The East Huron Gazette, 1893-03-02, Page 2r
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A Remarkable Oriental
Experience.
A THRILLING STORY OF CHINESE TREACHERY.
CHAPTER V.
tt t
to escape was that all the cold Chinese in- I .
stincts dt his foes centered in those feelings 1
of intensified cruelty which few but the
hers Chinese ase
know.
unit
Well was it for Norris that he lay as one
dead for hours to come, insensible, immov-
able, and ignorant of that death which, but
for his uneonscionsness, had assuredly been
his. And yet not well ; for death indeed
would have been preferable to the life in
store.
The discovery of the body which lay in
theinnercourt seemed to throw a shuddering
touch upon everything within the temple,
for the man who had committed the deed
still lived !
To Norris his captors had been Chinamen.
Strange as it may seem, he had never in his
solitary confinement cast a thought upon
their priest -like attributes. To his own
mind he had called them Chinamen, no
more. They had been his foes as a nation,
not as a priestly brotherhood ; and though
he had known that they were sanctified, he
hal not for a moment looked upon them as
different in that respect from others of their
race, nor in his plans of escape had he taken
.account of the awful results which might
follow the desecration of the temple by the
murder of one of its priests.
Had Norris been in possession of his sens-
es, been in fact as a living man when the
body of the priest was found, it is more than
a probability that in the impulse of the mo-
ment his life at the hands of those who had
recaptured him might have been taken as
atonement for his deed, for the frenzy which
spread over one and all within the temple
walls almost cried aloud in wild thirst for
blood and revenge upon the man who had
done this thing. But the momentary im-
pulse had passed, and now a more hideous
fate was in reserve. Blood alone cannot
atone for blood, life is not repaid by life,
when the frenzied souls of Chinese priests
behold the corpse of a brother who has been
killed, and look upon a temple whose holy
light is suddenly obscured.
Death for death !"--not so. Life for
death !—a long never-ending lite, a life
whose hell is worse than death—this alone
is recompense for such a deed.
The immediate result of Norris s a emp
curred. No doubt the swallow had been
taken to him, or at least the paper which
had been wrapped to its leg. And this
paper, bearing the words "eleventh
swal-
ow"would have been sufficient to convey
y
to him - the knowledge that there was a
chance, however dim, that the English na-
tion beyond the seas might hear of the cap-
tivity of William Norris and send to save
him from his foes.
If this was so, and.if this man still com-
manded Norris's life to be spared, it seem-
ed partly probable that he might do so be-
cause he was a great matt, and that it would
not suit him to be tbe possible and remote
means of a disagreement which might from
a little thing swell gradually into a war be-
tween the English and the Chinese.
For were Norris to be cruelly killed in
the temple of Confucius, there was t'he pos-
sibility that some others coming to his res-
cue might meet with similar treatment., and
the first death might grow into a massacre
in the after time.
Such was the conjecture slowly formed
by Norris—a conjecture which, wild though
it was in many respects, yet had a grain of
truth ; for although it was ifficult at this
time to fathom the full motives which actu-
ated his enemies, it true that besides
that cruelty of which Norris was till now
unaware, and which had in store for him a
life of hideousness, therewasanother under-
lying design—something which came to the
priests from a higher hand still, according
with their wishes in this command
" Torture, but do not kill ! "
Norris fell to wondering vaguely upon his
captivity one morning, subsequent to his al-
most complete restoration to health and in-
deed, feeling as he now did that he was
daily regaining his strength, he once more
cast about in his thoughts for some means
1 -by which he might still escape.
This had become a much more difficult
question thau formerly, for his ancle was,
as has been said, encircled by a chain,
which confined his motions to a limited cir-
cuit, and at times became the source of ex-
treme irritation and mental pain. In addi-
tion to this, he was now at no time alone,
for a guard was constantly in his presence
-not always the same man, it is true, but
nevertheless, a preventive of the faintest
motion which might create the suspicion of
a renewed attempt at freedom. Upon the
morning in question, his dreams resulted in
little save in an ultimate wandering into a
land of fancy, in which he lived his youth
again beneath the blessed English skies in
the dear old homeland, free to wander
where he might please:
His musings were interrupted by the
entry of three of the priests, accompanied
by a man of filthier garb, whom Norris re-
garded with some curiosity, wondering
wherefore this man had been brought.
The Chinamen approached him, and
bound him with ropes. He could make no
resistance, or, rather, he knew that it was
useless to do so, and submitted quietly.
They had already bound his Leet, when it
flashed across him that now, indeed, he
faced the terrors which his mind had part-
ly painted in a ghastly dream.
For the first moment or two he had yielded,
thinking only that to be further bound cculd
matter little ; but now, as he thought upon
his helplessness if thus bound, he straggled
with all his strength, crying out aloud
whilst the men forced him down and held
him to the ground by the force of numbers
against one. Then, all this strength, recall-
ed for a moment only, left him, and he lay
gasping, and would have been unable to
move even without his bonds.
