Evening star., 1901-06-01

| upon all sorts of opportunities evolving
| themselves out of the thousand-mile trip
| ill President Carothers' private car party,
and thus far they had refused to evolve
! And when the 'Esmeralda'' took the sid
! ing at Fort Larimore to be out of the way
! of a mysterious special speeding eastward,
nine of the ten hundred miles had been
measured off, and he could count his
chances for free speech with Helen Lang
ham on the fingers of d badly mutilated
hand.
| Now. though he did not look it in the
| least, Raglan was a fighter by nature,
and the irksome thing about the deadlock
of opportunities was that there was moth
ing to fight True, he was only the COM
pany'S consulting engineer and his stand
ing in the private car party was technical
rather than social: but in his most un-
| reasonable mood he could not say that the
| teChncalitieS made any difference. He had
| properly met Miss Langham and her
| aunt. and the two Misses CarOthers at Old
| Orchard the summer before, and for aught
/ he could see he was acceptable in rough
! tweeds in Wyoming as he had been in out
/ ing flannels or dress coat at the summer
| resort
None the less, the intangible obstacles
I had multiplied themselves. Raglan had
/ his duties as the presidents eye. ear and
/ hand on the tour of inspection, and when
| he free of these, Mrs. Grandson al
| ways managed to make him responsible for
| Letitia or Esther Carothers, or both, thus
| giving Lieutenant Bisby clear field with
| Miss Langhdm.
After all. it was the lieutenant who was
| Raglands bette noire. He was a newly
| hedged West Pointer, and Mrs. Grandson :
| nephew on the married side Also. he mag
nificd his calling, as the newly-fiedged may:
| had, indeed. Joined the car party at Fort
| Steele in full panoply of service uniforms,
| sword and revolver-to properly impress
| the young women, Raglan was uncharit-
| able enough to say, but ostensibly because
| the presidents telegram of invitation had
caught him unawdrcs.
Being what he was, it was only natu-
raj that he should score Raglan by innu-
! endo for having thrown up his captain S
! commission in the -th. For Rag CLAN was
| also a West Pointer. who had resigned af-
| ter four years Of deadly inactivity on 4
| frontier post leaving the service as it
| CHANGED, on the very eve of a brush with
| the Apaches, which might have given him
| something to do.
The car party was rising from luncheon
! when the Esmeralda took the side track
| at Fort LarimOre to let the special pass;
and Raglan went out upon the rear plat
form, presumably to smoke but really to
swear piteously because he had been born
a century or two out of time. Bisby had
been rubbing 1t in again on the original
sore spot of the upthrOwn commission
making the inference fairly obvious that
the eve of an Indian outbreak was an emil
Wherefore. Raglan. who ordinarily a
goOd-natured giant, chewed his cigar
| viciOusly and swOre at the widespread
| landscape thus:
Hang his undergraduate impudence! He
| may as well have said in many words
| that l threw up my commission to dodge
| the ApacheS And. of course I had to go
dumb mad. as usual and so leave her to
infer that the shot went home. If the
thing weren't so cOnfOundedly out of date,
I'd call him Out!'
"To see the scenery" broke in a musi-
cal voice at his elbow: and he spun around
as one overtaken in a fault.
"Ah-er-I beg your pardon. Miss Helen;
! I hadn't the least idea you were here" he
stammered; and but for the sun-Lronze she
must have seen his schoolboy flush.
"Oh, don't be alarmed" she said swcatly
and her laugh was the tinkling of silver
! bells. Il didn't overhear anything except
'cOnfOunGed' desire to call some one out.
Il meant it, asserted Raglan, who could
be downright upon occasion. ''Bisby pass
es all the limits of forbearance, some
times"
LAS just now when he spoke Of the com
missiOn-drOpping at the beginning of the
Indian campaign? You mustn't mind Cou-
sin Arthur; soldering is his trade, yod
know
And not mine. you would say"
Il didn't say so, but l will, If you want
NE to-
Say it; you may as well say it as think
But you dld resign, dldn [ yOu!'
"Assuredly; and. of course, / did it he
cause as Bisby intimates, it was the sa fe
thing to do
She WINGED a little at that. and the mock
ing smile died out of the slate-blue eyes.
You mustn't try to make me believe
that. You didn't really know about the
Apaches when you-when you resigned, did
| yOu?'
Raglan did not deny It. Not to garble
a plain truth, he was too rageful to see
! straight to speak coherently. But Miss
| Langham had her reward. Raglan was not
| normally a handsome man, even to those
| who knew him best and loved him most.
| To reach down for smile, his peaceful
| subtype the mastiT or the big St.
| Bernard; leniently amiable, as big men
| and dOgs-are wont to be; rugged, square
! jawed, strong to endure But hot wrath
| made him leonine, and an angry lion Is not
| an unhandsOme spectacle.
| "How can you doubt it!' he burst out,
| when the words were to be had. "You are
| like all the rest of them In this present-day
| renaissance of the swashbuckler-daft over
| the romantic hero In slashed doubet and
! top boots. with sword and cheerful dis
| regard for human life,'
| She laughed lightly. and the laugh was
| q lash to make her roar again.
| "Isnt it so?" he demanded.
Perhaps. All the world loves a brave
man"
And the type Of the brave man is the fell
| low with the thirsty sword. matter Of
course. And since the latterday soldier is
/
| sacs and the Captain Percys-"
| Hush she commanded and ne became
dumb at the word and turned away from
her. But she did not leave him On the
| contrary. she stood beside him at the hand
rail, looking backward over the level eX-
! panse of the great brown plain shImmerinS 6
| under the glare of the MONDAY sun.
| Far to the westward. where the track and
| the long line of sentrylike telegraph poles
! led the eye into the immensity of the per-
| spective, faint blur of black smoke was
| rising above the shimmering heat haze
| ''ls that train coming?" she asked.
Yes: it is the special for which we are
| waiting"
| "Oh. the mysterious special Uncle Park
| man called it. Why Is it mysteriousT'
| Raglan was cool enough by this to be
decenty ashamed of himself. and he ex-
planned the mystery at some length.
1T is a treasure train, carrying a mill
ion dollars in gold COMA payment of soma
| sort from the japanese government to
| ours, l believe. Naturally, there is a GER
| tain element of risk; enough to make the
| railways hurry the train across the conti-
nent with as little publicity as may be-
| Risk" she said.
Yes A milion-dollar haul would be a
| considerable temptation for train wreck
| ers''
oh" she shuddered. And then: But