A Political Vendetta
WELDON J. COBB
T
C H ylPTE lt X V I I I .— (Continued.)
Hope thrilled, his eyes glistened with
Interest.
“ Is escape, then, possible?” he demand
ed quickly.
“ And easy !”
“ Show me the way to freedom, then !”
“ You pledge yourself I shall go with
you r
“ Oh, surely!"
“T o assist me if I need aid?”
“ Yes r
“ T o hasten yourself to the execution
of the mission, should I be overcome and
incapacitated by weakness or accident?”
“ I promise you that!”
“ And you look like a man who means
what he says, and I believe in you,” earn
estly said the other. “ Very well, then—
our course is simple. Alone, I fear I
could not carry out my designs, but you
are strong, fenrless, while I am a physical
wreck. There is a window in my cell, un
like your own. An hour’s work with the
saw will enable you to break out the
framed grating. Then there is a yard to
cross, a high stone wall to scale, and—
liberty! But we must wait for nightfall,
for all day long the attendants here are
about the garden.”
Hope's energies spurred up as if by
magic. His crushing experience of the
past week had well nigh distracted other
titan a pained interest in life, but every
man craves liberty, and the prospect of
freedom was alluring.
“ I shall certainly hold myself solely at
your service while you carry out this mis
sion of yours,” he said.
At the allusion, the former agitation of
his companion recurred.
“ My mission !" he repeated, weirdly,
pacing the floor with excitement. "H eav
ens ! when I think of i t !
And only
twenty-four hours le ft ! I f I fa il!— if I
fa il!”
Hope placed a hand soothingly on the
man’s arm, for he observed that he was
becoming frightfully worked up.
“ Be calm, my friend.” he said, reassur
ingly. “ you are not going to fail. Is not
the way to freedom open to us?”
“ Yes. yes— it seems so!”
“ W ill not I be at your Side to assist
you?”
Then the man’s face glowed with hope!
H e resumed his place on the bench.
“ My name is Warren,” he said, after a
long, dreary pause, “ and I am an expert
chemist, and agent for the Vulcan Nitro-
Glycerine Company of New York.”
So peculiar and grim-sounding was this
announcement that Hope secretly wonder
ed if, after all, the speaker was entirely
responsible for what he said, but the lat
ter proceeded, with a manifest powerful
effort to be cool and coherent:
“ It was exactly two months ago yes
terday that I was struck down in the
railroad wreck. This I know by compu
tation, for I learned the day of the month
from a newspaper and an overheard con
versation in the garden. It is, therefore,
precisely 63 days to-morrow morning that
I left in the Vandyke House, at Murry-
ville, a satchel containing my latest chem
ical experiment in dynamite.”
“ You mean?----- ”
“ What I tell you. It is there now, in
the closet of the room I always occupied
when a guest there, pushed way back on
a dusty, unused shelf.”
“ Ah, I see,” nodded Hope, “ you fear
someone may discover it, tamper with it,
and create disaster?”
"N ot at a ll!” dissented Warren, sharp
ly. “ No one would do that, for the hotel
people understand my ways, and I have
frequently used the room.
Again, the
satchel has a warning tag attached that
would at once apprise a meddler of his
risk.”
“Then?----- ”
“ Listen." proceeded Warren, his tones
shaking— “ it is nearly ripe !”
“ Ripe?”
“ Yes.”
“ I don't understand yon.”
Warren wrung his hands.
“ As a chemist,” he said, “ I know that
precisely 63 days from the date I made
the mixture spontaneous explosion will
positively materialise!”
Hope gave an awed start, comprehend
ing.
“ Then, indeed----- ” he began.
“ It mnst be reached, removed, cast into
some deep river bed. A y e ! or a hundred
innocent lives will lie blotted out. Why,
man! there is enough dynamite in that
little satchel to blow the Vandyke House
to atoms in an intsant!”
It was fated that what Warren had
planned thou Id be in a measure carried
oat.
