Lincoln County leader., October 09, 1908, Image 3

"The Ahited Qepulchre
JL The V V Tale of vJ Pelee
By Will Levington Comfort
Copyrliht. 1914, br Will Lertnitoa Comfort
Copyright, 1907, bj J. B. Lippimcott
CHAPTER II. (Continued.)
"Of course she is quite right," Consta
ble went on, "but that doesn't make it
any easier to bear. With all the Impress
iveness which conies of being twenty and
a girl that was the Madame's first voy
age, five years ago she informed me
that a man is a nobody, even if he has
billion, when he isn't of some use in the
world. Exquisite little preacher! Such
things were never thought of, nor spok
en to, mortal man before! I explained
my view, that having all the money need
ful, it was my privilege to play for cul
ture instead of coin, to water my mental
garden as a life pursuit, but she broke
up all my arguments, beat down my
ideals. I regarded my valueless past and
yearned to become an apostle of action
'nstanter.
"I see I am entertaining you, so I'll
finish. I went home, buckled the Madame
to Brooklyn, and disappeared took her
at her word ! I shall do it again some
time. For two solid months I didn't hurt
anybody's feelings, and earned seventy
I dollars and board, stoking. Good clean
stoking Back and forth from Savannah
to Boston in the bowels of an old coast
liner, learning bunkers, Luilurs and fire
beds at first hand; specializing in coals
and callouses. I made a fairly decent
coal passer, and met Denny Macready
down there in the dark Denny, who now
passes tea. Then I scrubbed up again
and steamed the Madame down to Mar
tinique, to tell Miss Stansbury all about
it, and show her my recommend, from the
- third engineer. She was away In Eu
rope. Her father Bays she will never be
as beautiful as her mother. I thought
perhaps we might look In on Martinique
on our way around the islands. The
statue of Josephine is there, you know."
"Your sentences are becoming uncou
pled, Peter. You are shirring the narra
tive," said Breen.
"Well, I've been taking an annual
course in old Pelee since then. Saint
Pierre sits in the shadow of the volcano,
and from a geological standpoint "
"Exactly, but "
"Oh, there is no joyous cracker at the
finish of this story. Lady Commander
that is the creature of splendor, the moth
er is still at war with me, and Miss
'Stansbury still cherishes the view that I
am 'just sailing 'round.' "
Peter Constable was singular In vari
ous ways, possessing a large fortune and
no fixture, save the natural bent of a
student. He had specialized in geology
for a dozen years. Exceedingly tall, big-.
boned, and angular, Constable had a plain,
kindly face and large, quick hands. His
nose was immense, and not to be classi
fied. He carried his head bent slightly
forward, as many tall men do ; and it was
a well-browed head of goodly contour,
There was a puzzling solemnity in his
countenance. One would not have been
surprised to hear that this man was a
gambler, a preacher, or a humorist ; and,
not knowing exactly why, one would ex
pect It to be added that he was a good
man in his class.
CHAPTER II.
Constable had an un-American capac
ity for waiting. He might have gone
ashore in Saint Pierre that night, but
Instead be sat alone on deck, in the wind
less harbor.' Queerly restless, he regard'
cd the illumined terraces of the city. Back
of all his levity and deliberation, it was
not to be concealed from his own mind
that before him lay the goal of the cruise.
She was there, far to the right, among
the lights on the mountain side the lit
tie girl who had told him he was a no
body. Constable smiled, and grew seri
ous from the start of an old thought. It
was not Impossible for her to have met
some emperor who had demanded her
Vart for his throne room.
The harbor was weirdly hot. The
heavy, moist sweetness of a horticultural
garden, to which he had likened the nights
of Saint Pierre, had been supplanted by
dry, devitalized draughts of air. His
throat and nostrils were irritated, and to
bacco became unpalatable. There was no
noon, and the stars were so faint in the
north that the mass of Pelee was scarce
ly shaped against the sky. The higher
lights of the city had a reddish, uncer
tain glow, as if a thin film of fog hung
between them and the eye; but to the
south the night grew clearer. He fol
lowed the circling shore with his eyes to
the Morne d'Orange, which marked the
southern boundary of the city. Beyond
the morne stood the great plantation
bouse where she lived. The night was
pure purple in that direction, and the
torrid stars unsullied.
