Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-17
From NOwOn
BY FRANK L. PACKARD
(AUTH0R or TIE MIRACLE MANY
Copyright. 1873. bp Pubic LEDGER Conpdny

within him suddenly called him
coward In that day in the prison
library when he had felt himself corr
nercd, he had been desperately eager
enough for help. 1t was true, that as
things had turned ont, he could have
gone safely to the pigeon cote himself,
as he actually had done, but he had not
foreseen the craft of Nicolo Capriano
then, and his back had been to the wall
then, and the odds had seemingly piled
to an insurmountable height against him
-and Millman,. shifting the danger and
the risk to his own shoulders, had
stepped into the breach. &C.,
Millman had done that. There was
no gainsaying It. Well, he admitted Il,
didn't hef He had no quarrel with
Millman on that score now, had he?
He scowled savngely in the darkness.
I, It was Millman with his Internal. auir-
otic and overweening honesty that was
the matter. That was what IL was
His quarrel with Millman lay In the
: fact that Millman was--an honest
! man.
He sat bolt upright on the bed, his
hands clenched suddenly again. Why
! hadn't Millman kept his honesty where
| it belonged II Millman felt the way
he did after going to the pigeon cote
and getting that money. why hadn't
Millman stuck to his guns the way any
down like lamb--why hadn't he
fought It out man to man. until the
better man won-and that money went
back. or 1t didn't! Fight! That was
flight! If Millman had only fought
it out----like an ordinary man--and---
"Be honest--at least with yourself ~
whispered that inner voice quietly.
"Millman was just as honest with you
as he was with his own soul. He kept
faith with you In the only way he
could-and still keep faith with him.
self. Did he throw you down-DaveH'
For a moment Dave Henderson did
not stir; he seemed mentally and
physically in strange and singular
state of suspended animation. And
then queer and twisted smile flckered
across his lips.
"Yes, he's white !" he muttered. "By
God, the whitest man on earth-that's &
Millman! Only---damn him ! Damn
him. for the hole he's put me in ~
Yes, that was 1t He had it at last.
and exactly now! Over there on the
floor in the dress suit case was the
money; but it wasn't the money that
gamblers risk and sporting chance
to get, it wasn't the money he had
fought like a wildcat fort was Mill
mans money. It wasn't the money he
had staked his all to winnie staked
nothing here. It was another mans
stake. Over there was the money. and
he was free to use it--if he chose to
take it as, the price Of another man s
loyalty, the price that another man paid
for having taken upon himself the risk
Of prison bars and stone walls again
because that other man believed his
risk was substituted for the certainty
that Dave Henderson would otherwise
incur that fate
The inner voice came quietly again
but it held bitter gibe.
"What is the matter2 Are you In
doubt about anything? Why don't you
get up. and undress, and 60 to bed,
and sleep quietly? You've got the
money now, you're fixed for all your
life, and nothing to worry you-Mill-
man pays the bills
give years" Dave Henderson NUT
tered. "Five years Of hell-for moth
ing2"
a His face hardened. That was Nicolo
Capriano lying over there on his bed,
wasn't it?-and plucking with thin.
blue tipped fingers at the coverlet-and
cyeing him with those black eyes that
glittered virulently-and twisting blood