THE REBELLION OF A MILLIONAIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 127, 29 May 1907, Page 3

THE REBELLION OF A MILLIONAIRE.

SHORT STORY.

—.... ... . » , ...J. I By JULES VfIJXE DEs YOIGNES, THE canvases were wet and sticky. A drenching downpour in the forenoon had put them in that condition. Streamers hung in , little gummy balls, and flapped j hack and forth with doleful pretence : o; hilarity when they were coaxed into . '! by llie fresh breeze. , Fanitnn sat on a box southeast of the ! dressing tent and thought of Davidson. jThere'had been a good deal of friendship j between the two men in one wav or anoj ther ever since the short, pudgy, good- | natured "menagerie*' man had come into j the circus, and so into Fnrnum's life. ! Davidson had ruled the two magnificent I lions- —the bill* introduced them as (lie j -'Twiri Werr-ules*'—and ruled them as Fnrnuni had known no other man to do I save one. ami that one hud so far out- | reached Fnrnum's life'and remembrance jthal the necessity, of Idling Davidson's Ipln.i. 3ml Unit, 'too, quickly, failed lo j'ttwiiken I he recollection. dor Davidson was dead—bad met his I end at rhe sudden bursting forth of mc j savage instincts the very beasts he | had bantered, and teased, and bent to his ; own will, the white devils burned in their eyes and fear dilated their nostrils. The Twins loved few: and what love they could give never wholly replaced : nor subdued their inborn bale of man I aud passion for the kill. Faraum bej lieved this. And if they hated—well, this ' last was the only theory ho could go | upon in determining the* cause of that j gruesome scene when t lie keepers tlrag<»eil Davidson, mangled and bleeding, from | the reach of the Twins just before Lie i performance in Robtime. "Hod!" said I'a.nnim aloud, ami shivered vi (lie vision nefore his eves. The streamers' were slowly being heal en into full length by the "wind! Men staggered übout reeking with sweat. trundling tent paraphernalia hero and there with reckless precision. Btettiner. the manage!, coming unespeeleilly around the dre-sing. tent, ran full till into a fellow with a huge stake on his shoulder. In untangling himself, lie caught right o; Kurmtm. "What iv lliiuidei' arc we going to do?" he growled, dropping his thin aud wiry length on the box."' Farnutn straightened down Lis coat collar and put his back in a more comfortable position against a stake. "Well. Davie's gone, poor devil!" he soliloquized softly, without looking up. 'Who'll you get ?" "That's what I want lo know. I wired McTntyre—he's the only fellow I could t.huik of. but no one knows whetb- j er he'll come or not. Likely not; he can't, ','et here before Thursday, any- ; way." " ' "Two night.-." computed Farnitiu. ! "Enough to ruin us." grunted .Stettiiier. I The Twins are the biggest thing wove I trot. It's all up if we don't find some- | body, (let your head to work, can't I you':" "A man can't think lo order," objected I Farnum. rolloing a cigarette and studying matters. "I know only one. mail who could manage the Twins, and lie's I —well, he wouldn't touch it." ' j "Nonsense. Why not ? We've got to j have him!" ! "T fell you he won't do it." repeated | Farnum bluntly. "He had exclusive eon- I trol of the Twins seven years ago, and now he can light his cigar every day with wlia.t yon and I make." Farnum. I leaned over aud whispered in the other's j eiu-. "Millionaire, by Jove!" exclaimed Stat- j tiner startled. "And you say he's done j it in seven years? NV> use then trying to reach him in the money line. Is there any other? Friendship?" ' •'.Stuff!" vented Farnum. "Doubtful if, he'd look at mc. No, 1 won't say that — j I don't know that I lx-lieve tlmi. But ! friendship won't j;o in this ca.se. 1 don't i think anything —anything we could offer —would move the new James Yaple. The I Yaple I knew would have done anything | for the Twins—the man simply idolized ihem. and the circus, too. i can rcmcinber myself how he hated to give tbeni \ up. Fact, he said to mc when he went: 'Farnum. 