Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-05-14
By J. II. Connolly.

/
mans collar as he turned to fee, "this is
no night for a man with a cough like his
to be out, and he is going to bed"
| 'Hexcuse me-" responded Jem, with a
/ hooking affectation of courtesy, ''but Hi
suppose you 'av'n't been Uniformed has
hi said has 'Ow e was to git hout."
'Oh, yes. But that don't make any
| difference"
Jem was for a few moments literally
! paralyzed with establishment, and the
other two men in their beds sat up and
| stared in silence, aghast at such audacity.
Dye know who Hi amp" roared Jem,
when he recovered his breath.
| "No! And don't carev
"OhoI You don't? Well, Him the Liv-
erpool Terror-Hi am; hand Hill make
| you carew
| As he spoke he sprang out of bed and
made rush for the audacious American.
Had the ensuing fight been conducted ac-
cording to the rules Of the London
| prize ring" in which Jem had won some
| laurels, he would have been very ugly
antagonist for the unframed young farm
er, with all the latter's quickness,
strength and courage. But in a trough
and-tumble," John could hit twice to his
| once, and Jem soon had a lively expert
ence of what has come to be technically
known in latter days as "cyclone fight
ing"
His room mates, highly delighted with
this unexpected nocturnal entertainment,
| conducted themselves as critical specta-
tors, encouraging and criticising the COM
batants as occasion seemed to invite.
les bestin' thee, lad" said one of
| them.
Hill break i'm in two" howled Jem,
! only to be on the instant himself foored.
Hast no license to break yon chap in
two," commented one of his friends, dry
ly.
Looks like thou'd get broke thysep,"
added the other.
Jem had no spare breath for further
idle speech. Billy made himself as small
as possible in an angle of the wall and
stared in anxious terror. 1t was not long
until Jem was caught in a wrestling
lock" of his own seeking and thrown
with such violence that for a moment he
was stunned. When he regained his
senses he found his nose hattened on the
floor, Johns knee upon his neck, and one
of his arms twisted up on his back, in
Johns grasp, so that very little tug
upon it gave him excruciating pain.
Can Billy go to bed now and stay
there undisturbed?" John asked
Jem was sullenly silent until his arm
was twitched. Then, with profane en-
phasis, he replied that Billy might, and
so far as he was concerned, stay there
until the judgment day. Thereupon John
let him up, and peace reigned again.
BLOW me hif you hain't ha good I'm,
young feller," growled the defeated
Liverpool Terror in the surly but sin
cere recognition of genius that his own
professional standing among ''the fam
cy" demanded.
From that time on, Billy never needed
a protector again, but his gratitude SEEM
ed to inspire in him an almost dog-like
affection for and attachment to the
strong young American who had come so
opportunity to his aid. And John took
the interest in him that men almost al
ways get to feel jim the weaker things
they help and shield.
''Of course" said Billy, 81 can never
do anything to return your kindness. I'm
no good any more. But I wasn't always
so. Glass blowing las me me up, as it
did my father before me. 1t just takes
the lungs out of us, especially such as
work on window glass, and that's my
line. When it first caught me, about five
years ago, l couldn't believe it, l had
always been so well. But my children
were always sickly. l thought it was
the damp climate of England that allied
me, so | came here. Maybe it would
have helped me if | had come sooner;
but l had waited too long. l kept get
ting worse The doctor said if l went
on glass blowing it would soon kill me.
Still l stuck to it, for l could earn good
wages when 1 was able to work, and l
wanted to get enough together to bring
over my wife and children-only two left,
the last of FIVE. At last, l had to give
up; but l knew nothing else to do, and
wasn't strong enough for much. l went
to peddling books-religious books-but
could scarcely live at it, to say nothing
of sending money home. So every time |
got a little better, out on the road in the
open air, l would so back to the glass
works. and when they had used me up. l
| took to the road again. 1t was all ups
/ and downs, but each up was less high
! than the one before. and each down was
| lower. Still l hung on TO my hope and
/
! enough to stand on the plank until about
| eight months ago. when l got a letter
| that told me my wife was dead of typhoid
/ and my children-little Mabel, only three
years old, and the baby-were taken by
! the parish. Oh, how l did pray for
! strength to earn money to bring them to
me. l felt as if 1 could steal, almost kill,
/ for that. But praying did no good My
I b,y thnr Thu
1 next l heard. the Children were dead.
the baby first and then my sweet little
| Mabel. Well, they're better off, and no
farther from me now than they were be-
! fore, maybe nearer; but--O God, how
lonely feelr'
Such condolences naturally provoked a
return from John, and he told thl story
Of how he came to be in Temperanceville,
I beginning with his falling in love with
| Hetty Mulyeil up on the Devils Back
bone The narration seemed to have
much interest for Billy, who asked many
questions concerning its incidents, par
! ticularly those connected with the adven-
ture on the cliff. Partly through his ap-
| parent intuition and in part by 4 revivii-
/ cation in Johns mind of the half-forgot-
] ten occurrences Of that memorable Train
/ iug-Day conflict, the two men together
/ arrived NJ 4 pretty accurate understand
ing Of previously unrecognized facts.
John comprehended that in some way
/ Constable Sim Mulveil had attained the
knowledge that those silver spoons found
/ on the cliff were stolen, and had actually
/ dared TO suspect him-a Cameron,-of be-
1 ing the thief. and had sought to arrest
him as such. The thought made Johns
blood boil with indignant anger. and for
the first time he sincerely regretted that
Sim was drowned aud beyond his reach.
Rufus GOldie. he recs,lled. had denOunc-
ed him IS a THEIR So long as he had
considered that epithet merely a provoca-
tive for fight. il had made no serious
impression upon him; but now that he
felt Goldie meant it, he was as wild with
rage as If il had just been uttered. And
GOldie drowned, too, Ii was very hard.
The reelection suggested itself 10 him
that Simeon, If really intending TO arrest
him, must have had a warrant, and that
warrant was still in existence. liable 10