Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-24

He put me to my very best"
Felicie had risen and was standing with
the bowl in one hand, the spoon in the
other, her cheeks losing somewhat of their
color, but she did not speak.
Hobo! my jolly young swash-buckler,
| how do you go this morning, eh?' he con-
tinued, addressing Orton and roaring out
his words with cordial, almost jolly in
tonation. Feeding yourself up to fight me
| again, eh? Don't know that care about
any more of your play, hal ha! hal not any
more till these gashes get we'll, and he in
| dicated his head and arms, "you cut me all
over, from crown to sole. Devil of slash
| ing swordsman are you, certainly"
He sat himself down in the chair from
which Felicie had risen, and spread out his
| ponderous, iron-thewed limbs; the seat
creaked under his great weight.
'You're the very son of your father, boy"
he went on, '.just like him all over, a
| fighter that never gives in. 1t does me
good to look at you, it's like being boy
again and living over the old gay times in
the far East. I reckon that your father
never told you about our adventures to-
gether."
ST think heard my father speak of you,"
said Orton.
"I Judge not" remarked the old man
with peculiar chuckle. ''I used to have
another name in those days and have had
several good ones since, ha ! ha ! ha" He
slapped his muscular thigh with his hard,
heavy hand and laughed uproariously.
Felicie quietly left the room.
"How are your slashed places getting
on ?" Rochon inquired in gentle manner.
ST seem to be doing finely in every way,
thank you, " responded orton. 81 have but
little pain now."
Ill L..
there with those niggers? You're not the
sort of man to be in with a lot of cattle like
Garcin and his gang of niger eutthroats,
eh?" Rochon spoke bluntly, but without
any evidence Of insolence in voice or man
ner.
Orton felt it best to explain frankly that
the accidents of an explorers wanderings
had sent him to Garcin's, and that he knew
nothing whatever of the mans character or
of his business.
Captain Victor, of the Zozo, took me
there, )" he concluded.
''Victor, ho-hol Victor; he'll not take
anybody else anywhere again." chuckled
Rochon. she went down in the storm on
Ponchartrain the other day."
"Went DOWN.
'fYes, down with all on board; not soul
escaped to tell the story. Hal ha ha pa
This was i'll news to Orton, for he recol-
lected that Victor with the Zozo was to
come to take him back to New Orleans at
the end Of the month. He remarked this
speaking to Rochon.
"Well, he'll never come back, I" said the
old man grimly, again slapping his thigh.
''The fish have eaten the black scoundrel
now. Hal ha! hap
There was something in Roehon's person
ality so outre, SO savage and yet so MASTER
full, that Orton found himself looking at
him with admiration In spite of all that
had happened. Surely here was a man who
might have been a king of all the bucca-
.neers, the lord of all the wild crews that
roamed the Spanish main. Never bad the
artist seen such perfect type OF the old
time outlaw hero, who, from his beard to
his boots, was bristling, so to speak, with
unkempt virility and bulging with mus.
culsr force. What study that form and
face would make, Orton thought, and he
wondered if the old man would object to be-
ing set upon paper or canvas.
Rochon remained for some time, talking
in a halfjoliy desultory way, and at last
when he arose to go he said: 'Well, my
boy, rather like you. Be patient and eat
all they give you and you'll soon come
round all right"
He put his pipe in his mouth and went
forth through the door, fairly jarring the
house with his tread. The impressionf LEFT
in Orton's mind was strange mixture (Of