The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1895-09-13
FIVE BLACK MARKS.

drawing room, was spent in gun
boat Oft the coast of Guinea | began
my professional life as a surgeon in the
navy, you know"
dld not know. But as the doctor
seemed intent on telling the story did
not interrupt him by saying SO.
We had been cruising about in the
Mediterranean, he went on when we
where unexpectedly ordered to the
bay of Lagos to oyerawe some miser-
able little tribe near the coast which
had not been behaving itself as
properly regulated little tribe under
the protection of the British empire
ought to do. Kakoga's tribe it was
called, and Kakoga came in for a good
share of honest abuse from the
officers and men of the Dragon-fiy,
when our orders came. The worst of
II was, as far the officers and men
were concerned, that we were not at
unity among ourselves. The engineer,
called Lashton, had been disappointed
IN love, and was naturally morose in
consequence. What made him more
SO was the fact that his successful
rival was the sub-lieutenant, an
aWfully nice fellow, and the only man
on board that l cared for. Lieut..
Giiby had met Miss Callan at Malta,
and had become engaged to her with
out the least idea that the engineer
had intentions that way, not that it
would have made any difference to
him if he had, ! suppose. Lashton's
unconcealed enmity against him made
life on board pretty unpleasant, anu
divided US INTO two cliques. The lieu
tenants clique, consisting of himself
and me, certainly had the liveliest
time of it, for the successful suitor of
Miss Callan was the merriest fellow on
earth, and while we were in the Med
iterranean we suffered very little from
the engineers hostility. But directly
we steamed off for Lagos most re
markable change came over my friend,
and he turned as taciturR Lashton
himself.
1T puzzled me TO discover the rea-
son, for thodgh we were all sorry to
leave the Mediterranean still it was
not like Gilby TO sulk over il. He
could not see less of his fiancee than
he had been doing for two or three
months, and we had the prospect be-
fore US of small fight, for which he
had been wishing. Lashton suggested
to me in his sinister way that it was
the prospect of fighting which caused
the change III my friend, and though |
answered the suggestion in the tone it
deserved, still it seemed the only ex-
planation-
''Gilby said, when / asked him, that
1t was the weather, and the irritation
with which he answered prevented me
continuing my inquiries, and made me
more than ever convinced that it was
funk and a very severe form of the
disease, too. In fact, he took very lit
tie pains to conceal it.
- 4 hope to goodness that | shall not
have to go on shore, he said, when we
had nearly reached our destination. 1
wish the commander would lead the
party and leave me here to look after
the ship
-. 1t is not likely | answered, gruff-
ly, and l was glad that Lashton was
not about to overhear him | an
syvered his next suggestion more grutf-
ly still.
4 suppose you would not like to
certify that | ought to be on the sick
list. would you. Macpherson he asked
me, hesitatinTly.
Il refused tiatly.
If ne had told me the true reason of
his fear | might have acted differently,
for ne looked Ill enough, poor fellow.
His face had grown quite white and
wan since we started
1T looked whittier still next day when
he had to go in command of the land
ing party, which | accompanied, OF
course.
when we were fairly embarked on
the enterprise, his one idea seemed to
be to get it over with all possible
speed, and the haste with which he ad-
vanced to kakoga's country would
have been impossible If the men under
him had not themselves been SO anN-
ious To- get into action, and Introduce
little change into the monotony of
life on gunboat-
However, the change was less than
the majority of the blue-jackets hoped
for. the miserable little tribe did not
snow fight. and our business was soon
accomplished. In five days from the
time we left the Dragon-ty we were
back again, none the worse for our
trip, except that we were all worn out
by Gilby's forced marches.
The lieutenant seemed more eX-
hausted than any of US, and as soon as
nc had received the congratulations of
the commander, he retired at once to
his berth What surprised me was
that his spirits did not show any i'm
movement after the chance OF lighting
was at an end. 1t seemed to me as II
he were still expecting some calamity
to happen to him, and l began To
wonder whether there might not be
something seriously wrong with his
health to account for all that had sur
prised me in his manner. Inls eNpia-
nation. which had not occurred To me
while there was any real danger,
struck me forcibly, now that we were
safe ON the eunboat, and, as soon as /
had enjoyed the luxury of a bath after
my five days of discomfort, | strolled
down TO the lieutenant's cabin To have
a look at him in the new light of a pa
tient-
The door-of nv friends cabin was
ajar as l approached 1t, and when
glanced into the room before knocking,
l was surprised to catch sight of En-
eineer Lashton standing by the side of
the lieutenant's bunk.
The fact of Lashton's enmity for
nv friend was so undisputed that at
the sight of his figure in his enemys
cabin / felt quite justified in watching
what was going on before making my
presence known. Gilby was lying
across his bunk, half undressed and
aDparently fast asleep. The engineer
yvas standing over him with bottle of
some black fluid in his hand. While
xxatched. he made five small marks
with il on the sleeping mans arm.
The operation seemed such a mysteri-
GUS and inexplicable one that watched
him till he put the cork back into the
bottle, without moving step to inter
fere with the man. but | pounced upon