The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-09-11
TOM DIXON'S NEW BOOK.

way the sarcastic critic handles the
duel scene:
There was a duel about Kate later on.
1t was fought with daggers in a dark
ened room IN Hates house in
cy Park, betWeen our young pastor and
his friend, Overman, the banker. Our
pastor had divorced his wife and mar
ried Kate by a sort of socialistic
formula invented by himself. Kate had
remained under his mighty spell for
about two years. and had then yielded
TO the facinatiOn of Overman. who had
only one eye and was the ugliest- man
she or anybody else had Yer beheld.
In the library of Hates house there
were two Italian daggers with blades
10 inches long, which were rather curl
ously used for paper knives. Our pas
tor handed one Of these to his friend.
put the blower over the fire. and
switched off the electric light. There is
Il picture of the duel, showing the
blower in the foreground.
Gordon had told Kate just what he
was going to do with Overman. He
made her feel OF his muscle. He drew
his right arm up until muscles stood a
huge, twisted knot, fairly bursting
through his sleeve, seized her hand
roughly and held it with iron violence
oil his arm. Its worth your while TO
take note of that he aid It's made
out Of threads of steel-that muscle.
Few men are my equal. am talking
to you in the insolence of physical
strength that proclaims me a king-a
savage Viking, if you like, but none the
less a king" She tried to draw her
hand away. BE still" ne growled. L
feel throbbing in my veins today the
blood of a thousand saVage ancestors,
who made O V TO their women with a
club and dragged them to their
by the hair and SO forth.
He was a dreadful man in the prelim-
i~naries. He told Overman also what he
was going to do with him.. II pull
down with me into hell as 1 go one
Wall street banker!" That was one
of the things that was to be done with
Overman. With more particularity;
Il am going to disarm you, bend your
bulldogs body across my knee by an
art of which 1 am master. close your
jaw with this first or your throat, and
break our back inch by inch" Over
man, a cool customer, begged him to
close his W Jaw n proceed. After
! some urging he generously terminated
! the oral part of the duel and put on the
blower and switched off the electric
light, as we have said.
The duel from this point was a dread
full thing. We DO not find that there
We're any important omissions. The
! catlike tread, the heavy breathing,
the collisions with the furniture-noth-
ing essential was left out. With cat
like tread they began to move around
the room on the velvet carpet. They
made the circuit twice, and found they
were following each other. They both
stopped, apparently at the same mo-
ment, wheeled, n again made the
in a circle without meeting, 10Y
and then stumbling against a piece Of
furniture"
We can hear the fire roaring in terri
BILE excitement behind the blower. I'm
affected by this, the awful game pro-
ceeds. Gordon suddenly stopped, held
his breath and waited for his enemy
to overtake him. He could heal Over
mans heavy breathing at each muf-
fled step. When he approached so close
he could feel the movement of his body
in the air, he suddenly sprang on him,
plunging the dagger in his body and
bore him to the floor, knocking the
blower from the CRATE in the strug-
gle"
: We do not believe that the literature
of duels affords a more effective use OF
the blower. Now again the velvet car.
pet. Over and over on the VelVet car.
pet, dimly lighted now from the glow.
ing Goals, they rolled, growing, snarl
ing, cursing in low, half-articulat
gasps, thrusting the steel into flesh anC
bone, nerve and vein and artery. G0r
don suddenly plunged his dagger will
a crash in Overman's shoulder, snatche,
at it, and broke it smooth at the hilt
Throwing his opponent to one side b
a quick movement, he sprang to hi
feet, and, as Overman rose, fastene
his enormous hairy left hand on hi
throat and closed it with a clutch G
o a e His enemy writhed an
plunged the steel twice to the hilt i
Gordon's breast before his big RICH
e hand found the knife and wrenched
s from his grasp"
+ Here we must pause to recall the lei
ter of Miss Fanny Squeers describin
Nicholas Nickleby's assault upon he
}: mother, the lady who administered tn
a birthstone and molasses to the your
O Inhabitants of Dotheboys hall. 1t wi
be remembered that Miss Fanny in thu
: letter declared that Nicholas a drive
= Mrs. Squeers' BACKBONE several incht
into her head and that the family ha
c the doctors certificate that if it ha
] gone a few inches further it woul hay
penetrated her skull. Mrs. Sqeer
who survived, was a hardy woman b
she was no more remarkable than Go
don Our hero went on with state
work, in no wise deferred by the CT
g cunlstances that ten-inch dagger he
IS been twice plunged to the hiIt in n
II massive breast. We read:
: Then slowly inch by inch, he be
s. the bankers body over his knee, drivir
is his great fingers into his thoat, unr
: the spinal column snapped with a dr
crack" The illustration shows US Il
u at his consummate point. T.
81 ten inch dagger lies on the velvet ca
pet. The blower ppears in the for
lie ground.
er Thus did our pastor break his Ell
IS my's back as he a promised, "in,
e by inch" 1t was in Kate Ransom
n house, as we have said, that the drea,
4 cl =