Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-09-09

hosl uhselnsh OF men; and he had oyel
and over again slid he would neye,
leave Annoy without me, and that h,
would never be left in 1t if 1 was ap
pointed Vlce-consul elsewhere.
towards sunset he became excited
did not like the metallic glitter in hi.
eye. 1t recalled to me in an ugly man
ner a certain visit 1 had paid to {
Chlnese madhouse a little time pre-
vfously. He was irrit bile, moreover,
and would not let me touch his pulse,
When L wanted him to come into the
hut for the night, he objected.
NO Randolph he said, mot till the
moon there also goes to bed in the an.
tIpodes. particularly mean to be
awake tonight
'Why?' asked.
| Because l am as sure as L stand
mere that L saw one last night, and II
was when the moon was high. / reckon
1t went at about the rate of a yard a
minute. 1 mean to secure 1t; and |
should very much like to photograph
1t before nabbing it
| What are you talking about, old
chap| l asked again, with the dismal
fear at my heart that the fever or sun,
stroke had affected his brain.
The creeping plant, Randolph. II
was, as well as l could guess at it, nine
feet long, with flowers all the way
along 1.-THE calyx bright blue.
never saw anything so odd since / was
| born. DO you know, L almost lost my
senses in sort of excitment over it;
and suppose it got away in the mean
time, for when L tried to find it ag lin,
1 couldn'tp
could only stlre at him in bewilder-
ment. He was Ger! !ainly not joking;
and yet the idea of plant of this de-
scrlption was to my unobservant in
telllgence perfectly ridiculous.
But poor Hammond did not like my
lncredulous look. You don't believe
me, L see! he exclaimed pettishly.
That's ever the way with you practical
fellows. l am thankful I'm not prac-
tical. Anyhow, too, L mean to get it
this night, alive or dead-that's clear
thing
No. no; please, don't think of it,
entreated. wait till you're a bit
stronger, and then if you like, we'll do
nothing else but hunt this crawling
beanstalk, or whatever it is.
Il am as strong as ever / was, if L
may judge by my feelings, and so you
may as well make up 20 mind to my
going. Remember, Randolph, that
I'm your senior in the service, and L
won't put up with dictation from you
or any other man of your tims of
life
L could only shrug my shoulders, and
suggest to him as casually as possible
that of course l had no right to interfere
with his movement, but that for his
own sake he ought not to go off IN
'pyjamas' again, as he did before.
Yes, that was indiscreet, the delr
old fellow observed with smile
We humored him for the rest of the
even ng, and at length he fell asleep in
his bamboo couch chair, and we covered
him lightly and arranged the mosquito
curtains to protect him as much as
possible.
But had no intention of going to
bed. Somehow or other, fancied he
would wake and start off into the
woods just as he had done before. At
the back of my mind L confess, too,
there was thin phantom of curiosity
about the shape nine feet long, with
flowers upon it, which had fitted SO
well with Hammond's ideal of a creep
ing plant.
Accordingly. l lit my pipe and read
the North China Herald until / began
to feel drowsy. The paper had
dropped from my hands, and / was
pondering weakly about the likelihood
of some good-natured senior in the serv-
ice resolving to retire or to die for
the good of his juniors, when / heard
rustling. My eyes opened sharply.
Yes; it was as, with electrical promptI-
tude, / had surmised: Hammond was
bolt upright, staring at the moonshine
outside, and pushing the curtains away
from him. l did not move, but
watched him between my half-closed
eyelids.
Consciousness seemed to come upon
him all in a moment. He bounded
from the chair and made for the door.
Then, with look / shall never forget,
he turned back and snatche up the
same blue blanket l had wrapped him
in before. He flung II over his shoul-
ders and sped into the open air. l fol-
lowed him. And 1 had to be brisk, or
else I should soon have lost sight of
him: for the dark limbs of the trees
were thick enough to hide him for a
quarter of a minute at time. 1t was
a strange chase, this in the murmurous
night, with ever and anon the start ed
cry from a parrot or a monkey resound-
ing in the air. A barred tailed pleas
ant shot over my head with whir that
would have made a man unused to such
noises wonder what was happening.
Bats, too, went to and fro in the moon
light, now and then ecll sing the planet
l don't know how long 1 followed
the poor fellow; L know only that L
was much torn by the thorns on the
rose bushes which impeded my move
ments How sweet was the perfume of
these blossoms in the cool, humid
night-air, can recall at this moment
1t was almost by accident that L at
length came upon Hammond. He was
stopping and peering here and there
about small spot of common grass
with holes in the ground and thicket
of bramble and clematis at one side. /
1 did not notice it at first; but there
was q wool of passion-fiowers hanging
from one of the boughs of a tree just /
over him. One the flowers was a !
superb specimen with dazzling
corolla- /
Standing in the shade, watched
him He began to poke among the
brambles with a bit of stick. Then
there was movement, and with an ex-
clamation of Did L not say sop Ham
mond stepped tenderIy aside while-a
great snake crept forth with an angry
hiss and poise of its head. Ihad time
to see that its body from the shoulder
was beautifully marked much as Ham,
mond had described his plant; but
time for no more. The poor fellow