Just after dusk Gideon Hope and his
strange associate in escape removed the
sawed-through window frame, let them
selves down by a trellis to the garden,
found a ladder, and gained the top of the
high stone wall surrounding the private
asylum.
Its broad surface was littered with
broken crockery and glassware. About to
pull up the ladder to drop it over on the
other side, Hope caught a faint moan
from the lips of his companion.
“ What la. the matter?” he Inquired
quickly.
Warren was tottering, and Gideon
grasped him to steady him with bis strong
hand.
“ I have cut my wrist on a fragment
o f broken glass!” panted Warren, and It
is bleeding profusely. I am so weak— ah.
I feared i t ! I shall not have the strength
to go with you.”
“ Nonsense— courage !*’
"N o — you must see that. Ah I now it
is not a question of choice!”
A shout arose from the garden, a
rustling echoed. Tw o attendants came
into view around the corner of the build
ing.
"H alt, there!” was gruffly ordered, and
tbs dick of a revolver cut the air, sharp
and menacing.
OHAPTBR XIX.
“ G o !”
/
“ And leave you behind— n ever!"
“ You must!”
Warren had sumrooued the strength to
throw himself before Hope, so as to shield
him from the revolver aimed upwards
from the garden.
Thence had arisen the brief instruction:
“ Drop’ the big one— he’s a special!”
“ Jump, I tell you!” insisted Warren.
“T%ey dare not injure me. In two days
I shall be free, but you— man! the dyna
mite! Save the innocent lives at that
hotel----- ”
“ Y e s!” cried Hope, inspired with the
holy, purpose indicated.
He leaped backwards. In half a minute
he was aafe in the shelter of shrubbery, in
half an hour, at the end of a keen run,
fully four miles away from his recent
prison place.
Now he sat down on a fallen tree to
regain his breath and calculate what was
to be done, and the speediest way of ac
complishing it.
He had conversed so generally with
Warren that day that he knew he must
lose no time in heading straight and
swiftly for the hotel where the satchel
of dynamite lay.
Hope put aside the exultation of free
dom, the complications of the escape, even
all thoughts o f Kane, of Claire, as he
realized the sacred pledge he must fulfill
at all hazards.
Murryville was 20 miles across country.
J ty going back six in the direction of the
asylum he could strike a railroad, but it
might be to run directly into a nest of
attendants on the lookout for him. Again,
he knew nothing of the train schedule. lie
resolved to press onward on foot, trusting
to general ideas of direction and distance
to cover the straight twenty miles before
daylight.
But, a man badly injured in a brutal
melee and shut up in an unwholesome
prison for a week, Hope found that he
was scarcely in normal shape. He pro
ceeded more slowly than he had calcu
lated. The lonely country road oppress
ed him. He became footsore and dizzy-
headed.
Hope welcomed a light shining in the
distance. He kept It in sight as a bea
con, and traced it to the window of a
cabin near a quarry.
A knock at its door brought thither
an uncouth laborer, sleepy eyed and un
civil.
What you want?”
he
challenged
gruffly.
A horse, or a horse and vehicle,” re
sponded Hope promptly. “ Only for a few
hours. See— I will pay liberally to se
cure the means of getting at once to
Murryville.”
“ I ’ ve got no horse.” advised the man,
“ and there’s no place between here and
Murryville that I know of where you
could get a rig— hold on!” he interrupted
himself; “ there is.’
"W here?" eagerly demanded Hope.
“ Go down the road a mile.”
“ Yes?’ •
“ You’ll come to the old Thorndyke
place.
Some strangers have rented it
lately, and they keep a horse and car
riage— I ’ ve seen ’em.”
“ Good!”
Hope tossed the man a coin as a re
ward for his cheering information, and
put forward with renewed ardor.
The district was rough, barren and not
a habitation did he pass until he came
in sight of what had once been quite a
pretentious residence, probably formerly
that of some person interested in the
quarries in the vicinity.
