THE CAVE MAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 244, 12 October 1907, Page 15

THE CAVE MAN.

B_" JOHN" CO__-XIST.

xxrs. Tenrhyn had had n0 trouble in P"*; Ji a good face on his encounter with K-ft polo. Valuing highly a free W f£i&ffil Press, he had always M t< Tthe reporters with the utmost ** te raton-Ldeed with his natural good-humour; and ?WI taken advantage of an interview b » r the Sne to let fall a hint that t - Ms own sportsmanlike generosity .Meh had allowed Wistars shot at goal 't tore. He could not think, he recasually, of profiting by so painful an accident. To Judith he said as little as possible, far like all accomplished liars, he was • Jarhvof falsehood; but he had not been S W to deny himself one embellishment, *w ti ly calculated to give his deed a Xfc background. He had long had a St touch of heart trouble-the result i°the excitement of Wall Street and too "Inv cigars; and he. permitted her to Sver a fact which was not a factftat the collision and fall had increased •f J"or the sympathy he thus gamed the only cost was that for a time he was obliged to forego the comradely pnvi-

]egi , of smoking in her presence. "ureadv however, he had decided tol K ovn this. When Sears and Minot gone he took out his cigarette case and lighted a cigarette Judith took it away from him. 'Doctors orders!" she said, and threw it into the fireplace. -3y the way," he laughed, "that matt»j of your executor's papers is important There's likely to be a fight at the E ext election of directors." She looked at him squarely. "That's iiiat Mr. Minot meant! They intend to Tiut Mr- Wistar out of office!" Going to the table, she took the papers out of the drawer and glanced them through. -What does it all mean?" "Some of the fellows on the board of cirecfbrs say that just now, -with, the European folks making trouble, we need .a well man, and an aggressive one." He sit on the window-seat as he spoke, and Etretehed out his legs on it. ."But you and father have promised to gtaid by him! Yon will do so?" "Naturally!" He spoke in a casual tone. He had no fancy for the topic, and taiing another cigarette, lighted a match. Sac dropped the papers, and, running scros3 the room to him, reached for it. ' He turned from her, laughing, and with Ms back hunched up drew a few quick puffs.. But she leaned over him, and grasped the fingers that held the cigarette. In retaliation he put his hand on her lead, and held it so that her hair brushed his cheek. ■ "Stanley!" she cried, in instinctive re- " vulsion. "How can you do such a thing?" He made a ruelul grimace. "You say ire are comrades. If you were a real comrade you would have twisted my ear I or -flattened my nose. But you put on all the airs of the affronted lady." She considered a moment, then gave Ids-ear a vigorous tweak. . "Gee-hosaphat!" he cried, laughing. "If'you wmld only be this way always!" 'le addea r in a mock serious vein, nurs- £ ing; Ms ear. "To-night will begin your. jj thirfieffi birthday—at one hour after jnidjnghij? ■ "How do you know that?" ~fl .Trade Mrs. Soyser tell mc. She . said your face was wrinkled like an apple in February, and that you. had an Al jair of lungs." "You have no right to know such things!" "Do you think there's anything about you that I don't want to knowl" His ; face, usually so matter-of-fact, lighted up with an expression that was positively appealing. "I'd give the fingers of my hand to see you as a baby, as a j Mi, as a little girl. Boyser saw it all; Irat when I tried to make her tell mc, plie wasn't polite." : "What did she say?"

" "She said, 'Aw-go-wan!** , In, her own eyes Judith tad been a inrrid little girl, spoiled and self-im-portant But there was something very dear ia such, interest in her; and as lie spoke his eyes were unwontedly tender end like a child's. Hicm know what you promised," he sod, Lalf-timidly, half-pleading, "y our >&rti£fli birthday. I don't dare frhi-nl-°i it It goes to my head like champagne! But all day long it has been J tewaiting mc, that hope! It has made wall Street gay, the very noises of Broadway an intoxication!" . _&c did not answer, and lie looked out fitieTOndow across the square, through "a trees oi which filtered the busy tofflfc of the city below. . Qere it is," he pursued, "the heart -««ie city, of tne whole country, throbtagwifli Jife! The big office buildings, ™™iow, the railways I With you to «* ior, what couldn't I do! Our ™">r trust, I can make it the biggest aU **** ™rld of big things. «f Oat 15 only the beginning. In the BdJ shall f orce my TOy to tte very top JT Zealand down there beneath mc, ££»iole comrtry, stretching to the Gafe-I if x can do j t {or *m JOT .years yon have dropped out aa. only i et mc iaye you _ together go back into it-wealth, posiyours!" «,?5,P c words shone like fire— *a 2S, 0{ ft* before which few women I * lo^ ll6 fi™ l footh °l<i selfShe 6aid ' "** tte « onrorsatioE, I was taught, no i>, En young yoman listens Dd proper ? oun s *»* and seldom prolete, -ut ! • Yonr heart is set against -Sb* i tte modern madness!" tasaiaT , i, 11 * Kst en to such conhopelessly, primitively Sue; bTrt l^ 6 '" said ' reflecting, "is fre fe , not Primitive. In primi--6«42f a madn ess. * The has wife with a duo." ■AsVrf? mail? W 11 " cave man?" Satjj^ 0 ™ ,cave mau ! You know! fto*zy hair-lived W,, Wh °d you think? The of • man dubbed out the :ka? nvals, and then went for tftyp rcaTen aiden! Couldn't she get But Jt was her instinct to S?^. 1, " iDStinCt t0 be k&ldafw Bht8 ht her b y th e hair of *,«.» T 1 Head and dragged her to his ISP" ■ : learned that she adored

