Evening Star Newspaper, January 28, 1923, Page 68

2 The Time: A D;)zel;: Years Ago. Romantic Charleston. The Action: Quickly Moving. Scene: NE winter when on the way to their sea island Mrs. Peabody of Boston stopped over at the big hotel with the fourteen white columns and had her appendix taken out. During her convalescence Peabody, having noth- ing ‘better to glo, explored the city of Charleston and’ discovered that a lost great-great-grandmother of his had been a Le Gare street girl and was buried under a tangle of Ma- Jayan jasmine in the churchyard of St. Michael. Having some pupers to sign, Peabody carried them to & notary public. Peabody held up one hand, sworé that he was himself, signed the papers and entered Into conversation with the notary. This ope,“an elderly gentleman, had done no business in 4 week, but, being a member of Charleston soclety, was agreeable to talk to. Crops, duck shootihg, wrought-fron balconfes, chips on shoulders, money, manners, sea island cotton, sieges, earthquakes, tidal waves and hurricanes were re- viewed with mutual enjoyment by the Beacon street millionaire and the Meeting street notary. Mrs. Pea- body's ‘late appendix was delicately referred to and, last of all, Peabody's great-great-grandmother. “She was a Le Gare street girl,” sald Peabody, “Mary Chilton.” At this a look of more than friend- liness beamed in the notary's eyes and he reached for his black felt hat. “Make your appeal for help direct to the bartender, cousin” said Mr. Ravenel, the notary. A little later: “Cousin,” said Mr. Peabody, “nam; your poison.” . * x * * OR an hour they stood each with one foot raised six inches from the floor and upon a little sea, one- half-appeals for help, one-half terms in ‘toxicology, drifted into a warm friendship for each other. And it was arranged that the Pea- bodys should néver again pass through Charleston without stopping. And other matters were arranged add settled forever—namely, that blood is thicker than water, and that of the late unpleasantness between the north and south there is much to be sxid on both sides. After a while the gray southerner went home to his wife and the north- erner, looking ltke ‘the boy Arthur, went home to his. And each spoke to his better half of the other elo- quently and with enthusiasm. During the next week almost everybody in Charleston that was anybody ‘called upon Mrs. Peabody and her roems at the big hotel were filled with choice flowers, and the bowl on the marble-topped table by the sitting room door filled with “cyards.” - * % %k X A NOTHER year found the Peabodys once more at the hotel of the fourteen white columns. They had been entertained, they said, far more than was good for them, and they had determined to wind up the Charleston season with a great ball of their own providing, not indeed to pay for hospitality received, but to put on record that hospitality had not been all upon one side. About invitations there was no difficulty whatever. People are in Charleston society or out of it. And the omly people asked to the ball, who were not in it, were northern friends of the Peabodys' collected from Afken. Among these was Miss Muriel Gard- ner of Boston. She came o er two days before the others, without even & maid to chaperon her, and was met at the station—by Mrs. Peabody's so- clal adviser. Robert Chlilton, first cousin of Mr. Ravenel, the notary. “But,” said he, “I have never seen her.” “You have simply,” said Mrs. Pea- body, “to address yourself to the prettiest girl who steps off the train. I'd go with you it I could, but I can't. And Peabody is in the cellar with the management looking over the cham- pagne. Besides,” she added mischiev~ ously, “I have telegraphed her to be- ware of a youth half-past six high with red hair.” “‘Beware of the handsomest man in the station,’ would have been sufi- clent,” sald young Chilton, “and more complimentary.” Then he set out for the station. He walked because he could not afford to ride. He walked slowly because it was a hot day, and he could not af- ford to become overheated in his other good suit of clothes. What money he had in pocket was to pay for Miss Gardner’s hack froni the sta- tion to the-hotel. But In the young man's mind there was no thought of poverty or riches, since nothing but evil conduct could alter his great position in the world to which he belonged—that delightful