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ISBUBD TWICE A WEEK--WEEKTESDAY AND SATURDAY. r l. m. gust & sons, PnbUshers. ( % dfamilji Dnrspapcr: 4or ttt promotion of ttt political, Social, Agricultural, and ^ommenrial $nt$r$sts of The ?outh. _ { VOL. 43. " YORKVILLE, S.C., WEDNESDAY, .TTJ3STE 16, 1897. _ NgTjgT BY HUGO ST. F Copyright, 1807, by the Author. CHAPTER I. MYSELF. Professor Hafed Gorgensen, specta cled, round shouldered, very bald and past threescore and ten, wheeled his squeaking chair round so as to face mj mother, who in her timid way believed in the startling theories of the dogmatic crank, and who, with a feeling akin to awe, had brought her little boy? myself?for him to pronounce upon. "Yes, madam," he said, his thin lips moving with a peculiar energy, which showed the single snag in his upper jaw, "any man with common sense who will devote three minutes' thought to the matter will not dare dispute it." "I always believed what you said, professor, but my husband"? "Puff! Your husband is a fool, like all husbands." I looked sideways at mother, wouder^ ing how she would take this reference to my father. She said nothing in the way of protest. Perhaps she did not catch the full meaning of the words Possibly she caught and believed them. ' 'It's 38 simple as that two and two make four. In round numbers there are 1,500,000,000 of people in the world. They have all been modeled after the same imaga The average length of life is 88 years, so this 1,500,000,000 is re> newed three times a century. Since the creation, 6,000 years ago, it has been renewed 18,000 times"? "But," ventured my mother in a quaking voice, "there have not always been 1,500,000,000 of people on the earth. You know that at first there were only two?Adam and Eve?and a good many years must have passed before the number became as great as it IB UUW. The professor's jaw dropped, and his little gray eyes twinkled behind his spectacles. He was overcome for the moment with admiration for this timid woman that had dared to throw an obk stacle in front of his juggernaut of logic. "Madam, you're not a fool, which is more than I ever said of any other woman, but if you had held your tongue a minute longer you would have heard r the qualification of my first statement Of course many generations came and went before the population of the earth reached 1,000,000,000. I've figured it all out Making allowance for all this, the total population of the world since the creation has been about 10,000,000,000,000. Do you realize it?" he demandk ed, leaning forward, with his hands on his skinny knees and glaring through his spectacles. "Oh, yes, of course." "Well, then, all I have to say, madam, is that you're an infernal sight smarter than every person ever born into this world. All the people that I have known find it rather hard work to grasp the full meaning of 100. When they strike 1,000, they begin to get hazy. Beyond that it is all a mass of terms, with nothing tangible in the way of understanding. Astronomers talk about the distance of heavenly bodies, the velocity of light, the speed of comets and all that without any more real comprehension of what it all means than that little freckle faced boy by your side knows about Pond's asinorum." "I didn't mean?that is, of course, I don't understand?but"? "Never mind," broke in the professor, with an impatient wave of his attenuated fingers. "The self evident truth is this: Every man and woman born into this world has, with few exceptions, two eyes, a nose, mouth and features and form of the face modeled after one image. Now, while we see a marvelous variety among the faces which we meet on the street, never encountering two that are exactly alike, it is still evident that there must be a limit to this variation. It is not infinite. Do you follow me?" suddenly thun*. dered Professor Gorgenseu in such excitement that my poor mother gave a slight start and exclamation, while 1 looked round for some way of escape. "Oh, yes; oh, yes; certainly I understand you." "Paff! I doubt it But you know as much as ai*y of your sex. I have figured the whole thing out I have made a mathematical demonstration of it" The professor glared at my mother as if challenging her to dispute his assertion, but the frightened woman remained silent and expectant "Now and then," he continued, "we meet two persons so alike in appearance that their most intimate friends cannot tell them apart Nevertheless there is a difference which manifests itself, after a time, if not in their looks, in their