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BRIXGIXG IN A CAFIRE 
 
Price $1.50 
 
 THE OSTRICH 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 DEFENCE 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. HILE 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS CO. 
 
 I912 
 
Copyright 1912, 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. HILE 
 
 All rights reserved 
 

 ^a iHn JFrunit 
 
 THE EMINENT MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PROFESSOR 
 
 WITH WHOM I TRAVELLED OVER THE WORLD 
 
 STUDYING THE PROBLEMS OF GEOLOGY AND OF MEN 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The following pages have been written that those 
 who read them may be both entertained and drawn 
 closer to the increasing number of men and women 
 who have found co-operation to be "The Lighted 
 Way" to a true freedom of living. 
 
 Although I have devoted considerable time and 
 service to gaining an understanding of this principle, 
 I shall be amply repaid for all that it has cost if so 
 much as a single step forward shall have been made 
 possible for him who longs to realize the joy that ac- 
 companies harmonious work with others and the re- 
 ward it brings. 
 
 My characters have been chosen from among those 
 I have known, and the action in the narrative is 
 based largely upon episodes in my own experience. 
 
 These pages will, I trust, also serve to dispel the 
 charge of being mysterious brought against me by 
 some of my friends because of the silence which I 
 have maintained concerning my frequent journeyings 
 around the world. 
 
 The Author. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER Page 
 
 I. The Call of the Ages i 
 
 II. The Sheik's Revelation 15 
 
 III. The Blight of a Panic 31 
 
 IV. The Spirit of Merle Water 41 
 
 V. The Crisis 58 
 
 VI. A Crusade that failed 73 
 
 VII. Max Muckrakes 91 
 
 VIII. Clarissa loi 
 
 IX. An Adventure with Bears 115 
 
 X. "The Hour will come" — 134 
 
 XL Transferring a Charge 150 
 
 XII. On the Wrong Track 160 
 
 XIII. Some Evils and a Cure 170 
 
 XIV. "I FORBID YOU, Monsieur" 183 
 
 XV. Alone in the Desert 188 
 
 XVI. The Great Queen 202 
 
 XVII. Zar's Philosophy 216 
 
 XVIII. A Truth made Real 229 
 
 XIX. Killing a Man-eater 240 
 
 XX. A Jungle Battle 259 
 
 XXI. Among the Cannibals 269 
 
 XXII. Dodging the Powers 283 
 
 XXIII. Fulfilment 301 
 
 XXIV. Appendix 317 
 
 vii 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 FOR THE DEFENCE 
 
 THE CALL OF THE AGES 
 
 It was a day anachronous in Palestine, when tourist 
 and Turk alike kept under cover, leaving the muddy, 
 torrent-stricken streets to stray beggars, barefooted 
 camel drivers and an occasional Moslem guard, hug- 
 ging the building walls as he strode past. 
 
 Peter Stuyvesant Rutledge, sitting with his feet 
 extended before a small open fire in the lobby of a 
 hotel at Jerusalem, found the psychology of this par- 
 ticular morning distinctively oppressive. 
 
 Sailing from New York on his thirtieth birthday, 
 he had arrived in Jerusalem after a novel and some- 
 what adventurous six months' tour of the East during 
 which his companion, for the most part, had been a 
 Bedouin guide, and his method of locomotion a camel. 
 He was clear-eyed and sun-tanned, so brown as to 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 almost outrival the bronze-faced Arab who had 
 accompanied him. 
 
 Following a breakfast of grapes, rolls and black 
 coffee, the downpour in the streets, unexpected after 
 so many glorified days in Palestine, had given him 
 the blues, which in the temperamental so often in- 
 duces a sense of impending events. Inherently an 
 optimist, for the first time in his life he was unable 
 to shake off a premonition that something unusual 
 was about to occur. What it was he could not guess, 
 and it annoyed him. He yawned; he rose from his 
 chair, and with hands thrust deep in his pockets, 
 strode up and down the hall; he sent a little Arab 
 boy scurrying out into the rain to fetch cigarettes; 
 he read the week-old papers lying about; he stared 
 out of the windows at the soppy and bedraggled look- 
 ing passers; and finally he went back to his seat by 
 the blaze. There he had settled down to his tobacco 
 and book in gloomy silence when the sight of a 
 woman's figure, clad in a gray travelling gown, 
 entering from the corridor, brought him to his feet 
 with an exclamation of boyish surprise and delight. 
 
 "Agatha!" 
 
 The woman, who had instantly caught sight of 
 him, came swiftly forward, stretching out both slim, 
 white hands toward his brown ones. 
 
 "It's Peter, bless my soul! Did you drop from 
 the clouds?" and Agatha Van Siddons, his god- 
 mother, and the woman who, since his mother's 
 
THE CALL OF THE AGES 
 
 death when he was a baby, had filled Lucia Rutledge's 
 place as few women could have done, beamed a joy- 
 ous and affectionate greeting upon him. 
 
 He hastened to draw another seat up to the fire. 
 
 ^'I got in from Damascus, last night," he said. 
 "And you — " 
 
 "Alicia and her father are with me." 
 
 "What luck!" he cried. 
 
 "Ann and I met them while shopping in Naples 
 and as we all meant to see Gethsemane and the 
 Sepulchre, we came on together." 
 
 "Ann" — he looked puzzled. 
 
 "Ann Newman," she repKed. "She's a New York 
 state girl of German parentage who has been studying 
 pianoforte in Berlin. After one or two public per- 
 formances there, the papers mentioned her as ' The ' 
 Fraulein Newman. Herr Schlafier handed her over 
 to me as a sort of protegee: 
 
 "'We can teach her no more here. She is the 
 Find of the season. Take her back to New York 
 where your countrymen can bestow on her the praise 
 that her genius deserves,' were his words. That was 
 unbehevable praise from such a famous teacher. But 
 Ann is indeed a remarkable girl. 
 
 "Then I met her and loved her for her own sake. 
 I was glad enough to take her with me. She's our 
 own kind, Peter. Her father and mother were of 
 that sturdy descent that caused New York to be 
 named the Empire State. 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "But neither her beauty nor her talents are alto- 
 gether the reason for her charm. There's something 
 deeper and more profound than either looks or art 
 in her life, that draws you to her. Her creed embraces 
 the idealism of the altruist and the unselfishness of 
 the true humanitarian. She believes that an inspi- 
 rational power actuates her, and sometimes when 
 you feel her giving of her best, wakening the recesses 
 of your soul with the divine touch of her fingers, you 
 are convinced that it's not an obsession, after all." 
 
 Peter had listened in astonishment. Such praise 
 from his conservative godmother was unusual. He 
 knew Agatha to be a social campaigner of many sea- 
 sons. Her friends were almost as numerous on the 
 Continent as in America, and not infrequently she 
 was royalty's guest abroad. But she loved virtue, 
 and he knew that Ann Newman must be indeed a 
 remarkable girl. 
 
 To him, the coincidence of the meeting seemed 
 almost too strange to be real: to thus discover, in 
 this far corner of the world, a much-loved instructor 
 of years past, who had more than once jeopardized 
 discipline to save him from the results of college 
 escapades; the daughter, with whom he had never 
 ceased to correspond since those same ardent days; 
 and Agatha, whom he began to love when he was a 
 drooiy, squally, pink and white specimen of infant- 
 hood in bib, tucker and knitted socks. 
 
 There was a wide difference between him and his 
 
THE CALL OF THE AGES 
 
 godmother. Perhaps fifty, perhaps a little more, 
 she was still slim, well rounded of figure and scarcely 
 touched with age, even in the masses of her sun- 
 colored hair which, with her finely pencilled eye- 
 brows, slender nose and beautiful fingers lent her an 
 unmistakable air of breeding. She had always be- 
 longed to the ultra-conservative class and in spite of 
 the publicity which her movements often gained, she 
 hated notoriety with all her soul. Peter often 
 wondered how they had remained such good com- 
 panions, for in spite of an ease of manner inherited 
 along with the same social status as that of the 
 woman, he was palpably untamed and filled with 
 enthusiasm.s, ideals and a restless, strident sort of 
 mascuHne energy much at variance with Agatha's 
 code. Yet a great fondness existed between them, 
 and neither his sister, Helen, nor his devoted old 
 Dad was able to comprehend the depths of his nat- 
 ure as did Agatha. 
 
 At last they were interrupted by the advent of a 
 gray-eyed slip of a girl and a pleasant-faced, scholarly- 
 appearing, oldish man, both of whom halted in amaze- 
 ment at beholding Peter. 
 
 The latter's pleasure at seeing the new-comers was 
 not to be mistaken. Since freshman days, a dozen 
 years back, he had been fond of Alicia Seabury. 
 Once, after a particularly wonderful performance 
 of the divinely gifted Melba, in *' Faust," his 
 overwrought emotions had found expression in a 
 
 5 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 marriage proposal which the nicely balanced Alicia 
 had declined with a tact so subtle that Peter com- 
 pletely failed to understand how well she understood 
 him. 
 
 As he gave his hand to the girl, drinking in the gay 
 raillery that cloaked her surprise and turned to greet 
 Professor Seabury, Peter felt that he had quite for- 
 gotten his premonition of a previous hour. 
 
 Then, while he stood chatting with these friends, 
 his glance, directed over AHcia's shoulder, took in 
 the figure of a girl descending the stairway in the 
 gloomy corridor, and imconsciously his attention was 
 arrested by a haunting sweetness about her face and 
 the gleaming shadows of the hair above it. Without 
 realizing it, his eyes followed the course of her slender 
 figure across the room to where Mrs. Van Siddons 
 still sat, just beyond them. 
 
 **Ah, you have yet to meet Ann!" cried Alicia, 
 suddenly, her eyes following his mystified gaze. 
 ''Has Mrs. Van told you of her wonderful perform- 
 ances in Germany, to which she summoned the lame, 
 the halt, the blind, and the little children from the 
 streets, while smart Americans, and music-loving 
 Germans of the better class had the choice of staying 
 away or mingling with the great unwashed? It must 
 have been rich, though it seems perfectly topical of 
 Ann." 
 
 Then he heard Agatha's voice: 
 
 "Peter, here is some one I want you to know and 
 
 6 
 
THE CALL OF THE AGES 
 
 be very nice to." He smiled as he covered the few 
 steps between them. 
 
 ''This is Peter Rutledge, Ann dear." The girl 
 bowed. 
 
 Peter looked into her uplifted eyes. He had never 
 seen a woman so beautiful, with such an exquisite 
 symmetry of face and form. Her hair was brushed 
 straight back, a radiant mass of copperous silk which, 
 even amid the sombre tones of the room, seemed to 
 catch and retain the flickering lights of the feeble 
 hearth-blaze. The contour of her face — a perfect 
 Mona Lisa type he thought — was enhanced by the 
 velvety softness of her skin, a delicately chiselled 
 nose and an incarnadined mouth with a dazzling 
 hint of a droop at one corner of the lips. 
 
 He sought to conceal his admiration with an 
 assumed lightness of speech: 
 
 "They say you have dared to set Americans in 
 Germany by the ears with a new kind of charity, 
 Fraulein?" 
 
 "Ann's playing long ago would have made her the 
 favorite of royalty had she not insisted upon lavish- 
 ing her talent upon the people of the highways and 
 byways instead of upon their royal highnesses," 
 put in her chaperone, affectionately. 
 
 "You have your defenders. Knowing them well, 
 I am ready to do anything — even implore you — 
 for the privilege of enjoying your gift," he said, his 
 eyes still fixed upon the girl. 
 
 7 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "Perhaps I will play for you to-night," she replied. 
 "But you must not call it a gift. It is only a loan — 
 this power to closely touch the hearts of others. 
 Do not think me a poser because I choose to play to 
 the beggar as well as to the rich," she added, earnestly. 
 "I would not have you misunderstand. Such a loan 
 as mine is either a power for good or for evil, and I 
 feel that I can do the most good, and bring the most 
 happiness into the world by sharing it with the poor, 
 the unfortunate, and those whose lives are seldom 
 made brighter by music. I have this loan to answer 
 for, to develop, and to hand on to others in the most 
 helpful way possible." 
 
 As the girl ceased speaking a tense silence, for a 
 moment, pervaded the group. Then the tact of the 
 oldest woman came to the rescue of these two young 
 people, and with a deft interruption and a renewal 
 of her half-bantering air, Mrs. Van Siddons appropri- 
 ated Peter again, while Alicia Seabury drew her arm 
 through that of Ann and moved away with the latter 
 across the room. 
 
 Late that afternoon all gathered in the music-room 
 of the hotel where Ann was to play. The rain had 
 ceased. A pallid opalescent glow, already merging 
 into twilight shadows, hinted at the fall of evening. 
 This sudden, soft beautifying of the day after hours 
 of sodden street and sky turned the conversation 
 upon the charms of the East and the multifold monu- 
 ments and historic spots in Jerusalem, sacred even 
 
 8 
 
THE CALL OF THE AGES 
 
 to the tourist, because of their claimed association 
 with the memory of Christ. 
 
 Each member of the party had traversed the narrow 
 streets and environs of this world Mecca, drinking 
 in the inspiration of that hallowed atmosphere which, 
 for ages past, had pervaded sepulchre and mosque 
 alike, and where, amid the ever-changing, ever- 
 restless, cosmopoKtan throng of peoples, the Ethiopian 
 and the flowing-robed dweller of the desert mingled 
 side by side with the graceful Greek, the Armenian, 
 the Russian and the Jew. All had visited the Holy 
 Sepulchre, and regardless of the doubt cast upon the 
 authenticity of its sacred traditions, each, for a time 
 at least, had been thrilled by that religious fervor 
 which yearly thronged the streets of Jerusalem with 
 a host of pious pilgrims. 
 
 As the twihght deepened, an uphfting of soul not 
 unlike that roused by the charm of a master's brush 
 or the silences of a cathedral nave settled itself 
 upon each one present. Then trembling waves of 
 melody flooded the room as Ann, having taken her 
 seat at the piano, touched the first chords of Liszt's 
 ''Love Dreams" in A-flat major. Each hstener felt 
 himself drawn to the borderland of those realms in 
 which it was plain that Ann's spirit dwelt when such 
 floods of passionate harmony gave expression to her 
 
 genius. 
 
 As Peter sat enthralled by the exquisiteness of the 
 interpretation, a strange thing happened. At first 
 
 9 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 faint and far off, then gradually coming nearer until 
 they seemed to fill the whole room, angelic voices 
 took up the words of the piece that the girl was play- 
 ing and wove into loveliness of melody a twofold 
 intensity of emotion. Amazed, he scanned the faces 
 of the others. All eyes were focussed upon the player. 
 Evidently, he alone heard the singing. 
 
 Suddenly Peter felt that a mysterious, spiritual 
 force was translating itself from the girl's soul to 
 his. Those angel voices — might they not be the 
 voices of her deep consciousness speaking to him! 
 He was spell-bound. Yet impressed though he was, 
 he did not realize that the influence of that hour and 
 what it held was to change his whole being, that the 
 music and words of that song were to remain engraven 
 upon his memory for all time: 
 
 ^'Oh love, Oh love, as long as e'er you can; 
 As long as yet you may! 
 Oh love, Oh love, as long as yet you may; 
 
 As long as yet you may! 
 The hour will come — the hour will come 
 When you at graves shall weep, some day. 
 The hour will come when you at graves shall 
 weep, some day." 
 
 As she ceased playing, intense stillness pervaded 
 the room. The others now realized that something 
 unusual was occurring. The girl's spiritual magne- 
 tism thrilled all. Her music had brought tears to 
 every eye. 
 
 lO 
 
THE CALL OF THE AGES 
 
 With her fingers inert in her lap, Ann turned 
 slightly in her seat so that she faced Peter. The 
 others found themselves looking at her profile — a 
 cameo in ivory and rose. To Peter the inspira- 
 tional power shining in her dark, lustrous eyes seemed 
 to pervade her head as with a halo. It was as if 
 some deeper force had taken possession of her — a 
 force not unlike that which must have inspired 
 Raphael in his portrayal of the transfiguration. 
 
 He could only stare into the widely distended 
 pupils before him, his fingers pressing the arms of 
 his chair until a fine of white grew under each of his 
 nails. Every muscle and nerve of his body was rigid. 
 Alicia, who had been leaning forward, remained 
 poised and listening in that attitude. Mrs. Van 
 Siddons, seasoned materialist and woman of the 
 world though she was, found herself breathless in the 
 thrall of the girl, while the older man, leaning back 
 motionless in his chair, seemed to have lost conscious- 
 ness of all save what was now transpiring. Shadows 
 from the dying embers in the fireplace, as they 
 flickered upon the walls in quick irregular movements, 
 accentuated the stillness. A breathlessness seemed 
 to have gathered itself there. 
 
 Suddenly Ann began to speak: 
 
 *'A voice from the infinite calls to thee, Peter 
 Rutledge, a power mightier than thought, more com- 
 pelling than life, or death or love. It summons thee 
 to thy destiny through these mortal lips. 
 
 II 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "A mighty task is laid down for thee. In its per- 
 formance thou art to be an ambassador only, through 
 whom this Call of the Ages is to work out its purpose. 
 
 ^'Heed this then: Seek the truth! Give all that 
 thou art to the search! Forego all thy present 
 pleasures! Abandon all the accustomed idlenesses 
 of thy life! Merge self in effort! 
 
 ** Henceforth thou art to be dedicated to a new era 
 in which the doctrine of man's brotherhood and the 
 Golden Rule are to bind men's hearts and sway their 
 purposes and in which the religion of the Nazarene, 
 stripped of superficialities and the veneer of dogma 
 and ceremonial, shall guide the world. 
 
 *' Search everywhere ! Study men ! When the time 
 is ripe for fulfilment, thou shalt understand. Then 
 will the Call of the Ages speak through thee. Thou 
 shalt be its servant and mouthpiece. Men hearing its 
 voice through thy lips, shall understand. 
 
 ^'Then shall the pathways of the future meet; a 
 new world-kingdom shall spring up and flourish. 
 Truth and equity between men shall triumph, for 
 man is to know the reality of peace and good will to 
 all. 
 
 *'It is to be the era of co-operation of thought and 
 action. Those who heed its call shall become 
 mightier than potentates and rulers. 
 
 "This sign is given to thee in thy task: Study 
 the ostrich — the mighty desert bird! 
 
 "The spirit now speaking to thee, shows me a sacred 
 
 12 
 
THE CALL OF THE AGES 
 
 scroll, and as it unfolds I see upon it the likeness of 
 this mysterious bird, and beneath a message reads: 
 ' The Ostrich is the Key to the future Development of 
 all Mankind.'' 
 
 '^ The spirit has spoken ! It is thus decreed for thee. 
 It is Destiny. Seek not to shun its summons. Es- 
 cape is impossible. If thou shirk the task, oblivion 
 will engulf thee." 
 
 As the girl ceased speaking, Peter felt a revolution 
 of mind and soul going on within. Each sentence 
 as it fell from Ann's lips had added to a new motive 
 force that now drove the blood racing through his 
 arteries and seemed suddenly to have illumined all the 
 hidden places within him. The message, a little com- 
 plex and unreal to the others, seemed to him a divine 
 injunction. He questioned its portent no more than 
 he doubted his existence. 
 
 The ensuing hush was again broken by the girl's 
 voice, this time quite natural in tone, but clearly 
 denoting perplexity: 
 
 *'What has happened?" As if suddenly pro- 
 pelled to life, Mrs. Van Siddons rose from her seat, 
 hastily crossed the room, and gently placed an arm 
 around Ann's shoulder. 
 
 ^'You have been talking of strange things, my 
 dear," was all she could find to say for the moment. 
 The girl looked at her puzzled. 
 
 *'We are none of us quite sure what you meant. 
 I think that you are overwrought." 
 
 13 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Then Peter spoke: 
 
 ''You have given me a message, Fraulein, the 
 strangest message in the world." 
 
 Ann rose, and disregarding the older woman's 
 solicitude, took the chair beside Peter. 
 
 ''Tell me all that has happened," she commanded. 
 He repeated, almost word for word, her mystical 
 utterances, also telling her and the others of the 
 angel voices and the verse they sang while she played. 
 Far from showing surprise, when she had grasped the 
 full import of his words, she said: 
 
 "Is it then so strange? I have always felt that a 
 power greater than my conscious self inspired my 
 playing. Might not that same power speak through 
 my lips to you?" 
 
 "But the ostrich?" he interposed, "what has that 
 to do with it all?" 
 
 "That is the riddle which you must solve," she 
 answered. 
 
 14 
 
n 
 
 THE SHEIK'S REVELATION 
 
 A CERTAIN finality in Ann's reply caused Peter to 
 look searchingly into her face. At once he under- 
 stood that she regarded the message as a sacred 
 injunction, the fulfilment of which lay upon him, 
 alone. 
 
 ^' Shall you turn sociologist?" asked his godmother, 
 
 laughingly. 
 Before he could reply, Professor Seabury spoke: 
 "It's plain that Fraulein Newman was inspired by 
 a psychic force for which neither science nor religion 
 has yet been able to satisfactorily account. The 
 world is constantly receiving fresh evidences of such 
 phenomena. We no longer ridicule them, for we 
 now feel certain that, to a degree, they influence 
 human affairs. The main question is: what weight 
 shall we give them? 
 
 "Let Peter confer upon his misgivings, if he has 
 any, the benefit of the doubt. Let him go ahead. 
 No harm can be done. This injunction may indeed 
 lead to the beginning of a world upheaval. We are 
 coming to a new order of affairs. Far-sighted 
 students believe that its advent is close at hand. 
 
 IS 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Great opportunities have been born of incidents 
 which seemed insignificant at first, because men 
 failed to divine their deeper potency. Behef is what 
 we all need, belief in ourselves and our purposes." 
 
 "It rests with Mr. Rutledge to determine whether 
 the message has struck a responsive chord in his 
 heart," said Ann. 
 
 ''I shall assuredly determine how much it all 
 implies, no matter how great the cost may be," was 
 Peter's answer. 
 
 *'But how can you do that?" broke in Alicia. 
 "Aren't wx taking Ann's words all too seriously? 
 Aren't we making too much of them, as if a great 
 deal depended upon this message? Isn't it all being 
 made too significant to you?" 
 
 Peter spread out his hands in mock gravity: 
 
 "Here entereth our little skeptic. Weren't you 
 impressed?" 
 
 "Oh, yes," she replied, "I don't think anyone could 
 have listened to Ann and doubted what she was 
 saying was out of the ordinary. But for all that 
 I'm not imaginative enough to accept a mission and 
 give my entire life to it without something very 
 definite upon which to base my resolves." 
 
 "To me, nothing could be more definite," said 
 Peter. "Fraulein herself doesn't understand the 
 full nature of what she has revealed. None of us 
 do. But just now it seems to me as if I had been 
 pledged to a lifelong search for truth. The obligation 
 
 i6 
 
THE SHEIK'S REVELATION 
 
 is as binding as if the President of the United 
 States had sent for me and put me under oath to 
 undertake an important task for my country. In- 
 deed, it seems as if this were a cause even higher than 
 that, for it promises the betterment of all mankind." 
 
 Alicia was silent. 
 
 *'Well said," came the voice of Professor Seabury. 
 ^^Why not begin your self-imposed mission at once? 
 Cross over into Africa — you are already here in the 
 old world — and investigate the ostrich. We will 
 all go with you, and while you are finding out what 
 the bird possesses that may aid you, we will explore 
 the Nile country." 
 
 The suggestion was approved by all, and before 
 "good-nights" wxre exchanged it had been decided 
 to start for Egypt the following day. 
 
 Arriving at Port Said, the five friends proceeded 
 by boat to Ismailia, and thence by train to Cairo 
 where, for a week, numberless excursions were made 
 in and around the city, Peter, with an Arab guide, 
 conducting the three women and sometimes the 
 Professor through the bazaars, flower-shops, mosques, 
 and the more remote quarters of this strangely 
 fascinating and exotic metropolis. There were trips 
 to the Pyramids and the Palace Gardens of Giza, a 
 visit to Mohammed All's mosque on one of those 
 nights of Ramadan, when a vast throng of grotesquely- 
 robed and bizarre dervishes wakened the spaces of 
 this beautiful, high-minaretted sanctuary with their 
 
 17 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "Wild noises and gyrations. There were frequent 
 spectacles of Allah's devotees marching in procession 
 through the streets, and lastly the ceaseless and ever- 
 changing panorama of that restless horde of eastern 
 peoples, among whom always predominated the 
 burnoused, dusky-skinned Bedouin, his face touched 
 with the wildness of the desert and betraying beneath 
 the veneer of dignified bearing the fanaticism of the 
 fatalist. 
 
 Peter with his trained mind and keen acumen 
 gained much that was new — he had once before been 
 in Africa — from the scenes and incidents of that week, 
 but more than any acquisition of knowledge, he 
 recognized a new incentive to effort growing up within 
 him which spurred him on like the touch of a magic 
 wand. He began to realize, too, that the proximity 
 of Ann was a further stimulus. He had not as yet 
 analyzed his feehngs towards her, but he knew that, 
 if only because of the strange command laid upon 
 him through her lips, she would always remain a 
 person of more than ordinary importance in his 
 career. That was inevitable. 
 
 During the week of excursioning he made plans 
 to go farther into the southwest where, he learned, 
 the ostrich had its habitat and was bred in captivity. 
 But before he did so, an unusual episode occurred 
 that, for the time being, changed his intentions. 
 
 With Abou Haifa, a young, native guide whom 
 Peter had chosen for his unusual intelligence, he 
 
 i8 
 
THE SHEIK'S REVELATION 
 
 started, one night, for a somewhat notorious cafe 
 near the Esbekiya Gardens where it was reported 
 that a Dervish of the desert was creating a sensation 
 with his seemingly incredible, sleight-of-hand tricks. 
 Abou Haifa's warning to restrain all curiosity, no 
 matter how unusual an occurrence might seem, 
 had prompted Peter to slip a well-proportioned re- 
 volver into his jacket pocket before starting out. 
 
 The cafe was situated a little way up a narrow 
 street which led off the Gardens. The darkness of 
 the place was too much, even for the dignity of Abou 
 Haifa, for he cursed roundly several times as they 
 stumbled along toward the dimly lighted entrance. 
 As the guide finally pushed open the door of the cafe 
 and they strode through the narrow passage leading 
 into the broad courtyard, Peter was conscious of a 
 rush of air in which the aroma of incense mingled with 
 the fumes of hashish smoke. 
 
 A good-sized crowd of men with a sprinkling of 
 women and girls, most of whom were either smoking 
 or drinking, were clustered about the numerous tables 
 in the tiled area. The place resembled the ordinary 
 Cairo cafe except that in the centre a considerable 
 space had been left vacant. Besides those at the 
 tables, a dense group of turbanned Arabs squatted 
 on the floor a short distance from, and facing the 
 central space where sat the Dervish. 
 
 Fantastic shadows from a flaring torch fixed up- 
 right in the floor played about this strange creature 
 
 19 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 who, as Peter entered, was leaning over the burning 
 coals of a brazier in front of him, stripped of his scarlet 
 burnous, bareheaded, and naked to the waist. Peter 
 could easily count every rib in the man's emaciated 
 figure. From the depths of a gray, wispy tangle 
 that entirely covered his face in gorilla fashion, the 
 eyes of the Dervish, whenever he glanced round, 
 seemed to burn like blazing lights. 
 
 Peter and his guide joined those sitting on the 
 floor, Peter settling himself rather uncomfortably on 
 the tiles beside a giant Arab who, from his bearing 
 and the texture of his garments, was evidently a 
 person of consequence. 
 
 Abou Haifa had barely time to Hght a cigarette 
 when the figure in the centre, unfolding itself, and 
 swaying erect from side to side, began a series of con- 
 tortions which seemed to jerk and tear at the snake- 
 like form until each separate cord and muscle 
 quivered. 
 
 Instantly every eye was turned toward the man, 
 but as the gyrations continued, the interest of the 
 spectators wandered and the murmur of conversa- 
 tion again rose. Just as Peter realized that in this 
 whirling dance he was witnessing mere prelimina- 
 ries, he saw the giant sheik beside him start and 
 quickly raise his head. 
 
 The magician had halted and was bending down 
 before the burning brazier. Suddenly he thrust a 
 claw-like hand forward, seized a handful of red-hot 
 
 20 
 
THE SHEIK'S REVELATION 
 
 coals in his fingers, stretched out the glowing lumps 
 for all to see and then, one by one, placed them in 
 his open mouth. 
 
 Instantly murmurs of astonishment filled the room. 
 But they had hardly ceased when the onlookers be- 
 held the hairy visage with its glittering eyes begin 
 to revolve on the long, thin neck, first to one side and 
 then to the other, back and forth for all the world 
 like the head of a wired manikin, and finally, as if 
 having gained sufficient momentum, it suddenly spun 
 round a full half-turn, so that the man's body fronted 
 one way and his face was skewed in exactly the oppo- 
 site direction. In this hideous position, the head 
 remained fixed for several seconds before it turned 
 
 back. 
 
 Peter had hardly recovered from his amazement at 
 the incredible feat when a youth, naked save for a 
 loin cloth, lithe and beautiful of form, leaped into 
 view from a doorway at one side of the cafe and 
 joined the conjurer. A gesture of the latter's claws 
 materialized a long, spindle-legged table upon which 
 the young Arab gracefully stretched himself, at the 
 same time ostentatiously placing his right arm so 
 that his wrist rested on a small block that had been 
 fixed to the table when it appeared. 
 
 Spreading a cloth over the reclining subject, the 
 conjurer now grabbed from the floor a keen-bladed 
 scimitar of large size, and again threw himself into a 
 series of wild dances, all the while waving the sword 
 
 21 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 above his head. An element of madness in the man's 
 burning eyes and fleshless, whirling body caused 
 Peter to reassure himself that his revolver was still 
 handy. 
 
 At last in the midst of his neurotic gyrations, the 
 dancer halted abruptly before the shrouded figure, 
 lifted the scimitar above his head, poised it there for 
 an instant, and then brought the sharp edge down 
 upon the spot where the boy's wrist apparently lay 
 upon the block of wood beneath the cloth. Then 
 amid a ghastly silence, the Dervish reached down 
 and drew forth a hand dripping with red. 
 
 Murmurs of horror, even from the stoical Arabs, 
 filled the room. A scarlet-cheeked woman, seated 
 just in front of the grewsome spectacle, shrieked 
 and fell to the floor. As her companion, a black- 
 bearded native, was dragging her toward the door, 
 the youth on the table came to life, threw ofif the 
 covering, and holding up his arms to show that 
 both hands were intact, ran laughing out of the 
 area. 
 
 Whirling furiously in ever- widening circles, and still 
 brandishing the bloody scimitar, the semi-nude 
 fanatic now commenced a whining, animal-like chant- 
 ing. 
 
 During the dance preceding the last trick, Peter 
 had twice noticed that the conjurer glared balefully 
 in his direction. Now the man was looking toward 
 him again. For a few seconds an uneasy feeling 
 
 22 
 
THE SHEIK'S REVELATION 
 
 obsessed Peter that perhaps he had been singled out 
 to become the next subject for some such uncanny 
 bit of necromancy as he had just witnessed. But 
 happening to glance at the giant beside him, he saw 
 that a look of cold scorn hardly less forbidding than 
 the glare of the Dervish had settled upon his neigh- 
 bor's visage. Plainly no love was lost between these 
 
 two. 
 
 The circles of the dance broadened more and more, 
 while the area rang with the throaty noises of the 
 dancer. Suddenly, in the midst of a frenzied evolu- 
 tion, the maniac stopped, lowered his shaggy face, 
 and with weapon upraised and eyes glaring like those 
 of an infuriated rat, made straight for the six-foot 
 Arab beside Peter. 
 
 The latter, seeing the look of hate in the magician's 
 eyes and convinced of the man's insanity, was the 
 only one in the room to comprehend instantly the 
 significance of the new move. Thus when the Der- 
 vish rushed forward with the huge blade in air, Peter 
 whipped out his revolver, took hasty aim, and sent a 
 bullet into the madman's arm. 
 
 As the sword fell clattering to the floor amid the 
 shrieks of the injured victim, confusion woke in the 
 room. Seizing Abou Haifa by the wrist, Peter took 
 advantage of the commotion to gain the street and at 
 once set out for the hotel. But as he emerged into the 
 light of the Esbekiya Gardens, a voice at his elbow 
 said: 
 
 23 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "Efifendi has saved El-Hamed's life. Henceforth 
 it is his to command. Effendi shall be rewarded; 
 let him ask what he will." 
 
 Turning, Peter found himself looking into the 
 magnetic eyes of his neighbor of the cafe. 
 
 *'It is the great sheik who owns much cotton land 
 on the Nile and who is the famed breeder of ostriches," 
 whispered Abou Haifa. Instantly, Peter's interest 
 was roused. 
 
 *'I should Hke much to learn about the ostrich. 
 Will El-Hamed teach me?" 
 
 ''Let effendi accompany El-Hamed to his home 
 where a flock of these wonderful birds now feeds 
 beside the Nile. There he whose life effendi has 
 saved will reveal secrets concerning the ostrich such 
 as are known only to one other person alive. Will 
 effendi come? Let him, then, fix the hour for setting 
 forth." 
 
 ''We will start to-morrow at noon," said Peter, 
 and he handed the other a card bearing his hotel 
 address. 
 
 Two days later after journeying across the delta 
 to a small town a few miles from Alexandria, Peter 
 became the guest of one of the wealthiest sheiks on 
 the lower Nile, a man of much erudition and wide 
 knowledge who, more as a hobby than for profit, 
 maintained a great flock of ostriches on his farm. 
 
 When he found that Peter, in spite of his great 
 interest in these birds, refused to accept any as a 
 
 24 
 
THE SHEIKAS REVELATION 
 
 gift, El-Hamed, in deep gratitude for the service 
 rendered him, decided to confer a boon upon his guest 
 such as never before had been extended to white 
 man. 
 
 "Listen, effendi,'^ he said, "El-Hamed means to 
 make it possible for you to know all the truth con- 
 cerning the ostrich and its marvellous possibilities. 
 There are facts about the bird which, if rightly 
 understood and employed, will prove a force of 
 unparalleled future power. 
 
 "In past centuries, when strange inhabitants, long 
 since dead, built mighty cities and temples along the 
 banks of the Nile and made great battles near the 
 borders of the deserts to the southward, the ostrich 
 was one of the sacred birds of the land. Before 
 the sway of the renowned Cleopatra, a wonderful 
 queen, Arsinoe by name, governed millions of sub- 
 jects by the power that went with this bird. This 
 queen often rode through the streets of her capital 
 seated on the back of an ostrich, reputed to stand 
 fifteen feet high, and having feathers that gleamed 
 in the sunlight like the meshes of spun silk. A 
 statue of Arsinoe, mounted upon the sacred bird, 
 has been found erected on Helicon, a range in the 
 ancient Boeotian land of Greece. 
 
 "During such shadowy periods as that of the eigh- 
 teenth dynasty, at a time contemporaneous with the 
 Moses of your Bible, the inhabitants of the then 
 mighty Thebes venerated the ostrich above all other 
 
 25 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 animals and many carvings of the bird in stone are 
 to-day found on the walls of the sepulchral chambers 
 near the ancient site of the city. 
 
 "But that was not all, effendi. The ostrich 
 feather stood for justice and truth. Justice in those 
 olden times was the balance wherein all actions were 
 weighed. It was as highly prized as it is to-day. 
 The web of the ostrich feather, being of equal breadth 
 and equally balanced on each side of the shaft, 
 fittingly symbolized justice. And from being such 
 a symbol the feather likewise became the token of 
 truth among those old Egyptians. In the hiero- 
 glyphic writings many ostrich-feather representations 
 occur. The Nomad of earlier days, and even to-day 
 in some sections of the country to the south, wears 
 the white ostrich plume in sign of victory, and so 
 prized is the feather as a token of triumph that one 
 tribe wears the black plume when the white cannot 
 be obtained. The Somal calls the feather ^Bal'; 
 the Arab, * Rish.' It is worn in the back part of 
 the hair by the majority of the southern tribes, 
 though each clan has its particular rules as to just 
 how it shall be displayed. 
 
 "Of the origin of the ostrich, no one knows. Even 
 before the days of Queen Arsinoe and Moses, ancient 
 writings show that the bird was to be found in the 
 land in great numbers. The mighty warrior, Tris- 
 tran, had a skin of an ostrich which he claimed to 
 have killed on the Belka close behind the hills of 
 
 26 
 
THE SHEIKAS REVELATION 
 
 Moab. The bird dwells in the steppes of Kordofan 
 on the White Nile, and to the south of Neuwerlandi 
 on the Blue Nile. It is found in the interior along 
 the borders of the Kalahari desert; in Beschari and 
 in Shukurich. The Turkoman knows the ostrich 
 as 'Toje Kushu.' 
 
 ^'Whether in earliest days it Kved in the grass 
 veldt or came there only when the barren droughts 
 of the dryer lands drove it forth, is shrouded in 
 mystery. It is looked upon as being essentially the 
 desert bird. Religion, since peoples first dwelt in 
 Africa, has paid the ostrich tribute. Kings, queens, 
 and warring nations have done it reverence. Images 
 of it are found in the ruins of the famous Temple of 
 Karnak and all up and down the Nile region where 
 antiquity was born. 
 
 ^'Out of all this, effendi, it shines clear that the 
 bird is of more than ordinary consequence. El- 
 Hamed knows of the ostrich far better than his 
 brothers of the Nile country. But there is one, a 
 great and all-wise queen, to the south in the Abys- 
 sinian land where the waters of the sacred Blue Nile 
 run as a rivulet, who excels all mankind in knowledge 
 of the bird. 
 
 *' Queen Zar, effendi, knows all. Her wisdom is 
 greater than the wisdom of many ages. She has 
 tamed a horde of subjects who once were wilder 
 than the beasts of the forest. Her knowledge of the 
 deep and hidden mysteries of life surpasses the book 
 
 27 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 lore of the most renowned scribes of learning. In 
 breadth of mind and soul she transcends all. 
 
 *'If effendi would learn the profounder mysteries 
 of the ostrich, let him seek this marvellous queen. 
 
 *' Since pride prevents effendi from accepting the 
 ostriches which El-Hamed would bestow upon him, 
 let him, then, receive this talisman." The planter 
 took from the bosom of his burnous a tiny silken 
 bag suspended about his neck by a blue cord, drew 
 out of it a ring set with a blood-red stone, and placed 
 the circlet upon one of Peter's fingers. 
 
 ^'This signet will enable effendi to acquire as many 
 ostriches as he may wish from the great queen. She 
 will show him where the birds breed plentifully. 
 Indeed, because effendi wears the talisman, the queen 
 will know of his coming and will be waiting at the 
 borders of her country to welcome him. The hos- 
 pitality of her land will be offered effendi. He will 
 behold her, upon whose face no white man has ever 
 looked, and into whose land no white man has ever 
 penetrated. 
 
 "The talisman will prove his preserver. Let him 
 guard it with care. Without it he would perish ere 
 he found the great Zar. The ring is her signet of 
 friendship sent to El-Hamed long years ago because 
 of the sheik's endeavor to help uplift and better 
 the people of his own race. 
 
 *'The Arab is poor because he does nothing for him- 
 self. His philosophy of life is that of Naishapur's 
 
 28 
 
THE SHEIK'S REVELATION 
 
 poet of eight centuries ago. He is sunk in the folly 
 of fatalism. He has been misled by priests who 
 falsely interpret Mahomet's teachings. But chiefly 
 he is the victim of himself, without purpose and with- 
 out initiative. El-Hamed has spent many years en- 
 deavoring to expose the frauds which the priests are 
 constantly imposing upon his people. But his work 
 has proven fruitless. Twice his life has been at- 
 tempted by fanatics. He has suffered many per- 
 secutions. Yet some day the truth will rise like the 
 morning sun and waken the children of the desert." 
 With a pious movement the old man bowed his head 
 in sadness. Then, looking up again, he proceeded: 
 
 ''May the blessings of Allah go with effendi. 
 Should he persist in his purpose to learn all the truth 
 concerning the ostrich, he will never regret it." 
 
 Later the Arab explained many facts of practical 
 value in rearing the ostrich which, supplemented by a 
 first-hand study of the flock at his farm, furnished 
 Peter with a knowledge of the bird such as few could 
 hope to possess. 
 
 ''One would hardly think that there could be so 
 much to learn on the subject," he remarked to his 
 godmother after he had rejoined her and the others 
 at Alexandria. "And it seems that I have only made 
 a beginning. I am interested to know how it will 
 
 end." 
 
 They were all sitting at dinner after a day of excur- 
 sioning about the old metropolis. An Arab messenger 
 
 29 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 glided across the room and thrust a yellow envelope 
 into Professor Seabury's hands. 
 
 **A cable!" cried Alicia. 
 
 Tearing open the missive, the older man read aloud: 
 
 ^' * Securities threatened by crisis. Start at once. 
 Andrew.'" 
 
 *' Sounds serious," said Peter, observing the frown 
 on his friend's face. 
 
 ^'What can it mean?" put in Alicia. 
 
 **I'm afraid our vacation is over, little girl. It's 
 important, otherwise your uncle never would have 
 cabled." 
 
 The daughter rose and put her arms round her 
 father's neck: 
 
 ''All right, daddy dear; only don't worry." 
 
 ''You nice child," said Mrs. Van Siddons. *'Ann 
 and I will return with you, for that." Then she 
 added: ''What joy it will be to behold a clean bath- 
 tub once more, and to be able to go walking without 
 having to dodge beggars at every step!" 
 