It was lighted up, front and side. As
Hope approached, he, too, made out sta
bles at the rear.
“ I must get a conveyance here,’ be
ruminated.
“ It is only ten miles to
Murryville, but I don’t seem to be able
to walk it on fo o t I am dreaming!”
These last words fell from his lips in
a wild gasp, as, crossing an unkept gar
den space, he fixed his eyes upon a man
seated in a lighted room, and smoking
leisurely.
The windows were open, the lamplight
showed him plainly—
“ Percy K an e!”
Like one in a trance, rooted, incredu
lous, Hope gazed in at the man. His
temples throbbed, the old fever of hatred
and vengeance crowded back the mission
that had strangely guided him to this
spot, to this vital, unaccountable discov
ery.
Firmly he set his lips— his hands clos
ed, unclosed— his breath came hard. Gid
eon went around to the front. An open
door showed a hallway— at its end the
room in which Kane sat.
“ He shall tell me— of her— of Claire !”
biased Hope, and noiselessly entered the
place.
As he crossed* the threshold o f the
inner room Kane sprang up. His eyes
dilated.
He brushed one hand swiftly
across them, as if to exclude an unreal
vision, though be paled, and his lips part
ed, aghast.
The sternness of confrontation was lost
for Hope, for as Kane arose a singular
revelation caused the former to stare in
amaze.
About one wrist of Kane was a bright
strong handcuff, and a chain ran from
this to a stout marble pillar of the orna
mental fireplace.
Lost In wonderment and mystery, Hope
exclaimed :
“ What does this mean?”
Kane had grown steadily whiter. But
a bitter sardonic sneer made his evil face
now rather defiant and reckless than af
frighted.
His lips parted, but ere he could speak
there was a sound in the adjoining room,
a swishing frou-frou, like the rustling of
silken skirts.
Quick as a flash, Kane turned, pointed
through tbs opening connecting doorway,
and said In bitter mockery:
her t”
"Your— wife?” breathed Hope, and hii-
senses reeled as he caught sight of r
graceful feminine figure arrayed in taste
ful evening attire.
Claire!
His heart seemed burstltui
within him. C lairs! Were they to oaeei
thus at last?
He took a step forward to address her,
to ones more view that lovely beloved
face.
What would she say at the recognition?
What could she say, save to hurl upon
the man who had driven her to link h r
destiny with rhflt of the deepest scoundrel
oh earth, words of reproach and cou-
tempt!
"C laire! Miss Densiow! Mrs. K an e!”
The woman turned. They came face
to face.
“ Great heavens!” rang from Gideon
Hope's ashen lips, his heart in a tumult,
as he recoiled with a shock.
CH APTER XX.
Gideon Hope stood petrified— abashea
He was transfixed with consternation and
incredulity.
“ You— you are not----- " he began.
“ I am not— what?” came the sharp,
quick inquiry.
From the lips of the woman upon whom
he had advanced the words issued. Nev
er for an instant had his gaze left her
face— the confrontation, unreal as was
it unexpected, fascinated him.
,
There she stood— a woman to admire,
to wonder a t ; for most men to worship,
for she was queenly in form and bearing,
her eyes were dazzlingl.v piercing, her fea
tures statutsquely radiant.
She was
naught to Gideon Hope, though— for she
was not the woman he had expected to
meet, was not Claire Tremaine— or rath
er, Claire Kane, aa he had expected to
greet her and find her.
The discovery was a puzzle, and the
puzzle a shock— but as yet no ray of the
true light flooded his mind; only sheer,
profound mystification and bewilderment
permeated.
“ You are not his— this man’s wife.”
stumbled Hope, indicating the manacled
arch-plotter with a movement of his band
backward.
“ Indeed!”
A change went over the tragic face ot
the woman— a scornful defiance was pre
sented, and he could not but note these
rapid changes, the intense power of ex
pression. The most superb and skilled
actress could no better potray the emo
tions that were apparently quick-kindling
fuel to a strongly unique temperament.
