The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-09-08

there seemed nothing to suspect re-
garding him.
Il waited long for an occasion to
meet him. 1t finally came in the form
of a partridge which | shot and killed
before the very nose of the English
man. Ny dog brought II to me; but
Immediately taking it / went and
begged Sir John ROwell to accept the
dead bird, eXcusing myself for mtru-
sion.
'He was a tail, powerful man, Win
red hair and red beard, very large,
sort of placid, polite Hercules. lie
had none of the so-called BRUSH
haughtiness, and heartily thanked me
in French for the delicacy. At the
end of a month we had ehatted to-
gether five or six times.
"Finally, one evening, as / was
passing by his door, / perceived him
astride a chair in the garden, smoking
his pipe. / saluted him and he asked
me in to have a glass of beer. Joined
him.
"He received me with the fastidious
courtesy of the English. With great
preeaution Ia the form OF a lively in
terest, | put some questions to him
about his life and his projects. He
responded without embarrassment, told
me that he had Travelled much, in
Africa, in the Indies, and in America.
He added, laughing:
az have had many adventures; oh!
yes
a Great Hunter.
II began to talk about hunting, and
he gave me many curious details of
hunting the hippopotamus, the tiger,
the elephant, and even of hunting the
gorilla.
Il said All these animals are very
fOrmldable.'
Tile laughed: 'Oh, mol The worst
animal is man. Then he began to
laugh, with the hearty laugh Of q big
contented Englishman. lie continued.
81 have often hunted man, also
''He spoke of weapons and asked me
to go into his house to see his guns Of
various makes and kinds.
"IIis drawing-room was hung in
black silk embroidered with gold.
There were great yellow flowers rum
ming over the somber stuff, shining like
fire.
"'It is Japanese CLOTH he said.
s'But in the middle of large panel,
strange thing attracted my eye. Up
on a square of red velvet, q black OBJ
iect was attached. / approached and
found it was a hand, the hand of
man. Not a skeleton hand, white and
characteristic, but black, dried hand,
with yellow joints and the muscles
bare, and on them traces of old blood,
of blood that seemed like q scale, over
the bones sharply cut off at about the
middle of the forearm, as with blow
Of a cutlass. About the wrist was an
enormous iron chain, riveted, sOldered
to this unelean member, attaching 1t to
the wall by ring sufficiently strong
to hold an elephant.
II asked What is thatT
''The Englishman responded tram
gully:
tit belonged to my worst enemy.
1t came, from America. 1t was broken
with a saher, cut off with sharp
stone, and dried in the sun for eight
days. oh, very good for me, that
wasr
II touched the human relic, which
must have belonged to a colossus, The
fingers were immoderately long and
by enormous tendons that
held the straps of skin In place. This
dried hand was frightfnl To see, max
ing one think, naturally, OF the VEN
geance of a savage.
II said; This man must have been
very strong
"With gentleness the Englishmah
answered;
"'OhI yes but | was stronger than
he. ! put this chain on him to hold
him.
II thought he spoke in jest and re-
piled:
"'The chain Is useless now that the
hand cannot escape
"Sir John Rowell replied gravely:
1t always wishes to escape. The chain |
IN necessary
fWith rapid questioning glance, |
asked myself is he mad, or Is that |
IN unpleasant joke
s'But the face remained imnenatra-
Die, tranquil, and friendly. spoke OF