The man whom he noticed had now come
forward, kmfe in hand. Norris shut his
eyes, believing that his last hour had come,
and waiting for the first touch of the blade.
A few seconds passed, and then he knew
the truth—that the man bad not come to
torture him, but to deprive him of his hair ;
and, unable to protest, he lay still, whilst,
commencing at the forehead and working
slowly back, tha Chinese barber cut away
his hair, bit by bit, shaving each portion of
his head closely, whilst the priests stood by
to watch.
In China there is a custom—an ordeal
which has to he borne by those who elect
to join certain priesthoods ; it is an ordeal.
of brutal barbarism—an ordeal which makes
one shudder even to name. It consists in
the pouring of a drop or two of molten lead
upon the brow or scalp of the priest.
But one might wonder what connection
had this with William Norris, or with the
barber who was at work upon his head ?
Only this—that the priests of the Temple
of Confucius knew of the unspeakable nat-
The injury sustained by Norris, when he
fell forward upon his face, was of a nature
most serious, and, after many hours of un-
consciousness, he recovered only to an inter-
mittent state, resembling brain fever, and
during this time the priests waited Iike wild
beasts who would play with their prey be -
fere striking it to the earth.
A torture is not a torture if it kill, for
then of what use is it ? If a man is weak
and ill, so that he may go mad, and so that
he do not feel to the full the horrors through
which he pass, because death lies in front, it
is no use to torture—it is better to wait. For
the truest and deepest agony of mind which
can be inflicted upon man is that which
drives hiss so far, no further—near to death,
so that he may almost clutch it, and yet re-
moved from it so that he clutch in vain—
near to madness—ay, on the very brink of
the precipice, and yet saved, as the brain
totters, so that it may continue to totter
and yet never fall.
Many days passed, and the Chinese still
waited ; and Norris, who had now been
tossing through the ravings of weary hours
upon a rough skin or two, which was all his
bed, began as by a miracle to recover his
strength ; and it may be that as the priests
fed him during this time, so they also pray-
ed that he might live, for gradually the
crisis passed, and he returned to life to find
that he lay ander constant watch within
one of the smaller temple buildings, away
from the terrible heat of the midday sun.
As he grew stronger, an awful thirst took
possession of him—a thirst that seemed un-
quenchable, and he would seize and drink
every drop of water which was brouffht to
him, as soon as it was placed upon the
ground,
It was now that the first of that series of
tortures to which the man was destined to
be subjected was inflicted upon him. Be-
cause he thirsted, it was decreed that he
should continue to thirst ; and the water
given to him was only the more decreased
in quantity, the more he endeavored to
signal to his attendant that water was
priceless to him now.
Then at length came the hour when he
understood, when there was no more water
given to him, and the revelation of the truth
threw him back again upon the illness from
which he was but commencing to recover.
And thus it came that weeks intervened
between Norris's attempt at escape and the n. are of the agony of the molten lead ; and,
day of fiendish upon c rueltruly bywhic hiscommenced ca to s knowing of no torture more intense than
a . this, they bad decided to make the Eug-
and to to wipe awayelust
the blot oof desecration Lishman conform to the priestlyrule,and
and to satisfy the lust for cruelty which is
innate to the Chinese. suffer upon his shaven head, during mo•
In the mean time winter was approach- ments of a wanton cruelty which might
e
ing, and Norris in his convalescent state moltenll ametal ken thate ea should fad front il aneir d eatves, t
looked forward with a leaden heart to the his human flash.
long months to come, for he seemed to lose As yet Norris was totally ignorant of the
hope of freedom with the commencement of significance of that to which he was compel'.
the winter. Summer he might never see
again. ed to submit. His first feeling, when he
The closing of the port of Tientsin for the
winter months, as he heard it was closed
with ice, must mean the closing of the door
of hope—a door which will stand open in
face of many terrible storms. Tientsin
closed, Norris felt, he scarcely knew why,
that his last chance was gone. Had the
swallows borne his messages to any purpose;
or had one and all of these been given to
the air in vain ?
The birds were all that he had to trust to
now ; the ten swallows, liberated with his
messages securely bound, where were they?
If, indeed one of the ten came into some
friendly hand far away, it might be too
late, for who would travel from , Shanghai
to Pekin in the cold winter months? Who
would face the perishing cold, and the
journey, at such a time ?
Then he would wonder for what reason
he had been spared—he who had killed a
Chinaman ; and, again, for what reason was
he allowed now to gain strength as he lay
chained by his ankle to the ground ?
He feared the most when he cast, his
thoughts upon the apparent clemency of
his foes. Why had the want of water now
ceased a Why was he again treated as in
the days before, save only that his ankle
was firmly hound ? He set himself to the
endeavor of fathoming the motives for the
life he was allowed to lead.
