6 My Strangest Case BY GUY BOOTHBY. Author of "DR. NIKOLA," "THE BEAUTIFUL WHITE DEVIL," "PHAROS, THE EGYPTIAN," Etc. (Copyrighted, lUOI, by Ward. Lock A Co.] PART I. J AM, of course, ?' Singapore; there <4o"?■ are, however, I ■ gjtfcUßP'''' S. # venture to as ... $ Bert, few that tainly none that , 'ii/y • dy tjwt- can afford u l>et- i V«r V«r »>«» lifo i character. There, if you are so you may consider the subject of British rule on the one hand, i and the various aspects of the Chi nese question on the other. If you are a student of languages you will be able to hear half the tongues of J the world spoken in less than an , hour's walk, ranging, say from Paris ian French to I'igeon English; you 6hall make (he acquaintance of every 6ort of smell the human nose can , manipulate, from the sweet perfume , of the lotus blossom to the diabolical odor of the Durien; and every sort of cooking from a dainty vol-au-vent to a stuffed rat. In the harbor the ship ping is such as, I feel justified in say- j ing, you would encounter in no other port of its size in the world. It comprises the stately man of war and the Chinese junk; the P. and 0., the | Messagerie Maritime, the llrit ish India and the Dutch mail boat; the | homely sampan, the yacht of the j globe-trotting millionaire, the collier, the timber ship, and in point of fact j every description of craft that plies J between the barbarian east and the j civilized west. The first glimpse of the harbor is one that will never be j forgotten; the last is usually associ- j ated with a desire that one may never , set eyes on it again. He who would, i of his own free "will, settle down for life in Singapore, must have acquired the tastes of a salamander and the ecnsibility of a frog. Among its other advantages, Singa pore numbers the possession ot a mul tiplicity of hotels. There is stately j Rallies, where the globe trotters do i mostly take up their abode, also the j Hotel del' Europe, whose virtues 1 j can vouch for; but, packed away in j another and very different portion of j the town, unknown to the wealthy : G. T., and indeed known to only a few , of the white inhabitants of Singapore ; itself, there exists a small hostelry, j owned by a lynx-eyed Portuguese, which rejoices in the name of the j Hotel of the Three Desires. Now, every man, who by mischance or de liberate intent has entered its doors, has his own notions of the meaning of its name; the fact, however, re mains that it is there, and that it is I regularly patronized by individuals of a certain or uncertain class, as i they pass to and fro through the gateway of the further east. This in itself is strange, inasmuch as it is eaid that the proprietor rakes in the dollars by selling liquor that is as bad as it can possibly be, in order that he may get back to Lisbon be ifore lie receives that threatened knife thrust between the ribs which has been promised him so long. There are times, as 1 am unfortunately able to testify, when the latter possibility Ss not so remote as might be expect ed. Taken altogether, however, the Hotel of the Three Desires is an ex cellent place to take up one's abode, provided one is not desirous of at tracting too much attention in the city. As a matter of fact, its patrons, for some reason of their own, are more en evidence after nightfall than during the hours of daylight. They are also frugal of speech as a rule, and are chary of forming new ac quaintances. When they know each other well, however, it is surprising how affable they can become. It is not the smallest of their peculiarities that they seldom refer to absent friends by their names. A will ask B when he expects to hear from Him, and C will inform D that "the old man is now running the show, end that, if he doesn't jump from Cal cutta inside a week, tlkere will be trouble on the floor." Meanwhile the landlord mixes the drinks with his own dirty hands, and reflects con tinually upon the villainy of a certain American third mate, who, having borrowed five dollars from him, was sufficiently ungrateful as to catch typhoid fever and die without either repaying the loan, or, what was worse, settling his account for the board and lodging received. Manuel, for this was the proprietor's name, had one or two recollections of a sim ilar sort, but not many, for, as a rule, he is a careful fellow, and experi ence having taught him the man' uers and idiosyncrasies of his custom ers, he generally managed to emerge from his transactions with credit to himself, and what was of much more Importance, a balance on the right Bide of his ledger. The time of which I am now writ ing was the middle of March, the hot test and, in every respect, the worst month of the year in Singapore. Day and night the land was oppressed by the same stifling heat, a swelter ing calidity possessing the character . istics of a steam laundry, coupled ■with those of the stokehole of an »ceuu liner in the lied sea. Morning, noon and night, the quarter in which j the Hotel of the Three Desires was j situated was fragrant with the smell j of garbage and Chinese tobacco; a pe- j culiar blend of perfume which, once smelled, is not to be soon forgotten, j Everything, even the bottles on the shelves in the bar, had a greasy feel about them, and the mildew 011 one's j boots when one came to put them on in the morning, was a triumph in the way of