San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1890-07-17

was about month before the case came
on, and beyond agreeing with Biel We
could do little. All that we could be
sure of was that the native evidence
would be bad enough to blast Biel's CHAR
acter for tho rest Of his service; for vhen-
. native begins perjury he perjures him
self thoroughly. He does not boggls
over details.
Some genius at the end Of the table
whereat the affair was being talked over.
said: "Look herei Idon't believe law
yers are any good. Get man to wire
to Strickland, and beg him to come down
and pull US through" 'D Il
Strickland was about q hundred and
eighty miles up the line. He had not
long been married to Miss Youghal, but
he scented in the telegram chance Of
return to the old detective work that his
soul lusted after, and next night he came
in and heard our story. He finished his
pipe and said oracularly: 1--WE must get
at the evidence. Oorya bearer. Mussai-
man knit and methraniayah, suppose,
are the pillars of the charge. I am on in
this piece, but I'm afraid I'm getting
rusty in my talk" F
He rose and went into Biels bedroom,
whero his trunk had been put, and shut
the door. An hour later we heard him
say: 81 hadn't the heart to part with my
old makenps when married. Will this
dof' There was lothely faquir salaam-
ing in the doorway. 40
"Now lend me fifty rupees" said
Strickland, "and give me your words of
honor that you won't tell my wife,"
. He got all that he asked 6or, and left
the house while the table drank his
health. What he did only he himself
knows. A faquir hung about Bronek-
horst's compound for twelve days.
Then mehter appeared, and when Biei
heard of him he said that Strickland
was an angel full fledged. Whether the
mehter made love to Janki, Mrs. Bronck-
horst's ayah, Is q question which con-
Germs Strickland exclusively.
He came back at the end Of three
we.ks, and said quietly: "You spoke
the truth, Biel. The whole business is
put up from beginning to end Loyel
it almost astoalishes mel That Bronck-
horst beast isn't fit to live"
There was uproar and shouting, and
Biel said: "How are you going to prove
it2 You can't say that you've been tres
passing on Bronckhorst's compound in
disguisep
mo" said Strickland. "Tell your
lawyer fool, whoever he is, to get up
something strong about inherent i'm
probabilities and discrepancies Of evil
dence.' He won't have to speak, but 1t
will make him happy. I'm going to run
this business"
Biel held his tongue, and the other
men waited to see what would happen.
They trusted Strickland as men trust
quiet men. When the case came off the
court was crowded. Strickland hung
about in the veranda of the court till he
met the Mohammedan khitmatgar.
Then he murmured a faquir's blessing in
his ear, and asked him how his second
wife did. The man spun around, and as
he looked into the eyes of "Estreeken
Sahib" his jaw dropped. You must re-
member that before Strickland was mar
ried he was, as have told you already,
n power among the natives. Strickland
whispered rather coarse vernacular
proverb to the effect that he was abreast
of all that was going ON, and went into
the court armed with gut trainers
whip.
The Mohamnedan was the first wit
ness, and Strickland beamed upon him
from the back of the court. The man
moistened his lips with his tongue, and
in his abject fear of "Estreeken Sahib,"
the faquir, went back on every detail Of
his evidence-said he was poor man
and God was his witness that he had for
gotteneverything that Bronckhorst Sahib
had told him to say. Between his terror
of Strickland, the judge and Bronck-
horst he collapsed, weeping.
Then began the panic among the wit
nesses. Janh, the ayah, leering chastely
behind her ven, turned gray, and the
bearer left the court. He said that his
mamma was dying, and that 1t was not
wholesome for any man to lie unthrifhly
in the presence of "Estreeken Sahib."
Biel said politely to Bronckhorst:
Haven't you any forged letters to pro-
ducei" But Bronckhorst was swaying
to and fro in his chair, and there was q
dead pause after Biel had been called to
order.
Bronckhorst's counsel saw the look on
his clients face, and without more ado
pitched his papers on the little green
baize table, and Inumbled something
about having been misinformed. The
whole court applauded wildly, like SOL
diers at theatre, and the judge began
to say what he thought.
Biel came out of tho place and Strick-
land dropped gut trainers whip on the
veranda. Ten minutes later Bell was
cutting Bronclihorst into ribbons behind
the old court cells, quietly and without
scandal. What was left Of Bronckhorst
was sent home in a carriage, and his wife
wept over IL and nursed it into q man
again.
Later ON, after Biel had managed to
hush up the counter charge against
Bronckhurst of fabricating false evi-
dence, Mrs. Bronckhurst, with her faint,
watery smile, said that there had been .
mistake, but 1t wasn't her Teddys fault
altogether. She would wait TIN her
Teddy came back tc ber. Perhaps he
had grown tired Of her or she had tried
his patience, and perhaps we wouldn't
cut her any more, and perhaps the
mothers would let their children play
with little Teddy" again BE was 30
lonely. Then the station invited ArA
BronckhOrst everywhere until Bronck-
horst Wa 81 10 appear IN publie, when
be went home and took his wife with
him. According 20 the --latest sdvices
her Teddy did come back 10 heTr and
they are moderately happy. tbOugh q