The San Francisco call., 1905-08-20

told him with such spirit. for what could
il matter to Raff1es now? did not think;
instinct was still stronger than reason.
and, fresh from his funeral. L had taken
up the cudgels for my dead friend as
though he were still alive. Next mo-
ment / saw this for myself, and my
tears came nearer the surface than they
had been yet; but the fellow at my side
laughed outright.
shall tell you something else?'
said he.
LAS you like
Hes not even at the bottom Of that
gravel He's no more dead than you or
1. and a sham burial is his latest piece
OF villainy."
1 doubt whether I could have spoken
if l had tried. 1 did not try. / had
no use for speech I did not even ask
him IL he was sure, I was so sure myself
II was all as plain to me as riddles
usually arc when one has the answer.
The doctors alarms, his unscrupulOus
venality, the simulated illness, my own
dismissal, each fitted in it's obvious place.
and not even the last had power as ysS
to mar my joy in the one central fact
ito which all the rest were as taDers to
the sun.
He is aliver' cried. Nothing else
mstters-he is alive!'
At last 1 did ask whether they had
got him too; but thankful as I was for
the greater knowledge. i confess that
did not much care what answer / re-
ceived. Already I was figuring out
how much we might each get, and how
old we should be when we came out
But my companion tilted his hat to the
back of his head at the same time put
ting his face close to mine and COM
pelling my scrutiny. And my answer.
as you have already guessed, was the
0f d 1t e1If hi n Hfa-
guised 1but less superbly than his
voice., and yet so thinly that I should
have known him in a trice had | not
been to miserable in the beginning to
give him a second glance.
Jacques Saillsrd had made his life
impossible, and this was the one escape.
Raffies had bought the doctor for $1,000.
and the doctor had bought nurse"
of his own kidney on his own account;
me- for some reason, he would not
trust: he had insisted upon my dis
missal as an essential preliminary to
his part In the conspiracy. Here the
details were half humorous. half grew
some. each in turn as Raff1es told me
the story. At one period he had been
very daringly drugged indeed, and. in
his own words. las dead as man need
be-" but he had left strict Instructions
that nobody but the nurse and my de-
voted physician" should LAY finger on
me" afterward and by virtue of this
proviso a libary of books Qargely ac-
quired for the occasion) had been i'm
piously inferred at Kensal Green. Raj
hes had definitely undertaken not to
trust me with the secret and but for my
untoward appearance at the funeral
(Which he had attended for his own
final satisfaction. 1 was assured and
am convinced that he would have kept
his promise TO the letter. In explain
ing this he gave me the one explana-
tion I desired. and in another moment
we turned into Praed street. Padding
ton.
And 1 thought you said Bow streety'
said l. Are you coming straight down
to Richmond with me7
Il may as WELL" said Raff1es,
though 1 did mean to get my kit first,
so as to start I'm fair and square as the
Iong-lost brother from the bush. That's
why 1 hadn't written. The function
was a day later than 1 calculated. /
was going to write to-njghtt
But what are we to do?" said I.
hesitating when he had paid the cab.
II have been playing the colonies for
all they are WORTH
"Oh, I've lost my luggage" said he,
"cr a wave came into my cabin and
spoiled every stitch, or / had nothing
fit to bring ashore. Well settle that
iv,