The record-union., 1897-02-28
FOOLS MATE.


| interested group was watching the most
fascinating game in the whole wide
| world, and like war correspondents in
| cold phelgmatic neutrality, calculating
the chances of the combatants and
forecasting the end of their struggle.
Check"
well, there
Check"
''Ah, hum, it's no good; resign" The
loungers moved away, and the speaker
leaned back in his chair and calmly
surveyed the board.
"Gaston,'' he said at length, you are
master of the science of the game;
it is useless for me to contend against
you"
CASTOR Slater, the manager of the
Durnstable Bank, lighted another cigar
cite and acknowledged the compliment
with a light laugh and a deprecatory
shake Of the head. Not at ALL my dear
| fellow, not at all. If you will pardon
! the apparent rudeneSS of the obServa-
| ton, my victories lie, not in any phe-
nomena1 strength of my own, but rather
| in the weakness of my adversaries. Now
| if you had retained the queens knight
| in the position that it held half way
| through the game, and covered the
| square with the rock"
stop, pray, STOP the other inter-
jected, you are wasting your eloquence.
| I haven't the faintest idea where that
knight was. My game always degener-
ates into the forlorn hope, and 1 play
waiting for a stroke of luck to give me
the victory, rarely with any deeper in
| tent"
But that is not the way to play
chess
Il know: but it is the only way I play
L can't concentrate my thoughts suffi-
| cienly; cannot, like you, centralize them
upon the game and the game alone;
| they will drift away, as they have done
tonight, when, while you have matched
your strategy against my ignorance, l
| have been wondering who that man is
| over there, who has watched the whole
| game, and whose eyes seemed to CLEAN
| at every move you made. If l am any
judge of faces, CASTOR, there you have
a foeman worthy of your-shall / say
| ivory, to prevent muddling of the
| metaphor"
AT the words of his friend, CASTOR
Slater turned from the board where he
had been arranging the pieces and
glanced at the stranger who was leis-
urely slipping his coffee; military look
| ing man, tall and heavy in build, with
| a full mouStache waXed at the ends to
| two ferocious daggers. Their eyes met,
and with the easy-going air of men of
the world a suspicion of a nod was in
terchanged, and CASTOR busted himself
| with the board again.
There, Frank he said after a mo-
ment with the pieces, white to play and
mate in three moves. Try that; it's
one of my own"
Frank Thornly gazed at the board for
a few minutes, for, apart from want of
application, he had a keen and solid
admiration for the game of games, the
| science Of sciences, and at last looked up
and moodily shook his head.
Impossible"
Another voice interrupted and the
stranger, handing his card, asked in a
melodious voice if he might be per-
| mitted to watch them.
Il am a great admirer of the game"
he explained in a semi mi-apologetic tone,
and play a little myself" he added, as
a kind of afterthought.
CASTOR Slater gave half glance at the
paSteboard, Colonel Henry Walton" 4"
and then turned with a bow to the Col
onel, who took his seat by the table
| White plays and mates in three
moves" Castor Slater murmured com
| placently. One of my own problems. -
| "Ah.' The Colonel smiled and
whistled very softly to himself.
| 'Will you try it?"
| With pleasure, but I prefer the red"
"Oh, it is impossible to stop the mate;
| it is certain to player"
| Certain that white mates IN three
moves; but you have overlooked the fact
| that red can mate in two"
No
| But 1T is so; take the white"
CASTOR Slater changed his seat, and
FRANK Thornley, excusing himself, the
| two faced one another with the problem
| before them.
One the Colonel cried, pushing for
ward the red rook. Check"
CASTOR Slater's game for the white
was over. He moved the king; and then
| Two, said the other quietly, as down
swooped the queen. Mate"
Perhaps you did not intend that red
should play first" Colonel Walton s,g-
gested of course, if white had done
| so, you would have won, only it was a
| case of mate in three moves for white
and two for red, with victory for the
| first mover"
You perceived it very rapidly" re.
sponded CASTOR, proffering his cigarette
case.
Il am pretty we'll used to problems"
the Colonel answered as he lighted his
cigarette, but would you care to trv a
game?"
only too delighted"
They played a pretty game. and. to his
Infinite satisfaction, CASTOR Slater won.
won easily, little too easily, it seemed
to him. against the man who had inst
shattered a problem he had spent hours
upon, but as the Colonel evinced slight
pique at his defeat, CASTOR felt bound to
| regard the victory as due to some over
sight on the part of his adversary.
After all, what does failure or suc
| cess depend upon so much as those
strange unaccountable oversightsq
| Oversights that the onlooker cannot
comprehend, cannot conceive possible
and wonders how that obvious advan-
tage was neglected, that fatal error
committed only to fall into some such
blunder himself as soon as he faces the
| board.
me hrst contest of Castor Slater and
Colonel Henry Walton was followed bv
many others Now in the hotel srnok
Ing-r room. aGd afterwards. as the
| friendship ripened, in the Coloneps own
private apartments. and ever the tide
OF fortune ebbed and flowed. now WELD