Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 213: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ae A Man and His Deeds stand it? And what did I tell you about your inner self? The girl has proved her- self. She’s out of it. Your life is now your own and the country’s, and it is distinctly up to you.” “Grant all that. life when——”’ “What is there in life?’ roared Bunga, the very depth of his pity making him correspondingly rough. “My God! With all the opportunity you have had to think, up there in the mountains, do you still be- lieve that a woman is the only thing worth while in life?” “‘The principle of the service is ——— poor satisfaction.” “Not when you’ve paid your debts to it. With this trouble coming on with Dato Pedro, you owe it every bit you know of the Las Balas country.” “But with my birthright taken away, how can I retain my commission and aid any one with that knowledge?” “Your birthright hasn’t been taken away.” “But— when they examine the re- cords——”’ “That’s the very point. your hope lies.”’ “Captain, you’re absurd. Do you mean to tell me that you have any doubt of its truth?” “With all due. respect for your foster- father, by gad, I’m afraid that I’d suspect anything. A man that is dirt cheap enough to use that sort of knowledge to gain his end, even if it were true, is cheap enough to do the other. At any rate, if you’ll promise to stick until the papers are actually in your hands, I’ll take a hand in this. Thank God, I know a few people in that little old town of Evanston myself.” The boy shook his head, smiling mirth- lessly. “Ym sorry, Captain, but I can’t share your views. It must be true, and that’s an end of it. Anyway, now that I see what the Brigadier will do if he is crossed, I can’t allow you to jeopardize your own commis- sion to is ‘“Jeopardize your grannie’s nightcap! Praise be to Allah, I have a record hung up in headquarters that the Tail Twister can’t get around. Leave it to me, son, and say you'll stay.” The youth still shook his head, and sud- denly, overwrought, he dashed for the door. But what is there in That’s where ~ 2Ii!I But Bunga caught him by the arm. And if both were overcome then, they are to be excused. In the end, Gordon stood up and took the little man half shyly by the hand. He had penned an official refusal to resign, and had promised Bunga to remain until a court-martial or a General Order bade him go. IN THE frowning mountains of Mindanao, where the vampires float overhead in the twilight, and the saddening boom of the tom-toms comes filtering through the inky nights, it is bad for men to harbor harsh and bitter thoughts. Knowing this, Bunga thought of obtaining a month’s leave to visit the boy. But second thought bade him place trust in the stuff that was in his pupil. His trust was not misplaced. While the boy had no workman’s grasp on a well- thought-out philosophy, a promise given was to him a promise to be fulfilled. And knowing that he-could not fulfil that prom- ise if his mental self ran amok, he adminis- tered for its entertainment large doses of grueling work. But beyond this he could not go. His ship of faith had been sunk beneath him, and the temporary oblivion of his working hours could not alleviate the pure hell of those nights in which, lying sleepless upon his cot, he floundered amid the wreckage. “Tf I could see any need for it!”’ he would rail. “TI can’t go through with so thankless a task, Bunga; I can’t.” Then a few of Bunga’s words would come to him through the night. “Tf you ever meet and win out over the test, my boy, you’ll thank God for being a “But, great God, padre,” the boy would wail aloud, ‘if it were any one but the Brigadier!” Again the voice would speak to him, re- peating the statement with such absolute conviction that Gordon, though failing to understand, must needs subside. Never- theless, when the threatened revolt of Dato Pedro became a fact, and the old warrior sent down messages defving the entire American government to come and get him, the youth was filled with dread of the Brigadier’s coming. This appeared daily more imminent, for Dato Pedro had enlisted the aid of other ES man.’ com (Q) IOOKS (E() a im ~ © q f