Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1905-09-09
H1yTheMengingHandM
WNMY ByGuyde MauPassont e
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there seemed nothing to suspect re-
garding him.
II waited long for an occasion to
meet him. 1t finally came in the form
of partridge which l shot and killed
before the very nose of the English
man. My dog brought it to me; but
Immediately taking it l went ana
begged Sir John Rowell to accept the
dead bird, excusing myself for 1ntru-
sion.
lie was q tall, powerful man, with
red hair and red beard, very large,
sort of placid, polite Hercules. lie
had none of the so-called British
haughtiness, and heartily thanked me
in French for the delicacy. At the
end of q month we had chatted To-
gether five or six times.
"Finally, one evening, as l was
passing by his door, / perceived him
astride q chair in the garden, smoking
his pipe. l saluted him and he asked
me in to have u glass of beer. joined
him.
"ue received me with the fastidious
courtesy of the English. With great
precaution in the form of lively IN
| terest, 1 put some questions to MIN
| about his life and his projects. lie
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.
| ST began to talk about hunting, anf
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 yer!
formidable
"IIe laughed: ooh, no! The wors
animal is man. Then he began U
laugh, with the hearty laugh of bi:
contented Englishman. He continued
az have often hunted man, Also
"He spoke of weapons and asked m'
to GO into his house to see his guns o
various makes and kinds.
Ills drawing-room was hung II
black silk embroidered with gold
There were great yellow flowers run
ming over the somber stuff, shining llk
fire.
at is Japanese CLOTH he said.
"But in the middle of large panel
!. q strange thing attracted my eye. VI
on q square of red velvet, Il black OF
iect was attached. 1 approached an
found it was a hand, the hand OF
IMAM. Not a skeleton hand, white an,
characteristic, but a black, dried hanc
with yellow Joints and the muscle
bare. and on them traces of old blooo
of blood that seemed like a scale, owe
the bones sharply cut off at about tn
middle of the forearm, as with bloN
of n cutIass. About the wrist was q
enormous iron chain, riveted, soldere
to this unclean member, attaching 1t
the wall by a ring sufficiently stron
to hold an elephant.
81 asked: What is that?
"The Englishman responded tral
gully:
cit belonged to my worst enem!
, It came from America. 1t was broke
! with a saber, cut off with n shar
stone, and dried in the sun for eisf
days. Oh, very good for me, thu
wasv
81 touched the human relic, whic
/ must have belonged to n colossus. III
, fingers were immoderately long an
: attached by enormous tendons tn;
held the straps of skin in place. In
! dried hand was frightful to see, MAJ
= ing one think, naturally, OF the vel
t geance of savage.
r Il said This man must have bee
: very strong
4 with gentleness the Englishma
: answered:
~l "'Oh! yes; but l was stronger Una
e he. / put this chain on him TO no
e him.
/ Il thought he spoke in jest and
3 piled: :,
a 1.-The chain is useless now that Il
v hand cannot escape
"Sir John Rowell replied gravel!
4 Tt always wishes to escape. The cha
S in necessary
n with rapid questioning glance,
n asked myself: rs he mad, or Is TN
an unpleasant joke
q "But the face remained 1mpenetr
), BILE, tranquil, and friendly. spoke