The record-union., 1891-07-11

certain conStralnt mingled with their
horror, but not a syllable was said. It
was plain there was further mystery
behind.
The remains of the ill-fated D. were
removed to spare room in the officers
quarters, and there laid out to await Off
cial proceedings on the morrow.
1t was not till after the funeral that I
learned what had caused the uproar and
alteration In the mess-room, which inn
mediately preceded the terribly sudden
| catastrophe of that memorable night.
And even at this distance of time tell
the circumstances with pain and reluct-
ance. D had dined with the regi-
ment, and after the band had finished
playing, he and some half dozen subalt-
erns sat down to play vingt-et-un. The
stakes were high, and it was remarked
that D turned up remarkable num-
Der of "naturalS.o N, a not long
joined ensign, had been dealt an ace of
spads and stood" AT the conclusion of
the round, D, who was dealing again
showed natural" the ace of which
proved to be the ace of spades. This, of
| course, was too much for young N,
green as he was; and though the tricks of
the heather Chinee'' had not been sung,
the case was manifestly something of the
same kind as that worthy's performance.
Hence the indignant remonstrance waited
out to my ears in the barraclz square, fol-
according TO some of the party, a mo-
mentary gust of air seemed to shake the
farther window-sash, and simultaneously
the card table was stirred--it was, they
said, like the tremor of a slight earth
quake shock-and straightway D.
threw his hands up and fell back in his
chair, gurgling like one in fit. The
rest l have told, and will say no more
upon this. Which of us is prepared TO
cast a stone at an erring brother, least
wise when he is gone!
Needless to say, the officers of her ma
| iesty's -th were long thereafter uncom-
monty chary of comforting upon out
siders the privilege of honorary member
ship of their mess. And for many year
the tragic circumstances have set down,
with, perhaps, somewhat imperfect rec
objections of minor details, fingered on in
the regiment as kind of tradition, to be
talked over on occasions, and amplitied
in various ways. But as for S. (of
whom more presently and myself. we
kept our impressions as far as possible to
ourselves, though something about them
necessarily leaked out through the guard
and sentry I had hailed, and from my
| original statements concerning the twain
I believe | had seen SO palpably in the
moonlight.
| I have never been able to clear up the
mystery of this dread tragedy. When
the formal inquiry by the military aud
civil authorities came on, it was elected
from the non-commissioned officers of
! the night-guard that no person of the de-
scription [ gave had been seen to enter
or leave the barrack precincts. The cer-
| titled cause of the death was stated to be
aneurism, spasm, or something of the
! heart-What l suppose we should call in
common parlance, heart disease. The
affair was rather hushed up, in Difference
to the feelings OF D-'s relatives, one of
whom came out to the island shortly af-
! terward to make inquiries, and settled up
the affairs of the deceased.
Those who have read thus far may not
unnaturally have explained to them
selves what | witnessed in the square as
pure imagination, phantasm of my
own brain. And this view I should
probably myself have inclined to, but
! for one circumstance, which have now
to mention. In the room above mine,
and looking out on the square toward the
| mesS-house, was quartered a very dear
! fellow, rather a tavorite with us, although
| hardly robust enough for the roughing of
a soldiers life. Now, it happened on this
very Thursday evening s, who had
been ailing for some time back of Malta
fever, was lying on couch in his room
! by the open window-the night being so
warm-and listening to the band. He
was still there when came into the bar
racks, and when [ was arrested by the
sight of the tall, solitary figure opposite.
| When, several days after the sad event,
I touched on the subject, s. broke in
with very troubled face, and in a sori-
GUS, urgent voice, asked: did you see
| the man in the long cloak waiting for
him?" Then / knew whatever extra
vision had been v0uchsafed to me had
| been shared by him. All me! ''pale death
knocks with equal STEP" sooner or later,
at the door of us ali, and s., with nearly
every other of my then comrades, has de-
! parted to that bourn where ''there is no
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor
wisdom!'
AS for me, were I to live to the patri-
archal age of the oldest of the antedilu-
vians, it would be impossible to obliter-
ate the impressions forced successfully
upon me on that especially solemn but
fatal Thursday. The cathedral service,
! the torchlight procession-and then, in
| terrible contrast, near about midnight, on
! the very threshold of a day most sad and
sacred of all days to Christedom, the cul-
minating horror of that shrouded one and
| his victim!-Blackwood'