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About Wallowa chieftain. (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1902)
11ERR STEIXIIARDFS NEMESIS BY I. MACLAREN COBBAN. CIIAPTEK XIV Continued. I hail much ado to keep quiet, but I did manage to hold my tongue. 1 had my eyes fixed on liim, however; as lie again turned to go, his eyes encountered niine, and, I thought, fell lie fore tliein. In a moment we heard the door slam behind him, and Inuise sank t-obbing into n chair. It t-w all Hirley's efforts and mine to calm her. I think I must have liei'ome very much engrossed with my own efforts, for when at length Lonise sat composed and I turned to Birley, liirley was gone. "You will not leave me," she said, laying her hand on mine, "till he comes back?" That touch precipitated feeling in me, and the confession which I had not intended I should make for some time yet. Considering the highly wrought condition of the nerves of both of us, I do not think it is surprising that we should then have opened our hearts to each other. "I wish," I said, "that I need never leave your side again." On an impulse of shyness she tried to withdraw her hand, butl kept it and he let it stay "Louise," I said, "do you know what that man meant when he accused me of seeking to marry an heiress?" "Yes," said she, with hanging head (the l-eaiitiful head), "I think I do. He said something of the same to me at Blackpool." "And do yon think," I urged, 'that If I told that heiress how I loved her, how I had loved her and thought of her from the first moment I had seen her, before I guessed that she might be an heiress do you think if I said that, it would only be because I expected she would be rich one day?" "Oil, I do not think that at all! But," she said, looking up with a bright, uncertain smile (which was so winning! so ravishing!) "but I am not an heiress." "You guess, then, it is you I would gay this to? that it is you I love and bare ever thought of?" the trembled violently (dear fluttered heart!) but I still held her hand. "I did not guess," she murmured, "until he made me think of it at Black pool. Then I understood why you had been so very good to me, and I " "What, Louise? What, dear?" I urged. "Then I I think," she faltered, "I began to Po not make me say it!" "To love me a ilttlt?" I asked. "Do, do say it." "Yes," she whispered. Her face was hid against my shoulder, and my erms were about her lefore she added "but not little very much!" It was some momenta before either of us spoke again. "Do you think," she said at length, 'it is right that we should have said these things at such a time? when we do not yet know anything certain about my dear, dear father?" "Loui.-e," I answered, "darling. I would, vou know, save vou the small est pang of pain. But I think I ought to say at once, dear, that you must give up the hope that you have clung to, I know, in secret, that you nut'lit efter 11 find your father alive. He does not live, I am sure now indeed I may cay I as good as know where he lies buried, though I must not tell you Biore at present. All we can hope to do then, darling, is to give him a de cent resting place. Then we shall go way out of this terrible region of money grubbing, of horrible toiling and moiling in smoke and steam and poisonous vapors, where the eye cannot rest upon one single spot of nature un bused we shall go away to a place where the people are poorer and milder, where we may see clear skies and pure water, and trees and flowers bright and wholesome. Won t that be a wel come cnange? and to get away from the constant talk of 'brass. "Oh, yes," she exclaimed "that will be sweet. Let us go do let us go a oon as ever all things are settled, and we have done somet ing for our d?ar ancle Birley I We shall do something for him shall we not? We were thus talking when "dear Uncle Birley" came in. He probably iuected the understanding we had come to, but, like a kind and discreet old gentleman as he is, he said nothing then. "Wondered where I've been, have you? Well, lad, I've just walked down to thy lodgings to tell th' old woman She may go to bed, for thou'rt to stay here the rest of this night the last night but one, very likely, that I sha.l be here myself!" A tear glistened in his eye. and a lump rose into his throat; but, after a momentary pause, he talked on, and these signs of emotion disappeared. We soon went to bed, but I tiiink no one of the three slept much. In the course of an intimate talk with Louise which I had that Sunday I learned how near I had been to losing her while she was at Blackpool, where her vigilant duenna had been a hard, faithful old German servant of 8tein bardt's. It was only gradually that I got to know all the anxie'y, and even terror, of those days of detention and surveillance, but that day I heard to