Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-05-16

Iream, and you received from my
band the first Of your fortune"
"Yes," she admitted, her eyes fixed
IN the sidewalk.
II see how it was,'' he continued en-
Enthusiastically. II suppose you had
never drawn a check before"
Never" she conceded.
"And this was merely a test. You
set up your dream against the hard
common n OF a bank, which has
no dreams. You were to transform
your vision into the actual or find it
vanish. When the commonplace cash
Ter passed forth the coin, their Jingle
said to you, The supposed p%hantasy is
real,' but the gold pieces themselves at
that supreme moment meant no more
to you than SO many worthless count
them"
She looked up at him, her eyes,
though moist, illumined with pleasure
inspired by the sympathy in his tones
rather than the import of his words.
The girls life heretofore had been as
scant of kindness as of cash, and there
was a deep sincerity in his voice which
was as refreshing to her lonesome
heart as it was new to her experience.
This man was not SO stupid as he had
pretended to be. BE had accurately
OWNED the inner meaning of what had
happened. She had forgotten the ne
cessity for haste which had been so
importunate a few minutes before.
"You must be a mind reader" she
said.
mo, I am not at all a clever person."
he laughed. Indeed, as I told you, I
am always laundering into trouble and
making things uncomfortable for my
friends. I regret to say I am rather
under a cloud just now in the service,
and 1 have been called upon to endure
the frown Of my superiors."
why, what has %happened?' she
asked. After their temporary halt at
the corner where they had been over
taken they now strolled along together
like old friends, her prohibition out of
mind.
"Well, you see, l was temporarily in
command of the cruiser coming down
the Baltic, and passing an island rock
be a good opportunity to test a new
gun that had been put aboard when
we left England. The sea was very
calm and the rock most temptsome.
Of course l knew it was Russian terri
tory, but who could have imagined
that such a point in space was inhab-
tied by anything else than %seagulls?"
"What!' cried the girl, looking up at
him with new interest. You don't
mean to say you are the officer that
Russia demanded from England and
England refused to give upT'
"Oh, England could not give me up.
of course, but she apologized and as
sured Russia she had no evil intent.
Still, anything that sets the diploma
lists at work is frowned upon, and the
man who does an act which his govern
ment is forced to disclaim becomes
unpopular with his superiors."
II read about it in the papers at the
time. Didn't the rock fire back at
your
Eyes, it did, and nc n could have
been more surprised than l when I
saw the answering puff of smoke"
GLOW came q cannon to be there?'
Nobody knows. l suppose that rock
in the Baltic Is a concealed fort, With
galleries and gun rooms cut in the
stone after the fashion of our defenses
at Gibraltar. l told the court martial
that l had added a valuable bit of in
formation to our naval knowledge, but
1 don't suppose this contention exer-
cised any influence on the minds of
my judges. I also called their atten-
ton to the fact that my shell had hit,
while the Russian shot fell half a mile
short. That remark nearly cost me my
commission, Acourt martial has no
sense of humor.''
II suppose everything is satisfactory
ly settled now|
"Well, hardly that. You see, CONT
mental nations are extremely suspi-
cious Of Britain's good intentions, as
indeed they are of the good intentions
of each other. No government likes
to have-well. what we might call a
frontier incident happen, and even if
a country is quite in the right 1t never
theless looks askance at any official Of
its own who through his stupidity
brings about an international compli-
cation. AS concerns myself, I am
rather under a cloud, as / told you.
The court martial acquitted me, but
1t did so with reluctance and a warn
ing. I shall have to walk very straight
for the next year or two and be care
full not to stub my toe, for the eyes Of
the admiral are upon me. However, I
think l can straighten this matter out.
I have six months leave coming on
shortly, which I intend to spend in St.
Petersburg. I shall make it my bust
ness to see privately some of the off,
Gals in the admiralty there, and when
they realize by personal inspection
what a we'll intentioned idiot I am all
distrust will vanish
Il should do nothing of the kind" re-
joined the girl earnestly, quite forget
ting the shortness Of their acquaint-
ance. as she had fOrpotten the Aioht