1 hate to give this stuff up. i but it's Ihe best tiling lor mc. don't vim , think? I've got my chance in the world , now, and I'd be a. fool for not taking i..' "' i "Yon don't believe —in any way"— j persisted Stettiiier eagerly. 'No, f don't." was (be hopeless airs- i wer. ; "The whole affair could be kept qurel. j you know. And two nights " "You're an idiot, Stettiner. ' r'aruum ! broke in with emphasis. With this, Farnum thought he had ] ziveD him his final answer, but lro had : not reckoned with the impulse Stetti- ' tier's suggestion had put into his head. • nor even with himself. What power bad I those huge hulks of lion flesh over the ! millionaire James Yaple? What, call did ! circus smells and noises sound for a. man seven years lieyond the domain of the sawdust world? Nothing, thought Farnum. but he had au impracticable desire to learn the truth. There was no possibility of success for the iindertakin-r, but I'aruum went. Yaple was in. the boy told him, aud Farnum scribbled a word or two on his jard—and waited to hear that an interview \v n s denied. P.ut he was ushered ceremoniously into a room where Yaple rose with a tired motion from a desk ' littered with papers and received him . with a siijr;i( ihow of cordiality. 'I hope I'm not taking too much of | your time," ventured Farnum when the hoy had gone. For a. moment be re- j he had come. Tuple was changed i —wonderfully. "Xot at. all." said Yaple. running a I hand through his thinning hair. t'm ,; aflarl to see yon. How does the circus jo?" he inquired dispiritedly. ] "Much the same. Davidson was killed ' last night at Roburue. You remember i he had charge of tlie Twins." "Oh:" exclaimed Yaple. "That's aw- i id! What was the trouble? J thoueht 1 die Twins liked him." "Tolerated him, that's all." replied J Farnum. "He. lost bis nerve." 1 "Poor old fellows, I'm sorry."' i Yaple was surprised nt the'soft light s Minting in the eyes of the man before a lira. r L "Yes. it leaves us in a bad way."" he |r »eul on. "Stettiner—our present man- J c iger—has wired a fellow by the uann; of" It dc.lnf.yre, but !io can't reach here before, jli I'hursday. Meanwhile, the biggest and 't ie?t thint; we've jrot is on". lt r s bound It o hurt the show." k Yaple half closed bis eyes ajid reflect- I f d. One hand was fumbling nervously in s . scattered pile of papers. ' b _*T~m going to be frank with you, c laple," said Farnum uuexpeetedrr." "1 <vme here with *n idea- in mj )tead ! . z&i \ p

[ you can turn it down or .not. as you j like. "Will you lake charge of the Twins i for two nights?-—I want to know that. j Stettiner can keep his mouth shut and !so can I. You're running no risk, and I the Twins—well, they haven't, forgotten '. you. man." J "After seven years':" Y'aple's Toiee : iietd a tinge of the incredulous in it. but 1 there were tears in his eyes. He was ! hack again in the stifling dust of the ani- ! inal iiiisriers, with the two mammoth ! iiotis, knotted with muscles of spring sfeel. Xt hining joyously at his touch. -Again be was patting them, and talking to them, and growing mightier in their confidence and love day by day. "What is seven years?" laughed Farnum. "The Twins never forget. I'll stake my las! cent'on it." "You're tempting mc, Farnum,'*' said ' Yaple. smiling as if over some plea-sing ! memory that had come back to him. "j. ; would like to go."

