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Show "Tell me,'' he said quietly, to the girl who was hovering over his shoul- 1 der, "have you given him any particulars particu-lars as to how you chanced to ?gcape from the Steen dungeons?" "Only that just in the nick of time I was discovered by some tourists who had come down to see the awful place for themselves." "My name was not mentioned?" "To the best of my recollection, not at all." "Good! Then, if I meet the ogre, you can introduce me as one of your friends." "I trust such is only the truth," shy- It. "An old, old friend, let us say, for whom you have always entertained feelings of profound respect." "It shall be as you say. I am sure you have some motive in this action." "I certainly have. Truth to tell, I believe I have seen this gentleman before, be-fore, under other conditions. I shall know to a certainty after I have been in his society a while. At any rate, there is reason to hope for the best." "Shall we go out and meet him?" asked Arline. "Yes, indeed. The Fates have decided decid-ed that Captain Brand and I shall come together for a trial of strength, and it might just as well take place now as later. I am ready." So they went out. The ex-sailor quickly sighted them and "bore down with all sails set," as he would have nautically expressed it. Charlie played his part well. He met the captain in a bluff, friendly manner, just as a young man might wish to receive the father of a lovely girl he admired. Plainly Captain Brand found no es- "One shining light." "Then fire away, and be hanged to you." Artemus assumed a look of extreme gravity, although Charlie was sure ha heard a chuckle. "You have met the father of the young lady of the Steen, dungeons. The hotel clerk has been entertaining ma with a wonderful story of his return to life and civilization. It reads like a romance, and would find a worthy niche in my notebook, only, my dear boy, U is so very ancient, a veritable stage chestnut, as it were. "But let that pass. I imagine this Captain Brand is a character worth knowing, something unique. I could hear him out yonder, and the dulcet tones of his voice were soothing enough to conjure with." "Yes," remarked Charlie, "he is a wonderful man, and could charm most people by the quaint manner of his speech." Artemus again bent forward. "Beware of Captain Brand:" he whispered, and then sprang back to note tha stunning effect of his announcement. an-nouncement. ; But Charlie, though interested, refused re-fused to be stunned. "Why, what has he done?" "He is a bold, bad man!" Charlie was inclined to say "Amen!" to that, but he kept his own counsel as yet, seeking more light. "See here! You have known this wonderful modern Baron Munchausen at some past date?" he said. Artemus nodded. "It would be impossible that two such men could ever exist. Yes, 1 knew him." "Where?" . "In New York." I "When?" A WARRIOR BOLD. By ST. GEORGE RATHDORNE, Avthorof "Little Mitt Milliont," "The Spider' t Web," "Sr. Jack's Widow'," "Mitt Caprice," etc. Copyright. 1901. Street nd Smith, New York. CHAPTER VI. ' Captain Brand, of the Hespasia. The young girl heard her companion make this declaration with an interest she did not attempt to conceal. "Many times that thought has come to me, but I dismissed it as unworthy. He brought several things my father had with him when he went away, and he resembled the only picture I had of my father that is, in a general way. You could not expect very much after his cruel years of hardship in the desert. Besides, he knew all about our family matters, the quarrel with mamma's people on account of her marriage, and many little things connected con-nected with the past." "I shall devote myself to the task of discovering the truth. Heaven alone knows who he is, or how he came into possession of the fac he has used to such advantage; but I intend to satisfy sat-isfy my curiosity in that respect, at any cost" "Something tells me you will succeed," suc-ceed," she said eagerly, so that Charlie Char-lie flushed with pleasure. "Thanks for your faith in me. It will go a great way toward assisting me. Of course, you would be gratified should I find the means to expose him as an imposter?" "So long as I still believe him to be what he claims, I cannot find it in my heart to turn against him. He has told me so many awful stories of the cruelties practiced upon them that I sometimes feel as though possibly his mind had been a little affected, aud that he could hardly be held accountable account-able for his actions." Charlie seized upon a slender cue, quick