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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1899)
That Mysterious Major... ETHEL 1. SOETHAM »*/ xV CHAPTER IX. On the following evening I-ady How r<l and her niece, accompanied by the indefatigable Falkland, wore taking 1 little stroll along the terrace, when Major Brown appeared and handed a note to Evelyn. “The last delivery, and only one letter! Dear me, the postman Is treat ing na badly to-day!” exclaimed laidy Howard, with symptoms of astonish ment. "I have been expecting to hear from the boys. Their school breaks up on the twenty-ninth, and I was wanting to arrange about the trains. Why, Evelyn dear, whoever Is your correspondent? You look surprised,” she broke off suddenly. “Well, yes—1 am," said Miss Lutt rell, with a little nod, contracting her brows Into a distinct frown. “It Is from the bank; but what It means I have no idea. I cannot make head or tail of It." "From the bank?” repeated Lady Howard questionlngly. “Yea,” explained Evelyn. “They say that the enclosed check was presented at the bank this morning, but that they refused to cash It on the ground that only the initial of my second name was signed Instead of my name in full.” “Ah—I understand! It Is merely your own mistake. I suppose? You wrote the check in a hurry and for got how you usually sign your name.” “That must be it, of course,” mus ed Evelyn In a tone which, In spite of her words, sounded slightly doubt ful. “All the same, though”—with sudden decision—“I am perfectly cer tain that I have not written uny check for five hundred pounds!” “Five hundred pounds! My dear child, why did you not tell me that at once?” Lady Howard turned anx iously towards her niece. "Let me look at the check. Is that your sig the first time. “And, as one of my check hooks, upon which I had very foolishly written my name, ‘Evelyn C. Luttrell,’ was lost in the post last year, they said at the bank that for the future, as a preventive of forger ies, they would never cash any checks that were not signed with ‘Chantry’ in full.” “Then this check,” suggested Falk land in the same calm deliberate tones, is of course one of those which you lost last year?” “It must be, I suppose,” she return ed, gazing down In genuine astonish ment at the forged signature, which was so like, so alnrmingly like, her own that she could scarcely believe, despite the convincing "Five hundred pounds," that she had not really writ ten it herself. “And the finder has evidently considered It advisable to let some months pass before trying his experiment; only, now that I come to think of it”—Miss Luttrell paused, and, glancing up quickly as if for in spiration, encountered Falkland’s dark penetrating eyes fixed steadily upon her—“the checks I lost were blue—I know they were—whilst this one is pink, payable to order like those I am using now." It was undoubtedly rather an as tounding piece of news. Falkland look ed distinctly perturbed, whilst Brown examined the end of his cigar more intently than ever and tried to ap pear perfectly unimpressed. "Are you certain of that, Miss Lut trell?” The question came somewhat abruptly from Falkland. “Certain!” answered Evelyn decid edly. “But, if you like, I will fetch my check book; then you can see for yourself.” She Jumped up from her chair and turned to hurry ofT along the terrace, when, to her surprise, she found that "THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS,” HE BEGAN. nature? Oh, ridiculous! It ia the most glaring case I ever saw! Mr. Falkland—Major Brown"—In her agi tation her ladyship would have ap pealed to her bitterest enemy—"come and say what you think about it. It ia a forgery, of course!” A forgery! The word acted like magic upon the two men. Falkland, with his head almost burled in an evening newspaper and his whole thoughts occupied with the interesting “Beauchamp Case," instantly dropped the paper and stood perfectly im movable, looking from Lady Howard to Evelyn, from Evelyn to her aunt, whilst Brown, who had sauntered off to the edge of the terrace, started per ceptibly and grew white to the very lips. For a moment not a word was uttered. Everybody gazed in fasci nated Bllence at the thin slip of in nocent looking pink paper fluttering softly to and fro in her ladyship's Augers, and then it was Falkland who was the first to