Breen essayed to read the following
forenoon away, leaving Constable to make
his first descent upon the city alone. The
Madame had already been sighted from
the plantation, house, and certain mem
bers of the establishment were out to
welcome the guest. Indeed, Constable
had scarcely stepped ashore from his
launch at the Sugar Landing when he
beard his name called and saw the flutter
of a .handkerchief above the burdened
heads of the natives in the market place.
It was Miss Stansbury, In a carriage. She
greeted him merrily;
"Uncle Joey went tut to the ship from
the lower landing. I told him I would
capture you If you touched here. We are
very glad you've come, Mr. Constable."
He took her band and gained the seat
beside her In the carriage. "This is
great lack," he said nervously. "I feared
Cohfa.tt. All right reterred
J
you might be away somewhere in Eu
rope or the States. Would you mind me
looking at this little book in your lap?"
"It's a little volume of essays," she
told him, "and I'm not sure that I great
ly admire their spirit, nor the views of
the writer. He makes a statement, for
instance, that women are Incapable of the
finer senses of friendship; that women
cannot adhere through severe tests."
Miss Stansbury was to encounter, a
few days later, stirring cause to remem
ber these words and Constable's reply,
which is neither here nor there, ethical
niceties not being his specialty.
"The man is an arrant fool, and prob
ably couldn't get a woman to live with
him," he said with finality.
The ponies were ascending the rise in
Rue Victor Hugo, at the southern end
of the city. The porteuses, coming down
from the hill-trails, the lithest, hardiest
women of the Occident, bore a pitiable
look of fatigue in their faces. The pres
sure of the heat, and the dispiriting con
dition of the atmosphere, were revealed
in the distended eyelids and colorless,
twisted lips of the burden bearers. As
Miss Stansbury looked out toward the
huibor for ITn"'" Joey's boat, Constable
regarded her profile. The delicacy of
color and contour brought to him an im
perious realization of her fairness. It
appeared that in his absence the rarest
touches of perfection had been set.
"You haven't changed much," she said
laughingly. "You were always willing
to agree that I was right, and all men,
yourself most of all, deeply in the wrong.
Don't you remember how I used to preach
to you about a man's need of doing some
thing emphatic?"
"Indeed I remember. Your lessons
made a deep impression."
"At least, you bore very gracefully with
an oppressive companion,' she declared.
"Just as if you didn't know best how to
dispose of your time and talents !" .
"On the contrary, you were more near
ly right than you knew. I was in need
of just such moral stimulus. The sorry
part. Miss Stansbury, is that I don't
bring you admirably Invested talents even
now."
She glanced at him quickly. "I believe
I understand better some of the difficul
ties you -have had to contend with," she
said. "We all read how you kidnaped
the entire New York newsboys' associa
tion how you fed the grimy little chaps
oceans of charlotte russe and mountains
of plum-duff, giving them a Sunday af
ternoon at sea, and presents to remem
ber. That was fine."
"I forgot to tell Breen about that,"
he remarked, smiling at the recollection.
"Breen is a friend of mine, who was
good enough to come along. He's a rare
fellow, and you'll like him.",
"You make people find out by them
selves so much about you," she observed.
"Think how you let me believe you were
absolutely without interests or ambitions
even last year, while you were making
daily visits to the jaws of Pelee. It was
months afterward that I learned what
those journeys meant and then through
the press. We all read the paper you
delivered before the geological society on
Antillean formations. Think how I felt
while recalling some of my lectures on
your careless attitude toward life. You
might have told me !"
