Morris tribune., 1901-01-05

turning them for all they were worth
The voice of the priest then rose on
the air. He said three or four words
and spat deliberately at each Of the
coins which had been put on the
ground before us.
'@That was all. The priest departed
the soldier escorted us to the posts, the
Russian sentry presented his rife and
we presented our passports. We pass
ed over and breathed the comparative
ly free air of Russia. Our first duty
when we were in Kiakta was to go
straight to the governor and lay our
! complaint before him. He was agitat-
/ ed when he heard of the ceremony at
| the frontier, and told us that the Bud
dhist priest had put into circulation two
| coins which had received the sun gods
course and that these coins would
circulate throughout the world, harm
less to everybody except the two they
were destined for, The instant pos
session of either Of these by the person
| cursed would mean immediate destruc-
| ton.
"Nor was this all, the coins might not
come to us as brass cash, they might
come to us as a kopeck piece, or as
| ruble, ais marks or pfennigs, as francs
or confines, as anything, wherever it
| 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 something
peculiar, for 1 had thought Tom Nor
ton 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 London house.
and the invitation which was sent me
was one which 1 could not well refuse
In the evening had the opportunity
of a chat with Tom. We had gone out
on the balcony, which overlooked the
garden, and there purposely made
reference to the superstition which he
had for the llama's COIN.
Perhaps" said I, ''now that you
have gone unscathed all these years,
you are beginning to lose faith in the
potency of that prophecy?
''WelI, to tell you the TRUTH" said
Tom, 81 am getting little shaky
about it, and when one begins to rea
son superstition on any subject is like
" to get knocked out. 1t has struck
me that, after all, it may be but mere
foolery." .gaEzra,
We entered the room once more, but
I was dying for smoke, and, making
some excuse, slipped away to the
smoking room. had been sitting there
about five minutes when Tom Morton |
came in.
"What do you thinkp' he said. ''My |
wife has got this Monaghan story into |
her head so much that she is perfectly |
ridiculous. She has been telling every
body about it, and, of course, they are
all laughing, and the worst of it ali is |
that she is laughing with them at me.
DuI COI1C1 OA0 ACA1OWs "SIAI W |
show you something"
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 !
I heard Mrs. Morton's voice. y
81 really do believe it will. be such |
fun" she was saying. "Here comes
will ooiY
if you please, from each of you. Let
me see-how many are there hereg
26. Good! Then want 26 coins.
Now, Tom" she said take off that
wretched glove and let us demonstrate
that you can touch money with your
ungloved hand
Tom was pale, and l saw his brow
shining with perspiration. He mutter
ed something, but what it was was lost
in the laughter and banter which went
around the room. With quick, impul-
sive movement, he drew off his right |.
glove.
"Wel1," he said, and saw his lips
wreathe into a hard, unmirthful smile,
81 will take the coins just to show you
that 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 a thing as
thatY'
He looked at me, and saw how pale
and how stern was his face. He said
nothing to me, but merely turned to his
wife with the whisper go onv'
''Twenty-one, %, %, "a, 25, 26. PIP
""Twenty-seven," 1 cried, "what is
that, there are only 26 people her, there
Is a mis- But could get no further.
Tom had staggered back, his body
shrunken in size. He fell to the floor.
A deathlike silence fell over the as
sehblage. strobe over to my friends
PROSTATE form.
Tom was dead and cold, and in his
right hand there were q coins. look
ed at the top one; it was German
piece, value 20 marks. took it to the
light and oazed T1non it Across tho