Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-01-02
Belgravia
THE FATAL CANE

Years ago picked up at book stall
an ANTICIPATED volume treating of oc-
cult matters. It interested me because
| had come across a variety of strange
beliefs connected with the magic art,
In the course OF my naval life, and had
witnessed things that gave my Euro
pean notions more than one rude
shock.
It is ali very well to say that magic
and belief in the supernatural lurking
behind natural objects of a simple ma
ture. such as crystals. ambers, opais and
so forth, were the first ignorant ap-
proach to science; but I would very
much like to be acquainted with the
science that would throw satisfactory
light upon certain curious doings and
extraordinary occurrences which have
made part of my tropical experiences.
The most interesting to me, being the
most personal of these, [ am now going
to relate, and it has the only one l did
not 60 in the least bit out of my way to
meet.
IN these days we are told of a sympa-
thetic fluid, gas or electric current that
pervades the whole earth from pole to
pole. and includes all that appertains to
earth in its onward flow. Very reliable
people, Miss Nightingale for one, dis
CON0I0d b1dt ACISOuc lCct1OcCnCco w dS
controlled and sleep induced by the
head OF the sufferer being pooled" not
SIS Absalom was polled, but with regard to
north and south. This is quoted as a
proof of the course and influence of the
current.
This current, then, is believed by the
learned in occult matters to be the SYM
pathetic medium between the higher
and lower creatures, all, chemically
speaking, wrought out of the same iden-
tical elements.
Suppose all this, and then add to it
your knowledge of the mysterious
power OF evil working above, below and
around; note how inexplicable many
events are; how impossible, with all our
experience, to forecast the least OF
them. Observe the enormous power Of
pure good, and the hideous power of
determined evil, and then, if you
please, tell me that there is really MOTH
ing in my story but chain of coincid-
ences.
was strolling through Plymouth one
day, according to my usual habit, keep
ing an eye open for anything interest
ing and curious, when [ was attracted
by shop of that heterogeneous de-
scription only to be seen in the
seaports. Every port in the known
world seemed to have con-
tributed toward examining the dirty
windows with objects. Parrots IN
cages hung at the door, loves bird
cage too small for even tiny forms, sea-
shells, beads, weapons, bits of uniform
all that Jack fancies, buys for his
mother and sweetheart and sells for
drink as soon as the port cormorants
seize hlm-WaS there
Embroiderles Oh leather, linen and
silk, tobacco pouches and opium
pouches, black wood carvings, ivory
trifes, elephant tooth paper weights,
clay figures, brazen idols, slippers,
fans, caskets, chessmen, charms in
punches, coral sponges, chip of the
great pyramid, Arab Burnouses-all
these and a hundred more nondescript
articles were there. Propped up in
company with green silk umbrella
which might have belonged to Thee
baw's wife. 1t was not the umbrella,
with its sly, battered, costly, wicked
air, but the cane that arrested my no.
tlce. Firstly, because it was not like
the others of its kind, being a white
Malacca, and nearly three inches long
er between the joints than any other |
had seen; secondly, because I was rath-
er on the lookout for a present for an
elderly gentleman, and [ fancied that,
well mounted, it would be the very
thing to give him. / had made up my
mind to buy it, and had taken a step
toward the dark doorway crowded with
bundles of stuffs, and Swallowed by a
handsome tiger skin, when the owner
: shuff1ed out, | suppose, to hook me in
as likely customer. He was an odd
looking little fellow, grimy and unpIeas-
antsenough, whose age and nationality no
man could guess at. / felt sure of two
things only-that his character was the
shadiest, and that he lived in mole-like
fashion, only coming to the surface to
grind and cheat his fellow-creatures.
He would have been at home, more
over in any quarter of the globe, along
shore, where blue-jackets and beach
combers were to be found
"Hullo it's you, is it 2" [ remarked,
for / must mention that we had met
before. when I happened to haul him
out of little mob of Lascars and
an end to him. He was one against
many, and an old man; knives were
out, so brought him of, for which SER
vice, far from appearing grateful, /
fancied he looked as though he owed
me grudge.
The glitter of his eyes, which were the
eyes oil a reptile, not of human being
Il don't care to ask how they got into
human sort of head, but there they
were-did not take my fancy, as 1
asked to have look at that Malacca
cane. The way in which he licked his
thin, blue, flexible lips was not pleas
ing, either, but set down the eye gilt
ter to greed for gain, and made my OF
fer for the stick, which I liked even
better than when I saw it through the
dirty window panes. We struck bar
gain after some chatting, and when I
had paid my money and taken my pur-
chase in hand, the odd being doubled
up into a fit of laughing which shook
the tassel of his fez like mad. wass
examining the cane and had just dis
covered On it cloud mark which pre-
scented startling likeness to a gro
tesque face-yes- face, moreover,
before me that instant, contorted by
malicious, laughter-why malicious,
why laughter, who could say
When | say that the elderly gentle
e. h<>x.~ Ia