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IMTII’S LITTLE cm,
By DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY.
Author of “JOSEPH’S COAT.” “AUNT RACHEL,” “RAINBOW GOLD,” Etc.
Etc., Etc,
J ow First Fubljshxd.] [Axl Rights Rkskrved,
CHAPTER X.— CoirnwtTKD.
In a quiet piace like Upnor any stranger
is noticeable, but the married pair had not
gone a hundred yards upon their way when
they encountered a stranger, who would
have been noticeable almost anywhere. He
was a tall, broad -shouldered man, but
gaunt as a grayhound, and tanned almost to
blickness by the sun. He wore a great
beard and mustache, so sun-scorched that
it had grown to be of no particular color.
H ? was dressed in respectable pilot cloth,
and wore his double-breasted peacoat close
buttoned. A broad-brimmed soft felt hat
was stuck carelessly at the back of his head,
and he smoked a short black pipe, an al
most incredible thing for a man with re
spectable exterior to do in the streets of
"Conor on a Sunday. In those days, when
almost all men shaved scrupulously, the
beard alone would have given the stranger
a wild and outlandish aspect. But apart
from this there was at first sight something
outre iu the man's appearance—a something
in the large pale gray blue eye3, which, in
their contrast with the tanned skin, looked
almost colorless—an expression as of one
lost, a look altogether weird and uncanny.
Tne stranger nodded as ho passed, and
said “Good-day" in civil fasnion, and Red
wood returned his salute.
“That’s an odd looking fellow now.” said
Redwood, turning a hundred yards further
on to look after him.
“But what a troubled face, George dear,”
replied his wifo. “The man looks as if had
gone through a world of misery.”
‘•You women folk,” retorted George,
* 'are always fancying things. I'd lay a
wager for ray own part that the fellow was
one of those rollicking chaps that never
know what trouble is from year to year.”
“You’d lose your wager, George,” his
wife responded, tranquilly, “but I don’t
suppose that either of u’ll be able to find
out anything about him, so where’s the use
of quarreUug?”
“Ah” said George, comfortably pressing
the arm which lay witbiu his own. “Where’s
the use of quarreling I”
They entered the church yard, filled with
scattered groups of church-goers, exchang
ing harvest notes, news of the market, and
all the little gossip of the place. The old
caurca clook, by which all clocks ami
watches iu and about Upnor were regulated,
showed yet seven minutes to the hour, anu
George and his wife lingered at the church
yard gate and changed “good mornings”
■with their neighbors. Whilst they stood
thus the bearded man came in sight again,
looking uncertainly about him, as if in
search of someone to appeal to.
“George,” said Mrs. Redwood, “there is
that man again. He wants to speak to
someone. i can tell it by his manner.”
Redwood bad already set a foot forward
with intent to cross over to the stranger,
when the man turned and accosted the in
dividual nearest to him—an old follow who,
though a thousand times odder than him
self iu aspect, excited neither curiosity nor
regard. He, too, went boarded iu defiance
of the general law, and was the more re
markable in that respect because the beard
■was of a most strange and unusual red. Eif
locks of the same color fell below his ears.
A much battered, uubrashed, old silk hat, a
good deal too big for him obscured his
brows, aud he wore blue glasses with a sort
of blinker on either side. He was bent
double at the hams, and his hands quivered
paralytically on the pair of sticks which
•upported him.
He was dressed in very shabby and dirty
black broadcloth, and what with his gen
eral slovenliness, his shurtliug step, and
bang-dog carriage of the heal, looked to be
a very disreputablo old man indeed.
The stranger stretched out a hand and
laid it on the old man’s shoulder as be shuf
fled past.
“I say. matey,” he began.
The old man gave a nervous start, as if
the grip and the sudden accost had fairly
frightened him.
“I’m not a goin’ to hurt you,” said the
etranger. “You’ve got nothing to jump
like that for. Tell me the way to Reynolds’
farm.”
“I—know —not,” the old man answered,
with a strong foreign accent, aud as if he
found his words with difficulty. “1 am ’ere
Bree mouce. No more.”
He waved one of his sticks iu the direc
tion of the church yard gate, as if to indi
cate that there were people there who would
be able to give the information asked for,
and so sbulfied paralytically on again. The
stranger turned in obedience to the gesture
, and Redwood made another step forward.
“1 beg your pardon if I’m wroDg,” he
•aid, “but my wife here thought you wanted
information. Can I give you any?”
“Why, yes,” the stranger answered. “If
you know’the country side you can.”
“Well,” said Redwood, with a little
laugh. “1 ought to know that if I know
nothing else.”
“I waut to find the way to Reynolds’
farm,” said the stranger, knocking the ashes
from his pipe on the palm of bis great
brown band.
“That’s easily done,” said Redwood.
“There’s the farm house over yonder; that
red-brick building with the three poplars
behind it. But you’ll find nobody there.
The place has been going to rack and ruin
this two years past.”
“Nobody there?” said the stranger, falling
back a step and Btaring at him. “Nobody
there? Not Mrs. Rotter?”
“No,” said George; “nobody.”
"Look here, matey,” said the stranger,
hooking him by the coat and speaking with
a look and manner curiously and almost
pathetically composed. “I’ve had a deal of
trouble lately, an’ I make mistakes. This
isUpuorin the county of Worcestershire,
ain’t it ?”
“Of course,” Redwood affirmed.
“Well, look here,” said the man, "if you
belong about here, you can’t have helped
hearing talk o’ me. My name is Bam Pot
ter. My uncle was old Jack Reynolds,
end when he died he left me everything.’’
