r t / 
 
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 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
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 CAPTAIN CLOSE, and SERGEANT CRCESUS. Cloth, Ji.oo. 
 
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 AN INITIAL EXPERIENCE, and OTHER STORIES. Cloth, 
 
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 For sale by all Booksellers. 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PuBUSHems, 
 
 Philadelphia,
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER STORIES 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 CAPT. CHARLES KING 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 1895
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1895, 
 
 BY 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 
 ELECTHOTYPEO AND PRINTED BV J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.
 
 PS 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ENCOURAGED by the success attending their 
 venture of a year gone by their " Initial Ex 
 perience" in a book of short stories from soldier 
 hands the publishers again offer to the reading 
 public a little volume of similar matter. In 
 this day and generation, when military dramas 
 of every description are welcomed by the ap 
 plause of eager and enthusiastic audiences, it 
 would seem as though an increasing demand 
 had sprung up for tales of military life, and 
 none are more popular than those which deal 
 with our own Blue Coats upon the Border, 
 the guardians of our Indian frontier. As be 
 fore, the stories have been carefully chosen, 
 for they who wrote them have long since won 
 their laurels in the field of literature, as some 
 of their number, indeed, had " won their spurs" 
 1* 5
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 upon the field of battle. That their sketches 
 will be welcomed for the old names' sakes is 
 confidently believed, and that they will only 
 serve to swell the list of friends and readers 
 is as confidently predicted. 
 
 THE PUBLISHERS.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS 9 
 
 By Captain Charles King. 
 
 THE EBB-TIDE 49 
 
 By Lieutenant A. H. Sydenham. 
 
 WHITE LILIES 75 
 
 * By Alice King Hamilton. 
 
 A STRANGE WOUND 113 
 
 By Lieutenant W. H. Hamilton. 
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ 135 
 
 By Lieutenant A. H. Sydenham. 
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW 153 
 
 By R. Monckton-Dene. 
 
 BUTTONS .... 171 
 
 By Captain J. G. Leefe.
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS.
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS, 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER STORIES. 
 
 " IF you're not more careful, Captain de Re- 
 mer," said his better half his much better half 
 they called her in the gallant Thirty-third 
 " you'll get into a scrape some night from which 
 even I can't extricate you." 
 
 " What's the matter now ?" said the captain, 
 dreamily puffing at his cigar, as he struggled 
 hard to work his broad shoulders into the over 
 coat of his eldest hope three sizes too small 
 for him. " I suppose it's something about this 
 coat." 
 
 "Not so much the coat," answered Mrs. de 
 Remer, tugging energetically at the straining 
 collar, then shifting her grasp to the right cuff 
 and stripping it from his arm. "It's the man 
 inside ; and that's the colonel's cigar you've got 
 
 11
 
 12 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 between your teeth this minute, and he's laugh 
 ing at you now." 
 
 "I thought it uncommonly bad," answered 
 the captain, with a patient sigh ; " but, if he will 
 lay it close beside me, how the mischief can I 
 help it ? I haven't had a really happy moment 
 since Wayne left the post. He was my one 
 consolation outside of this roof." 
 
 " And no one had a moment's peace while he 
 was under it for fear of his next absurdity," 
 replies madame. " On the principle that misery 
 loves company, you and he are well matched. 
 Major Wayne is the only man in the army more 
 inane than yourself. He's been arrested as a 
 horse-thief, and heaven only knows what's in 
 store for you. Now do think what you're about 
 to-night, John, or I'll be summoned to bail you 
 out before morning." 
 
 Meekly the captain allowed himself to be 
 " happit up" in his own new top-coat, his hat 
 pulled well down over his eyes, and then he 
 stepped slowly forth into the gathering night. 
 " I'll leave the door on the latch, papa," said 
 the lady of the house, as he lingered on the 
 piazza without. "Now for your catechism. 
 Sure you've got your night-key ?"
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 13 
 
 Down went the right hand into the depths of 
 
 the trousers' pocket. "Ye-es At least, I 
 
 think this is it." 
 
 " And your commutation ticket ?" 
 
 Another dive into the waistcoat pocket this 
 time, fetching out a flat, gray card-case. " In 
 here," said he, briefly. 
 
 "And the countersign, in case you're chal 
 lenged?" 
 
 " No-o "Well, that is I had ; but it's no 
 
 consequence. The colonel's coming back with 
 me." 
 
 " Certainly ! else you shouldn't have gone. 
 And now, if the Loyal Legion call for a few 
 remarks, you " 
 
 " They won't, will they ?" asked the captain, 
 with pathetic trouble in his big brown eyes. 
 
 " They said they would. You gave me the 
 Recorder's letter, and I wrote out a neat and 
 appropriate extemporaneous speech for you." 
 
 " Hah ! yes, so you did. Got it all ready here 
 to memorize, right in my waistcoat pocket, too." 
 
 " "Well, be sure you memorize the right piece, 
 and not begin, ' Ladies and gentlemen,' as you 
 did the night you were installed." 
 
 The captain blushed. " Wayne did worse 
 2
 
 14 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 than that," said he. " But here comes the col 
 onel. Good-night, dear." 
 
 " Come back here this instant, you wretch, 
 and don't presume to go without kissing me 
 good-night. There ! I presume the next I'll 
 hear of you will be in the hands of the police. 
 Do keep your wits about you, John ; you can't 
 always have me. Take good care of him, col 
 onel, and don't leave your cigars or anything 
 you value where he can accumulate them.'*' 
 
 "All right, Mrs. de Remer," sang out the 
 colonel, cheerily, from his carriage. " Tumble 
 in, 'D.' N"ow, driver, go lively!" Slam went 
 the carriage-door, slam-bang the de Remer's 
 door, and then all was silence at Fort Emory. 
 
 A long-suffering woman was Mrs. de Remer, 
 despite the fact that she was blessed with a 
 devoted husband, with happy, healthy children, 
 a bright army home, a comfortable income, a 
 circle of appreciative friends and as few cares as 
 often fall to the lot of woman in or out of the 
 army. Her husband was at once her greatest 
 joy and her gravest tribulation. He was a 
 lovely, lover-like husband, the other women 
 said. " He thinks his wife the sweetest creature 
 that ever lived," they sometimes added, sigh-
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 15 
 
 fully, for the benefit of their own less apprecia 
 tive lords. And, nevertheless, in his moments 
 of abstraction, which were many, Captain de 
 Remer had been known to say and do or to 
 leave unsaid and undone things which were 
 enough to turn gray the tresses of a woman and 
 a wife through sheer chagrin and confusion. 
 De Remer never drank, never swore, never gam 
 bled, never growled, never cared to wander from 
 his own fireside, never saw anything to especially 
 admire in any other woman's complexion, con 
 versation, or conservation. Never, until his 
 wife herself pointed, out some peculiar grace, ex 
 cellence, style, or virtue in other women or other 
 women's children, was de Remer ever known to 
 admit it, much less oh, that such wisdom or 
 oblivion were more widely disseminated ! to 
 remark it. " No one," sobbed Mrs. Darling, 
 " no one ever heard of his telling his wife that 
 Mrs. Flight, or any other woman except her, 
 seemed to look younger every day of her life." 
 Indeed was de Remer a model husband, but for 
 one ludicrous failing. He was the most absent- 
 minded man in all the army, except Major 
 Wayne, who was a bachelor, and therefore not 
 beyond hope of redemption.
 
 16 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 Wayne's story has been told elsewhere. So 
 long as he remained, Emory de Remer's other 
 wise vivid light had been hidden as it were 
 under a bushel. But the major had been trans 
 ferred to Fort Frayne, whence new tales of new 
 absurdities were frequently wafted, and now once 
 more had de Remer become the central figure of 
 garrison anecdote, and time and again went up 
 the laughing query, " What will he do next ?" 
 
 But not even by long-suffering Mrs. de Remer 
 could have been predicted the predicament of 
 the night to come. 
 
 They went to town, the colonel and his faith 
 ful company commander, whom Blake of the 
 cavalry had long since christened Captain John 
 a Dreams, to attend the monthly meeting of 
 the Commandery of the Loyal Legion, of which 
 both were enthusiastic members. They met 
 there choice spirits whom they often encoun 
 tered. They met, alas ! two old cronies of the 
 colonel, transients, en route to the far West after 
 a joyous leave in the States, and when de Remer 
 would have readily returned on the " 11.30 sub 
 urban" to the barriers of Fort Emory and the 
 bosom of his family, lo ! it was the colonel who 
 stood like a spread-eagle military angel, with
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 17 
 
 flaming speech instead of sword, and barred the 
 backward way to the Eden where he would be. 
 
 " Dreams, old man, I promised your blessed 
 wife I'd fetch you home safe, and I'm going to 
 do it, by Criminy! You're not to be trusted 
 out alone this time of night. You're just as 
 apt to get to walking in your sleep and turning 
 up on the Pacific express or the Black Maria as 
 you are to getting home without me. Now 
 I'll wire out to the post that we're coming on 
 the fast mail. They'll slow up at Belt Junction 
 to let us off, I know 'em, and my man'll go 
 round and tell Mrs. de Eemer, and it'll be all 
 right. Then we four'll go round to the club 
 and we'll have supper, supper such as I've been 
 spoiling to have with these two blessed old 
 roosters ever since the Sioux campaign of '76. 
 It makes me ravenous to think of it." 
 
 It made the colonel bibulous, too, a rare trait 
 in the old warrior, and the more demonstrative 
 because of long repression. At midnight the 
 up-stairs corridors of the Amaranth rang with 
 the chorus of " Benny Havens 0," and songs of 
 other lands. The party was reinforced by a 
 squad of club^fellows ever ready for a convivial 
 moment, and the nearer the time came for catch- 
 6 2*
 
 18 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 ing the fast mail the more was it apparent that 
 the colonel wouldn't catch anything so surely 
 as the curtain lecture awaiting him with his 
 headache on the morrow. 
 
 "I've got to go," murmured de Remer to 
 others of the party. "I'm on court-martial 
 duty in the morning. I'll slip quietly out after 
 a moment or two and, leave the colonel with 
 you. He'll he all right after a nap in the morn 
 ing, and can come out when he's ready." 
 
 And that waa the last seen or heard of 
 "Dreams" for many hours. Colonel Stout 
 stepped off the noon accommodation looking 
 little the worse for the jovial revelry of the 
 previous night, but his heart sank within him 
 when his coachman said, " Where's the captain, 
 sir? Mrs. de Remer said you were to bring 
 him back." 
 
 " You don't mean to say he hasn't got home?" 
 asked L the colonel, in dismay. " I might have 
 known he'd come to grief if he went where I 
 couldn't watch him," he added to himself, with 
 rueful forecast of what Mrs. de Remer would say 
 and remorseful retrospect of the night gone by. 
 
 "N"oa, sir; an' they've telephoning to town 
 an' head-quarters "
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 19 
 
 " The devil they have !" swore the colonel. 
 " That shows how utterly damned inconsiderate 
 people can be, and now everybody, from the 
 general down, will know I stayed in town all 
 night. Hold on, Jim ! I'll call up head-quar 
 ters here from the depot." 
 
 It was a sympathetic aide who answered the 
 colonel's telephone summons and not a gruff 
 department commander or consequential chief 
 of staff. 
 
 " Heard anything of de Remer ?" 
 
 " No, not a blessed word and the wires from 
 Emory have been hot all morning. The police 
 say no one answering his description has been 
 run in. They say at the club he left there about 
 2.50 A.M., came in again in ten minutes looking 
 as if he'd forgotten something and went out on 
 the run, and that's the last they know of him. 
 Colonel Tintop came down from the dining-room 
 with him, but returned, they said, to rejoin you." 
 
 ""Well, have you called up Tintop? I I 
 think he's probably in his room yet," stammered 
 the colonel, and coloring despite the fact that 
 his young friend was twenty miles away. 
 
 " Well, we've called, but he hasn't showed 
 down," was the suggestive answer. " Guess his
 
 20 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 head's as bad as his hand this morning. He 
 was to have taken the noon train for Omaha." 
 
 The colonel groaned so that the aide could hear 
 it. " Is the general in his office ?" he asked. 
 
 " Nope. Gone out for a bite of lunch." 
 
 " Well, say, Billy, there's a good fellow, just 
 let on that I'm so anxious about Dreams I'm 
 coming in on the first train. I'm blest if I want 
 to face his wife this day, let alone my own." 
 
 And the aide-de-camp laughingly assented. 
 The carriage went back to the post empty and 
 the colonel to the city full. Full, that is, of 
 mingled anxiety, remorse, and resolutions. His 
 first visit was to the club, and there he found 
 Tintop, by no means the jovial blade he had 
 parted with when they saw each other to bed 
 at 4 A.M. Tintop was trouble up to the metallic 
 summit of his head. 
 
 "I came down with Dreams because I had 
 something to tell him," said that veteran yarn 
 spinner, a man who would rather go without 
 his dinner that be balked in telling a story; 
 *' and he seemed very much interested, despite 
 his having to catch a certain train. He said 
 he'd have to take a cab, and they ordered one 
 for him at the office."
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 21 
 
 "But he was back in ten minutes, I hear. 
 "What was that for ?" asked the colonel. 
 
 " They don't know. He went into the coat- 
 room in a great hurry, and then came bustling 
 out, jumped into his cab and drove off a second 
 time. They rang up the cabman, and he said 
 he drove the captain to the depot just in time 
 to catch his train, and that's the last of him." 
 
 And to all intents and purposes that was the 
 last of him until late that evening. Then at 
 last there came a telegram to his half-distracted 
 wife, " Am all right. Had absurd adventure. 
 Tell the story later." And, very properly, her 
 tragic grief changed instantly to glowing indig 
 nation. 
 
 And this told with many blushes, and with 
 not a few feminine comments, and with such 
 evident mortification that for a time and to only 
 a chosen few was it confided was the purport 
 of the captain's story. 
 
 Colonel Tintop was telling his yarn as they 
 came down the stairs, and Dreams was dreamily 
 listening, keeping up appearances of doing so 
 even while furtively watching the clock. Dis 
 tressed with fear of losing the thread of the 
 story and thereby seeming impolite, and of
 
 22 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 losing the train and thereby being derelict, de 
 Remer's already overweighted spirit was sud 
 denly perturbed by the consciousness that it was 
 too late for the street cars, too far to walk, and 
 he must have a cab. Even while keeping up 
 a smile of simulated interest in the colonel's 
 monologue he managed to murmur a call for 
 a messenger. Then, mirabile dictu! he bethought 
 him of the lone ten-dollar bill that Iloratia, his 
 wife, permitted him to carry as a reserve in case 
 of accident, long experience having taught her 
 that money in any amount was sure to slip 
 through his hands. That cab, at night prices, 
 would be a dollar at least, and he hadn't twenty- 
 five cents in small change. The clerk accommo 
 datingly broke the ten into a single five, which 
 he replaced in the flat card-case he carried in 
 the waistcoat pocket of his evening dress, and 
 a little stack of silver dollars, halves, and 
 quarters, which he scooped into the palm of 
 his right hand, while the colonel, clinging to 
 his left elbow, led him away into the coat-room. 
 The club must have been making a night of it, 
 for there were at least fifty overcoats of all sorts 
 and sizes hanging on their hooks; but de Remer 
 felt sure he remembered just where he had hung
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 23 
 
 his, the third hook beyond the mirror; and 
 there it was, its change pocket invitingly to 
 wards him. 
 
 " Whatever you do, don't unbutton that over 
 coat and expose your unprotected chest to the 
 night air," had been another of Horatia's part 
 ing injunctions. She had always held that offi 
 cers had no business ever to wear evening dress, 
 because their chests were usually so covered by 
 their uniforms it made it doubly hazardous for 
 them to wear open shirt fronts. De Remer was 
 pluming himself on his thoughtfulness of her 
 injunction, and thinking how unjust people were 
 in accusing him of being absent-minded, when, 
 even in the midst of one of old Tintop's long- 
 winded yarns, he could think of his wife's ad 
 monitions. " I'll slip this silver into the change 
 pocket," quoth he, " and then I won't have 
 to unbutton the coat when I pay the driver." 
 This he did forthwith, and then the colonel 
 turned him round and made him listen to the 
 climax of the story, which was long a-coming, 
 and by that time the overshoes were on, and 
 the servant, holding the overcoat in readiness, 
 announced cabby at the door, and laughing 
 heartily, as he knew how, at the denouement, de
 
 24 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 Remer hastily shook hands, bade the colonel 
 good-night, ran down the stairs, popped into 
 the cab, said " Great Western depot," and 
 rattled off. 
 
 Before they had gone half a dozen blocks, 
 and he was congratulating himself on having so 
 deftly escaped the toils and taken all precau 
 tions, Captain de Remer clapped his hand to 
 the change pocket of his coat and found it 
 empty. 
 
 Aghast he searched it. Not a penny there, 
 and he could have sworn that not ten minutes 
 agone he had placed five dollars in silver, heavy 
 silver, in that very pocket, but, just to make 
 certain, he felt in the other outer pockets, and 
 with no result. There was not a cent in any 
 one of them. For once de Remer acted 
 promptly. " I see it all," he cried. " I've 
 slipped it into some other fellow's coat. They 
 were all bunched when I came out, and there 
 were several very like mine, dark blue or black 
 beaver with velvet collar. Back to the club, 
 driver !" he shouted. " I've forgotten some 
 thing." 
 
 So back they went, lively, for time was short. 
 De Remer bounded up the steps. "I've for-
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 25 
 
 gotten something," he stammered to the servant 
 who answered the bell, then bolted on through 
 to the coat-room, and there hanging on the 
 third peg, just where he had left it was the 
 overcoat his own overcoat he felt sure, and 
 doubtless that stupid boy must have given him 
 some one else's, some one of his own size, and 
 he had never noticed the error until that most 
 fortunate discovery that it contained no money. 
 In an instant he was out of one coat and into 
 the other, a servant coming in just in time to 
 pull down the disordered tails of his claw ham 
 mer, then out again he darted into his cab. 
 " Now, driver, for all you're worth !" he cried, 
 "and it's half a dollar extra." He carefully 
 counted out the promised silver and held it 
 ready in his hand. The cab went clattering 
 through the cold, deserted streets, bounding 
 over cross walks, slewing around corners, and 
 spinning over the massive bridge with the tall 
 tower and the illumined clock disk of the 
 station just coming into view. Only three min 
 utes, by the immortal Joshua ! Only one as 
 they whirled under the archway, and, slinging 
 the ready Jehu his shining dollar and a half, 
 de Remer rushed madly through the waiting-
 
 26 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 rooms and out among the stragglers besieging 
 the gate-keeper. Luck again ! Here was his 
 card-case (in which was his commutation ticket) 
 in that change pocket, too. Something else was 
 there under the silver ! Odd ! He thought 
 that card-case was in the waistcoat pocket where 
 he couldn't lose it, but, confound his mooning 
 ways ! he must have changed it before going up 
 to the colonel's spread. Late as he was, there 
 were others behind him. " Have your tickets 
 ready, gents," shouted the lantern-swinging 
 official at the gate. " All aboard, fast mail !" 
 " All aboard, Omaha night express !" sung out 
 the conductors underneath the dark train-shed. 
 "Hurry up ahead there !" growled the hinder- 
 most gentleman, climbing up the captain's suf 
 fering shins. Blindly he tendered his yellow 
 pasteboard to the gateman. " All right, Bul- 
 wer First train to the left, sir. Hurry up, 
 sir ! Not a second to spare ! Have to run for 
 it now!" Bong! went the ponderous gong. 
 Whoop who ee an engine whistled far to the 
 front. " That's your train, sir ! Help this gen 
 tleman up, Jimmy," and breathless, excited, and 
 clutching his card-case in one hand, puffing, 
 blowing, but successful, the runner was hauled
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 27 
 
 aboard the rear platform and passed on into a 
 crowded car. 
 
 It was filled with men and women, total 
 strangers to him but on terms of familiar 
 friendship with one another. Jolly chat, laugh 
 ter, repartee, bright eyes, flashing teeth, traces 
 of " make up" all too hastily removed, and de 
 Remer understood it all in no time. It was 
 some large theatrical company after the last 
 performance in the metropolis moving on to 
 the "next stand." Meantime with rapidly ac 
 celerating speed the train was whistling past 
 switch-lights, thundering over crossings, darting 
 under bridges, and then at last stretching away 
 like a racer over the long tangents outside the 
 city. " Bully train, this !" said the captain to 
 himself. " Any other time we'd be stopping at 
 every blessed one of these suburban stations. 
 We'll be out to the Fort in forty winks, and I'll 
 have the colonel's trap to myself. Shall I tell 
 Horatia how I stowed the money in another 
 fellow's overcoat, or made myself believe I did, 
 and nearly missed my train? Well, perhaps 
 not to-night." 
 
 A peal of merry laughter attracted him. One 
 of the young men in the middle of the car was
 
 28 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 giving a capital imitation of a noted actor in 
 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 
 
 The captain joined in the applause and shouts 
 for more. The brakeman banged the rear door 
 and came in. "Lucky we grabbed you, sir. 
 This train don't stop for nothing when once it's 
 going." 
 
 "Lucky, indeed!" said the captain, as he 
 pressed one of the silver disks into the brake- 
 man's palm ; " but you slow up at the Junction, 
 I'm told." 
 
 " Belt Line ? Certainly, sir. Be there in five 
 minutes." 
 
 " Bless me !" said de Reiner, " that is going. 
 I thought it was twenty miles out." But here 
 another gleeful shout and clapping of hands 
 took the brakeman away, and Dreams made for 
 the rear door. " Horatia says never under any 
 circumstances attempt to leave a train when in 
 motion, but when I do to take the rearmost plat 
 form," said he to himself. A cloud of smoke 
 and steam commingled closed in on the bleary 
 tail-lamps; vague outlines of signal-towers, 
 station-houses, and dim green and red switch- 
 lights flashed into sudden sight and became dis 
 solving views in another second. " No wonder
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 29 
 
 they call it the fast mail!" said de Kemer. 
 Sometimes in the sleepy hours 'twixt twelve 
 o'clock and reveille, when going the rounds as 
 officer of the day, he had heard the roar and 
 seen the rushing lights of this meteor of the 
 night and wished he could do his weary mile of 
 sentry posts in railway time. Another peal of 
 laughter from within. What fun those people 
 were having ! and how little they'd miss him if 
 he were to drop astern ! A long, blast from the 
 deep-throated whistle far at the front. The 
 captain grasped the hand-rail and peered cau 
 tiously ahead. The air-brakes began to grip the 
 wheels, the speed to slacken. Belt Line Junction 
 already ? Incredible ! Yet, that's what the brake- 
 man said. "Wonder .why the fast mail should 
 stop here, anyhow. A peep around the corner 
 of the car, and far up forward were the lights 
 of the station. Slower and slower every minute 
 went the train. Then, at last, just as though 
 decided not to come to a full stop, yet just as 
 they seemed stopping, too, toot, toot far ahead 
 went the whistle, followed by sudden hiss of air 
 and release of wheels and sudden spring forward. 
 "By Jove, she's going on again ! Now or never ! 
 Jump, or be carried fifty miles without a stop !" 
 3*
 
 30 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 The next minute the captain's heels struck the 
 icy space between the double tracks, then flew 
 from under him. He brought up sliding, spread 
 on his back and seeing stars innumerable in a 
 clouded sky. His hat flew into the darkness. 
 The precious coat unconscious cause of the 
 whole calamity parted at the back under some 
 intolerable strain ; and when five minutes later, 
 with the train already out of sight and hearing, 
 the station-master was turning away for the 
 night, he was amazed at the sudden appearance 
 of a disheveled tramp asking for the colonel's 
 carriage. 
 
 "The colonel's what?" 
 
 " The colonel's carriage." 
 
 " Carriage be d d ! You want the Black 
 Maria." 
 
 " I expect I look so," said the captain, meekly. 
 " I had to jump, or be carried fifty miles beyond 
 the Fort." 
 
 "What fort?" 
 
 "Fort Emory, of course! The only one I 
 know of near here." 
 
 " Fort Emory, your grandmother ! That's 
 twenty miles 'cross country, over on tother road. 
 What a jag you've got, man !"
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 31 
 
 " Good heavens !" said Dreams. " Wasn't that 
 the fast mail, and isn't this Emory station ?" 
 
 " See here, Johnny," said the station agent, 
 patronizingly, " you're as far off your base as 
 any skate I've struck for a year, and it has been 
 a good year for skates, too. Don't you know 
 that's Number Four, the Omaha express ?" 
 
 " I don't know anything but that's the train 
 I was told to take when I showed my ticket 
 for Fort Emory." 
 
 " You got a ticket?" said the man, suspi 
 ciously. 
 
 " Certainly ! I showed it at the gate, and the 
 railway men not only showed me that train, but 
 helped me onto it." 
 
 " Yes, you look as though you needed boost 
 ing," began the official, but Dreams's distress 
 was too genuine to admit of his noticing so 
 trivial a point. " How on earth can I get over 
 to the Fort ?" he asked. 
 
 " No way better'n walking," was the concise 
 reply ; " and the sooner you start the better." 
 
 "But I've lost my hat three hundred yards 
 down the track, and it's dark as pitch. I'd like 
 to borrow your lamp a few minutes. Do you 
 mean there's no train back to town ?"
 
 32 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 "Not before 6.30 A.M., and that don't stop. 
 You left ^that hat with your uncle in town, 
 Johnny, and you'll find the pawn ticket without 
 a lantern. 'Spose he wouldn't allow you any 
 thing on the coat. You wasn't thinking of 
 enlisting at the Fort, was you ? You're too old 
 a sinner even for them fellers." 
 
 " I'm very glad you can find any fun out of 
 this," said Dreams ; " I can't. Then can I wire 
 to the Fort and find a place to sleep ?" 
 
 " Not here," said the agent. " The operator 
 goes home right after the express is signaled, 
 and he's abed and asleep by this time. As for 
 sleeping, what's the matter with the nearest 
 barn? There's no hotel nearer than Prairie Lea, 
 five miles east. What are you tramping for this 
 time a night, anyhow? What you been stealing?" 
 
 " Merciful Powers !" thought de liemer, 
 " what would Horatia say to that ? I told you I 
 came out on this train by mistake, and I jumped 
 off when they slowed up at the crossing." 
 
