Lincoln County leader., October 23, 1908, Image 7

nrhe
Whited Qepulchre
Tale of O Pelee
JL The
By Will Levington Comfort
Copyright. 19. br Will Lerinrton Comfort
Copjrrlitht, 1937. by J. B. Lipfincott
CHAPTER IV. (Continued.)'
That instant, under the spell of soft
music, Peter Constable knelt as in a
dream to drink at the fountains of in
spiration. The dinner call aroused him.
The music ceased, and he was again the
faltering human lover. The path had
been illumined only long enough to show
him that there was a shorter way.
It spemed during dinner that Lara
had something to say which the presence
of the others forbade. Mrs. Stansbury
went upstairs. Breen and the planter
engaged in a smoky discussion of the lit
erary peregrinations of one Herman Mel
ville. The other two set out for the
yardens.
"I hav wanted to tell you since morn
ing hov7 sorry I am," she said quietly.
"I want you to know that, in spite of
mother's decision, I thank you for your
kindness, and believe in your deeper
knowledge of our danger."
"Ifs good of you to say that," he an
swered. "I never tried to persuade any
body to do anything before. I may :.ike
l'elee too seriously, but 1 can't help it,
with you folks here."
She laughed. "And I thought that
limiting short of tin ucluul eiuilul cuiiij
disturb your equanimity."
"Did you ever read 'The Story of the
Gadsbvs'i" he asked.
"Yes."
"There is n big fragment of truth
back of that. Do you think I would have
jilayed upon your imagination and nerves,
and made a mess of things, if I hadn't
been afraid?"-
"Afraid of the mountain? That's not
like you. Are we about to see you down
below in the city, warning the people,
like Cassandra in the streets of Troy V"
"I have a dearer service before going
down into the city," he answered. It
was as if Rreen and the day's contempla
tion bad made this moment .inevitable.
"That done, I could take up the work
there with sleeves rolled up and burst
ing with anthems."
"What service?" she asked bravely,
though the trend of his words was as
Mack on white. She was startled, un
ready. "To put you out of the range of Pelee's
guns!" he said, with sudden vehemence.
She had scarcely divined that there
Jived a lover in this man. She felt futile
beside him, and yet fused by his penetrat
ing vitality. To her, it was the signal
moment in which the woman discovers a
uiant besieger at her gates.
"They will hear you !" she found her
self saying, in a salf-stifled tone.
"Let them hear me. I want you to be
fsafe. Pelee is no study to me now, but
a grim warning because you are here !
I can't keep my eyes from the volcano,
nor my thoughts from you. Don't you
iiiow don't you know that you crept
into the very heart of me a bit of a
sirl, telling me how to live my life? Yes
terday, when 1 found the mountain
awake, all that I had ever dona and
thought and felt turned to nothing com
pared to your life. Xo matter what you
think or say to me I am afraid for
you !"
The head bending toward lier face
ieemed huge in the dark, and his lowered
voice charged with power.
"But we will go to sea when the Pan
ther comes," she said huskily.
"Lara !" The voice ' was from .Mrs.
Stansbury, in the upper windo'V of the
iouse that calm, fateful voice.
"I must go !"
"Listen. I cannot bear to wait until
the Panther comes !" he went or. impetu
ously. "I want to put you sifeiy as.ioie
in Dominica this night-r-or Fort dj
Trance, or even on shipboard and I will
?ome back here. Do this for me, Lady!"
"Lara !" was called again.
"Yes, mother. ,0l I could
not go alone! There would never be a
home here again. I must go to mother
oh, I cannot speak now !"
He stood alone in the darn. A lizard
that had hearkened attentively, began to
croak bis comment to the mango trees.
CHAPTER V.
Sleeplessness ranged through Consta
ble's brain a'gain,. and he gave the night
to the old work of watching the moun
tain, and keeping the woman at hand.
From time to time, before midnight, he
lieard the voice of Mrs. Stansbury. The
girl was with her, but seemed to make no
answer. The house was all his own.
Through the lower hall " to the music
room ; out to the veranda, the garden
paths and drives; from the window that
faced the north, in his own room, to the
summit of the Morne d'Orange and the
shadowy lawns; through ash-fog and
windless moonlight he trod the night
away. The hours fell asleep in passing;
the moon drowsed for ages in the cloud
gardens; the stars dimmed, disappeared,
and trembled forth again, as they had
been. It seemed left entirely to him that
time passed ; he had to grapple with the
minutes one by one, and fight each back
iuto the past.