disposition, but what I am striving to impress upon your understanding is that this variation has its limit When a certain number of human beings are modeled after the one image, a point is finally reached when all possible variations are at end. The work must then go back to the beginning and repeat itself." "My! And you have figured it all out, professor?" "I have," was the impressive answer. "I am the only person that has done so. The vanishing point is at the number 128,645,826. In other words, that number of men and women can be born and may grow up with enough variation in their looks and disposition to be distinguishable from each other, but when one more individual is added to th? number he must be a reproduction oi one of the vast multitude I have named." My mother showed a surprising apti? fnllmvintr the amuzinir theory JUVOO ?u o of Professor Gorgeusen. "Then there are a good many people living today who are exactly the same in every respect?" "i'recisely." INISTERE, M.D. "But what about the different races? If the two reproductions of each other belong to different races"? I "They would not be exact reproduc-, s tions. You missed the finest point of , my beautiful and exact theory. My calI culatioit includes color, race and all previous conditions of servitude. Now, applying the truth I have discovered, it fnllmm thnt. nt. nil times everv man and woman iti the world has 10 or 11 perfect doubles somewhere else in the world. There are at this moment some | where among the Caucasian lace fully ten women exactly like you in looks, age and disposition. Your own husband or that stupid looking urchin at your side could not distinguish them from one another." "Oh, my!" gasped my mother, looking apprehensively around. "I hope none of theu will move into my neighborhood. " "It isn't likely that you will ever meet in this world. Have no alarm. Following my reasoning, all these doubles are but repetitions of doubles that existed a generation ago, and so on through the past centuries." "Then thousands of years since there were r rsons living who were exactly like me and some who were exactly like you?" The professor nodded his bald head. He was pleased that one woman could appreciate the wonderful symmetry of his logic. "If we could only know about those persons," she added musingly. "To some extent we can. Of course the majority died and passed away without leaving any record behind them, but we have the history of some of them." A strange smile lit up the wan faoe nf niv mnther "As for me"? "There is no record. All such women were too insignificant to say or do anything that entitled them to remembrance. " "And with you?" "It is different. It did not take me long to find out the historical personage who is reincarnated in me." "Dare I ask, professor?" "You read your Bible, I presume?" "Daily." "When yon go home, turn to the twelfth chapter of II Samuel and in the twenty-fourth verse you will find the account of the birth of the man who is reproduced in this nineteenth century in myself. Of course our environments are different, and our lives necessarily vary, but my features, my frame, my brain, my disposition?indeed everything in our nature and looks is the same to the shadow of a hair." "Wonderful, wonderful!" exclaimed my awed parent. "I will be sure to look it up as soon as I reach home. But, professor, I brought my son with me." "What for?" "I wish you to tell me what person of the past he resembles." Those spectacles, like twin locomotive headlights, were now focused npon me with a strange, hypnotic power. I could see the small gray eyes twinkling like points of fire, while he seemed to look me through. "Come here, sir," he growled without stirring limb or feature. I slid off the high chuir and, summoning my courage, sidled up to him. "What's your uarae?" "Harmon O. Westcott, sir." "How old are you?" I hesitated a moment, during which my mother announced that I was in my eleventh year. "I want the exact date of his birth." She gave it He reached out his right " What's your namef" hand, and the thin, cold, clawliko fingers rested on my crown. Staring straight into my eyes, he turned my head back and forth, first to the right and then to the left, while my body remained motionless. While doing so he muttered something which must have been in a foreign language, for I could not catch the meaning of a word. I was too young to suspect it at the time, but those tiny, penetrating eyes noted everything. My soft, durk, curly hair, my strong, regular teeth, my clear complexion, slightly freckled, the