SHORT STORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12713, 16 November 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

SHORT STORY.

. the girls AT HOME. 3 I met Shm'ill in Seattle. He had just com" out of the Klondike, and so had I; but our • routes had been different, and our mooting was wholly a surprise on both sides. We I travelled eastward together, and by a mo 4 . singular coincidence, we encountered. Hardy and Barnes in the dining-car of an express j out of Chicago. Behold the four of us, |. dining- lit the rate of 60 miles an hour, with nil the luxuries of life to be had for pressj ing a button! I tell you it was a contrast to the last previous session of that quartette, ' when reindeer meat was the only fare, and ) a man might aslk heaven for anything else ; that he desir.d, since only by a miracle . could it be obtained. ! The same stare must rule our destinies, - ; for our paths* crcss strangely. We were in 5 i the same school in Massachusetts when we " J were boys; we met in New York as young • men, and came to know the same poop..© I ; ant ' 60 con unit -the same lies; and even _ j in the (viluumuss o2 Alaska, a.most by pure . euance, we united togt.tiM.i- and entuued a I v winter under one root, i'nat wo tea a t ion > ,[ one remoter ior aooui a month was piouabiy } .. due to our own imptwiui.-uci., »o a will not atii-mjit to tinct a ioincia«.ijce tin.re, Jluroy was a poet ai heart, and Barnes was a dreamer; so it was natural that in the uuys on the Yukon obey shou.u speak of laritttay civilisation ir ttie language of senium nt. In other words, tiu used to ■ talk a good deal afjout two supernatural y | guted and autilul damsels, whom they j had left behind them in New York, I kuew . both ilia girls sliguily, but i should not , j nave recognised them { xivpt for the r I ; "pas) by thing that Hardy «ud Barnes 5 * .Haiti auout them in the course of ithat excep- ! tionally hard winter. Tuey were nice gins ■ when i had the pleasure of their acquaint- • nee, but they,; did not enjoy such a monopo.y of the virtues and graces as Barnes and Hardy claimed foi them. t As for me 1 am an ordinary man. When • * left New York, I was ir love with a girl, ; and I expected to return in 1 tt!e more than ; '{$ - va r , aiK ! marry her. The year stretched , itself into four, and 1 loved her better every minute: but X never said a word about her in i hat old log hut that was not fully justi- | fied by the' facts. If Sherri.l used to say that I was worse than the others, it was because he did not know the girl. Sherrill was always a reticent fellow. When , we tour were together in New York: I knew very little about the serious side of his life It would have been my 'guess that he had left not the smallest fraction of his ■ heart behind him when h ;> went out into the S west. ~Y et, one must not b-° too sure about what lies beneath the surface of such a nature as his. I shall never forget his first disclosure. " You fellows seem to pity me," he said, because I haven't a girl in the east to think about. Perhaps 1 have .one, and i maybe I think of her once in awhile when g the occasion seems to be favourable. I'll j ten you when I thought the hardest. * It was a loTSfj B-py up the river from here. I don t know what they call the place, but there s a bisr island in the middle of the stream, and the current runs hard on both sides of it. A M'ow named Bill North and myself were coming down in a boat, when a snag upset us and everything went to the bottom. We jrot ashore on that island with only the clothe" on our barks, .and. as it was a' hot afternoon in July, you can understand that they didn't amount to much as raiment, considering the not ex- | actly balmy summer nights that we have in this region. I '• Th"re was nothing to cat on the island, I and no way of <?.-ttiii<r to the shore. The J nearest place we knew' wh»n» there was food was 50 mile'? away. . The situation, my S fr » snouted ".tarvalion. - We knew of no parties about that might nick vis ui); w« hadn't seen anvbody in more than two weeks, It looked 'ike '(food-bve everybody.' We had a few matches in*a tin box and before we bp gnu to ijet woak we gathered- a hie supply 'of firewood. At : nurhy we cowled a? war the fire as no«s>b!e and lay with one side rnn«,tin<r and the other fr»ezine—turning ourselves over like a pit ro of meat on a e nit—ill through the intermmable hours till nmrnintj. „.j . !'Th»re was time for ' ruction. gentle-'! men. I thought of a : r! in New York then. ' for i f.