The Bozeman courier., 1927-06-24

ON that evening in July when every
one seemed talking Of Mark Ston-
~ or's brilliance in saving Jerome
Brann from imprisonment for
fraud, Old Burden, who had brtefed the
young barrister, was saying: But the
ball is at your feet, Mark; to go on now
for a long sea voyage-why, it's sheer
folly"
Mark Stonor, staring out at the lovely
dinginess Of the Temple, answered with
out turning round: "Oh, I don't know.
and I'll have the whole of the long va
cation before me-"
"You haven't" said Old Burden.
you'll have people tumbling over each
other to secure you for the Michaelmas
sittings. Don't you realize that you are
on the verge of fame, that now or never
is your chance?"
81 know" said Mark, turning troubled
face to the solicitor. "But-I've got to
CO."
TITS Haunting fortune" cried Old Bur-
don. Even a man Of your ability mustn't
run away from his opportunity like this.
Theren be work in chambers, for in
stance"
I'm sorry, SIR" said Mark Stoner. "but
I've told you before how it isl just
seem to have to CO."
Old Burden frowned AS Mark indi-
Gated, this was not the first time he had
gone of in this queer, strange way. 1t
gave him another line of attack.
Even apart from missing work." he
said, what are people going to think of
a barrister, however able, who goes OF
when the whim moves him on such mad
vagabondage? What possesses you, my
boy?"
"I don't know" said Mark Stonor,
frowning and reddening. 'I call myself a
fool, too, and yet go-I sometimes think
it is in my blood. I think my father
must have been a sailor, sir"
The older man shot a quick look at
the fine, clear cut face.
''I should have argued your father was
a lawyer" he said. Your gifts suggest
that is in your blood, too"
He seemed to be trying to find out
something as he spoke, but Mark was too
concerned with his own strange emotions
to notice. He said slowly: THAT, too.
seem to be the prey Of two obsessions-
the law and the sea. Nearly always the
law is the stronger and seems to COM
mand my whole life. But then the sea
begins to pull, and 1T is more powerful
It's sort of fever, a command to go of
! somewhere. I try to fight 1t, but
can't. 1t comes between me and every
thing. When lost you the Lemoin case
that was through trying to beat it under
I had made up my mind that this going
of was ridiculous and this time would
/ uOG 70. bub dll bIlE BllIlG i SUOulu udNt
been fighting for LEMON the tug was al
me, could think Of nothing else-and
made hash of that case"
| He walked to the window again anC
stared out. Old Burdens keen eye:
watched him sympathetically. He knew
the boys history.
Mark went on: "I must go. I cam
explain it well, but it's as though I die
wrong by not going. It's as though
shall miss something, leave something
undone by not going. And I'm afraiC
Of missing something"
'What?' asked Old Burden sharply.
"I don't know-it's only a feeling, yol
know. Just the queer pull to go ou
there to-Something. Perhaps it's moth
ing after all, q memory Of my forgotten
childhood, a strain inherited from m.
lost father. It's absurd, it plays th'
deuce with my career. But I've got t.
What does your stepfather say?" aske'
Old Burden.
"Oh, he thinks I'm foolish, too; bu
he has become resigned to my 1d1ocy
And then be-he half understands m
impulse. He feels that am searchin
for my parents and that one day Nigh
pick up facts about them"
But you never have?" said the oil
solicitor, watching him closely.
mo sir; not a thing. Perhaps neVe
lshall-still, it may be the instinct
Il
me on. I might find out someth1n
You might" said Old Burden slowl!
and he sat back and stared out OF Tn
window himself. Then he said in a Ole
; terminedlv light tone, you might i'm
: something to make you stay down theI
where you were found, and should B
robbed Of the most promising Junior 1
ever briefed; so, before you go, thin
I'd better get as much out OF you
: possible" He pulled out drawer. "Yo
, might look into these three cases an
give me your opinion on them. Oh, an
here's another, an old matter, Wh1llo
N versus ClaveI. We lost that case mar
= years ago, but some new evidence n;
: lately come to hand. Look through
: and see if it is worth reopening.
/, Mark Stonor left Old Burdens off1c
: genuinely sorry that he should seem
z fail the great lawyer who had done
much for him, yet elated that soon
= would be on the sea again and away
= away down to the warm seas that
l. strangely called him. All through his II
= this queer pull had commanded him al
s forced him to obey; all through his sho
r life his career had been threatened vii
- shipwreck because, at an impulse al
at short notice, he had packed up, lie
g. everything, and set out for those stran
sunlit waters that called and called
: him with a strange imperativeness.
ID During boyhood this tugging at
oe heartstrings had been a meaningless tc
Q. ment until one day the man he call
3. father, Roger Stonor, had explained mu
y y to him. He was not really Roger Stono
IS son, but a castaway. He had been t
~ only white survivor of some wreck in
t. South Seas. Roger Stonor had been ma
It. ing a journey from Australia to Ca
- fornia with his wife in the ship th
r had effected the rescue. This ship h
u been forced out of it's course by
"A storms that must have wrecked the VI
". sci the child, now Mark Stonor, b
te sailed in.
20. One day a small group Of atolls
been sighted and would have been
. nored, for they were charted as un
habited, only smoke was seen rising fr'
one Of them. A boat putting ash