The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-03-31
1.-THE Long Arm " |
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BY KEIGHLEY SN0WDEH. !


4 GAlNSI MS Will Col. sale was play
n Tvs one more hand. He played
at all times very quietly, so far as a
card table manner is concerned, and
tonight he was sometimes mildly
humorous. His preoccupation could
not be imagined. But it deepened dur
ing the final rubber. and, far away in
thought froN Piccadiily, he heard the
Strid roar at Bolton, iii lovely Wharfe-
dale. That was a place where man
might easily seem to die by misadven-
ture.
The game being ended, he pushed
the cards away with a smile. Some
sense of embarrassment lay upon the
other players. His luck had been
worse than common, he was pleasant
officer, and everybody knew him TO be
'hipped." He wrote in his neat hand
upon the back of visiting cards an Il
0 u" for each member of the party,
while they were paying cash or checks.
His refined and tranquil face was
flushed a little; the act brought home
10 him a very disagreeable sense of his
position.
He reverted to a conversation which
had passed before the game began.
You are all very good fellows to
wait" ne said. I'm sorry. have. {
at all the same faith in my chances"
His sensitiveness provoked friend
ly murmur and some ligh' encourage
ments When a man is off his luck
he cannot do better than go away and
forget it. In the nigh priced club
where the colonel played above his
purse worse luck than his had been
known TO right itself.
Col Arthur Sale was a man of no
excuses but this of gambling; middle
aged. a good soldier. with some repu-
tation as a traveller and a sportsman.
While yet a liSItenant he had made
two Independent journeys in the Sou
dan about the time of the first mahdi S
rise to power His resolute courage
had been attested then and since; the
regularity of his life was of late con-
tirmed by happy marriage, and men
knew him Tor a nice sense of honor
tact These last qualities were best
observed in his duller moods, when a
special gentleness appeared in him.
Few men were better liked, and, as
commonly happens, not the most inn
agiRative among his friends could sus-
pect what he had it in mind to do.
He was going TO Yorkshire for a
months fishing" But, for some time
row, the position must have seemed
to Col. Sale to have hopeless look.
He had lost hard upon $4,000 in a few
months; his means were narrow, and
after calling in all but assurances, he
was in debt for three impossible tn ou-
sands still.
To give up honor and life was doubly
futile. But what had determined him
was the necessity of saving something
for his wife and boys. He said good
by to them in the morning. Let those
who share his temperament be Col
Sales judges. Granted his point OF
view. there must have been something
beautifully tender and brave in the
light farewell. and yet one does not
care to think of it.
Pass to certain reflections of the
Journey. They had some bearing OF
the sequel. With only few days to
live. and with the sense of mastery
which every calm resolution gives
Col. Sale was more than usually c!oaI
headed, alth ough his heart labored
and scenes from the old past ran most
ly in his thoughts. In particular HI
was struck by recollections of col
lege friendship and of boys CONVEX
Eation which pointed to his presen
case. 1t was the most intimate anC
lasting friendship he had known, an,
he woGld have liked to say good-bj
TO Jack Alleyn. Dear old fdu,
Achates, mpt.cr If fact and gay ant
kind. What in these last few year,
had become of him? He might ever
have shown a better way with debt
of honor. He always did know tn
right thing to do, and did it with
turn OF the hand. When they wer,