The record-union., 1898-09-26

time that you an / should come to
some understanding
Some understannin," said. About
what pray? I don't follow you. Be
good enough to explain
Tut, tut, mon Ye ken weel enough.
About Miss Mabel, for shure."
And what sort of understanding do
you propose to arrive at in reference
to that young lady?' inquired, with
dignity.
Jest this, mon Which Of us twa is
to hae the preevilege."
What preevilege?" I demanded.
'Hoots, mon, dinna We ken? The
preevilege of getting engaged to Miss
Mabel. 1t must be ain or ither Of US.
1t Gamma be baith.'
What reason have you for suppos-
ing that the young lady wishes it to be
either of us?" I inquired. isn't the
assumption, to say the least of it. pre-
mature?"
Tut, mon, dnna gae pretenning'!
You ken, as weel as do, it's jest this
way. Miss MabePs greatly attached
to US bath. But she Gamma max up
her mind between us. When I'm WI
her, it's me; and when you're WI her,
It's you. And sac lang as we're bath
constantly wi her she'll go on sheelly-
shallyin, sheelly- -shallyin, and won't
Jest say aye to neither of us. And
then, maybe in the end, she'll TAX up
WI some third fellow and marry him,
II ainly to save hersel the trooble O.
choosin' between us. Nae! There's
but ane thing to be done. Either you
or I mum withdraw In favor of the
ither"
And do you propose, may I ask,
that I shall be the one to withdraw"
L queried, with an ironical laugh.
Nae, mon, nothin O. the kind.
propose that we settle it fairly and
honorably. Look here, mon, I've a
suggestion to max to you. You'll be
rememberin' that you played a match
not long ago for five pun, and that
you had a the worst O. the loock, and
were ma satisfied VII the twa oop
beatin' 1 Civ ye? And you said youd
talk me on again, you'll be recollectin'.
and turn the tables? Varra weel. The
noo's your chance. Play me return-r-n
be-Miss Mabel.
Play for Mabel?" I ejacaulated, fair
ly staggered by this astounding propos-
al. The suggestion is preposterous It
is an insult to the LADY,
Not at a, mon; not at a. I dinna
mean, Of course, that We'll treat the
lassie as tho she were jest a few goff
balls or a banknote, to change hands,
so to speak, wi'out her consent And
forshure, 'tawdna be much use gin we
did; for Miss Mabel has mighty strong
opeenions Of her own. But I'd put it
to ye-this way. We'd play for a clear
field VII the lassie-the loser to with
draw for, say twa month, and to leave
the winner in undisputed possession.
That I'D give either the ain or the ither
OF us fair chance to improve his po-
section. And gin he didna do it win
the time named, there wouldna then be
ony hindrance to his rival re-enterin
the lists. What say ye to thot, mon?'
I-I-still say it's a most extraor-
binary proposal I-I-must think about
it."
"Hoots, mon!" said Sandy, provok-
ingly. 'Ye dinna seem varra eager to
play me. You're afraid, I'm thinking"
Now, no man likes to be told that
he's afraid, least Of all by carroty
cad Of a Caledonian And you may be
sure I was up in my stirrups at once
IF I was afraid of you, Sandy Rob-
son." l said, I'D be ashamed ever to
look at my face in the glass again."
Then you'll play me, and for the
stakes named retorted the Scot, ca
gerly.
IT will"
I spoke unhesitatingly, in the heat
and impulse of the moment.
Done wi you!" cried Sandy, in a
tone Of Unsurpassed exultation. "Shak'
hands on t, mon."
We shook hands solemnly, and the
bargain was sealed. I saw from Rob
sons expression that he thought he
had entrapped me into an ordeal in
which he was certain of the advantage.
Perhaps had done foolishly in letting
myself be thus entrapped. But it was
now too late to back out. set my
teeth and vowed in my soul that I
would down this canny Scot or die in
the attempt.
Our match was fixed to begin at $50
next evening, when we should both be
back from business. AS it was mid
June at the time, there would be plenty
OF daylight for the eighteen holes. We
came down by the same train from Lon
don Bridge, but, as luck would have 1t.
on that momentous day the train was
late. Consequently it was close to Z
o'clock before we drove off from the
first tee
That was a tremendous match. We
both played as if our lives hung upon
first
halved; Robson took the fourth; we
halved the fifth and sixth; at the sew
enth my antagonist mercifully found
the pond with his approach, thus los
ingy his ball and the hole; the eighth
was halved; the ninth Robson secured
by a f1ukey putt, leaving himself one
up at the turn: I took the tenth, Rob
son getting into the bunker, and we
were square again; the eleventh was
halved; at the twelfth I unfortunately
sliced my drive into the vulcanite man
ufactory-an accident which, Of course
cost me the hole; we halved the thir-
teenth and fourteenth, Robson thus
retaining his lead of one, but at the
gravel pits-No. 15-he providentialIy
topped his drive and got into a ditch,
which it took him two to play out Of.
was down in four-a fine performance
and we were square once again.
On the tee OF the sixteenth whom
should we come across-by the strang-
est coincidence-but Mabel herself. She
had been out, she told US, for a few
holes solitary practice, but she had by
that time had enough of 1t, and the
light, too, was beginning to fail; so
she was just going off home. She was
in no hurry, however, and II we would