VOL* xxxiv 8 |4/U A T SHALL I GIVE <1 S j nil/ll FOR CHRISTMAS■ || jg ■■■ ******> g gsrf This is the question of the day. but a visit to onr store will Igg 3&1 easily and economically solve it. Is it a nice Rooking Chair yon fSsji sSsf ;*l want? We have the larg f^z S»t % est, finest and best assorted £ stock yon ever saw to e5 ;■ Decorated Table St s§j{ i O / I Ware or a pieoe of Por " k t it StYis £ celain T We have enough {^» M /U 1 for> "°""' IB %sst ML! W!}[• U |y * Is it a nice pair of Por *U f/fyf 'I f tiers, Lace Curtains, Parlor Kg gal r """ Table. Hall Rack. Prrlor |jgg 2S* Snit, Writing Desk or Toilet Set llf so, they are all here. i *§>[ If yon want something useful yon can find at this store. jg?* Goods bought now can can be stored free and delivered any «5a time before Christmas. M | Decorated jg 1 dinner I I rl2fe- Uj - * v * v I | Last week we had sfi dif- iw l\ L\— b- v T: | jlr ferentdec-orations to show *^s y3j| J yon in Dinner Sets. This Yon can easily find what you want, as tae : Best after dinner pills. K- Jr a§ S s^* ,15 cents. All druggists. ■ ■■ ■ w i Prepared by C. I Hood & Co., Lowell, Mass. I Tbt onU-PUI to take with Hood's Sarsauar l!a. This I» Tour Opportunity. On receipt of ten cents, cash or stamps, i a penerous sample will be mailed of tue i most popular Catarrh ucd Hay i ever Cure ' (Ely's Cream Balm) sufficient to demoa i strife the gre-u merits of the icmedy. ELY BROTHERS, 56 Warren St, New York City. Rev. John ReM, Jr.. of Or. at Fall*, Mont . i recouimenJed Ely's Cream lialm to me. I i can emphasize his statement, "It is a P£ el * tive euro for catarrh if used as directed." Rev. Francis Y. r . Poola, Pastor Central Pres. Chnrcb, Helena. Moat. Ely's Cream Balm is the acknowledged j cure for cutArrh uud coutwuH no mercury i nor any injurious drug. Price, 50 ccats. I [art,. . ' Everything ve have in our / | C magnificent display for tl: ■ ) ! { Holidays, are works of art. J I CALL ANC SEE IT. j C We have something for ever* - j J body. S ( BOOKS. GAMES, DOLLS, $ J For the little one. Books of \ ) tlie latest fiction and fancy V J gift editions. { S CHINA and BRIC-a-BRAC C j Photo-Medalions Leather ami v S Celluloid goods «t. Q I DOUGLASS' S 241 S. Main St., Butler. Pa. C We M Know that the slovenly dressed man never receives the respect and consideration the well dressed man gets. One secret in dres sing well lies in the selection c.f the right tailor. our garments are cut and made in cur own workshop in this city. We are particular about the fit, fashion and ail the minute details in their construction. Would be pleased to show you a product of our shop and also give you n pointer iu econ omy. fail patterns now displayed ALAND, MAKKR OF MEN'S LOTH l-„S Gounting The Cost. Have- you ever calculated how much is saved in the long run by having your clothing made by tailors who know their business? You get better gor«ds, more care ful workmanship and the fit and style arc worth a great deal. It's a satisfaction to wear first class, well made clothes, and then it's economical as well. Clothes that fit, wear longer, look better and are more satisfactory to the , wearer. Those who wear our garments appreciate this. Stop and calculate. Do you !. wear tailor-made clothes? In that case you have garments that last longer, wear better and suit you more completely than any other. Every garment is made in the best style. No accidental fits. No disgraceful effects. It is cheaper to wear custom clothes than any others. Fa'l styles on display. WEDDING SUITS A SPEAITY."' fiFiSI Cor. 1 )laruonoUlyri. N. V Hartford Ir»HUi;inl»i --► north of Court litju?iC. Ilutlcr J a. BUTLER, PA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER IG, ls;>7 RO $ TART I. THE OLD BUCCANEER. CHAPTER I. THE OLD SEA-DOG AT THE ADMIRAL BENBOW. Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey and the rest of these gentleiu*:n having asked me to write down the whole par ticulars about, Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping noth ing back but the bearings of the island, and that only l-ecause there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen ia the year of grace 17—, and go back to the time when my fauicr kept the Admiral lienbow Inn, and the brown old seaman, with the saber cut, first took up his lodgings under our roof. I remember him as if it was yester day, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea chest following behind him in a hand-barrow; a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry pig tail falling over the shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his bunds ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails, and the saber cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white. I remember him looking round the cove and whistling to him self as he did so, and then breaking out in that old sea song that he sung so often afterward: •'Fifteen men on the dead man's chest — Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" in