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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1916-02-18, Page 6M r1 • M1ry1t''�i" CHAPTER I Horace Scarborough was sitting i -front of the siphon -recorder in th Instrument Rooni of the cable sttrtio at Ribereira Grande. The faint whir per of electrical apparatus was roun him, and the afternoon mist of the Az • ores had crept into, the room and. chill ed the air. He had been on duty fo nearly eight hours, but though he wa tried, he was barely conscious of th fact; for the strain of watching for message, expected but long delayed had braced his nerves and driven away all thought of fatigue. EC A EXCITiNG PRESENT-DAY c -DAY ROpV A. BY WEATHERBY C{1 SNEY said Scarborough. "Enormous issues tr are being decided, and the news nay e . come at any minute, and I don't be- tt' leve you're even interested!" - "Right. I'm not," Scott answered d cheerfully. "Don't care for politics. - Don't messes stand 'em, you see, leo.i't - fathom What there is to wee v about." r' "A European war is generally court- s ed a pretty important thing," : aid e Searborough dryly. a' "Oh. yes, if it comes off! But it won't Let's talk of something inter esting. Going to the circus?" "What circus?' he asked. The message for which Scarborougl was watching meant peace or wai amongst the nations of the world. For international polities had reached a crisis. A certain diplomatic "note" had been presented, and the answer was expected hourly. If the issue was peace, the public would probably never know that there had been a crisis at all. But the servants of the great cable companies neces- sarily have greater and earlier know- ledge than the rest of mankind; and it is by no means the fact, as many sup- pose, that the most important news always passes through their bands in unintelligible cipher. Diplomacy is a shy monster, hunting by tortuous paths, and loves to shroud its tracks in obscurity; but sometimes even diplomats speak out, and when they do, their words are apt to be momen- tous. In every Chancellary of the world anxious men were waiting for the an- swerwhich an Imperial courier was bearing post haste to the court of St. James's. Scarborough glanced for the fiftieth time at the ribbon of paper which came from the siphon -recorder, and saw that it registered a plain straight line. Nothing was passing over the cable just now. He dropped his chin on his hand, and stared at the instrument as though by staring he could force the news from it. There was no hint of impatience in the attitude or move- ment, rather of a strong patience that would be likely to win its way in life by meeting adversity with a square front, and then calmly wearing it down, He was about twenty-five. The lines on his face were deep for a pian of his years; bat they were lines grav- en by character, not by experience— , by a grave habit of thought, rather than by any knowledge of suffering in the past. He looked like a man who night take life hardly, because he would shrink none of its responsibili- ties; who would fight, if he had to fight, bravely and victoriously; but who, as yet had not been called upon to show the grit that was in him. When he smiled which was often —! • the lines vanished, and showed the face of a strong, good-humored lsoy. But though his nerves were tense with excitement now, he had not been able to infect with his own eagerness i the man who was on duty with him.: A luxuriously elaborate yawn from a wicker chair behind him, echoed round the walls of the Instrument Room, and caused the quick smile to show itself on Scarborough's face. Scott, the man in the chair, was supposed to be sitar -!I mg his watch; but he was one of those who take life easily, and his method was to read a French novel in a big chair until Scarborough should give' s him the word that the instruments r were talking. Then he would riser slowly, stretch himself, and take his l n share of the work. "What a phlematic beggar you are," a r "There you are!" said Scott triump- • ar.tly. '`You're just as ignorant as I am, in your own way. My ignorance embraces European politics—an ad- mitedly unsavory mudle; yours con- eerns the things that are taking place under your nose. What circus? Val B Montague's American Circus Com- bination, of course. The whole island of San Miguel is placarded with it— pictures of beautiful ladies on bare- backed steeds, balancing at extraordi- nary angles. It's the most exciting thing that has been in the Azores for ' a year. I went across to Ponta Del- lgada to see it yesterday." "Oh? God show?" asked.Scarbor- 1 ough carelessly, keeping his gaze fixed on the ribbon of paper which came from the siphon -recorder. "Pretty fair," said Scott whose no - f vel had bored him, and made him want to talk, even though he failed to in- terest. "There's a nice little girl who ' calls herself Mademoiselle Monde de la Mar, and does the bareback business —not like the pictures, but decently enough; and there's a very English - looking cowboy who shoots glass balls and things with very moderate succes. 