world In which few men are trying to get rich, and in which many aren’t even trying to make a living. His heart was not open to envy or malice; but color found entrance, beauty, galety, mis- chief, moonrises and gunsets. Once or twice in his young life he had been well off. But the hurricane of the preceding summer had des- troyed his ‘little crop of sea island cotton, and left him destitute of ready cash. He had resigned from his clubs, climbed high upon the water wagon, eschewed poker, sold his little auto- mobile to pay his debts, inked the worn places on his second best suit ot clothes, and continued to enjoy lite, the respect of men, and the admira- tion of the ladies. If there was In his heart no bitter- ness, rancor or jealousy, it was not because there wasn't room for them. He measured forty-five inches around the chest. And he stood six feet and five inchies in his bare feet—feet too small, high-arched and full of springs. A blossom of the sour orange lean- ed to him through a gate of deli- cately wrought iron. He “afforded” the truant for his buttonhole, saying, “she was doing her best to escape from that garden, anyway.” He slip- ped a finger between his collar and THE SUNDAY his neck. No, he had not been walk- ing too fast. He felt for his watch, and laughed; he might ‘well have felt for his scarf pin and his seal ring which were also at the pawn- broker's. He inquired the time of a policeman, but this one, too, came away empty handed from his watch pocket. Chilton strolled on, laugh- ing. i He reached the station twenty min- utes before Miss Gardner's train. The smell of cigarette and cigar smoke about the place made him very un- comfortable, since, and only quite re- cently, he had been obliged to give up smoking. He remalned, therefore, upon the sidewalk in front of the sta- tion in the sunshine, not pacing im- patiently up and down as a north- erner would have done, but standing perfectly still, out of people’s way, and enjoying himself. * X ok % ((HO“’ did you know me?" “Mrs. Peabody told me to greet the prettiest girl that stepped off the train/" he answered. “She's a wonderful! hand at descriptions, Miss Gardner.” He spoke very serl- STAR, WASHINGTON, ously, with & certain humbleness. “I hope your journey has been: enjoy- able. I have a ¢arriage walting.” “But couldn't we walk?" “Of course,” he said. - But the fact that her wish had, you may say, colned fifty cents for him had no part In the smile that radiated from his handsome face. She was not only the prettiest girl that had “stepped” off the train, he thought; she was the most beautiful girl in the world If, then, she elected to walk to the hotel, he would be the longer in her company. They walked a little way. And for the first time Chllton thought of the fifty cents which had been saved for him. And he could not deny that the sum might prove use- ful In an emergency. And the thought suffused him from head to foot with a delicate pink of shame. To let the pleasure of being “the longer” in Miss Gardner's soclety be|” increased by any censideration of a mercenary nature was antagonistic to his whole code of what should be expected of a gentleman's heart Therefore passing a slotted box on which was written “For the Blind,” A RANK INSIDER BY J. A. WALDRON “WHAT'S THIS?” ASKED THORNLEY, AS THEY SAT DOWN TO BREAKFAST. HORNLEY'S wife was still &t her mother's up in New Eng- land. He had returned -from I the west earlier than ex- pocted, and thought he would not break up. her visit by wiring her. “Mr. Abingdon, sir? Then he must be along directly. * ¥ % % INNEY had declined the invitation to help himselt to a cigar with a polite gesture. Evidently he . didn’t On the train to New Rochelle from | smoke. New York Thornley found a number of friends, and at once projected a (FiV quiet poker game at his house for the ovening. Abingdon strolled along from the smoking compartment. “You'll Bit in, old man, of course,” Twe were lacking when |but—" I understand you are a recent ar- queried Thornley. sir. Been in this ocountry " A Dbell Interrupted. “I think that's Abingdon now,” sald Thornley. Pifiney had remained standing, and they moved toward the “Yes, suggested Thornley, after explaining. | 400r together, Thornley opening to “Why, yes, I'd like to” was the|Abingdon. reply, “but my,wife's brother is visit- ing us, you know.” “Bsing him alons. play lends plqufihqy