LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 138, 10 November 1874, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A NIGHT ADVENTURE. {From Temple Bar.) {Continued.) As we pulled up all eyes were scrutinisingly bent upon us. There was nothing unusual in Don and myself driving down to the mess together ; but their gaze at us was a long, steady, and most unusual one. We were evidently the topic of their conversation. The two colonels, Longmore and Heavyside, were also holding counsel together in the verandah, and for a moment we both thought that the affair had been reported to one or other of them by one of Charley's followers, or probably by Charley himself. It soon appeared, however, that neither of them knew anything about the matter ; and the moment we got up to them they separatedWhile Heavyside was struggling to mount his stout, sturdy little Burmah p my, we stood talking to the colonel, who w r as full of smiles and jokes at what he ironically described as the light-weight and graceful figure of his junior colleague ill command. Never was there a greater contrast between any two men in personal appearance, as well as in their tastes, habits, and dispositions. Longmore was as light, wiry, and active in figure as Heavyside was corpulent, unwieldy, and incapable of the least exertion. Both as to their physicpie ran into extremes ; for one had not a spare ounce of flesh on his bones, while it would have been difficult for the other to have carried an ounce more. Heavyside's summiim, bonum was centred in gormandising, while Longmore often lived, by choice, like an anchorite ; and while the former would lie lazily on his back all day, the latter would be undergoing fatigue in riding, walking, or other exercise, which few men of his age could endure. O'Donnell left me with the colonel, whose mind, I soon ascertained, was full of the details and arrangements which he was then considering and providing for a two months'' shooting expedition in the wilds of Spiti and Ladak—the mountainous regions where the ibex and the bear abound, and where the snowy range of the Himalayas divides Chinese Tartary from British India. In the ante-room O'Donnell met Todd, an intimate friend who enjoyed the confidence of Charley Rice and his party. A few words sufficed to explain the hitherto unaccountable conduct of Harrington. 'I he whole affair had been correctly enough narrated, but with one important exception—that I had acted Harrington's part and he mine. ' The misrepresentation does not in the least surprise me,'remarked Don; 'but we shall soon see if it will bear examination or not. Where is Harrington, do you know ?' 'ln the billiard-room with Charley Rice and others ; it was there, indeed, I heard the story.' ' Come along with me, if you want to hear the truth about this matter,' said Don, and off they both walked, passing through the mess-room into the billiard-room at the other end of the building. There they found about ten officers belonging to the regiment, most of whom were playing pool. Harrington and his faithful friend Charley were engaged in the game. The former looked pale and haggard, and he had evidently been taking stimulants somewhat too freely to steady his nerves. His appearance and manner were those of an utterly careless and reckless man, who desired to impress people with the idea that thrashing such a fellow as Richards was mere child's play, for which he was ready, at any moment, to give ample satisfaction if required to do so. TLv&Jidus Achate*, Charley, was in high glee, nodding his head and winking occasionally very knowingly, or smiling most benignly at his admirers around him, while he was pocketing their ' lives' and winning their ' chicks' with a patronising sort of air which seemed to say—' I told you not to play with me, but I won't insult you by not taking your money !"

The moment O'Donnell entered the room conversation seemed all at once to flag, and was only kept up by jerks and snatches, which were plainly forced. He was at once sensible that his presence had exercised a certain degree of restraint upon them ; that it had put an end to their remarks ; and that they regarded him with suspicious attention, as if they anticipated that he was about to say something.

' 1 hope I have not interrupted the course of your conversation," said Don ; " the moment I came in it struck me that all of you became suddenly and strangely silent. No secrets among so many, I presume ?'

' Oh ! no, none whatever,' replied Charley Rice, in a light, airy manner. ' Secrets can only be kept by one or two persons, as you are well aware, and perhaps you may have had recent cause to think so ?'

'Well, from what I have just heard,' replied Don, ' I think you are quite right. For if you allude to a certain occurrence which happened last night, the secret h;is hitherto been kept remarkably well, indeed, seeing that the truth has yet to be made known about it." The statement gave rise to sundry exclamations of surprise, and created considerable interest in the result to which the dialogue was evidently tending.