the high, old tottering voice that seemed to have been tuned and broken at the capstan bars. Then he rapped on the door with a bit of of stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared called roughly for a glass of rum. This, whep it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoiseenr, lingering on the taste, and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard. "This is a handy cove," say a he, at length; "and a pleasant sittyated grog-shop. Much company, mate?" My father told him no, very littl« company, the more was the pity. "WelC then," said he, "this is the berth for me. HeTe you, matey," he cried to the man who trundled the bar row; "bring up alongside and help up my chest. I'll stay here a bit," he con tinued. "I'm a plain man; rum and bacon and eggs is what I want, and that head up there for to watch ships off. What you mought call me? You mought call me captain. Oh, I see what you're at —there;" and he threw down three or four gold pieces on the threshold. "You can tell me when I've worked through that," says he, looking as fierce as a commander. And, indeed, bad as his clothes were, and courwely as he spoke, he had none of the appearances of a man who sailed before tho mast; but seemed liko a mute or nkipper, accustomed to be obeyed or to strike. The nun who came with the barrow told us the mail had set him down tbc morning before at tho Royal George; that he had in quired what inns there were along the coast, and hearing ours well spoken of, I suppose, and described as lonely, had chosen it from the others for his place of residence. And that was all we could learn of our guest. He was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove, or up on the cliffs, with a brass telescope; all evening he sat in a corner of the juir lor next the fire, and drank rum and water very strong. Mostly he would not speak when, upoken to; only look up suddenly uud fierce, and blow through his nose like a fog-horn; and we and the people,who came about our house soon learned to let him be. Every day, whttt he came bftck from his stroll, he would ask if any seafaring men had gone by along the roud? At first wo thought it was the want of company of his kind that made him ask this question; but at last we begtm to see he was desirous to avoid them. When a seaman put up at the Admiral Benbow (as now and then some did, making by the coast road for Bristol), he would look at him through the curtained door before he entered the parlor; and he was ulway* sure to be as silent as a mouse wlneu any such was present. For me, at least, there wus no secret about tho matter; for I was, in a way, a sharer in his alarms. He had taken me aside cae day, and promised me a silver fourpennyon the first of every ,month if I would only keep my "wesuher-eye open for a fcirlng man with one leg," and let him know the moment he appeared. Often enough, when the first of the month came round, and I applied to him for my wage, ho would ouly blow through his nose at me, and stare me down, but before the week was out he was sure to think better of it, bring me my four penn.) piece, and repeat his orders to look out for "the seafaring man with one leg." How that personage haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On stormy nights, when the wind shook tho four corners of the house, and the surf roared along the cove and up the pliffs, I would see him in a thousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions. Now the leg would be out off at the knee, now at the hip; now he was a monstrous kind of a creature who had never had but the one leg, and that in the middle of his body. To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and ditch, was the worst of nightmares. And altogether I paid pretty dear for mv monthly fourpenny piece in tho shope of thesoabominable fancies. But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with one leg, I was far less afraid of the captain him self than anybody else who knew him There were nights when he took a deal imoro ruui and water than his head would carry; and then he would some .Mrnes sit and sing his wicked, old, wild sea songs, minding nobody; but some times he would call for glnsses round, and force all tho trembling company to listen to his stories or bear a ehorua to his Kinging. Often I have heard the house shaking with "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum;" all the neighbors join ing In for dear life, with the fear ot death upon them, and each singing louder than the other, to avoid remark. For in these fits he was the most over riding companion ever known; he would slap his hand 011 the table for si lence all round; he would fly up In a pas sion of anger at a question, or some times because none was put and so h« judged the company wns not following his story. Nor would he allow anyone to leave tho Inn till he had drunk him self sleepy and reeled off to bed. Ills stories were what frightened peo ple worst of