At the side of the great house to the
north there was a trellis heavily burdened
with lianas. Within, he found the orifice
of an old cistern, partially covered by
unfixed planking. He lifted the boards,
and the moonlight shining through the
foliage reflected in the water far below.
A heavy wooden bar crossed the rim and
was set stoutly in the masonry. Consta
ble lit a match. His mind keenly grasped
ach detail. A rusty k-' from
- -czzzzz
Company. All rights reserred
the thick crosspiece. Slabs of stone from
the side walls were scattered over the
bottom of the cistern. He dropped sev
eral ignited matches into the chamber,
and determined to examine the place
more thoroughly by daylight. From the
native cabins came the sound of a dog
barking. A shutter clicked in one of the
upper windows of the plantation house.
"There's be no doubt about it now,"
he thought grimly. "They'll proceed at
once to Rhut me up for being mentally ir
reclaimable." That was a parched but brilliant dawn
ing. The blinding charge from the east
changed the dew to steam before it touch
ed the ground. The mofe delicate blos
soms were withered in the hectic burning
when the sun was but an hour high.
Lara's face was ashen and darkly lined
under the eyes. The night had been an
evil one to her, evil with a struggle as
yet unfinished.
"Peter, you're pulling yourself down,"
said Uncle Joey after breakfast. "Don't
take Pelee quite so seriously. Go to bed
for a day, or, better still, steam the
Madame out for a day's run and get some
rest under the breezy awnings."
"What sort of a graven image do you
think your sister's boy is, uncle?" Con
stable inquired. "I'll get you folks out
of the war zone, or stay here until Pelee
is cool or a billion tons lighter."
"But don't you overestimate the chance
of an eruption, Peter?"
"I haven't finished my mathematical
calculations, my dear relative. Holy nup
tials and capitals of hell ! I've been all
over this before. Take my word for it,
and get set for a start when the mails
come in to-morrow morning. A'ou are all
foolish virgins. I'm going down below
to see how yo;ir city flourishes in this
furnace of a day. Who is the smug au
thority on Les Colonies, who undertakes
to tell Saint Pierre editorially that there
is no danger?"
"M. Mondet is the editor."
"I should relish considerably the pleas
ure of calking up the throat of M. Mondet
with several sheets of his political con
spiracies. I believe I shall call upon
him."
"We look up to Les Colonies here, Pe
ter. Remember this is not Montana."
"The tropics have enervated you, un
cle. You need to be born again."
The hottest morning Saint Pierre had
known for years ! The portetises were
gone from the highways. Hue Victor Hugo,
the principal thoroughfare, was deserted
at ten in the morning. Shop doors were
closed, the street venders silent. Yol
ennic ash lay in all the crevices, and min
gled with the turf. Behind the shut
doors children wailed. The tough little
mules, some in their panniers and with
no one to lead them, hugged the east
walls for shade. From the byways came
faintly the smell of death. In the offices
of Les Colonies Constable found a breath
of coolness, for the outer air was admit
ted as little as possible. M. Mondet wel
comed the caller. Constable explained
his purpose, proffered a card, and apolo
gized for his French.
M. Mondet was a tubby little man. His
hands were white, soft, tapering, ringed.
If you saw them alone, you would
promptly uncover, as is customary in the
proximity of a woman. M. Mondet did
not forget his hands.
"Pelee has a bad look, monsieur," Con
stable began. "I believe you could clear
the city of ten thousand people if you
printed a vigorous warning against the
mountain; if you ordered the natives to
take no chances, but to flee, regardless of
their coats, chickens, coals, coins, or their
next city fathers. To be instrumental in
saving the lives of ten thousand people
is not a service given to all men, mon
sieur." Constnble spoke slowly, and was anger
ed by the reply of the editor :
"But, my dear M. Constable, there is
no danger no danger, I assure you !"
"Sir, this is tragedy black, rumbling,
naked tragedy ! I say there is need for a
giant here, who would paint the possibili
ties of that monster in living fire. A man
might die in the foulest gutter, cursed by
the demons of drink and disease, but with
a chant on his lips and 'vine leaves in
his hair,' if the memory of such a service
as may be yours were with him at the
last !"
The French editor found himself look
ing into a lean, tanned face that flushed
and paled in turn. Moreover, be was
uneasy ou account of a pair of lean,
tanned hands which lay lightly and rest
lessly upon the knees of the man before
111 in. These hands seemed to be the po
tent embodiments of hate and swiftness.
The manner of their low leaping created
the impression that their leashes were in
secure, and the immaculate cravat of M.