erysiphaceous fungi. Singa pore at this season of the year is neither good for man nor beast; in j this sweeping assertion, of course, I except the yellow man, upon whom it seemsto exercise no effect whatsoever, i It was towards evening, and, strange to relate, the Hotel of the Three Desires was for once practical- \ ly empty. This was the more ex- j traordinary for the reason that the J customers who usually frequented it, ! en route from one end of the earth to the other, are not affected by sea sons. Midwinter was to them the 1 same as midsummer, provided they did their business, or got their ships, and by those ships, or that business, received their wages. That those hard-earned wages should eventually find themselves in the pocket of the landlord of the Three Desires ' was only in the natural order of things,j and, in consequence, such of his I guests as were sailors, as a general I rule, eventually boarded their ships 1 without as much as would purchase j them a pipe of tobacco. It did not, however, prevent them from return-; ing to the Hotel of the Three Desires j when next they happened to be that | way. If he had r.o other gift, Manuel at least possessed the faculty of mak ing it comparatively homelike to his customers, and that is the desider atum not to be despised even by sail or men in the far east. As I have said, night was falling on one of the hottest days of the year, ; when a man entered the hotel and j inquired for the proprietor. Pleased 1 to find that there was at last to be a i turn in the tide of his affairs, the landlord introduced himself to the j stranger, and at the same time in quired in what way he could have the pleasure of serving him. "I want to put up with you," said the stranger, who, by the way. was a j tall man, with a hawk's nose that was I not unlike the. beak of the same bird. "You are not full, I suppose?" Manuel rubbed his greasy hands to j gether and observed that he was not i as full as he had been; thereby insin | uating that while he was not over- J flowing, he was still not empty. It ' will be gathered from this that he "I HAD MADE UP MY MIND THAT YOU WE UK NOT COMING," HE SAID, AS THEY SHOOK HANDS. was a good business man, who never threw a chance away. "In that case, I'll stay," said the stranger, and set down the small va lise he carried upon the floor. From what I have already written, you will doubtless have derived the impression that the Hotel of the Three Desires, while being a useful place of abode, was far from being the caravanserai of the luxurious or der. The stranger, whoever he might be, however, was either not fastidi ous, or, as is more probable, was used to similar accommodations, for he paid as little attention to the perfume of the bar as he did to the dirt upon the floor and walls, and also upon the landlord's hands. Having stipulated for a room to himself, he desired to be shown to it forthwith, whereupon Manuel led him through the house to a small yard »t the back, round which were several cabins, dignified by the name of apartments. "Splendeed," said Manuel, enthusi astically, throwing open the door of one of the rooms as he spoke. "More splendeed-than ever you saw." The stranger gave a ravenous sort of croak, which might have been a laugh or anything else, and then went in and closed the door abruptly be hind him. Having locked it, he took off his coat and hung it upon the handle, apparently conscious of the fact that the landlord had glued his '•.yes to the keyhole in order that he might, from a precautionary point of view, take further stock of his pa tron. Foiled in liis intention he re turned to the bar, murmuring "Ang lish peeg" to himself as he did so. In the meantime the stranger had seated himself upon the rough bed in the corner, and had taken a letter from his pocket. , | "The Hotel of the Three Desires," CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1902. he reads, "and on March the fifteenth. without fail." There was a pause while he folded the letter up and placed it in his pocket. Then he con tinued: "This is the hotel, and to-day is the fifteenth of March. But why don't they putin an appearance? It isn't like them to be late. They'd better not play me any tricks or they'll find I have lost none of my old power of retaliation." Having satisfied himself that it was impossible for anyone to see into the room, either through the keyhole or by means of the window, he partly disrobed, and, when he had done so, unbuckled from round his waist a broad leather money belt. Seating himself on the bed once more he un fastened the strap of the pocket, and dribbled the contents onto the bed. ''.'liey consisted of three' Napoleons, 15 English sovereigns, four half sover eigns and IS one-franc pieces, in his trousers pocket he had four Mexican dollars and some cosmopolitan change of small value. "It's not very much," lie muttered to himself after he had counted it, "but it ought to be sufficient for the business in hand. If I hadn't been fool enough to listen to that French woman on board, I shouldn't have played cards, and then it would have been double. Why the deuce wasn't I able to get monsieur ashore? In that ease I'd have got it all back, or I'd have known the reason why." The idea seemed to afford him some satisfaction, for he smiled, and then said to himself as if in terms of ap probation: "By Jove, I believe