The
Omaha Illustrated Bee
NUMBER 314.
Entered Second Class at Omaha Postofilce Published Weekly by The Bee Publishing Co. Subscription, 2.50 Fer Year.
JUNE 18, 1905.
, rrHSl (adventure! fGift
w lifflip r ..:
1 tLgmnaieurimckaaiaa! 1 J L
of the Emperor
By E. W. HORNUNO.
Author of "The Shadow of the Rope," "The Rogue's March,"
"A Bride from the Bush," "Stingaree Stories," "Dead Men Tell No
Tales," etc .
(Copyright 1899 iy cnsries scrioners sons.)
7TH STORY
... OUT NEXT
WEEK J
imMmmwmnmT iuti tit i ii -rtismim.tiii - - ' - i
Sixth Raffles Story
WHEN the king of the Cannibal Islands made faces at
Queen Victoria, and a European monarch set the
cables tingling with his compliment on the exploit
the Indignation In England was not less than the
surprise, for the thing waa not so common a it haa
ince become. But when it transpired that a gift of peculiar
significance waa to follow the congratulations, to give them weight,
the Inference prevailed that the white potentate and the black
bad taken simultaneous leave of their fourteen sense. For the
gift was a pearl of price unparalleled, picked aforetime by British
cutlasses from a Polynesian setting and presented by British roy
alty to the sovereign who seized this opportunity of restoring it
to its original possessor.
The incident would have been a godsend to the press a few
weeks later. Even in June there were leaders, letters, large head
lines, leaded type, the Daily Chronicle devoting half Ita literary page
to a charming drawing of the island capital, which the new Pall
Mall, In a leading article, headed by a pun, advised the government
to blow to flinders. I was myself driving a poor but not dishonest
quill at the time, and the topic of the hour goaded me Into satiric
verse, which obtained a better place than anything I had yet turned
wut I had let my flat In town and taken Inexpensive quarters at
Thames Dltton on the plea of a disinterested passion for the river.
"First-rate, old boy!" said Raffles (who must needs come and
see me there), lying back in the boat while I sculled and steered.
"I suppose they pay you pretty well for these, eh?"
-"Not a penny."
"Nonsense, Bunny I I thought they paid bo well? Give them
time and youll get your check."
"Oh, no, I shan't," said I, gloomily. "I've got to be content
with the honor of getting in; the editor wrote to eay so in so many
words," I added. But I gave the gentleman hla distinguished
name.
"You don't mean to say you've written for payment, already?"
No; it was the last thing I had intended to admit But I had
done It. The murder was out; there waa no sense in further con
cealment. I had written for my money because I really needed
it; if ho must know, I waa cursedly hard up Raffles nodded, as
though he knew already. I warmed to my woes. It waa no easy
matter to keep your end up as a raw free lance of letters; for my
part I was afraid I wrote neither well enough nor ill enough for
success. I suffered from a persistene ineffectual feeling after
style. Verse I could manage, but it did not pay. To personal
paragraphs and the baser journalism I could not and would not
stoop.
Raffles nodded again, this time with a smile that stayed In hla
eyes as he leaned back watching me. I knew that he was think
ing of other, things I had stooped to, and I thought I knew what he
was going to eay. Ha had said It before so often; he was sure to
say it again. I had my answer ready, but evidently he was tired of
asking the same question. His lids fell, he took the paper he bad
dropped, and I sculled the length of the old red wall of Ilampton Court
before he spoke again.
" "And they gave yon nothing for these! My dear Bunny, they're
capital, not only qua verses, but for crystallizing your subject and
putting It In a nutshell. Certainly you've taught me more about it
than I knew before. But la it really worth 50.000 a single pearl V
-A. hundred, I believe; but that wouldn't scan."
"A hundred thousand pounds 1" said Raffles with his eyes shut.
And again I made certain what was coming, but again I was mis
taken. "If ifa worth all that," he cried at last, "there would be no
getting rid of it at all; lt'a not like a diamond that you can subdivide.
But, I beg your pardon. Bunny. I waa forgetting!"
And we said no more about the emperor's gift, for pride thrives
on an empty pocket, and no privation would have drawn from ma
the proposal which I had expected Raffles to make. My expectation
had been half a hope, though I only knew It now. But neither did
we touch again on what Raffles proteased to have forgotten my
"apoatacy," my "lapse into virtue," as he had been pleased to call it
We were both a little silent, a little constrained, each preoccupied
.(W Via illAlinhttf T f .I'D. mAntll. .iTIfA 0 TA O T
saw him off toward 11 o ciock mat sunaay mgnt, i ranciea it was ror
more months that wa were saying goodby.
But as we waited for the train I saw those clear ayes peering at
me under the station lamps, and when I met their glance Raffles shook
bis bead.