shape oi my lace, cno ieuiures, an were ousui veu with tho keenest possible serutiuy. Then he pinched my arms and legs, doing so with a persistency that caused . me more than one twinge of pain. "Now you may take your seat." The big chair creaked round on its pivot, and the professor faced his vast desk, covered with huge volumes, whose backs were worm euten and whose pages were yellow with time. He took down I the middle volume and opened and fumbled it for a few minutes. I saw his gaunt forefinger running along the lines and down the page, while tho scrawny neck and bent shoulders stooped i forward as he peered at tho written i words before him. Suddenly the claw stopped. Ho had found the right place. I could see_his lips moving, as some persons' do when reading to themselves. My mother and I silently watched him, afraid to speak. I stealthily sought her hand and slipped mino within it The warm, hard fingers closed affectionately over tho chubby ones of her only son, as if she would shield him from some vague, shadowy peril. Finally tho professor slid each hand, palm upward, underneath tho covers of the open volume and with a quick flirt closed it. wheeling on the instant so as to face us. "T found if: " ho nnld. qhnttiner those thin lips together as if to imprison the all important knowledge. "And who is be?" "Before answering your question," he said impressively, punctuating each sentence with a dip of his forefinger, "let me warn you, young man, to keep this knowledge a secret so far as you possibly can. You are going to have, if you have it not already, a most remarkable gift, but you must not exorcise it except in case of necessity. If you do, it will probably pass from you. Mrs. Westcott, when you go home, you will read the thirteenth chapter of Judges, and in the twenty-fourth verse you will find a statement of the birth of a man of whom your son is to be the exact reproduction. All that is known of that famous character is told in the following three chapters. That's all. Good day. " Notwithstanding my mother's anxiety to learn my horoscope, as it may be considered, she first sought out the reference which "bore upon Professor Gorgensen himself. I think 6he suspected it, for she was smiling when she glanced down the page of the well thumbed Bible to the verse the professor had named and which told of the birth of Solomon, the son of David. Then she hunted out my own in the second book of SamueL In me was born once more Samson, the strongest man that ever lived. CHAPTER IL MY DOUBLE. Perhaps Profess-.r Gorgensen was right in declaring himself a second Solomon, whose life would have repeated precisely that of the Biblical one but for his nineteenth century environments. One amazing fact, however, was unquestionable. He was correct as to myself. My strength was as prodigious, as marvelous, as irresistible as that of the man who, many centuries ago, slew 1,000 with the jawbone of an ass and pulled down the gates of Gaza after suffering woeful indignities at the hands of the Philistines and dying amid the ruins, the blind victim of the faithless Delilah. My mother was the only one who suspected the truth, for I was handicapped by the warning of the professor, that I muSt uot call the gift into use except in the event of necessity. So when I wrestled with my playmates I sometimes suffered them to throw me, when by putting forth a tithe of my tremendous power I could have hurled them lifeless to the earth. In the contests of leaping I seemed to strive to the utmost, but never exceeded the champions by more than a few inches. I maintained my supremacy, but by a hair breadth. A burly brute came to Fayville to take charge of the village school. He was more than 6 feet in height, with the frame and strength of a giant With little book knowledge, be gave his main attention to administering the birch. He conquered the obstreperous bullies, and then showed regret that no more insubordination cropped up that he tnirrhf. bnvA the nlnnsiire of subduincr it. * x o "Harmon Westcott will remain after school!" he thundered, as I gathered up my books and started to follow the rest of the boys from the room. I laid the books on the desk behind me and sat down, wondering what the trouble was, for he had never as yet struck me with his merciless rod. When we were alone, ho spoke, fingering meanwhile the gad, as if unable to restrain his eagerness to bring it down about my shoulders. "So you have been fighting, young man?" "No, sir, I have not been fighting." "Silence, sir I Nolyingtomel Didn't you