What interest was it to the Chinese that
he should live, unless his money were at
issue-? What had saved him from a cruel
death long ere now? He could guess little
until he remembered suddenly that the
swallow -the eleventh of the birds—had
been left beneath his coat on the morning
of his attempted escape !
And there he fancied might lie the truth.
This man, whoever he was, beyond the
temple walls, `• who had promised him his
liberty. and by thatsought to extort a large
spit, lett n :cforined of- all that had oc-
recognized that the shaving of his head was
the present object of his captors, was natur-
ally a combination of fear and hatred, and
then gradually a cold callousness, partaking
of the nature of utter despair, carne over
him. But, indeed, the sensations which
filled him became, as it were, dimmed, and
deprived of all acuteness for the time being,
owing to an excess of fatigue, which had
prostrated his energies—an immediate re-
lapse upon that full possession of his man-
hood's strength, which had come to him for
a little time whilst he had straggled vainly
with those who sought to bind him to the
ground.
The Chinese barber is not gifted with
singular rapidity in his work ; rather he
devotes his attention to the complete remov
al of every appearance of a hair upon a sin-
gle spot, and to an extreme exactitude as he
proceeds, which, whilst rendering his work.
at once minute and complete, adds a singu-
lar degree of tediousness to his operations.
After watching his progress for a con
siderable time, the three priests retired,
leaving the barber to complete his work at
his leisure ; and this he' continued to do
apparently to his own thorough satisfaction
for a very protracted period.
At the expiration of that time Norris was
perfectly bald, not a .hair left upon his
head ; for not even that part where the -pig-
tail is allowed to grow had been left un-
touched ; only his mustache and his eye-
brows and a rough, unkempt growth which
had come upon his cheeks during his confine-
ment, remained to testify to the fact that
his baldness was not nature's freak.
The barber bound a cloth tightly round
his skail, and then left him, 'still bound,
and now recovered so far from his fatigue
as to be able to reflect upon what the de-
privation of his hair must mean to him, and
to be fully conscious of hisaching thoughts.
Shortly his, captors returned and undid
his bonds, and tor the rest of the day he was,
as he had been for many an hour past, free
to move within a little space—free to eat
and drink, but kept beyond this by the
chain which bound his ankle to the ground.
To Norris thought itself had become of
that gnawing kind which seems to eat away
the soul ; but he took his meals, neverthe-
less, and at night he slept as he had learned
to sleep—a strange half -waking sleep, of
constaiit visions and dreams that bring no
rest.
Another day came, and Norris, whose con-
jectures es recurne d ever to the loss which he
had sustained, and who looked upon it as e
form of mental torture only, and as imposed
with that intent and nothing beyond, was
sitting filled with bitterness and thoughts
made evil by the cruelty of fate, when the
three Chinamen reappeared,
Binding his hands upon his back, and
thus rendering him powerless, whilst he
offered no resistance, knowing how futile
was such waste of strength, they then re-
leased the chain about his ankle, and con-
veyed to him by signs that he must follow
them where they led. He did so, wonder-
ing inwardly as to what the meaning of
such proceedings could be ; and thus, with
these men he re-entered, for the first time,
the court where he had formerly been con-
fined, and where were now congregated a
great number of priests around a small fire,
which had been lit upon the ground. Upon
this fire had been placed an iron vessel, not
far from which was an upright post, which
had been fixed in the earth deeply and
firmly, and around which the Chinamen
stood.
To this post Norris was secured,
and he recognized, as the bands
were drawn' tight, that the pot upon
the fire contained something of the nature
of metal, which was melted, therein. That
some awful event was about to occur he re-
alized, and, looking round upon the faces
crowding near to him, he seemed to read
something of his doom, and his senses seem-
ed to forsake him for a few seconds, whilst
the consciousness of the unknown to come
descended upon his soul.
The cloth which had bound his head had
been removed, and the feeling of cold im-
mediately resulting from the exposure of
his hairless skin recalled him to himself,
and from that moment every action was in-
tensified to such a degree that the realism
of every detail of what succeeded was writ-
ten in fire upon his brain.
He watched ole of the throng stir the
molten mixture with a long and thin piece
of metal, and then another ra se the pot
from the fire and approachi with it
till he stood within a foot from him.
A cry of terrible agony burst from him
in a voice surely not his own :
" Great God in heaven, have mercy upon
me, God !" And his voice rose to the blue
heavens, and perhaps the cry was heard far
away !
But the world did not change because of
the agony of a single man, and the China-
man, whose hand was raised so that the heat
of the hideous pot smote upon Norris's face,
only spoke two words in answer to the man
who stood by his side—the command to
proceed with the completion of what was
decreed to be done.
In obedience, the other reached out and
took the end of that which the metal had
A FEW UURIOUS WAGERS.
Romance of the Betting Book.
One of the wildest and most audacious
bets ever offered was that of a physician,
named Asotepiades, who wagered that he
•would never be ill in his whole life. Absurd
as it may seem he gained his bet, though of
course he was unable to enjoy it. He lived
to an advanced age, and met his death sud-
denly in consequence of a fall downstairs.