all. Dreadful stories tliej' were; about hanging, and walking th* plank, and storms at sea, aud the Dr\ Tortug-as, and wild deeds and places on the Spanish main. By his own account, he must have lived his life among' some of the wickedest taen that (iod ever al lowed upon fhe sea; and the language in which he told t';ese stories shocked our plain country people almost a? much as the crimes that he described My father was always saying the inn would be ruined, for people would soon cease coming there to be tyrannized over and put down, and sent shivering to their beds; hut I really believe his presence did ui> good. People were frightened at the time, but on looking back they rather liked it; it was a line excitement in a quiet country life; and there was even a party of the younger men who protended to admire him, call ing liiia a "true sea-dog," and a "real old salt," and such like names, and say ing there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea. In one way, indeed, he bade fair to ruin us; for he kept on staying week after week, awl at last month after month, so that all the money had been long exhausted, and still my father never plucked up the heart to insist on having more. If ever he mentioned it, the captain blew through his nose so loudly that you might say he roared, and stared my poor father out of the room. I have seen him wringing his hands after such a rebuff, and I am sure the annoyance and the terror he lived in must have greatly hastened his early and unhappy death. All the time he lived with UR the cap tain made no change whatever in his dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker. One of the cocks of his bat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, fhough it was a great H* would look In »t hltn taxouch the ?urt«in*4 door. annoj-ance when it blew. I rerr,ember the appearance of his coat, which he patched himself upstairs iu his room, and which, before the end, was nothing but patches. He never wrote or re ceived a letter, and he never spoke with any but the neighbors, and with these, for the most part, only when drunk on rum. The great sea-chest none of us had ever seen open. He was only once crossed, and that was toward tha end, when my poor father was far gone in a decline that took him off. Dr. Livesey came late one after noon to sec the patient, took a bit of dinner from my mother, and went into the parlor to smoke a pipe until his lu>rse should come down from the ham let, for we had no stabling at the old Benbow. I followed him 111, nnd I re member observing the contrast the neat, bright doctor, with liis powder as white as snow, uud his bright, black eyes and pleasant manners, made with the coltish country folk, and, above all. with that filthy, heavy, bleared scare crow of a pirate of ours, sitting far gone In rum, with his arms 011 the table. Sud denly he —the captain, that is—began to pipe up his eternal song: "Fifteen on tho Ccad man's chent— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottlfi of rum! Dr'nk und the devil hnd dot.<- for the rest— Yo-lio-ho, and a bottle of rum!" At first I had supposed "the dead man's chest" to be that identical big box of his upstairs in the front room, aud the thought had been mingled in my nightmares with that of the one legged seafaring man. But by this time we had all long ceased to pay any par ticular notice to the song; it was new, that night, to nobody but Dr. Livesey, and on him I observed that it did not produce an agreeable effect, for he looked up for a moment quite angrily before he went on with his talk to old Taylor, the gardener, on a new cure for rheumatics. In the meantime the cap tain gradually brightened up at his own music, and at last flapped his hand upon the table before him in a way we all knew to mean —silence. The voices stopped at once, all but Dr. Llvesey's; he went on as before, speaking clear and kind, and drawing briskly at his pipe between every word or two. The captain glared at him for awhile, flapped his hand again, glared still harder, and at last broke out with a villainous, low oath: "Silence, there between decks!" "Were you addressing me, sir?" says the doctor; and when the rufllan had told him, with another oath, that this was so, "I have only one thing to say to you, sir," replies the doctor, "that if you keep 011 drinking rum the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoun drel!" Tho old fellow's fury was awful. Ho sprung to his feet, drew nnd opened a sailor's clasp knife, anil, balancing it open on the palm of his hand, threat ened to pin the doctor to the wall. The doctor ft ever so much as moved. He spoke to him, as before, over his shoulder, and 111 the same tone of voice; rather high, so that all the room might hear, but perfectly calm and steady: "if you don't put that knife this in stant into your pocket, I promise, upon my honor, you shall hang at the next assizes." Then followed a battle of looks be tween them; but the captain soon