 " You said you were ticketed for the Fort 
 and the train hands put you aboard the Omaha. 
 Now, I know they've no such chumps in the 
 pay of this road. That story is simply rotten, 
 Johnny. Come now, I want to close up."
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 33 
 
 "Before you do so," said the captain, with 
 much dignity, " be so good as to favor me with 
 your name, that I may report your language to 
 your superiors in the morning. As for my 
 credentials, here's my commutation ticket, and 
 you can satisfy yourself." So saying he ex 
 tracted the fateful pasteboard from his case and 
 held it forth. The conductor had not yet 
 reached the rear cars of the train when it 
 reached Belt Junction, consequently, up to that 
 moment, his ticket had been examined only by 
 the gateman. 
 
 Uncertainly the agent took it, glanced con 
 temptuously at it as though to say, " I size your 
 bluff," and then, all in an instant, a keen, eager 
 light shot into his face. He seemed about to 
 speak, but with sudden self-control checked him 
 self, peered under his shaggy eyebrows at the 
 captain, and queried : 
 
 " How did you get this ?" 
 
 " Bought it at the office in town." 
 
 " And what'd you say your name was ?" 
 
 "I am Captain de Remer, Thirty-third In 
 fantry, Fort Emory." 
 
 The station-master glanced keenly at him 
 once more, then quickly shoved the ticket into
 
 34 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 his pocket, saying, " You can sit here by the 
 fire as long as you like. It's the best I can do. 
 I live a quarter of a mile away, and there isn't 
 a spare corner in my shack. 'Tall events you 
 can't go anywhere 'cept by walking until 7.45, 
 so make the best of it." 
 
 With that he let himself out into the darkness 
 and slammed the door behind him. Dreams 
 thought he heard it locked, but that didn't con 
 cern him. " The best laid schemes o' mice and 
 men gang aft a-gley," said he with a sigh. 
 " Now, what can Horatia be thinking ?" 
 
 Presently he took a turn around the room. 
 There was the little ticket-office, closed and 
 locked, both window and door. So was the 
 door to the women's room adjoining. So, 
 finally, was the door by which the agent had 
 gone. " Verily," said Dreams, " I'm a prisoner, 
 and nothing less," for every window was bat 
 tened down tight and protected without by bars 
 of iron. For the life of him he could give no 
 plausible explanation of this. He would not 
 have been surprised had the official locked him 
 out, but why should he lock him in ? And then 
 it occurred to him that the station agent had 
 gone off with his ticket.
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 35 
 
 Ten minutes or so he pottered about the 
 room, half expecting the official to return, and 
 at length, wearied, dejected, disgusted, yet 
 philosophical, he seated himself in the arm 
 chair the agent had lugged out for him, 
 propped his feet on the stove-rail, and presently 
 dropped off to sleep. The last thing he saw or 
 remembered was the white face of the clock 
 informing him with a broad grin that it was 
 4.30 A.M. 
 
 Just at that hour half a dozen revelers came 
 down from the upper regions of the Amaranth, 
 were helped into their coats in the cloak-room 
 and, further, into their cabs at the door. Just 
 at 5.30 o'clock one of these vehicles with two 
 fares, after certain intermediate stops, came to a 
 halt at the Colonial Flats, and one of the two 
 fares, after rummaging his overcoat pocket, 
 startled the other and cabby, too, by saying, 
 
 "By God, I'm robbed!" 
 
 At six o'clock the sergeant on duty at the 
 Central Police Station was wiring to various 
 sub-stations, and two detectives had visited Gar- 
 ritty's open-all-night oyster parlors and Madi- 
 gan's Exchange, at both which popular night 
 resorts the Hon. Jerry Brenham, M. C. from
 
 36 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 the Buckhorn District of the Prairie State, had 
 tarried and partaken of good cheer, and been 
 made acquainted with many prominent citizens 
 on his flatward way. Mr. Brenham's loss con 
 sisted of a flat card-case containing his railway 
 passes, four or five checks payable to his order, 
 some valuable memoranda, a lot of loose silver, 
 and about one hundred dollars in greenbacks 
 which, rolled in a wad, was in his overcoat 
 pocket, the little change pocket on the outside. 
 When asked how he came to have valuables 
 in so exposed a point, the gentleman blushed. 
 " Well," said he, " ordinarily I wouldn't," and 
 the desk sergeant smiled benignantly. 
 
 " The chances are a hundred to one 'gainst 
 our getting the money back, sir," said he ; " but 
 Garritty or Madigan, either, can recover the card- 
 case." 
 
 And yet at 8.30 that morning Garritty and 
 Madigan were both swearing stoutly that no one 
 at their places had " lifted" anything belonging 
 to Mr. Brenham. They were sure of it, because 
 they knew every gentleman present at the time. 
 At 8.40 they were still protesting, when there 
 came a wire from Belt Line Junction saying a 
 "snoozer" was there only an hour before who
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 37 
 
 had one of Mr. Brenham's tickets, and the 
 ticket was still there to prove it. The telegraph 
 agent had caught a message ticking over the 
 wires to certain station agents on the Omaha 
 Air Line, at Bulwer and beyond, warning them 
 and conductors to look out for anybody with 
 the Hon. J. Brenham's " commutations" or 
 " annuals," and here at Belt Junction had they 
 run it down, and the bird was flown. 
 
 " Where'd he go ?" wired the police. 
 
 "Back to town at 8.20. She was late. He 
 bought a trip ticket. Said he was going to 
 report me for impudence. You can nab your 
 man at the Union depot if you're lively." Lively 
 they were. Two officers were there when the 
 train got in, but no one was visible who an 
 swered the description given. " A feller like 
 that jumped off at Omaha Junction; said he 
 wanted to catch the first train up the fort road," 
 explained the brakeman. 
 
 " Well, run him down, follow him up," said 
 the Honorable Jerry, who hadn't slept a wink 
 and was resorting to stimulant again. 
 
 Cheerless, hatless, hungry, and mad all 
 through, Captain de Remer had upbraided the 
 station-master when that functionary came 
 
 4
 
 38 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 around again in the morning to sell tickets for 
 the 7.45. There were few passengers. A 
 heavy snow was falling, and the train was late. 
 Dreams would have telegraphed the Fort, but, 
 argued he, " I'll go in on the 7.45, jump off up 
 town at the Omaha Junction, and take the Fort 
 local that comes along about ten minutes after 
 my train gets there. I'll be at Emory as soon 
 as my telegram," and so he would have been, 
 but that it was 8.40 before the 7.49 came buz 
 zing and roaring through the drifts. 
 
 In his offended dignity, he would have no 
 more to say to the station-master, but he bought 
 a hat from a neighborly native, who was glad to 
 get a dollar for a Derby of the vintage of four 
 years back, and then kept out on the platform 
 until borne away by the train. At Omaha Junc 
 tion he learned that he was much too late for the 
 Fort local, and it would be noon before the next 
 train. Here there was no telegraph, but some 
 shops up Erie street were suggestive of hot 
 coffee and rolls and steak, and even such as 
 they were they tasted palatably to the tired 
 man. Then he was directed to a journeyman 
 tailor who had a little shop not far away, and 
 into that artist's hands he confided the ruptured
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 39 
 
 overcoat, beseeching him to repair the long rent 
 as speedily as possible, but that expert said it 
 was a three hours' job ; and while he was at it 
 the captain begged permission to lay him down 
 on the sofa in a little back room, and there he 
 was soon placidly sleeping, so placidly that the 
 noon accommodation went by without him, and 
 this climax to a series of misadventures broke 
 him up completely. Now he must wait until 
 6 P.M. 
 
 But not until one o'clock was the coat ready. 
 He therefore decided to take the first train into 
 town, where he could wire to Horatia, get a com 
 fortable dinner at the Amaranth, and, after a 
 shave and a hair cut, would astonish her by the 
 trimness of his appearance when he got home. 
 Back to the station went he, and a townward 
 train had just gone by. No more for two hours 
 and a half. " Go west six blocks and you'll find 
 a trolley line," said a policeman, and so at 2 P.M. 
 Dreams was whisking back to the treacherous 
 core of the great city and pondering ruefully 
 over the adventures of the day. " I am going," 
 said he, " to the railway office and make formal 
 complaint of that station-master, and also of the 
 trainmen who saw my ticket and put me on the
 
 40 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 wrong road." And such was his intention when 
 ho reached the Court-House terminal at 2.45, but 
 by that time he was hungry in earnest. The 
 sight of ruddy lobsters, ice-rooted clams, and 
 other sea dainties in the alluring windows of the 
 Boston Oyster Parlors tempted him to enter. 
 He dined. He treated himself to a bottle of 
 Chablis, dreamily remarking how remarkably 
 that little stack of silver lasted, and then to a 
 cab to the railway office, where at 4 P.M. he in 
 quired of a clerk where he could see the general 
 manager. The clerk looked askance at the 
 battered, browned, four-year old hat on the 
 caller's head, and said the manager was busy. 
 But the manager was a Loyal Legion man, and 
 had most jovially bidden the captain to drop in 
 and see him anytime only the night before. 
 
 "Is it anything I can attend to for you," said 
 the clerk, somewhat airily. 
 
 " Possibly," said the captain ; " but Mr. Ros- 
 well asked me to call only as late as last night." 
 
 " Oh, then, I'll take in your card," said the 
 clerk. "He's dictating some telegrams at this 
 moment." 
 
 And that reminded Dreams that not a word 
 had he despatched to Iloratia. He was thinking
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 41 
 
 mournfully of this and not of the card as he 
 drew one out of the flat, gray card-case that 
 seemed unaccountably fatter ; but Horatia often 
 tucked in fresh supplies of cards when his 
 pocket stock was running low. The clerk took 
 it, started, got as far as the door to the inner 
 sanctum, glanced at the card, then stopped short 
 and looked curiously back at the visitor, who was 
 now plunged in a brown study and seriously 
 contemplating a railway map without having 
 the faintest idea what was on it. 
 
 Still he could hear, and what he heard was 
 this : " You tell Mr. Brenham that I've been 
 bothered enough for one day, and if he has any 
 thing further to say to put it in writing. I 
 haven't time to see him." 
 
 But why should the clerk come out and say 
 to him " Mr. Roswell's too busy, and says to put 
 your business in writing." 
 
 "I'll do it," said Dreams, irate once more, 
 and asked for pen and paper and sat him down 
 to draw up a formal complaint against the rail 
 way officials already referred to. It occupied 
 him half an hour, during which time there was 
 much coming and going. Then he arose, 
 handed it to the clerk, who looked at him in a 
 
 4*
 
 42 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 puzzled way even Dreams could not but notice. 
 Then he meandered off to the Amaranth, and 
 met a placid-looking citizen at the foot of the 
 office stairs who motioned to another, and be 
 tween these two Captain D. was civilly given to 
 understand that a gentleman wished to see him 
 at the police station, in short, the chief himself. 
 De Remer wanted to ask questions, but the 
 " gents" displayed silver stars on their waist 
 coats and utter indifference to his wishes in that 
 behalf and a degree of calm determination that 
 silenced remonstrance. In ten minutes more a 
 much aggrieved and bewildered captain of in 
 fantry was ushered into the presence of the awe- 
 inspiring head of the force, and that shrewd 
 official looked at once as surprised at Dreams 
 did bewildered. 
 
 " Sure there's no mistake ?" he asked the 
 imperturbable " sleuths." 
 
 " None ! This is the party. "We tracked him 
 easy. You won't deny having spent the night 
 at Belt Junction and giving the station-master 
 this ticket, I suppose," said one, holding forth 
 the old pasteboard. 
 
 " Of course not, and I'm glad to get it again," 
 and Dreams stretched forth his hand even as the
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 43 
 
 other gent deftly felt in that change pocket and 
 drew forth the card-case. 
 
 " Here's part of the property, now," said he, 
 to the chief. " What did you do with the hun 
 dred dollars ?" 
 
 " What hundred dollars ?" 
 
 " The hundred dollars that was in that change 
 pocket." 
 
 " I never had more than five dollars there in 
 my life, and came near losing that." 
 
 Again a prying finger and thumb were at work. 
 " What's this, then ?" said the officer, raking out 
 a dusky roll, unfolding which he displayed a pad 
 of ten and twenty dollar greenbacks. 
 
 "I never saw it before or knew it was there. 
 Let me explain this thing. I took supper at the 
 Amaranth late last night, and shoved some 
 change into another man's pocket." (Here 
 the chief looked incredulous and the deputies 
 grinned with enjoyment.) "I discovered it in 
 time, and went back to find that I'd got the 
 wrong overcoat. I whipped it off and put on 
 this, my own, which was hanging on the next 
 peg, but somebody even more absent-minded 
 than I must have thrust this money in here. 
 'Tisn't mine," said Dreams.
 
 44 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 "Well, tell us something we don't know, 
 Johnny," said one of them, with an affable 
 smile. " Of course 'tisn't yours, neither is the 
 card-case. The gentleman the coat belongs to 
 '11 be here in a moment, and then you can ex 
 plain further. That the style of hat they wear 
 at the Amaranth ?" 
 
 " That'll do, Murray," said the chief, in a 
 cautionary tone. " You've sent for Mr. Bren- 
 ham, have you ?" 
 
 " Coming directly, sir." 
 
 Presently the door flew open and in popped 
 the representative of the Buckhorn District. 
 He was still flushed with excitement, probably. 
 
 " Is this your card-case and money ?" said the 
 chief. 
 
 " It certainly is," said Brenham, looking 
 thankfully at those items, and then in a misty, 
 uncertain way at Dreams. " You don't mean to 
 say this gentleman " 
 
 " Nobody else," was the brief response. 
 
 And then the two gentlemen fell to studying 
 each other's overcoat, then that which each 
 was wearing, and then the latest arrival re 
 marked, " Didn't I see you in evening dress at 
 the Amaranth last night with Colonel Tintop ?"
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 45 
 
 "You did, and I'm in evening dress yet," 
 said Captain de Eemer, throwing open his over 
 coat. 
 
 "And I'll be damned if that isn't my over 
 coat you've got on," said the M. C., " and this 
 then must be yours." 
 
 The chief burst out laughing. " Gentlemen, 
 do you often dine at the Amaranth ? Now sup 
 pose you introduce yourselves to each other, 
 since your card-cases seem to have got mixed 
 with your coats, and possibly other items." 
 
 " By God ! Think of my wearing this all 
 day, and never knowing it wasn't my own!" 
 said the Congressman elect, contemplating with 
 satisfaction the fine texture and finish of the 
 captain's coat. " I think, so far as coats are con 
 cerned, I've the best of the swap." 
 
 " Then will you make it permanent ?" said the 
 captain ; " for I regret to say I met with a mis 
 hap and ruined yours, and it was all due to my 
 unpardonable stupidity." 
 
 "Let's go somewhere and have a small 
 bottle," said the M. C. 
 
 " Let me first wire to my wife that I've been 
 found," said Dreams.
 
 46 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 
 
 Three days later the following letter was 
 received at Fort Emory. 
 
 " Q. K. & X. Kailway. 
 GENERAL MANAGER'S OFFICE. 
 
 " February 10, 189-. 
 
 " CAPTAIN J. A. DE REMER, 
 
 THIRTY-THIRD U. S. INFANTRY, FORT EMORY. 
 "DEAR SIR, Immediately upon receipt of 
 your letter of the 7th inst., the station-master at 
 Belt Line Junction, Omaha Division, and the 
 gateman at the Great Western station, were 
 summoned to answer to the very serious charges 
 preferred against them, and, after full investiga 
 tion, I am constrained to say that, while the 
 station-master frankly admits having used lan 
 guage which would have been most reprehen 
 sible, ordinarily, there appears to have been 
 some warrant for his suspicions, as both he 
 and the gateman declare that the ticket you 
 exhibited was a Bulwer accommodation made 
 out for the Hon. Jeremiah Brenham, M. C. 
 elect. That the gatemen should have put you 
 on the Omaha train was, therefore, their duty, 
 and that the station-master should have failed 
 to show you the respect due an officer and a 
 gentleman is a matter which he most deeply
 
 CAPTAIN DREAMS. 47 
 
 regrets, and is most anxious to atone for, and 
 which I can find it easier to explain to you in 
 person if you will honor me by lunching with 
 
 me at the Amaranth next time you " 
 
 But here Horatia interposed. " The next 
 time you go to town to lunch it will be with 
 me, John ; and as for the Loyal Legion and the 
 Amaranth, we'll visit them when they introduce 
 Ladies' Nights, and not before."
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 c d 
 
 49
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 LORD GROSVENOR and Mr. Edward Paget were 
 sitting in a little smoking-room that looked into 
 a brilliantly lighted ballroom in the country 
 mansion of Sir Hugh MofFatt, Bart. The occa 
 sion was that of the celebration of the return 
 of Sir Hugh from America, bringing as his 
 bride one of the fairest of the reigning daughters 
 of San Francisco. The air was stirred with 
 strains of exquisite music, the production of 
 finished artists carefully selected by Sir Hugh, 
 and laden with the fragrance of innumerable 
 cut flowers from the most renowned conserva 
 tories of London. Banners, jacks, and pen 
 nants drooped from the walls and floated over 
 head, reflecting in soft harmony the tints of 
 colored lights shed from brackets and chande 
 liers hung in carefully chosen places. The gay 
 company was in its most pleasant mood. The 
 happiness produced by long drives in the clear 
 May evening was heightened by the inviting 
 brilliancy of the lawns and approaches of the 
 
 61
 
 52 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 mansion, lit with many colored lanterns, and 
 flashing with torches, and by the cordial warmth 
 of the reception that greeted each newly-arriving 
 guest. 
 
 Lord Grosvenor and Mr. Paget, being gentle 
 men whose long contact with society had dulled 
 the keen edge that finds delight in such gather 
 ings, had slipped away into this little card-room, 
 and were beaming complaisant approbation 
 through the door upon the whirling mass of 
 rich silks, flashing jewels, dress suits, and gay 
 uniforms. Lord Harry had pushed back the 
 ice and straws that remained from a mint 
 julep, and was in the act of lighting a Turkish 
 cigarette. 
 
 ""Will you have a cigarette, Paget; or do 
 you prefer to commit suicide in a more rapid 
 manner?" inquired he, extending an enameled 
 silver case of the questionable fumables. 
 
 " Thanks ; don't care to smoke, my boy. 
 Fact is, I'm thinking." 
 
 "Actually got an idea in your head, eh? 
 Congratulate you! Don't wrestle with it too 
 hard, or you will bring up in an insane asylum. 
 Let's punish another round of this mixture." 
 Lord Harry industriously pushed the button.
 
 THE EBB-TJDE. 53 
 
 "Yes; that is, I'm thinking Moffatt must 
 have had some deuced good reason for taking 
 up with that girl. He doesn't need money, and 
 he has been proof against some rushing heart- 
 breakers in his day. Deuced queer, old man, 
 some good reason for it." 
 
 The progress of the dance at this moment 
 placed Sir Hugh and his bride opposite the 
 open draperies of the smoking-room. A soft, 
 red light fell upon them from a chandelier 
 overhead, and behind them rose the broad 
 green leaves of a huge fan palm. Sir Hugh 
 bent fondly over her a moment, waiting for the 
 figure to begin. Her body swayed towards him, 
 and her downcast eyes were lifted slowly and 
 confidently to his ; the effect was one of melan 
 choly beauty. Tall, round, and full of figure, 
 with heavy dark-brown hair, rosy cheeks, dark 
 eyes and long ashes, quite an impressive type 
 of San Francisco loveliness. The music started 
 the dancers whirling and the happy host arid 
 hostess were lost in the throng again. 
 
 The pair in the smoking-room had quit their 
 
 glasses and sat staring through the doorway. 
 
 Lord Harry rose and stood for a moment with 
 
 one hand parting the drapery over the door, 
 
 6*
 
 54 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 trying to catch another glimpse of her Ameri 
 can ladyship. Then he returned and fell into 
 his chair. 
 
 "Phew! Deuced pretty girl. Don't blame 
 the boy. Have to congratulate him, eh ? Ha ! 
 ha ! Good reason, yes ; fairly good. He mar 
 ried that girl for her looks." Lord Harry lit 
 another cigarette and tipped back his chair. 
 
 "More than looks, my boy; there is a 
 romance in it. Moffatt never tripped up on 
 looks alone. I heard "Wilston saying something 
 about it the other day. When he gets tired 
 of dancing a bit, we'll drag him in here and 
 pump it out of him. "Wilston says he met 
 her at a hop at the Bear Island Navy- Yard, 
 up in the bay of San Francisco, you know, 
 that place where they harbor a lot of old tubs 
 that look like Bedford whalers; and where it 
 takes them so long to armor a cruiser that the 
 style changes five times before they get it into 
 commission. Deuced romantic place for a 
 romance. I say, you go out and chase MoiFatt 
 in ; you know him a bit better than I do." 
 
 " "Well, you get things ready to entertain him 
 at his own expense, and I'll try and fetch him. 
 I'll have to apologize to him for being seen in
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 55 
 
 here with you, of course, you don't mind?" 
 His lordship rose and waggishly twisted the 
 end of his moustache. 
 
 "Go on ; don't be an idiot !" Mr. Paget re 
 plied, pushing his lordship through the door 
 and drawing the curtains after him. 
 
 In a few minutes behold the three comforta 
 bly seated around the table, with more mint 
 juleps and cigarettes in the centre. Sir Hugh 
 pushed back his glass with a look of pain. 
 
 "Why don't you youngsters learn decent 
 habits?" he inquired. "A few more of those 
 mint juleps and I shall be under the unpleasant 
 necessity of attending your funerals. Paget, 
 be good enough to push the button. So you 
 want to know how I came to marry, eh? 
 Can't stop long, she might be looking for me, 
 but I don't mind telling you; it was rather 
 odd, quite romantic, you may say. Jones, 
 mix three Jamaica rum cock-tails, and put a 
 little Scotch whisky in them. You know the 
 kind the American minister mixes for the 
 King of Greece; and be quick about it." Sir 
 Hugh bit off the end of a cigar. 
 
 " You see it's all about the ebb-tide, a favorite 
 little superstition of mine. My father was a
 
 56 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 naval officer, and I was born on board ship 
 when his craft lay out in the Mersey, just as 
 the high tide was ebbing. That doesn't seem 
 at all strange, but father never let me forget it ; 
 used to tell me when I was a boy that it was an 
 unusual thing. Then when I was at college he 
 and some of his men were killed in a boat while 
 chasing pirates into the mouth of a river in 
 Africa, and the ebb-tide brought the boat back 
 out to sea, in sight of the ship, and they put 
 out and rescued the bodies. After that, when I 
 was a subaltern in the Indian service, I was 
 ordered from Calcutta to join a small detach 
 ment up the Brahmapootra by sunset of a certain 
 day. A part of the distance we were obliged 
 to make in a pulling boat ; but the high tide was 
 ebbing swiftly, and we were delayed more than 
 three hours. On our arrival we found that the 
 native garrison had mutined, killed every Sahib 
 in sight, and took to the tall timber. If there 
 had been a flood- instead of an ebb-tide, I should 
 have gone to heaven as a representative from 
 Assam, instead of being here to instruct you in 
 the mysteries of Jamaica rum punch. These 
 little incidents, gentlemen, and some others 
 that I shall not take time to tell you of, have
 
 TEE EBB-TIDE. 57 
 
 led me to believe that the ebb-tide has some 
 sort of propitious influence 6ver my destiny; 
 therefore, when I tell you that it is to the ebb 
 tide that I am indebted for my bride, you will 
 agree with me. My regards, gentlemen; tell 
 me how you like this, and I will continue." 
 
 "Elegant!" said Grosvenor; "mint julep isn't 
 anywhere !" 
 
 " Capital !" said Paget, smacking his lips. 
 " Where did you learn to make it ?" 
 
 " An American chap from Philadelphia taught 
 me the compound. Be careful you do not take 
 too many of them." Sir Hugh lit his cigar. 
 "I must hurry, gentlemen; some one will be 
 hunting me presently. You will pardon me if 
 I go on with the story ?" 
 
 " Yes, yes ; go on !" 
 
 " "Well, you remember that I went to America 
 with Wilston in his yacht ' White Wings,' and 
 that he left me in San Francisco and came back 
 without me. One day, while we were lying in 
 the bay off Alcatraz Island, we received an in 
 vitation to attend a hop to be given by the offi 
 cers of the navy-yard at Bear Island. As all 
 had engagements to go out that night except 
 myself, I determined to go and represent the
 
 58 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 party. A Mr. McWhite, of St. Louis, who had 
 been calling on fls, offered to accompany me; 
 and I was glad to have his society, for he was a 
 genial chap, and I dreaded to make the trip 
 alone. He assured me that the train for Gal- 
 lego, which is a town on the mainland opposite 
 Bear Island, did not leave until half-past four; 
 at which time we would be joined by some other 
 naval officers from the harbor, and we would 
 have quite a party on our way to the hop. 
 
 " I sauntered quietly about the yacht until a 
 little after four, then had the launch pull along 
 side, dropped my valise containing my full dress 
 suit into it, and steamed over to the wharf from 
 which the ferry started. Leaving word with the 
 coxswain that I was not to be expected back un 
 til the next morning at ten, I entered the ferry- 
 house, purchased my ticket for Gallego, and be 
 gan to hunt for my promised companions. To 
 my astonishment, not one was to be found. Evi 
 dently they had boarded the ferry-boat, so I went 
 on, and, leaving my valise with a porter, searched 
 the boat over and over, still without success. 
 Just as the boat was casting loose I went aft, 
 and beheld, in the act of crossing the plank, my 
 friend McWhite, with a valise and top-coat and
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 59 
 
 a countenance too long to appear in a single 
 issue. 
 
 " * What's the matter ?' I exclaimed, embracing 
 him. 
 
 " ' Matter !' he gasped, blankly. * Matter ! 
 Why, we're two blithering, blooming slobs ! 
 That's what's the matter !' 
 
 " How's that ? What do you mean ?' 
 
 " Why, we're left; that's all.' 
 
 " ' You're mistaken ; we're here. It's the rest 
 of the party that is left.' 
 
 " Mr. McWhite cast upon me a look of mortal 
 anguish. 
 
