The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-18
THE EVENING STORY
Not Even an Earthquake.
fRv M T phfIlipS

TBy M. ]. Phillipsl
Tell you what said Tergott, Tets
fire 20 shots apiece. Low score digs
out and leaves a clear field to the
other fellow. What you say?' !.
| Disbrow said nothing for time. He
| was considering his friends PROPOSE
ton They were both IN love with
Belle McNee. Though they had worked
| side by side for year, that fact had
| never been referred to before.
Tergott was fair-haired and blue
| eyed. One looked at him and supposed
Tergott to be frank and straightfor-
reliable. Thin, dark, Disbrow was also
belied by his looks. At first glance
strangers thought him sly. whereas he
was only shy. He had no genius OF
| inventiveness or brilliancy--but he had
way of carrying through what ne be-
gan.
The young men were mechanical
craftsmen in a big western plant. The
superintendent thought they were great.
Tergott gave oft bright ideas as a fire
| gives off sparks. but he could not snare
| them with practically. Working on a
| Tergott idea, Disbrow pegged away I'M
| til the thing was done, to the glory of
the superintendent among his superiors.
They We're a handy pair to have around.
They were enthusiastic national
guardsmen, and every Saturday half
| holiday found them on the rifle range
at practice. Just now they were lying
on the thousand yard point. Three-fifths
\ OF a mile away the sc inch bull s-eye
vavered in the heat mirage. a minute
black speck that often seemed to wink
| cut for moment.
| The rivals were both clever rifle :
i men; but Disbrow was off form to-
| Cay. AS he strained his eyes and froze
| mis- muscles at the moment Of firing, a
disquieting vision would float into his
| niind-a vision Of last night, when Ter
| gott and pretty Belle McNee strolled
i i.
| call. A man cannot shoot well when
| a girls eyes stare the bull's-eye out of
| countenance, and tendrills of soft brown
hair twist themselves about his trigger
finger. Cupid knows all about arrows,
| but he is stranger to bullets.
Tergott, the quick, had noted his
! friends abstraction and poor marks
manship, guessed the reason, and so
| made his epochal proposition. He want
ed Disbrow out of the way. He knew
better than Disbrow himself how deep
| an impression that youth had made on
| Belle McNee.
He rolled over on his back and
looked nonchalantly up at the sky,
sion. A fierce anxiety was surging in
the brain behind his comely face. He
was afraid Disbrow would not accept
his challenge; and he did not relish
future months of rivalry. True to his
nature, he wanted to hurry through
| the stress.
Disbrow pondered silently He did
not attribute unworthness to Ter
gott. He believed his friend and rival
had challenged impulsively, never
unfair advantage of his temporary
lapse from form. He thought deeply.
Finally, as Tergott was almost
ready to yell from sheer nervous sus-
pense, he said: ''Ill take you. Bob"
So the momentous match began.
| Thau fired a1farnafa1U TQrOnff CT ri
brilliantly; his first four shots were
bulls eyes. Disbrow. unsteady. grad
ually pulled himself together. He
| crept toward the "bull'' The fifth
shot was in the black.
| When half of the twenty shots had
been fired, Tergott was heartily sick
of the contest. He was still shooting
| we'll. But Disbrow was better. The
| gravity of the occasion sent abstract
ton flying and cleared his troubled
brain.
on the twelfth shot Tergott began
to slip. 1t was not in him to go
through to the end. On the fourteenth
he lost the lead. His twentieth effort
left him margin of three points
only against the last shot of Disbrow.
A four would beat him. and Disbrow
had been getting fives steadily. Unless
a miracle interviewed. he was beaten.
/ A miracle did intervene. Disbrow
choked down his breathing and the
beating of his heart. His aim was
! perfect. But just as his finger
squeezed the trigger, the sun-browned
hills began to blur. The ground crept
and trembIed sickingly. A baby earth
quake was upon them.
Disbrow tried instinctively to re-
lease his pressure on the trigger. but
his brain could not get the message
to his fingers quickly enough. Just
previously it had signaled the muscles
to contact. AS the quake joggled the
muzzle of his rifle off the target, they
did contract. The shot went wild.
The trembling was over in a few
seconds. The frightened markers re-
: turned from the pit from which they
had fled In due time they signaled
to the pair lying pale and thoughtful
J on the firing line. Disbrow had lost
by three points.
He knew. and Tergott knew, that he
had not lost fairly. The firing regula-
lions do not intend that the riflemen
shall buck earthquakes. But Tergott,
the adroit, said quickly:
''Too bad about that miss The
wind veered just before you fired. But
you beat the earthquake"
Disbrow looked at him curiously,
with a lonesome ache in his heart. A
man is likely to feel bereft when he
has lost faith in friend.
Tergott took 1t for granted that ev-
erything was settled. He began to talk
regretfully of Disbrow's early depar-
ture from New Vista. Next day he
wrote to Spokane and got his rival a
place with better pay. By subtle sug-
gestion he set Disbrow's departure a
scant two weeks ahead.
4 Disbrow had lost a friend and a
Sweetheart, and the one hurt almost as
much as the other. He tried to ease
the latter wound by telling himself
philosophically that Belle McNee had
never really been his sweetheart. They
had been friends, and he had taken
her to the beach and the theater But
she was friendly with Tergott, and she
went to places with him. too. Disbrow
had intended telling her, when he had
saved $500 up, that he loved her.
But that was all off now. He had
II far in With yTerontf