Newspaper Page Text
Bamboozled
«
. By ERKEST BRIKDLE.
i
When Dick Waller, penniless ad
venturer, found h-lmself stranded in
Hong Kong, he was in that frame of
mind which will lead a man to under
take any desperate enterprise for the
financial re-establishment of himself.
He was not unknown to the port, but
lie knew that it would be useless to
apply for employment of any kind
from merchants of solid reputation.
A white man without good creden
tials is in about as hopeless a case out
there as he is in London city.
So Waller interviewed Mr. Peter
Simpkin, the well-known Jew finan
cier, whose name w r as Schmidt before
he became a British subject. High
up on the Peak, in a lordly mansion
overlooking the harbor, lived Simp-
Inn, but he transacted his dubious
business in a dirty little office in the
native quarter.
There Waller found him one morn
ing, and Simpkin knew at once that
luck had sent him the very man he
(required to act as the agent in ad
vance of a gun-running expedition to
Formosa. By supplying warlike na
tives in lands as far north as Sak
halin, and as far south as Sumatra,
•he had built up an immense fortune.
; In those ventures, however, the risks
were comparatively few.
It was a difficult matter in the case
of the Formosan enterprise he had in
mind. The war between Japan and
China was at an end, and the island
had been ceded to the Japanese. Now
the Chinese living in Formosa were
favorable to the cession, but the abor
iginal tribes inhabiting the eastern
high lands viewed it with hostility,
and set up a republican form of gov
ernment.
And in this complicated situation
Simpkin foresaw a splendid oppor
tunity of increasing his wealth by
shipping cheap firearms to the insur
gents. He did not tell Waller m
much, but offered him the post of
agent to the Peppohoaji chiefs at a
6alary of SIOOO Mexican dollars a
month.
The pay w r as good and the pros
pects of excitement excellent, and
Waller closed with the offe- at once.
Two hours after leaving the office of
Peter Simpkin he was on board a
cargo tramp, bound for the port of
Kelung, and thirteen hours later he
Bet foot on Formosan soil.
He lost no time in engaging a na
tive guide, and purchasing a couple
of ponies and a few provisions for the
journey to Tawkau, the town sixty
miles from Kelung, where the in
surgents were massing.
The journey to Takwan took him
through a succession of deep gorges
running up from the sea, covered with
a gorgeous variety of tree and plant
life. Occasionally he encountered
parties of Chinese traveling to
Kelung, and his appearance never
failed to excite a buzz of excited
comment. And if Waller had known
that among these travelers were Jap
anese spies disguised as Chinamen, he
would, perhaps, have paid them a
closer attention than he did.
The conference with the Peppon
hoan chiefs at Takwan resulted in
Waller securing an order for the im
mediate delivery of 30,000 rifles and
as many cases of cartridges, the
money to be paid to Peter Simpkin
at Hong Kong before the cargo left
port.
There were no safe means of com
munication direct from Takwan, so
Waller resolved to return to Kelung
at once, and dispatch his message
from there by the captain of the ves
sel which had brought him to the
Island.
He and his servant set off an hour
before sunset. Nightfall found them
traversing one of the biggest of the
gorges, their ponies cantering along
In single file in a narrow avenue,
winding through a bamboo forest.
Pulling up his pony to light a cigar,
Waller instinctively became aware
that he was being watched. He
glanced sharply back over his shoul
der, and in his surprise dropped the
lighted match from his fingers. His
servant was nowhere in sight. There
was no one behind him in the grassy,
starlit aisle of the forest.
“Pe Chan!” shouted Waller. “Pe
Chan, where are you?”
There was no answer, but as Wal
ler looked down the aisle he saw the
head and shoulders of a man appear
from behind a bamboo, not fifteen
yards away. The form vanished at
once, but not before Waller had re
moved his revolver from the leather
case strapped round his waist.
Seeing no more of the apparition,
and thinking that it might have been
nothing more than a creation of his
fancy, he rode onward, wondering
what had happened to Pe Chan. Sud
denly his pony reared and jumped to
one side, dashing his right leg against
the hard, rough stem of a bamboo.
Clutching at the reins to save him
self from being thrown forward, he
lifted his eyes and saw two faces, one
behind the other, peering from the
cover of the bamboos growing on the
left side of the path.
The pony, snorting with fright,
leaped forward, squealed in agony,
gave a convulsive spring into the air
and rolled sidewaj's with a loud crash
against the bamboos, half a dozen
revolver shots in its vitals.
