Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-05-21
THE LONG CHASE.

knOwledged queen In society when
first knew her, and it did not take
long to discover that Phil loved her.
and l had already looked upon Phil
as married man, when one night he
burst into the room, flung his hat in
one corner, his cane in another, and
sinking into chair, covered his face
with his hands and gave vent to a
groan of half-suppressed agony.
"Why, Phil" 1 said, Fastening
over to him, care you hurt? Has any
accident occurred?''
looked at him from head to foot.
half expecting to see the blood flow
from recent wound.
There are no limbs broken, Hail.
he said, looking up with face so
distorted and pale 1 scarcely knew it
for his own; "only the heart, Hal. l
have got my death-blow. Diana be-
longs to another!"
"Married?'' / Igasped.
"Just the same. She'd been Gu
gagged to a colonel in the army for
two years. They are to be married
this fall"
"Why, what a monstrous"-but
Phil put his hand on my arm.
"Don't, Hail." he said, pleadingly,
81 can't bear it; besides, I think She
scarcely knew the danger we were
in till it was too late. l believe she
loves me, Hal, as L love her, as shall
love her, to the last moment of my
life"
"Can nothing be done?" 1 asked.
Nothing" he replied, with an ac-
cent of dispair. "Only let us hasten
our plans for travel. l beg of you,
Hal, put as many miles between her
and me as you can"
A fortnight afterwards we were
upon the ocean.
One night as we sat outside the
tent in Africa, whittier we had gone
with a hunting party on tour, Phil
and l smoked long and contempla-
lively.
He held an old newspaper to his
eyes for moment, then dropped it
and started to his feet, looking about
him as if bewildered.
"What is it, Philip 1 cried, rush
ing for my rife-"a lion? serpent?"
He sank back upon the smooth bit
of alkali that served him for a seat,
picked up the newspaper again, and
read in trembling voice that Col.
John Talbot had been killed on the
American plains by the Indians.
''That's rather rough for Talbot"
l remarked; "but.I can't exactly see
how it can affect u.s."
"Col. John Talbot" repeated Phil
in a impressive whisper, Ffis the man
to whom Diana was engaged"
GA widow" I murmured, with the
accent of a Weller.
then looked at the date of the
newspaper, and found it had been
printed only a fortnight after we left
the old collegiate town.
81 might, after all, have been first
man." remarked.
Nothing would now do but to take
up the thread of life of Philip where
it was so rudely snapped assunder
"All these months of travel, Hail."
he said, with the peculiar selfshness
of lover, 'Ehave been merely exist
ence for me, not life. Let me 90 back,
my friend, to the air 1 can breathe,
to the air that is shared by Diana"
Phil was obliged to submit to des-
tiny. Life was dearer to him than it
had been of late, and he was not pre-
pared to strike off into the wilder
ness alone. l noticed for the first
that he was prudent in the hunt on
the following day,and that he began
to make virtue of patience. For my
part, I was sorry for Phil, but new
ertheless, the pachyderms had a
wonderful fascination about them.
After the paehyderms came lions,
which were not quite so interesting
for various reasons. In the first place,
l had seen so many lions in menage-
ries and shows of all kinds-a lion
isn't half so nice in some positions rs
in a cage. For instance, suppose you
were fool enough to join a party of
madmen who track these animals to
a defile in the mountains, and attack
them, as you say, with their foot up
on their native heath, and just get a
little simple tap with one Of their
claws that breaks your collar-bone,
lays open your cheek, pulls down the
skin of your forehead over your eyes
and smashes your right arm in two
places. 1t seems to me natural to
prefer looking at them from behind
good stout railing, with ademorali-
cation of captivity on their side.
At all events, poor Phil had to
nurse me for many long month af-
ter tina lion hunt, and it was well in
to the following year when we at
last found ourselves on an Atlantic
steamer, bound for home.
Phil and l were old travellers by
this time, and the wild freshness of
enthusiasm that siezed upon some of
our fellow voyagers as they neared
their native shores, was with us ton
ed down to calm conviction that
America was the only country in the
world worth the rational affection of
an experienced and cultivated mind.
/ had. been looking through the
glass while, and was about handin g
it over to afellow passenger, who had
eyed me with a devouring envy the
while, when a big steamer, outward
bound; glided closely by our side,
and / could see the faces of the par
ty nearest me.
One last, fieeting glance of mine
contained revelation. 1 glued my
eyesto the glass again. Right op-
posite me there shone two glowing
orbs; wonderfully familiar. The face
was one not forgotten, the form, full,
shapely, with peculiar serpentine
grace about it. sss
"Phil," / said, putting the glass
into his hand. "look over there at
that group of ladies'"
He took it languidly, but having
looked, quick. eager gasp escaped
him; he dropped the glass into the
hands OF our envious fellow passen-
ger, and siezed my arm with a sud
den frenzy.