 "I'm going to join you," said Peter. "There's a 
 boat to-morrow, I believe." 
 
 "What, are you homesick too?" asked his god- 
 mother. 
 
 "Perhaps," he answered with a grin. "I've 
 some lessons to learn, too. I shall be back again — 
 afterwards." 
 
 30 
 
Ill 
 
 THE BLIGHT OF A PANIC 
 
 Peter's decision to return to America v/as the 
 result of a rapidly crystallizing resolve to sift the 
 strange message of the Ages to the end. He had 
 already learned enough to convince him that it bore 
 more than ordinary significance. His time was his 
 own. At home he would go deeper into the investi- 
 gation. 
 
 ' ' Seek the truth I Search everywhere ! Study men ! 
 When the time is ripe for fulfilment, thou shalt under- 
 stand!" Those commands recurred to his mind 
 often. 
 
 The next morning, following the usual excitement 
 of embarking for home, he and his friends watched 
 the shores of Africa fade in the soft blue of sea and 
 sky. Then ensued the voyage to Naples, the Azores 
 and across the Atlantic, during which acquaintance- 
 ship flourished as it only can on shipboard when the 
 ocean remains constantly sun-kissed beneath cloud- 
 less skies. When Sandy Hook was sighted, Peter and 
 Ann were the best of comrades and friends. Only a 
 few hours later his father and sister were welcoming 
 him home from his long absence. 
 
 31 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Thus Peter was at hand to profit by a study of one 
 of the most extraordinary economic dilemmas of mod- 
 ern times, when, the next morning after his arrival, 
 a great financial panic burst over New York. A pre- 
 monition of this crash had been the reason for Andrew 
 Seabury's summons to his brother in Egypt. 
 
 Within an hour the long-impending disaster made 
 itself felt, not only in all sections of Manhattan, but 
 in every great money centre of the world. Bankers, 
 financiers and stockholders hung with feverish inter- 
 est over the reports that, from time to time, flashed 
 forth from the vortex of war, for all felt that this 
 mighty struggle of the money giants which had at 
 last been loosed, was indeed a warfare. 
 
 Never before had there occurred such a mighty 
 avalanche in values. Old line stocks declined until 
 the panic laid hold of great and small alike, and a 
 mad and reckless selling began, which terminated in 
 the most wholesale collapse of holdings on record. 
 Offers of a thousand per cent, for loans went begging. 
 The newsboys, waving scare headlines everywhere, 
 proclaimed the varying fortunes of the battle that 
 raged upon the floor of the stock exchange. Failures 
 of business houses by the score, the closing of the 
 doors of half a dozen banks including the mighty 
 Williams Trust Company, and the mysterious dis- 
 appearance of its president, two suicides and the 
 prospect of worse to follow because of the ever-in- 
 creasing shortage of money, had already turned New 
 
 32 
 
THE BLIGHT OF A PANIC 
 
 York into pandemonium. The air was rife with 
 wild rumors, one of which hinted at a mighty con- 
 spiracy of the " interests " which was generally 
 discredited because of the very audaciousness of its 
 conception. 
 
 As Peter rode down town on the second day of 
 this tragic period, he was struck by the tenseness of 
 action and manner that seemed to pervade the thou- 
 sands upon the streets. He had sensed the advent 
 of the panic from the context of press despatches 
 abroad. His curiosity, now that he came near to 
 the heart of it, quickened into deep interest. 
 
 Thus he was doubly pleased upon entering his club 
 to discover Max Reinhart, a classmate of college days, 
 sometimes jestingly referred to by the club members 
 as "The Muckraker," sitting alone by the fireplace 
 in the smoking-room dividing his attention between a 
 plate of pretzels and a cigarette. 
 
 Peter was fond of Max. He had secured his ad- 
 mission to this, one of New York's most exclusive 
 clubs. He liked him particularly because of the 
 earnestness which, long since, he had discovered lay 
 beneath "The Muckraker's" accustomed cynicism 
 of manner. Max's views upon many questions of the 
 hour, which during college days Peter had thought 
 rabid and extreme and which he had then felt were 
 the result of egotism rather than of conviction, now 
 deeply interested Peter. 
 
 Max's outward response to Peter's unceasing 
 
 33 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 friendship was a persistent and mocking skepticism of 
 the other's acts, a continuous fusillade of criticism 
 against a long list of beliefs and institutions with 
 which an environment such as Peter's had been, would 
 naturally keep the latter in harmony. It mattered 
 not to the redoubtable Max that Peter had essayed 
 several declarations of independence in the past. 
 "The Muckraker" took not the least stock in an 
 independence which entailed a compromise, and 
 he mockingly voiced his cynicism on every occasion 
 when he and Peter met. 
 
 ''Ah, Stuyvie, back again from lotus-eating in the 
 land of Kismet!" he cried, springing to his feet at 
 sight of his friend. "You're just in time to witness 
 the slaughter of the innocents. For it's begun." 
 Then in compliance with Peter's nod of assent at 
 his suggestion, he despatched the servant for scotches 
 and soda. 
 
 Peter tossed his coat aside and stretched himself 
 out in a lounging chair, smiling whimsically across 
 at the other. 
 
 "Still picking upon your friends," he said, good- 
 naturedly. "What caused the panic. Max?" 
 
 "Upon my word, Stuyvesant, you are more like an 
 ingenuous butterfly each year. With New York 
 in the thick of a financial cataclysm, filled with bank- 
 rupt business houses, closing banks, not to mention 
 a milHon or more people who stand to lose their all 
 because of your stock juggler and wholesale gambler, 
 
 34 
 
THE BLIGHT OF A PANIC 
 
 and a bread line, daily growing longer, you make your 
 debut from foreign lands, through the doors of a 
 highbrow club, from the cushions of an expensive 
 touring car and serenely ask what it's all about! 
 Why, son, a world tragedy is taking place under 
 your nose. The town is a hotbed of sane people 
 gone mad, and if many more of your wildcatting 
 trust concerns nail up their doors, the mob will begin 
 to see red and — God help us then! Values have 
 shrunk a billion dollars. To-day is the last straw. 
 Take a drink, Peter, and think it over,'' urged 
 the speaker in a mocking drawl as the servant ap- 
 peared with glasses, decanter and siphon. Then 
 he added maliciously and with a sardonic smile as 
 he turned to light a fresh cigarette : 
 
 "At least you appear as if you might wake up, 
 some day." 
 
 "I'm surely more interested than you make me 
 out," replied Peter with a frank grin at his com- 
 panion's bombardment. "Many of my friends, as 
 well as yours. Max, are wavering between the pistol 
 point and poverty to-day. A panic like this means 
 that there's a rotten spot somewhere in our social 
 system. I'm in dead earnest to discover what can 
 make such a horror possible. Leave your denuncia- 
 tion for another day and come down to particulars." 
 
 The scorn in the other man's eyes proved his lack 
 of faith in Peter's protestations, but he said: 
 
 "Two hours ago I saw a man on a street corner 
 
 35 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 opposite one of the barricaded wildcat trust com- 
 panies take a pistol out of his pocket and send a 
 bullet into his brain. He was a bally coward to do 
 it, for a woman stood right there with him when the 
 thing happened, and a youngster too — the little kid 
 wasn't over four — and the woman fell down on the 
 breast of that bloody thing that had been her love 
 and screamed and screamed until people standing 
 near stopped their ears in horror. But when they 
 took the body down to the station with that woman 
 still clinging to it, crying and sobbing and alternating 
 her caresses between the dead one and the child, a 
 policeman finally found a finger-smooched bank-book 
 in the suicide's pocket showing deposits for three 
 thousand dollars that the poor devil had worked 
 sixteen years to get together. The bank had swal- 
 lowed his little pile and the cruelty of it went to his 
 head. 
 
 ^'I was on the floor of the stock exchange, yester- 
 day afternoon, too, just before the gong struck for 
 closing, when two guards and three others including 
 myself, struggled for a full five minutes with Bill 
 Atherton — 'Big Bill' of the class of '90, you know — 
 before we got him handcuffed and tied up. The 
 guards insisted on putting the twisters on him for 
 fear he might do murder. He was stark mad — bit 
 and clawed and laughed — I wonder if you ever heard 
 a laugh like that — just as if everything inside had 
 caved in and gone to smash. God, I can hear it 
 
 36 
 
THE BLIGHT OF A PANIC 
 
 now ! And when they finally got him quiet and lugged 
 him off the crowded floor, it was so still there for 
 awhile that you could hear the clock tick. 
 
 *' You should have seen the mob of men and women, 
 too, fighting and clawing at each other like harpies 
 in their mad rush to get into the different banks 
 before the doors closed! 
 
 ''The cause of the panic — it's everywhere. It's 
 social greed. It's the rabid craze for acquiring wealth 
 under a system where one's gain is always another's 
 loss. But you will never understand it, Stuyvie. 
 You can't. You weren't brought up that way." 
 
 A hint of a frown appeared on Peter's face, but 
 before he could answer he was interrupted by a ser- 
 vant: 
 
 ''Telephone, sir, in number four." 
 
 "Who wants me?" 
 
 "A lady, sir.'^ 
 
 As Peter rose and went out. Max reached forward 
 and chose a copy of the afternoon edition of the 
 "Daily News" from the pile of papers which the ser- 
 vant had laid on the table. As he glanced over the 
 headlines of the front page, "The Muckraker's" 
 eyes were suddenly caught and held with horror as 
 he read: 
 
 "Noted Professor Stricken. World-Famous 
 Teacher of Pierson University said to be dying from 
 Paralysis caused by Shock of financial Losses. Had 
 just returned from Europe. Daughter at Bedside." 
 
 37 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 He had barely finished the details of the story when 
 Peter appeared in the doorway. 
 
 ^'Professor Seabury has had a stroke/' he cried, 
 tersely. Plainly he had received the news at the 
 telephone. Dropping the paper to the floor, Max 
 sprang forward : 
 
 "Come on!'' he exclaimed, and in another minute 
 the two friends were breaking the highway speed 
 laws in their haste to reach their old instructor's 
 home. 
 
 "Even now AHcia doesn't know what caused it," 
 Ann Newman informed them after Peter had intro- 
 duced her to Max and she had led the way into the 
 drawing-room. Ann was the first whom Alicia had 
 sent for after her father's seizure. "The professor 
 was sitting in the library" — motioning toward an 
 apartment whose book-filled shelves could be seen 
 through an open doorway — "when he dropped his 
 paper and without a word fell to the floor. The 
 doctor says it's paralysis, that he may improve, but 
 that there is small chance of his ever being well again. 
 He doesn't know any one now, though he did recog- 
 nize Alicia for a moment." 
 
 "Where is the paper that he was reading?" asked 
 Peter. 
 
 Ann handed him an edition of "The Transcript" 
 that lay on a table nearby. In startHng headlines 
 at the top of the sheet was the announcement of the 
 closing of the Mercer Trust Company. On the same 
 
 38 
 
THE BLIGHT OF A PANIC 
 
 page also appeared the news of the failure of Hersey 
 and Weld with an account of the disappearance of 
 John Weld with half a million of the firm's cash. 
 
 Peter stared in silence at the page for a moment. 
 Then he shook his head sadly. He knew that Pro- 
 fessor Seabury's savings were largely invested in the 
 stock of the Mercer Trust Company and he was 
 aware that Hersey and Weld were the old man's 
 bankers. 
 
 "I don't wonder that it proved a shock to him," 
 
 he said. 
 
 Just then Alicia, her cheeks tear-stained, entered 
 
 the room. 
 
 ''The doctor thinks he will pull through," she said, 
 giving her hand to each of the new-comers, ''but 
 the shock has left him hopelessly shattered. He will 
 never be himself again." Then pointing to the paper 
 in Peter's hand: 
 
 "Why should he have taken it so hard! I don't 
 mind being poor, not in the least, but this" — she 
 turned and hid her face in her hands. Ann rose to 
 comfort her but before she could reach Alicia's side, 
 Max had taken one of the weeping girl's hands in 
 his, and was saying: 
 
 "Come and sit down, dear. You are fagged 
 
 out." 
 
 Peter was marvelling over the gentleness of "The 
 Muckraker's" voice, when Ann turned again: 
 
 "It is terrible," she said, "to think that such evils 
 
 39 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 can come to pass. It is terrible that the wrongs of 
 the great can so wreck the lives of the helpless." 
 
 She stood where a ray of the afternoon sun glinted 
 amid the burnished threads of her hair. Her eyes, 
 looking before her, were filled with a depth of tender- 
 ness and compassion such as Peter knew only the 
 most beautiful in soul could feel for the wrongs and 
 sufferings of others. It suddenly seemed to him as 
 though he understood the softness that had crept into 
 the voice of Max. But his only reply to the girl 
 near him was: 
 
 ''It shall not always be so. Those of us who are in 
 earnest will help fight against such evils and some day 
 we shall succeed in overthrowing them." 
 
 40 
 
IV 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 The usual racing banter and cynical repartee 
 greeted Peter's ears as he stepped from his touring 
 car to the grassy terrace of the fashionable Merle 
 Water Club on the forenoon of the day of the 
 annual horse races. 
 
 It was almost a month since the morning when he 
 had seen Ann Newman off on a visit to her old home 
 in the upper part of the state. A brief missive — 
 her first letter to him — had brought the joyous news 
 that she was now en route to New York and already 
 he was planning to spend the following day in the 
 country with her. 
 
 Meanwhile, for the first time since his return from 
 abroad, he had ridden out to Long Island to renew 
 some of his club acquaintanceships and to witness the 
 yearly Merle Water meet, for which the club had long 
 been noted. He was also much interested to learn 
 how the wealthy men and women members regarded 
 the recent panic causes and effects. Even though 
 Max Reinhart put him in the same class with these 
 people, Peter himself knew that he was no longer 
 a worshipper of Mammon. He had a curious habit, 
 
 41 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 now, of studying others to know whether they too 
 were learning to sympathize with their less fortunate 
 fellow-beings. 
 
 As he was dismissing his chauffeur, he heard a 
 familiar voice saying: 
 
 *'Why, there's Stuyvie!" and the speaker, a tall, 
 athletic-shouldered girl, and two other women and 
 a man, quickly surrounded him. 
 
 "Hello, Mrs. De Pris!" he exclaimed in his cheer- 
 ful, optimistic voice. Then eying a younger, girl 
 member of the group who kept whacking at her gray 
 riding-skirt with an ivory-handled hunting crop, he 
 remarked : 
 
 ''Victoria's been placing a bet, I'll warrant." 
 
 Miss Merton, the girl referred to, glanced at him 
 quizzically : 
 
 "How did you guess?" she asked. 
 
 "Dead easy. You're trying so hard to look 
 happy," said Peter. 
 
 "I placed a thou' on Nankin. Has she a chance, 
 Stuyvie?" 
 
 Peter noted the suppressed eagerness beneath her 
 assumed nonchalance. 
 
 "You'd better look out for King Richard. He 
 found a lot of you napping a year ago." 
 
 "We were sound asleep," drawled the third woman, 
 the Countess Cranford. "Montie was the only one 
 of us in on the ground floor, and he left even his dear- 
 est friends to slumber sweetly on." The dark eyes 
 
 42 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 of the speaker turned accusingly to Montague Rens- 
 selaer's face. 
 
 ''I needed the money," grinned the latter youth. 
 Then a second later, catching sight of a new-comer, 
 Rensselaer abruptly detached himself from the group 
 and hastily stepped across the terrace. The others 
 heard him hail an older man, somewhat ponderously 
 making his way toward the club-house steps. 
 
 ''It's Jed Miller," exclaimed Sally De Pris. 
 
 ''I wonder why Croesus has deserted his Wall 
 Street citadel to come out here?" queried the 
 countess. 
 
 ''I have it!" Miss Merton's eyes flashed. ''King 
 Richard is his horse. He's entered again, to-day. 
 That's why Jed Miller is here. That's why Montie 
 runs after him. We all wondered what brought 
 Miller here last year. Now I know. It's a shame! 
 Why can't they keep hands off our sports — these 
 money lusters! By and by there'll not be a single 
 chance to win an honest wager, just because such 
 men as Jed Miller load all the dice. First they leave 
 us without a leg to stand on in the stock market and 
 then they strip us at the track. Women without 
 any one to protect them have got to exist," she 
 went on, "but how can we, if some Jed Miller takes 
 all there is — marks every card? They say the panic 
 made him three millions. Mama and I lost about 
 everything, from no fault of ours. Jed Miller was to 
 blame — he and others just like him. 
 
 43 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 ^'He doesn't give the other fellow a chance, even 
 when the other chap is one of his own kind." The 
 girl still kept switching her riding crop to and fro. 
 
 "Oh, I suppose he has his code," put in Mrs. 
 De Pris. Before Victoria could reply, the countess' 
 voice broke in : 
 
 "They say he finally saved a half-dozen of the big 
 banks." 
 
 "His own banks," said Victoria scornfully. "He 
 launches a panic and nearly breaks us all. His 
 wealth, and the power it gives him over us, he uses 
 to satisfy his whim. And his whim is always to take 
 away what the other fellow has. Whether he does 
 it down in Wall Street, or whether his hundred 
 thousand dollar horse does it on the race track, at his 
 own private club, it's the same to Jed Miller. He 
 never loses. We're all his playthings. He's destiny 
 shuffling us about at will." 
 
 "Stop squealing, Vic!" put in Mrs. De Pris. 
 "You're only guessing. I don't believe King Richard 
 belongs to him. Jed Miller isn't a horse man. What 
 does he care for the winnings he might make here, 
 this afternoon? I don't believe he came here to trim 
 his friends. Besides, the betting favorite is Nankin. 
 Sam says she's done a quarter in two less than King 
 Richard's best, last season. He's got ten thousand 
 on her and I've got three. She's sure to win. Sam 
 knows. He sold a car and had me let two maids 
 and a butler go because Jed squeezed him so. He 
 
 44 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 says we've got to make a few thousand on the races 
 to-day or go broke. Poor Sam!" 
 
 Sally sighed as she lifted her jewel-handled lorgnon 
 and stared at a plump, smiling-faced youth who was 
 towing toward them a spectacled companion, taller 
 than himself by two feet, and whose rather long hair 
 was topped by a broad-brimmed, mouse-hued som- 
 brero. 
 
 '^Here's little Weston Morse with that clever 
 Sidney Appleton," she said. Turning, Peter found 
 his hand seized in the friendly grip of the tall man 
 who, after a brief greeting, said: 
 
 "I say, Stuyvie, I'll play you against the 'cunnel'?" 
 
 Peter glanced at his watch. It lacked more than 
 an hour before the races began. 
 
 ^'All right, Sidney!" he assented, and nodding to 
 the others he walked away toward the caddy house 
 behind the smooth strip of lawn. 
 
 Peter's game proved too fast for Appleton, for there 
 was still a good half-hour to spare when he holed out 
 at the sixth green, leaving Sidney pegging away, 
 two bunkers in the rear. 
 
 Most of the racing crowd had drifted over to the 
 grandstand back of the club building, where a 
 band was already playing, when Peter reached the 
 veranda steps; though a group of the younger male 
 contingent still lingered about the piazza. 
 
 Amid casual greetings, Peter picked his way among 
 the loiterers and entered the club-house. It was an 
 
 45 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 enormous structure, two and a half stories high 
 with double wings, in one of which were the racquet 
 courts, billiard rooms and other amusement apart- 
 ments. The other extreme was for the servants and 
 the cuisine. The central part of the building, on the 
 ground floor, was occupied by two spacious rooms, 
 one facing the front, the other, lighted by English 
 windows, overlooking an extremely wide, tiled 
 terrace, at one end of which was a pergola shaded 
 with masses of wistaria vines. 
 
 Selecting a seat at a small writing-desk in the far- 
 ther corner of the rear of these two rooms, Peter 
 wrote a note, addressed it to Fraulein Newman and 
 rang for a servant. The letter contained a request 
 that she come with him and his godmother for a 
 day's outing on the morrow. 
 
 As a rule Peter was not susceptible to women. 
 After college days his Hfe had centred chiefly on 
 business affairs. Still he admired a pretty face and 
 was fairly well known in a good many New York 
 drawing-rooms. He believed himself to be whole- 
 hearted, though of late the thought of Ann persisted 
 in obtruding itself upon him. He felt a positive 
 deHght in the anticipation of seeing her once again. 
 
 After handing the servant the note, he lingered for 
 a moment in the great room which then happened 
 to be unoccupied. The window at his elbow was 
 open, and he heard the footsteps of two people cross- 
 ing the terrace to the pergola just outside. There 
 
 46 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 they evidently found seats. Then the voice of Jed 
 Miller came to him: 
 
 ''We've settled his hash, damn him! He would 
 have it and we gave it to him — a large dose in panic 
 form." There was a wrathful brutality in every 
 inflection of the man's voice. Peter wondered 
 vaguely, and rather absent-mindedly, who had come 
 in the way of Jed's anger, for the man was a colossus 
 in power and wealth. Indeed, to a small dozen 
 financiers, among whom Jed was conceded to be the 
 leader, were ascribed half the money deals of the 
 market. He was the head of what the newspapers 
 had dubbed the ''millionaire star chamber." 
 Hitherto Peter had regarded him and his satelKtes 
 with approbation, principally because of the courage 
 and daring which he knew they must possess to be 
 able to concentrate such titanic powers as were theirs. 
 
 Peter heard the snap of a match and caught the 
 pungent aroma of good tobacco, before the other man 
 drawled : 
 
 "Yes, he's been too busy squaring himself since 
 the smash came, to stay on our scent." It was the 
 smooth voice of Seth Belden, one of the country's 
 greatest bankers — a good second to Jed Miller in 
 power and in riches. 
 
 "Out to get us, was he!" growled the other. 
 "Hammered and slashed at the system that made 
 him — manhandled us from coast to coast, and finally 
 laid a trap to catch us napping. He couldn't believe 
 
 47 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 it when the panic was sprung, thought we lacked the 
 nerve to strike that way!" 
 
 "Is he going to keep hands off, now?" the other 
 man interrupted. 
 
 ''He's learned his lesson this time, from A to Z. 
 He'll muckrake, no doubt, but take it from Jed Miller, 
 he's had his teeth drawn." A gentle chuckle came 
 from the other. 
 
 "It was beautifully played!" Belden said. "We 
 couldn't lose. But it cost a few good men, Jed." 
 
 "Only one man in a thousand has sense, Seth. The 
 rest are imbeciles. The run of the herd don't think; 
 they're too lazy, too uninterested in themselves to do 
 anything for themselves. They let the newspapers 
 mold their ideas. They're just sheep. That's the 
 reason we, who do use our brains, make good. It's 
 as clear as daylight!" Jed's former bellow had now 
 modulated to a strongly earnest tone : 
 
 " We all know the thing's got to end some day. The 
 few can't rule the many forever. It's against nature. 
 But the ignorant and the stupid have got to wake 
 up and learn to use their heads, before they can ever 
 beat us down and out, Seth. If we've got them 
 where we fatten on 'em, it's their fault, not ours." 
 
 "What brings you here?" inquired the other. 
 
 There was a brief pause, long enough for the man 
 addressed to have taken a cautious glance about 
 if he chose to do so. Then Peter caught his reply 
 uttered in a sort of chuckling undertone: 
 
 48 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 "A little joker/' 
 
 The answer evidently perplexed Belden for he did 
 not speak. After a pause, Jed went on: 
 
 *'I'll let you in, Seth. I'm going to trim some of 
 the smart set here at the Merle Water, to-day. Three 
 years ago one of my agents down in the 'Blue Grass 
 State' picked up a promising stallion. We kept 
 him hid a year and tried him out for the first time at 
 Saratoga. He proved to be a whirlwind, a better 
 goer than any of us had guessed. 
 
 ''Last year that horse. King Richard, took two 
 heats down here, but Neilson, the jockey, had his 
 orders to hold him back. He's got four seconds more 
 under his collar than any one here dreams about, 
 and to-day we're going to let him have the bit. He'll 
 clean 'em all up. It's your chance to make a little 
 pocket money, Seth, and to settle old scores if you 
 have any, for everyone's staking Nankin and she 
 hasn't got a chance." 
 
 Suddenly it occurred to Peter that his position 
 might be considered that of an eavesdropper. His 
 growing interest in this gilt-edged philosophy and 
 divulging of secrets between two of the country's 
 high-handed financiers brought this reflection. In- 
 stantly he rose, walked through and joined the 
 younger club members, still in front. 
 
 Flippant prophecies on the results of the races and 
 a desultory haggling over small wagers were being 
 interspersed with remarks relating to the late panic. 
 
 49 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Indeed, the cataclysm was still dominant in every 
 mind, although its crises were conceded to be well 
 over. There was not a man in the group, save per- 
 haps Peter himself, who had not won or lost heavily 
 during the smash. These were all typical New York 
 business men, stock brokers, bankers, speculators, 
 all gamesters of the class so willing to strain the fine 
 points of both ethics and the Constitution, if by 
 doing so they might transfer the wealth of others to 
 their own pockets. Yet, whether he won or lost, 
 each one in this crowd knew how to conceal every 
 trace of emotion beneath a veneer of outward cool- 
 ness or flippant banter. That was a part of the stock 
 in trade of each. 
 
 '^Did you bury Bogey?" queried Peter, with mock 
 gravity as he chose a seat beside Appleton, who had 
 finally holed out and now sat sipping a rickey. The 
 other grinned: 
 
 ''The colonel has always had six on me, and hang 
 it, the harder I try the worse duffer I get to be. It's 
 like trying to beat the game in the street." 
 
 ''I say, Sid, you hole out in Bogey there, every 
 time," put in Weston Morse. ''I heard John Merri- 
 man tell Miller that, for a young 'un, you'd made 
 a bunch of the bears look like croquet players at a 
 pink tea." 
 
 ''That's because I pocketed a slice of his profits 
 when he tried to dump that F and K stock on the 
 public, panic week," said Appleton. "I fancied his 
 
 50 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 respect for me would go up, for I beat the old man 
 by sixty minutes — got rid of six thousand shares — a 
 hundred a minute — before he came to and discovered 
 that the price had sagged three points and was still 
 dropping. He hasn't found out yet how I got wind 
 of his carefully laid plans." 
 
 *'How'd you do it?" asked a blond, vandyked 
 man at Appleton's right, abruptly. *'I got pinched 
 to the tune of thirty thousand on that deal." Sidney 
 Appleton's grin broadened. 
 
 "You're not the only one, Heswick. The mis- 
 carriage of Merriman's plans put out two brokerage 
 firms, closed up the Pilgrim Trust — Charlie West 
 disappeared then, and they found what was left of 
 him, later, floating in the harbor — and a dozen or so 
 chaps that I know had to cut out their extra chauffeur 
 and close up a villa or so down country on account 
 of that little coup. And it was all because Rhine- 
 lander, the ^ Daily News ' man, got drunk and blabbed 
 the tip in my private office. How he dug it up the 
 Lord only knows! I locked him in, and then handed 
 it to Merriman." 
 
 '^I say, Appleton," drawled one of his listeners, 
 "who put you wise to the panic? What sort of a 
 game was it?" 
 
 The question trailed off into a silence, which some- 
 how suddenly fell on the little group. The same 
 query had been propounded on street corner and be- 
 hind closed door a thousand times during the recent 
 
 51 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 weeks. Its answer, too, had been discussed in 
 whispers and bruited abroad in flaming headhnes 
 ever since the opening day of the never-to-be-for- 
 gotten crash. Every man sitting there on the fash- 
 ionable club veranda leaned forward, or fell into some 
 other listening posture, to better catch the reply of 
 the awkward-appearing, self-contained Appleton who, 
 though hardly thirty years of age, was already known 
 as one of the cleverest operators in Wall Street. 
 
 As if aware of the significance of his answer, the 
 youth paused for the fraction of a minute, and looked 
 about at the collected faces and many pairs of eyes 
 all coolly fixed upon himself. Indifference, good- 
 natured cynicism, frank dislike, clearly discerned 
 friendship, were all depicted there. He spoke 
 slowly: 
 
 ^'It was a well-planned trick — all the dice were 
 loaded. The whole thing was framed up to the 
 fraction of an hour, and its purpose was to save half 
 a dozen men — you know them all — from twenty 
 years or more in stripes. The government secret 
 service men were hard after them, pressing at their 
 heels. And it did save them. It summarily check- 
 mated the plan of the man who has done more to beat 
 the combinations of wealth and the stock trader's 
 game than any other single human being. You all 
 know that man, too. It was Theodore Roosevelt, 
 the most dangerous foe the big crew has ever had to 
 down." 
 
 52 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 For a moment following this declaration not a per- 
 son spoke. Then suddenly from the doorway behind 
 came the roar of Jedediah Miller's voice: 
 
 "Got that all fixed up, young man? Destiny 
 needs no sacred oracles as long as we have our infant 
 prodigies with us. Drop it! The races are starting. 
 We didn't come here to talk shop. Make your 
 play, gentlemen, make your play!" and with a 
 dramatic flourish Jed made off pompously toward the 
 race track. 
 
 Peter found himself in the midst of a riot of color 
 and gay excitement as he picked his way to a seat in 
 the huge grandstand. Beneath the cloudless sky 
 the oval track was a dull, red-gray ribbon looped 
 about its emerald enclosure. Here and there in the 
 crowd glasses were being trained upon the five thor- 
 oughbreds whose drivers were now jockeying for posi- 
 tion in front of the judges' stand, below. 
 
 The air was warm, but not oppressive. From the 
 bandstand rose the exhilarating strains of one of the 
 latest pieces in ragtime. Conversation, sparkling 
 with wit and humor, effervesced on all sides, while 
 men and women everywhere — many with gilt-edged 
 tablets and gold-tipped pencils — were exchanging 
 bets at varying odds. 
 
 Although the afternoon's entries included nearly 
 two dozen equine stars, interest centred chiefly on 
 the initial race in which Nankin, a flashing little 
 bay filly, and Thundercloud, a handsome chestnut 
 
 53 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 stallion, were easily the grandstand favorites. King 
 Richard, Zuzu and Alfred B., the other three entries, 
 were finding takers, but at good-sized odds. King 
 Richard, last year's winner in the same race, was 
 considered the best of the latter three. 
 
 Upon the stalwart Nankin, however, hope generally 
 centred. Everywhere red and white, the little mare's 
 colors, predominated. 
 
 Peter heard Sam De Pris, who sat at his right, 
 place an enormous bet on the filly at odds of two to 
 one. Then he heard Sally's voice wagering at two 
 to three on her husband's choice. A little farther 
 over Victoria Merton was busy registering bets on the 
 same mare in the dainty tablets of several friends. 
 
 Something tense in the manner of all three showed 
 itself in spite of the exchange of jests that occurred 
 while the wagers were being made, and it caught 
 Peter's attention. He was fond of all three. Hith- 
 erto he had refrained from acting upon what he had 
 learned, by accident, concerning King Richard. Now 
 he leaned forward and informed Sam De Pris of what 
 he knew. The other turned a little pale, whispered 
 to Sally, jumped up from his seat, and instantly 
 began seeking takers on Nankin. Peter watched 
 Sally impart the secret to Victoria. Then he re- 
 sumed his seat and began following the horses which 
 were now jockeying back and forth at the starting 
 line. By the clock in the pavilion nearby there 
 was still five minutes before the getaway — time 
 
 54 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 enough for Sam, Sally and Victoria to cover all their 
 wagers on Nankin if they chose. He wondered how 
 many others would get wind of the tip and hedge. 
 
 Suddenly the judges' pistol cracked, there was 
 a blaring of instruments in the bandstand, a sudden 
 handclapping and flutter of colors everywhere, and 
 he beheld the five horses go flashing, neck and neck, 
 down the first quarter of the oval stretch. It was 
 a wonderful start. For what seemed an incredibly 
 long period the positions of the five remained the 
 same. Then as they swung round the turn, a shout 
 from the grandstand proclaimed that the red and 
 white of Nankin and the blue of Alfred B. were creep- 
 ing into the fore, leaving Thundercloud a half-length 
 behind, with King Richard and Zuzu a length still 
 farther back. 
 
 On flew the gallant little fighters down the long 
 outer stretch. At the second quarter Zuzu had 
 shifted well behind; a full length had stretched itself 
 out between the coal-black gelding and King Richard. 
 Thundercloud had nosed well up onto Alfred B.'s 
 flank. 
 
 Now occurred an event which sent a premonitory 
 thrill through each of the hundreds of onlookers in 
 the densely packed bleachers. As the filly was 
 Hearing the third quarter mark, the arm of the green- 
 capped figure behind King Richard was lifted and 
 the thong of a whip slashed down across the flank 
 of the stallion. Instantly the nose of King Richard 
 
 55 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 began to crawl up on the struggling Alfred B. at a 
 rate of speed which seemed little less than marvel- 
 lous. 
 
 A whoop of surprise escaped the lips of a man in 
 the lower row. Then in a body, men and women 
 were on their feet, leaping upon the seats, breaking 
 into a wild storm of cheering. 
 
 For a second the heroic Alfred B. held out. Then, 
 in the twinkling of an eye it seemed to the excited 
 onlookers. King Richard had whirled past, swept 
 down upon the flying Thundercloud, overhauled 
 the big chestnut, and was hard on the withers of 
 Nankin. 
 
 Pandemonium now reigned among the spectators. 
 Cheers surged, in strident waves, across the field. 
 Could the stallion wrest the laurels from the little 
 bay? It seemed impossible! With every muscle 
 and nerve straining beneath her glossy skin, the 
 beautiful filly was working like a splendid machine. 
 
 Thirty — twenty — ten yards from the finish, and 
 she still held out, flashing on through the red dust 
 like a wind-blown cloud. 
 
 Then, when it seemed as if neither horse could gain 
 an inch upon the other, the lash of King Richard's 
 driver cracked again. As the blow fell, the mighty 
 stallion surged ahead, and, in a whirlwind burst that 
 drove the bleachers m.ad, caught the wire a full half 
 head over the mare. 
 
 Cheers still swept the field when a hand was laid 
 
 56 
 
THE SPIRIT OF MERLE WATER 
 
 on Peter's shoulder, and he glanced round to find 
 Sam De Pris at his elbow. 
 
 *'God knows where you got the tip, Stuyvie," he 
 said, ''but you've saved my life," and the big six- 
 footer gripped the other's hand. 
 
 Later, when the rest of the races had been run off 
 and Peter stood waiting at the foot of the club-house 
 steps, he heard the growl of Jed Miller's voice ad- 
 dressing Belden as the two rode away: 
 
 "The horse is a wonder, but a lot of wise ones found 
 it out at the last minute and hedged. If somebody 
 hadn't blabbed I'd have trimmed the whole bunch!" 
 And Peter smiled as he seated himself in his car and 
 started back for New York. 
 
 57 
 
V 
 
 THE CRISIS 
 
 Peter's mood perplexed him. 
 
 With his godmother and Ann Newman he had set 
 out from New York bent upon making the day 
 a memorably enjoyable one. Everything external 
 seemed to conspire toward that result: the azure 
 sky overhead; the russet, crimson and gold leaves 
 that made each roadside grove and foliaged vista a 
 bit of enchanted landscape; the invigorating fresh- 
 ness of the October forenoon; the presence of the 
 two women, both in the best of spirits. 
 
 It was Peter himself — a new presence within him — • 
 that proved restless and perturbed. His buoyant 
 nature labored under a repression which neither the 
 auspicious surroundings, his happy companions, nor 
 the soft, rhythmic purr of the powerful automobile 
 could dispel. 
 
 A series of events, which had made the days un- 
 forgettable since his arrival in New York, had wrought 
 in him a crucial change of viewpoint. His was a 
 revolution of mind and spirit. 
 
 Half an hour before, he had welcomed his god- 
 mother and the beautiful girl now sitting beside her 
 
 58 
 
THE CRISIS 
 
 with a cheerfulness that belied his present inner com- 
 motion. He had heroically endeavored to stick to 
 banter and his accustomed optimism, but his vein 
 of seriousness would not be diverted. It held firm 
 sway over him. 
 
 And the initial source of it all was Ann's first in- 
 spired utterance to him. He could not forget that 
 evening in Jerusalem. Her message had kindled 
 a flame in his consciousness which he had sought to 
 extinguish in vain. However esoteric and mystical 
 her words had seemed to him since, there was no 
 gainsaying their potency upon his spirit. An evo- 
 lutionary process had been started. Little by little 
 his mind had begun to surge forward into new paths. 
 His subsequent meeting with his friend. Max, and 
 the latter's satirical arraignment had quickened this 
 awakening. Then the distressing events of the 
 panic period, including the paralysis of John Sea- 
 bury, had followed in rapid succession. One prob- 
 lem after another had crowded upon his mind. It 
 was an awakening. Old convictions were being up- 
 rooted. A riot of new ones filled his thoughts. 
 
 Each step in this mental turmoil brought him face 
 to face with new flaws in the code of that social class 
 to which he had hitherto felt that he belonged. He 
 was well aware that it was one thing to recognize 
 the evils of a social standard and quite a different 
 matter to discover a remedy for such evils. But he 
 had definitely reached a turning point. The per- 
 
 59 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 sistency of his present agitation made that clear. 
 Whither the next pathway was to take him and how 
 he was to be guided were still unsettled problems. 
 
 Mrs. Van Siddons, with her quickness of intuition 
 and her intimate knowledge of Peter, divined some- 
 thing of his perplexity, and she tactfully endeavored 
 to keep the conversation upon the lighter subjects. 
 
 It was Ann who opened the way for Peter to un- 
 burden his mind. They had been riding for some 
 time through a rolling country where the level and 
 smooth road bisected vast areas of arable fields and 
 woodlands, in which the landscape artist had taken 
 advantage of every cunning of his art to reproduce 
 the most resplendent aspects in nature. Formality 
 of hedge, wall, sun-dial, statuette and potted ferns 
 was relieved by a prodigahty of foliage that ran riot 
 in the transcendent hues of late October, and amid 
 which there flashed into view, now and then, glimpses 
 of one or more of those sumptuous, many-winged 
 abodes of granite and brick to which the New York 
 millionaire is wont to refer as his country place. 
 The girl's eyes had been intent upon the scenery. 
 
 ''What lavish expenditures of money are here!" 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 ''But not extravagant if we credit the rich with an 
 appreciation of beauty. Nothing is extravagant to 
 the true lover of art," said Mrs. Van Siddons. 
 
 "When I compare the squalor and wretchedness 
 of the poor with the luxury of these costly mansions 
 
 60 
 
THE CRISIS 
 
 and surroundings, I find it hard to forgive a society 
 that breeds such a shocking contrast," said Ann. " If 
 wealth can be poured out as it is here, to pamper the 
 whims of the few, why are there so many thousands 
 of suffering mothers and babies — why so many 
 famines that lack for the bare necessities of life? 
 The greatest wrong in our country, to-day, is the 
 poor." 
 
 ^'What is your remedy for such conditions?" asked 
 Peter, leaning forward. "You who are so conscious 
 of the sufferings of the needy must have in mind 
 some cure. I want to do something to help mend the 
 world's mistakes. If the possession of wealth so 
 upsets the social balance, how can one help to change 
 it? There are thousands of other evils, too; I find 
 them on all sides. Is there no panacea?" His un- 
 mistakable earnestness was his tacit tribute to the 
 girl's breadth of mind. 
 
 ''There is a way to upbuild society which will 
 unite men in a lasting bond of fellowship," she 
 answered. ''Such a plan calls for the application 
 of truth along new lines. Those who search until 
 they find out and are guided by this plan will 
 indeed share in the glory of a great achievement. 
 
 'God has conferred how many blessings upon 
 human beings! Nature's world stores are sufficient 
 for the comfort and enjoyment of all men to the last 
 individual. Yet what a host of suffering and needy 
 there are always! 
 
 6i 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "The rich number eight hundred thousand — less 
 than one per cent, of all the people in the country — 
 yet this small fraction owns more than ninety per 
 cent, of all the wealth. Less than ten per cent, is 
 left for the rest. 
 
 "The wealth of a certain, single capitalist is said 
 to equal the combined labor earnings of all the people 
 for a year. 
 
 *'Is it not hard for the great mass of human beings 
 to do right or to think right under such conditions? 
 Is not the better side of man naturally submerged 
 when the fight is so intense to keep the head above 
 water? Because of the oppression of riches, is not the 
 incentive always toward wrong-doing? Only the 
 making-over of society will destroy this evil. Such a 
 reconstruction is a colossal task. It means the up- 
 rooting of great systems — systems which, perhaps, 
 have been necessary to progress in the past, but which 
 now bUght the advance of mankind. 
 
 "Each year thousands of men and women suicide 
 or go insane because of poverty; tuberculosis, in- 
 duced by lack of proper food and care, claims its 
 army of unfortunates; a host of young and middle- 
 aged women are sacrificed annually to the terrible 
 social curse. The increase of crime here is said to be 
 far greater than in other countries of the world. 
 
 "We know that the fundamental purpose of gov- 
 ernment is to insure to all the ordinary guarantees of 
 civilization and to protect Hfe, property and liberty. 
 
 62 
 
THE CRISIS 
 
 Yet if you will compare our country with others of 
 relative importance, it will be found that we are at 
 the bottom of the hst of those nations which thus 
 justify the purpose of government. 
 
 "In this country there are one hundred murders 
 to every hundred thousand persons. That is ten 
 times more than the murder rate in England; twenty- 
 three times more than it is in Scotland; fifteen times 
 more than it is in Canada. The number of m.urdcrs 
 here in the past twenty years equals a greater number 
 than all the Northern soldiers killed in the Rebellion. 
 