Shadowy figures rushed on Waller
as he shook his feet clear of the stir
rups and reeled to the ground. He
fell on his knees, and a Chinaman
aimed a vicious blow at his head with
a short stabbing sword. Waller fired
up ovfer his left shoulder and the man
dropped dead in his tracks.
A deafening din of wild yells, cries
and firing broke out, and the patch
of opening where the pony had fallen
became the scene of a whirling strug
gle. It was the very anxiety of each
of his assailants to be the first to
seize him that enabled Waller to
elude them and gain the shelter of
the forest.
At the first leap he almost brained
himself, his head coming into violent
contact with the enormously thick
stem of a bamboo. The bamboos
grew so close together that a way
between them was only made possi
ble by walking sideways through the
narrow lanes.
Bullets crashed after him, rebound
ing from the hard and polished sur
face of the shining stems like peas
from plate glass. The Chinese were
spreading out to encircle him, and
Waller could actually see the gleam
ing barrels of their revolvers pointed
at him.
Once one giant of a man loomed
up in front of him, and Waller could
hear the quick intake of his breath
as he threw up his hand clutching the
knife. He never breathed again, for
Waller shot him through the heart.
Still on followed the Chinese, their
numbers seeming to increase, the cir
cle they had formed to grow smaller,
and more complete. How was that
circle to be broken? That was the
question that Waller asked himself.
He set his teeth tight, lifted his re
volver, and pulled the trigger. It
snapped down, but there was no an
swering report. Every barrel was
discharged, and he had no fresh
cartridges with him. They were in
a bag of the saddle on the dead pony.
Nearer and nearer the flitting fig
ures approached, taking no precau
tionary cover now that they knew the
man was practically defenseless.
Waller watched the advance with a
curious fascination. He began to
count the rapidly lessening number
of bamboos intervening between him
and the nearest foe. Twelve —eleven
—ten —nipe—eight— seven six
five—four—three. A hand shot out
and caught Waller by the throat.
The touch aroused him to a pas
sion of action. He gripped the wrist
with his left hahd, gave it a sharp
twist, and brought down the butt of
the revolver on the tense muscles be
low' the elbow joint.
The Chinaman reeled back with a
shriek of agony, and Waller, a red
mist swimming before his eyes, hit
out at the next man.
But a club, sw'ung from behind,
fell with fearful force on his shoul
der, and the straight lines of tower
ing bamboos, the savage faces, the
blazing stars, disappeared in a black
darkness.
It was early morning when Waller
opened his eyes, conscious of a ter
rific pain in his shoulder, and found a
Japanese soldier watching over him.
“What’s this?” said Waller, rising
to his feet and staggering drunkenly.
“Why, there’s the sea—but what are
all those ships?”
“The Japanese have come to take
Formosa,” said a little, wizen-faced
soldier. “The ships came during the
night.”
“But how did I get here?” asked
the bewildered Waller. “Last night
I was attacked, and—and left for
dead, I should think.”
“You were in great danger last
night,” continued the Japanese, “and
if some of our troops had not been in
the bamboo forest you would have
been killed by the Chinese.”
He stopped and looked closely at
Waller for a moment. Then he spoke
again.
“A ship leaves for Hong Kong at
mid-day. I have orders to see that
you go by that ship. And to tell you
that the Peppohoan chiefs will not re
quire the 30,000 rifles. Steps are
being taken to secure their peaceful
submission.”
Waller stared at the mask-like face
as one would do in a trance.
“Bamboozled!” he murmured.
“Bamboozled!” —Pittsburg Press.
Girl Seized by Shark.
Milena Sgambelli, a Dalmatian
fishergirl, was bathing near Zara
with other -girls when two sharks
rushed into the midst of them.
Milena ran to the beach, on which
she found an iron rod. Seizing this,
she rushed boldly into the water
again, striking at the sharks w'ith the
rod in order to save her compan
ions.
She overbalanced herself and fell
at full length in the water, when one
of the sharks seized her leg in its
mouth and bit it off above the knee.
Her companions dragged Milena out,
but she died from loss of blood.—
London Express.
PRACTICAL ADVICE ABOUT
DIVERSIFIED FARMING
Indirect Fertilizers.
