Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-03-03
o.
SCARLET PLAGUE
q JACK LONDON

= <ket.ns aasvwsAAsaN s1spacArw
dark. hairy man. heavy jawsd. slant
browed. fierce eyed. How ! got Of
my horse I do not know. But e
seemed that the next knew Wa
clasping his hand With both Of mine
and crying. would have embraced
him, but he was ever . narfow.mindt
"a. suspicious man. and heodrew away
from me- Yet did ] cling 70 his hanl
and cry"
0ranssr's voice faltsrsd and broke
q the recollection, and the weak tears
streamed down his cheeks while the
boys looked on and giggled.
yet did I cry" he continusd. "ana
desire 70 embrace him. though the
ChaufSsur was brute, perfect brute
tho most abhorrent man have syer
known. His name was STRANGE.
how have forgotten his name
Everybody called him Chau6eur-it
was the name OF his occupation. and
Il stuck. That 10 how. to this day.
the tribe he founded 10 called the
Chauffeur tribe.
He was violent, unjust MAJ.
Why the plague spared him ! can
never understand. It would seem. n
spite Of our old metaphysical notions
about absolute justice. that there II
no Justice in the universe. Why did
he Mve?-an Ubiquitous. moral mon
ster, . blot on the face Of nature. .
cruel, relentless. bestial cheat - well
All he could talk about was motor
cars, machinery. gasoline. and garage
and especially with huge delight. Of
his mean offerings and sordid swim,
dlings Of the persons who had on,-
ployed him in the days before The
coming Of the plague. And yet he Wa
spared, while hundreds Of millioasa
yea, billions. Of better men were De-
stroyed.
II went on With him TO his camp.
and there I saw her. vssta. the one
woman. It was glorious and
pitiful There she was. VestA Van
warden. tho young wife Of John van
Warden. clad in rags. with marred and
SCARED and toil-calloused hands, bsnds
ing over the campfire and doing scul.
lion work-she. vesta, who had bsen
born to the purple Of the greatest
baronage Of wealth the world had
ever known. John Van Warden. her
worth one billion eight han.
drsd millions. and president Of the
Board Of Industrial Masnates. had
been the ruler Of America Also, sit-
ting on the Industrial Board Of Con-
troll, no had been one Of the seven
men who ruled the world. And she
herself had come Of equally noble
stock. Her father. Philip Saxon. had
been President OF the Board Of Indus
trial Masnates up TO the dms Of htA
death. This once was In process oe
becoming hereditary, and had Philip
Saxon had . son that son would have
succeeded him. But his only child
was vssta. the perfect flower Of gs0-
sFa1ons Of the highest culture this
planet has ever produced. Il was
not until the engagement between
vssta and Van Warden took place that
Saxon Indicated the latter - his sue
esssor. II was. am sure, . political
I have reason to believe
that Vesta never really loved her hus-
band In the mad. passionate way Of
which tho poets used to sing. It was
more like the marriages that OBJ
tanned among crowned heads before
they were displaced by the Aagnates-
And there she was, boiling hsh
chowder in . soot-covered pot. her
glorious eyes infiamed by the acrid
smoke Of the open nrs. Here was .
sad story. She was the one survivor
In . million. ~ / had been, - tho
Chauffeur had been. On GROWING
eminence of the Alameda Hills, over
looking San Francisco Bay. Van
Warden had built vast summer pal
ace. 1t was surrounded by park Of
. thousand acres. When the plague
broke out, Van Warden sent her there.
Armed guards patrolled the BOUNDARY
les Of the park. and nothing entered
in the way Of provisions or even mail
matter that was not first fumigated-
And yet did the plague enter, killing
the guards 1t their posts. the serv-
ants at their tasks, sweeping away
the whole army Of rstainers-or. ct
least, Ill them who did not dee TO die
elsewhere. So Il was that Vests
found herself the sole living person
In the palace that had become . char.
mel house.
(To Be continued)