THE LOST SANJAK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2884, 30 June 1909, Page 90

THE LOST SANJAK.

By Saki

The Prison Chaplain entered the condemned's cell for the last time, to give such consolation as be might. "The only consolation I crave for." said the condemned, "is to tell my story in its entirety to someone who will at least give it a respectful hearing." "We must not be tco long over it,"' said the Cha'p'iain, looking at his watch. The condemned represed a shiver andcommenoed. "Most people will be of opinion that I am paving the penalty of my own violent, deeds. In reality I am a victim to a lack of specialisation in my education and character. "' '"Lack of specialisation !" .-aid the Chaplain. '"Yes. If I had .beer. V?~"~. i>"<>ne Vho iuv men r tourlaiK' familiar wnh the fauna of the Outp.r Hebrides, or able to repeal stanzas of Camosns's poetry in the oiiginal, I t-houkl have had no difficulty in proving my identity in the crisis when m.y identity became a matter of life and death for me. But my education was merely a moderately good one, and my temperament was of, the general order that avoids specialisation. I know* a little in a general way about gardening and history and old masters, but I could never tell you offhand whether 'Stella van deo- Loopen' was a chrysanthemum or a heroine of the American War of Independence, or something by Romney in the Louvre. " * The Chaplain shifted uneasily in his -•eat. Now that the alternatives had been suirjiested, they all setmed dreadfully possible. "I fell in love. or thought I did, with the local doctor's wife," continued the condemned. "Why I should have done f\> I cannot say, for I do not remember ' that she po?se?r,.?d any particulai attractions of mind or body. On looking ba-ek at past events it seems to me that she must have been distinctly ordinary, but I suppose the doctor hnd fallen i"n love with her once, and what njin has. done man can do. She appeared to be pleased with the attentions which I paid her, and to that extent I suppose I might say sh? en?oura<,jed. me. but I think she was honestly unaware that I_ msa.nt anvthin<r meve than a little neighbourly int&re>t. When one is face tojaee with ' Death, one —n-rohes to be iv.it." The Chaplain murmured- approval. ".At any rate, she was genuinely horrified when I_ took ,advanta?e of the doctor's absence one evening to declare wliat I believed to' be my i>a?.«ion. . She begged, me to pass out of her life, and I could scarcely do -otherwise than agree, though • I hsdn't the, dimmest idea of how it wa-s to be done. In novels and plays- I knew - ,it "was a regular, occurrence, and if >-ou -mistook a lady's sentiments or intentions you went off W India and did thing? on tha frontior as a matter of course. A<s I stumbled along the doctor's carriage-drive I had no very clear idea as to what my I line of action was to be, but I had a ' vague fee!h>e that I must look at The ' Times Atlas before goin* to bed. Then, ' on the dark and lonely highway, I came swddenJv on a da-d body." -The Chaplain's interest in the siorv visibly 'luick-c-ned. " i "Jud^insr by the clothes it wore, the corpse was that cf a Salvation Army captain. Some shocking accident Feemed to have p l mck nim down, and tha hearl was crushed and !■» -it* <■•••-'] out of all Human semblance. Probably. I thought. ! a motor car fatality ; and ihen. with a sudden, overmastering insistence, came another thought, that h^re was a remarkable opportunity for losing mv identity and passing out of the life 'of the doctor's wife for ever. 2s T o. tiresome and risky voyage to distant land=. but a mere exchasge of clothes _aad identity with the unknown^ctim of" an unwitnessed acci- ' dent. With considerable difficulty I un- < dressed the corpse, and clothed it anew in my own garments. Anyone who has valeted a dead Salvation Army captain in ' an uncertain light win appreciate the difficulty. With the idea, presumably, of inducing the doctor's wife to leave her husband's rcoftree for som« habitation which would be run at my expense. I had crammed my pockets with a store of bank notes, which represented a cood deal of my immediate worldly wealth. When, therefore, I -Mole aw.ty into thr id