you, my boy!" When he bad counted his money and had returned it once more to its hiding place, he buckled Ihe belt round his person and unstrapped his valise, taking from it a black 'lussa coat which he exchanged for that hanging upon the handle of the door. Then he lighted a Java cigar and sat down upon the bed to think. Taken altogether, his was not a prepossess ing countenance. The peculiar at tributes I have already described were sufficient to prevent that. At the same time it was a strong face, that of a man who was little likely to al low himself to be beaten, of his own free will, in anything he might un dertake. The mouth was firm, the chin square, the eyes dark and well set; moreover, he wore a heavy black mustache, which he kept sharp pointed. Ilis hair was of the same color, though streaked here and there with gray. His height was an inch and a half above six feet, but by reason of his slim figure, he looked somewhat taller. His hands and feet were small, but of his strength there could be no doubt. Taken altogether, he was not a man with whom one would feel disposed to trifle. Unfor tunately, however, the word adventur er was written all over him, and, as a considerable section of the world's population have good reason to know, he was as little likely to fail to take advantage of his opportunities as he was to forget the man who had robbed him, or who had done him an ill turn. It was said in Hong-Kong that he was well connected, and that | lie had claims upon a viceroy now | gone to his account, that, had he per | severed with them, might have placed i him in a very different position. How | much truth there was in this report, I however, I cannot say; one thing, j however, is quite certain; if it were | true, he had fallen grievously from I his high estate. When his meditations had con i tinued for something like ten minutes i he rose from the bed, blew a cloud of | smoke, stretched himself, strapped j his valise once more, gave himself what the sailors call a hoist, that he might be sure his money belt was in its proper position, and then unlocked the door, passed out, relocked it after him, and returned to the bar. There he called for certain curious liquors, smelt them suspiciously before using them, and then proceeded deliberately to mix himself a peculiar drink. The landlord watched him with an ap preciative surprise. He imagined him self to be familiar with every drink known to the taste of man, having had wide experience, but such an one as this he had never encountered be fore. "What do you call it?" lie asked, when the other had finished his prep arations. "I call it a 'Help to Reformation,' " the stranger replied. Then, with a sneer upon his face, he added: "It should be popular with your custom ers." Taking the drink with him into the veranda outside, he seated himself in a long chair and proceeded to sip it slowly, as if it were some elixir whose virtue would be lost by haste. Some people might have been amused by the motley crowd that passed along the street beyond the veranda rails, but Gideon Hayle, for such was his name, took no sort of interest in it. He had seen it too often to find any variety in it. As a matter of fact the mere sight of a pigtail was sufficient to remind him of a certain episode in his career which he had been for years endeavoring to forget. "It doesn't look as if they are go ing to putin an appearance to-night," he said to himself, as the liquor in the glass began to wane. "Can this letter have been a hoax, an attempt to draw me off the scent? If so, by all the gods in Asia, they may rest as sured I'll be even with them." He looked as though he meant it! At last he rose and, having returned his glass to the bar, donned his topee, left the hotel and went for a stroll. It was but a short distance to the harbor, and he presently found him self strolling along the several miles of what I have already described as the most wonderful shipping in the world. Knowing the spot where the British India boats from Calcutta usually lie, he made his way to it, and inquired for a certain vessel. She had not yet ar j I'AVCU, lie UA informed, and MO .one seemed to know when she might be expected. At last, tired of his occupa tion, he returned to his hotel, and in due course sat down to supper. He saioked another cigar in the veratda afterwards, and was on the point of retiring for the night, when two men suddenly made their appearance be fore him, and accosted him by name, lie immediately sprang to his feet with a cry of welcome. "I had made up my mind that you were not coming," he said, as the 3 shook hands. "The old tub didn't get in until a quater to nine," the taller of the two newcomers replied. "When did you arrive ?" "This afternoon," said Ilayle, and for a moment volunteered no further information. A good poker player is always careful not to show his hand. "1 suppose this place is not full?" inquired the man who had last spoken. "Full?"asked Hayle,scornfully. "It's full of cockroaches and mildew, if that's what you mean?" "The best company we could possi bly have," said the taller man. "(Jock roaches and black beetles don't talk and they don't listen at keyholes. What's more, if they trouble you, you can put your heel on them. Now let's see the landlord and see what he's got to offer us in the way of rooms. We don't want any dinner, because we