Show WHIRLIGIG OF TIME til it brings many strange coincidences to the life of true man by WALTER JAMES DELANEY coward how that vord nord rail rankled ke I 1 el nathin the aul wul or of ralph warden and all that a difference its utterance had bad made to in ills his life looking back six months it teemed seemed to him as though that biord ord had been tho the start of ill all his roubles coubles the evil star of ins his destiny ile he had lived at junta a frontier tonn and a military pot since bov boi hood flood just as he came of age his hi mother mothe r had died through her brief period ot of illness it had been the friendly fri endl i ailts vigils and kind ministration s of etbel and that had made her so se rene and peaceful ralph bid grown to love lore the beautiful daughter 0 of col onel and he hall bad fancied tint lint bh she 0 somewhat encouraged him ft nhen hen a rude circumstance had brought down into ruins ruina all his fair air castles of 0 hope he rg recalled called the day when miss lynd lier her girl cousin lieutenant N an and three Ni school friend ot of ethel vete a ere strolling near the river when ft hen a homel homeless drunkard drun kird known about the district as pauper joe reeled across their path he chanced to joggle against ralph in his maudlin furl called him a mire that was tas always alatis wiped out with blood in that primitive section and baruck it him I 1 in for a moment the fire of resent merit ment and indignation sprang to the eyes of ralph then clinching his fists holding his breath hi hib face grew ashen as he stood rigid as a statue ile he fancied he noted a look of con tempt cross the face of miss land li nd ile he heard a word spoken Covia cowadd idl then the group pissed passed on but not until lieutenant Vander loot hall had stepped forward vaunting taunting his chinal rous strength in some sneer at ralph and with a cruel blow bion sent the poor brech pauper joe to the ground it might hava haie been cier 01 er sensitive riess ness but ralph fancied that ethel and made out a horseman in the dla die tance her friends purposely hurried on art he lingered the same influence that bad held his hand band back from resent ing an insult now drove him to tile the exercise of a further humanity humin ltv it Masho ft is bo who ft ho lifted the stranded direck ft reck to his feet led him to a lodging house and left enough mone with ft ath its etor to caro care for his bis pensioner till he recovered from the effects of drink and injury injure ivo av a days das later ethel left junta and ralph had not met her in the mean time lime ethel NN ft as going on a long N visit isit to a instant ii stant point chere her father ft vias as malting his annual round of the military posts 1 T I liepa my m promise said ralph to himself staunchly staunch li as lie he thought of the blight that had bad come over his bis fair loie joie dreams I 1 have lost ethel the eton of that blow has got around and some think me a mean spir lied cited craven lut but I 1 promised mother ind I 1 have haie kept my mv word fiord it vas on hot hei death bell bed that mrs maiden lud had drift dr tinn n her son SOB to the eacia pledge regarding exo things drink and fighting her own father hid been a victim to the ening cup ralphs drad dad r ind hill buffered death in a hot border fight brought about by a more mere trilling trifling remark mr had died ft anith ath a smile aberg ft hen her loval local son had prom isad never no er to raise ills his hand a dinst alloth cr in or liate hate and tile the whirling of time had bad gone on oil ralph lud had drifted to another I 1 town lie lic was nas not ven berv successful in getting flork one div d i a sudden resolution came into his mind lie he would join the regular army thus it nas ft as that on conr year vear after tills this last sight of thi the only N woman oman ho he it hid ill e ever or ION loved ed ho he rib a sergeant at rort fort danger un dr the orders of the man lie he had con ild cred a rival a rival no longer however 1 I you once Nl harden arderi ad matted gritted the lieutenant voluntarily the dav dair ralph came to the fort I 1 thought you sou a poltroon and said ald so eo j later it leaked le aked out to all of ui ug about you four r acred promise to our mother re hect ou on for it it I 1 think that dis lien imbie pretty miss land edke away from me no hearts heartis bruam though for or I 1 am no now engaged to a girl who he avins three ranches and when ben my term of 0 service is out I 1 im am going to bottle bettle down to an easy life the whirligig ot of time brought about another strange happening pauper joo joe no longer a drinker the ond fond fer I 1 lent ent friend of the roan mart who had been kind to him nias as also stationed at fort danger the place had been truly named situated on oa the edgo edge of an at almost most impassible desert the nearest tort fort two hundred miles distant it was isolated I 1 among indians who had the habit ot of a periodical blood thirsty out break another strange coincidence in the whirligig of time was the fact act that ethel lind was ivas now nov at fort blain where her father was making a gol goi cri inspection it vias lite late of a blazing hot summer rummer a afternoon when nhen as ahe he sat eat ja in a barcy corner of the tort fort scanning sc the broad plain with nith a i hold field glass ethel male maie out a horseman in the distance going at tearing speed she informed the officer in chirpe charge twenty minu minutes tes later there dashed into the fort a freebing horse in the saddle was A as a man tittered tattered sun blistered avit TV ith h a gaping bullet wound mound in une one arm and propped up in front of 0 him another man dying the rider was mas ralph warden his helpless burden pauper joe the horse reeled and tell fell to its knees the rider toppled in a dead faint into the arms of two soldiers the lifted pauper joe gently to the ground water for the lot loie e of heal en I 1 he pleaded then when the cooling draught lia ha I 1 passed his fen fevered ered lips care for him the sergeant the herot hero I 1 must tell the ston stol N quick tor for I 1 im in done tor for elhat hat a story stor it as lort fort danger surrounded by b indiana cut off from ci with only a i eel eek s supplies nas mas hemmed io in most of the soldiers desperate mid mad tor for fight had bad got at the liquor stores the would fight like demons but when the food gane e out were doomed ralph NN harden arden pauper joe and two others hid had made the only attempt possible tor for relief a dash across the arid desert ono man had gone mad from froin thirst and had bad died la in his tracks another fancying he saw water at the bottom of a ravine had bad plunged headlong to death in his de linum indians had attacked them ralph bid shielded 1 joe grabbed him up to his saddle at the risk of his bs life and he was vias nn mn only friend a hero the sole su breathed joe heaven healen heaven heanen bless him and died rort fort danger N was as rehei relieved ed and saved it was ethel who nursed ralph back to life it was as ethel who he contritely told how she had wronged him and later how sho she regretted losing him and now when nhen his eager lips ques auca cloned her she told too how she fihs loved lored him copyright 1913 by W G chapman |