Mondet felt tight upon his .throbbing
throat.
"Perhaps it is well that you called,"
he said with haste, leading out his caller
with the delicacy bred of the fear of
dynamite. ,
Constable left, unsatisfied. The clock
In the Hospital 1'Militaire struck the
hour of eleven. Constable slowly made
his way to the' water front and back to
the Sugar Landing. His launch was still
waiting there at the stone pier. He bad
sent out word to Captain Negley for
steam to be kept up night and day. A
Btnall crowd was gathering on the shore,
slightly to the north of the Sugar Land
ing. Constable hurric thither. A black
woman bad fallen, from the sun. Her
burdens lay together on the burning tand
a tray of cakes from her head, a naked
babe from her arms. Constable bad the
stricken creature placed in the launch and
taken out to his ship for care, sending a
native doctor after her. The negroes
regarded him with curious adulation. The
water front would know him when he
came again.
"Oh, I say, friends of mine," he an
nounced in French, ."if any of you have
sick wives or little ones, send them out
to the ship yonder, and they will be cared
for. No, it is not a hospital, where fees
are charged just a temporary refuge
from the heat for the women and little .
ones. Tell your neighbors. Here is money
to hire boats. 1 can crowd two hundred
babes and mothers on board." I
The thought of a breath of coolness .
turned his steps to Pere itabeaut's little 1
stone shop in the Rue de Rivoli. Light
headed from the heat, and the root of (
each hair prickling its individual warn-
ing, he ascended the terraces and sank
down in the darkness at last, in his old '
seat under the round window. The shop'
was quite deserted. Moments passed, as
he fanned himself with his limp straw
hat. A large piece of cardboard lay upon ,
the table. He turned it over idly. A pen- !
cil sketch adorned the side which bud !
lain against the wood. The realization j
was instantaneous that no common hand :
had wrought this work.
The figure was that of a grown girl
Soronia and the attitude of expectancy
brought out queerly the graceful and ar-.
dent lines of her figure. A wreath of
blossoms was entwined in her Imir, and
an old French urn hung from her hand.
The sketch seemed to be a series of happy
after-thoughts, with not a line too much.
As he studied it, with interest and curi
osity. Constable became conscious of low
voices in the court behind, lie arose,
with no idea of stealth, and stepped to
the rear door.
Soronia and Hayden Breen were stand
ing close together in the denser shade at
the far end of the court. The song birds
were stilled in the torrid noon. The
girl's profile, a bewitching thing wrought
of animated gold, was upturned to the
eyes of Breen, and she was listening with
soulful intent. Shy Soronia, mistress of
the shadows, was called from her hiding
place at last to hearken unto the whis
perings of an American. Her heart seem
ed to wait upon his words.
A smile crept ove'r the face of the
watcher. His feelings were strange in
deed. There was a nobility in the figure
of Breen, standing there among the huge
banana leaves! The watcher withdrew.
The sketch upon the table reminded him
that Soronia had revived the art. long
buried. Perhaps the vivid maiden had
revived as well the lost youth of the
world-jaded one. Constable departed.
The sky had become overcast. Pelee's
cone was not visible from the streets. A
sharp detonation cleaved the darkening
air, and from the shut houses the answer
issued, an answer partly stilled, but vib
rant with fright the quavering cries of
age and childhood, sharp, low screams
from the mothers, the sullen undertone of
men. A subdued drumming came from
the north now, completing the tossing
currents of sound in the streets. All this
was rubbed out instantaneously by a se
ries of thunder crashes. A deluge of ash
complicated the shroud of noonday, and
the curse of sulphur pressed down. The
highways filled magically with a crying,
crouching, gray-lipped throng.
The American was running through the
burned, poisoned air. A woman stretched
out her hands to him as he passed. A
mulatto youth fell in at bis heels. Others
followed. The white man was the sub
limation of (fight. Down the terraces to
the Uue Victor Hugo the runners made
their way, augmented as nn avalanche
gains weight and impetus. At the main
thoroughfare, the seemingly maddened
leader turned toward the Morne d'Orange,
and staggered up the slope toward the
plantation house.
(To be continued.)
An At f 'ouii;irtMun.
When Ab del Ilnkk "'as poor lie was
one liny traveling across a weary plain,
says the author of "Life In Morocco, '
and was very hungry. So lie came to
the house of the Widow X.uldah, who
was also poor; but when lie made
known his want she set before him two
hard-boiled eggs, nil the fowl there was
lu her house.
