The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-23

There was nothing heroic, nothing
inspiring about his presence. Looking
at him, one hardly knew whether to
say that he was too ugly to be insig-
nificant. or too insignificant to be ugly.
He was, in short, a miserable scare
looked more contemplate than ever. 4
To anyone who knew the story it
would have seemed no wonder that the I
athlete had been preferred to him, :
even by the woman who wore his we'd
ding ring. He saw and knew all this
himself; he had seen it and known it
ever since his rival had come across
his path; and the knowledge added
both to his bitterness and his hate.
The eyes of the two men met. 1t
was the first time since the little
woman had left her home that Saladin
wronged; and they looked at each
other long and steddfastly. There
were two attendants with them on
the platform, and in their presence
neither cared to speak the thoughts
that were uppermost in his mind. But
Saladin's eyes fell at length before the
others gaze, and fear was visible in
his face and he began to stammer
out a refusal to go further with this
last item of his entertainment.
/ eff you are afraid" the other whis-
pered beneath his breath. IF Sou are
Z
/ Still Saladin hesitated.
Every WELL" the man said. "'Now
see that you are a coward.
The word stung Saladin to the quick.
He was not used to have his courage
questioned; perhaps there were few
men whose courage was less question
able. He gripped hold Of one of the
ropes by which the platform was sus-
pended for a moment, while a crowd
of thoughts shot through his brain.
/ And foremost among his thoughts was
| the thought that he owed this man
some PREPARATION for all the wrong he
had done him. After all. the man
might have shot or stabbed him una
wares. If this was the satisfaction he
preferred, what right had he TO refuse
| it to him? So he turned to him and
said simply:
Il am no coward; come"
| And the attendant helped the man
on to his back and handed him the
| balancing pole, and they passed out
| together upon the tight rope.
Saladin had no decisions, no false
hopes. He knew. though the other
| tons, that he was walking the tight
| rope for the last time in his life 1t
surprised him a little that no brutal
| recriminationS were missed in his ear:
he did not understand this silent
vengeance 1t surprised him a little,
/ LOO, JudL ne was allowed 10 traverse
the hall once in safety; but even that
| did not buoy him with any expecta-
tions of a safe return.
He regretted nothing. If he could
| have had his life again he would have
done the same with it. What he had
| done still seemed worth while, even
though this was what the doing of it
| had brought him to. And yet it was
an awful endI Already the man upon
his back had knotted his fingers firm
! ly around his throat in readiness to
| jerk.
A thought struck him. Since the
end was inevitable. why wait for it?
Since both must die, better to be the
murderer than the murdered 1t was
the one triumph for him.
The idea tickled him and he
chuckled to himself
Then of a sudden, he dropped the
balancing pole and threw himself into
the air just as the band was playing
| the first notes of See the Conquering
Hero Comes