“I’m very glad to meet you, Mr. Potter,”
Redmond answered cordially, putting out
his hand.
Sam Potter took it half mechancially.
“Aud mv missis isn’t here?” he said. “We
hadn’t beeu married a mouth when we lost
sight of each other. I know Bho got to
England, for I’ve talked with the man
aboard the ship shesailod in. I’ve been try
ing for this two years to get here, and wliy
she isn’t here before me I don’t know.”
“George, dear,” Mrs. Redwood inter
posed, "don’t you trouble about church this
morning.”
“You’re right, my dear,” said George:
“I wou’t. Come down to my bouse, Mr.
Potter; if you don’t mind we’ll have a talk,
and maybe I can be of service to you.
You’ve been away a long time, haven’t
you?’
"A goodish time.” returned Potter,passing
bis hand over his forehead as if to smooth a
disordered thought,
“Well, shall we go?"
"Yes, we’ll go, matey, and thank you
kindly."
The hell began to tingle spitefully os if in
minatory warning to late worshippers, and
then stopped suddenly.
Mrs. Redwood passed iuto the church
and the two men walked down the street
togther.
The bent old foreigner quivered on his
sticks a few score yarns away, but save for
that quaint figure the road was deserted.
“ That’s a queer old chap.” said Redwood
more for the sake of makiog talk than for
any other reason. * ’An old French fellow.
I don’t suppose he sneaks a hundred words
of English, and as it happens there’s no
body in Upnor that can change a word with
him except myself. I’m no great shakes of
a Frenchman,but I’ve got a sentence or two,
you know, and I think the old boy likes to
hear bis native language new and then.”
They were level with the old man a min
ute later.
•'Bong jour, Andre,” cried Redwood.
* 'Commong voo portey voe, ee mating?”
“Bien, monsieur, tree bien,” the old man
aos wordd
“That’s right,” said Redwood. "II fait
totong, eh?”
The old man gave an inarticulate grunt of
assent, and Kndwoid and Bam Potter pur
sued their way together.
“It pleases him,” remarked the yeoman
oomplaeently, “to come across a bit of his
own tongue now and then. That’s about all
I can give him, hut you can see it brisks him
up a bit.”
Bam answered that be dared to say it did,
and walked on thoughtfully until Redwood
ushered him into the house. Potter sat
down and set his hat upon the table. He
drew out his pioe, a huge plug of tobacco,
and a clasp knife.
“You don’t mind, matey?” he asked.
“Not a bit.” George answered. “I’ll have
a smoke myself.
“I suppose,” said Bam, shredding his to
bacco coarsely and rubbing it between bis
palms, “Isuppose you knew my uncle?”
“I knew him,” Redwood answered, “as
well as I knew anybody.”
"I suppose," Potter began again, "as no
body could be likely to comedown here and
make inquiries without your bearing of it?”
Redwood shook his head. “And you never
heard about my little missis!”
“Never. I beard of you, of course; but I
never even knew that you were married.”
“I got married in Melbourne in Aus
tralia,” said Rotter. He had packed his
pipe by this time and now striking a lucifer
match ou the leg of his trousers, he pulled
away for half a minute in silence. Then
turning in his chair be asked suddenly;
“Did you over hear of a Mr. John Hether
idge of these parts?”
"IVe were boys together,” Redwood an
swered him. “Schoolmates. It’s seven
years to-day sinoe I saw the last of him.
I’oor old Jaok! He was lost in the bush and
di&d thordb"
“I’m if he did,” Potter said, slowly
and weightly. "Look here, that man was
no more lost in the bush than I was, or you
was or the babe unborn was.”
"Why, look at this,” cried Redwood,
suatching the paper from the table and
searchiug hastily for the paragraph he
had ready to his wife that morning. ' ‘Read
tbat.”
Potter read it traoing the lines with a
olumsv forefinger.
“O, I know all about that,” said Potter.
“I met him in Melbuirne when the news
was stale. He'd been dead six weeks when
1 came across him. I met him in bis own
housa He give me a smack at the back of
the head, matey, as laid me there for dead.
I was in the hospital twelve months along
of it. Off and ou my mind’s mvtbered
with it now, and I suppose it always will
be.”
“But why.should Jack Hetheridge have
wanted to do you an injury?" asked Red
wood.
“That’s more than 1 can tell you, matey,”
Rotter replied. “The only thing I know is,
he done it.”
“How did you know him?” Redwood
asked. “What brought you in his house?”
“I don’t remember,” was the unexpected
answer. “There’s heaps ot things I can’t re
member.”
He passed his hand across his brow again,
rubbing it heavily as if by the mere phy
sical pressure he hoped to straighten the iu
ward tangle.
“No,” he Baid, hoplelessly, "I can’t re
member.”
He looked at Redwood with an eye alto
gether vacant, and the yeoman feared that
he had made acquaintance with a mad
man. He had had no experience of that
genus, and he thought it resonable to try
and argue Rotter out of what seemed an
obvious hallucination.
“You say,” he began, “that you saw
Hetberidge six weeks after he was reported
dead ?"
“Yes,"said Potter, "that’s the truth."
"Did you think it was his ghost?”
"No; it was him right enough. Ghosts
can’t hit a chap and put him into hospital
for twelve mouths. The back of my head
was all bashed in like, matey.”
“What motive could he have?"
“O, he had motive enough. You make
your mind easy about that, matey.”
“Well, what was it?"
“My head goes wrong.” said Potter. "I
get it sometimes all as clear as daylight and
then it goes away again. There’s only one
thing as I don't forget. I never forget as it
was Mr. John Hetberidge that done it. I
shall find him some day, and when I find
him I shall have his life.”