In the year 1634 the Parliament of Dole
in France was called\ upon to decide an ex-
traordinary wager between two inhabitants
of Pasmes. One of the two had agreed that
if the other would pay him 24 francs in hand
he would furnish him with a certain num-
ber of grains of millet in proportion to the
number of children who should be born
within a certain extent of country, and be
baptised, during one year. For the first
child he was to furnish one grain, two for
the second, four for the third, and so on ;
always doubling the number of grains for
each successive birth. The number of
children born was 66, and the proportion of
grains to -be supplied was so enormous that
the party bound by the bet demanded the
cancelling of the contract as being founded
upon an impracticable condition. The
court decided after having made the neces-
sary calculation, that the wager was natur-
ally impossible to be fulfilled, and it conse-
quently decreed that the party who had re-
ceived the 24f on condition of an event which
he declared himself unable to meet, should
return that sum to his opponent and should
pay an additional sum of 24f, which was the
only chance of loss incurred by the winner
if the millet had been furnished.
The Count de Saillant made a bet with
the Prince de Conde that he would ride
twice from the gate of St Denis to Chantilly
at full gallop and return to his starting
place in the space of six hours, the distance
between the two points being thirty miles.
The stake was 10,000 crowns, and the bets
.on both sides exceeded a million of francs.
The Count equipped himself with atight belt
round the waist and his body was swathed
with strips of flannel, while he carried a
leaden bullet in his mouth. Relays of
horses were stationed on the road; every.
thing that could, in the slightest manner,
obstruct the course was carefully removed ;
and a clock was fixed to the gate of St
Denis to mark the precise instant of start-
ing and return. The Count accomplished
his task with eighteen minutes to spare, in
which time he offered to ride to Versailles,
a further distance of eleven miles.
The year 1725 was extremely wet, and a
banker named Bulliot, noticing that it rain-
ed on St. Gervais' (the French St. Swithin)
Day, offered to support the popular supersti-
tion by a bet that it would be wet for forty
consecutive days. Several persons took
him, and the wager was reduced to writing
in these terms ;—" If, dating from St. Ger-
vais' Day, it rains more or -less during forty
days successively, Bultiot will be considered
to have gained ; if it cease to rain for only
one day during that time Bulliot has lost."
On these terms Bulliot betted against
all comers, and on that day he deposited a
very large sum of money, for besides what
he had lodged in the hands of the
umpires, he took gold -headed canes,
snuff-boxes, and jewellery of every kind
been stirred—a long spoon— a spoon so whose value was appraised, and against
small as to contain only a single drop of the
molten liquid.
This Noris saw whilst his blood-shoteyese
started from his sockets, and then the
drop fell upon his head, and the air was
filled with an awful noise ; and a second
time the spoon fulfilled his function and
again a third, and the world blackened, and
hell seemed to stretch out its arms to re-
ceive him, and Norris knew no more.
For weeks succeeding the man with the
shaven head was little else than mad. They
had set hint free again in the court yard,
where the dear swallows had used to be.
But it was winter now, and the swallows
had gone away ; and the man who had
called to them to aid him in his
sore distress was in a worse state now,
for the torture had, for the time being,
unhinged his mind.
He fed as nature called him to feed, eat
ing as though without knowledge that he
did so ; and the rest of the day he spent,
sornetimes crawling about the court and
sometimes wildly clawing with his nails
in a vain attempt to scale the walls, whim-
pering all" he time like no human being,
but rather like a poor wounded dog.
Was the debt discharged now? Was
the blot of desecration washed from the
temple walls ? There was no one to ask
that question ; and, if there had been, the
answer might have been," No."
By night he crept into a species of wood-
en hut or kennel which they had put up
for him, and where he had warm furs ; and
his clothing, too, was thicker now, for they
had dressed him in Chinese garb, heavy and
warm, and suited to the chill of the sever-
ity of a winter in Pekin.
And it was this severity, this cold, which
the man did not seem to feel, which proved
his salvation. In the midsummer heat
body and soul might indeed have borne
what had been, but more probably would
have succumbed in the condition of semi -
weakness in which the man had been ; but
now he was saved from fever, and perhaps
from worse than fever, by the clear air and
invigorating cold.
Thus it was with William Norris in
the Temple of Confucius, during the
winter of his captivity—a winter in
which a settled look, as of the hunted
creature, gradually replaced the fur-
rows of pain and the light as of madness
upon his face ; whilst a strange crop of new
white hair grew in bristles upon his shaven
head to conceal and cover, as though in pity,
the spots of the once molten -head.
(TO BE CONTINIIED,)
Russian Sentinel.
The sternest ideal of military duty is full
filled by the Russian soldier. An illustration
is given by the author of " A Journey to
Mount Ararat." On leaving an Armenian
village, the writer passed a beautiful green
valley Watered by a river that flowed be-
tween strong embankments. -
His Armenian servant told him that in
April, 1888, after a great storm, the river
rose in such a flood that the persons living
near the bank fled for their lives.