in the' gaise 'csi a nameless Salriuliohigt I ' was not without resources which woiild easily support £O humble a role for a considerable period.' I tramped to a neigh-, boaring market town, and, late as the hour v. as. tht- rrotlact:«n of a few lings proem ed me Mipper and a night's lcdg,ino- in a cheap coliee-hoiiee. T':e next day I started forth on an aimless course of wandering from one sniall town to another. was already somewhat disgusted with the upshot of my sudden freak: in a few hours" time I was considerably mere so. In the contents-bill of a local news eheet 1 read the announcement of my own murder at the hands of some pel son unknown ; on buying a copy of the paper for a detailed account of the tragedy, which at first had. aroused in me a certain grim, amusement, I found that the deed was ascribed to a wandei'ing Salvationist of doubtful antecedents, who had been seen lurking in the roadway near tk-e scene of the crime. I was- no longer amused. The matter .promised to be embarrassing. What" I had mis-taken for a motor accident was evidently a cage of Ravage assault and murder, and untilthe real culprit was found I should have much difficulty in explaining; my intrusion into the affair.' Of course i_could establish my own ideiitdty ; but now, without disagreeably involving the doctor's wife, could I give any adequate reason for changing clothes with the murdered man? While my- brain worksd feverishly at this problem I subconsciously obeyed a secondary instinct to get as far away "as possible from the scene of the crime, and to get rid at' all costi* of my incriminating uniform. There I found a difficulty. I tried two or three obscure clothes' shops, but, rm entrance invariably aroused an attitude "of hc3tile suspicion in the proprietors, and on one excuse or another they avoided serving me with the now ardently desired change of clothing. The uniform that I had so thoughtlessly donned seemed as difficult to get out of as the fatal shirt of . You know, I forget the creature's name." '" Yes, yes.'' said the chaplain hurriedly. " Go on with your story." "Somehow, .until I could get out of those compromising garments I felt it would not be safe to surrender myself to the police. The things that puzzled me was why no attempt was made ;o jn<v>tme. dnce there was no question a.-, lo the GUtpicion which followed me, like an ins=e}),iraV)3e chadow -wherever I went, fttare^. nudging. \vh: springs, and fvn loijd-spoken remarks of 'that's "m ' greeted my every appearance, and tli.meanest and most deserted eating-houre that T patronised soon became filled with a crowd of fiu'tively-watchinjo; custo- - rnexs. I began- to sympathise with 'the feelings of royal personages trying to do a- little '■private shopping under the" unsparing -scrutiny of aiii ir.rcpre«rible public. And still, with all this inarticulate sh&dowino., which weighed on my nerves almost worse than open hostility would ha-ve done, no attempt was made to interfere with my liberty. Lat c ir on 1 j discovered the reason. At .the time of the murder en the lonely highway a series of bloodhound, trials had been taking place in the near neighbourhood, and some dozen and a-half of trained animals hnd bean put on the track ' of tho supposed murderer — on my track. One of om 1 most public-spirited London dailies had offered, a -p-rincelv prize to the owner of the pair that should first track me down, arfd "betting on the chano&s of the respective competitors- became rife throughout the land. Th<» do^s ranged far and wick over about 13 counties, and thouch m- own movements had. become by this time perfectly well- i known to police and nublic alike, thf» sporting instincts of the nation stenned in to prevent my premature arrest. "Hive tha dogs a -r^-mce'!" was the crevailinV sentimpnt, whenevpr ?oiri« amhiticus local constable wi-hed to nut an end, to mv ' drawn-out evasion of iu^tire. My fin-nl capture by the winning Da i. r w;> *' no t a ■ very dramatic episode in fact. I'm not < sui'9 that thet- would have taken any ! notica of me if T l'.a<lVt spoken to th<>m 1 and uatted them, but the event gave viie"-' to an exh-aovdina-vy .ainoun-t of "»-n rt Lsaix excitement. The owner of the nnir who were next nearest up a.t the" fink=h was an American, and he lodged a pro<e?t o;i th<? gi-ound that an otterhound b>d manyd into tbf family" of "tbe winning pair six generations a<ro. and that the prize h*d been offtrrd to" the first pair of bloodhounds to capfuro the mvrctoTi. and that a dog that hod one-sixtv-foiirth part of otterhound blco-l ip it cniild-n't teehnicallv be comnd«rr<l a blocdhoum). I for<»et how th.a msHfv w;s,= ultimately settled, but it aroused a tiH;mendous amount of acrimonious djs-ni.-^ion on both sides of ths Atlantic. ; My own contribution to the controversy ' consisted in pointing out that the whole i dispute wa* beside the mark, as the ' actunl murderer had, r.ot yet been cap- ' tured ; but I soon di?oovf.red 1 lwt on this J point .there was not the lea.-t divea-gence j of public or expert opinion. I had looked, • foi-wa.rd .apprehonsivelv to the proving of , my identity and the establishment of my ! motives s.s a disagreeable necefv?.ity ; I speedily found out that the most d^-acree- ' able part of- the l»i.«'ines..« w?<s tli3t it couldn't ba. done. Wh3n I saw in the ■ glafs the haggard and hunted expression j which tbs experiences of the past few > weeks had stamped- on my erstwhile placid \ countenance I could scarcely feal surprised j that the few friends a.nd relations I posssassed refused to recognise me in my altered) guise, and persisted .in their obstinate but widely-shared belief that it was I who kod.' been done to death on the highway. To make matters wor- c c, infinitely worse, an aunt of the really murdered man, an appalling female of art obviously low ord«r of intelligence, identified) me as her nephew, and »aye the authorities a lurid account of my depraved , youth and of her laudable but unavailing ' effort-* to spank me into a better way. I I 'eh eve it was even proposed; to seaaxh me- ' fC fillg<^ 1% - r " >; llt.o." j

