Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-10-28

destined for. The instant possession
Of either Of these by the person cursed
would mean immediate destruction.
Nor was this all-the coins might
not come to US as brass cash. they
might come to us as kopeck piece,
or as rouble; us marks or pfennigs,
as francs or centimes, as anything,
wherever we might be. We should
never know when they were coming;
we should take them in the ordinary
way; we should handle them, but only
for one moment; the next moment
we should be dead"
One day Tom sent for me, and it
was to tell me that he was going to
be married. This struck me as some
thing peculiar, for l had thought Tom
Morton was one of the last men likely
to fall in love. The wedding duly
came off, everybody was pleased, and
Tom and his bride went away to the
south of France. A few more weeks
rolled by and Tom returned. There
was to be reception at their Lon
dom house, and the invitation which
was sent me was one which / could
not well refuse.
In the evening I had the opportun-
ity Of chat with Tom. We had
gone out on the balcony, which over
looked the garden, and there pur-
posely made reference to the super
stition which he had for the LIama's
coin.
Perhaps" said I, "now that you
have gone unscathed all these years,
you are beginning to lose faith n the
potency of that prophecyT
"Well, to tell the truth" said Tom,
"I am getting little shaky about
it, and when one begins to reason,
superstition on any subject is likely
to get knocked out. 1t has struck
me that after all it may be but mere
foolery."
We entered the room once more,
but I was dying for a smoke, and,
making some excuse, slipped away
to the smoke room. I had been sit
ting there about five minutes when
Tom Morton came in.
"What do you think?" he said. "My
wife has got this Mongolian story
into her head SO much that she Is
perfectly ridiculous. She has been
telling everybody about It, and, of
course, they are all laughing, and the
worst of it all is that she is laugh
ing with them at me. But come,
come, old fellow, want to show you
something"
1 rose, threw my cigarette end away,
and followed him. We went along
the corridor to the drawing-room,
which was crowded, and even as we
entered 1 heard Mrs. Morton's voice.
81 really do believe 1t will be such
fun" she was saying. "Here comes
Tom, and now we will try. A coin,
If you please, from each Of you. Let
me see-how many are there here?-
twenty-six, good! then want twenty
six coins"
"Now, Tom" she said, "take of
that wretched glove and let us dem
onstrate that you can touch money
with your ungloved hand"
Tom was pale, and l saw his brow
shining with persplration. He NUT
tered something, but what it was was
lost in the laughter and banter which
went around the room. With a quick,
impulsive movement, he drew off his
right glove.
"Well," he said, and / saw his lips
wreathe into hard, unmirthful
smile, II will take the coins Just
to show you that 1 am not afraid"
Then, one by one, his wife counted
out the coins into his hand. Twenty
were already there, when, unable to
control the impulse which came over
me, started up and cried: Drop
it, Tom. Why challenge such thing
as that"
He looked at me, and l saw how
pale and how stern was his face.
He said nothing to me, but merely
turned to his wife with the whisper:
GO onn'
"Twenty-one, twenty-five, twenty.
three, twentyfour, twenty-five, TWEEN.
ty-siX, twenty-seven-"
"Twenty-seven," l cried, "what Is
that, there are only twenty-six peo'
pie here, there is a mis-" But 1
could get no further. Tom had stag
gered back, his body shrunken in size.
He fell to the floor. A death-like
silence fell over the assemblage. l
strobe over to my friends prostrate
form.
Tom was dead and cold and in his
right hand there We're twenty-seven
coins. l looked at the top ore; 1t
was a German piece, value twenty
marks. 1 took it to the light and
gazed upon it. Across the profile of
Emperor William II. 1 saw mark
which described n true square, and
then I knew that Llamas curse at
length had had effect.-Penny Pic
| torial Magazine. -