Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-10
nave earned your supper" he said.

| that at times a white lie is permissible
| Surely this was an instance.
1T is small thing to trouble about,
| sweetheart he explained You spotted the
| enemy so promptly, and blaZed away with
such ferocity that they never got within
yards of me-
Il and declare that after we have
eaten something, and sampled our remain
ing bottle of wine, L will tell you exactly
what happened
Because l must first to Mir Jan. 1
bundled him neck and crop into the cave.
hope did not hurt him"
You are not going down there again?''
No need, trust
He went to the side of the ledge, recov-
cred the ladder which he had hastily hauled
out of the Dyaks reach after his climb, and
cried
Mir jan
"Ah, sahib Praised be the name of the
most high, you are alive. / was searching
among the slain with sorrowful heart"
The Mohommedan'S voice came from some
little distance on the left
The slain, you say. How many?"
Five, sahib.'
Impossible! I fired blindly with the
volver, and only hit one man hard with the
iron bar. One other dropped near the wood
after l obtained a rifle
Then there will be six, sahib, not reck-
oning the wounded. 1 have accounted for
one, so the miSS-sahib must have
What is he saying about me?" inquired
Iris, who had risen and joined her lover
HE says you absolutely staggered the
Dyaks by opening fire the moment they ap-
peared.'
How did you come to Stay one, Mir
JAM he continued.
"A son of black pig followed me into
the cave. l waited for him in the darkness
l have just thrown his body outside
"Shabash! Is Taung Sail dead, by any
lucky chance?"
No. sahb, if he be not the sixth. l will
go and see"
You may be attacked"
Il have found a sword, sahib You left me
no cartridges
jerks told MIN that the clip and the
twelve packets were lying at the foot of the
rock where Mir Jan speedily discovered
them The Mahommedan gave satisfactory
assurance that he understood the mechan-
ism of the rifle by filing and adjusting the
magazine. Then he went to examine the
corpse of the who lay in the open near
the quarry path
The sailor stood in instant readiness to
make a counter demonstration were the
native assailed. But there was no sign of
the Dyaks. Mir Jan returned with the news
that the sixth victim of the brief yet fierce
encounter was renegade Malay. He was
so confident that the enemy had had
enough of it for the night that, after
recovering jerks revolver he boldly went
to the well and drew himself supply OF
water
During supper feast graced by quart
of champagne worthy of the Carlton, jerks
told Iris so much of the story as was good
for her; that is to say. he cut down the
casualty list.
1t YVES easy to see what had happened
The Dyaks, having missed the Mahomme-
dan and their water bag. searched for him
and heard the conversation at the foot OF
the rock. Knowing that their presence was
suspected, they went back for reinforce
ments, and returned by the shorter and
more advantageous route along Turtle
Beach.
Iris would have talked all night, but
jerks made her go to sleep, by pillowng
her head against his shoulder and smooth
ing her tangled tresses with his nand. The
wine, too. was helpful. In a few minutes
her voice became dreamy: soon she was
sleeping Ike a tired child.
He managed to lay her on comfortable
pile of ragged clothing and then resumed
his vigil. Mir Jan offered to mount guard
beneath. but jerks bade him go within the
cave and remain there for the dawn would
soon be upon them.
Left alone with his thoughts, he Won
dered what the rising sun would bring in
its train. He reviewed the events Of the
last twenty-four hours. Iris and he Miss
Deane Mr.. jerks. to each other-were then |
undiscovered in their refuge. the Dyaks |
We're gathered around a roaring fire in the |
valley, and Mir Jan was keen in the hunt |
as the keenest among them. Now. Iris was |
his affianced bride. over twenty of the en- |
envy were killed and many wounded, and |
Mir JAM a devoted adherent was seated |
beside the skeleton in the gloom of the |
cavern.
What topsy-turvy world it was, TO be |
sure! What alterations between despair |
and hope! What rebound from the gates |
of death to the threshold of Eden; How |
untrue, after all. was the rebulous philos- |
ophy of Omar. the Tentmaker. Surely in |
the happenings of bygone days there was |
more than the purposeless.
Magic Shadow-shov |
Play'd in Box whose Candle is the SUM-
Round which we Phantom Figures come and 90. |
He had indeed. cause to be humbly |
thankful Was there not One who marked |
the fall of a sparrow. who clothed the |
lilies. who knew the needs of His crea- |
lures? There. in the solemn temple of the !
night. he gave thanks for the protection |
vouchsafed to Iris and himself, and prayed |
that it might be continued He deplored !
the useless bloodshed, the horror of man. |
gled limbs and fostering bodies, that con- |
verified this fair island into a reeking J
slaughter house. Were it possible, by any |
personal sacrifice. to divert the untutored |
savages from their deadly quest he would |
gladly condone their misdeeds and endaavor |
to assuage the torments of the wounded.
But he was utterly HELPLESS, a pawn on |
that tiny chessboard where the game was |
being played between Civil zation and Bar
barism The fight must go on to the bitter |
end: he must either yanouish or be van
qushed. There were other threads being |
woven into the garment of his life at that |
moment. but he knew not of them.
Sufficient for the day was the evil and the |
good thereof. OF both he had received full |
measure.
A period of such reflection could hardly
pass without a speculative dive into the
future. If Iris and he were rescued what
would happen when they went forth once
more into the busy world?- Not for an in
slant did he doubt her faith. She was true
as steel knit to him now by bonds of triple
brass But what would Sir Arthur Deane
think of his daughters marriage to dis
credited and cashiered officer? What was
IT that poor Mir Jan called himself?-"a
disgraced man." Yes. that was it. Could
that stain be removed? Mir Jan was doing
it. Why not he?-by other means, for his
good name rested on the word of a perjured
woman. Wealth was potent but not all
powerful. He would ask Iris to wait until
he came TO her unsoled by SANDER purged
Of this odium cast upon him unmerited.
And all this goes to show that he, man
wise beyond his fellows. had not yet learn
ed the unwisdom of striving to lift the veil
Of tomorrow. behind whose mystic curtain
what Is to be ever jostles out of place what
is hoped for.
Iris. smiling in her dreams. assaulted
by no torturing doubts. Robert loved her
that was enough. Love suffices for a wo-
man; a asks for honor reputation, an
l. ~.