 " ' I tell you we are left ! The train we 
 should have taken starts at four. All the rest 
 are on it ; they think we have given up the trip : 
 there is no way of sending them any word, and 
 there is not another ferry to Gallego until to 
 morrow morning. If you can fancy yourself 
 left any worse than that, you must have a very 
 vivid imagination.' 
 
 " He bitterly seized me by the arm and led 
 me forward, where we both leaned over the port, 
 railing. A school of porpoises was sporting and 
 blowing among the swells a short distance from 
 the boat. Following them my eyes caught sight
 
 60 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 of a spar buoy pointing its long green finger 
 towards the Golden Gate. All of the ships in 
 the harbor were turned with their sterns to the 
 sea, like a lot of impecunious gentlemen at a 
 church fair in the presence of a subscription 
 collector. Then an idea rushed into my mind : 
 it was the ebb-tide. 
 
 " As I gazed into the water, the idea took 
 possession of me, and every visible object forced 
 the impression more deeply upon my conscious 
 ness. The ripples on the land side of the rocks, 
 the surf beating on the shore, bits of wood and 
 spars floating out to sea, all contributed to 
 thrust this one idea upon my thoughts and 
 fasten it in my mind. I turned to Me White. 
 
 " * We must go on,' I said. * There is no 
 turning back. Ferry or no ferry, we shall reach 
 the island to-night. "We must reach the island 
 to-night.' 
 
 " ' Go on ; I perish with you,' he responded, 
 resolutely. 
 
 " The boat touched the landing and we hunted 
 a vacant seat in the cars. Not one familiar face 
 met our inquiring gaze. The conductor, while 
 taking our tickets, said that our train stopped at 
 the ferry landing at Gallego Junction, but no
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 61 
 
 more boats crossed until next morning ; neither 
 did he know of a single small boat or other 
 means of making the crossing to Gallego. 
 
 " ' We will cross if we have to swim,' I said. 
 MeWhite averred that, if it were possible to 
 avoid it, he preferred not to swim. 
 
 " Then the train pulled away and left us 
 standing on what proved afterwards to be the 
 depot platform, and a sense of what it is to be 
 in a place absolutely devoid of light settled 
 upon us. I have been in the Thames tunnel 
 when the gas supply gave out ; and I was once 
 left in the heart of the great Pyramid with an 
 extinguished lantern, but never before had I 
 understood that overwhelming sense of vacancy 
 and dread which accompanies the total absence 
 of light. Not a sound except that of our own 
 footsteps and the rumble of the train dying 
 away in the distance broke the stillness. 
 
 " ' Why didn't we go back?' groaned Me White. 
 
 " * Come on,' I answered, seizing him by the 
 arm ; * it is too late for regrets now.' 
 
 "We slowly felt our way in the direction 
 towards which the train had disappeared, not 
 knowing what bottomless pits or hidden dan 
 gers yawned to engulf us. After about fifty 
 
 6
 
 62 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 yards of such progress our feet fell on gravel, 
 and on looking up, we beheld the stars ; then, a 
 little to our left, the glimmer of a light. 
 
 "Me White was ready to burst into tears; I 
 could hear his suppressed sighs. 'Have you 
 said your prayers ?' he feebly inquired. ' Have 
 my remains forwarded to my mother.' Then 
 we struck out boldly in the direction of the 
 light. Other lights began to appear, and soon 
 we were aware that a village nestled in a pocket 
 under the cliffs. Presently we encountered a 
 pedestrian crossing our path, who, in response 
 to our anxious interrogation, informed us that 
 he would be glad to assist us in any way ; that 
 he was a Wiltshireman, and therefore glad to 
 be of service to a countryman. It was four 
 miles to Bear Island, and a difficult passage ; but 
 he knew of a single small boat owned by one 
 Pete Johnson, who might be persuaded to row 
 us over, provided the remuneration was suffi 
 ciently advantageous. The light we saw was at 
 the village tavern, where Pete had his lodgings. 
 "We entered the hostelrie, and after a glance at 
 the occupants there, tipped backed in various 
 attitudes against the wall, concluded that there 
 were neither philanthropists nor foreign mis-
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 63 
 
 sionaries among them. As a precautionary 
 measure we told the proprietor to ask the gen 
 tlemen what they would have, and during the 
 excitement which followed this invitation we 
 were presented to Pete Johnson. Pete rose, 
 stretched his arms, and replied : 
 
 " ' Ya-as ; I ha' got a bo-at. I yust get done 
 work to-day, an' I be purty tired. I tek you 
 'cross for six dollar. The tide he be runnin' 
 out, and it be purty hard to row up stream.' 
 
 " ' Come !' said McWhite, taking him by the 
 arm. ' Come ; there is not a moment to lose.' 
 As he passed me, he whispered, 'Hurry up; 
 let's get him off before he changes his mind.' 
 We hastened down to the shore, where the surf 
 was beating ominously over the rocks. 
 
 " ' Pete,' said I, ' it's a long pull, and you had 
 better take a bracer before you start out.' I 
 handed him a small flask that I had in my 
 pocket. ' Can you drink out of a bottle ?' 
 
 " ' My mother she teach me to drink out of a 
 bottle, an' I no ha' forgot it,' he chuckled. He 
 made good the assertion by emptying the bottle. 
 
 "We entered the craft, which Pete held 
 against the shore with an oar. There were 
 three seats, Pete occupied the forward one,
 
 64 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 Me White that in the stern, and myself the 
 second ; the valises filled the bow. Of all frag 
 ile crafts this was a little more so than any I 
 ever entered; flat-bottomed, short, without a 
 rudder, every movement threatened to capsize 
 it. 
 
 " * Have you an " Examiner" in your pocket ?' 
 inquired McWhite. 
 
 " Yes,' I replied. 
 
 "'Well, hold on to it; nothing in that will 
 ever go down!' 
 
 " As he shoved off, it seemed as if we had 
 joined Charon in a final journey across the 
 Styx. The waves heaved troublously. A few 
 lights were visible at distances which appeared 
 very great; among them we detected the colored 
 lights of vessels. A green and red pair appear 
 ing from the land side passed so close to us that 
 the swells threatened to capsize us. Then we 
 knew that we were in the track of the river 
 boats, and we mentally parted our hair in the 
 middle in heroic efforts to trim ship, lest we 
 should be buried beneath the swells of some 
 dark river phantom. I asked Pete if he knew 
 the lights. 
 
 "'A tenk so,' he said. 'I ha' made more
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 65 
 
 den fifty trips lak dis. De boat she pull hard 
 when de tide go out.' 
 
 " I seized McWhite by the trousers to assure 
 myself that he had not fallen overboard; he 
 had not uttered a word since starting, but, 
 although he was quiet, I discovered that he was 
 easily riled. 
 
 "'For God's sake, keep quiet!' he ejaculated. 
 * You'll have us both at the bottom in a min 
 ute ; and I don't care to present myself at the 
 heavenly portal when there is any danger of 
 Saint Peter's thinking that I am from San 
 Francisco !' 
 
 "At this instant a heavy swell twisted the 
 boat half round and doused us with water. I 
 heard Me White groan fervently. 
 
 " ' It's all right, old man ; brace up. The ebb 
 tide never brought ill luck to my family yet !' 
 
 " To trouble you further with the details of 
 that diabolical four miles would be wearisome. 
 To go out in the dark, into the middle of a bay 
 with enough wind blowing to stir up the white 
 caps, nothing between you and the bottom but 
 a cockle-shell of a boat with a bungling Swede 
 to manage it, all for the sake of dancing a few 
 figures with a lot of total strangers, is what 
 
 e 6*
 
 66 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 any sane person would call rabid, blooming 
 idiocy." 
 
 " Then what the devil did you do it for ?" 
 broke in Grosvenor, who could not contain 
 himself any longer. 
 
 " Don't be excited ; that's just what I'm try 
 ing to tell you," continued Sir Hugh. " You 
 know that, according to popular superstition, if 
 you turn back after starting to do anything, bad 
 luck will follow you ? "Well, that kept us from 
 turning back, and the ebb-tide idea in my head 
 kept us moving on. I felt that something was 
 going to happen, -just as surely as when a man 
 touches a match to a keg of powder. So we 
 kept urging that Swede like a jockey does a 
 favorite on the last heat, until we were fairly 
 under the guns of a big man-of-war that was 
 lying at anchor below the island. We passed it 
 a bit faster than the usual rate, and so close to 
 the ship's side that we could see nothing at all 
 to the starboard. Just as we rushed past the 
 bowsprit, a huge black object leaped upon us 
 like a locomotive on a parcel of rats in a tunnel, 
 and in an instant more we were floundering in 
 the water. 
 
 " We had been struck pretty hard, but fortu-
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 67 
 
 nately we were not separated. The black object 
 had taken us close astern, just behind poor 
 McWhite, and had turned the boat completely 
 over, spilling us out bag and baggage, quicker 
 than the whisk of a squirrel's tail. "When I got 
 the water out of my eyes, I could see by the 
 light of the ship's lanterns that the boat had 
 righted itself and was floating right side up 
 about ten feet away, splintered somewhat, but 
 not entirely wrecked. Pete was in the act of 
 pulling himself over the bow, and McWhite 
 was threshing and struggling, first for the ship 
 and then for the boat, whichever in his mad 
 evolutions appeared next in sight. I was vigor 
 ously treading water and shaking the brine out 
 of my eyes, endeavoring to collect my scattered 
 ideas. Pete had recovered an oar and was in 
 dustriously rescuing the baggage, for the safety 
 of which, thanks to closely-locked leather cases, 
 there was little to fear. 
 
 "By the time we had drifted back opposite 
 the port gangway, the watch, aroused by the 
 unusual disturbance, was standing ready with a 
 line, and it was my supreme joy to behold Pete 
 catch it at the first throw, and pull himself, boat 
 and all, towards the ladder. A second and third
 
 68 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 line received vigorous bites from Me White and 
 myself, and we were hauled in, drenched and 
 bewildered, and more dead than alive, by the 
 crew of the vessel that had been the indirect 
 cause of our discomfiture. 
 
 " We were in the act of explaining matters 
 as volubly as our chattering teeth would permit, 
 when a large steam-launch rushed alongside 
 and stopped opposite the ladder. I heard a 
 woman's soft voice excitedly inquire : 
 
 '"Do tell us; were any of them much hurt? 
 were they drowned?' Evidently this was the 
 launch that had run over us, and there had been 
 no wrongful intent on the part of the speaker, 
 at least. 
 
 " We were still standing on the plank and the 
 steps of the ladder, shivering and chattering and 
 the water running oft' in streams. A naval 
 officer stepped up from the launch and the out 
 line of a lady's figure appeared in the door of 
 the cabin. 
 
 " * Any of these people hurt ? Who are 
 they?' the officer sharply asked one of the 
 sailors. 
 
 " ' No one hurt, sir ' Before he could 
 
 continue, I stepped up and interrupted him :
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 69 
 
 " ' Allow me to introduce myself, sir,' I said. 
 ' I am Hugh Moftatt, of the British yacht 
 " White Wings/' and this is my friend, Mr. Mc- 
 White, of St. Louis. We were on our way to 
 the hop to-night when your launch ran into us. 
 My friend McWhite is ' 
 
 "'Dead, sir; dead!' put in McWhite; ' these 
 are his defunct remains.' His chattering teeth, 
 however, indicated that life was not entirely 
 extinct. 
 
 " t Come right aboard, gentlemen ; it is impos 
 sible for me to attempt to express my regret for 
 this unfortunate accident. You may discharge 
 your boatman here or take him with you, as 
 you prefer.' 
 
 " ' How much have we damaged you, Pete ?' 
 I inquired. 
 
 " * I tenk about twenty-five dollar fix dat boat 
 up dis time. I go no more trips lak dis !' 
 
 " ' Very good, my man ; you may go now,' 
 I answered. 'We are indebted to you in a 
 manner that cannot be repaid by money.' I 
 managed to find the necessary coin. 
 
 "We entered the cabin minus our hats, the 
 water running over the floor of the cabin, and 
 standing in pools under our feet. Wet and
 
 70 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 bedraggled, we were sorry objects to look upon. 
 The naval officer turned to the other occupant 
 of the cabin, and, motioning towards us with his 
 hand, said : 
 
 " l Miss Stanton, these gentlemen were on their 
 way to the hop to-night when our launch cap 
 sized them. Permit me to introduce Mr. Mof- 
 fatt, of the British yacht " White Wings," and 
 his friend, Mr. Me White, of St. Louis.' 
 
 " 1 1 am so sorry ! I hope you are not hurt ! 
 It is a very unfortunate way of making ac 
 quaintances,' said Miss Stanton, beaming upon 
 us a smile of sympathy that would have warmed 
 the heart of an Esquimaux. 
 
 " ' Oh, no ; not inconvenienced in the least,' 
 said Me White, holding out his fingers for the 
 water to drain off. 'Little incidents like this 
 are very common with us, we always enjoy 
 them.' 
 
 "/ Yes,' I added, * we will enjoy the hop more 
 than ever for this little bath.' 
 
 " * Then you will not give up the hop ? I am 
 so glad! You deserve all the pleasure it is 
 possible for us to afford you after this dreadful 
 accident. Mr. Pell, you must take these gentle 
 men right over to my cousin's, Dr. Pigett's,
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 71 
 
 quarters, and say he is to take care of them for 
 me. He will he only too glad to do anything in 
 his power to make you comfortable. You must 
 promise to come to the hop, now.' The earnest 
 look of entreaty in her hig brown eyes would 
 have disarmed opposition in a Zulu brave. 
 
 " ' Yes,' I answered, ' when we get fixed up a 
 bit, we shall be only more pleased than ever to 
 carry out our original intentions. I am glad Dr. 
 Pigett is your cousin. I have the honor of 
 knowing him very well.' 
 
 "By the time the launch touched the dock, 
 Mr. Pell stood waiting for us to land, and two 
 able seamen, with our valises in their hands, 
 were in readiness to show us the way to the 
 Doctor's quarters. We bowed to our rescuers 
 and followed them, after renewing our assur 
 ances that we would appear at the hop-room. 
 Even McWhite spoke a trifle less sarcastically, 
 and bestowed a second glance upon the owner 
 of the dark-brown eyes. 
 
 " Our reception by the Doctor, who was a 
 graduate of the Government Naval Academy; 
 the truly courteous manner in which he placed 
 his quarters at our disposal, and exerted himself 
 to provide all that would add to our comfort
 
 72 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 and make amends for the mishaps of the day, 
 produced an indelible impression in my mind, 
 and spoke volumes in praise of the hospitality 
 of the officers of the American navy. The 
 water had not entered our valises to any seri 
 ous extent, so that shortly after nine we made 
 our appearance a vastly improved appearance 
 in evening dress, and were on our way to 
 the hop-room. As we entered, our glances 
 sought the owner of the brown eyes. Yes, she 
 was expecting us ; the brown eyes were turned 
 towards the door and soon brought their owner 
 forward to greet us. It was at this moment, I 
 think, that America scored another victory over 
 Great Britain in her own waters, a legal cap 
 ture for the brown eyes, and they have ever 
 since held undisputed possession of the prize. 
 It is unbecoming my present position, gentle 
 men, to enumerate the many reasons that 
 existed for the capture of the Briton ; but Paget 
 has known me long enough to be certain that 
 they were excellent; and for the rest, as you 
 have already met Lady Moffatt, you must judge 
 for yourselves." 
 
 " But what did the ebb-tide have to do with 
 it?" interrupted Grosvenor.
 
 THE EBB-TIDE. 73 
 
 ""Without the ebb-tide, my lad, it would 
 never have happened. The delay of our boat 
 by the tide brought us under the bows of the 
 ' San Francisco' just in time to be upset by the 
 launch in which Miss Stanton was crossing to 
 Bear Island. As she found it getting late, she 
 had decided not to attend the hop, and had 
 announced this, much to Mr. Pell's disappoint 
 ment, only a moment before we were struck. 
 Then her curiosity to see how we looked with 
 the salt water out of our eyes, as well as her 
 anxiety to assure herself that we were repaid 
 for our accident by being made to enjoy our 
 selves, caused her to reverse that decision. Mr. 
 Pell, although he doubtless felt himself repaid 
 for his labors, was required to introduce us to 
 the entire assembly, and to look after us gener 
 ally in a manner that was an imposition upon 
 the good nature of any white man. That was 
 my first ball as the guest of American naval 
 officers, and it was one of the memorable events 
 of my life. They are truly polite, accomplished, 
 hospitable, a superior class of men; and my 
 acquaintance since has not altered the impres 
 sions of that evening. But you must excuse 
 me now, gentlemen ; her ladyship will be look- 
 D 7
 
 74 THE EBB-TIDE. 
 
 ing for me. I have told you the ebb-tide was' 
 responsible for many things : among them, the 
 yacht * White "Wings' returned to England, 
 leaving me in San Francisco, for my health; 
 and to-night it has afforded me the pleasure of 
 meeting you here. To-morrow at lunch, if you 
 will be good enough to remain, Lady Moffatt 
 will be glad to entertain you with her version of 
 the events of that night, and you will notice 
 that, although her name has changed since she 
 first met me, the color of her eyes has not; and 
 I think you will agree with Me White, who said 
 that evening when he bade me good-night : 
 " ' It's an ill tide that ebbs nobody good.' '
 
 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 75
 
 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 SHE was very young, not more than seven 
 teen, and exquisitely pretty, in spite of the 
 damaging fact that her dress was in the very 
 highest height of fashion, and she was the only 
 passenger who got on board the " Mary Powell" 
 at West Point. She carried a large hunch of 
 fragrant fading white lilies my favorite flowers 
 in her hand, and perhaps it was this as much 
 as her "beauty which caused me so particularly 
 to notice the girl at first, hut when once I had 
 looked at her I found it difficult to turn my 
 eyes away. 
 
 Around her throat she wore a pair of cadet 
 chevrons, brilliant with gold lace, which she 
 had arranged to form a very gorgeous collar. 
 Her ear-rings were bell-buttons; bell-buttons 
 dangled and rattled upon the bangles on her 
 slender little wrists, and a number of the same 
 shining spheres were skillfully fashioned into a 
 scarf-pin. 
 
 "Evidently," I said to myself, "this little 
 
 7* 77
 
 78 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 maiden has been a favorite at the Point." 
 Presently she spread her fan, ornamented with 
 military designs done in brilliant water-colors, 
 as well as covered with autographs, and opened 
 a novel, between the pages of which I could not 
 help seeing that she had secreted a photograph ; 
 and I smiled at the innocent device, which was 
 one I myself had not despised in days gone by. 
 
 I was half ashamed of myself for watching 
 her, as she sat so calmly unconscious of my 
 stolen glances, but she was so very lovely, with 
 her Titian-yellow hair, big, long-lashed brown 
 eyes, and fair skin, pink tinted like a shell ; 
 and there was a look about her face which 
 strongly reminded me of one who had been, 
 and still was, very dear to me. Yes, she cer 
 tainly was like Clara Avery. Could it be that 
 she was the little Lilian named after me 
 whom I indistinctly remembered as a delicate, 
 large-eyed little creature of six, eleven long 
 years ago ? 
 
 " Highly improbable," I told myself. " And 
 yet, why might it not be ?" Clara's home was 
 in New York, and this pretty maiden must be 
 very nearly of Lilian's age. I grew quite excited 
 over my fancy, and finally decided to speak to
 
 WHITE LILIES. 79 
 
 the subject of it. At least I had an excellent 
 excuse for so doing, and, in any event, I should 
 like to know the lovely creature's name. 
 
 My camp-chair was not far removed from 
 hers, and drawing it still nearer, I said, half 
 apologetically, "Pardon me, but is not your 
 name Avery ?" 
 
 She looked up with a shy, inquiring gaze, and 
 answered simply, "Yes, madam; my name is 
 Avery." 
 
 I could scarcely believe that my fanciful con 
 jecture had proved to be the true one. "And 
 is youi mother Clara Avery? Can it be that 
 you are little Lilian ?" 
 
 "Yes; mamma's name is Clara, and I am 
 1 little Lilian,' " she replied, with a charming 
 smile and blush. " Are you a friend of mam 
 ma's?" 
 
 "Yes; she is almost the best friend I have 
 left in America," I returned, eagerly. "How 
 strange it seems to meet Clara's daughter in 
 this unexpected fashion ! Would you believe 
 me if I should tell you that you are named after 
 me ? Surely you have heard your mother speak 
 of Lilian Reid Lilian Thornton now, though, 
 of course, you cannot remember me ?"
 
 80 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 She was all excitement in a moment. " Oh, 
 she is always telling me of you, * Cousin Lilian,' 
 as she has taught me to call you, although you 
 are not really my cousin, are you ?" 
 
 " Only by a certain marriage which made us 
 cousins when I was much younger than you ; 
 but I have always loved your mother as if she 
 had been an elder sister. Dear Clara ! How 
 good she has been to me !" And I gave a sigh 
 to the dear old memories. " You look a great 
 deal like her, I think." 
 
 " So every one says. But I thought you were 
 in Europe, Cousin Lilian. I may call you that 
 still, mayn't I ?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed," I responded, warmly. " Well, 
 I have only just returned, and expected, during 
 my stay in New York, to walk in upon your 
 mother and surprise her, if she had not moved 
 away since I last heard from her, longer ago 
 than I like to think of. She is well, I hope ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ; thanks ! And you I do hope you 
 are going to make us a long visit?" 
 
 " I have yet to decide where I shall take up a 
 permanent abode. Perhaps it may be in New 
 York ; and if so, you will not care for a lengthy 
 visitation. You know I am quite alone now,
 
 WHITE LILIES. 81 
 
 and very lonely, for my mother and auntie both 
 died within two years after my marriage ; and 
 since my husband's death, four years ago, I 
 have led a nomadic existence abroad, without 
 any home and few real friends. I dreaded to 
 return to America and find all so changed, but 
 now I am glad I made up my mind to do so. 
 And it is so pleasant to have met my little 
 namesake in this unexpected way !" 
 
 Then ensued many questions and answers, 
 and much friendly talk, so that an hour went by 
 and seemed like a few moments. 
 
 "And so you have been to West Point?" I 
 remarked, finally, with rather a mischievous 
 smile, when I had heard all that she could tell 
 me of her home and mother. 
 
 "Yes; I have been there for more than a 
 month, staying with Major Eliot's daughter 
 Jennie. It has been simply a heavenly time!" 
 with all the empressement of seventeen. 
 
 "Do you know, dear, I almost envy you!" I 
 exclaimed, with half a sigh. 
 
 " You envy me, you, who are so beautiful, and 
 rich, and and everything ! I think you must be 
 joking !" 
 
 " Ah, no ! Am I not twenty-eight years oldj
 
 82 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 and you seventeen ? Besides, you have just 
 been to West Point, and I cherish most affec 
 tionate recollections of that dear old Paradise. 
 I was so happy there once ! I remember won 
 dering when I left it, eleven years ago, whether, 
 with all the future might hold in store for me 
 of joy or triumph, I should ever know such 
 perfect happiness again. I never have. Noth 
 ing has been like that, and never will be, for 
 then the world and I seemed young together, 
 now we have both grown old." 
 
 Her face paled and saddened a little. " Won't 
 you tell me about that time ?" she asked. " You 
 don't know how interested I should be." 
 
 " Ah, my little story is not half as interest 
 ing, I fancy, as one you might tell if you chose. 
 You would not care to listen to it." 
 
 " Oh, indeed I should care, for ever so many 
 reasons !" 
 
 " You would like to draw comparisons, per 
 haps?" I smilingly suggested. But, after all, 
 why should I refuse to grant her request? 
 Why should I hold my poor story as too sacred 
 for even these sympathetic young ears to hear ? 
 It had all happened so long ago, and it was in 
 nowise different from a thousand other silly
 
 WHITE LILIES. 83 
 
 girlish romances, whose owners soon lived them 
 down. I ought now to be able to laugh over it 
 as freely as the rest of the world would do, and 
 yet, while I breathed the dying fragrance of 
 those lilies, and looked out wistfully upon the 
 beautiful familiar river scenery, somehow I could 
 not laugh. 
 
 " Go and find a glass of water, then, for your 
 poor lilies," I said, " for I can't tell a story 
 while my favorite flowers lie dying before my 
 eyes." 
 
 When she had done my bidding, I found 
 myself compelled to keep the tacit promise, 
 repented as soon as made. 
 
 "I scarcely know where to begin," I hesi 
 tated, "but perhaps it had better be with the 
 arrival of an invitation to visit my Uncle and 
 Aunt Ferguson, who lived a mile or two below 
 West Point. How wild with delight I was over 
 that invitation, and how my heart sank propor 
 tionately when poor little mamma sadly told me 
 she could not possibly afford the money for my 
 journey or outfit ! My bright visions vanished 
 in a moment, like the airiest of bubbles; but, 
 though I gave up my anticipated pleasure 
 meekly enough, I could not resist writing a
 
 84 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 doleful epistle to your mother, who at that time 
 was the confidante of all my little troubles. 
 Then, just as soon as it could possibly arrive, 
 came a note from her, containing a pass she had 
 begged for me from her husband's uncle, who, 
 you know, was a very noted railroad magnate in 
 those days. Dear Clara ! How good it was of 
 her ! And yet, in the time that came after, I 
 sometimes wished that my letter to her had 
 never been written. 
 
 " Well, the arrival of the pass caused a grand 
 family consultation regarding ' ways and means.' 
 Mamma sacrificed her cherished wedding-gown, 
 creamy with age, to my modern vandalism that 
 I might have a pretty ball-dress, and the veil 
 was devoted to the purpose of trimming. Aunt 
 Mary laid at my shrine a black grenadine she 
 had intended making up for herself; so, with 
 two or three pretty muslins, my new outfit was 
 complete, and I experienced more pleasure in 
 its possession than I ever have since in the most 
 elaborate "Worth-made costumes. It was the 
 day of the graduation hop when I arrived at 
 West Point, I remember, and Aunt Ellen Fer 
 guson was going. She looked at me in surprise 
 when she first saw me, a tall, slim girl of
 
 WHITE LILIES. 85 
 
 seventeen, exclaiming, ' "Why, here we have a 
 young lady where I expected to see a mere 
 child ! I'm afraid I shall have trouble with 
 you : you look dangerous. I hope, at all events, 
 you are not a flirt ?' 
 