"I failed to discover the secret, Miss
Stansbury," he said quickly. "Old , Pe
lee has a big story for the right man,
but I was unable to drag it forth. I had
nothing to be proud of to tell you.".
The ponies had gained the eminence of
the Morne d'Orange. Ahead was the
broad, white plantation house, where the
Stansburys and Constable's uncle lived.
To the right was the dazzling, sapphire
bay,; where the Madame was moored
among the shipping; behind and below,
the red-tiled roofs of Saint Pierre, and
behind the city, back of all, La Montagne
Pelee, hung like an emperor of the Rom
ans, paled in the Intense light of morn
ing, and wearing a delicate white ruchlng
of cloud about his crown.
"It is different with most people," she
replied. "They have so much to tell of
little things. The silent men who are
dreaming of big things all the time
think of a conversation like this when the
island is glowing like a brazier!"
"What is the meaning of this terrific
sultriness and the white scum in the gut
ters?" he asked suddenly.
"Why, I supposed you understood '
"Understood what, Miss Stansbury?"
"Why, old Pelee has been showering us
with ash from time to time during the
past ten days. It is the taint of suphur
that spoils the air. The city would have
been white now, except for the heavy rain
that washed the ashes away just before
dawn." , '
Constable turned appmehnsively to
ward the volcano. He bad come Into an
inheritance of winged thoughts In the
presence of the woman, but the news of
Pelee's activity disordered the very root
of things. Mrs. Stansbury was standing
on the porch of the great bouse, whose
walls, verandas and portcullises were
cooled and perfumed by embroidering
vines. The driveway was bordered by
Rose of Sharon hedges, and the gardens
flamed with poisettias and roses. There
was a cool grove of mango and India
trees at the end of the lawn, edged with
moon-flowerets and oleanders. Back of
the plantation house waved the sloping
seas of cane; In front, the Caribbean.
On the south up-reared the peaks of Car
bet; on the north, the Monster.
-Constable advanced eagerly to give hiv
hand to Mrs. Stansbury, who received
his greeting with cooling repression. He
would have been dismayed, bad he not
felt ou former occasions polar draughts
from this source. Still, he paid her
unquestioning homage. It was enough
for him that Mr. Stansbury, an admirable
American gentleman, honored her with '
a life of one-pointed devotion ; that his .
uncle, Joseph Wall, of sound mental bal
ance and heart vastnessrs, cherished her .
good-will. It was enough for Consta- i
ble, indeed, that Mrs. Stansbury mothered
a daughter. He was by no means above
conceiving that another should dislike
him; although Mrs. Stansbury was in
other respects an Isis veiled too darkly
for his perception. The years had not '
touched the elder woman. She had the
same tendril-like delicacy of figure and
refinement of face. Her eyes had often
startled him-with their world-weariness
and world-knowledge. They were always
wonderful the eyes of a mystic and vib
rant with the suggestion of undiscovered
continents in their depths. The cool,
gracilent fingers slipped quickly from his
band. .
"I have always remembered your gra
cious hospitality," Constable said.
"I remember, too," Mrs. Stansbury re
plied, with scarcely a trace of a smile.
"Who could forget the dentist the dent
ist to La Montagne Telee? Have you
come again to look into the mouth of the
mountain?" i
CHAPTER III.
Constable had incurred the especial
displeasure of the mother on a former
visit, through the unabashed fashion with
which he. had endeavored to pry into the
ieciet3 of th" mlrnno. Old Pelee was
identified with the inner life of Martin
ique, like the memory and the statue of
Josephine. Mrs. Stansbury felt that the
mysteries of the mountain were not for
the eyes of man ; least of all, for the eyes
of an American, in whom the spirit of
veneration was not. She had a very clear
picture in her mind of Constable as he
peered, and possibly spat, into the appall
ing chasms of the summit, and pottered
about in the dim gorges which seamed the
Titan's flanks. The daughter had shared
a tithe of her mother's opinion until Con
stable's monograph on the mountain had
fallen Into her hands. Then she realized
that this was no parvenu who had car
ried on his studies in their midst.
