The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-02

| =. Sc f . f.
'"rhere'n be no harm in just making a
note of where you lodge, my FRIEND" said
I to myself. Ns
He stumbled into the facre, told the
cocher to drive to the devil, and Off they
dashed with a parting wave of the hand to
me. .5
but you don't give me the slip so easily
as all that I protested, and was after
them, in an instant, with another cab.
"Follow that fiacre with the gray horse
said I to my cocher, "and a Louis if YOU
don't lose sight of it, wherever it goes!''
We were caught in a jam of traffic at
the foot Of the rue Royale, but made
out the cab with the gray horse
some little way ahead of us, caught as
we'll. .&srsH= ..,.e.s
Then presently we were off, across the
Place de la Concorde and up the Champs
Elysees.
''Whatv' said L. "up here? I should
have thought you'd keep closer to the prey,
man, somewhere on the oher side Of the
river.' A5%. r-.."a .r-. sr-
We went far up the Champs Elysees,
through the Place de rEtoile and into the
Avenue Kleber. Upon my word, Won
steinbrucke, you're living well'
thought l. ..- 7 .-' K
Then at last, the facre with the grey
horse pulled up before one of the high i'm
posing houses that line the avenue, and
thin little man with a great beard po-
litely assisted his corpulent and bejeweled
wife to alight and they rang the bell at
the big iron grille.
I threw myself back upon the cushions.
1t was that jam in the rue Royale that had
done for US, and one gray horse looks
much like another when you've lost sight
of the first for a moment.
"S1, Boulevard Montparnasse!"
growled to the cocher and called myself
| ,sr,l1 lo.,
In the Boulevard Montparnasse
changed my mind, and told the cocher to
20 up to the rue Boissonade, for I'd left
in Mallory's studio a little notebook that
I should be wanting early in the morn
ing.
Il shall probably have to knock poor
Denis up,'' said I with a laugh, as I rang
and waited for the concierge's wire Gordon
to unlock the gate in the iron fence.
Hell have turned in by now
He hadn't turned in, though. That was
evident, for there was a bright light in
the studio. 1 banged at the door, and
hea ring no reply, opened tit was seldom
locked-and went ln
The reek of absinthe struck me in the
face as soon as the door was open. There
was as I have said, a bright light. It
came from the big overhead lamp with its
! refectors that threw glare down upon
what was beneath.
The forward end of the room seemed full
! of a huddled mass of broken furniture;. a
| carved table, two chairs smashed to bits
they must have been thrown there vlo-
| lently-an easel, and some of the heavier
| articles that had been upon the wall
| There were two broken glasses and a
carafe upon the floor. and an over
| turned absinthe bottle lay in a little poo
| of it's former contents.
But what drew from me cry Of hor-
| "a
! smashed furniture nor the broken glasses
nor the sickening smell of absinthe, but
som ething else. 80 -
! Denis lay stretched along the floor, face
down, his head toward the debris at the
end of the room. One arn,, the right one
lay out before him, a sabre in; its clenchee
hand. Three Or four inches were broker
from the sabre's point, and the heap O.
chairs and other things were chopped an(
hacked as if with an ak. !.
His left arm lay bent under his heac
and he was quite still.
Poor old Denis! The walls had com
together again, and tried to catch him
Had they done it?
| T ran to him, and turned him over o
his back His jaw dropped as the hea
fell backward, and think my heart quit
over one eye, from which the blood ha
run freely and was caked upon his bro'
and down across one cheek. He mus
have struck the table edge or chair whe
he fell. =:
| I tore his clenched fingers from tn
sabre's hilt, and loosened his collar The
I found some water and dashed 1t into NJ
face again and again, covering his mout
lest it should drown him. There was n
sign of life and my heart stopped aga11
but I tore off my coat and nat ana st
to work furiously.
Hes not dead!' cried. by neaVe
he sha'n't die!'
And at last, after had worked over hi
for quite ten or fifteen minutes, l SUI
pose,-it seemed hours-his eyelids qui1
cred and twitched and he began to gas
feebly and to move his lips. put fort
all my strength and lifted him to tF
divan, and-because I could find nothir
else-I forced between his teeth a lit
. | of the absinthe that remained in the Ove1
, turned bottle.
He moved his head from side to sic
and his eyes Enclosed.
"They-they didn't catch me?" he whi
pered feebly. '"They didn't-catch me
, the wal4s?"
mo, dear old chap!" said I, "they didn
: catch you, thank God! nor shall while T.
, alive to prevent it,! We won't give the
another chance!
, ''Why it's-it's Teddy!" he mur1nurt
with weak surprise, dear lad, no
: came you here?-Ah, I've had tim
= Teddy! the very devil of a tlme! They
, they nearly had me, Teddy, lad
They sha'nt have another chanc
! Denis,' said I again, and slipped an ar
- under him to raise his head. Hell
= what the deuce is this?" H..
- The left hand that had lain under +
? !, face upon the floor, still held clutched
= it's fingers a little knot of narrow pill
ribbons, such as women love to- we
4 about them here and there Whe
o it's monstrous becoming I protest.
:. why, it's nothing, dear lad," he whis
4 cred, "just nothing at ala rag, a fo
ish thing II came by accidentally. !
- means nothing-throw it away for n
:: Teddy. Why should be holding to
+ Nay, nay" as I made to take it from
fingers, "let it be lad, Tll-I'll throw
d away myself. You needn't bother. A
O. pink ribbon! God in Heaven, a bit
It pink ribbon What's a bit O. pink ribb