The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-04-10

Heroes are just the last people I'm
the world 10 say heroic things" was
The remark which set my friend Clar-
ence telling this story. The man who
made the remark was "a short, stout
person, who seemed, as u rule. disin-
olined TO talk, Somebody had quoted
Macaulay's--
If my Standard bearer fall. as fall full
well he may.
For never saw | promise yet of such u
bloody fray.
Strike where We see my white plumes
shine above the ranks of war,
And be our oriiiamme today the helmet
of Navarro.
That led TO the stout man removing
a very big cigar from his mouth TO
make the above assertion, and as usual,
Clarence had story 10 point the
moral"
"Tll tell YOU what / saw with my own
eyes at Port Gala, I'm Ceylon,' ne sald,
and what I heard with my own ears.
What makes IL stick In my memory all
the more is. that IL was the last thing
] remember happening before LETT
Ceylon.
II had got myself and all my traps on
board the l.. and o. steamer 10 leave.
But in those days-I don't know now
il is pow--the steamers used 10 De kept
waiting at Port Gala for other steam
ers from other ports. Sometimes, II the
currents about Cape Comorin or the
straits were particularly unreasonable,
you might have TO put up with is hours
OF waiting. This time we had 10 wait
more than a day for boat that was
bringing passengers from Singapore
In hot |
came acquainted before we weighed
anchor with a particularly interesting
group of passengers. This group con
sisted of an elderly lady, wife OF a
judge up country. her daughter ana
two men. The daughter had been or
dered home TO England for her health.
The two men-well, that's where my
story comes in.
my sympathies ought TO have been
with the elder of those two, because ne
was "A coffee planter, and so was l, or
/ had been until "A few weeks before.
This coffee planter man was evidently
on familiar terms with Mrs. Judge and
the young woman and Mamma seemed
10 treat him with distinguished consid-
Grafton. From that | gathered that he
was the favored sustor The other man
was a perseVerng lover evidently, but
not nearly as likely 10 win as his rival,
judging DE lne SlBnS ol pdithNdl III
clination. He was a young subaltern
in a British regiment stationed mp
country. and that was how and where
he had made the acquaintance or Miss
Edith may as well say at once that
his name wasl Cropiey-Lieut. CropleY.
z soon picked up the whole thread or
Cropley's story IL was an old story;
the only new feature in II, TO me, was
the promptness with which the young
man had managed to get leave of abb
sence and sail on that steamer as soon
as he knew that the coffee planter was
going 20 be a fellow passenger with
Edith and her mother | think the
mother was rather surprised when
Cropley bobbed up on board: whether
Edith was equally surprised, can't
say.
with all my enterprise and inqui-
sitiveness. / couldn't find out for sure
whether the girls sympathies were
with the coffee planter and her mother
or with Cropley-that is, until the morn
ing after we had all gone on board and
waited "A night I'm the harbor. Untii
then, / thought. she was rather indf-
ferent with. perhaps. a slight natural
preference for the younger man. But
then IL was easy 10 see that the po)r
girls -hea4tff-was feeble.
"Cropley and / made friends very
fast lie was an ingenious, whole
souled youngster. From his way of
talking To me as we sat . gether late
that night by the ship-rail and smoked,
watching the lights of the harbor. u
was plain that he was anxious to find
some one to tell his troubles to- He was
not rich l found, and the coffee planter
! guessed was. II he could only get
Edith 90 say Yes he was quite pre-
pared 20 leave the army and go back
to CeylOn as a coffee planter. in hopes
Of being some day as rich as his rival.
" Bad move / said. The other man
has long start of YOU on that line. II
YOU give up your red. coat, you throw
away your strong suit, don't you sec?'
II don't know whether ne did see IL in
that light, but / do know that Cropley
seemed wonderfully comforted by the
interest | took in his affairs. He went
TO bed-or to his bunk-n more
CHEEKY mood than he had seemed To be
i'm when we first struck up acquaint-
ance. Next morning he was apparently
in the best Of spirits
1--we been thinking over what you
told me last night he said, putting a
had shown UP on deck. 1T is rum
thing he said this business is rather
like a game. isn't !t?'
'1-told him that pOtn love and war
were huge gdmbes. and I'm both games
II WAS al-important to show "a good |
front to the enemy-or the adversary.
This philosophy seemed 60 amuse him: !
hut ne certainly practiced ii that morn |
ing When Edith and her mother came |
on deck he Joined them, utterly un-
abashed by either the presence 90 the I
coffee planter or the severe pOlitcness 4
of Mrs. Judge. And the plan seemed TO /,