8
GAMBLING
WITH FATE
By WILLIAM WALLACE COOK
Author of "Thr Gold Gleaner*: A Fiery of
the Cvacido Tank*," "Wilby* Pan,”
“Hi* Friend the Knrtuy," "Roger*
of Butte,' Etc., Etc.
( Copyright, liKAi, by WiIUauj Wallace Couk)
(Continued from last week.)
CHAPTER VIII.
DARREL AND THE LETTERS OK
JUNIUS.
First. Darrel arranged the letters in
sequence according to their dates.
Then he began his perusal with the
earliest, following through each one
down to the last.
The most frequent writer was one
Lawrence Ormsby whose name was as
often abbreviated to "Lorry” or "L.
O." as signed in full. He appeared to
be a devoted friend of McCloud’s.
The very first letter was from Orms
by, bore date at New York and the
envelope showed it had reached Mc
Cloud inf St. Paul. Part of it was
especially significant.
* • * We still have faith in you,
Junius, for God knows how much those
Unfortunate spells, over which you have
no control, lias helped in your undoing.
it is not so hard to live down the past.
Other men have done worse and have ;
retrieved themselves. Simply renounce
oil intercourse with this man who has
hoen your ruin. Thai is the first and
most important Step. Then, if Iht re is
anything holy for yon on earth or above
it, swear bv that never to stake another
dollar at play. * * *
Yon say this man has a strange in
fluence over you- a weird and malign
power which you cannot fight against—
and that it is impossible for you to keep
away from him. Nonsense! IS raw up,
my boy. and be a man. If you cannot do
this for yourself, do it for the sake of
your family', for love of the girl who is
to link her fate with yours. If all these
influences are powerless to sway you,
then certainly you must go your own
course and forfeit the esteem of all who
know you, including lhat of your ftietid,
LORRY.
‘‘Unfortunate spoils.” The words
rang in Darrel’s brain. A clew to
their meaning was found in a brief let
ter bearing, in its upper, left-hand
corner, the card of a New York physi
cian.
1 on question me as to the cause and
eventual result of those recurring condi
tions you find it so difficult to under
stand. The phenomena are sensory. 1
Nerves are like harp-strings; played upon
too freely by an excitement so intense
as >'ou develop, they grow suddenly
mute, the melody of life dying out of
thtm. Again and again the music will
come creeping hack, then finally fail to
return from those mysterious regions
whence nil life comes and whither, at the !
Inst, it (tics for till time.
This is your knowledge and your warn
ing, and if I write in unprofessional
terms. I am yet sure that you will under
stand. Save yourself while there is time!
The haunting phrases of this letter
appealed to Darrel. He had a sottl for
poetry and had occasionally set his
hand to verse.
Although he read and re-read the
written words for the mere pleasure
they gave him. as a clew to ihe “unfor
tunate spells" they remained only a |
clew and nothing more.
Among the other missives were two !
front a sweetheart. The heart of a
woman, laid bare in the opening !
words of the first letter, gave Darrel
pause. I
His own heart smote him for prying !
thus into the very core of McCloud’s |
privacy. Yet had he not the right? j
That revolver proved a connection j
with Murgatroyd, and Murgatroyd. to |
Darrel’s mind, stood all but convicted
ot the murder of Sturgis. The fugi
tive read on.
The first letter was all that a lover !
might expect from his betrothed, but I
the second throbbed in every line with
hitter anguish, broke the golden chain
of love and released him from his
% ows. \
For all that the letters revealed
bearing upon Darrel’s affairs they I
might ha\e been left unprofaned by
stranger eyes. A sickening horror
pulsed through the fugitive’s veins and
he hastened his reading.
At the very last was this, from
Ormsby:
* * * I have taken the liberty to re- I
fer to you, under a communication of !
even date herewith, a Miss Elsie Avery ;
and her aunt. Mrs. Gorton. They will
arrive soon in Anaconda on a peculiar
mission. Any aid you may render Miss
Avery and Mrs. Gorton will be grate
fully received by them and deeply appre
ciated by me. Whatever you ilo in their
behalf will sc-rve to till your mind and
withdraw it from your own misfortunes.
Darrel wrinkled his brow over this
epistle. It suggested an unknown I
quantity which might play havoc with
his projected equation.