speak. "But the money? Five hundred pounds, did you say?” There was strange energy in his voice, a dash of feverish excitement in his manner. "The check has been cashed?” “Oh, dear no—certainly not! Luck ily for Evelyn, the flaw in her signa ture was discovered in time, so that no harm has been done.” “How very fortunate!” was the re ply, terse rather than jubilant. “And yet I hardly understand," came dubiously from the Major, who, from the moment the expression and alarm had come into his face, had stood, with his head bent, glaring fixed ly at the glowing ash of his cigar. "Of what does the flaw' consist?” "Of the merest trifle," answered Lady Howard readily. "It Is simply that my niece is always in the habit of signing her name in full—‘Evelyn Chantry Luttreli’—whereas in this case it is signed only ‘Evelyn C. Luttreli.' ” “Yes.” added Evelyn, speaking for Major Brown had turned likewise, and that consequently their paths both lay in the same direction. “This is a very serious business, Miss Luttrell," he began as he walk ed along by her side, going straight to the all-important object. “Yes; it is rather serious—at least, it might have been,” was Evelyn's philosophical rejoinder. “Anyhow, it is annoying; and of course some steps ought to be taken in the matter at once, or the same thing may be occurring again, only next time it will probably be your full name, instead of merely the initial.’’ “Yes; but, whatever wo do, it is quite hopeless expecting to succeed,” returned Evelyn, with a rueful shake of her head. That poor Sir Adrian Beauchamp has been offering his re ward for months in the hope of dis covering the man who has forged his name; but it has been perfectly use less. The only wise thing is to keep one’s check book safely under lock and key. After all, Mr. Falkland’s advice to me the other day was pret ty sensible.” “Yes—lock up your check book, by all means; but even locks and keys are not always proof against such vil lains as—the writer of that check. It is all very well, Miss Luttrell, but be cause he has not succeeded in robbing you of that five hundred pounds is no reason he should be allowed to go scot-free.” “Still how are we to trace him?” The Major shrugged his shoulders. “Well, your first and only chance of discovery would lie with an expert. The thing is”—h*e looked at her anx iously; notwithstanding the studied calmness of his manner, there was a strange inexplicable fear almost no ticeable beneath his tones—“will you trust that check to me? If so, I will send it straight up to town in the morn ing for the advice of one of the best men in the country.” “Could he find out anything, though, without hiving the least clue? You sec, we have not the faintest suspic ion as ta who It Is; we have no writ ing to show or anything of that sort,” observed Evelyn, with a rather doubt ful expression. Certainly there was weight In her worn s. “No—of course not,” returned Brown hurriedly; perhaps nobody realized the truth of her assertion more vividly than he. “But this expert that I know of is such a wonderfully clever man that, if anything can be found out, you may be quite sure that he will succeed.” “Oh—if you think there is even the smallest hope, try him, by all means! Anyhow, it is really the only thing that can bo done; and, if it fails”— Miss Luttrell laughed; she was evi dently not in the least sanguine—“we can but have recourse to our locks.” “At any rate, you will let my ex pert have a chance first? Thank you,' Miss Luttrell,” was the reply, ac companied by a glance so full of grat itude that, had his companion con ferred the greatest of favors upon him, it could scarcely have been re ceived with more apparent apprecia tion. “But what about the check? May I have it some time this evening? In order to lose- no time, I shall take it myself by the first train in the morn ing.” “Oh, yes—take it now, if you like! I shall be only too thankful to get rid of it. I cannot help thinking that there is something rather uncanny about it, and that as long as I have it in my possession the writer of it will be coming to haunt me. I only hope, though,” she added, as she hand ed the precious paper into the Ma jor's charge, "that he will not haunt you.” “No such luck, lam afraid. Forg ers are only horribly commonplace be ings at the best of times. But never say ‘Die,’ Miss Luttrell! We