"You don't look well on It, Bunny," said he. T never did believe
In this Thames valley. You want a change of air."
I wished I might get it
A "What yon really want is a sea voyage."
, V . . t x a r... r i - . ,
L4 -Ana a winter at bu aiuriiz, or uu you recomoieua pannes or
Ita all very well, A. Jn but yon forget what I told you about
my funds."
"I forget nothing. I merely dont want -to hurt your feelings.
But look here, a sea voyage you shall have. I want a change myself,
and you shall coma with ma as my guest We'll spend July in the
Mediterranean."
"But you're playing cricket-
"Hang the cricket!"
"Well, I thought you meant it-"
"Of course I meant It Will you comer
"Like a sbot-lf yon go."
And I shook his band and waved mine In farewell, with the per
fectly good-humored conviction that I should hear no more of the mat
ter. It waa a paaslng thought no more, no. less. I soon wished It
were more; that week found me wishing myself out of England for
good and all. I waa making nothing. I could but subsist on the
difference between the rent I paid for my flat and the rent at
which I had sublet It furnished, for the season. And the season
waa near Its and and creditors awaited me in town. Was it pos
sible to be entirely honest? I had run no bills when I had money
in my pocket, and the more downright dishonesty aeemed to ma
the leu ignoble.
But from Raffles of course I heard nothing mora; a week went
by, and half another week; then late on the second Wednesday
night I found a telegram from him at my lodgings, after seeking
him vainly In town and dining with desperation at the solitary
club to which I still belonged.
"Arrange to leave Waterloo by North German Lloyd special,"
he wired, "0:23 a. m. Monday next will meet you Southampton
aboard Uhlan with tickats; am writing."
And write be did, a light-hearted letter enough, but full of
serious solicitude for ma and for my health and prospects a letter
almost touching In the light of our past relations, in the twilight
of their complete rupture. He said he had booked two berths to
Naples, that wa were bound for Capri, which waa clearly the island
of the lotos eaters, that wa would bask there together "and for a
..while forget" It was a charming letter. I had never seen Italy;
the privilege of Initiation should be his. No mistake was greater
than to deem it an impossible country for the summer. The
bay of Naples was never so divine, and he wrote of 'faery lands
I forlorn," aa though the poetry sprang unbidden to his pen. . To
I come back to earth and prose, I might think it unpatriotic of him
1 to chooae a German boat, but on no other line did you receive such
attention and accommodation for your money. There was a hint
of better reasons. Raffles wrote, as he had telegraphed, from
Bremen; and I gathered that the personal use of some little Influ
ence with the authorities there had resulted in a material reduction
In out fares.
THERE WAS A. J. RAFFLES TALKING TO A SLIP OF A GIRL.
Imagine my excitement and delight! I managed to pay what I
owed at Thames Dltton, to squeeze a small editor for a very small
check and my tailors for one more flannel suit I remember that I
broke my last sovereign to get a box of Sullivan's cigarettes for Raffles
to smoke on the voyage. But my heart was aa light-aa my- purse
on the Monday morning, the fairest morning of an unfair summer,
when the special whirled me through the sunshine to the sea.
tender awaited us at Southampton. Raffles was not on board,
nor did I really look for him till we reached the liner's side. And
then I looked In vain. Ills face was not among tha many that fringed
the rail; his hand was not of the few that waved to friends. I climbed
aboard in a sudden heaviness. I had no ticket nor the money to pay
for one. I did not even know the number of my room. My heart waa
in my mouth aa I waylaid a steward and asked if a Mr. Raffles waa
on board. Thank heaven he was! But where? The man did not
know, was plainly on some other errand, and a-huntlng I must go.
But there was no sign of him on the promenade deck and none below
In the saloon; the smoking room was empty but for a little German
with a red mustache twisted Into bis eyes; nor was Raffles in his own
cabin, whither I Inquired my way In desperation, but where the sight
of his own name on the baggage was certainly a further reassurance.
Why he himself kept in the background, however, I could not con
ceive, and only sinister reasons would suggest themselves In ex
planation. "So there yon arel I've been looking for yon all over the shlpl"
Despite the graven prohibition I had tried the bridge as a lost
resort and there Indeed was A. J. Raffles seated on a skylight and
leaning over one of the officers' long chairs, In which reclined a girl
In a white drill coat and skirt a slip of a girl, with a pole skin, dark
hair and rather remarkable eyes. So much I noted as he rose and
quickly turned; thereupon I could think of nothing but the swift
grimace which preceded a start of well-felgned astonishment
"Why, Bunny?" cried Raffles. "Where have you sprung from?
I stammmered something as ha pinched my hand.