the man with the strongest club—that in her heart she must adore him." "Poor thing!" she laughed; but in the laugh was a little shudder. "Not poor thing at all! That's all there ever has been to love—primitive love—all there ever will be! Girls have ideals of the grand passion. The grand passion is the modern form of the cave man's club—the only thing that makes a girl give up a dozen lovers for one man. But you—you are too wise, too wary." He was still lounging on the window seat, and she stood beside him, intent on what he was saying. The early autumn sunlight fell full upon her, lending splendour to her simple house gown, and playing like an aura in the luxurious disorder of her hair—"So wary," he concluded sadly, "that I have lost all hope of landing the club on your golden head." He had spoken half-laughmgly, half in earnest, but she was quite serious. ''You, Stanley," she said, "are not the cave man." He looked at her, questioning. "I don't pretend to be. Its a blow to my vanity that I'm not; but I try to be re>conciled. I don't think you'd care for the cave man. At eighteen—perhaps! But you have grown up, in heart and mind. And how you have grown up! Everything a man ca. n care for in I don't say in his mate, for I never knew the man who could be that to you! But a ex>_rade—what a e»mrade! * That was our compact, you remember, two y_rs ago—bachelor ex>mrades together! In all these months I have never spoken of it —never even hinted! And I scarcely dare to speak of it now!" "But the man, the one with the bearskin—trousers, I mean! What if some day he should come after mc with his club?" "Once, he might have. But you're no longer the kind he cares for." "That sounds gallant, but it feels a little queer." She paused, and then: "About Mr. Wistar?" she said. •■''You're not_afraid of him!" "Afraid? No! But you haven't explained to me—you mean to be fair with him?" ''Fair? Of course! But he is making it hard." "Yet we've known all along he's obstinate." "Everything we have worked for is within our grasp, and he is letting it slip through his fingers. The whole board of directors is against him and his policy." "But you and father " "We have given our promise," he said with admirable directness and simplicity. She was silent for a long time, as it seemed to Penrhyn. ''And your promise to mc !" he said at last. "Comrades — bachelor comrades together?" "You mean that—literally?" He pa—.cd just the fraction of a second. Then he spoke with conviction, ''That is the only way I could mean it." "All my life I have hoped such a. thine might happen. But they say—and I am beginning to believe them—th at it is not possible." "It is possible—for those who truly love." "I am very lonesome!" She spoke as , if to-herself. ','W,b.e& May. is -gone I shall be forsaken and forlorn!" Again she was silent. He watched her, quiet, intense. '-■You promised roe!" he ventured at 1& St. "I shall keep my promise, too," she exincluded. He leaped from the window-seat, caught her two hands, and drew her towords him She evaded, and with a quick movement of her hand across his face flattened his nose with her thumb, "Bachelor comrades!" she said. He was still nursing his face when Billy came in. ''Not late ior the committee meeting?" Billy asked. "Smith hasn't come yet," Penrhyn answered. "Mr. Irvingdale Smithj" announced Boyser. XXX In the incidents of two years ago Onderdonk had long felt that there had been an element of which he had been kept in ignorance. But beneath his boyish exterior he was very well aware that at the ex>ming election of officers they would have to fight for their power. Even in this matter of the present policy of the committee he fcarejd the worst. With Mr. Sears on their side, it was true, the two factions weere eiqually divided, even in Wistar's absence; and it did not seem likely that Penrhyn and Smith wexdd stand by the course they had begun when Wistar was supposed to be dying. But he was, by this time, well aware of his opponents' skill and boldness. It was necessary to meet them at every point with the utmost resolution. And he had now to take command. "It has come to my knowledge," he said, as Mr. Sears took the chair and disposed his game leg beneath the table, "that some one of us has lately been reversing Wistar's polierv as general manager." As he said this he looked I squarely at Smith, and then at Penrhyn. "If Mr. Ondeardonk has any charge to ' make," said Penrhyn, stretching himself in luxurious indolence upon the win-dow-seat, "may I suggest that it is in order to make it specifically?" "Among other things, we have begun a course of preedatory competition against Minot." "The man has refused a fair offer to sell out to us. May I ask what course Mr. Onderdonk would recommend?" "I deny that our offer was fair. His machine is better than our best in its line. It was the part of wisdom and honesty to buy it in even at an advanced figure, and abandon Smith's car." At this Smith sat up and smiled with piratic benevolence. "Begging your pardon!" Billy concluded. "Don't mind mc!" Smith vouchsafed with a grin. "I'm not sensitive about the machine I manufacture; —only the machine I drive!" Billy thought he saw a chance tc score. "What make?" be said. "A Minot," said Smith with unconcern. "And you?" "A Minot, too. You see we are agreed that the car is better." "We'll shake on that!" With a twinkle he made as if to reach for Billy's hand; but Billy ignored him. "That day Penrhyn blew up near Wisgarage in one of my cars," Smith pursued unabashed —"if the papers got hold of such an accident it might hurt the trade. Smith blown to glory in a Smith machine! But are you afraid of your ear?" "Oh, I don't know!" Billy laughed, his good nature prevailing. "'My old

