The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-06-17

as well as theirs; but you forget that
| if we reached Colombo without you, our
chances of remuneration would be dis
| agreeably curtaied. You see, we are
not undertaking the adventure for chiv-
airy. but are selling our services for
vulgar currency"
Il know it, Campignon," Dunbar said,
'but l have provided against such a
contingency. 1 have left your pay Sc
cured to you in the bank at Colombo
and enough to make these faithful fell
lows happy for the rest of their lives in
case anything happened to me-"
For a few minutes the Frenchman
walked on in silence. Suddenly he
turned to Arthur and said, eagerly:
"What made you tell me that? Have
/ you no fear that l should play you
| false? What is to hinder me from
abandoning you in this wilderness?
Why, man. you cannot even speak a
word of the native language, while I
| could talk these natives into any plot
before your very eyes, and you be none
the wiser"
Il know it, Campignon, but"
"But?"
But, trust myself to you without q
thrill of misapprehension, for | know
that though you would stoop to trickery
and deceit in small things, you will be
true as steel to the man who trusts you,
when once you have bound yourself to
follow his fortunes"
Campignons eyes glistened.
And you have implicit confidence in
me-" he said, with tremulous tone.
''Thcn, by the Lord, young man, you
shall never have cause to regret it."
There is a prevalent idea that most
tropical forests teen with wild fruits,
which nature is supposed to produce
spontaneously. Nothing can be more
erroneous. 1t is true our adventurers
sometimes found the gnava and katum-
bile, which served to slack their burn
ing thirst, the blackberries and the
acid goose berries, and very rarely the
sweet NORA which grows in grape
like clusters, but none of these were
plentiful. The beautiful ''iambo" apple
hung temptingly over their heads, but
though it is exquisite in appearance,
being snow-white with pink bushes on
its side, they soon discovered that it
was vapid and tasteless-a Dead sea
fruit. But if the wild bushes did not
p2nder to the sense of taste, they graft
fed those of sight and odor, for on
every side the most exquisite flowers
dropped, ladening the heavy air with
their delicious perfume.
For five days the wearied men fol-
lowed the mysterious path, becoming
hourly more exhausted with their toll,
yet without having met with any adven-
ture worth recording. During the ex-
treme heat of midday and in the dark
ness which overshadowed them like
curtain before the moon rose, they
slept, stretched on light hammocks
which they hung to the branches of
trees.
1t was during one of these resting
spells that the first disaster of conse-
quence occurred. One among them had
been accustomed to watch over the
sleeper, the vigil beng shared in turn
by European and native. On this oc-
No noise had aroused the tired sleepers,
yet when they woke it was to find the
Frenchman missing the Frenchman
and the dog. In vain they cried aloud
till the woods reechoed their voices; in
vain they fired off their rifles and
waited 2 response. The Frenchman
was ro-e from their midst, and, what
was y-orsc. he had taken their best rife
and their dog with him.
"Oh, the false-hearted t-@isor! to
leave me like this for . few paltry
pieces of gold.' Dunbar groaned, when
the natives who had secured the woods
returned after 4 vain search. He could
not communicate 10 them his sus-
picIons. He could only sit upon the
trunk of 2 fallen tree and give way to
despair. Somehow his memory seemed
to be failing him; he forgot whc-o he
was: the trees assumed fantastic shapes;
the rocks seemed to be perpetually
wheeling round, and his head was
heavy as lead. He had ar indistinct
idea that he was fallin-, a blurred
vision of a tawny ccol;c twining his
arms around him, and KS senses failed
him utterly.