 " * We never know what we may be until we 
 are tempted, mamma says,' I replied, demurely ; 
 and I but faintly comprehended when Aunt 
 Ellen shook her head, murmuring, ' Oh, those 
 terrible cadets ! I doubt I shall have my hands 
 full.' 
 
 " I had no ornaments to wear at the hop, 
 whither Aunt Ellen proposed to take me; so, 
 with her permission, I robbed the garden of 
 half its wealth of fragrant lilies, to pin them on 
 my dress and in my hair and bosom, and tried 
 to stifle my longing for a pearl necklace and 
 ear-rings to match. 
 
 " It was the custom then, just as it is now, I 
 suppose, for the ' floor managers' at the hops to 
 address strange ladies and bring up cadets to 
 introduce to them, and so, though I knew no 
 one at first, I had not been in the hop-room half 
 an hour before my card was well filled with 
 names. It was all so new and wonderful to 
 me, the brilliantly-lighted mess hall, with its 
 
 8
 
 86 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 draping of flags of all nations, the striking 
 uniforms of officers and cadets, and, above all, 
 the glorious music of the band, which alone 
 would have sufficed to make me fancy myself in 
 Paradise. I forgot my lack of pearls, the thin 
 ness of my silk, the limpness of my ancient 
 tulle, and was fain to believe (in spite of former 
 impressions to the contrary) that I must indeed 
 be the charming and fascinating person those 
 gray-coated heroes pretended to think me. But 
 pride, you know, is said to precede a fall, and so 
 it was with me presently when the conviction 
 was disagreeably forced upon me that I was not 
 as irresistible as, just for that one evening, I 
 would gladly have fancied: there was a cadet 
 who refused to be introduced to me I 
 
 " I could not help noticing him, for he was 
 handsomer than any one else in the room, 
 although he had rather a gloomy or preoccupied 
 air, and watched the dancing without ever join 
 ing in it. Several times I had chanced to meet 
 his eyes, and finally had been moved to ask his 
 name of one of my partners, so that when pres 
 ently I saw the two speaking together, I fancied 
 I could guess the subject of their conversation, 
 and was not displeased. By and by Mr. Abbott
 
 WHITE LILIES, 87 
 
 I believe that was my partner's name came 
 back to me alone, and I immediately put a 
 question which, had I been a little older, I 
 should have left unsaid : i Were you asking that 
 cadet, Mr. Hancock, to be introduced to me ?' 
 
 "'Ye-es,' he stammered, looking rather un 
 comfortable. 
 
 " ' And he wouldn't come ?' 
 
 "'He said he didn't know how to amuse 
 young ladies. He doesn't often dance, you see, 
 or have much to say to any woman who isn't 
 old enough to be his grandmother,' Mr. Abbott 
 proceeded to explain. * He's a good fellow, and 
 a fine student, but he cares more for his " Math" 
 than anything else. We call him " Diogenes" 
 among ourselves. I shouldn't have spoken to 
 him now, but I thought you might like to meet 
 him, for the sake of the contrast, you know, to 
 the rest of us fellows.' 
 
 " Oddly enough, I was not in the least of 
 fended because my acquaintance was not desired 
 by the big, handsome cadet who cared for his 
 ' Math' above all other things. I was scarcely 
 piqued even, but I was interested and a little 
 curious regarding the new species of young man 
 to whom 'Diogenes' could be an appropriate
 
 88 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 nickname. A little later I was resting under 
 Aunt Ellen's wing, and mourning the loss of 
 my breast-knot of lilies, which was sadly ' con 
 spicuous by its absence,' when ' Diogenes' ap 
 peared with the missing flowers. 
 
 " * These are yours, are they not ?' he ques 
 tioned, holding them out to me. 
 
 " * Thanks !' said I, stretching forth my hand, 
 when suddenly he half withdrew his which 
 held the lilies. * May I keep one ?' he asked, 
 abruptly. 
 
 " ' If you like,' I began, when Aunt Ellen, 
 who had been conversing with a friend, turned 
 and saw my companion. 'Oh, Mr. Hancock!' 
 she exclaimed ; ' then you have met my niece ?' 
 
 " ' I have not had the honor,' he said, rather 
 stiffly, and to my embarrassment she immediately 
 performed the ceremony of an introduction. I 
 was half vexed, half mischievously pleased, for 
 had not Mr. Hancock brought this undesired 
 acquaintance upon himself? He need not have 
 been so scrupulously honest in the matter of 
 my lilies if my presence was something to be 
 shunned. 
 
 " It was nearly twelve o'clock, and the * ger- 
 man' would soon be commencing over at the
 
 WHITE LILIES. 89 
 
 academic building, and many people were 
 already deserting the mess hall. 
 
 " ' You have no partner for the gerraan ?' he 
 asked. 
 
 "'Oh, no; I only came to-night, and auntie 
 tells me that partners are engaged for this ger- 
 man weeks before the time.' 
 
 " ' Will you dance it with me, then ? though I 
 warn you I am not a good partner.' 
 
 "After what Mr. Abbott had told me this 
 invitation surprised me so much that I scarcely 
 remembered the necessity of answering, but 
 rising confusedly I accepted his arm, and we 
 went away to the academic building. 
 
 " Miles Hancock was not like any one I had 
 ever seen, or ever have seen since, I think. He 
 did not talk to me as most young men think it 
 their duty to talk to girls. He told me a few 
 quaint stories about the origin of some figures 
 in the gernian, and then suggested by those, 
 it may be something of the two years he had 
 passed in Germany before coming to West Point. 
 
 " Sometimes, when it was not our turn to 
 dance, we went out and walked in the moon 
 light, and then, instead of watching its effect 
 upon my upturned face (as I felt morally sure 
 8*
 
 90 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 Mr. Abbott would have done), he gravely dis 
 coursed about Copernicus and Tycho Brahe, 
 until he roused me to an unfeigned interest in 
 subjects I thought I had discarded with my 
 school-books a year ago. How childish and 
 silly I felt in comparison with him ! and how I 
 resolved to get out my books when I went 
 home, and learn to talk on topics he was in 
 terested in ! 
 
 " ' Your lily is faded,' I said when the german 
 had come to an end ; * you had better throw it 
 away.' 
 
 " ' Oh, no,' he returned ; * I mean to press it 
 and keep it. I should not have asked for it else.' 
 
 " l To remind you of this evening, or to make 
 you smile when you think of me and my igno 
 rance ?' 
 
 " ' Of neither,' said he, coolly, quenching my 
 incipient vanity. ' I asked for it because it re 
 minded me of my home. I haven't seen any 
 flowers of that sort for years; they were my 
 mother's favorites.' 
 
 " * I hope you will not press the poor thing 
 between the leaves of your " Mathematics," un 
 less you wish to dry it utterly,' I said, laughing, to 
 hide the fact that his last words had touched me.
 
 WHITE LILIES. 91 
 
 " < No ; I meant to put it in a nice little white- 
 covered Bible my mother gave me. I thought 
 it would be more appropriate to the lily and to 
 you.' 
 
 <; ' Shall I bring you some more lilies soon 
 from my uncle's garden ?' I asked, pleased with 
 the little compliment, though I had the sense to 
 comprehend that he had not intended it as such. 
 
 " ' Thank you ! but do not take that trouble. 
 It is not very likely we shall meet again, soon, 
 at all events, for I seldom attend these hops or 
 show myself in society. I am not much of a 
 ladies' man, as you may have divined.' 
 
 "'But I hate "ladies' men,"' I protested; 
 * and as for me, I am only a little girl, not a 
 young lady at all. I wanted you to talk more 
 to me about the moon some time.' 
 
 " He smiled, an odd, pleasant smile. * There 
 are plenty of fellows who will be but too glad 
 to " talk to you about the moon," in a far dif 
 ferent fashion from mine, and, you will think, a 
 much better one,' he said. 
 
 "And then it was time to bid each other 
 good-night. 
 
 "In spite of these rather coldly ungracious 
 words, however, I did meet him again, both
 
 92 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 soon and often ; at least, we saw each other, but 
 he seldom or never sought me. I often found 
 him apparently watching me at guard-mount, at 
 parade, and at the few hops he attended, at all 
 of which places I received more attention than 
 was good for me from everybody save one. I 
 was piqued, and perhaps a little mortified, but I 
 was far too happy in my gay, novel life to care 
 just then more than that ' little.' 
 
 " At last, however, one night at parade, when 
 the cadets had been in camp for a week or two, 
 he deigned to approach me (for so, half scorn 
 fully, half triumphantly, I put it to myself), and 
 said, abruptly, ' Are you fond of music, Miss 
 Reid ?' 
 
 " When I had returned, ' More than of any 
 thing else, as I hear you are of mathematics,' he 
 invited me to remain and go to band practice 
 with him that evening. There was a particu 
 larly fine programme, he said, as if he searched 
 for an excuse for his invitation. 
 
 " 'After all, then,' I exclaimed, mischievously, 
 * you have not entirely forgotten that I possess 
 an existence, and might have a fondness for fine 
 music. I quite thought you had forgotten all 
 about me.'
 
 WHITE LILIES. 93 
 
 " ' I have been trying to do so,' he answered, 
 very quietly, ' but have decided that it is no use.' 
 
 " I was electrified, and made no reply, so he 
 continued, ' Five minutes ago even I meant not 
 
 to ask you, but but now "Will you go 
 
 with me ?' And for the first time in his life, I 
 fancy, Miles Hancock was visibly confused. 
 
 " "Well, I went with him, perhaps to punish 
 him, as I said, for trying to forget me, and 
 somehow we seemed to grow so thoroughly 
 acquainted that night that afterwards every 
 thing could not help but be different between 
 us. He began to seek me continually, for I 
 spent the greater part of every day at the Point, 
 with Aunt Ellen for chaperon, generally at first 
 half reluctantly, as if he fought against his in 
 clination, but finally gladly, eagerly, as if surren 
 dering himself to an influence sweet as it was 
 powerful ; and if I began to care for him then, I 
 
 had reason to think he cared as well for me. 
 
 ****** 
 
 "You have heard of the money my god 
 father bequeathed me when I was a young girl, 
 have you not ? "Well, it was during my stay at 
 "West Point that I received tidings of his death, 
 and of the unexpected contents of his will. I
 
 94 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 was too wildly excited over my Cinderella-like 
 fortune to be discreetly reticent, and so the news 
 of my heiress-ship spread like wildfire among 
 the gossips of West Point. 
 
 " I was quite anxious to hear what Mr. Han 
 cock would say and think, but suddenly, with 
 out explanation, he began to avoid me again, 
 never rudely or abruptly, but nevertheless his 
 avoidance was unmistakably certain. I was 
 hurt and perplexed, and when it had gone on 
 for what seemed to me a very long time, I found 
 myself heavy of heart and sad, for reasons I 
 dared not try to read. At last we came upon 
 each other in the library building, where I had 
 been bidden to wait for Aunt Ellen. 
 
 " * Do you hate me lately ?' I asked, with a 
 sort of shy audacity, as for an instant he held 
 my hand. 
 
 " * Hate you ! most certainly not,' very gravely. 
 * Is it true, as I have heard, that you have come 
 into a fortune, are a great heiress ?' 
 
 " ' Yes, indeed ; isn't it like a fairy tale ? But 
 what has that to do with my question ?' 
 
 " ' Everything to me; it has essentially changed 
 everything for me.' 
 
 "'Why?'
 
 WHITE LILIES. 95 
 
 " ' Because I had meant to ask you to marry 
 me.' 
 
 " ' And now you will not, just because of my 
 money ?' 
 
 " * No ; I will not, I cannot,' he began, but I 
 interrupted him, impetuously, scarcely knowing 
 what I said. 
 
 " * Then / must ask you to marry me ! Please 
 do, that is, if you really still care enough for 
 me to wish to ! I shall be so unhappy if you 
 don't !' And with tears and agonized blushes I 
 
 laid my hands on his. 
 
 ****** 
 
 ""When Aunt Ellen came in, ten minutes 
 later, I had given him my promise, or he had 
 given me his, I scarcely know what to say under 
 such confused circumstances, but, at all events, 
 we were engaged. Miles would gladly have 
 told her immediately, but I would not have it 
 so. She would laugh, and call us over young 
 and foolish, I knew; say, perhaps, we had no 
 right to engage ourselves so, and that I could 
 not bear. It must remain a secret, all our own, 
 till I went home again, and then mamma must 
 be the first to know. 
 
 " After that there were two weeks of happi-
 
 96 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 ness for us both, happiness far too unalloyed to 
 last. One evening there was to be a hop at the 
 hotel. Miles and I were speaking of it two 
 days before, and he wished me to promise not 
 to go, as he didn't think he should be able to 
 be there. He expected to be detailed for the 
 observatory that night, and, of course, I was 
 enough in love to give the required promise 
 willingly. 
 
 " ' But then I sha'n't see you for two whole 
 days,' I objected, ' as I can't come up to the 
 Point to-morrow, and the day after, if I'm not 
 to attend the hop, I suppose Aunt Ellen will say 
 it isn't worth while for me to come at all.' 
 
 " ' Well,' he said, * I'm sure of you now, and 
 I hope we shall have lots of other days to spend 
 together before you go away.' 
 
 " But he was mistaken. 
 
 " Aunt Ellen had not played chaperon for me 
 that day, and when I reached home I found her 
 with unexpected company, a Mr. Thornton, 
 from New York, who had come once or twice 
 before to the house during my visit. 
 
 " * I've just been promising Mr. Thornton 
 that you will go with him to the hop day after 
 to-morrow,' she informed me ; ' for I have pre-
 
 WHITE LILIES. 97 
 
 vailed upon him to stay over with us on pur 
 pose.' 
 
 " ' But but I'm not going to the hop,' I 
 stammered. 
 
 " ' Not going ! Pray, why is that ?' 
 
 " ' Because' hastily framing an excuse which 
 at least was not an untruth ' I've just told Mr. 
 Hancock I wouldn't go; and as he makes out 
 my hop cards, I should get very little chance to 
 dance if I changed my mind now that he doesn't 
 expect me.' 
 
 " ' Oh, no matter for that this one time,' per 
 sisted Aunt Ellen, impatiently. * You will en 
 joy it well enough, I dare say, and perhaps Mr. 
 Thornton may put down his name in the blank 
 spaces on your card.' 
 
 " ' "With great pleasure,' came emphatically 
 from Mr. Thornton. 
 
 " ' Oh, but how it would look to Mr. Hancock 
 if I should go now, when I've just positively 
 announced that I would not be there. He will 
 think I did it on purpose to avoid him,' I pro 
 tested, more warmly than prudently. 
 
 " ' Mr. Hancock will probably not give it a 
 thought. At all events, I particularly desire 
 you to go, my dear,' Aunt Ellen said, decidedly.
 
 98 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 And she always said ' my dear' when she was 
 growing a little angry, even to her husband. 
 As for me, I was quite a child in her eyes, and 
 no doubt a troublesome one. 
 
 "'"Well,' I said, 'then I must write him a 
 note of explanation.' 
 
 " ' Write to Miles Hancock ! a young man you 
 have been slightly acquainted with for two months ! 
 I cannot possibly permit it!' ejaculated Aunt 
 Ellen, in horrified accents, which I thought quite 
 too exaggerated, while Mr. Thornton became 
 absorbed in gazing out of the window. 
 
 " ' I can't allow my niece's handwriting to be 
 in the possession of any cadet, no matter how 
 nice he may seem to be. How can you tell 
 what use he might make of it ?' 
 
 " This was too ridiculous, I thought ; but 
 words were vain, and I relapsed into a discreet 
 though angry silence, being none the less re 
 solved, since I must go to the hop, to write 
 Miles an explanation. I fancied I knew him 
 well enough to be quite certain of his being 
 vexed and misunderstanding me if I did not, 
 especially as I was to go with Mr. Thornton, 
 who was known at West Point as being wealthy 
 and a grand parti.
 
 WHITE LILIES. 99 
 
 " I was quiet all the evening, intent on laying 
 my little plot ; and very, very early next morn 
 ing, stealing down to the deserted library, I 
 hastily wrote two letters, one to Miles and one 
 to your mother, Clara Avery. The latter was 
 to serve as a * decoy,' if necessary. 
 
 " I had finished the first and secreted it in 
 my pocket, and had commenced the other, when 
 the door opened, and Aunt Ellen peeped in 
 suspiciously, her hair still in crimping-pins. 
 
 "'I thought I heard a noise, and fancied it 
 was you,' she said. ' Surely, Lilian, you are not 
 writing to that cadet after all I said to you ?' 
 
 "It seemed to me quite an insult to Miles 
 that he should be mentioned as * that cadet,' and 
 with the courage of anger, though my heart 
 throbbed violently, I answered, stoutly, 'No; 
 I'm not writing to any cadet, but to Clara 
 Avery.' 
 
 " She gave me a long, doubtful look, and, 
 slowly turning, left the room. 
 
 "Never had I felt so utterly at a loss for 
 something to say in a letter to Clara. I had no 
 reason for writing, and after having set down 
 ' Dear Clara' and the date, I looked at the page 
 for a long time in despair, with my inky pen
 
 100 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 suspended, ready to dash down any fugitive 
 idea which might occur to me, before I could 
 think of a thing to say. 
 
 " Finally, I had not succeeded in completing 
 my note, which seemed likely to be a lame 
 affair, when Uncle Henry entered. As a rule, 
 he was a particularly late riser, and so I knew 
 Aunt Ellen must have used cogent arguments 
 to induce this early appearance of his. 
 
 " 'Lilian,' he said, very gravely (Uncle Henry 
 was always grave, though kind, and he always 
 spoke directly to the point), ' will you tell me to 
 whom is that letter ?' 
 
 " ' To Mrs. Avery,' I replied, ostentatiously 
 directing my envelope, and feeling sadly con 
 scious of that other in my pocket. But perhaps 
 my voice trembled. 
 
 " * And is that the only one you have written?' 
 
 " How sick I felt as I finished writing that 
 address ! For an instant I did not answer, then 
 I said, faintly, 'Yes.' It was my first false 
 hood. 
 
 " ' You are sure ? Forgive me, Lilian.' 
 
 " ' Yes ; sure /' I cried, miserably. ' What a 
 what a fuss you and Aunt Ellen are making 
 about nothing ! My head aches, Uncle Henry,
 
 WHITE LILIES. 101 
 
 and I'll take my letter to the post-office now, for 
 the sake of the walk before breakfast.' 
 
 "He made no comment, and I started off, 
 not feeling as if Miles's letter were absolutely 
 safe until I had left it at the Highland Falls 
 post-office, with the assurance that it would 
 soon be sent off to the Point. 
 
 " Uncle Henry once in a while indulged in a 
 * constitutional,' as he called it, before the nine 
 o'clock breakfast, and I had been relieved when 
 he had not offered to join me in my walk. 
 Now, as I was rapidly returning to the house, I 
 met him, and he stopped me, with a hand upon 
 my arm. 
 
 " l Perhaps you will think me over particular 
 in the matter of this letter,' he said, kindly, 
 ' but your aunt has been impressing it upon me 
 that it is absolutely my duty to be so, and you 
 know how strict she is in her ideas regarding 
 propriety. I don't know but I must agree with 
 her ; and now, Lilian, it is not too late yet. If 
 you've put a letter to this cadet in the office, tell 
 me, and I can go and get it out for you.' 
 
 " I was aghast as well as angry. I had 
 fancied my letter safe at last, and now here it 
 was in greater peril than ever, perhaps. Again 
 9*
 
 102 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 I protested I had written no such letter, but 
 when he announced his intention of proceeding 
 to the post-office to inquire for his own mail, I 
 offered to accompany him with a fainting heart. 
 To my joy he stepped into a grocer's shop on the 
 way, and, framing some hasty excuse, I rushed 
 out and sped away to the post-office, where I 
 sought the post-master at his little window. 
 
 " 1 1 did you see me post two letters here a 
 few minutes ago ?' I questioned, desperately, all 
 the time feeling heartily angry with myself and 
 everybody else, even Miles, because of the posi 
 tion in which circumstances and cowardice had 
 placed me. 
 
 " ' Yes ; I saw you, miss/ was the answer. 
 
 " * Then,' stammering and blushing furiously, 
 * if if a gentleman Mr. Ferguson, I mean, 
 comes here and inquires or asks to see them, 
 you you will not ' 
 
 " * Oh, no/ he interrupted, with an intolerably 
 airy patronage and a smile so broad that his 
 cigar trembled between his teeth. *1 know 
 what you mean, of course, miss. Parents and 
 guardians often come to us for such things, but 
 we know how to keep our mouths shut; our 
 memories are awful short sometimes.'
 
 WHITE LILIES. 103 
 
 "I thanked him with a doubtful grace and 
 returned to my uncle feeling utterly, shamefully 
 humiliated, yet not wholly repentant. They 
 had had no right to take me so to task, I re 
 flected, and, after all, I had done no great 
 wrong. 
 
 "But when, after breakfast, the family as 
 sembled for prayers and I knelt with the others, 
 I was positively frightened, so like a Pariah 
 did I feel. How good they all seemed ! and 
 they never told lies. I had told one, and I had 
 no longer a place among people who dared to 
 say prayers. Poor little wretch that I was ! I 
 feel almost sorry for my naughty yet remorseful 
 self as I recall my misery. I was very unhappy 
 till the night of the hop, and then I grew fright 
 ened again. If Miles should be there after all, 
 and chance to mention my note to Aunt Ellen, 
 what would become of me ? 
 
 ""We went early to the Point, Aunt Ellen, 
 Mr. Thornton, and I, for we had been invited 
 to dine with the family of one of the officers, 
 and I distinguished myself at table by starting 
 when I was spoken to, dropping my fork under 
 the table, and even upsetting a glass of water 
 into my neighbor's plate, to such a state of
 
 104 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 nervousness had I arrived. Aunt Ellen was 
 thoroughly ashamed of me, I know. 
 
 " "Well, Miles was at the hop, the night being 
 too cloudy for work at the observatory, and in 
 a breath with my first salutation I whispered, 
 1 For pity's sake, don't mention my note !' and 
 so succeeded finely in puzzling him and rousing 
 his curiosity. 
 
 " It was quite a relief, by and by, to confess 
 the sin I had committed for his sake, and to 
 pour into his sympathetic ears the history of my 
 Bufferings and remorse. 
 
 " ' Did he think me frightfully wicked ? Could 
 he ever love me again after I had told such a lie ?' 
 
 " He managed to pour balm upon my wounds, 
 yet said that were he in my place he would tell 
 Aunt Ellen all about it now. I would feel 
 happier, and it would be better in every way. 
 A lie was a bad thing, he said, and one ought to 
 do all in one's power to atone for having told 
 one, even if it had seemed excusable at the time. 
 
 "'You're not a coward, are you, Lilian?' he 
 asked, when I demurred; and after that I would 
 rather have died than not have told Aunt 
 Ellen. I did confess the very next day, in the 
 presence of Uncle Henry (as an additional
 
 WHITE LILIES. 105 
 
 penance), and, alas ! she was very angry. She 
 spoke of the great responsibility I had been to 
 her, with my ' appearance and unfortunate pas 
 sion for flirtation,' as she emphatically expressed 
 her opinion, and my mother so far away. 
 
 " ' I was frightened as soon as I saw you,' she 
 told me, ' for I had never realized that I was to 
 have a young lady on my hands, and I doubted 
 I should have trouble with you. Now it has 
 come. You have chosen to deceive us, and 
 what you have done once there is no reason to 
 believe you may not do again. I don't dare to 
 keep you here any longer, I tell you honestly, 
 though I don't wish to seem unkind, and I must 
 write to your mother to send for you directly. 
 It is for her sake, as well as for yours and mine, 
 that I do it.' 
 
 " I was in despair at this decision, though too 
 proud and angry to remonstrate or attempt to 
 defend myself, still less mention the fact of my 
 engagement as excuse for what I had done. 
 
 " So I was sent home in disgrace, without 
 even the privilege of one sight or word from 
 Miles Hancock, for I was not allowed to show 
 myself again at the Point, so dangerous a person 
 did my aunt now consider me.
 
 106 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 "When mamma had been told of the im 
 portant fact of my engagement, and had re 
 ceived a long and (in my opinion) beautiful 
 epistle from * my cadet,' her heart being much 
 softer than Aunt Ellen's, we were allowed to 
 write to each other sometimes; and the next 
 June after his graduation he came and spent a 
 week in the lovely new home my * fortune' had 
 procured for us. 
 
 "And there, Lilian, I will close my little 
 story. That is the way, isn't it, they do in the 
 magazines, leave the hero and heroine in a 
 halo of happiness and indefinitness ? Now you 
 have the only romance in the experience of this 
 sadly unromantic person, and you must remem 
 ber it is your own fault if you have been bored. 
 As for me, I have talked myself into the 
 dreariest mood imaginable. It always makes 
 me a little sad, foolishly so, to recall those old 
 days at West Point." And I sighed involun 
 tarily as I bent over Lilian's flowers. 
 
 " But surely that is not the end, Cousin 
 Lilian?" cried the girl. "Won't you tell me 
 
 what came be but, oh, no, I ought not to 
 
 ask that." 
 
 " Oh, yes; you are at liberty to ask;" I tried
 
 WHITE LILIES. 107 
 
 to speak with smiling indifference. " There 
 came a quarrel, and then a separation. When 
 by a chance we discovered that it had all arisen 
 through a misunderstanding, a mistake, trifling 
 enough if it could have been remedied before it 
 was too late, I had already engaged myself to 
 another man. Of course a promise of marriage, 
 once having been made, could not be canceled 
 because I had found out that I needn't have 
 broken my engagement with some one else be 
 forehand; and so there was the end of it all. 
 A mere bagatelle, of course, a little dream of 
 one's first season, you understand, Lilian ? 
 
 " Ten years ago, and I have never seen or 
 scarcely heard of Miles Hancock since ! I dare 
 say he is married, and the happy father of half 
 a dozen noisy children," and I laughed. " Now, 
 dear, have you not some little confidence to give 
 me as reward for my dull narration ?" 
 
 "Just a very little confidence, then, if you 
 care to hear, though of course it seems a great 
 deal to me," Lilian made blushing answer. " I am 
 engaged to a cadet ! And he is such a dear boy, 
 Cousin Lilian, you've no idea ! Mamma doesn't 
 know yet. I am going to tell her to-night, and 
 you must help me if she scolds, won't you ?"
 