 "And this is by no means all," the girl continued, 
 her mind seeming to yield its wonderful resources 
 more and more lavishly as she proceeded, "think 
 of the loss of individuality which this bondage of 
 wealth has wrought! 
 
 "Where is the man who does not wish to be his 
 own master— to originate, to plan, to achieve of 
 himself? Yet no longer is the pathway free for men 
 to do this. The ranks of every trade and every pro- 
 fession are becoming more and more overcrowded. 
 Marvellous machines perform the work which formerly 
 engaged many men. Avenues of individual achieve- 
 ment are becoming fewer and fewer. Great aggre- 
 gations of wealth now make it impossible for the 
 man of Hmited means to undertake a business of his 
 own with any hope of success. Even though he is 
 fortunate enough, or clever enough, to discover a 
 process in trade whereby he can undersell others, his 
 
 ^3 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 handicap of small capital renders him still an easy 
 prey to competing combinations of great wealth. 
 The very rich man has secured himself in a hundred 
 ways, each of which adds a new fetter to the bond- 
 age of the poor man. The millionaire owns the rail- 
 roads, the sources of production, the raw materials, 
 the fundamental products and the industries. This 
 absolute control eliminates all the poor man's chances 
 of rising. He must remain a subject — a paid work- 
 man, with no hope of being anything else. Even the 
 diminishing few who are thought to head small inde- 
 pendent concerns are in many cases the playthings 
 of the capitalist's will. No one is his own boss. 
 Personal initiative is well nigh impossible." 
 
 *^I have noticed that this passion for riches has 
 overshadowed even the vision of those who, it seems to 
 me, ought to retain their clearness of sight," said Peter. 
 
 ^'It is like a dreadful disease; it has infected the 
 thoughts and the utterances of those to whom we 
 look for guidance — the preachers," agreed the girl. 
 "Too many ministers already have been contami- 
 nated, though I often feel that the tainting process, 
 in many cases, has occurred imconsciously. Yet 
 demoralization exists in every great centre and has 
 affected many of the leaders in every faith. Not 
 only has church direction been brought imder bond- 
 age, but in different ways religious faith has come to 
 be subverted to the same domination. I mean, the 
 practice of the Golden Rule, which ought to be the 
 
 64 
 
THE CRISIS 
 
 basis of religion, has come to be more and more 
 unusual. The great mass of the people are so en- 
 grossed with the worries of getting their meagre living 
 that they have lost the inclination to develop the 
 spiritual side which religion should foster.'' 
 
 ^' Would you criticise the church for that?" asked 
 Peter. 
 
 "I believe that the church should give up dic- 
 tating a set of opinions to its members," was her 
 reply. ^'The church should help to develop each 
 one in his own best life. Instead of being a union 
 of those of the same opinion, it should be a union of 
 those who desire to cultivate to the fullest their moral 
 and spiritual natures. 
 
 ^'The religion of the to-day, the religion that 
 touches men's hearts closest and deepest, is that which 
 contains the essence of all truth, regardless of creed 
 or cult. The doctrine of humanity is the first tenet 
 of true religion. The church should not lose sight of 
 that fact. I believe that the religion of the future 
 will combine the best in every great faith of the past, 
 recognizing that all contain great and soul-satisfy- 
 ing truths, and that the great teachers of each were 
 inspired by divine convictions. Layman, priest, 
 rabbi or mdnister will be honored then only in pro- 
 portion as each serves humanity and teaches that 
 harmony with God is love, and that love is harmony. 
 He who preaches discord will be discredited. Use- 
 less ctremonies and sectarianism will disappear. 
 
 65 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Whatever the color or the nationahty of the wor- 
 shipper, he will know that one God of love overrules 
 all. Amount of service for humanity will be the 
 measure of every man's worth." 
 
 Both Mrs. Van Siddons and Peter had listened to 
 the girl's utterances with close attention, greatly 
 astonished to hear from Ann's lips such a store of 
 sound and convincing philosophy regarding the prob- 
 lems of human existence. Peter thought of the labor, 
 concentration and effort that it must have cost her 
 in order to so clearly understand the rights and wrongs 
 of humanity. His ambitions were quickened. He 
 felt that he, too, must arrive at convictions, not by 
 the study of theory, but by investigation, and by 
 seeking far and wide, until he found a satisfactory 
 answer to each question that demanded an answer. 
 He was eager to begin. The girl's words were a two- 
 fold inspiration, because it was she who had first roused 
 this new longing in him to better himself and others. 
 
 *'Fraulein," he said, *'I mean to emulate you. I 
 shall leave nothing undone that will aid me to help 
 correct the perplexities of human life and the hin- 
 drances to human happiness. The many evils that 
 you have studied so closely, it shall be likewise my 
 task to analyze. I will devote my life to this Call 
 of the Ages. I vaU traverse the earth, from corner 
 to corner if need be, to fit myself to become the 
 instrument of its summons." 
 
 To the girl his voice had a prophetic ring. For the 
 
 66 
 
THE CRISIS 
 
 first time she guessed at the doggedness of purpose 
 that lay beneath the well-groomed exterior of Peter 
 Rutledge. She knew that the great crisis had come 
 in his life: she knew, too, that he was ready to face 
 it.^ Because of her love for the lowly in Hfe, she re- 
 joiced. He would work, henceforth, for them. It 
 pleased her, too, to think that her own earnestness of 
 purpose had been the means of winning him to the 
 highest of all causes. 
 
 Mrs. Van Siddons's voice interrupted the trend of 
 their thoughts: 
 
 'Trofessor Seabury apparently is fated to remain 
 a helpless cripple for the rest of his Hfe. But penni- 
 less though they are, Alicia refuses to accept help, 
 even from her dearest friends. She has arranged to 
 take a little tenement in the East Side, and as soon 
 as her father is well enough to be moved, she declares 
 that they will both go there to live." 
 
 ''Surely he had something left— a little property.^'' 
 queried Peter. 
 
 ''Notapenny,"replied his godmother. "Hisfinances 
 were in very bad shape when he went abroad. The ab- 
 sconding of John Weld stripped him of everything." 
 
 ''But Ahcia is very brave and determined. She is 
 already interesting herself in some poor girls of the 
 East Side," said Ann. ^'At my concert, to-night, 
 about fifty of them, who work in the sweat-shops, will 
 come to hear me under her sponsorship." 
 
 "So you are to begin your performances in New 
 
 67 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 York?" asked Peter. ''Shall I be permitted to come 
 as a spectator, to-night?" 
 
 "As the proceeds are for a new social club-house 
 for the working-girls, you will be doubly welcome. 
 Come and bring all your friends; the more, the bet- 
 ter." As she concluded, the automobile stopped 
 before a quaint, old-fashioned inn where a few min- 
 utes later they all sat down to a splendidly served 
 luncheon. Then, after another delightful ride, this 
 time along the seashore, they returned home, Peter 
 putting Ann down at the Seabury home, and dropping 
 his godmother at the fine, old Van Siddons family 
 mansion where so many of New York's brilliant 
 social gatherings had been held in times past. 
 
 ''You are abandoning all your old idols?" asked 
 his godmother as he was assisting her out of the car. 
 
 "Agatha," he replied warmly, clinging to her cool 
 hand for an instant, "if I can serve the millions who 
 are now so enslaved by the oppressions of wealth, I 
 intend to render that service to its fullest — just as 
 she is striving to render service to them every day 
 she lives. I cannot do less than she." 
 
 "But, Peter, have you counted the many burdens 
 that will have to be shouldered, the many irksome 
 tasks that will need be performed? It will not be 
 all sunshine and pleasure." 
 
 "Godmother, I mean to give all that I possess to 
 the work," he responded. 
 
 This determination still possessed him when he 
 
 68 
 
THE CRISIS 
 
 found a seat beside Mrs. Van Siddons, that evening, 
 just as the curtain went up in the Empire auditorium, 
 disclosing Ann Newman, seated at the piano. 
 
 The great, high-arched hall was crowded. To 
 Peter it was a strange mingling of faces and of social 
 castes. Directly in the centre, and very close to 
 the front, sat the group of working-girls who were to 
 profit by the performance. Alicia, a little pale, but 
 smiling with her gray eyes, sat with them. To the 
 right of these, and half-way back in the room, an- 
 other space was occupied by a crowd of mothers, 
 working-women, and dwellers of the tenement dis- 
 trict, who, like the group of girls, had been admitted 
 free. The rest of the seats, including those in the 
 balconies and the boxes, were filled with such a horde 
 of New York's rich and fashionable society women, 
 with a sprinkling of men, as Peter had never seen 
 together at once, outside the opera or the horse show. 
 In fact, the gathering here of so much wealth and 
 splendor greatly perplexed him, until his godmother 
 cleared up the mystery : 
 
 *'I have been coaching New York to attend this 
 performance, since the day we got back," she said. 
 ^'1 sent out two thousand personal letters for to- 
 night's recital. Max, who has been made Ann's man- 
 ager, of course aided also." 
 
 Peter glanced at her, admiringly: 
 
 ''Agatha, you ought to have been a man," he said, 
 grinning. 
 
 69 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 ''After to-night I mean that there shall be small 
 need of serious, press-agent work for Ann," she said. 
 
 Fraulein Newman was dressed all in white, with a 
 single, soft red rose in the bodice of her gown. The 
 mass of her burnished, clustering hair set off her 
 flushed cheeks and tapering neck. Her eyes were se- 
 rene; her attitude, that of one remote from the audi- 
 ence and all her immediate surroundings, as her beau- 
 tiful, tapering fingers touched the first chords in one 
 of Debussy's marvellous dream impressions. 
 
 From that instant Ann Newman became the fair 
 idol of all New York's music lovers. As she wan- 
 dered through theme after theme, interpreting Gou- 
 nod, Wagner, Chopin and Mendelssohn, with a skill 
 which even those great masters would have admired, 
 wave after wave of applause, each more enthusiastic 
 than the preceding one, proved conclusively that 
 New York was welcoming her as a great artist. 
 
 Peter sat enthralled: his heart beating loud; his 
 senses thrilled by her exquisite and inspired inter- 
 pretations. At last he heard a voice nearby, saying: 
 
 ^'0, it's great! it's great! She's taken the town 
 by storm! This is a day long to be remembered by 
 us," and turning he descried the impulsive Max, a 
 huge chrysanthemum in his buttonhole, beaming upon 
 Mrs. Van Siddons. 
 
 ^'Your work is surely being made easy for you," 
 was her reply. 
 
 "It's the greatest demonstration that New York 
 
THE CRISIS 
 
 has witnessed in a decade," ''The Muckraker" went 
 on, ''but that is not all: it's a spectacle like this," 
 he nodded toward the group of girls and working- 
 women in the front of the room, "that sets the best 
 possible example for humanizing work. Give this 
 crowd of fashionables a few more such illustrations, 
 and they may become convinced that the poor have 
 hearts and temperaments too." 
 
 And as Peter looked down from where he sat 
 and beheld the selfsame rapt expression of interest 
 on the faces of the women of fashion and the 
 countenances of those whose lives were usually con- 
 sumed in damp basements or illy-ventilated tene- 
 ments, he marvelled at the levelHng force of nature 
 when the heart is touched by the inspiration of genius. 
 After the thunder of applause had subsided amid 
 many wild echoings of "brava, brava!" Peter at 
 last found himself face to face with Arm, his emotions 
 so wrought up by the influence of her playing that it 
 required much self-control to restrain the extrava- 
 gant words of praise that came to his lips. What he 
 finally said, was: 
 
 ''I have never heard anything like it, Fraulein." 
 She donned her cloak, slipped her hand beneath his 
 arm and was guiding him toward the limousine at 
 the entrance, before she replied: 
 
 "To-night I played from inspiration, for the sake 
 of the poor, but it was you of whom I thought and 
 to whom I tried to speak." 
 
 71 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "And what was the message of the music?" he 
 asked, his pulses throbbing. 
 
 **I wanted to help you — to make the task ahead of 
 you seem easier." 
 
 ''And why do you tell me this? May I always 
 look for such interest and friendship from you?" he 
 asked softly, as the car stopped and the door swung 
 open. 
 
 "Think only of the work that lies before you now," 
 she answered, letting her hand rest for an instant in 
 his. Then she turned and ran up the steps of the 
 Seabury house. 
 
 72 
 
VI 
 
 A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 "By their deeds ye shall know them. Let your 
 influence, mothers, your votes, fathers, put an end 
 to wholesale corruption, machine control in pohti:s, 
 and an unmoral condition such as seldom has bcv^n 
 duplicated in any city of the world ! 
 
 "The saloon must go. And who here would be 
 counted on the side of evil? I will answer: not one 
 among you. Am I not right? Let all stand up who 
 will support this crusade against error and crime!" 
 
 It was the voice of Dr. John Northup, the great 
 evangeHst, thundering forth his rallying call. As he 
 ceased speaking, a vast concourse of men and women 
 rose as a single person. Hundreds of tear-stained 
 faces were uplifted. 
 
 Peter Rutledge thrilled at the spectacle. For the 
 first time he beheld a great metropolitan revival, 
 one of a series which had been launched in a city of 
 over a million people, and which was attracting the 
 attention of the entire country because of its size 
 and purpose. 
 
 Seventy-five of the world's most renowned revival- 
 ists, and the foremost corps of temperance reformers 
 
 73 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 in the country, composed the army of speciaHsts. 
 The doors of sixty churches welcomed them. Con- 
 tributions were lavishly outpoured. Two and some- 
 times three meetings were held daily, in the different 
 houses of worship, theatres and other semi-public 
 buildings. Seldom was standing room, even, to be 
 had at any of the services. At the Central Church, 
 where Dr. Northup usually presided, waiting lines 
 that stretched a block or more from the doors were 
 the rule. The city throbbed with emotionalism. 
 Each day witnessed hundreds of conversions. News- 
 papers far and wide, in both editorial and news col- 
 umns, discussed the crusade. Indeed, the impor- 
 tance ascribed to Dr. Northup's campaign by the 
 New York newspapers had first enlisted Peter's inter- 
 est. He had come on to see for himself. 
 
 Now as the fervor of the great revivalist's appeal 
 brought response from thousands, he felt that his 
 journey had not been in vain. 
 
 "Here is one of life's truth-inspiring forces," he 
 told himself. 
 
 At the close of the service he introduced himself to 
 Dr. Northup, and offered his aid in the work. 
 
 The great evangelist was interested. His mar- 
 vellous powers of analysis were focussed upon 
 Peter for a moment. Then he thrust out his hand, 
 saying: 
 
 "Some day, perhaps, you will welcome others as 
 gladly as I do you, now." 
 
 74 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 Thus Peter became a figure in the revival, contrib- 
 uting and performing personal service wherever he 
 could. 
 
 Always bent upon getting at the truth, he contin- 
 ually studied the fundamental motives that actuated 
 the movement, with a keen eye to election day, when 
 it was predicted that the city would rise up, almost 
 to a man, and unburden itself of intemperance and 
 its allied forces of corruption. Failure in the face of 
 what appeared to be an unprecedented wakening of 
 the voters seemed impossible. 
 
 Week after week the outpourings of people con- 
 tinued. That he might the better keep his fingers 
 on the pulse of the movement, Peter chose his quar- 
 ters at the same downtown hotel where Dr. Northup, 
 Dr. Altman and the most noted of the evangelists 
 stayed. He was a constant attendant at the meetings. 
 He met scores of the city's wealthy and prominent busi- 
 ness men who, being church members and church trus- 
 tees, were liberal promoters of the cause of reform. 
 
 All warmly commended the crusade, but none more 
 so than Jackson Woods, president of the Bussey 
 National Bank, and the donor of ten thousand dol- 
 lars toward the revival fund. 
 
 "It means a wholesale house-cleaning — the rout- 
 ing of corruption, inhumanity and crime throughout 
 the city," he enthusiastically told Peter, who was 
 much impressed at this heartfelt utterance of the 
 broadclothed, conservative banker. 
 
 75 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Woods' eulogy had preceded a combined temper- 
 ance and religious rally for men, held at noon in 
 Broad Theatre, in the heart of the down-town 
 district. Peter and the banker had met in the lobby. 
 
 When the rally opened, every seat in the audi- 
 torium and galleries, and the standing-room spaces 
 even in the lobbies, were filled. 
 
 Dr. Blarot, a distinguished temperance worker, was 
 the leading speaker, and as he set forth, one by one, 
 vivid, heart-compelling pictures of experiences in the 
 drunkard's home, a gradual hush settled upon the 
 listening throng, until every word could be heard in 
 the most remote corner of the room: 
 
 *'It is the bitterest cup of humanity. Sixty thou- 
 sand souls a year is the price we pay for drink — sixty 
 thousand, besides that countless number of innocent 
 children — babes, little ones just clinging to a mother's 
 skirts, and impressionable small boys and girls, whose 
 inheritance is the sordid misery and poverty of the 
 drunkard's child. 
 
 ** Shall you permit such a curse to prey upon 
 you? Shall the saloon destroy the irresponsible and 
 the weak, because of your indifference? Shall an 
 army of mothers and children pay toll in suffering, 
 because you neglect to help them at the polls?" 
 
 The speaker's voice had risen. His words fell like 
 blows upon the senses of his hearers. At the height 
 of the climax, he ceased speaking, leaped from the 
 platform, sprang down the aisle, and lifting a Httle 
 
 76 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 girl from her father's arms, he bore the child back 
 to the stage. 
 
 ''Though you should fail, I shall surely cast my 
 vote to save such little ones as this.'' His eyes 
 flashed over the sea of upturned faces. The flaxen 
 hair of the child shone like a mesh of silken strands 
 upon his coatsleeve. A soft smile of dehght, at thus 
 becoming the centre of attraction, suddenly curved 
 the baby's lips in a scarlet bow and caused her blue 
 eyes to dance exultantly. Dr. Blarot's arm gently 
 enfolded the small, silent figure. 
 
 ''For of such is the kingdom of Heaven." As the 
 words fell from his lips, not a man of all the multitude 
 present but felt the force of that graphic appeal. It 
 went straight to every heart. 
 
 Peter still carried with him the memory of that 
 innocent child in Dr. Blarot's arms when, after he had 
 left the hall, he found his progress suddenly blocked 
 by a ragged newsboy of about thirteen, whose thin 
 frame was convulsed with a paroxysm of coughing. 
 
 "Pretty bad cough, son," he said, resting his hand 
 for a moment on the boy's shoulder. The youngster 
 pulled himself together. 
 
 "Paper, mister?" His eyes lighted eagerly. 
 
 Peter took the news sheet extended to him — it 
 was the boy's last one — and placed a dollar bill in 
 the small hand. 
 
 "Can't change dat, sir." Another coughing fit 
 seized him. Peter waited a moment. Then he said: 
 
 77 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "Never mind the change." 
 
 The boy straightened up in amazement. 
 
 ''Yer don't mean th' whole dollar's fer me?" 
 
 Peter nodded. Heedless of consequences to him- 
 self, the newsie let out a sudden whoop and danced 
 half a dozen jig steps on the concrete. 
 
 *'Gee, dat'll square de rent ter-morrer," he cried, 
 at last. "Dad was shy a bone and de rent guy don't 
 stand fer shortage." 
 
 "Where do you live?" asked Peter, impressed with 
 this picture of affairs. 
 
 "On Third Street," answered the boy. Peter hesi- 
 tated an instant. 
 
 " Come on, I'll walk home with you," he said, finally. 
 
 Ten minutes later, emerging from the darkness of 
 three, damp-smelling flights of stairways, the little 
 conductor pushed open a door, and darting eagerly 
 forward, cried: 
 
 "Father, look, a visitor!" Peter saw the boy press 
 the dollar bill and a few pennies — the return of his 
 afternoon sales — into the hands of a stoop-shouldered 
 man who looked prematurely old, and very gray. 
 
 The room was about twelve by fifteen feet square, 
 Hghted only by a single, small, dirty-paned window 
 overlooking an alley. It was plain that the sunshine 
 never crept in here. It reeked with the staleness of 
 stagnant air. 
 
 Besides the father, a hollow-cheeked, pallid woman, 
 with feverish eyeballs, a boy of about eight, and a 
 
 78 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 little girl Hearing five, with sightless eyes, occupied 
 the room. 
 
 When the door opened, the man and woman were 
 huddled together near the window engaged in sewing 
 together parts of unfinished garments, several others 
 of which lay on a table in the centre of the room. The 
 boy sitting nearest the door was occupied in drawing 
 the basting threads from one of the completed piecel 
 of work. The blind girl sat in a farther corner of 
 the apartment, upon a torn and much-worn mattress. 
 Hermann Romwitz, with an arm round his son, rose 
 and courteously greeted Peter. His wife and the 
 younger boy remained seated, but the Kttle, bhnd 
 girl came forward, feeling her way along the wall 
 until she could reach out and touch her father's arm 
 There she halted, her baby lips mutely interrogating^ 
 her face upturned in questioning curiosity. 
 
 Peter caught his breath. The horror of the child's 
 affliction appalled him. He hesitated to speak of 
 it lest he wound her feelings. 
 
 Hermann transferred a caressing hand from Felix 
 to^the girl. Then turning to Peter, he said: 
 
 ''She used to help us with the bastings, like that—" 
 pointing to the boy who sat silently at work. "But 
 that's all over now." The man shook his head sadly. 
 
 "How did it happen?" asked Peter. 
 ^^ "The point of the scissors slipped," he replied. 
 "You see, we sew here all day, and sometimes 'till 
 very late at night. We have to work all the time; 
 
 79 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 even then, there is not much to eat and we are never 
 free to go out. 
 
 "It was nearly dark, but we hadn't lighted the 
 lamp. We have to save the oil — " he spoke apolo- 
 getically. "Baby was bending over her task, hurry- 
 ing to strip out the threads, because it was the day 
 when we return some of the finished garments. 
 
 "We all heard her cry out. I jumped up from my 
 chair. 
 
 " ' What is it, Rosie?' I cried. When I reached her 
 side, I was horrified at what I saw. The sharp steel 
 had slipped and terribly wounded her right eye. It 
 was awful." The father lowered his head and tenderly 
 pressed the little atom of sightless humanity to his side. 
 
 "Oh, sir, if you had ever had a baby girl that grew 
 up from your arms — and then had to see her suffer 
 so!" It was the mother's voice sobbing out her love 
 for her child. "We did not dream of such a thing; 
 if we had — " she spread out her hands — "perhaps 
 God knows best." 
 
 "But," asked Peter, turning to Hermann, "why are 
 both eyes destroyed? I thought you said that only 
 one had been injured." 
 
 The little girl had been listening, attentively. Sud- 
 denly her childish voice broke the silence: 
 
 "The hospit'l doctors made Rosie all blind." 
 
 "The hospital doctors?" echoed Peter. "Why, 
 you poor, little mite, what had they to do with it?" 
 
 "I don't 'member just how, 'cause it hurted so at 
 
 80 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 first; 'n then they tied a band 'round bof eyes. When 
 they took it off, it was all dark, 'n Rosie heard a 
 doctor man whisper 'too bad.' 
 
 ''Then Mrs. McCarthy an' Sergius took me home 
 'n when I got here mama put her arms round me 
 an' cried, 'n that day she didn't work; she just held 
 me in her arms, 'n rocked me; 'n when she didn't 
 cry, she sang like she used to, when I was a little 
 baby, and it was bedtime." 
 
 The little voice stopped, breathless. 
 
 The mother was weeping over the remembered 
 bitterness of that hour. The elder Romwitz stood 
 looking out the window, with shaking shoulders. 
 Peter's own eyes were blurred, and the flower-like face 
 was indistinct to him, as he turned and glanced down, 
 in response to the cool, little hand that had been 
 slipped confidently into his own. 
 
 "Will I be like this, always?" she pleaded. "When 
 I ask mama, she says: 'pray God, not!' 'n I pray, 
 and pray. Willi?" 
 
 Peter felt a lump rising in his throat. 
 
 "Perhaps, some day, you will see again," he said 
 gently. Then turning to the father: 
 
 "I don't understand it yet," he said. 
 
 Hermann scowled as he spoke: 
 
 "Those young doctors in the hospitals — the free 
 ones, where we, that can't pay, have to go — make 
 mistakes with us poor people. They experiment 
 on us. They forget that we suffer and feel. 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 *'When Rosie was hurt, we didn't know what to 
 do at first. We are very poor, here. Look — " wav- 
 ing his hand about the room — ''it is all we have. 
 Even this costs us eight dollars a month. 
 
 ''Mrs. McCarthy, who lives in the next room, heard 
 Rosie scream. She is a widow and poor like us; 
 but she is our best friend; and she stood by us. She 
 told us of the hospital; she helped us to get our little 
 girl taken there; and she went to see Rosie for us.'* 
 
 "Couldn't you go sometimes?" asked Peter. 
 
 The father shook his head. "The sewing has to 
 be ready on time or else we are docked. The boss, 
 who gives us the work, takes off for every mis-stitch, 
 and he deducts more if we are behind. Then we 
 have to go hungry. The most we can earn, when 
 we both work, is thirty-two dollars a month. After 
 the rent is paid, there is hardly enough to keep us 
 alive. You see, the work passes through the hands 
 of three different agents and dealers, before it is 
 delivered to the firm that sells it." 
 
 As he ceased speaking, Hermann was seized with a 
 fit of coughing. 
 
 Peter stood reflecting, in silence. 
 
 Hardly a stone's throw from this hovel of disease, 
 the learned pastor of the rich and influential Central 
 Church each Sunday proclaimed the gospel of charity 
 toward mankind. At that very moment the edifice 
 was probably echoing with the exhortations of Chris- 
 tian evangelists. 
 
 82 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 "Do you ever go to church?" he asked Hermann. 
 
 " Church ain't for us," answered the father. ''What 
 place have we there, with all the swells in their fine 
 clothes!" The man's voice betrayed a bitterness 
 of spirit. 
 
 "Do you never wish to know about God?" The 
 inflection of Peter's voice was intended to be soothing. 
 
 "We have only time for this." Hermann held up 
 a half-stitched garment. Then another fit of cough- 
 ing seized him. Peter's eyes wandered about the 
 room. 
 
 The floor, uneven and worn, was littered with bits 
 of cloth, threads and dirt. Spiders had spun cob- 
 webs across the window-panes. The mattress, from 
 which Rosie had risen, was apparently the sleeping 
 convenience for four members of the family. Felix's 
 bed consisted of a bundle of rags in another corner. 
 
 Never had Peter witnessed such squalor. With 
 no fresh air — for the window was kept tightly closed 
 — dwelling in constant gloom in the daytime, and 
 provided wath only one small lamp at night, forced 
 to work twelve to sixteen hours daily, for not enough 
 to provide even a semblance of comfort, the family 
 led an existence appalling beyond belief. Besides 
 there was the cough. He noted that all five were 
 affected. It made him sick at heart. 
 
 "Of course, you go out for exercise?" he asked the 
 father. 
 
 "I have been out only once in two weeks," answered 
 
 S3 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Hermann. ''Felix buys our food. We stay here 
 and work. There is no other way. It is hard for 
 these, and for her" — indicating the three children 
 and the mother — "but we have learned to take things 
 as they come. It's the only way." The submission 
 and passivity betrayed by his words shocked Peter. 
 Had the man lost all sense of initiative, all imagina- 
 tion, all hope, to speak thus — and then Peter started 
 at beholding a tear glistening in Hermann's eye. 
 Instantly the visitor's heart warmed. 
 
 '*I am going to help you. I am going to begin 
 now," he said. ''To-morrow I am going to take you 
 to church — " he held up a hand as the father made 
 a motion of protest — "we will all go together; and 
 be sure that you will not be docked for loss of time. 
 I will see to that." Then pressing a bill into the 
 father's hand, he bade the family good-bye. 
 
 At the foot of the stairs on his way out, Peter found 
 a rotund man, with twinkling blue eyes, sitting on 
 the doorstep in his shirtsleeves puffing a short- 
 stemmed pipe. 
 
 "A. pretty bad case upstairs," said Peter. 
 
 "You mean them Romwitzes," responded the man. 
 "They won't last long — none of 'em." 
 
 "Who owns the place?" 
 
 "This 'ere's one of Jackson Woods' tenements, 
 bad luck to 'im!" 
 
 "Jake Woods, the banker?" queried Peter, in sur- 
 prise. 
 
 84 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 The smoker removed the pipe from his lips, spat 
 vehemently on the ground, and snorted with wrath: 
 
 ''It's such as him that shows us poorer ones just 
 what a hypocritical gang some of them big fellers can 
 be. Jake Woods is responsible for them five upstairs, 
 starving, and plague-smitten. It's enough to make a 
 decent man glad of his poverty, so long as it sets 
 him apart from Jake Woods' class." 
 
 "But surely, he can't know about them!" 
 
 ''Don't he, though!" snorted the other in scorn. 
 "Just let 'em get behind, rent day, and see! It's 
 pay in advance, or get out, every time, with Woods. 
 
 "See what he done to th' widow MacLaurin, with 
 three kiddies, not countin' a baby two months old, 
 and her husband dead in an explosion m the foundry, 
 only a week!" 
 
 Peter was listening, attentively. 
 
 "Pat MacLaurin lived here in three rooms, goin' 
 on six year. Woods give her a week to get her things 
 and her three babies out o' the house. When she 
 finally found another place for the childer and was 
 lyin' there sick, from cryin' over Pat and from havin' 
 to move so sudden, the villain Woods followed her 
 up, and had the agent hound her for the week's 
 rent she hadn't paid." 
 
 As Peter turned to depart, he felt a disgust as deep 
 as the other man's. 
 
 The next day he led the Httle blind girl to church, 
 with the father, mother and two sons following 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 behind. It was a monster mass meeting at which 
 the speaker chose for his text: 
 
 *' Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness, for they shall be filled." 
 
 Probably none among the thousands in that high- 
 arched edifice listened with closer attention than did 
 Hermann and Rachael Romwitz. Neither father, 
 mother, nor children had heard anything like the soft 
 refrain of the anthems which filled the great recesses 
 of the nave as the choir rose and sang. After the 
 music, the preacher's words held the parents spell- 
 bound. 
 
 "Ye who strive after the great things of this world 
 and ye who seek the high places and power over 
 your fellow-beings, study the meek and lowly living 
 in darkness and desolation about you! These are 
 they who set before us examples of patience and cour- 
 age, such as the spirit of Christ has taught." 
 
 Such utterances at times caused the tears to course 
 down the mother's face. Not infrequently the man, 
 too, gave way to quiet sobbing. They were lifted up. 
 This was a wonderful episode in their barren lives. 
 
 The same afternoon Dr. Randall, a noted physician 
 whom Peter had summoned, called at the little tene- 
 m.ent room and examined the different members of 
 the family. 
 
 Tuberculosis as a result of lack of air and sunshine, 
 poor quarters, underfed bodies, and overwork, was 
 his verdict upon each, from the father down to Uttle 
 
 86 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 blind Rosie. Though this was what Peter had antici- 
 pated, the finding, coming from the physician's lips 
 shocked hrni anew, and he set about having the five 
 moved at once to a small farm in the country, where 
 the disease might at least be mitigated by more 
 cheerful surroundings. 
 
 Meantime, six consecutive weeks of appeal from all 
 the pulpits had wrought a religious crisis, during 
 which fifteen thousand conversions had occurred 
 Two hundred thousand dollars had been spent. 
 
 The final services, held throughout the city at noon 
 of election day, in size of attendance proved a fitting 
 dimax to the crusade. Never had such a seeming 
 religious fervor been roused in a great city. Local 
 option was believed to be an assured fact. The 
 reform movement, by means of the ballot, was con- 
 fidently expected to overwhehn all the pernicious 
 political influences. 
 
 On the evening of the election day a group of the 
 leading evangelical and temperance workers gathered 
 in one of the parlors of the hotel where Peter was 
 stoppmg. The latter had been invited to attend this 
 watch meeting, and as he entered the room, a Httle 
 late in the evening, he was astonished to learn that 
 the outcome of the day's voting was still in doubt. 
 The telephone disclosed the fact that, instead of the 
 expected heavy balloting, the vote was unusually 
 light in nearly every ward. 
 
 It seemed incredible. Peter, with the rest, was 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 unable to understand. Then, a little after midnight, 
 the final returns came: 
 
 With eight3/'-five thousand church-goers in the city, 
 only twelve thousand ballots had been cast. Local 
 option was defeated. The old line rule of politics 
 had again proven triumphant. 
 
 As the significance of the news spread, a silence, 
 pregnant with the bitterest disappointment, fell 
 upon the handful of men gathered in that hotel room 
 with its high-studded, ornate ceilings, its thick 
 red-velvet carpet, and stuffy upholstered chairs. 
 
 This, then, was the end, the shattering of hope 
 after six weeks of constant exhortation and the 
 winning of thousands to repentance. 
 
 A host of perplexing questions suddenly invaded 
 Peter's mind. Since joining the cause, he had noticed 
 many curious and disturbing inconsistencies. 
 
 He knew of one contractor and builder, a generous 
 giver towards the crusade, who built houses by the 
 row, filled them with persons called "flitters" who 
 paid no rent, but who were kept as tenants to deceive 
 prospective purchasers into the belief that by buying 
 they would gain large interest-bearing investments. 
 As soon as the houses were thus disposed of, the 
 ''flitters" were placed in another, newly built row 
 of houses, and so on. 
 
 A second such instance was that of the Rev. Dr. 
 Borert who refused to sign a petition necessary to 
 secure a candidate on the prohibition ticket in his 
 
A CRUSADE THAT FAILED 
 
 ward, his excuse being that he would have to sup- 
 port that ticket; and he meant to vote the straight 
 Republican ticket at the primaries. Still, as Peter 
 knew, Dr. Borert prayed publicly for the temper- 
 ance movement. 
 
 "Dr. Northup, how do you account for such signal 
 failure after such earnest effort?" It was Peter's 
 voice seeking the why of the perplexities besetting 
 his mind. 
 
 "It is His will," responded the great evangehst. 
 
 ''But my reason tells me that some fundamental 
 truth has been overlooked." Everyone present 
 turned at the words. ''Is there not an inconsistency 
 between our preaching and what we practise in daily 
 life, that leaves others unconvinced, even though 
 they have been emotionally wrought up to the point 
 of tears? Has not this attempt to rouse all the best 
 in a million people's hearts failed, because religion, 
 as it is now practised, fails? Is it not tangible, 
 actual, every-day help; sympathy in the form of a 
 hand-clasp; and wilHngness to share pain, as well as 
 joy, with others, that best unlocks the human heart? " 
 " Amen to that ! " exclaimed Dr. Northup. ' ' 'Love 
 thy neighbor as thyself,' is the shibboleth destined to 
 lead all men in years to come." 
 
 The words brought again to Peter's mind the 
 memory of those broken lives of the Third Street tene- 
 ment. The thought of their miseries had of late often 
 caused him to grow sick at heart. Why were those 
 
 89 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 human beings left submerged in such abject poverty; 
 the father not past middle Hfe, and yet seared with 
 age; the silent mother, hour after hour, straining her 
 eyes in the gloom, to help eke out the most meagre 
 of pittances; the children, pitifully wan, and pre- 
 maturely old; one sightless, and all, from the oldest 
 to the pinched-cheeked, brave Felix, victims of the 
 great white plague? How it all wrung his soul! 
 
 Why did those who strove for reform, and for the 
 upbuilding of good, overlook such as these? It 
 seemed to him as though there was a wide deviation 
 from the gospel of the square deal when leaders and 
 teachers, in their zeal to hold up the rewards of a life 
 to come, forgot such derelicts, and left them to starve 
 in squalor and pain. 
 
 Was it because these wretched ones were the 
 toilers, not to be feared like those who occasioned 
 such cheap labor and misery in order to grow richer 
 themselves? It was the milHonaire's purse that paid 
 the preacher's salary — that made and immade the 
 holders of high places in the churches. 
 
 Such thoughts added to his quandary. He knew 
 that he must go deeper if he would discover the true 
 gospel of humanity. The past six weeks had proven 
 that it was not based upon mere appeals to the 
 human emotions. 
 
 90 
 
VII 
 
 MAX MUCKRAKES 
 
 The next morning while still beset by the many 
 queries born of the change from tolerance to a definite 
 and concrete interest in vital questions, Peter's 
 thoughts were interrupted by a sudden and furious 
 pounding at his door, and in response to his cheerful 
 " Come in," his old friend, Max, burst in upon him. 
 
 Following their mutual greetings, ''The Muck- 
 raker's" first words plainly indicated his perplexity 
 at Peter's recent movements: 
 
 ''What new hobby has caught you, Stuyvie? It 
 must be something serious to detain you here for six 
 weeks, when New York is gayer than ever in its 
 frantic endeavor to recover from the panic depres- 
 sion. Alicia and the Fraulein will have it that you 
 are a man with a mission and at last have set out to 
 make your mark in the world. But I'm still loyal to 
 you, Stuyvie. I won't believe a word of it." 
 
 "What brings you here?" asked Peter, ignoring 
 the other's sarcasm. 
 
 "Fraulein Newman opens at the 'Broad' to-mor- 
 row for two weeks. Two thousand seats have already 
 been sold in advance." 
 
 91 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "Ah, so She's coming!" Peter spoke aloud, mo- 
 mentarily forgetting the other's presence. Max's 
 eyebrows lifted with the surprise of sudden enlighten- 
 ment: 
 
 ^'But the Fraulein will be far too busy to receive 
 callers," he said, a little maliciously. If Peter noticed 
 the grin on his friend's face, he gave no indication of 
 having done so. 
 
 "I've found out that I have a mission. Max." As 
 "The Muckraker" opened his lips to interrupt, 
 Peter lifted a detaining hand, and went on: "I'm 
 just beginning to get a new view of things, the view of 
 the man who hasn't a chance, and the more I learn, 
 the greater incentive I gain to know more. The past 
 few weeks have taught me much — I'll tell you how 
 much!" and he launched into a recital of the events 
 that had terminated with the ignominious failure of the 
 evangelical crusade. In a voice trembling with feel- 
 ing, he detailed the horrors of the tenement room with 
 its blind baby and diseased victims of the sweat- 
 shop system. 
 
 At the beginning of the story Max had lighted a 
 cigarette and found a seat in one of the great chairs 
 of the apartment. Thus comfortably cushioned, he 
 listened with narrowing eyelids as the story progressed. 
 
 "So you are really discovering the iniquities of our 
 misguided system," he commented when Peter had 
 finished. "There is only one way to do that — by 
 studying conditions at first hand. Book knowledge 
 
 92 
 
MAX MUCKRAKES 
 
 fails here. Many a callous-conscienced capitalist 
 would reconstruct his attitude toward the weak, if 
 he were forced to look upon some of the appalling 
 spectacles of the slums of New York's East Side. 
 
 "Every large city in this country has its quota of 
 'Romwitz' families. It would seem more tolerable 
 if such an army of innocent and unoffending ones 
 didn't have to stand the brunt of it. After years of 
 legislative effort toward reform, a round two million 
 is a conservative estimate of the number of children 
 under fourteen who are underfed. Only recently, 
 among forty thousand children examined in four 
 of the largest cities in the country, it was found that 
 over thirty-six per cent, went to school in the morning 
 either without their breakfast or with only a bread 
 crust and a cup of tea or coffee. 
 
 "What's the cause of all this, you ask? Society 
 is a hollow lie — a travesty upon the teachings of Chris- 
 tianity and the Golden Rule. 
 
 "I don't wonder that it cut you up to see how poor 
 children suffer in their homes. Sometimes I think 
 that the child problem will ultimately prove the 
 crucial turning-point for a new order of things. It 
 presents the most heart-rending side of poverty. 
 
 "Recently the oyster packing trust in Florida, em- 
 ploying little tots as young as six or seven — think 
 of it, almost babies — put forward the plea that 
 whatever evil might result from the trust's employ- 
 ment of children harmed only little foreigners from 
 
 93 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Baltimore, and did not injure the children of Florida. 
 And with its millions and paid lobbyists, the trust 
 won out on such a plea as that — as though it made 
 a difference where the defenceless little kids came 
 from. 
 
 ^'It seems unbelievable, until you begin to investi- 
 gate for yourself, that in some of the cleanest states, 
 where the reform workers have really bettered con- 
 ditions, the child still gets such little protection. 
 
 ''In Massachusetts, for instance, the hours for four- 
 teen-year-old children have been lessened only four a 
 week in forty-one years, and the little girl or boy on 
 his fourteenth birthday, or as soon as he can make 
 people believe he is fourteen, becomes a day laborer 
 in a mill for ten and a quarter hours a day — and he 
 gets fifty cents a day to start, and perhaps a dollar 
 and fifty cents a day when he has reached thirty. 
 
 *' Think of it, Stuyvie, while the state refused an 
 eight-hour day to those little kidlets, her legislature 
 granted a forty-eight-hour week for men employed 
 on public works. What more iniquitous example of 
 the pernicious, almost fiendish power of the moneyed 
 men can one ask? For it was the wealth of the 
 textile magnate that fought against, and succeeded 
 in defeating, an eight-hour law for children in 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 ''The same thing, to a worse degree, goes on in the 
 South. In two of the biggest cotton manufacturing 
 states there, the manufacturers recently killed a 
 
 94 
 
MAX MUCKRAKES 
 
 fourteen-year age-limit bill. An army of twelve-year- 
 old children work in the Southern cotton mills sixty 
 hours a week. In the past year or so laws for the 
 betterment of working children have been defeated 
 in nearly a dozen states; and these laws aimed merely 
 at briefer work hours and a higher age limit. Such 
 things make a man sick at heart. They reflect dis- 
 grace upon society as a whole, and upon each sepa- 
 rate person that belongs to it. 
 