Later, when Ab del Ilnkk lived In
Marnkesh nnd was very rich, Meludl,
the lawyer, disliking him, persuaded
the Widow Znidali to sue liini for the
eggs; but not for the eggs alone, for
they would have become two chickens,
which In time would have so multiplied
that the Yhole fortune of Ab del Ilnkk
would not now pay for them. When
the case came to trial the rich man was
not In court.
' "Why is the defendant not here?"
detnnnded the Judge.
"My lord," snld his nttorney, "he" la
gone to sow boiled beans."
"Boiled benns?"
"Boiled beuns, my lord.''
"Is he mad?"
"He Is very wise, my lord."
"Thou niockest!"
"Surely, my lord, if hnrd-bolled eggs
can be hatched, boiled beatiB will
grow."
The suit was promptly dismissed,
wth costs to the plaintiff.
A Can Dill Ulonder,
Doctor Yes, mndnm, your two sons
are getting on very nicely. The elder
stood the operation for the removal of
the appendix exceedingly well.
Mother Oh, good gracious, doctor 1
That's the wrong one. He's the measly
one. It's the other one that has ap
poadlcltls. Baltimore American.
ASSASSINATIONS OP HISTORY.
King Edmund of England. March 20, f)4o
King Kdward the Martyr of Kng
land March 18. 07!) !
King Edward II. or England. Sept. 2", 1 ' . . , ,.
King Edward II. of England , f. Jhe worW 8 '"I "f "Hk
Slpt 07, 1.-J27 "l'r l" l)tr tt'"t 18 estimated to be fur
King James I. of Scotland. Feb. 2l', 14:i7 llslll'l "' South America.
King Edward V. of England. .July, 14S3 ; Successful exiierlments have been
King James II. of Scotland ' made at Poitiers, France, with a wheel-
J,""' J,lnf 1 ed stretcher, drawn by a .log, for umbu-
Pnnce William of Orange. July 10, l.i.Sl i,,,,,.,, work
King Henry II. of France.. Aug. 2, LIS!)
Feodor I., last of the House of Tll '"er of books exported from
Rurik, which had governed. Russia Germany by German publishers lust
for 700 years l'.OS year exceeded 42.000,000, weighed 12.-
King Henry IV. of France. May 14, 1(110 1CO.0UO pounds unU were valued ut if 13,-
George Villiers, Duke of Bucking- ' WO.OoO.
ruTlii." of" iiui;. dVthrani ?nd102S j , J,"lmn thlr,y-t' timepiece fuc
murdered; succeeded by Catharine, ' lorl,'s' whi('" t,lrl) ont ""mially goods
his wife 17U2
ivan oi ltussia, murdered in
prison . . 1701
King Gustavus III. of Sweden.....
March 1(1, 1702
Marat, by Charlotte Cordny . July Hi, 17!!1
Czar Paul of Russia March 24, LStH
Abraham Lincoln, President of the
I'nited States pril 14, 1S('5
Abdul Aziz, Sultan of Turkey
June 4, 1Sfi
Alexander II. of Russia. .March Ki, lfvSI
James A. Garlield, President of the
I'nited Stales ...July 2, 1SS1
Sadi Curnot, President of France..
June 21, 1S!)1 , " """" umt 11 "l,,st "ling vertically,
Stamhoiiloff, Premier of Bulgaria..'. i "'hereon more often than not, the lamps.
Line l.'i, ISlCi I" the existing fixtures hung tit tin tin
Elizabeth, Empios of Austria ' gle. An adapter has been recently
s,'l't- 1". 'S!,s Invented by which this discrepancy is
King Humbert of Italy July 20. WOO overcome.
William MeKinley, President of the
!;.,.,) v!t.lto, s..nt. K. 1001 1 Kll,llm? Is a town which has just
King Alexander and Queen Draga of , blossomed out 111 Cumuli!, where thera
Servia June 10. 1!ton Is only one town of Shakespeare. There
Grand Duke Serglus of Russia 1!)0." Is n Shakespeare In Kosciusko County,
King and Crown Prince of Portugal. Indiana. However, the great English
Feb. 1.1008 dramatist was never popular among the
new-town nainers In North America, nl-
EARL LOSES RICH WIFE. though there are In the United States
thirty MM tons, three Goldsmiths, four
Jountess of Yarmouth Wins Deere
Nullifying Her Marriage.
Sir Birrell Barnes, president of the
Divorce Court, In Ixuidoii granted the
Countess of Yarmouth, who was Miss
Alice Thaw of Pittsburg, a decree nul
lifying her marriage to the Kurt of
Yarmouth.