Mr. Stansbury was away on his annual
trip to the States. The mantle of host
fell, accordingly, upon the ample shoul
ders of Uncle Joey. He arrived within
an hour, and his trip out to the Madame
had not been futile, Bince he brought
Breen with him. The latter seemed to
divine at once the defective current be
tween Mrs. Stansbury and his friend, and
forestalled any slight tension during din
ner that evening by sprightly narratives
of the voyage. He seemed to attrct the
attention of the elder woman, and to be
stimulated by her close scrutiny of his
face and personality. That evening, after
dinner, the men moved out upon the ve
randa to smoke.
"This is second-hand air. Uncle Joey,"
Constable remarked. "I shut my eyes a
moment ago and thought I wns down
among the steel mills of the lower Mo
nongahela." "You're the expert In Telee, not I, Pe
ter," the old planter answered. "April
and May aren't our best months, but I
L never knew such heat betwen rains as we
are having now."
Constable moved out into the garden
to look at the sky. In no way did he
underestimate the seriousness ot the time.
In the south, low and to the left of the
Carbet peaks, the new moon arose, but
without the sharpness of outline pecu
liar to the tropics. It wns an orange
hue, instead of silvery, and blurred, ns if
seen through a fine wire screen. A faint,
low rumbling was heard from the north.
It was like thunder, but the horizon
above and around Pelee was unscathed
by lightning. Miss Stansbury had been
at the piano, but the music now censed.
"How long Is it since the mountnin
has had a session of grumbling. Uncle
Joey?" Constable nsUed.
"From time to time for the pnst ten
days. Before thnt, twenty years, refer."
. "This is quite a novelty this addled
egg moon," Constable added. "It's the
ash-fog lying between. If there isn't a
heavy rain in the night, we'll have a
white world to-morrow."
Miss Stansbury appeared on the ve
randa, and moved out upon tbe lawn,
where Constable was standing.
"Are you really so greatly worried, Mr.
Constable?" she asked in a low tone.
- "Why, the fact that Pelee Is acting out
of the ordinary is enough to make any one
skeptical of his Intentions. There are
a few man-eaters among tbe mountains of
the world Krakatoa, Bandai-san, Coto
paxl, Vesuvius, Etna chronic old ruf
fians, whom you can't tame. A thousand
years is nothing to them. They wait,
still as crocodiles, until cities have formed
on their flanks and seers have built tem
ples In their rifts. They have tasted
blood, you see, and the madness comes
back. Pelee Is a suspect."
(To be continued.)
Just Like a Dee.
"Why doesn't that lnzy Philander
find something to do?"
"Find something to do? NWhy, he's
busy as a bee."
"But he hasn't done a thing this
winter but loaf."
"Well, that's what a bee does In win.
ter, doesn't it?"
Unnecessary Now.
"They used to give such splendid en
tertainments, but they never seem to
have anything worth going to nny
more."
"No. They have an established posi
tion in society now,"
i
How to Keen Water Cold.
"Having tried It, I recommend the mistress, who (s very fond of his fine
following mode of keeping Ice water pedigree. One day she discovered that
for a- long time In a common pitcher," i Teddy could not see ns well as usual,
says a writer lu Women's Home Com-Sue felt as sad as If he were a brother
paulon. "Place between two sheets of or sister and a famous oculist wns con
thick brown paper a layer of cotton uat- united, who told her to bring her pet
ting about half an Inch In thlckuesa; dog to him.
fasten the ends of the paper and bat- They started, but a great obstacle
ting together, forming a circle, then presented itself. Conductor after con
sew or paste a crown over one end, ductor Insisted that the dog should not
making a box the shape of a stovepipe ride on his car, says the Portland Ore
hat minus the rim. Place this over an gonlnn ; so thnt It wns only after get
ordlnary pitcher filled with Ice water, ting on and oft about a dozen times
making it deep enough to rest on the thnt the doctor's office was reached,
table, so as to exclude the air, and you Toddy was as quiet as he could b
will be astonished to see the length of , while having his eyes examined, and
time thnt the ice will keep and the '. his mistress was told she must bring
water remain cold after all the Ice has
melted."