shall succeed—see if we don’t!” With these prophetic words the Ma jor raised his hat and went slowly on his way, whilst Evelyn, who was just on the point of entering Lady Howard’s room, paused and looked round quickly, her attention having been arrested by a crunching of the gravel and a shadow which had sud denly fallen across her path. It was Falkland. Evidently he must have followed almost immediately up on their footsteps; and, as Evelyn turned and surveyed him, she was in> stantly struck by the deathly white ness of his face. (To be contlnHed.) LASHED COOKING STOVE To the Engine's Pilot and ISallled the Custom Officials. New Orleans Times-Democrat: “Speaking of smuggling,” said an old time federal deputy, “I’ll tell you a curious little story. Shortly after the opening of one of the Mexican roads, never mind which, a locomotive engi neer got married to a native belle in the town at the lower end of his run and set up housekeeping. Among other things they neded was a cooking stove. lie could get exactly what they wanted on the American side, but the duty on hardware of that kind was ex tremely high, and he racked his brains to think of some way to slip it down to his home without paying the ex orbitant tariff. A cooking stove is about as easy to smuggle as a baby ele phant, but at last he struck a brilliant scheme, and on his next trip he simply lashed the thing to the pilot of his en gine. It looked as much out of place as a piano on top of a hearse, but the yardmen were conveniently blind, and he pulled out in triumph. When he stopped at the customs office the Mexi can officials stared at the stove in amazement, but they concluded at once that it was some new Yankee device in connection with the locomotive, and asked no questions for fear of betray ing their ignorance of up-to-date ma chinery. The consequence was that the engineer got his stove without paying a cent of duty. He always claimed that he was not guilty of smuggling because there was no concealment, and the Mexican guards themselves passed it without a word of protest.” An Idea About Money. Two men were recently looking at the new mint building, at Seventeenth and Spring Garden streets, and one ol them spoke of the fact that in the vaults are stored 65,000,000 silver dol lars. His companion made the state ment that he would be willing to un dertake the job of carrying the coin home In his pockets and hands if al lowed' to keep it. He claimed that he could readily do it in one year. His house is about one mile distant from the mint. The other man doubted his ability to carry out the contract, and they computed the matter, allowing 1C trips a day as a fair average. As about 20 coins would weight a pound it was agreed that 1,000 coins a trip would be the limit, thus giving a load of fifty pounds. This would make 65,000 trips, or at the rate specified it would take 6,500 days. The would-be coln-carrlei now has a better idea of the number represented by the figures and his a poorer opinion of his own guessiny abilities.—Philadelphia Record. John Brown'* Son. John Brown’s son, Jason, is living a hermit's life on the highest peak of the Santa Cruz mountains in Califor nia. He was with his father at Harp er's Ferry and still suffers from i wound received there. Away Ahead. The Boston Matron—“Thi3 is my thirtieth wedding anniversary.” The Chicago Matron—“And yet they revile Chicago. Why. I have only had eleven weddings.”—Philadelphia North Amer ican. DO THE FISHES TALK? QUEER PROPOSITION BROUCHT FORWARD. Both tho I.angfl«h and DramOih Can Bark Like a Dog—Tho Eel and tho OI*card*8had Emit Queer Sounds— Whales Have Been Known to Cry. Piscatorial cranks are Just now pa rading their knowledge on the subject of fish talk. It is freely admitted that fish that utter sounds are not rare to a remarkable extent; but to translate these sounds into the English or any other language and be able to appre ciate the feelings of the denizens of the deep at various thrilling stages of their uncertain careers is beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. We are told that a fisherman out at sea landed a strange fish in his boat, and that the finny captive immediately opened its mouth and began to grunt and groan so loudly as to attract attention. The llsherinan took it up and was so con vinced that it was talking and beg ging for