The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-01-08
THE CARRIER PIGEON.


Trieste, the capital of Illyria, con.
sists Of two towns of widely dissimiliar
aspect. One of them -Theresienstadt
is modern aud well-to. do, and squarely
built along the shore Of the bay from
which the land it occupies has been re-
claimed the other is old and poor and
irregular, struggling from the Corso, up
the slopes of the karst, whose summit
is crowded by the picturesque citadel.
The harbor is guarded by the mole Of
San Carlo, with the merchant shipping
bcrthed along side. On this mole there
may mt most times he seen-and very
often in somewhat disquieting numbers
many n groop OF those houseless and
and homeless Bohemians whose clothes
might well be destitute of pockets, con-
sidering that their owners never had,
and to all appearance never, will have
the whcrewithal to put into them.
To-day, however-it is the 18th of
May, lSGi-two personages slightly
better dressed than the rest are notice.
able among the crowd, That they have
ever suffered from Il superabundance of
tlorlns or kreutzers is in,plorable, unless
some lucky chance has favored them
and they certainly look us though they
would stick at nothing that might in-
duce that chance to come.
One Of them calls himself Sarcany,
and says he nails from Tripoli. The
other is Sicilian, Zirone by name.
Together they have strolled up and
down the mole at least a dozen times,
and low they have halted Mt its farthest
end and are gazing away to 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.
"Whnt time is it :" asked Zirone in
Italian, which his comrade spoke as
he did all the other tongues of the
Mediterranean.
-arcany made no reply.
what n fool am p exclaimed the
Siciliah. lit is the time you are
hungry after you have had no break
fast 20
There is such a mixture Of races in
this part of Austria Hungary that tho
presence of these two men, although
they were obviously strangers to the
place, provoked no attention. And be-
5 des, if their pockets We're empty, no
one had reason to think so, thanks to
their long brown capes, which reached
even to their boots.
Sarcany, the youngest of the two,
was about five and twenty, and Of
middle height, vel set up, and Of
elegant manners and address, Sarcany,
however, was not his Daptisimal name,
and probably he had never been bap-
tized, being Of Tripolitan or Tunisian
origin but though his complexion was
very dark his regular features pro-
claimed him to be more of the white
than the negro.
If ever physiognomy was deceptive,
it was so in Saroanys case. 1t required
a singularly keen observer to discover
his consummate 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 eugendered by constant state
of revolt against society. If, rs physi-
ognomists pretend-and they are not
mfrequently right--every rascal bears
witness against himself in spite of all
his cleveness, Sarcany could give the
association the lie direct. To look at
him one would suspect what he was and
what he had been. He provoked none
of that imesistiable aversion we fee
towards cheats and scoundrels and, in
consequence, he was all the more
| dangerous.
Where had Smcany spent his child
hood No one knew. How had he
been brought up and by whom2 II
what corner of Tripoli had he nestled
during his early years To what pro
lection did he owe his escape from thC
many chances of destruction in tina
terrible climate? No one could say
maybe not even himself born b,
chance, helped on by chance, destined
to live by chance Nevertheless, during
his boyhood he had picked up certain
amount of practical instruction, thank
to his having to knock about the world
mixing with people of all kinds, trust
ing to expedient after expedient' t
secure his daily bread, Itwas owing t,
this and other circumstances that h
had come TO have business relations wit
one of the richest houses in Trieste
that of the banker, Silas Torocthal
whose name is intimately connects
with the development OF this history.
Smcanys companion, the Italian
Zirone, was a man faithless and lawles
"a Thoroughbred adyentureE eve
ready ut the call Of him who could pa
him well, until he met with him VIII
could pay him better, TO undertake an
task whatever OF Sicilian birth and i
his thiitieth year, he was capable Z