Farnnin got decisively out of his chair, j "We'll expect you, Y T aple. Of course, I : realise I'm a fool for asking you to " | Yaple ended that with a fingcr-crn-h-I ing wrem-h of Farnum's hand. \ "Finance br hanged!" he exploded j under bis breath. "Go back and tell ! the Twins I'm coming." ] Stettiner swore in liis delight when Farnum told him what lie bad accomplished, "f suppose he'il come in a carriage with a retinue and all I hat " he added. | "Not Yaple." said Farnum convincingly. '-Xot Yaple. You'll be surprised." Farnum, even, was not prepared for the man who tapped Kirn on the arm hours later as he stood directing a gang near (he main canvas. The man was dressed comfortably—that was all. As Farnum instantly thought, it was the Yaple he had known years before, eonis back." "My name is Frank Clover,"' said the newcomer in a low voice thai allowed Farnum to take his cue. "I was expertinjr you. Mr Glover. This way, please." returned Farnum tactfully. "1 believe 1 could find my way alone— alniOFiV' said Yaple. breaking into the pleased laugh of a boy. "How are the I Twins?" be asked as they walked along. "Eager to see you.*' replied Farnum. I laiigliiuK with him. "Do you think it ; wij) make (heir feeling any different tojward yon—their fixing for Davidson. I you know?" j "Do you?" asked Yaple in return. j "No. I don't." said Farnum shortly. : "Xo more do I," echoed Yaple. | They found the manager in the menaj gerie <(Uarl ers. He eyed Yaple's apj pe.aranee incredulously, but* came forjWiinl and sliook hands gratefully. Both ! he and Farnum could see that Y'aplc ! was gulping in the scene just as it came j to Ilim—the smells, the sounds, the conglomerate and the inarticulate noises of i flic animals, the shouting and tramping I of the ganprs outside, everything—like a man thirsting, thirsting, and never saliafed. Farnum bent over and whisperI ed iv Sfeftinor's ear. i "He's dreaming, do you see?" be said. I "lie's living and dreaming in n real I world. Gad. and how he's enjoying it, ! too!"' j Lute aitcruooii had been cloudy, and I the Haling lights already made gray, swirling patches of (he dust clouds in it.be tent. The three of them tramped around to the place where the Twins' j cage had been rolled. It was a test, ranj men,.—that meeting of Yaple with the. lionss. Every nerve in the man seemed to I be a-<juivcr. j "They look ugly," Farnum commented I aside fo Stettiner. '"They're on fire 1 with Ihe taste and smell of blood." | "They've been nasty all day. so Jim i tells mc." rejoined the manager. '""I'm ' afraid (hey can't be handled. I would- : n't risk it. for '* Stettiner shivered ' slightly, and edged back from the two pairs of deadly eyes lighting the <rloomy depl.hu of the cage. Yaple walked steadily lo the bars, and without a tremor laid a i-aressing band on a glossy paw half pushed through. l_nsva.nl ly, there was a deep, vibrating roar, a Hash of fur. and a mighty liody launched itself against the. steel rods. Yaple held bis ground unflinchingly, only dropping his band with a quick motion. The other animal had been aroused, and the pair of them crouched, glaring and lashing, rolling st eel muscles under innocent .coverings of soft, furry hide. Then Yaple began to talk to (hem in a low. patient, voice, keeping his eyes full upon theirs as becomes a master and lord, soothing, coaxing, entreating, re- j minding, scolding, showing them thai he I hud no fear, only lotc. trying to awaken the old affection that had beon theirs I aud which they had only missed, not for- ! gotten. It was a voiii> speaking across j sovt.u years of absence, and il was a I voice the like of which Stettiiier had I never known and of which Farnum had i only a memory. j Was there -Some change, some trans- I formation taking place vi those brutal intellects? Was there a. softening of bloodshot eyes, a relaxing of those insuperable bodies? If not, then two men standing close behind were blind, and deaf, and without simple uiidcrsf.uDdh.jr. For Yaple had lirsl put his hands on the bars: then touched the fury-suppressed animals themselves, and I hey had let, him do it. half protesting. .Still Yaple i talked on. sometimes pleadingly, some- ' times imperiously, slave and master, but j master even when slave. And Farnum i and Slottiner marvelled, and beheld it all without knowing when it bad taken place or why—only that the Twins' love had sprung up anew, as the old river cuts a new channel, slowly at first with constant eating, then bursting forth in uncontrollable joy to sweep all before it, "Tlinf's enough, man." said Stettiner hoarsely in Yaple's ear. " You're a wonder. The Twin*"'l die for you any minute, j They're yours body and souf. and I don't understand bow you did