And. too, Hope fancied in the queerly
iridescent eyes there was a token of
strange import, as though this creature
hovered on a distorted mental balance.
“ Ask— him !” she said, and power and
triumph greighter her tones that were
part a mocking cry, part a malignant hiss.
With that— a quivering indication of
her index finger in the direction of the ad
joining room where Kane sat— she turned
coldly and unceremoniously from Hope,
and as she swept past a portiered door
way the overwhelmed intruder elowly,
dubiously moved around, and with vague,
dulled steps returned to the presence of
the man be so bated.
Kane sat as before in the luxurious
armchair— as before, the stout chain en
circled one wrist, running to the heavy
marble pillar, and bolding him captive.
The pallor that had been occasioned by
the first startling and unexpected appear
ance of Hope had departed. Ilia lip was
curled with a mockery that seemed born
of some mysterious innate confidence. He
regarded his visitor's face sardonically.
Then he burst into a short, harsh and de
risive laugh.
Kane poised motionless and silent, try
ing to study out the situation, striving to
analyse the jarring elements that had dis
tracted all his original ideas and purposes.
With cool and contemptuous demeanor
Kane laughed twice again. Then he reach
ed over to the dainty stand at his elbow«
selected a fresh cigar, lit it, sank back
with a chuckle and a grin, and calmly
puffed out the blue leisurely smoke to
wards his enemy.
In all this, Hope suddenly fancied ha
detected trickery— some diabolical effront
ery that had for Its ends the baffling of his
cherished project to discover Claire and
wrest her from the power and presence of
this unpunished scoundrel. His muscles
relaxed to grow instantly rigid again, but
menacingly so, for he had both hands
clutched above his head, his eyes aflame,
his white, regular teeth bristling, and he
posed as if to spring upon Kane.
T - \
“ W h a t!” jeered the other— “ would you
jump on a helpless man !”
(T o be continued.)
The
V o le s
of
Paaae.
An American author o f some note
was passing a summer In New Hamp
shire. One day he received word that
a distinguished Englishman was visit
ing in the country town and would like
to call upon the author, o f whom, he
added In his note requesting an audi
ence, he had beard.
Somewhat flattered, the author won
dered to himself who had spoken to
the distinguished Englishman about
him.
“ Some O xford dignitary doubtless,”
he reflected, pleasantly, “ or possibly
some London publisher or critic," and
he awaited the stranger's arrival with
interest.
“ So you had heard o f me.” he ven
tured. after the usual greetings had
been si»oken. “ W ell, that Is odd. Might
I ask who----- ” but bis visitor Inter
rupted him.
“ Oh, yes.” he said, “ I heard all about
you before I got here. The porter on
the Pullman told me that you were the
very man to come to to ask about the
best route to Niagara, and what hotel
I ’d better stay a t ”
No
T r o u b le
to
§ t le k .
“ Yes, sir,” said the pompous Individ
ual, “ It pays a man to stick to his own
business. I made a fortune doing
th a t”
“ W hat Is the nature o f your busi
ness ?” queried the Interested party.
“ I ’m a glue manufacturer,” was the
significant reply.
O at
fa r
B a s la e a s .
The Arctic Explorer— 8ay, can yon
tell me where I can find the north
pole?
The Eskimo— Nix. I f I knew I ’d had
It In a museum long ago.
A Sub-Marine Boat
for Sponge Fishing
Through the ingenuity o f Vicar Gen
eral Raoul, o f Carthage, a submarine
boat for sponge fishing has been per
fected, and bids fa ir to displace the
dangerous and health ruining process
o f 8)>onge gathering by divers. The
submarine boat o f Abbe Raoul la very
much smaller and simpler than
Its
naval prototypes. It Is 10^4 feet long
and 5% feet In diameter and carries
two men. Its general form Is that o f
a cylinder with rounded ends. The
only opening Is a man-hole at the top,
which Is surmounted by a turret her
metically closed by a cover that can be
operated equally well from
below.