There was a powder -magazine near the
river. The sentinel who was guarding it
prepared to retreat, but the officers who
were watr,hing the scene from a mountain
forbade him to leave his post. For an hour
the poor fellow struggled against the rising
waters, clinging desperately to the lock of
the magazine door.
The water rose to his chin, and when he
was literally within an inch of death the
flood ceased. He was decorated by the
government with the ribbon of some honor-
ary order in recognition of his heroic obedi-
ence.
Sixteen thousand cases of butter, weigh-
ing in all 500 tons, were shipped from Mel-
bourne for London last week. -
which he staked money. The affair caused
great excitement at the time, and as the
chances were decidedly against Bulliot
many people were eager to get on the good
thing. At last the banker, having deposited
all 'his cash, was forced to give the stake-
holder notes and bills of exchange, and as
his credit was well established, he was
enabled to issue paper to the amount of
fifty thousand crowns. It will readily be
conceived that the hero of this wager be-
came quite fashionable. Wherever he ap-
peared he attracted attention. But, unfor-
tunately, Saint Gervais was not true to his
reputation, and it ceased raining before the
expiration of the alloted time. Btilliot was
ruined, and so completely that he could not
honour the notes and bills of exchange which
he had given. The holders tried to enforce
payment, and as the existing law did not
recognize debts of this character, they en-
deavoured to pass themselves off as bona
fide creditors who had taken Bulliot's notes
for other considerations than the wager, and
that they ouuht to be paid or compounded
for ; but the assignees made it appear by
the dates and other evidence that all these
notes formed part of the wager. They
were, therefore, nonsuited, and the debts
declared irrecoverable.
Previous to the passing of the Betting
Acts, actions used to be allowed in England,
and Lord Mansfield tried several. One vas
where two spendthrift young noblemen
wagered which of their two fathers would
die first and the verdict was given for Lord
March.
Another famous case was that of the
Chevalier d'Eon, the point at issue being
whether the Chevalier, who, though a mili-
tary officer, was of effeminate appearance,
was a man ora woman. The case was heard
before Lord Mansfield, and the verdict given
that he was a woman. Although the ver -
diet was afterwards set aside on legal
grounds, it was allowed to settle many other
bets laid on the same question. According
to a contemporary authority, this decision
was instrumental in retaining in this coun-
try no less a sum than £75,050, which would
otherwise have been transmitted to Paris.
The Chevalier, after declaring that she (or
he) had no interest whatever in these bets
upon the question of sex, left England for
France, and assuming female attire, enjoyed
a pension from the French Government, for
having been long a spy of Louis XV., till
the breaking out of the Revolution in 1790.
He then went to Eagland, and being in great
distress lived with a lady of reputation as
her companion, but on his death in 1810 he
was found, on post-mortem examination, to
be a man
Some fifty years ago, John Sloman, the
actor, who was then manager of the five
theatres comprised in what was called the
Kent circuit, made a bet of a hundred
pounds that he would act the part of Tom in
the interlude of Intrigue, and sing a co.nic
song at three of his theatres on the same
night between the hours of seven and eleven.
The theatres selected were those of Canter-
bury, Rochester, and Maidstone, between
which places there was at that time no rail-
way communication. On the appointed
evening the curtain rose at the Canterbury
house exactly at seven ; Sloman went
through his part and sang a comic song, then
jumped into a postchaise, and made for
Rochester as fast as four good horses could
take him, covering the distance—twenty-
six miles—in an hour and forty minutes,
changing horses at Sittingbourne. Part of
the company had bee --a sent on in advance,
and they were ready to commence directly
the manager arrived. The interlude was
played, the song sung, and Sloman posted to
Maidstone, a dipptance ofeight miles in forty-
four minutes. Here he was welcomed by a
house crammed from pit to gallery and ac-
complished his task with fifteen minutes to
spare.
The silver wedding of the King and
Queen of Italy will be celebrated April 22.
A WONDROUS SEA STORY -
One Billow Sweeps a Sailor From His Skip,
Another Brings Hina Back.
After a terrific combat- with winds and
waves the British steamship British Prince
came into New York tbe other day with
the story of a rescue more startling than
anything Clark Russell ever dared to write.
The British Prince came from Mediterranean
ports. As soon as she got outside the
Straits of Gibraltar she encountered the
e
fierce gales which have been recently mak-
ing such havoc on the North Atlantic. She
is not a large steamer, and though stanch
and well found, ; she had a hard .time of it,
the waves breaking over her decks and
pounding her back as she stttuggled to ad-
vance. Still, inch by inch she struggled
on, until her coal began to give out and she
ran into St. Michael's, in the Azores, for a
fresh supply. After leaving St. -Michael's
she met the sante kind of weetherase before
,
and had it up to Sandy Hook. When 460-
miles east by south of Sandy Hook the
steamer sighted what Captain Innis, who
commands the British Prince, thought was
a pilot boat. A heavy south-west gale was
blowing,and atremendous sea was running.
