Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-08-09
This Coupon and
Csc Buys
Word of honor"

WORD OF honor"
He looked at me with doubt in his
insoIent eyes.
After all, what do 1 know about
your honor?" said he.
Upon my word, sir" 1 cried angrily,
''you take very great liberties. 1 have
never been so insulted in my life"
He seemed more interested than an
noyed at my outbreak
Round headed" he muttered.
"Brachycephalic, gray eyed. black
haired, with suggestion of the negroid.
Celtic, presume?"
~ am an Irishman, SIR
Irish Irish?'
Yes, sir"
THAT, of course. explains it Let
me see, you have given me your prom
Use that my confidence will be respect
ed That confidence, l may say, will
be far from complete. But l am pre-
pared to give you a few indications
which will be of interest. In the first
place, you are probably aware that
two years ago 1 made a journey to
South America, one which will be
classical in the scientific history of the
world. The object of my journey
was TO verify some conclusions of Wal
lace and of Bates. which could only be
done by observing their reported facts
under the same conditions in which
they had themselves noted them. II
my expedition had no other results it
would still have been noteworthy, but
a curious incident occurred to me
while there which opened up an entire
ly fresh line of inquiry.
you are aware-or probably. in this
half educated age. you are not aware
that the country round some parts of
the Amazon is still only partially ex
plored and that a great number of
tributaries, some Of them entirely I'M
! charted, run into the main river. 1t
was my business to visit this little
! known back country and to examine
its fauna, which furnished me with the
materials for several chapters for that
great and monumental work upon
zoology which will be my life's justifl-
cation. l was returning, my work &C
complished. when l had occasion to
spend night at small Indian village
at a point where a certain tributary
the name and position of which l with
hoId-opens into the main river. The
natives were Cucama Indians, an
amiable but degraded race, with men
tai powers hardly superior to the aver
age Londoner. l had effected some
cures among them upon my way up
! the river and had impressed them con-
siderably with my personality, so that
| was not surprised to find myself ca
gerly awaited upon my return. gath
cred from their signs that some one
had urgent need Of my medical serv-
ices. and I followed the chief to one
of his huts. When / entered l found
that the sufferer to whose aid L had
been summoned had that instant ex-
red. He was, to my surprise, no In
dian, but white man. Indeed, may
say a cry white man, for he was fax
en- haire and had some characteristics
of an aIbin.r He was clad in rags, was
very emaciated and bore every trace of
prolonged hardsnt--~ So far as 1 could
understand the account of the natives
he was a complete stransrt TO them
and had come upon their village
through the woods alone and in -
| last stage of exhaustion.
'"The mans knapSack lay beside the
couch, and / examined the contents.
His name was written upon tab with
| In it-fMaple White, Lake avenue, De
troit, Mich
From the conteItes OF the knapsack
| it was evident that this man had been
an artist and poet in search OF effects.
There were scraps of verse. do not
profess to be a Judge of such things.
| but they appeared to me to be singu-
larly wanting in merit.
"I was turning away from him
when observed that something pro-
| tected from the front Of his ragged
| jacket II was this sketchbook, which
was as diiapidated then as you see it
| now. Indeed, can assure you that a
| first folio of Shakespeare could not be
| treated with greater reverence than
! this relic has been since it came into
| my possession hand it TO You now,
and I ask you to take 1t page by page
| and to examine the contents"
He helped himself to cigar and
leaned back with a hercely critical
| pair of eyes, taking note Of the effect
| which this document would produce.
| had opened the volume with some
expectation Of a revelation. though of
what nature could not imagine. The
| first page was disappointing, however,
Us il contained nothing but the picture
of very fat man in n pea jacket, with
| the legend, Jimmy Colver on the Mail
Boat" written beneath il. There fol
| lowed several pages which were filled
| with small sketches of Indians and