My Foreign Antagonist

"And yon are yoinpr hom ■?" "Yes, I ani goitig homo." Tho happiness within me tliat found titteranoe iu a Langfa was refleoied but dismally froin the brown-bearded face opposite mo. But Uien Gurney was down on Iris Itiok, and that was hardly to bo wondored nt, vi hen a youugne'erdo-well like me could realiza in two brief yoars the wealth that he had toiled for patiently during score in vain. "And you'll settle down in that oíd country and be a steady practical man fot the future?" be said, looking at me wistfully. "Yes, -and I'll marry Janie, and make her happy and proud of me; and you'll visit us, Gurney, won't you, to see how I have taken all your good counsel aud my own good hink to heart 1" "Maybe, mavbe; I don't promise," smiling thoughtfully and stroking bis silken be&rd as he spoke; "but you havo had rare fortune, young oue; and you do well to sit down now, and consider how to do the very best with yoursrlf. It is not everyouo who finds himBplf at tvonty-livo with a University education and a realised fortune, and a sweet faithful girl waiting for him at home. But that is the way of things; chance gives you that because you were a bad boy to begin with, while I, who was as steady always as Hhadamanthus and the remaining judges, have a handful of nugg ts for my whole capital and a grave under the wattletrees to mark the end of my lovo-story. Hardly fair, is it, yonng one ?" "Horribly unfair," T answered warmly, "but your turn will come; it always does to the deserving and patiënt. And as to me, why my eud is not seen yet. 'Cali no man tlitppy till he is dead,' aud know." A faint smile broke over bis face. "Do you think I envy you or grudge vou anything? Oh no,I am not such a bad feílow as that. I wmild not take j from you one gleam of your ment if I could. I am nntisfied both for you and for mynelf. Prosperity is tho pabulura you will thrive on, wliiU I ühould be the same under any fortuno. " AVe were on onr way together down the niain otreet of ïarrangower, he ' ing fiora the store where he had been disponing of sonie gold-dust to an agent I who paid three-penso an ounca more for it than the bank prioe, I from the New South Wales Iiank, w henee I had been drawing my fortune in the bulk of one humlred pound Kritish notes. "It is scarcely safe to carry all .that 1 oround lieve," an acquaintanee ventured warnin-ily, as I was buttoning the nioney iüto the pocket of niy moleskin trousora. "I shall take the number of the notes by-and-by," I answered carelessly. "Yoti know I shall sail for England next week. "And why not have thatmoney transferred to the bank there for safetv, and your own comfort in travelling, and a htmdred reasons V" the man asked in Surprise. "I like it this way ; I liko the feel of it abont mo, and eonvenieuce is altogether a matter of opinión." Then I went out whistling not through dearth, but t-hrough abundance of thonght. That bulky roll represented love and triumph, and reconciliation with the family at home, who had feigned to despair af me once. "Oh, Jauie, Janie, how fond and faitliful you have been!" I thought tumultuously. "Heaven helping me, my future will be wortliier of you than mypast has been." And then I had encountered Gurney, and, linking my arm in his, vre had walked down thestrecttogether while I dilated to him on my prospects. "You go to.Europe next week, and I stavt up the country to-morrow, and it may ba we slmll never meet again," he said regretfully. "Thea let us drink a stirrup-cup at parting," I saul, drawing him towarda the opn door of The Kangaroo. "A stirrup-cup óf water, if yon wi'l." "Preaching again !" I said pettishiv. "No, not preacliing; only uvging yoa, bv our friendship, to make me happy." "Whatiii'it toyou?" "I like you; I want to know you safe befor you leave me." I twisted myself away from him inapationtly. "No man has ever called me a drunkard," I said. "No, certainly not, and I want to make sure no man ever will." I hesitatcd, looking at him doubtfuily. "Surely it is in the hour of our greatest triumph that we shoukl most readily bring our sacriliceto the altar." "All right," I said, blushing. "I promine." "Promise wliat?" "To 'ab.