Gypsum, or land plaster. Is sul
phate of calcium, and has a limited
action. It does furnish calcium and
some sulphur, which are both re
quired in considerable quantities by
such crops as clover and turnips, but
its chief action is in aiding the pro
cess of nitrification by which ammo
nia and the nitrogen of organic mat
ter are converted into forms which
are readily assimilated by the plant,
and in liberating potash and other
elements of plant food from insolu
ble forms of combination and mak
ing them available. Lime, like gyp
sum, aids nitrification and liberates
plant food from insoluble forms of
combination, but it is more powerful
in its action. Heavy clavs. which are
rich in insoluble form of potash, and
soils containing large Quantities of
humus are those most benefited by
lime. In reclaiming swamp lands
the acid humic matter of the peat is
neutralized by the lime and the con
ditions thus made suitable for the
oxidation of the nitrogenous organic
matter and the production of ammo
nia and nitrates. Lime has also a
very beneficial influence on the phy
sical condition of the soil.
Common salt supplies no essential
ingredient of plant food. The little
value which it possesses is probably
due to its action in the soil where it
helps to set free more important con
stituents, particularly pota§h.
It is Important to bear in mind
that these indirect fertilizers do not
add plant food to the soil, but that
their chief value lies in the fact that
they liberate plant food from insolu
ble forms of combination. Hence if
crops are not growing or the land to
make use of the liberated food, or if
the soil has been overstimulated by a
large and frequent application of
lime, gypsum, or salt, loss of nitrogen
potash and phosphoric acid will oc
cur. Consequently these stimulants
should be used in moderation. On
toil not acid in nature one to one and
one-half tons per acre of lime at in
tervals of five or six years would be
a safe application. Professor A.
Harcourt.
The Farm Timber Supply.
There are hills now that have tim
ber of more or less value on them
which the owners intend to c!ea off
just as scon as possible. Timbe? is
going to be worth more than it ever
has been worth, no matter what kind
it is. The United States Forestry
Service is doing good work in find
ing new ways to use lumber of poor
quality to better advantage. Lumber
that would not have been put in
buildings fifteen years ago is gladly
used now. Furthermore, the farm
must always have its supply of wood
for fuel, for posts, poles,, etc. If the
timbered hills were used to the best
advantage, a large proportion of them
should have the timber cut off grad
ually and with discretion. It should
be the aim to keep a stand of timber
ovar a large area —not merely in
spots. When a tree died, it'could be
used for whatever it was worth most.
When trees were standing too thick,
some of them could be cut out; but
the cutting should be done in a way
that would give a regular supply of
timber to be cut from year to year.
The trees would tend to keep a layer
of rich leaf mold to enrich the land,
hold water, provide shade for stock
and nesting places for birds. The day
is not distant when it will generally
be considered favorable to a farm to
have many birds about to feed on
harmful insects. Birds that are now
ignorantly supposed to be enemies to
the farmer will in the flight of fuller
knowledge be seen to be more friends
than enemies. The timbered land
will tend to perpetuate springs, since
the rains, instead of rushing off down
the hillsides, will be caugnt by the
leaf mold and held there till it slow
ly penetrates to the deener layers of
the land. From these deeper layers
it will gradually come forth in
springs, which will supply water for
stock and maybe to run a hydraulic
ram for raising water for use about
dwelling and barn.
Cottonseed Meai 1 or Hog Feeding,
To those wishing to use cottonseed
meal for hogs now we recommend:
1. For animals on heavy feed that
not more than one-fourth the weight
of the grain ration consist of cotton
seed meal.
2. That this feeding continue not
more than fifty days, cv that the pro
portion of meal be reduced if feeding
is to be continued longer.
3. That the meal be mixed with
he other feed and all soured tc
ether.
4. That as much green feed as
;ossible be furnished the hogs.
5. That a close watch be kept and
neal taken from any animals not
mating or gaining well.
Feeders who have had experience
’ ith the meal will probably be able
> exceed these recommendations
inch, however, allow the use o'
enough meal to greatly improve a
:orn diet. One pound of cottonseed
meal to five of corn furnishes the
nutrients in the most desirable pro
portions for fattening, while one or
two of corn are more nearly correct
for young growing stock. Of course
other feeds are desirable for their in
fluences not attributable to their
composition, but it is not often that
the adopted standards can be ignored
in feeding any animals for profit.—
Fi*om Texas Agricultural Experi
ment Station.
Getting Bermuda, Getting Bid of It.
Bermuda seeds very sparingly in
our climate, and when pastured there
is very little danger of it spreading
through the manure. It can be
grown from seed, which can be had
of the leading seedsmen, or it can be
more quickly, I think, grown from
cuttings of the running streams
planted in the spring. It is a hot
weather grass and should be planted
in the spring only. When it is de
sired to break up a piece plow it shal
lowly and rake out all that you can,
then sow thickly with cowpeas, and
there will he little left, for it will not
stand shading. But when you once
have a good pasture of Bermuda, I
hardly think that you will want to
break it. If you will top dress it
with some bone meal every spring
you will have the finest pasture you
ever saw for the summer. But even
where Bermuda grows rank enough
to make a fair crop of hay, I would
hesitate about using it for hay, for
while it seeds sparingly, it does seed,
and in. this way it may be scattered
to fields where we do not want it. —■
W. F. Massey.
Don’t Be a Soil Robber!