All this was, of course, to Redwood’s
mind the merest madness. There was do
reason for giving the poor man’s story so
much as a moment’s credence. It wag doubt
ful if he were even the man he supposed
himself to be. To fancy he was Reynolds’
heir and nephew might easily be as dreamy
and unreal os the rest. Redwood sat think-
ing thus, puffing his pipe iu silence, and had
begun to consider how it would to easiest
politely to dismiss his curious guest wbeu
Potter struck the table with a heavy hand.
“I’ve got it,” he said almost passionatelv.
“It was all about Bob Martin’s little geil.
Bob was my pal, aud it was my right to
take charge of his little geli when he got
murdered. Now, I put that to any honest
man, if it wasn’t a pal’s right more than a
stranger’s to take charge of a matey’s kid
when he got murdered?’
Had Redwood known the story he would
have followed Potter easily, but as it was
the man’s speech sounded like the merest
gibberish.
“1 6aid to him, ‘look here,’ I says, ‘it’s
this nay matey, I’ve come in for mv prop
erty, and me and my missis is goin’ to Eng
land bv the ship as sails to-night. . I shall
find my matey’s child,’ I told him, ‘if it
costs me every penny in the world. You
mind that I says, I shall find her witherso
ever she may be.’ With that I turns my
back on him and he knocks my brains out. I
remember it now,” he concluded, “as well as
if it was yesterday.”
Redwood was unaffectedly sorry for the
poor fellow, but little disposed tu give cre
dence to any of his fancies.
“1 suppose,” he said, alter thinking for
awhile, “that you came through London!”
“Yes,” repliad Potter.
“Well, did yon call on your late Uncle’s
lawyer?’
Potter shook his head.
“I suppose you know who he is?”
"it’s slipped my mind somehow. I don’t
remember. ”
“Well, as it happens,” Redwood said, “I
do. I’ll write his address down for you.
There’s a telegraph office only three miles
away at the railway station. You walk
over there in the morning an send a mes
sage to the lawyer. You ask him if he
knows where your wife is. That’s the best
thing for you to do, you know.”
“Yes,” said Potter. "That’s the thing to
do!"
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1892-TWELVE PAGES.
CHAPTER XI.
Potter had carried such efiects as be had
with him to the Black Bull, and at that de
cent hostelry he took up his residence f* r
the time being. He told tiis story to any
body who would listen to him, but never
succeeded in making it more intelligible
thun it had seemed to Redwood. What
with his naturally blundering style of nar
rative and his lapses of memory he suc
ceeded for the most part in working his
bearers' mind into a complete tangle, and
the universal impression was that he was
crazy, and tbat his story was without foun
dation. His own inaction gave color to the
general opinion. He took no steps to com
municate with the lawytr whose address
Redwood bod given him, and made no at
tempt to discover the whereabouts of bis
wife in any other way. He loafed about the
village, sometimes unreasonably hilarious
and communicative with strangers, some
times morosely uncivil at intrusions he had
himself invited, but generally in a patient
stupor which would have been pitiable if bis
true story and condition had been known.
One thing was abundantly clear to the
village intelligence. Potter’s story of
Hetberidge’* reappearance was mad—abso
lutely and definitely mad. No man who was
alive to prevent it could possibly allow es
tates so vast as Hetheridge had left behind
him to pass away from his possession. Had
the man been poor, or in legal difficulties, or
in dread of the police, a motive for self
effacement might easily have been found.
But in Hetheridge’s case there was no reason
discernible, and the public intellect, such as
it was, flouted Potter's ill-toll an J disjointed
tale.
In his earlier Australian da vs poor Bam
had fallen in with most of the manuers and
customs of his comrades with conspicuous
readiness. One habit prevalent among
them, perhaps more honored in the breach
than in the observance, was that any man
who received a check for service rendered,
should instantly proceed to the nearest
place whore drink could bn obtained, and
should there “knock down” that check. It
had not been thought the right thing to do
this in solitude, aud the customary manner
was either to select a comrade or comrades
with whom to get drunk, and keep drunk
till the whole of the money was expended,
or to ‘ ’shout" indiscriminately for any house
ful of loafers the moneyed man might light
upon.
For the first five or six days of his stay
the Australian was but an unprofitable
client to the Bull. He had surprised the
laudlord by egregious orders for cold tea
which he drank by the quart. It was made
up of an unheard of strength and bitterness
to suit his palate, and formed the only liquid
refreshment he indulged in. He was known,
however, to have a pocket full of money, a
gold watch and ohain, and some other val
uables, and since he insisted on oaying up
his soore with absolute regularity before
breakfast, his whims were respected, and
he was permitted, though not without some
grumbling, to have his way.
Tramps of all sorts passed through the
village, which lay midway between two
union work houses, and in these shabby
wayfarers Potter took a curious Interest. It
is probable tbat they reminded him of the
swagsmen who had for so many years been
familiar to him.
He scanned the tribe day by day as if he
were searching for some special man among
them and at last he seemed to find him. He
stopped a burly, jovial-looking blackguard
in the dusty road.
“Morning, matey," said Sam. “How’s
things with you?”
* ‘Pretty bad,” said the tramp.
“Looking out for a job?” Sam asked.
"You got one to offer?” the tramp re
torted.
“Yes, I have.”
“What is it?” the tramp inquired,with all
the caution of his tribe.
He was not so madly anxious to get to
work that he was willing to set his uuac
customed hands to any unspecified labor
chance might offer then:.
“I want a man,” said Sam, with perfect
gravity, "to drink fair along o’ me."
"O,” jeered the tramp, suspecting mock
ery in this simple and natural statement.
