Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-02
TIE OCTQR0Ou
4 sTO3T OF SZ4-ERr D.IYS.

month you Lave disappeared from New Orleans. 70 return at this moment oi ruin and despair3"
 Il will tell you," answered Philip Trcverton; and call upon this man. William Bowen, here, to bear witness of my truth, and on yonder wretch to com tradiet me II he dare. Upward of year ago l was left by you with sum of one hundred thousand dollars in my hands the amount of the loan advanced to our firm by the usurer. Silas Craig. This was to be repaid upon a certain date; that date fell about month after your departure for England. held the money moro sacred than my life, and laid it by in the strong box devoted to important documents
 "You did as myself would have done," said Gerald Leslie.
 Il did; but I was by no means faultless. I was tho victim of vice which has brought dishonor upon men who never thought to blush before their follow men-1 was a gamester! l de- voted my days to business chcerfully, conscientiously; but at night the demon of the dice-box lured me from my quiet home, and led mo to @ secret gaming house in Columbia street-a house known to all the gamblers of New Orleans, but which tlourishes in bod defiance of the law. I had known this house for years, and had been constant guest at it's un- holy altars, but there was one thing con- corning it that did not know.' And that waS-?"
 "Its owner! I did not know that silas Craig, tho lawyer, that sanctimonious attorney whom men met every Sunday morning in the sacred temple of Heaven; I did not know that this man was the proprietor of that earthly hell, the wretch l that nandered Tn secret to tho vices fl | his fellow-citizens. l did not know this, | and I did not know that the gaming | house in Columbia street communicated by secret passage with tho office of | Silas Craig"
 Impossible exclaimed Augustus l Horton.
 '.Ay tho secret has been well kept; | and it is a secret that was only to have | been known to me when the hanu Of | Death Was on my lips to seal them to eternal silence. But the ways of Plovi- dence are inscrutable. The day arrived upon which our debt to this man became due. At twolve o'clock on that day I called. delivered to him the suEi nt one | hundred thousand dollars in hiiis of ex- l change, and received his written ac- | knowlcdSement of the money. This done left as light as a feather. A load was removed from my mind. and I de- termined to sperd day of enjoyment. | l dined with some friends at an hotel, and after sitting late over the table, and drinking a good deal of wine, we ad- | jnurncd to the gambling house in Colum- | bia street."
 There was brief pause; but Si!as | Craig never stirred from his Gbject at,i- tude, never attempted by either word or gesture, to contradict the speaker.
 ''We played for some hours, but my friends were not such inveterate game stcrs as myself and they grew weary of the demoniac fever. After pcrSuading me to quit the place with them, they at last lost patience with my folly and de- parted, leaving mo still at the fatal green | cloth. It was by this timo four o'clock in the morning. l had drunk a great deal, and had been losing money. My head was bewidered; BY brain dizzy, and my temper sourrd hf nly losses. The room was almost deserted, but still 1 l sat with my eyes fixed upon the game, madly cndeavoring to retrieve my losses. | At this crisis Q great braWny fellow op- posite to me, Frenchman, ycntured to | insult me. Tipsy as l wa, l was in no humor to brook this, sprung toward him to chastise his insolence. and a fight ensued, in which I was getting the worst of it when ono of the bystnnders interfercd. and suggested 1 nat we should resort to small swords. and finish the business ill more gent!cmaniv manner"
 'It was Il plot" said Gerald Leslie.
 ''1t was! villainous and foul plot, concocted by wonder stricken wretch. Stupeicd and bewildered I let them do
 
 nothing of what happened till I found a duelling sword in my hand and saw that my adversary was armed in the same fashion. By this time the room was en- tlrely deserted, except by my ntagonist. the other man. and myself. This other man-the same who had suggested our using swords-opened door ln the wall, Q dCor which I had never before per ceived, and pushed me into q long, dimlv lighted corridor, which was also strange to me. The door closed behind us, and we hurried along the corridor for some distance, until we were stopped by the stranger who had taken upon himself the management of the business. He placed us opposite to each other, put the swords into our hands and gave us the signal to begin. felt in moment that was . lost man. My head spun round. In the dim light l could scarcely sec my adver' sary's face, as tho lamps were so ar. ranged that what light there was fell full upon mine. In vain I tried to parry his thrusts. I had been twice wounded :. slightly in the shoulder, when the lights i were suddenly extinguished and felt :, the sharp pang of a stab from long and | slender sword.
 "But this stab did not come from m, opponent. Although I lost conscious ness upon the moment of receiving thu stroke, knew that I was stabbed in thu back"
 n 'Execrable traitors p exclaimed Ger aid, Mortimer and Augustus.
 When l recovered my senses I fount :, myself in lonely boat-house on thu banks of the Mississippi. four miles
 from New Orleans. I was lying op mattress and my wound had been dressed
 by surgeon; but was too feeble iron
 loss of blood and the pain I had endure, 10 utter word or ask one question o the man seated by my side."
 "You were not alone. then?"
 "No! William Bowen, the accomplic
 of Silas Craig, had repented of the hol rible work as soon as it was done and
 under pretense of carrying my body l.
 the river, had contrived to convey me t
 this lonely shed, which belonged to
 friend of his."
 .Stop a bit, MT. Treverton," inter
 rupted William; "when MT. Craig set