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Show "THE -LONG ,4A!i" ( By Keighley Snowden. j UwiHltlimiHHH HiHtHIM tt I I I 1 I Mt) M III M HI It lit) M I IHI It -4-4- ttfftllll I I I I I iftlltllimtHtHtmHttttl I M I I H I t 4H--Hh W W-r44- S Against hlfi will CoL Salo was playing one more hand. He played sit all tlmoB very nuletly, so far as a card table man-jr man-jr nor Is concerned, and tonight ho was A sometimes mildly humorous. His pre- H occupation could not bo Imagined. But H It deepened during the final rubber, and, H far away In thought from Piccadilly, he H heard the Strld roar at Bolton, In lovely H Wharfedale. That was a place where a HI man might catrlly seem to die by mis adventure. The gamo being ended, ho pushed the cards away with a smile. Somo sense of embarrassment lay upon the other players. Ills luck had been worse than I common, he was a pleasant ofllcer, and everybody know him to bo "hipped." He wrote In his neat hand upon the back of visiting cards an "I O U" for each member of the party, while they were paying cosh or checks. His refined ,and tramiull faco was flushed a llttlo; the act brought home to him a very disagreeable dis-agreeable wen bo of Ills position. Ho reverted to a conversation which had passed before the gamo began. "You are all very good fellows to wait," ho said. "I'm sorry'. I haven't at all tho same faith in my chances." His senfllUvcnesM provoked a friendly murmur and forac light encourage-menta. encourage-menta. When a man Is "off his luck" he cannot do better than go away and i forget It. In tho high priced club whoro i tho Colonel played above his purso worse luck than his had been known to J right itself, kfj Col. Arthur Sale was a mau of no cx- Dt censes but this of gambling; mlddle- Er 1 aged, a good soldier, with somo reputa IL ' tlon as a traveler and a sportsman. j "While yet a Lieutenant he had made B,S two Independent JourneyB In the Sou-V Sou-V dan about the time of the first Mahdl'8 fl rise to power. Ills resolute courage had Wl been attested then and since; the regu-r?j regu-r?j larlty of liJs lifo wan of late confirmed I by a happy marriage, and men knew I j him for a nlco sense of honor and c.x-t c.x-t t cc-llent temper, taste and social tact. tt) These last quaJltlon were best observed Hi In his duller moods, when a special Vpi gentleness appeared In him. V Few men were better liked, and, as i commonly happens, not tho most Imag- ji lnatlve among his friends could suspect m what he had it in mind to do. He was : going to Yorkshire "for a month's fish-f'. fish-f'. ing." But. for some time now. the po- f sltlon must have seemed to Col. Sale to , have a hopeless look. He had lost hard )! upon 5000 In a few monthn; his means Nf-n- narrow, and, after willing In Vill but Insurances, he was In debt for three Impossible thousands still. To give up honor and life was doubly futile. But what had determined him nns the necessity of saving something for his wife and boys. He said goodbye good-bye to them In the morning. Let those who share his temperament be Col. Sale 8 Judges. Granted his point of view, there must have been something beautifully tender and .brave In the !.ght farewell, and yet one does not care xo think of It. Pass to certain reflections of the Journey. Jour-ney. They had somo bearing on the sequel. se-quel. With only a few days to live, and with the sense of mastery which every calm resolution gives, Col. Sale was more than usually clear headed, although al-though his heart labored, and scenes from the old past ran mostly in his thoughts. In particular he was struck by recollections of a college friendship and of a boys' conversation which pointed point-ed to his present case. It was the most intimate and lasting friendship he had known, and he would have liked to say good-bye to Jack Alleyn. Dear old fldus Achates, matter of fact and gay and kind. What In these last few years had become of him? He might even have , Bhown a better way with debts of honor. He always did know the right thing to do. and did It with a turn of the hand. When they were mere boys, Jack once boasted lightly that he would undertake IAh. happy time! In a flash the scene returned. It was In the great holidays, on a night of sentiment and philosophy, things they did not know by any such names, and talked nevertheless on all occasions There waB a badger. "While It was out they had stopped the earths, and they lay among bracken and rocks on the edge of a Yorksblro moor waiting wait-ing for it. The moonlit dale was romantic, ro-mantic, but not Jack, and they were talking ghosts. Touching to remember how the dear fellow's chaff had never ,i n hurt him! But Jack provoked him to jffi tay he recalled quite freshly the mood 75, In which he spoke, bantering, but still with a delightful, creepy sense of com- Mf j milling himself to something risky; HH . "All right, old chap, but If ever I get yy I into Queer street" Innocent word In if i those days! "and have to 6huflle off this 2 X mortal coll, I'll let you see. I'll be an I a apparition myself and make a friendly I , ) call In search of sympathy. 