“ W hat’s the wages?”
"A dollar a day,” Sam responded.
The tramp stared bard at him, but there
was no light of humor in Sam’s eyes. The
offer seemed too heavenly to be real and yet
the iuqu who made it looked sincere.
•’A dollar a day,” said the tramp. “To
drink fair along o’ you. I’m on. I’ll take
the first day’s wages in advance and I’m
ready to begin at once.”
There was a little trembling hope in the
tramp’s bosom, the least infantine fluttering
beginning of a hope that this amazing offer
might be real. But he seemed to feel his
heart turn over when the solemn
stranger drew out a handful of gold and
silver from his pocket, selected two half
crowns from the glittering pile aud dropped
them in bis outstretched palm.
“Now mind you, matey,” said Sam Pot
ter, "you’re in my service as long as thiß
check lasts. You’ve got to driuk fair, you
understand that. There’s to be no greed
and there’s to be no shirking, Fair play be
tween man aud man is what I oxpect and
what 1 look forrad to.”
The tramp bound himself by a grisly
oath, and Potter led the way, well pleased
with himself and his man. On his way to
the Bull he pauseu at the village ironmon
ger’s, and by way of giving an air of Aus
tralian reality to the solemn festival on
which he was about to enter bought two tin
pannikins. One of these he gave to the
tramp, and himself carried the other.
"What do you say to rum to begin
with?” Sam asked as they walked on side by
side.
The tramp, whose brightest hopes had
not carried him beyond the limits of six ale,
turned faint at this glimpse of heaven.
“Yus," ho said, moekly, "I’ve nothing to
say agen rum to begin with.”
His spirit quailed within him at the
thought that rarer and more elysian splen
dors might await him.
They entered the house aud eat down to
gether iu the tap room; and Bam having
called for s bottle of rum and paid for it on
the nail they began solemnly to drink to
gether. There was no unseemly revolry
about the business, but all was done de
cently and in order. Plug tobacco and
matohes in plenty were provided, and the
two sat in silence, the tramp keeping an
observunt eye on Sam and drinking when
he drank, and oh, he thought, if this might
last forever.
At noon they left the room for steak and
onions, and the tramp was blessed beyond
the measure of mortal man.
In the wilds which through long use had
come to seem native to him, Sam would
have found no one to Interfere with his
freak, but he found the English folk con
servative aud ill-inclined toward innova
tion. The landlord stepped in in the course
of the evening and put a stop to supplies.
The tramp became abusive, aud was given
in charge.
ilr. Potter, inarticulately protestant, was
put to bod, aud by this ineaus the orgie was
brought to a speedy close. But poor Sam,
like so many of his class, found it impossi
ble to leave off drinking when he had once
begun and he took to mooning boozily in
the tap room or bar parlor all day long. He
was perfectly quiet aud inoffensive, but
willing to buy drinks for all the world, and
the landlord began to have a certain esteem
for him. Redwood would drop in sometimes
of an evening aud chat for five minutes
whilst ho drank a glass of home-brewed ale,
aud he stood one night in the parlor when
Potter was sitting alone in the tap room with
an open door.
“That’s u queer sort of fish you’ve got
here, Fulton,” said Redwood, iu his cheery
voice.
"Ah,” returned the landlord, who was un
der the impression that Sam had goue out
aud had not yet returned. "You mean
that there Potter fellow, Mr. Redwood?
Now, what do you make out about him, if I
might be so bold as ask you?”
" Why,” said Redwood, with a little drawl
which Beamed to radicate tbat he desired
to weigh his words, “I should think that
in his right mind he’d be a likely simple sort
enough.”
“Yes,” the landlord assented. “There
and n't se-m to he any kind of harm about
the cba;>. You doD’t believe his story, Mr.
Redwood.”
* ‘No," said the yeoman. “I can't say I
I think the poor chap’s cranky. It’s
enough that one part of his tale is true.
He says be got a knock ou the back of bis
head, and he confesses that it turned his
mind a oil; but as to bis having seen Jack
Hetheridge weeks after the poor man was
known to be dead, why, of oourse, that’s
mndnes-, aud no one but a madman would
1 elieve it. Hullo, Andre. Commong voo
portey voo, eh? Fulton, here’s old Andre
with his bottle. Voo vooly doo cognac.
Eh?”
The old foreigner set his bottle down on
the pewter covered window ledge with a
trembling (mod, and fumbled in his pocket
for the money for his Intended purchase.
“Kill it up, eh, Andre?” asked the land
lord.
“Oui, monsieur,” the old man answered.
“Yes, feel heem op.”
"Voo pariy bien l’Angly by and by," said
Redwood.
He felt a little natural pride in hit own
accomplishment, and his neighbors were
distinctly proud of him as of a man who
could do 1 poor justice in foreign parts if
ever it should please fate to carry him so
far. It was true tbat Redwood disclaimed
an intimate knowledge of the French
tongue, and professed only the most modest
pretensions in regard to it, but tbis was
looked on as a mere personal characteristic.
He was none of your bragging fellows, was
Redwood. A stralghtforword, honest chap
who never laid claim to anything in partic
ular, and whose performance was always a
little better than his promise?
The landlord had set the tundish in the
neck of old Andre’s bottle, and was just
about to pour into it a measured pint of
brandy when Sam Potter shouldered clum
sily into the room.
“ Look here, mateys,” he began, thiokly,
“who says I’m a liar? Where’s the man
among you? Let him stand no and have it
out fair aud square, like a man!"
There was no answer, aud one felt
the episode a little awkward.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Potter asked,
turning upon Redwood. “It was vou as
Baid I was a liar?”