When the vessel Is afloat. It Is possible
to walk on the convex top with the
aid o f steel handrails which extend
fore and a ft on each side o f the turret.
The vessel Is caused to sink by open
ing three sea-cocks and thus filling as
many w ater ballast tanks. T w o o f
those tanks, placed amldshlp In the
bilge, to port and starboard, have a
combined capacity o f 154 gallons o f sea
water, the weight o f which balances
most o f the buoyancy and brings the
top o f the boat nearly awash. These
two tanks are to be kept filled, as a
rule, but they can be emptied by means
of a hand pump. The third tank, which
Is placed between the other two, holds
only seventeen gallons.
Th e water flows In directly from the
sea and Is forced out by connecting the
tank with two reservoirs which contain
air at a pressure o f 150 atmospheres.
also made for telephoule comtuuntcu
tlon between the submerged boat uud
a floating vessel.— Montreal Star.
LION INVADES THE GAMP.
A f r i c a * T r a v e le r T e lia o f a a K x c it
in g A d v e a t a r e l a T h o r a la c lo a a r e .
“ When In Somaliland, Africa, 1 hud
an exciting adventure with a black
maned lion,” writes a correspondent
“ I had Intended to reach a village one
night, but It was getting dark, and we
were a couple o f hours’ march o ff; so.
finding an old xareba, or thorn inclos
ure, we went Into It. This xareba cov
ered h alf an acre. I t was only about
four feet high and four feet thick, the
tboruy branches composing It bavins
sunk down and fallen apart.
“ W e repaired about 100 yards o f it
pitched our teut, and the cook got bis
Are lighted, gave me some dinner, and
I turned In. Our nineteen camels are
squatted In a circle to the right o f the
teut, our horses were tethered near to
them and our twenty-one men lighted
three or four fires, cooked their food
and lay down to sleep around the cam
els.
W e also had five donkeys teth
ered to tw o or three saplingB, which
were grow ing about two paces In front
o f the tent, and, th e.«fore, toward th »
center o f the eareba.
“ About 2 o’clock in the morning I
was awakened by two feeble brays, fo l
lowed by a third. Lighting a candle,
I tumbled ont In my pajamas and got
hold o f my rifle and a couple o f car
tridges, to meet the Somali hunters
shoving their woolly heads through the
tent door, saying, ‘ W ara b a !’ (h yen a).
Deep growls were going on, and I at
once felt sure that It was no hyena,
but a lion, In the xareba. Fortunate
ly, the camels did not stampede.
“ It was pitch dark, but I saw that
one o f the five donkeys tethered in front
o f the tent was gazing Intently toward
the left and center. Th e other four
Tea la a germicide according to a Bos
ton physician, who claims It is an es
pecially rank enemy o f the typhoid
bacillus,
Missouri led in the production o f
lead In the United States in 1007, push
ing Idaho, the leader in 1906, back to
second place.
Although the house fly lays eggs, the
flesh fly, better known as the “ blue
bottle,” produces livin g larvne, about
fifty at a time.
A $10,000 plant fo r the production o f
ozone by electrolysis, the largest In the
world, has been completed at a Pitts
burg hospital.
A Norwegian factory receives power
for six turbines from w ater that falls
3,287 feet through a tunnel from a lake
seven miles away.
Peru has officially adopted as Its
standard time that o f the seventy-fifth
meridian, the same as “ eastern' time
In the United States.
The electrical equipment o f the Cu-
nard liner Mauretania includes over
250 miles o f cables, and more than
6,000 16-candle-power lamps.
Th ree parts by weight o f borarlc held
to one o f powdered borsx makes n good
compound for brazing steel. It should
be applied as a paste with water.