The supposed pilot boat was headed south
and had not a stitch of canvas up. She was
apparently deserted. The pilot commis-
sioners say there is no pilot boat in that
region from New York, and none at sea for
which any fear is felt. Still Captain Innis
thinks it was a pilot boat.
It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon when
the supposed pilot boat was sighted. Three
hours later, as the captain was eating his
supper, and doing so with considerable
difficulty on account of the pounding and
the rolling of the ship, and thesecond officer
was on the bridge, a great wave, which the
first officer says was " like a cliff," came
over the bows, carrying away everything
before it. The Sweedish boatswain of the
ship, Charles Lastadins, was son what is
called the "fly bridge," a structure extend-
ing out in front of the real bridge. He saw
the cliff of water falling on him and grasped
a stanchion. Stanchion and man were
swept away like leaves before a hurricane.
The second officer saw the boatswain rise
on the top of a wave close on the starboard
hand. It was bright starlight, so the
struggling man could be seen as he was
swept along on the great surging billows,
and he was shouting for help,
Thomas Jones is the second officer's name
and Mr. Jones made ane of the greatest
casts of any kind ever read in the seafaring
tales. He grabbed a life -buoy which was
hanging handy on the bridge, and threw it
out into the waves with such precision that
it settled down over the boatswain's head,
just as the people at Coney Island threw
rings over cheap canes in the booths of the
" fakirs " in summer time. The man pulled
it down under his arms, and though the
water was so intensely cold that it numbed
him, struggled bravely for life. The cap-
tain, hearing the cry of " man overboard,"
ran on deck and ordered the ship backed
down toward where the boatswain could be
seen, rising on the top of the giant waves
in the starlight,and driving tothe northeast.
The steamer backed down past the man,
trying to get near him, and then a great
wave swept him around the bows to the
front side of the ship. Then he was swept
away into the night and Captain Innis lost
sight of him.
But the captain beard a loud cry from
him, and noting a star in tha direction
from which the cry came he steered by that
star and soon saw him again bobbing like a
cork on the foaming crest of the starlit
waves. The steamer ran toward the strug-
gling man and then close to him, lir til he
was just abeam close aboard. A great wave
reared itself with the boatswain on its
crest and dashed him against the vessel's
rail. He grasped it as a drowning man
would, and the wave, receding, left him
there. The man was dazed, as well as he
might be and clung so tightly to the rail
that it took five of his shipmates to loosen
his hold and carry him below. Hot water, -
hot whisky and hot cloths soon brought
him about all right, and when the British
Prince arrived here yesterday he was none
the worse for his remarkable adventure;
ENGLAND'S REPLY TO FRANCE -
An Explanation or the Course She intends
to Pursue in Egypt.
A Paris despatch says :—The French press
continues to display deep indignaticn re-
garding the attitude assumed by England
in Egypt. The Debats says that the action
of England in Egypt is a direct provocation
to France, and that Great Britain must ex-
plain her intentions. The Figaro says that
France ought to retaliate for England's
course by occupying Tangiers.
The Marquis of Dufferin, British Ambas-
sador, has delivered to the French Govern-
ment a note as to the increase of the British
garrison in Egypt. He assures the Govern-
ment that the increase does not imply any
modification of previous assurances in re-
gard to the condition of the British occu-
pation, or any change in the policy hereto-
fore pursued by Great Britain.
M. Waddington, French Ambassador in
London, has een instructed to ask the Earl
of Rosebery, British Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, to specify the incidents in
Egypt which have caused Great Britain to
take the recent extraordinary steps.
A London despatch to the Exchange Tele-
graph Company says that France has asked
the British Government for an explanation
as to the increase of the British army of oc-
cupation in Egypt.
In answer to an inquiry by cable about
the present political troubles in Egypt, E.
Paladina & Co. received this morning the
following cable answer from their corre-
spondent in Alexandria :
" No serious apprehension felt here ; uni-
fied Egyptian bonds over 93, and cotton
market firm and unchanged." .
RAILROADING ON THE ICE.
Tracks Laid Every iVluter Across the Fro-
zen St. Lawrence.
The communications between the two
shores of the St. Lawrence River at Mont-
real are made, as is known, by the means o
the Victoria Tubular Bridge, constructed
some thirty five years ago, which is the
longest in the world, the metallic span being
6,500 feet long.
But from this point to the Atlantic, for a
distance of 1,009 miles, there is no other
bridge and all the railroads established on
both sides the St. Lawrence have necessari-
ly to cross it. The company of the Gran 1
Trunk railroad, which built it, levies a rigl: t
of way toll of $10 per car and eight cents
per passenger. •
To avoid payment of these moneys the S.
E. railroad company bad the idea, some ten
years ago, of constructing in winter a com-
munication between the two shores by
means of a railroad established on the ice.
