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Show I ; ' ' r rs nnruvryrn nnrJTrcrrurnrij-JTruTn utrvrvyw -r"j wj xn nrruvi- " v 1 GABRIEL j lVwWtM wVUMt J 5 ' : (CopyTtyiit. laci. by Jai c?Tigvr r'-f.) 3 truvuinvvuvuuvinjinruxruva'V ' CHAPTER XXrV. Continued Capt Falconer looked at Cephas, and could see no guile. On the contrary, he saw a freckled lad who appeared to be about 10 years oldc he was really nearly 14. Cephas was s ugly that he was ugly when he laughed, as he was doing now; but there , was something about him that attracted the attention of those who were older. He was Gabriel's chum when Gabriel wanted a chum; he went hunting with Francis Bethune; and he could often be found at the store in which Paul Tomlln was the chief 1 clerk. He knew all the secrets of these, young men, and kept them, and they frequently advised with him about, the young ladies. But he was fonder of Gabriel than of all the rest, and he was also fond of Nan, who had been kind to him In many ways. Cephas was one of those ill-favored little creatures, who astonish aston-ish everybody by never forgetting a favor. fa-vor. "And so you want to see your friends," said- the Captain, very kindly. Every feature of his face showed that his sympathies were keen. "They are very far away, or will be when they get to their Journey's end too far. I should think, for a little boy to travel. "Maybe so," said Cephas, "but Gabriel Ga-briel had to go." , "I see." said the Captain; "wherever Gabriel goes, you are wiling to go?" "Yes, sir," replied Cephas very simply. sim-ply. . Seeing his embarrassment.- Mr. Sanders Sand-ers came to his rescue. "What I want to know. Captain, is this: If that little chap comes down to Savananh. will you allow him to see Gabriel and talk to him?" v some tea-cakes In one corner, -nl mi little Testament in the other. , , It was arranged1 that Cephas waa ten ' go to Savannah with Captain Falconer,! and return with Mr. Sanders. The ar-1 rangement took place when Mr. San-j ders returned home after his visit to Cephas' mother, and was of course con-j , ditional on her consent, which waa nod ' ; obtained at once, j 4 In the course of "a few days orders came from Atlanta for Captain Fal-I ;' coner to turn over the command of the! detachment to the officer next In rank,! and proceed1 to Malvern, where he would! ' find further Instructions awaiting blmJ When the time cam for Cephas to bJ off with the Captain, you may well be-j lieve that he found that parting frorai hia mother was not such s fine thing! after all. He watched her through ai f mist of tears, and waved his handker-j chief as long as he could see her; amO then after that be was the ionenesd little fellow you have ever seen. Put after all, boys are boys and the feeil:' 4 of loneliness and dejection wore svw . after awhile, and before he had gon. ' . many miles, what with making the ac, . Qualntance of the driver, who waa a ', private soldier, and getting on friendly' terms with Captain Falconer, be soon arrived at the point where he felt as If traveling was the most delightful thing in the world, especially If a fellow has . been Intrusted with a tremendous se- i cret that nobody else In the world knew: besides Mr. Sanders and himself. For as sooffas Mr. Sanders discovered that the Captain would be willing to have Cephaa go along, he had taken the little chap In band, and thoroughly Impressed Im-pressed upon his mind everything be wanted him to say to Gabriel, and be was not satisfied until Cephas had written writ-ten the message out In the dog-latin of the school children, and had learned it by heart. Mr. Sanders also Impressed on the little lad's mind the probability that the Captain would be curious as to the nature of the message; and he , gave Cephas a plausible answer for every question that an Inquisitive per- ' son could put to him and made him repeat these answers over and over again. In fact. Cephas 'was compeUed - i to study as hard as if he had been In school, but he relished the part he waa '. to play, and learned it with a seat that was very pleasing to Mr. Sanders. . ' , Only an hour before he was to leave with the Captain. Mr. Sanders went to . , Cephas home, and made him repeat over everything be had been taught, and the gllbness with which the little rad repeated