The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-17

| looked as sound and healthy, and to be
full as cheerful a subject, as any surgeon
| or student in the building.
| He shook hands with Dale lust before
! the chloroform was administered, and
! Dale was moved to say: Good, old
chap! Not tremor, upon my word!''
| We'll, I'm in good hands," said Inder-
wick, "and hoping for the best; and
| after all man can only die once,
| whether it's by a Boer bullet or a sur
geon's knife, Ell? If it is to be the be-
| yond, well goodby, old fellow, and
| God bless you. Tell Margaret that her
| name was the last word on my Iips!'
Then Oblivion, and the trepanning
saw.
Sir James MACPHERSON did not belle
his great reputation. He had located
| the situation Of the tumor with mar
Vicious precision, and he extracted it
with the deftness OF a magician
Serious though the operation was. Gil
bert. somewhat to his surprise suffered
| no inconvenience from it, nor was the
| process of recovery neither long nor
tedious
He had but one thought in his mind
and that was to get back to South Afri-
ca before the fighting was over, and this
idea took such firm possession of him
that the sense Of time left him and
Danger
1t seemed to him that the operation had
taken place no longer ago than the day
before.
He had no difficulty in persuading Dale
to get him certified as fit for duty. or
In obtaining permission from the war
Office. to start at once for the Cape in
order to rejoin his regiment at the
front.
He found himself in good company on
board the Tantallon Castle, for troops
were still being sent out to Africa, and
among the officers on board were sew
eral old friends, all of them in high
spirits at the prospects of active SER
vice after a long spell of id1eness at
home
AS 1t turned out It was very active ser
vice indeed, and Gilbert had MANY on
portunities of distinguishing himself
With the capitulatien of Pretoria. how
ever, the campaign came to an end. and,
his regiment was one of the first TO
come home again.
1t was with high heart, Gilbert told
himself, that he was setting out on the
voyage home, for he was down for the
Victoria Cross, as we'll as for promo
tlon' and Margaret had written out to
say that she was so proud of him that
she was willing to LET their maria 90
take place Immediately after his re-
turn
But was he after all, as happy as he
should be?
1t was with many searchings Of the
heart that Gilbert asked himself that
question on the way home
Within few DAYS of his arrival the
dream Of all his later life would become
| reality; yet as he told himself that this
| was so he was conscious that there was
| no enthusiasm no responsive throb In
| his heart, and before the voyage was
| over he realized with a sense of dumb
misery that the thought of Margaret no
| longer had the power to stir him as Of
| old, could no longer ronse within him
| the fire which always hitherto the very
breathing Of her name had kindled
| What was 1t, what was the matter
with him7 he asked himself a. hundred
| times day.
He had seen no other woman since h
! and his promised wife had parted Less
than three months before. had dreamt of
| no other woman in that tender relation
| toward him save Margaret: yet over her
| fair race, heart and intellect were at
war within him.
Intellect still loved her, called her by
| every endearfng name dwelt on the soft
music Of her voice, recalled each tone
and look, and saw again the loveliglt in
her sweet gray eyes.
Heart was cold and skeptical and I'M
moved by any Of these imaginative
ra.ptures.
''What on earth is the matter with
me?" he asked himself. 81 seem to be
able to watch this struggle between two
of my inner selves just as one does In
dreams sometimes, when the Ego seams
to detach itself and become irnperscnal
I wonder what old MACPHERSON put In