strike Jack Gibbs?" "Jack Gibbs raised his hand to strike little Tim Metcalf, who accidentally fell over Jack's feet. Tim is a cripple and could not help himself. I caught Jack's arm and told him that if he struck Tim I would lick him. He didn't strike him, so there was no fighting." "But you would have hit Jack Gibbs if he had harmed Tim Metcalf." "Certainly; I would hit any coward who did that." "Then you've got the disposition to fight; that's just as bad as if you did fight. Off with your coat!" I hesitated. I could do as well with my coat on as off, and I would not please this ruffian by obeying him. "Why don't you do as told?" he demanded, livid with rage. "I shan't take off my coat, and if you lay your hand on mo you'll regret it as long as yon live." He roared like a bull, and, raising the big stick over his head, aimed a terrific blow at me. Before it could descend I had him by the throat, bent mm oucKwaru over tne oeucn Denina and twisted him to the floor as easily as if ho had been a ewe lamb. Not only that, I tightened my grip until he gasped for breath. I was using only one hand and did not exert a tenth part of the strength at my command. The miserable wretch must have thought he was stricken with paralysis. With my other hand I twisted the rod from hi3 grasp and then swished it through the air with a force that surely raised a ridge through his garments with every stroke. When ho had received a dozen or so, I lifted him clear of the floor and flung him across the room. He would have gone farther had he not crushed into the row of desks. "Shall I take off my coat?" I asked mockingly. He stared in a dazed way and muttered an oath. Ho could not understand it. "Good day," and I walked out of the room and went horna "I hope he won't tell of it," I reflected, ' 'for it will be hard for me to ( explain it to the rest of the boys." { No fear of the teacher making public 1 his own discomfiture, and so it remained i a secret I was too generous to take advantage of my triumph, and, so long as i he remained in charge of the school, he t treated me with a consideration that 1 made me sometimes regret the violence I had been compelled to use toward him. Professor Gorgensen's transcendent wisdom did not enable him to prolong his life to that of the patriarchs of the olden times, for he died suddenly, about the date of the incident just told. I had no brothers and sisters, and so well had my mother and I kept the secret of my incredible strength that even my father did not suspect it, though aware that I was unusually powerful for a lad of my years. Strange to say, though my mother knew the marvelous truth, she very seldom or never referred to it There was something so uncanny in the whole thing that it filled her with awe, as it did myself. Father passed away, still ignorant on the point, and at the age of 19, when I was home on vacation from college, I drove to the old country church with only my mother as a companion. It was a curious coincidence that the preacher's sermon that day was founded on the story of Samson. He went over the whole wonderful narrative, giving \ it a spiritual significance by proving { that every Christian can be a Samson l against the world so long as he rises j superior to temptation. Once I glanced at my mother, who occupied the pew l with me. She smiled faintly, and I ( blushed. Both of us were thinking of j the same thing, but neither referred to it ou our way home. \ At the top of the high hill, near our i house, the horse, as black as night and | with the strength of a Hercules, gave j way to his innate deviltry, took the bit < in his mouth and started down the incline on a dead run. Mother paled for a i moment and then said in her quiet j manner: { "Harmon, I hope there's no need of i your killing him." < I knew what she meant She was ] aware that I could do so if I chosa \ "I won't unless it is necessary, "I j answered, beginning to pull on the reins. i My fear was that they would break. 