it!" Yaple wijK-d the sweat from his forehead and turned to them. smiling. Farnum noted the quiet fearlessness of the man in thus giving the Twins an opportunity when his eye? .should not be upon them. lie discussed it with i Ste..tiner afterward, and their admiration ' and wonder grew apace. i ; 'T think I'll practise them a bit. il" you ' have n.i objections." Yaple said to t hem. :t T may have forgotten some of the tricks ' we used to do together, you know." "Certainly!" assented the manager, md si rode off lo sen to the condition" of [ die big steel cage in the arena. .Revelations were impotent beside what I Farnum and Slettiner saw in that brief lour's practice. To Stettiner. it was the \'' inmasking of a new and invincible per- ■ tonality: but to Farnum it meant simply ' i fresh grasp over the old, strengthened md directed by the knowledge and ex- ' icrienee of se'ren years. Yaple bad ■ :ome into his own: Ilia power bad reurned. not broken, not even marred, but ' leigbtencd and irresistible. He iiantllcd ' he Twins us if he loijrt,,. have taken * hem in his hands and" trounced them i oundly lint kindly for disobedience. And i hrough it all his face and theirs were * tudies of love between beast and man f syend whose tree expression no artist t onld hope to attain. s It -was over at last. The crowds, the s wj4s ; the cirwrs folk .\wj-e .gone. Yapfe t

had come out of if. strangely rested ant triumphant, though the fever burned ii his lingers, when lie shook hands will Fa.mum aud said «ood-night. "Y'ou'rc a marvel, Yaple,"' suit Farnum under his breath. "I'm hot and cold by turns for fear you'll fail u> to-morrow night.*' '■'I'll be back." promised Yaple, a bit brokenly. "I'll spend one more night: thou it's got to end:" and someway tho-i words revealed a great deal to Farnum that he bad never known before. | "T got this wire from the rascal MvIlltyre," Stettiner reported the next after I noon. He thrust a sheet into Farnum's hands and waited. "So he's coming, is he;" commented Farnum without enthusiasm as he read it. "Well, we're lucky dogs, Stettiner." "The trouble is your substitute's better than Melntyre can be iv fifty years," .grumbled the manager, tasting his words j sourly. "Is Glover'—be smiled at the alias: then liit. seriously into his cigarette I again—"is ibis Glover coming to-night?" "I've got his word," said Farnum 'quickly. . "Gad!'we've got to have him. I only iwish vre could keep him," muttered Steti tiner. He put his cigarette back beI tween his teeth, and commenced to smoke ■ nervously. Farnum was much too busy after that jto think about Yaple, but he did think, land worry, too. It was their last night ;i:i the city, and the crowd promised to be phenomenal. Advertising—the usual jmode of advertising—had not done it. Farnum figured that it was simply an ! outburst of wonder and enthusiasm, j generated by Y'apie and the Twins, which, ' Hying from mouth to mouth, was going |to flood the tent. He did not like to j think just what, a disappointment—the j non-appearance of Yaple—would mean to | that throng. j ft was about time for the performance Ito begin when Farnum got back to inenaigerie quarters. He strained his gaze for I Yaple, and felt a. great relief at finding !bitu. already rigged for bis turn, standing beside the Twins' cage. He was i talking to them as be bad the night I before, only there was a different touch and meaning to his words. Farnum J realised suddenly that, the good-byes*"were I being said and that he was an intruder. •Rut it was too late to gel. away when I Yaple turned and spoke to him. Farmim j came nearer then, his eyes going from : the Twins to Yaple. and from Yaple to the Twins, finally resting on the man's 'face and staying there. j "You're so much like a family, or j lovers, or something, you three, that I j hated to disturb you," he began hesiItatingly. and with an odd little laugh that was meant to cover his embarrassI meut. "I'm going to be mighty busy later, and I wanted to say a. word to iyou while there was time." lie cleared his throat, supposedly from the du-t. It was a queer place to | speak what he had in mind—there in the ,mid=t of the dirt-choked teut. in that 'strange, palpable confusion of animal | sounds and stealthy movements, suggested j rather than heard'or seen, the voices of I the keepers, monotonous, tired, the disjoint blaring of band*, the sputtering lights casting shadows athwart the ' cages— ; "Yaple. I've met a few mew. and never lone like you. I thought 1. knew you [•seven years ago. 1 didn't. And those 'seven years have made you seven limes Iwhat you were. I'm glad I've known 'you, but. 1 wish" —with a sudden exj plosion of pent-up feeling—-'you'd stayed j where you were! What dyon think lof all this finance tommyrot now—now :that you've had another taste of this? ! Can you shake it off -without a light?" "Fight!" Yaple ground it out almost j between his teeth. "I've been fighting ! myself these two days." Farnum saw his face and believed. "What do youknow about tight?