knuckled under, put up his weapon, and resumed his seat, grumbling likcabeat en dog. "And now, sir," continued the doctor, "since I know there's such a fellow in my district, you inay count I'll have an eye on you day nnd night. I'm not a doctor, only; I'm a magistrate; and if I catch 11 breath of complaint against you, if It's only for a piece of incivility like to-night, I'll take effectual means to have you hunted down and routed out of this. Let that suffice." Soon after Dr. I.ivesey's hor=e came to the door, and he rode away; but the captain held his peace that evening, and for many evenings to come. CHAPTER 11. BLACK DOG APPEARS AND DTP \P PEARS. It was not long after this that there occurred the first of the mysterious events that rid us at last of the captain, though not, as you will see, of his nf fuirs. It was a bitter, cold winter, wiih long, hard frosts and heavy gnlfs; and it was plain from the first that my poor father was little likely to see the spring. He sunk daily and im - mother and 1 had ail the inn upon our hands, and were kept busy enough without paying much regard toon:- unpleasant guest. It was one January morning, very early—a pinching, frosty morning— the cove all gray with hoar-frost, the ripple lapping softly on the stones, the sun still low, and only touching the hill tops and shining far to seaward. The captain had risen earlier than usual, and set out down the beach, his cutlass nwinginj; under the broad skirts of the old blue coat, his brass telescope under his arm, his hat tilted back upon his head. I remember his breath hang ing like smoke in his wake as he strode off, and the last sound I heard of him, as he turned the big rock, was a loud sncrt of indignation, as though his mind was still running upon Dr. Live sey. Well, mother was upstairs with fa ther; and I was laying the. breakfast table against the captain's return, when the parlor door opened, and a man stepped in on whom I had never set my eyes before. He wag a pale, tal lowy creature, wanting two fingers on the left hand; and, though he wore a cutlass, he did not look much like a fighter. I had always my eyes open for seafaring men, with one leg or two, and I remember this one puzzled me. He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of the sea about him, too. I asked him what was for his service, and he said he would take rum; but as I was going out of the room to fetch it he sat down upon a table and motioned to me to draw near. I paused where I was with my napkin in my hand. "Come here, souny," says he. "Come nearer here." I took a step nearer. "Is this here tabic for iny mate Bill?" he asked, with a kind of leer. I told him I did not know his mate Bill; and this was for a pcr:on who stayed in our house, whom we called the captain. "Well," said he, "my mate Bill would be called the captain, as like as not. lie has a cut on one cheek, and a mighty pleasant way with him, particularly in drink, has my mate Bill. We'll put it, for argument like, that your captain ha 3 a cut on one cheek—and we'll put it, if you like, that that cheek's the right one. Ah, well! I told you. Now, is my mate Bill in this here house?" I told him he was out walking. "Which way, sonny? Which way is he gone?" And when I had pointed out the rock anil told him how the captain was like ly to return, nnd how soon, and an swered a few other questions, "Ah," said he, "this'll be as good as drink tc mv mate Bill." The expression of his face as he saic these words was not at oil pleasant and I had my own reason.", for think ing that the btrunger was mistaken even supposing he meant what he said But It was no affair of mine, I thought) and, besides, it wns difficult to knovi what to do. The stranger kept hang Ing about just inside the inner door peering around the corner like u cir waltingfor a mouse. Oncel stepped out myself into the road, buthe immediate ly called me back, and, as I did notobej quick enough for his fancy, a most lior rible change came over his tallowj face, and he ordered me in, with ui oath that made me jump. As soon as I was back again he ro turned to his former manner, hali fawning, half suet ring, patted jiu- ot the shoulder, told me 1 was a good bor and he had taken quite a fancy to me "I have a SOIL of my own," said he, "ni like you as two block*, and he's all tht pride of my 'nt-t. Bui the great tiling for boys is di«ciplin", sonii3' —dl'tc!