The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1882-04-20
[Fromfhe Cornhill Magazine.l
THE MAN WITH THE RED HAIR.
(CONCLUDED.)

own voice-ahoy- -ahoyLhoy!-
tossed it to and fro. Then 1 made
more desperate and vain efforts to free
myself. Then | peered over the brink
of my ledge, and convinced myself
that it would be madness to at
tempt to scramble down. Then l
tried to fray through the silk hand
kerchief that bound me by rubbing it
against the rock; but | was too ight-
ly secured to move MY arms to any
purpose, and my muscles were so
strained that every movement was an
agony.
I don't know how long I fretted
and fumed on that narrow shelf,
parched with thirst, in considerable
pain, and-I frankly confess-in a
mortal fright; but I afterwards cal
culated that [ must have been there
quite three hours before | resolved in
despair to take my chance Of scram-
bling down without assistance. l
wriggled over the edge, got one foot
firm into crevice, cautiously lowered
the other, and then, as might have
been expected, down | went head over
heels into space. There was a tre-
mendous crash, and that is all that [
remember about it.
When [ came to myself, I was lying
on a grassy slope, with Jean-Pierre
pouring brandy down my throat, and
an assemblage of white-faced Pierres
and Jeans kneeling round me. | was
pretty well knocked about, but was
not broken anywhere, and Jean-Pierre
began to praise the saints loudly when
l sat up and asked for some water.
"You gave us a fine fright, mon
sieur," he said. "a pretty thing it
would have been for us if we had had
to go back to France and say that
both our gentlemen were killedr'
both! I calculated. "You don't
mean to say that Mr.. Percival is
deadr"
''Mon Dieu! monsieur returned
Jean-Pierre in a tone of gentle re-
monstrance, show would you have a
man drop down a sheer three hundred
feet upon his head, and live?"
Whether it was accident or design
that brought about poor Percival's
death, l cannot, of course, say. That
he was not accountable for his actions
on that last morning Of his life | am
quite convinced. | had to give some
explanation to the guides Of the cir
cumstance that had been found with
my arms tied behind me, and I did so
by telling them that my unfortunate
friend had gone out Of his mind be-
fore treating me in that way. This |
firmly believe to have teen the truth;
and they agreed with me that he had
for some time past been more mad
than sane. They further concurred
in my opinion that it could do no
possible good, and would probably
only cause troublesome complications,
to make all the facts known to the
authorities. Luckily for US, the au-
thorities were less troublesome than
an English eoroner's jury would have
been, and it was neither supposed nor
suggested that my own fall had been
due to any other causes than the in
experience and foolhardiness which,
as was told, had proved fatal to my
companion.
When. I next saw Mrs. Lacy
which was rather more than a year
afterwards-she expressed a great deal
of concern at the fate of the hapless
man with the red hair, and was eager
for fuller particulars than she had yet
been able to obtain. I gratified her
curiosity as well as | could, and
a I'd dwelt good deal upon Per-
c;val's recklessness; but | did not
think it necessary to say anything
about the letter which we lad nc
small difficulty in forcing out of his
stiffened fingers when his body was
carried back to camp. w. E. N. .