—yes, you know. I see il in your eyes'" Yaple turned slowly aud looked at the Twins, so that his, face was hidden as he addetl: ''I've made my choice, tarnuni, and I've got to abide by it!" "Yes. you've made your choice," Farnum said. a nd choked. They stood there in silence, feeling that silence was tetter than words. After a 'while, they walked over and watched the j crowds jam the main canvas. Stettiner ieame up in a flurry saying isomething about Jem', the half-grown elephant which Yaple used in his last trick with the Twins, and dragged fchem off to conduct an examination. The' keeper was complaining of Jerry's ac- j tions. and Stettiner. nervous and fear- ; fuJ. demanded whether v"aple considered I the animals safe. •'I think there will b« no trouble." said i Yaple, looking Jerry o».r. Afterward Farnum railed inwavdlv at ! a restraint that had held him took from \ entering a protest, then and there. lie. j bad kept silence against his own convictions. Work piled in upon him, but I be made a desperate effort to clear it '■ up in time to witness Yaple's act which tame along near the end. In spite of bis | hurry, Y'apie. had been in the cage several j minutes and was coming to the final trick ' in which Jerry juggled skill with the, Twins, when Farnum entered. 1 One of the present: neuts which come to thos<; who must look danger squarely in the face and know it, came to Farnum as be watched them let. Jerry in at the cage door. in reality, it was with him long" before. He j

knew then that his presentiment did not rest against the lions, but against the awkward, shainbling-gaited elephant. And yet .lerry's appearance was everything to discourage suspicion. It was not until Yaple's first command rang, clear cut, that Farnum stopped groping in darknesand faced the truth. At Yaple's lirst word, Jerry obeyed sullenly; at the second, be hung back; the third brought hiui to open defiance. Yaple stood quite cool and fearless, calling out the order to him. Ssuddeu rage seemed to possess tiV brote, and with 4 snort and a. bellow he eharjxed straight for Yaple. The man held his" ground~up io.the last instant; then stepped quickly md lightly aside. Fanraxa breathed ■gain He tried to move, to do something, but his liaire were mmrb aad

I worthless. Keepers wcrel running for« i ward, surrounding the cage, yelling and I cursing uselessly. A prolonged hush of I horror had stilled the house. Then somei one screamed, and what Yaple had feared most happened. Jerry went mad, land tore in a great black blur for tlio i place where Yaple stood. The man shot, i once, twice, thrice, but Death itself could ! not have stopped that fury. i Yaple was doomed. The inevitable | tragedy that the next minute was to j know burned before Farnum's eyes. TerI ribie erics went up from the crowd, for ■ Yaple was facing yet another peril. His back was toward the Twins, and he vena lat their mercy also. But the end was a miracle. Like whirlI winds the lions had crouched for the (spring—like lightning their massive bodies, alive with sinew. leaped straight for the throat of Jerry and bore him, crashing, down. The Twins' love and understanding: had saved Y'aplc! Terrified and in uproar, the people half tied, were half driven, out, and the tent, once more empty, listened unmoved to the inarticulate words of the man in j the cage. For Yaple was tenderly binding up the wounds of the Twins, blinded by bis tears and utterly contemptuous of his own blood staining his garments. ■'Hello. Y'aplc. grinding away as usual, eh?" Campbell dropped into Yaple's ofiiees the following afternoon, tossed his well-groomed figure into an inviting I chair, stretched ids legs comfortably, ana puffed out smoke from a big black" cigar. "I want, your advice on that traction deal Shellito had in mind. It's got to ba trimmed into shape before night, and I'm in a hurry to get it off my hands. I'm getting confoundedly sick of this slaving, anyhow. But say"—Campbell paused, chuckling and laughing—"say, I did get out of my shell last night. What d'you think I did, Yaple? Hist! I mustn't speak so loud. Well, sir. I went to a circus/ Yaple leaned back, closing his eyes. "Yes, sir, I went to a circus," re» j peated Campbell with the. air of recountJ ing some exploit. "Fooled the whole bunch of 'em for once, and got off by j myself. Reminded mc of the times I used to trot nil day bare-legged after the parade. Brought back the old days with a