-- line. Now, if you had sailed along ol Bill, you wouldn't have stood there te be spoke to twice —not yon. That was never Bill's way, nor the way of such as sailed with him. And here, sure enough, is my mate Bill, with a spy glass under his arm, ble»ss his old 'art, to be sure. You and me'll just go back Into the parlor, sonny, and get behind the door, and we'll give Bill a little sur prise—bless his 'art, I say again." So saying the sti-anger backed along with me Into the parlor, and put me be hind him in the corner, bo that we were both hidden by the open door. I was very uneasy and alarmed, as you may fancy, and It rather added to my fears to ohserve that the i;tranger was cer tainly frightened himself. He cleared the hilt of his cutlass and loosened the blade in the sheath; and all the time we were kept waiting there he kept swallowing as if he felt what we used to call a lump. In the throat. At lost in strode thecapUiin, slammed the door beiilndliim, without looking to the right or left, and marched straight across the room to where his o.cakfast awaited him. "Bill," said the stranger, in a voice that I thought ho had tried to make bold and big. The captqJn spun round on his heel and fronted us; all the brown had gone out of hi» face, autl even his nose was blue; he had the look of a man who sees a ghost, or the evil one, or some thing worse. If anything ean be; and, upon -my word, I felt sorry to see him, all in a moment, turn so old and sick. "Gome, Bill, you know me; you know an old shipmate. Bill, surely," said the stranger. The captain made a sort of gasp "Black Dog!" said«he. "And who else?" returned the other, getting more at his j r.l lie - iptaln's dr with some cooling drinks and medicines. lie was lying very much us we bad !• ft him, oulj a little higher, and lie teemed l>o1»h weak and excited, "Jim," he Kaid, "you're the ouly one here that's worth anything; and you know I've been always fjood to you. Never a month but I've given you a sil ver fourpenny for yourself. And now tuu see, mate, I'm pretty low, and de serted b\ all; and Jim, you'll bring me one m in of rum, now won't you, matey' "Tbc doctor —" I began. lint he broke in cursing the doctor, in a feeble voice, but heartily. "Doctoru i: all swabi," lie said; "and that doctor there, why, what do he know about ueafaring melt? I been in places hot .in pitch, a.; I tnntes »lr< ;piiig round with i iiow .lack, and toe blessed land u-heaviiiir like the rea with tariU quakes—what do the doctors know- oi lands like that? ami I lived on rum, 1 teil you. It's been meat and drink, and man and wife, to me; and if I'm not to have my rum now I'm a j>oor old hulk on a lee shore, my blood'll be on you, Jim, and that doctor swab;" and he ran ouabain for awhile with curses. "Ix>ok, Jim, how my fingers fidgef," he con tinued. in the pleading tone. "I can't keep 'cm still, not 1. I haven't had a drop this blessed day. That doctor's a fool. I toll you. If I don't have a drain o' rum, Jim, I'll have the horrors; I seen some on 'em already. I seen old Flint in the corner there, behind you; ;•« plain as print, I seen him; and if 1 get the horrors, I'm a man that has !!*cd rough, and I'll raisj- Cain. Your doctor tiisself said one glass wouldn't hurt me. I'll give yeu a golden guinea for a noggin, Jim." He ws growing more and more ex cited, and this alarmed me, for my fa ll. :r was very low that day, and -.i; dod quiet; besides, 1 was reassured bv the doctor's words, now quoted to n. ■. and rathcTr offended by the offer of a 1 ribe. "I want none of your money," said I, "but what you owe my father. I'll get you one glass, and no more." When I brought it to him, he seized it greedily, and drank it out. "Ay, ay," said he, "that's some bet ter, sure enough. And now, matey, did that doctor say how long 1 was to lie here in this old berth ?" "A week at least," said I. "Thunder!" he cried. "A week! I can't do that; they'd have a black spot on mc by then. The lubbers is going about to get the wind of me this blessed moment; lubbers as couldn't keep what they got, and want to nail what is another's. Is that seamauly behavior, now. I want to know? But I'm a sav ing soul. I never wasted good money of mine, nor lost it, neither; and I'll trick 'em Again. I'm not afraid on 'em. I'll shake out another reef, matey, and daddle 'em again." As he was thus speaking he had risen from bed with great difficulty, holding to my shoulder with a grip that almost made mo cry, and moving his legs like so much dead weight, nis words, spirited as they v.ere iu meaning, con trasted sadly with the weakness of the voice in which they were uttered. He paused when he had got into a sitting position on the edge. "That doctor's done me," lie mur mured. "My ears is singing. Lay me back." Before Icould do much to help liim he had /alien back again to his former place, where he lay for awhile silent. "Jim," he said, at length, "you saw that seafaring man to-day?" "Clack Dog?" I asked. "Ah! Black Dog," says he. "He's a bad 'un; but there's worse that put him on. Now, if I can't get away no how, and they tip me the black spot, mind you, it's my old sea-chest they're after. You get on a horse —you can, can't you? Well, then you get on a horse, and go to —well, yea, I willl—to that eternal doctor swab, and tell him to pipe all hands —magistrates and sich —and he'll luy 'em aboard at the Ad miral Benbow—all old Flint's crew, man and boy, all on 'em that's left. I was lirst mate, I was, old Flint's first mate, and I'm the ou'y one as knows the place, lie gave it me to Savannah, when he lay a-dying, like as if I was to now, you nee. Hut you won't peach un less they get the black spot on me, or unless you see that lll&ck Dog again, or a seafaring man with on© leg, Jim —him above ail." "But what is the black spot, captain ?" I asked. 