my horror that the poor girl had been so wrought upon bv Steinhardt's repre sentations of her duty to her father, of the heniousness of refusing to fulfil what (Steinhardt declared) had been his frequently expressed wish, that she was on the point of accepting Frank for a husband, when he and hid father were called away, the one home and the titer to Loudon. i CHATTER XV. As I recall the final episodes of my story so far as they concern the arch villain Steinhardt, I am so affected with a shuddering horror that I scarce write legibly. Yet they have such a fascination that I am drawn to the de scription of them, to the risk of omit ting one or tw o matters of quieter inter est, w hich are yet vital to my story. Tliese I must dispose of. Wednesday and Thursday pas s I away, tml the Friday arrived, which to think of even now makes iik tremble. It was a dar i ing experinient we were about to at ! tempt, and so very little would make it ridiculous! I had taken partly to my confidence the big son of the landlady : (a stauiuh Lancashire lad of the old j breed). With him I went through the j sliiles of my story several times, and , showed him how to manage them with effect. j The evening came and I was almost j sinking under excitement. The place of entertainment was that public hall in which Freeman had de'ivered his famous lecture The kind of thing was i rather new in the village, and there j was a crowded attendance of work peo ! pie, espceially of Steinhardt's own. i Steinhardt, with his wife and son, sat j right in front, where the reflectioon from the sheet fell full upon him. When the lights were turned, some out and others low, Freeman and I crept up behind the sheet, where I waited with trembling pulse and sudden creeping chills till the, to me, uninteresting part of the entertainment came to an end. The curate acted as lecturer, and explained with fluency what the views meant, or told something about the places represented. I cannot tell what it was about. At length his series of views and his lecture were finished. There was a moment's pause to me a wild throbof anxiety and then the bass voice ol the manager of the lantern boomed forth the annoueement : "A Lacashire Mystery." Without another word the first picture tame upon the sheet ( I crept to its corner to watch Steinhardt). It was two men in an attitude of quarrel, surrounded by col ored vapors. The secoad followed quickly without a word of explanation; the same two men the one half suffo cated, struggling to get out of a vat or bath of vapors, while the other, with mouth muilled, held him down. Still no word of explanation. Rapidly came the third picture the man one lying dead aud dyed before the other, and beside an open box. Awful whis pers began to stir among the spectators, w ho were the more impressed no doubt by the silence amid which the pictures appeared. I ventured to peep at Stein- Iiani ; tie was gazing fixedly, with part ed lips. The fourth picture called forth an instantaneous cry of horror; it was, perhaps, too realistic. The deail body Jay stripped and quartered before the living man, who stooped over it. I fancied that at this sight I heard a low moan from the front bench, but on glancing at Steinhar.lt I saw him sit ting as before, as if fixed as much by utter astonishment as by horror. The next picture rapidly blotted out the gruesomenesi of the other; the portions ot tiie body lay wrapped in three can vas packages, and the man stood by as if pondering. Quickly came the next; the man digging near a ruined build ing, with the three packages by him. "Ih' owd spinning mill!" some one exclaimed aloud ; I had not thought the resemblance was so recognizable. That was almost immediately succeeded by the same view of the mill, with the packages gone, the hole lovered in, and the man standing as if pulling a rope which passed over the top of the wall. "The devil!" exclaimed Steinhardt, starting suddenly to his feet. But he recollected himself, and sat down again. At once the last picture of all flashed upon the sheet; the wall lay flat on fie ground, and the man stood by with the loose roje in hr hand! Up started Steinhardt, and strode down the room, amid an ominous silence, to where the big Dick stood by his apparatus. "U here the devil," I heard him ex claim, "d d those horrible pictures come from? They were not among the lot I bought! Come, nod d nonsense! You must tell me where you got them. Who gave them to you? There was now a wild hubbub of talk. Dick. I was sure, had refn-ed to tell him anything about them. In the midst of this the lights flashed forth again, and the people began lowly to disperse, with hushed hut earnest speech. F reeman and I slipped out by a side door. I went straight to Jaques's cottage. There I found Birley. Ic low, anxious voices we began to discuss