Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1899-08-12


excuse me disturbin you so early,
sir, but there's gentleman ere with
a cut 'ead, sir, an Mrs Tressder
thought perhaps you wouldn't mind
attendin to it, sir. -
"a gentleman with cut head, DR.
Thorne repeated as he watched the
gray haired old waiter draw up the
blind. whats he doing with a cut
headf''
"There's been a wreck durin the
night, sir, off the point; schooner
she's gone to pieces, but they saved the
crew. This gent was the only passen-
ger, an they brought i'm on ere.
Didn't you ear it blow, sir?'
"Why, no, the doctor answered 81
dropped off to sleep at once, and l
never woke until you knocked. Is the
gentleman badly hurt?
mo. l shouldn't say e is; at any
rate, e made a capital breakfast, an
'e's smokin is cigar in the parlor now,
sir. b seems one of the ard sort, sir.
Why, e drunk as much brandy when
killed many a one. :"
"Well, tell him I'll be down in a.
few minutes, Dr. Thorne said as he
prepared to rise, and with a word of
assent the old waiter Withdrew
The window overlooked the sea, and
the masses of seaweed and heaps of
wreckage with which the beach was
strewn testified to the violence of the
storm.
Having completed his toilet, he at
once descended to the sitting room.
The door was partly ajar, and he en-
tered without knocking, only to stagger
back with a loud cry as his eyes rested
on the man who was sitting smoking
by the fire. This man, a broad shOul-
dered young fellow, with a handsome
reckless face, dropped his cigar in as
tonishment.
1.-THE d-ev-i-l!" he calculated slow
ly; then with grim laugh; "Come in,
man. I'm not ghost. though perhaps
you think it.
Thorne, his face as gray as the
morning sky, dropped into the nearest
chair. He seemed to be aging rapidly
"HeIe, have pull at the brandy"
the other said roughly 81 dare say it
does give chap the funk when he sees
man he thought had gone to Davy
Jones and the one man in the world he
wanted there, Ell? Cad, it's rum go,
is this. l suppose you'd given me up
long ago, eh?'
"4e-es, ThOrne stammered, wiping
his brow. News reached us that the
Kangaroo had gone down with all hands
ON board. "
"Ah, well. all hands didn't 90
down, the other replied, with mali
cious grin that the bandage round his
temples rendered hideous, "though it
was near shave. got hold of a spar
and lashed myself to it. Then | was
chuCked up on a desert island, a regu-
lar Robinson Crusoe l lived there six
months, principally on shellfish and
sea birds eggs. Then this Spanish chap
picked me up, and last night was ship
wrecked a second time. However, I'm
none the worse for my adventures, with
the exception Of crack on the skull
A falling spar did that. That's my tale
in nutshell. Now let's hear about
Loo? You re not spliced to her yet, /
hope.
mo, no.
But you are going to be, I'll lay
dollar"
"We-e are engaged" Thorne said
in low voice
"Gad! | knew it. And he laughed
boisterously.
"YOu see, the other went on in an
explanatory tone, Il thought You were
dead, and she cared fer me before you
took-before she met you. But of
course our engagement is at an end
now.
81 should think so indeed
Eyes, shall leave here at once. You
will explain perhaps
with pleasure. She is sstaying down
here, chr
"Yes; they have cottage .
Good I'll try and toddle over when
I've had my head seen to Itu be
surprise for EN-"
"WOuldn't it he better if you gave
them a little warningr" Thurne sug-
gested "The shock might prove"-
Then perhaps you'd like
"No, no; couldn
His companion laughed and then
submitted himself to the other skillful
hands. In few minutes Thorne had
dressed the cut, and he at oncewent
up stairs to pack. When he reached his
room, however, he sank into a chair
with that hopeless look in his eyes
which only comes to man when he
loses the woman he loves
His story was little out of common.
This was the second time he had been
engaged to the girl he should so soon
have led to the altar. He had made her
acquaintance during visit to the
country three years previously. She
was the daughter of country parson-
a pretty, shy girl who had spent every
day of her 1S years in the seclusion of
a alaanv hamlat In O dou ha laorrod H.