It has been known for two years that
the domestic affairs of the YiirinoutliH
were unhappy. The earl's companions
ft
trv iw,v
W.'2 :::'!; Si.;.: .
1
1
THE OF. YARMOUTH.
and his manner of living, It was said,
were such that he could not give his
wife the place In society which she
'iad a right to expect. She paid large
sums to defray her husband's extrava
gances, and her friends say she eon
lucted herself with dignity through
Hit the troubles resulting from this un
mppy union and the diHlcultiej of her
irother, . Harry Kendall Thaw.
When a woman really loves a man.
she will shoot him If occasion arises.
A tl
fal'a """" lx I
" .&i
-f
Of
ft 1 " 1
i ; ' J - u i
Aft ' TE
SOMETHING FOE EVERYBODY
"i m-miy ?.-m;o,hm ; uie nyest
tires being 20!),7!i2 standing clocks, 441.-
". bunging clocks mid 2r,:(tHj watches.
Belgium has n Sunday postage stani)
Issued for those who do not wish to
have their mail delivered on Sunday.
All nihil bearing the Sunday stump is
held over by the curriers for delivery
Monday. The tantalum lamp Is very desirable
j from the fact that It Is of high cllicleii
I cy, but It Is not adapted for many of
the fixtures at present In use, fur thu
1 '"'kenses, thirty-odd Scotts, twenty
Byrons, two Tennysons and one Thack
eray. But there Is no Browning on the
American map.
Every precocious lioy docs not be
come a brilliant man, but some brilliant
men huve been precocious In childhood.
John Ruskln, the great English essayist
and critic on art, was such a child. At
the age of 7 ho wrote verses lu t'hyino
n ml kept a Journal or diary. This Jour
nal was really n record of trips through
England that he took with his father.
Ills Interest In the old cathedrals and
in the bits of scenery that he saw dur
ing these Journeys lietruyed the tastes
hat in later years decided Ills career.
"We Two" send the following to tho
Imdou Express: "We are a young cou
ple and nt the present rate of salaries
for bunk clerks It will be eight, or even
ten years before we can marry. As this
s too far ahead to think of. and wo
have 2(H) ($1,HK)) between us, we a re
determined to strike out for ourselves,
and at the thousands of breakfast ta
bles all over England where the Ex
press is dally read we would, with your
kind permission, appeal for Ideas as to
lie best way of making a good start."
With the recent return of the yacht
Galilee, nt San Francisco, the ocean
magnetic survey work Is closed for tho
present, until the construction of a ves
sel sK'claily adapted for the work has
been completed. Plans for the new ves
sel are now being prepared by Henry J.
Glelow, naval wvhlteet anil engli r.
The Galilee was chartered by the Car
negie Institution, of Washington, and
under the command of W. J. Peters, she
was away nearly three years. The to
tal length of the cruises traversed In
the Pacific ocean during this period is
'iboiit (5,0f)0 miles.
In the northern part of India sheep
are put to a use untliouglit of In Euro
liean or American countries. They are
made to serve as beasts of burden, be
cause they are more sure-footed than
larger beasts, and the'iiiouiitiiln paths
among the foothills of the Himalayas
are steep and dlllicult. The load for
each sheep Is from sixteen to twenty
IKiunds. The sheep are driven from vll.
lago to village, with the wool still grow
ing, and In each town the farmer shea is
as much wool as he can sell there and
loads the sheep with tho grain which ho
receives In exchange. After his flock
hns been sheared he turns It homeward,
each sheep having on Its back a small
bag containing the purchased grain.
Severn! anchors have recently lieen
made at the navy-yard at Charlestown,
Mass., which are the largest ever made
for any purpose. Four anchors are used
on battleships generally, and the new
anchors are being shipped lu sets to tho
Pacific coast. One pair of this set of
four weigh n.tioo pounds each. The
Targest anchors ever forged prior to
those now being used weighed 1(1,500
pounds each nnd cost $2,000 each. They
were also made at the Cliarlestowa
jard. Each of the big anchors riypilred
the work of five men for u month, ham
mering, smelting and welding it. These
mammoth anchors are sulllclent, bar
ring unusual conditions of weather nnd
sea, to hold the largest battleship afloat.
The size Is fifteen feet long from crown
to shackle, and about nine and one-bait
feet from ono arm point to the other.
Tho heavy crossbar is also about fifteen
feet Tong, while the palms, of broad,
flat pieces, welded to the arm ends, ar
nbout thirty-two Inches wide.
1