 '^I can cite a hundred examples that have come 
 under my personal observation where the lives of 
 little boys and little girls are being utterly blighted 
 because we don't protect them. 
 
 "In Pennsylvania, after a boy is sixteen, they let 
 him go down inside the mines and work — that's the 
 law — but everyone who knows the real conditions 
 realizes that hundreds of children younger than that 
 are employed daily in the mines. And mind you, 
 I'm considering the industries for children that have 
 had the most careful attention. There are scores of 
 other occupations which employ the child, where su- 
 pervision by law is by no means so carefully looked 
 out for. Some occupations have no supervision at 
 all. Tens of thousands of boys and girls in the 
 fruit, vegetable and sea-food canning industries, 
 throughout the country, are practically exempt, as 
 yet, from child labor restrictions. In many states, 
 young boys who have not begun to get their growth, 
 work in the coal mines and quarries. Hundreds of 
 
 95 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 little ones are being sacrificed in vaudeville and mov- 
 ing picture shows. The eight-hour-a-day standard, 
 now commonly held to be fair for adult men, has 
 been secured for children in only ten states. 
 
 "And then there's the host of little ones, like those 
 you found, shut up in sweat-shops where the air is 
 often sickeningly foul, and those in the department 
 stores, too." 
 
 ''I've often thought of the messenger boy," put 
 in Peter, ''and wondered what protection he gets — 
 running up to the club at all hours of the night and 
 chasing about the streets with messages from fellows 
 too intoxicated to get home to their wives and on, 
 the Lord knows, what other sorts of errands." 
 
 "The messenger boy is an excellent example of the 
 child whose career is ruined early by contact with 
 evil conditions. He goes into gambling halls, houses 
 of ill-repute and shameless dens of all kinds," replied 
 Max. "One little fellow who was cross-examined re- 
 cently, said: 
 
 " ' It's a lot of fun to be out on the street and around 
 meeting people and seeing places, so we like the job. 
 Some messengers are never satisfied to leave the 
 tenderloin after they have been there awhile!' 
 
 "Thousands of these little youngsters, bright, 
 clear-headed and intelligent are being ruined annually 
 by the demoralization of their vocation and its lack 
 of supervision by law. 
 
 "Then there's the case of the defenceless girl who 
 
 96 
 
MAX MUCKRAKES 
 
 is lured away. The things I've seen in New York 
 and the things I know of through others are enough 
 to make a decent man revolt. Too many people 
 forget the horror of the white slave's degradation 
 and the tortures and misery to which poverty has 
 brought her." 
 
 *'Are we going to lay that up against society or 
 against the individual?" asked Peter. 
 
 Max flung up one hand impatiently: 
 
 "It's up to all of us, Peter. Only in a society 
 where the terrors of starvation are bred by poverty 
 can such evils flourish. If you cure poverty, you 
 cure this evil. 
 
 *^I wonder if you've ever heard how girls, little 
 things from fifteen up, are bought and sold for prices, 
 from sixty dollars to hundreds of dollars a head. 
 Estimates made in New York show that the number 
 of women white slaves imported, and those bringing 
 them in, run well into the thousands each year. In 
 one case it was found that over a thousand dollars 
 was paid for an exceptionally attractive girl. Hun- 
 dreds of innocent girls in every large city and in 
 scores of the smaller ones, according to facts recently 
 gathered, are annually inveigled into lives of degra- 
 dation through a great system of traffic which spreads 
 from one end of the country to the other, and which, 
 through the insidiousness of its methods, it is almost 
 impossible to wholly ferret out. In fact, so highly 
 has the white slave traffic been developed that each 
 
 97 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 year it grows more difficult to stop it. Take up your 
 paper any day and you will read of the distraction 
 of a father or a mother over the disappearance of 
 a daughter." 
 
 "I've often wondered what became of such girls," 
 said Peter, thoughtfully. 
 
 "In scores — yes, in hundreds of instances, the girls 
 become enrolled in that army of women who lead 
 lives of shame, too often not from personal choice 
 but because they are lured away. 
 
 "These are only a few of the instances of the mal- 
 constructed system under which we live, Stu3rvie." 
 
 "I begin to see that it's all wrong, Max — that 
 things as they are, and things as they ought to be, 
 are exceedingly far apart," said Peter, laying aside 
 his cigar and leaning forward earnestly: 
 
 "But how are we going to change it? It's hard to 
 teach men unselfishness." 
 
 "The day of a common brotherhood is coming," 
 said Max. "A movement is already on foot to bring 
 it about. It has kept me interested in my fellow- 
 men ever since college days. It is a movement that 
 has been steadily gaining ground in spite of the 
 mighty warfare against it directed by himdreds of 
 powerful and rich men. It is a movement the prin- 
 ciples of which contain more of the essence of free- 
 dom, justice and brotherly friendship among men, 
 than any ever proposed. Under it capitalism be- 
 comes a thing of the past and 3^ou, Stuyvie, and I, 
 
 98 
 
MAX MUCKRAKES 
 
 and our brothers, meaning every human being in 
 society, will possess equal rights — a condition wholly 
 non-existent to-day. Then there can be no more 
 white slave traffic, no more wasted lives of little 
 boys and girls. Drunkenness, insanity, suicide, the 
 bread line and all such curses of poverty will be 
 evils of the past." 
 
 "Whatever the remedy. Max, its foundation must 
 be truth, not something in the guise of truth. It 
 must be a square deal alike for all men," said Peter. 
 Then he continued: 
 
 "I mean to search until I have found and can apply 
 a remedy that does all that." 
 
 Springing from his chair and crossing the room. 
 Max placed his hands on Peter's shoulders. 
 
 *'Upon my word, Stuyvie, I believe you're on the 
 right track now!" he exclaimed. ''You and I may 
 agree after all on the great humanizing principles of 
 life. I never before thought we could. 
 
 "A new era is coming. It is going to mean a revolu- 
 tion. This old order is going out just as feudalism 
 and witchcraft have passed. It will be a revolution 
 against injustice. Perhaps it may mean bloodshed, 
 the sacrifice of thousands of lives, but whatever the 
 process, out of the ashes of the old will rise, newly 
 robed, a society of real brothers." 
 
 *'It will not be a revolution of blood but one of 
 love," interposed Peter. ''The very idealism of its 
 purpose is opposed to strife and bloodshed." 
 
 99 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "You may be right. I hope so," Max said. Then 
 a twinkle crept into his eyes as he asked; 
 
 ''Will you be here, to-morrow, when Fraulein New- 
 man comes?" 
 
 Oblivious of any humor behind the query, Peter, 
 who had risen, began to frown and run his fingers 
 through his hair, as if Max's simple question had 
 raised up a problem of tremendous importance. 
 There ensued a moment of silence as though an in- 
 ward struggle were going on. Then he said: 
 
 ''No, I must go on. Delay would be inexcusable. 
 I shall leave for the West, to-day." 
 
 lOO 
 
VIII 
 CLARISSA 
 
 ''You're elected," flung out Ted Morley to the 
 red-cheeked, square-jawed man in the gray, suede 
 gloves and jaunty, pearl-gray hat who, after paying 
 the driver of an open landau Kberally from a gen- 
 erous roll of bills, swung up the Minster Abbe Hotel 
 steps, and took a seat beside Peter Rutledge and his 
 jeering friend. 
 
 "What d'ye mean by elected?" drawled Weston 
 Harwood, biting off the end of a long and particularly 
 black stogie, and fixing an eagle eye upon Morley, 
 ''is it some kind of a new game or just — " 
 
 *'A game! That's it, exactly, Harwood! You've 
 struck it, first time. Sometimes I'm half inclined to 
 think that you possess almost human perspicacity. 
 It's a game of tag, and you're it, me boy. That 
 fascinating drawl oi yours, the way you wear those 
 nifty gloves and pearl spats has, for sure, settled 
 your hash with the widow. Oh, she's got you going. 
 Clarissa is out for the dough — in large red letters — 
 and she has you blazed as the real trail to safety 
 deposit vaults with coupons and silver plate. She'll 
 have your name on her front door yet and — " 
 
 lOI 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "Aw, cut that! You're jealous because I'm beat- 
 ing you to her — or is it Kady MacDown that's 
 punctured your heart?" 
 
 Teddy Morley leaned forward and fixed the other 
 with a withering glance: 
 
 ''Keep her name out of this other one's class. 
 Kady is a thoroughbred, don't forget that, son, a 
 blue-stocking, as true, and square, and white as 
 any that ever ran wild out in this section. Compari- 
 sons aren't in my line, West, but Clarissa wdth that 
 son of hers can't weigh in with me. I might stand 
 her — yes, if it weren't for that kill-joy human thing 
 she calls Mylie. He's well nicknamed 'The Brute.' 
 And the way she coddles him! Mylie — the name's 
 enough to choke you, when it's tacked to that young 
 baboon, with his ugly habit of snarling and growling 
 every time one happens to find him loafing round the 
 verandas. Study 'The Brute,' my boy, and you'll 
 be a Kttle less prodigal with hothouse flowers and 
 carriage drives for Clarissa." 
 
 "You make me tired, Morley, with your cata- 
 loguing and classifying. Who gave you a monopoly 
 in female botany, hereabouts? I know a few things 
 about picking 'em apart, myself. You — " 
 
 "Hear, hear! What does it all mean? Shall I 
 call the police, or run you both in, myself?" The 
 intruder, a pink-and- white-skinned, wholesome-look- 
 ing girl, with square shoulders, hair brushed back 
 from a high forehead, wide-set, but spectacled, gray 
 
 I02 
 
CLARISSA 
 
 eyes, and a full, red-lipped mouth upon which there 
 had gathered a whimsical smile, made her debut from 
 the open doorway. She v/as attired in a blue sailor 
 waist and skirt, the former with a wide collar in the 
 corners of which were embroidered red and white 
 anchors, and a pair of low-cut, tan, summer shoes 
 above which there peeped the slimmest and most be- 
 witching of ankles in tan stockings. 
 
 Barely had she spoken ere the three men, hats in 
 their hands, were upon their feet, each deferentially 
 offering her his seat. 
 
 ^'They weren't quarrelling over you, Kady," ex- 
 claimed Peter. 
 
 "I'll wager it concerns a woman." She kept them 
 all standing, while she searched the eyes of the two 
 disputants. "Men of your sort, good men, shouldn't 
 raise ructions among themselves over good women. 
 It isn't chivalrous. All we ask is courtesy — the kind 
 you're showing me, this minute — a little praise, 
 some petting, and all your respect." 
 
 "How about — love?" asked Harwood, a little 
 banteringly. 
 
 Kady MacDown shook a finger at the questioner: 
 
 "I'll nae tell ye o' love, for 'tis too bonnie a thing to 
 analyze. But wi'out the rest I've told ye o', 'tis nae 
 good," she proclaimed, lapsing prettily into the 
 canny tongue of her native heath, for the moment. 
 
 She made an exquisite picture standing there with 
 her lips apart, her chin tilted, the soft, little tendrils 
 
 10^ 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 of her hair curling round her ears. Admiration, 
 frank and sincere, shone in the eyes of the three 
 men. 
 
 '^Kady, ye bonnie, little innocent, 'pon my word, 
 I dinna believe ye ken what love means, after aw," 
 mimicked Harwood. 
 
 The girl nodded gayly and had opened her lips to 
 fling back a retort, when a second woman emerged 
 from the doorway, just in time to witness this tableau. 
 
 In a pale green gown of sheeny fabric, with the 
 skirt extremely tight-fitting at the hips, and scant 
 about the ankles, Clarissa Wedgewood, satirically 
 referred to by the hotel guests as *'The Widow," 
 proved a decided contrast to the other woman. 
 
 *'Ah, here you are, Weston! How love-l-y it was 
 of you, d-e-a-r, to wait so patiently until I had changed 
 for our walk," she exclaimed, sweeping across the 
 veranda and coyly tucking a lean, long-fingered hand 
 beneath Harwood's arm. **You naughty men are 
 so dreadfully apt to neglect us poor helpless women." 
 
 Peter, Morley and Kady exchanged covert grins 
 while Harwood fumbled uncomfortably with his 
 watch -fob and, impelled by the woman, meekly 
 allowed himself to be dragged down the steps and 
 out toward the esplanade now crowded with gay 
 and fashionable pedestrians. 
 
 Peter Rutledge, after saying farewell to Max, had 
 come direct from the East to Los Angeles. During 
 the fortnight of his residence at this rather exclusive 
 
 104 
 
CLARISSA 
 
 hotel he had not only become fast friends with Ward 
 Hodges, the genial, EngHsh manager, who had directed 
 him how best to pursue his sociological studies, but 
 he had also formed a warm attachment for Harwood, 
 and for Morley, the proprietor's son. Teddy was just 
 now acting in a sort of plenipotentiary capacity 
 for Morley senior who, though a church-goer and 
 a loud-lunged advocate of temperance in general, 
 had, to Peter's disgust, proved his moral delinquency 
 by selling liquor, sub rosa, for the benefit of his 
 guests. 
 
 Peter had begun an exhaustive study of the social 
 and industrial conditions in the West and he meant 
 to prosecute this work until he had satisfied himself 
 thoroughly regarding the different phases of life 
 there. He was now resting, preparatory to contmuing 
 his journey, and the farcical drama in which the chief 
 characters were Kady MacDown with all the fresh- 
 ness and lovableness of youth, the sinuous and 
 voracious Clarissa recently down from the North 
 where husband number one had made a million and 
 then obligingly passed on, and Harwood, a reputedly 
 wealthy young man from the East, furnished him and 
 many other guests with a momentary diversion. 
 
 The widow was, by all odds, the leading lady; 
 Harwood, broad-shouldered and nonchalant, the 
 hero; Kady, the ingenue. Peter had dubbed Morley 
 the chief trouble-maker. 
 
 Clarissa's evident purpose to match her dollars 
 
 105 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 with those of a single, stray male who could go her 
 one better in the matter of money had developed a 
 situation in which the social philosopher found 
 elements of both humor and pathos. 
 
 Because of her disregard for many petty conven- 
 tionahties, the unchaperoned Kady MacDown had 
 incurred the distrust of many of the women guests. 
 Yet, wdthin a few days after her arrival, she had come 
 to be the best liked by the younger male set of any 
 of her sex there, because of her ingenuousness and 
 frank, companionable manner. Harwood was one 
 of her adherents, and for that reason Clarissa's plan 
 to carry him off was supplemented by an intense 
 jealousy of Kady. The latter did not seem to bear 
 the widow any ill-will on that account. A good 
 fellow, and willing for any diversion that promised 
 innocent amusement, she held no grudges against 
 either man or woman. 
 
 That did not serv^e to lessen Harwood's growing 
 fondness. Neither did it serve to diminish the 
 widow's hatred, nor her conviction that she must 
 eUminate Kady MacDowTi if she was to win Har- 
 wood. 
 
 As Kady, Peter and Morley sat amusedly watching 
 this strangely assorted pair walking away, Clarissa 
 was secretly revolving a plan, wherein by a final 
 masterly stroke she hoped to gain for good the 
 young giant beside her. 
 
 Two days later Harwood furnished Peter and 
 
 1 06 
 
CLARISSA 
 
 Morley with the details of how Clarissa tried to carry 
 out that plan. 
 
 "Weston dear," she now began, casting a fetching 
 and coy glance at her companion, "it seems to me as 
 though you found it a Httle stupid here, sometimes. 
 Is that so? Are you tired — of — me?" 
 
 "What nonsense!" exclaimed Harwood. "Noth- 
 ing of the sort. That is — you are — divine, Mrs. 
 Wedgewood." She ignored the extravagance. 
 
 "But I'm almost sure I've seen you looking bored, 
 more than once of late." 
 
 "Oh, no!" protested the man. 
 
 The widow uttered a sigh as loud as seemed to 
 her practicable under the circumstances. Harwood 
 glanced down. A tear, which the fair enchantress 
 had somehow managed to summon, rolled down one 
 cheek. 
 
 "I say now, what's the matter?" 
 
 "Oh dear! Oh dear! if you aren't bored, I am 
 —dreadfully. This p-p-pl-lace tires me, so-o-o. 
 Wouldn't it be sweet, just too sweet for words, if we — 
 that is, if I could run away for a day or so, you know 
 — up to 'Frisco, say?" 
 
 "Why don't you do it, then — and stop crying?" 
 
 "I would, but it's so aw-wf-ful lonesome travel- 
 ling alone— I'm not c-c-rying." She began to snivel, 
 audibly. 
 
 "You could take Mylie." 
 
 For the fraction of an instant, a steely glimmer 
 
 107 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 flashed from the widow's tear-ladened eyes, but she 
 only said: 
 
 "The d-d-e-a-r boy can't stand riding on the 
 t-t-r-a-i-n, ever. Since he was a b-a-b-y, I've had 
 to look out for that. Oh, it's too bad. I'm so-o-oo 
 lonely! so 1-o-o-n-e-l-y ! " The tears were dripping 
 from her cheeks now. Several passers turned to stare 
 at the couple. Harwood began to feel embarrassed. 
 
 *'But surely there's someone who would run over 
 with you — " 
 
 "Dear, dear Weston, I'm so neglected! so-o 
 alone!" 
 
 "There, there," comforted Harwood, awkwardly 
 patting her hand, himself taken in for the moment: 
 
 "I might go over with you — if you wanted me?" 
 
 A smile broke through the tears: 
 
 "Oh, could you, c-o-uld you, Weston! I'd be 
 s-o-o happy!" Another deep sigh ended the sen- 
 tence. 
 
 Thus the following morning Peter and a number of 
 the other hotel guests were much amazed to behold 
 W^eston Harwood, immaculately groomed, assist 
 Clarissa into a waiting carriage and drive away. 
 
 After the pair had boarded the north-bound, vesti- 
 buled flyer, Harwood devoted himself so assiduously 
 to his companion that Clarissa beamed a benig- 
 nant assent when he pleaded a desire to seek the 
 smoker. 
 
 Though there were occasions when Harwood waked 
 
 io8 
 
CLARISSA 
 
 up and gave proof that he possessed dynamic energy, 
 his ease-loving nature ordinarily rebelled at making 
 decisions of any kind. Rather than endure Clarissa's 
 tears he had offered to accompany her — which was 
 what she desired. Once embarked on the journey 
 he endeavored to make it as pleasurable and as event- 
 ful as possible. 
 
 Thus when he was accosted by a loud-voiced neigh- 
 bor in the smoking-car, who introduced himself as 
 ^'Gunnel" Drayton of ^'St. Loo, Mizoo,'^ Harwood 
 made room for the other beside him and smilingly 
 held out a cigar. 
 
 In the Colonel, Harwood recognized the man whom 
 one of his fellow-members at a New York club had 
 once entertained. The " Cunnel, " as he remembered, 
 had the name of being a gay sport and was con- 
 sidered entertaining because of his many eccentrici- 
 ties. 
 
 That he still retained the qualities attributed to him 
 previously was evidenced in the glow of joy that 
 lighted his face when he learned of Mrs. Wedgewood's 
 presence on the train. Instantly he was scurr^dng 
 about for a porter and five minutes later he an- 
 nounced to Harwood that he had arranged for a 
 private dinner for four. 
 
 Colonel Drayton introduced a youngish woman, 
 whom he escorted from a rear vestibule, as Miss Sils. 
 
 It was plain that Mrs. Wedgewood, at first, looked 
 with disfavor upon Miss Sils, fearing that Harwood 
 
 109 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 might be taken with this new face, but a little later 
 after all had been seated at dinner, and the second 
 bottle of ^^Ruinat" had been ordered and opened by 
 the Colonel, Clarissa's exuberance of spirits over- 
 topped all such petty trivialities as jealousy, and 
 after the next succeeding bottle, during the con- 
 siunption of which the Colonel proposed that all 
 stop off at Milo Ris, a small watering place, and 
 see the sights, Mrs. Wedgewood's enthusiasm ex- 
 ceeded that of the other two in seconding the 
 suggestion. 
 
 Then ensued the climax of this little adventure 
 which Harwood, upon his return, painted with many 
 chuckles: 
 
 **It was, for fair, the funniest party that ever broke 
 into the atmosphere of Milo Ris," he said with a 
 grin, after he had related the meeting with the Colo- 
 nel. "It would have been disgusting, if it hadn't 
 been so ridiculous. 
 
 ''The Tunnel' was plain soused. Whatever pro- 
 ject he had had in mind when he introduced himself 
 to me on the train was completely drowned out. 
 Miss Mattie Sils— the Colonel called her 'Meg' for 
 short — a little thing in a green hat, brown skirt and 
 yellow shoes, clung onto his arm, admonishing him 
 whenever he tried to extinguish the noise of the 
 street cars with his eloquence. 
 
 "The widow's hat had dropped down onto one 
 ear and she kept bursting out into snatches of song 
 
 no 
 
CLARISSA 
 
 and poetry. She held the Colonel a close second in 
 the extent to which the flowing bowl had wrought 
 havoc with her mental vibrations, but she stuck to 
 yours truly like a — burr. 
 
 ^'Well, a circus happened to be doing business in 
 the town, and the Colonel began to lead us toward 
 it, chanting songs en route, and admonishing the 
 populace as to his virtues. 
 
 ^'Somehow the widow and I got separated from 
 the other two for a Httle, and we were nosing among 
 the crowds around the side-show tent, and along a 
 sort of fakirs' row, when all of a sudden Clarissa — 
 and take it from me, she was grotesque, saddled 
 with a tip-tilted hat, a disordered green gown and a 
 desire to weep — halted, and gripped my arm, and 
 screamed in my ear: 
 
 "'Oh, look there, Weston d-e-a-r, look!' I looked. 
 She was pointing a finger at a sign that stuck out of a 
 little tent beside the road, on which was printed in 
 large letters, the words: 'Marriages Performed Here.' 
 
 "Just then along comes the 'Cunnel/ chanting as 
 usual. Something in Clarissa's attitude caught his 
 attention, for he roared out, suddenly: 
 
 "'Oh, ho! ha, ha! Want ter git married, little 
 'un?' Then turning to me he shouted: 'Why don't 
 cher marry the lady?' A sentimental look crept over 
 his face. The little green-hatted girl was hanging to 
 his arm and he looked down at her a-blinking: 
 
 "'Le's all git spliced. Wh' you shay, ole man?' 
 
 Ill 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 ''The noise that he made had already attracted 
 a small-sized crowd, and a little man in a round, 
 black cap and a striped, seersucker coat poked his 
 head out between the tent flaps and beckoned the 
 Colonel to enter. 
 
 '' ' Ef you ladies 'n gents would like ter git hitched, 
 this 'ere's th' place,' he explained after we had walked 
 in. *We furnish th' license and pervide th' parson. 
 They ain't no thin' fer ye ter do but dig up two 
 bones; jist stand up 'n say th' word.' 
 
 *'His brisk, business-like manner caught the 
 Colonel's fancy. 
 
 "'All right, son, put 'er through with me 'n this 
 gal,' he said. Then, looking over his shoulder at 
 me, with the widow hanging closely to my arm: "n 
 then tackle them two behind.' 
 
 ''By that time the crowd from outside had begun 
 to swarm in just like bees. There was some horse 
 laughter, but no one said very much, and it was 
 evident that everybody felt a good deal of curiosity. 
 The widow had steadied up a Kttle — I think the 
 excitement of the proposition sort of charmed her 
 half sober, for she made a heroic attempt to straighten 
 her hat, aimed a jab or two at her hair, and while a 
 tall, sallow-looking man wearing a black coat and a 
 white tie was reading the ceremony that made 
 John Whittier Drayton and Mattie Maria Sils 
 man and wife, Clarissa somehow loosed her grip on 
 my arm, let go altogether, and raising herself on her 
 
 112 
 
CLARISSA 
 
 tiptoes, looked over the bride's shoulder, all strung 
 up with interest. 
 
 "It had all seemed a huge joke to me. But 
 now, all of a sudden, I began to do some rapid- 
 fire thinking. Then, while everybody's eyes were 
 centred on the parson who was declaiming: 'I 
 pronounce thee man and wife,^ I scooted down, 
 wriggled through the crowd around me, and lighted 
 away from that tent like a gazelle pursued by the 
 Devil. 
 
 "A loud scream that sounded fearfully like Clarissa 
 starting in on one of her tear storms echoed in my 
 ears as I dodged towards the railroad station, but you 
 can bet I didn't stop to look back and by the fort- 
 unes that followed the blessed, I managed to get 
 a strangle hold on the train just as it was pulling 
 out." 
 
 Harwood had barely finished his story when the 
 voice of the widow, raspingly sharp and cutting, was 
 heard outside the open window. 
 
 ''Get things moving now, Miss. We have only a 
 little time." And the three friends, looking out, to 
 their astonishment beheld Kady MacDown, pre- 
 ceded by My lie, being herded into a carriage evi- 
 dently bound for the railway station. 
 
 Later Peter learned that Kady had suddenly re- 
 ceived word that her tiny income had been cut off 
 by the death of her guardian and uncle, and being 
 too proud to accept aid from her friends among the 
 
 1 13 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 masculine contingent, and without women friends, 
 the girl had taken a position as travelling companion 
 with the widow. 
 
 The same day Peter himself, gathering together his 
 traps, and bidding good-bye to his acquaintances, 
 again set out on his travels. 
 
 114 
 
IX 
 
 AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 For over a year after his departure from Los 
 Angeles, Peter's whereabouts were known to his 
 friends in New York only through occasional letters 
 whose postmarks varied from San Antonio and El 
 Paso to Denver and Tacoma. 
 
 One afternoon in middle March the elder Rut- 
 ledge received a long letter from his son which closed 
 with the following: 
 
 ^'I have decided to wind up my tour out here with 
 a trip into the far North. I ran into Craig Winter 
 the other day. He is out here cruising about in the 
 Corsair, his father's yacht. In some ways, Craig 
 needs a nurse as much as he ever did. But you know 
 what chums we were in college, and since our meet- 
 ing last week the impression has grown on me that 
 he has a purpose somewhere in the back of his head 
 which, sooner or later, will make a man of him, and 
 incidentally help the world. 
 
 ^'To-morrow the Corsair will come here, to Seattle, 
 to take on fresh supplies and a hunting outfit. At 
 first I refused to have anything to do with the trip, 
 but Craig offered to give me a free hand to map out 
 
 11=; 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 sailing directions and the whole itinerary as I chose, 
 so in the end I decided to take him up with thanks. 
 
 "I am longing to see you again, but I feel that my 
 journey out here lacks completion without a voyage 
 to Alaska. I will write you frequently and will be 
 there to see you before winter comes again. Your 
 affectionate son, Peter.'' 
 
 Three days later found Peter and his friend, Craig, 
 running out of Seattle Harbor on board one of the 
 trimmest, and at the same time one of the stanchest 
 bits of nautical workmanship that the millions of 
 an Eastern banker had ever been able to acquire. 
 
 Ten years before ''Old Man Winter," as he was 
 known in Wall Street, had pursued a hobby for hunt- 
 ing in the North and, with his accustomed extrava- 
 gance, he had had the Corsair built on the west 
 coast for that special purpose. Now she was his 
 son's plaything, to do with as Craig chose. 
 
 As this luxuriously fitted, glistening-white steam 
 yacht nosed her way among the beautiful and pictu- 
 resque islands of Puget Sound, leaving behind a 
 stretch of silver upon the silent and otherwise un- 
 rippled surface of the water, and here and there put- 
 ting to flight flocks of sea-fowl and wild ducks, Peter 
 and his companion felt at once the wonderful charm 
 of the locahty. 
 
 Their first stop was at Metlakatla, the little gov- 
 ernment reservation on Annette Island, where a 
 visit was paid to Father Duncan. 
 
 ii6 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 The miracle which that heroic missionary had 
 wrought upon his "children,'^ a band of less than a 
 thousand Indians who were cannibals when he found 
 them, remained impressed upon Peter's mind ever 
 afterwards. 
 
 ^Xhristian,'^ as the priest was popularly spoken of 
 by the natives, showed Peter and Craig over the 
 store, cannery and saw-mill where the inhabitants 
 were working co-operatively, each man doing his 
 best, and happy in the work. The two friends were 
 also invited to inspect the governmental system which 
 provided for the regular election of administrative 
 officials and a police service, and which imposed and 
 enforced a curfew law. 
 
 The houses in Metlakatla, the priest explained 
 were all built by the natives, and it was a law of the 
 community that no young man should marry until 
 he had built his own home. 
 
 Peter and Craig remained here for some time 
 studying this unique experiment in sociology before 
 they bade farewell to the kindly and venerable mis- 
 sionary and his adopted people and sailed north- 
 ward. 
 
 At Old Kasaan they got their first view of the region 
 of totem poles which, beginning with this deserted 
 Indian village, and extending all along the northern 
 passage, have made southeastern Alaska famous. 
 
 Then they went on, exploring the notable old towns 
 of Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau and Skagway, getting 
 
 117 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 glimpses of the wonderful Auk and Eagle glaciers, 
 en route, and finally making their way back to Bar- 
 anof and Sitka Harbor. 
 
 Sitka, formerly a celebrated fur-trading post, has 
 the distinction of having been the capital of Alaska, 
 and the mellow, quaint, old-world atmosphere per- 
 vading the place charmed both the travellers. Here 
 they found a treasure-filled cathedral, so beautiful 
 in its picturesqueness as to bring vividly to the mind 
 of each the memory of those ancient, ivy-clad churches 
 that render entrancing the sleeping lanes and cliffs 
 of Brittany. 
 
 Above Sitka hangs the snowy crater of Edgecomb. 
 Strange faces, as foreign in appearance as many of 
 the buildings, thronged the streets, and it was Hke 
 a welcoming to Peter and Craig when they came 
 upon a detachment of Uncle Sam's troops swinging 
 across the parade grounds of a station there. For a 
 moment their hearts beat faster, and each youth in- 
 stinctively lifted his hat to the familiar colors float- 
 ing from the masthead above the post building. 
 
 And now, early signs of spring indicating that the 
 big brown bear, Alaska's most dangerous and noble 
 game, was awake, the Corsair's nose was headed for 
 Admiralty Island where finally Captain Swift, the 
 sailing master, came to anchor in Chapin Bay, a 
 beautiful land-locked harbor just off the dangerous 
 Chatham Straits. 
 
 The next morning at dawn, accompanied by Jim, 
 
 iiS 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 a six-foot tall, leathery-skinned guide brought from 
 Sitka and four sailors equipped with three days' 
 rations for all, the two sportsmen were rowed round 
 the reef that reached out for a mile into the straits 
 and finally landed in Murderer's Cove, an inlet that 
 got its name from a series of homicides committed by 
 a madman who, until he was finally slain by a bear, 
 was accustomed to attack and behead every person 
 who landed on the island. Because of the precipi- 
 tous nature of Admiralty's coast line. Murderer's Cove 
 was the only spot where it was possible to disembark 
 in safety. 
 
 Leaving the four sailors to wait their return, Peter 
 and Craig, each bearing a thirty-pound kit besides 
 his heavy rifle, set off behind big Jim. 
 
 Admiralty with its spruce - timbered cliffs and 
 ravines abounding in skunk's-cabbage, the bear's 
 favorite tidbit in the early spring, was reputed to be 
 a bruin's paradise. 
 
 However, an all-day tramp beneath tundra-fes- 
 tooned boughs and over what seemed to both Peter 
 and Craig miles of mountain underbrush failed to 
 reveal traces of the big game and, that night when 
 Peter unstrapped his kit and sank down on top of 
 it to listen to Craig's grunts of weariness and watch 
 Jim build a fire, he was inclined to doubt the wisdom 
 of their choice of hunting grounds. 
 
 "I say, old man," said Craig, ''we're getting our 
 money's worth of this— a full day in the wilds and 
 
 119 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 nothing in sight larger than half-wild deer and a few 
 grouse." 
 
 The guide, who was breaking dry twigs and toss- 
 ing them upon the now crackling flames, allowed a 
 grin to spread over his lean cheeks. 
 
 "You get heem, by'm by, ter-morrer." 
 
 "You're darn sure of it, Jim," said Winter, sar- 
 castically. 
 
 "Wait, you see," repHed the guide laconically, as 
 he selected a tin dish from the kit and proceeded 
 towards the nearby spring. 
 
 Following a meal of roasted partridge, the two 
 friends lost little time in seeking their blankets, but 
 before daylight Jim had marshalled them in line 
 again, and they resumed the hunt. For two hours, 
 until the sun had well risen, nothing occurred and 
 Peter, who was the tougher of the two, was finally 
 on the point of supplementing Craig's pathetically 
 humorous appeals to Jim, to cut it out and return 
 to the Corsair, when suddenly, as they broke into a 
 Httle clearing beneath a mountain ledge, the guide 
 stopped, turned round and significantly motioned 
 upward. Looking up, Peter saw what was evidently 
 the entrance to a cave, well above his head. But 
 hardly had he noted the aperture when Craig, who 
 in spite of his dislike for climbing was a true sports- 
 man, suddenly flung aside his rifle, jumped ahead, 
 and began scrambling up the side of the precipice. 
 
 It took but an instant to solve the mystery of this 
 
 1 20 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 wild manoeuvre. A pair of bear cubs of perhaps 
 twenty pounds' weight had poked their noses out of 
 the cave. A moment later the surprised youngsters 
 were seized by Craig and sent tumbling down onto 
 the leafy moss at the feet of the other two. But as 
 Peter sprang forward to lay hands on the squealing 
 cubs, Jim became suddenly animated: 
 
 "Run queek! Old bear come — mad!" he shouted. 
 
 Hardly had he spoken when a snarling roar wak- 
 ened the echoes and not one, but a pair of the most 
 villanous brown bears ever seen on Admiralty Island 
 crashed into view at the right. 
 
 Craig, who had reached the level and snatched up 
 the cubs despite Jim's warning, instantly dropped 
 them, seized his rifle and with the other two took 
 aim at the onrushing animals. 
 
 Simultaneously three rifles cracked. Neither of the 
 bears halted. Jim's shrill voice steadied them: 
 
 "Agin!" he screamed, "heet front of foreleg!" 
 
 Once more the rifles spoke. Then, as the three 
 scattered toward the nearest trees, the male bear 
 with a roar that reverberated across the mountain 
 valley was seen to rise on his haunches, frantically 
 paw the air for a moment and with a grunt fall over 
 on his back and lie still. 
 
 Each man had retreated to cover now. The 
 mother bear, with blood dripping from her foam- 
 flecked jaws, and despite two gaping holes in her 
 breast and flank came on with a whine of rage. 
 
 121 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Pausing beside her cubs only long enough for a re- 
 assuring sniff, she made straight at the tree behind 
 which Craig had sought shelter. 
 
 Crack! The guide's rifle spoke, sending another 
 Mauser bullet into the animal's hide. But she still 
 kept her feet and had almost reached Craig's refuge 
 when the latter, with his gun raised, stepped out to 
 take aim. As he did so his foot struck a projecting 
 root, he slipped, tried to recover and fell on his back 
 with the bear upon him. 
 
 Then the guide made the shot of the day. 
 
 Already on one knee, Jim cast a single swift glance 
 along his rifle barrel and as his gun spurted flame 
 bruin, now in the act of bringing down her paw with 
 deadly force upon Craig, suddenly swayed, shivered 
 and crumpled up in a lifeless heap. 
 
 Three hours later Jim had stripped the hides from 
 the two giant carcasses and, with the most mischievous 
 cubs ever captured in tow, the trio were on their way 
 back to Murderer's Cove. It proved a long tramp 
 to the boat where they found the waiting crew anxious 
 to put off to the yacht. 
 
 Night was well at hand and the sky had grown 
 sombre and overcast when the boat was launched 
 and headed into Chatham Straits. And now ensued 
 a startling episode, and one which, had it not been 
 for cool heads assisted by what afterwards seemed to 
 all in the boat to be the kindness of Providence, would 
 probably have cost the hves of everyone on board. 
 
 122 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 Chatham Straits are a terror to all mariners in the 
 North because of the glacial hurricanes, known as 
 ''woolies," which are apt to sweep down upon them 
 at a moment's notice. 
 
 When the dory with its seven occupants started 
 out on the row back around the mile-long ledge, the 
 water in the inlet was fairly smooth but the whisper 
 of the rising wind could be heard plainly out in the 
 straits. As the boat progressed, it was plain that a 
 storm was rising. With the wind cutting across the 
 mouth of Murderer's Cove, it was also clear that the 
 row out into the straits would have to be lengthened 
 to a good two miles if the boat was to go clear of the 
 ledge when the moment came to turn and head with 
 the gale into Chapin Bay. 
 
 Night had fallen before the dory nosed out into the 
 full sweep of the straits. Then suddenly the real 
 gravity of the situation dawned upon all. Darkness 
 made it impossible to see the reef. The waves had 
 become mountains. A terrihc ^' woolie " was blowimr 
 Jim yelled to Peter to put back but the latter, who 
 held the tiller, knew that the advice had come too 
 late and he kept the boat's head well up into the wind. 
 Craig and the guide, with the cubs between them 
 in the bow, received the brunt of the spray which 
 drenched all on board. 
 The situation had become extremely critical. 
 The ledge, with the breakers combing over it, lay 
 somewhere to the left. If they went too far beyond 
 
 123 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 the end of the reef, the boat would be swept down 
 Chatham Straits and would probably founder. If 
 they turned too soon, the frail dory would dash all 
 to death upon the ledge. Safety depended largely 
 upon the judgment of the helmsman. The task of 
 coming about when it became necessary also called 
 for a cool hand and head, for in Chatham Straits the 
 waves drive in ''threes/' a small billow coming 
 first, then one of middle height and finally a moun- 
 tainous swell. 
 
 In coming about in the darkness, Peter not only 
 had to guess correctly when they had rowed out far 
 enough to escape the reef but the turn had to be 
 executed when they were on top of the largest wave 
 of a " three." Otherwise they were likely to founder. 
 
 The wind was now a terrible roar. Realizing the 
 peril each of the four men at the oars was heroically 
 bending to his task. No one spoke. 
 
 Every heart beat faster as Peter's voice rang out 
 suddenly ordering all to prepare for the turn. Then 
 the dory was flung up on the summit of a great billow; 
 Peter uttered a sharp command; the port oars caught 
 and held for a moment; the spray ceased to fly; 
 and instantly all on board felt the easing of the strain 
 as the boat swung off with the wind. 
 
 The roar of the breakers now seemed to be rising 
 directly ahead. Were they driving to death? 
 
 The Httle craft was lifted on high; then she eased 
 into the hollow beneath. As she did so there was 
 
 124 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 a dull scraping against the side, an oar was unshipped, 
 a huge rock loomed up for a moment out of the dark- 
 ness and then was gone. The boat with its seven 
 occupants was barely shaving the end of the deadly 
 reef. Instantly every rower bent with redoubled 
 energy to his oars. All on board knew that this was 
 the crisis. The roar of the surf at the right seemed 
 to thunder on all sides for a few moments. Then 
 as the oar-blades and the wind drove the craft steadily 
 forward into Chapin Bay there was a perceptible 
 lessening of sound, gradually the seas diminished and 
 half an hour later they made out the anchor lights 
 on board the Corsair. 
 
 The next morning Peter directed Captain Swift 
 to run back to Sitka where the guide was landed, and 
 from whence Peter shipped the two bear cubs to his 
 sister in Philadelphia. Later when he returned to 
 New York he learned that the bears had proven so 
 troublesome to Helen that her husband had pre- 
 sented them to Dr. Carson the head of the Zoologi- 
 cal Gardens in Philadelphia v/here the two animals, 
 now full grown, are still on exhibition. 
 
 From Sitka the Corsair sailed for Cordova, the 
 newly risen town of the Alaskan copper kings, where 
 it had been arranged to receive mail from home. 
 A surprise in the form of a wired message from Craig's 
 father waited them there. Winter, senior, requested 
 his son to take on board an engineer whom Mr. Winter 
 was employing to investigate ore properties in the 
 
 125 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Copper River region and whom, the message ran, it 
 was particularly desired to have rushed back to New 
 York. 
 
 The banker had written Rogers, the man in ques- 
 tion, for Craig and Peter had barely received the 
 message when Rogers appeared. There was noth- 
 ing to do but to comply with the father's request, 
 and after the two had taken a hasty survey of 
 this Alaskan town which has its being in the rail- 
 road terminus that has opened a channel there 
 through which billions of dollars in coal and ore are 
 to flow out of the great Northern Peninsula into the 
 pockets of a few of the world's money barons, the 
 Corsair was headed southward with the new pas- 
 senger. 
 
 Young Rogers, who was a graduate of the Massa- 
 chusetts Institute of Technology, had spent a year 
 and a half inspecting territory which was the cause 
 of one of the nation's most notorious land-grabbing 
 scandals. 
 
 On the day before the arrival of the Corsair in 
 Seattle, the wind-tanned engineer sat beneath the 
 awning in the stern of the yacht explaining to Peter 
 and Craig what he termed the most colossal plot 
 ever devised to deprive the American people of 
 billions of dollars' worth of natural resources. 
 
 ^'One of the government's earlier geological sur- 
 veys indicated that there were twelve thousand square 
 miles of the finest coal land up there," said Rogers. 
 
 126 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 *Xater explorations show that there may be more 
 than ten times that coal area, worth to the people of 
 the country an incalculable sum. The mushroom 
 city of Cordova has sprung up from nothing through 
 the ramifications of those who expect to acquire 
 control of this wealth of coal and of a fortune in cop- 
 per and other metals equally as great. Of course, 
 these men claim that they are wholly within the law, 
 but they are in reality a gigantic robber trust." 
 