'Tisn't a bad show though, on the whole, and Val B Montagu is beauti i ful." "What does.he do?" Scarborough asked next. "Nothing in the ring. But he runs the whole show none -the -less and, pre- vents breaches of the peace amongst his troupe. No easy job that, I gath- ered. They've been touring the Atlan- tic Islands and the West Coast of Af- rica for a year and a half in a two - hundred -ton :schooner, and the clown hasn't murdered the ring -master yr though Val B. seems to be very much inclined to offer odds that he will very soon. Fine fellow, Val B! Took my whisky and soda with the air of con- ferring a favor on me, and was gra- ciously pleased to say that he would come over here on Tuesday to. have dinner with me, if his children—that's what he calls the troupe — did not need him. I fancy he's nervous about the clown and the ring -master." "What's the trouble between them?" asked Scarborough, more for the sake of continuing the conversation than because he cared. "Is it Mademoiselle Mona?" "No,i' said Scott. "I understood that it was merely a case of professional jealousy. They've been boxed up to- gether on that schooner for eighteen months, you see, with nothing to do at sea except quarrel, and nothing to in- terest thein in the show they give hen they're ashore. Come over with me to -night, and make Val B Monts- Y gue's acquaintance." Scarborough did not answer. A Ines - age was coming through at last. The ibbon of paper from the siphon- ecord showed an irregular, wavyline ow, and he read off the message in the hills and valleys of the Morse code s the instrument passed it through. "Page, Chinelas, Ribeira Grande, Danger—circus." That was all. It was obviously not the message for which he was waiting nor was it, at first sight either inter esting or intelligible, unless one hap- pened to know the code by which those two warts-• 'danger—circus" wereto be inter 1. Scarborough did' not know t.ha code; and yet, because of the person to whom it was addressed, the cablegram interested him pro- 'foundly. Had he been able to foresee the difference which its arrival would presently make to him, his interest 'would perhaps have been even great= er. "Anything?" asked Scott listlessly. ! "Private message, in code," said Scarborough, and Scott returned to his novel with a grunt. Scarborough sent the messa j through to the Post Office for delive and then rose and went to the wind w 11, Through a break in the mist he cou see about a mile away a white-washe , house, built in the shelter of two gre masses of grey volcanic stone •th • ,er 's ubtle Charm about the delicious i favour of This flavour is unique and never found hi cheap, ordinary teas,. Let us mail you a sample. lack, Mixed or Green go ious diplomat to sleep more easily ty that night than he had slept for o week. Then he turned to Scott. "Our watch is over," he said. "1 a can hear Mason and Devitt coming to at relieve us. You are going to the c r at ens? projected curiously from the side of green hill. The two rocks were calle in Portugese, As Chinelas,—the sli a "Yes. Let me book a seat for you?" d "Yes, please; afternoon perform- ance to -morrow, two seats." Pers, from a resemblance, not how ever very striking, which they we supposed to bear to a pair of rathe down -at -the -heel slippers. The whit washed house 'took its name fro them. It had been in the possesion, for th last two years of an Englishman, wh having come to the Azores as an in- valid seeking for health, had not found that for which he sought, but had stayed, because the place had suited him. His daughter kept house for him at the Chinelas; and in this fact was the explanation of Scarborough's in- terest in the message which had just passed through his hands. Scott broke suddenly into. his medi tations. "You haven't said whether you'll g with me to the circus to -night," he •re marked. He did not believe in