Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-30
MES today, if he's going to ride them

HieS To-Day, IL ne S going TO ride them
all like that
| They watched the game in silence
for time, fascinated by the pace of
the dancing ies-Vandraken. at
least; Abinger was less keen. Doing
anything tonight?" inquired the youth
after awhile.
Nothing particular" answered Van
draken, as the second quarter ended.
Il was thinking Of asking you to
come and do music hall or some
thing. Fact is, l don't know the ropes
yet. Ancestor is bored with all that
sort OF thing; had enough of it, he
says"
Look here!" confided Abinger. eff
you don't mind spending some sop l
can put you on to something really
worth while in the way of spree,
only you'll have to pay for me too.
I'm broke"
Only too glad I'm having an awful
time trying to spend my income
ITS the Devi-may-care Club" said
Abipger, in low voice. "You won't
have much trouble spending your in
come there, or your capital, either
It's very good of you, Abinger
"Oh, that's all right" replied the
youth airily GO on my /. o. U. for
a thousand?"
NO" said Vandraken, 81 won't
But I'll lend you thousand, payable
at death, you know, without inter
est"
| What lucky devil you are!" NUT
tered Abinger enviously.
! tOO1< tharoi rloi UouHro
ken, as the spectators began to ap-
plaud Ancestor has got a goal for
Ranelagh! | don't believe Abdul and
who is Abdul?" asked Abinger.
"a 'bookey?"
Lord Ancestor had forced the pace
too much during the first half of the
game His men were tired, and at the
beginning of the last quarter Hurting.
ham got two goals in rapid succession
then played on the defensive. How
ever, during the last five minutes they
worked the ball down the field. Then
out Of struggle dangerously near
the Ranelagh goal, Lord Ancestor
suddenly emerged with the ball By
marvellous combination of skill and
luck he had carried it through every
one but the back and came down the
held at terrific pace On Squirrel,
one of the fastest ponies in England
Two of the Nottingham men, who
also rode fast ponies were racing
him, half a length behind The back
was further forward than he should
have been. Lord Ancestor smashed
the ball past him, on an angle, and
raced after it.
The spectators were frantic with
excitement. Vandraken had almost
ceased TO breathe. Even the massed
bands had stopped playing. Lord An
cester had the ball fairly in front Of
the birmingham goal. He stood up in
his stirrups to give the final stroke
Then, like an equestrian statue,
crumbling in plaster, man and pony
came to the ground! A valve had
gone in squirrels heart
Fate has decided murmured
Vandraken.
Decided what?" asked Abinger.
Il don't believe in dreams, any
way, was all the anewer he got, and
the conversation shifted to the Devil
may-care club.
CHAPTER V.
Fabian Dare handed his last coppers
to the gilt-haired girl behind a certain
bar in Leicester Square. The con-
tract between his shabby, disreputable
clothes and well-bred good looks
caused the barmaid to cast him
glance of contemptuous curiosity as
she handed him the beer and sand.
witch he mad called for.
He was a young man of about
twenty-one. whose face would have
been Byronic were it not for a hope
less, hunted ook-pathetically sug-
gestive of a thoroughbred dog which
has been chased through a sum. He
looked at the girl meditatively as he
drank his beer. When he put down
the empty glass he shook his head
meaningly, as though he had delivered
verdict against something; then he
walked across to the Square, and sat
down tiredly on an empty bench
Only one of the occupants of the other
benches looked up as he took his
place among the broken men who sa.
or slept, disconsolately, in Leicester
Square. That man eyed him with
great interest, through piercing, mock
ing eyes, but Fabin Dare was uncon-
scious of it.
In every great city west of Suez
there are certain squares and parks
where, from the sea of humanity, the
surges of life cast up it's shipwrecked
mariners. 1t was about five o'clock
in the afternoon when Fabian Dare sat
down in Leicester Square. AS 1t was
a summer evening. only the tallest
of the surrounding buildings threw it's
shadow across the benches and the
statues of the philanthropists. Some
of the men slept, their heads thrown
back at horribly suggestive angle;
one mans neck had a brilliant red
handkerchief round it, carrying out
the unpleasant idea of throat which
had just been cut A black cat
stalked pigeon with all the craft
and subtlety of it's jungle ancestors,
but the pigeon, though appearing
blandly unconscious till the cat was
f1attened out on it's stomach, a few
feet away, always fluttered on at the
critical moment, and the black cat
had to begin all over again. But he
never took his eyes off the pigeon,
any more than the black looking man.
4. 10 e. - p.~l~