vengeance. Gad! and I enjoyed il, too. There was one fellow there thai was great, lititl two big lions with him— busters—and the way he handled theml —Honestly, Y'apie. 1 don't believe that fellow needed a cage to perform in." The pencil between Yaple's fingers fell to lite desk with a sharp little click. H» brushed bis band over his face, but he did not speak. "He simply took the house by storm. • Xever saw such perfect control as that man had over those beasts. They seemed fairly to worship every look he gave them; aud I believe they proved it, too, by, what happened in the very last trick— I the one I hey never finished." Campbell pulled his cigar from bis mouth, and leaning over, began gesturing for emphasis. "There was a big elephant in their last trick,"' he went on. "and the brute went into a rage while the fellow was trying . to get him to perform; ilew at him once., but he (lodised. The second time the animal charged, he shot three times in succession. I think lie hit his mark, too, only il seemed to do no good then. It was all up with him when all of a sudden ttiose. two magnificent ■ lions sprang at the elephant's head, neck and and brought him to the ground like a chunk of lead. Not a shadow of doubt they saved his life, but. Gad! it was awful. Such nerve in a man! Why, I asked myself over and over, what couldn't a, man do in our world who had'grit and magnetism aud pure courage enough to face that kind of thing night after That's the kind of stuff that w?>uld-puU hundreds of us poor wretches through. the tight places instead of casting us up weak and miserable wrecks. Yaple, it made mo feel like crying out: 'Man— v man'! Don't you know "you're ruining the greatest opportunity of your life? ' You might have made the"• Yaple had risen from his chair, and Campbell stopped involuntarily, unabic to interpret the drawn face of the man before him. Y'apie was trying heroically to throw himself together. "Campbell,'' he said slowly, "you know, and I know, that if that "fellow loved those animals as they loved bim—if the circus was the whole world to him, then lie was a thousand times better off to stay there always!" As if a.-hamed of bis outburst and eager lor it lo cool, Y'apie walked quickly to the window and looked down upon the busy streets. A minute ha stood there. When he came reltictantly back. his face was the passive face of ' the Y'apie of Finance. "If you're ready, Campbell, we'll look i over that traction matter now," be said. On May -24, IS52— fifty-live yearsj, ago—■ tilt; barque Troy sailed for the Victorian gcldfields with a number of New Zca-.and colonists, who had caught the " yellow; fever." It is stated (says the •« Post '•'>! that of the hundred and thirty men who took a passage on that vessel only three are alive to-day. Messrs. J. Futter" (Johnsonville), Frank Smith (Wellington), and J. Brown ( Upper Hutt), whose ages total 217 years. On Saturday last tha three veterans met in Wellington city, and celebrated the anniversary of the Troy's departure—and. incidentally, Empire Day—by facing a camera. " The iirst nighl out," said Mr. Brown, relating hii memories of the voyage. " we were c-iughr, in a north-west gale, and had it rut been that we were fortunate enough to hare Bob Jillet (an old whaler) and Captain Muun aboard, in all probability we would have come to grief on Kapiti Island. They directed the master of the barque, and we pulled up under the lee of Kapiti, and remained there four days till Ihe storm passed. Jillett at that, time had a haS'S of Kapiti from the natives, and had a. lot of sheej) and cattle running on it. We went ashore, and Jillett killed a. bullock, iind we had a jolly good lime.'' The Tory arrived in UoO-ou"- JJay at the end -Ul ttitoo weeks, after ,i favourable passage. " All the way over."' continues Mr. Brown, "• we lived on potatoes and onions, as we could not stand the mouldy biscuit- and salt junk." He picked up Messrs. Smith and Futter at Bendigo during Christmas time iv )Ho2. They did not meet again till five years later, iv Wellington, when they all returned home. By last Monday's mail Mr. F. C*. Fwington received a- long letter from Lord Ranfurly ,about the Veterans' Home, in which our ex-(jovernor expressed his pleasure to find him and Mr. Mitchelson. the only original members of the committee, sticking* to the Home, Lord Ranfurly said his illness had materially prevented him front doing so much as be would have liked, for ir«veterans, but his interest in them is un~ abated, and lie mt< gM that such a stron*» committee was in existence, and that the management- of the Home wa» So good. In summer or winter, in fact in all seasons, . our ready-to-wear suits are ia favour wifi ererytrjody. Geo. FowJds.-Ad,