Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-08-27

he nad been tOully dealC WlUn-InaC an enemy in the guise of friend had ln- vested his camp and laid it waste-that he was being stabbed with knife drawn from his own sheath. This man had listened to his story, had encouraged him in his aspirations, had counseled, sym pathizcd and suggested, and then, like thief in the night, had crept in and stolen the treasure.
 In the burning heat of wrong and out rage all possibility of justice, all power of rational discernment were consumed. His identification of the woman with the child had been so complete that his mind had no longer power to separate them. | He could not think; he could only feel All the earth, and the air, and the spaces of the infinite were pulsing madly with his wrong. His passion made his heart beat like the sledgo on burning metal, sent the blood to his brain and oppressed its power of perception, and filled his ears with a dull roaring as of imprisoned waters ere the ice breaks to rush and | rcnd and destroy
 A door opened and closed quickly; | footsteps sounded on the porch, the steps, the walk in front of the house; a whistle clear and joyous as that of a schoolboy cleft the breeding air. Dan was on his way home now to the house across tho ravine, where the door was on the latch and the gift on the crowded l table, Somehow Anthony drew back under tho shadow of the trees, out of sight, and let him pass.
 The moon still hung poised above the cedars, but it was now free from the ob- struction of their branches and cast what light was in its gift to the earth ungrudgingly. Tho path was light enough, but under the trees the shadows lay dcnso and black Dan came down the walk whistling; his step was light, as though, in the sense of universal good new born within him, the touch of earth wcro pleasant to his feet. He neared the shadow where his friend lay am- pushed, passed it and went on in the pale moonlight. Anthony's hand was ill the breast pocket of his coat and his eyes glcamcd narrow through the dropping lids.
 At the gate Dan paused to light a cigar, striking the match against the up per bar; his hands were raised, protecting tho flame instinctively, although tho air was still; his back was toward tlAS shadow. Anthonys hand stole forth with tho revolver; his right hand stiff fcncd as he took aim at the young mans head; his cyo was steady and his finger , on the trigger was as firm as tho metal it touched; tho moonlight made a little track along tho barrel of the pistol.
 Tho arm twitchcd, the finger on tho trigger shook, tho eye faltcred and the aim grew unsteady. A thought haC flashed through tho maddened brain, { recollection powerful enough to ball tho deadly purpose to strike the arm tC his side. Was it ruth or memory O. friendship or compassion for the woman I whom he loved, and whose love he wa !. about to slay? Not one of these thing would have moved him. What did wa y the simple fact that Dan was unarmed e and that his back was toward him. 9 He stood and watched his rival pas through the gate and down tho pat which led across the ravine by tn longer way-tho sumo on which Mar had left him in indignation some month before. A builled, beaten feeling wa growing in his breast, a sense of impc Q tence and failure; jealousy and brut animosity strained on tho leash Gk bloodhounds, but rough honor hel them back with strong hand, and tn man stood shaking from head to foo cursing under his breath. He could nc shoot down an unarmed man from bC
 hind.
 Turning in the opposite direction
 retraccd his steps through the old ga,
 den. He was not going home; he ha
 no wish to meet his rival-the sense (
 impotence was growing. What ha
 como of it all-the long struggle, tt
 waiting and working, the ambition an 2' tho final success? What had it availe to him? Moneyl A place among menl
 monster fortunel Of what use was u
 money? He wanted love-this love, I V other; and all the wealth of that fa'
 ulous mine of his was inadequate for i
 purchase.
 His mind went back to that lone
 canyon, the redwood hut by the sno K, fed tarn, the leper driven forth to di
 and die alone. Of what use had tn
 gold been to the leper? Could it br - him pity, sympathy, tendance, even tC
 erance among his fellows? Had it be-
 powerful to avert misery, loathsom
 ness, death? He remembered how
 himself had sickened at the sight of t
 scared visage and had shrunk from t
 touch of the leprous hands; how the c1
 of water had been given with avert
 face, and tho vessel afterward brok to prevent all possibility of its ev
 touching cleaner lips; how he h. fought with disgust in the performan of those last offices for the dying q, the dead; how hastily he had fashion
 the rude resting place, how shuddt
 ingly he had placed in it the poC ! HafoCn1 fhinu thot hnl haprN h
 man, how he had shoveled in the ear
 with q sense of relief that from this f.
 world had been removed a foul blot.
 He felt strangely drawn to that lnn'