The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-12

ana above ali, was there at hand TO
1eop2rulse my own chances Of success
Stia Ellen was not as other women; she
was the pearl beyond price, and had
promised and vowed all manner Of hdel-
uy. and called down upon herself the
most dreadful fates in caseLWiidest Of
suppositiOns-she should ever prove I'M
true under no matter what prOvocatiOn,
or now long the ume-and II really was
running on-might be before ] came back
rich and triumphant TO claim her from
al the world.
<'It was not 10 be expected. was
TOOL 10 trust and hope as ] did. No wo-
man ever could resist opportunity and
the selling Of her very soul for gold, came
lh mere as a sort Of Greek chorus, and
running accompaniment TO my own
thoughts. And i'm spite Of M faith which
was unbOunded. ] grew unaccouutably
depressed, and but for the laws Of hOspi-
tallty should dearly have liked 10 kick my
UNCONSCIOUS visitor, who for my benefit
maundcred on:
Il must have been born under an evil
star From the first nothing succeeded /
ever undertook. and drifted on from bad
20 worse, until my ill-luck became a prov
crh. and Ellen herself grew cold ana
shy. while lac. the fortunate youth
WINGED ~ he strange parallel in the stories
-'WaNcd oVcrbearng anltriumphant. as
suIlhg everybody that II was all right,
ana only matter Of time, when the other
poor deFu meaning me-'WOuld drop Gus
quietly and go under All the more gail
ing this from its appearance Of truth: for
mere seemed 20 prospect Of change. or Of
my holding on. At last ] could bear ID
ITO ivll1tt. ] fNAlu scarcely keep my lauGa
OH MIN. Much less could ! wait on there
TO see his prophecy fulfilled and him cXult
over my failure. So Morrison and Paul
Morrison was my only frieud-and equal
~ bankrupt in hope and reputation. and
we determined 10 go abroad. Matters
were so desperate we could not well fare
worse; SO why not so on the of chance
NO sooner was it proposed than It was
decided and ercrybody-Ellen included
seen ae9me ,b,n relieved to /! was the best and
as 10 bid me hope that with good luck
and speedy return-hut there, we should
see, ana the great salt tears stood in ner
eyes as we left her, Paul and ] together,
after seeing heroine OF us at all events
for the last time"
lie sighed ogain az the recollection.
and this time / was in no mood to inter-
rupt him.
We'll, we came out here and-to cut the
story short-had our ups and downs with
the rest Sometimes fun of hone as we
neared success, at others half-stunned and
driven almost to despair Nav. there came
a time when but for each other and the
mutual support l believe we should have
ended the struggle with our lives But
Paul-it was always Paul-stood firm. and
II only Tor very shame, l could not be the
Hrst TO give in and go.
1T was then. after n spell of ill-Iuck
more than usually prolonged that we hap
pened on our chance. ] had been sick and
was lying in my bunk where after care
fully tending me all through the long day
Paul had left me under prctense Of getting;
a breath OF air on the hills really for n
final desperate run round-a sort Of gam
blers last throw-before we threw up the
game altogether.
Il was just lying and thinking what a
blessed release il would be If when things
were at the worst one could only die when
l heard Paufs VoiCc-no longer CHEEKY
out OF sheer determination, but fun of an
Enthusiastically eXultng ring The mere
sound put new life into me- and | crawled
to the door of our tent to meet him.
It's ali right. old chapw he cried
again, as he saw me all shaky and white
with eagerness to hear the news. Right
as the mail! and we are both made mem!
You see he never dreamt of keeping it
from me; although the find was his we
shared as true partners from the first.
1.-THE next l knew was Paul standing
over me and giving me the last precious
drop Of brandy from our store Coming
after illness, and the long suspense the
news had knocked me over, and / sat all
stupcfied and dizzy while he tended me as
carefully as any nurse, laughing and chat
fing me about standing good news worse
than ILL., But the news was good, and l
soon pulled round, and nothing would serve
but ! must see the place from which l. at
all events, had everything to hope. Wealth,
ease, and above all, happiness-with Ellen
waiting there at home"
"The light still held good, and from our
tent, which stood as near as may be on
this very spot-(more coincidence, thought
!, as l started and looked round). And
it was not many yards away. Still near
as it was, ! should never have reached
>
and when l did | sank down completely
-overpowered; for there, just as ne had
said, partly barred, as he had left it, lay
a heap of clean washed sand left by the
dried-up stream and all sparkling and
glistenng with gold.
There was no sleep for me that night
In my weak state the excitement almost
turned my brain. Paul, too, though more
self-controled, was greatly moved, and
finding l could not so back, set off to
bring all we needed there. The removal
cfn pla ba OF
his strength felt the strain; so once ac-
complished, with a last goodnight he
lay down and quickly fell asleep, while I
lay awake for hours wrapped in a blissful
dream of ELLEN and home
Just as it was coming light l heard
him moving restlessly and talking softly
TO himself. A word rather louder than
the rest reused me thoroughly, and |
heard--what l never should have heard
from him awake-how we who had al
ways been the best of friends must hence
forth take our chance as rivals; and yet
l could not tell, for that he had known
of my hopes all along l knew, but that
! he too loved her was news to me indeed.
/ Yet love her he did, that was soon made
| clear, as clear as was the hopeless nature
of his passion, and clear as mis- own true
! heart that while doubling and despair
| ing for himself led him to do his best
! for me-" And the man paused with moist
/ eyes and uncertain breath before he could
II listened-and l am not ashamed to
! own it--listened to every word, for each
/ one he let fall only raised him higher.
1 Heaven knows what l had done to deserve
| it-or perhaps it was not for me after
| all hut for her, who deserved ii even
/ less-but that came later.
In the morning he awoke unconscious
4 of what had passed nor, when ques toned.
/ would he spoil my happiness by a single
/ word. but set to work to make the best
/ Of our haul. | could do little to help
/ him on that day or the next; could only
get ready the meals and lend a hand
! to carry in the spoil; but on the third
/ day 1 was able TO take my share, for was
/ not our pile growing steadily and bring
| ing us nearer and nearer to the end?
zone pressing anxiety we had was as
| to food Another was the weather, which
/ had been pitilessly hot and without drop
/ of rain for weeks, while now any day
might bring a change. Each morning as
/ we turned out our first glance was at
! the sky for, as Paul said, a thunder
4 storm meant utter ruin: the stream would
/ rise and all our ungot harvest soon be
/ washed away. while to further risk delay
/ while one of us went after food was
/ more than we could bring ourselves TO
do. Far rather content ourselves 10
1 short rations and push on.
For the sake of GOODNESS we had put
! all our belongings in a cave whose mouth
4 yawned at the level of the stream and
! which stretched inflow far we never
/ troubled to inquire There we ate ano
/ slept, and high on a shelf of rock gar