1 And break they did, though new and l Tncf QQ T TFOQ TlTlinf* fn WHT OVIUU^I V UOV UU TT mo vv II wry the savage brnto both lines snapped as if they were rotten twine. Being < wholly free, the enraged horse was off 1 again as headlong as ever. I My mother was dreadfully alarmed, for both of us were in peril. "I'll bring him to terms,"I said, stepping out on the shafts and leaping astride the back of the plunging animal Working forward, I placed one arm under his throat and began drawing backward, steadily and irresistibly. I could have broken his neck as if it were a pipestem, but I did not wish to do that, though sorely tempted. The devil fought, swung his head, viciously, but I never let up. With a scream of fury ho reared on his hind legs and began pawing the air. My mother sat pale, but cooL "You had better kill him, Harmon," she called, 4 4or he will kill you." "I'll show him first that I am his master." Suddenly he lowered his head, like a j bucking broncho, resting most of his weight on bis fore legs. This gave me , my chance. He had broken free from the ' carriage, and the dropping of his head allowed me to leap to the ground beside him. I retained my grip, and the next instant the fierce horse was flung vio- j* lonflir nn hin sidft. I used none of the tricks of the cavalryman or circus per* ^ former to trip him, but did it by main \ strength alone. * He was not yet conquered. With a 0 whinny of rage he struggled upward, 1 the flame of hatred in his eya He meant to bite and paw me to death, but ^ at the moment he was ready to attack r down he went again, with a shock that Q must have rattled every bone in his ^ body. With undaunted courage he instantly repeated the effort, but was D flung as ignomiuiously as before. a This scared him. His self confidenoe c was weakened. No animal is quicker than a horse to recognize his master, a He required a little urging to regain his " feet I helped him to do so. He was all t a-tremble, and finally opened his mouth 1; and mode a savage bite at me. His c teeth had hardly snapped together, close o to my face, when I struck him a single b blow alongside his head which turn- e bled him like a log to the earth. That was enough. He refused to rise, t and I lifted him to his feet. He shivered a from nose to fetlock and was as docile 1 as a lamb. I patched up the harness as a best I could, refastened him between a the wrenched shafts, and he trotted b meekly homeward. "Harmon," said my mother in a t tremulous whisper. ( "Yes?" I replied, looking inquiringly I around. t "Did you exert all your strength?" jj "No, mother, only the smallest part of it" t "Isn't it wonderful, my son? How do v you restrain yourself?" j "I have never forgotten Professor Gorgensen's warning. My aim is never to summon it except the necessity ex- g ists." 0 "And that"? a "Occurs very rarely Father never t tnow nf it. and vou wouldn't have l, known except from the Into professor." " ' 'Docs none of your college mutes suspect it?" ^ "I think not I allowed the champion . leapcr to beat me, when I could have 11 left him out of sight, and have been ^ content to let the star football players ? and baseball men, and, in fact, all the kathletes, keep their honors without die- c puto from me." "You aro wise. Doubtless plenty of 8 occasions will arise, and I have the J feeling that at some time you will com- ^ mit the fatal mistake and drive the gift a from you." a "If I do, I shall be as ordinary men. e I hope the misfortune will not come at 2 the hands of any Delilah or that I shall a have my eyes gouged out in the process.'' c Tharwas tits "ist and indeed the first ;ime we ever hold such a conversation. 3ix months later my beloved mother A'as luid away to rest, and I was alone in the world. I had been graduated from college ind the world was before me. Not anil my sainted mother was gone did the lull measure of her self sacrifice for her He recognized the fact. inworthy son become known to me. She had spent her last penny, depriving lerself of almost the necessities of life, tor the sake of giving me an education. My self reproach was at my own )lindnes8 in not suspecting this sad Tuth, so as to check it But it was done, rod it was useless to repine over it. Graduated, well groomed, and with the appearance of a young gentleman pith a surplusage of means, I had not fclOO that I could call my own. Nor did [ know which way to turn or what to lo to obtain more. "And yet something must be done rod that very soon," I bitterly mused, is I sauntered down Fifth avenue on that glorious May morning. "There must be plenty of openings in this great ;ity. I can become a clerk, a student oi law or," I grimly reflected, "Icouldat' ;ain the position of tho boss porter ol the metropolia That would be a case tvhere the exercise of my strength would be a necessity. As a last resort I will fall back on that" My musings took a new turn. "I studied boxing in college and acjuired a fair knowledge of it Why noi become a teacher of the art in soma jymnasinm? When I put on the glove* with one more skillful than myself, 1 oan knock him out with one flirt"? My breath almost left