what would he (meaning Steinhardt) do now. Louise wished she had been there, and Birley had just taid it was as well she had not, when a heavy foot rapidly ap proached, the latch was noisily raised, the door was das! ed open, aud Stein hard stood before us. "Soh!" he exclaimed, glaring at Bir ley and me, "I have found you, sneaks and cowards! Y'ou think with your fool's tricks and your pictures you will annoy me, and epoil me! Piff! Y'ou aie nothing! you are beggars! yon are dirt! I will have you, Sir, Parson, arrested for making calumnious charges against me!" How in his fury had he committed himself! "Herr Steinhardt," raid I, at once, "the pictures, so far as I heard, were unaccompanied by a single Word of comment, except what they drew from the people, and no one could say that the figures represented were likenesses. But your guilty, black heart has charged j you. As it says, I say: "Yon are the murderer of your partner, Mr. Lacroix, I and his remains will now be found se j curely looked, whence you can't remove them, under that fallen wall!" His jaw dropped, and his great body trembled for a moment, then as with a sudden impulse of fury he made as if ho would crunch me with a bearish hug. when Birley came between us. "Come, 'Manuel, none of that. As I told you, you'e not yet done with law and Lancashire. Y'ou'd better go home, or go to our experiments." "Fool!" he cried, still glaring at me. "Idiot! What scrap of proof have you of the ridiculous charsre you make?" ''For one thing I have proof that Mr. Lacroix, before he went to you at the works, called here to see his old uncle." "Soh! H is the old idiot found his tongue at last then?" We we all amazed, Steinhardt as much as any, at the electrical effect of this upon the old man. I bad casually noticed throughout the scene that he had eagerly though painfully listened. I was smitten with fright, as if I saw dead man rise to his feet, when he now rose at once to his full towering height a height which I could not have con ceived he possessed as he reclined hud dled in his chair and, quivering with excitement, strove to give utterance. This he could not do, but with light ning gesture he pointed, with out stretched crm to the door. Steinhardt stood and stared open-eyed, when he made as if he would himself compel him to go. "Go, "Manuel; go, man!" urged Birley, holding the door open. Steinhardt went without a word, and the old man fell back in his chair and was soon rigid in death. CHATTER XVI. Birley remained that night at the cottage. When I left to return to my lodgings I was surprised, even for the moment terrified, to see lights across the stream, hovering about the spot which I knew was the temporary grave of Mr. Lacroix. In the moving lights I presently saw figures; I heard sounds, too the sounds of a pickaxe. "They are breaking into the grave!" I exclaimed to myself, and resolved I would go and see. I hurriedly picked my way round to the place. About the fallen wall the gigantic tomb-slab of Lacroix, which a brawny pickman, naked to the waist, was hewing at there stood, in silent, stolid expectation, a crowd of thirty or forty men and lads, with two or three women with shawls over their heads. Many of the men were in the colored garb of the chemical works. "Tick on that spot where you see the green," I called to the hewer; I had hastily come to the conclusion that since I could not hinder the opera tions I ought to help. When I paid this they all turned and looked at me. "You know snmrnat about this, do not yo', parson?" asked one. "something," said I. "I'm thinking, Mr. Unwin," said an old man, whom I recognized as the, father of the man to whose death bed I hail been summoned months before; "I'm thinking this that you've shown tonight in th' pictures is th' same busi ness as my lad raved about. So my connection with the pictures had been discovered. In silence the hewer picked the bricks loose, pausing now and then to let a comrade throw the debris aside. Soon a space was cleared, and he began carefully to pick into and loosen the soil. A shovel was brought into requi sition, and the earth and rubbish were thrown aside. And the old ventil ating cowl overhead kept grinding stiffly and slowly about, with painful, long-drawn moans, as if it were on pressed with the spirit of the scene. "I've struck on summat!" exclaimed the hewer, pausing abruptly and speak ing in a hurried whimper. Several hands were now tearing at the soil, aud fearfully sounding it. "I feel a clout," whispered one man, and he began to tug at it. "Ah," I exclaimed in alarm, "you mustn't disturb them not tonight, at least!" "Yea, parson," said the man, "but we mun. We mun see which on us it is he's done for like this. There's Jim Riley gone missing, and Job Kershaw." (To be continued) WANTED TO CLIMB THE GATE, Story of