Berries Canned Without Cooklnfj.
Have your Jars perfectly clean and
dry, then take equal parts of fresh
berries and sugar, and nUx and mash
thoroughly. To accomplish this, says
the Women's Home Companion, take
nniv n n.n .
only a small quantity In a dish at a
time, that you may bo sure every berry
Is mashed. Put into the lars. and seal
Immediately, Inverting the Jar for a
short time before putting away. The
work Is enRlly and quickly done, as
there Is no heating. My berries canned
In this way Inst summer kept perfectly
and have preserved their delicious
flavor unimpaired. Strawberry short
cake equnl to that of the summer has
been an enjoyment whenever we wished
through the winter.
Gooseberry Creams.
This is a delicious cold sweet, and
very simple to make. Rpqulred: One
quart of green gooseberries, 2 ounces or
more of sugar, four yolks of eggs, a lit
tle Whlniwrl prmltii WiiqIi atnlb- nurl
stew the gooseberries until soft. In Just
enough water to prevent their burning.
Next rub them through a hair or wire
sieve. Stir into the pulp the castor
sugar and beaten yolks of eggs, stir this
over a slow fire for a few minutes to
cook the eggs, but do not let the mix
ture actually boll or It will curdle. Tut
It on one side until It Is cold. Then
heap it up In custard glasses, and put
a little whipped and flavored cream on
each.
Apricots Dried la Initr,
Peel and cut In halves some ripe
apricots; remove the stones and weigh
the fruit Boil fruit for a few mlvutes
in water; remove, drain and put them
In a bowl. For every pound of fruit
place 1 pound of sugar In a kettle with
one-half pint of water for each pound
of sugar, and boll to a soft ball ; add
the apricots, let .them boll up twice,
then pour them Into a bowl. Twenty
four hours later drain the apricots In a
sieve nnd dust them with sugar; then
transfer them to a dish, dust them with
sugar again and place them In a cool
oven ; turn them, ndd more sugar ; con
tinue this way until they are dry.
'Pots to Blend."
This is an excellent wny to make a
broken enainelware pot ns good ns new :
Take equal parts of soft putty, finely
sifted coal ashes and table salt. Mix
nnd pack It well into the hole, or on
the place where the ennmel Is worn or
wenrlng. Plnce the pot on thetove
with a little water in It, until the
cement hardens. It will last a long
time. And take notice that this recipe
calls for nothing that cannot be easily
obtalued. Buy a nickel's worth of putty
from any plumber.
Southern llouten Iluscnlt.
One quart Blfted flour, one-half coffee
cup of lard, one-linlf pint milk, one
level teaspoonful salt. Rub flour, salt
and lard together until smooth, thou
ndd milk. Bent twenty minutes, or un
til the dough blisters and pops when
pulled npnrt. Roll out about a quarter
of an Inch thick, cut with small bis
cuit cutter nnd prick ench with a fork.
Bake twenty minutes in rather hot
oven.. This quantity makes about
thirty biscuits.
Earn and Tomato.
One pint tomato Juice, two tables
spoonfula butter, two tnulesimonfuls
flour (creamed together), one-half tea
spoonful salt, dash of pepper, five eggs.
Heat tho Juice, then add the crenmed
butter and flour, salt and pepper, and
cook five minutes. Butter a baking
dish, put In the egg (not beaten), then
cover with the cooked mixture. Put
bread crumbs on top and brown twenty
minutes In oven.
Frosted Currants.
Wnsh and dry fine, large bunches of
currants, dip them a bunch at a time
Into the whipped white of an egg, then
roll In granulated sugnr. -Lay on paper
until perfectly dry and serve as a des
sert. Canned Vlums.