me. For scarcely 100 yards away, on the same side of the avenue, and sauntering toward me, I saw? My double! Professor Gorgensen was right. I waa not the only reincarnation of Samson, it least so far as appearances went Here was a second. Dressed more fashionably than I, he was yet my perfec! Bounterpart. Ho recognized the fact, and returned my wondering stare with as profound stmazement as my own. Our eyes wew never once removed from each other, and, when we came opposite, we involuntarily paused and extended our hands. "Who are you? What is your name?" I managed to ask. "My name is Westcott What ii pours?" be demanded. to be continued. Seven Bibles.?The seven Bibles of he world are the Koran of the Molammedans, Tri Pitikes of the BudIhist, the Five Kings of the Chinese, he Three Yedas of the Hindoos, the 'endavesta of the Persians, the Eddas f the Scandinavians and the Scripures of the Christians. The Koran is the most recent of all, latiDg from about the Seventh centuy after Christ. It is a compound of notations from both the Old and New Pestaments, and from the Talmud. The Tri Pitikes contain sublime aorals and pure aspirations. Their uthor lived and died in the Sixteenth entury after Christ. The sacred writings of the Chinese ,re called the "Five Kings," the word kings" meaning web of cloth. From his it is presumed they were originaly written on five rolls of cloth. They ontain wise sayings from the sages u the duties of life, but they cannot e traced further back than the Elevnth century before our era. The Zendavesta of the Persians, next o our Bible, is reckoned among scholrs as being the greatest and most earned of the sacred writings. Zoroster, whose sayings it contains, lived nd worked in the Twelfth century iefore Christ. Moses lived and wrote the Pentaeuch 1,500 years before the birth of "hrist; therefore that portion of our lible is at least 300 years older than he most ancient of other sacred writQgS. The Eddas, a semi-sacred work of he Scandinavians, was given to the rorld in the Fourteenth century.? lissionary Review. Good Maxims From the Keytone.?A well-known banker says he wes his success to observing the good dvice of an older friend, who told him o keep good company or none. Never e idle. Cultivate your mind. Make ew promises. Live up to your enagements. Keep your own secrets. o noronn lnnlr him T UCU )UU S|JCaa VV u J/Viovu, .WW.. ? ? q the face. If any one speaks ill of 'ou, let your life be so thai; no one will elieve him. Live within your income. Small and steady gains bring the kind if riches that do not take wings and ly away. Earn money before you pend it. Never run into debt unless ou see a sure way to get out of it. sTever borrow if you cau possibly .void it. Do not marry until you are ible to support a wife. * Never speak vil of any one. Be just before you are ;enerous. Save wbeu you are young ind enjoy your savings when you are >ld. Pfcattanroitii grading. OLD HICKORY'S WAYS. General Armstrong, assistant commissioner of Indian affairs, thinks that Andrew Jackson was one of the greatest men this country ever produced and has a number of stories which were told by his uncle who was an intimate friend of Old Hickory. One of them is very characteristic of the man. Lewis Cass, secretary of war, was over at the White House one day with some important papers for the president to sign, among them being a court s martial findings. "Cass, what is this ?" inquired Jack- 8 son as he was about to write bis name r . .. j .. v CO ine document. , "It is a court martial," answered : Cass. 1 "What have I to do with it?" asked r the president. "It dismisses an officer from the 8 service, and the president must sign ? orders." Jackson toyed with the paper and said musingly : "Dismisses him from 8 the army, eh ? Why ?" "Drunkenness; getting drunk and 8 falling down on parade or something * of that kind," answered the secretary, "Who ordered the court?" asked c Jackson. ' "General Scott," answered Cass. "Who is it?" inquired the president, . with more interest. j! "Inspector General Kraun, replied ? Cass. "What!" shouted Jackson. "My j* old friend Kraun ! Cass, just read what that paper says." The secretary read the usual form of 8 the court martial sentence in such cases. The president then took the paper and wrote across the bottom where he was about to sign his name: "The within findings are disapprov- 8 ed and Colonel Kraun is restored to his duty and rank." He passed the paper back to Secretary Cass and said, with bis usual vehemence : p "By the Eternal, Cass, when you D and