The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1904-03-25

L
| philosophy, things they did not know
| by any such names. and talked never
theless on all occasions. There was a
badger. While it was out they had
| stopped the earths, and they lay
among bracken and rocks on the edge
of a Yorkshire moor waiting for it.
The moonlit dale was romantic, but
not Jack, and they were talking ghosts.
| Touching to remember how the dear
i fellows chaff had never hurt him! But
Jack provoked him to say-he recalled
quite freshly the mood in which he
| spoke bantering, but still with de-
lightful, creepy sense Of committing
| himself to something risky:
"All right, old chap, but IL ever
| get into Queer Street''-innocent word
| in those days!-"and have to shuttle
off this mortal coil, I'll let you see.
I'll be an apparition myself and make
| friendly call in search of sympathy.
Go away says you, you're an imposi-
ton. Besides, never feel for spec
| tres"
1t startled the colonel to see himself
half aware of the end SO very long
|
The great, surefooted mystery. And
what Jack Alleyn said was far from
serious, like the end of that nights
adventure.
Rot" it was rather a favorite
word of his. 81 can go one better,
sonny. I'll undertake to make my call
on you before you do the shuttle"
How lightly life is looked at before
we come to live It, and still one plays
the man! But is not this, thought
Col. Sale-alone with his soul now
is not this the great and ultimate test,
that manhood be true to the boys in
spirations?
The notion held him. If, indeed, we
must all give an account of the deeds
done in the body" was that test he
could undergo himself sans peur ct
sans reproche? He quaked; the stand
ard boyhood sets is high. He had not
tried to pull it down, thank God, but
inspirations, or only aspirations, the
depressed him; he had to brace his
courage and play the man at last
And 1t pleased him, because Of the
shattered ideals, to snatch at one light
word which he might yet fulfill. II
such things were, he would keep his
engagement with Jack.
The purpose leaped into his mind
and gave him the SILVER and thrill he
had sometimes found in situations oil
quiet peril.
Mr.. Jack Alleyn Is we'll. known il
Liverpool, though not by the name
have given him. He was to have been
a soldier with his friend; he became a
cotton merchant. AS for this friend
ship of which the story tells singu-
lar outcome, it had endured, of course
through long separations, with meet
ings rather more infrequent since the
mid nineties than before. 1t was the
summer of this year, and Jack had not
seen his old chum at all since the wa,
in South Africa. But he had longei
to do SO, and to him, as we'll as to the
fighting man, that threat of friend
ly CALI had required, though not hi:
own testing answer. It had even re-
Cured more than once when scantJ
news made him fearful, but he would
have been immensely surprised to sex
it fulfilled at any time. He is amons
the most practical of men. The colone
was right-Jack would have known
better way with debts of honor.
In the house where Col. Sale was /,
guest he enjoyed the perfect liberty o
an old and dear comrade. 1t was no
until the fourth day that he could thinl
of his purpose. resolutely. The WHARF
was in spate then, after rain amons
the hills, and he went out to fish will
worm below those woods in which tn,
Strid is situated. His host being NJ
fisherman, Col. Sale took with him, b.
an arrangement made overnight, al
old water bailiff of whom he was fond
They reached the Strid about thu
luncheon hour. The spate had fallel
and left the rocks exposed, and tn,
place looked more than ever fittin;
for his design, suicide to be accom-
plished without suspicion in anothe
mans presence. Col. Sale took dram
with him and ate sandwich, and the,
watched the water thunder down.
is boiling white cataract between
. gray walls of granite and below it
long, deep pool lies. All had gone wei
for the colonels evasion. 1t was tn
old man himself who had suggeste
. that some of the upper reaches shoul
' be tried, as he knew them best, an
the rocks were slippery.
. What was that old tale of the boot
: less bene?'" the colonel shouted in hi
ear. isn't it here the boy jumpe
7 across, Tib?"
4 Tried it." his companion answered
) See yo' that rock at points across al
: dips. That's where t wor. Fro Il
e other side it's simple, but not this, fo
!. no man alive"
"Ill go and look at it." said th
g colonel
Q He finished a second sandwich an