Every winter the work is done over again.
and it amply pays for the outlay, The
length of this ice road is about two miles,
between Hochelaga and Longueil.
The roadway is easily built. The track
leaves the main track parallel to the shore,
then curves gradually in such e manner as
to be perpendicular to it, and, then, again,
before it strikes the other shore, it curves
anew so as to become nearly parallel to the
opposite side, and then it is connected with
the main track on this shore.
CANADA'S PE TILE PLAIN'S,
A Glowing Account From the North West.
A Clergyman of it; tendon Reports w . the
Condition of the Country—They Had
Good Crops Last Bear -The Cities and
Towns Are Growing and Every -where
Are Most Gratifying Signs ofPro,per-
ity.
Ever since the opening up pf the fertile
plains of Manitoba and the North-west ter-
ritories by the construction of the Canadian
Pacific Railway the prowess of the settlers
in the west has been watched with the
deepest interest by the remainder of the
Dominion. All recognized the great part
which the Prairie Province and the great
Lone land were to play in the development
and growth of Canada, and all accordingly
followed eagerly the struggles and disap-
pointments of the earlier settlers, due large•
ly to inexperience, and rejoiced as each sum
ceeding year proved that when scientific-
ally farmed the country was one of the finest
agricultural districts in the world. The
other day a Toronto Reporter met Rev.
James Woodsworth of Brandon superin-
tendent of Methodist missions in Manitoba
and the North-west who is at present en-
gaged in lecturing on mission work in the
districts of Ontario. Mr. \Voodsworth in
the course of 'his duties as superintendent,
travels continually all over Manitoba
and the North-west from Port Arthur to
the Rocky mountains, and has, consequent-
ly, a grand opportunity of observing the
condition of the country and its people. He
gives an eminently satisfactory
ACCOUNT_Oy THE PROGRESS MADE
during the, past.year. When asked about
the general 'condition of Manitoba, Mr.
Woodsworeh said that the country was
without doubt preggressing not only steadily,
but rapidly. Last -year had been a goad one,
the wheat croplaving been large and the
samples fair. The low price of wheat had,
of course, militated to a considerable extent
against the farmers, but still they could not
complain, as they had done fairly well. The
immigration, too, had been oonsiderable,aud
the prospects for the coming year were bet-
ter still- The Manitoba Government were
giving every attention to the immigration
question, and it was probable that there
would lie a Large influx of settlers from the
United States, as well as from other places.
Everywhere there were signs of steady im-
provement, not only in the condition of the
farmer, bat also in the growth of the cities
and towns. Winnipeg, he said, was improv-
ing fast, and had completely recovered from
the depression which so long hung over it.
Trade there was good, and there was a fair
movement in real estate. Brandon also had
grown considerably during the last year, not
only in population, but in the number and
character of its buildings. Over $500,000
was expended in the construction of these.
The hospital which was erected by the city
of Brandon, with the assistauce of private
enterprise, cost over $20,000 and was a mag-
nificent brick building. Besides this there
were numbers of fine business blocks and
scores of private residences erected. tie in-
stanced what was called the Syndicate block
a three-storey brick building, with 130 feet
frontage.
IN THE NEEPAWA DISTRICT,
along the Manitoba and North-western line
of railway, the year had been one of mark-
ed prosperity. The country was beautiful-
ly situated, frost being almost unknown
and the soil most fertile. The town of
Neepawa was growing rapidly and the
country around it improving every day.
Further up the line the conditions for grain
growing were not so good, but those who
had turned their attention to stock -raising
were findingit profitable.
Mr. Woodsworth spoke most enthusiasti-
cally of a large settlement about 50 miles
from the terminus of the line of railroad
called Yorkton. This, he said, was a large
and prosperous settlement, composed princi-
pally
OF EMIGRANTS FROM DAKOTA,
the majority of whom were Canadians, who,
emigrating from Ontario to Dakota years
ago, were only too thankful to be back on
Canadian soil again. They were settled on
a beautiful section ofcountry, and were
highly elated with their prospects, though,
of course, they had returned much poorer
than when first they went to the States.
Southern Manitoba, or the Glenboro district
was also doing well, and though there were
no very large towns, the small ones were
growing steadily. The Canadian Pacific
railway could not be praised too highly,
continued Mr. Woodsworth, for the part
they had played in the development of the
country. The branch lines had done more
than anything else to open up the splendid
districts lying away from the main track.
The Souris line. which runs from Brandon
south-west through the Souris coal fields,
had been completed last year as far. as
Esteven, the centre of the mining district,
and there had been considerable settlement
on along the line as far as it went. Esteven
would, moreover, be a divisional part of the
Soo line, and the prospects of immediate
settlement in the neighboring districts were
exceedingly bright. During the year 50
miles of the Great North-west Central rail-
way, which runs from Brandon in a north-
westerly direction, had been built and were
now in operation. Another extension which
had been the greatest benefit to the south-
ern portions of Manitoba, was the junction
of the southern branches of the Canadian
Pacific railway, which terminate at Glen-
boro and Deloraine, with the Brandon and
Souris branch.