-new that T was losi»-cr her in the o.i v ' wsMble way. Yon see, we're different in j L»« matter. You fellows fep.r all sorts of i j Jiinsrs.- Yon talk to keep your courage tij ! You extol th" fair lady's cons # nnc<- &r a ; man whistles alongside the eravevard. Put • j>o 'on" 89 I have food, And a-roof over inv 1 • 'head T fear nrthirjc and ran rofsess mv soiil >n nttiAnpe. or death alone can separate : her and me." There was something in his manner that i went to the hearts of a? 0 us. f can't be sure imt how it affected the other* but I was sfrs"k»ri with a touch of envv H'"s perfect confine 0 was snl-ndid and there was c om (> thiT>or in the rVi-i'hs of mv hfinar that was ashamed of itself. in «thwril»'s p-ertence. Theru was a |on<» interval of alienee before anyone . remembered „'to ask Sherrill haw lie sot off the island. "Wo were th"re four nights and almost four days. ' said he. "and the, repeated post, ponement o f the dinner hour wn* bet?inning 'o be really monotonous. There was an emptiness inside of me that would have filed a man four times as big as I am, so : to speak. - , " Well, one day a party saw our smoke. They came to the bank and yelled. There w,i«n t, a' yell in Bill North or me. but wo groaned a few times and waved our feeble ■ arms. We saw the other fellows fisin? up a portable boat. Th"y had a big- one; I ( : nevei saw anything like her" before. Presently two of them put out in her, and they managed to get across. 1 "The first thing thpy said when they got ashore was this: ' For heaven's $a3te, eiye us something to eat!' * "Ouite a dramatic situation, wasn't it? I can see the beauty of it now better than I could at the time. That narty had run out;of ojrtib and were in a bad way. But v triey knew of a p ace 30 nii'ea ''own w^or*? food could be had. and eventually we all got there—which accounts for m 5 being alive toAfter this first mention of the s"bjp c t Shernll could oeca'ionnl'y be- induced to sneak of the erirl in New York, but he never told he? name. Every fact about her c<m» out of him mighty hard: it was as if the treasure of her m«morv were locked up in his breast, too saered a thine to be s v, own to common pws, Thi're were tinir>- when, keowini? what this was to h'tn I had a'most a terror of his return, 'est fate -dini'd have played him a trick that- would kill him. T did not sav a won! to him on the subjectwhen we were travelling east, together until the four of in came toorether so strangely in ; the train. That was many a month aft»r the winter in the low hut. 'Father Time hnd had a chance to worj, his painful miracleiS, and the old gentleman seldom neglects his :• oprorfcunities. In the course of conversation it was revealed that none of us had telegraphed ahead. For my own part. I nd not dated. I had no near relatives in New Vork. nor had the others. In such circumstances I think we all preferred to come back quietly, like Enoch Arden, and ask a few questions before announcing our arrival. As we drew ■ near the city th»r« • were .signs of nervousness in B-rnes and Hardy and in my own demeanour, no doubt, but Sherrill was calm and hi--p'-'y and confident. I wondered how he could be so, for the years change all tlisriffs and all peonle. It was agreed tint we should all put up at the same-hotel, vhotild dine together, separate for the evening', and m»et '.iter fov a "biir.telk" about old times—and new ones perhaps, Th» dinner was not remarkable for good cheer, and all of us were «lad when it was over. My own quest in the evening was brief. T had not gone two b'oekV from the 1 hotel wlum I met my old friend Tom Mnrston, and he dra«rff p d me up into his rooms ' that were near by. Almost 'the Brst thing;' - he s«id was. " I suppose vou know of a certain vruing lady's marr'ase?" "What vounpr lady?" I asked, with an ' air, of noncha'ance.;V though my body felt suddenly as I hollow ; as ever Sherrill's had upon his island of starvation. i M:>r«ton named n r. and I eat there in; • j the chair and ' held on by the arms: other- ; ! wise