The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-21

narrative, and Macpherson smiled in the
pecuIarly quiet way he has when ne
mas perfectly mystified a nearer.
Yes, ordinary ink" he went on. "The
discovery naturally made me feel rather
LooilShs but not so much as il would have
done II had not been convinced still that
ms action was in some way malicious
one. What his idea could be. however, it
was impossible for me to divine, ard felt
SO curious about it that l should have
reused my friend at once to inquire how
uNe black marks on his arm could posi-
bly, AFFECT his happiness. if he had not
looked 50 thoroughly worn out and in need
OF sleep. As soon as Lashton was gone, /
left the cabin at once for fear of disturb
ing the sleeper without stopping even 10
Wy ana remove the ink stains, piece of
stupidity at which have not ceased TO
wonder. You see it was impossible for me
10 guess how desperately serious the plot
was that the engineer had formed against
the man whom he considered his rival.
I retired to my own cabin opposite Gil
Dys, keeping the door open to make sure
that Lashton did not return to do more
HlschleI, Dut 1 made a poor sentry. L
was tired out, like the young lieutenant.
through not having had my proper amount
Of rest for four nights, and / fell asleep
still wondering about the five black marks.
w hen 4 woke, / do not know how
long after, ii was to find Gilby standing
m my room, half undressed as ! had
seen him in his bunk, but with his shirt
sleeve buttoned up over the ink stains
on his arm. l was too full of sleep, how
ever, to notice the fact at the time or
even to remember for the moment any
thing about what / had seen. Sleepy as
L was, could not help noticing the look
Of complete misery and despair on my
friends face: He was standing at the
side of my bunk, holding an envelope,
and when l started up, rubbing my eyes,
he put it into my hand.
1 am glad you are awake Macpher-
son. he said, in a strangely constrained
tone. 1 wanted to ask you to do me a
favor. VIII you give this letter to Mis5
Callan personally when you see herg l
do not want to take the risk of sending
it by the mail.
But you win see herself as soon as
l SHALL / said in surprise at the request,
and Gilby aid not reply. Instead, he
turned and walked out of the cabin,
leaving me staring at the letter in my
hand and wondering what IL meant. /
was so stupid with sleep that it took
me two minutes to think Of any explana-
ton at all. When I did / was out of my
bunk and and running across to the oppo-
site cabin in a second. Just in time,
too, for Gilby was In the act of locking
his door when / burst il open and rushed
in without ceremony. The fact that the
young lieutenants revolver and a couple
of letters, one of them addressed to me,
were lying on the table, served TO assure
me that my fears were not ungrounded.
The first thing / did was to secure the
revolver Then / turned to my friend.
What the devil are you going TO
shoot yourself for? | demanded, bluntly
"Gilby made no attempt to deny his in
tention.
i am sorry you have disturbed me-
Macpherson he said, with perfect cool
ness, because it cannot make any differ
ence.
'And the reason?" asked. with inter
est for the doctor had paused to light an
other cigarette. Macpherson blew Whit
of smoke from his mouth, and continued
his story.
q suppose you have never heard of a
disease called guinea madneSsg he asked,
and when / shook my head. he went on:
"Neither had /, until Gilby told me about
it, although L am a doctor. 1t is one of
those strange diseases that limit them
selves luckily to a particular district, and
is only found among q few tribes along
the coast of Guinea. Tt is generally
thought that Europeans cannot take il,
but the idea Is an erroneous one, or, at any
rate, there are exceptions, for Lieut.. Gil
bys father died of il when my friend was
a boy of TO- His father was captain of a
trading vessel, and the lieutenant was
accompanying him on a voyage when they
called at the Guinea coast. He, therefore.
saw his father in all indescribable agony
of the disease, which seems more like hy-
drophobia than anything else, although
it is infections. The sight made a great
impression on him. and, since his consti-
tuition was quite similar to his fathers,
he had always suffered from an almost
supernatural terror of the Guinea coast.
He was quite persuaded that If he ever
went ashore there, he would catch the
it seems, was aware of this monomania
of his; for it almost amounted to mono
mania"
And he had really caught the disease %
/ asked.
Macpherson smiled HE thought he
had. The first symptom is the appearance
of small black marks on the arm or leg