Scott serve your country as well o as that man has you can get drunk on s duty every day." o A young man from Tennessee, son n of a friend of General Jackson's, came it to Washington for a place. He looked v about and found what he wanted. It 0 was in the war department and filled v by a very efficient Whig, whom Secre- n tary Cass would not remove. The / Tn 4 Via fiit lint? An young mail tuiu U QUIVOUU i>uo otvuavivuj | j and Cass was sent for. 8 "Cass," said the president, "this p young man, son of my old friend, says >] you have got a place in the war de- v partment filled by a Whig which you p won't give him." ], Secretary Cass explained that the a duties of the office were of a peculiar v kind, and he could get no one to fill ^ the place if the man now in it should f, be removed. Jackson flared up. "By the Eternal, Cass, do you mean ^ to tell me you have an office in your v department filled by a Whig which 0 can't be filled by a Democrat? Then a abolish the office !" a The young man got his place. i, t THE PAST PONY EXPRESS. v The 3d of April, 1869, was a great ^ day in St. Soseph, Mo. On that day & the fast pony express between that 8 point and Sacramento, Cal., began 1 business, after two years of prepara- D tion. The distance to be covered was F 2,000 miles, and the country was of 9 itself the most difficult imaginable, while the natural dangers were heightened indefinitely by the presence of a hostile Indians. Relay stations bad c been established, riders engaged, and the promoters of the enterprise were 8 full of confidence, though people in d general had been slow to believe that ^ the scheme was practicable. The & New York Sun recently printed a long c and interesting account of the incep- 1 tion and progress of the work, and ^ from this account we borrow part of a statement made by General Davit* ?a Peck, one of the founders of the ex- 0 press, who is now living in San Ber- 11 nardino. a The most remarkable rider we had a on our express line was Bill Cody, D since famous as Buffalo Bill. He was f a youDg strip of a fellow when he worked for us, and did not weigh over 105 Dounds. He was known all over P the plains even then as the toughest S rough rider in the west. His regular 1 ride was 112 miles every other day n through Nebraska. v One day, when he had dashed over I his stretch, he found that the relay j1 station had been attacked by Che- " yennes, and the two men at the station were dead in their tracks. Bill saw P indications that the Indians were some 1 40 miles ahead, but that did not deter a him for a moment. He mounted a I fresh bronco, and rode on for another d night and part of a day. '? He rode 284 miles without stopping r to rest for more than the regulation t' two minutes at a change of horses. He averaged 16 miles an hour from first to last, so you can see how he J must have traveled. We gave Bill a h good watch for that work. I have c uever heard the equal of that for hard a and fast riding. Not one rider in a t thousand could endure such a strain. f< The most exciting experience we v had in the pony express days was in f< the fall of 1861, when the Piute In- c dians went on the war-path for some b grievance against the government In- t dian agents, and were out for the blood d of every white man that they could p murder. c Half of our experienced bronco- b riders in Nevada and Utah quit work a immediately after the men at one of f the relay stations had been killed and e scalued. We raised the pay of the r men along that route to $160 a month, I but even that was no inducement for a many good rough riders to go to work I in the hostile region. t You can be sure that no rider who v did stay with the company ever per- n nitted himself to nod in traveling in he Piute country, and every man took in extra armament along with him. )nce when a rider had quit work, it vas absolutely necessary to get a rider tut on the line that day. I happened o be at the Basin Canon station in Nevada when the rider quit. "Bob, the express must go through oday, Indians or no Indians," said , addressing Bob Ellison, a brave ellow twenty-one years of age who tad never seemed to know what fear vas in the express service. I'll give 'ou fifty dollars extra to ride the two tretches to Camp Fuller." Now Camp Fuller was two hundred ind eighteen miles to the east, and the ider had to pass through a locality vhere he might run into six or seven lundred war-painted Piutes, just waitng for a man like a pony express ider. "Well," said Bob, quick as a flash, iltbough knowing as well as I the ibances