Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-09-08
THE BACKWASH

at is not the onset. but the backwash
of temptation that sweeps man off his
feet. -
As Ralph Cashelo stood toweling him
self on the lower stage of the pier head aft
er his early plunge he suddenly became
aware of a companion man in pep
per and salt morning suit was standing
with his back to him, leaning his arms ON
the slender rail and looking straight out
to sea. Whether because of something in
the figure that arrested his attention or
simply because he had nothing else to do
Cashelo kept his eyes fixed ON the stran-
ger while he rubbed himself into virtu-
Gus glow and wondered what there was for
breakfast
Just as he pulled on his jacket and be-
gan rolling up his towels the other man
turned round. His face was rather thin,
but it was fiorid in color and set off by
fierce black mustache and whiskers 1t
struck Cashelo that be had seen the man
before, but where and when he couldn t
remember
81 believe it must have been at those
private theatricals we used to go to in
Tavistock square, he said to himself as
he turned away.
Before he had taken half dozen steps
he heard snap, hoarse scream of fear
and loud splash. He looked back and
saw gap in the place where the stranger
had been standing In a moment the
meaning of that gap occurred to him.
Some of the rails were made to swing open
and were secured by small chains This
one must have been insecurely fastened
and had Suddenlv pivan vvav
He rushed back to the head of the pier
where coil of rope lay ready to hand. AS
he craned over to look for the stranger he
heard voice that sounded curiously fa-
miliar
For Gods sake, look sharp! / think
I've broken my leg, and can't swim. /"
He snatched up the end of the rope and
climbed to projecting lamp Then as he
looked down he saw the stranger directly
below him clinging to the shining, slip
perry woodwork, apparently unable to lift
himself out of the water.
He opened bis lips to shout, then paused
in sheer astonishment. The man in the wa
ter undoubtedly was the same man he had
seen few moments before leaning on the
rail. He recognized his clothes and the
very pattern of his shirt, but the face was
utterly different That man had been
forid and hairy. This was white, or rather
streaky, and clean shaven. Now sudden
fall into deep water might easily deprive
mans face of it's color but hardly of
whiskers and mustache All, now he un-
derstood that half recognition of the mo-
ment before.
The face that looked up to him frantic
in its terror was the face of his enemy,
Richard Compton.
Years ago when Cashelo was a newly
married man with slender income this
smooth tongued, plausible scoundrel had
crossed his path At that time he was, or
said he was, private secretary to flnan-
cier, and he had little difficulty in putting
Cashelo on to 'dead cert" which
swallowed up his little capital and when
it went into liquidation left him with a
milestone of debt round his neck
AS he looked at the draggled, terror
stricken countenance beneath him he re-
called in a flash the visit he had paid to
Compton when the crash came; how he
had been kept waiting in the clerk s room
the best part of an hour and then treated
with cool insolence; how when for his
wife's sake he humbled his pride TO beg a
loan from the man who had ruined him
his prayer had been met with contemp-
tuous laugh and these words of dismissal,
which he had never forgotten:
"There. my dear fellow, don't be melo-
dramatic. You see I'm busy, so / must
ask you to be off l can't spare you any
more time. won't give you penny.
What will give you is piece of advice.
Play for your own hand and let the rest
go hang Ia, tai
Tho r. bIoc xuoro t,rruo6 ,,Oxx, A -
long years of hard, bitter poverty and
struggle which killed his young wife the
death of a rich connection suddenly placed
him in affiuence He had married again,
and in the comfort of these times of plenty
had almost forgotten those years of lean
ness-almost, but not quite. He was not
man to turn the cheek to the smiter, and
deep in his heart there lay the sense of an
unpaid debt, an unsatisfied revenge.
He looked all round There was not a
soul in sight The toll man at the other
end of the pier was probably at breakfast,
and in any case the cries of the man in the
water would never reach his ear. 1t was
beastly sort of death for man to die,
but then the fellow WASH man; he was
beast. Let him die.
And he took half a dozen steps toward
bne SnOre. IneD ne stopped SnOFb. NO,
he couldn't do it At any rate, he'd have
look at the creature first And as he
turned and began slowly to descend the
steps leading to the water he heard the
terror stricken voice shouting in frenzied
accents:
"Quickl Quickl | can't hold on an
other minute What are you stopping for?
Oh, I'm going Helpl HelpP'
| Very deliberately Cashelo walked down
the steps and to the edge of the pier. AS
soon as the other saw him he redoubled
his exclanations
'Throw me that roper he screamed
Don't stand like that Why, ] shall
4 drown before your eyes, you fooll''
Cashelo smiled.
you've no idea how ridiculous you
look" he politely remarked. "You re-
mind me of great beetle trying to scra1n.
bic up the slope of trap.
"Good God, he's madI'' cried the other.
| 'I'm dead mani
Don't you recognize mef' asked CASH
elo, still dangling the rope and coming
close to the edge.
| The drowning man made sudden
snatch at the rope and caught at the end.
Instantly Cashelo paid it out, and the