the answers to the questions ques-tions was something wonderful In so small a chap. "Don't git line so me, Cephas, was the parting Injunction of Mr. Sanders. "Don't forgit that I'll be on the train when the whistle blows. I'm gwlne to start right off. You may not see me, i but I'll not be far off. Keep a stiff i upper lip, an don't git Into no panic-v The whole thing Is gwlne through. Ilk ei-4 ! It was on skids, an the skids greased." , '. (To be Continued.) Again the Captain looked at the boy. and Cephas, catching a certain humorous humor-ous gleam In the gentleman's. eye. began be-gan to smile.. "Now, then." said Captain Cap-tain Falconer, with an answering smile, "how would you like to go with mer "I think I would like II." repHed Cephas, with a broad grin; I .think that would be fine." "And what does Mr. Sanders think of it?" the Captain asked. "Well. I hadn't loked at It from that, p'int of view," said Mr. Sanders. I lowed maybe that the best an cheapest plan would be for me to take the little chap down an fetch him back. Come. Cephas; we'll go an see your mammy, an' see ef we can't coax her Into let-tin' let-tin' you go. You'll have to do your best, my son; 1 11 coax, an' you must wheedle." , . As they went out. Cephas was laughing laugh-ing at Mr. Sander's remark about wheedling. The youngster was an expert ex-pert in that business. He was ms mother's only child. "What troubles me. Cephas, said Mr. Sanders, "Is how you can git a message mes-sage to Gabriel wi'out lettin' the cat' out'n the bag. He'll be surrounder-d In sech a way that you can t git a word wl 'lm wi'out tellin the whole At that moment. Mri Sanders beard a small voice cry out something like this: "Phazasee! Phazasee! arawa ooya To which Jabbering Cephas made prompt reply: "Iya lngagog ota anny-savvy anny-savvy ota eesa glbbleable!" "Ooya tbfa Ooya lbfa!" jeered the small voice. x Mr. Sanders looked at Cephas in astonishment. as-tonishment. "What kinder lingo is that?" he asked. "It's the way we school children talk when we don't want anybody to know what we are saying. Johhny asked me where I was going and I told him I was going to Savannah to see Gabriel." Ga-briel." "Did he know what you said? "Why. he couldn't help but know, but he didn't believe it; he said it was flk fib " "Well. I'll-be Jigged:" exclaimed Mr. Sanders. "Call that boy over here. Cephas turned around they had passed the house where the little boy lived and cayed out: "Onnaja! Onnaja! Stermera Andersa antwasa ota eesa ooya." The small boy came running. Mr. Sanders questioned him closely, and he conflrmed the Interpretation of the lingo which Cephas had given to Mr. Sanders. "Do you mean to tell me. said Mr. Sanders to Cephas, when they had dismissed dis-missed the small boy. "that this kinder kin-der think has been goln' on right under un-der my nose, an' I not knowin' a word about it? How'd you pick up the lingo?" lin-go?" "Gabriel teached it to me." replied Cephas. "He talks it better than any of the boys, and I come next." -This last remark Cephas made with a blush. Do I look pale, my son?" inquired Mr. Sanders, mopping ms red face witn his handkerchief. Cephas gave a negative nega-tive reply by shaking his head. "Well, I may not look pale, but I shorely feel pale. Here I've been buttin' my head ag'ln trees, an' walkln' In my sleep tryln' for to study up some plan to git word to Gabriel, an' here you walk along the street an' make me a present of the very" thing I wsnt. an' I ain't even thanked you for it." A great deal of pressure however had to be brought to bear on Cephas mother. moth-er. But at last, with many a sigh and some tears, she gave her consent for her onliest, her dearest, and her best-est, best-est, to go on the long Journey. And then, after consenting, she was angry with herself because she had consented. In short, she was as miserable and as anxious as mother-love can make a woman, and poor Cephas never could understand until he became a grown man. and had children of his own, h6w his mother could make such a to-do over the opportunity that Providence had thrown in his way. She said he must be sure not to fall In the ocean, end he must keep out of the way of the railroad trains. She cried silently all the time she was packing his modest supply of clothes In a valise, and put |