Secretary Moody and Haughty Bos ton Woman. They are telling a story in Washing ton about the new secretary of the navy. Mr. Moody was riding on one of the Boston surface cars, and was stand ing on the platform on the side next the gate that protected passengers from ctrs coming on the ether track. A ladv a Boston lady came to tiie door of the car, and, as it stopped, started to move toward the gate, which was hid den from her by the man standing he fore it. "Other side, please, lady," said the conductor. He was ignored as only a born and bred Bostonian can ignore a man. The lady took another step to ward the gate. "You must get off the other side," said the conductor. "I wish to get off on this side, ' came the answer, in tones that congealed the official into momentary silence. Be fore he could either explain or expostu late, Mr. Moody came to his assistance. "Stand to one side, gentlemen," he remarked quietly. "The lady wants to climb over the gate." New York Times. Spread of Civilization. The first Tagalog-Englieh and Eng-lish-Tagalog dictionary has just been completed. It is the work of Dr. S torn pie of New York, who worked on the Tagalog grammar before our war with Spain. SOME ROYAL WOOLNtSS SPOTS WHERE IMPORTANT PRO POSALS WERE MADE. Romances thnt Hare Figured in the Otherwise Cu t-uiiil-Dried Live of a Few of the Greot Kulere of the Continent of Europe. Many people are possessed of the Idea that, as royal marriages have generally to be arranged m .ilairs of Btate. the prospective bridegroom lias no occasion to woo his bride as tiie average man would do. This, how ever. Is a totally erroneous idea, .i will be found ou reading the following authentic accounts of how and where some royalties proposed to those who ultimately became their wives, says I)udon TIt-llits. It was at ItQsenberg. the palace of the Danish royal family, that Kin? ICi'ward VII. proposed to aud was ac cepted by our gracious queen. His majesty then, of course, Trluce of Wales first saw his wife In the cathe dral of a continental town, and was so Impressed with her beauty that he determined to secure an Introduction on learulug who the princess was. The result of that Introduction was that a short time afterward the prince went over to Denmark aud made a formal claim for the hand of the princess. A charming story Is that told regard lug the manner In which the late Em peror Frederick of Germany, then crown prince, proposed to the princess royal (the late Fmpress Frederick). The two became separated from the rest of a royal party, who were tak ing a walk over a Scotch moor in the vicinity of Balmoral. Suddenly the crown prince spied a bit of white heather, and, picking It up, gave It to the young girl beside him for the princess was barely 18 years of age at the time. She knew, however, the meaning of the simple gift, and whis pered "Yes" loud enough for her com panion to hear. During the remainder of their lives Balmoral always had great attractions for toe emperor and empress. White Lodge, Richmond Tark, was the p'.ace where our present Prince of Wales wooed and won the heart of Princess May. The prince went on a visit for a few weeks to his sister, the Duchess of Fife, who lived at Sheen House, near the park gates. E.very day his royal highness could be seen strolling down Sheen lane, leading to White Lodge, and It was In the gar dens round that mansion that he -put the all-iuiportunt question. In describing how the Marquis of Lome, now, of course, the Duke of Ar gyll, proposed to Princess Louise, one cannot do Jietter than quote the ree- .ord made of the event by Queen Vic toria In her "Leaves From the Journal of a Life in the Highlands." Our lute queen wrote: "This was nn eventful day. Our dear Louise became engaged to Lord Lome. The event took place during a walk from the Glassalt Shiel to Loch Dhu. We got home by 7. Louise, who had got home some time after, told me that Lome had spoken of his devotion to her aud proposed to her. and that she had accepted him, know ing that I should approve." It was at the same place, I. e.. Rosen berg, the seat of the Danish royal family, where our king proposed to the "daughter of the sea kings," that the present czar asked Princess Allx of Hesse In 1S!4 to be his wife. He had made up his mind long before that If he married it would he to whom he pleased rather than one commended to him by his counsellors for state rea sons. His choice fell upon Princess Allx, and a party was arranged at Rosenberg to allow Nicholas to meet this royal lady. Accounts differ re garding the actual spot where the proposal took place. Some say the czar proposed during an evening party; others that he did so In the gardens round the palace while out for a walk with the princess. The latter account, however, is generally regarded as cor rect. PLANTS THAT IMITATE