On the west coast o f India Is found
a species o f oyster. Plneuna placenta,
whose shell consists o f a pair o f rough
ly circular plates about six Inches In
diameter, thin and white. At present
these oysters are collected for the pearls
which they often contain, although few
sre fit fo r the use o f the Jeweler. But
In the early days o f English rule In
India the shells were employed
for
window-panes. Cut Into little squares,
they produced a very pretty effect, ad
m itting light like frosted glass. When
the Bombay cathedral was built, at the
beginning o f the eighteenth century, Its
windows were paned with there oyster
shells. In Goa they are still thus em
ployed.
Prof. Arthur O. Lovejoy. as the re
sult o f an Inquiry Into the origin and
meaning o f “ fire cults,” so common
among ancient nations and among mod
em savage and barbarous tribes sug
gests that many races conceived the
“ sacred fire.” not as a practical con
venience or an ancient custom or a
means o f frightening demons, but as
a vehicle o f life, or magical energy,
the prosperity o f the household or tribe
depending In part on the perpetuity,
vitality and purity o f the fire. It was
thought o f as subject to a tendency to
grow old and weak, like all natural
forces— hence the custom o f periodical
ly renewing It. This conclusion Is based
partly upon the statements made by the
Iroquois Indians and the Maoris.*
A S U B M A R IN E B O A T FOR SPONGE F IS H IN G .
Small movements o f ascent and descent
can be made and controlled readily by
manipulating the compressed air valve.
In case o f accident a lead weight o f
1.500 pounds, which forms the amld
shlp section o f the keel, can be instant
ly detached, causing the lightened ves
sel to rise rapidly to the surface.
The boat Is propelled by means o f
two steel oars, with feathering blades
The oars pass through the hull
In
water-tight spherical Joints which give
freedom o f motion In every direction.
Sim ilar Joints are used on the torpedo
tubes o f warships.
Attached to the forward fixed sec
tion o f the keel Is a wheel on which
Abbe Raoul expects his unique vessel
to travel over the level bottom o f hard
sand on whl£b the sponges are found.
By regulating the supply o f compressed
air to the small ballast tanks the pres
sure o f the wheel on the sea bottom
can be made a# small as Is desired, and
there Is no apparent reason why the
vessel should not be propelled over the
bottom by the oars— for It has no other
motor. The purpose o f this device Is
to evade the necessity o f rising from
the sea bottom, and consequently draw
ing on the supply o f compressed air In
moving from place to place In search
o f sponges.
Raoul’s flrst boaV had a
sim ilar wheel, which worked very well
Th e sponge fishing apparatus con
sists o f a movable arm which projecta
from the lower part o f the curved bow,
through a water-tight spherical Joint
and carries cutting pincers at Its ex
tremity.
By means o f this device,
operated by a man inside the hull, the
sponge Is cut loose and deposited In a
large Iron basket suspended from the
end o f a fixed tubular arm o f sheet
Iron, which occupies nearly the place of
the bowsprit o f s ship. To the middle
o f this fixed arm are attached electric
lamps and a reflector for the purpose o f
Illuminating the sea bottom, which can
be observed through a bull’s eye In the
bow o f the boat These lamp», as well
as those which light the Interior o f the
vessel, are supplied with current by a
small battery o f accumulators. A ball
o f lead attached to a steel w ire can be
raised and lowered by means o f a wind
lass Inside the tubular arm, and thus
serve« the purpose o f an anchor. The
windlass is operated bjr gearing ter
minating In a shaft which passes
through a stuffing box Into the Interior
o f the boat and which bears a crank
handle at Its Inner end. Provision Is
had disappeared. There was a black
mass discernible in the center o f the
xareba, which, however, I found in the
morning to be simply a mass o f old
dried thorn branches, so the six or
eight shots I fired at It in the darkness
did little harm.
"T h e men were now bushing the fires
and the cook supplied four or five o f
the men with sticks and with kerosene
and rapidly made some torches. I then
noticed that the donkey was gazing
more to the left o f the center, and,
guided by the growling which was go
ing on continuously and furiously, I
crept on my hands and knees past th*
donkey for a couple o f yards.
The
men with the torches were then a little
behind my right shoulder.
