, 1891-08-09

"If you do bctrdU INC, man 1you die as !
am dying, and with nc n toioUe pour
These two men had belonged to the
same regiment, and had stood shoulder
to shoulder on more han one battlefield.
Dupont, after his term of service was
over, had knocked about the world for
several years; he had been an acrobat in
London, a gambler in Cpylon, n miner
in Australia and n sheep farmer in New
Zealand, and now, with a few thousand
dollars in his pocket, he was on his way
to Central America, with no very clear
ideas as to what he would do when he
got there. But he was not the man to
get the worst of any situation in which
he might find himself. Nothing fright
ened, nothing depressed him. Withal
he was q most entertaining companion,
having of auecdotc, humOr
and dare deviltry that never knew OK.
haustion. No wonder, then, that Mau
rice, who for more than two months past
had scarcely exchanged two score SEN
fences with a human being, was highly
delighted to see thus unexpe lily his
old comrade.
But after the first greetings had been
exchanged-and very hearty they were
on both sides-Maurice began to reflect
that perheps the encounter was not so
fortunate after all. For Dupont, besides
being communicative, was inquisitive,
and he had not been on board half an
hour before he had asked Maurice all
manner of unanswerable questions about
himself, his destination, his objects in
travelling and n dozen things besides.
How to meet this broadside of interroga,
4s.an NF,,,,..1 ,,,r- n.t Co. Ia. l.u..4.,
was straightforward and unimaginative
He told lies awkwardly-and on the 9th
er hand, if he kept silence the result
could only be to stimulate his friends in
quisitiveness still further. Finally ht
attempted n compromise by informing
Dupont that for certain good and sufh
Gent reasons he preferred not to specif,
his exact intentions just then, but tina
after they had arrived in New York h
would willingly tell him all he cared t
hear.
Dupont, who had all the imagination
that Solange lacked, was gifted also wit
the power of effectively Disgusting hi
feelings and designs when he deemed j
expedient to do so. He accordingly pre-
fessed to be satisfied with the other
ultimatum; but, at the same time, pr
vately made up his mind to get Mt tn
bottom of the mystery, whatever it was
And very likely he would have sue
ceeded, but that destiny chose anothe
way to bring about thu issue.
While the Santa Lucia was still
thousand miles distant from her port
sailing over smooth seas, with light bu
rather battling winds, the second mat
fell i'll, and the captain, after investigat
ing his condition, returned to the dec
with a grave face. The mate RENAME,
shut up in his bunk for two days, dur
ing which time there was n great deal q
more or less outspoken speculation anon.
the ships company as to the nature O
his illness. The captain, in answer I
all inquiries, responded that the mat
was suffering from n bad attack of il
digestion and would be all rightiu a ia
or two. But on the third day Dupont
who was always the first to discove
everything, told Maurice that the diseas
the Iuate had was yellow fever. lively
hours later the mate was dead, and the
the truth was known to every one. b,
for, sunset a seaman had canght tho :,