Canned blue plums will make dell
clous winter pies. To 7 pounds of fruit
add 3Va pounds of brown sugar, one
pint of good vliipgnr nnd 1 ounce each
of clnnnmon, cloves and nllsplce. Scald
th "hont three tjmes and Jar them.
DRESSED DOS AS BAST.
flow Woman Outwitted Stony
Hearted Street Car Conductors.
Tills U a real true dog story
Ile 18 I'S Mill a great pet Of Ills
hlin every day for a month, and all
would be done for hlin that wus posl
Me. So Teddy's mistress went to a
neighbor who had a smnll baby and
borrowed an outfit that was not too
dainty. Teddy kept very quiet while
being dressed In the long white dress,
then a cloak and muslin cap, and over
. .
, the face a long white veil,
Thus they started. Immediately upon
entering a enr, If It wns filled, up
would jump a man to give the woman
carrying a little baby a good seat
Teddy never wagged his little curled
up tall once, neither did he bark.
Each day the trip was taken with,
the same result a good seat and a
very quiet baby.
One dny the doctor's of'? was filled
with people waiting their turn, when a
womnn turned politely to Teddy's mis
tress and said: "My turn comes next
awl I will wait for you on nccount of
your bnby. It Is so very tiresome to
wait with a baby." '
The doctor opened his door at thnt
moment and called them both In his
private -office. He said. ""I will show
the Very bHt Pnt'UUt 1 hnve" B"d
took Teddy carefully In his arms. He
threw back the white veil nnd dis
closed the dog's little pug nose and a
pert little face looking out cutely from
under the frills of the cap.
Teddy can see pretty well out of one
eye now. Ills mistress expected n nuge
bill for the expert's service, but ln
stend she received a receipted bill from!
the good doctor with a note saying that,
as Teddy was the first patient he had
ever treated of royal dog blood, he
esteemed It a great honor to have been
the means of helping him.
Tmm
HI
Advertising, snys Lily Herald Frost
In the St. Louis Globe-Denuwrat, la
the lance with which the modern cru
sader, known as the business agent,
lnvadeg the world of commerce. And
nn extraordinarily effective weapon it
Is, as the breakfast food people and
he patent medicine houses well know.
The niau won doesn't advertise is
soon a derelict, ns Idle nnd useless as
a painted ship upon a painted ocean.
When the advertiser censes his labor
It Is then that the receiver gets busy.
It Is when advertising dominates
literature that one feels like protest
ing. The commercial spirit rules tho
reading world and thrusts Its volumes
upon It with a wealth of encomiums
uid a persistency thnt usually win.
By such Judicious exploitation books
are sold by the thousands. Their
names nre seen everywhere, In shop
windows, on bllllionrds.plncarded nlong
with brands of cigars or some superior
mnke of whisky. . And they are accord
ed such high sounding phrases of mer
it, of cleverness, of dramatic possibili
ties, that, backed by the author's name
and the Illustrator's art, they present
such visions of delight that ever curi
ous mortals must buy them Just to
satisfy their curiosity.
Not Natural.
To the studio of an artist who had
Just finished a portrait of a dlstln
gulshed resident of a neighboring city a
friend of the sitter came to look at tho
newly painted canvus.
The visitor wns nearsighted and not
particularly well acquainted with stu
dios. He wanted to see how good a
likeness had been made of his friend.
He kept walking nearer nnd nearer to
the painting and finally put out his
nnger ns If to touch It.
The artist was getting nervous n
tho approach of tho finger to the paint
and he asked the visitor not to touch
tho portrait, ns It wns not dry. Tho
nenr-slghtod mnn put down his hnnd
and walked to tho door, turning only to
say : "If It isn't dry It Isn't my friend." ,
And ho walked out.
When a nian moves Into a western
town, the thing that surprises him most
Is the great number of men who do
nothing all day but stand on street
corners and exchaugo fool opinions.
Mm
. ; - . ' ,J