Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-05-25


staterOOm for something, and they
hated to do It without asking him to
the ball; so the captain said they
might ask him, II they would be re-
sponsible that he did not talk with
the wrong people, "who would give him
intelligence SO the dance went on.
the finest party that had ever been
known, 1 dare say for l lever heard
Of a man-Of-war ball that was not. For
ladies' they had the family Of the
American consul, n or two travellers
who had %adventured so far, and a nice
bevy OF English girls and matrons, per-
| haps Lady Hamilton herself.
Wen, different officers relieved each
other in standing and talking with No
Ian In a friendly wsy, so as to be sure
that nobody else spoke { o him. The
dancing went on with spirit, and after
a while ever the fellows who took this
honorary guard Of Nolan ceased to fear
any contretemps. Only when some
English lady-Lady Hamilton. as I
said. perhaps, called for a set Of
american dancers" an odd thing hap
pened. Everybody then danced con-
tredances. The black band. nothing
loath, conferred as to what American
dances" were, and started off with
virginia Reel" which they followed
with "Money-Musk,' which, in its turn
In those days, should have been fol-
lowed by 1.-THE Old Thirteen" But
Just as Dick, the leader, tapped for his
fddlers to begin, and bent forward,
49, =. as L., Frtsn nfra gNuNa - aVhn
Old Thirteen gentlemen and ladiesP"
as he had said, "'Virginny Reel. If you
please" "tMoney-Musk.' IL you
please - the captains boy tapped him
on the shoulder, whispered to him, and
he did not o the lame of the
dance; he merely bowed, began on
the air, and they all fell to, the Off
GERS teaching the English girls the
figure. but not telling them why 1t
had no name.
But that is not the story I started
to tell. As the dancing vent on, No
Ian and our fellows all got 1t ease, as
? I said, so much so that it seemed quite
3 natural for him to bow to that splendid
Mrs. Graf, and say:
II hope you have not forgotten me,
Miss Rutledge. Shall l have the hon
: or Of danclng?"
. He did it so quickly that Shubrick,
who was by him, could not hinder
him. She laughed and said:
81 am not Miss Rutledge any longer,
Mr.. Nolan; but 1 will dance all the
same" just nodded to Shubrick, as II
' TO say he must leave Mr.. Nolan to her,
and led him Off to the place where the
V dance was forming.
: Nolan thought he had got his chance,
He had known her at Philadelphia,
: and at other places had met her, and
! this was a godsend. You could not
talk in co~ntredances, as you do in
cotillions, or even in the pauses of
waltZing; but there were chances fol
tongues and sounds, as well as fol
eyes and bushes. He began with hei
travels, and Europe, and Vesuvius, anC
the French; and then, when they haC
worked down, and had that long talk
ing time at the bottom of the set, hC
said boldly, a little pale, she said, al
she told me the story, years after:
6 "And what do you hear from home
4 Mrs. Graftt
And that splendid creature looked
through him. Jovel how she mus
have looked through him "Home!
Mr.. Nolanl!! l thought you were tn,
man who never wanted to lear o
Fl home againl' and she walked direct!
m up the deck to her husband, and lef
Y poor Nolan alone, as he always was
i He did not dance again.
1 cannot give any history of him II
. order; nobody can now; and, indeed
1 am not trying to-. These are the ira
d%itiOns, which l sort out, as l believ,
them, from the myths which have beel
told about this man for forty years
N The fellows used to say he was tn
"Iron Mask !" and poor George Pom
went to his grave In the belief tina
this was the author of "Junius," VIII.
was being punished for his celebrate
libel on Thomas Jefferson. POns wa
not very strong in the historical line
~ A happier story than either of these
II have told is of the war. That cam
Vi along soon after. 1 have heard thi
affair told in three or four ways, anC
" indeed, 1t may have happened NOR
u than once. But which ship 1t was o
" l cannot tell. However, in one, a
IS least, of the great frigate duels wit
X the English, in which the navy wa
X really baptized, 1t happened that
VI round shot from the enemy entere
Ut one of our ports square, and took RICH
10 down the officer Of the gun himself
go and almost every man of the gun
BE crew. Now you may say what 20
q choose about courage, but that is nc
ru a nice thing to see. But as the me
H. who were not killed picked themselye
'h up, and the surgeons people were cal
.. rying of the bodies, there appeare
~ Nolan, in his shirt sleeves, with tn
rammer In his hand, and, just as If h
y had been the officer, told them Off wit
ls authority, who should go to the cocl