 *'But if what they do is legal — " Peter interrupted. 
 
 "It's legal according to the laws which the paid 
 servants of these plunderers get enacted, '^ answered 
 Rogers. "Otherwise it's too criminal to discuss. 
 These men also mean to gain possession of all the 
 water power rights in Alaska and the Cascade range. 
 Their plan is, first to be able to exercise autocratic 
 power over all shipments out of the country by ac- 
 quiring control of the harbor frontage all about the 
 mouth of the Copper River, and secondly to dis- 
 courage all competitive mining by having their paid 
 engineers declare all ore property not their own to 
 be valueless.'* 
 
 "But if it's a steal and everybody knows it's a 
 steal, why can't we make 'em quit — just fire 'em 
 out?" asked Craig. 
 
 "It can't be done in these times," replied Rogers. 
 "They get control by subterfuge, stealth and the 
 power of wealth, and you can no more dislodge them 
 than you can pull down the mountains." 
 
 127 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "I don't agree with that," interjected Peter, 
 quickly. ''You know what is said about fooling all 
 the people all the time. Some day Americans will 
 wake up in a body, change their system, and then- 
 well, every such colossal theft will have to be un- 
 done—" 
 
 The sun-swept face of the young engineer turned 
 quickly. His eyes gleamed: 
 
 ''But that 'some day' is, very likely, a long way 
 off!" 
 
 " Perhaps not as far as we fancy," responded Peter. 
 
 That evening the Corsair dropped anchor in Seat- 
 tle Harbor whence Rogers hastened ashore to catch 
 the night flyer East while the other two climbed out 
 of khaki suits into civilized garb, and for the first 
 time in many weeks conventionally joined a proces- 
 sion of theatre-goers, after which they sought out 
 the grill-room of a first-class hotel. 
 
 "Well, Craig," said Peter finally, glancing across 
 at his clear-eyed companion who was now revelling 
 in the delights of a thick beefsteak well spread with 
 mushrooms, "what's the moral of all our fun? Has 
 there been any? " 
 
 "Moral," drawled the other, pausing in the act of 
 taking a particularly luscious mouthful, "you don't 
 mean to say, Stuyvesant, that you've been hunting 
 for morals along with bears and totems?" 
 
 "Yes," rejoined Peter, "I have, and I've found 
 one. It's just this — Rogers gave us the cue — you 
 
 128 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 can't humanize men as long as their industrial sys- 
 tem puts a premium on greed and looting. Down 
 in lazy Mexico, in the soft temperature of Los Ange- 
 les, out on the plains of the central West and up 
 North amid the winter rigors of ice and snow, it's all 
 the same. There's only a little humanity to be found 
 anywhere. Broad humanity is lacking. The well- 
 spring of business motives has got to be changed. 
 I don't know just how that is to be accomplished, 
 but I intend to learn." 
 
 ''When you find out, let me know, Stuyvie. I'm a 
 bloomin' stray one myself, a sort of untethered goat, 
 but before I'm too old to masticate steaks like this I'll 
 get together and maybe give things a little push 
 that'll help 'em along." 
 
 The next morning these two friends bade each other 
 good-bye, Craig going southward to join the ranks of 
 the tarpon colony at Avalon, while Peter sought out 
 the banker to whom he had been recommended in a 
 letter from home. 
 
 Garrulous little Amos Metcalf was one of Seattle's 
 foremost citizens. He had fox-like gray eyes that 
 gleamed when he spoke, and a cold and clammy hand 
 which caused Peter to shiver when he touched it. 
 But it was plain from the first that the man regarded 
 Peter as one of his own kind — a member of that class 
 called the privileged, only the banker's all too evi- 
 dent obsequiousness proved his reverence for New 
 Yorkers of that brand. 
 
 129 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 ^'Seattle isn't what it was before the panic," he 
 volunteered during a general conversation wherein 
 Peter had remarked on the city's apparently advan- 
 tageous location with reference to the business of 
 Alaska and the rest of the country. ''A good many 
 people here fell by the wayside then — couldn't meet 
 their mortgages and such like, when we felt obliged 
 to call in our loans. So, you see, property sort of 
 went to smash." 
 
 "I don't quite understand you," said Peter. 
 
 Amos smirked and spread out his white, claw-like 
 hands upon the top of the mahogany table between 
 them. 
 
 ''Naturally some of us bankers profited by the 
 panic. We had a little warning beforehand." 
 
 Peter, paying close attention, suddenly felt amaze- 
 ment and indignation boiling up inside. 
 
 *'Yes, ye see," went on Amos, ''the big operators 
 of Wall Street sent us secret code wires offering un- 
 usually large interest rates for loans on six months' 
 paper. We're a long way from Wall Street here 
 but we knew well enough that something was up and 
 we kept our ears and eyes wide open. Naturally we 
 were glad to lend funds on such advantageous terms 
 to men of such high prestige in the money world, so 
 several of us bankers got together here and began 
 to call in our outstanding loans." 
 
 "But," broke in Peter, "wasn't that just what 
 those telegrams were for — to trick you into calling 
 
 130 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 in your local loans, that those New Yorkers might 
 secure the money to help them out when the bottom 
 was struck?'' 
 
 ''I expect that was about it," replied the other, 
 smacking his lips with satisfaction. ''Naturally 
 when our borrowers couldn't pay us we just had to 
 take over a good deal of their realty.'' 
 
 ''It must have put a lot of your property owners 
 down and out," said Peter. The banker mournfully 
 shook his head, at the same time rubbing his hands 
 together briskly. 
 
 "Yes, it did some. But, you know, we bankers 
 have to use our best judgment — that is, protect our 
 stockholders up to the very limit — that's imperative 
 — and take advantage of every fair opportunity for 
 increasing our interest earnings. Naturally, there have 
 been some hard times here in Seattle since the crash." 
 
 "But not for the banks?" interposed Peter. 
 
 "No, not for the banks," said the little man, 
 winking gleefully. 
 
 "That is, you mean that you deliberately robbed 
 your own home people of their holdings, took them 
 unexpectedly, forced them out of their possessions 
 and into insolvency, in order to loan money to a half- 
 dozen or more high-handed thieves in Wall Street? " 
 
 Amos Metcalf suddenly jerked himself up in his 
 chair and stared at Peter. 
 
 "Why — why — that's putting it pretty strong — I 
 thought—" 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "Yes, you thought I would sympathize with your 
 methods of getting rich at the expense of hundreds 
 of others — by ruining your own neighbors to get a few 
 per cent, more interest from these ruthless pluto- 
 crats in New York who have but to lift a finger to 
 own such men as you." 
 
 The httle man had risen to his feet. 
 
 ''Sir, your language is insulting. I pursued only 
 the usual and legal methods of business." 
 
 "You've forgotten your humanity," replied Peter, 
 "or you never possessed any." Without another 
 word he turned his back upon the nonplussed little 
 rascal and leaving the bank returned to his hotel. 
 There he found a message waiting him from Dr. 
 Randall informing him of the critical illness of Her- 
 mann Romwitz. 
 
 Instantly all of his deepest sympathies were 
 wakened. He resolved to start immediately for the 
 East. Many times during his recent travels he had 
 thought of poor Hermann and his family, and several 
 letters, badly spelled but brave, cheerful and teem- 
 ing with optimism had reached him from little 
 Felix, who evidently felt himself to be the mainstay 
 of the other four because of his success in caring for 
 the little truck garden attached to the country home 
 where Peter had placed the family. 
 
 "I will do all in my power to lighten the last days 
 of these unfortunate people," was his thought as he 
 watched the last lights of Seattle flash past the 
 
 132 
 
AN ADVENTURE WITH BEARS 
 
 windows of the train that was bearing him homeward. 
 Then again his mind went back to Amos Metcalf's 
 disclosures of how this Western city that he was 
 leaving behind had received a staggering blow. 
 He knew that the craft of the country's great money 
 kings had inflicted the wrong. It flashed upon him 
 that Seattle was one of the arms of an octopus of 
 greed whose ramifications extended from Alaska to 
 Mexico and from San Francisco to New York. It 
 was sucking the very life-blood from the entire land. 
 The baby in the sweat-shop, the rancher on the plain, 
 the humble house -owner in the city, all were its 
 victims. 
 
 133 
 
X 
 
 "THE HOUR WILL COME"— 
 
 From boyhood Hermann Romwitz had struggled 
 and fought against poverty. Jan, his step-brother, 
 who collected rags and bottles and to whom the baby, 
 Hermann, was left before he could lisp a word, was 
 terribly poor. But Jan spoke English and so Her- 
 mann grew up to use that tongue instead of the mixed 
 Yiddish of his immigrant forbears. 
 
 Shortly after Hermann first went out to service in 
 a little tailor's shop, Jan died from the same cough 
 that had taken off his parents. 
 
 Thus at nine years of age Hermann was thrown 
 upon his own resources. He managed to get along. 
 He was permitted to sleep in a corner of his em- 
 ployer's workroom, a dismal, little apartment in 
 a gloomy basement always draughty and damp. 
 The dollar and a half that he got every Saturday 
 night paid for his food and sometimes he even saved 
 a little out of that. 
 
 He worked there nine years, and when he was 
 receiving eight dollars a week he met Rachael Novitch 
 and they were married. Life was filled with golden 
 dreams then for Hermann and for Rachael, too. 
 
 134 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME"- 
 
 It was almost ten years before little Felix came 
 and in the meanwhile, with Rachael's slender earn- 
 ings and his own increased by dint of working late at 
 night after he returned home from the tailor shop, 
 Hermann managed to hoard a small sum. But one 
 day, through the defalcation of a cashier, the bank 
 that kept this money failed and he was unable to 
 recover a cent of the savings. 
 
 That was a dreadful calamity. In addition to this 
 loss the death of his employer, a little later, threw 
 Hermann out of work. He and the frail Rachael 
 now began an existence such as the poorest seldom 
 encounter. 
 
 At first it was not so bad. There was only one 
 small mouth to feed. Hermann secured work that 
 could be done at home and Rachael helped on that. 
 But as the years slipped by the other babies came — 
 first Sergius and then Rosie. Still the mother and 
 father dreamed of days when a stroke of good fort- 
 une would permit them again to set aside a little 
 money. As time flew however such anticipations 
 were less often the subject of conversation. 
 
 Then too there was the cough. At first Hermann 
 put it out of his thoughts. It would pass. Hundreds 
 of his people working in the factories, sweat-shops 
 and tailoring establishments were similarly afflicted. 
 Every man coughed in the place where he had worked 
 so long. Then he noticed that Rachael had acquired 
 the habit of interrupting the silences with a dry, 
 
 135 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 irritated hack. Fear seized him but he made no 
 comment. Only when he discovered that each one 
 of the babies, as it began to grow up, had the same 
 affection, was hope extinguished like the flame of 
 a snuffed out candle. 
 
 Even the advent of Peter and his kindnesses into 
 Hermann's life, and the subsequent transference of 
 the family to a farm in the country kindled no illu- 
 sions in the father's heart. For Rosie's sake he 
 wished to live. It terrified him to think of what 
 might happen to her if he were gone. Now that the 
 terrors of starvation no longer stifled all other reflec- 
 tions, the helpless child was constantly in his thoughts. 
 They had grown so close together since the day when 
 they were freed from city slavery and left to them- 
 selves in their new home! 
 
 He never ceased to thank God for that home. It 
 was a pleasant place to live in — with its garden patch, 
 a little flock of barnyard fowl, the rose-bush climbing 
 over the porch and a sheltering hedge in front. He 
 would gladly have helped Felix plant and weed and 
 hoe and carry water for the vegetables and the 
 flowers but he coughed so when he undertook exer- 
 tions like that. Twice after such attempts, when he 
 wiped his mouth his hand came away red. 
 
 Though he grew weaker every day he perceived 
 that Felix, kept continually out of doors by his boyish 
 zeal to make their garden pay, became brown-skinned 
 and sturdier. Sergius, always the silent member of 
 
 136 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME" — 
 
 the family, changed less perceptibly; indeed Hermann 
 felt with a shudder that this wonderful, health- 
 restoring life had come too late for the younger boy, 
 and for the mother as well. • 
 
 Rachael was heroic. Her patient endurance of 
 terrible odds against poverty for so many years had 
 taught him a deep reverence for her. However God 
 decreed, he knew that she would go on to the 
 end maintaining the same uncomplaining, cheer- 
 ful and courageous front towards himself and the 
 children. 
 
 When he was able to get out of doors Rosie always 
 went with him, clinging to his hands, her lips ever 
 questioning him of the sunlight on the flowers, the 
 brook-riven meadow below the house and all the 
 living things of this beautiful country that she so 
 acutely sensed but could not see. In the intervals 
 between his terrible paroxysms of coughing, his heart 
 contracted so often at the thought of her pathetic 
 blindness! His yearning to help take the place of 
 that irretrievably spoiled eyesight was his one long- 
 ing for life. He blamed himself. Why had he per- 
 mitted her, his baby, the gentlest flower of his and 
 Rachael's heart, to suft'er this frightful affliction! 
 
 The constant burden of such reflection served to 
 shorten the span of his days. The morning after 
 Peter's arrival in New York a telegram reached him 
 announcing that the elder Romwitz was dying. 
 
 ^Xome quickly, if you wish to see him," was Dr. 
 
 137 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Randall's message. Instantly Peter hastened to the 
 railway station. 
 
 An hour's ride and a brief walk brought him to the 
 farm and the bedside of the invalid. He was shocked 
 at the sight of the wasted form and hollow cheeks. 
 Rachael, the mother, grief-stricken and herself greatly 
 emaciated, sat by the bedside, her feeble hands 
 smoothing the bedclothes or caressing the curls of 
 the blind child who stood sobbing close to the dying 
 man. Felix, with tear-dimmed eyes, but pitifully 
 smiling, came first to greet him; the younger brother 
 followed hesitatingly. 
 
 A shadowy smile crossed Hermann's lips as he 
 caught sight of Peter. 
 
 ''You're kind to come, sir. God will repay you." 
 Then he went on: 
 
 "Let me kiss them all before I go." The racking 
 cough had mercifully fled. His burning eyes beck- 
 oned Felix: 
 
 "Little boy, little boy, you will take papa's place! 
 Be brave. Take care of Mama and Rosie and Sergius." 
 Felix held his lower lip tightly between his teeth. 
 
 The feeble voice failed for a moment. Then — 
 
 "Kiss papa, Rosie! He's going away — but he will 
 wait until you come — there are beautiful things 
 there; you shall see them! you shall see them! 
 Sergius — Rachael — " tears streamed down the 
 woman's face as she silently leaned closer to catch 
 his words: 
 
 138 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME" — 
 
 "Beloved, thank God— for you! His love and 
 yours were worth all." 
 
 Sergius burst into bitter sobbing. Rosie, fright- 
 ened at the spectre of death, caught at her mother's 
 arm with trembling hands. The brave mother, with 
 an arm sheltering the helpless girl, gently clasped 
 the dying man's fingers in her own. 
 
 *'I shall come," she whispered softly. 
 
 ''And Rosie?" only the mother's ear caught the 
 words. 
 
 " God will protect her," she responded. 
 
 Hermann's eyes flickered. The lids drooped and 
 were still. 
 
 Suddenly Rachael released the inert fingers, and 
 folding the two boys and the girl closely in her arms, 
 mingled her quiet sobbing with that of the children. 
 Reverentially, Peter and Dr. Randall withdrew and 
 closed the door. 
 
 Two days later, when Rachael led her children 
 home from the peaceful village cemetery, the grief- 
 stricken woman was met at the door by Mrs. Josephine 
 Thatcher, a white-haired, sweet-faced, elderly woman 
 to whom Peter had related the story of the family's 
 hardships. From the moment this motherly soul 
 looked into the saddened, tired eyes of Rachael and 
 felt Rosie's soft girlish hands inquiringly pressing 
 her own. Aunt Joe, as she was universally known, 
 lost her heart. 
 
 ''The poor dears," she told herself as she closed the 
 
 139 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 front gate and hurried down the street to her home 
 after having wept with Rachael, praised Felix and 
 petted the younger boy and bhnd Rosie, *'the Lord 
 surely has afiflicted them beyond understanding. 
 Brave little woman! how dreadfully she coughs! 
 and such a sweet little blind innocent!" Aunt 
 Joe's kindness shone principally in deeds, but some- 
 times when she was alone its expression overflowed 
 in gentle soliloquies. From the day when that first 
 little mound was heaped up in the graveyard she 
 became an angel of comfort to the feeble mother and 
 the fatherless children. 
 
 Two months later when Rachael Romwitz lay on 
 the same bed where the father had whispered farewell, 
 and in her turn bade the three little ones good-bye, 
 it was into the arms of gentle, weeping Aunt Joe 
 that little Rosie flung herself in shrinking fear for 
 her mama. It was Aunt Joe too who kept Sergius 
 from throwing himself wildly upon the bed, comfort- 
 ing the little ones with her soothing words, bringing 
 a last smile to the lips of the dying woman. 
 
 Peter, as well as Dr. Randall, was there again, and 
 after Aunt Joe had brought them all back from the 
 cemetery and had gathered them under her wing in 
 the brightly hghted sitting-room, it was agreed that 
 she should serve jointly with Felix in looking after 
 the two youngest ones. 
 
 During the succeeding months before Sergius died, 
 Rosie Romwitz and Aunt Joe became such friends 
 
 140 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME" — 
 
 that the gentle little child made the foster-mother 
 her confidant in every tribulation of her shut-in life. 
 
 "You see, Auntie, '* she would say, "even now I 
 don't remember quite how dear papa looked before— 
 I was blind. Isn't it worse than all else, to lose 
 eyes? I wanted to see awfully — oh more 'n I can 
 ever make even you, dear Auntie, understand! 
 Before mama went away I wanted to see her — I 
 wanted to see her so! But now somehow I don't 
 mind so much. Is Sergius going to die too. Auntie? 
 Will I die?" 
 
 "There, there, Rosie!" Aunt Joe would reply, 
 a lump rising in her throat, "you mustn't talk of such 
 things. We're going to be happy and pray that we 
 all may be well and strong." 
 
 "You are so good and kind, Auntie — just like 
 mama — that I have to do what you tell me; but 
 Sergius does cough worse 'n papa did; and he's only 
 a little boy. He didn't get out of bed once, yester- 
 day; and I heard him praying to go to mama." 
 
 Aunt Joe, at this remark, turned her head aside 
 to wipe her eyes with a corner of her apron: 
 
 "Jesus will take care of Sergius, dear." 
 
 The blind child slipped a slender arm around the 
 other's neck: 
 
 "I don't know Jesus very well yet, Auntie, but 
 if you say he will take care of mama and papa and 
 Sergius and us all, I know it must be true." 
 
 Only a week after this conversation, Peter came 
 
 141 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 down from New York again to attend the funeral of 
 the quiet, little boy who suffered in silence until the 
 very last, uncomplainingly giving up at the end and 
 bravely bidding adieu to Felix, Aunt Joe and little 
 Rosie with heart-breaking cheerfulness. 
 
 ^'I don't like coughing; it hurts too much," he 
 whispered to his foster-mother. *'I'm going to papa 
 and mama. No one coughs where they are — do you 
 think so?" and the sobbing woman gently assured 
 him that there were no ills or coughs in that far-away, 
 sweet Heaven for little ones like Sergius. 
 
 From the beginning. Dr. Randall had despaired of 
 the mother, father and little boy. While he had done 
 everything in his power to soothe and make easy the 
 months left to each of them, Rosie had continued the 
 person of greatest professional interest because of the 
 possibility that in her the disease might be conquered. 
 Felix was now out of danger, and after Sergius died 
 the little house was thoroughly renovated and 
 cleansed and every resource that medical ingenuity 
 could devise was adopted to save the blind child. In- 
 stead of spending only a part of her time with Felix 
 and the blind sister. Aunt Joe closed up her home 
 and came to live permanently with them. 
 
 From this big-hearted woman, Rosie learned many 
 things. She listened to Aunt Joe's childhood stories; 
 she spent hours with her in the woods and fields learn- 
 ing about the birds and animals and such beautiful 
 and sentient things out of doors as Aunt Joe knew 
 
 142 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME"— 
 
 how to make interesting to youthful imaginations. 
 During the evenings Felix read to her— for he was 
 now studying under the tutelage of Aunt Joe and 
 Peter, who frequently came down to visit his little 
 charges— and Aunt Joe told them both many in- 
 teresting tales. 
 
 Until the close of a long summer of careful attend- 
 ance, Dr. Randall was hopeful that Rosie's lungs 
 might get well again. But at last he gave up. 
 The httle girl began to fade, Felix said, just as the 
 wild flowers outside the hedge in front of the house 
 faded. She coughed only a little, but each day her 
 lassitude of body increased. 
 
 Aunt Joe, with breaking heart, fought against the 
 alarming symptoms. 
 
 "Shall we go down to the river and listen to the 
 skylark, this afternoon?" she would ask. 
 
 "Auntie dear, I want to, oh, so bad; but I just am 
 too weak; I feel like I was all worn out. My body 
 doesn't want what I want. Besides, Auntie dear, 
 sometimes I'm tired of the dark. Why couldn't I 
 have been let to see, like Felix, Auntie?" 
 
 "Perhaps you will see, some day, Rosie," Aunt 
 
 Joe repHed to this, seeking to divert the child's mind. 
 
 "No, Aunt Joe," the little one responded, ''you 
 
 oughtn't to say that. Your voice says it only— your 
 
 heart knows it isn't true." 
 
 "But, darling, many people who don't see are 
 happy. You can be happy, too." 
 
 143 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 '' 'Most always I'm too tired now, Auntie. I think 
 of papa and mama and Sergius and it makes me feel 
 as if I must hurry and go to them." 
 
 "Hush, Rosie! You must stay and be a good sister 
 to Felix who needs you. Felix is going to be a fine 
 farmer one of these days and he wdll want Rosie, 
 very much." 
 
 "He will be married, some day, just like papa and 
 mama were, won't he?" the Uttle one answered. 
 Such precociousness amazed Aunt Joe. 
 
 All through the winter blind Rosie kept up, going 
 out for a sled ride with Felix, sometimes, but more 
 often too weak to move out of the house. Just as 
 the rose - vine clambering over the porch lattice 
 began to shoot forth soft tendrils, the end approached. 
 Aunt Joe with tearful misgivings had for some days 
 been obliged to hold the frail little atom in her arms 
 whenever Rosie wished to be near the window to 
 feel the out-of-doors. Dr. Randall's visits became 
 more frequent. One day the child called to Aunt Joe: 
 
 "Auntie dear, come here!" The heart of the other 
 throbbed violently at the solemnity of the child's 
 request. 
 
 "What is it, darling?" she asked. 
 
 "I'm going away — to dear mama and papa and 
 Sergius." 
 
 "No, no, child!" 
 
 "Yes, Auntie! good, dear Auntie! I'm going soon, 
 too. I'm not afraid. I want to go because I'm tired 
 
 144 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME" — 
 
 of having to stay here in the darkness — I'm tired — 
 and I wonder too, Auntie; tell me, why did papa 
 and mama and Sergius and all of us have the 
 dreadful cough? and why were we so poor in the 
 big city?'' 
 
 "Many people are poor, little girl — many, many 
 people. We can't help that." 
 
 "But why, why?" insisted the childish voice. 
 "Lots of other people aren't poor. You, Aunt Joe, 
 never knew what it was to be poor like us and have 
 a dreadful cough." 
 
 "It's because men don't live quite as they ought 
 to, dear. I couldn't make you understand about 
 that. I'm not sure that I understand it myself. 
 But I know it wouldn't be so if everyone did what 
 Jesus commanded when he lived on earth. He said, 
 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto 
 you.' Men don't obey that. I guess it's because 
 others were disobedient that your papa was so poor 
 and went away to Heaven." 
 
 "If everybody did what Jesus said, would every- 
 body be well, and not poor and sick?" 
 
 "That would help very much toward it, dear." 
 The little head lay back on the pillow, motionless for 
 a minute. Then — 
 
 "Auntie Joe, if I did what Jesus said was right, do 
 you suppose he would take care of me when — when 
 I go to find papa and mama?" 
 
 The woman's lips quivered: 
 
 145 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "Jesus can do all things," she answered. "He will 
 care for you now and always." 
 
 After the faint but steady breathing of the pallid 
 nostrils betrayed that the little one had fallen asleep, 
 the tender-hearted woman slipped out, crying softly, 
 and despatched messages to the physician and to 
 Peter, while Felix was ordered to keep within calling 
 distance. 
 
 At sunset, the little head nestling among the blond 
 curls moved again. 
 
 "Aunt Joe 1 Aunt Joe ! " The woman came quickly 
 and kneeled down beside the bed. 
 
 "What is it, my precious?" 
 
 "Where is Jesus, now?" 
 
 "In Heaven, dear." 
 
 "Did he live here once?" 
 
 "Yes, child." 
 
 "Tell me about him when he was here?" 
 
 "He went about among people doing good. He 
 touched the sick on their heads and hands and 
 they became well. He cured the lame and the blind 
 and—" 
 
 "The blind. Auntie— the blind, like me?" A 
 childish eagerness thrilled through the weak voice. 
 
 "Yes, Rosie." 
 
 "And he will cure me in Heaven so I can see papa 
 and mama and Sergius there? Oh, Auntie, tell me, 
 tell me, will he do that?" 
 
 "In Heaven, Rosie, you will see again just as you 
 
 146 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME'» — 
 
 once did. There will be no darkness for you there. 
 Jesus will kiss your poor eyes and the light will shine 
 through." 
 
 ''Oh, Aunt Joe! Oh, Aunt Joe!'' Weakness 
 could not quite hide the ecstasy of her childish joy. 
 Then sleep again enfolded the strength of spirit 
 within the frail body. 
 
 When Rosie wakened again, Felix and Aunt Joe 
 were together beside her, while the doctor and Peter 
 stood a few feet away. Her mind sensed the latter 
 two first. 
 
 ''Uncle Peter," she said plaintively— even then 
 the divine motherhood of the woman-child shining 
 out in her— ''you'll take care of Felix?" 
 
 "Yes, Rosie, I'll take care of Felix." She waited 
 a minute, groping for strength. 
 
 "Aunt Joe, mama came just now— I felt her 
 in my sleep. Kiss me dear, dear Auntie! I'm 
 going to them and— and to Jesus." One wasted 
 arm crept slowly around the sobbing woman's 
 neck. 
 
 "Felix, brother, shall I remember you to them— to 
 Jesus and mama and papa— and— Sergius— give 
 them— your— love?" The manly little boy lay with 
 his head buried in the bedclothes, his body shak- 
 ing with grief. 
 
 "Oh, Aunt, I see—" an instant's silence ensued, 
 broken only by the quiet weeping of Mrs. Thatcher— 
 "Aunt Joe— Jesus is coming— I— feel him— he is 
 
 147 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 going to kiss my eyes — oh, the light — the beautiful, 
 beautiful light — I see; I see — papa! mama!" 
 
 Suddenly a hush fell upon all. Then broken sobs 
 burst from the woman's lips. Felix wept silently, 
 a hand resting tenderly upon one cheek of the now 
 inert little face. Even Dr. Randall shook with 
 emotion. 
 
 "It is his will, Felix." Aunt Joe's voice found 
 itself at last in seeking to comfort the bereaved 
 brother. 
 
 "Perhaps," he responded slowly — a little bitterly, 
 "but how about them that took 'em all from me 
 like this?" 
 
 It was the implication in that crude reply that 
 returned again and again to Peter's mind during the 
 later services over Rosie's body, and it still rankled 
 in his thoughts when, as the sun began to fade behind 
 the distant hills, with his arm about the boy's shoul- 
 der, he gently drew the broken-hearted, lonely youth 
 away from the grave newly made beside the other 
 three in the cemetery. 
 
 "Father, mother, brother, sister — all dead as the 
 price of the selfish, wanton hcartlessness of covet- 
 ous men willing for gain to wring from humanity 
 its very heart's blood!" Peter reproached himself 
 for his own too small part in the work to help 
 right such wrongs. 
 
 As they entered the empty house, his heart went 
 out to the silently weeping Felix. Suddenly his own 
 
 148 
 
"THE HOUR WILL COME" — 
 
 pent-up emotions gave way, sweeping before them 
 every remnant of self in the thought of those help- 
 less thousands staggering beneath such unequal 
 burdens as Hermann and Rachael Romwitz had 
 borne. Then with startling force the words of 
 Liszt's ''Love Dreams" came back to him: 
 
 " — The hour will come when you at graves shall 
 weep, some day." 
 
 In the same moment when he recognized the ful- 
 filment of this prophetic line, he felt again the mighty 
 appeal of the '' Call of the Ages," and he knew, though 
 it should mean the loss of name, friends — even life, 
 that he would follow that Call to the end. 
 
 149 
 
XI 
 
 TRANSFERRING A CHARGE 
 
 ^* A MESSAGE for you, sir." 
 
 It was the next day in New York. Peter sat alone 
 before an open blaze in the reading-room of his favorite 
 club and the only one which he now frequented. 
 Leaving the boy with Aunt Joe, he had returned im- 
 mediately, intent upon at once arranging for the 
 youngster's future. The more he thought of that 
 important responsibility, the more it puzzled him. 
 Felix had reached the formative period of character- 
 building. 
 
 Tearing open the envelope handed him by the ser- 
 vant, he read: 
 
 ''Ann is back again in New York. Will you come 
 and dine with us to-night? You shall have a dinner 
 worth eating and sympathy for your troubles — if 
 you have troubles. Telephone if you cannot come, 
 but I shall expect you. Your devoted Agatha." 
 
 After he had sent the man away, he sat for some 
 time staring into the fire, old memories suddenly 
 roused by the mention of Ann's name. 
 
 It had been nearly four years since he had seen her 
 for she had been playing abroad when he returned from 
 
 150 
 
TRANSFERRING A CHARGE 
 
 Alaska. The thought of meeting her again stirred 
 his pulses, not because she was now a world-wide 
 celebrity whose name and fame and what the news- 
 papers called ^'philanthropic eccentricities" were 
 constantly being heralded far and wide, but because 
 he had come to feel that she meant a great deal to his 
 happiness. Her wisdom and the purity of her soul 
 were endearments far beyond her musical talents. 
 He knew well enough that desire for publicity was not 
 among the motives prompting the concerts and liberal 
 donations for the poor, of which she had given so 
 many. She had never been quite out of his thoughts 
 during the long separation. 
 
 Of late Peter had lived much at home, reading, 
 writing, taking notes and studying social conditions 
 about him in the intervals between his visits to the 
 Romwitz family. The list of his social acquaintances 
 had greatly fallen off. Max Reinhart had been 
 away managing Ann's campaign. Professor Sea- 
 bury, a pitifully broken wreck and Alicia, grown a 
 little more serious -faced and a little less bantering 
 but still brave and calm and unafraid, were the 
 friends he had gone oftenest to visit. They were 
 now living in a tiny, four-room tenement in a rather 
 humble section of the city, but Alicia had wrought 
 wonders in this little home. The old man was unable 
 to walk — in fact he seldom spoke or moved — and the 
 girl guarded him as tenderly as a mother would have 
 sheltered a child. 
 
'the ostrich 
 
 The friendship between her and Peter had increased 
 greatly. They discussed all subjects save that of 
 love, with the candor of a brother and sister. From 
 the untiring devotion and ardor with which Alicia 
 played adviser, intermediary, nurse, mother and dis- 
 ciplinarian to several hundred idolizing mothers and 
 children in her capacity as a social settlement worker, 
 and between times ministered to her father's needs 
 and wants, one would scarcely have believed that love 
 ever entered into her thoughts or her plans. Yet 
 Peter noticed how the pink came to her cheeks when 
 he spoke of his old friend, Max, or brought her 
 fresh news of the latter's whereabouts. 
 
 If Ann was in New York, he suspected that Max 
 would also be there, and he tried to picture the meet- 
 ing in the little tenement of his college chum and the 
 brave Alicia. 
 
 Then as his eyes went back to the open note before 
 him he felt anew a thrill of pleasure at the perusal 
 of Ann's name. 
 
 The same emotion shone in his face a few 
 hours later, when after fondly kissing his god- 
 mother, he turned to greet the beautiful pianist in 
 the brilliantly lighted dining-room of the Van Siddons 
 mansion. 
 
 Both in construction and beauty of furnishings the 
 latter dwelling was a wonderful place. Everywhere 
 were massive and quaintly carved pieces of furniture, 
 costly pictures and beautiful tapestries and rugs 
 
 152 
 
TRANSFERRING A CHARGE 
 
 without number picked up in every corner of the 
 world by four successive generations of ancestors. 
 A workmanship in cupboard, fireplace, panel and 
 ceiling typifying the painstaking idealism of a past 
 generation was evident at every turn and corner. 
 
 ^' Don't call me misanthrope, if I admit that I 
 came partly to unburden my worries," Peter said. " I 
 took you at your word, Agatha. Your generous offer 
 to lend me a sympathetic ear lured me here — and 
 joy at the thought of seeing you both again," he added. 
 
 ^'It's well you included that," she replied. But 
 Peter refused to be decoyed into badinage. When 
 they were seated at dinner, he said : 
 
 "I've a protege with whom I don't know what 
 to do." 
 
 Both women leaned forward at once interested. 
 
 "It's a long story," he continued. 
 
 "You've piqued our curiosity. Tell us all at 
 once," ordered his godmother. 
 
 "Felix is only a youngster now, but he's growing 
 up rapidly. He's known great hardships and sor- 
 rows. His father, mother, sister and brother have 
 died. He's all alone." Then Peter launched into 
 the life recital of Felix and the rest of the Romwitz 
 family. 
 
 "The boy must grow up with right principles," he 
 finally proceeded. "I want him to understand just 
 how it happened that those he loved were neglected 
 and crushed. I mean for him to acquire a thorough 
 
 153 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 understanding of the many evils of injustice. He's 
 a responsibility that puzzles me." 
 
 *'Send him to school here in New York. He 
 needs an education first," suggested Mrs. Van 
 Siddons. 
 
 Peter shook his head. ^*I want him to begin right. 
 He sha'n't be hampered and coerced by the sort of 
 educational routine that the average child of to-day 
 has to endure." 
 
 ^'You wouldn't try to bring him up yourself, 
 Peter? It might prove more than you bargained 
 for," said the godmother. 
 
 Hitherto Ann had sat a silent listener. Once 
 during the period of his long recital Peter had seen 
 a tear steal down her cheek. Now she leaned for- 
 ward and spoke earnestly: 
 
 ^'I'll take the boy and rear him just as you want 
 him educated. Ever since I've been away I've been 
 making money — oh, more money than I ever dreamed 
 of being able to make and much more than I need. 
 There's enough for Felix and me and for the expense 
 of the opportunity which you and I will give him. 
 I'm sure I understand what you wish for him. You 
 want him to have what boys of his class almost 
 never have — an unbiased conscience; and you want 
 him to be trained from the very beginning, that he 
 may always know how to choose and make decisions 
 unprejudiced by false ideas. Isn't that it?" 
 
 Peter's eyes sparkled. 
 
 154 
 
TRANSFERRING A CHARGE 
 
 "How well you understand," he said. ' 
 
 "What idealists you two are becoming!" exclaimed 
 Mrs. Van Siddons. 
 
 "You're wrong, we're realists, dear Agatha," said 
 Peter. "The ideals of yesterday have become reali- 
 ties. The world moves along a notch every day. 
 The moral level, as well as custom and the ambi- 
 tions of men, is as unstable as the fashions in clothes; 
 but the motive tendency is upward. We are growing 
 constructive. A part of mankind is already realizing 
 ethical aims that once seemed chimerical and Uto- 
 pian. The other and larger part will reach them 
 too some day." 
 
 He turned to the girl. 
 
 "What have you in mind for the boy?" he asked. 
 
 "There's a school, here in New York where we 
 will start him," she said. "Max drove me there 
 once. It's a private school but it seems to me to be 
 based upon ideal principles. The system is much 
 like a physician speciaKst's method of treatment. 
 Each child is regarded as an individual case. Tem- 
 perament, physical endowment and inherited traits 
 and inclinations are all carefully considered in the 
 training process. The pupils are encouraged to pursue 
 the studies which each seems most to enjoy. Coer- 
 cive lessons are not in the curriculum. I have not 
 seen anywhere among children such spontaneity of 
 effort, and such true pleasure in studying, as I saw 
 there. It was perfect." 
 
 155 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "It sounds excellent. We'll take him there," ac- 
 quiesced Peter. 
 
 ^'To-morrow?" she asked. 
 
 He nodded. *'The sooner, the better. I'll notify 
 Aunt Joe. It will wring her heart to part with 
 Felix, but she will make any sacrifice for his good." 
 
 They had left the table and were gathered about 
 a driftwood blaze in the great drawing-room, the 
 two women seated and Peter standing, when sud- 
 denly hurrying steps sounded in the entrance hall 
 and AHcia Seabury, with Max Reinhart just a step 
 in the rear, appeared in the doorway. Mrs. Van 
 Siddons and Ann had risen to greet the unannounced 
 pair when something alight in the faces of both 
 caused a silence to fall upon all. Then Max wearing 
 the triumphant expression of a lover slipped the 
 hand of the now crimson -cheeked Alicia beneath his 
 arm and with a low and formal bow proclaimed with 
 twinkling eyes: 
 
 *'As betrothed we are come to receive your felici- 
 tations, dear friends. Wish us great joy — " 
 
 His further words were lost amid surprised excla- 
 mations and in the rush of the two women and 
 Peter who pounced upon the lovers and thrust 
 them down, side by side, on the silk-cushioned settle 
 by the fire. 
 
 For half an hour thereafter the voluble lover's 
 recital of the romance which the three friends in- 
 sisted upon hearing from beginning to end usurped 
 
 156 
 
TRANSFERRING A CHARGE 
 
 all other conversation. Max made no pretence of 
 restraining his joy, while the radiance of a supreme 
 bliss shone in AUcia's eyes. The wedding day had 
 been fixed to take place in the succeeding month when 
 the couple were to remove at once with the invalid 
 father to more spacious and comfortable quarters. 
 
 ^'However," finally asserted the girl with a soft 
 glance at her lover, ''I'm going right on with my 
 work among the poor mothers and children. They 
 need me. I couldn't give them up — even — for any- 
 thing — though of course Max wouldn't have me do 
 that either." 
 
 That night after Peter reached home he betook 
 liimself to his study and sought to immerse himself 
 in work. But his mind refused to concentrate on the 
 lines of his book. 
 
 The memory of Alicia's warm and smiling face 
 and Max's unalloyed ecstasy quickened old emotions 
 in his heart. He remembered Ann's serene and 
 undisturbed smile as she listened to the flow of lover's 
 raptures from the lips of Max. It vexed him to 
 think that she had not betrayed a trace of self-con- 
 sciousness. He recalled too that he had not had 
 a single opportunity to be alone with her that even- 
 ing. He wondered if that had been an accident, 
 or if his godmother or the girl herself had prear- 
 ranged it. It pained him to think of going away 
 from her. She was an inspiration. His reunion with 
 her had roused anew the longing to be near her and 
 
 157 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 to have her for an intimate friend and companion 
 again. Her seeming aloofness increased this ardor. 
 A thousand tender thoughts filled his mind concern- 
 ing her. He wondered if he would ever be able to 
 inspire in her a soft passion like that which had lighted 
 Alicia's face when Max stepped forth and proclaimed 
 his love. 
 
 Distracted, he rose and strode back and forth across 
 his study. In his peregrinations his coat brushed 
 from the table an unopened package which evidently 
 had come by mail that afternoon. Stooping to 
 recover it, his curiosity was roused by the foreign 
 postage-stamps on the wrapper and he hastily tore 
 it open. It proved to be a consular report from 
 Uruguay, one of the South American republics and 
 he idly wondered who had sent it as he began to 
 turn the leaves. Suddenly his attention was drawn 
 to an introductory passage printed in full-face at 
 the top of a page. 
 
 **In this district the ostrich is found in great num- 
 bers," he read. ''The feathers are a source of constant 
 income and the eggs form one of the chief staples of 
 food for the country people." 
 
 The paragraph roused a new train of thought. 
 Since that fateful evening in Jerusalem, it had come 
 to be a conviction with him that the ostrich in some 
 way was to help solve the great problem of poverty. 
 
 According to this authority, here was a country 
 abounding in ostriches that could be studied and 
 
 158 
 
TRANSFERRING A CHARGE 
 
 probably brought back to his own land if he wished 
 to bring them. 
 
 Since his return from the far North he had been 
 storing up such knowledge as would be likely to help 
 him most in further travels. Only his wish to make 
 the last days of the different members of the Romwitz 
 family as happy as possible had kept him in New 
 York for so long. Now that Ann had promised to 
 oversee the education of Felix, he was free once more. 
 He found an evening paper and looked up the 
 steamer sailings south. Afterwards, resuming his 
 seat, he picked up his pen and began writing. It 
 was almost two hours before he stopped. Then he 
 folded a dozen or more closely written sheets of pa- 
 per, sealed them in an envelope and addressed the 
 letter to Ann. 
 
 The following afternoon at the moment when Mrs. 
 Van Siddons placed this letter in the girl's hands, 
 Peter was leaning over the rail of a coastwise steamer 
 watching New York Harbor slowly drop behind. 
 
