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TTTE ATLANTA GEORGIAN’ AND NEWS. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 191
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THE BAPTISM
OF FIRE
To-day's Complete Short Story
I T had »e©m©d to m© At the time that
I could do fhe thing in entire safe
ty. Our troops were ordered out to
tAke and destroy a village whloh lay
fn the valley by the riverside, and their
operations would bo confined to the
lower ground. The heights above would
be entirely nnttoubled, unoccupied.
And so I had gained these, after walk
ing five miles over gentle slopes of short
scrub grass, and then had lain me down
on fhe ridge and watched the skirmish
ing. the attack, and the capture through
a pair of glasses.
From a distance it had all seemed
very tame. There were little puffs of
gray smoke, men fell, others came on
at run, zigzagging in and out in entire
disorder, made their weapons and ac
coutrements glitter in the sun, and they
disappeared under cover of the mud and
bamboo tillage
More armoke aroee in puffs from fhe
lanes between the houses And then a
stream of Black Flag Chinese* began
to pour out at the run, some of them
pWched forward and lay still, and tlV 1
Others opened out to pass these by. apd
others limped and lagged behind thj j
general pace; and quite irregular crack- j
1© from the village, like the burning of
brush-wood, told me what was cauaing
these things.
Blit when the Ralck Hags were out
of nmge and th© firing ceased th© val
ley dropped into dread quietude and
there "was nothing more to see. I yawped
over it for another half-hour and then
walked a dozen yards down the slop©,
smoked a couple of cigarettes and began
my dejeuner The regiment of Black
Flags which came down upon me muse
have started climbing th© hill face the
very minute I quitted the ridge
Ran Like a Dog.
irisrtinct. as I say. jerked me to my
feet, and Inatinct must have given me
a prodigious start, for when first my
wits came to me I found myself run
ning like a frightened dog.
It seemed as if ten million bullets
whisked past me. and I had a notion I
was hit in twenty places But nothing
clogged my legs, and although my heart
was trying to Jump clear of its moor
ings I ran on at a freshened pace.
There wasn't a. more terrified man In
Asia that minute The shots came drop
ping after me; shots and cries in bar
barous Chinese, and the world swam In
fnont.
Tarror, undiluted, made me a running
automaton.
Beyond a doubt the most cowardly
Frenchman In the East that moment
was myself. I did not attempt to con
trovert this fact; I ran on, cringing
from every bullet that rustled past me
or spurted up the ground beside my
leaping feet; but I sought to find ex
cuses for my conduct.
For good behavior they had raised '
me from the ranks to a non-Commin- ]
sioned officer
How long I ran on In this blinded
slat© 1 cannot tell; but a sharp sting
of pain set my wits a-going rt felt
like the soar of hot metal burning and
frying, and the hurt came somewhere
from the round of the left shoulder.
Instantly my mood woke a^aln For j
the first time there grew upon me a
vague resentment against the crew who
were yelping and firing in chase; and j
as I scurried on, and the ill-aimed bul- |
lets threw their rushing halo of sound
around my head and limbs, this in
creased to a wild, poisonous hate.
Remembered My Revolver.
Then, for th.- first time, I remem
bered my revolver With bungling
fingers l unholstered it, and. turning,
fired six rapid shots One man clapped
hands to his face, screamed shrilly
like a child and pitched to the earth,
his pigtail swung up in the air as
thought it had been a black whiplash.
1 was no longer a French gentle
man then I was a savage beast, lust
ful to tear my enemies' throats.
I turned again and fired on. A whole
fusillade of vengeful shots wore ex
changed in return, but none of them
found a mark in me, and I laughed
aloud in triumph. Whatever happened
now I had killed my own weiglu of
enemy.
But, as I say, I .wanted desperately
to do more, and now that the paralysis
of terror and excitement had flashed
away my mind was beginning to
work with craft and cunning Ahead
of me and running athwart my course
was a muddy wallow they called the
roed and which our troops had pass
ed along barely three hours before to
the capture of the village To th©
left were the French lines and safety.
In front, and a ball's throw beyond
the road. was the yellow turbid
stream of the river.
Tt was Impossible !o reach the camp
pven had l risked it The Black Rags
had anticipated tlie move and had de-
ailed off a party to outflank me in
'hat direction By turning oft to the
■*jght I might very well bring down
the enemy upon our expeditionary
force on their march back from the
village. They might he prepared to
•» * ve them, and again thc> might
ri i and I would have died ten tlm£s
• «*m*r than any move of mine for my
< n safety should bring disaster on
n comrades. Oflr branch of the
-ervicc gets sneered at enough as
it is.