THE GREAT NORTH -\V EST.
Turning to the territories, Mr. Woods -
worth said, that on the whole they had had
a tairly prosperous year. The population,
of course, was not so large as in Manitoba,
but there was every indication that the
country would settle up rapidly. Emigrants
were fast filling up the tracts of lana at the
foot of the Rocky mountains and in the
Saskatchewan valley, especially in the Al-
berta and Edmonton districts. Calgary, he
said, was growing steadily, though not very
rapidly, while Edmonton was going steadily
ahead. Regina also was improving and the
farmers around there had done very well in
the last two years. The Canadian Pacific
railway had filled a long felt want by the
construction of a branch line from Calgary
to Fort Macleod.
In conclusion Mr. Woodsworth said that
he thoughtthat all had the utmost confidence
in the future of the country.
Several large cargoes of raw cotton growl.
in Russian Central Asia were recently
Thipped at Odessa to German ports. The
Russians are sanguine that there will be a
vigorous development of the cotton -growing
'ndustry there in the near fie. re. The
luality of the cotton so far, hoe'. ver, hag
been inferior.
" C:ood-bye, Lad
" Good-bye, Sift
Sir Peter Foleyh
of deat'ti on the w
but he made Inc o
ance over the sled;
and took himself ou
the same air.as tho•
most amusitn sera
he five-o'clock r � ca tea.
n•
" Have you told
looking mal met Si
est physician of to
dor that ran fro
Court.
Ves, I have toi
" All
"All and everyti
" Hew did she
her?" And the lit
had been elevated
long and dangerous
attendant, half-tur
sician in the dire:
just quitned.
But Sir Peter Fol
on Dr. Wilson's ar
to Lady «'ynstani
wonderfully well.
that I half -suspect
Sir Peter looked
panion's face as he
IVynstanley a happ
er—love her hush
Dr. Wilson face
answered : " Sir Pe
to describe the feel
and Lady \Vynsta
They adore one ano
common talk in th
death will kill his 1
" Humph ! And
so quietly," mutter
Then he said aloud
with me to the st
directions I have st
The two doctors
that had brought
from Wynford stati
" Tell the coachm
to catch the 4.10 tr
dine with Lord Ros
Then, with the ai
his duty, and who e
a few hours later, th
Luxuriously against
ham -back, and proe
hints to his country
A quarter of au h
in the London train
over the door, biddi
" Then its no use
" None whateve
Take care, doctor ;
" And Pin to let 1
wants ?" said Dr. W.
head ftom the carri
his voice as the trai
" Anything and e
no difference,' was
As Dr. Wilson dr
his dull, professiona
eised at the though
lay before him,
cast for a part.
portant one, truly ;
ence on the stage w
would act that agon
presage their eternal
love -dream of two li
when one heart Wo
would break.
The little doctor's
than usual, and his
unaccustomed tears
the brougham at
rapidly down the 10
room that Sir Peter
ehort while back.
It was at the w
Court, and had been
Lady Wynstanley e
bride, to her husban
This afternoon it w
light of the settin
through the wide -op
glorious tide. Conlin
of the dimly-lit corr
light was perfectly b
the door softly baa
and blinked at the g
night -prowls had is
home in a bright su
A slight laug'
came from acros
boudoir, ]hal:-stud"
sun -blinded doctor's
wards a broad, loa
stream of the radia.
" A'.h, doctor, to
Ha, ha : you do lout
groping abou'_ I
strung ; but—but "
and clear, like the 1
er, a little lower—
darkness for me
That's what. Sir Pc:
Dr. Wil on Bowe
speak, for pity, as:.
sense of being shock
hint, and strangled t
His commonp:ace, L.
not fathom the der,
frail, fadi.;g woma:
coupe back to the
cope with hysteric-=,
bodily agonies. Hi"
of soothing plat:cud:
of sedative or stir
and he now found :1
the otih"r was reel ul
He was well
of Hodge or the stuia
his simple, nh ddle-c
ceived that a tine I.
hundred earls,' L
house, could be a -la:
ly-controlled nerves,
give way under the
upon them that
woman who had ev
gratified, who had
showered upon her.
was unassailable, a
might excuse a long
a one must cling to
must dread the imp=
awful unknown.
But the fine-strun
ly nurtured lady wer
metal, that neither i
shatter. They might
a tender touch, as a g
and sways at the ce
but, like the bridg
rigid and braced wh
of life came sweepin
And so, in the sho
.Wilson had with La
the physician wiio
patient who was cal
longing to escape a d
woman who was det
should take place.
gave him the welcor
" You must be bu
not forget, even if
your only patient
for bringing Sir Pet
he came—he has s
Suer-"
Stas beta out a whet
1
eenese -Wain