"And you are coming in this ship? And to Naples, too? Well,
upon my word! Miss Werner, may I introduce him?"
And be did so without a blush, describing ma as an old school
fellow whom he had not seen for months, with willful circumstance
and gratuitous detail that filled ma at once with confusion, suspicion
and revolt I felt myself blushing for us both, and I did not care.
My address utterly deserted me, and I made no effort to recover It
to carry the thing off. All I would do was to mumble such words as
Raffles actually put in my mouth, and that I doubt not with a thor
oughly evil grace. '
"So you saw my name In tha list of passengers and came In search
of me? Good old Bunny! I say, though, I wish you'd share my cabin.
I've got a beauty on the promenade deck, but they wouldn't promise to
keep me by myself. We ought to see about it before they shove In
some alien. In any case we shall have to get out of this." ,
For quartermaster had entered the wheel house, and even while
we had been speaking the pilot had taken possession of the bridge;
as we descended the tender left us with flying handkerchiefs and shrill
goodbye, and as We bowed to Miss Werner on the promenade deck
there came a deep, slow throbbing tinder foot and our voyage had
begun.
It did not begin pleasantly between Raffles and me. On deck he
had overborne my stubborn perplexity by dint of a forced though
forceful Joviality; in his cabin the gloves were oil.
"You idiot" be snarled, "you've given ma away agalnl
"How have I given you away?"
I Ignored the separate insult in bis last word.
"How? I should have thought any clod could see that X meant
ns to meet by chance!"
"After taking both tickets yourself?"
"They know nothing about that on board; besides, I hadn't de
cided when I took the tickets.
"Then you should have let ma know when yon did, decide. Yon
lay your plans and never say a word, and expect me to tumble to
them by light of nature. How waa I to know you had anything on?"
I had turned the tables with some effect Rallies almost hung
his bead. -
"The fact Is, Bunny, I didn't mean yon to know. Yoo you'va
grown such a pious rabbit in your old age!"
My nickname and his tone went far to mollify me; other things
went further, but I had much to forgive him stllL
"If yon were afraid of writing," I pursued, "it was your busi
ness to give me the tip- the moment I set foot on board. I would
have taken it all right I am not so virtuous as all that"
Was It my imagination or did Raffles look slightly ashamed? If
so it was for the first and last time in all the years I knew him; nor
can I swear to it even now.
"That," said he, "was the very thing I meant to do to lie In wait
In my room and get you as you passed. But"
"You were better engaged?"
"Say otherwise."
"Tha charming Miss Werner?"
"She is quite charming."
"Most Australian girls are," said L
"now did you know she was one?" ha cried. '
"I beard her speak."
"Brute!", said Raffles, laughing; "she has no mora twang than yon
have. Her people ara German, she has been to school in Dresden
and is on ber way out alone." i
"Money?" I Inquired.
"Confound you!" he said, and, thongn lie was laugh-
post r KYXie w.
RAFFLES AND I LEANED TOGETHER OVER JUG SHIP'S RAIL,
ing, I thought' it was a point at which the subject
might be changed. ,
"Well," I said, "it wasn't for Miss Werner you wanted ns t
play Btrangers, was ltl You have soma deeper game than that,
eh?" .
"I suppose I have."
"Then badnt you better tell ma what it Is?
Raffles treated me to the old, cautious scrutiny that I knew so
well; the very familiarity of it, after all these months, set ma smil
ing In a way that might have reassured him, for dimly already.
divined his enterprise.
"It won't send you oil in tha pilot's boat, Bunny 7
"Not quite." ,
"Then you remember the pearl you wrote the
I did not wait for him to finish, the sentence.
"You've got It!" I cried, my face on fir, tor I caught sight at
it that moment in the state room mlrroa , . . . .
Raffles seemed taken aback. ' 1 . '
"Not yet" said he; "but I mean to bar ft before we get to
Naples."
"Is It on board?"
"Yes."
"But how where who's got it?"
A little German officer, a whipper snapper, with perpendicular
mustaches." t
"I saw him in the smoke room
"That's the chap; he's always there, Herr Captain Wilhelm von
Heumann, if you look in the list Well, he's the special envoy of the
emperor, and he's taking the pearl out with him."
"Yon found this out In Bremen?"
"No, in Berlin, from a newspaper man I know there. I'm
ashamed to tell you. Bunny, that I went there on purpose!"
I burst out laughing.
"You needn't bo ashamed. Yon are doing the very thing I wna
rather hoping yoo, ware going to propose the other day on the
river."
"Yon were hoping It?" said Raffles, wttb his eyes wide open.