he was taking, "I'll go you for ifty dollars." In a moment be was up, and having rmed himself with extra care, flung limself into the saddle, and with the xpress pouch across his back, was off. ie rode thirty miles and then changed torses, and then on twenty-two miles ore. It was a moonlight night, and vhen he reached the second relay staion, it was vacant and no one about. Out in the sage-brush he found the toy who had lived there with his &ther, dead, with his scalp taken from lis head. Bob pushed on 30 miles arther, and there found all well at the bird relay station. The father had ;one there for help, and while he was .way the Piutes, who had evidently teen watching the station, had killed he boy and ransacked the building. In that ride Bob Ellison covered 218 ailes with six horses. One of them arried him 70 odd miles on a run. Those beasts had wonderful endurance. WIVES ON TRIAL. The Andaman Islands are used as a tenal settlement for Indian and Burmese convicts, who with the exception f a very few of the aboriginal race cattered over the group, form the bulk f the population. The chief comaissioner of the Andamans, who 3 also superintendent of the conict settlement at Port Blair by virtue f the almost autocratic authority ested in him, enjoys a despotism welliigh incredible under the British flag. ls superintendent of the settlement, a convict matrimonial matters he is upreme. He is licenser, registrar, arson and witness rolled into one. The greater part of the life convicts yho are good characters are "self-supiorters"?that is, men out on ticket of eave in the settlement. These men re allowed to marry. The convict yomen on tne otner nana, are aiways :ept under close supervision in the emale convict jail. When the "self-riUpporter" is trouled with hymeneal aspirations be isits the female jail and informs the verseer. The latter individual orders . parade of those women of good charcter who have completed four years q the island. The would-be benedict hen passes along the ranks with a iew of selecting a likely helpmate. Ls might be expected, very eager are he faces and loving the glances betowed upon him as he does so. While he overseer's head is turned the woaen engage in every variety of lantomimic efforts to display their [ualifications for the post. Should the overseer absent himself ar a moment the coveted bachelor is ssailed on all sides with a view to bis onquest. Such phrases as "Here, ake me !" "No, me !" "Why, she's ;ot red hair 1" "She's cross-eyed ?" o not make matters easier for him. tt length having suited himself, he akes by the hand the lady of his boice and leads her from the ranks. ?be couple are then allowed half an lour in which to discuss matters, afer which, if they agree, their names re sent into the head office. A day r two later they attend at the comaissioner's, and are there put through n examination as to the state of their Sections and their inclinations to aarry; but no awkward questions are ver raised concerning possible existQg husbands or wives beyond the seas. And now comes the climax. Suplosing satisfactory answers have been ;iven as to their mutual sentiments, he lady is banded over to the man, ot to become his wife for better or vorse, but for a seven-day's trial. )uring these seven days she lives with im, and the relationship of the pair i that of a married couple. At the expiration of the term of approval, if both are agreeable, they reurn to the chief commissioner's office nd are married by that gentleman, f, on the other hand, either of them 4.1 4i iU? M oes not approve ui wie utuei , tuc mou 5 left to go his way, while the women eturns to her old routine of work in he female jail. A Versatile Lawyer. ? When udge Parsons was a practicing lawyer e was once employed to plead two ases in court which were precisely like, but in one he was engaged for he plaintiff, in the other for the desndant. It happened that both cases /ere tried the same day. He spoke or half an hour to the first jury ; the ase was given to the jurors, and they ad retired. When he appeared before he second jury he made use of very lifferent arguments from those employed by him before, of which the ourt took notice, reminding him that ie seemed to have changed his tune ,nd repeated to him what he said a ew minutes before. Mr. Parsons fixd his keen eye upon the judge and eplied: "May it please your honor, might have been wrong half an hour go; but now I know I am right." Ie proceeded, and when the jury reurued, it was found he had gained a erdict in both cases.?Lewiston Joural.