Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-07-28

ers are thrifty intelligent and will fight
for their rights. There are lawyers
among them, he says. rs well as jewel
diggers and fishermen"
''Skagss and Lady Deppingham's
grandfather were the only white men
who ever lived there long enough to
find out what the island had stored up
for civilization. That's why they bought
it outright. but I'm hanged if l can see
why he wants to give 1t back to the
natives"
Perhaps he owes it to them. He
doubtless bought it for song, and,
contrary to all human belief, he may
have resurrected conscience. Any
how, there remains Il chance for the
heirs to break the will"
1T. can't be done. Hare; 1t can't be
done. It's us clean an instrument as
ever survived man"
1t is by this time safe for the reader
to assume that Mr. Taswell Skaggs
had been rich man and therefore
privileged to be eccentric. He came of
a sound old country family III upper
England, but seems to have married
bit above his station. His wife was serv-
ing as governess in the home of Il Ger
tain earl when Taswell won her heart
and dragged her from the exalted posi-
ton of minding other peoples children
into the less conspicuous one of caring
for her own
Their only son was killed by run
away horse when he was twentss, and
their daughter became the wife of an
American named Browne when she
was scarcely out of her teens. 1t was
then that Mr.. Skaggs, practically child
less, determined to make himself Wife
less as we'll
He magnanimously decided the lln-
entailed farm to his wife, turned his
securities into cash and then set forth
upon voyage of exploration. 1t is
common history that upon one dark,
still night in December he said goodby
forever to the farm and its mistress,
but it is doubtful if either of them
heard him.
10 be Jolly well even" with him
Mrs. Skaggs did Il most priggish thing.
She died six months later, but before
doing so she made Il will in which she
left the entire estate to her daughter,
effectually depriving the absent hus-
band Of any chance to reclaim his
own
Taswell Siaggs was in Shanghai
when he heard the news. 1t was on Il
Friday. Ills informant was that erst-
While friend Jack Wyckholme. Nat
I,.nIlv fall
with the fate which permitted him to
capitulate when unconditional surren-
der was SO close at hand. His Ian,
guage for one brief quarter of an hour
did more to upset the progress of Chris
tian endcavor in the far cast than all
the idols in the Chinese empire.
There's nawthin' in England for me,
Jackie. My gals Il bloomin' foreigner
by this time. and she'll sell the bleedin'
farm. of course. She's an American,
God bless 'er cart. i dare say if I'd
so TO 'er and say I'd like my farm back
| again she'd want to fork hover but Ter
husband wouldn't be for that sort of
heytravagance. ED boot me off the
hisland."
"The United States isn't an island,
Tazzy," explained Mr.. Wyckholme,
gulping his brandy and soda.
Mr.. Wyckholmc was the second son
of Sir Somebody-or-other and had mar
ried the Wears daughter. This put
him into such bad odor with his fam
fly that he hurried off to the dogs-and
n goodly sized menagerie besides if the
records OF the inebriate's asylum are
to be credited. His wife, after endur.
ing him for sixteen years. secured q
divorce. Accepting the world as his
home, he ventured forth to visit every
nook and Granny of it. In course of
time he came upon his old time
neighbor and boyhood friend. Taswell
Skaggs, in the city Of Shanghai. Nei-
ther of them had seen the British isles
in two years or more.
Gov do you know" demanded Tas-
I well.
Haven't | been there. old chap? A
year or more? It's a rotten big place
where gentlemen aspire to sell gloves
and hankerchicfs and needlework over
the shop counters. You know. Tazzy,
could well afford to staive, and
wouldn't sell things. so | came away.
But it's no island"
well, that's neither here nor there,
Jackie. i ';lven't Il ONE, and you
'aven't u 'ome, and we're wanderers on
the face of the earth. My wife played
me Il beastiy trick, dyin' like that.
l say marriage is Il bloomin' nut.
sance.''
Marriage, ny boy, is The GONZALES
cence from love affair. One wants
to get out the worst way, but has to
stay in till he's jolly well cured. For
my part. I'm never going back to Eng
land"
Nor l. 1t would be just like me,
jackie, TO ave relapse and never get
out again.
The old friends took an inventory
Jack Wyckholme, genteman's son and
ne'er-do-well possessed 70 and frac
ton, an appetite and excellent spirits,
while Taswcll Skaggs exhibited bal
ancc of f1,000 in Shanghai bank. u
fairly successful trade in Celestial ne
cessities and an unbounded eagerness
to change his luck.
II have a proposition TO make to you,
Tazzy," said Mr.. Wyckholme late in
the night.
81 think I'll listen to ii. Jackie" re-
piled Mr.. Skaggs, quite soberly
AS the outcome of this midnight
proposition Taswell Skaggs and John
Wyckholme arrived two months later
Mt the tiny island of .lapat, somewhere
south of the Arabian sea. there to re-
main until their dying days and there
TO accumulate the wealth which gave
the first named Il chance to make an
extraordinary will. For thirty years
they lived on the island of Japat.
Wyckholme preceded, skaggs to the
grave by two winters. and he willed