' What do you mean ?' asked Charley, who acted as spokesman on the occasion. 'Do you allude to Harrington and Richards ?' ' Yes, I do ; and if the story I have just heard be your version of the affair, I denounce it, in the one and all important particular, as a pure invention ! The secret has yet to be told !' exclaimed Don. Harrington at this moment was quivering with excitement, and trying his best to laugh scornfully ; but he couldn't do it. 'Oh! that's all very fine,' retorted Charley Rice, ' but we know better.' ' So you declare it to be true, then, that Harrington horsewhipped Richards last night, do you ?" ' Yes !' exclaimed Harrington, with his eyes almost starting out of their sockets ; ' I do declare it to be true !' ' Then, strip and show your back !' cried Don. ' I will engage that Richards, who is somewhere about here, shall at once do the same ; and here, by-the-by, he is, ready to do so !' At that moment I opportunely entered the billiard room. Every one seemed intensely surprised and excited. Charley Rice pretended to look more staggered than any one else. He turned with well-feigned amazement, from O'Donnell to Harrington to seek for an explanation ; but the latter in a violent fit of rage, and declaring in a loud voice that it was a d d lie, abruptly left the room, asking his friend Charley to follow him. Chapter 111. A POLITE NOTE. How Harrington explained to his friends the extraordinary misrepresentation which he had made regarding the previous night's proceedings, I never heard ; but they now clearly saw that he was in a very unpleasant position, from which it was necessary forth with to withdraw him with as little discredit to himself as possible. Having maintained in the billiard-room that I was the aggrieved party —which no one now believed—he could not call me out without practically acknowledging himself guilty of a falsehood, and of having received a thrashing without taking the least notice of it. And yet it was absolutely necessary that a meeting should take place, if the matter was to be settled without the intervention of a court of inquiry, which might, probably, have resulted in the assembling of a court of a more formidable character. It is true that duelling was then, as it is now, punished according to the articles of war with cashiering from the service. But there are insults which, notwithstanding the said articles, can only be expiated or obliterated by ' passing through the fire ;' and the one which Harrington had calmly submitted to without demanding satisfaction for eighteen hours, and which he attempted to conceal by a falsehood, was one of them. The rule in such cases used to be ' fight or sell;' sometimes' fight and exchange,' or even ' fight and sell;' but fight under any circumstances, if you wish to show your face in honorable society again, and trust to the chapter of accidents to keep the fighting dark. Charley Rice acted as Harrington's mentor on the occasion as a matter of course, though he characteristically kept himself in the background, and induced Todd to do the work for which he might have been tried by a court-martial. Charley seldom forgot number one. The result of their deliberations was soon apparent. The scene in the billiard-room occurred about half-past two o'clock ; at five o'clock the same afternoon Todd called upon me at my bungalow, where I happened at the moment to be alone. ' I have been requested by Captain Harrington to deliver to you this note,' said Todd, in a very formal and stately style, handing to me at the same time an excessively mean and squalid-looking document. I took the dirty-looking piece of paper from him with the tips of my forefinger and thumb, and opened it as if it contained something offensive, or had been with the plaguer It was Spartan-like in its laconicism, and was as follows — < Sir,—You are a d d blackguard. 'Yours, &c, i J. Harrington, ' Captain.' ' To Lieut. Richards.' ' Very good, sir,' I replied, dropping the pitiful production on the floor ; ' the note of which you have done me the honor to be the bearer shall receive my immedinte attention.' I was quite as precise as Todd himself, and after politely bowing him out of my room, I laughed heartily at the ludicrous bit of acting°we had both of us gone through. But, by Jove ! it was no laughing business. I saw at a glance that I should have to call out this ; well, I needn't make use of emphatic expletives. Facts speak for themselves. I shall have to give the veracious and gallant captain an opportunity of rehabilitating his character at my expense, by having a shot at me. It was a very pretty quarrel altogether ; brought about, too, by a fortuitous set of circumstances, by which a man, even against his will, is hurried along to a crisis in his life. It was the merest chance that I encountered Harrington last night. Five minutes earlier or later, one game of billiards more or less, another hand at whist, or the taking of another road home would have ensured my missing him. And, under the circumstances, could I have acted in any other way ? I soon found O'Donnell, to whom I handed Harrington's polite note, observing, at the same time, that ' there was only one thing to be done.' . 'By Jupiter !' exclaimed Don, 'if this is not line! Of course, he says nothing of a coward or a liar ! Now, I tell you what it is, my dear boy,' he went on, seriously; ' you needn't take him out at all on this account. This is altogether a new business. Why does he send you this? Because you thrashed him and he took no notice of it. I can call on him and demand a written retraction and an apology. If he refuse to give it, I may tell him that this note shall, in compliance with the articles of war, bo put into the colonel's hands. What then? Why he will be asked what induced him to send it to Lieutenant Richards ? What could he say ? That he was horsewhipped, and that he submitted to it with a lie in his mouth!' T,i be continued.