“ Suddenly the torches flamed up
brightly and, the light being behind me
somewhat, I was not dazzled by It, but
saw the lion dragging off a donkey, rt
did not take me more than one second
to snap both barrels at him, and bis
growls at once censed. A fte r putting
In two more cartridges and having the
torches retrimmed, we again advanced,
to find the lion lying on his side, giving
n few expiring gnsps. Ills nose touched
the donkey’s throat, a trickle o f blood
flowed down from under his left eye,
and, as I afterw ard found, he had got
my second bullet in the nfipe o f the
neck.”
Dr. Robert E. Coker, w riting to Sci
ence from Lima, advocates the protec
tion o f the guano-producing birds— the
guanae," a species o f cormorant, and
the “ alcatraz," s species o f pel loan--
In order that the Peruvian deposits o f
this valuable manure may be In part,
renewed. Th e great ancient deposits,
he says, are now almost non-existent
Only the lower grades o f guano are le ft
But the birds annually make fresh de
posits on their nesting grounds, and If
they were properly protected, he be
lieves that the annual supply o f fresh
deposits would be largely Increased.
The birds, he says, should no longer
be treated ns wild animals. They should
be regarded as valuable domestic ani
mals. A t present they are decreasing
In number, but this decrease could be
checked. They are also driven from
their haunts during the season when
they should he allowed to remain »here
When driven aw ay by the presence o f
man during the nesting season, they
spend a large part o f their time upon
the water, or on small Islets and cliffs,
where the deposits are either lost en
tirely or are rendered less available.
G a t h e r in g
R oan.
I'v e gathered rosea and the like In
many glad and golden Junes, hut now,
as down the world I hike my weary
hands are filled with prunes. I ’ve gath
ered roses o’er and o’er, and some were
white and some were red, but when (
teok them to the store the grocer want
ed eggs Instead. I gathered roses long
ago, in other days. In other scenes, and
people said, “ You ought to go and dig
the weeds out o f your beans.” A million
roses bloomed and died; a million more
will die to-day. That man Is wise who
lets them slide and gathers up the bales
o f hay.— Emporia Gazette.
S e o o p la g lip th e W r e c k a g e .
flo w
B ir d s
M s el
K m erg en d ea.
Dr. Francis H. Herrick says a spar
row w ill pluck a horsehair from the
mouth o f a nestling, while another bird,
like an oriole, w ill stand by and see
Its mate hang until dead without at
tempting to release I t
A robin will tug at a string which
hqs caught on a limb, but Is never seen
fully to meet the situation by releasing
the string. It w ill make severs! turns
o f a cord about a limb and leave the
other end free without any relation to
the nest, so that its effort is useless.
I t ties no knots.
T h « gull, according to abundant and
competent testimony, will carry shell
fish to a considerable h eigh t drop them
on the rocks or hard ground and repeat
the experiment until it gets the soft
meat.—-Chicago Tribune.
Even when the unexpected happens
there is always some fellow around to
say : " I told you so.”
It ’s always better to throw bouquets
than It is to band lemons.
The owner o f the racing automobile
eras a novice at the sport. Naturally,
he felt rather mystified when the ex
pert driver handed him the follow ing
bill on the morning after the race:
Gaaollne, $60; repairs to car. $70; cut
ting expenses, $1,000.
“ What the deuce,” said the sm steur
owner, “ Is the meaning o f this Item.
‘Cutting expenses?” ’
“ Oh. that," observed the chauffeur
carelessly “ represents the surgeon's fee
for renovating my mechanic.’— Judge.
B e tt la g
It
R ig h t .
“ In your paper this morning, sir, you
called me a ‘bum actor.’ I want an
explanation.”
" I shall be happy to explain, young
man. That word ‘actor’ was inserted
by the proofreader, who thought I had
omitted It accidentally.
I shall take
care that It doesn't happen again.” -—
Chicago Tribune.
A turkey Is never tough because b<
Is so good he is never allowed to bs
old.