El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-05
The Somnambulist
A short story.

- our conversation in the army
club. Each officer opened his letters,
or began to study his paper, and for a
long while no sound was heard
Suddenly Capt AlIardyce, who was
reading the Telegraph" exclaimed:
wharton is dead, and dead in a very
strange manner"
what! Wharton dead?' everybody
cried.
yes. here it is under the heading,
Accident OF Suicide? Mysterious Death
Of Mai. Richard Wharton said Altar
dvce. then rapidly read the following
Z" A death which viii make deep I'M
Dression in military circles IS reported
from Bransbury. Richard Wharton, ma
Tor of First Essex infantry, was found
dead under circumstances which DO
not exclude the posslDlnty OF sGlclae.
About 10 o'clock last night workman
passing the bridge across the river. no
iced a well dressed man walking along
the narrow railing He was greatly
Wharton, who was calmly balancing
himself like tight rope walker Al
the moment when ne was ABOUT 10
sneak to the major, the latters loot
Skinned and he fell into the river. lie
aid not rise to the surface again, but
several hours later his body was found
by a bargeman. An accident seems most
unlikely, for the railing Is certainly
no reasons. however. which point TO
suicide, as the major was quite wealthy
and few hours before was in the best
Of spirits
wharton did not commit suicide. said
Merton. His death was an accident"
You are thinking OF the golden UNI
brella?" a dozen voices asked
Yes. am thinking OF the golden UNI
brelIa" said Merton Il am she lily
one who knows everything about that
daring feat. I had promised Wharton
to say nothing about II Is ipnS as ne
was alive but now that he is dead
there is no reason why / Scould not tell
YOU. the more so since tn tale viii con .
vince you that Whas-on did not ccm-=:ir
"Daring the last aart Of he Batabele
war il looked for a while, YOU viii re-
member as IL fate mad turned against
US a large body - the enemy nae
succeeded in entrenchiH themselves IN
the pass Of Bulagu TsJ'-O- The walls or
this pass were smooth INC perpendic-
ular and way ID OF the Mount - J.
side the famous chieftain, 5yapf, 1ad
"On a summit V hlch lowered above
the others like q loaf & sugar. he had
fastened his famous sOi5 state Gm0rel-
Ia. the sign OF his ro|"r ana lnNlnc.-
bility. How they ever got II up there
is a mystery. for the max bat 2cTesi as
a flagstaff was as smJ'eh as class
Wharton at that time was a first
myself with the ridiculous small h-'ly
of men that had been sent 20 attack
JynajIs stronghold. He freUted be
cause we could accO npliSl nothing. the
more so as 1t might be weeks cefors
we were reinforced
zone evening he said 10 me:
g Tt won't do to remain idle here Ike
this, Merton We must do something
1 have plan, and though II is rather
risky. I think we have a CHARGE Of sue
cess. Pick out 10 OF our bravest men
and tell them 20 be ready at II o'clock
tonight Give the men the strictest in
Structions TO make no noise whatever
The hoOfs Of the horses must be
wrapped in canvas 1 am going to bed
row to get a few hours rest Gail me
q few minutes before IL
I did as / was told and We were all
ready in time. but just as 1 was going
TO call " hartOn ne came out OF his
tent wearing only mantle. As the
night was SulIry, however, / thought
nothing of this " harton mounted his
horse in silence and We followed him as
noiselessly as shadows The moon was
young and its light rather faint but 1t
served TO dispel the darkness
After a ride Of half an hour Whar-
ton raised his arm and We stopped We
were close to the MatabeleS and could
plainly see their dark bodies around the
SmOulderlng camp t1reS. Wharton threw
his mantle across his saddle anu dis
mounted. Then he went OOwn on his
hands and knees and began TO creep to-
wards the rock. lie seemed TO carry
out some carefully laid plan and never
hesitated for a moment
We saw him getting farther and
farther away and feared every mo-
ment that the enemy would discover
him be crept forward like snake
and disappeared from our sight.
Suddenly We saw him again, a lit
tie way up the rock that held the gold
en- umbrella He seemed to examine IL
carefully and crept on in supr eme con-
tempt Of death. Higher and higher he
mounted, till at last he stood on a small
ridge at the foot Of the cOnical summit
mentS hesitation and he climbed up
ward. At last we understood his
scheme. He wanted TO capture the
golden umbrella, which we could see
shimmering in the moonlight It was
crazy bit Of daring and there was not
a man present who did not think Whar-
ton mad.
He reached the top inch by inch.
seized the umbrella and climbed down
with ii with the agility Of a cat When
he reached the narrow ridge he fastened
the closed umbrella on his back and
after what seemed to US an eternity OF
agOnizing suspense he was back amOnS
US Then he handed me the umbrella,
put on his mantle and led US back in
silence.
When we reached the camp he dis
mounted without a word and went in
side OF his tent We were now all. posi-
tive that he must be insane.
4 entered the tent and found him
fast asleep. / took hold of his arm
and shook him. He rubbed his eyes
and stared ut me.
What is the matter. Merton he
asked. Are the Matabeles attacking
No, but you We're acting so strange
y that you scared me-
oh, 1 understand now. It is II
o'clock / slept so hard that I forgot all
about it. Are you ready"
What do you mean2 Are you still
asleep? Don't you remember the golden
UMBRELLA
What about ftP he cried.
How did 1t get here2' he asked, and
held his head between his hands
Don't you remember that you
brought 1t down yOurself2
Il looked at him sharply He was
silent awhile and then he spoke:
Merton he said. promise me YOU
won't speak of this to anyone as lonz
as I am alive. " hat 1 have done. I did
in my sleep. It all seems to come back
like dream 1 have been a sleep.
walker from childhood and had many
narrow escapes from death. But YOU
must never tell The men would never
trust me again il they knew What I
have done tonight would be impossible
to any man il he were awake, but IT
viii bring us luck You know how su-
perStitiOus the negroes are. The loss OF
the umbrella will make them run away
They Will think We possess supernat-
ural power. You don't know how happy
1 feelr
His prophecy came true Prisoners
told us that the loss of the golden UNI