car was painted red, and one day, while I was shifting gears on a hill, along came a farmer with a bull. The beast dragged the old Reuben at mc, and, before I could get going on the new speed, slewed mc into the ditch. The papers did get hold of that. Such a thing can't happen with Minot's gear. Or if it does, it's a bull on Minot." Smith rose solemnly and grasped Billy's hand. Billy was not slow to see the purpose of such joviality. "As a fellow-motorist in distress," he said, "I shake your hand. But as regards Minot, I have doubts. I want to know just what you are doing to him." "Does that fall within your bailiwick?" Penrhyn inquired. "It does!" Billy answered firmly. "As a member of this committee, 1 am morally responsible for what it does. If you are acting illegally, it is my right—my duty—to protest. I demand that the whole thing be put down on the records of our meetings in black and whites—to be produced, if necessary, in a court of law." i Penrhyn was startled, but, in a moment, he said in his customary tones, "Did Wistar ever say 'by your leave' to us ?" "Xo," said Billy, nonplussed for a moment. Then he added quickly, "But V\ tstar was our authorised manager!" I "Precisely!" 6aid Penrhyn. "But he is out of the game, and it was to authorise his successor that this meeting was called. I propose that we. do so." "I second the motion," said Smith. "But that means reversing the whole policy! And you promised to stand by him!" "As long as he could get about and do business, we stood by him. But now we have to proceed without him, according to the best of our comparatively feeble ability." Billy jumped to his feet. "This is a matter of vital importance, and you decide „t without warning, without discus- \ sion. I demand that we wait until Wistar can be with us." "When you've been in business longer," Penrhyn said coolly, "you'll know that important matters don't wait." "Important matters wait for important men! You know, better than any one, wny Wistar is not here. You broke the fair rules of the game at the risk of his life, and now you are breaking the law at the risk of his honour, and to the loss of your own!" Penrhyn turned to Sears. "Mr. Chairman." he said, "a motion has been made and seconded. I call for the question." Sears wae obviously uncomfortable. "I y e. mised,"' he said, "+o use my influence to wait for Wistar." "Pardon rne," said Penrhyn, "if I insist on a point of order. As chairman you have no influence. It is your duty to put the question. The old man did not answer. "I vote yes." said Smith. "I vote no!" cried Billy. "I vote yes," said Penrhyn, and looked at tho chairman. Scars remained silent. "In- question is carried," Penrhyn concluded. Billy strode into the middle of the floor. "Let mc warn you!" he cried. "Wistar is a sick man. lie lies on his back, with a gash in his side that throbs at every pulse?—tortures him if he so much as lifts his head. But he is not dead yet—and he's not the dying kind! When he is well he will be well as ever. And he will fight—you know how he fights—like a wildcat-—— ■-"---•■■■- ■■■- ..-. "I'm in the wildcat business myself". said Penrhyn with a slow smile. "Yes," Onderdonk cried, "but the sort of wildcat that fights in the dark! Wistar fights in the open, and he will drag you there, show you up as you are in the light of Wall-street! You have jvmptd into his boots. Stay there il you dare! The time will come " Billy was very rngry, and the words choked in his throat. 1-ere was a knock without, and Mrs. Boyser came in. Penrhyn did not heed, but smiled again at the young man with indulgent cynicism, and said, "The time has come." "Mr. Wistar has come!" said Boyser. "What!" cried Penrhyn, his selfassurance fahmg from him like a garment. "You are crazy! He's flat on his back, half dead!" "Sure, at the sight of him," she an- I swered, "I thought he was all dead. It's j his own ghost that he is." (To be continues next "Wednesday-.-j I