The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-02-12

ment of good luck or bad luck-lf there
is such a thing as luck-has influenced
your career or persisted for or against
you to such an extent that o were
forced to attribute results to the OPP
Grafton of the aforesaid good luck or
bad luck?"
This question (of almost the dull in
science of legal ~phraseology) was put
while we sat in Rousselin's little red
tiled cafe near Congo square. in New
Orleans.
Brown faced, white hated. finger
ringed captains of adventure came of
ten to Rousselin's for the cognac.
They came from sea and land and
were shary of relating the things they
had seen-not because they were more
wonderful than the fantasies of the
Ananiases of print. but because they
were so different. And l was a per-
petual wedding guest, always striving
to cast my %buttonhole oye the finger
of one of these mariners of fortune.
This Captain Malone was a Hiberno-
Iberian creole who had gone to and
fro in the earth and walked up and
down in it. He looked like any other
well dressed man of t~hirty-fye whom
you might meet except that he was
hopelessly weather tanned and wore
on his chain an ancient ivory and gold
Peruvian charm against evil, which
has nothing at all to do with his
story.
My answer to your question: said
the captain. smiling, will be to tell
you the story of Bad Luck Kearny.
That is, if you don't mind hearing it
My reply was to pound on the table
for Rousselin.
"Strolling along Tchoupitoulas street
one night" began Captain Malone, 81
noticed, without especially taxing my
interest, a small man walking rapidly
toward me. He stepped upon a wood
EN- cellar door, crashed through it and
disappeared. | rescued him from a
heap of soft coal below. He busted
himself briskly, swearing f%uently in 4
mechanical tone, as an underpaid ac-
tor recites the gypsy's curse. Graft
tude and the dust in his throat seem
ed to call for fluids to clear them away.
His desire for liquidation was eX-
pressed so heartily that | went with
him to a cafe down the street, where
we had some vile vermouth and bit
tiers.
Looking across that little table l
had my first clear sight of Francis
Kearny. He was about five feet sew
en-, but as tough as a cypress knee.
His hair was darkest red, his mouth
such a mere slit that you wondered
how the flood of his words came rush
ing from it. His eyes were the bright
est and lightest blue and the hopeful
est that l ever saw. He gave the dou-
BILE impression that he was at bay and
that you had better not crowd him fur
Their.
"tJust in from a gold hunting eXpe-
dition on the coast of Costa Rica,' he
explained. Second mate of a banana
steamer told me the natives were pan
ming out enough from the beach sands
to buy all the rum, red calico and par
Tor melodeons. in the world. The day
| got there Il syndicate named Incor-
porated Jones gets a government con
cesSiOn to all minerals from Il given
point. For Il mex choice | take coast
fever and count green and blue lizards
for. six weeks in Il grass hut. | had
to be notified when l was well. for the
reptiles were actually there.
"'Then | shipped back as third cook
on a norwegian tramp that blew up
her boiler two miles below quarantine.
| was due to bust through that cellar
door here tonight. so | hurried the rest
of the way up the river. ro|ustabouting
ON a lower coast packet hat made a
landing for every fisherman that ant
ed a plug of tobacco. And now I'm
here for what comes next. And it'll
be along. it'll be along said this queer
Mr.. Kearny: it'll be along ON the
beams of my bright but not very par
ticular star
Prom the first the personality of
Kearny charmed me. l saw in him
the bold heart, the restless nature and
the valiant front against the butfets
of fate that make his c~ountrymen such
valuable comrades in risk and adven-
ture. And just then | was wanting
such men. MOored at a fruit compa-
ny's pier l had a 500 ton teamer
ready to sail the next day with a cargo
of sugar, lumber and corrugated iron
for a port in-well. let us call the cOun-
try ~Esperando-it has not been long
ago. and the name of Patricio Malone
is still spoken there when its unset.
tied politics are discussed. Beneath
the sugar and iron were packed Il
thousand repeating rifles. In Aguas
Frias, the capital, Don Rafael Valde-
via. minister of war. Esperando's
greatest hearted and most able pa
triot, awaited my coming. No douf t
you have heard, with a smile, of the
insignificant wars and u%prisings in