* ‘My good fellow.” Redwood answered.
“I said nothing of the kind. I dare say, you
believe everything you say, but I don’t
think you quite know what you’re talking
about."
"Don’t I?” Potter returned. "You come
outside, and we’ll see about that before you
can say knife.”
He began to pull off his coat, but was im
mediately surrounded.
"Come, now, Mr. Potter,” said the land
lord. “There’s nobody in this house that
wants to quarrel with you, and I’m sure
you don’t want to quarrel with nobody. A
peacefuler or amiabler gentleman, drunk or
sober, as the case may be. I never made the
acauaintance of. You don’t want to quar
rel; Mr. Potter?”
At th.s combined tribute and appeal Sam
became instantly mollified. He shook hands
ail round, and proposed the most Christian
sentiments to all the world.
“You’ve got me, matey,” he told the
landlord. “You’ve described me proper.
There ain’t a man alive as can say Sam
Potter ever harmed a fly, nor yet he
wouldn’t. Now what are wo all a-goin’ to
take to drink?”
"Now come.fcome, Mr. Potter.” cried the
landlord, patting him comfortably on the
back, "you’ve took a little more than’s good
for you a’ready. You go and have a little
bit of a stret h now in the fresh air. That’s
the thing to do you good.’V
“All right,” said placable Sam, and bid
ding everybody an affectionate good night
he walk out as well as he could into the
village street. He strolled on vacantly for
a minute or two and thou turned to find the
bent foreigner shuffling at his heels.
"Hullo, matey,” he exclaimed, "you’ll
come and have a drink, won’t you?”
‘ ‘Sank you,” the old man exolaimed, "I
veel."
“That’s your sort,” cried Sam, and took
him by the shoulder with intent to draw him
back to the Bull.
“Not zat vay,” said the old foreigner, “zis
vay. Come viz me.”
Sam yielded and the old man shuffled and
hobbled at his side until they came to a dis
reputable-looking public house. The old
mau, signing to his companion to follow,
entered and led the way to a room which,
smelt of stale tobacco smoke and reeked
with old fumes of beer.
"Nobody corn' ’ere,” said the foreigner,
seating himself. “I ring a bell, eh!” He
reached out a shaking band and pulled at a
frail old cord which depended ’ from the
celling. A cracked tinkle answered from
without, and a slatternly girl came iu.
Sam gave his order ami the girl obeyed it
aud the two were left alone together. "I
like you,” said the foreigner in his difficult
and halting English. “Nice man, eh? but
frighten, oh, too easy frighten.”
"Who’s too easily frightened?” Sam de
manded.
“Yoil,” said the old foreigner.
Sam was bellicose on a sudden and smote
the table so that the glasses jingled.
"Look here, matey, You show me the
man as says he ever see me afraid of any
thing, and I’ll wring his neck for him.
Where is he? Show him to me.”
“’Ere,” said the old man, “ ’e is ’ere.”
"But look here, matey,” Sam argued. “I
can’t wring your neck. You’re a elderly
man, you area That’s what you are, and
besides we’re a drinking together. I can’t
set about you, you know. That don’t stand
to reason, does it?”
“I thought,” said the foreigner, with his
elbows on the table aud his chin sunk be
tween bis hands. "I thoughtabig man like
you would not be frightened.”
“I ain’t, neither,” Sam responded. "Not
me. No fear.”
"You are,” said the other, in his level,
monotonous foreign voice, and with no
change of attitude.
“Look here, matey,” Bam returned, with
drunken ponderosity of emphasis. "No.
I’m not a goin’ to oall you matey. I shall
call you boss, because you’re an elderly
man, aud it’s more respectable. Now, look
here, boss, you tell me the man as Sam Pot
ter is afraid of.”
“You are afraid at Redwood,” his com-?
pauion answered.
“Afraid of Redwood!” Sam blustered.
"Why, I could break him across my kuee.
I could tie him into knots.”
“Of course, you could,” said the old man.
“That is vhy I vouder. You are frighten
without cause.”
“I’ll show you whether I’m afraid or not,”
said Sam, staggering to his feet and tossing
off his glass of liquor which stood before
him. “You drink up and come along with
mo, and I’ll show you who’s afraid.”
“Ah,” said the mischief maker; “now you
speak like a man."
“You come back to the Bull," cried Sam.
who was in a condition to fight armies by
this time. “I’ll show you something. You
see me knock chunks off him.”
“You are bravo man now. That is vat
should ba Good man now. Brave man!
Strong man 1”
"I’ll knock a hole through him," Sam
protested, “as if he was a drum-head.”
He flung open the door, dived into the
passage, and so into the street, the foreigner
following with more agility than might
have been looked for in him, hie newly
filled brandy bottle tucked awxy under his
left arm, aud his two sticks held together in
the right hand.
"You vill be frighten again ven you get
zore,” he whispered, but Potter disdained to
reply, but forged ahead with gloomy pur
pose.
Ilis will was good, but his progress was
by no means rapid. Before he had reached
the little hostelry he had walked four or
five times the necessary distance, and by the
time he passed the door would probably
have forgotten all about the purpose which
took him there if his malicious tempter had
not been still at Ids elbow.
“If I was so strong as you,” he said, “I
should kill him.”
The witless Sam rolled royally into the
house, and shouted for Redwood. He used
dreadful epithets, and was so obviously in a
state of drunken frenzy that all the men in
the establishment fell upon him simultane
ously, aud held him from the possibility of
mischief.
“You frighten of ’im," said the old
foreigner when the hubbub has so far sub
si.led that he could i e heard. “He uot
dreadful. Too much frighten himself.”
