Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-08-12
NO. 1S9.
Gales ano Skctthes.
SOME ONE PAYS.
CHAPTER /.

| on tuesday tor Corfu, where we have Sc
cured Il small cutter. of some thirty tons,
| by which we mean to drop down the Al
baaian coast making wondeocks our OBJ
iect ON all the days pigs do not offer. We
ire four-tiertrl. Hope, Lascelles and
mySelf-nf whom vou know ali but Las
cellcs, hut are sure to like when YOU
meet. We want You. and will take no
refusal, Hope declares on his honor that
he Will never pay You the hundred you
| lent him If You fail us; and he viii, which
is more remarkable still--book up the day
YOU JOIN is. Seriously. however. | en-
treat you TO be one of us. Take no trouble
about guns. etc. We are amply provided.
We only ask yourself.
Yours. ever. GEORGE OGLr.
"lf You cannot join Mt Corfu. we shall
rendezvous at Prevesa, little town on
| the Turkish side. where YOU can address
us. to the care of the Vice Consul Lyd-
yard
| This note reached me one day in the
late autumn. while | was soiourning at
Lamm. in lnnspruck. 1t had followed me
from Paris to Munich. to Baden the AM
mergau. and at last overlook me at Inn
Spruck. some four weeks after it had been
written. If | was ANNOYED at the delay
| which lost me such companionship. for
three Of the four were old friends. IA glance
at the postscript reconcilcd me mt once to
the disappointment - Prevesa, and the
name Lydyard awoke very sad memories
and do not know what would have in
duced me to refresh them bv seeing either
again. 1t is not Il story, nor is il a scene.
that | am about to relate. II is one of
those little incidents which are ever oc-
curing through life. and which serve To
remind us how our moral health. like our
physical. is the sport of accident; and
that just as the passing breeze may carry
on its breast plcurisy. the chance meet
ings in the world may be scarcely less f;,-
tai
have been an idler and wanderer tor
years. | left the army after short cxpc-
riencc of military life. imagining that |
could not endure the restraints of discipline.
and slowly discovered atterward that there
- no such slavery rs an untrammelled
will. and that the most irksome bandage
i nothing in comparison with the vascil-
latns and uncertainties of purposeless
'xistence.
was left early in lite nv own master.
With no relatives except distant ones. and
With means, not exactly ample, but quite
utlieient for the ordinary needs of a gentle
nan ! was free To 90 anywhere or do
anything which. in my case at least, ,meantto
be everlasingly projecting or abandoning
how determining on some pursuit that
should give me an object or a goal in life,
md now assuring myself that ali such
determinations were slaverieS and that
| 10 conform to the usages by which men
sought success in public or professional
ite was I'm ignoble drudgery and unwor-
| thy of him who could live without it.
| In this unsettled frame of mind travel.
| ed about the world for vears--at first over
the cognate parts of the continent, with
| which | became thoroughly familiar, know
| ing Rome, Paris, Vienna and Naples, as
knew London. ! then ran all over the
States, crossing the Rocky Mountains and
spending above wear on the Pacific
Coast visited China and lndia-T came
| i will not say home, for | had none
| by Constantinople, and thence to Belgrade
where made the acquaintance of II Turk
ish Pasha, then Governor of Scutari in AL
bania, and returned along with him to his
seat of government. A Vice-Governor of
Prevesainduced me to 90 back with him
to that unpromising spot, assuring me
how easy should always find means of
reaching Corfu or Italy and that meau-
while. the quail-shooting, which was Just
beginning. would amply reward me for
my stay.
Prevesa was about as wretched a village
as poverty, sloth and Turkish Indifference
could accomplish. The inhabitants. who
combined trade and fishing ostensi-
bly,. really lived by smuggling. and only
needed the opportunity to be brigands on
shore. Their wretched bazaar display
1 "a
ter or Glasgow, with Belgian cutlery and
cheap imitation iewclry. But even these
had no buyers. and the little stir and life
of the place was in the cafes. where the
brawnv natives. armed TO the teeth. smok-
ed and lounged the liveloug day, and. TO
| all seeming, fulfilled no other duty in ex-
is.ence.
/ / suspect / have an actual liking for
dreary and tiresome places, ] believe
they somehow accommodate themselves
TO something in my temperament which
is not misanthropv, nor mental depression
nor vet romance, but is combined OF all
three. / feel, beside. that my imagina-
ton soars the more freely the fewer the
distractions that surround me. but that |
require just that small amount of stimu-
LIANT. human life and its daily cares sug-
gest to prevent stagnation.
| was at least six days at Prevessa be-
fore ] was aware that her Britannia Ma
iesty had "A representative there. II was
in a chance ramble down little alley
. that led to the bay ! came upon the Brit
ish arms over low doorway. II was a
poor-looking. tumble down house, with
very frail wooden balcony over the door.
distinguished by flagstaff. TO be doubt
less decorated on occasion by the proud
flag Of England.
Forming forget what imaginary rea-
son for inquiry, | entered and knocked
at door inscribed Consular hours from
- and then smudge Of paint OBJ
literating the rest and leaving the import
in doubt. Not receiving anv answer to
my summons pushed open the door and
entered. a man in his shirt sleeves and
slippers was asleep on a very dirty sofa,
and so soundly that my entrance did not
disturb him. A desk with some much
worn books and scattered papers, a mas
sive leaden inkstand and a large official
seal were in front Of him, but paper of
Il