Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-06-20

The COURIER 7
the question is wnetnet or not a 10,
more of them are to be made. You
know what an %opinionated beast Old
Crouch is. Well, my boy, you have cor
roborated his opinion of the gun in
every detail. He is such a brow beat
ing, tyrannical brute that the rest Of
the committee would rather like to go
against him if they dared, but you have
put a spoke in their wheel. Why, Sir
John never said "thank YOU to a hui
man being since he was born until
twenty-seven minutes and fifteen Sec
onds after II this morning, as you
would put it, and at the time of writ
ing this letter this surmise of Billy's
appears to be justified, for the tape in
the club just nov announced that the
committee has unanimously decided in
favor Of the gun, and adds that this is
regarded as a triumph for the chair
man, Admiral Sir John Pendergest,
with various letters after his name.
Dear Miss Amhurst, this letter, as 1
feared, has turned out intolerably long,
and, like Dur first conversation, it is all
about myself. But then, you see, you
are the only n on the other side of
the water to whom I have confided my
selfish worries, and I believe you to be
so kind hearted that I am sure you
| will not censure me for this once tx
ceeding the limits of friendly CORE
spondence. Having been deeply de-
pressed during all the previous long
days, the sudden reaction urges me to
go out into Pail Mall, fling my cap in
the air and whoop, which action is
quite evidently a remnant of my for
mer cowboy aspirations. Truth to tell,
the Russian business seems already
forgotten except by my stout old cap
tain on the CONSERVATION or my IN
Gle. The strenuous Sir John has had
me hailed across the ocean merely to
give testimony, lasting about thirty
five minutes, when, with a little pa
tience, he might have waited till the
CONSERVATION herself arrived or else
have cabled for us to try the gun at
Bar Harbor. 1 suppose, however, that
after my unfortunate contretemps with
Russia our government was afraid I'd
chip a corner off the United States and
that they'd have to pay for it. So per-
haps, after all, it was greater economy
to bring me across on the liner Enthu-
siana.
by the way, l learned yesterday
that the CONSERVATION has been Or
dered home, and so / expect to see
Jack Lamont before many days are
past. The ship will be paid off at
Portsmouth, and then 1 suppose he and
1 will have our freedom for six months.
I am rather looking forward to Jacks
cooking me some weird but tasteful
Russian dishes when we reach his
blacksmith's shop in st. Petersburg.
If l get on in Russia, as / hope and
expect, 1 shall spend the rest of my
leave over in the States. l saw very
little indeed of that great country and
am extremely anxious to see more.
When n is on duty aboard ship n
can only take very short excursions
ashore. l should like to visit Niagara.
1t seems ridiculous that one should
have been all along the American coast
from Canada to New York and never
have got far enough inland to view the
great falls.
Russia is rather dilatory in her
methods, but I surely should know
within two or three weeks whether I
am going to succeed or not. If not,
then there is no use in waiting there.
l shall try to persuade the prince to &C.
company me to America. During the
weeks am waiting in st. Petersburg
shall continually impress upon him
the utter futility of a life which has
not investigated the great electrical
power plant at Niagara Falls. And
then he is interested in the educational
system of the United States. While
we were going to the station early that
morning he told me that the United
States educational system must be the
most wonderful in the world, because
he found that your friend, Miss Kath-
crime Kempt, knew more about cleo
tricity, metallurgy, natural philosophy
and a great number of other things he
is interested in than all the ladies he
has met in Europe put together. He
thinks that's the right sort of educa-
ton for girls, and all this rather as
tonished me, because, although your
friend was most charming, she said
nothing during my very short acquaint-
ance with her to lead me to suspect
that she had received a scientific train.
ing.
Dear Miss Amhurst, l am looking
every day for a letter from you, but
none has yet been received by the ad-
miralty, who when they get one will
forward it to whatever part of the
world / happen to be in"
CHAPTER VIII.
SUMMER hotel that boasts j
thousand acres of forest, more