KIN. Methods by Which Inanimate Things Secure Protection. The methods of plants by which they protect themselves from tbelr enemies by mimicking other plants which have adequate protection are interesting in deed. Rev. A. S. Wilson writes In Knowledge, London, as follows: Mimicry Is perhaps more frequent In the seed than In any other part of the vegetable organism; It occurs, however. In other organs, and even the entire plant body may assume a deceptive ap pearance. A well know n example Is In the white dead nettle, which so close ly resembles the stinging nettle in size and in the shape aud arrangement of its leaves. In systematic position the two plants are widely removed from each other, but they grow n similar situations and are easily mistaken; anyone who has occasion to collect quantities of lamium Is almost sure to get his hands stung by urtlca, an ex perience calculated to convince one of the etlicacy of protective resemhlance Among animals It Is species provided with formidable weapons of defense that are most frequently mimicked by weak, defenseless creatures. The sting ing nettle Is therefore a very likely model for unprotected plants to copy. A somewhat analogous case Is the yel low bugle of the Riviera, which has Its leaves crowded and divided Into three linear lobes, some of which are again divided. In this the plant differs very materially from its allies. It has, how ever, acquired a very striking resem blance to a specie of euphorbia, abund ant on the Riviera. The acrid Juice of COCK FIGHT Many persons who would not think of jroing to see a real cock fijrht would he glad to see the kind which may he played in a parlor. It Is played by two men. who are seated on the ground, opposite each other, and It Is called "a humin cockfight," because the tactics of the combatants are not unlike those of two cocks in a pit. ' The legs of each man must be tied a bote the feet, the kneea must be drawn up to the chin and the hands must be crossed in front on the shins. When tat men are in this attitude a cane is nhoved under their hams In auch a manner that its ends will rest on their arms, and then the combat begins. The object of each combatant is to shove the tip of his foot under that of his opponent, for If he can once do that he can easily give him a Aoi that will place him "hors de combat. One in the accompanying picture has accom plished this feat, and must be considered the winner, since his fallen opponent Is unable to regain his position. The rules of the game require that the hands shall be fastened as well u the feet, but this Is seldom done when the fight takes place In a drawing room or parlor. the euphorbias secures them Immunity against a host of enemies. As the two plants grow together there Is little room to doubt that, like the dead net tle, the bugle profits by Its likeness to Its well-protected neighbor. One of the pineapple family grows on trees In tropical America, and has a resemblance to a shaggy lichen so marked that It is generally mistaken for a plant of that order. The fly aga ric, our most conspicuously colored fungus, according to Dr. Plowrlght, Is closely Imitated by a parasitic flow ering plant, balenophora volucrata, the scarlet cap, the dotted warts, the white stem and volva being all accurately represented. A RECORD-BRFAKING AUTO. French automohllists are still dis cussing the wonderful achievement of M. Serpollet, who recently won the Rothschild cup by driving his new rac ing machine at the record-breaking speed of 70 4-5 miles per hour. They describe the feat as the "revenge of steam." The race occurred on the Promenade des Anglais, which Is considered the most perfect racing course In FYance. The automobile attained such a ter rltic pace that It lurched all over the course. M. Serpollet and his assistant could hardly breathe and they nearly fainted when the sneed nf ti,., chine was slackened to make a stop. All previous records of cither electric or gasoline machines was broken by this run. Fournier's best record for a single mile was 51 4-5 seconds on the Coney Island boulevard. M. Serpollet beat this by just live seconds. The next best record was made bv W K Vanderbllt, Jr., several weeks ago" when he made 08 miles per hour with out the stimulus of a race. M. Serpollefs automobile Is n curious looking object. It Is strongly built mid egg-shaped, whence its nickname of "Serpollefs Easter Eggs." Immediate ly after the race an English chauffeur made a bid for It. Without question he paid M. Serpollefs price of $11 niH) the highest ever paid for a l'J-lmrso! power machine, and he has taken ;t to England. TURKEY HUNTING AN ART. Wild Fowl Can listiKuUh Murks f a Unman HeinK. The successful turkey hunter Is prob ably the most scientllic sportsman in the world. He matches himself against the acutest of all