The Red Cloud chief., 1914-08-13

came to me. l leaped over the wall
and held before Dave q new twenty
dollar gold. piece father had given me
that morning. 1t bought his Grafton"
Wentworth paused as II In IN en-
barrassment OF shame. Merry watched
him In silence.
Il feel-even now-the reluctant
grip with which Dave held on 10 those
sheets Of blurred foolscap. I neve
gave q thought to what I had done.
Every moment for twenty-four hours
was needed to commit Dawes speech
to memory. My father, proud and hap
py. gave me another twenty-dollar
g%old-piece. I carried 1t to Dave. He
refused It.. turning his back on me
with angry scorn. Twenty years later
| met him again. He had gone to
congress and was blasting his way
upwards toward fame. was assigned
to interview him. He remembered me
instantly. For a moment ne stared at
me from head to foot, then he turned
away without a word and never
touched the hand I offered him. My
God! how that hurt" A SILVER went
through the mans body.
THAT happened twenty-five years
ago." said Merry hesitatingly. You
cant lay up a boyhood sin against a
man. He changes-he's almost an.
other human being"
mo. he isn't" answered Wentworth
d~oggedly. II want to show you that
the psychological fellow was In the
right. That was my first fall from
grace; but there vas a second lesion.
1t was worse, worse even than-than
what l did to you, Merry. was out
In the Balkan mountains where the
blamed barbarian Turks go tearing at
each others throats once In so often.
The world looked on. waiting for q
story OF war. l had none to tell, moth.
ing happened but a skirmish or two
once In a while. There was nothing
a man could make into a story. 1t
was q wretched campaign. Young
Forsyth. Of the Tribune. and ! hung
together through 1t for months. living
like stray dogs. sick to death Of our
Job, and ready to throw 1t up at any
moment. One morning at daybreak
we were awakened by shooting. We
scrambled from the cave where we
had slept and looked down into the
valley. We were In the very heart of
a battle, and these savages were climb.
Ing over the rocks with their cutlasses
flashing. They shrieked like maniacs.
the bullets went flying about our
heads. ! crept back to the hole among
the rocks where we had spent the
night. couldn't see what was hap
pening; I didn't want to see. Death
shrieks echoed all around and above
me. 1t was the most hellish din of
battle / ever listened to. | had turned
coward. ] lay there with every tooth
in my head c%hattering. A nice con.
fession for a man to make, eh?" asked
Wentworth with a grim smile.
Merry half rose then dropped back
into his chair Hold on, Enoch, |
swear you're not fit for this sort of
thing! Your temperature will go up.
then the nurse"
Damn the nurse. I'm At enough:
keep still. l wan to finish my story.
Forsyth. the intrepid young fool. went
creeping along the face OF the clifr.
he had lever seen a battle before. !
called to him to lie low, but he never
needed me. Through q crevice In the
rock l saw him stretch his head over
the chasm and crane his neck. then
plunge down and begin to write as II
he were mad. Once l sneaked out
n tried to drag him In beside me.
He fought like a wildcat. so l went
back to shelter. The bullets pinged on
the rocks all around me. Suddenly
heard a low. gurgling, awful cry and
somebody called my name in a hoarse
shout. 1t was Forsyth. ! crept out.
lie stood on a cliff above me. clutch
Ing at his throat. then he toppled and
iell. He came plunging down over the
rocks until he reached my feet. He
was dead. stark dead, when | pulled
him into the I'VE His notebook was
clutched SO tight In his hand that
tore a corner from one page as | took
1t from his fingers. l buried him RICH,
there.
After a little while the battle fiz
zled down to a stray shot or two. Tha,
night under the CLEAN of a sputterins
little torch l read Forsyth's story. /
was tremendous-perfectly tremen
unexpectedly tremendous! 1t reat
like inspired stuff. had never
dreamed the fellow had such q vocab
ulary, And he lay there close besid,
me, asleep-under the damp. warm
soft earth. had a ut of the horrors
l put out my light, stuffed the page,
Of writing In my pocket. then wen
doubling and twisting down those will,
mountains, lodging the enemy's camp
ires and their internal bullets, unit
| reached the miserable little town II
the valley We two men had on
headquarters. l hurried to the tele
graph office to send out Forsyth's stor
to the Tribune, with the news of hi
death. ] was waiting to get the wir
when somebody handed me a cable
\ tonEn6 nj IL hu1f-dayaI \, 49, -