liberty that he tossed it back into the brine. More musical than the noise made by any fish is said to be that of the eel, while the loudest sound uttered by a fish is that of the dogfish. Both the lungflsh and the drumflsh utter singular barking sounds of peculiar resonance, and whales have been known to cry out as if for help when they have been stranded. Of the salmon and the trout little has been learned, so far as fish-talk on their part is concerned, but this may be due in a measure to the fact that the man with the rod has never felt inclined to devote his ear to patient listening of a well-stocked stream. If these favorite fish could talk, what tales they might unfold! What reputations might they blast! Perhaps it'is best for us all that the trout is not gifted with eloquence, like the eel and giz zard-shad. Perhaps, too, it were bet ter for us to continue on merely a glancing acquaintance, a gastronomical acquaintance. If fishes talk they might even betray us to ourselves and take away from us the joy of our own de ceptions. Nevertheless, it is a ques tion for debate whether the noises produced by certain fish can be con sidered as a language, or as expres sions of the emotions, fraught with meaning. Without a doubt we shall soon be In receipt of a batch of com munications from mountain resorts and watering-paces, throwing light on the matter of fish-talk, and it is not improbable that we may learn that some Bostonian scientist has already prepared a table of codfish sounds and their meanings, so that a fisherman may sit still with line or net and call the fish to him at will.—San Francisco News-Letter. FAMOUS IN SPORTS. There is no one who can compete with Lord de Gray of England as a sportsman. Once in Ireland, when shooting, he brought down sixteen wild geese with a two-barreled gun and in one year was responsible for the death of 15,000 birds. Lord Carnarvon is a good shot and recently he gave a party for the prince of Wales, at which 10,800 birds vere slaughtered in three days with only six hunters—600 birds a day to each gun. There has been some record deer shooting in Scotland. Atholl forest is supposed to contain about 15,000 head of red deer, and when the prince and princess *of Wales visited therfe in 1872 no fewer than 3,000 deer were driven before them. There is always good fishing at the duke of Richmond’s place, Gordon cas tie, and I.ady Caroline Lenox, who acts as hostess for her brother, is quite an expert with the rod. The Bradley Martins have one of the finest shooting estates in Scotland, and their shooting parties are always eagerly attended. Their daughter, Lady Craven, and her husband stay with them during the season. A Story of Cullom. Just at the busy time one day when the crowds from the department stores packed the cars a tired-looking man with a painful limp came in with the crowd at the Fifteenth street transfer station and stood clinging to a strap just in front of Senator Cullom. The senator looked up, and. seeing the weary face, instantly rose and offered his seat. The man demurred. The senator insisted. “Sit down, sit down," said he cheerily. “You mustn’t stand; sit down.” The man sank into the seat, and the tall Illinoisan contented himself with a strap. From beneath a great poppy-laden hat the bright eyes of a little girl near whom he stood peered up at him eagerly. At last he looked down and saw her. “Won’t you take my seat?" she said, politely. The senator smiled down at her and shook his head. “No, thank you, child,” he said. “You musn’t ever give up your seat to a man. It sets a bad example."—Chicago Tribune. The Uoctha Anniversary. If Goethe were living he would now be 150 years old, which fact German authors and book printers have just anuiversarized. An interesting detail Is that Goethe’s life was one of unin terrupted prosperity, and that in 1826 Motta of Stuttgart paid $60,000 for hi3 copyrights. That would not be a large sum nowadays for men much less im portant than Goethe to receive; neither is it a small sum to pay for copvrigh'ts upon books some of which have been in print over fifty years. A QUICKSILVER FOUNTAIN. Household Flatirons Float Lightly on Its Surface. Probably the most ingenious, not to say expensive, fountain ever devised is to be seen in operation daily in the Queensland section of the Greater Brit ain exhibition, Earl’s