, 1889-08-08

q dirty niger TO a piece on the paper.
Forgetl forget How could / forgetl He
disappeared. How did he get out of the
roomI What made something mirage
like come and flicker for a while where
he had stood, then slowly fade away-re-
turn indistinctly, and her melt away?
How my head spunl Forgetl Here was
l under solemn promise to pay at the end
of a month a row of figures standing for
dollars of al interminable length. Where
was the money to come from? l enter
tanned some very peculiar hopes. Yes;
what about that grand-uncle of mine,
who was last heard of of the coast of
Yucatan (circa 1903, whom l always be-
lieved was a pirate? Would he reveal the
exact spot under the cocoanut tree where
he had buried the doubloons? Would that
loan my grandfather made Meyer AnseIm
Rothschild when they were both bagmen
be returned, principal and compound in
terest, after an interval of more than a
century? Would a quarter section 1 held
a disputed title for, situate in Georgia, be
found packed like n Belgian pavement
with diamonds? Could l raise even part
of the SUM?
Time-timel that was everything. /
remembered another Oriental story, and
found n momentary consolation in it.
The sultan said to a wise man, "Since
you are so learned and can do everything,
pray teach my ape to recite a verse of
Hafiz within the year. Fail, and off goes
your head" Certainly" replied the
wise man, who walked away apparently
uDconcerned. Some friend asked him
why he was troubled so little, and this
wise mans reply was: II must have pa
thence, because the chances are really not
so much against me. One year is n long
time. In the ~twelvemonth the sultan
might die, or the ape or l." Did that
wise man at once arrange to poison the
p or the sultan? What else could have
made him so cocksure?
1 studied the grand total of my liabil-
tiles, learned what was its proportion to
the people of the United States, to the
worlds population. l laid some very
bold schemes. / constructed n martin
gale, based on the calculation of chances.
1 might make myself a political power,
settle down on something or other-one
of the necessities of life-have it pro-
tected, then manufacture it, and prevent
10y SOAy NAh " hAahAAAAh vi uIopObluG
of 1t. That struck me as the most plau-
sible of all my plans.
Thirty daysi That was so shortl Bust
ness, ! said, after all, must have the ele-
ment of romance, and time for its de-
velopment. Tho Italian street corner
vender always will roast peanuts, because
he is wanting in imagination.
Then my train of thought took another
track, "How are great fortunes madey"
l asked. Has not Balzao said, lie secret
des grandes fortunes, sans cause appa-
rente, est un crime oublie, parce quill a
etc proprement faity' If l only dared!
All Peter Duf wanted was some little of
his former nerve.
Rapidly fled the days. My wife noticed
the change in me. / concealed the vult-
ure that was, SO to speak, leaving but a
veneer of me, a thinner shell than has n
Boulak mummy case.
IN the morning Of the 9th / sat
gloomily at my desk. l had found moth
ing, and yet l looked ahead at the con-
sequences of my default. 1t would con-
vulse two, perhaps three, continents. If
at the coming fair at Nijuii-N ovgorod
times were hard | would be the cause of
1t. Russians, Tartars, Chinese, Arme-
mans would curse Peter Duff. Knowing
that the crash must inevitably come,
might l not give the tip to Chicago, New
York, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam
of the impending disaster, and induce
financiers to go short on the whole
products of the globe? But how would
that avail me? Logically, it seemed alb
surd; and yet if men could they would
forestall an earthquake, discount u del
uge, and take or give the odds on a cata-
clysm with the same easy grace as does
n bookmaker at the Suburban.
When that dread day of reckoning
camel was iitful. fevorish, dazed. Every
jingle of the bell would echo through my
brain. So far Nemesis had not come,
but / knew he was coming. L came to
appreciate tho exact moment when he
looked Mt n date in his black book. He
was striding through the streets. He
had taken a horse car. l could see him
reading his paper coolly, calmly, uncon-
c%ernedly. An accident to n street carr
Why are they 80 rare?
The bell changed. BY the movement
downstairs l knew that Bella Maginnis
was disputing with the iceman as to the
bulk of the piece of ice. Bella always
was keenly alive to the interests of her
employers.
"lts not only a seminal bit, but a
dhurty bit besoides, yer a-lavin' me; as
if my leddy's money wasn't as bright
and clane as onybody ilse's in the ~strate.''
Evidently the iceman was parsimoni-
ously ~inflexible, for l heard Bella declare
him ga chate."
Then came the grocer's lad, the butch
er's boy, who were received and dis
missed with fleas in their ear. "And
me a-doin' me livil bist TO tidy up, a.
clanin' this intry flure, and yer a-tramp-
oisin' thru it."
l suspected a big tub of water some
where induced disputativeness on her
part.
Then the tocsin sounded. My hour
had come. There was no reprieve. l
waited. with bated breath. 1t was his
clutch on tho bellpull. 1 heard the
dreary croak. What were the exact
words l did not know. 1t was only the
depressing sound of it l caught. Then