, Indeed, it was his turn to show surprise and mine to be much more
ashamed than I felt
"Yes," I answered, ! was quite keen on the Idea, but I wasn't
going to propose It"
"Yet you would have listened to me the other day?" ' -
Certainly, I would, and I told him so without reserve; not
brasenly, you understand; not even now with the gusto of a man
who savors such an adventure for Its own sake, but doggedly, de
fiantly, through my teeth, as one who had tried to live honestly,
and failed. And while I was about It I told hlromuch mora.
Eloquently enough, I dare say, I gave him chapter and verse of my
hopeless struggle, my inevitable defeat; for hopeless and Inevitable
they were to a man with my record, even though that record was
written in one's own souL It was the old story of the thief trying
to turn honest man; the thing was against nature, and there was an
end of it
Raffles entirely disagreed with me. He shook his head over myt
conventional view. Human nature was a board of checkers; why not
reconcile one's self to alternate black and white? ' Why desire to be
all one thing or the other, like our forefathers on the stage or in the
old-fashioned fiction? For his part he enjoyed himself on all squares
of tha board and liked the light better for the shade. My conclusion
he considered absurd.
"But you err In good company, Bunny, for all the cheap moralists
who preach tjja same twaddle: old Virgil was frtie first and worst
offender of you alL I back myself to climb out of Avernus any day I
like, and sooner or later I shall climb out for good. I suppose I can't
very well turn myself Into a limited liability company. But I could
retire and settle down and live blamelessly ever after. I'm not sure
that It conldnt be done on this pearl alone!"
"Then yon don't still think It too remarkable to sell V
"We might take a fishery and haul it up with smaller fry. It
wwild come after months of Ill-luck, Jnst as we were going to sell the
echooner; by Jove, It would be the talk of the Pacific!"
"Well, we've got to get it first Is this Von Whafs-hls-name a
formidable cuss?"
"More so than he looks; and he has the cheek of the devil!"
As he spoke a white drill skirt fluttered past the open state room
door, and I canght a glimpse of an upturned mustache beyond.
"But is he the chap we have to deal with? Won't the pearl be in
the purser's keeping?"
Raffles stood at the door, frowning out upon the Solent, but for an
tnBtant he turned to me with a sniff.
"My good fellow, do you suppose the whole ship's company knows
there's a gem like that aboard? You said It waa worth 100,000; in
Berlin they say it's prtcelesa I doubt If the skipper himself knows
that Von Heumann has It on him."
"And he has?" '
"Must have."
"Then we have only htm to deal with?"
He answered me without a word. Something white was flutter
tag past once more, and Raffles, stepping forth, made the promenaders
three.
IL ' . S
I do not ask to set foot aboard a finer steamship than the TJhlaa
of the Norddeutscher Lloyd, to meet a kindlier gentleman than its then
commander, or better fellows than his officers. This much at least
let me have the grace to admit I hated the voyage. It was no fault
of anybody connected with the ship; it was no fault of the weather
which was monotonously Ideal Not even in my own heart did the
reason reside; conscience and I were divorced at last and the decree
made absolute. With my scruples had fled all fear, and I was ready to
revel between brighi skies snd sparklina- sea with th iiffht.h-
detachment of Raffles himself. It was Raffles himself who pre
vented me, but not Raffles alone. It was Raffles and that colonial
minx on her way home from school.
What ha could see In her-but that begs the question. Of
course he saw no more than I did, but to annoy me, or perhaps to
punish me for my long defection, he must turn his back on me
and devote himself to this chit from Southampton to the Mediter
ranean. They were always together. It was too absurd. After
breakfast they would begin and go on until 11 or 12 at night; there
was no Intervening hour at which you might not hear her nasal
laugh, or his quiet voice talking soft nonsense Into her ear. Of
course It was nonsense! Is It conceivable that a man like Raffles,
with his knowledge of the world and his experience of women (a
side of his character upon which I have purposely never touched,
for it deserves another volume) Is it credible, I ask, that such a
man could find anything but nonsense to talk by the day together
to a giddy young schoolgirl? I would not be unfair for the world.
I think I have admitted that the young person had points. Her
eyes, I suppose, were really fine, and certainly the shape of the
little brown face was charming, so far as mere contour can charm.
I admit also more audacity than I cared about with enviable
health, mettle and vitality. I may not have occasion to report any
of this young lady's speeches (they would scarcely bear it), and am
therefore the more anxious to describe her without injustice. I
confess to some little prejudice airnlnst her. I resented her suc
cess with Raffles, of whom, In consequence, I saw Jess and less
each day. It Is a mean thing to have to confess, but there must
have been something not unlike Jealousy rankling within me.
Jealousy there was in another quarter crude, rampant undig
nified Jealousy. Captain Von Heumann would curl his mustaches
Into twin spires, shoot his white cuffs over his rings and stare at