At this Sam’s drunkou rage mounted so
high that by a tremendous effort he launched
the men woo held him right and left, and,
tearing cut of the passage, made at full
speed for Redwood's house, bre .thing
threats and slaughter. Nobody followed,
and when he had got out fairly into the
country lane bis causeless ragedeaerted him
a.most at cnee. He fell into a hedgerow,
and went contentedly to sleep there for an
hour or two, awaking in time to walk home
just before the hour of closing.
The foreigner had made a great to-do
about following him, and had even gone out
with a pretense of pursuit. It wasno mre
than a pretense, however, for at the first
corner he made a detour, and shambled
away toward his own residence—a lonely
cottage half a mile away from the village.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
CASTING A BIG GUN.
Details of a Process That Calls for
Much Oars and Skill.
Prom the Boston Post.
From 4 o’clock in the morning until 2:30
o’clock in the afternoon a Workman sat in a
niche in the rear of the farnace in the
foundry of the South Boston iron works,
and from time to time he pulled out a brick
in the furnace wall and gazed at a mass of
iron wbioh was slowly being fused. Just
22 tons of iron were in the furnace. This
iron in another form was to be one of the
new 22-inch rifle mortars which are now
being made for the coast defense of the
United States. The fortifications, whon
complete, will require more than 800 of
these mortars, of which but 73 are con
tracted for.
The South Boston iron works has the con
tract for 43 and the Builder’s iron foundry
of Providence a contract for 30. The
Providence contractors have finished cast
ing, and are now assembling the mortars.
The Boston contractors cast the twenty
fifth inortar yesterday. In the workshops
are the big mortars in every stage of com
pletion, from the rough costing down to
the nearly completed gun. The cost is
$8,500 each. Of tbis the casting cost
the steel $3,100, and the assembling $3,550.
This is exclusive of the carriage.
|JT be casting of the gun is an interesting
operation. Capt. A. H. Russell of the
United States ordnance department super
vises the work. Iu the center of the foundry
is a big pit about 16 feet deep, which is
lined with brick. A day or two previous to
the casting a big flask is lowered into tne
pit. This flask is in 6 sections of iron and
is divided once longitudinally and twice
laterally. In this flask, which is perforated
with hundreds of Bmall holes for the escape
of the gas, is a lining 9 inches thick of
molding sand baked hard. The
inner surface Is coated with pow
dered plumbago or facing. At the
bottom of the pit under the center
of the flask is au iron pot about 16 inches in
diameter, which oontains a laver of sand.
The curvature of the pot is followed in
shape. Exactly in the center of the flask is
placed an arbor of cast-iron, which is
wound with rope covered with fine clay and
baked. This arbor is hollow. The arbor is
fluted to allow the gas is to escape. The
rope Is gradually consumed fa the casting,
and it is possible to withdraw the arbor,
leaving the coating of clay in the iuterlor
to protect the bore of the gun. In the
center of the arbor is placed an iron pipe,
which extends nearly to the bottom. Such
is, briefly, the method of casting.
At 2:80 yesterday afternoon the molten
metal tn the furnace was at the proper con
sistency for casting. Supt. Hunt was in
charge. He cast a financial glance around
and ordered the men to “let Her come.”
Two men jammed bars of iron into the top
of the furnace and worked them back and
forth, aud the metal flowed forth in a thin
Btream down the troughs into the ladle aud
then to either side of the flask and dropped
to the bottom. There was a sizzing, snap
ping and sputtering of the iron, and as it
disappeared in the mold there
was a regular Fourth, of July dis
play of stars and fireworks. The work
men carefully scraped the slag from the
metal and regulated the flow, In exactly
nine minutes the mold was full and the big
ladle was placed upright to hold the excess
of iron. Over the end of the arbor was
then placed a big tripod, which has a cap
with screw connection for base attach
ments. Then a workman approached with
a hose and turned a stream of cold water
into the arbor. As the water reached the
bottom there was a report like a cannon,
and all of the sand a::d refuse in the arbor
was blown high in the air. The cap was
placed on the tripod and a hose
attached to the pipe on the arbor.
Water at 43° Fahr. was turned on and soon
filled the arbor and flowed away in another
pipe. This is the Rodman cold coal-casting
system. The object is to cool the gun from
the inside and keep the outside as hot as
possible until the bore is cold. This causes
contraction as the layers of iron cool, each
layer being shrunk on to the other, until the
casting finally is gradually compressed by a
constant pressure from the material com
posing it.
The wood and coal in the pit is then fired,
and soon the flask is surrounded by a roar'
ing hot fire, which tends to keep the outside
of the casting in a fluid state. The first day
the water flows into the arbor at the rate of
21 gallons a minute. The water
yesterday was 68° in temperature when it
first came from the casting. This increased
during the first hour to 79°. The temper
ature is recorded hourly after the
first hour. At 3 o’clock to-day the arbor
will be removed and water will 'be allowed
to flow into the bore of the gun. The tem
perature will then go up to nearly, if not
quite, 210°. The fires in the pit will burn
until to-morrow morning, and then the
flasks will be allowed to cool. From 60 to
80 hours are necessary for casting. The
flask is taken apart, the mold knocked to
pieoes, and the rough gun taken out. Dur
ing the first 24 hours the cast is watched
carefully. The shrinkage of metal is sup
plied in order that the upper end may not
be defective. Draughts of air that would
chill the oast are also guarded against.
When the gun is taken from the pit it is
carefully examined and then taken to the
machine shop to be turned and finished.