leavin matters of real importance unsettled Scarborough started. The cable gram had coupled the word circus an danger. A coincidence of course. I was surely impossible that it should be anything else, and yet Scarborough felt a sudden misgiving. Was danger corning to Elsa' Page ? Oh, nonsense! code messages often combine words curiously. It was nothing but a rathei. queer coincidence. "Can't," he said. "I've promised to play chess with Mr. Page to -night." . Scott pursed up his lips, and looked at his friend doubtfully. "Oh, ah! mill At the ChineIas!" he remarked slowly. "Do you care much for chess?" • "Loathe it!" admitted Scarborough, with a laugh. "So I thought. And yet you play at the Chinelas every second night or so, But risky, isn't it?" "What do you mean?" "Nothing. You know your own bus- iness best, of course. Miss Page is a nice girl; pretty too, but—" he broke off. "But what?" demanded Scar- borough„ with a quick flash of anger. "Do you criticize her?" "No," said Scott. "I believe she's as nice a girl as you think she is. And that's giving her high praise, you now." Scarborough waited a moment, and hen said: "Well? Go on." "1 don't like her father," said Scott, "Two seats!" echoed Scott. "For re yourself and —" r "Miss Page," said Scarborough, and e_ Scott laughed shortly, (To be continued.) e A BURNING GHAT IN SUSSEX 0 Weird Scenes at a Hindu Burial in England. So many incredible things are hap- pening in this extraordinary time, says the London Times, that we be- ' come accustomed to take the incred- ible for granted. But the spectacle of Hindu burial rites performed on the Sussex Downs is one that must stir the most jaded sense of wonder. There has been a death in the Kit- ! ochener Military Hospital at Brighton. - .The dead man was not a combatant, g' but one of the personnel; he was a • . Brahman, and of the Arya Samaj. Before the body was put into the d 1 big, black motor hearse a photo - t 1 grapher was allowed to come and ! take a picture of the dead man's features, to be sent to his relatives in far India. Over the body was stretched a pall of printed cretonne, bright flowers on a dark ground; and . white chrysanthemums were strewn lavishly upon it. Through the pretty village of Patcham this strange funeral pro cession went, until the road changed tom steep track; and before long the , motors left the track and took their heavy way over the soft turf in a fold of the downs. Soon there came into sight a very ugly little screen and shelter of corrugated iron. To t find its parallel you would have to journey thousands of miles. For that was�•..the burning ghat of our Hindu troops. The vehicle stopped; the mourners clambered out of the ambulances, and with much clattering and gesticulat- ing took the body from the hearse. In time (for all the ceremony was conducted with an odd mixture of cheerful disorder, strict ritual and ,absorbed devotion) the procession be- gan to climb the hill, the mourners chanting as they went: "Ram Ram o satya hai: Om ka nam satya hal"— Vedic verses that tell of the eternal b and single truth of the name. The gates of the ghat Were unlock cd, and we passed inside a litle in closure, where stood three platform of cement. One of those was care- fully swept and sprinkled with water; and thus purified, it was heaped with blocks of wood for the burning. The body, under its bright pall, lay out- side on the grassy slope; when the preparations had been. made the mourners gathered round it. They sprinkled it with cleansing water; the face was exposed again, and honey and ghee, and minute portions of the eight metals, and other ritual things were passed between the pale lips Then the mourners gathered round in a semicircle; and, squatting on ' their haunches, with their hands fold- ed and their eyes downcast, they chanted their singsong chants, now , shrill, now soft, now a murmur, and then a shout. At last the time for the burning and the ceremony of haven that ac- companies it. The ritual demands the right use of four kinds of things: odoriferous things, nutritive things, Some had been welting ghee, some preparing the raisins, the almonds and other food. When all was ready the body was laid on the pyre and over it and around it were heaped more blocks of wood and a great deal of straw. Then the attendants light- ed crystals of camphor in a spoon on the end of a long pole, and when they were flaming well poured them on the centre of the pyre. A flame leaped up. Some one lighted a