Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-08-22


should be On the credit as we'll. " And
then he went on to say that some time
since they had been notified by tho Lon
don bank that all letters issued by them
would bear two signatures.
Mac was man Of nerve, but it re-
quired all he had not TO betray his I'M
easiness. He said he really could not say
how tho omission had occurred; he sup
posed it must have been accidental, but
he would examine his other letters as
soon as he went back 10 the hotel.
The look of ohagrin and yoxation on
Macs faoo when no came out was
sight to see and one that is as vivid in
my memory now as in that faroif day
in 1879. What a sea Of misery rolls be-
tween then and now
He went direct to the hotel, and
there George and soon joined him. We
sat down and looked at each other. The
game apparently was up, and we were
sorely disguised party. We did not
fall ont with or roproach each other,
but felt we deserved kicking. We did
not ask each other any questions, but l
know our faces all wore q sadly puzzled
look as we repeated mentally, How
could we have made such an oversight"
But soon another blunder-the mis-
spelled word--was to crop up that
made this one Of the omitted name seem
as fly to an oaglo.
Mac and / thought the game up and
were mentally planning for flight. But
George, being man of extraordinary
courage and resource as well, declared
we could and would retrieve the blum
der Ho declared bold step must be
taken; that as the bankers had only seen
the one credit the name Of Ship, tho
submanager, must be instantly put ON
the others We had the genuine sigma.
turo Of j. p. Ship on draft, and Mao
Mt once sat down to writo it on all the
letters twas a trying ordeal for him,
Macs nerves having had wrench He
was temperate man, but under the
circurJ tances we advised him to take
glasS of brandy to steady his nerves.
Then placing the genuine signature be.
foro him and tho forged letters he began
to put in tho name. Tho signatures
were not well written, but under tho
trying circumstances ii was wonderful
ly we'll done All this had taken place
within half an hour after he had left
the bank.
II was n trying ordeal, but Mac was
quite willing TO do as George advised,
which was that he should take several of
the letters and march boldly into tho
bank and say; Here are my letters
they arc all right Both signatures are
on NIL my letters but the one and from
that the second signature has been I'M
Intentionally omitted. Georges last
word to Muo was "Rely ON us to oxtri-
cato you from anything Keep cool
Act up to the character you have as
sumed. They can never fathom that the
names could have been written in SO
short time. Boldly offer them more
exchange ON London, and IL there is any
hesitation say you win transfer your
business to the English bank of Rio at
once. "
He started on his decisive errand, fol-
lowed by US in n miserable state of anx-
iety, He was not long in the bank, but
returned empty handed. Upon meeting
Mt the designated place he informed us
the manager was evidently agreeably
surprised when shown the letters with
both signatures and transferred the in
dorsoment from the letter that had but
ono signature to one with two
Once more we had matters all right
and tho broken place patched up again,
but it hehoovcd us not TO do so any
more, But we did.
The steamer we purposed to load our
money on and ourselves, too, was the
Chimborazo, advertised TO arrive ON
Tuesday aud to leave for the river
Plate and the west coast the next day.
So it was agreed that on Monday Mac
should go to the bank and arrange to
cash his letters for $50, 900 or $50, 900
and 60 tho next day for the money
Monday came. We expected nerv-
GUS day, not such n paralyzingly nory-
Gus ono as it proved TO be- In fact,
nervous Tuesday followed nervous
Monday. My reader must remember
that we We're in the tropics, with blaz-
ing sun looking down ON us with an in
tonsity that made one long for Green
lands icy mountains to cool us.
We went into the public park for our
last consultation before our fortune,
which never came, was to come
Mac had in tho little morocco case in
his pocket two letters, each for ego, 600.
Certainly no man in the world but him
self could have carried of such game
played for such high stakes. Handsome
in person, faultless in address, cool in
nerve, a master Of all the languages
spoken in Rio-Portuguese, Spanish,
Italian and French. Above all, he had
a boundless confidence in himself. What
an honorable future might have been his
but for his youthful follies Truly he
could have achieved wonderful sue
cess in any honorable career. Unhappily
for him, he, like thousands Of our brain
lest youth, had entered tho Primrose
Way, In our youthful fire and Thought
lessness we saw only the flowers and
heard the SIRENS songs, but at last the
Primrose Way led us down into gloom
whore all the flowers witherod and the
gay songs turned into dirgss.
Looking at his watch, Mac Jumped
up, saying, ut is io;45 and time to
DO of. /" So he started for the bank. we
following at some distance, our nerves
all on the stretch. We felt that our lives
and fortunes were trembling in the bal
ence. While watching we saw several