 108 WHITE LILIES. 
 
 "Oh, certainly; you will have an advocate 
 in me," I answered, laughing. " May I hear 
 his name, or is that to be a secret from me as 
 yet?" 
 
 " First" (and I thought she seemed oddly 
 agitated and nervous, as indeed she had seemed 
 during all the progress of my story) "I will 
 show you his picture. I carry it don't laugh ! 
 inside this novel. Perhaps perhaps you may 
 have seen him, or some one like him, before, 
 you know. Anyway, I hope you'll think him 
 nice-looking." And timidly yet eagerly she 
 laid the photograph in my hand. 
 
 I took it, and I did not speak ; I could not. 
 The pictured face swam before my eyes, and yet 
 another, so strangely resembling it, seemed to 
 rise between me and the paper, like the ghost 
 of other days. If ever I had told myself it was 
 forgotten, I knew now that I had been de 
 ceived. 
 
 "Lilian," I asked, after a pause which seemed 
 long to me, and my voice sounded strangely 
 in my own ears, " how did you get this pic 
 ture ?" 
 
 "It is the picture of my cadet!" she cried, 
 " and his name is Ned Hancock."
 
 WHITE LILIES. 109 
 
 "When I did not speak, she began again, 
 " Haven't you any questions to ask me, Cousin 
 Lilian? Oh, I wish you would ask me just 
 one!" growing more and more excited and 
 eager. " Ned's elder brother, Captain Hancock, 
 is named Miles, and they are so much alike, 
 even yet, though the captain is a very great deal 
 older. They say at the Point that Ned is 
 almost precisely like his brother in appearance 
 when he used to be a cadet. And Captain Han 
 cock isn't married, and he hasn't half a dozen 
 children ! He's home now on sick leave from 
 his post in Montana, where he received a dread 
 ful wound in a fight with the horrid Indians. 
 Ned told me all about it, and he was so brave 
 and grand, you have no idea ! He is stopping 
 at Cozzens's Hotel this week, for the sake of 
 being with his brother Ned, and we are great 
 friends. He is coming to speak to mamma 
 about Ned, day after to-morrow, and then 
 then, Cousin Lilian, you and he will meet, you 
 can't help yourselves ! It is too romantic and 
 lovely for anything ! Now all will be made up 
 between you again, and be just as it used to be, 
 and I'll be so happy !" 
 
 " Hush !" I said, checking the girl's impetu- 
 10
 
 110 WHITE LILIES 
 
 ously incoherent outburst in a tone that was 
 purposely cold, though I was conscious that my 
 cheeks were burning and my eyes shining with 
 a long-unkindled light. " That little episode is 
 a thing entirely of the past. I was very foolish 
 to repeat it, I fear, and certainly should not 
 have done so could I have dreamed you had any 
 connection with the name of Hancock. Captain 
 Hancock and I since that is his title now, you 
 say are as little to each other as if we had 
 never met. You must " 
 
 " At least," Lilian broke in again, reproach 
 fully, " poor Captain Hancock has been and is 
 faithful to you, whatever you may feel towards 
 him, for he has never married; and I have 
 heard some of the professors' wives talking 
 gossip about some ' early disappointment,' from 
 which he has never recovered. I know now 
 that that means you. He is splendid, and I do 
 hope you won't be so horribly cruel as to refuse 
 to meet him when he comes to see mamma ! If 
 you only once meet him, Cousin Lilian, I feel 
 sure of all the rest." 
 
 "Lily, silly child !" I exclaimed, with a smile 
 and a sigh, " don't you know that flowers once 
 withered never more revive ?"
 
 WHITE LILIES. Ill 
 
 For an instant she was silent. Then, with a 
 seeming irrelevance, she cried, her voice trem 
 bling ever so little, " Oh, see, Cousin Lilian, my 
 lilies that had faded, how bright and beautiful 
 they are again !" 
 
 Have flowers prophetic souls ?
 
 A STRANGE WOUND: 
 A STORY OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 10* 113
 
 A STRANGE WOUND! 
 A STORY OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 SOME years ago, when stationed in a little 
 town in one of our Western States on college 
 duty, it was my pleasure and delight to spend 
 my leisure hours after drill in the office of a 
 local practitioner, a Dr. Brown by name. He 
 had been a surgeon and medical director of a 
 Western military district during the war, and 
 had, moreover, a wide experience in various 
 capacities. Possessed of great conversational 
 powers, a close observer of men and events, a 
 deep thinker and a great reader, his statements 
 of what he had witnessed not only were of great 
 interest, but remarkable for accuracy and truth 
 as well as detail. One day while in his office 
 the conversation took a professional turn, and 
 he spoke of strange accidents and wounds, and 
 ended by giving me the following tale, which 
 I here relate in as nearly his words as I can now 
 recollect. 
 
 " Well, lieutenant, one of the most remark- 
 
 115
 
 116 A STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 able wounds I ever came across was connected 
 with a young fellow who belonged to this town. 
 It was in 1862, and I was then attached as 
 surgeon to a regiment of Sanborn's brigade, 
 Hamilton's division, in Rosecrans's Army of the 
 Mississippi. All through that summer and 
 early fall we were pretty scarce of medical 
 officers in that army, and I had plenty of work 
 to do, I can assure you. In September I was 
 appointed an assistant medical director, and had 
 my quarters on the staff of General Hamilton. 
 During the summer we had not moved around 
 much, but when the fall came, our work com 
 menced in earnest. We were at that time in 
 Northern Mississippi, and Grant, who com 
 manded the Western armies then, had an idea 
 of making a forward movement just the mo 
 ment he felt himself strong enough. By the 
 capture of Forts Donelson and Henry, Island 
 No. 10, and the battle of Shiloh, he had cleared 
 not only Kentucky but all of Northern Missis 
 sippi of the Confederates, and also all of West 
 ern Tennessee. Buc in Eastern Tennessee Bragg 
 had a strong force, and threatened to start 
 northward and carry the war to the Ohio bor 
 der. Now, Grant thought that if Buell could
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 117 
 
 keep Bragg in check lie Grant could then 
 march southward and compel Bragg to either 
 retreat precipitately or find himself between 
 two large armies, and thus be compelled to fight 
 against great odds. I have always thought that 
 was a mistake of Grant's, for at that time if 
 he had consolidated his forces he could have 
 marched on Yicksburg and Port Royal, which 
 were then without intrenchments or much de 
 fense, and have captured them with ease, thus 
 opening the Mississippi and saving the many 
 lives and battles of the year following. At 
 least, that is my opinion, but I am only a doc 
 tor, and I suppose my opinion wouldn't count 
 with military men. The forces Grant had in 
 September in his front and opposed to him were 
 Earl Van Dorn's army at and around Vicksburg, 
 and Sterling Price in his direct front in Central 
 Mississippi. The two together numbered about 
 thirty-four thousand men, while Grant had 
 nearly forty thousand, but spread out from 
 Memphis in Tennessee to Bolivar in Mississippi. 
 Is'ow, when Bragg found Buell too strong to 
 pass, he could not break away from him, as 
 Buell would have kept on his heels, and be 
 tween Buell and Grant he would have been
 
 118 A STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 crushed. So he sent for Van Dorn and Price to 
 join him, and in order to keep Grant away he 
 ordered them to make a diversion in his favor 
 by breaking through Grant's lines. Well, now, 
 lieutenant, I am telling you all this in order that 
 you may understand why the battle of luka 
 was fought, a battle which, to my thinking, was 
 one of the most important in the war, though 
 the numbers engaged on either side were 
 very small. You see Grant had his principal 
 depot at Holly Springs, and at Memphis was 
 Sherman with sixteen thousand men, while Ord 
 and Hurlburt held the rest of the line with only 
 about sixteen thousand men. For a while Rose- 
 crans had about eighteen thousand, since the 
 forces at Bolivar were put in his command. 
 After Van Dorn had fortified Vicksburg some 
 what he started to make a break to the north, 
 and his first step was to seize the depot at Holly 
 Springs and then appear to march straight for 
 Bragg. But he was a sly old fellow, and instead 
 of marching at once to join Bragg he and Price 
 agreed to form a junction at luka, close to 
 Grant's lines, then breaking through his lines, 
 to roll Grant back to the Tennessee and north 
 ward, and then join Bragg, by which means
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 119 
 
 they would have been able to whip Buell, and 
 thus cause a loss to the Union forces of all of 
 Tennessee and Kentucky, an amount of terri 
 tory which had taken our troops two years 
 nearly to gain. In that case, also, Grant never 
 would have been heard of as a great general. 
 So you can see the importance of luka. If 
 it could be held long enough for Grant to get 
 up his forces there in strength, then Van Dorn 
 and Price would necessarily be compelled to 
 retreat, and Bragg would not have his expected 
 reinforcements. Grant penetrated Van Dorn's 
 plan, however, but only two days before the 
 battle, and he also sent forces to seize and hold 
 luka, so that it virtually became a race as to who 
 should get there first. Van Dorn made it, and 
 at once fortified himself strongly, thus hoping 
 to beat the forces sent against him in detail. 
 He got in September 18, 1862, and the battle 
 took place the next day. 
 
 ""Well, now that you know pretty well the 
 situation of luka, I will tell you my story. In 
 1859 Jim and Tom Ainsworth, twin brothers, 
 lived here. They were a mighty handsome 
 couple, both straight, tall, and well formed, and 
 having good, manly faces. Jim was dark,
 
 120 A STRANGE WOUND. v 
 
 that is, lie had dark eyes and hair, while Tom 
 had blue eyes and hair a shade lighter than 
 Jim's. They were both of the same height and 
 build, and both were well educated and full of 
 good sense. "Well, you know the widow living 
 over on the corner of Third and Washington 
 Streets. She was Mary Carter in those days, 
 and as pretty a picture of health, happiness, and 
 good looks as the sun looks upon. Of course 
 all the young fellows in town were wild after 
 her, but it was some time before she showed a 
 preference for the Ainsworth boys. However, 
 it was a puzzle to know which of the two she 
 liked the best. If she went with Jim one day, 
 the next she was with Tom, and, notwithstand 
 ing this shifting, there did not seem to be the 
 slightest jealousy between the two brothers. 
 Sometimes all three would come into church 
 together, and after service was over she would 
 smile as much upon one as the other while she 
 walked home with both. I used to watch them 
 pretty often, and, somehow or other, I fancied 
 it was really Tom she liked the most, though 
 I could not tell why, and she must herself have 
 been unconscious of it. 
 
 " Things went on that way through the year,
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 121 
 
 and then came the talk about Breckinridge, 
 Lincoln, and Douglas. The brothers were both 
 Southern, and of course looked at matters from 
 a Southern point of view, and they went about 
 making speeches together and helping along 
 each other all they could. They were both 
 smart lawyers, and having come from Tennes 
 see, of course had no abolition blood in them. 
 "Well, fall came, and Lincoln was elected ; and 
 although their party was defeated, they seemed 
 to stick closer to each other than ever before, and 
 Mary Carter had not yet made a choice. People 
 used to say she would have to marry them both. 
 But one day in December Jim came into my 
 office with his handsome face all aglow, and a 
 happier and more triumphant light dancing out 
 of his bright eyes than I ever saw before. I 
 knew something had happened, but I was struck 
 all of a heap when he told me that Mary Carter 
 had promised to marry him; I was so sure it 
 was Tom she liked best, and I couldn't help 
 saying, ' But Tom does he know ?' ' Yes, poor 
 Tom ! He says he loved her, but I am sure he 
 never loved her as I do, and he'll get over it 
 soon.' After he left I sat musing, and thinking 
 after all how little we know of a woman's ways, 
 
 F 11
 
 122 A STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 when who should come in but Tom. His face 
 was downcast and sad, but he tried to cheer up, 
 and when I spoke to him about the matter he 
 said, ' Yes, I am glad Jim has her. I thought 
 she liked me best, but you see I was mistaken, 
 and I would rather he had her than any one 
 else.' I saw he was hit hard, but was trying to 
 be a man, and a generous one, about it, and 
 somehow I couldn't help but think there was a 
 mistake about it all. 
 
 " Well, for the rest of that winter times were 
 pretty active and full for me in this little town, 
 for there were a good many people here who 
 afterwards became red-hot Copper-heads, and 
 feeling ran pretty high on all sides. Still, 
 though Mary and the boys were of different 
 political ways of thinking, they all got along 
 finely, and nothing seemed to mar their happi 
 ness, and the time was set in spring for Jim's 
 marriage. 
 
 " One afternoon late in March the young 
 people of the town to the number of a dozen 
 started down to Elliot's pond for the last skate 
 of the season. I could not go then, but prom 
 ised to join them in the evening, as it would 
 be moonlight, and they would, besides, light
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 123 
 
 bonfires on the ice near shore. They were to 
 stay out late. It had been pretty warm during 
 the day and the ice had softened a good deal, 
 but towards nightfall it grew cold and froze up 
 tight again. I remember the gloriously beauti 
 ful night as though it were yesterday. The 
 moon at its full, the snow what was left of it 
 crisp and sparkling under feet, and the sheet of 
 ice glimmering on the pond like a setting of 
 glass. 
 
 "As I sauntered down about eight o'clock 
 towards the bridge at the upper end of the pond 
 I heard several screams and shouts for help near 
 by. I rushed down, and there struggling to get 
 up through the ice was Tom Ainsworth, while 
 a rod or two off was Mary Carter entirely help 
 less. It took me but a moment to break a 
 board off the fence near by and soon have the 
 fellow out, and as he crawled up the bank Mary 
 followed him, very pale and trembling with 
 emotion, and I heard her say something about 
 her darling and that kind of stuff, and the next 
 moment they were kissing each other for all 
 they were worth. I was pretty much astonished, 
 knowing she was engaged to Jim. I stopped 
 that scene by hurrying him off to change his
 
 124 A STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 clothes, I hunted up Jim and put Mary in his 
 charge, and then left without joining the skating 
 party, who were all down at the lower end of 
 the pond a mile away. 
 
 "You see I wasn't mistaken after all, she 
 liked Tom best; and when she saw him, as she 
 thought, drowning, it came all of a sudden to 
 her. In a few days it all came out. Tom was 
 willing to do the honorable thing and go away, 
 but Mary took the matter in her own hands, 
 telling Jim how she felt, and that she never 
 could marry him, Jim. 
 
 " A week after the news of Sumter came to 
 us, and I'll never forget Tom's anguish as he 
 came to my room to tell me the whole story. It 
 seems that what Mary told Jim had changed his 
 entire nature. He cursed both Tom and Mary, 
 told them he would be a living thorn in their 
 sides, threatened all sorts of things, and finally 
 ended by leaving town and going South to join 
 the Confederate army. You cannot imagine his 
 rage unless you knew his character, as I was just 
 beginning to learn it, and he was simply un 
 shakable once his mind was made up ; and this 
 point you must remember because of the sequel. 
 
 " Well, those two boys separated never to
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 125 
 
 meet again till on the battle-field of luka, and 
 then under such strange conditions as war alone 
 can bring out. Tom enlisted and joined an 
 Ohio battery, but before going to the front he 
 was married to Mary. I soon joined the army 
 as surgeon, and went through the fighting at 
 Donelson, Henry, Shiloh, the marching and 
 work during the summer of 1862, and finally 
 found myself, as I have told you, at luka. 
 
 " And now to go back to that battle-field where 
 the two brothers and myself met again. When 
 Grant had learned of Price's attempt on luka, 
 he ordered Rosecrans with his two divisions of 
 Hamilton and Stanley to advance on the town 
 by the roads to the west and south of the town, 
 while Ord with nine thousand men was to ad 
 vance on the north. As Rosy had in his two 
 divisions about nine thousand more, if the whole 
 eighteen thousand men could all get there at 
 the same time they could easily hold the place 
 against Van Dorn and Price together till Grant 
 had brought up his entire force, if need be. 
 
 " luka is a beautiful village on the hills, and 
 to its south just outside the town was the tri 
 angular plateau on which the battle took place. 
 The base of this triangle was north towards the 
 11*
 
 126 A STRANGE WOUND, 
 
 town, and the point towards the south. The 
 base was about a mile long, but the point lopped 
 off was about a quarter of a mile wide only. 
 Price had fully fourteen thousand men there on 
 the 18th, and he at once caused them to throw 
 up intrenchments on the plateau along the base. 
 Behind them were thick woods, and their posi 
 tion was about as strong as it well could be. 
 Rosecrans did not divide his forces as he was 
 ordered to do, and thus approach by two roads, 
 bringing all his men at once on the field, but 
 scattered them on one road, with Hamilton's 
 division in advance. The skirmishers of this 
 division struck the Confederate pickets about 
 four o'clock on the afternoon of the next day, 
 the 19th, and immediately as fierce a little fight 
 took place as occurred during the entire war. 
 In fact, it is given as a matter of record that no 
 fight had so great a percentage of killed and 
 wounded, for the numbers engaged, as did the 
 battery in Hamilton's division. Look at it, lieu 
 tenant, yourself, and you will see as I do that it 
 was one of the most important battles of the war. 
 Ord was far away and did not come up till the 
 next day, when the fight was over ; Grant knew 
 nothing of the battle till late that night ; while
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 127 
 
 Rosy came on the battle-field but a moment, and 
 then, not thinking it would be much, went to 
 the rear to hurry up Stanley's troops. So Ham 
 ilton's division had to fight the battle alone with 
 but four thousand five hundred men. All de 
 pended on them, and to Hamilton alone must 
 belong the entire credit of the victory. It was 
 simply a question of holding his place till night 
 should put an end to the battle, for he knew 
 that if he could do that, then by morning light 
 there would be more than enough troops to take 
 care of all the Johnnies. If he could not hold 
 his ground, then Price would strike Stanley, 
 overthrow him, turn and beat Ord, and thus 
 destroy Grant's army by detail, and all won so 
 far during the war by the Union troops would 
 be lost. Then, making the junction with Van 
 Dorn, the Confederates could have driven Buell 
 over the Ohio and destroyed Grant. So it all 
 depended on Hamilton and his division, and 
 that officer fully realized it, and he fought his 
 men as few officers know how, always in the 
 front, just when and wherever needed, by his 
 personal example inspiring his men to hold their 
 ground. His horse was killed under him, his 
 clothes perforated with bullets, and every officer
 
 128 A STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 on his staff and body-guard but two either killed 
 or wounded. But he held his ground for the 
 three hours of light remaining, and at dark, un 
 able to overcome him, the Confederates with 
 drew, knowing that the next morning Ord and 
 Rosecrans with the rest of the troops would 
 be up. 
 
 " It was a bloody battle, for we lost over two 
 hundred and seventy killed and nearly six hun 
 dred wounded out of the four thousand five hun 
 dred men engaged, while the rebs lost almost 
 double that out of fourteen thousand men en 
 gaged. The key-point of the battle was the 
 ground held by the Ohio battery, in which Tom 
 Ainsworth was now a sergeant. It played the 
 very devil among the rebs, and they determined 
 to have it. So twice they charged it, but both 
 times were driven off. Again they formed 
 columns of attack to storm it, and this time 
 they came on so there w r as no stopping them. 
 The battery did splendid work just then. The 
 guns seemed alive, so rapidly did they spit out 
 their showers of grape and canister that tore 
 great lanes through the approaching masses. I 
 happened to be near the battery at that time and 
 saw Tom dismounted, himself aiming and firing
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 129 
 
 his gun; and, looking over to the rebs, who 
 should be leading the foremost company of at 
 tack but his brother Jim ! The very demon was 
 in Jim's eyes as he recognized Tom, and his face 
 lighted up with a terrible expression of hate, and 
 he began, even in that noise and turmoil, to 
 curse him, when his voice was drowned in an 
 explosion. Tom had pulled his lanyard, the last 
 shot fired by the battery, and a shower of grape 
 went right at Jim's company, which laid out Jim 
 and half his men. But notwithstanding, the 
 battery was taken, but soon lost, again taken, 
 and at last abandoned to our men at night-fall. 
 
 " Well, that is all about the fight. Hamilton, 
 I think, is the man to whom all the credit is due, 
 as Rosecrans was nowhere about. That night 
 the rebs left in such a hurry that we had to bury 
 their dead and take care of their wounded. I 
 had my hands full, for I was short of assistants. 
 I had ordered a house in town seized and turned 
 into a hospital. It had belonged to a Confeder 
 ate general officer, and was one of the largest 
 and finest houses in the village, and surrounded 
 by a beautiful shaded lawn. "When the house 
 was filled with wounded, and there were still 
 many more coming, I directed a number to be
 
 130 ^ STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 placed outside on the lawn under the shade of 
 trees. As there they had plenty of fresh air, 
 not cold at that time of the year, they were 
 really as comfortable as in the house. 
 
 " Towards evening of the second day after the 
 battle I got my first chance for a little rest, and, 
 taking my pipe and a camp-stool, I went out on 
 the lawn to have a quiet smoke. I sat down as 
 far from the groups of wounded as I well could, 
 though they were so many that was not saying 
 much. At my feet a little way from me was the 
 apparently lifeless body of a Confederate who 
 had been brought in severely wounded, but had 
 died, as was supposed, before the surgeons could 
 get around to him, and the burial-parties were 
 still busy with our own men. Part of his skull 
 had been torn off by a piece of grape-shot or a 
 shell, and the brain or part of it was protruding 
 in a bulbous balloon-shaped mass, confined, it 
 seemed, by a thin tissue. Although covered 
 with blood and dirt, there was something about 
 him that struck my attention, and, bending over 
 him, I discovered it was poor Jim Ainsworth. 
 At first I was glad that he was done for, for I 
 knew he must have been instantly killed, and 
 Tom and his wife could henceforth live in peace.
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 131 
 
 But even while looking at him, it seemed to me 
 that there was the very slightest respiration, and 
 to my surprise I found on examination that there 
 was. * Impossible,' I said to myself, and I knelt 
 down to watch the closer. A man with the top 
 of his head blown off, the brain protruding, left 
 in the open air for forty-eight hours without at 
 tention, why, such a thing was never heard of. 
 But my senses to the contrary notwithstanding, 
 this man was actually still alive. I took out my 
 watch and counted the respirations, and then set 
 about to help him what little I could, for I felt 
 certain he would die very soon. So, as death 
 was certain, I took from my pocket-case of in 
 struments a small sharp knife and sliced off the 
 protruding part of the brain, and then plastered 
 the skin over the hole in the skull as well as I 
 could. But he still continued to live even after 
 that, and so I injected into him stimulants; and 
 to my great astonishment the number of respira 
 tions soon increased and seemed stronger. 
 
 " Here was a case to delight any professional 
 man, and perhaps I might be able to keep life in 
 him for a long enough time for his people to 
 come to him. I sent for Tom, and he came the 
 next day. To my unbounded delight, after set-
 
 132 A STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 ting up a tent over the patient and injecting 
 nourishment into him, he seemed to grow 
 stronger, and the idea occurred to me that he 
 might live. From that time the attention of all 
 the surgeons was placed on Jim, and with every 
 care and Tom as a nurse, to make a long story 
 short, he did pull through, though it took some 
 months to do it. Tom could only stay for two 
 weeks, but he knew Jim would live before the 
 end of his furlough. 
 
 "I went back to Memphis that fall, and had 
 Jim brought there and put under my especial 
 care in one of our hospitals. Tom joined his 
 battery, and it was not long ere I heard of his 
 promotion. Poor fellow, he was killed at Vicks- 
 burg the next year, and Mary was left a widow 
 with one little child. 
 
 "Now for the curious part of the story. I 
 thought, of course, that as Jim recovered he 
 would at least remain an idiot for the rest of his 
 life, and certainly would remember no one nor 
 any of his past life. Not much. He not only 
 knew me, but his mind seemed as bright and 
 clear as formerly, except on one point alone, 
 lie asked after Tom and Mary and the old ac 
 quaintances up here; he talked of the war, of
 
 A STRANGE WOUND. 133 
 
 old times; he cursed the Union cause till I 
 ordered him to be quiet while in a Union hospi 
 tal and living at the expense of the Government 
 and men who had saved his life. But in all his 
 talk of Tom and Mary there was never the 
 slightest malice or bitterness, or reference to the 
 old feud and trouble. At first I thought he 
 wished to avoid the subject, but I soon became 
 convinced it was actually not in his head, and 
 therefore, speaking of it myself to him, I be 
 came convinced it was all a blank to him. In 
 other words, what had been the most exciting 
 topic of his life was now a perfect blank. If 
 you ask me how I account for it, I tell you I 
 cannot. Men have often lived days, even years, 
 with bullets and pieces of metal in their brains, 
 but I never heard of a case where a man lived 
 with part of his brain cut or blown away. But 
 he did, and whether or not that part of the brain 
 that I sliced off contained the memory of his 
 love and hate for Mary and Tom is a mystery to 
 me. In every other respect he was himself, and 
 the next spring, when he was exchanged with a 
 number of prisoners, he went off cursing the 
 Union cause and with no thanks for the men 
 who had saved him, but with loving messages 
 
 12
 
 134 A STRANGE WOUND. 
 
 for Tom and Mary. He never saw Tom, but 
 was killed towards the close of the war in a 
 little skirmish by a bullet, this time in the brain 
 that was left him. He had then attained the 
 rank of colonel. 
 
 "Yes, lieutenant, I've seen many strange 
 wounds, but, take it all in all, that one reached 
 the top notch of them all. I've often wished he 
 might have lived, as then he might have taken 
 poor Tom's place, though that is doubtful, as 
 Mary Ainsworth has had many offers since then, 
 but has always remained faithful to Tom's mem 
 ory. If this was a story from a novel, and not 
 a true tale, he would have lived and married 
 Mary."
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 135
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 " FOUR cards, Doc ? You are playing rather 
 a reckless game to-night. Better pull out and 
 lose a little than risk all you've got on a single 
 card. Nearly a thousand in that pot, though, 
 don't blame you much for staying. Lord, you've 
 got a nerve !" 
 
 As the cards fell, Paul Durmier turned the 
 corners up stealthily, sheltering them with his 
 hand from the eyes of the other players. A 
 king another an ace a king. When a man's 
 last dollar is in the banker's pocket, and his last 
 chip in the jack-pot, such a draw is providential. 
 The hand stood three kings and two aces. He 
 was too skillful a gambler to allow the fire of 
 joy which had sprung up in his heart to warm 
 the lines of his countenance. 
 