court. It has taken a clever young engineer, Charles Bright, F. R. S. E., over three months to overcome the difficulties of produc ing anything like an appreciable effect on the public eye. Quicksilver or mer cury is a very difficult mineral to deal with. It is tremendously heavy, being at least four times heavier than water, has a peculiar quality of disappearing anywhere and everywhere on the slightest provocation, and is so expen sive that few can indulge in so inter esting a luxury as a quicksilver cas cade. The metal in the Earl’s court fountain falls from an upper bowl, four feet in diameter, to a basin seven feet below. Both of these basins, as well as the ornamental supporting pillar, are constructed oi iron, painteu uuu black to heighten the effect. Owing to the great cost of the mercury (2s. 6d a pound) one of the main problems was to devise the apparatus so as to get rid of any possibility of waste. Hence, anything like Niagara falls of mercury was out of the question. The top bowl Is, in fact, not a bowl at all, but a table, with sixty-four small channels radiating from the center to the out ward edge. From the center the quicksilver is thus distributed evenly over the edge, and drops in silvery streaks into the basin below, where, curious to relate, two household flat irons float about as airly as if they were ducks on a millpond—a striking object lesson, proving the wonderful density of the liquid. From the lower bowl there is a drain-pipe, eighty feet long and one inch in diameter, which conveys the mercury to a tank at a slightly lower level, forming the sup ply to an elevator apparatus for pro viding the necessary “head” of mer cury. The form of elevator adopted consists of a number of small, thickly set steel buckets freely suspended at intervals on an endless bicycle chain, which is conveyed through the storage tank. As each bucket dips into the latter, a tilting device insures it pick ing up all the mercury which it will conveniently hold. The buckets are then carried upward to a reservoir tank some fourteen feet above, where each in turn, by means of a similar tilting arrangement, is emptied. From this upper tank the mercury is con ducted by a pipe 106 feet in length to the upper basin of the fountain.— London Mail. STORIES OF THE CLERGY. A Baptist minister fishing near Cape Cod catches a strange fish, and asks the skipper: “What manner of fish Is this, my good man? It has a curious appearance.” “Yaas. Only been ’round here this year.” “What do you call it?” “We calls ’em Baptists.” “Why so?” “ ’Cause they spile so quick arter they come out of the water.”—Nacomb Bystander. The Home Magazine recalls a good story which Dr. Newman Hall used to tell on the lecture platform. An illit erate negro preacher said to his con gregation: “My brethren, when de fust man, Adam, was made, he was made ob wet clay, and set up agin de palings to dry.” “Do you say,” said one of the congregation, “dat Adam was made ob wet clay?” “Yes, sar, I do.” “W’ho made the palings?” “Sit down, sar," said the preacher, stern ly; “such questions as dat would upset any system of theology.” “How i3 the world using you, pas tor?” was asked of a happy itinerate Methodist preacher in Georgia. “First class, sir, first-class.” “Nothing to complain of, eh?” “Nothing at all sir —nothing at all. The festival for the benefit of the new organ came out only $30 in debt; the fair for the new light ning-rod was $20 behind, and the watermelon party for the new bell was $20 short, but the parsonage didn’t burn down until six weekp after the pound party—praise the Lord.” The I.aw of Compensation. From the Argonaut: Richard Cum berland, the playwright, was extremely jealous of his young rival, Richard Sheridan. It is related that he took his children to see one of the first per formances of “The School for Scandal,” and when they screamed with delight their irritable father pinched them, saying: “What are you laughing at? You should not laugh, my angels; there is nothing to laugh at.” adding in an undertone: “Keep still, you little dunces.” When this was reported to Sheridan, he said: “It was ungrateful in Cumberland to be displeased with his children for laughing at my come dy, for when I went to see his tragedy I laughed from beginning to end.” Impudenco of Genius. Mrs. Parvenu—I don’t think the pic ture looks like me at all. The Artist— Perhaps not. But it is an exact repre sentation of the way you would look if you had been rich all your life, and that is what you want, is it not?