-itain from intoxieating drinks as bevoraftea' for ever," laughing uncomfortubly. He stretched out his big hand and graaped mino. "I un uatisfled about you now, young one, 1 nev.r was before. Heaven bless you!" And then we sanntered into the saloon together, and drank a glass of gingeí-1et%r amicubly chatting in a desnltory wav. ( rojips of two and tliroo were scattorrd Bere and tberë abont the bar, ciiUiug noisly ïor tho most part, j tliongli n few drank deeply in sullen t nuance; but except thn lounger by the door, who stoud with Iris liamls plunged iittj:_. ..! ü jjookoui, aiM lus slouchhat draw n low over lus restless oyes, each man ha 1 lome mate to refloct hi8 humor or contra ü.-t it. "Tliat is IheTtaliau fellow, I whispered nod1ing towards him. "Yes: cleaned out or thereabouts," Gurney answerod in a low tone, and then wo tuimil to lt ave toether. As e jju-stil out sonifi impulse prompttd me lo turn towanls the strunger, and eztending u sovereign on niy open palm, 1 said c.urtly: "Hftveit, mate?" "I did not beg, " he aniwerotl coldlv, spoakinff with R (li-tnnt. (nrrircn aooñnt. "UI course not, out it will bnng you Inck. Money frotn the pockflts of a successful digger always does," I oaid lightly. "ïhank you." He took the coin f rom xne, but hold it doubtfully iu the hand wliile he foliowed me with his eyes. "That fellow is desperate. I should have said nothing to him, on the principie of letting sleeping dogs lie," ney remarked. "It is ahvavg well to do a kind action ' wheTi ons lias the chauce," I said carelesslj. "ïhut may stave off suicid another week ;" ar.d t'ien Gurney and I shook hands and parted, with some vague hope of meeting somevrhere, some time, if we eoula. It was a dark niglit, and when onc I had left the lights of Tarrangower lehind me, the blackness seemed to cloSe around me with a sense of discomfort. After all, had , I been wise to carry all that money on my person, and, to take my way, alone and unarmed - for an unloaded pistol was a mere toy - through a district so familiar in those adventurous days with deeds of violenoe? Several men saw the money at the bank, and others I knew that I meant to draw out my ■ vestments that dny. Why had I not lolil Gurner and lot him come Lome with me? Whv had I not ï But, pshaw! Wbat was th good of sbriiiking like a cbild before a dark night? There was no daDger - non In the world ; the men who had Been thê money we re as honest as I was, and once ï had reaoli my lmt I would load ■ my revolver and be ready forattack. To knep lip my heart I feil to hum; ming one of Janie's old songs, while I strove to concéntrate all my atttmtion on tb e path before ma. I had proceeded thus half way home, and my firdt terrors were fading awav, vhrn, just where the unccrtain roadway dippod into a thicket of cucalyptus, a hand was laid on my shoulder, and a vibrant vaiee said tremulously ; "Your money or your life!" "Ha, it is you, Rooundrel, wbom I helped!" I said, wheeling round middeuly on my unseen assaihuit. "Dug of an Italian, would you dare!" It wasfurious indignation and soorn of Buch a base return for my ündness t hat animated me at the niomnnt. Battling for existence or for my treaBiire had not occured to me yet. "Yes I would dare, beeauso I am mad," the man pantod fortli. "You must gire me tho gald ; you are young, you can gain more. You have hope, J havenothing - give it me!" "Yes, I shall give you - that, " I said, striking in the direction of the voice, and then we closcd with oach other. After that neither of us spoke, lmt we wrestledlike giants, while cach clutched the other by the throat. My money was safe still, secured by a flap and button over the poeket, aeeording to a fashion prevailing iu the colony at the time, and my chinee of life lay in the endurauce of my thews and sinews, for 1 knew I was confronted by a desperate man. Round and round, back wards and forwards, eirclingrestlessly.and grappling each other furiously, we went, while tho sense of strangulation duo to his grip on my throat increased as he strove to throw me. "Ten seeonds more and I shall be choked," I thought; and then I loosened one hand from its hold of him, and stru-k out with my clenclied list towards the regions of the heart. The blow told; he fel! like a log, being apparently paralyzed for the moment; but in falling he dragged me with him, and his grasp of my throat never relaxed. "I am dying, " I tbought, striving with all my remaining strength to loosen his hold of me, and then my thoughta wandered confuscdly towards my mother and Janie, and the home I had meant to make for my darliug; and then I remember no more. I had either fainteü or boen suffocated into insengibility. How long I remained thus I cannot teil. When I recovered consciousuess the murderous