These mortars are hooped with steel rings
and rifled aud assembled and sent where
the government may direct. The object of
casting them in the manner described is to
secure a gun of great strength. In order
that the metal may thoroughly unite In the
mold and avoid flaws and babbles the fall of
the molten iron is frequently broken.
LEMON ELIXIR.
Pleasant, Elegant, Reliable.
Fcr biliousness and constipation take
Lemon Elixir.
For fevers, chills and malaria take Lemon
Elixir.
For sleeplessness, nervousness and palpi
tation of the heart take Lemon Elixir.
For indigestion aud foul stomach take
Lemon Elixir.
Forall sick and nervous headaches take
Lemon Eiixir.
Ladies.for natural and thorough organio
regulation take Lemon Elixir.
Dr. ilozley’s Lemon Elixir will not fail
you in any of the above-named diseases, all
of which arise from a torpid or dis.-ased
liver, stomach, kidneys or bowels.
Prepared only by Dr. H. Mozley, Atlanta.
Ga.
500. and $1 00 per bottle at druggists.
A Promtneut Minister Writes:
After ten years of great suffering from
indigestion, with groat nervous prostration,
biliousness, disordered kidneys, and consti
pation, I have been cured by Dr. Mozlsy’s
Lemon Elixir and am now a well mau.
Rev. C. C. Davis,
Eld. M. E. Church South,
No. 28 Tatnall street, Atlanta, Ga.
Lemon Hot Drops
Cures all ooughs, colds, hoarseuoss, sore
throat, bronchitis, hemorrhage and all
throat and lung diseases. Elegant, reliable.
25 cents at druggists. Prepared only by
Dr. H. Mosley, Atlauta.Ga.
Old newspapers—9oo for 25 cents—at
business office. Morning News.— Ad.
d,a *° hd br **°j£\'
THE Oe'CIHtBOOEUIC. T*, ..1, -.fe,
IW Ap LadlOfc ul tor Aa-sn EngUtS Ingmma u> K*<l ul Gold nmljX
I / fa borr* •*“<■! •?• bis* nb*s. Take so other tied. *.Aor . \Y
IJT t% AU pilu m ps.thosnl boxes, piaXvrsppers. srr ds-e-roo* eoaoterfeita. At Drs7nluT*t
\ "OA fS 4e. tn Msnipr tor psrticalsrt. (r-ttmoolal*, an 1 “Keller for Ladleo,** in totter
-V y •■••• Te-V-wCe, H-ase. CH.CHISTCa CHC-TcL cST 11^u.^" L
IP, P. P, Pimples
I PRICKLY ASH, POKE ROOT Blotches
AND POTASSIUM ——•
i Makes
177 , Old Sores
i Marvelous Cures—
% " ' ' " Prickly Ash, Poke Root and Potaarrium,
■ m the greatest blood purifier on earth.
lin Blood Poison sHSSSSSI
i Blood are cured by P. p. p.
7 Randall Pope, the retired druggist of
| 111 • Madison, Fla , says : P. P. P. is the best
M ¥% VtGlim3l SOW alterative acd blood medicine on the
I flllCIJlIIC&llvill market. He being a druggist and hav
ing sold all kinds of medicine, his un-
B " ■elicited testimonial is of great impor
* tance to the sick and suffering.
i End Scrofula
jj yUI WIUiU great pleasure in testifying to the effi-
■■■ " - ——* cient qualities of the popular remedy
for eruptions of the skin known as
r, n „ ._ .... . . P P P- (Prickly Ash, Poke Root and
P. P. P. purifies the blood, builds up Potassium.) I suffered for several
the weak and debilitated, givesstrength years with an unsightly and disagre
to weakened nerves, expels diseases, eablo eruption on my face, and tried
giving the patient health and happiness various remedies to remove it, none of
where sickness, gloomy feelings and which accomplished the object, until
lassitude first prevailed. this valuable preparation was resorted
9 In blood poison, mercurial poison, to - After taking three bottles, in ac
maloria, dyspepsia and in all blood and cordance with directions. lam now oil
skin diseases, like blotches, pimples, t*rcly cured. J. D. JOHNSTON,
old chronic ulcers, tetter, scaldhead,
we may say without fear of contra- Savannan ru>
diction that P. P. P. is the beet blood TTpn „ ,
purifier inthe world. a ” enr y j* tater. Superintendent of the
v , Savannah Brewery, says: he has had
■ Ladies whose systems are poisoned rheumatism of the heart for several
■ and whose blood is in an impure con- years, often unable to walk his pain was
B dition, due to menstrual irregularities, so intense; he had professors mPhiia-
I peculiarly benefited by the won- deiphiabut receivedno relief until he
■ derful tonic and blood cleansing pro- came to Savannah and tried P. P. P
■ perties of P. P. P., Pnckly Ash, Poke Two bottles made him a weii man and
fi Root and Potassium. he renders thanks to P. P. P.
All druggists sell it.
LIPPMAN BROS., Proprietors,
Lippman’s Id lock, Savannah, Ga
RAILROADS.