torch made of straw and camphor at the flame and applied it to the four corners; melted ghee was poured here and there; and soon the whole pyre was ablaze. And while it burned, the mourners kept tossing upon it little pinches of ghee mixed with grains and fruits, scent, saffron and spices. When the friends of the dead man go back, they will find nothing but a few fragments of bones and heap of ashes. And some of those ashes hey will take back to the hospital, where they will put them into a little wooden coffer that bears the dead man's name. In time, the coffer will be sent to his family in India, and from the Sussex Downs his ashes will return home, to be sprinkled on the breast of some Indian stream. RUM R CERTAIN TO COME BACK NEWSPAPER MAN SA`rf3 SIZE WILL WIN OVER GERMANY. People Ready to Make Ain./ Sacrifice For Race and. Religion. Stanley Washburn, the .tl.mtriean newspaper correspondent, who had extraordinary opportunities to observe the Russian army in action, has just returned hRu ome, convinced that s- - sian ideals and force of character - will win over German materialisms Mr. Washburn has lived with the huge Russian troop body for a year and a half; has during that time been with every active Russian army save one, including two-thirds of the ar- ious army corps and has been present ab over forty battles, Ile lived close to Grand Duke Nicholas while the lat- ter was commander in chief and talk- ed to the Czar after he assumed first command. ' Russia started in to do what was cut out for her to do," said Mr. Wash- burn, "bub she didn't know what she was going to get. Her industrial system was not prepared for the long hammering. "In five or six months she was out of everything she needed. She is now pulling up; in the spring she will have the best equipped army she has ever had. Character Praised. • "I've been with the Rueslans in any number of retreats and evacuations. Those are the circumstances under which you test the real character of men, not under victorious circum- stances. I watched the troops. They !lacked ammunition; supplies failed; losses were tremendous. But never was thele any demand for peace without victory, never any thought of it. There are two fundamentals in the character of the Russians, loyalty to their religion and loyalty to their race, the Slay. They fight for Russia and then they fight for the Czar." Grand Duke's Leaving. Mr Washburn was asked- what brought about the reorganization of the Russian army. ` "You mean the Grand Duke's leav- in?" he asked. "That wars a cul- mination of a lot of things. One, that the Czar is sentimental. He wanted to go to the front himself. He wanted to do that at' first, but it didn't seem advisable. After the army was beaten back and back he felt that his place was at the army's head. "Then came a definite reason. Af- ter Warsaw fell there came an in- sidious propaganda for a separate peace for Russia; perhaps it was fostered by Germans. Anyway the rumor spread. It was getting dan- gerous because it might get back to the army, where, of course, it would be demoralizing to the troops. So the Czar went to the front and took his little boy to show the people that he staked his dynasty. on Russian success. "The Czar is an intelligent man," he said. "You hear many strange things about. him over here, deroga- tory things. But he is an intelligent man and a sincere man. He is more intelligent than the Grand'Duke, but he hasn't the `punch' that the `Grand Duke has." with decision. • "Confound you, did she ever ask you o?" "She will ask you to, if he becomes our father-in-law," was the retort. And you won't be able to do it grace- fully. The man's a wroung-un, and you know it as well as I do." Fdwardsburg Spread the Bread with 'Crown Brand' Corn Syrup and the children's craving for sweets will be completely satisfied. 33read and 'Crown Braced' form a perfectly balanced food—rich in the elements that go to build up sturdy, healthy children. 'Crown ' w rand' rn Syrup is so economical and so good, that it is little wonder that trillions of pounds are eaten every year in the homes of Canada. 'Crown Brand '--the children's favorite—is ecinallet good for all cooking purposes and candy making. '1.1.11Y 11/11:I7 e" is a pure white Corry Syrup, Ito/ .w,ir•onounred.fri Jlavor�as'Crown Brand',. You 97r•rayArVer t. ASK YouA GIROOt (i--IN2,6I.,,10AND20,TINS' The Canada Starch Co. Limited, Montreal Manufacturers of the fatuous trdtv ous ardahttr,t Brands' 29 'ai!I iI] I[I III! illc Nag op //il 'I°1111 I IIS //JY���//% Ol�/�7 x/107//.