had it on board the steamer." [To Be Continued.] BULLDOGS AND CATS. Fflluw I'etn That Hnvc Tliclr Indi vidual Antipathie» Yet ITive Togcliier in IVnte, Milady is very fond of her two French bulldogs and her big Maltese cat, named Paddy. But the bulldogs are not fond of the cat, and vice versa. Still, they live in comparative peace, though Paddy's back humps and her tail grows as large as mi lady's fur boa when he sees those French bulldogs, says the St. Louis Republic. l'addy has no high pedigree, but he is perhaps as high in the favor of milady as the two canines, due in a measure to the old love which milady bore to Paddy's grandmother, who loved to romp and play when she was a kitten. Paddy and the French bulldogs have peculiarities, and that is the reason this story is written. Paddy does not encroach upon the territory of the bulldogs, and the lat ter do not invade Paddy's bailiwick, but there is neutral ground. The neutral ground is the first iloor of milady's home. Paddy rules the basement and the subcellar; the dogs have the bedrooms. They sleep on the beds and sofas and chairs in the daytime, much to the disgust of the chambermaid. The interesting time comes when milady sits down at the piano and plays selections from the masters. The lively melodies set the tails of ♦he French bulldogs in a whirl. The tails spin numerous circles as the music rolls forth. The dogs are in ecstaey. But with Paddy it is a different tale. The most beautiful opera will cause him to hump his back and jump around in great annoyance. He rushes down into the basement, and then into the subcellar, where he offers thanks for the relief from what seems to his cat soul the worst kind of discord. Better far is the wailing of himself and the others of his ilk on the back fences o' nights. All of which proves the old, old story that what is food for some is poison for others. TEAM WORK AMONGSQUIRRELS W hat One 1% I nnhic to Carry Oth ers Aid in Getting Away With. A party of young people who were tenting in a grove near a glen at a Northlield conference witnessed an incident which seems to show a friendly understanding among squir rels. The Deerfield Valley Endeav orer tells the pleasing story. An out-of-doors dinner had just been finished and the party was still sitting at the table, when a red squir rel, with glistening, eager eyes, came creeping down a tree which stood near the table, lie crept nearer and nearer, and finally leaped upon the table. The lady who was presiding said: "Yes, help yourself to anything you want!" Upon this invitation the little fel low made bold to creep up to a loaf of bread from which only a slice or two had been cut. He seized it and dragged it to the side of the table, and somehow managed to scramble down the side with it to the ground. He then fixed his teeth in the crust and dragged it away and down the steep sides of Mie glen. But when he reached the bottom and confronted the steep rise on the other side it was too much for him. Then he gave a sort of call, which seemed to be understood, for soon squirrels were seen coining from sev eral directions. They crowded round him, and after a little conference all took hold, and with tug and strain they managed to bring the loaf to the top of the hill and disaj>pejired with it in the woods beyond. Itlclien of Mind. A rich mind will cast over the hum blest home a radiance of beauty and wholesomeness which an upholsterer or a decorator can never equal. Emer son says: "There is no beautifler of complexion, form or behavior like the wish $o scatter joy, and not pain, around us."—Success. tVothiiiK to Iliiti. Ida—The assertion that you were "good enough to eat" did not appeal to him? May (sadly)—No, ne is a dyspeptic. PUZZLE PICTURE. "I DROPPED MY PIPE. DO YOU SEE IT i" TO WHOM IS HE Si'EAKl\U{ HIGHLAND FOX-HUNTING. Scotch Terrier* Are Hereditary Foes of iteynnrd—Kindly I)OK> That Are Fierce in llattle. Ben Buei and the wild glen it over looks have never been glad with the cry of the hounds, as that phrase is understood of the shires, yet the dis trict is the home of the hill fox and of one man and many dogs for whom fox hunting is the serious pursuit of life. Ben liuie never saw scarlet; it never knew a meet. True, it has seen the chase, but it has been the pursuit of Highland war or the following of the red deer in the old days with horn and hound; yet more foxes are killed each year by the hunter and his dogs than fall to the busiest of packs in 'the best of "countries" south of the Tweed, says the London Express. Up here on the hill the only sounds coin ing to the ear are the faint murmur ing of the dwindled river and the yelp ing of the terriers somewhere down there where the stream joins the sea. You are in a land of wild, dark, frown ing hills, dotted with the cairns in which the fox loves to make his home —a land of sheer descents, of cliff and scaur, of torrents that have cleft deep ways, of precipices and barrier roelcs. Fox hunting, in the ordinary sense, is obviously impossible. Nor is it at tempted. In the Highlands they have a short way with the fox. They do not hunt him with dogs; they do not desire a "run;" their whole aim is a "kill." The hill foxes, be it observed, are not as the foxes of the plain. They are larger, stronger and fiercer, more like a wolf than a fox as a beast of prey. In autumn, summer and win ter the foxes