Yvhat does it profit a man if he
sells Si 0,000 worth of produce at,
say, SSOOO profit, and damages his
farm. S6OOO. Many never think of
this.
I do not think than any man has a
right to rob his soil o’ all its fertility
any more than he has to rob a friend;
for God gave us a fertile land to pro
duce our crop, and should we rob it,
what will the future generations do?
When looking over the worn,
waste, gullied lands of washed farms
of cnce fertile soil, I stop and wonder,
should the owner ever be lucky
onougn to reacn the pearly gates, if
St. Peter would not send him back
to stop those hollows that he let wash
out during his shiftless and unappre
ciative life upon earth. —J. D. Stodg
hill, Shelbyville, Ky., in Progressive
Farmer.
Money in the Woodlot.
The treatment of the woodlot or
of vacant land that ought to be made
into a woodlot is a subject to which
too little attention is paid, consider
ing the money that there is in it. In
traveling over the country one seas
an aggregate of thousands of acres
of old fields which have lain idle for
twenty years, encumbered with scrubs
or worthless growths. Had they
been intelligently handled they would
now be producing merchantable trees.
“Oh, well, twenty years is too long to
wait, anyways,” says Simpson Slack.
But, Mr. Slack, you can look ahead
ten years, surely. Now when your
woodlot is ten years old, you can find
a purchaser who will wait the other
ten.
Fine Woods Mold For Sweet Potatoes.
If your soil is rather heavy for po
tatoes, try plowing under a heavy
cover of half rotted trash from a pine
woods, pine straw and rotted stuff.
The great market crop of sweet pota
toes on the eastern shore of Virginia
is largely made with this material.
Every pine woods there is raked clean
every spring for the sweet potato
crop. And they make them, too.
But I know, too, that a crop of
crimson clover on the land would do
better and be cheaper than the labor
ious hauling from the woods. But
where there is no clover and you want
a late crop of sweets, try the woods
trash. —W. F. Massey.
Example For the South.
At Hutchinson, Minn., not long ago
there was a procession in connection
with a dairy convention in a section
that went to the bad a few years ago
on account of the chinchbug. A Jer
sey cow headed the procession and
wore a silk blanket on which was
printed, “I raised the price of land in
McLeod Counry to SIOO per acre.”
That was a nice jump, and thousands
of counties in the South can have as
good experience if the farmers will
go at dairying in the way the Minne
sota bunch did.
Use Sprightly Breeds.
For the use of the farmer the more
sprightly breeds of chickens have
something in their favor, since they
will travel about more to hunt food
and consume more insects.
A Hint About Food.
There is toe much salt pork and
irir.gy beef u c ed in the South. More
good poultry for home consumption
pelis better meals and more health.
UTrc.
exinbaij-^cfioof
INTERN ATION AT, T.FSRON COM
MENTS FOB OCTOBER 11.
Subject: God** Promise* to David, 1
Chron. 17—Golden Text. 1 Kings
S:.*>d—Commit Verses 13, 14-
Bead 2 Sam. 7 and Ps. 80.
TIME.—I 042 B. C. PLACE. —Jer-
usalem.
EXPOSITION.—T. “I have been
with thee whithersoever thou went
e«st.” vs. 1-10. Nathan took it for
granted without consulting God that
David’s proposition to build a house
for God would lie acceptable unto
TTim. But God set Nathan riehf "the
seme night ” Tn the first instance
Nathan spoken out of bis own
■'ndement. but "<iw "the wo’" 1 of the
T.erd’’ eame unto him. Gor* will make
His will known to those who sinepre
lv desire to know H t Am. 3:71. Je
hovah sneaks of David ns "M» ser
vant.” but refused to permit him tn
build a house for Him God accents
one kind of service from one man
pud another kiud of service from pji
ot.b°r m*»c. The prime r°nson whv
Cod would not permit David to huild
His temule was h«rausn h° had hpoo
p man of war ned blood fch. 22:7, fit
28:31. Jehovah is the "God of
nea.ee” Tsrael had been pilgrims,
dwelling in t®nts and wandering from
nlace to place; and Jehovah bad
dwelt in a tent with them. He bad
“walked with ail the children of Is
rael" fcf. 2 Cor. 6:16: Rev. 2:1 >.
