Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-03-16

Noo oOuhu up lilt "hu Vh III
return, month later, fond, to my iner
u pressible CONSERVATION, the cane itsef
y awaiting me, with ,iteous letter fren
e poor darling Mar-Imean Kitty-tellAg
9 me that the very dsy l left their hdse
e her dear papa ha6 been seized with ONE
y fever of a kind they did not understand,
e had rapidly sunk under it and died That
: happy, hospiGable home! l cold not
} pick up my spirits after the new for at
least three weeks.
Nothing should induce me topart with
the cane again. l took it into occasional
!, use, for at least it had never harmed me,
, except, indeed, in the case Of my uncle's
unsigned will, and the neSC event in con-
: nection with it happered at Buenos
, Ayres. 1t Is the custom there for bust
ness men 20 take their meals at cafe, and
l was breakfasting in one of these places
with a shore friend when it disappeared,
or, as I had reason to know, was san
nexed" by one of noisy party at the
next table. These men were mostly in
Uniform, and made great row, disturb
ling our quiet comfort with their loud,
excited talk. My cane and this party
went away simultaneously, and my friend
declared that he not only suspected them
generally, but was pretty sure which of
them had taken fancy to the stick; he
had caught the eye of one of the men in
uniform fixed very longingly upon it.
He promised me to do his best to get it
back for me, as l was leaving directly for
the West Indies.
AS is not unusual in these parts, affairs
were in mostsunsettled state; in short,
a revolution was brewing.
Some time afterwards heard from my
friend, whose name, by the way, was
Darby Fielding, that the missing stick
had fallen into his hands in an odd sort
of way. The man who had made off
with it had been murdered in his lodg-
ings for some political reason, and the
cane had been handed over to my friend
by the chief of police, who had charge
of the fellows effects. He promised to
take care of it and send it to me at the
first opportunity, "as," he wrote, ~ fan
cy you value it for some reason or 9TH
err" l own did, in spite of the melan-
choly associations, it always reminded
me of Mari mean Kitty-no, l mean
Marion. OF course.
Time passed by, and / met man who
had just come from those parts. asked
after Darby Fielding at once, hoped he
was all right and generally tlourishing.
"Oh, didn't you hear?" he replied.
"Poor fellow, he died rather suddenly
some months ago"
This was a blow! That fatal stick
again. On my return home | landed at
Plymouth and made straight-as soon as
the ship was paid off:-to the dingy shop
of the rascal who had sold me the unluclly
article.
| meant to have talk with him about
it, for by this time had come to sort
of belief in its owning magic properties,
such as those wicked old hays the Obi
witches seem to have the power of put
ting into things which nature intended to
be harmless.
When the old spider caught sight of me
and my cane | never saw anything like
the deadly fear and amazement that the
sight caused in him. His skinny hand
went up, his jaw dropped, his deep yell
low face seemed to shrivel into duller
parchment texture, but not word did he
utter until | spoke, and then "A hodge
pOdge of strange oaths in all tongues
dropped slowly out under his breath.
"What? It's come, them" he whispered.
81 have come to hear the story of this
stick" said. ''There is something queer
about it,
All his emotions had vanished, an Ori-
entail apathy had taken possession of him
and did not leave him again. l felt sure
as watched his features and took note
of his small 1.-THE hands that he was an
Oriental by birth, Hindu or Parsee or of
some kindred race.
Fate" he muttered. "Siva. It's over.
Come thou tonight
left him clearing the multifarious
goods out of the window and returned
at ten o'clock in the evening, carrying
the cane with me.
| found my friend in small dark
kitchen, his sitting-room, behind the
shop, and to my surprise the floor was
covered, as well as the walls, with the
strange variety of objects in which he
dealt. The pickering light from the fire
and two candles lit up strange, barbar-
ic scene. An eastern bazaar, with odds
and ends of English uniform intermxed,
seemed to be turned out in utter disorder.
He seemed to have piled all his posses
sions into this squalid room with its
blackened ceiling.
He motioned me toward chair, from
which l dslodged cavalry saddle and a
roll of bunting.
I in, 10