— Indianapolis Journal. Universal Belief. Professor—"Now, Mr. Doolittle, what have you learned about your topic, the diamond?’’ Mr. Doolittle—“That every woman believes it harmonizes exactly with her complexion.” — Jewelers’ Weekly. An Insult to the Dog. Mr. Newlywed—Why don’t you call me a brute and done with it? Mrs. Newlywed—You forget that Fido is present!—Puck. A Judge, answering objections to a mother's titnees to have the custody ot her children, said as to the fact thay~ she was untidy: “There are persons who think that excessive hbuseclean ing ought to be made a ground for di vorce.” As to her visits to beer gar dens he said: “Women have throats which become thirsty as well as the throats of men, and there Is no law to prevent them from slaking their thirst in a natural and ordinary way.” In order to give her some moral support, he added: “It is said of Martin Luther that he visited the beer gardens.” 4 4 It is an III Wind That Blows Nobody Good," That small ache or pain or weakness is the "HI wind" that directs your attention to the necessity of purifying your blood by taking Hood's Sarsaparilla. Then your whole body receives good, for the purified blood goes tingling to every organ, h is the remedy for all ages and both sexes. Whilst we are considering when we are to begin, it is often too late to act.—Quintilian. U. 8. Patent Office Report. Indexes to periodicals that are avail able for use by inventors and their attorneys are on file in the reading room of the Scientific Library at Wash- y„ ington a3 follows: Astrophysieal Journal, Chicago, a monthly title-index of publications on astrophysieal and allied subjects. Electrical World, New York, a week ly digest of electrieal articles. Engineering Magazine, New York, a monthly title-index of engineering articles in the English language only. Electrical Engineer, New York, a weekly synoptical index of electrical literature, American and foreign. Journal of the United States Artil lery, a bi-monthly title-index of cur rent artillery literature. Proceedings of the Physical Society of London, monthly abstracts of the principal articles on physics published in the American and Continental jour nals since January 1, 1895. School of Mines Quarterly, New York, a quarterly synoptical index of articles on analytical chemistry and title-index of metallurgical literature. Consultation and advice free. THOMAS G. OEWIG & CO., Registered Solicitors of Patents. Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 14, 18S9. A flying wedge of 228 mounted po licemen cleared the way for Dewey in the parade. A sergeant rode first alone. Behind him two roundmen, fol lowed by four, who had eight behind them, and so on until the rear files comprised twelve horses and men abreast. now's This7 Wo offer One Hundred Dollars reward for any rase of Catarrh that cannot be cured by Hall's Catarrh Cure. F. J. CHENEY & CO., Props.. Toledo, O.j#' We, the undersigned, have known F. .T Cheney for the last 15 years and believe him perfectly honorable In all business transactions and financially able to carry out any obliga tions made by their firm. West & Truax, Wholesale Druggists, Toledo, O.: VValding. Kiunan &, Marvin, Wholesale Druggists, Toledo, Ohio. Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken internally, act ing directly upon the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. Testimonials sont free. Price 15c per bottle. Sold by all druggists. Hall's Family Pills are tlio best. Life is not so short bu that there is always time enough for courtesy.— Emerson. THE GRIP CORE TEAT DOES CURE. Laxative Hromo Quinine Tablets removes the cause that produces La Grippe. E. W. Grove’s signature is on each box. 25c. Little by little we depart from the terrible and reach the ridiculous.— Longinus. Acts gently on the Kidneys, Liver and Bowels manses the System „ .^EFFECTUALLY OVERCOMES hAe.TUALCONST<^.ON 1UAL PERMANENTLY 115 effects Buy the genuine - m an‘f d ay (4Uf?RNIA|TG,SVPVP(S roa s*u 8y an csjGG.iTi pwa sot pir sornt. W. N. U. OMAHA. No. 43—1899 H PISCES CUR£ FOR , „ CUKkS WflfcHfc AU £LS£ FAILS* | Best Cough 0jru»«. Tastes Good. Cbo In time, fold br druggists. SUMPTION »■