The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-17

friend" said L And then wil ex- plain" And I walked up to Hazeltine and bade him preceds me
 "'Tis impossible" said Curtis.
 "'Tls what7e cried I. wheeling about at him.
 "He cannot thus to the commander-in- Chief" replied the man with that quiet firmnesa and distinctness that always be- longed to him. "'Twill be simply an ex- eoution by hand"
 "Aye, that 1t will. man. and the sooner and simpler the better" said l.
 Tt Is quite impossible" he repeated in the same tone.
 Robert. my friend. you have lost your bearings. Do you take your sister and leave him to me" and signed to Hazel tine to move towards the road.
 Merton. if you attempt to remove this man. you must first cross swords with me-" said Curtis in a cold, wiry voice. the more terrible in its meaning because it's tone was not raised one whit beyond the ordinary.
 What mean you, mani" asked in amazement, unconsciously drawing my sword an inch or two. He did not move. but, folding his arms. said in the same cold voice
 
 move him you must first overcome me, and whatever the result of our struggle, there will be more than time for him to make good his escape" Then, turning to Hazeltine, he walked slowly up to within a foot of him. with folded arms, and said slowly and distinctly in that same wiry voice:
 Frank Pendleton, you are my own cousin Therefore shall you not, if can
 
 knows you should. But I have within this hour learned that you are the veriest traitor in this land; for you have acted as spy to both armies in this war, there fore shall you not go from this spot till either have killed you or you me. Turn round"
 Do not do 1t, Curtis" I cried. "'Tis a foolish sense of honor and. the man does not belong to us" But he proceeded, and soon Hazeltlne's arms were free. Curtis did not even look at me but kept his eye on Hazeltine all the time only vouchsafing:
 Hold thy peace, Mertonl This affair Is between only God, that man and me-" And they were at 1t there in the dim moonlight before he had finished speak ing. And a weird sight 1t was to see these two men, one fighting to save his life, knowing he must afterwards cope with me, the other, cool, sure, as fine swordsman as 1 ever saw, standing for his honor and crossing swords with his own cousin whom he had lived and play ed with through all their boyhood, whom now he detested but would not hang And under the dim blue light of the moon few yards away stood the girl watching them with wide eyes, silently
 l hovered about them with drawn sword resolved that, honor or no honor, this man should not escape, but restrained more by my instinctive respect for Cur tis standards than by any sense of chiv- airy from taking active part. So in my bewilderment and with the misery of this episode in my heart, I did not see till too late how Hazeltine, as he twisted about gradually approached the big trees, nor guess his purpose, until on a sudden he made two long lunges and then, turning tail like any cur. darted in under them, and, hidden by the darkness, made off. l fired both my pistols at him, but he was gone. And then l turned on Curtis:
 Now you see what your miserable hon. or has done for usI' I cried.
 What matter" answered he coolly. ''It but shows him the greater dastard"
 But what good does that do, since your idiotic standard has let the man go? Twill be a fine reason to give to our
 
 that neither your life nor mine is worth penny from now on.'
 '"rhe cowardI' said Curtis quietly, as he sheathed his sword. Who could have thought he would so run from a fair fight? Fear not, man!' he added hastily. as l made gesture of disgust, for by that I was beyond words. Fear not He Is not worth a thought. When I next meet him I will crush him like worm''' T cannot understand you, man." cried I bitterly. "I cannot talk of it. Let us go, in Gods name, from this place." And we did.
 Mistress Philipse would not speak to me, nor look at me. And as l stepped to her side, placing her between her brother and myself, she crossed in front of him to the farther side. In all that walk back she vouchsafed not a word, neither to me nor to him, and nothing happened as we walked on in silence, except that we came upon Acton stationed some distance below, brought there by Curtis when he had arrived in the city and decided to follow us at once, fearing an ambuscade. So we came to old St. Pauls church. yard, hard by which Judge Philipse lived, and as Acton and walked on in silence saw her cling to her new-found broth CT, and heard her sob and beseech him to stay, not to leave her. And as we passed out of earshot I could hear her crying softly, "Oh, Rob, Rob dear, why Is 1t all so strange and wrong, my broth CT deari"
 Soon he was by us again. alone, with the same cool, calm face, that now to us Acton and me, had a deep and dreadful meaning in it's forever sombre and sad lines. Then we came to lower Broadway, and to No. 2, where he bade us all enter; | for, he said, we should be found at Mrs. Hodges. and the old half-ruined house l was now free from suspicion and desert ed. There we lay for the rest of the night. I could not sleep, for my anger at the mans escape soon faded before the wretchedness and misery that fate and her lack of belief had brought upon me cared little whether we were taken