pi-essure had tallen off, but my assailant still lay beneath me, breathing heavily. Sinmltaneouslv we seemed to recover con3ciou8ness, and in unsion we rose to our feet. I was tremblinp in every nerve ; my aching eyeblln 6 jmed starting from my head, my parolied throat refused to utter a sonnd, and my assailant seemfd in no bettor caso. For an instant we stood apart, glarng at each other tlmmghthe darkness; then, as though at a given signal, we cluscd with each other again, instinctively, neither knowingr why. I believe he had no more thought of taking the money than 1 had of defending it. There seemed nothing awake in us but mere animal fnrv ; brute force opposed brute force, demanding victory at any cost. Again we wrestlod and strove, white face close to white face in the gioom, and ogain the contest was so equal that no sivctator would have known on which side to promise victory. For manv minutes we wrestled silontly, anj then we feil again, and at thig time X WM undurinost. Anti tut,u ensued a struggle such as I had no idea men were oapable of. We rolled over each other, we strained every nerve, each to kill the other, wc dealt each otlier desperate blows at random, and then, when exhaustion forbado another movement mechanically wo desisted, and, and as mechanioa'ly rose and drew a few labore.l, gasping breaths, and rnshed to tho contest again. Whether or not my opponent was armed, I know not; at anyrate hemacíe no attempt to draw any wtapon. As for 3e, I carried my useloss pistol but even had it been loaded, I question if I would have used it after the iirst live minutes; the contest was so terribly close and equal that a thought of any extraneous aid did not occur to me. Our action was wonderfully concertod ; as though governed by a doublé mechanism we struggled, feil, rose, and resumed the fight, and that after each had grown so weak that a child could have vanquished either. And through all my terrible craving for his life there crept, by-and-by, a slnw conscionsness of respect for him. Ho was tough as leather, and ho fought well, taking his punisbment with an endurance that hitherto I had deemed exclusively British. When I look back on that incident now I have no knowledge of time, no memory of anything but pain and effort, and blinding blows. I cannot teil how long the struggle lasted, or how it terminated, I only know that at last the end came Komehow, and that, after a period of oblivion, I returnedto conciousnesa and found myself alone. How I reached home I cannot teil, for I walleed the distance doubtless as soimiambulists do, for next day, when a neighbor carne to look me up, I was tossing on my bed in a raging fever, and the money that had so nearly been the pnce of a life, was safely buttoued in my pocket. Of course the Great Britain sailed without me, and of course the friends awaiting mo at home grew sick of th silence which no cxplanation came to brouk, for what message could any one send who expected hourly to see me die? But the turn in my long illness came ut. last, and then I turnedslowly and reluctantly towai'ds improvement. I had fought a hard battle for life beneath Ui e shadow of the eucalyptus; that which disease waged against my youth later, was as deadly and more prolodged. But youth triumphed at last, and I rose a shadow of my old self, likely to be debarrrd from existenoe on the old glad, f ree, triumpliant teruis of many a dy. It was years before the memento of my encounter with that desporate ruffian had passed out of my system, but now, j after half a lifetime.I can look back from '■ my fair, happy English home on that j incident of i.iv career as contontedly as on any otlier of my colonial experiencí'S. As to my enemy his body liad beon found in Vie creok while I lay at tlie point of denth, but wheather fallen there by accident or flung in through despair, I never knew. Gurney's affairs brightened after Heft him and the last time I looked OU his honest face, as he sat beside my Janie's sister, with my youngestboy on hisknee, I I decided couclusively that life was not so nearly over for him by a long way as ; he had iinagined when good luck and he ■tood on opposite sides. - Household Words. Helene, the only daughter of Baron Solomon Rothschild of Paris is going tO marry Captain Van Sinessier, a poor young man in the Belgian army. However, Hellene and her lusband ; will not suffer. She has already an immense fortune in her own right and j [ her dot will be about $30,000.000.