to’s s0 it was settled. Thornley went diregtly to the yacht club for, dinner. Arriving home In A strangers game.” And “The party's & bit slow arriving, ¢h?" said \ Abingdon, looking about, greeting Thofnley, and nodding to Pinney as he put aside his hat and coat. The bell rang again. the rest of the bunch, sald Thornley, hurrying £ood time he was admitted by & mald, | to the door. Plnney stood by dif- Coming down from his room- later ‘he found & §00d-! Englishman in evening clothes. ‘Beg, pardon,. sir,” said the chap, “but I think I should Introduce my- selt” 2 little | fidently as Thornley greeted four mén looking young | Who came together, but proved to be obligingly helpful with the coats and hats. “Well, we're seven. You play, of course,” sald Thornley to Pinney. 1 should rather—ah! What's the > ime, sir?”" ‘Abingden spoke to me about you | ERme, ST bn the train. Name?" “Pinney, air. . I—" 'zhku yourself at home, old ma; Thornley indicated clgars. Abingdon? VIWge “Where's thcu c;tlhln disposed tI - going' t 3 a e. going T’ you i ut, sir, I—" ‘ome! No excuses!” said Thorn- ley, in a tone of finality, turning as hemselves about “Pinney sat in silently, but er was deprecatory. eaid . little as the game progressed, yet occasionally matched the constant poker patter of the others with an apt remark. His deferential manner semed to bespeak the novice. He played negatively until late in the evening, when Thornley began to get badly stung. Then Pinney's play picked up amazingly, though his verbal reticence continued in sharp contrast to the usual sarcasm of the losers. When they stopped he had everything in sight. s “I wish I had such & genius in the family, remarked Thornley to Abingdon as the visitors were getting into their coats, Pinney helping her and theré with scant responsive courtesy. “Oh, we all lose. now and then,” was Abingdon's cheerful retort as he left with all but Pinney, who, as Thornley took it, was for the moment Ia the brother-in-law's bad book. “I wish to apologise, sir, ®ald Pin- ney to Thornley, ¥for. coming out &o flush. “Don’t mention it.” “But will you not take-this, sir?’ Pinney extended a wad of money. “Take it! You are foolish, young man!” And with a laugh Thornley hastily put Pinney. into the only re- ERE was & light in the drawing room as Thornley turned, and he knew it was his daughter Agnes and young Mr. Staleight. “Good evening, children!” sald he sayly, looking in. “Did you win, papa?”’ asked Agnes. “Win! Why, Abingdon's youns brother-in-law, & slick chap he s, cleaned up!” And he went to bed. 1In the morning Thornley met Agnes in the hall as they were going In to breakfast. “Did your mothsr get a line on & butler to replace poor old Marston before she left? he asked. “Oh, yes! A find, reallyl You'll Ilke him better and bétter the more you see of him. He's young and good to look at, but I don’t just fancy his name.” “What is it? Perhaps he'll change it for “Planey.” “Good’ lord] There was & Pinney here last night in the smoking room —Abingdon's brother-in-law—but he went with the.rest at eleven.” .Agnes gasped. “In Howard Sta- leight's . coat and hat! * Howard couldn't find-them!” “What's this? asked, Thornley,. ag they sat down to breaktfast, indicat- Ing_a paper parcel of neatly folded bank notes, and up. to ses Pinpay, looking Somewhat.sels-0one sclous, coming In with the cantdlioupe. | D. O, JANUARY 7 ,2,4«4/5(*\&?/4 N i1 he dropped fifty cents Into It, and felt as if he had been cured of some unclean disease. “Are you especially interested in d, CI “May I ask why?" “Of course,” he said. “If 1 had been blind I could never have seen you." Miss Gardner had come to Charles- ton forewarned against pretty speech- es. “All the men,” Mrs. Peabody had written, “will make pretty speeches to you, at once, without preamble, and you mustn't mind." But if Miss Gardner was forewarn- ed, she was fot forearmed agalnst Chllton; neither against the man himseit—nor against his volce—that drawled a little, and was like music | in her ears. * % % R. MULHOLLAND, seeing the ex- pression on young Chilton's face (Miss Gardner was dancing with Jack Ravenel), drew him aside, his own face serious, as a judge about to pass sentence. “I've something important to lay before you, Bob,” he said. They passed out of the ballroom and found a quiet corner where. they could be private. “It isn’t one of your jokes, doctor?” The