as a flash to discover a vulnerable vulner-able point. . "Ah!" he 'said, eagerly; "you speak of their suffering among the Arabs! Then he had a companion in exile, I imagine." "Oh, yes three at first; but later on there was only one left" "And the name do you remember "Yes. It was his mate, Ben Hazen." "Ah! that is a substantial point from which to work. Our friend, if an Imposter, may be very cunning; but I doubt if he has been able to cover his tracks so hat we may not learn something of Ben Hazen's past: Shipping Ship-ping books and shipping masters may tell the story of identification if all else fails'. By the way, what does he Bay became of Ben Hazen?" "He was shot while defending a wretched woman slave against her inhuman in-human master, and died of his wounds." "Well, the incident may be true enough; but the chances are that it was your own father who gave up his life in this chivalrous fashion, and that what papers he had hidden on his person he confided to his fellow prisoner in the hope that at some day he might escape and carry the news to those he loved in old England." . Arline heard him with both wonder and delight. Her confidence had apparently gone out to him in the start, and now she felt it growing he was so earnest, so positive that his logic seemed to have the faculty of convincing others. "There is one thing I meant to ask; you gave me the wrong card by a singular accident, but at the same time Intimated that you were known by. another an-other name than Arline Brand at the hotpl " pecial reason for alarm. I He set out to be even more jovial and debonair than usual, with the idea of creating a godd impression on his daughter's old friend, whom lie wished to study at close range. When he set out to entertain, Captain Cap-tain Brand of the Hespasia was a howling success, relating the most astonishing as-tonishing incidents connected with his iong captivity in the desert, his perils on the sea, and the deep fountain of love for wife and child that had sustained sus-tained him through all his trials. ' Charlie was no mean actor himself, thanks to the splendid control which he was able to exercise over his facial muscles. Although he now had ' not the least doubt as to the fellow being a fraud of the first water, Charlie felt that he owed it to Arline's respect for filial affection af-fection to prove this fact This was the task he cut out for himself. He laid his little trap. Captain Brand was so much engaged engag-ed with his flow of oratory and the charming of this friend of the family that he did not notice the pit so deftly dug. Thus, almost without an effort, Charlie had him admit that he knew considerable about Valparaiso, in Chili, and had been there, in the course of his wanderings, many years ago. In Charlie's mind this settled the matter. He was confident he knew with whom he had to deal, and when the time came he would be ready to dare all in defying the adventurer. While they sat thus, speaking of the sights of Antwerp, there came a messenger from the hotel office inquiring inquir-ing for 'Mr. Charlie Stuart, whom a gentleman outside desired to see. As he went, directed by the clerk, to the spot where he would find the gentleman who had asked for an immediate im-mediate interview on serious business, he was making up his mind to tell Peterhoff the whole story and enlist his favorable consideration for Arline, so that when the denoument came the doughty captain could be taken care nf. - "Let me see," scratching his head, as a comedian must always do when desirous of arousing memory. "Ab! yes,, just a little more than two years ago." "But at that time he swears he was in the heart of Africa, a prisoner at Dahomey." "Well he lies," coolly. Charlie liked that It was so fresh and original, at the same time so very emphatic. "Who was he when you knew him?" he asked, determined to get down to the facts now. "A fourth-rate actor, on his uppers half of the time. One of these howling howl-ing barnstormers, a heavy villain of the piece, at home in 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' or 'Ten Nights in a Barroom." He was the joke of the season on the Rialto, in Gotham. I even thought se- riously of utilizing him in my great play as the seedy actor who carries the mysterious secret with him through five acts, but when he found there was a chance of him being immortalized, im-mortalized, his price for sittings went away up. and I discovered something better than Hamfatter." "Good Heavens! was that his name?" "Certainly not That's what they call all heavy tragedians of the barnstorming