'That's a summons, mate. I'll tell you if they pet that. But jou keepyour weather-eye open, Jiin, and I'll share with you equals, upon iny honor." lie wandered a little longer, his voice growing weaker; but soon after I hfld given him his medicine, which he took like « child, with the remark, "if ever a seaman \\ anted drugs, it's me," he fell at last into a heavy, swoon-like sleep in which I left him. What I should have done had all gone well I do not know. I'robably I should have told the whole story to the doctor; for I was in mortal fear lest the captain should repent of his confessions and make an end of me. But ns things fell out, my poor father died quite suddenly that evening, which put ail oilier matters on one side. Our itural distress, the visits of the neighbors, the arrangingof the funeral, and nil the work of the inn to be car ried on in the meanwhile, kept mc so busy that I had scarcely time to think of the captain, far letss to be afraid of him. lie got downstairs next morning, to be sure, aud had his meals as usual, though he eat little, and had more, I am afraid, than his usual supply of rum, for he helped himself out of the bar, scowling and blowing through his rose, and no one- dared to cross him. On the night before the funeral he was as drunk as ever; and it wus shocking, In that house of mourning, to hear him singing away his ugly old sea-song; but, weak as he w as, we were all in fear of death for htm, and the doctor was suddenly taken up with a case many miles away, and was never near tho bouse after my father's death. I have Baid the captain was weak; and indeed lie seemed rather to grow weaker than regain his strength, lie clambered up and dftwnstairs, and went from the parlor to the bar and back again, and sometimes put his nose out-of-doors to smell the sea, holding- on to the walls as lie went for support, and.breathing" hard and fast like a man on it steep mountain. He never particularly ad dressed me, and it is my belief he had as good as forgotten his confidences; but his temper was more flighty, and, allowing for his bodily tveakneas, more violent than ever. He had an alarming way now when he was drunk of draw ing his cutlass and laying 1 it bare be fore him ou the table. But, with all that, he minded people less, and seemed -hut up in his own thoughts and rather wandering. Once, for instance, to our extreme wonder, he piped up to a dif ferent air, a kind of country love-song', that Tie must have learned in Ills youth before he had begun to follow the sea. So things passed until, the day nfter the funeral, and about three o'clock of II bitter, fog-fry, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the door for a moment, full >f sad thought* about my father, when I saw Home one drawing slowly near along tlie road, lie WM plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a stick, and wore u great green shade over hi* •,\es and nose; and he was hunched, as f with age or weakness, and wore a huge old tattered sea-cloak with a hood that made him appear positively de formed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful-looking figure. He stopped a iittle from the inn, and raising his voice a an odd sing-wong, addressed the air in front of him: "Will any kind friend inform a poor blind man, who fan* lost the precious >iglit of his eyes in the gracious defense jf his native country, England, and God >le.s:. King George! where or in what liart of this country he may now l>e?" "Van are at the Admiral Benbow, Ulack Hill Cnve, in A- good man.** said 1 "1 hear a voice," said he, "a young voice. Will you gi\c u.. your hand, my kind young friend, and lead me in?" 1 held out my hand, und the horrible, No.SO soft-spoken, eyeless creature gripped it . in a moment like a vise. X was so much startled that 1 struggled to withdraw; but the blind man pulle&me close up to him with a single action o(hi**zia. "Now. boy." he said, "take me in to the captain." r "Sir," said I, "upon my word I dar« not." i "Oh," he sneered, "that's it! Take me in straight, or I'll break your arm." lie gave it, us he spoke, a wrench that made me cry out. "Sir," said I. "it is for yourself I mean. The captain is not what he used to be. He sits with a drawn cutlass. Another gentleman—" "Come, now, march," interrupted he; and 1 never heard a voice so cruel, and cold, and ugly as that blind man's. It cowed me more than the pain; and I began to obey hini at once, walking straight in at the door and toward the parlor, where the sick old buccaneer was sitting, dared with rum. The blind man clung close to me, holding mc in with one iron fist, and leaning al most more of his weight on me than I could carry. "Lead me straight up to him, and when