doctor si#hok his head savage- Iy, but his volce way measured and peaceful. “I was your uncle's closest friend,” he sald. “He Instructed me to watch over you like a father; and, if ever a crisis should arise in your life, to be on hand with help.” “I'm not aware of any crisis, doc- tor.” “Very well. Let us return to the ballroom. In my day the young men were franker with their well wishers.” The doctor rose and puffed indig- nantly. But Chilton laughed shyly and drew him back to his seat. “I'll be good,” he sald. “But there's no crisls, doctor—just a little private tragedy of my own.” ‘My dear boy,” sald the doctor, “don’t tell me that you haven't fall- en in love with a certain very beau- tiful young lady.” “If I had fallen in love, and had something to offer besides myself,” said Chilton, “it would be a crisis. Having nothing to offer, it is & trag- edy. For I cannot declare myself and keep upon me a rag of honor.” “You are utterly broke, Robert?" “Utterly. “It you had a pot of money—" “I should carry it directly to the Rainbow's foot.” “Then listen. Your late uncle left behind him, in his garden to bé pre- clise, not a pot of money, but & whole chest of it. And he directed me to make known to you the precise whereabouts of this chest, directly there should rise in your life a genu- ine need of its contents,” “Is this one of your jokes, doctor?" “No, suh.” “Then my uncle was not as crazy as we thought?” “Touched in the intellect, touched In his ‘power of ratiocination merely, but not crazy, Robert. In your late uncle's garden there is & smah-pool. Between the pool and the river is a hollow 6ak. Reaching into the hollow, your hand will discover a faucet; open this, and the contents of the pool will be drained off into the river. As the ‘water in the pool descends, & passage- way will be disclosed. This terminates in & short flight of steps. At the top of these, in & small chamber of brick, you will find the chest.” “Does. it contain enough to marry on, dootor?” 1 have never known the precise face value of your uncle’s treasur But it would take not less than six figures to hint at it. 'Yet he died almost In want.” ‘He was very eccentric, Robert, in his last years. You mean to run out tonight and posses yourself of this legacy 7" “It's too far to walk.” “Take my car." “Thank you, sir.” “Are you armed?” “No, 8If. 4 “Take these.” The doctor produced a pair of old- fashioned, forty-one caliber derring- ers and placed them In the palms of Chilton's. hands. “ghall you go alone?’ “No, sir. Not it fate is kind. She is tond of adventures.” - * %k kK " 188 GARDNER,” said Chilton— they were dancing and he looked down radiantly into her up- turned face—'I have about.me the makings of an adventura® = Y was sure of 1t.* 7 o3 S 1923—PART 5. “If I asked you to withdraw with me from this festive scene and go to a wild and romantic locality upon a moonlight hunt for burfed treasure, what would you say?” “Id say—done with o “You will need & warm cloak.” “Are We going far? “We shall be gone about three hours. It s now midnight. When we return the dance will be at its best.” “Who else is golng?" “No one but us, Mt She looked doubtful, “There is no South Carolinian pres- ent,” said Chilton a little stify, “to whose chivalry and propriety you could not with perfect safety confide yourself for the balance of your life, Our protracted absence upon this quest may occasion smiles, but not BOSSip. If you fear chafft—if you fear smiles— B “The only thing I'm afraid of, said Miss Gardner, confidentially, “is that Wwe aren't golng to find any treasure.” Chilton laughed merrily, “That is my fear also,” he s 4 at least, Miss Gardner, the ride. jn s moonlight—the haunted house by the river—the delight of hoping—these things, as I have heard you northern. 278 88y, will be ‘pure velvet: » «Ten minutes later, Chilt cranked Dr. Mulholland's curo::‘d )::g two adventurers were bumping up Meeting street toward the open coun- ry. “Where is your coat?” as] Gardner. Ee The night was e still, moonlit and “I left it at my uncle's,” sald Chil- ton demurely. She leaned a little tosvard studied his bold, clean-cut pr:t’i;:. e “When you say your ‘uncle,” she sald, “do you mean your uncle or your —Uncle?" ; He answered her with verses, eay- ng: “I will make you brooches and toys for your delight, “Of bird-gong at morning, and star- shine at night. will build a palace for you and me “Of green days in forest, and blue days at sea.” For the first time in her knowledge of him, there was in his voice a lit- tle of that pathos which goes hand in hand with the poverty that is bravely borne. But she dld not daro to offer sympathy. So she mimlcked his voice, and his somewhat formal ordering of words, and sald, drawling a little: “When we have discovered the treasure, let us proceed directly to your uncle's” Chilton laughed like a boy. “He doesn’t open till 9 o'clock in the morning.” “Tell me,” she sald presently Mr. Ravenel a cousin of yours?” “He was,” ®aid Chilton, “until he danced with you for the third ttme.” They turned Into an avenue of live oaks, but it was more like a tunnel, for the huge twisted trees, meeting overhead, roofed the weed-grown roadway and kept out the moonlight. And then the air, damp and motion« less, added to the subterranean effect. ‘'What are you laughing at?” “1 was laughing at the gray moss,” sald Miss Gardner cheerfully. “Hun- dreds of desperate ladles having jumpea overboard in their night- gowns, have been rescued and hung on these.trees to dry. You must be frozen!” S “I am very happy,” sald Chllton. The going was very bad indeed and he drove the doctor's little car at a crawl. “It isn’t far now to the treas- ure. All she gay dancers are wonder- ing what has become of us. Are you sure you aren’t cold? You won't be angry If there's no treasure. Dr. Mul- holland is always putting up jokes on people. I think this ia one. But I'm not sure. Indeed, I'm so uncertain that Pm exciting myself.” ‘They came out of the umbrageous tunnel into full moonlight, and saw befare them crowning a wavelike ris. ing of the land, & dark house burie to.the walst ih shrubs ana creepers;| beyond they could see a loop of the river, like a great horseshoe of silver, In their nostrils was a strong smell of box. Gardner.” * ok ok % IARRYING one of the car's oil lamps, Chilton led the way into the house and through it. - For it had no doors, and was only a shell of a house, kept from falling to pleces by its two brick chimneys and the strong arms of its embowering vines. - A CAROLINA NIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENT the young people were a long time finding the treasure pool in the midst of the tangle. It was black as ink. and to less healthy imaginations must have suggested all kinds of reptilian horrors and surprises. But Miss Gardner was not afraid even to be left alone while Chliton went with the lamp to find the faucet which drained the pool. He was gone a long time, and then &he heard him call from far off. “Is the water running out?” And then she saw that the level of the pool was really lower, and so told him. And he rejoined her presently, gleeful with excitement, wonderfully tall, shouldering through the box. “It wasn't a faucet at all,” he said, “but & four-inch pipe with & valve. Leok, I'm drenched. The water jump- ed out at me like at wildcat.” He knelt by the pool and lowered the lamp to the full length of his arm. Already the surface of the water had descended a foot. Another foot and the passageway of which Dr. Mulhol- land had spoken began to be discov- ered. Mtss Gardner knelt by Chilton and they did not speak. An owl swinging close to their heads gave a loud and sudden hoot. Chil- ton let go of the lamp and it was ex- tinguished with a wet and savage hiss. . First he turned to Miss Gardner and told her In carefully chosen words what he thought of himself, and then' he left her while he fetched the other sidelight from the car. But when he was out of sight and hear- ing he jumped furiously up and down and swung his arms with much vio- lence, for he was blue with the cold. As for her, she sat in the moonlight by the empty pool, and wondered if her penniless cavaller could ever bring himself to propose to & girl who had plenty of money. Of course, she thought, there isn't any treasure, and 1t one person has told me that he has two coats to his back a dozen have done so. But suppose there was treas- ure, suppose he asked her to marry him, would she say, “Yes"? All that survived In her of cautlous New Eng- land ancestry , “On a three days’ acquaintance? Not you! - What per- fect tommy-rot! You know him as 1ittle as he knows you. And just be- cause his Domingo mahogany-colored hair and exceptional length and his pale gray eyes with the ring of soot