The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-04-11
A MANS LIFE.

A MANS LIFE.
''It is a question:" Professor Kirk
hotter said. quietly, "between this and
that"
Saying thus, he looked down at the
two objects between which choice had
to be made. "This' was a man, a
brown skinned man of the upper Asian
steppes. He lay prone upon the desert
sand, his eyes. unseeing eyes, wide
open, m~otionless save for an occasional
twitching of the limbs as the fever
SILVER shook him; silent, except when
his parched lips moved in the inarticu-
late mutter of delirium. The professors
gaze did not linger upon this piteous
figure. 1t Travelled to "that'-two
loads of clay tablets, evidently of ex-
treme antiquity and closely covered
with a strange cuneiform character,
which had just been carefully strapped
by his companion to the backs of two
kneeling camels.
ssSeeing we are now reduced to two
beasts only" he went on, his eye shift
ing for an instant to the body of a third
camel, which lay dead some 30 yards
off. ''seeing also that we are in a water
less desert, probably "a hours ride from
the nearest well and that this man is a
dead weight on our hands,
'sYou don't dream of abandoning the
poor chap?' Dick Harding broke in.
The professor glanced uneasily over
his smoked spectacles. Harding was a
puzzle to him, a man of distinguished
scientific attachments, capable of strong
scientific enthusiasm, yet occasionally
b~etraying a vein of sentimentality alto
gether out of place in connection with
scientific exploration. Kirkhoffer had
had i%nconvenient experience of this pc
culiarity more than once during the
year spent with Harding in the remote
Businesses of Tibet.
''You wouldn't leave him here to
der the E~nglishman persisted.
The professor rubbed his forehead
thoughtfully. "He's bound to die soon
in any Ease"
81 don't see that at all. If we can
keep him alive till we get out of this
Impossible, my friend. He cannot
walk, and these two camels cannot car
ry him in addition to you and me and
the tablets"
"Then leave some of the tablets be-
hind"
The professor fairly gasped for breath.
"Leave-leave behind some of the
tablets" he stammered. leave the
records of a civilization to which the
Arcadian is a thing of yesterday-to be
swallowed up by the next sandstorm2
Give my great discovery, the greatest
of the century, manned and imperfect,
to the world2 Harding. you must be
mad. What's the life of a Khirgiz Tar
tar beside these priceless things2"
Kirkhoffer' 8 shortsighted eyes gleam-
ed angrily behind his glasses his voice
was thick with passion.
whats a Khirgiz Tartar?" he
growled like a wild animal.
Hes a man, anyway" Harding re-
torted. Suppose I refuse to leave this
fellowf"
"Then'-the professor became all at
once ominously cool-''I shall be forced
to remind you that 1 am the head of
this expedition and you my salaried
assistant; also that these animals are
my property. 1 go, and they go with
me. You can join the party or not. as
you please"
Harding grew pale. "That is the
choice you offer met Then 1 say you
are a BLACKBOARD.
"And l say" indifferently, ''that
you are a fool. Come, will you mountf"
''Noi" furiously.
The German shrugged his shoulders.
"Have it your own way" he said.
And, gathering up the long leading
rein which he had fastened to the head
of n camel, he prepared to seat him
self on the other.
But here Harding sprang upon him
suddenly. mo, you DON'T" he cried.
"You shall leave me one, you brute,
though it were a hundred times your
property"
"Stand off" the professor cried.
Harding's answer was to close with
him silently, and there ensued a trial
of strength whereof the issue seemed
for several minutes doubtful. The men
were not i'll matched. Kirkhoffer was
the taller and heavier, but then he was
also the elder by 30 years, and Hard
ing's naturally 1.-THE habit of body had
known an English public school and
university training. The result of the
conflict was still uncertain when the
professor suddenly loosed his hold and
fell back, leaving the prize of conten-
tion, the led camel, almost in the others
clutch. Harding stopped to seize the
creatures halter and rose again, to find
himself covered by his antagonist re-
volver.
"Now, perhaps" the mar of science
observed, lyon will consent to hear
reason. No use, my good friend" as
H~arding's hand went briskly to his
breast pocket. 81 drew the charge
while you were asleep this morning in
view of possible difficulties. You see, l
know something of your strange Eng
lish character. There is nothing like
being ready for difficulties as they
arise"
~ 11d401lSy IdC bAO OONC14AS 10
volver, stood erect and-dumb. To
argue further with a man prepared to
commit murder ON behalf of his tablets
of baked clay were simple waste of
breath.
Keeping the muzzle of his Weapon
pointed full at Harding's breast, Pro-
fessor Kirkhoffer mounted his camel,
made Dotn the great Deas5s get up and
began to move on. As long as Harding
remained within running up distance
he continued to hold the revolver raised
and leveled, sitting sideways on his
animal to insure an accurate aim. But
after a minute the camels broke into a
long, awkward trot. In two minutes
they were beyond pursuit. Then the
professor pocketed his frearm and
threw his leg across the saddle. "Your
own fault, rememberl" was his final
greeting before he disappeared over the
top of the nearest sand dune.
When he had disappeared, Harding
looked about him, reviewing the situa-
ton. It was no cheering prospect that
met his eye-a dead waste of sand hills
to north, south, east and west, white
hot in the glare of the tropical sun.
Two dark blots alone broke the pale
of the wilderness, the -stltten-