The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1903-05-28

table and struck out wildly at US. Har-
cid warded it aside and lifted me to
the table.
There is room for two he said.
And it there was room for only one,
that one should be Nora, you coward"
Jump, Harold" I cried. Jump
quick"
He leaped aside just in time to avoid
the spring of the cobra. He circled
around the room, jumping from side to
side in his frantic efforts to avoid the
horrible death which menaced him. My
heart stood still. 1t seemed to me that
the room was filled with those CHASTITY
erect, quivering bodies, with hooded
heads, from which shot forked tongues
OF death, with unnatural, distended
necks. / knew now who the man was
that | loved, and I covered my face
with my hands that | might not see
him stricken down before my eyes
But the awful fascination of it was
greater than my will. | had to look
again. The face of Harold Warirg was
covered with beady perspiration, and in
his eyes lurked grewsOme fear.
"The camel" he gasped, as he passed
the table.
But George Vardon chung to it de-
spairingly. imploring Warren to save
him at any price, for heavens sake to
save him.
ooh, you coward" I flung at him.
Then, with a sudden inspiration:
"The cane on the desk, Harold" I
cried to him.
He reached the desk in safety, grasp
ed the cane, and as he touched the roller
top it swung back From the desk two
more cobras slid with a dull thud to
the ground Harold Waring made his
way to corner of the room, and made
a last stand with his back to the wall
like an American officer.
Again and again he beat back the
ve.nc,rlous reptiles with swift cuts of
the tafe, or ls~ampled upon them with
his heavy boot heels. ; Sut the the end was
near, and knew it. 49,
could stand it no 16nger. Snatching
the cane from the palsied hands Of
George Vardon. 1 leaped to the ground
and made across the room. ! heard a
curious whistle, and instantly every
reptile fell suddenly still. The whistle
was repeated and they began to crawl
toward the box from whence they had
come
A panel slid aside in the wall, ard
Lal Singh stood smiling in the opening.
He looked from one to another of us
with a curious light of understanding
in his eyes, as if he appreciated perfect
ly the part that each had played in the
scene just finished Then he came for
ward with his usual obsequious bow
and handed me a letter
7 took If SWoVQd uOcnrt aiO1v for q
moment, and pitched forward in a
faint When | came to myself Harold
was bending over me with face like
chalk. L.al Singh and George Vardon
stood back little way. the one still
smiling, the other with twitching
limbs. tore open the letter and read
it. The signature at the bottom was
my dead gpcle's
Dear Nora: There can come to
woman no greater misery than to mar
ry the wrong man. She had better be
in her grave than to find that the man
she has promised to love and honor is
selfish and a coward. From long eX-
perience | know that it would be use
less for me to tell you which of your
cousins is a man and which is not, so
I have arranged a little test for you to
judge them by. 1t is at supreme mo-
ments that there appears the difference
between the coward and the brave man.
For that reason | have brought you
and them face to face with such mo-
ment If the strain has been a hard
one, remember that it was only on
account of the great love | bear for
you, and forgive
JAMES WARING."
I handed the letter to Harold War
ing, and he read it aloud. George Var
don shrank back in shame, his breath
coming in labored gasps.
When he had finished reading my
soldier cousin faced me, standing very
erect, but with countenance from
which all the color of blood had fed.
"And this-1ittle test'-has it avail
ed, Nora?" he asked.
There was something in his manner
that forbade me to trihe with him.
Eyes, I know now. 1t is you love,
Harold
He took me in his arms and kissed
me once; then put me from him. 'You
will have but short courtship and a
sad long mourning, Nora, for-I think
| am about to die, sweetheart. | was
bitten three times, and the bite of
cobra is-fatal," he told me sadly.
Then, smiling little: "You see one OF
us is to die within the hour after ALL"
''Not so, sahib,' interposed the soft
voice of Lal Singh. '"The fangs Of the
cobras had all been removed