"' ""Bat." said the -Chaplain, "surely your ediicatioiidl c.tt,-!init*nts: " "That wa.-~ j;i&t the crucial point," said the condemned. "Tiiat was where my lack of sj.ccioMsation told so 'anally airain~t me. Tho dead Salvationist, whofe i.-l«-r.-ity I l^.fl go lightly and so d'isa*: troa?ly adbj^ted. had ])Ossese,d. a -venderol' cheap ikoc!«ih education. * It should have bsen easy to demonstrate that ray learning was on altogether another plane to his. but in my nervousness I* bungled s miserably over test after te&t"^hat was put to me. • The Uttls French -1. had ever known deserted me I could "not rendei* a simple phrase about the gooseberry of the garckirior into that language,' because I had forgotten the French for gooseberry."' " The Chaplain again wriggled.- imeasiiy in his seat. "And then,'"* resumed, the condemned, "came" the final discomfiture. In. our village we had a modest little debating club,, and I remembered having promised, chiefly, I suppose, to pkase and impress the -doctor's wife, to* give Jk sketchy kind of lecture on tho \baltan . Crisis. I had relied cm being able to get up my facts from one or_ two stan-'-"dard works, and the back numbers, of certain periodicals.; The prosecution.- h&d made a -careful note of the eM-cirmsiance that the man, whom I claimed to be— ?.. and actually was — had , posed' locally* as some sort of second-hand authority on Balkan affaire, and, in the mid^fc of a string of questions on indifferent • topics, . th-e examining counsel asked me with • diabolical suddenness if I could tell tho court the whereabouts of Xovibazar. I felt the question to be a crucial one ; something told me that the answer was St Petersburg or Baker street. I hesitated, looked helplessly round at the sea of^ tensely- expect ant Faces, pulled myself together, and chose- Baker street. And then I knew that everything, was lost. • The prosecution had' no difficulty in demonstrating that an individual even modsrat&ly versed in the affairs of the Near ,East could never have so uncaremoniously dislocated Novjbazar from it* accustomed corner of the map. It ■•fas an ■ answer which the Salvation Army captain might conceivably have -niader— and I had made it. The, circumstantial evidence connecting- the Salvationist with th? crime was overwhelmingly convincing, and I had inextricably identified r-veelf * with the Salvationist. And thus it 'cornea to pacis that in 10 minutes' time I »hnll be' hanged by the neck until I am dead in expiation of the murder of jvysfrli, which murd'ev never took y>»ace,. '«ii*3-of which, "in *my ease, I am necKGariJv innocent." v . When tbe Chaplain returned- to his quarters some 15 minutes later, tfcr black fla> was floating over the prisor -Breakfast --"was waiting for him ■ •dining room, but. hie first passed library, and, taking up The Titm, j.. v consulted a. "map of the- Balkan V&SifJa. "A thing lik* that," lie ohseve|f .ciosmg tbe volume with a snap,, "mj^nfe happen to anyone-i*. — Westminster (fazette. i '«» " ' *'"