean?”
Hhe was not the kind of woman to Immaculate French officers and official*
resort to subterfuge or useless denial, and fill the foreground, and pretty women
she therefore held_her Jongue. A t the
same time she began to feel very help­
less. With Oswin, with her father, and
with all men whom she had hitherto
known, she could hold her own. hut with
Claud Tyars it was different. There was
in his presence a force which did not
take the form of words. He merely stood
still, and his silence was stronger than
any words she had yet beard. Then he
spoke slowly and quite gently ;
"You must tell me,” he said, “ what
A new guttn percha, that o f H err
you mean.”
Gentscb o f Vienna, 1* obtained from n
Hhe glanced np at him appealingly be­ mixture o f caoutchouc and palm resin.
neath her lashes, at bay and yet almost It Is claimed to have an elastic resist­
mastered. He softened a little.
ance superior to the natural product,
"Unless,” he added, “ it would be a
and to cost only two-thirds a* much.
breach of confidence.”
“ II yd roll the" Is n new comisnind of
“ No." she answered, “ it is not that—
for no one has confided in me— hut I calcium and hydrogen. It gives off Its
hydrogen when Immersed In water, ns
think----- ”
“ You are not sure?” be interrupted, calcium carbide evolves ncptylene, and
eagerly.
M. George Jaubert, a French engineer,
“ Yes, Mr. Tyars, I am sure.”
urges that the new mnterlnl be adopted
He turned away again and went to­ as a convenient mean* for carrying gas
ward the window. Hhe mechanically took
to Inflate m ilitary balloons.
up her work, and for some time both
Inventive effort should l>e turned Into
were fully occupied with their own
a new path by the $20,000 prize o f
thoughts.
The short winter day was drawing in French manufacturers for a new appli­
before Claud Tyars left Brook street. As cation o f sugar In the Industries, other
he shook hands with Helen, he said:
than the fow l Industry. Th e award Is
“ I had the pleasure of meeting Miss to he made after the French consump­
Winter the other evening.”
tion o f sugnr is Increased at least one
"Yes,” said Helen, "she told me.”
hundred thousand tons a year.
That was all, but they understood each
A peculiarity o f the eyeball o f the
other. A stress upon a single word, a
glance, a little hesitation, will say so mole Is that It can he projected fo r ­
much that cannot be set down In print. ward several times Its own diameter
Th«^ unfinished conversation was termi­ beyond the orbit and retracted In like
nated.
Claud Tyars knew that there manner.
Dr. Lindsay Johnson notes
was aome one else to watch and wait for
that this Is necessary for vision, as the
Oawin Grace if he went to the Arctic
snlm al’s dense fu r so covers the eyes
seaa.
thnt the making o f an opening Is the
He had only been In the room an hour
— a dismal November afternoon -and yet only w ay to see.
Dr. Jensen, ch ief o f the Swiss bu­
there was a difference In hia life as he
left the door. It does not taka long to reau o f superintendence over the milk
make a friend.
Industry, saya that It la a common
(T o ba continued.)
error to «uppoM that milk aubmltted
In Parisian toilettes, and handsome car­
riages and automobiles whlss by. Om­
nibuses are lubeled with the name« o f
various hotels, such ns “ The Lion o f
the l»esert.........I’ he Panther," "T h e
Beautiful
Englishwoman.” '
Moorish
ladles o f high degree, faces h alf cover­
ed, shrouded In white, ride on donkey«
led by Coal black Nubians. A slave girl
swings along, (tolling a w ater ja r upou
her head.
The native elty Is higher up the h ill­
side. It has Moorish cafes where men
sit cross legged, smoking long pipes o f
kief, little shope where native tailors
work with gold and silver threads on
colored cloth. The streets are no nar­
row that a camel could uot enter them,
and arms outstretched touch either
side. The residences have no windows,
only peepholes by the door, and hut
for the street noises and the people
passing, the place would seem llfe lr*» -
a prison city o f blank wall*. Home o f
the road* are paved, but others are
uothing more than stairw ay* tlmt lend
up, up,
Interminably.
Occasionally
arches »(»au tho way, with rooms above
them.
The whole city has neen built w ith a
view to shutting out the heat o f the
African «tin. Each successive story o f
a house projects beyond the one lielow
It, the projection Itclng supisirted t>y
Inclined props thnt rest against the
wall. The sky Is thus pretty well shut
out, and progress resembles Journeying
In a covered passage. The swarthy na­
tives wear white turban*, the Jews are
brightly garbed, and h «ve sliver but­
tons on their blue gray Jackets. Th e
Arabs wear burnouse*. Boys leave their
*!*»«** In a row outside o f the School-
house, mid lieelles* slipper* ernameni
the entrauce to the mosqm**.
Altogether. A lgiers 1* an odd city,
full o f Interest, in tailor shops, where
STUCfcT
1.«
A ln E C IM A S .
they embroider clothing, the workman
uses his great toe to hold tho thread,
which Is twisted around It. In another
hole In the w all Is a shoemaker, seated
on a dirty mat, and stitching away In
leisurely fashion on red and yellow
footgear for Moorish women. Almost
next door, In tho tiniest o f tiny shops,
1* a fruit and flower dealer, who claims
to he a descendant o f A ll, son-in-law o f
the prophet, w hile here and there In
coffee houses a chorus o f sad voices
sing "T h e Lament o f Grenada.”
for n considerable time to n tempera­
ture o f 120 degrees Fahrenheit Is better
for nourishment than that tsilled for a
short time. When the heating Is pro­
longed the alteration In the valuable
properties o f the milk begins as low
ns PHI degrees, but w ith quick heating
It does not begin below 110 degrees.
Tuberculosis bacilli are destroy«*! by
heatlug to ion degree* for five minutes,
and such heating does not niter the
properties o f Hie milk. I»r. Jensen ad­
vises tlmt the pasteurization o f milk be
done In the home, and hut shortly be­
fore the milk is used, care being taken
not to go above the tem|>«*rature neces-
snry to kill tlie pathogenic germs.
Th e De Forest Wireless Telegraph
Company, In announcing recent *u< r«*.*s-
ful experiments In sending code words
across the A tlantic from Coney Inland
to a receiving station In the south o f
Ireinud, calls attention to an Interest­
ing peculiarity connected with the va ry­
ing distance« to which wireless signals
are sent. It W !iiii that every «pacific
distance hns, to use the analogy of
sound, a key, pitch, or tone o f Its own,
which can only lie determined by ex[«>r-
Inient Thus, If the o|ierator at Coney
Island should send the same message
simultaneously to Boston ami Ph iladel­
phia, using the Philadelphia "pitch,”
the receiver In Boston would get tlie
message In had shiqie. But If the Bos­
ton "pitch " were used, Philadelphia
and all near-by points might Intercept
the measage. In the transatlantic sig­
naling a great variety o f pitches were
tried In the search for the proper one.
The signals could not l>e returned from
Ireland because no sending station yet
exist« ther*