 " Steady, gentlemen," he said, quietly ; " I 
 think we'll fatten that a little before proceeding. 
 There's my check for five hundred dollars. No 
 doubt you'll all come right in." Then, softly to 
 himself, he added, " I don't bet with Government 
 
 12* 137
 
 138 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 money except on a sure thing. When a king 
 full is not good, I'll go bankrupt." 
 
 There was a stir among the players, and some 
 one grumbled about " bluffing." Four of them 
 laid down their hands, shook their heads, and 
 looked at one another. A gentleman in black, 
 sitting opposite, turned his cards cautiously, 
 faced them on the table, drew forth a check 
 book and wrote. His heavy brows covered the 
 twinkle in his little beady eyes, and a furtive 
 smile played at the corners of his mouth under 
 the seclusion of his waxed moustache. 
 
 " I'll see that five and raise it five, Dr. Dur- 
 mier," he said, coldly. " The gentlemen know 
 that my check on the Bank of California is 
 worth what it is written for." 
 
 Four deep breaths issued from the lungs of 
 the vanquished players. They tipped back their 
 chairs and looked at one another aghast, as if 
 they had just seen a man fall from the roof of a 
 building. Such wagers were not ordinarily laid 
 in the quiet rooms of the Bavarian Club. It was 
 against the rules ; it was contrary to precedent. 
 They watched the Doctor write the duplicate 
 of his former check, five hundred dollars on 
 the Pacific National. The issue was reached.
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 139 
 
 "Anything to please you, Mr. Jerome. I'll 
 risk that to look at your hand." The players 
 bent forward eagerly. The gentleman with the 
 waxed moustache turned his cards carefully and 
 spread them out in plain view. 
 
 Four queens and an ace ! 
 
 Dr. Durmier rose to his feet, leaned upon the 
 table, and stared at them wildly. There was no 
 doubt. He had gambled away a thousand dollars 
 of the public funds. 
 
 It was a climax that others had reached before, 
 but never so quickly. It usually takes months 
 to pile up a deficit of a thousand dollars. He 
 had accomplished the feat in less than ten min 
 utes, surely a damnable distinction. Reeling 
 through the open door, he staggered down the 
 stairway to the coat-room, stubbornly striving to 
 appear indifferent. Some one led him to the bar 
 and placed a glass of whisky in his hand. 
 
 "Drink that, old man; you need a bracer," 
 urged the Samaritan. 
 
 He pushed it nervously away. "No, no; I 
 am only tired of playing. The boat leaves in 
 half an hour, good-by !" Rushing down the 
 stairway, he pushed open the heavy doors fiercely 
 and disappeared.
 
 140 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 Half an hour later, just as the whistle of the 
 little steamer was blowing for the midnight trip 
 around the harbor, he staggered down the gang 
 plank. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Later still he stood behind the granite battle 
 ment that crowns the citadel of Alcatraz, and 
 looked out over the dark still waters of the bay. 
 The footsteps of the sentinels were stifled in the 
 stillness of the night; the last belated tug had 
 sought the wharf; the last glimmering light of 
 the city had faded in the mist that overhung 
 the lower bay. The strong rays from Alcatraz 
 light-house, sweeping out through the Golden 
 Gate, mingled with the darting flashes from Fort 
 Point and Bonita, and hurried on to warn the 
 sleepy midnight watch of the narrowing, cliff- 
 bound straits. Nature skpt, and softly breathed 
 amid the monotonous rushes of the surf against 
 the feet of the rocks. 
 
 Far down below him the lighter objects of the 
 Island peered upward like spectres out of the 
 darkness, the winding road descending to the 
 dock, the stone tennis court, the white walls of 
 the light-house, the bronze figures of the field- 
 guns. By a side glance he could detect the out-
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 141 
 
 lines of the flower-beds, with the gravel walks 
 between, and their heavy border of solid shot. 
 He could see the bells of the calla lilies, the 
 voluptuous velvet of the Jacque roses, and the 
 hanging jewels of the century plant rising in 
 the centre of the garden. 
 
 Never before, even in the summer twilight, 
 when every object in nature forces itself on the 
 eye more vividly than the central figure in a 
 painting, never before had the homely images 
 of the Rock impressed themselves so sharply 
 upon his mind. His eye flitted restlessly from one 
 object to another, seeking one whose diffidence 
 forbade its intrusion on his self-sought solitude. 
 
 There was the little adjutant's office perching 
 like a martin's nest on the edge of the cliff, with 
 the tall light-house standing over it like an Arab 
 sentinel clad in white. Lower down the wind 
 ing road, like a trio of mastiffs sleeping with 
 one eye open, reposed the commanding officer's 
 quarters, with its two flanking companions, the 
 captains' quarters. Still lower, on the first ter 
 race, rose the great gray hospital ; and below it 
 the rambling masses of the prison buildings 
 were lost in the vague shadows that encircled 
 the water's edge.
 
 142 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 The peace that dwelt upon the face of slum 
 bering nature contrasted painfully with the tem 
 pest of emotions that swelled the heart of Paul 
 Durmier. Anguish, regret, unspeakable dread, 
 lashed the rock of reason like angry waters. In 
 the sparkling dome above him seemed to swing 
 the arms of a great balance to be or not to 
 be. Here in the open night might Fate cast the 
 final atom which would launch him forward to 
 the unexplored beyond. 
 
 Such heart strains and such perplexity could 
 not be borne long. There was a pain at his 
 heart. Shadowy images were floating before 
 his eyes, and a dullness filled his brain and 
 seemed to crush his senses. Other men had 
 done this thing, and naught could spare them. 
 They fled to other countries, dishonored, ruined. 
 It would be better to die than endure dishonor. 
 The Government trusts no one, yet it crushes 
 whom it cannot trust. The thought turned his 
 brain to fire. 
 
 Then the dear wife the little boy. They must 
 not know ; they could never bear his guilt. 
 When life is dishonor, death is but reason 
 stops at the bounds of life. No one can tell of 
 the life whose birth is death. The pain that
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 143 
 
 galls eternal dissolution would be rest compared 
 with the agony of living shame. The dread of 
 the hereafter is not more terrible than the dread 
 of existence cursed by the scorn of men. 
 
 But there was hope. If by any possibility 
 the soul should not be immortal, the end of all 
 things is in death, Life and honor might be 
 made to terminate in the same breath. Immor 
 tality might be only a fiction a mere philoso 
 pher's fancy. There was hope in the thought. 
 
 He turned and straightened, questioning the 
 horizon with his sharp eyes. Only the dark 
 ness answered. Shapeless masses of shadow 
 slumbered under the dark outline of Tamalpais. 
 The demon eyes of the Golden Gate gleamed 
 with a melancholy radiance. Nature turned 
 her face from the guilt that blackened his 
 soul. 
 
 With noiseless steps he returned along the 
 plank walk of the sentry's gallery, passing down 
 the iron stairway and through the western bar 
 bican. Choosing the stone pavement, so that 
 his footsteps would not grate upon the gravel, 
 he stole silently down towards his office. There 
 were some minor official matters that would 
 need attention. As he paused at the head of
 
 144 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 the stone stairway which descended to the first 
 terrace, he glanced upward and saw the portly 
 light-house keeper trimming the lamps in the 
 lens gallery. It was the end of the midnight 
 watch. He crept on to the office and turned up 
 the lamp at his desk. The attendant sleeping 
 in the adjoining room would not wake before 
 reveille for anything less than an earthquake. 
 Rapidly he turned over his papers, balanced his 
 accounts, signed checks for the cash in bank, 
 and closed the books. "When all was complete 
 he gathered them together and fastened them 
 with a rubber band. That closed his business 
 with the Government, his erstwhile friend, his 
 present enemy. 
 
 Dipping his pen, he again wrote upon a slip 
 of paper, " Take care of little Walley," and 
 pinned a check to it. Mechanically his hand 
 began to trace characters upon the tablet before 
 him. " To die is the end of all. It blots out 
 existence. The elements of life return to earth. 
 Death is the end of growth it is the end of 
 life there is nothing more." 
 
 The sentinel's cry at the prison bridge warned 
 him of the passing hours. Already it was 
 morning. He arranged the papers on the table,
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 145 
 
 threw the scribblings into the waste-basket, and 
 turned down the lamp. The glow of morn was 
 rising over Mount Diablo. He ascended the 
 carriage road and climbed the stone stair 
 way. 
 
 Entering the door of the bastion over which 
 the flag waves, in the first room he came upon 
 his study desk, and on it the scattered manu 
 script of his book. How long, how earnestly, 
 he had labored for its completion, trying to stifle 
 the gaming passion under the strain of mental 
 effort! He had worked until his head was 
 filled with pains, and fiery images floated before 
 his eyes. Thank God, now that it was finished 
 it was a work to be proud of. He sat down, 
 and on the first page of the manuscript wrote, 
 " This is for Walley." 
 
 There was light enough now to render objects 
 in the room visible, so he turned out the lamp. 
 Up-stairs his wife might be awake. In order 
 that he might not disturb her, he removed his 
 shoes. Every dainty object in the room made 
 him think tenderly of her,- the silken cigar- 
 case, the embroidered slipper-holder, the pic 
 tures hanging upon the wall. Poor little woman, 
 how unworthy he felt now of her pure love. 
 G k 13
 
 146 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 The evil passion which had blighted his life 
 showed only more blackly by contrast with her 
 wifely devotion. 
 
 It was time to arouse : the morning was fast 
 breaking in the basement the Chinese servant 
 was kindling the fires. 
 
 His hunting-coat hung in the closet. Hesi 
 tatingly, cautiously, he drew from the pocket a 
 loaded shell. Would he take another? No; 
 the thought was cruel. But death is the end of 
 all, and to die in youth and happiness is better 
 than to live and drink the bitter cup of dis 
 honored widowhood. He took another shell, 
 opened the breech of the gun, and inserted it in 
 the barrel. Farewell home and the happy days 
 and the friends that come and go. Farewell 
 life that is not so lovely, after all. 
 
 He threw off his coat and vest and with cat 
 like tread ascended the stairs. In the first room 
 was the baby sleeping in his crib. Poor little 
 fellow! He would never know, and he would 
 not be happier if he did. He bent and kissed 
 the curly brow. The door of his wife's room 
 stood ajar. He entered and closed it softly. 
 She lay there smiling in her sleep, her arms 
 above her head, the light of the morning sun
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 147 
 
 wreathing her in its warm embrace. How pure, 
 how womanly she looked ! Oh, what cruel fate 
 should doom a holy life to end so rudely ! He 
 threw back the covering. She did not move. 
 The abdomen was sudden, fatal, and accessible. 
 He reached over the foot-board and placed the 
 muzzle of the gun within an inch of her cloth 
 ing. "Would not the officer in the adjoining 
 room hear the report ? No : he had passed the 
 night at the Presidio. He pulled the trigger. 
 Only a tremor passed over the slender form. 
 The peaceful smile was fixed immovably. The 
 room was filling with smoke, for the sheets had 
 caught fire from the flame of the discharge. 
 Beaching over, with his hands he crushed the 
 fire from the blazing cloth. How fortunate it is 
 that instant death prevents the flow of blood ! 
 
 Now his turn had come, and he welcomed 
 it. He drew forth the empty shell, inserted 
 the second charge, and cocked the hammer. 
 "Which was the easiest way? How would he 
 manage? Easily enough. He inclined the 
 muzzle towards him and pressed his body 
 against it. Then balancing himself upon one 
 foot he reached forward with the toe of the 
 other and touched the trigger. A report a
 
 148 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 cloud of smoke a heavy fall and the shadow 
 of a great doubt was made a lucid certainty. 
 
 Ah Wong was waiting in the basement below 
 in great desperation. The breakfast would keep 
 no longer. Surely his master and mistress had 
 been keeping late hours. They did not usually 
 slumber until ten o'clock. He would steal softly 
 up the stairway and see if they were yet awake. 
 Perhaps they were dressing, he would not show 
 impatience by calling them. On the way he met 
 the fat light-house keeper standing in the open 
 doorway holding a basket. 
 
 " How do ! What you catchee ?" asked Wong 
 in his usual monotone. 
 
 " Some eggs for your mistress. What ! Not 
 up yet?" 
 
 " No, cap. Me call 'em now." 
 
 The light-keeper waddled back to the light 
 house, and Wong continued his ascent. He 
 opened the door of the baby's room and peered 
 in cautiously. Walley was crowing and kicking 
 his heels in the air. Wong stole over to the 
 crib and tickled him. 
 
 " What's mattah ? You no get hungry yet ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 He rapped at the door of the adjoining room.
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 149 
 
 No answer. He rapped again quite loud. 
 Were they ill ? Perhaps they had remained in 
 the city the night before. He turned the knob 
 and softly pushed the door ajar. What a queer 
 smell ! He poked his little shaven head through, 
 and started back as if struck by an unseen hand. 
 
 Down the stairs he flew, leaving his wooden 
 shoes tumbling along behind him ; then running 
 barefooted into the adjoining quarters he be 
 sought a lieutenant in terror-stricken tones to 
 come quickly. 
 
 " Plenty devils, him very sick on floor !" he 
 cried, pointing upward. 
 
 Other officers joined the lieutenant, and to 
 gether they ascended the stairs. An odor of 
 burned powder pervaded the air. They pushed 
 open the door and saw that the army would 
 have a promotion and a double funeral. Both 
 bodies were cold and stiff. 
 
 On the floor lay the young surgeon, the blood 
 slowly oozing from an ugly, blackened wound. 
 At his feet the double-barreled shot-gun, falling, 
 had jarred open at the breech. An empty shell 
 was in the gun, another on the floor. On the 
 bed lay the white form of the girl wife, her arms 
 above her head, resting on the dark masses of 
 13*
 
 150 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 
 
 her hair. It was as if she slept and was smiling 
 in her sleep. They threw sheets over the bodies 
 and drew painfully away. Before any friendly 
 hand could interpose, the civil law relating to 
 sudden death must be complied with. 
 
 Sorrow came and dwelt upon the summit of 
 the Rock. The wise coroners appeared, and, 
 shaking their heads, said, solemnly, " Murder 
 and suicide during an attack of temporary in 
 sanity." Insanity has always played second to 
 murder. 
 
 When friends came to lay their last offering 
 of flowers, they found the two lying side by side 
 in the little parlor under the flag. Choking 
 down a sob, they looked into the white faces 
 and said, " Who w r ould have thought so young 
 poor things." 
 
 They made a single grave under the cypress- 
 trees in the great cemetery back of the Presidio, 
 and there one sunny morning the little steamer 
 bore them, still lying side by side, on its deck. 
 There was a procession that followed slowly up 
 the hill, there were many mourners, there were 
 prayers that were thoughtful and sincere, and 
 tears fell to the earth that day which were tender 
 and full of love. The words of the minister
 
 THE STORY OF ALCATRAZ. 151 
 
 were comforting, for no one knew but the coro 
 ner was right, and no one thought of the deadly 
 purpose which commits a crime. 
 
 The dwellers on the Eock to-day show you a 
 vacant bastion that was long since abandoned to 
 the bats and evil spirits. Some say that at mid 
 night you can see lights flitting past the windows. 
 But only one will offer to tell you the story of 
 the bloody deed committed there, and that is the 
 portly light-house keeper. He dwells with pride 
 upon each detail, and claims the honor of being 
 first to view the dead, and to convey the news 
 of the fearful event to the daily newspapers. 
 Yet even he, when he reads this narrative, may 
 learn that coroners can err, and insanity be not 
 always connected with murder.
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 153
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 OUR nearest neighbor was Mr. John Deve- 
 reux, of Coramballa Station, seventy-eight miles 
 away, tolerably close as things went in the 
 Queensland "back blocks" in those days. He 
 took up a block of country next to my brothers 
 in the latter part of '85 and stocked it with sheep. 
 Shortly after his arrival, I rode over from "We- 
 aldiwindi my brothers' station to pay my re 
 spects. I found a tall, bronzed, bearded man, 
 apparently about thirty-two years of age, who 
 greeted me with perfect politeness, yet with such 
 chilling reserve that the prospect of a future 
 close acquaintance appeared rather remote. 
 
 Nothing daunted by this reception, I paid 
 several visits to Coramballa during the next few 
 months. I was always received with that hos 
 pitality which is a canon of bush etiquette, still, 
 I fancied that Devereux, in his heart, wished I 
 would stay away. 
 
 You meet all kinds of queer characters in the 
 bush. There being no public opinion to con- 
 
 155
 
 156 ' THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 eider, the mask of conventionality is often cast 
 aside and hidden traits in a man's character be 
 come his marked characteristics. But a neigh 
 bor is a neighbor even though he be surly as a 
 grizzly bear ; in fact, you are glad to have one 
 of any kind in the " back blocks." So, not in 
 the least deterred by the continued frigidity 
 with which my friendly advances were met, I 
 made my visits more frequent in the hope of 
 some day inducing my surly neighbor to " come 
 out of his shell." The opinion I formed of 
 Devereux was that this gloomy reserve was not 
 his natural bent, but was simply a misanthropic 
 humor engendered by some overwhelming dis 
 appointment in earlier life. I felt sure that be 
 neath his distant manner and semi-morose dis 
 position there lay a warm and generous nature. 
 In the end my perseverance was rewarded by a 
 measure of success. While Devereux never at 
 any time manifested any warmth in his greet 
 ings, he so far relaxed from his former distant 
 bearing as to accord me the ghost of a welcom 
 ing smile when he shook hands. I looked upon 
 this as proof positive of the correctness of my 
 theory, and accepted it as an indication that my 
 visits were no longer deemed unwelcome.
 
 TEE OTHER FELLOW. 157 
 
 I had no financial interest I am sorry to say 
 in my brothers' property, but, Micawber-like, 
 was simply waiting there "for something to 
 turn up." So, having no call upon my time, I 
 was enabled to spend more of my leisure at 
 Coramballa than at Wealdiwindi. 
 
 I am bound to confess that I felt not a little 
 curiosity in regard to the past life of my taciturn 
 friend. He, however, rarely spoke of it, and 
 then only in such a casual way as to afford 
 no foundation for anything but mere conjec 
 ture. 
 
 I learned to like Devereux very much, and 
 began to hope that the sentiment was mutual, 
 as indeed it proved to be, for we afterwards 
 became very warm friends. 
 
 He had been at Coramballa nine months or 
 so when some lady cousins braved the solitudes 
 of the bush and paid us a visit at Wealdiwindi. 
 Devereux had never been to our station, and 
 thinking this a good opportunity to " draw him 
 out," I rode over to invite him to spend a week 
 or two with us. He listened to me, and then 
 quietly and politely declined the invitation. 
 Noticing my look of chagrin, he said, in an 
 apologetic tone, 
 
 14
 
 158 THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 " You perhaps think me a boor in declining 
 your hospitality, but I came out to this sparsely- 
 settled country expressly to avoid society of any 
 kind. I do not wish to appear churlish, and 
 though, believe me, I value your friendship very 
 highly, I cannot make any exception to what 
 is now the rule of my life, even for you. But 
 come in and take something to drink." 
 
 We sat down in the front room : ftevereux 
 mixed a couple of glasses of grog and filled his 
 pipe. He smoked in silence awhile as if con 
 sidering something. Then he laid his pipe 
 aside, got up and took a photograph from a 
 bracket on the wall. He handed it to me, and 
 said, abruptly, 
 
 " Do you recognize that ?" It was the picture 
 of a bright, smiling, manly-looking young fellow 
 of some one or two and twenty. There was an 
 expression about the eyes that reminded me 
 somewhat of his own ; but when I looked at his 
 bronzed, heavily-bearded face, and again at the 
 picture of the laughing young fellow, hairless 
 save for a small curling moustache, the sem 
 blance seemed to vanish. 
 
 " I can't say I do," I replied, after looking at 
 the photograph for some moments. '' I don't
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 159 
 
 think it is any one I have seen before. Is it a 
 brother of yours ?" 
 
 "ISTo," said Devereux, with a peculiar sad 
 smile. "He was not a brother of mine." 
 Again he smoked awhile in silence, and I 
 looked at the picture, wondering whether it was 
 a link in the chain of his past. 
 
 " No," he repeated, musingly. " He was not 
 a brother of mine, though ten years ago we 
 were alike as two peas. If it will not bore you, 
 I will tell you an episode in his life." 
 
 " Fire away !" said I, filled with astonishment 
 at the idea of his telling a story : he had barely 
 uttered twenty consecutive words during our 
 nine months' acquaintance. 
 
 He laid down his pipe, took a sip at his grog, 
 and began, 
 
 " With Jack's, I need not give you his other 
 name, every one called him Jack, with Jack's 
 early youth we have nothing to do. It will be 
 sufficient for me to say that at the usual age he 
 went to Rugby, where he was somewhat of a 
 * dab' at cricket and foot-ball. After several 
 years of floundering among Greek roots and 
 algebraic formulae at that ancient seat of 
 juvenile learning, he somehow managed to
 
 160 TEE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 scuffle into Sandhurst, and in due time got a 
 commission. While at Sandhurst, Jack, who 
 was a romantic, susceptible fellow, became ac 
 quainted with the daughter of a half-pay officer 
 who lived in that vicinity. 
 
 " She was one of the prettiest girls I ever saw. 
 Such eyes, such hair, and such a figure, and 
 withal of gentle, loving nature. No wonder 
 Jack lost his heart. I said Jack lost his heart. 
 I should rather have said he fell madly in love 
 with her, for, if there is such a passion as the 
 love poets dream of and novelists rave about, 
 Jack experienced it in all its Ouidaesque 
 intensity. 
 
 " He was two and twenty then, -just the age 
 when the boyish heart is most prone to such 
 weaknesses. And Claire Claire Tempest was 
 her name loved Jack, at least she said she 
 did, and Jack was just the happiest, brightest 
 fellow in the world. 
 
 t "Jack was poor, poor as a church mouse. 
 He had, in fact, nothing but his commission ; 
 and you probably know what a miserable dog 
 an officer is in the British army who has no 
 private fortune. And Claire's prospects were 
 not much brighter, her father having only a
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 161 
 
 limited income outside of his half-pay. But, 
 then, they loved each other, these two, and in 
 that blissful knowledge they spent a happy year 
 exchanging vows, altogether regardless of the 
 cold logic of finance. Then Jack asked the 
 general for Claire's hand, whereat the old 
 soldier stormed and swore, called Jack a 
 ' damned, presumptuous young pauper,' and 
 threatened to kick him out of the house if he 
 ever mentioned or thought of such a thing 
 again. 
 
 "Jack was bound to admit that he was a 
 pauper, his worldly possessions amounted to 
 something less than seven hundred pounds ; but 
 he thought the old general might have ex 
 pressed his opinion in more euphemistic lan 
 guage. 
 
 " So Jack talked the matter over with Claire, 
 and they came to the conclusion that they could 
 not marry on his pay. Would she wait ? Claire 
 kissed him, and with love's sweet hyperbole said 
 she would wait a hundred years for * her Jack.' 
 
 " And Jack, looking at the subject from all its 
 bearings, decided that there was nothing for it 
 but to emigrate. 
 
 " * Far pastures are always green,' you know, 
 i 14*
 
 162 THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 and after a great deal of looking over pamphlets 
 and other printed matter eulogistic of colonial 
 advantages, he decided upon South Africa as 
 his future home. * There's gold and diamonds 
 out there,' he argued to himself with boyish 
 enthusiasm ; * and I have youth, and health, and 
 strength, and seven hundred pounds, and I must 
 succeed.' 
 
 " He took a couple of months' leave before 
 resigning and went down to visit some relatives 
 in the west of England. During his absence, 
 Claire was introduced to a Mr. Forester, some 
 London financial swell, a fellow with heaps of 
 tin, stocks, and bonds, and all that sort of thing, 
 and an office on Lombard Street. He paid 
 Claire marked attention, and visited the gen 
 eral's house so frequently, and took Claire to 
 balls and operas and all that kind of thing, that 
 people began to say they were engaged. 
 
 "Jack heard of this in some way, and, of 
 course, being deeply in love, became insanely 
 jealous. lie came back post-haste. His first 
 question after the usual lovers' greeting was, 
 
 " l What is all this about this banker fellow ?' 
 
 "'Why, Jack, what do you mean? which 
 banker fellow ?' Claire asked, innocently.
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 163 
 
 " ' Which banker fellow ?' blurted Jack, 
 fiercely. < Why, the banker fellow, the fellow 
 from London.' 
 
 " ' Oh !' smiled Claire, ' Mr. Forester. Why, 
 Jack, you silly, jealous boy, he is fifty, old 
 enough to be my father twice over.' 
 
 " ' And you don't care a rap for him, and, 
 and it's not true what people say ?' gulped Jack. 
 
 "And then Claire nestled close to him and 
 said, 
 
 " ' Oh, Jack, my own darling Jack, how could 
 you think it,' and held up her pretty face to be 
 kissed, and of course Jack kissed it, believed 
 her, and was happy again. 
 
 " Well, the time came for him to leave. The 
 old general was so glad to get him out of the 
 way that he yielded to Claire's entreaties, and 
 took her down to Southampton to see Jack off. 
 
 " Jack lingered at the gangway at the immi 
 nent risk of missing the steamer, and, at the 
 final moment, strained Claire to his breast in a 
 last fond embrace, while she repeated for the 
 hundredth time a tearful promise to wait for 
 and think of him always. 
 
 "Jack stood at the stern, gazing at the re 
 ceding shore with misty eyes, until the slender
 
 164 THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 figure waving the last good-by was lost in the 
 blur of distance. 
 
 "Poor Jack! How bravely he tried during 
 the voyage to be his old genial self. If he had 
 not felt Claire to be the most loving, trustful, 
 faithful girl in all the world, I believe he would 
 have been tempted to go back ; but he had every 
 faith in her constancy, and he felt that he must 
 brave this separation a few years for her sake. 
 
 "At the Cape he tried everything that a 
 'new chum' with limited means usually does. 
 He ' dabbled' in wool, in cattle, and in mining 
 shares, and while he met with varying success, 
 as the old bush song says, he 
 
 ' . . . did no good at all, as a rule.' 
 
 " But Jack was stout-hearted and hopeful and 
 had no doubt of ultimate success. He wrote 
 cheering letters, to which, in due time, loving 
 answers came. Suddenly, however, these an 
 swers ceased, and when week after week passed, 
 and no replies came to his letters, he grew 
 despondent and gloomy. 
 
