Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-01-01
THE PROPHETIC PISTOL.

"And that" said I, sis pretty nearly all
that have to tell you"
The above words formed the peroration
of a synopsis of several years travelling,
communicated by me to fellow passenger
from Helsingfors to Stockholm, as we
leaned over the side of the good ship vi
borg, and watched the countless groups of
rocky islets, crested with green foliage,
which arose ON every side from the smooth
transparent sea.
My auditor was long, lean, wiry Amer
lean, with a cold, clear eye, and look OF
indomitable frmness in every line of his
pinched, sallow face, which gave him the
aspect Ito quote from pugnacious friend
of mine,) 'sof a man you would like to be
back to back with in a row.
s'Wal, stranger" remarked he, at the
close of my narrative, ''you have been
about a bit, 1 reckon; but you hain't seen
much, and what's more, you hain't done
much, neither"
My dignity was somewhat ruffled by this
plain-spoken criticism, for 1 privately re-
garded myself as a second Sinbad, on the
strength Of a moderate acquaintance with
the majority of the countries which figure
on the tourists visiting list. Moreover,
my listener had himself provoked my easn-
municativeness by series of searching
questions upon every point Of my personal
history, from the color of my grandfather's
hair to the amount Of pocket money ala
lowed me at Rugby. Consequently, there
was perhaps shade of acrimony in my
tone as 1 replied:
everybody can't have as many adventures
as YOU"
oval, yu air about right thar returned
he, taking my words literally. "I've seen
a few things in my time, 1 reckon; but
mark ye, it's cause I looked about me and
fixed for DOM somethin' wherever I went,
sted Of trailin' about with my eyes shet
and my hands in the pockets of my pam
teys, like some folk. Now, I'll tell yu how
We Britishers travel; yu jest follow the
railway track right square from one big
town to another, and see the opera house
and the theayters, the promenades, and
SIGH like, and of course yu meet a heap of
riff-raff, and mayhap get your eye-teeth
drawn leetle too slick; and after devotin
three weeks Or a month to seein' coun-
try with some millions o. people in it, yu
come back and write tarnation big book
to say that, after all, the critters thar air
all lazy and shiftless and good for nothin'
but to cheat and tell lies; and no wonder,
SEEM they're only cnssed furriners, and
hain't got the inestimable blessin' Of a
free British constitution. Thar, now,
stranger" he concluded, with the paternal
superiority of a missionary instructing a
Hottentot, "that's the way yu 60 to work:
but yu observe, tain't the right way, no.
how yu can fix it,
''And how did you go to work, then?''
asked l.
"Wal, 1 fixed to do somethin', and |
done it; leastways, a man that's been a
teamster in the Rocky Mountains, gold.
digger in Australy, a sailor in the Ingian
Ocean, a storekeeper at Shanghi, q news
paper editor at San Franciski, and al
agent for one notion OF another in every
country in Europe, might say he done
somethjn', guess, if he had mind to-"
"And have you really done all that?'
| I asked, somewhat startled at the cata
logue.
''Reckon have; I've been kinder NOV
in round ever since l was as big as me
lasses jar, and 1 amt done yet. Guess I'm
like John Browns soul in the old song
go marchin' on pretty considerable, an(
it'll take while to tire me off it tew."
"And do you always travel alone?"
"Reckon [ do; leastaways, what you'(
call alone. I've got a bosom friend here
though" added he, with strange chuckle
putting his hand into his breast pocket
'and he's done me more'n one good turn
in his time, SO L tell We. Yes, sir, he ha
that; and what's more, he speaks OF hold
his tongue, jest as I please, which tain
every man as would do"
And with this enigmatical preface h
produced small but very handsome re
volver, with a spring bayonet, and orna
naented about the stock with eleven stud
of silver arranged in the form Of a square
which would be completed by the addition
of twelfth.
''Ain't that friend, now, stranger?
said the Transatlantic, exultingly, tan
good friends we've been, him and me.
never mistrusted him but once. and tina
wal down in Australy, when war gole
diggin' up Turon way. Two fellers cam
to my tent one night, cause they heerd a
I'd heap OF gold thar, and they though
Of bein' so kind as to relieve me Of the n
sponsibility of guardin' it. I heard 'el
creepin' in, and Of course the fust thing
did was to slap all six barrels into ZEN
LEST to give EN-, a hint NOT to call aft