 159 
 
XII 
 
 ON THE WRONG TRACK 
 
 " I SHALL not see you again for a long time — perhaps 
 for years. But what difference can that make to 
 you or to me, if our friendship has grown deep enough 
 and broad enough to be real? Neither time nor dis- 
 tance can separate us then. 
 
 **You will no doubt be surprised at my sudden 
 departure, but I owe to you much of my eagerness 
 to be off. I have been restless to go for a long time. 
 Only the sufferings of the members of that poor family 
 whom I learned to love kept me here. Now they 
 are all gone, save Felix, and you are to become his 
 mentor. I could not leave him in better hands. He 
 promises to grow up a splendid, fine specimen of a 
 youth and under your tutelage he cannot fail to 
 fuiiil that promise. 
 
 *'I am going to South America. I have learned 
 by chance, to-night, that ostriches are found there. 
 You and the old sheik near Alexandria have con- 
 vinced me that I must study this bird closely. If I 
 should find ostriches in South America, it might 
 save me a trip to more distant parts of the world, 
 and thus I may arrive the sooner at the great 
 
 i6o 
 
ON THE WRONG TRACK 
 
 truths that we both so eagerly long to see laid before 
 mankind. 
 
 ^'I shall never give up the work that I have under- 
 taken. 
 
 ^'Because I feared that to see you again would cause 
 me to waver — even put off my journey altogether^ 
 I am writing you my good-bye. I shall not return 
 imtil I succeed in my aims, but I want to tell you, 
 if you do not already know, that whatever I accom- 
 plish I always shall owe a debt to the influence of 
 your spirit and your mind." 
 
 Ann sat for a long time in silence when she had 
 
 finished reading the letter. 
 
 ********** 
 
 It was a perfect day in the tropics, mild and balmy 
 and with a gentle breeze blowing from the uplands 
 when Peter, sitting astride a mule, rode past the last 
 of the thatched huts that marked the boundary 
 line of Piedmos, a tiny BraziUan village, and gazed 
 along the level highway stretching ahead. 
 
 He was entering the promised ostrich country where 
 he had high hopes of obtaining a flock of the birds to 
 take back with him to the states. 
 
 After three months of travel, partly by train and 
 partly by muleback among the natives and Latin- 
 Americans he had begun to experience a sense of 
 congeniahty with his tropical surroundings. 
 
 He had come by way of Barbados, first to Para at 
 the mouth of the Amazon. Besides Bahia, Victoria, 
 
 i6i 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 San Salvador and Rio Janeiro, he had visited many 
 lesser cities and towns, progressing from place to 
 place by slow stages and observing carefully both the 
 peoples and the industrial conditions as he went. 
 
 On every hand he had found surprises. 
 
 Being a geologist and well versed in botany and 
 mineralogy, it had not taken him long to realize the 
 marvellous richness of the forests and mines of Brazil. 
 He learned from personal observations that the 
 country held inestimable resources of precious woods 
 and other forest products of great value, and he soon 
 discovered that these sources of wealth as yet had 
 hardly been touched. Besides there were the illimita- 
 ble Brazilian plains stretching for hundreds of miles 
 in every direction, that afforded pasturage for count- 
 less thousands of sheep and cattle. 
 
 During his trip down the coast he had been the 
 guest of coffee planters, rubber growers and lumber 
 and mining magnates whose wealth had grown in a 
 few years from practically nothing to millions. He 
 also observed the thousands of shiftless, half-caste 
 peoples who had to be driven to perform the labor of 
 the country. The rich land owners and these peons 
 were a contrasting object-lesson in the superiority 
 of personal initiative and intelligent effort over 
 laziness and lack of thought. 
 
 Lea\dng the village behind, he had ridden for more 
 than a mile along a dusty road fringed with palms 
 and other tropical trees that grew thinner as he 
 
 162 
 
ON THE WRONG TRACK 
 
 advanced, when all at once there burst into view a 
 low-lying, hacienda residence, white-painted and 
 half-surrounded by wide, cool-looking verandas. 
 
 Beyond the farm buildings was an extensive plain 
 with a background of trees, and close to the edge 
 of this grove appeared a large flock of huge birds 
 feeding or moving about. 
 
 ''The ostriches at last," Peter thought, and his 
 conviction was soon confirmed. 
 
 Don Miguel, the owner of the plantation, proved a 
 most hospitable host. The Castilian had difficulty 
 in restraining his curiosity, however, when Peter 
 declared that he had come from the north, chiefly 
 to see and study the South American ostrich. 
 
 ''Do not dismount. We will go at once and you 
 shall inspect the birds as long as it pleases you," 
 the Don declared, after sending a servant for a mule. 
 
 Driving across the fields, they approached to 
 within less than a hundred yards before the host 
 reined in his animal and motioned Peter to halt. All 
 at once the birds seemed to become curious. Far 
 from displaying timidity, one by one with bobbing 
 heads the great bipeds began to stalk calmly toward 
 their visitors. Soon the flock had gathered about 
 the two men. It required only a brief glance for 
 Peter to satisfy his interest, for he perceived that 
 this short-feathered, three-toed biped was not a 
 real ostrich, but an emu, a member of the same family 
 and much resembling the ostrich, but of a commercial 
 
 163 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 value infinitely inferior to that of the large-plumed 
 bird. Turning to his host, he said : 
 
 ^'Senor, your ostrich no longer interests me." 
 
 "You thought that our birds were like those of 
 Africa and the eastern countries?" questioned the 
 host, beginning to understand. "Our ostriches are 
 of quite a different sort. The peons use the feathers 
 for rugs and the flesh and eggs for food; otherwise our 
 birds have a comparatively small commercial value. 
 It would be a great asset to the country if they were 
 worth more, for there are thousands throughout the 
 south and west here. In many places they are so 
 tame that they prove a great nuisance." 
 
 A little later Peter bade his host farewell, and made 
 his way to the railroad station in Piedmos, whence he 
 reached Rio Janeiro late that evening. 
 
 In spite of the dashing of his hopes concerning the 
 ostrich, he decided to spend several weeks longer in 
 this country of opportunity. 
 
 A day or two later he sailed on a small steamer for 
 Santos where he was the guest of one of the largest 
 coffee growers in Brazil, his host owning five hun- 
 dred thousand coffee- trees and employing over five 
 thousand laborers and servants. 
 
 While on this trip, Peter got an insight into the 
 methods used to manipulate the price of coffee. In 
 Brazil, producing three-fourths of the supply of coffee 
 used and capable of a production which would over- 
 stock every market of the world, he found that a 
 
 164 
 
ON THE WRONG TRACK 
 
 drastic law prohibited the further planting of coffee- 
 trees for several years to come. As an example of the 
 methods used by the coffee growers' combination to 
 lessen the export supply, Peter saw whole trainloads 
 of the aromatic berry, that had been purchased from 
 independent growers at four cents a pound, shovelled 
 overboard into Santos Harbor. And he also got a 
 new object-lesson in Yankee shrewdness in the in- 
 genious Cape Cod captain who took advantage of 
 the situation to load his vessel with free coffee 
 drawn up from the harbor bottom by means of a 
 suction pump. 
 
 Proceeding to beautiful Buenos Ayres, he toured 
 the great wheat fields and stock farms of Argentina, 
 Paraguay and Uruguay. Never before had he beheld 
 such seemingly inexhaustible possibilities for wealth 
 as Argentina alone presented with its hundreds 
 of millions of cattle and sheep and its two hundred 
 and forty million acres of unequalled wheat and 
 corn land — enough to supply half the world if it were 
 all utilized for crops. 
 
 Later he travelled by train six hundred and fifty 
 miles over the fertile pampas to Mendoza, whence 
 he crossed the Andes and journeyed through the states 
 of Chile and Peru. 
 
 It was at the close of this expedition, and just 
 before he set out for the eastern coast again to sail 
 for London, that he took part in the most exciting 
 episode of the journey. 
 
 165 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 He was visiting the owner of a great plantation 
 near the foothills of the Andes. When his host, 
 Senor Ouyella, mentioned that a man-killing, wild 
 boar had recently been proving troublesome, Peter, 
 who had never hunted one of these animals, proposed 
 that he and his host go after the beast. 
 
 "He's a devilishly nasty -tempered brute," the 
 senor declared. "Five times the Indians who have 
 tried to pot him with clubs, have brought back one 
 of their number either badly mangled or dead. The 
 beast is a fox, too. He won't run in the open. If 
 you want to get a shot, you've got to hunt him on 
 foot. Then he gets you. Besides, he's hard to 
 kill. The Indians think his hide's bullet-proof." 
 This story of the boar's prowess increased Peter's 
 wish to make the hunt, with the result that the 
 planter finally despatched six half-breeds to locate 
 the whereabouts of the quarry. Then, in the 
 late afternoon when the heat of the woods was 
 beginning to diminish, the two set out armed and 
 mounted. 
 
 Soon they had entered a wonderful forest. Fes- 
 toons of tropical vines with scarlet, yellow and white 
 blossoms everywhere filled the air with an intox- 
 icating fragrance, while high above the intertwined 
 branches of the primeval trees arrayed themselves 
 like the arches of a mighty cathedral. Occasionally 
 a leafy pathway, green with moss and tender shoots, 
 would stretch out ahead. Then the underbrush 
 
 i66 
 
ON THE WRONG TRACK 
 
 would grow denser and again thicken above, increas- 
 ing the late afternoon shadows. 
 
 ''The men will take to the trees if the brute rushes 
 them. They will look after themselves. Stick to 
 your mule. Don't go where the fox can ambush 
 you or your animal; he's got a pair of dangerous 
 hoofs." Such admonitions from his host caused 
 Peter to smile secretly, though he held firmly to his 
 rifle and kept close vigilance on the path ahead. 
 
 They had proceeded about a mile when suddenly 
 the narrow path broadened into a clearing, from the 
 opposite end of which ran two aisle-like vistas, sep- 
 arated by a wall of foliage. The planter, who was a 
 little in advance, turned his animal into the left-hand 
 pathway, thinking that Peter would follow. The 
 latter, however, catching a glimpse of one of the 
 bush-beaters crossing the right-hand aisle, forgot his 
 host in the excitement of the moment, and digging 
 his heels into the mule's sides, started in the direction 
 of the black. 
 
 He had ridden perhaps twenty yards when his 
 attention was attracted by a sudden commotion in the 
 bushes at one side, and slowing down, he caught 
 sight of a fawn, evidently but a few days old, entan- 
 gled in a mass of \dnes and bushes, struggling \Yi\d\y 
 to extricate itself. 
 
 Forgetful of his host's previous warning, Peter 
 jumped to the ground and ran to capture the fright- 
 ened baby, but hardly had he laid hands upon it when 
 
 167 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 his ears were assailed by a succession of hideous 
 roars behind him. Turning, he beheld his mule 
 galloping away with a frightful bellowing, while a 
 beady-eyed, villanous-looking wild boar, its brown- 
 ish-gray body humped up with rage, stood over the 
 rifle which he had dropped in his eagerness to capture 
 the fawn. 
 
 When Peter looked round, the boar had not seen 
 him, but as he let go the fawn, the frantic tugging 
 of the frightened little animal instantly drew the 
 attention of the quarry. 
 
 Peter had barely time to swing himself into the 
 lower branches of a nearby tree when the infuriated 
 brute charged. 
 
 And now occurred an encounter such as few have 
 ever witnessed. 
 
 Peter had barely settled himself safely above the 
 danger on the ground, when a new sound resembling 
 the hiss of escaping air as the brakes are released 
 on a railway train, rose above him. Looking up, 
 he was horrified to see a monster boa-constrictor 
 stretched out upon the branches with its mouth 
 agape and its eyes ablaze with such a rage as made 
 the fury of the lank brute below seem insignificant 
 by comparison. 
 
 For a moment Peter felt himself lost. Then he 
 noticed that the reptile's eyes were fixed not upon 
 himself, but upon the ground below him. Looking 
 down, he saw that the wild boar, in tossing up the dirt 
 
 i63 
 
ON THE WRONG TRACK 
 
 and moss with its sharp hoofs, had inadvertently 
 unearthed a trio of baby snakes, evidently the chil- 
 dren of the reptile above. But not content with 
 having disturbed the snakes, the mad animal was 
 now bent upon destroying them. 
 
 What ensued happened with incredible swiftness. 
 Just as the boar had fixed its teeth in the back of 
 one of the baby snakes, a black streak suddenly shot 
 down through the air from an upper branch, and in 
 the twinkling of an eye a double coil had been gath- 
 ered squarely round the belly of the boar. Taken 
 by surprise, the beast had barely time to emit a final 
 half-roar, half-scream, when a sudden tightening of 
 the snake's folds crushed the tough, hairy body as 
 easily as if it had been an eggshell. 
 
 Peter, who had dropped to the groimd, was running 
 toward the spot where his gun lay when the sound 
 of a rifle-shot followed by the ^^ping" of a Mauser 
 bullet caused him to turn. As he did so, he saw the 
 snake's tail loose itself from the limb above and fall 
 limply. Then suddenly the great folds relaxed their 
 vise-like grip upon the dead victim, writhed and 
 twisted on the ground for a moment and finally grew 
 still. 
 
 Then Peter heard the voice of his host sa3dng: 
 
 *' A lucky escape for you, senor." 
 
 The next morning he bade the planter good-bye 
 and started for Buenos Ayres, whence his long jour- 
 ney across the ocean was to begin. 
 
 169 
 
XIII 
 SOME EVILS AND A CURE 
 
 Nearly six months later Peter Rutledge, dusty 
 and somewhat lean and gaunt-cheeked from the 
 tedium of much study and travel, but pleased with 
 the results of his investigations, alighted at the rail- 
 way station in Naples. 
 
 Ann Newman, her face wreathed in smiles, came 
 forward to meet him. 
 
 Ann was on her way to Switzerland to join Mrs. 
 Van Siddons, having landed from the New York 
 steamer the night before. In a letter from America 
 she had mentioned her intention of going abroad, and 
 Peter, being then almost ready to start on his long- 
 planned journey into lower Egypt and Abyssinia, 
 had suggested this meeting. The girl had planned 
 the details of their day's outing, the night before. 
 
 After the first greetings, they entered the motor 
 car that stood waiting, and soon were riding between 
 vine-clad hills along the road leading to the ruins 
 of an ancient Italian castle which the girl wished to 
 explore. The structure proved to be an interesting 
 relic of bygone days, and the forenoon was more than 
 half-gone when, a little breathless from following the 
 
 170 
 
SOME EVILS AND A CURE 
 
 garrulous Latin guide up and down gloomy stair- 
 ways and through ancient banquet-hall, ducal chamber 
 and rat-infested dungeon, the two friends sat down 
 together upon a moss-covered parapet overlooking 
 the beautiful blue of the distant bay of Naples. 
 
 ^' Felix is growing into a splendid type of youth, 
 clear-headed and intelligent. You will be impressed 
 with my preceptorship when you see him again," the 
 girl gayly boasted. "Your godmother is still at 
 Bern; I am to meet her there. ]\Iax and Alicia 
 are at home, as happy and contented as turtle-doves." 
 Thus disposing of the essentials at one and the same 
 time, she suddenly looked up at him seriously, from 
 beneath the broad brim of her rose-colored hat, and 
 exclaimed : 
 
 "And now tell me of yourseK. Tell me ever^lhing 
 that you have seen or done." 
 
 It thrilled him to note the interest which her 
 direct words and the earnestness of her manner 
 indicated. 
 
 "I am beginning to imderstand what is the great- 
 est thing in the world," he replied. "Since I landed 
 in England last year, I've held close to one purpose, 
 and that was to see human conditions as they really 
 are. In doing that, I've learned some useful truths. 
 I'm glad that you and I have always believed there 
 was an infallible remedy for poverty. There is. 
 Listen, and I'll tell you what has made me so 
 certain. 
 
 171 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "In London I was introduced to Sir John Kirk, 
 president of the Ragged Schools. He is a remarkable 
 man whose life is being spent in behalf of the children 
 of the slums. His kindness enabled me to study 
 at first hand the dreadful and almost unbelievable 
 conditions surrounding the poor wretches of London. 
 I wonder if you would like to hear of what I saw 
 in the English slums?" he asked, pausing. 
 
 She nodded in reply. 
 
 ''There are no slums anywhere else like them. I 
 suppose it is partly because England is so over-popu- 
 lated," he continued. ''The 'Land of Promise' 
 Street is twelve feet wide and fourteen hundred 
 feet long, but Sir John Kirk and his friends of the 
 missions take as many as six hundred poor children 
 from the 'Land of Promise' Street alone, when the 
 annual summer vacation trips are allotted among the 
 slum children. You can guess from that how many 
 people live there. 
 
 "As you enter the street, you find a beer saloon 
 at each corner. A few days before my visit, a po- 
 liceman was murdered there in broad daylight. If 
 you were to travel that short fourteen hundred feet 
 in the winter time, you would see swarms of children 
 clad only in pieces of old bagging or a few rags. Win- 
 ter and summer they go half-naked. Everybody is 
 destitute. Everybody is starving. Nothing thrives 
 there except the grog-shop and vermin. The people 
 live mostly in one-room tenements, six, eight, and 
 
 172 
 
SOME EVILS AND A CURE 
 
 nine in a room, and some of these rooms are under- 
 ground with only a small aperture overhead for light 
 and air. It costs five dollars a month for a room 
 like that, eight feet long and ten feet wide. 
 
 *' If you went into London's East Side at noon-time 
 when the whistle blows announcing the free noon 
 meal, you would see these poor wretches pouring like 
 rodents, tattered and gaunt, from underground cellars 
 and dreadful dens of gloom and filth, rushing franti- 
 cally to obtain the precious tickets which entitle the 
 lucky holders to a free dinner. 
 
 *'It is a pitiful sight to witness two or three thou- 
 sand starving wretches madly stumbling over each 
 other in their eagerness to obtain the warmth and 
 comfort which the building where they are served 
 provides them. It is the only joy that they have in 
 Hfe. 
 
 "In ^Land of Promise' Street, in Hoxton Street, in 
 Kingsland Road and over a vast area that resembles 
 a plague spot in the heart of London, these scenes 
 of squalor, misery and degradation are of daily 
 occurrence. Yet millions of dollars are annually 
 poured out by the English societies and church 
 people for the saving of souls in foreign lands. 
 
 "As bad as they are, these loathsome quarters of 
 destitution would be a thousand times worse, were 
 it not for such men as Sir John Kirk and the brothers 
 John Burtt and Le^vis Burtt. John and Lewis Burtt 
 run a saddler's shop in the heart of the slum quarter, 
 
 173 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 but they give all they earn and all they can beg for 
 the sake of the poor about them. 
 
 "What makes all this seem doubly terrible is that 
 hundreds of fathers and mothers, and children also, 
 go day after day and month after month vainly look- 
 ing for work." 
 
 "Is it so hard to find employment?" asked Ann. 
 
 "Let me tell you about the chemical workers of 
 St. Helens and the chain workers of Cradley Heath; 
 that will help you to understand better the awfulness 
 of the bondage that lays upon these overcrowded 
 people in England." He seemed almost to have for- 
 gotten her presence now. He was talking rapidly, as 
 if the pictures which he brought up had burned 
 themselves into his mind. 
 
 "In St. Helens there are eighty thousand people 
 who produce principally coal, glass, pills, chemical 
 products, cripples and paupers. There are a great 
 many cripples and paupers, thousands of them, men 
 who at forty have been wrung dry of health, strength 
 and spirit. Twenty-five per cent, of the poorhouse 
 inmates there are former chemical workers. I had 
 not dreamed that Hell could be as bad as the house 
 of death where the chemical workers of St. Helens 
 are employed. 
 
 "The place reminds me of a picture in Dante's 
 Inferno. The clouds of half-consumed gases that 
 always hang over the city obscure the sky. Sun- 
 shine is as rare as gold there. 
 
 174 
 
SOME EVILS AND A CURE 
 
 "The chemical men work in a temperature often 
 as high as 120 degrees. The air they breathe is satu- 
 rated with the poison of many gases which, in a few 
 years, breaks down the health of the strongest person. 
 It rots the workingman's clothes; it burns away his 
 shoes; it destroys his teeth, hair and skin. To 
 supply courage to keep himself at work and to lessen 
 the anguish of his task, he is driven to consume large 
 amounts of beer and whiskey. These workers, if they 
 can stand the pace, labor from twelve to fourteen 
 hours a day, and they make from seventy-five cents 
 to one dollar and ninety cents a day. Yet there is 
 never a dearth of chemical workers and when one 
 falls or plays out there are always others to take his 
 place." 
 
 "Those are terrible facts," she said. 
 
 He went on as if he had not heard her: 
 
 "Some of the things taken for granted in England 
 are ghastly. The spectacle of the men and women 
 chain workers of Cradley Heath seems worse than 
 that — it beggars description. 
 
 "At Cradley you see white-haired old women bend- 
 ing beneath fifty pounds or more of chain borne on 
 their shoulders; they wield great hammers before 
 blazing furnaces; and they are happy if by doing so 
 they can earn four cents an hour. You see mothers 
 there working at the chain-making business with 
 nursing babes in their arms. 
 
 "The men of Cradley who stand all day long in 
 
 175 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 the terrific heat of many roaring furnaces and seeth- 
 ing cauldrons think themselves lucky if they can make 
 eight dollars for a full week's work. The strain is 
 so terrific that few men can hold out over four days 
 a week. As at St. Helens, men at Cradley Heath are 
 worn out by the time they reach forty; some give up 
 when younger. 
 
 "These are the physical horrors that accompany 
 what they term high-wage work. In what is called 
 the domestic workshop at Cradley, the women earn 
 a maximum of one dollar and a half a week of six 
 work-days of twelve hours each. One married couple 
 there works one hundred and twenty hours a week to 
 earn four dollars and fifty cents. Women often work 
 to within an hour or two of childbirth." 
 
 "But surely such conditions do not prevail all 
 over England?" interposed Ann, horrified at this 
 picture of servitude. 
 
 "So many thousands still have to endure such 
 things that, though the evil is not universal, it is 
 indeed mighty and menacing," he answered. "As 
 a matter of fact, high wages are unusual in England. 
 Just before I left London one of the large printing- 
 houses there had a compositor arrested on the charge 
 of defrauding the firm out of twenty-five cents. At 
 the trial it was brought out that the man's wages 
 were three dollars and eighty-five cents a week. He 
 had a wife and three children. He cheated to get 
 medicine for a sick baby." 
 
 176 
 
SOME EVILS AND A CURE 
 
 ''What is the cause of all this?" asked the girl. 
 "It seems as if there must be some very definite 
 reason for it." 
 
 "The cause, in England, is easy to ascertain," 
 replied Peter. "Poverty conditions are sapping the 
 vitaHty of the Empire because of the appalHngly 
 erroneous economic system of land ownership. 
 No octopus of wealth ever more completely throttled 
 the growth of a country than does the land trust of 
 the English lords. It can be called hardly less than 
 a trust. Five hundred and twenty-five English 
 nobles own over one quarter of all the land in Eng- 
 land. Seven lords own more than thirty-two hun- 
 dred acres in the heart of London. That land is 
 estimated to be worth three billion, two hundred 
 million dollars. In many places in England young 
 men and women cannot marry because there is 
 nowhere for them to build a house, and this happens 
 often where there are miles of splendid forest and 
 unused lands lying all about. The land is impossi- 
 ble of acquisition because it is retained as a game 
 preserve by the lords of the manor. 
 
 "But there is a brighter side to living conditions 
 in England," he went on. "A host of the people 
 have lost all sense of resentment against the evils 
 which press them down. Indeed, their inertia has 
 continued so long that they have reached the con- 
 dition where the idea of helping themselves does 
 not appeal to them in the least. But those minus 
 
 177 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 such initiative are diminishing before the thousands 
 who have learned the secret of Hving co-operatively. 
 
 "I have endeavored to make a comparative study 
 of methods employed in different countries to better 
 the condition of the poor and my observations 
 indicate that the same general principle actuates 
 every effective plan for helping the great mass of 
 the people. 
 
 "The beginning of England's present-day army of 
 co-operative workers embodies a story of the heroism 
 of a few men who thought for themselves. What 
 they did launched a great force which is now pene- 
 trating to every land and helping to Hghten the hard- 
 ships of all who choose to profit by it. The story of 
 these men interests me, and I think it will interest 
 you. 
 
 "In 1844 twenty-eight flannel weavers in Roch- 
 dale decided to start a co-operative store. They 
 were terribly poor; wages were exceedingly low and 
 work was scarce; but they managed to get together 
 twenty-eight pounds, two and three pence at a time, 
 and opened their little shop. 
 
 "They had at first only four articles to sell — 
 butter, flour, sugar and oatmeal, for there was not 
 enough money to buy anything else. But the in- 
 fluence of that little store began to spread at once. 
 Anyone who wished could take out a share and with 
 a small payment down, the profits from the share- 
 holders' purchases could be left to complete the 
 
 178 
 
SOME EVILS AND A CURE 
 
 payment on the original stock. Every share drew 
 interest at five per cent. The rest of the profits were 
 divided in proportion to the amount of purchases 
 of each stockholder. The first share or two, while 
 transferable, could not be withdrawn, but the profits 
 from purchases could be left in the business until 
 they amounted to about a thousand dollars. 
 
 *'The experiment proved a success from the start. 
 In fifteen years it had resulted in a seventy-five- 
 thousand-dollar co-operative business, and now co- 
 operative stores, factories, mills and wholesale houses 
 are wide-spread in England. 
 
 **The co-operative wholesale society of Manchester 
 alone, employing over fifteen thousand persons 
 and having more than one thousand one hundred 
 and fifty retail societies, represents a membership of 
 over a million and a half of people and a total annual 
 profit of more than twenty millions of dollars. This 
 society owns its own steamships, foreign depots, 
 tea estates in the Far East and a number of creameries 
 and farms. All over England the same principle has 
 wakened the workingman to a sense of personal 
 power." 
 
 The girl had sat silently listening to his words. 
 Now she asked: 
 
 ''And you say that you found this principle in 
 operation in other countries?" 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "at every step in my travels, 
 as often as I began to analyze an industrial situation 
 
 179 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 which promised material advantages to all, I found 
 that the co-operative idea was involved. 
 
 "Let me give you a picture of a man in Germany, 
 one of the humble philosophers of a few years back, 
 who caught the spirit of co-operation from the weavers 
 of Rochdale and set himself to the work of helping 
 his countrymen. His name was Raiffeison — Fried- 
 rich Wilhelm Raiffeison, a burgomaster in barren 
 Westerwald, in the Rhine country. He was twenty- 
 six years old when the Rochdale weavers started 
 their store. As soon as he realized what their ex- 
 periment could be made to mean to his neighbors, 
 he set about putting it into practice for their benefit. 
 These men, mostly farmers, suffered terribly from 
 lack of capital and the ruinously high prices paid for 
 fertilizer; they were being constantly robbed by 
 money-lenders and cheated in the markets; they had 
 no money with which to buy modern machinery. 
 
 "In 1849 Raiffeison came forward with his co- 
 operative loan bank by means of which it was made 
 possible for those who needed money to borrow small 
 sums upon the joint responsibility of all. The bank 
 was a little association of neighbors. In five years 
 Raiffeison established another of these banks, and 
 in eight years still another. Finally, they began 
 to spread and now they are counted by the thousands 
 in many lands." 
 
 "And what about Italy?" Ann asked. 
 
 "I would like to take you on a visit to Milan," he 
 
 180 
 
SOME EVILS AND A CURE 
 
 answered. "After having seen Naples with its 
 atmosphere of neglect and poverty, the beauty and 
 cleanliness of that lovely city in Lombardy would 
 teach you what the intelligent Italian has accom- 
 plished by working co-operatively. Milan is one 
 of the clean cities of the world. Its streets are 
 splendidly paved and spotless; it is replete with 
 handsome parks and public buildings; but w^hat you 
 notice there more than anything else is the spirit 
 of industrial happiness that pervades all classes. 
 The principle of co-operation permeates business 
 thoroughly. No better illustration can be had of 
 what people can achieve, working together, than is 
 presented by Milan. 
 
 "It is the same wherever the co-operative idea has 
 been tried: men and women seem to have progressed 
 in the social scale and are the happiest. Agri- 
 cultural co-operation has made Denmark, next to 
 England, the richest country, in proportion to its 
 population, in Europe. In France the influence of 
 productive co-operation is rapidly knitting together 
 the working classes and bringing the whole nation 
 up to a plane of greater intelligence and prosperity. 
 Indeed it is a world principle which can be applied 
 to all classes for the advantage of all." 
 
 " Is it a remedy for poverty in our country? '' asked 
 Ann, turning her eyes gravely toward him. 
 
 "It is a remedy for people everywhere, '^ he an- 
 swered. 
 
 i8i 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Suddenly a startled expression flashed over the 
 girl's face as her eyes focussed upon an automobile 
 crawling up the roadway toward the castle: 
 
 ^'Look, our chauffeur is returning! How fast the 
 time has gone! Shall you come with me to 
 Bern?" 
 
 *'No," he answered, looking at her intently, ^'I 
 am off to Brindisi to-night. From there I shall go 
 to Port Said and then on to find the mysterious 
 queen of whom the sheik told me. Do you remem- 
 ber?" 
 
 Ann's eyes grew round with interest, and he saw 
 her press her hands together. 
 
 ^' You are going to solve the mystery of the ostrich? " 
 she asked. 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 *'You are brave," she said, "and determined. I 
 am glad that you are going and yet I shall be anxious 
 until you return, for Africa is full of dangers and 
 when your life is in peril — " 
 
 They had both risen, and the man now took a step 
 toward her, his eyes alight with happiness and hope. 
 But as he did so, she raised one hand, saying: 
 
 *'Do not forget our agreement." Then with down- 
 cast eyes: "It is time that we were hastening back." 
 
 A little ruefully he followed her down over the moss- 
 carpeted stairways of the castle and out into the 
 courtyard where the car stood waiting. 
 
 182 
 
XIV 
 
 "I FORBID YOU, MONSIEUR" 
 
 Having seen Ann safely ensconced on the night 
 express, Peter had barely time to collect his baggage 
 and fling himself into a railway compartment before 
 his own train started for Brindisi. 
 
 As he lay wrapped in his travelling rug, he found it 
 hard to detach his thoughts from the girl to whom 
 he had just said good-bye. Yet there was a grim 
 determination in the set of his jaw now. He realized 
 that he was bound upon an unusual quest. The 
 great principle which had gradually been unfolding 
 itself before him during his travels on the Continent 
 had become an inspiration to him. He was more 
 than interested — he was filled with eagerness to find 
 out all about the ostrich, no matter what perils the 
 work of gaining that knowledge might entail. 
 
 During the trip across the Mediterranean and down 
 the Red Sea to Aden he was buoyed up by his deter- 
 mination. When the steamer left him at the latter 
 place, standing on the wharf with his baggage beside 
 him and with many curious eyes set in foreign faces 
 staring at him \vith suspicion from all sides, he began 
 to realize that he was facing an experience in which 
 
 183 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 much would undoubtedly depend upon the decision 
 of the moment. Beckoning to a weather-beaten 
 Arab and accosting the man in the native tongue, 
 Peter asked for a captain to take him to Shaliti. 
 
 The latter place, since it was the gateway to the 
 heart of Abyssinia, was to be his point of departure 
 into the desert. Come what might, he intended to 
 follow out the directions of the old sheik who had 
 bidden him seek the mysterious and all-wise queen 
 at the head waters of the Blue Nile. 
 
 Replying to Peter's inquiry, the old man, who was 
 plainly nonplussed at finding himself addressed, in 
 his owTi tongue, by this white-skinned American, 
 hastened to explain that he would take the sahib to 
 Shaliti in his own packet, which at that moment was 
 ready to set out on a fishing trip. 
 
 After a minute of bargaining, a price was agreed 
 upon and Peter was conducted on board an unpainted 
 and dilapidated little sloop which lay tied up at an 
 exceedingly dirty and ill -smelling, nearby wharf. 
 
 Peter had learned from the chance remark of an 
 Englishman with whom he had become acquainted 
 on his way across the Mediterranean that, for dip- 
 lomatic reasons, a strict oversight of all arriving 
 strangers was being maintained along the east coast. 
 Peter's informant, however, had not made clear what 
 the reasons were for this surveillance. 
 
 Just before the leaky, little sloop, with much 
 creaking of rusty blocks and yelling of naked sailors, 
 
 184 
 
"I FORBID YOU, MONSIEUR" 
 
 dropped anchor in the harbor of Shaliti the captain 
 furnished the answer to this riddle. Upon hearing 
 Peter assert that he intended to cross the desert 
 and hunt in Abyssinia, the grizzled Arab had spread 
 out his hands and said: 
 
 *' Unless the sahib is very powerful and rich, the 
 military will not allow him to make the journey. 
 The great governors across the water intend to forbid 
 the export of the ostrich. While the conference over 
 this is going on between the French, the Italians and 
 the English, it is necessary that no one shall take out 
 any birds. That is, sahib, the great law covering all 
 the land has not been made, but it is all the same as 
 if it had." 
 
 Thus, at the first step, Peter found himself facing 
 what might prove a most serious hindrance to his 
 plans. He was exceedingly glad that the Arab had 
 forewarned him. It would undoubtedly aid him in 
 getting started on his journey. 
 
 After being rowed ashore in full view of the govern- 
 ment buildings and the military post, there remained 
 nothing for him to do but to openly make his way to 
 the governor's office. There he found a thick-set, 
 iron-gray man, clad in white linen, cut a la militaire, 
 sitting before a large desk in a cool, well-ventilated 
 office on the second floor, busily engaged in writing. 
 
 Introducing himself, Peter explained that he wished 
 to make a journey into Abyssinia. Instantly the 
 governor's face lighted with interest. 
 
 i8s 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "Would monsieur object to telling his reasons for 
 undertaking this dangerous journey?" 
 
 After Peter had explained that he wished to explore 
 the country and try his hand at big game shooting, 
 the other asked; 
 
 ''How many men do you propose to take with 
 you?" 
 
 "Oh, a guide or two," replied Peter. 
 
 "Monsieur will do well to take my advice and 
 forego his journey." The man's curiosity was grow- 
 ing: "Has monsieur ever travelled across the 
 desert? " 
 
 Peter shook his head. 
 
 "There are many risks." 
 
 "I beg that Your Excellency grant me a permit to 
 proceed." 
 
 "It is a folly that you suggest, Monsieur Rutledge! 
 The wild tribes of the desert are very dangerous now. 
 To undertake this incomprehensible trip with only a 
 guide or two and minus the protection of fighting 
 men is madness." 
 
 Peter shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " It is courting death," the man continued. "White 
 men, especially those unused to the dangers of the 
 desert, fall easy victims to the lawless Bedouins. 
 They are greatly enraged with the Christians just 
 now because of troubles in the south. These 
 men attack and plunder with great courage. Our 
 troops seldom dare to travel far in squads of less 
 
 i86 
 
«I FORBID YOU, MONSIEUR" 
 
 than fifty. Savage encounters have grown frequent 
 of late." 
 
 *'But I am willing to risk it, Your Excellency." 
 The stubborn note in the American's voice seemed to 
 irritate the older man. For a moment there was a 
 dead silence in the room. Then with a hardly re- 
 pressed scowl, the Frenchman said: 
 
 **We have discussed it enough. I forbid you to 
 attempt this foolhardy trip, monsieur. I cannot 
 grant you a permit to leave Shaliti. I shall be 
 obliged to arrest you if you disobey." 
 
 187 
 
XV 
 ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 The hint of a frown still lingered on His Excel- 
 lency's face as Peter bowed and withdrew to the 
 street. He was still puzzKng over the perplexing 
 situation created by the dictum of the governor when 
 he heard a voice at his elbow saying: 
 
 ^'The white sahib wears the signet ring of friend- 
 ship bestowed by the great queen of Rhadan. Arnak 
 knows the token well." The dark eyes of a tall, 
 slender, grave-faced Arab were fixed upon him as he 
 turned. 
 
 "The great queen — " he asked. 
 
 "The sahib wears her gift and yet knows her not?" 
 There was perplexity in the voice. "Zar is rever- 
 enced by Arab and Black alike. Neither the wise 
 men of the desert nor the medicine men of the hill 
 tribes possess the wisdom of Zar. Her word is law 
 to thousands." 
 
 Peter thrust a hand beneath the Arab's arm. 
 "The white sahib would learn more of this wonderful 
 Zar. Come, let us find a place where we can talk 
 unobserved," he said. 
 
 The native silently led the way through the narrow 
 
ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 streets, finally halting before a shadowy doorway 
 through which he ushered his companion into a small 
 and rather squalid room lighted by a single diminu- 
 tive window and a brazier of burning coals standing 
 in the centre of the floor. 
 
 ^'The sahib seeks to find the great queen," said 
 Peter, seating himself. *'Will Arnak show him the 
 way to Zar's domain?" 
 
 The other man, who had squatted before the brazier, 
 looked up quickly: 
 
 "More than a hundred leagues to the southwest, 
 across the desert and deep in the wilds of a country 
 Httle known and much feared, Zar rules. Death in 
 many forms lurks along the path to her land." 
 
 "The white sahib means to find this queen of 
 whom Arnak knows," said Peter, gravely. "He has 
 come thousands of miles on this quest. Neither 
 danger nor hardship can deter him now." 
 
 "The way lies over lonely wastes, pest-ridden 
 valleys and rock-strewn defiles that too often hide 
 savage bands waiting to prey on travellers," said the 
 Arab. "Sometimes, for days, no water is to be had. 
 The bones and skulls of many hapless men lie bleach- 
 ing along the trail. And when the sahib has passed 
 the lowlands and penetrated beyond the mountain 
 range that fringes the tropical Abyssinian fastnesses, 
 many strange-tongued and bloodthirsty tribes of 
 savage men who feed upon human flesh infest the 
 forest. In the timbered foothills, too, man-eating 
 
 189 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 lions, panthers, elephants and crocodiles are to be 
 met with everywhere. Has the white sahib counted 
 all the dangers?" 
 
 "They matter not," Peter responded, with a 
 shrug. "Will Arnak guide the sahib? He shall be 
 well paid." 
 
 The Arab paused only for a moment: 
 
 "Arnak has no choice but to obey him who speaks 
 with the authority of the all- wise Zar." 
 
 Thus, just as the moon crept past the zenith of 
 the sky that night and when his all-day confinement 
 in the stuffy Arab dwelling — where he had taken 
 refuge to avoid the governor's spies — had almost 
 exhausted Peter's patience, he felt a light hand on his 
 shoulder and heard Arnak's voice saying: 
 
 "Let the sahib follow quickly." 
 
 Traversing the inner courtyard and mounting two 
 flights of stone stairs leading up between dark walls 
 of masonry, the guide finally reached the roof of the 
 dwelling. Halting there, he pointed to a long, 
 narrow timber-piece bridging the flat roof of the 
 building upon which he stood with the one directly 
 across the street. 
 
 "Two spies are watching the house, sahib. It is 
 the only way." 
 
 For a minute Peter paused. Overhead millions of 
 stars and a crescent of silver lighted a cloudless sky; 
 beneath lurked the dark shadows of the narrow 
 street, a murky abyss where probable death waited 
 
 190 
 
ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 him who slipped from the frail bridge. At last he 
 dropped to his knees and cautiously began the per- 
 ilous passage, realizing now that he had indeed 
 begun a journey beset with danger. 
 
 Twice his nerves tautened like steel wires and 
 twice the throbbing of his pulses almost choked him 
 as the unevenly balanced timber shook beneath him. 
 A gasp of relief swept over him as he finally reached 
 the other side and again felt solid masonry under 
 his feet. 
 
 Arnak, picking his way across the treacherous 
 bridge with an almost feline agility, now led on over 
 the roofs of three buildings, down into another inner 
 courtyard, and finally out into the darkness of a 
 narrow street which, after a few minutes' walk, 
 brought them to the beach close to one end of the 
 city's wall. 
 
 ''Listen, sahib," said the Arab, halting here, "the 
 military keep careful watch at night. No one is 
 allowed to depart from Shaliti after sunset. Fifteen 
 yards away, on the other side, two soldiers are on 
 guard. Others keep watch beyond them. Here, 
 close to the water, less vigilance is maintained, for 
 the wall projects into the harbor a hundred yards 
 and no boats are permitted out after dark. To es- 
 cape, Arnak and the sahib must swim out and around 
 to the other side. Let the sahib go first. Arnak 
 will follow with the garments." 
 
 The man had already flung off his burnous and 
 
 191 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 tossed it upon a rude raft which plainly had been 
 prepared for this emergency. Peter, always a good 
 swimmer, was not long in gaining the other side of 
 the wall. There he had halted, waist-deep in the 
 water, refreshed by the bath and smiling at the 
 thought of having so easily and pleasantly outwitted 
 His Excellency, when the little raft supporting the 
 clothes suddenly shot past him and he saw the Arab, 
 now close behind, lunge forward with all his might. 
 Instantly there was a mighty swirl of waves and 
 Arnak, guiding his companion by the arm, gingerly 
 waded ashore, clutching in his fingers the handle and 
 broken blade of an Arab knife. 
 
 ^'Itiswell! Allah is good to the sahib. The tiger 
 sharks are hungry for blood. The white skin of the 
 sahib draws them into the shallows." 
 
 Peter shuddered as he hastily drew on his clothes. 
 
 *'Come." Arnak now strode forward along the 
 shore Hne. The other had barely finished dressing 
 and caught up with his shadowy form when sud- 
 denly the guide halted, stood listening a minute, and 
 then threw himself into the deep shadows of the bluff, 
 at the same time dragging Peter down with him. 
 
 ^'Diable! What was that!" The exclamations 
 were in French. 
 