•(l�/,G'Y;( ,07117//, . I know nothing against sum„ said carborough hotly "nor do you.” Scott nodded calmly. "That's true" admitted "nothing definite that is. ut like you I've spent odd half hours his company; not as many as you ve but enough to make me back y opinion with perfect confidence. man who shakes hands in the way does for one thing can't possibly straight. But don't lose your tent- s, old man, The daughter isn't the they, and I'll admit that it's none my business in any ease. To change e subject—look at the recorder here's something coming over, isn't ere?" Scarborough went to the instrument rid read the message aloud: "Courier arrived in London this orning with important despatches om Berlin. It is officially announced at His Imperial Majesty will be pr'e- nt in the Hohenzollern during Cowes eek and that the Meteor will be tered for the Principal race." "Rather cryptic!" said Scott: hat does it mean in plaid Eng - h7" "It means," said Scarborough. "that Imperial Majesty has thought it udent to climb doWn, ants that there not going to be a European war ter all," He sat down at the table and sop' to its destination this message ich seemed to speak only. of sport' t which would cause many an aux- he B in ha m A he be pe fa of th T th a fr th se w en if lis his pr is of on wh btu A good reputation goes lame if it is not lived up to. Her Father --"You've been calling n my daughter for some time, young man. Why don't you come down to usiness?" Suitor—"Very well, how much are you going to leave her!" ---GOOD D li G ST I O N —Mother Seigel's Syrup corrects and stimulates When your digestion is faulty, weakness and '`� the digestive organs, end banishes the many pain are certain and disease is Invited. 'I ailments which arise from Indigestion, , FOR�� 40YEARS THE STANDARD REMEDY F0 ]l� s - STOMACH ,; AND LIV E R TIIOUBLE f �, s •h rv,h ,: 44 ;, y d,. tr w rol 1 \�' • i a At all Druggists, or direct on receipt of price, SOc, and $1.60. The targe bottle a anthn three times as much as the smaller. A..1. WIitrn & Co. LIMITED, Craig Street West Montreal. COLT TISTEPR You can prevent this loathsome tlsease from running through your stable and cure all the colts suffering with it when you begin the treatment. No matter how young, SPDXVS is safe to use on any colt, It is wonderful how it) prevents all distempers, no matter how co1Ls or horses at any age are "exposed." All good druggists and turf goods• houses and manufacturers sell SPORN'S .by the bottle or dozen. SPOSI<i'S MEDXrAr• CO., Chom3ate and EH,oteri- olog'iste, Goshen, Xnd., U.S,41. GALVANIEZED STEEL PASS GALVANIZED PANS for sap belling are clean and Sanitary. Made up of heavy steel in any size desired. WO also supply wagon tanks and special barrels for hauling sap, Ask your Hardware or Implement Dealer about the Wayne or write ns direct. Our Catalogue No. 7, will give you full in- formation and prices' on Wayne Galvanized Tanks for every purpose, Wayne Oil Tank and Pulp Company, Limited 6010 TECUMSEH STREET, ": WOODSTOCK, ONTARIO. `1 QUICK AID FOR MAIMED MEN British Hospitals Furnish Up -to -Date Artificial Limbs Despite the loss of arms ;ind legs maimed soldiers are turned out by British. military hospitals with little delay and so well provided \with no - to -date artificial limbs that they are able to return to civilian life alien without any external sign of j he mut- ilation they have undergone in the War. The type of artificial arm provided enables the wearer to bend the wrist and elbow, pick up articles with the fingers, and in a usrprisingly shot t 1 time make his way into the ranks of civilian workers. Men who have lost both feet by frostbite in the trenches are able to walk again, I Roehampton House posses stes ils own workshops, where exports nnea- I sure disabled sten for the arlifical Limbs, where the necessary Mines are learefuily adjusted and where the sol- dier is patiently instructed in tho mechanism and ,,he uses of the artifi- cial memoers. No man s permitted ito lave Roe- hampton until suitable employment has been found for him, Alimbors Have already been placed as garden- ers, engineers, club stewards and in various trades. The .unskilled Sold ler is provided with elementary instri:c- tion, electrical work, woodworking, et c. while clerical occupations are' repre- sented by classes in stonrprap),v, bookkeeping and left hand writing. And a Word to the ethex fsi is wasted.