The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-31
EVENING STORY
The TOurniquet.


brick uildings of the new. Ashton
Memorial hospital doomed against
blue June sky.
The slight frown developed into
pronounced scowl as his ears detected
a faint humming which originated
some distance back of the { ok. The
humming became roa- as motor
car, with cutout open, whlzzed past
not far from the dwelling of the de-
jected hermit.
ITS the limit the way civilization
chases a fellow around" he growled.
Here 1 get place all picked out Tor
a quiet, unmolested summer of soil-
tude and when 1 arrive to begin my
hermiting 1 find that some one has
built a concrete race track at my ack
door. and some on, else has erected
kill-or-cure place in my front yard
Between shrieking> moto- LIS ana
complaining, convalescent patients ana
giddy nurses my hermitage bldg fair
to ripen into a main street OF BUSY
town on Saturday night"
He shrugged his shoulders In ols-
gust and strobe into the shack, which
consisted of q living, dining, cook and
sleeping room-all in one. Three open
windows permitted plenty of light ana
breeze to dispel germs and gloom.
In one corner We're COOK stove ana
a table, in another a narrow cot de-
void of bedding. Still another corner
held a bookcase, In which were some
dust-incrusted volumes. Two three
legged stools and one which, POSSESS
ing four. stood aside in proud disdain,
comprised the other articles OF furn1-
ture.
The hermit rummaged in his pock-
cts and produced a pipe, a sack of
tobacco a BOX of matches and a rail-
road guide. Planting himself on the
naughty stood, he filled the first-men-
toned article from the second. applied
part of the third and began to peruse
the fourth.
He was not a veteran hermit. His
face was clean-shaven and he had
clear-cut, youthful features, set off by
a pair of piercing brown eyes. He
was only twenty-seven years old, and
that Is altogether too young for one to
be in the business of hermiting.
The decision to become a recluse
was due to two things. They were the
acquisition of a fortune and the loss
I'of an attractive young woman he had
intended making his partner in ven
ture far diff ent from. .Icrr1iting.
Janet Ellison had decided, after all,
that she did not care to settle down.
SO just before she left with her parents
for a tour of the continent she brc'-c
off her engagement with James.
A month later James inherited near
ly half million dollars from an un-
Gle who died in the Klondike. The
money acted as soothing balm for his
Suffered heart for brief petroleum.
til doting mothers heard of his stroke
of luck and began setting snares for
him.
This having sweethearts thrust upon
him when he had just lost his hearts
desire was too much for James. He
got tired of attending debuts of young
misses and listening to their chatter of
society and fashion and other subjects
that held no interest for him, espec-
tally since he was still yearning and
longing for Janet. The deceit of the
whole thing grew on him and made
him cynical. He determined to sever the
sphere OF feminism from his universe.
He decided to spend a winter in CAL
ifornia. and then in the summer to
start hermiting for fair. Before his
trip west he located this shack in the
Ohio woods, learned who the owner
was and rented it for the season.
When this transaction took place
there was no sign of a habitat ton or a
road in the vicinity.
Only one man knew his present
whereabouts and that was his chum
OF coHege days, Ralph Williamson.
Williamson helped him locate the
place and even offered to spend SOME
Of the time with him: but James de-
clined, declaring he was going into
hermiting TOR all there was in it,
Williamson laughed and remarked:
You'll soon be back and you'll marry
Janet after all, when she comes
home" Then. thinking to do his friend
a favor, Williamson secretly sent a let
ter to a certain address in the Cana
dian Wilds, taking pains to detail facts
about Klondike gold.
The day after James arrived at his
cabin, to find 1t no longer solitude
he set out on a hike, avoiding the
turnpike and heading into the woods
10 81 Inox
brush made progress rather difficult,
SO he took out a long clasp knife to
cut walking stick from a tree. Spy
Ing branch that looked good to him
some distance UP the trunk. he
climbed the tree and, seated on one
branch. began to saw at the one he
had selected, which was just above
him.
James was not adept as tree cut
ter or climber. or as an equilibrium
taking final whack at the branch he
desired. he lost his balance and fell
The knife, clutched in his right hand,
siashed his left arm and severed an
artery, and as he sank in a faint to
the ground blood gushed from the
wound in vicious spurts.
When James regained conscious
ness he was lying on the cot in the
hermitage. But alas! 1t was
hermitage no longer. A young woman,
Sido III d WLtte unlI OI1n WIN narrow
blue stripes. was holding his left arm
while another similarly dressed was
busy about the stove. in which a fire
had been built.
The young woman holding his arm
"a very pretty blonde-smiled pleas
antly and handed him glass of
water.
What's happened?" ne asked after
he had drunk the water. She ex-
planned in few words:
My friend and I were enjoying a
half day off. strolling about the lake,
when we heard you cry out. We
found you lying under a tree, a severe
cut in the brachial artery, and blood
squirting so profusely from the wound
that We were obliged TO improvise
this tourniquet with your handkerchief
and a stick of wood, We saw this
house in the distance. assumed that
you lived here, and managed to bring