I should have floated out of the window. which was open an inch and a-half at - - the top. ■ "Yes." he continued, "she married Frank Bliss, and th"y get alone first rate. She's abroad all the time, and Bliss attends to his business. He's eftfinsr rich, and his health is very bad. What more eoidd the young ladv desire? And that reminds me—" Fie went on to speak of: our. other mutual acquaintances, an astonishing number of i whom seemed to have none to the dogs. That was the ordv irnr>rn«sion I received from the remainder of the conversation. I stayed about an hour and then went back to the hotel. It is painful for me to con "ess thai I visited the bar immediately, and there, to my surprise, I met Hardy. We exchanged a look. " M 1 rried, I 3i»jppo»e?" said be. I nodded. "Same h"re." he remarked, "only worse; married, widowed, and married again." He- set down his glass with a gently tragic oir. . ; . . "We seem to have been away a long ' time," said X. 1

I ' " Yes,'' said he, gloomily, taking two of. the b'vgftit, blackest cigars I ever saw out of Ids pocket. *' Lpfe go upstairs and smoke ourselves to death." ' . , We went up to his room where we .'.'enjoyed. the delights of each other's society for about an hour, when Barrios arrived, He looked ' :'ik o "»'»wm who does not know what it is ,to, ho seasick, but is just on the ppH>|:of tiiulhitf owl. . * - ,; "I'rm Scotll" he exclaimed. "In sur- ; prised to see you fellow a back so early. - Friends moved away? No? , Not married, , I trust?" • - , '• , , - "You have called the turn,". responded Hwdy. '', • ' , , "Sinatular coir.eider«.e, *. replied Barnes, ■ "That is what is the matter with me. , I ve been to her house. Poor girl. s she?s faded J' I wonder if it won have been the same it -- Thiret'-rt I mustn't thml; of it,". ; " Have a cigar," said Hardy producing the third Hack roll , *»- ooieon. I've one 1 more— Sherrill." " ! This led to some Speculation as to whether Sh«rrill would need any nicotine Opinions v : wan* divided ( upon this point, but as th« minutes fled ' away we wrfd _ that 'his' chanocs improve*!, 1 ,' It wits ■ m'dnight. _ when be came in. h ; " 8 ac " one bea«+*ul smile. . He east one look around 'its tnpra and ■• .then ; : I»ughcd. ' ; •:';;«;;' Ws'l&:&P^^^'Mi : -,', < Somethin<r seems -to have gone am;s", hi 1 * said, with that ironical finpnfss of exp , ' r ß-; sion whi-li lie frenu-iiMv uses to sharpen the visib'p edjze of calamity/ '•' < . --,'-. - "How about vonraelf?" ftfk»t! Hardy. 1 "Mb?" ouerjer' Shrrrill.■ " I'm all ritrhi.' " " "And the girl?" . : "The girl? Oh, yes, I found her. The prettiest sweetest-— By Jupiter, I never ■ dreamed of sue' 1 a creature' "You never dreiin r, •~'* , H«rdy beg' ; ' "No," was the reply. "I'd 'h-fitrd of her, J, you iniih'vtrtP'' > but 'I'd Ti r vpf seen her, ' .'. nor thought of her. Sh« i" "P-artfe Wlt.on'a ' c ist"r, and "die was onlv a ch'ld. so fc-i sopijk,, when 1 went »way She nlw»vs lived with'., his reople in Mass s >ch ,, s."ftß. They've moyd to N°w York now, I haw-'nPd io'lufW of it. and so; not bavin? anv«"her(» in pertifluI liir to go this evening. 1 drorjried in n-v,n them and so met Orot", *h. «he is *hiVml in»! . ' We «haM be ' sroid friends T kno-vi. ' Yon under'tand, I sr»eak to \ou in perfect: confidence, and you will never breathe a word • of it." ■''.■'' '.'...'".','' . "But, see, here, old man "demanded ;;]•?«• vd v. " D'> vim mean to i t«-'l n« that the girl you sif.nl to t'ii«'- of, on the Y«k""-r" ** \V«S a tlii-H.» .Not T.lknew th.it <she pviw"-*«d fin-' that 1 should -find h"lf if T lived. Who she would he op wberp we : . <irioitld ..tneof I did not h-v to '..wtessX She t was my ideal girl, ,• T hao* to fell ' voir. W-. I lows nhpur her in self dot-'opp, you see, because v*-»i were always tjdl-hi-' so much. ■ I-'eoiihin't afford to b-> sp><-u'«»» " . "Yon wer" more'than « s n"u'"r, confound - you '" u-rowl-'d Tt<»r-ni>s. " f)<\r o r 'r' , a are mar- r ried every Wntood «tr» of them!" •' Vhn r.».-nlf r-f »l trinipe fT'ftV.- srontlemep." , , said Shen'in. che*nrfully.' voi>»m : you're a?o-----in»» to lili{«kn atra'n. r"member *"• f-i'l hi lovp with a >ir'~oft»r roil <?P- back. ' Don't do it be f ore v«« ■s(-«t' ( -'. Thst's where so many men make their mistake," , -