 "Your ears deceive you, Pierre. There is noth- 
 ing." 
 
 A khaki-clad gendarme sprang over the bank and 
 stood outlined in the starlight, peering up and down 
 
 192 
 
ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 the beach. Both the Arab and Peter held their 
 breath. A match snapped, flamed up and went out, 
 leaving behind the glow of a burning cigarette. 
 
 ^'You are right, Jaques, it was nothing." The 
 man passed within five feet of the crouching pair and 
 climbed the bank again. 
 
 *'A Yankee arrived to-day who asked the governor 
 for permission to cross the desert alone to hunt, 
 he said, in Abyssinia. Everyone knows it is suicide 
 to travel unaccompanied on the Haud. Singularly 
 enough, the man could not be tricked into divulging 
 his real purpose, so His Excellency forbade him to 
 leave the city except as he came. Spies have been 
 set to watch the fellow.'' 
 
 *'But these Yankees are very devils for getting 
 about," said the other voice. "I'll wager this one 
 gives the governor the slip. What business he pos- 
 sibly could have had — " The voice trailed away 
 in the distance. 
 
 Without a word the two crouching figures under 
 the bank straightened up and sped along the shore 
 line to where, half a mile further on, two kneeling 
 camels and a donkey in charge of an Arab waited their 
 coming. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later Peter and Arnak had left the 
 camel-man to find his way back to Shaliti, and with 
 the donkey trailing behind, were speeding deep into 
 the heart of the desert on the backs of their fleet- 
 footed hygeens. 
 
 193 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 For seven cloudless nights and days these two now 
 played at hide-and-seek with a succession of dangers 
 such as men seldom encounter at one time, even in 
 the most remote and uncivilized corners of the world. 
 The murderous attitude which the southern Bedouins 
 had assumed toward all travellers greatly increased 
 their peril. 
 
 On the first day of the march they crouched for 
 hours with the kneeling camels and carefully hobbled 
 donkey behind a sheltering knoll, watching the move- 
 ments of a troop of circling horsemen, plainly bent 
 upon the trail of some fugitive. Peter suspected 
 that his disobedience to the governor's command had 
 already become known. They usually hid among the 
 rocks at night, thus minimizing the danger of detec- 
 tion, so much greater in the pleasanter, but more 
 frequented mimosa and palm-tree groves. On three 
 dififerent occasions their lonely camping-places were 
 beset by bands of half-starved hyenas whose boldness 
 obliged the two men to take turns keeping guard 
 during the entire night. Once a lioness stalked their 
 larder and undoubtedly would have ended Arnak's 
 career while he slept, had not Peter wakened in 
 the nick of time and sent a carefully aimed bullet 
 between the pair of yellow eyes blazing in the 
 darkness. 
 
 There was no moment of the day when they felt 
 secure from the nomadic desert pirates who, Arnak 
 declared, plundered and murdered both Christian 
 
 194 
 
ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 and Mohammedan alike. It was, indeed, a band of 
 these same fanatical marauders who wrought the 
 catastrophe which created a terrible crisis in Peter's 
 affairs. 
 
 Just before sunset on the seventh day's march, 
 when the peaks of the Abyssinian border had begun 
 to loom out of the far-off horizon, he mounted the 
 donkey and rode in search of water toward a cluster 
 of trees a little over a mile from the sheltered ravine 
 selected by Arnak for the night's encampment. 
 
 The charm of the mimosa grove, so cool and fra- 
 grant after the long day of torturous heat, tempted 
 Peter to linger beside the oasis well. The twilight 
 shadows were beginning to deepen when he swung 
 the goatskin bags over the donkey's back and started 
 on his return to camp. 
 
 As he strode on beside the patient, little, long-eared 
 beast, his soul awed by the silent immensity of sky 
 and wastes and his mind pondering upon the problem 
 of his strange predicament, the faint sound of wild 
 cries, followed by the unmistakable crack of a rifle- 
 shot, startled him to a realization of very near and 
 actual peril. 
 
 He halted the donkey and strained his eyes ahead. 
 Perhaps half the distance to camp had been covered, 
 but it was now too dark to make out what was happen- 
 ing there. He whipped up the donkey, running by 
 the animal's side until he could dimly make out the 
 rising edge of the encampment gully, ahead. 
 
 195 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Since the rifle's crack he had heard nothing. The 
 silence was ominous. Leaving the animal, Peter 
 ran swiftly forward and glanced down into the shel- 
 tered valley. 
 
 It was empty. Camels, baggage, provisions, cook- 
 ing utensils, Arnak — all were gone. He leaped into 
 the enclosure, reckless of hidden foes. The smoking 
 remains of the Arab guide's fire, scattered on every 
 side, were all that was left of the camp. 
 
 He knelt and scanned the ground. Instead of the 
 familiar imprint of camels' feet, he beheld everywhere 
 traces of horses' hoofs — many of them — and in one 
 place scattered blood drops stained the surface of a 
 rock. 
 
 For a few minutes he sat horror-stricken at the 
 tragedy. With only the loaded, six-chamber re- 
 volver in his belt, a donkey and two skins of water, 
 he must now push on alone, blindly groping his way 
 amid murderous men and savage beasts whither — 
 
 Arnak had referred to the foothills and mountains 
 in the distance as a barrier between them and Zar's 
 domain. Might they not indeed prove an insur- 
 mountable barrier to such an impoverished and help- 
 less traveller as he now seemed to be ! As he puzzled 
 over his quandary, his fingers came in contact with 
 the talisman which El-Hamed, the wealthy sheik 
 of the lower Nile, had given him so long ago, and he 
 suddenly recalled the old man's assurance: 
 
 ^'The ring will protect effendi from harm and its 
 
 196 
 
ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 magic charm will assure the hospitality of all the 
 queen's subjects. 
 
 *' Because of the talisman, Zar will come to meet 
 effendi at the boundary of her country." 
 
 The signet felt warm and strangely electrical to 
 his touch. But he was no mystic and he thought 
 with sinking heart: 
 
 *'Must I, then, be compelled to trust precious pur- 
 poses and even life to the magical power ascribed to an 
 oriental stone?" Sitting awake there, listening and 
 staring with intent and watchful eyes into the desert 
 night, it flashed upon him that all his future and the 
 future of those plans that had grown to be as the 
 fibre of his being now hung upon the thread of such 
 vague hopes as this tahsman held forth. It was too 
 late to retrace his steps; he would not have done that 
 in any case. He must push on, relying upon fate, 
 chance, accident, decrees of mysterious words, any 
 portent that held out a ray of hope. 
 
 At early dawn he started on foot towards the sum- 
 mits ahead. Beside him trudged the donkey, ladened 
 with the water-bags. He speculated much concerning 
 the fate of Arnak. Hunger overtook him, but he 
 pressed his lips together and grimly drove it back. 
 His thoughts ran ahead to his meeting with the much- 
 praised queen. He pictured himself greeting her. 
 Was she so marvellous after all? IMight not her 
 greatness have been exaggerated? Might she not 
 prove disappointing? 
 
 197 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 The mountains had grown much nearer when at 
 nightfall, famished and foot-sore, he tethered the 
 donkey in one of the ever-increasing stretches of 
 woods through which he was beginning to pass. 
 
 With much foraging he secured a scanty meal — his 
 only one for that day — consisting of a few wild berries 
 of an imrecognized species which he ravenously swal- 
 lowed after a cautious test had proven them harm- 
 less. Swarms of bloodthirsty insects now added their 
 tortures to those of hunger. He heard the roaring 
 of two lions ahead in the denser thickets, but by 
 maintaining the fire which he had built to drive 
 away the villanous winged pests he felt that he 
 would be comparatively safe from wild beasts. 
 
 At last from sheer exhaustion, and in spite of 
 troubles of mind and body, he fell into a light slumber; 
 but a little after midnight a blood-curdling braying 
 by the donkey, that had been tied to a nearby sapling, 
 brought him quickly to his feet. Almost before he 
 could gather his scattered senses the animal's bellow- 
 ing was drowned in the thunderous roar of an Abys- 
 sinian lion. 
 
 A single stick still flamed in the bed of glowing 
 coals. Snatching it up as a torch and drawing his 
 revolver, Peter dashed in the direction of the uproar 
 only to discover, much to his chagrin, that he had 
 arrived too late to rescue the unfortunate mule. For 
 as the blazing brand, flung forward, sent the huge 
 forms of a snarling lion and lioness slinking into an 
 
 198 
 
ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 adjacent thicket, he perceived his little four-footed 
 companion lying lifeless on the ground. 
 
 For the remainder of the night he sat awake near 
 the fire, his thoughts filled with many forebodings. 
 Behind lay the desert; ahead were vast stretches 
 of jungle beset with perils, even for the forest-bred 
 savages; beyond those fastnesses was the towering 
 mountain range. Of the route to Zar's kingdom he 
 knew nothing. But a strength of purpose which he 
 instinctively felt was stronger than himself possessed 
 him and conquered the despair which beset him in 
 those dark hours. 
 
 The early gray of dawn found him searching the 
 dense woods for more life-sustaining berries. At 
 sunrise, with a water-bag slung over his shoulders, 
 he was beating his way through the lowland under- 
 growth and amid serpent-haunted jungle paths 
 towards the peaks ahead. 
 
 When, gaunt-cheeked and foot-sore, he approached 
 the more elevated country, he frequently caught 
 ghmpses of herds of antelope and gazelle, and late 
 in the afternoon he burst suddenly upon a young tetel, 
 devouring the leaves of a bush less than ten yards 
 away. Heedless of all now save the cravings of him- 
 ger, he took hasty aim with his revolver and fired. 
 
 But hardly had the sound of the shot echoed across 
 the httle wooded plateau where he stood, when the 
 giant figure of a man clad in a neat-fitting khaki suit 
 and helmet of the same material stepped from behind 
 
 199 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 a nearby tree and advanced toward Peter, saying in 
 good English as he nodded toward the dead animal: 
 
 *'A good shot, white man!" 
 
 For a moment Peter could only stare in amazement. 
 He even pinched himself to make sure that hunger 
 had not bereft him of his senses. 
 
 ''Our Zar has long expected thy coming," the man 
 continued. ''Many men scour the woods in all 
 directions seeking thee. Follow Tamaran and thou 
 shalt soon behold the queen." 
 
 An hour later, ragged, fatigued, famished and with 
 his face and hands bearing blood-stained witness of 
 the hardships of his wanderings, but with high- 
 beating heart, Peter Rutledge, accompanying his 
 strange guide, stepped into a great forest clearing 
 where lay the encampment of Queen Zar. 
 
 Never before had Anglo-Saxon beheld a scene in 
 the heart of the African wilds like that which spread 
 itself before him. 
 
 Forming a semicircle about the open space, stood 
 a white city of tents of varying sizes from the pin- 
 nacle of each of which floated a silken flag with an 
 emblem representing two hands clasping in the centre 
 of a field of gold. In all directions ghmmered pun- 
 gent campfires about which men, in stature and attire 
 resembling Peter's guide, busied themselves over 
 steaming kettles or smoking spits of food. Others 
 were arranging long tables upon wooden horses, or 
 spreading those already set up with white cloths and 
 
 200 
 
ALONE IN THE DESERT 
 
 modern eating utensils. Before several tent-openings 
 in the centre, giant Amazons sat leisurely at work, 
 some sewing or weaving, others plying spinning- 
 wheels not unlike those which Peter's ancestors had 
 brought from Holland to Manhattan two centuries 
 before. 
 
 So amazed was Peter at this spectacle that he had 
 quite forgotten his own dishevelled predicament 
 when he beheld a woman emerging from a tent set 
 a little apart in the centre of the half-ring, the sight 
 of whose stately mien and features glowing with sun- 
 warmed tints, instantly caught his attention and held 
 him spellbound with admiration. 
 
 "It is the great queen," he thought, and before Zar 
 spoke, and while he was advancing with much-bat- 
 tered helmet in one hand, he felt an acceleration of 
 his tired pulses and a sudden, strange thrill of awe 
 at the wonder of her noble presence. 
 
 201 
 
XVI 
 
 THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 Never had he beheld a face that irradiated such 
 strength of character as did Zar's. Her wide-set, 
 serene, gray eyes mirrored a look of conscious power. 
 He felt the nearness of a mind, all-wise and prophetic. 
 The tranquil bearing of her regal figure, robed in a 
 grecianly girdled gown of white, seemed an idealist's 
 conception of feminine grace. He knew at once that 
 had others of his kind been there, they too in a single 
 glance would have interpreted Zar as a woman of 
 marvellous qualities. 
 
 Suddenly a fleeting something in the poise of her 
 head caused him to wonder how old she might be 
 above the clear white of whose forehead tumbling 
 masses of hair, that refused to be brushed back, still 
 retained their sun-colored tints. She seemed young 
 and yet, as paradoxical as the thought might be, he 
 felt that she was old — much older than himself, much 
 older than any of those about her. 
 
 He was perplexed; he was impressed, too. The 
 reverence which the old sheik, El-Hamed, had shown 
 for her no longer seemed strange to Peter. It was 
 not now amazing that the sight of her signet ring 
 
 202 
 
THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 upon his finger had at once won the loyalty of the 
 ill-fated Arnak. Instinctively, Peter divined that he 
 also was destined to plight fealty to this remarkable 
 
 queen. 
 
 He had forgotten his weariness of body when she 
 
 spoke: 
 
 ''Welcome, my friend! Thou art expected." A 
 strong, white hand was stretched toward him. He 
 felt both sympathy and gentleness in the tones of 
 her voice. Again he marvelled at the sound of Eng- 
 lish, perfectly enunciated. 
 
 ''Your majesty," he said, kneeling and touching her 
 slim fingers with his lips, "I have come a long way 
 to find you, over the seas and across the desert. I 
 seek your aid in a great task. Behold this token, 
 your talisman given me by the sheik, El-Hamed, 
 which he promised should win me your interest." 
 He held up his right hand on the second finger of 
 which glowed the red stone of the mystic ring. 
 
 "Rise, my friend, and kneel no more to Zar. 
 Thou art not less than she, nor she than thee; we 
 are all friends here." As she spoke she drew back 
 the hand that he had kissed, saying as she did so: 
 
 "Thou hast encountered many dangers and en- 
 dured many hardships. To-night thou wilt satisfy 
 thy hunger and rest. To-morrow when thou art re- 
 freshed, we shall journey together back to the city 
 of my people. There we will discuss much that thou 
 wouldst learn. I, too, have much to tell thee, my 
 
 203 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 friend — thoughts that lie close to my heart and 
 which it shall be thy special mission to carry back 
 to thy people across the water. But thy immediate 
 comfort and well-being is now our first care. Yonder 
 tent is thine and our Tamaran who brought thee 
 hither shall attend to thy wants." She pointed 
 toward one of the smaller shelters. 
 
 ''Your majesty, before I say good-night I would 
 ask a question. I am, indeed, curious. What sig- 
 nifies the flag flying from the tents? I have seen 
 many banners, but none before like this." He 
 pointed towards the nearest emblem as he spoke. 
 
 ''Our flag stands for a great purpose," she replied; 
 *'an idea that one day shall actuate all men and 
 women in their daily lives and hopes. It is the 
 token of the brotherhood of man." 
 
 During and after a refreshing bath and a supper of 
 venison and wheat cakes, and even as he sank to 
 sleep amid his novel surroundings, this last response 
 of the queen recurred again and again to his thoughts. 
 
 The brotherhood of man! Could the significance 
 of that shibboleth, then, be clear to these people and 
 to this remarkable queen, here in darkest Africa as 
 it was called? It was the incentive of his own pur- 
 poses — the brotherhood of man; its call had brought 
 him here into the forest wilds. He fell asleep, won- 
 dering. 
 
 Tamaran 's English broke in upon his dreams the 
 next day at dawTi: 
 
 204 
 
THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 "Our Zar sends for thee, white man. We begin 
 the march to Trebut in an hour." 
 
 "How does it happen that you speak EngHsh?" 
 asked Peter. 
 
 "Our queen sent Tamaran and other Rhadanians 
 to England when all of us were boys. We were 
 educated there and learned the ways of the English 
 and their speech. There we also learned the trades, 
 each one a different trade, and one that would be 
 useful in this country. Now all except the older 
 people are being taught the language in the schools." 
 Peter stared at the giant. 
 
 "In the schools?" He wondered whether he had 
 heard aright. 
 
 "We have good schools in Rhadan," the other 
 answered. "Our Zar started them many years ago, 
 before Tamaran's day, before the day of those much 
 older than Tamaran." 
 
 Here indeed was a new marvel. While he sat at 
 the breakfast brought him by the servant, a multi- 
 tude of queries beset Peter's mind: 
 
 Who was this white queen who taught a savage 
 tribe civilized ways and whose wisdom even the 
 Arabs of the desert acknowledged and respected? 
 He thought again of the two hands joined fraternally, 
 signifying brotherhood. It was all incredible and 
 yet it was real. He felt himself a discoverer who had 
 come upon an unexpected and wonderful thing — a 
 new and undreamed of type of civilization. 
 
 205 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Had this Zar, seemingly so untouched by age, 
 yet indefinably old, somehow learned the answer to 
 the question of the ages? Were her people being led 
 from savagery to enlightenment and culture by the 
 application of that knowledge? Profound wonder 
 filled Peter's thoughts. He had already become con- 
 vinced that poverty could be cured, that working 
 together men could lift themselves up to the enjoy- 
 ment of happiness and universal well-being. Was he 
 to find here an object-lesson that would enable him 
 to end his wanderings and begin the ultimate accom- 
 plishment of his mission? 
 
 Suddenly the conviction that success was to crown 
 his efforts dominated him. He was lifted up, exhila- 
 rated, made hopeful. 
 
 Final preparations for breaking camp were going 
 on as he stepped from his tent. The mules and 
 camels required to transport the camp paraphernalia 
 and equipage made up a great caravan. Already 
 the plain had been swept of all its tents except his 
 own and those of the queen and a few of the women. 
 
 As Tamaran and a companion appeared leading 
 two richly caparisoned mules, Zar stepped forth ready 
 for her journey. Though still in white, the shortness 
 of her riding attire showed her silken-clad feet shod 
 with sandals of plaited straw secured with straps of 
 silver braid. About her head was wrapped a turban 
 of v/hite interwoven with threads of gold. 
 
 As Peter stood there marvelling at her great beauty 
 
 206 
 
THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 and the repose of her bearing, she caught sight of him 
 and waved a beckoning hand. 
 
 *^Wilt thou mount with me, my friend?" she 
 asked as he came up. ^'Our Tamaran and our Zoeb 
 shall accompany us in advance of the caravan and 
 thus, less disturbed, we may discourse during the 
 journey to Trebut." As she spoke, she seated her- 
 self on a stalwart little mule and started forward. 
 A few minutes later Peter was riding beside her 
 through the solitudes of a moimtain defile. 
 
 "Your majesty," he began, but her hand, raised 
 in gentle admonition, interrupted him. 
 
 "Shall we not make a better beginning than that?" 
 she asked. "To mine own people in this remote 
 country, I am still queen. But to thee who comes t 
 from a land where civilization is older, let me be sister, 
 one equal with thee, who loves thee and cherishes 
 thee. Thou art indeed my brother. For are we not 
 all brothers and sisters, children of the same god- 
 like source, watched over and guided by the same 
 great and all- wise spirit of good! As the snow 
 vanishes beneath the warm rays of the sun, false 
 distinctions between man and man will disappear 
 when the true understanding of life begins to pre- 
 vail." 
 
 "My sister," he began, marvelling more and more 
 at her wisdom, "how was it that you were waiting 
 here for me when I came to the borders of this land? 
 El-Hamed long ago predicted that it would be so. 
 
 207 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 Yet I am puzzled. By stealth I escaped from Shaliti. 
 Since then I have travelled like a fugitive, hiding and 
 fleeing and always endeavoring to escape detection. 
 How could you know of my approach? " 
 
 "Hast thou never beheved in the deeper visions?" 
 she asked by way of reply. ''There are certain sub- 
 conscious pulsations of the inner self that men too 
 often confound with impulse or with instinct. To me 
 those deeper visions are real and as plain to read as 
 the simpler thoughts of the mind. An inner voice 
 speaking to me foretold thy coming. Years ago that 
 voice was vague and indistinct, but as time passed 
 it grew clearer. Long ago I instructed my people 
 to keep watch for thee. Month by month the pre- 
 monition of thy coming grew stronger until, three 
 days since, I was impelled to take my hunters and 
 come in search of thee. I knew I should find thee." 
 
 ''Such things savor of the mystical, my sister," 
 said Peter. "As yet we trust Httle to those psychic 
 forces in my country, though I beheve that interest 
 in the power of subconscious thought is increasing." 
 
 "The great mass of people are not yet prepared for 
 the weightier responsibility toward others that the 
 gift of this inner voice entails," she replied. "But 
 it will become the precious endowment of every soul 
 in the centuries to come." 
 
 They were now riding over a broad plateau. 
 "These are the boundaries of Rhadan," she said, 
 pointing to a long border of trees through which they 
 
 208 
 
THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 had just passed. "Eight leagues beyond lies Trebut. 
 There we will talk of the practical purpose that 
 brought thee hither." 
 
 "That is briefly told," he said. "I come in search 
 of the ostrich, and to beg you to tell me of it." 
 
 In her eyes suddenly dawned the Hght of a deep 
 emotion, as if his reply had kindled a great hope. 
 
 ''So, then, thou hast heard the great and mighty 
 Call of the Ages, my brother? And thou hast braved 
 dangers and valiantly faced death to respond to the 
 call? It is well! Thou shalt not regret it! Those 
 to whom thou returnest shall likewise profit immeasur- 
 ably by thy endeavor." 
 
 Again Peter's mind was filled with a tumult of 
 bewildermg thoughts. She knew, then, this Call of 
 the Ages. It seemed supernatural. 
 
 "Much indeed will Zar tell thee of the ostrich," 
 he heard her saying; "for this bird is destined to 
 establish a new order of things. I will send thee on 
 thy way with as many ostriches as will wholly suffice 
 to fulfil the bird's purpose and thine." 
 
 "Will it require long to do all this?" he asked 
 
 eagerly. 
 
 She was quick to note his seeming impatience. 
 
 "The restlessness of thy spirit is pardonable, my 
 brother, for, if thou didst but know it, thy return is 
 waited by many to whom the possessionship of these 
 precious birds will prove the beginning of an un- 
 dreamed of era of prosperity and happiness. , Haste 
 
 209 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 is further to be desired because the difficulties of 
 getting out of Africa with the birds increase with 
 every week. Thou shalt remain in Trebut until 
 Zar hath gathered together a caravan and found a 
 way for thee to conveniently transport the birds 
 from the forest. Then thou shalt set forth on the 
 hunt. The delay will not be long. 
 
 ''But tell me," she asked, "how earnest thou, my 
 brother, upon the secret of the great possibilities of 
 the desert bird? El-Hamed is indeed a wise old man, 
 one of the few followers of the true teachings of the 
 great Mahomet. Long years ago much knowledge 
 of his earnest work among the misguided desert races 
 came to my ears, and I sent him the signet ring as a 
 sign of my approval. He prized it greatly. Thou 
 must have served him well to have gained so dear a 
 
 gift." 
 
 ''A madman would have slain him, but I was there 
 and prevented it,'* said Peter. 
 
 ''Thou art modest, my brother. I pray you, 
 relate fully how thou didst succor El-Hamed and 
 what other happenings preceded thy coming hither? 
 Thus we may the better understand each other's heart 
 and mind. That Zar may know what thou wilt be, 
 let her know what thou hast done." 
 
 Obediently Peter recited what had occurred since 
 that momentous evening in Jerusalem when the 
 inspired message fell from Ann Newman's lips upon 
 his ears. A deep and absorbing interest shone in the 
 
 2IO 
 
THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 queen's eyes as he proceeded. Sorrow and joy, like 
 shadow and sunlight, found reflection there as the 
 story unfolded. Peter saw that she, too, wept over 
 the wrongs of others and sympathized with their 
 joys, and he was profoundly moved. 
 
 He had barely completed his story when they 
 emerged from the forest and he saw that they now 
 rode upon a smooth, well-kept road which, a little 
 way ahead, ran between handsome and intelligently 
 built dwellings of timber and stone. He stared in 
 amazement. 
 
 ^^My brother," said the queen, divining his 
 thoughts, "yonder is Trebut, Zar's home and that 
 of many of her people. The dwellings that thou 
 seest are perhaps not imlike those in thine own land. 
 Comforts and many of the simple luxuries of life all 
 have been provided for us here, as thou shalt presently 
 see. I think thou wilt wonder much at the progress 
 of my people, but when thou doest so remember 
 that fellowship between man and man and the prin- 
 ciple of self-help and mutual co-operation have 
 wrought all that seems strange. Here the effort 
 of a few years has accomplished what the rest of the 
 world is taking centuries to achieve, because our 
 effort has been rightly directed. Zar's people once 
 lived in the most abject ignorance. 
 
 ^'Dost know that thou art the first white man 
 upon whose face I have ever looked?" she asked. 
 "It is truly good to behold thee, my brother, and 
 
 211 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 pleasing to hear thy voice. A multitude of truths 
 crowd my mind; the story of thy search for a means 
 of helping others has stirred the depths of my being. 
 After thou hast rested, our Melu will conduct thee to 
 the great hall in the palace. There we will talk 
 together." 
 
 At last they drew rein at an arching gateway in a 
 low, wooden wall beyond which rose the red-tiled 
 roof of a spreading two-story structure of stone and 
 wood. An Arab boy with curly hair and alert face 
 sprang forward in obedience to the queen's gesture. 
 
 ^'Show the sahib to the room in the west wing 
 overlooking the courtyard and attend closely to his 
 bidding, my Melu," she said. 
 
 A smile of pleasure displayed the youth's twin rows 
 of glistening, wliite teeth. 
 
 '' It is forever as your majesty, our Zar, commands." 
 He bowed with much native grace and, turning to 
 Peter, motioned respectfully toward the gate. Thus 
 as Tamaran and Zoeb led away the mules Peter 
 passed into the vast, fenced-in area which answered 
 to the name of the courtyard to the queen's palace 
 at Trebut. 
 
 Though the exterior appearance of the city's 
 dwellings had impressed him much, he was doubly 
 amazed at the masterful accom_plishments of Zar's 
 subjects, as his eyes took in the interior of this taste- 
 ful, roomy, awning- windowed structure with its mysti- 
 fying maze of airy corridors and living apartments 
 
 212 
 
THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 and its enchantment of simple, yet singularly har- 
 monious works of art, costly rugs and handsome fur- 
 niture. 
 
 The room into which Melu finally conducted him 
 was a high-ceihnged apartment overlooking the rear 
 of the palace grounds. Happening to glance out of 
 one of the windows, he noticed a number of natives, 
 evidently citizens of the place or else planters from 
 the outlying country, some leading mules or camels, 
 coming from a huge and imusually massive building 
 which stood in plain view. . 
 
 ''What is all that?" he asked. 
 
 "It is one of the great stores, sahib, at which the 
 people procure what they desire to Hve by." 
 
 "And what do they sell there?" 
 
 "Everything that is needed," replied the youth. 
 
 As Peter changed to the cool, white hnen which 
 the Arab brought him, and stretched himself out in 
 a wicker chair where he could look out on the scene 
 of these people visiting their storehouse, he realized 
 that he had indeed come upon a situation without 
 parallel in the world. His mind was besieged by a 
 thousand questions each of which was seeking for 
 a reply when, in response to a royal summons, he 
 rose, followed Melu through the palace again and 
 entered the room of state of Her Majesty of 
 Rhadan. 
 
 It was a large apartment, unusually long and wide, 
 in which rafters of mahogany and an enormous, 
 
 213 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 high-mantled fireplace built in the centre of one side 
 lent to it the atmosphere of an old colonial hall of 
 justice. Light, stuccoed walls and rug-strewn floor 
 enhanced the freshness, simplicity and inviting com- 
 fort of the place. 
 
 Around three walls of this apartment stood a hun- 
 dred or more chairs of mahogany and wicker. On 
 the fourth side, at the end, where the hght from two 
 enormous windows streamed in on either side, stood 
 a high, stiff-backed, mahogany arm-chair in which, 
 upon a snuff-colored silk cushion, sat Zar, still in 
 white, with her feet resting upon a velvet hassock. 
 Several chairs were scattered about near her own and 
 a few steps down the room, and running widthwise of 
 it, stood a low, but ample-topped, mahogany table 
 well Uttered with papers and other writing material. 
 Against one corner of this table leaned a rather old 
 and sHghtly gray-haired Bedouin Arab. 
 
 The queen was looking toward Peter as he ap- 
 proached. 
 
 "My brother," she said, finally breaking the silence, 
 "behold our great Ras Jemel, a wonderful hunter 
 and a brave man whom we love much. He tells us 
 that there is great danger in setting out after the 
 ostrich." 
 
 Peter thrust out a friendly hand. 
 
 "We will conquer all those dangers, Ras Jemel," 
 he said earnestly. "We must go, in spite of perils. 
 I could not turn back now." 
 
 214 
 
THE GREAT QUEEN 
 
 The old man's eyes clung intently to Peter's 
 features for a moment. Then turning to Zar again, 
 
 he said: 
 
 ''Your Majesty, it shall be as you bid; Ras Jemel 
 will collect a hundred hygeens and have built many 
 large cases for the easy conveyance of the birds." 
 He looked at Peter once more : 
 
 ''It shall be done quickly, sahib," and with a last 
 scrutinizing glance at the American, he bowed and 
 
 withdrew. 
 
 As the door swung softly together behind him, 
 Peter looked toward Zar, intent upon fathoming the 
 mystery of a condition of affairs which, while it grew 
 more amazing with every hour of his residence here, 
 seemed to conform closely to his own ideal of a so- 
 ciety in which neither poverty nor the sin of great 
 riches could endure. 
 
 2IS 
 
xvn 
 
 ZAR'S PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Her first words thrilled him with a sense of her 
 strange divinative power: 
 
 ''Be seated, my brother, and Zar will make clear 
 these perplexities which beset thee." 
 
 "How can you read my thoughts so easily?" he 
 asked as he drew up a chair quite near and facing 
 her. 
 
 She began speaking, slowly at first, not looking at 
 him but unconsciously staring straight ahead as a 
 person might if swayed by a deep inner concentra- 
 tion: 
 
 "Those of us who have not learned to see clearly 
 walk ever in the midst of secrets. Once we fathom 
 our subconscious selves and that veil of mystery is 
 lifted. The deeper the mind penetrates, the clearer 
 it becomes. Thy thoughts are not difficult to trans- 
 late. 
 
 "Thou dost not guess how long Zar hath dwelt 
 with these people of the forest, her book of life their 
 simple faces. Long ago she learned to transcribe un- 
 spoken desires and emotions and the hidden impulses 
 of one of her own in a single glance. Is it a task 
 
 216 
 
ZAR'S PHILOSOPHY 
 
 so much greater to thus interpret the thoughts of 
 our brother who comes from another land? Hast 
 thou never heard that one need not go beyond his 
 door to know the world? In this isolated spot Zar 
 hath learned truths that fit into the lives of men and 
 women everywhere. Thou too shalt know them." 
 
 Peter leaned forward. 
 
 ''I am amazed at the things I see," he said. "Here 
 is a race reputed to be ignorant and bloodthirsty 
 living in what appears to be the true enjoyment of 
 life, possessing modernly built dwellings, good roads, 
 schools and stores, and going about modernly attired. 
 It is incredible! How came this culture of theirs 
 and of yours, my sister? What is the secret of its 
 being?" 
 
 Her eyes lighted as she spoke : 
 
 "The principle that has lifted the savage man here 
 from degradation to intelligent achievement is the 
 key to the future enjoyment of life and usefulness of 
 thine own people and of all mankind. It is the 
 principle that creates a society founded upon a truth 
 — not a half-truth, nor an evasion, nor a shadow of 
 the real, but a simple and plain verity as perfect 
 as refined gold. It is the principle of loving thy 
 neighbor as thyself and of expressing that love in 
 practical co-operation between man and man. It is 
 the principle which rouses the inner self in each 
 human being to a sense of self-appreciation and to 
 a desire to unite and to stand shoulder to shoulder in 
 
 217 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 harmony with other men, for the highest attainment 
 of Hving. 
 
 * ^ To-morrow thou wilt walk through Trebu t . Then 
 thou wilt see an ideal condition of society founded 
 on the practice of this principle. We have skilled 
 workers here, artisans of many types, carpenters, 
 masons, road-builders, tanners, weavers and dyers 
 besides the great number of trained men who farm and 
 herd the flocks. All our children are sent to school 
 and each one is left to choose, according to inherent 
 tendencies and inclination, the vocation that he pre- 
 fers.'' 
 
 "What of your indolent and poor?" asked Peter. 
 
 ''The fear that accompanies poverty does not exist 
 here because there are no poor. The difference be- 
 tween the intrinsic abilities of individuals diminishes 
 continually under co-operation and a right system 
 of education. When men receive all the benefits 
 of their labor, it requires but little labor for each to 
 live in plenty. The drones, the incompetents and the 
 sluggards soon disappear from a society whose mem- 
 bers not only are not impeded by poverty but are 
 inspired by the many blessings which co-operation 
 brings." 
 
 "Writers in my country have depicted such a con- 
 dition of society but many people call them Uto- 
 pians," said Peter; "and yet," he added, "there is 
 growing up a tendency toward the belief that co-op- 
 erative effort will some day prove the salvation of 
 
 218 
 
ZAR'S PHILO SOPHY 
 
 the world. I can scarcely believe that you have ac- 
 complished what my own countrymen have hardly 
 begun to think seriously about." 
 
 "Perhaps thou canst understand the significance 
 of the picture that rises before me," said Zar. *'I 
 see vast armies of poverty-stricken wretches so 
 enslaved by a prolonged tyranny of plunder and so 
 blinded by the low order of morals begotten by the 
 process of their own subjugation that they and their 
 masters no longer realize the value of a single high 
 principle of life. I see the many who have grown 
 rich by constant cheating. I see a society, the entire 
 business fabric of which is interwoven with false- 
 hood. I see a world-wide army of men of both high 
 and low degree daily resorting to trickery, subterfuge 
 and a thousand and one petty artifices to make gain 
 at the expense of others. From the plunderer of 
 colossal wealth to the shivering and hungry outcast, 
 men practise this philosophy of pillage. It is a phi- 
 losophy that poisons right thinking and all the virtues 
 of the soul, and wherever it prevails human beings 
 are degraded and enslaved. Only when truth stands 
 chief, not least, among the cardinal virtues, and 
 when it is realized that the uplifting of the many 
 lies in the necessity for each one to first seek to better 
 himself, shall poverty give place to an equity of peace 
 and happiness for all. Then shall men advance up- 
 ward together." In her earnestness she had leaned 
 slightly forward and now a waning ray of sunlight 
 
 219 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 fell upon her face and drove the shadows from it. 
 She was as one inspired to the man near her. 
 
 *' Listen, my brother," she went on. "As thy 
 heart hath sorrowed over the forlorn, the poor and 
 the helpless of thy country, so Zar hath wept for 
 those about her — the thousands of ignorant and 
 savage people beyond the borders of Rhadan who have 
 set themselves against all her endeavors to teach 
 them better methods of living. They are all close 
 and dear to me. I would have them turn to better 
 ways of life but they are obstinate. Yet thy people 
 and all civilized nations everywhere who persist in 
 living in darkness are equally at fault. For do not 
 such deliberately refuse what is best day after day 
 and year after year? Is not their sin even greater, 
 indeed, than that of the African savage because of 
 the latter's lesser advantages? 
 
 '"Think for thyself and love thy neighbor' was the 
 first precept which I taught my people. That injunc- 
 tion shalt thou also proclaim broadcast, that it may 
 become the summons to a new and higher hfe every- 
 where." 
 
 Peter was sitting rigidly erect, all his senses intent 
 upon her words. 
 
 *'0 marvellous sister," he exclaimed, "how came 
 you by such a power of truth? Where in wilds like 
 these is hidden such wisdom concerning right living?" 
 
 Quickly her answer came: 
 
 "Beyond me, about me everywhere are spirits that 
 
 220 
 
ZAR'S PHILO S OPH Y 
 
 continually overrule my thoughts. They are about 
 thee too my brother. They pervade every walk 
 of life and every grade of men. They are constantly 
 seeking to bring about reforms, to waken humanity 
 to higher thoughts and to a higher consciousness of 
 good. Hast thou never felt their influence in thine 
 own soul?" 
 
 Peter nodded his head. 
 
 ''I have been guided by mysterious forces," he 
 said, ^'but not as you have, my sister. Few have 
 gained so clear an insight into the higher wisdom as 
 have you." 
 
 ''That is because few desire to know and to learn," 
 she answered. *'I safeguard my people with the aid 
 of this spiritual force. It is ever at hand. It com- 
 munes with me. It is undying and dwells in and 
 around all. After we are dead it will still exist. 
 
 *'The living live always. To deny that were to 
 deny immortality. Without an existence to con- 
 tinue, there could be no use of ever having been. 
 Life, not death, was ordained for human beings. 
 Let man but cease to resist and to antagonize the 
 helpful intent of the ministering spirits about him 
 and he is ripe for all things. Then indeed shall all 
 his subconscious being waken and act as his guide 
 and stay. Then shall the day of higher aims grow 
 full. 
 
 "Even in this supposedly unprogressive country 
 we are going ahead as thou canst perceive. Out in 
 
 221 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 the larger world, on all sides, truth is dispelling igno- 
 rance. Laws of nature and of science have put an 
 end to much superstition. Thou hast said, my 
 brother, that the minds of thine own people are be- 
 ginning to solve the deeper meanings of the soul. 
 The social consciousness everywhere is wakening. 
 Religions, dogmas, the old order with its many dif- 
 fering ethical and moral disciplines are being bent to 
 the one principle of fraternal love. All are begin- 
 ning to recognize the need of a religion of man for 
 man. Look forward, my brother, and hail the com- 
 ing of this joyous era ! 
 
 ''Lofty achievements await him who casts hate 
 and fear and jealousy out of his life. Such a one 
 shall distinguish himself, for then will he know 
 what infinite love is; and infinite love is infinite 
 power. Men should not strive to be kind; they 
 should be so filled with love that kindness is inevita- 
 ble. It is the losing of one's self in endeavor that 
 frees one from discord. Knowest thou not that 
 torment and bliss are states of mind? Humanity 
 must learn, no matter how slowly, that co-operation, 
 not competition, is best for all. Then, and only then, 
 shall human beings know, feel and express that great 
 principle of love; then shall they give, and in the 
 giving it shall be returned to them again; then the 
 social parasite, now living by the sweat and toil of 
 others, shall no longer exist. Service alone shall 
 distinguish man. AbiHty to serve shall be the true 
 
 222 
 
Z AR'S PHILOSOPHY 
 
 test of education. Man's intelligence shall be as 
 great as the good he accompHshes, not while in the 
 business of doing good, but in the simple performance 
 of his daily tasks. All religious faiths shall unite in 
 the single compelling thought of man's brotherhood 
 and the fatherhood of the one God, who was before, 
 and who will be after all. As the years unroll the 
 nations of the world, realizing that all men are broth- 
 ers, shall come to serve beneath this banner. Ah, my 
 brother, I am filled with unutterable joy when my 
 mind wings forward to that glorified day of the fut- 
 ure. I see peace and harmony. That dreadful error, 
 poverty, then shall have been banished from the 
 earth. Those of my neighbors who live in ignorance 
 and thy people now dwelling in a like darkness all 
 shall see and understand. It is an ineffable thought. 
 Then shall the teachings of the Nazarene and of all 
 the prophets find a true and perfect expression; false 
 interpretations shall be eliminated from worship; 
 hypocrisy and vain outward show shall disappear. 
 
 "The world has wandered long and far amid the 
 confusion of many faiths. Century after century 
 much knowledge and truth have lain hidden amid 
 a verbiage of man-made dogmas. Human beings 
 have quibbled over the letter of the law while its 
 practice in spirit has been forgotten. But the end 
 of all perplexity and futile discussions is in sight. In 
 men's hearts the great principles of truth are at last 
 beginning to take root. * Learn to serve thyself and 
 
 22^ 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 in doing so thou shalt serve others/ 'learn to love 
 and love shall be returned to thee/ 'fellowship be- 
 tween men/ and 'man's oneness with God' — such 
 precepts and thoughts are to sum up the religion of 
 To-morrow. 
 
 "Is it not to be wondered at, my brother, that 
 centuries of time have been necessary for a mere be- 
 ginning of the understanding of such plain and simple 
 doctrines?" 
 
 For a moment the queen leaned back in silence. 
 The man too was quiet, enthralled by what he felt 
 was the force of those pervading spirits about them 
 both. He knew that wisdom which analyzed so 
 broadly emanated from a source deeper than that of 
 the mental powers. Suddenly a similarity between 
 the utterances of Zar and the prophecy of a brother- 
 hood of man which had come to him from the lips 
 of Ann Newman flashed into his mind, and he in- 
 stantly understood that in some strange and inex- 
 pHcable manner the two women had been inspired 
 by the same immutable source. Finally, Zar spoke 
 again: 
 
 "Thou then art he who has come in search of 
 the ostrich?" Her words caused him to start, self- 
 consciously. It was as if she were suddenly regard- 
 ing him from a new standpoint. 
 
