The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1902-10-22

When Colonel Twiller appeared ut
the door of his apartments In the Ma
gasaki hotel, he saw that Nellie was
standing ut the window looking out
over the crowded harbor and drum.
ming impaticntly upon the glass with
her fingers. Now, the colonel had not
been the guardian and sole mentor of
that young lady since her tenth year
without learning the signs of the times,
and he read In that drumming the ex.
istence of Il mental condition that was
through the fingers than through the
lips. SO he stole in as softly rs the
stiffness OF his cork leg would permit
and seated himself In low bamboo
rocker to await the turn of events.
The colonel's other leg had been left
ut Gettysburg, and when he was well
enough to go home Nellie's mother
who had refused him whole before he
enlisted, married tho remaining three
fourths of him and seemed glad to get
the chance. The colonel was glad also,
and when Nellie was born ho was still
more glad. His happiness continued
about ten years, and then the death of
his wife robbed him of It until the
budding of his daughter into woman
hood, an exact counterpart In form.
feature and disposition of the lost
wife, restored It to him. He had be-
come an nbJect slave of this impulsiye,
changeable, petulant, warm hearted
copy of his wife, and that was the
only reason why he WAS now 5000
miles away from his native land,
Nellie had said she absolutely must
30 over to japan to see those cunning
Japanese girls In their own homes and
the colonel had said Yes, of course"
though he very we'll knew that she
cared no more for the cunning Japa-
nese girls than she did for the woman
who Is supposed to keep company with
simply wanted to get rs close as posi-
BILE To Lieutenant Jack Carter, who was
fighting In the Philippines and whom
she had flatly refused TO marry.
jack was the son of the eolonefs old
chum, who had been SO badly wounded
ut the time the colonel lost his leg that
he only had lasted through few years
of suffering and then had left his little
curly headed boy an orphan in the care
of his comrade in arms. The two chill
dren Ind grown UP together and loved
each other, but Nellie had some roman
tic notion about heroes, such as her fa-
ther with his cork leg, which Jack did
not seem To I'LL. lie was only Jack. Sc
she refused him without knowing how
much 1t hurt her, and he, when tho wal
broke out. enlisted, still without know
| ing how much II hurt her.
Her pride at the thought that per
haps Jack would become hero after
all was mingled with n fenr that the
price of the heroism might be more than
n mere cork leg, and this idea the colo
mel stimulated upon every occasion that
offered. As time went on news from
the Philippines became more startling,
and that Is why she told her father she
wanted TO see those cunning little Jap
ancse girls In their own homes and &C.
lectcd Nagasaki, the nearest port to
Manila, but the poorest for seeing jap
anese life. as her point of observation.
As Nellie stood at the window drum
ming she saw the sampans darting
about the harbor, the men of war lying
at anchor, the large merchant steam
era, the whalcrs and the many fishing
boats and just under the window the
long row OF jlnrlkishas backed UP
against the sea wall In front OF tho
hotel, the rickshaw men looking like
animated mushrooms In their sugar
bowl hats and knickerbocker trousers.
She wns especially interested In an ar
my transport that had steamed slowly
into the harbor few minutes before
with the stars and stripes floating from
the stern, and now rs she watched the
group OF khaki clad officers disembark
from Il sampan and climb the long
stone steps to the bund she drummed
still more impatiently and remarked
spitcfulIy:
"They make me tired"
"WhoT queried the colonel from the
depths of his chair.
"Why, those officers with their nice,
clean uniformsl What right have these
officers TO come away from Manila
when Jack is over there fighting those
horrid savagcs? | should think they'd
be ashamed to do It,"
perhaps they would If they knew
jack was there all alone"
"Now, p0psie, you stop making fun!
You know they have no right to come
home unless Jack does. l just know
he's been sick all the time. None
of them has been fighting night aud
day as he has. | wish you would
go over to tho club and see II those
good for nothing officers know how
soon jacks regiment Is going to be
sent home. You'll find them there, for
they are certain to be all standing In
front of the bar drinking those horrjd
Scotch sodas,"
every well, my dear" said the colo
mel, rising. but want to call your at
tention to the fact that young officer
who il sick all the time could not be
fighting savages night and day. You'd
better decide upon one thing or the
other as the reason why he ought to be
sent home" And the colonel chuckled
as he stumped down the hall and the
broad flight of stairs to the hotel en-
trance.
The colonel had a very dignifcd, mill
tary carriage, the dignity being accen-
tuated by his desire to conceal the
presence of the cork leg. and when he
made his stately appearance on the
hotel steps there was rush Of rickshaw
men, bowling low with hat In hand, to
tender their services. Selecting one. hi
sti1iy mounted into the seat and was
soon trotted to the door of the Englisf
club, where, as predicted, he found 1
double row Of officers and Scotch ant
soda glasses aligned for business.
Upon invitation he Joined them, bu
before he could ask any questions his
eye happened to catch sight OF some
clippings ON the bulletin board. He
was soon absorbed In what they had to
say. They were taken from the Manila
Freedom and had been brought Oh the
transport that morning. Briefly they