The Indianapolis journal., 1903-06-21
A THRILLING MOMENT
By H UME NIsBET.

tnat is. men Of experience who were not in
nuenced by newspaper fiction or party dog
matism, and women who had been posted
by their husbands or brothers
or course. there was the inevitable old
man-of-the-sea, who sat on their shoulders
ana tried to cram his convictions down
their throats; the armchair traveller, who
would insist on telling them all about Af-
rica and who turned a deaf ear to their
mild corrections. There was also the habit
ual resident, who had grown to regard the
place as his exclusive private property, who
resented as intruders all newcomers, and
VINO monopolized the best chair in the
smoking room, the morning and evening
papers. and insisted on having silence while
ne read. These men are to be seen in every
ciuo and hotel, and to be endured as one
endures mosquitoes I'm the tropics
Graham Travers and his fellow-African
convalescents got considerable amusement
out or an ancient reformer, who was extra
deaf and rabidly pro-Boerish. They did not
mind being called towards, traitors, mon
sters and murderers. At all events, they
bore 1t with laughing philosophy.
The monopolizing gent" however, was a
harder strain on their patience, for they
sometimes wanted to look at the papers on
which he sat, and when they were not per-
mitted to read they liked to exchange recol-
lections while smoking their pipes and
cigars.
To Travers this individual became an In
tolerable bugbear in a very few days, for
other reasons besides his general unsocial
idiosyncrasies. His personal appearance dis
nlea Sed aIc -
at table. In the smoking room he might be
ignored, but at table one has to converse
sometimes with ones vis-a-vis, no matter
how much one may loathe or despise him.
This individual sat opposite Graham
Travers at table, and by the side of a
young lady, who from the first meal at
tracted the captain as no other woman had
hitherto done. Her name was Miss How
ard-Evelyn Howard, as he quickly grew to
think Of her.
She was a Juno-like girl, with frank
boyish face and a laughing mouth The
hazel eyes were open and set wide apart;
they were eyes that could look straight al
one without flinching and tighten up with
mirth. Graham had as yet no experience
of how they could look when colored by
other emotions. She was healthy, strone
and handsome, rather than strictly beauti-
full in complexion or features, with superb
teeth and magnificent carriage, all of which
spoke of plenty of vitality and courage
braced by outdoor exercise She was, in
fact, just the sort of woman that Graham
had been reserving his heart for all his life
| and when he realized this he flung it to her
with the same promptitude and disregard
| of consequences which had always gov.
| erned his actions
She was the sister of a chum he had made
| In johannesburg, therefore it was an easy
matter to become friendly with her. But
although affairs appeared to progress IA
vorably, there was a fly In the honey pot
| The monopohzing gent was the insect who
spoilt the felicity of this incipient lover.
In appearance the fellow was not unlike
an exaggerated fly, minus the wings. Ar
| attenuated, pin-headed, phenomenal fly
with bulging eyes, parrot-like purply beah
| and receding chin. He dressed well, In
| light gray during the morning, and never
appeared at dinner without his warpaint
He was not a pretty object to look upon
| nor at all likely to make any one, except
young man in love, feel uneasy about
| comparisons. Yet he was somewhat of g
| dandy; wore handkerchief and hose to suit
| his ties, was fastidious over the fashion.
able cut Of his nails, and ready with his
small talk. which Travers was not
Reginald Murphy was his name, a retired
army doctor. who had enlarged his liver ir
China and India, and impaired his feeble
brains by a sunstroke. One popularity he
! had additional to the extremely small head
and that was his neck was phenomenally
long and scraggy, like that of a plucked
drake. His hands also were knuckly and
badly shaped.
Miss Evelyn Howard had been some
had constituted himself as her cavalier
Whether this was pleasing to her or other
wise, was the point which troubled Graham
| sorely at this stage. At table the doctor
gabbled necessarily to her; If she went
walking he generally stalked forth with
her. He played ping pong in the hall with
her. sat beside her in the drawing room, an6
| openly showed all the world that he was
doing his level best to commander her, a:
he did the newspapers. and keep other ap
plicants back.
Travers, who was not used to the ways
| of women, very soon took the impression
that these manifestations were bad for hi.
chances. At table he became so uncom
Portable that he would gladly have changed
his place. only that he would then have hat
| less of her. and he could not tear himself
away; also, his combative instincts reused
| him not to yield an inch of ground. He
therefore determined to fight and hang OF
while there was single hope of victory.
| He knew that he had good ally in hel
| brother, who also abhorred this rival anc
| he likewise had dawning conviction tha
his company was not unpleasant to Eve
| lyn. She smiled to him across the table
| and appeared at times extremely bored by
| the prattle of her medical neighbor Wher
| Graham joined her out of doors, even al
though her shadow was with her, sh,