around the colored papt have disturb- ed your equilibrium, why—! Now really, my dear child—belleve us! Treasure or no treasure, do your hunting nearer home! Why, nobody remotely connecteéd with this young fellow ever so much as burnt a witch —not even a little bit of witch. Go to! Marry! (we mean don't marry) ~—Come up!" At this point Chilton returned with the lamp. “Haven you heard ‘anything—seen anything?” he asked in a whisper. She shook her head. “Why?" And he shook his head:; but stood awhile gazing gravely and searching- 1y here and there into the surround- ing shrubbery. “The water has all run out,” she said, “except for a trickle that prob- ably keeps the thing full “If you hear anything,” he eaid, “suspicious, promise to call to me, so that T must here.” He slid his long legs over the edge of the now emptied pool and dropped into the slimy, dripping, musty-smell- ing depths. She leaned over and looked down, holding the lamp at arm's length. “How are you golng to get out again?’ she asked. “If there is a enake down here,” he answered, “nobody will ever know; the act will be too swift to-be fol- lowed by the human eye. Thanks.” He had taken the lamp from her hand, and then bending double he had entered the passageway that opened off the pool and disappeared. * x % % l» E was not gone long. She heard him laugh before she saw him, and he emerged carrying by its iron kandle as a traveler carries a valise, a compact little chest that appeared to be reinforced by bands of metal. “I'm laughing,” he eaid, “because they've even left the key in the lock.” “Oh, open it,” she cried. “That is to be your privilege,” he sald. . “But,” sald she, “suppose something should pop out of it, a jumping-jack —or something. I don't want to die of fright.” “It {sn't very heavy.” he sald, you think you could—" She could—and did—using only one hand. “And now the lamp." She set it on the brick curb of the pool. “And now you, Mr. Chilton.” Extended to almost his full length, Chilton’s hands pressed flat on the curb, He steadied himself—shot sud- denly upward and was kneeling at her feet, the chest between them. “Great work!” she sald, being a good judge of form. “I—I'm too ex- cited to think. Must we open it now. I'm afraid.” “Do beating with great rapldity, and she said: “Yes—afraid—afrald we are Eoing to be aisappointed. Let's—let's pre- tend tomight, and not really find out till tomorrow." “Of cours: sald, “if you wish.” “ don't wish,” salé Femininity at once. “I must know and I can't wait. T'll hold the lamp.” ‘Without a word Chilton 'unlocked the chest and threw open the-lid. Their heads touched. f they 1 five hundreds,” said Miss Gardner presently, “it's Teally an awful lot of money.” - Chilton was laughing softly. “It was an awful 106" he “Was—what do you mean?" He pulled a tattered bill from & package of many and held it close to the lamp, at the same time pointing to words printed across the top.of it in a curve, “Confederate States of America. ‘Aren’t they any—any good?’ she asked. “Not,” sald Chilton, “to & girl whose hair curls naturally. He examined the chest closely. It was quite new; the metal bands but 1ittle bitten with rust. “We are the victims,” sald he, “of one of Dr. Mulholland's practical Jokes.” “An immensely funny one, said Gardner bitterly. “Hal!—ha!—I . . But If you don't mind 1d. sald Chil- BY GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. ton; it I can’t spend them in riotous living I can at least make Dr. Mul- holland eat them.” A short oath jerked from his lips, something flashed in each of his hands, from these flashes escaped two brighter flashes accom- panied by two sharp reports. e YT was over before' Miss Gardner 1 could get to her feet. She saw two men fall—crumpled, and she saw Chil- ton close with and overpower a third And as she reached her feet she saw Chilton drop this third assailant into the pool. “Well, I never!” she said, and bit her lips, wishing either that she had not been heard or that she had said something showing more presence of mind. Chilton was bending over the two men at whom he had discharged the derringers. “They're still breathing” he sald. “Thank the Lord for that. Where are you hurt? Can you hear me?" His answer was a sudden burst of laughter. Chilton snatched the black mask from the man's face and Tecog- nized the aristocratic features of his cousin, young Mr. Ravenel. At this