Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-06-09


the water, the more pigheaded 1 got.
1 gritted my teeth an held on to the
bank. Next thing I knew it was
mornin' an the doctor was hustin'
me back to the stove sayin' that I'd a
wonderful constitution. That's ALL
But tell you the people who made up
these songs about The Other Side of
Jordan and when We meet Beside
the River and all that, knew what
they were talkin' about"
He looked thoughtfully at the moon
'If hadn't been born pigheaded, "
he added dreamily, 81 might have
been havin' good times Low with my
old chum instead of wearin' my heart
out for years in this unholy country. p"
"Well," said Paget, "if the end of
fever is as easy as that" and he
glanced at Isdale, with green fields
and trout streams, shouldn't mind
that way SO much, though I've always
thought I'd prefer bullet"
"But it isn't always that, said Cope
land. 81 think, sometimes, death
never comes twice in the same form.
But, don't you know, I'm sure that,
under certain conditions, people whom
-a-don't you know, he-death, you
know-wasn't after at all, might know,
you know, he was near at hand. I'll
tell you what mean-if L can, you
know. II was really beastly sick when
l was in the sixth form, with small
pox, and lots of other fellows were
down, too. There were three or four
of us in the sick bay and we pulled
out all right in the end, except one.
We who were convaiescent were put
in a room by ourselves and had q
whacking time getting well, feeding
like pigs and treated like angels. But
Wyking, who was horribly i'll, they
left with trained nurses and all that
kind of thing, you know, in the sick
bay.
81 was pretty weak and one night 1
woke up about 10 o'clock with the
most CHASTITY feeling. L could barely
breathe and couldn't cry out for the
nurse. l knew somehow at once that
death was in the house. L was COW
cred with cold sweat and my breath
seemed to come with terrible effort. 1
thought it was me who was wanted
and L never thought of praying, you
know, or anything like 'that. 1 did
like Hannen. 1 bit tho pillow and
held on desperately. 1 fancy it lasted
about ten minutes, and then there was
suddenly the sweetest relief. The
sweat passed, 1 breathed gently and
went to sleep again, but knew death
had passed and taken somebody.
'In the early morning L was awake
when the nurse came with her medi-
cines, and l asked her at once, what
time did Charley dep Charley, you
know, was the boy left in the sick bay.
She stared and gasped and asked me
who had been in the room talking to
me. L told her nobody She looked
frightened, and told me L was foolish
to think of such nonsense, and all that
sort of thing, you know. But she ran
out and brought in the doctor, who
chaffed me, you know, but felt my
pulse and his eyes looked strange.
They stuck it out between them that
Charley was all right, but knew from
their eyes they were afraid to tell the
truth, because of the shock it might
give us in our weak state. They owned
up after we were strong that Charley
did die at II o'clock that night. But
why, wonder, you know, did Death
pass SO close to me on his way? The
other fellows rested quietly that night,
and Charley was too far off in that
big school for me to hear any noise in
his ROOM"
Paget rose up and whispered to Is
dale to ask if he wished for anything,
but the sick lad was unconscious.
He'll remain like that, do you
Think" he asked softly as he came
back to the fire. No one answered.
The moon was sailing now toward the
shadowy peaks of the gloomy distant
mountains. From the darkness of the
far veldt came suddenly the long
alarmed cry of deer pounced on by a
lion. Isdale muttercd and moved,
and Copeland threw wood on the fire
and stirred it into fierce blaze. A
low voice spoke from the side of the
flames furthest from the wagon.
"You were right, Mr.. Copeland, "
said Maynard, the old elephant hunter,
fright according to my idea about
Death coming never twice in just the
same shape. 1t seems to me he
studies the man he's sent after, and
has his orders to disguise himself ac-
cording-merciful or vengeful. But
there may be more than that. I saw
something once which made me think
that the Lord sometimes allows a
wronged dead man to come back at
the appointed time and do Deaths
work. 1t was in the north Transvaal
country, long before gold was found
on the Witwatersrand, but q man
called Blakely and were prospecting
and keeping as far away as we could
from the Beers on one hand and the
Zulus on the other. We built bit OF
a hut in rayine in the hills and lay