 " ' She could not have forgotten him so soon.' 
 Either she was ill or her father intercepted his 
 letters. There was something wrong, but it
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 165 
 
 was not with her. He would have staked his 
 soul on her faith and love. And then he 
 would write another letter. 
 
 " About this time the trouble with the Basutos 
 began. The organization of the Mounted Rifles 
 appealed to Jack's soldier instincts, and he re 
 solved to join them. He invested his remaining 
 capital in some mining shares, and enlisted. 
 His former military training here stood him in 
 good stead, and promotion came rapidly. Jack's 
 low spirits revived under the excitement of the 
 times, and he was once more his old genial 
 self. 
 
 "Well, I'm getting rather long-winded, am I 
 not ? So I'll cut it short. Those niggers gave 
 us lots of work, and on several occasions made 
 things rather lively for us. One day we met 
 them in force, and for a time matters went 
 against us. A whole lot of them were sheltered 
 in a belt of scrub on our right, from which they 
 picked us off at their leisure. Mind you, these 
 were no naked assegai-throwing savages, but 
 fellows who were armed as well as we were, and 
 no mean marksmen, either. 
 
 " ' If we only had a mountain howitzer,' 
 sighed the colonel, ' I'd make it hot for those
 
 166 THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 black devils. But we haven't, BO it's got to be 
 done some other way.' 
 
 " ' Captain Travers,' he said to the captain of 
 Jack's troop, ' take your troop and clean those 
 beggars out.' 
 
 " Travers saluted and formed the troop for 
 the duty assigned him. Many a stout fellow's 
 heart came into his mouth, for there would be a 
 score of empty saddles when the troop came 
 back, if, indeed, it ever came back at all. 
 Travers rode at the scrub, and soon men began 
 to fall. Half-way over, Travers wavered. He 
 had lost his lieutenant and twelve men already, 
 and the troop was only three-quarters strong. 
 As he turned in the saddle to shout some order, 
 a bullet struck him in the temple and he fell 
 from his horse. Instantly, Jack he was troop 
 sergeant-major rode to the front. * Follow me, 
 boys,' he shouted, ' I command this troop now.' 
 And his stentorian * Charge !' met with a wild, 
 responsive hurrah from the men. His enthu 
 siasm aroused their flagging spirits and filled 
 them with all their old dash and vim. 
 
 "Well, we cleaned those niggers out com 
 pletely, but Jack was brought back with a hole 
 in his shoulder, and invalided to the rear. His
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 167 
 
 wound turned out to be more serious than at first 
 supposed, the ball having passed perilously close 
 to a main artery. The doctor looked grave, and 
 said that Jack had a chance, but that it wasn't 
 worth much. And, indeed, it was touch and go 
 with him for days. But when he began to 
 mend, there was good news for him. A letter 
 from Capetown informed him that, owing to 
 some remarkably rich ' finds,' his mining shares 
 had been sold at a large profit, and that some 
 thing like ten thousand pounds lay to his credit 
 in the Bank of Africa, at Capetown. 
 
 " This news gave him new heart. The tide 
 had turned, luck was his at last. The thought 
 filled his feeble frame with a glow of ecstacy. 
 Ten thousand pounds would buy a handsome 
 property in South Africa, and as soon as he was 
 able he would go over to England and bring her 
 out. But he might die. He was yet pale and 
 feeble, with but a frail hold on life. He would 
 secure his little fortune to her in case anything 
 should happen to him. So that evening he sent 
 for a lawyer to make his will, and when he had 
 appended a faint scrawl to it by way of signature, 
 he went to sleep with hope and love in his heart. 
 
 "A week or so later the English mail was
 
 168 THE OTHER FELLOW. 
 
 due. I remember the day very well. It was a 
 calm, still morning, and the sun shone in through 
 the open window, making the plain, whitewashed 
 room look quite bright and cheery. Jack lay 
 near the window, looking for the hoisting of the 
 flag on the Government building that announced 
 the arrival of the mail. 
 
 " It was a long time since he had had a letter. 
 How anxiously he had awaited the arrival of 
 every mail, and how confidently he had ex 
 pected that when one failed the next would 
 surely bring him news. 
 
 " He watched the distribution of the letters in 
 the ward with hungry eyes. Sure enough, there 
 was a letter for him, and from Claire, too. How 
 his heart leaped when he saw it. He opened 
 it with trembling fingers, and then uttered a 
 strange gulping sound that brought the nurses 
 quickly to his side. At first they thought this 
 sudden shock was death. But he had only 
 swooned, and beside him on the coverlet lay the 
 cause, the delicately perfumed note from Claire. 
 
 " Well, perhaps she only did what nine women 
 out of ten would have done, and no doubt was 
 congratulated by her friends on having taken a 
 very sensible course.
 
 THE OTHER FELLOW. 169 
 
 " And Jack ? No, he did not die. But that 
 letter killed all faith and hope and belief within 
 him. It filled his heart with gall and worm 
 wood, and made him a cynic, a misanthrope, a 
 hermit, if you will. 
 
 " What was in the note ? It is so long ago 
 now that I can't recall the exact words. But it 
 ran somehow like this, 
 
 " ' DEAR JACK, All your letters have been re 
 ceived. The last one touched me so I had to 
 write and tell you. It was foolish of us to care 
 for each other, Jack. I was poor and you were 
 poorer ; why then should we waste the best years 
 of our lives in waiting for that which could 
 never be. Poor people have no right to fall in 
 love. Good-by, Jack ; if you ever cared for me, 
 forgive me, and in time you will forget.' 
 
 " It was signed Claire Forester. She had 
 married the banker, and, and, well, that is 
 all." 
 
 " And what became of the other fellow, of 
 Jack ?" I asked. 
 
 " Oh !" said Devereux, calmly, as he refilled 
 his pipe, " I am the other fellow." 
 
 H 15
 
 BUTTONS. 
 
 171
 
 BUTTONS. 
 I. 
 
 "EYES" the girls called him. Well might 
 they have sung, 
 
 " And when your glances rest on me, 
 Eight here they make me feel so funny." 
 
 The class called him " Shanks," for he was very 
 long, and to see him in the riding-hall with 
 those legs of his clasping the bare rihs of a 
 Roman-nosed brute that had broken the head 
 of nearly every other man that had tried to 
 ride him, was a sight for gods and men. At 
 least Tommy Dobbs thought so, but then to 
 little Tommy " Shanks" was perfection. 
 
 It was at the " Graduation Hop ;" the emanci 
 pated sure-of-diplomas had resolved to let their 
 moustaches grow, and, with the energies that 
 remained, assisted by Strauss and Waldteufel, 
 to waltz into the hearts of all the pretty girls in 
 the room. All of them the girls were eager 
 to dance with " Eyes," and many a heart flut- 
 
 16* 173
 
 174 BUTTONS. 
 
 tered as the tall, graceful cadet bowed and 
 begged for the pleasure, et ccetera. Yet he 
 chose to dance oftener with Miss Daisy Van 
 Stump than with any of the others, and as the 
 twain glided noiselessly over the glassy floor, 
 many another pair paused to admire what 
 seemed to be the poetic embodiment of the 
 melody the band was playing. 
 
 But even waltzes must have an end, and as 
 the " voluptuous swell" ceased, " Eyes" and his 
 fair partner strolled away from the room, out 
 upon the green and towards the Hudson, whose 
 calm waters reflected the twinkling of the myr 
 iads of stars that shone in the cloudless blue 
 above. 
 
 "And so you go away to-morrow, Miss 
 Daisy?" 
 
 " Yes ; in the morning." 
 
 " Then I may not see you. I am so sorry " 
 
 " So am I, we go to the Springs, but we 
 shall see you in New York? We return in 
 September; and, Mr. Eyes, I beg pardon, 
 Mr. " 
 
 "No, no; call me 'Eyes,' Miss Daisy. Ah! 
 Daisy, if I may speak " 
 
 There! I can't go on. There is but one
 
 BUTTONS. 175 
 
 language for this sort of thing, and as all of us 
 have been in love at least once, it is hardly 
 necessary to encumber the record with what 
 would be simply a rehearsal of what has been 
 going on ever since Adam and Eve began it. 
 Ill-natured people say that Eve began it. Well, 
 I'm glad she did. Perhaps Adam was 
 
 But let us get back to our pair of rapt ones. 
 
 There was moonlight all about them, music 
 filled the air, and flowers bloomed amid the 
 love that stirred their hearts. Why say more ? 
 Stay ! Yes : as they re-entered the room it was 
 observed in a stage whisper by the eldest Miss 
 Sternchase, who had been at the Point every 
 season since the Mexican war, that a button was 
 missing from the left breast of " Eyes's" jacket, 
 and that one of the pale-blue satin lozenges that 
 adorned Miss Daisy's gown was not where the 
 eldest Miss Sternchase had last seen it. 
 
 The next afternoon many people stood on the 
 wharf waiting for the steamer which was to 
 carry them away. The Van Stump family 
 father, mother, and Daisy were of the number, 
 and the crowd was freckled here and there with 
 youthful militaires, some going away', many say 
 ing the last few words they would ever speak to
 
 176 BUTTONS. 
 
 the pink ears that listened ; that had listened to 
 others the year before ; whose owners would be 
 ready the coming summer to accept the devo 
 tion of the next graduating class. But Miss 
 Daisy was not one of these light-hearted triflers, 
 at least as far as " Eyes" was concerned ; and 
 he, too, was there, looking as if, but for the 
 bystanders and Van Stump phe et mfrre, he 
 would have taken her in his arms and kept her 
 there forever. But he couldn't. 
 
 Van Stump pbrc, was said to be "made of 
 money," and he looked it. The mhe was fat, 
 forty, and very red. People said that while her 
 husband furnished the money, all the " blood" 
 was on her side. Miss Daisy was a darling. 
 How she became possessed of such parents I 
 mean as to looks Mr. Darwin might have ex 
 plained. I can't. She was tall, not too tall, a 
 figure round, yet lithe and springy, with violet 
 eyes and hair of wavy chestnut ; a face that was 
 grave when in repose, and that flashed like a 
 sudden burst of sunshine when she smiled ; and 
 she had that " excellent thing," a voice that 
 was " ever soft, gentle, and low." 
 
 So " Eyes" had to content himself with the 
 barest of partings, a throbbing grasp ; a yearn-
 
 BUTTONS. 177 
 
 ing look; a tremulous "good-by;" a whispered 
 "God bless you!" Then "all aboard!" was 
 sung out. The boat moved into mid-stream, 
 leaving poor " Eyes" on the pier to watch with 
 all his soul the fast-receding face and form of 
 what was all the world to him. 
 
 He had actually forgotten that a Being with a 
 tape-measure was waiting at the other end of 
 the road to take his measure for a uniform ! 
 And as he walked quickly up the hill, little 
 Dobbs, very much out of breath, overtook him. 
 
 " Hallo, Shanks, old boy ! What'll you give 
 for some news ? I've seen the list. You and I 
 get the th Cavalry, think of it ! So we may 
 as well go out together." 
 
 " Congraulate you, Chick," was the reply. 1 
 
 " Chick" was the fond abbreviation of Chi- 
 quito, as Tommy was styled by the class " for 
 short," somebody said. 
 
 Shanks had naturally asked for a cavalry regi 
 ment, but how Chick had managed to climb into 
 the saddle was not patent to the rest of the class, 
 who knew his capacity for tumbling head-first 
 into the tan-bark whenever his steed and all 
 the horses in the riding-hall were acquainted 
 with Tommy grew tired of drill. There was
 
 178 BUTTONS. 
 
 but one solution, he had used family influ 
 ence (for he came from the whisky part of 
 Kentucky) to claim such an assignment in order 
 to be near his dearest friend. 
 
 It was arranged, then, that "the twins," as 
 they were sometimes called, should start in com 
 pany for Dakota, on whose wide plains their 
 regiment was fast forgetting all about civiliza 
 tion. 
 
 " And now," said Chick, " what are you going 
 to do with yourself? I must go home, of 
 course; but, hang it! I don't want to stay in 
 that distillery-soaked country too long, and shall 
 get to the seaside as soon as a decent regard for 
 the bones of my ancestors will permit." 
 
 " To say the truth, Chick, I hardly know ; my 
 guardian's people expect me to spend part of 
 the next three months with them ; but I shall 
 run away down to the sea, and take a good long 
 look at it, for you and I, dear boy, are not likely 
 to see much salt-water in the next few years. 
 Where do you bring up ?" 
 
 "Oh, I shall go to that place where they have 
 a lot of rocks and sand, and fish and things. 
 Somewhere in Maine, hang it ! I can't think 
 of the name. I've had to remember such a lot
 
 BUTTONS. 179 
 
 of stuff about HO 2 , and all the rest of it (so 
 useful in the cavalry), that hang me if I can 
 recollect anything that I do want to know. But 
 it begins with a B and has a pool, whatever that 
 is." 
 
 " Chick, my boy, that's just where I'm going, 
 Biddeford Pool. Meet me there. Let's see, 
 I must go to Richfield in " 
 
 " Yes ; I know. She will be there. Go on. 
 Congratulate you, old fellow, and all that; lots 
 
 of tin, and as for beauty " Here Chick 
 
 clasped his hands and gazed at the sky. 
 
 " Don't be a donkey, Dobbs. I shall be there" 
 (severely) " at Biddeford in August." 
 
 " Pardon me. But, Shanks, dear old follow, 
 I saw it all when you both came back to the 
 ball-room last night, and Gad! I'm as happy 
 about it as if as if as if I were going to marry 
 you myself!" 
 
 By this time the two friends had reached the 
 hallowed spot where the Being from ]S"ew York 
 was waiting with the tape-measure. One of the 
 results of his efforts was rather startling to 
 Tommy's mamma, who said, when her son ap 
 peared to her wondering eyes in the full-dress 
 uniform of a second lieutenant of cavalry,
 
 180 BUTTONS. 
 
 " Sakes alive, Tommy ! if you don't look jest 
 like the inside of a mustard-pot !" 
 
 II. 
 
 THE harvest moon in the fullness thereof was 
 making a very early start just above the eastern 
 horizon, glinting with a rosy red the jagged 
 rocks that make picturesque the southwest coast 
 of Maine, and in the mellow light it cast along 
 the glistening beach many pairs of human doves 
 found food for tender words. But of these, two 
 only are just now very interesting. 
 
 Who were they ? 
 
 Listen. 
 
 " What a delightful night for boating, is it 
 not ?" This from one who at first glance looked 
 very like the Daisy. 
 
 But she wasn't The. And yet her likeness 
 to Daisy was the cause of the interest, the 
 something, that, as it overhung the tender edge 
 of friendship, was felt for her by her com 
 panion, who answered, 
 
 "Yes; look how the light seems to swim 
 upon the waves. How calm it is !" 
 
 A pudgy youth who was the male bird of the 
 other pair, and none other than Tommy Dobbs,
 
 BUTTONS. 181 
 
 with a new moustache looking like the business 
 end of an old tooth-brush, here lifted up his 
 voice with, 
 
 " I say, Shanks ! we are about to get up a 
 rowing-party to the island and back, and you 
 and Miss Mop us are booked to go." 
 
 " Oh, that will be nice !" said the young lady, 
 who was the one with whom Shanks was, as 
 Tommy said, rather coarsely, " keeping his 
 hand in." " Really, Mr. Sinclair, of all things 
 in the world a moonlight row is what I most 
 dote on." 
 
 And his name was Jack Sinclair. The girls 
 hereabout did not call him " Eyes," as did those 
 who knew him where he wore gray cloth and 
 pipe-clay; and yet they felt the magic of his 
 glance none the less. 
 
 In a few minutes the big barge, filled with a 
 jolly, melodious crowd, was off and away o'er 
 the waters blue, but Jack and Miss Mopus were 
 not in it. 
 
 How did this happen ? 
 
 This was the way. When the party arrived 
 at the pier whence they were to descend into 
 the barge, Jack and Miss Mopus, who had 
 stopped to admire a cloud-effect or something 
 
 16
 
 182 BUTTONS. 
 
 else, were a little in the rear of the column. I 
 say Jack and Miss Mopus, but it was Miss M. 
 who did the halting, and Jack, out of his 
 natural courtesy, forbore to urge her onward. 
 Poor boy ! this gentleness cost him much. 
 
 So when they did at length reach the stairs at 
 the foot of which the barge rocked lazily, it 
 the boat was quite comfortably full, and the 
 only available place was a bit of a triangular 
 seat up in the bow, full of holes like a colan 
 der, upon which Miss Mopus said she would not 
 sit : they must find room elsewhere. 
 
 " But, hang it ! I beg pardon ! you can't. 
 We're like a lot of sardines back here. Might 
 make room for you, Miss Mopus, and I'll give 
 way for Shanks and go ashore." All this from 
 Tommy Dobbs. 
 
 But Tommy's young lady was not going to 
 stand any such nonsense, and she said, in a low 
 but very energetic voice, that gave promise of 
 an uncertain future for him who should win 
 I had almost said "and wear" her; but she 
 would do the wearing, 
 
 " Mr. Dobbs, you are not going to desert me 
 for that Mr. Shanks, I know." 
 
 Before Tommy could say a word either way
 
 BUTTONS. 183 
 
 Shanks called out, in his big voice, "!S~o, no, 
 Chick! Stay where you are. There's a little 
 4 dinky' tied somewhere here, and Miss Mopus 
 and I will soon be in your wake. You will not 
 mind going with me, Miss Mopus ?" 
 
 " Oh, no ; should be charmed, Mr. Shan 
 Mr. Sinclair." 
 
 So, as soon as the barge crew pulled away 
 from the pier, Shanks, having found the 
 " dinky," brought it to the foot of the dripping 
 steps, and Miss Mopus was soon sitting in the 
 stern-sheets, her hand on the tiller, having on 
 the way thither made two ingeniously unsuc 
 cessful attempts to swamp the craft by twice 
 convulsively seizing Shanks as he stood up to 
 assist her across the thwarts. Off they went in 
 the track of the bubbles left in the wake of the 
 barge, now many yards ahead. But Shanks 
 pulled a strong oar, and at first it looked as if 
 the distance might decrease ; but it didn't. The 
 little boat was so light, and Miss Mopus was so 
 well, not heavy, but her heavenly body was of the 
 first magnitude that the " dinky's" bow stood 
 up a little, and, as the light chopping sea slapped 
 at her, showed just a little bit of keel. Conse 
 quently rowing was difficult work, even for one
 
 184 BUTTONS. 
 
 who, like Shanks, had had the odor of brine in 
 his nostrils all his life. And thus it happened 
 that the barge, rapidly gaining, soon rounded the 
 rocky point of the island and was lost to view. 
 
 Shanks saw nothing of this, for, like the man 
 in the song, he "looked one way and rowed 
 another." Courtesy demanded that he should 
 look at his vis-a-vis, who would look at him and 
 talk, and he found it a pleasant thing to do, 
 though his heart was safe in the memory of the 
 one dear girl far away. Miss Mopus talked 
 very well ; she was very pretty ; and being like 
 Daisy in many things physical, there was, as I 
 have said, a certain tie, made up of interest, as 
 one would feel in gazing at a not-too-well- 
 drawn picture of a friend. Like and yet not 
 like. That sort of thing. 
 
 Well, the lady talked. They all do, bless 
 their dear souls! yes. Some more than others, 
 never less. And as she talked and gazed on 
 the handsome brown face before her, she paid 
 no attention to the course of the vessel she was 
 assumed to be steering, when, all at once, 
 bump! and Miss Mopus fell nearly into the 
 arms of Shanks, who, easing oars, replaced the 
 lady, and remarked,
 
 BUTTONS. 185 
 
 "Great Scott! what's that?" And without 
 waiting for a reply, turned his head to find that 
 the nose of the " dinky" was fast in the sandy 
 beach. So much for Miss Mopus's steering ! 
 
 " I say, Miss Mopus, we can't cross the island, 
 you know." And the youngster laughed. 
 
 It was not polite, and she chose to be in a 
 little pet. One does not like to be told of one's 
 faults, and least of all by the one who is dear, 
 and Miss Mopus had begun to find that Shanks 
 was very dear to her. There was enough in the 
 situation the moonlight, the everything to 
 make fire where but an hour ago was just a 
 little smoke. And when Shanks apologized for 
 his rudeness in his soothing way, Miss Mopus's 
 heart fell fluttering at his feet. But he knew it 
 not. Not he ! He was too modest, too loyal to 
 the girl whose blue lozenge, held by a golden 
 thread about his neck, lay close against his 
 heart (for he was a little bit sentimental), to 
 dream that any one else could weave a tender 
 thought for him. And yet when the Mopus laid 
 her soft, white, perfectly modeled hand on his, 
 pressing it just a little ; looked with her deep 
 gray eyes, that had a nice way of dilating and 
 moistening, into his, and said in her full voice, 
 
 16*
 
 186 BUTTONS. 
 
 so like Daisy's own, that she forgave him, it 
 must be confessed that he felt a little queer. 
 Man is called the sterner sex, but really, in a 
 case of this kind, the odds are on the other 
 side. 
 
 However, he said nothing, nothing that his 
 Daisy, had she then arisen like another Aphro 
 dite from the sparkling foam, might not have 
 listened to, but he did say, 
 
 " The barge must be just round that point, 
 and, if you like, Miss Mopus, we may as well 
 scramble over the rocks and surprise them all. 
 They won't expect to see us coming overland, 
 I know every step of the way." 
 
 " Nothing could be better, I'm sure, for I feel 
 just a little cramped, from sitting so long. So 
 good of you to propose a walk." 
 
 So Shanks sprang out, taking with him a 
 light, three-pronged anchor secured by a line, 
 the other end of which was reeved in a ring set 
 in the bow. This he sunk in the sand, and then 
 returned to the boat, from which he helped Miss 
 Mopus to disembark, the seizing business being 
 repeated as she skipped over the gunwale to the 
 somewhat sloppy beach. Foreseeing that the 
 ebbing tide might leave the boat high and dry,
 
 BUTTONS. 187 
 
 he gave it plenty of rope, and midway upon the 
 line set a heavy stone to prevent the " slack" 
 dragging the anchor. Then the pair started for 
 the other side of the rocky point. 
 
 The way was rough and rugged, and the 
 moon had a tantalizing way (Shanks thought, 
 Mopus didn't) of going behind bits of black 
 with silver-edged cloud when they came to a 
 place where the assistance of a strong arm was 
 necessary. The situation was not without its 
 charm, for when the moon chose to do the 
 magic-lantern act, Miss Mopus would creep con 
 fidingly closer to her escort. Yet, notwith 
 standing the animal, man, usually becomes 
 human under such circumstances, Shanks be 
 haved in so stolid a way that Miss Mopus 
 thought him decidedly the reverse. And so, in 
 this manner, the pair surmounted the point and 
 descended to the beach on its other side to find 
 nothing! N"o barge, no party, nothing but 
 the beach glistening like a white ribbon twixt 
 them and the deep, blue, moonlit expanse of 
 dancing water that stretched away until it met 
 the star-specked sky. 
 
 "Why wh where are they?" from Miss 
 Mopus.
 
 188 BUTTONS. 
 
 " They didn't land here at all," said Shanks, 
 who had been looking up and down the smooth 
 beach for tracks and footprints, but had found 
 none. 
 
 " Then what shall we do ?" 
 " Only one thing to do, go back." 
 And so they went back over the rocks with 
 the same experience as to moon, clouds, and so 
 on, but less enthusiasm on the part of Shanks, 
 who didn't quite like the way the bargeites had 
 given him the slip, as he thought. And he had 
 let Miss Mopus steer ! and, of course but then 
 it would be unmanly to blame her. He ought 
 to have kept a sharp lookout and followed the 
 barge. Miss Mopus was not at all put out. 
 Hers was one of those large, unangular, indolent 
 natures that seldom take things au scricux until 
 
 they begin to look very black, and then 
 
 But at present everything was roseate and fair 
 in her mind's eye, and she may have clung a 
 little closer to her escort's arm as they toiled up 
 and down the smooth, moss-grown rocks that 
 lay twixt them and the place where they had 
 left the " dinky" dancing on the wave. 
 
 And when they got there, the " dinky" was 
 where ?
 
 BUTTONS. 189 
 
 " We can't have lost our way ! This, cer 
 tainly, was the spot where we left our boat," 
 said Shanks, dropping Miss Mopus's arm and 
 running to the edge of the shore, apparently in 
 search of something, which he soon found. It 
 was a stone, beneath it a rope, the end of which 
 was ragged, as if it had been sawed in twain. 
 This was the end towards the sea. The other 
 seemed to be fast ; and going towards it, Shanks 
 found the anchor as he had left it, half buried 
 in the sand. It seemed that the ebb of the tide 
 had tautened the line, and the swaying motion of 
 the boat had caused the strands to part as they 
 worked back and forth against the edges of the 
 rough stone which Shanks had placed on it. 
 This very precaution had caused the disaster. 
 
 "With a sinking heart he turned to say what 
 could not be left unsaid ; but the lady did not 
 wait for him. She was, to put it mildly, in a 
 rage. She reasoned, or rather, she concluded, 
 for in the state of mind she found herself in 
 just then reason had no place, that poor Shanks 
 had purposely kept out of the way of the larger 
 boat, and that the disappearance of the " dinky" 
 had been part of his plan. It was an outrageous 
 thought, and she was insane enough to give it
 
 190 BUTTONS. 
 
 words. She could have torn her tongue away 
 a moment afterwards when she saw the horror 
 that stood in his eyes. 
 
 For a moment Shanks was silent. Then he 
 spoke : " Miss Mopus, you wrong me terribly. 
 But it is not far to the Pool; I think I can 
 make it in an hour, and soon afterwards you 
 will be with your friends." 
 
 He slipped off the light sack he wore, and 
 kicking off his low shoes, ran swiftly to where 
 the sea met the shore. But she was at his side 
 in a moment, all anger gone, and, catching him 
 by the sleeve, 
 
 " What do you mean to do ?" 
 
 He stopped, gently tried to take his arm 
 from her grasp, saying, quietly, " Swim to the 
 Pool, Miss Mopus. Do not detain me. The 
 tide is now at a stand, and time is precious." 
 
