Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-11-02


the honorable disabilities of gentle
man. But don't set it all down to v1r-
tue. Maybe you haven't hads the 'op-
portunitys maybe the temptation never
came and found you weak and thirsty
Put away your sinful pride, Solomon
sot like you has no business with the
little niceties Of self-respect."
do drink alone?" insisted Ma
haffy doggedly.
ct never give you the chance" re-
torted his friend. Mr.. Mahaffy drew
near the table. "sit down." urged
the Judge. ~ :.
Il hope you feel mean?" said Ma
haffy. a
,'Ifit's any satisfaction to you, do"
admitted the Judge. "
"You ought to-" Mahaffy drew for
ward chair. The judge filled his
glass, But Mr.. Mahaffy's lean face,
with its long Jaws and high cheek
bones, over which the sallow skin was
tightly drawn, did not relax In its for
bidding expression, even when he mad
tossed off his first glass.
IT love to see you in a perfectly ma.
tural attitude like that. Solomon, with
your arm crooked. !, What's the news
from the landing?" 81.
Mahaffy brought his fist down on the
table.
II heard the boat churning away
round back Of the bend, then I saw the
lights, and she tied up and they tossed
away again and her lights got back OF
the trees on the bank. There was the
lap of waves on the shore, and was
left with the half-dozen miserable
loafers wrod crawled out to see the
boat come in. That's the news six
days a week." .'
BY the river had come the Judge,
tentatively hopeful, but at, heart ex'
pecting nothing, therefore immune to
idissappontment and equipped for fall
ure. BY the river had come Mr.. Ma
haffy as unfit as the Judge himself
and for the same reason, but sour and
bitter with the, world, believing always
! in the possibility Of some miracle OF
regeneration. ,.- ..-. h.
Personalities weekly paper. The
Genius of Liberty, had dwelt at length
upon thise distinguished services
Judge Slocum Price had rendered the
nation in war and peace, the judge
having graciously furnished an array OF
facts otherwise difficult of access. That
he was drunk at the time had but adj
| ed to the splendor of the narrative.
He had placed his ripe wisdom, the
talents he had so assiduously cultivated,
at the services of his fellow citizens.
He was prepared to represent them in
| any or all the courts. But he had re-
NAMED undisturbed lin his condition of
preparedness that erudite brain was
unconcerned with any problem beyond
financing his thirst at the tavern,
where presently ingenuity. though IT
expressed itself with silver tongue
failed him. and he realized that the
rivers spent floods had left him strand.
ed with those other odds and ends OF
worthless drift that numbered its sun
scorehed mud banks.
Something OF all this passed through
his mind as he sat there sodden and
dreamy; with the one fierce need of his
nature. quieted for, the moment. He
had been stranded before, many times,
in those long years during which ne
had moved steadily toward a dimin-
ishing heritage; indeed. nothing that
was evil could contain the shock of a
new experience. He had fought and
lost all his battles-bitter struggles to
think of even now, after the lapse OF
years. and the little he had to tell OF
himself was an intricate mingling OF
truth and falsehood. grotesqne exag.
geration, purposeless mendacity.
He and Mahaffy had met exactly one
month before, on the deck OF the
steamer from which they had been put
ashore at the river landing two miles
from Pleasantville. Mahaffy's historic
era had begun just there. Apparently
he had no past of which he, could be
brought to speak. He admitted nav
/ ing been born In Boston some sixty
years before. and was a printer by
trade: further than this, he had not
revealed himself, drunk or sober.
At the Judges elbow Mr.. Mahaffy
changed his position with nervous sud.
denness. Then he's folded his long
arms. . 49, T.
"You asked II there was any news,
Price: while we were waiting for the
boat a raft tied up to the bank; the
fellow aboard of 1t had man he'd
f1shed up out Of the river, a man who'd
been pretty we'll cut to pieces" +.
who was he?" asked the Judge.
Nobody knew. and he wasn't con.
scious. / shouldn't be surprised If he
never opens his lips again. When the
doctor had looked to his cuts, the fel
low on the raft cast of and went on
down the Elk"
It occurred to the Judge that he him
self had news to impart He must ac
count for the boys presence.
while you've been taking your
Whit of life down at the steamboat
landing. Mahaffy, I've been experience
ling most extraordinary coincidence.
The Judge paused. BY sullen glance
| In his deep-sunk eyes Mr.. Mahaffy
seemed to bid him go on. "Bacl
II