are hunters merely of such animals as are the spoil of south ern foxes. As destroyers of game —- often as wanton among birds as an otter among fish—there is war be tween them and the keepers, and to shoot a fox is not a sporting crime, but a good service to the whole "hill." In spring other interests are in volved. The hill fox, from Eskdale on the borders to "dark Loch Eriboll" in the far north, is the enemy of the sheep farmer, for he preys on the young lambs, and grim and great would be the slaughter if there were no fox hunters to follow him to his fastnesses in the wild hills, and there with dogs of high and low • degree make him pay the penalty of Ills mis deeds down to his last cub. In some districts the "tod hunter," to give him his border name, is a person of con siderable importance. Among the The man whose whose soul is fired by a desire to serve humanity in the capacity of an explorer need not desist for lack of opportunity. ************************** Nor is it necessaiv that he ❖ y follow his chosen duty within the I The Explorer I arcti, r r f° ,,s - f Ti,c " » vot nt • * { * abundance of work for those i NGfiuGO 111 niriCd * competent and willing within trop- ical Africa. That great continent By SIR HENRY m. STANUEY. * is still, for the greater part, a mys- tery. Civilization and progress have touched either end and pene trated in a small way from either side, but of the great interior there is much yet to be learned. In the .Uganda Protectorate there lies one of the highest moun tain ranges known toman. Twelve years ago I saw a glimpse of it. Since that time many men have seen like glimpses; some have photo graphed it, but none can give us accurate scientific information about it. No one, so far as known, has ever ascended its rugged sides. THE GREAT RUWENZORI RANGE AWAITS THE MASTER WHO SHALL FATHOM ITS MYSTERIES FOR THE BENE FIT OF MAN. But the day is past when Africa offers to the adventurer seeking a bit of passing glory from an unread public an opportunity to attain bis ends. THE MAN WANTED IN AFRICA TO-DAY IS THE CAREFUL, CONSCIENTIOUS, SCIENTIFIC EXPLORER. The man fitted both by nature and careful training to investigate the de tails and bring back with him facts that shall be of value in the de velopment of the great rich territories lying all about Africa's sun kissed lakes. There is 110 spot in Africa but what has something to offer to civilization. What we need is the man who will find each separate spot; who will investigate the details; who will give his life to a work for which only posterity will praise him, of which the rabble of to-day will have no appreciation. We have such men and to them I say goto Africa, do the work you find there to do, and you will earn for yourself a place in the history of the future, for Africa is where future history is to be made. green pastoral bills of the southwest of Scotland the professional killer of foxes is usually a breeder of those "mustard and pepper" terriers to which Dandie Dinmont pave his name. Here in the Highlands other terriers are employed, and each fox hunter j has his special breed, which is su ] perior to those of all his rivals. | The fox hunter, whose terriers are | even now waking- the echoes of the | glen with their impatient yelping, is | one of the best known in the north. | His occupation is practically heredi tary, for he is tlie fourth of his race to hold ottice on the estate, and to serve the district in the capacity of a paid slayer of foxes. In the old days he was paid in kind, and had a grant per head of foxes killed; to-day he j lias his fixed wage from the estate. * j and a fee from the farmers. For near ly two centuries, for an unbroken se j qnence of 200 springs, he and his for | bears have hunted all the wild coun j try that lies between Glen Fallocli and ! the Pass of lirander, the Springs of | Shira and the lone places of Appin. ' For all these years they have waged war on the bill foxes. Like the hunter, the terriers are the hereditary foes of the fox. Two hun- I dred years ago their direct ancestors trotted up the bill slopes, bunted the I cairns and worried the progenitors of j those very foxes with whom tliey will i join issue when the March winds of ! the second year of the century are | roaring down the glens. The feud has I descended from generation to genera ' 1 ion of dogs, from generation to gen- I eration of foxes. Inn field near the sea you note the I fox hunter, but before he can answer ! your call and come down to the road [ the whole pack are upon you. Their greeting is noisy, hut kindly. Every one of the 12 gives tongue as they come running toward you. There is nothing of menace in their barking. It is merely the hearty welcome of the Highland terrier. Each dog is more "fussy" than the other. All their bodies, all their tails and all their tongues are going at once, and each dog is a rival of the other for your notice. One or two are a little shy of the stranger's hand, but not one is hostile. They are "nice" dogs these hereditary foemen of the fox. \silii rii 1 Deduction. Mayme —I've a mind to break my en gagement with Jack. I don't believe ' lie loves me any more. Edytli—What makes you think lie j doesn't? "Because the last time lie was here | it took him only ten minutes to say i 'good night.'"—-Chicago Daily News.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers