The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-04-01
BLOW OF TANCRED


ss;e. visit Of leisure and pleasure, he met
many Englishmen who called them
Nles Smith h-Brown OF Brewn-Jones that
pEalmly cut out the hyphen and called
-.rmself Dering.
1t was the family name anyhow, the
Mairlwaring tag having been tackled on
with golden hammer, and he did not
feel any the worse for shortening his
signature.
In Paris he foregathered with Gull
1aume Henry Francois Ste. Marie d'Au-
vergne. wha had name enough for both of
them.
Henry, as he preferred to be called,
was a graduate of the Ecole Uolytech-
nique, and, having money and a desire
to be, easy. had bought himself out of
the army through one of those processes
peculiar to the republic of Iochefort.
Together these youngsters explored the
city from the Bois de Boulogne to the
6ourse, from the Bourse to places more
respectable and more virtuous
Among other pleasures to which Henri
with the superf1uity OF title inducted his
Virginian friend was a sale d armes.
The master of the place was a wary,
time in Africa, in China and in vain en-
deavor to stem the onward rush of Uh-
ians from beyond the Rhine.
BY the looks of him he might, too, have
served some of his time in the galleys,
but he knew his business, which was
fencing. and he took an especial fancy to
that
And. he would say: 'It is you, mon
sieur, who have the true fencing form
not too tall, not too broad-and the eye
and the wrist After all that is 1.-THE
eye and the wrist The riposte with sim
gle disergagei Touche. Bon. bon,"
Dering learned most of the finesse of
Il enart, won first honor in a great "as
sault." fought trifiing duel or two. and
took ship at Havre on a little trip to
america. Henri was not there to bid
Fnim good-by. for the reason that his rel
atives from Marseilles had come to town
taken him away and shut him up to med
itate.
La Gascogne reached New York on
AApril Is, 1898, and Rering found the town
wild with excitement. Congress had, IN
effect. declared war against Spain. He
had known, of course that such thing
was possible, but in his life as a boule-
vardier had paid little attention to it.
Now, however, he was in an atmosphere
OF grim earnest The country had arisen
like a slumbering giant and yawned and
stretched its arms The male Derings
had always been fighters, and that was
one of the reasons why the present repre-
sentative of the line Joined the first regi-
ment which was sent out.
It is true that this regiment got no far
ther than Florida, but that was only be-
cause the fun was over too soon. 1t is
true. also. that a part of II was sent TO
Havana when hostilities closed, and Der
ing was among the LUCKY ones. There he
did provost duty in a town which badly
needed provosting for a few days, and
then simmered down into fatness
The life, however, suited him we'll
enough. The restaurants We're reasonably
good. the nights were endurable. there
was much of picturesqueness on view
and he had little to do. / ma few weeks
this little became nothing at all. AS a
natural consequence he got into mischief.
Rose Villareal. daughter of a Spanish
merchant. walking thoun dand around the
plaza while the band played, was escarted
only by her duenna, herself not more
than 80 and still susceptible
Private Tom Dering, walking around
and around the plaza in an. opposite direc-
tion. got several glances into coquettish
eyes. There were other walks on the
plaza, the nan exchange of notes, then a
deposit of small coin into the pal moi the
she dra gon. then blissfuI lovemaking.
{ This lasted a week. Going to the tryst,
hi
1fal. With the woman, however, was a
slender. pale man Of 80, with a black Van
3yke beard and heavily penciled eye
brows
Being of the prompt school, Dering lift
ed his hat and asked the honor of escort
ing Senorita VillareaL This forced an
introduction.
1t appeared that the name of the new
conner was Carlos Guzman de Silvera,
direct from Spain. In a little while Senior
De Silvera took himself OFF. scowling.
Then the trembling Rosa went on to say
that he was a lover favored by her father,
come out from Spain to hurry his wooing.
that she feared she would be forced into
marrying him; that she hated him and
that she loved Don Tomaso' and Don
Tomaso" only
At $50 that night. returning slowly TO
quarters and dreaming of settling in Ha-
vana with a lovely Spanish wife. Dering
was confronted by the politeful Silvera,
who asked permission 10 stroll with him.
Granted.
Your gloves. senor,'' the Spaniard said
pointedly. ARE the color Of your hair.
which is the color OF your courage, which
is yellow.
Next instant he staggered back with a
broad red mark on his cheek. bowed and
said:
1.-The senor will give satisfaction
when?"
''Now, Any timer
A friend of Silvera's called in a half |
hour and was referred to Corporal Fran /
els Hardy. also an Englishman. A meet /
ing was arranged for at sunrise next
mo-ring at a point FIVE miles from the !
city. nthe beach. Only the seconds and 1
principals were TO be present.
The AFFAIR was conducted, of course, |
with the utmost secrecy. Dering and his t
friend reached the spot just at daylight /
They found ii to be grassy level and well /.
suited to the purpose. Near it was !
.eavy cIump of mimosas and other tropi- /
growths.
,silvera and his second. Sebastian Esco.
oedo, arrived within ten minutes. The |
drivers of the cabs were ordered to stay I
q auarter-mile distant. The men bowed 4
with punctiliousness and stripped 10 their /
shirt sleeves The rapiers were meas I
ured and the principals placed facing
eaoh. other