I'm in full view cry out: 'Here's a friend for you. Bill.' If you don't, I'll do this;' and with that he gave me a twitch that 1 thought would have made me faint. Between this and that, I was so utterly terrified by the blind beggar that I forgot my terror of the captain, and, as I opened the parlor door, cried out the words he had or dered in a trembling voice. The poor captain raised his eye 3, and at one look the rum went out of him, and left him staring sober. The expres sion of his face was not so much of ter ror as of mortal sickness. He made a movement to rise, but I do not believe he had enough force left in his body. "Now, Bill, sit where you are," •aid the beggar. "If I can t see, I can hear a Anger stirring. Business Is busineu. Hold out your left hand. Boy, take his left hand by the wrist, and bring it near my right." We both obeyed him to the letter, and 1 saw him pass something from the hollow of the hand that held his stick into the palm of the captain's, which closed upon it instantly. "And now that's done," said the blind man; and at the words he suddenly left hold of me, and, with incredible accuracy and nimbieness, skipped oat of the parlor and into the road, where, as I stood motionless, I could hear his stick go tap-tap-tapping into the dis tance. It was some time before either I or the captain seemed to gather our senses; but at length, and about the same mo ment, I released his wrist, which I wae still holding, and he drew in his hand, and looked sharply into the palm. "Ten o'clock!" he cried. "Six hoar*. We'll do them yet," and he sprung to his feet. Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swaying for a moment, and then, peculiar sound, fell from his whole height face foremost to the floor. I ran to him at oftce, calling my mother. But haste was all in vain. The captain had been struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curious thing to understand, for I had certain ly never liked the man, though of late I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead, I burst into a flood of tears. It was the second death I had known, and the sorrow oi the first wn* still fresh in my heart. pro BE CONTtXCSD.] Ulaiinnali All Wrong. "Your husband seems to be a pretty easy-going sort, eh?" "Don't you believe nothin' of the kind. It is the hardest work in the world to start him goiu' at all." — Cin cinnati Knqulrer. Ilia Ilequeat. The Court—You were riding 20 miles an hour, sir. . The Scorcher—l admit It, and would you please add to your report that I have ridden as high as 50 miles an hour? —N. Y. Journal. A Similar SriiMAtlon. "Don't you feel lonely without the Alexander island races?" inquired one sporting man. "Not as lonely as I did. Somebody picked my pocket and' got S3O yester day."—Washington Star. Did It Tlioron«liljr. "Heard you had a little brush with Jones last night." "I guess you'd better call it a broom.** "Eh?" "Yes—l swept the floor with him."— N. Y. Journal. Veit'tl Questions. "What were those two men fighting about?" "Euch claimed that his graudmother used to make the best pumpkin pies on earth." Detroit Froe Press. IVot nt All Wonderful. '•That tenor of ours lias a marvelous voice. He can hold one of his notce for half a minute." "Shucks! I've held one of his notes for twoyears."—Cleveland I'lain Dealer. The Obatnele. Bessie—Why won't you marry him? Don't you like him? Jessie—Oh, yes; I like liim. But he won't propose.—Brooklyn Life. lltirlK Ilnalneaa. "Do you believe in love at first sight?" "I don't believe in love at all. I'm president of a gas company, you know."' —Chicago Post. flie Appenla. ".Tohn," said the wife of the citizen who had just, sot tied his freak election bet like a little man, "the next time you want to bet on an election, just agree that, in oase you lose, you won't make a fool of yourself for three months. It will be quite as difficult as anything else you could undertake, and it will spare the feelings of your relative*." —Puck. A Stickler for the Hales. "There's one thing I like about my •wife," said Henpecked to hi* friend Satupon; "she's a thorough sports woman." "How so?" "Why, she never knocks me down without allowing ten seconds to elapse before striking me again."—N. Y. Jour nal. Wlllinic to Walt. .Nfix* De Kich—Now, my love, you must ask pa." Mr. De I'oore—Oh, I'm in «o hurry. Let's wait. "I do not object to a long engage ment, if It is your wish, but how long?" "Um—■er how old is your pa?"—N. Y. Weekly. The Clever Expert. "Is this the skull of a man or wom an?" inquired the prosecuting attorney of the expert. "It Is a woman's sktill," replied the anatomist. "How do you know?" "fly the worn apj>earauce of the jaws." —Cleveland Plain Dealer. He llnd Tliouicht It Over. "I tell you what," soliloquized the fa ther of a large family, lis he gazed ad miringly at his \ ounpest, "we never had a finer baby than she is! Come to think of it," h*-. weut on, after some further reflection, "nobody else ever did. either."—-Punk.