God had never comnlained at sharing
His neonle’s experience nor suggested
to auv of the Judges that tbev should
build an house of cedar for Him. God
appreciated the love that prompted
David to offer to build an house for
Him. thomrh He was obliged to de
cline the offer. He had done great
things for David, exalting him from
the lowliest, position to the most ex
alted. Tt is ever God’s wav to exalt
the lowlv to a position among the
highest IPs. 113:7. 8: Lu. 1: T. 2>.
Many of those who are to-dav among
the obscurest of the earth will some
dav sit among princes. God took
David Dom being a ruler o f sb»up to
be a ruler of His people. Fidelitv in
the bumbler position had fitted him
for the higher position. But not ontv
bad God exalted David to this nusi
tion. He had also "been with thee
whithersoever thou w°nt“st” fcf. 1
Bam. 18:14; 2 Sam. 22:3ft. 34:38).
And He nromises to be with us also
(Matt. 28:201. He bad cut. off his
enemies and made for him a great
name, and that He will do for us
fTsa. 65:31. What. God did for David
is onlv a. faint suggestion of what God
can and will do for all who are in
Ghrist. tEnb. 1:18-221. God declared
to David His purpose not. oniv regard
ing himself but. also reearding all
Israel. This purnose of gra.ee as an
nounced in v. Ift had a partial ful
fillment. in the davs of Solomon, but
its complete fulfillment lies still in
tho future. Tt. will he fulfilled tn th«
very letter f.Ter. 24:6: Hr 27:25-27;
Am. 2:14.15; Isa.60:18; Ez. 28:24).
Tsrael’s history has been one of per
secution and suffering, but it. will not
always be so. Tts temporary triumph
under David and Solomon was but a
faint, tyne of the triumnh that is to be
theirs fZe.eb. 8:23). Prepare for the
dav wh°n the Lord oompth again.
If. I Will Ri»bu* Up Thy Seed Afier
Thee. Jehovah’s goodness to
David would not end with his de
parture from this world. He should
sleep with his fathers, not die (cf. 1
Tilers. 4:14), but his seed that pro
ceeded from himself should follow
him unon the throne. Two precious
“I wills” are to be noted: ”1 will
raise up,” "T will establish.” The im
mediate and partial fulfillment of this
promise was in Solomon fl K. 8:20;
5:5; 1 Chron. 22:9, 10; 28:0-10).
But the final and complete fulfillment
is in Jesus Christ (Ps. 09:29: Isa.
9:0, 7: 11:1-3. 10; Matt. 22:42-44;
Acts 2:30). ‘‘He shall build Me an
house” refers, of course, primarily to
the building of the temple by Solo
mon. but that temnle was only a type
of the true temple or habitation of
God. The seed pf David who is build
ing that is Jesus Christ (Zech. 0:12,
13; Matt. 10:1 S: Lu. 1:31-33; 1 Pet.
2:5; Eph. 2:22). Of Christ's king
dom God says, "I will establish His
throne forever” (cf. Isa. 0:7; Lu. 1:32,
33; Gen. 49:10: Ps. 45:6; 72:5, 17-
19; 89:33, 37; Dan.2:44; 7:14; Heb.
1:8; P.ev. 11:15).- in a sense it
would be true of Solomon's kingdom
that Jehovah would establish it for
ever (1 Chron. 28:7). “I will be His
Father, and He shall be My Son” is
true in the fullest sense only of Jesus
(Heb. 1:5; Matt. 3:17). Yet even
this was true in a sense of Solomon
(1 Chron. 28:6). ‘‘lf he commit in
iquity, etc.,” aplies primarily to Solo
mon, but Jesus entered into the place
of the sinner (2 Cor. 5:21), and this
about the consequences of the sin of
David's seed is applicable to Him (cf.
Acts. 13:34-37). “With the stripes
of the children of men.” with paternal
chastisement, would Jehovah chasten
Solomon, if he went astray. Solomon
did go far astray, and God chastened
him and brought him back. Every
child of God at some time needs such
chastisement. Blessed is he who re
ceives it (Deut. 8:5; Job 5:17; Ps.
94:12, 13; Prov.3:ll, 12; Jer 30:11;
Heb. 12:5-11; Rev. 3:10). God’s se
verest chastisements of His people are
entirely different from His judg
ments upon the world (1 Cor. 11:30-
32). Was Solomon ever restored to
God’s favor? Verse 13 answers the
question. Jehovah's love to David
secured the perpetuity of his house
and city (1 K. 11:13, 34-3 G; lsn.
37:35).
