The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-28
Our Daily Short Stories
THE HAZARD OF THE DIE.
BY H. S. CANFIELD.
downright. 1901. by Authors, syndIcate.l

Like Jacob, who wanted LaPan's
daughter John Francis Strong had
worked and waited for Mary Huntress.
No stern parents were in the way, They
had only distant relatives, who kept
their distance. They loved each other,
but neither had any money. Young
people of to-day are not informed with
romanticism. This couple looked the
situation squarely in the face, saying
Marriage brings increased RESPONSE
bilities and expenses. The man who
first said that what is enough for one
is enough for two was a liar and ma
Hcious. Love in a cottage is good only
in paper backed novels; love in a
brownstone front is better. Life is
made up largely of paying the butcher
and baker or being dragged into insan-
ity by bill collectors. We will start
right or not start at all
This was Miss Huntress doing the
talking. Strong, naturally impatient,
protested. but without effect.
"All right" he said, finally. You're
boss. You will be always boss, l guess.
] can work as hard and live as closely
as any man, and I am going to do it"
Strong had to do with machinery and
his salary was low. He knew his bust
ness, but trade was dull. A man who
sells engines and boilers and such
things sometimes makes many dollars
and sometimes gets in debt to his tailor
and boarding mistress. 1t depends
upon whether or not folks will buy of
him. The plain, unvarnished hero OF
this tale found it impossible to get
ahead One day his firm offered TO
send him to Mexico.
Fools are opening mines down
there" they told him. land we make
mining machinery. Maybe there is
chance for you
1t was better than hanging about the
States, so Strong kissed his sweetheart
good-by and got on the train feeling
lumpy about the throat. The girl held
herself in, but cried heartily when he
was gone. 1t seemed long way to the
City of Mexico. In fact. it is a long
way. Mary got a place as companion
TO a rich old lady who wanted young,
fresh face within sight of her weak
eyes and wanted little else. Thus one
OF the lovers was provided for and en-
abled to wait with the patience for
which wonderland women only-are
remarkable She wrote to Strong
about it and he got the letter far down
in OaXaca. He swore violently and
had thoughts of returning and butch
ering his firm. The man to whom he
wanted to sell machinery bought of an
other salesman and that added TO mis-
anguish.
Life in Mexico is hard to an Ameri-
can. The languor of the climate gets
into his blood and he struggles against
the encroachments of Incidence, the
gradual sapping of his energy. Strong
did better than moss. He had an object
in life and never took a siesta without
self-reproach. The firm at home, never
a generous one, raised his wages by a
trihe. He laid by little here and a
little there. So it resulted that after
three years of economy and steady la
Dor he had 81, 500 saved up. That was
not enough to marry on, but it was
beginning.
He got call from the manager of
the Ola mine, which lay sixty miles
northwest Of the capital. He went out
part of the way by train, part of the
way by horse and sold some machin-
cry. The mine manager paid him in
gold, declining to give a check, as
there was not drop of ink within
days ride The sum of $4,000 Strong
found it weighty. Three hours after
leaving he sat by the side of the road
and cursed his luck. Suddenly upon
him had descended three men, who
knocked him from the saddle, went
through him scientifically and vanish
ed up a mountain slope. He was bruis-
ed in body and spirit. A lump under
his sombrero showed where club had
fallen. He found his horse further
down the road and rode to the train.
Two men passed him near the hotel.
One of them said: AT Tacubaya the
limit is the ceiling"
An hour later when Strong was in
his cheap room the words came back
10 him and stuck in his mind. They
were with him in his dreams that
night. Next morning they chased
themselves through his skull over and
over again. AT Tacubaya the limit
is the ceiling at Tacubaya the limit
is the ceiling"
He knew Of the place, of course. as
a gambling suburb of the City of
Mexico, where monte was played for
very high stakes. He knew monte, too.
having watched it with mild curiosity
at neStaS ana country idlfS. he ndu
i'm him the impulse to risk his all. He
met this impulse by saying to himself
that he owed the company and had
not a dollar of his own. He met this
by saying that morally he owed the
company not cent; that he could not
help being robbed; that his hard-earn-
ed savings belonged to him and to no
one else. He called himself fool, but
that did not lessen the longing. He de-
cided finally to go out of the city for a
day in order to get rid of the tempta-
ton, and then went to the bank and
drew out every cent of his credit. The
roll of bills gave him certain happi-
ness in the sense of possession. He
had resolved to gamble them away. He
was ashamed, yet muttered in his
shame: 1T takes a bold man to risk
his ALL
The lights were bright that night in