 " Swim ! Oh, you will not be so rash ! For 
 my sake, too, after I have been so so so un 
 just ! To risk your like for " 
 
 "Miss Mopus," said Shanks, "I must leave 
 you. I cannot permit " 
 
 " You shall not go ! That is, not without me ; 
 I mean Oh ! Jack, do you not under 
 stand what I mean ? Forgive me for the horrid
 
 BUTTONS. 191 
 
 words I spoke. What must you think of me ! 
 Do not despise me, Jack; do not leave me!" 
 And with tears she threw her arms about him. 
 
 He endeavored to escape from the encircling 
 folds of her warm embrace, but so firm was her 
 convulsive clasp that without roughness he 
 could not. In vain he protested that he was 
 quite able to swim, that he had often accom 
 plished even greater distances, and that she 
 oustfit for her own sake to release him and let 
 
 O 
 
 him take advantage of the tide ere it turned. 
 But to all this was she deaf, averring that she 
 would not cease to clyig to him ; that if he went 
 into the water it must be with her arms about 
 him ; and at last, with beseeching tears and 
 frantic words, extorted from him a promise 
 which a moment later he cursed himself for 
 giving, that he would abandon all thought of 
 swimming across the water, which now, owing 
 to the freshening breeze, was beginning to chop 
 about unpleasantly. 
 
 Then she let go, with a long sigh, and Shanks, 
 who saw that he was in for it, led her away 
 from the damp sand to where it was dryer and 
 less open to the moist and chilling wind. Then 
 he quickly brought together some of the flotsam
 
 192 BUTTONS. 
 
 and jetsam that formed the high-water mark, 
 and having in his pocket matches, made a fire. 
 A large, hollowed rock formed a convenient 
 resting-place, and soon Miss Mopus was, she 
 said, quite comfortable. Shanks sat down on 
 another rock near by, and, at Miss Mopus's 
 desire, lit a cigar. She " adored cigars." But 
 he was very silent. She thought to herself that, 
 considering how affairs stood, he might say 
 something ; but she failed to take notice that the 
 standing of these affairs was a little one-sided, 
 and yet she was very happy. She might have 
 been vexed at his moody silence had she not 
 begun to be very sleepy. The long walk, the 
 excitement and reaction, the fresh breeze, the 
 warmth of the blazing pile, the fumes of the 
 cigar, all combined to overcome her senses, and, 
 leaning against the rock, she gently lapsed into 
 the land of dreams. 
 
 Shanks sat still and pondered. He knew 
 enough of the world to be certain that lots of un 
 pleasant things would be said about them both, 
 and as he smoked and thought, he resolved, as 
 he glanced at the sleeping girl, that he would do 
 all that any man might be called upon to do in 
 such a case. Tender thoughts of Daisy came
 
 BUTTONS. 193 
 
 upon Mm, and the sweet tones of her voice as 
 she had said good-by, after a week of bliss at 
 Richfield, came back as if borne upon the wave. 
 She would hear of this ; he should certainly tell 
 her of it. It would come best from him. Then 
 came the thought : Why on earth those people 
 over there did not send in search of them ? 
 Perhaps they were looking for them, yet it 
 was strange they did not come to the island. 
 Then again, why should they come to the 
 island ? Altogether it was very unpleasant, and 
 he longed for morning. At last the rosy sun 
 shot up from the sea, and Shanks began to feel 
 that, as the night had passed away, it might not 
 prove such a confounded mess after all; so 
 piling a few sticks on the dying embers, he lit 
 a fresh cigar and strolled towards the beach. 
 
 When at the edge of the shore, he gazed 
 anxiously towards the Pool, half expecting to 
 see something setting their way ; but no, there 
 was nothing. He looked back at the place 
 where he had left his companion. She had 
 not stirred. Then he walked along the beach, 
 which soon bent seaward, when in the red light 
 of the early sun he saw, close at hand, that 
 which made his heart stop. 
 
 in 17
 
 194 BUTTONS. 
 
 Not a hundred yards off, and held in a cluster 
 of sharp, black rocks that stood up above the 
 fast-rising wave, was a dark object that in 
 creasing daylight told him was a boat. 
 
 It was the " dinky." But how came it there ? 
 lie saw it all : the ebbing tide had carried her 
 that way, she had jammed between the rocks, 
 the flood would soon carry her far away to 
 sea. Not a moment was to be lost. In he 
 plunged, and, after a few minutes' rough buffet 
 ing with the white-caps which boiled about the 
 jagged cliffs, his hand was upon the gunwale of 
 the boat, that with this slight shock floated free 
 in an instant. 
 
 He lifted himself in ; found the oars ; at once, 
 with a few swift nervous strokes, drove the 
 " dinky" half her length upon the sandy beach, 
 and a moment later stood dripping like a Triton 
 before Miss Mopus, who at that instant awoke. 
 
 " How you startled me ! Have I been asleep ? 
 
 But, Mr. Sinclair, why, are we Oh, yes, I 
 
 remember now ; and you are so wet, it has not 
 rained ?" 
 
 "Pardon me if I am abrupt. But we have 
 not a moment to lose. The boat is waiting. 
 Come !"
 
 BUTTONS. 195 
 
 "The boat! And you have done what you 
 said you would not do. You might have 
 drowned, and what would have become of me f 
 Oh, Mr. Jack!" 
 
 " I have not been to the Pool, Miss Mopus," 
 returned Shanks, who, in a few modest words, 
 related what had happened. And then, in a 
 moment more, the two castaways bade adieu to 
 their island with light yet anxious hearts. 
 
 III. 
 
 WE have seen that the barge did not touch at 
 the island, and hence it follows that, having cir 
 cled it about, its crew took it back to the Pool, 
 where the party were not a little surprised to 
 learn that Shanks and Miss Mopus had not re 
 turned. Still, no one thought of danger, and, 
 after a few rather loud whispers, the matter 
 appeared to have been dismissed from the minds 
 of all save Tommy and his fair enslaver. 
 
 " Hang it ! you know," said little Tommy, " I 
 don't like it at all. Engaged, you know, to the 
 very loveliest creature you ever saw," a doubt 
 ful sniff from the lady, " and to go off and stay 
 off in this way with another girl I It's not a bit
 
 196 BUTTONS. 
 
 like old Shanks, Miss Bang, well, Ophelia, 
 then." 
 
 " As for your Miss Mopus " 
 
 " My Miss Mopus ! Well, I like that. Really, 
 Miss Ban Ophelia, then " 
 
 " Be good enough not to interrupt. I am not 
 surprised at any extraordinary departure from 
 from well, you know what I mean on the 
 part of that young person ; and as for that Mr. 
 Shanks, as he calls himself, well, all men are 
 alike." 
 
 " I say, you know, Miss Ba Ophelia, then, if 
 all men were like old Shanks, what a jolly world 
 this would be ! Eh !" 
 
 Miss Bang might have retorted, but she re 
 frained; and the bright promise of an affec 
 tionate " good-night" was eclipsed by the ap 
 pearance on the scene of Mr. and Mrs. Mopus, 
 who were naturally worried about their daugh 
 ter. So the vestal Bang withdrew, accompanied 
 by the small, malodorous watering-place lamp, 
 leaving her Thomas to confront the anxious 
 parents. 
 
 To them Tommy told all that he knew, and 
 wound up by advising them to go to bed, saying 
 that everything was sure to be right, and that
 
 BUTTONS. 197 
 
 he would go down to the pier and wait for the 
 truants. He confessed to himself that he did 
 not see what good this would do, nor why it 
 should have any soothing effect; but the old 
 people appeared to be easier, and that was 
 something. 
 
 When the " dinky" hove in sight the next 
 morning, an hour after sunrise, Tommy, with a 
 severe face, stood at the head of the steps. 
 
 He bowed with grave courtesy to Miss Mopus 
 as she came up leaning on Shanks's arm, and 
 seemed half annoyed that she met his gaze so 
 frankly. She put him wonderfully in mind of 
 the Daisy as she had appeared upon her return 
 to the ball-room that moonlit eve in June minus 
 the blue button, and he couldn't understand it 
 at all. Shanks was very damp and distrait, and 
 though he bore himself not untenderly towards 
 his companion, there was nothing in his appear 
 ance to recall the night when he had lost a 
 button. Tommy was not sorry to see his friend 
 thus, but he did not like to find him quite so 
 haggard and constrained. 
 
 " Hang it !" he said to himself, " I don't like 
 it!" 
 
 As soon as they reached the hotel, Miss 
 17*
 
 198 BUTTONS. 
 
 Mopus flew to her mamma, where, if you please, 
 we will leave her for the present. 
 
 "Now!" said Tommy, "come to my room. 
 I want to talk with you. Come !" The little 
 man's dignity and abruptness would, under 
 other circumstances, have brought a laugh from 
 Shanks, but he felt the premonitory chill that 
 heralds coming clouds, and meekly followed 
 Tommy to No. 44. His own was No. 45 ; the 
 two communicated. The little chap offered him 
 a wicker flask, saying, "I brought that from 
 home." And while Shanks helped himself, 
 went on, 
 
 " Do you know what you have been about ?" 
 
 "Do I know? Of course I know that I've 
 got that girl into a pretty mess, and myself, 
 too. But, Chick, it was all a mistake " 
 
 "Do you call it a 'mistake' to stay out all 
 night with " 
 
 " Stop ! not another word until you have 
 heard me!" And then he rapidly told the 
 story of the night's adventure. 
 
 Before he had finished, Tommy's left arm was 
 about his shoulders and their right hands were 
 clasped. 
 
 "But," said Tommy, "my dear fellow, you
 
 BUTTONS. 199 
 
 must not hope that this will go down with the 
 hollow crowd. If you hadn't found your boat 
 and had stayed on the island until some of the 
 natives had picked you up, it would have been 
 better, romantic, you know, and all that. But, 
 from your own view of the case, I ask you what 
 sort of a story will that woman from the Pacific 
 slope, Mrs. Rummill, and her shadow, Miss 
 Ekko, create out of such materials? What 
 can you do? Then there's poor Miss Mopus. 
 Fight? yes; but you can't call out the world. 
 And as for the fair sex, you know the luck 
 Don Quixote had with the windmills." 
 
 "Well, then, what am I to do?" 
 
 " Blessed if I know ! Yes : take off those 
 wet things and go to bed. I will be on the 
 qui vive for public opinion, and there goes the 
 gong: I'm off!" 
 
 So Shanks turned in, and Tommy went to 
 breakfast. 
 
 When Tommy returned to where he had left 
 Shanks, one end of the matutinal cigar had 
 gone out, while that which he held between his 
 teeth was much out of condition. He was in 
 such a rage. He slammed the door, flung his 
 dumpy carcass into a chair, kicked the table,
 
 200 BUTTONS. 
 
 swore a little ; and this awoke Shanks, lying in 
 the next room, who called out, 
 
 " That you, Chick ? What's the matter ?" 
 
 " No end of a row. I shall not be surprised 
 if you have a visit from Papa Mopus ; so you 
 had better get up and " 
 
 "What the devil You don't really 
 
 mean " 
 
 "Yes, I do. That poor girl came down to 
 breakfast with mamma just as if everything 
 was all right, and " 
 
 "Well, isn't it?" 
 
 " Wait till I tell you. You need not fly out 
 at me." 
 
 " Pardon, old fellow. Go on." 
 
 " Granted. Now be quiet. As I was saying, 
 Miss Mopus came down fresh, smiling, and 
 
 looking as happy as if I'm afraid you've 
 
 made a mash there, Shanks." 
 
 " Stuff!" 
 
 " Well, I was about to say * sour mash,' of 
 course, knowing how you stand in in another 
 quarter; but every confounded woman in the 
 place turned her back upon her. Cold cut and 
 no mistake. And then they began to talk at 
 her in that nice way women have. Said all
 
 BUTTONS. 201 
 
 sorts of really brutal things about you two being 
 out all night, and that sort of thing. She 
 couldn't help hearing, they didn't whisper, 
 and after sitting a few moments at table, look 
 ing, as each horrid speech fell upon her ear, as 
 if she had been stabbed, she burst into tears and 
 rushed out of the room." 
 
 " Great heaven ! what have I done ?" from 
 Shanks, now dressed and walking up and down 
 Tommy's apartment. 
 
 "You? nothing! Couldn't be helped, of 
 
 course. And yet " A mute shrug of the 
 
 shoulders from Tommy, who then went on : "I 
 couldn't stand this, you know, and broke out in 
 a way that forced people to listen, and told the 
 whole story." 
 
 " Thanks ! thanks !" 
 
 " Well, the men there were not many about 
 seemed to see how it was; but the women 
 even my Ophe Miss Bang, I mean were 
 worse than before. That horrid one all red 
 satin and diamonds sneered out, ' Quite the Ro 
 mance of a Poor Young Man,' and Miss Ekko, 
 of course, came in with * Poor Young Man.' ' 
 
 Shanks, with something between a curse and a 
 groan, dropped into a chair.
 
 202 BUTTONS. 
 
 Tommy continued: "Then I went out. I 
 felt that if I didn't go away I might say some 
 thing. So I went off to the beach ; but whom 
 should I run across there but that fellow Swag, 
 J. B. Swag he calls himself. He was dis 
 posed to be confidential, but I promptly inti 
 mated to him that if he had any remarks to 
 make it would give me pleasure to name a 
 friend, who would make the usual arrange 
 ments. I don't think he knew quite what I 
 meant ; but, if he had been a Kentucky gentle 
 man instead of a J. B. Swag " 
 
 A knock at the door, which being opened 
 disclosed a servant, who bore the card of Papa 
 Mopus, upon which was a penciled request for 
 a few moments' private conversation with Lieu 
 tenant Sinclair. 
 
 "Show him up," said Tommy; and as the 
 door closed, " Let him come in here, old chap. 
 I'll get out for a bit." And, taking his friend's 
 hand, he added : " Keep up your end of the log ; 
 it's all right, you know." 
 
 "Never fear," returned Shanks; "I'll face 
 the music." 
 
 The twins shook hands. Tommy descended 
 to the parlors, and soon afterwards did penance
 
 BUTTONS. 203 
 
 by " holding" worsted for Miss Bang, who was 
 engaged upon a thing she called an afghan. 
 Some, called it Penelope's web. 
 
 The interview between Mr. Mopus and 
 Shanks was said by those ladies whose rooms 
 were on the same floor to have been "very 
 quiet." They omitted to explain how they 
 knew this, but they "knew" such a lot of 
 things, that the Mopus family found it con 
 venient and merciful for themselves to leave the 
 Pool that same day. 
 
 The beach that afternoon was the scene of 
 another interview, one which afforded entertain 
 ment and occupation for many eyes and tongues. 
 The twins were in earnest conversation, fre 
 quently halting as if to emphasize their re 
 marks, and it was observed that Shanks ap 
 peared to be resolved upon something which 
 seemed to call forth much energetic remon 
 strance from Tommy. Miss Bang, who, like 
 the rest, could not hear a word, was, in con 
 sequence, fairly bubbling with that kind of 
 wrath which seems to boil best 'neath vestal 
 flame, and alluded to the now absent Miss 
 Mopus as a " creature." 
 
 The gong sounded as the pair approached the
 
 204 BUTTONS. 
 
 house. Shanks went to his room, didn't want 
 any tea; but Tommy, whose appetite was proof 
 against everything but repletion, took his 
 charmer in to table, where he nearly choked 
 with rage and cold beef while the red satin 
 female from the Pacific slope, her Miss Ekko, 
 and his Ophelia made mincemeat of the de 
 parted Miss Mopus. 
 
 Next morning when the little man arose, he 
 found upon his table a letter from Shanks, con 
 taining another, and explaining that he had 
 gone, didn't care to say good-by, would soon 
 
 meet him at Fort , their station, and would 
 
 he, when in New York, deliver the inclosed ? 
 
 Poor Tommy burst out crying. "He's done 
 it, then ! He said he would. Poor, dear boy ! 
 What an ass ! Confound those women !" 
 
 IV. 
 
 IT was September, in New York. The 
 Van Stumps had returned. Mr. Van Stump 
 was in stocks, couldn't stay away any longer ; 
 his rosy spouse declared there was nothing to 
 eat in the country, she was nearly starved ; 
 and Daisy was eager to see " Eyes," he would 
 be in the city in September.
 
 BUTTONS. 205 
 
 She had not had a letter for a week ; but he 
 was at the seaside, yachting, perhaps; he 
 would come himself, soon. Every ring at the 
 door-bell made her heart throb; but he came 
 not. 
 
 One morning while at breakfast she saw in 
 the Herald something that nearly stunned her. 
 She looked again, doubting the evidence of her 
 own eyes, to see announced the marriage of 
 Lieutenant John Sinclair, U. S. Army, to Isa 
 bella, daughter of Mark Mopus, of . She 
 
 could read no more, but sat like a stone for a 
 time, then rose and left the table, taking the 
 newspaper with her to her own room. There, 
 she locked the door, and tried to think. It was 
 all over, then. Her dream had vanished; she 
 
 had thought herself so happy, and now 
 
 But, stay, it might not be her John Sinclair 
 after all : it might be a trick, a hoax. She had 
 heard such things talked about. But then came 
 the doubt, why had he not written? Why 
 this ? Why that ? It seemed to her that until 
 she knew that he had been false she must have 
 faith in him. 
 
 A ring at the door-bell ! 
 
 It caused her heart to throb, but it was not 
 18
 
 206 BUTTONS. 
 
 the eager, expectant leap of yesterday. It was 
 that of dread. 
 
 A knock on her door. A card : 
 
 " Lieutenant Thomas Dobbs, 
 U.S.A." 
 
 It was not " Eyes ;" but it was his dear friend. 
 
 She might learn from him. Yes, she would 
 see him at once. And down the stairs, with 
 the fatal newspaper in her hand, she slowly 
 walked to meet poor little Tommy, who would 
 have looked only less like a wraith than herself 
 if he could have looked like a wraith at all. 
 
 Without waiting to offer any conventional 
 remarks, Tommy, pointing to the paper she 
 carried, said, 
 
 "You have seen it, then? This, perhaps" 
 (here he presented the letter Shanks had con 
 fided to him), "will tell you all. I can't." 
 And the tears stood in the little fellow's round, 
 honest eyes and trembled in his voice. 
 
 She took it, but did not then break the seal. 
 
 " ' This will tell me all.' All ? What ? Nay, 
 do not speak, Mr. Dobbs; I will read the 
 letter." 
 
 She was very calm, although one hand played
 
 BUTTONS. 207 
 
 in a fitful way with a bell-button that hung from 
 a chatelaine she wore. 
 
 " Yes ; read it, and let me say you know 
 good-by. I couldn't see you read it" (the tears 
 were chasing one another down his cheeks). 
 " And so, Miss Miss Daisy, he always called 
 you that, I'll say goo good-by." 
 
 They shook hands and parted. 
 
 Tommy went to his hotel, rushed to his room, 
 and passed the day in a most miserable state, 
 forgetting all about dinner and Miss Bang, the 
 last-named charmer having returned to town. 
 
 She went to her room. There she broke the 
 seal and read " Eyes's" truthful account of what 
 had occurred at the Pool. His letter concluded 
 with this : 
 
 " And now, my heart's own darling, let me 
 call you so for the last time, I shall never call 
 any one else so dearly, you know what I must 
 do. Such terrible things have been said you, 
 dear, sweet, pure heart, can never guess what 
 about this poor girl, that I, knowing myself to 
 be their cause, feel that there is but one thing 
 left for me to do. God forgive me if it be 
 wrong. But I feel that it will be only right. I 
 shall keep the blue button, dear, unless you
 
 208 BUTTONS. 
 
 send mine back to me. "We shall meet again 
 some day, but not here. God bless you, and 
 farewell !" 
 
 Later, those who sought her found her lying 
 
 in a faint upon the floor. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Among those who rode into the Valley of the 
 Shadow of Death, which, one bright morning 
 in June, lay crouching in swart, abhorrent form, 
 was no better soldier than Lieutenant John Sin 
 clair, of the th Cavalry, who, during the short 
 halt which preceded the subsequent attack, 
 crossed over to where little Tommy Dobbs, on a 
 large and sedate horse, sat wondering what they 
 were going to do next. 
 
 " Chick, old fellow," said Shanks, in his 
 gentle way, gentler now than of yore, 
 " Chick, good-by !" And he held out his hand, 
 which Tommy squeezed. 
 
 "Eh? Oh, of course. Good-by, Shanks. 
 What's up now ?" 
 
 " Simply, Tommy, that I don't think I shall 
 get out of this affair. There's going to be hot 
 work." 
 
 " Oh, come now, old fellow ! You mustn't 
 talk about not pulling through. It won't be
 
 BUTTONS. 209 
 
 much, of a row. These things never are, you 
 know. Blaze away all day; great waste of 
 ammunition ; Indians suddenly disappear ; long 
 accounts from 'Our Special Correspondent;' 
 everybody's trousers worn out, and nobody 
 hurt. That's the style." 
 
 "Yes, I know; but this will be different, and 
 I want you to take charge of this and return it 
 
 to You know, Chick." And he made as 
 
 if he would take something from within the 
 breast of the blue hunting-shirt he had on 
 beneath his blouse. But at this moment the 
 word was passed to mount, and Tommy, who 
 was a little way off from his troop, dug spurs 
 into his staid beast and cantered away, calling 
 out, 
 
 " Can't stop now, Shanks. It's all right. 
 See you to-night. Dine with us, antelope and 
 slapjacks !" 
 
 And when the smoke had cleared away, 
 among the mutilated, despoiled, and slain were 
 said to be Shanks Sinclair and Chiquito Dobbs, 
 but their corpses could not be recognized. 
 
 And when Rain-in-the-Face rode insolently 
 
 into the agency at , on the Upper Missouri, 
 
 the wind that stirred the lappels of the cavalry 
 o 18*
 
 210 BUTTONS. 
 
 officer's blouse he wore (bloody, torn, and 
 stained) exposed upon his tawny breast a blue 
 satin button. 
 
 Above a little iron cot within a cloistered 
 room hangs a wreath of faded immortelles, 
 within which in withered violets are the letters 
 " J. S.," and from the wreath depends one silver 
 button. 
 
 THE END.
 
 I 
 
 IS 
 
 IS 
 
 A UTHORS AND THEIR 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 Fiction. 
 
 Selected from the Catalogue of 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 
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 ri 
 
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 UPON APPLICATION.
 
 Authors and Their Works. 
 
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 An Initial Experience, and Other Stories. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
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 Authors and Their Works. 
 
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 Peter's Wife. 
 
 Lady Patty. A Little Irish Girl. 
 
 The Hoyden. 
 
 izmo. Paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $1.00. 
 
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 A Tragic Blunder. 
 
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 "A wide circle of admirers always welcome a new work by this 
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 GUI DA. 
 
 Two Offenders. 
 
 i2rno. Cloth, $1.00. 
 
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 Othmar. 
 A House-Party. 
 Puck. 
 Pascarel. 
 Bebee. 
 
 Signs.. 
 
 Cecil Castlemaine's Gage. 
 Folle-Farine. 
 Qranville de Vigne. 
 Idalia. 
 
 Randolph Gordon. 
 Strathmore. 
 
 In a Winter City. 
 Ariadne. 
 Friendship. 
 Moths. 
 Beatrice Boville. 
 
 Chandos. 
 Tricotrin. 
 
 Under Two Flags. 
 A Village Commune. 
 In Mar em ma. 
 Princess Napraxine. 
 Wanda. 
 
 i2mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 40 cents. 
 
 "Ouida is one of the most interesting writers of her time. 
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 Countess Erika's Apprenticeship. By Ossip Sclmbin. 
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 Erlach Court. By Ossip Schubin. 
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 Saint Michael. By E. Weruer. 
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 Authors and Their Works. 
 
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 Continued. 
 
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 SPORTING NOVELS. 
 
 "Jorrocks" Edition. 
 
 Handley Cross ; or, Mr. Jorrock's Hunt. 
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 FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN. 
 
 Poppaea. 
 
 A Diplomat's Diary. 
 A Successful Man. 
 Vampires, and Mademoiselle Reseda. 
 
 Two stories in one book. 
 12010. Cloth, $1.00 per vol. 
 
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 Mrs. George McClellan. 
 
 (HARFORD FLEMMINQ.) 
 
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 Cupid and the Sphinx. 
 
 A Carpet Knight. 
 
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 Every Inch a Soldier. 
 
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 Barabbas. 
 
 A Dream of the World's Tragedy. 
 
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 Washington National Republican. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
 
 Authors and Their Works. 
 
 MY PARIS NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 izmo. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 "Victor Emanuel, the members of the Come"die Fran^aise. Er 
 nest Renan, Paul de Kock, MacMahon, Thiers, Grevy and his wife, 
 Ferry, Freycinet, Boulanger and Mme. de Bonnemain, Skohelcff, 
 Clemenceau, Gambetta, Brisson, Goblet, Floquet, Cassagnac, surely 
 these are names to conjure with, and it is of these notables that 
 Mr. Vandam tells us at length in his spicy, gossipy style. Verily 
 his note-book is a mine of wealth, and all will hope that he will 
 open it once more and many times." Cincinnati Tribune. 
 
 "The author of that much-talked-of book, 'An Englishman in 
 Paris,' has written another, which will create as great an interest 
 as the first. The book is a fund of enjoyment from beginning to 
 end, and any one who takes it up will find himself interested." 
 Boston Times. 
 
 "This new volume by the author of 'An Englishman in Paris,' 
 is one of the most readable of the books of the year. It abounds 
 in the brightest of sketches, in the most interesting of gossip, in 
 the most vivid of descriptions of the altogether unique Paris under 
 the third republic." Boston Daily Advertiser. 
 
 "The book, which comes to us from the Lippincotts, is fully as 
 entertaining as its predecessor, and is quite as rich in illustrative 
 anecdotes of eminent men and important events. We are again 
 brought into intimate relations with Louis Napoleon ; we are taken 
 behind the scenes of the Comedie Fran^aise ; we make the ac 
 quaintance of Renan, Paul de Kock, Thiers, Jules Grevy, in a 
 word, the most interesting phases of recent and contemporary 
 French life are exposed to us by one who has known the boulevards 
 for almost forty years, and who has had, besides, the use of certain 
 valuable reminiscences recorded by two maternal granduncles, who 
 lived on terms of intimacy with Napoleon III." Philadelphia 
 Press. 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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