The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1902-10-30
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When Colonel Twiller appeared at
the door of his apartments In the Ma
gasaki hotel, he saw that Nellie was
standing at the window looking out
over the crowded harbor and drum
ming impatiently 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 a mental condition that was
better permitted to work itself of
through the fingers than through the
lips. SO he stole In as softly as the
stiffness of his cork leg would permit
and seated himself in a low bamboo
rocker to await the turn of events.
The colonels other leg had been left
at Gettysburg, and when he was well
enough to go home Nellies mother,
who had refused him whole before he
enlisted, married the remaining three
fourths of him and seemed glad to get
the chance. The colonel was glad also
and when Nellie was born he 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 1t to him. He had be-
come an abject slave of this impulsive,
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
go over to Japan to see those cunning
japanese girls in their own homes, and
the colonel had said, Eyes, of course"
though he very well 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
the man in the moon. He knew she
simply wanted to get as close as posi-
BILE to Lieutenant Jack Carter, who was
fighting in the Philippines and whom
y.
Jack was the son of the colonel's old
chum, who had been so badly wounded
at 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 had grown up together and loved
each other, but Nellie had some roman
tic notion about heroes, such as her ia
Their with his cork leg, which Jack did
not seem to fill. He was only Jack. So
she refused him without knowing how
much it hurt her. and he. when the war
broke out, enlisted. still without know
ing how much 1t hurt her.
Her pride at the thought that per-
haps Jack would become a hero after
all was mingled with "a fear that the
price of the heroism might be more than
a 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
anese girls in their own homes and Sc
lected 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
ers, the whalers and the many fishing
boats and just under the window the
long row of jinrikishas backed up
against the sea wall in front of the
hotel, the rickshaw men looking like
animated mushrooms in their sugar
bowl hats and knickerbocker trousers.
She was 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 as she watched the
group of khaki clad officers disembark
from sampan and climb the long
stone steps to the bund she drummed
still more impatiently and remarked
spitefully:
"They make me tired"
w no! queTleu the COlOuSl lIoln the
depths Of his chair.
"Why, those officers with their nice,
clean uniforms! What right have these
officers to come away from Manila
when Jack is over there fighting those
horrid savages? | should think they'd
be ashamed to do it"
perhaps they would If they knew
Jack was there all alone"
"Now, popsie, you stop making fun!
You know they have no right to come
home unless Jack does. | just know
he's been sick all the time. None
of them has been fighting night and
day as he has. | wish you would
go over to the club and see if 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 horrid
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 Is sick all the time could not be
6vhtinp Ga vages night and daV You'd