The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-04-24
Colonel Bunker
BY M. QUAD
.Dy M. QUAD
Copyright, 1915. BY the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.


mel Bunker al he sat looking out Of the
window-"I was just thinking Of an
incident in my early career as q duel.
list. In fact sub, when this thing caps
about had not yet drawn my rapief
on the field Of honoh. In the southern
town where | first hung out my shin.
gle as lawyer were q dozen gay
bucks Of young men, and was one OF
them.
I'VE were sports, suhf We rode, We
gambled, and we staggered. We talk.
ed about o6r honoh, and we took ne
advice from our elders.
at was 4 wonder we kept clear OF
the duello among our own selves, fol-
we were hotheads. But destiny had
something laid up for us, and at the
proper time we learned what 1t was,
When dapper little man dropped into
the town one day and gave his name
as Professor Mayne and explained that
he was something OF naturalist we
had no idea that his coat covered des.
tiny.
1T was about a week after the pro.
fessors arrival. and none Of US young
blades had made his Acquaintance yet
when six of us sat on the tavern veran.
da OF a summers evening arranging
fox hunt, when the stranger appeared
among us, and. looking directly at me,
he asked:
MAY l have the honoh OF asking
your name?
II gave 1t as Bunker. of co'se
Bunker? Bunkerr he repeated.
Did you evan spell 1t with an H?'
"'Suh! Sub! What do you meanr
"'was the name originally Junkerr
"Egad. sub, the man was deliberately
insulting me.
II always thought I carried things
off very well for first time. raised
my hat. handed him my card/and turn.
ed away. He received it with bow
and also turned.
There you We're, suh-there you
were! A duel for sunrise was arranged
for within an hour, and was hero.
Gould professor of natural his.
tory handle rapier like young buck
who was always at it?
mo, of co'se not and I should play
with him. Should kill or only wound
him? That question could wait and
be settled after the blades had crossed
The most l had to fear. as my friends
told me and as I firmly believed my.
self, was that the professor would eli.
ther' send an abject apology or sneak
away during the night. He did nei
ther, however.
I'VE talked the matter over, and all
the bucks thought ought to run the
professor through the heart and thus
at once establish my reputation, but
I decided that wound that would lay
him up about six weeks would do.
"It was only when the word had been
given and our blades had crossed that
I found out had caught tartar
Why, sub, the professor made me look
Hike Is cents! He disarmed me twice
In ten minutes. He could have killed
me during the next five. but he stayed
his hand.
Eat length. after humiliating me for
the best part Of half an hour he pink
ed me in the shoulder and was out of
1t. l wept bitter tears as the surgeon
dressed my wound. The young bucks
didn't know what to make of 1t, but
agreed that they must find excuse to
challenge the professor until some one
had landed him.
"Egad, sub. they didn't have to go
hunting far for excuses. He brought
them along and laid them at the feet
OF those who waited. He stopped Dick
Bascomb on the street and politely said
| to him:
Sub, nature has made a mistake In
your case
What do you mean, suhY asked
Dick.
"'That your nose is screwed on
crooked
"'Suh, you must answer for this in.
sultr
Yours to command
"A second duel, you see, sub, and
with the same weapons. l wasn't
there to see, but they told me that he
made a bigger monkey of Dick Bas.
comb than he did of me. When he
had made show Of him long enough
he gave him the point In the same
shoulder he had me and walked away
whistling
I'VE had a sensation In that town
now and for fifty miles beyond it. The
professor had made two victims and
was liable to make others, but there
wasn't much feeling against him nor
much sympathy for those who had felt
his steel.
i Joe Beaumont was to be his third
1t was rapiers again. 1 rode to the
grounds to see the duel. Joe went at
1t from the first Hike q butcher with a
long knife and was disarmed every
other minute. He got so mad that he
cried like boy.
1T was the same old story-wounded
In the same shoulder.
"Three smart bucks. Three duels.
"Three arms In three slings.
"Three of us trying to explain why
It wasn't the other fellow who was
pinked.
"It was humiliating, sub, and yet 1t
was the proper remedy. 1t broke up
the cabal and settled US down to take
more serious view of life. As to the
professor, he wasn't naturalist at all,
but a famous fencer. and believe he
was hired by those who wished us well
kr ccv,,o thov,<, ou1 adr,fntptnr kIt. r~xvr