Shots Thick and Fast.
So T raced on for the road and
passed it. and labored down to ’he
river The shots came fast and thick
now, and two more bullets galled me,
but 1 waded through the shallows
without further hurt and gained the
deep, tawny river beyond
A sain pan was moored a hundred
yards out and a little downstream.
I made for it with long, bursting
dives. There w-ere half a dozen men
on board, jumping, gesticulating, anti
crying warnings; and once, when 1
came up from an underwater swim, one
of them let fly a match lock at me
Another dive and f was upon them,
and they received me with knife-stabs
—and how the fight turned next 1 could
not tell. But of a sudden, with a blink
and p gasp and a downward blow l
came by my wits again, and found that
1 was on board the sampan with a curv
ed Chinese sword in my band; and one
man lay dead and bleeding at my feet,
another was dead and floating face
downwards with a current astern vnd
the rest were swimming to the shore,
and twenty Black Flags were bring over
their heads as fast as they could
Mv pistol was gone and 1 could do
no more on the offensive Tin wish
for fight had »ef« me; the lust for
life alone remained. 1 rut the painter
and lav on the sampan's bottom,
whilst site drifted down with the cur
rent info our own lines
And vet nr-* officers were pleased
to call me brave. and the general
gave me the war-medal. I tried to
refuse it. but they la’ gitcd at mo
A vedette *it seen.ed» Lad watched
me through a glass from the moment
of the first shot being fired, and the\
•aid no man could have behaved more
ttlucluiy.
The Dingbat Family
The Juice Raised the Deuce
By Herriman
Polly and Her Pals
Even the Worm Will Hide
Copyright, 1993, Intenixtiooal Now* Barrio*.
By Cliff Sterrett
t>T4WD up An' Lemme
fit This Skirt oj
VOu, FOLLV I ■
\>«4UUA Wt4R.
IT To MORROW/ (
Tragedy and the Movies
By MALCOLM DOUGLAS
{il WAS with Booth, the mighty.
I But Booth, alas, is dead!
So now 1 am with the mo
vies, ”
The old tragedian said
“In Chanibersburg and Fottstown,
And likewise Kokomo.
You can view me classic features
At 6 and 10 a throw
“1 was with Booth, the mighty.
But Booth has long been dust,
So l get me cakos and coffee
From tiie moving-picture trust.
“Shakespeare, thou wast me Idol,
But thee 1 harlst to can;
Me. oh. Bard, for the movies.
Me for the camera-man!"
CLEEK OF THE FORTY ]
FAC!
ES|
The Habit of Lying
Not What Fa Meant.
Host's Youngest—Don't your shoes
feel very uncomfortable when you
walk, Mrs. Xuryche?
Mrs. Nurych—Dear me. what in
extraoVdinar> question! Why do you
ask. child?
Host's Youngest—Oh. only Vos jm
said the other day. since you'd come
into your money you'd got far too big
for your boots.
By T. W HANSHAW
Copyright by Doubledav. Page & Co.
TO-DAY S INSTALLSEXT.
H E did so forthwith; and the mo
ment the dry leaves fell on the
remnants of the fire which the
caravanners had used to cook their
evening meal, there was a gush of
aromatic smoke, a sudden puff and
then a broad ribbon of light rushed
upward and dispelled every trace of
darkness And by the aid of that rib
bon of light Mr. Nippers >aw *oim -
thing w hich made him almost collapse
with astonishment and chagrin.
Recognition.
The great of the world nm> and
often do—forget their meetings with
the small fry. but the ©mail fry never
eeas* to remember their meetings
with the great or to treasure a vivid
remembrance of that immortal day
when they were privileged to rub e -
bows with the elect.
Fiv* > cars had passed since Mrs
Maverick Xarkom. >-ecking a place
wherein to spend the summer holidays
with the little Xarkoms and their
nurses, had let her choice fall upon
Eynhaven-Oid-Bridges and had dwelt
there for two whole months. Three
times during her sojourn her liege lord
had come down for a week-end with
his wife and children, and during
one of these brief visits, meeting Mr.
Ephraim Nippers, the village consta
ble. in the public highway, had
deigned to stdp and s*peak to him and
to presvnt him with a sixpenny cigar.
Times had changed since then; Mr.
Nippers was now head constable for
the district, but he still kept that
cigar under a glass shade on the
drawing room what-not, and he still
treasured a vivid recollection of the
great man who had given it to him
and whom he now eaw silting on the
ground with his coat off and his
waistcoat unbuttoned, his mustache
uncurled and wisps of tjried grass
v tinging to his touseled hair and n 1!
the dignity of office conspicuous by
its absence.