feathered things The turkey Is not only gifted with extraordinary sight, hearing, wariness and alertness, but It knows the woods better than any mere man can know them, and It has distinctly the faculty of casuality or reason. A turkey known not only that the appearance of a cer tain part of the ground Is not right but also why It Is not right. It will distinguish readily between marks of passage made by a wild anl mal and a human being. Negroes as sert that It can smell powder juVa they believe that a crow can 1 powder, but there Is no evidence tha oped"86 S"1011 18 s,,eolnlly devel Its power of flight Is not great, nor Is It enduring on foot There are manv animals which ire many - . ii una on ii In the early spring morning, but the Person who goes after one la er n day must know his business! t l sometimes taken In traps mate of M. SKIil'OLLKT's Al io. j IN A PARLOR. and roofed with branches, there belni an entrance under the bottom log. Once inside, having been tolled there by parched corn gTalns, It travels around and around looking for an exit higher than Its head. It Is sometimes slain, too, by belni led to a shallow trench dug In th woods and sprinkled with parched corn, a V-shaped blind having been prepared thirty yards away. If ibot legitimately, however, at any time save at daybreak or when flying Into Its roost at night. It must he called to the hidden gun, and In this the science of the hunter Is made manifest An CntlerKrouiid Photograph. There are thousands of people who have desired to see wJiat the bottom of nn oil well looked like after a hun dred quart glycerine torpedo had been exploded In it. Hut no ordinary mor tal could drawl down a six-Inch hole to the depth of two thousand feet If he wanted to, and no sane one would want to If he could. So the curlou oil seeker has heretofore been com pelled to guess as to the effect of the torpedo shot. An oil country photographer furnish ed the desired picture. The successful experiment was made at Warren, Pi The Instrument was let down to th bottom of a seventeen hundred foot well, which had been subjected to l torpedo explosion. When the camera touched bottom I bright flash lit up the cavity, impress ing a perfect picture on the negative. A cavity fourteen feet broad and seven feet deep below the oil sand was re venled. Into the cavity, enlarged bj the force of a glycerine explosion, from' the ordinary six-Inch drill hole the oil trickled and accumulated, ready to be pumped to the surface. A Sojourn in Siberia, "My first purchase in Siberia," writes a traveler who recently made the transcontinental Journey, "was a post age stamp; and, living In a country where omcinls are public servants, It seemed strange to me to stand with hat removed, before a counter, behind which a man sat with his cap on, dressed like a major general, who gra ciously consented to sell me a stamp. Great as the postmaster Is, he Is noth ing compared to an army officer. On one extremely hot day on the Aaioor, a wealthy merchant was lying on a sofa In the cabin. He, had removed bis coat. A lieutenant In the army, travel ing third class as a deck passenger, happened to see him In his shirt sleeves, aud Just above his head a pic ture of the Emperor. He thereupon ordered him to put on his coat In the presence of the Emperor. The mer chant appealed to the captain of the steamboat, but to no effect." Throw jCoId Water on Him. A titled lady warned her gardener that her husband bad an Irritating habit of disparaging everything he saw In the greenhouse, and of order ing. In a reckless manner, new plants to be bought. "But on no account humor him." ,lie said. "Whatever he snys, throw cold water on him, or he will ruin us with his extravagance." At this point the new gardener tam ed on her a white and startled face. "Ma'am." he asked, "If he orders me to pitch every plant In the place on the rubbish-heap. I shnu't ever have the pluck to douse him In cold water. Won't It do Just as well If I get drain of warm water out of the boiler and let It trickle gently down b& neck?" - ... oi.) Stronger than Wood. ..Win ill urn saw handles are being in troduced which are said to be both lighter and stronger than those of wood. There are several shapes, bnt they are all made of thin sheet metal worked Into the desired form and sup plied with perforations for the pur pose of enabling workmen to get ' secure hold of the tool. One of the designs offered Is adjustable so that the right hand side of the handle U flush with the saw, permitting the operator to work close to the floor or in other Inconvenient places. Millions in Gifts. An annual eyclopedla for 1901 plc the total gifts and bequests In t United States last year at $107.3(.w There Is one thing you men taaj ' well learn early; that your wives 1B' really care If you like their new na or not