Arizona republican., 1898-06-21
BY w1nn1AM r. NICHOLS.

 attent;ance: and when I was convales- cent he took me to his fine estate ill the highlands The Mary Peck by this time was well on her way to New York, her captain easy in the knowledge that he had left his surgeon in good hands.
 Of he weeks passed as Perez guest I shall oyer cherish q grateful remem- brance. His kindness "as unvarying, his generosity unl;mite He had ob- tainsd very fair notion of my slende, prospects. and gladly would have aided me to seek fortune in Brazil, had not the physicians strongly advised against my attempting to remain there. Ac- cordingly, he was forced to content himself with arrangements for my pas sage home, which he decided should be made by way of England. He would have done more, and pressed upon me money. which would have been wei come addition to my resources, had not refused to increase my obligations to him.
 obligations" he objected. Don't let me hear you mention obligations. Fate has brought us together twice.
 
 you have become my debtor, but know that on the first I incurred debt to you which can never be liquidated. How would I have fared had I not re ceiyed skillful treatment after the crew of your ship hoisted me out of the boat in which 1 had suffered tortures? 1t was the one chance in the hundred that the rescuing vessel carried a surgeon. There was fate in it; there was fate in the accident which drove the Mary Peck to Rio. It may be destiny that even for a third time we shall be Of service the one to the other.'' Il trust that if the opportunity comes it will be mine,' said I; sbut our lives promise to be spent far apart.'' Even so. But the chain of destiny ' sometimes links the most remote.'' Evidently a feeling possessed him that our connection was not to end with the good-byes spoken on the steamer which was to bear me from Rio. He asked many questions about my plans. until from the answers he perceived that I was turning homeward almost without an idea of the manner of ex- istence before me. Then the talk drift ed to the sorry experiences of my pro- fessional career and to the errant char acter of my boyhood existence. He was a sympathetic listener to descrip- l ton of the old village on the New Eng land coast and the lonely house, sur rounded by the marsh, which had been my favorite retreat. Under the spur ', of memory, I told him much of the abandoned dwelling and of it's isola- /, tion.
 | If ever I come to be misanthrope,' ' l declared, ''let me retire thither, as- sured that I may remain undisturbed
 so long as I choose. Yet, if my mood
 changes, it will be but step, and again I shall be among my fellows
 sTruly an admirable heritage" he observed.
 Indeed it is. The villagers take no interest in the old place. Though near them, it is out of their way, and there is no reason why they should visit it. | They are not people of the sort to waste energy in tramping through salt bogs.
 A man who settled there might feel
 tolerably certain that they would nor attempt to intrude upon him. We were silent for time, but at l length I asked whether he might not visit the United States.
 ''1t is hardly on the cards," he an- swered. ''It is not probable that shal. | quit Brazil for some time to come. 1 have interests to be guarded which 1 would suffer in my absence The coun- 1 try is on the eve of a revolution; the ! empire is doomed, and its fall cannot be long delayed. Under the surface ! there are plots and counterplots. l have striven to keep clear of them and
 have succeeded, so far as active partici- patton is concerned; but I have had i knowledge of number of them, and i many of my closest friends are deeply involved. The nations need is strong. stable government. God knows how we are to obtain it, or what the history | of the next few years will be-" Before we separated for the night an agreement had been made which aft | erward seemed curious enough, though at the time we entered into it with the utmost gravity. It was. in brief, tha, in case either had an urgent request tC make of the other, and the request was made by letter, there should be used. either as a signature or appended to the writer's name, a symbol, Greek ! cross with three dots ranged vertically 10 the right of ii. Perhaps 1t was Perez earnestness as we talked over the mat ter which prevented me from appre- ciating it's strargeness. A little retlec- ton might have persuaded me that we were wasting our breath, for it was difficult to understand how I, in my poverty and powerlessness, could ever aid one who possessed so much of the resources I lacked; but, under the in huence of my friends grave face and words, a pledge to heed his call was given as solemnly as if the alliance were one of equals.
 The following day, passenger on tho steamer Bedouin, l leaned upon the vessels rail and watched the Brazilian highlands growing less and less in the distance