Florida Central ana Peninsular Railroad
FLORIDA TRUNK LINE—SHORT LINE TO TAMPA-TIME CARD IN EFFECT NOV. 16, lHjl
GOING SOIJtH—READ DOWN; GOING NORTH—READ UP. ~
Daily Daily CALLAHAN .... “
Daily ex. y ’ Dy ‘ IS THE POINT TO CHANGE Daily - Daily ex*
Sunday. GOING SOUTH. Sunday. -
7:25 pm 12:45 pm 7:o4aniLv Savannah Ar 7:50 pm| 12:!4 n’p 4:10 ara
7:03 am 6:43 pm ll:2samLv Callahan Ar 1:45 pm j 7:30 am] 10:25 p m
8:45 am 9:oopm 11:15am Lv Jacksonville Ar I:s3pm 6:30am ! ~5700 jTm
11:25 am 12:33 n’t 2:23 pm Ar Hawthorne Lv 10:44ami 3:23 am ""ifiTpm
12:27 pm 3:31 pm Ar Silver Springs Lv 9:46 amt 12:47 pm
1:80 pm 2:l2am 3:44 pm Ar Ocala Lv 9:34am I:4Bam 12:33 pm
2:17 pm 3:35 am 4:10 pm Ar Wildwood Lv 8:35 am 12:16 am 1140 am
3:16 pm 4:52am 5:43 pm Ar Lacooohee Lv 7:32am 10:58am 10-39 am
3:81 p m 6:l2am tf:oopmAr Dado City Lv 7:14 am! 10:30 pm 10:21am
4:27 pm 6:25am 7:19 pm Ar PlantOity .Lv 5:57am; 9:l7pm 924 am
5:20 pm 7:45am 8:20 pm Ar Tampa. Lv s:ooam 8:10 pm 8:30 am
Stops 3:35 am 4:40 pm Lv Wildwood Ar 8:35 am 12:16 am Stops”"
60 5:45 am 5:40 pm Ar Tavares Lv 7:33 am 9:00 pm 50
minutes 7:soam 6:36pm Ar Ap0pka...........Lv 6:37am 5:55 pm minutes
at 9:00 am 7:10 pm Ar Orlando Lv 6:05 am 4:30 pm at
SILVER gir,\ ER
SPRING 4:52 am 6:48 pm Lv Lacooohee Ar 7:32 am 10:53 am SPRING
to 8:20 am 8:43 pm Ar Tarpon Springs Lv 7:40 pm to
view 8:38 am 9:00 pm Ar Sutherland Lv 7:23 pm view
the 10:00 am 10:51 pm Ar St. Petersburg Lv 6:05 pm the
spring, 1 ! i spring,
row *8:40 am *4:57 pm Ar Dunnellon Lv! *8:08 am; *4:33 pm row
on *6:30 pm Ar Homosassa Lv| *6:45 am ! on
lake, - ] a }. :e
and 2:31 pm Ar Gainesville Lv! 10:23 am and’
dinner. 6:20 pm Ar r Cedar Key Lv| 6:30 am dinner.
SAVANNAH ANI) FERNANDINA.
I 7:26 pm| 7:04 amlLv Savannah Ar 7:50 pm 12:14 n’nl "
I 9:45 amj 8:00 pmj Ar Fornandiaa. Lv! 10:10 amj 5:50 pm!
•Daily except Sunday. -Meals.
CALLAH AN la the transfer station for all points in South Florida reached by the P. C. 4k
P. and its connections.
Solid trains Callahan to Tampa and Orlando. Close connection at Tarapa with So. Fli. R. R.
for Port Tampa, Key West and Havana. Close connection at Owensboro with So. Fla R R. for
Lakeland and Bartow. Close connection at Tavares with J., T. and K. \V. Ry for Sanford and
Titusville. Pullman Buffet sleeping cars on night trains. Through short line Jacksonville to New
Orleans, Jacksonville to Thomasvllle, Montgomery and Cincinnati Tickets sold and baggage
checked through to all points in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Send for be3t map of
Ilorida published, and for any information desired, to
D. E. MAXWELL. G. M. A. O. MACDONELL. G. P. A.. Jacksonville.
MEDICAL,.
CONSUMPTION.
I have a positive remedy for the above disease; by its
use thousands of cases of the worst kind and of long
standing have been cured. Indeed so strong is my faith
in its elficacy, that I will send two bottles free, with
a VALUABLE TREATISE on this disease to any suf
ferer who will send me their Express and P. O. address.
T. A. Slocum, 31. C. 183 Pearl St.. N. Y.
mmmmm
SBBfcgl
'so 01?
spfs paltjquidd^
I! PPM AN BROS., Savannah, Ga
*- Sole AgehtS in tHS U. 'S. sg j
.FLOUR.
If thou art a master, be some
times blind,
If a servant, sometimes deaf.
If a wife, feed your husband
on
Buckwheat all the time.
OLD NEWSPAPERS—2OO tor ceais —a
Office Morning News.
MEDICAJL.
SiIOE!>.
AS FKBKUAIJY
ANTICIPATES \
NIAIiCH kj
DO WE ANTICIPATE
YOUR NEEDS IN THE
SHOE LINE.
Furthermore, we realive that in order to
secure vour trade we must offer every hon
orable inducement. Even if we were not
ourselves disposed to deal liberally we are
forced to the greatest generosity by com
petition—in many instances competition
in name only, however. The results
are the same. We aro bound to be in the
advance column. Wo therefore eclipse all
iu quantity and quality, lowness in price,
promptness and courtesy of service, etc.
We Ask the Favor of a Dali.
BUTLER TmOREISSEY,
Dealers in Pine Footwear.
120 BROUGHTON STREET.
SHOEs.
As With Everythihg Else,
SO ALSO WITH SHOES.
The quality determines the value. A had
shoe is dear at any price. Our object is to give
the best value for the least money, and this we
do. We pick up no job lots or auction truck,
and, consequently do not pass off such stuff on
o®r patrons as straight goods. All of our shoes
are made by leading manufacturers. Don’t ha
misled by catch-trap statements.
GEIL & QUINT,
21 Barnard Street.
I’LUMIiEK.
FINK LINE OB'
GAS FIXTURES AM) GLOBES
AT
L. A. MCCARTHY’S,
4LQ DRAYTON TO