moment the other brigand sat up and removed his mask. “Willy Cavendish” said Chilton in a mournful voice. “But—but I shot to kilL” “You were loaded with blank cart- ridges, Bob,” sald Ravenel. “Where's the doctor?” “The doctor,” sald Chilton griml “is in the pool." “Don’t be mad, Bob.” “I'm not mad, but why did you d it? I—I might have hurt somebody. A voice came from the depths of the pool—a volce reverberant, hol- low, unhappy— “You have hurt me, suh, and I wish to be assisted out of this place at onoce.” Chilton laughed, and, selecting some pecullarly -golled and tattered bllls from the chest, he lay down by the e of the pool and looked over. 0ld the lamp, Jack.” D Mulholland, very red in the face and much slimed, looked up into the downturned faces. Chiiton reached him one of the bills “What's this for.” at it Don’t be an ass, Robert—a joke's a joke.” “No, dooctor,” drawled Chllton, “it isn't. Not .when a fellow who has never harmed you is made to look like & fool in the eves of a young lady; not when he Is made to feel even for & moment that he has taken human life; not when he has been made to feel that the future has hopes for him; not when these hopes are snatched awgy. Oblige me by eating some of this late specie.” “Never!” thundered the doctor. “Don't you know, suh, that I may catch my death in this plave?” Half an hour later he began to eat five-hundred-dollar bills of the Con- federate states of America. “Robert,” he said, humbly, “they stick In my gorge, suh—and don't give me any of the rarer Issues— some of them are worth ten cents aplece. . .. Robert, I can't swal- low any more without something to wash it down. My mouth is like cot- ton, suh. “Shall we -let him out, Miss Gard- ner?" “I think 8o, she sald, “because, after all, most of the expedition has been fun—velvet.” * = K K “\lISS GARDNER,” sald Chilton, V1 “tney sust aid 1t vecause you sald you were just longing for an adventure—but, somehow, I feel hu- millated and ashamed. No man likes to show his angry, ‘fighting side without just cause. I was hasty with my weapons—too hasty.” “If you don't stop feeling humili- ated and ssbamed,” she said, “Tll get out and walk." “T'd rather cut off my hand than have you do that.” There was a short silence. “Mr. Chilton!" “Yes, Miss Gardner." “T was just thinking—maybe you know of some other treasure—that we oould look for—a—real treasure.” eald the young man confi- certanly do—a sure enough treasure.” said she, “the night fs yet young—Is this treasure far oft> He slowed the car almost to a standstill, and, turning his head, looked with a certain wistful beseech- Ingness into her lovely face. “Miss Gardner,” he said gravely, don’t know! know!" (Copyright. All Rights Reserved.) Red Men as Wood Carvers. JT _has been pointed out that ths chief reminder of our aboriginal Mfe Is the woodwork and bone carv- ing of the Indians of the Pacific northwest. While the cities of that region are enterprising and Impor- tant centers of industry, and while the inhabitants of many Indlan res- ervations have adopted the latest farming methods and have become prosperous agriculturists, there re- main some primitive workers whose wooden products have the same quaint appearance as those of their ancestors generations and genera- tions ago. ‘When they pos d no better tools than stone axes and bone hand implements, before the white man had brought his iron instruments to this country, these Indians were ex- perts at their chosen professién. With their crude. implements they cut planks four feet wide by ten foet long from a tree. Many specimens of their carving In wood, bone and ivory, preserved now in museums, show considerable skill. Thelr ca- noes, hewn from a single log, were fifty feet in length, as a rule, and caused great astonishment among the first Europeans that came to this country. “r I don't know! I don't Lamp as a Telephone. VW/ITHOUT going into technical de- YV tails concerning the comnections, ft may be atated that a 100-candle- power Osram lamp, burning on & 160~ volt circult, has been shunted into & telophone circuit in such a manner as to reproduce faintly spesch which is transmitted to it from a micro- phone. The effect is attributed to the varylng temperatuare of the fila- ment, which sets the thin glass en- velope In vibration. Lamps of 16 and 32 candlepower do not respoid, as their glass envelopes are too thick. -