Every other scrap of information
gleaned from the correspondence !
proved favorable to the fugitive’s plan.
This last letter of Ormsby’s alone made
him hesitate.
Half an hour’s reflection, however,
decided the matter. It was a leap in
the dark, but he would take it.
CHAPTER IX.
DARREL'S LEAP IN THE DARK.
With a pair of scissors taken from
the sole-leather toilet-case Darrel cut
off his full heard. Then he went down
to the creek and brought back some |
water in a collapsible cup of the sort
affected by travelers who have an
aversion for public drinking utensils.
In a small shaving mug, lettered “J.
McC.” in gilt monogram, he stirred up
a lather with perfumed soap and silver
mounted brush. The razor had an
ivory handle and the hollow-ground
blade of rare and tempered steel threw
off the candle light brilliantly as he
drew it back and forth over the strop—
the gold- mounted strop of a sybarite.
Presently Darrel’s white face was as
smooth and clean as a child’s and he
studied it in the mirror and com
pared it line by line with the deli
cate features of the man in the bunk.
There was a striking resemblance.
Who says that fate does not favor
the bold? Or that a man's fortunes are
ever ai so low an ebb she does not
blow a straw of hope across his path?
Darrel was more than satisfied. A
swim in the creek and t brisk rub with
a rough towel sent tl biood tingling
through his bruised a a weiry limbs.
Already he was a different man. But
the transformation was not yet com
plete.
Neatly laundered linen an;! . 1.
silken undergarments were ai . <
stores of the old traveling k.t . . '
dressed himself slowly and tleRnc •
ly. by and by standing forth in tag
dead man’s shoes and corduroys, ap
pareled completely from head to heel,
in the pockets of the garments he
found many things. A silver cigar
clipper, a cigar case, a seal purse con
taining $500 in bills, a card case, a key
ring, a pen-knife and a magnificent
gold watch, fob and seal.
His mud-splashed, brier-torn gar
ments he left on the chair in lieu of
the corduroys, disturbing nothing that
had been liis own. Reckoned dollar
for dollar he was leaving twice the
amount in valuables that he was tak
ing.
"In stepping from one life into an
other." he said to himself, "there must
be a fair exchange. But this is better
than fair. I leave with him more
personal property than I appropriate
and a better reputation than he has to
give. I am an innocent man believed
to be guilty, while he is guilty, but
supposed to be innocent. His inno
cence must shield me while l work out
my own salvation."
Standing beside the bunk, Darrel
gave the calm face and stony, staring
eyes a long farewell look. McCloud
was a young man to have “stepped
aside" so early in the game of life.
He had come west to live down mis
deeds of the east. There was nothing
strange in that, for many a man had
done likewise.
But he had relatives, near ones and
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dear friends, a sweetheart—wealth, no
doubt. Darrel sighed and closed the
lids over ihe staring eyes. lie longed
to cover the voting face, with its evi
dence of suffering, but he dared do no
more.
(To be continued.)
Lake Shirwa Disappears.
It is reported in I'etermann's
Mittheilungen that Lake Shirwa,
discovered by Dr. Livingstone in
1850, southeast of Lake Nyassa in
Central Africa, has entirely disap
peared, with the except ion of a few
small ponds in its bed. In Living
stone’s day the lake was 30 miles
long and from 10 to 15 miles wide.
At least it was thus shown on the
map. Lake Xgarni, also discovered
by Livingstone, has since disap
peared. The cause of the changes
appears to be a gradual drying up
of bodies of water in Central Af
rica. It is not a process of silting
up of the bottom, like that w’hich
has recently affected the shore line
of the Sea of Azof.
Agricultural Exports.
In tin* past three years, while
our exports have averaged more
than ?1,400,000,000, agriculture’s
share in this trade has been near
ly $000,000,000.—Success.
Railroad liras Card,
WHITE RIVER BRANCH
St. L. !. \L & S. By.
Trains pass Newark as follows:
GOING WI’.ST,
No. 127.12.50 p. in.
No. 125.8.00 a. m.
I
GOING HAST.
No. 128.11.10 a. m. 4
No. 126..7.02 p. m. , 1
F. C. Hoyt, A-jent.
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$2.50 Mens Shoes go now at $1.95
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A 6-foot L
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dow Shade_ 25c
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n all colors_05c
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New Toil Du Nord Ginghams I2^c
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