The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-14

 into his mouth, which it enlarged to the ears. With another cut he disabled his wrist.
 Then some members of the crew struck him down. When he recovered he found himself bare of everything except trousers and shirt. His clothes, watch and 50 guineas had all been stolen by the sailors. He crawled inland with painful efforts till he reached a house. It was owned by naval officers widow. Mrs. Sage ly, who took him in and nursed him till his wounds were healed. Then she ad- vised him seriously against going to London, for Crampley had accused him of mutiny.
 1 She counseled him to lie hidden under | an assumed name. He thought the ad- vice good, but he was penniless and would not drain the purse of his benefactress. Foyced by circumstances to swallow his | pride, he did it with a hearty gulp and l obtained a position as footman with a wealthy but cratic spinster, Miss Tope- hall, the aunt of a rich young squire of the neighborhood.
 Hardly had Random begun to accustom himself to the livery of lackey be- 1 fore its burden was made unbearably galling He saw the sister of Squire | Topehall; and from that moment life had no other thought, no other pleasure, no other dream and no other pain save i Narcssa.
 1 She discovered soon that he was oc- cupying position foreign to him and in spite of herself betrayed an interest in him that only intensified Roderick Ran dom's wretchedness, for he deemed him. self sentenced to a life of poverty and | could think of Narcissa only as an un- attainable star.
 His only solace was to see her, but even that was not to be his long, for one day one of her brothers drunken friends insulted her. Roderick struck him down and left him stunned and bleeding.
 Knowing that the man was a magis- trate and could count o1 the support oi his fellow magistrates to punish the pre- sumption of a mere footman, Random realized that he would have to suffer if he waited to be taken, for he could moi
 explain his conduct and thus draw Mar.
 cissas name into the scandal.
 In his excitement he told her he must
 flee, confessed to her that he was gen
 tleman in misfortune and told her tha1
 he loved her.
 Not waiting for an answer, he fled iron
 her sight and made his way to the ses
 shore, where some smugglers took hin
 aboard and landed him in France
 In a poor tavern by the waterside h,
 saw a figure that looked familiar. H,
 touched the man on the shoulder ant
 found that it was his uncle, Tom Bowl
 ing, quite destitute. He was clad in rag
 and had not eaten for two days.
 Hastily Roderck Random ordered foo, and then told him that Captain Oakun
 was alive and that he could return t England safely, as there were many wit nesses who would swear that the com mander had given the provocation tha justified duel. He pressed nearly all hi | savings on the lieutenant and saw him ol next morning for Deal. When he turne
 away he wondered what he should do, fo
 he had little money left. A courtly gentle , man whom he trusted soon relieved hr ) | of that little, and Random found himsel ; penniless again without being at all abl to inure himself to it, despite the fire , quency with which fate treated him to | Hunger drove him to enlist in Frenc 1, regiment where he soon learned that h
 r. had merely exchanged complete starvatio | in private to semi-starvation with officis sanction He had acquired merely tn , privilege of covering hungry carcas
 with a bright uniform and of risking loss of miserable existence in battles fo a cause that he neither admired no wished to admire. The only profit tha accrued to him was that he became , thorough master of swordsmanship. , One day in Rheims he saw sentlema l dressed in elegant mourning, and to hi