'Go away,' Jl says you, 'you're an Imposition. Be- j jj eldes, I never feel for spectres.' " I 111 It startled the Colonel to aee himself Iqt half aware of the end so very long ago. 1 ft Fate! Thought stood still at the great, (jn surefooted mystery. And what Jack Al l's leyn said wa far from serious, like the Til en of tnat n'sht's adventure, f "Rot!" It was rather a favorite word IW ot '3 "r can B onu Je'-tcr sonny. I Im I'll undertake to make my call on you IM before you do the shuflle." .- How lightly life Is looked at before we .f come to live ltr and atlll ono plays the man! But Is not this, thought Col. Sale alone with his soul now Is not this "ijB the great and ultimate test, that man ias hood be true to the boy's inspirations? bpA The notion held him. If, Indeed, we ttM must all "give oil account of the deeds done In the body," was that a test he Jmt could undergo himself sans peur et sans V leproche? He quaked; tho standard boyhood sets i high. He had not tried ,''M to pull It down, thank God. but lnsplr- ' --m ntlonsr, or only aspirations, the review of m them now In a long reverie depressed In him, he had to brace his courage and MffcH ' l,,ay tne man llt last 11 pleased HvVJ Mm, because of the shattered Ideals, to '. I'M f.natfh at one light word which he might I. V9 t-l fulfill. If such things were, he would Jr li'f,) n'8 engagement with Jack. c The purpose leaped Into hla mind and Ka'1, Mm the shiver and thrill ho had ffll sonir t(mes found In situations of quet W m Ir Jnc Alleyn Ic well known In Liv- B 1 erpool. though not by the name 1 have kS given him. He was to have been a sob 1 dhr with his frlond; he bcoamo a cotton Hk merchant. Ah for this friendship of H which the story tells a singular out- FrQ - foine, It hod endured, of courso, through J: ( 'onf separations, with meetings rathei T yjj more Infrequent wince the mid nlnctleb f ' iTl thnn before. It waa the summer of thin !"$ year, and Jack had not seen his old chum at all slnco the war In South ' 11m Africa. But ho had longed to do so, and jjjji 10 nlm' ns wcI' ns 10 fighting man, that threat of a "friendly call" had recurred, re-curred, though not his own Jesting answer. an-swer. It had ever recurred more than onco when scanty news made him fearful, fear-ful, but he would have been Immensely surprised to see It fulfilled at any time". Ho Is among the most practical of men. The Colonel was right Jack would have known a better way with debts of honor. In the houso where Col. Sale was a guest he enjoyed tho perfect liberty ol an old and dear comrade. It waa not until the fourth day that he could think of his purpose resolutely. The "Wharfe wna In spate then, after rain among the hills, and ho went out to fish with worm below those woods In which tho Strld Is Bltunted. Hla host being no fisherman, Col. Salo took with him, by an arrangement made overnight, an old water bailiff of whom he was fond. . They reached the Strld about the' luncheon hour. The spate had fallen and left the rocks exposed, nnd the placo looked more than ever fitting for his design, a suicide to be accomplished without suspicion in another man's presence. Col. Sale took a dram with him and ate a sandwich, and they watched the water thunder down. It Is a boiling white cataract between gray walls of granite, and below It a long, deep pool lies. All had gone well for the Colonel's ovaslon. It was the old man himself who had suggested that somo of the upper reaches should be tried. as he knew them best, and the rocks were slippery. "What was that old tale of the 'boot-leas 'boot-leas bene'?" the Colonel shouted In hl3 car. "Isn't It here the boy Jumped across, Tib?" "Tried It," his companion answered. "Seo yo that rock at points across an' dips. That's whecro 't wor. Fro' th other side It's simple, but not this, for no man alive." "I'll go and look at'lt," aald the Colonel. Colo-nel. He finished a second sandwich and then rose, leaving Tib to gather up tho tackle. He was a llttlo nervous, but felt no hesitation, no doubts of himself, and, without a glance either at the fierce water or about him at tho paradise which these flnn woods resemble, he carefully scrutinized tho rock In face. Ills leap must look like a real attempt. Presently ho turned away, satisfied, and waited for the old man's eye. He waved a hund. Old Tib shouted, but It was not for this that Col. Sale, with the first step desperately taken, stood rooted wliero he was. Ho had seen Jack AUeyn's faco above tho opposite brink, a few paces down stream. Jack advanced quite slowly, until his pert little figure showed complete:, from Panama hat to brown shoes. He was looking Intent at first, ns if he had not recognized his friends, but his red face relaxed in the funny little smile down his nose that Sale knew. He danced a little dance above the torrent, came out on the point of the dipping rock and dropped over. Col. Snle let him speak the first word. It was a dumb show, like everything else ho had dono In the cataract's roar, and, for the first time In life, the man who would have relinquished life so boldly waa at a loss from fear. Jack's living and warm grasp gave him a great shock, moreover. Instantly he drew