The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1915-04-08
CHAPTER l.
IN. Message From Tho o,ep.

syelng the unresponslve blue envelope
that lay on the end OF the long table
nearest the fireplace, where a merry
but unnoticed bed OF Goals cracked
6ercely In the vain effort to cry down
the shrieks OF the bleak December
wind that whistled about the corners
pi the house.
There was something maddeninG In
the fact that the envelope would have
20 remain unopened until young Fred
srick Brood came home for the night
They found themselves wondering II
BY any chance he would fail to come
IN at all Their hour for retiring was
Zen o'clock, day in, day out.
Up TO half-past nine they discussed
the blue envelope with every inmate
OF the house, from Mrs. John Des-
nond, the housekeeper, down 10 the
toiceless but eloquent decanter Of port
that stood between them, first on the
arm OF one chair, then the other They
we're very old men; they could solilo-
suize without In the least disturbing
each other. An observer would say.
during these periods OF abstraction,
lhat their remarks we're addressed to
ahe decanter and that the poor decan.
ler had something to say in return.
But, for all that, their eyes seldom left
The broad, blue envelope that had lain
there since half.past eight
They knew that Il came directly or
Indirectly from the man to whom they
owed their present condition OF com.
iort and security after half century
Of vioissitudes; from the man whose
Hfe they had saved more than once
10 those old, evil days when comforts
we're so few that they passed without
recognition In the maelstrom Of
svents. From midocean James Brood
vas speaking to his son.
Twenty years ago these two old Gro
MES had met James Brood in one OF
the baekest holes OF Calcutta, dere-
lct being swept to perdltion with the
swiftness and sureness OF tide that
knows no pause They found him
when the dregs we're at his lips, and
the stVpOr OF defeat In his brain.
Without meaning to be considered
samaritans. good or bad, they dragged
him from the depths and found that
they had revived man. Those we're
ihe days when James Broods life
meant nothing to him. days when he
was tortured by the thought that II
would be all too long for him to en-
dure, yet he was not the kind TO mur-
der himself as men do who lack the
courage TO go on living
Weeks after the rescue in Calcutta
these two soldiers OF fortune and an
other, John Desmond. learned from
the lips OF the man himself that he
was not such as they, but rich in this
worlds goods, richer than the Solo
mon OF their discreet Imagination.
What Brood told them OF his life
brought the grim smile OF appreciation
to the lips Of each. He had married a
beautiful foreigner-an Austrian. they
gathered-of excellent family, and had
taken her to his home in New York
city, to the house in lower Fifth ave.
nue. where his father and grandfather
had lived before him-the house IN
which two OF the wayfarers after
twenty years, now sat in rueful con.
temptation OF blue envelope,
A baby boy came TO the Broods In
the second year OF their welded life,
but before that there had come
mana music master, dreamy-eyed,
handsome, Latin; a man who played
upon the harp as only the angels may
play. In his dellrious rawlings Brood
cursed this man and the wife he had
stolen away from him: he revlled the
baby boy, even denying him: he
laughed with blood.curdling glee over
the manner In which he had cast out
the woman who had broken HIS heart
and crushed his pride; he walled IN
anguish over the mistake he had made
In allowing the man to live that he
might gloat and sneer IN triumph. This
much the three men who lifted him
from hell we're able 10 CLEAN from lips
that knew not what they said. and
they we're filed with pity. Later on,
In a rational weakness, he told them
more, and without curses. A deep.
silent, steadfast bitterness succeeded
ne violent rawlings. He became a way.
iarer with them, quiet logged, fatal;
where they went he also went: what
they did, also did he. Soon he led, and
they followed. Into the dark places
Of the world they plunged, for peril
meant little to him, death even less.
They no longer knew days Of priva.
tlon-he shared his wealth with them:
but they knew no rest, no peace. no
tafety. Life had been a whirlwind be-
fore they came upon James Brood: II
was hurricane afterward.
Twice John Desmond, younger than
Danbury Dawes and Joseph Riggs.
saved the life Of James Brood BY
acts Of unparalleled heroism: once in
a South African jungle when a lion.
ess fought for her young, and again
In upper India, when single-handed.
he held off a horde OF Hindus for
days while his comrade lay wound.
ed in cavern. Dawes and Riggs,
IN the Himalayas, crept down the
wall OF a precipice. with FIVE thou
sand feet between them and the
bottom of the gorge, to drag him from
~-~~~~~~~-~o~~~-~-~Oo0~
WHY A DOG WAGS ITS TAIL