'‘h. lummy.' said Mr. Nippers with
a g’Ep. 'Put down the hammer** of
them guns, you two—put cm down
quick! It's Mr. Xarkom Mr. Mav- j
crick Xarkom, superintendent of |
Scotland Yard!”
’Hullo!” exclaimed Mr. Xarkom. j
shading his eyes from the firelight J
and leaning forward to get a clearer j
view of the speaker. “How the dick
ens do you know that, my man? And .
who the dickens are you, any way?}
Can't say* that I remember ever see- I
ing your face before.”
Mr. Nippers hastened to explain
that little experience of five years
ago; but tiie circumstances which
had impressed itself so deeply upon
his memory had passed entirely out
of the superintendent's.
Just Discovered.
"Oh, that's it, is it?” said he. "Can’t
say that 1 recall the occasion; but
Mrs. Xarkom certainly did stop at
Lynhaven-Old-Bridge* some four *r
five summers ago; so, of course. TVs
possible. By the way. my man. what i
caused you to make this sudd m '
descent upon u?” And what are these!
chaps wno are with you bearing arms 1
lor? Anything up?”
“Oh, lummy, sir. yes! A murder’s
just been committed, sir—leastwise
it's only just been discovered; bul it
can’t have been long since it was
committed. Mr. Xarkom. for Miss
Renf ew. w ho found him. sir, and efl re
the alarm, she says as the poor dear
gentleman was alive at a quarter o
t ight. 'cause siie looked into the room
at that time to ask him if there was
anything lie wanted, and he spoke up
and told her no. and went on with his
figgerin' just the same as usual.”
"As usual?” dropped in Uleek. "Why
do you say 'as usual.’ my friend? Was
tiie man an accountant of some sort?”
"Lummy! no, sir. A great inventor
is what he is—or was. poor gentle
man. Reckon you must a heard of
him some time or another—’most ev
erybody has Nosworth is the name,
sir--Mr. Septimus Nosworth. of the
Round House. You could see the
tower of it over yon if you was to
step out into the road and get clear
of these trees.’’
To Be Continued To-morrow.
“I
DON'T know what on earth
makes people lie!” sighed Me*
Billip. “They just naturally
do it. I suppose. That's the only way
I can account for it.
“Now, there's my own daughter,
Annabel. She took a notion into her
head that she would do some lying.
She was staying down in the city and
some neighbors of ours went down
and called on Annabel there.
"Annabel turned loose. Such a
string of stuff as she told them!
Every night, she said, she had been
out joy riding until 2 o’clock in the
morning!
"‘Who did the chaperoning?' the
neighbors asked, breathlessly.
"‘Who did the what?’ asked Anna
bel.
" Why, the chaperoning. Didn't
you have a chaperon?’
" 'Well, I should say not,’ said An- J
nabel.
"Then Annabel went on to tell that
she had been having such a good
time with actors and actresses. She
knew Maude Adams well, had taken
a joy ride with Maude, and Maude
wanted to take her with her^and make
an actress of her. and had promis'd
her $100 a week as a starter. Anna
bel had also met Sothern and had
liked him very well, but she had beep
obliged to treat him coolly because
Julia Marlowe was »» jealous.
"She had met a famous aeronaut
v.wci^ru iit-1 anu coaxed
her until she finally made a flight
with him. and she enjoyed the ex
perience very much and had received
several letters and photographs from
the aeronaut since he left town.
"Soon after the ©leiglibors got back
home with these thrilling tales of
what was going on in the city I got
word of it. I took the first train to
the city. Every bird in the air I
thought might be some aeronaut fly
ing off with my daughter. I had mad©
up my mind to yank her,out of her
aunt’s house, where she was visiting
without a word of explanation and
get her home at once.
'■But when I g-ot to the house I
thought better of It. ‘What In tha
world do you mean,' I said to her
aunt, 'by allowing my daughter, a girl
of tender years, to tly around with
aeronauts and actors, and go out rid
ing at all hours of the night without
a. chaperon?’
"■Are you crazy." asked her aunt.
'Annabel ha? been with me every
night and has always gone to bed at
lft: 30. Tnere have been no aeronauts
nor actors near her that I know of.
I have been with that child every
minute, too.'
"When I saw Annabel she said slio
had made up those yarns just for fun.
She said she was bored and wanted to
?t ' t something. The neighbors had
been so easily shocked when ♦> v
called on her that she couldn'' *e;j»
giving them the full voltage-.''
/.