Jack away, but with a hand which became so viselike, and with such evident evi-dent nervousness, that his friend waB shocked at the change" In him. Privately Jack swore at the war for it, yet thought It strange In such a gallant man. He was pulled up to the fringe of ,a wooded bank before tho Colonel spoke. "My dear old chap! What brings you hero? How the deuce did you find me?" The little cotton merchant continued to act facetiously. "As," said he, pushing push-ing a chest out, wbIow me if I can tell you that! Genius, I think.. The British army lost a very good man when I stopped growing, Art. . . . Had you seen me? Were you going to jump up that silly rock?" "Jove, how 'you startled me!" the miserable man ran on. "Do you know, I had you In mind at that moment, ns If I should see you directly. . . . How long are you here? Where arc you staying, old Jack? . . . Wasn't that 'strange, though?" Jack thought his friend's behavior stranger. Ho was not unaware of the card play, rumor of which had reached as far as Liverpool. " ' Devonshire Arms,' " he said laconically. "Got any fish?" "Not very many." Poor old Sale. How sick ho looked! "But now that you're here wait a minute, I'll let old Tib go home." He caine back unfiling with his natural na-tural color, and Jack was uncommonly funny about the war. It did not surprise sur-prise the Jester that his friend put no more questions with respect to tho manner man-ner of their encounter. He was a good deal touched, for. on tho otjier hand Sale's affectionate cordiality confessed relief from a groat distress. They went down to the hotel, and thero the afternoon after-noon was whlled away with talk of old times, as If no mystery had spun fine threads between them. It was over the after-dinner smoke that both men came to an awkward silence. si-lence. For Jack, at any rate, this was net endurable; he waited for some more Intimate talk, hoping good from it, and then set about with deliberation to put his friend at ease. He said, very quietly: "I know what you're thinking of. Art." The Colonel controlled himself with difficulty. He had little doubt left Just at that moment that Jack had seen through his bad noting, but he looked up, saw him admiring the ash of his cigar, ci-gar, and still kept alienee, dreading the word that would shatter self-respect. "You're aw superstitious as over; wondering won-dering what the deuce that 'colncl-dence' 'colncl-dence' portends of my turning up so adroitly. Oh, I know you of old!" Ho laughed gently. "My dear fellow, I'm yony to disabuse you. but it's simply no coincidence at all. I've been hunting you about town for a week, off and on: got your address from your wife, nnd here I am. on a moat prosnlc bualnesh mission! But confess. You've been thinking It odd all day, haven't you?" The comfort of this was worth a settlement set-tlement of all debts', But, au an explanation, expla-nation, It did nothing to shake a saved man's faith In the supernatural. "Well, yes." he replied to the chal-lenso. chal-lenso. "Just so. You're the same old dreamer, dream-er, and It Isn't good for the nerves, Art. . . Are you game?" proceeded Jack In hla very' quietest tones, "to do n big Journey nowadays? One of your old adventures?" Col. Sale gazed at -his friend with strange eyes. "H'h you. You know the Btatc of the Egyptian fiber market? Or, of course, you don't; that wouldn't Interest you. Egyptlnn fiber Is at ten pence a pound, nnd that's a famine price; perfectly frightful! In Liverpool we've formed the Imperial Cotton-Growing Extension association, pooling a little capital to look for new fields and promote enterprise. enter-prise. I hopo It'll do some good. What we want now, as soon as ever wo can lay our hands on him. Is the right sort of man to go down the railway route from Cairo to the Cape taking his own time about It. of course and spy out possibilities. Well, I told the other directors di-rectors about you and the Mahdl. I'm to ask you If you'll undertake the trip, old chap. It's, dangerous. I know, but what they offer to do, apart from cost of equipment and all that, Is to put down 2000 a year for, say, three years, and I am empowered to pay It into your bank If you consent." Tho man for whom this miracle was worked leaned forward to put his face in his hands. Jack saw his chest heave. "What, do you say, O, Benedick, tho married man? Will you go on this wild goose chase for us, or would you rather fish and play bridge at home?" "You know I'll go," said the Colonel, at length. "God bless you, Jack!" But Btlll ho hid his face. "When did you hoar about my bridge losses?" "My dear fellow! Not so bad. Is It? Why,, when I got to town I heard of thorn, of courso." Tennyson errs. There are times when half a truth may bo of all lies the whitest. whit-est. "Then you arc right; It was not a co-Incidence co-Incidence at all." The Colonel's eyes were shining as ho uncovered a face composed and stern. "It was God's hand, old friend. I'll prove it to you. - .Taolf. If you had been an Instant later I was a dead man." "Thanks," said the Incorrigible Jack. "I rather took credit for my own exertions." ex-ertions." The Sketch. |