Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1885-12-11
CHAPTER l.
THE CARRIER PIGEON.

THE CARRIER PIGEON.
Trieste, the capital of nlyria. con-
sists of two towns of widely dissimiliar
aspect One of Theresienstadt
lis modern and wcll-to-do, and squarely
huiit along the shore Of tine bay from
which the land i, occupies has been re-
climed the other Is OLD and poor and
irregular, Struggling from the Corso, up
the slopes of the harst. whose summit
is crowded 10y the picturesque citadel.
The harbor is guarded by the mole Of
San Carlo with the merchant shipping
bcrthcd along side On this mole there
may at most times be seeu-and very
often in somewhat disquIetiug numbers
many groop of those houseless and
and homeless Bohemians whose clothes
might well be destitute OF pockets, con-
sidering that their owners never had,
and 20 oil appearance never Will have
tine Wherewithal TO put into them.
To-day, however-it is the 18th Of
May, 1SG5-two personagcs slightly
better dressed than the rest are notice
able among the crowd. That they have
ever suffered from n superabundance of
forms or lTcutzers IS imp,oIuble unless
some lucsv chance has favored them
ami they certainly look as though they
would stick at nothing that might H.
duce that chance to come.
One Of them calls himself Sarcany,
and says lac mails from Tripoh. The
other is Sicllin Zirone 10y name
Together they have strOiied up and
i Il. d
and row they have halted at its i2rthest
end and are gazing away 20 the horizon,
to the west of the Gulf OF Trieste, as If
they hoped TO sight the ship which is
bringing from home their fortune.
What time is il % asked Zrone in
Italian, which his comrado spoke as
he did all the other tongues Of the
Mediterranean.
Sarcany made no reply.
"What fool / am o. exclaimed the
Sicilian. 1t is the time You are
hungry after you nave had no break
fast :"
There is such q mixture OF races in
this part of Austria-Huugary that the
presence OF these two men, although
they were obviously strangers to the
place, provoked no attention And be-
sides, if their pockets were empty, no
one had reason 20 think so, thanks TO
their long brown capcs, which reached
even TO thcir boots.
Smclny, the youngest OF the two.
was about five and twenty, and of
middle height, vel set up, and of
elegant manucrs and address. Sarcany,
however, was not his mpt'simal name,
and probably he had mover been bap-
tied being Of Iripuhau or Iunisian
origin but though his complexion was
very dark his regular features pro-
claimed him to be more OF the white
than the negro.
Al over physioguOmy was deceptive,
il was SO IN SaIcanys case. l. required
q singulagly keen observer to discover
his cousummate astuteness IN that hand
some, plausible face, with its large dark
eyes fine straight nose, and well-cut
mouth haded by the slight moustache.
That almost impossible face betrayed
none of the signs OF contempt and
hatred enecndcred by a constant state
OF revolt against society II, as physi-
ognomists pretend-aud they are not
unfrequently right-eyery rascal bears
witness against himself III spite of all
his cleverness, .Sarcany could give the
association the lie direct To look at
him one would suspoc. what he was and
what he had been tie provoked none
OF that Irresistible aversion we feel
towards cheats and scoundrels; and in
consequence, he was all the more
dangerous.
Where had Sorcauy spent his child
hood No one knew How had he
been brought mp and by whom In
what corner of Iripoli had he nestled
during his early years To what pro-
lection did hc owe his escape from the
many chances of destruction i'm that
terrible climate? No one could say
maybe not even himself born by
chance, helped ON by chance. destined
90 live by chance Nevertheless, during
his boyhood he had picked mp certain
amount of practical instruction, thanks
20 his having TO knock about the world,
mixing with people of all kinds, trust
ing TO expedieut after expedient TO
Secure his daily bread. 10 was owing TO
this and other circumstances that no
had come to have business relations with
one OF the richest houses in Trieste,
that of the banker, Silas Torocthal,
whose name is intimately connected
with the development of this history.
Sarcany's companion, the italian,
Zirone, was n man faithlcss and lawless
"a Thoroughbred adventuror, ever
ready at the call of him who could pay
him well, until lac met with him who