barn-storming variety. Let me see," placing plac-ing a finger alongside his nose, a ia Irving, "cow I have it bend your head lower, for that fellow has; keen ears it was Frederick Davenport Ma-cauley." Ma-cauley." "Indeed! Very suggestive, considering consider-ing his occupation in life. What a man he is, to be sure; capable of having hav-ing so many names, and filling such various stations in life. Why, when 1 knew him, four or five years ago, he was called Captain Nathaniel Ked-ge." "What! you knew him, then?" "I saw him that is, I am almost dead certain it iar the same man; and I expect to prove it presently." "Where was this?" "In South America." "Tn Valnaraiso?" "Yes; I should have explained. When my aunt adopted me I assumed her name of Wallis; and as her title was hereditary, and could descend to the next of kin after her demise, I became be-came Lady Arline Wallis. As such I have been sometimes, known." Charlie cringed somehow, at this. ' It seemed to raise a wall between them wealth and title. -What few ordinary or-dinary young Englishmen dare aspire to win a bride from behind such ramparts? ram-parts? Never before had Charlie Stuart wished for fame and fortune "as now; nothing could be too grand to lay at the feet of such a royal princess. And while he was thus battling with his thoughts, she suddenly caught his arm. . , 1 , ,- "He is out yonder! I hoard "his laugh! Now, come to the door, Mr. Stuart, and take your first look at Captain Brand of the Hespasia, before be-fore you meet him face to face." Nothing loth Charlie followed .her. to the door, whence they could look Into the office of the hotel. Several men were in sight; but almost al-most instinctively his gaze settled , upon one who seeme to comniana general attention; and no -sooner had Charlie clipped his- eyes on this . remarkable re-markable individual than he uttered a little ejaculation of surprise and pleasure.' . Possibly he had seen this same loquacious lo-quacious Captain Brand of the Hespasia Hespa-sia under other and more exciting circumstances. "Come, what makes you ask that?" in surprise. "I remember him talking of being concerned in a little war scare that occurred oc-curred down there he has always been the same boaster, you know." "Well, that .seems to prove the identity. iden-tity. I never in all my life heard of so stupendous a rascal." "Say what was he doing down in Santiago, or was it Valparaiso?" "The latter, on the coast, the most enterprising city along the Pacific, south of San Francisco. What was he doing? Well, about the last I saw of him, he was dancing -a Scottish hornpipe." horn-pipe." "Yes,' he has his merry moments when the liquor is in." . "But this was a unique affair before an audience that must have numbered thousands." "God! that would spur even so poor an actor to do his best." "And Captain Nathaniel did his very best. If, as you say, he has been an actor, as well as a miner, sea captain, coffee planter, speculator, and Heaven knows wbat not, he certainly had the chance of his life to bring out bravos. However, I don't think he took hai? as much interest in the affair as some of the rest of us did." "He didn't, eh? . I never knew, - he was acquainted with modesty.; How was that?"' asked -temus, eagerly. "Well," said Chai , dryly, "you lee, he was being hung!" ' (To be continued.) Judge of. ' his surprise, then, when, upon coming upon the party who wished to see him, he found it was no other than Artemus Barnaby, with his honest face clouded with an air of the darkest mystery. It did not require much prophetic skill on Charlie's part to tell that his erratic friend had news of some importance im-portance for him. -He pressed a forefinger on his lips to indicate dead silence, when he found that Charlie had recognized him. Charlie stc-e'd there waiting while the other crept on his tiptoes to the corner, 'in the regular orthodox stage fashion, and looked this way and that, to assure himself that there could be no .eavesdroppers near. . "Then' he approached, his friend, his warning finger still on his lips. Reaching the 'othery-he placed his lips close to Charlie,'s ear, and solemnly solemn-ly said: ., "The coast is clear!" "I see it is," said Charlie, aloud. "What I am about to disclose to you, will give you a cruel shock, my boy." "Shock away then, only" make haste' ' " am about to make a disclosure thaV will, I regret to say, knock away the foundations of your' belief in humanity." hu-manity." "Ah! that's a serious thing indeed. Does this disclosure concern the world at large or one individual specimen of mankind?" |