 "Before it was known to her that one would come, 
 Zar divined the value of this great bird to mankind/' 
 she continued. "The ostrich embodies the motive 
 
 224 
 
ZAR'S PHILOSOPHY 
 
 force of a movement that shall endure forever. 
 When thou, my brother, shalt return and begin to 
 advocate the doctrine of the Golden Rule in business, 
 thou shalt encounter great opposition. Benighted 
 humanity, even while it realizes the beneficence of 
 that injunction, contends against its practice. Men 
 will fight against one who advocates the establish- 
 ment of universal co-operation, for there is still a 
 host of those who are too gross, too lacking in the 
 finer sensibilities, too unspiritual to grasp the im- 
 portance of this principle. But the effort with the 
 ostrich as a material factor behind it shall prove in- 
 vincible, for this bird alone has been specially ap- 
 pointed to advance the cause of the brotherhood of 
 
 man." 
 
 ''I do not understand you, my sister," said Peter, 
 mystified by her last assertion. 
 
 ''Thou hast no doubt already learned, if thou hast 
 studied the ostrich, that the bird fives a hundred 
 years, and that, contrary to the rule with so many 
 animals, no ailment or plague affects it. But more 
 than all this — and thou, my brother, art the first 
 dwelHng in the outside world to learn this secret— 
 the ostrich will thrive even better in a climate of 
 extreme cold than it does in the tropical wilds. 
 Thou art to convey a great flock of these birds to 
 thine own land where the truth of this secret shall 
 be proven for all. Moreover, when thou dost leave 
 this land to begin thy work, destiny hath decreed 
 
 225 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 that no other person shall ever take an ostrich from 
 Africa's borders. Thou art to be the last. 
 
 "Yet before even thou shalt succeed in escaping, 
 heart-breaking discouragements and terrible dangers 
 will threaten thy success. But thou must be brave 
 and persistent. No harm shall mar thee and thy 
 work, then." 
 
 "Your confidence and assurance inspires me," 
 said Peter, as Zar paused. "But tell me how I am 
 to enlist men in this constructive purpose for which 
 the ostrich is to be used? In my country hundreds 
 are continually exploiting schemes claimed to be for 
 the benefit of the many, but which in reality are for 
 the aggrandizement of the few. My people have been 
 tricked and deceived so often that now they are no 
 longer easily won to a new cause." 
 
 "The evil done by others is one of the obstacles 
 ahead of thee," she answered. "But in spite of that 
 and of all other hindrances the principle of co-opera- 
 tion shall continue to spread. With the ostrich 
 thou hast the means for establishing it irrevocably, 
 for the bird shall prove a material aid of which no 
 one can deprive thee and those who join with thee. 
 
 "Already the ground is ready for the hand of 
 the sower. The way for thy success has been pre- 
 pared by a dawning knowledge among many people 
 that fraternal effort is needed. 
 
 "At first only a few shall join with thee, and among 
 that few there shall be some hesitant and doubting 
 
 226 
 
Z AR»S PHILO SOPHY 
 
 and weak; but little by little enthusiasm shall 
 grow; then thousands shall fall into line, until the 
 influence of their earnestness and of their principles 
 shall make itself felt in every corner of the globe. 
 In that day the business world shall waken to the 
 new truths and be guided by them. Past errors, 
 the systems that now produce great strikes and great 
 monopoHes, shall disappear. Christ's promise, ^All 
 things are yours,' shall be fulfilled then, and not 
 until then, for to realize those words man must rise 
 in his intelHgence and understanding and become a 
 united brotherhood. 
 
 " Men have wandered astray. In every part of the 
 world they have been misled by false teachings and 
 misinterpretations of truth. Greed and covetousness 
 of power, since the beginning of time, have greatly 
 obscured the teachings of such prophets as Moses 
 and Mahomet whose words were intended to lead 
 men to a higher life. But with the motto of self- 
 help and universal brotherhood before them hu- 
 man beings are to break away from enslavement 
 and ignorance and walk in the light, upright and 
 unafraid. 
 
 *'Then warfare shall cease between nations. Then 
 all peoples shall be in accord in thought and action, 
 recognizing the one and only God as father. Then 
 there shall be no more castes. The same tongue shall 
 be spoken by all. Waste, idleness, indolence, usury, 
 begging and living upon others shall cease. Harmony 
 
 227 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 shall succeed inharmony in business. It shall be a 
 day of great happiness." 
 
 At her last words the queen rose and stretched out 
 her hand toward Peter. 
 
 **Now I must bid thee farewell for a brief time, 
 my brother. Duty calls me to attend to the needs 
 of my people. To-morrow we will journey about the 
 city and thou wilt see what we have done here and 
 how we live. Meanwhile Melu will attend to thy 
 wants. Possess thyself with patience." Then gently 
 pressing his fingers she left him, vanishing through 
 one of the doors that led from the room. 
 
 228 
 
XVIII 
 A TRUTH MADE REAL 
 
 Peter lay awake late that night, endeavoring to 
 reconcile his mind with the influx of new thoughts 
 and emotions which Zar's words had roused. He 
 was curious to inspect the industrial and social 
 regime of Rhadan, for that regime seemed likely to 
 prove a remarkable example of co-operation. 
 
 It puzzled him to understand just how the queen 
 had made the principle practical in this country. 
 Co-operation had gained a permanent foothold in 
 England, in Germany, in Italy, among the people of 
 nations where civilization was well advanced; but in 
 those countries it had been born of long-continued 
 poverty and oppression. In Rhadan, a single woman 
 had conceived and applied the principle to an entire 
 people reputed to be grossly ignorant, and a well- 
 developed civilization had resulted. 
 
 Thus he was prompt to respond to Zar's summons 
 the next morning, and shortly after breakfast he set 
 out with her in the royal phaeton drawn by two 
 milk-white horses and driven by a tall, snowy-clad 
 native. 
 
 Trebut proved to be a well-kept municipality of 
 
 229 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 several thousand people. The residential section, 
 consisting of many structures of the bungalow type 
 with a scattering of two-story buildings, was grouped 
 in one section along paved streets lined with trees 
 and foliage. Here he also noticed another store- 
 house similar to the one behind Zar's palace, rising 
 above the broad-sloping roof-tops. Three school build- 
 ings made of brick and ornamented with carved stone 
 were also located in different parts of this section. 
 
 In the centre of the same area lay a vast park con- 
 taining hundreds of seats arranged in semicircles 
 around a raised platform. This park, Zar explained, 
 was the forum for public discussions, meetings and 
 religious gatherings. 
 
 Christianity, long the religion of the whole country, 
 found its expression among the people of Trebut in 
 out-of-door gatherings at which the best and highest 
 thoughts of the world's great men were studied and 
 learned. The forum was also the sanctuary. Vast 
 urns filled with flowering plants, and streamers of 
 green foliage which, Zar informed him, were replaced 
 from week to week, and which hung festoon-like 
 from the overhanging limbs of trees, took the place 
 of gilded vestment and stilted ceremonial. A foun- 
 tain in the midst of a pond, sprayed with a million 
 diamonds the masses of multi-colored flowers that 
 bloomed amid green lily-pads. These people chose 
 only the fragrance, beauty and sweetness of nature 
 with which to hallow their place of worship. 
 
 230 
 
A TRUTH MADE REAL 
 
 Finally, they were driven to what Zar called the 
 section of industries, a division of the city removed 
 from the residences. There Peter's wondering gaze 
 beheld a small-sized manufacturing centre in which 
 nearly all the occupations of the people except farm- 
 ing and cattle raising were located in different fac- 
 tories and workshops. Another school also stood in 
 this working centre where advanced instruction in 
 the trades was accompanied by practical work in the 
 factories. 
 
 Here was a tannery where hides were tanned and 
 finished, and a busy shoe-factory where the finished 
 product was turned into footwear. A small cotton 
 and woollen mill, a brick kiln behind which stood a 
 great pit with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of 
 clay, a large furniture factory, a wood- working shop, 
 a cannery where meats and fruits were preserved, 
 and structures for carrying on the lesser occupations 
 such as the making of dye colors, beads, baskets 
 and rugs were numbered among the enterprises 
 
 here. 
 
 Even after spending several hours inspecting this 
 remarkable centre, Peter was loath to return with 
 his royal guide to the palace. When he and his 
 hostess were together again in the room of state, he 
 said to Zar: 
 
 "The accompHshments of your people are little 
 short of marvellous, my sister. My countrymen 
 would doubt my honesty if I were to tell them of all 
 
 231 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 the wonders that I have seen to-day. For who 
 would believe that a people in the very heart of the 
 world's wildest country could achieve such results! 
 
 "You assert that co-operation has been your guid- 
 ing principle. In the outside world co-operation is 
 being practised by different groups of men, but 
 nowhere is there to be found such a perfect example 
 as here. Not a part, but all your people have been 
 imited. I have not seen a single beggar nor a drone 
 of any kind during our journey about the city. 
 Every one seems to be actuated by the same spirit 
 of progressiveness. 
 
 "It is the method by which you have succeeded 
 in making co-operation practical that puzzles me, 
 my sister. Will you explain it?" 
 
 The queen smiled. 
 
 "Thy question is not unexpected," she said. "In 
 thy country thou hast witnessed the growth of great 
 combinations of capital subscribed by men who 
 recognize the economy to be gained by the con- 
 centration of many businesses under one manage- 
 ment. These trusts have absorbed one enterprise 
 after another until thy people, fearing their rapacious- 
 ness or dreading their power, have rallied to do 
 battle with them. 
 
 "Hast thou ever guessed what the end of this 
 trust epidemic will be, my brother? Hast thou 
 thought of what would happen if these trusts con- 
 tinued the process of combining until all businesses 
 
 232 
 
A TRUTH MADE REAL 
 
 were taken in? The result would be a single great 
 corporation that combined all the wealth and man- 
 aged all the industries of the country." 
 
 ^'That would be a terrible plutocracy," put in Peter. 
 
 "It would indeed prove a calamity if a few were to 
 possess the ultimate control of such a combination. 
 But that will not be the case. 
 
 "Let us suppose that the people, all of them, 
 owned such a corporation — and they could easily 
 do so — then you would have an ideal social and in- 
 dustrial system of affairs." 
 
 "I do not understand," said Peter. "How could 
 such a result be brought about? How is it so easy 
 for the people to gain possession of what is now in 
 the hands of a chosen few?" 
 
 "By subscribing a part of their earnings for the 
 purchase of shares in a corporation which has for 
 its purpose the gradual absorption of the securities 
 of all the great trusts," was her reply. "But first 
 permit Zar to tell her brother just how she has es- 
 tablished in Rhadan a community which he has 
 been pleased to find excellent. Many years ago, 
 when her subjects were much lower in the scale of 
 progress than they are now, a group of the most 
 intelligent youths were sent abroad to be taught the 
 sciences and the civilization of Europe. When these 
 returned Zar made them the teachers of the rest of 
 her people. 
 
 "At first there was rebellion. The old-time inertia 
 
 233 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 prevailed. Very few had learned of the incen- 
 tive that comes with self-help. But Zar did not 
 punish those who objected to being taught. In- 
 stead, she summoned all to the forum and showed 
 them what could be accomplished if they wakened 
 and learned to work together. For many weeks 
 these meetings were held. It was only when every 
 one understood the principles of co-operation that 
 the gatherings were discontinued. 
 
 "Then began a period of individualism. Every 
 one was taught to find out his own accomplishments, 
 to gain a knowledge of self and his power to accom- 
 plish. It was indeed quite astonishing to observe 
 the rapid advancement of each one under the in- 
 fluence of this doctrine. Even Zar was amazed at 
 the progress which her people made. 
 
 "The time was soon ready for the next step. A 
 company composed of all the subjects of Rhadan 
 was created. The people were mostly very poor 
 then, though during the preceding years of advance 
 all had begun to understand the true value of economy 
 and thrift. Still the material possessions and wealth 
 had largely remained in the hands of the government. 
 
 "All were now told that the opportunity had at 
 last come when every person in the kingdom was 
 to be made a copartner in all the wealth and 
 in every enterprise which should thereafter be 
 undertaken. 
 
 "The people listened and were greatly pleased. 
 
 234 
 
A TRUTH MADE REAL 
 
 Zar told them how the proposal was to be carried 
 out. 
 
 *'The then primitive tannery, the furniture in- 
 dustry, and the herds of cattle, goats and sheep, 
 farmed with money from the royal coffers, were to 
 be capitalized into a corporation and each subject was 
 to be allotted shares in the capitalization. That is, 
 every family became a stockholder in a corporation 
 which had for its object the ownership and manage- 
 ment of all the natural resources and the industrial 
 and agricultural activities of the nation, 
 
 "That the people might act together and with in- 
 telligence, nothing was done until another series of 
 meetings at the forum had so clearly elucidated and 
 explained this principle of incorporation that there 
 was not a man but understood. It must be borne 
 in mind that this was an advanced step for the people 
 of Abyssinia and one which had to be undertaken 
 with the greatest care. 
 
 '^Finally, on an appointed day, every citizen was 
 allotted his shares. This was done by issuing a cer- 
 tificate of ownership to each. 
 
 "Of course only a small part of the people were 
 able to purchase their shares outright. The ma- 
 jority received them without making any payment 
 at all, or for small deposits. All such became debtors 
 to the nation until such time as they should pay in full 
 for their shares either in the medium of exchange 
 or else in labor value equal to their indebtedness. 
 
 235 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "With all this accomplished as a beginning, Zar's 
 people commenced to grow. It is indeed astonishing, 
 my brother, to see how men will advance when once 
 they realize that they are receiving the full benefit 
 of their labor. In a comparatively brief number of 
 years every shareholder in Rhadan had paid for his 
 stock and all were beginning to realize returns upon 
 their investments; for you see when these people 
 realized that working collectively they could accom- 
 plish so much, a new spirit of energy was born, new 
 industries were proposed and started, and the re- 
 turns upon the capital invested began to increase 
 rapidly. 
 
 "To-day the Rhadanians are looked upon by the 
 people of the adjoining nations as being amazingly 
 prosperous. Indeed, that prosperity has been the 
 cause of no little trouble with envious neighbors. 
 
 " Corporation has been the road to co-operation and 
 co-operation has brought peace and harmony within 
 Zar's country, if not without. The queen believes 
 that some day all the surrounding tribes will be led 
 to profit by the achievements of Rhadan." 
 
 Peter had listened intently. 
 
 "Then the so-termed trusts in my country are 
 benefits rather than evils?" he finally asked. 
 
 "Assuredly," she repKed. "Your great business 
 combinations point the way to the day when all the 
 people of your land w^ill be owners in the one great 
 corporation that shall own and control all others. 
 
 236 
 
A TRUTH MADE REAL 
 
 Imagine a national corporation of this kind in your 
 country. The capital stock represents the owner- 
 ship of every industrial and commercial activity 
 that is carried on. The evils of competition with 
 its attendant loss by waste have yielded to a perfect 
 unification of all business under one corporate man- 
 agement. The people are the corporation. They 
 own all the shares collectively and perform the thou- 
 sand and one different kinds of labor, both professional 
 and commercial, that industry necessitates. There 
 is neither waste nor wage-slavery. Each worker re- 
 ceives a return in proportion as the industrial ma- 
 chine prospers. 
 
 "Since supply and demand can be adjusted with 
 perfect accuracy, labor troubles will be at an end. 
 Each person will advance in the industrial scale in 
 proportion as his knowledge earns him such advance- 
 ment. Under such a system, my brother, hope, peace 
 and liberty will prevail. Every one is spurred on to 
 do his highest and best." 
 
 "The picture is an inspiration. I should be glad 
 if it might some day prove an actuality," said Peter. 
 
 Zar bent toward him and as she spoke the light of 
 a strange prophecy shone in her eyes: 
 
 "The day of such a corporation is coming," she 
 declared. "Out of the combinations of power that 
 now exist in thy country it shall materialize. And 
 its advent shall fill men's hearts with love. It shall 
 banish poverty and all its attendant evils. It shall 
 
 237 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 prelude the dawn of truth and prosperity through- 
 out the world — for this incorporate working together 
 of men shall not end wdth the people of thy land, but 
 it shall spread until it includes those of all the world. 
 For long years Zar hath foreseen that day. Indeed 
 since her childhood, before the time of these, her 
 subjects, the conviction that this new birth of man- 
 kind was to occur has been growing in her thoughts." 
 
 Peter sat staring in amazement into her face. 
 
 ''You speak as if you were very old in years, my 
 sister. How does it happen that your wisdom reaches 
 so far back?" 
 
 ''It may seem incredible to you, my brother," she 
 said, "but Zar remembers when the oldest men and 
 women among her people were children. Even the 
 faces of grandsires long dead are familiar to her 
 memory. Who knows why such longevity is brought 
 about or from whence it descends! 
 
 "Zar is indeed of illustrious lineage. The father 
 of the Ethiopian noble whom Philip met and con- 
 verted on the road to Jerusalem and who afterwards 
 brought Christianity into Abyssinia was her an- 
 cestor. For he was given in marriage by a monarch 
 of old to a royal princess from whom the records 
 show that Zar is directly descended. 
 
 "All the tribes of this land reverenced Queen Zena 
 for her wisdom and piety. Many years ago this 
 famous monarch of Rhadan taught Zar, her grand- 
 child, many things. Zena lived to be so old that her 
 
A TRUTH MADE REAL 
 
 son, Zar's father, died before the old queen, and thus 
 Zar came to power after her. 
 
 ''Yet, my brother, the span of Zar's years has 
 been lengthened because of that strength which the 
 love of a deep purpose has afforded her. Mayst thou, 
 my brother, likewise find many years of joy in bend- 
 ing the powers of mind and soul to high aims." 
 
 Something in her words suddenly recalled to Peter's 
 mind the purpose that had brought him to this land. 
 ''Will the hunters soon be gathered for my quest 
 of the ostriches?" he asked. 
 
 "All has been arranged," she answered. "Be 
 thou ready to-night, when Melu summons thee." 
 She had risen and stood gazing at him. 
 "Our friendship hath pleased Zar, greatly," she 
 said. "A memory of thee will go with her always. 
 If she hath said that which will spur her brother 
 to greater and higher achievement, no dearer re- 
 ward can be sought. 
 
 "Amuse thyself, as best thou mayst. Now must 
 Zar leave thee until the hour when she bids thee God- 
 speed on thy journey." 
 
 A minute later she left the room, and Peter rose 
 and sought out Ras Jemel. He found the latter in 
 conversation with Sheik Aram, another leathery- 
 skinned Arab, who had just returned from gathering 
 together the camels, and with these two he sat for 
 some time, discussing the plans for the morrow. 
 
 239 
 
xrx 
 
 KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 Wakened by Melu before the new moon had 
 cradled her silvery horns in the crystal glow of the 
 Southern Cross, Peter sprang from his couch and 
 hastily dressed for the journey south. 
 
 In the courtyard below subdued commands and 
 calls of the desert hunters and the soft padding of 
 restless feet mingled with snarls of the newly arrived 
 camels. The palHd sheen of the Abyssinian night 
 lay, a gleaming mantle, upon treetop, tower and 
 clustered roofs. ♦ 
 
 ^'The queen awaits the sahib in the great 
 hall," said the Arab, an obsequious note in his 
 melHfluous tones betraying his respect for the 
 white sahib whom even Zar, obeyed by the 
 wildest outlaw tribes of the Haud, honored so 
 highly. 
 
 *' I will go to her at once. Are the mules saddled? " 
 
 ^'Yes, sahib." 
 
 ''Bid Sheik Aram have the two hunters and the 
 guns ready and be prepared to start at the first light 
 of dawn." 
 
 The youth bowed and went out. 
 
 240 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 A few minutes later Peter entered the lofty room 
 of state and stood in the presence of Zar. 
 
 ^'Come, sit here, brother," she said the moment 
 he entered, graciously beckoning him to a seat near 
 her. ''We will breakfast together before thou dost 
 start. Hunger is an unsteady steed to drive. I have 
 seen that all is in readiness for thy journey." As 
 she spoke, three tall attendants entered and began 
 spreading a small table before her, laying the snowy 
 linen with plates of barley bread, ripe pears, seeded 
 cakes, honey and cups of aromatic coffee. 
 
 ''I had thought to breakfast in the saddle. You 
 are as gracious as wise, dear friend," said Peter, 
 seating himself before the tempting repast. 
 
 ''Eat, my brother. Waste no idle words. Kind- 
 ness brings its own reward. Listen! Dawn will soon 
 be here. Ras Jemel will lead thee forty leagues to 
 the southwest. The camels, a hundred in all, with 
 skilled hunters and shikaris will follow. In the valley 
 of Metan shadowed by the Amou plateau thou wilt 
 discover a tiny lake whose crystal waters, vapors, 
 boiling up from far down in the earth, keep always 
 warm. This is one of the sources of the ancient 
 Blue Nile that no white man has yet visited. 
 It is the home of the Blue Nile Ostrich. There 
 thou wilt behold the finest specimens. Bid the 
 hunters hasten to take as many as seem wise and 
 return with speed to Rhadan. Then I will instruct 
 thee how to reach thine own land in safety with 
 
 241 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 the birds. Now I must go to confer with Ras 
 Jemel." 
 
 ''But Your Majesty—" 
 
 Already risen from the table, she leaned towards 
 him, placing a finger upon her lips: 
 
 ''Dost forget? Are we not brother and sister? 
 Danger will run beside thee, my brother, but thou 
 shalt come back in safety with thy task in Metan 
 fulfilled." 
 
 His eyes followed her until the door at the farther 
 end of the room hid her from view. Then he hastily 
 finished his meal and went out into the area above 
 which faint gleams of dawn now shimmered across 
 the sky. 
 
 Ten minutes later, accompanied by gray-haired 
 Ras Jemel, Aram, Melu and two swarthy shikaris 
 each astride a well-laden mule, Peter similarly 
 mounted made his way through sleeping Trebut and 
 began his perilous journey. 
 
 The next day the caravan of camels ladened with 
 cases for nearly two hundred ostriches would take the 
 road which he was now following as far as the Digon 
 River whence Peter and Ras Jemel were to pursue 
 the shorter water route to their destination, leaving 
 Aram, the boy and the two hunters to push on with 
 the mules and rejoin them at Metan, ahead of the 
 slower caravan. 
 
 With many shakings of the head, Ras Jemel had 
 protested against this plan, but Peter's eagerness 
 
 242 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 to begin the round-up of the birds before the 
 caravan arrived had won against the caution of the 
 guide. 
 
 Across miles of plateau-land, level and grassy, de- 
 scending into lower wooded tracts that finally skirted 
 downward to the dry bed of a river, thence through 
 a deep and shadowy defile between precipitous sides 
 and out onto stretches of luminous sand, bhghting 
 in its burning heat, the six travellers pressed on to 
 the southward. 
 
 At first the route, lying across the land adjacent 
 to Zar's kingdom, traversed the feeding grounds of 
 sleek, well-fed flocks of sheep and goats whose shep- 
 herds greeted them with courtesy. No danger threat- 
 ened them there at night, for the great queen's kindly 
 and all-wise influence had spread beyond the borders 
 of her land. But as the trail penetrated deeper into 
 the south and hot, pest-ridden, densely foliaged fast- 
 nesses became more and more frequent, Ras Jemel 
 ordered many precautions taken at nightfall against 
 both wild beasts and human marauders. 
 
 ''Only one white man has ever been in here before," 
 he said, ''and he did not come out. There are bad 
 men over there," with a wave of his hand to the right, 
 "and there," pointing in the direction in which they 
 were going. "We will need take much care." 
 
 On the fifth day of their trip Peter began to catch 
 glimpses of strangely scarred and pitted faces, black 
 as night, that vanished in the jungle almost as soon 
 
 243 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 as they came into view. Once an arrow, light as a 
 feather, dropped with the stillness of a bird in flight 
 on the path in front of him, but as he reined in his 
 mule and took swift aim at a naked form that showed 
 for an instant among the trees, Ras Jemel's fingers 
 clutched his wrist and stayed his hand and the old 
 man shook his head warningly: 
 
 "Better not stir up trouble. It was only a stray 
 scout. He will not shoot again." 
 
 That night a leopard suddenly bounded over the 
 low cereba wall that had been rudely constructed as 
 an encampment defence and before a shot could be 
 fired had disappeared again with several pounds of 
 tinned meat which had been cut off and left over 
 from supper. Lions roared constantly in the dark- 
 ness about the camp, and the next day before the 
 start was made, Ras Jemel grimly cautioned every- 
 one to be ready for a sudden attack. 
 
 "The Sharl-dikus, eaters of men, dwell over yon- 
 der,'* motioning in front and a little to the right. 
 And with this laconic assertion the old man led on 
 deeper into the forest. As the heat became more 
 intense and the air, now always filled with blood- 
 thirsty insects, more and more overladen with damp 
 and fetid odors, Peter began to doubt his zeal in urg- 
 ing this advance expedition. Now they were in the 
 midst of the mighty tropical wilds. Often the under- 
 growth presented an impenetrable wall behind which 
 danger from wild beasts, venomous serpents and 
 
 244 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 savage human beings constantly threatened. Two 
 days, Ras Jemel promised, would bring them to the 
 banks of the stream which had its source in Metan 
 valley. But would they live to get there? Twice 
 a band of elephants went crashing off before them. 
 Herds of antelope, gazelle, and reedbuck often fled 
 across their path. Once a small regiment of giraffes 
 shambled by at a tremendous pace, whisking their 
 long tails as they ran. 
 
 About mid-day Peter sighted a monster, long-tusked 
 boar, waddling nonchalantly into range. As he 
 lifted his 400 D. B. hammerless to pot the beast, he 
 was suddenly startled by a distant sound of wailing 
 which, as he listened, drew nearer and nearer swell- 
 ing in volume until it filled all the arches of the forest. 
 Then suddenly a great throng of huge black men 
 followed by as many more women and children 
 swarmed into view in front. As the leaders of this 
 strange procession caught sight of the little caravan 
 there was an instant halt and the echoing shrieks 
 and lamentations quickly died away. 
 
 Cursing softly, Ras Jemel slipped from the back 
 of his mule to the ground and with a hand upraised 
 began making a series of strange and mystical passes 
 in the air. Evidently, these were accepted as an indi- 
 cation of good-will, for after a brief conference among 
 the ranks of the blacks, an old man, plainly the king, 
 and two young Ethiopians, all naked save for a small 
 strip of leopard's skin tied about the loins of each, 
 
 245 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 came forward. With the two warriors marching 
 gravely on either side, His Majesty, after proceeding 
 to within a few feet of Ras Jemel, knelt down in the 
 red dust. The Arab guide promptly assumed a 
 similar position. Now for several minutes the 
 preliminaries of introduction including many ex- 
 cited gestures engrossed the attention of both. Then 
 suddenly Peter beheld this wrinkled and grizzled old 
 monarch bend low, dig his long, claw-like fingers into 
 the soft ground and begin throwing the earth over 
 his bared head and breast. At the same time he 
 broke into a barbaric bellowing, instantly taken up 
 by his attendants and echoed back by the throng in 
 the rear until the arching branches of the thick forest 
 rang again and again with an incredible uproar in- 
 creased fourfold by the chattering and screaming of 
 myriads of frightened monkeys and paroquets. 
 
 "What is it, Ras Jemel?" shouted Peter in amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 "It is King Manek's tribe. A man-eating lioness 
 who has already killed and devoured four women and 
 three children has slain his son. This is the mourn- 
 ing procession. He will have to abandon his village 
 and lead his people away from their homes unless 
 something is done soon to stay the ravages of the 
 beast." 
 
 Instantly Peter's inward laughter at the old negro 
 kneeling in the dust, howling at the top of his lungs, 
 was changed to pity. In spite of Ras Jemel's gesture 
 
 246 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 warning him to keep his seat, he jumped to the ground 
 and stretched out a sympathetic hand toward the 
 
 king. 
 
 Then a strange thing happened. The waihng 
 ceased as if by magic; the monarch agilely sprang 
 up out of the sand, with his two warriors bounded 
 back to the company behind him and the whole 
 crowd, men, women and children, took to their heels 
 and vanished as though swallowed up by the forest. 
 
 ''Well, what do you know about that? '^ cried Peter, 
 turning with a look of blank astonishment. Con- 
 sternation and dismay had overspread Ras Jemel's 
 features. Throwing up his hands, the old man 
 
 exclaimed: 
 
 ''We must leave at once, sahib. You have de- 
 clared war on King Manek. To stretch out one's 
 hand in front of the king's face is a deadly insult to 
 the whole tribe. Come, let us get away,'^ and smt- 
 ing action to word the old man thumped his heels 
 into the sides of his mule and started back at a brisk 
 pace along the route over which they had just come. 
 
 "Halt!" It was Ras Jemel's voice again ten 
 
 minutes later. 
 
 "Look!" He pointed to the forest ahead. Grim 
 and savage visages of naked warriors showed from 
 behind tree and thicket. Long glistening spears 
 and shields of tawny lion's hide appeared every- 
 where. Ras Jemel groaned. Aram, brave on the 
 desert, now shuddered with fear at this threatening 
 
 247 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 host. Melu, pushing his mule up to Peter's, whim- 
 pered Hke a small child, while the two shikaris hung 
 close to Aram's side. 
 
 Peter realized the gravity of the crisis. Turning 
 to Ras Jemel, he said: 
 
 "Follow me. It is the only way to save us." 
 Then jumping from his mule and waving back the 
 trembUng Melu, he laid his gun down on the ground, 
 folded his arms, and calmly walked towards the 
 formidable force ahead. 
 
 Not in all his adventurous life had the wise, long- 
 headed, old Ras Jemel witnessed an action that 
 seemed so utterly mad. Inured to the dangers of 
 desert and forest and bearing the scars of many 
 deadly encounters with men and wild animals, 
 nevertheless he shook with fear as he heroically 
 advanced behind the white sahib. 
 
 A deep silence had settled over the woods. The 
 very animals in the trees above seemed to sense the 
 suspense of the moment. The black men were 
 plainly puzzled by this display of daring. Savage 
 curiosity overcame savage ferocity. Little by little 
 shadowy forms pushed into view until fully a hun- 
 dred armed braves stood staring at the advancing 
 pair. 
 
 "Come up, Ras Jemel," said Peter in a low tone. 
 "Make a sign of peace." 
 
 Stepping forward and throwing himself upon his 
 knees, the guide commenced waving one hand above 
 
 248 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 his head, Peter all the while endeavoring to imitate 
 each movement. 
 
 Suddenly King Manek strode through the ranks 
 into view, and this time followed by the entire crowd 
 of fighting men, he again approached Ras Jemel and 
 Peter, a ferocious scowl now darkening his wild 
 features. 
 
 ''Tell him," whispered Peter to Ras Jemel, "that 
 the white sahib comes to bring the spirit of good to 
 King Manek— that the white sahib can destroy the 
 spirit of evil that snatches away the king's son. 
 Say that if he will take the white sahib to the spot 
 where the man-eating beast dwells, the white sahib 
 will slay the Hon." 
 
 With throbbing pulses, Peter and the four Arabs 
 in the rear now hung upon Ras Jemel's efforts to 
 renew amenities. For minutes that seemed hours 
 the scowling monarch responded to each suave ut- 
 terance of the kneehng guide with cold impassiveness 
 broken only by an occasional growl. But at last 
 Peter's heart leaped with rehef as he beheld the 
 Hues of the stubborn, black visage soften into a grin 
 when Ras Jemel, at the termination of a particularly 
 enthusiastic and lengthy series of gutturals and mad 
 gesticulations, reached out and slipped a huge brass 
 watch into the lean fingers of the king. Nor was 
 this feeling of rehef lessened when, with a grunt of 
 approval, the king came forward and, dropping upon 
 his knees before Peter, thrust forward his oily and 
 
 249 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 evil-smelling features and calmly rubbed his nose 
 against that of the surprised American. Then turn- 
 ing round, he briefly addressed the waiting warriors, 
 all of whom at once began crowding round Peter, 
 fixing their eyes in mingled awe and respect upon 
 the countenance of the strange sahib with the skin 
 like the glistening sand in the deep pools. Yet, in 
 spite of this childlike display of savage curiosity, 
 Peter sensed a certain, cool craftiness in the manner 
 of the king which he knew boded little good for the 
 whole party. Thus when he found himself corralled 
 in Manek's little mud-built capital, he discovered 
 that both his own and the safety of the ^ve Arabs 
 lay in the success of his meeting with the lioness; 
 for the wily king, notwithstanding many suave 
 protestations of good-will, kept them all vigilantly 
 guarded by a dozen of his fleetest and most stalwart 
 warriors, armed to the teeth. 
 
 The wailing ceremonies for the dead prince contin- 
 ued until the first signs of dusk. Then warriors and 
 women drew together, the mothers catching up their 
 infants and driving the older children indoors with 
 shrill cries. The king, recHning upon a mat of rushes 
 before his palace door, scowled constantly and at 
 intervals passed his wasted hands through the air 
 above his head, often glancing from one side to an- 
 other towards the dense thickets around the edge 
 of the clearing. Even his interest in the white 
 sahib and the cheap pocket mirror with which Peter 
 
 250 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 presented him, finally yielded to the same uneasiness 
 that had affected the whole village. When the roar 
 of a lion sounded from the adjacent woods this sus- 
 pense suddenly crystallized into a wild stampede. 
 Men and women dashed for the open doorways. 
 Manek, with a grunt, whisked his lean figure out of 
 sight; the armed attendants of Peter and his com- 
 panions made frantic haste to get indoors; and the 
 Arabs themselves, catching the contagion of fear, 
 dragged the mules along into a thatched dwelling in 
 the centre of the village where all except Ras Jemel 
 huddled, panic-stricken. Assured that the animals 
 were safe, the old chieftain finally rejoined Peter and 
 the two, going to the monarch's fifteen-foot thatched 
 palace, knelt down before the entrance where, when 
 His Majesty's countenance at last peeked out at 
 them through the aperture, Ras Jemel prayed: 
 
 "Oh, King Manek, now that the hour has come 
 when the death-dealing spirit of evil seeks its prey, 
 have a young goat brought alive or the bloody car- 
 cass of a freshly killed animal. Let all the king's 
 people remain inside and keep the doors shut. The 
 white sahib will destroy the dark spirit that slays the 
 king's subjects." 
 
 Nearly an hour later with his back against a giant 
 mimosa tree-stump, Peter sat with ears alert, peering 
 into the fringe of the forest before him. Between 
 himself and the thick woods the reeking neck and 
 foreshoulders of a young gazelle dangled just above 
 
 251 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 the ground from the limb of a small sapling. Day- 
 light had given way before the dawning rays of 
 the moon and the glimmer of those wonderfully 
 bright points of the great cross overhead. The 
 silences of the tropical nightfall were now broken 
 only by the twittering of drowsy birds and monkeys 
 in the trees, and the occasional distant crashing of 
 some huge beast blundering through the underbrush. 
 
 Suddenly the same hollow, thunderous roar that 
 had sent the whole village scuttHng indoors again 
 rose on the air, this time near at hand. 
 
 A puzzled frown clouded the features of the young 
 American, as his fingers tightened about the stock 
 of his powerful hammerless. 
 
 *'What a brazen hussey to roar like that!" he 
 thought. He turned his head for a minute as his 
 ear caught the soft, catlike tread of Ras Jemel ap- 
 proaching from a hut behind. 
 
 *"Tis the man-eating she-devil. The king knows 
 her voice. She defies all mankind with her bellow- 
 ing. If the sahib slays the beast, all will be well. 
 If not — " The old man completed the sentence with 
 a quiet shrug. 
 
 *' Are you armed?'* Peter asked. 
 
 "The king has the rifles," the other answered, 
 " all save the one carried by the sahib. Shoot straight 
 if you would live." Then turning, he strode back 
 and Peter heard the rush door gently scrape together 
 as he entered a hut. 
 
 252 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 The night breeze fanned gently against the face 
 of the watcher. The beast would miss his scent. 
 Not a sound came from the huddled dwellings behind 
 him but he knew that a hundred pairs of eyes were 
 strained towards him, and he knew too that many 
 timid, savage mothers with quaking hearts and chil- 
 dren drawn close were hoping for the success of the 
 white sahib out there in the dark. 
 
 ^'Oof!" 
 
 The sound came from the, darkness, perhaps half 
 a hundred yards beyond where Peter sat. The 
 underbrush crackled. A moonbeam shining through 
 the treetops revealed a spot where the leaves of a 
 magnolia bush swayed strangely. A lighted space 
 lay between the first fringe of foliage and the bloody 
 bait suspended from the sapling. 
 
 Now the stillness became intense again. The 
 leaves ceased to move. From the remote depths of 
 the jungle rose the sweet notes of a nightingale. 
 For several minutes the bird's wonderful melody 
 pulsed and throbbed through the night. Then the 
 warbling came to an end. A ground-mole popped 
 out of its hole at Peter's feet, sat up, stared with 
 cocked head at the motionless figure of the man and 
 then with a tiny squeak of apprehension dived head- 
 foremost into its den. 
 
 *' Swish! Swish!" 
 
 The noise was very faint. The magnolia bush 
 moved again. 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Suddenly two gleaming balls of fire appeared; there 
 was another pause, a crackling of twigs, a tense gath- 
 ering, a sudden swift rush through the air and Peter 
 beheld a magnificent queen of the jungles bound across 
 moonlighted space and with a single, lithe leap 
 bear the head of the suspended gazelle crashing to the 
 ground. 
 
 He waited only the fraction of a second. Then 
 as his eye caught the light under the brute's fore- 
 shoulder, the sound of the big hammerless was an- 
 swered by a scream of maniacal rage followed by a 
 succession of ear-splitting roars. 
 
 "A hit," thought Peter, springing up, as he beheld 
 the man-eater madly clawing great furrows in the 
 ground. But hardly had he stepped out into the light 
 when the animal, now infuriated with pain, caught 
 sight of him. Then on the very instant that the 
 quivering beast laimched herself at the spot where he 
 stood, the D. B. spoke again and, as he leaped aside, 
 Peter heard a last wild scream and saw the muscles 
 of the lioness collapse and the great body crumple 
 up in mid air. 
 
 "The sahib has done well." It was the voice of 
 Ras Jemel. 
 
 Suddenly a new commotion burst forth. Shouts 
 rent the air. The black forms of men, women and 
 little ones poured forth into the moonhght. A dozen 
 giant savages raised Peter upon their shoulders and 
 bore him with wild acclaim to the king's palace where 
 
 254 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 the monarch, with an unmistakable display of emo- 
 tion, threw his arms around the American and insisted 
 upon repeatedly rubbing noses with him and each one 
 of the Arabs. Other negroes lighted a huge bonfire 
 upon which the carcass of the lioness, stripped of its 
 skin, became speedily exorcised of evil spirits. 
 Until far into the night the celebration in honor of 
 the release of the villagers from the terrors of the 
 man-eater continued about this sacrificial blaze. 
 
 At dawn the king and half his warriors, chanting 
 the tribal song of victory, accompanied Peter and his 
 companions as far as the banks of the Digon, a beauti- 
 ful stream that wound northward until it finally 
 joined one of the great feeders of the Nile. 
 
 Though he had already bestowed upon Peter his 
 own amulet and a shield made from the skin of a 
 white lioness — the highest mark of tribal esteem con- 
 ferrable — King Manek, as soon as he learned of his 
 guest's intention to go up the river, insisted upon 
 bestowing upon him a handsome canoe made with 
 a covering of hippopotamus hide. 
 
 Thus after Peter had seen the two shikaris and Melu 
 set forward with Aram on the more roundabout land 
 route to the valley of Metan, it took only a few hours 
 of work at the paddles to bring Ras Jemel and him- 
 self to the enchanting spot, deep in the very heart of 
 Africa, where, between great flower-decked terraces 
 flinging out crimson and purple streamers of fra- 
 grance above a beautiful silver stream, he saw in the 
 
 255 
 
THE OSTRICH ! 
 
 distance the flashing surface of the thermal lake and 
 upon the meadows and in the woodlands surrounding j 
 it thousands of snowy-plumed ostriches, already run- 
 ning wildly here and there because of the approach 
 of himself and Ras Jemel. The spectacle overjoyed 
 him. He saw that the animals were penned in a 
 bottle-like enclosure formed by precipitous bluffs sur- 
 rounding the lake meadows, the only outlet of which 
 w^as the defile through which he and the guide had 
 approached. 
 
 Ras Jemel showed Peter how the small army of 
 birds might be handled at will by building a low wall 
 of sticks, easily gathered on the heights above. The 
 same evening Aram with his three companions and 
 the mules arrived, and the next forenoon found the 
 large caravan also encamped at the mouth of the 
 ravine. 
 
 Then for four days the Eden-like enclosure pre- 
 sented a spectacle without parallel. 
 
 Grinning Arabs pursued great flocks of giant Abys- 
 sinian ostriches to and fro from one side of the Basin 
 to the other, driving the long-legged bipeds round 
 and round through the stretch of tall woods under 
 the bluffs and out again into the level, garden-like 
 plain until at last, spent and frightened by the shrill 
 cries of their pursuers, the birds would run blindly 
 into the narrow pass where they were deftly garnered 
 into the fenced-in area built to receive them. After 
 that it became only necessary to starve them a day 
 
 256 
 
KILLING A MAN-EATER 
 
 and a night to induce each one to take its food in 
 a civilized way, and to enable the Arab hunters to 
 transfer the struggling animals, blindfolded, to the 
 cases built for their journey to civilization. 
 
 On the fifth day the work was finished. The last 
 unwieldy, ostrich-ladened case had been slung upon 
 the baggage camels. Somalis, camel-men and attend- 
 ants had been marshalled for the journey back through 
 the wilds to Trebut. 
 
 Peter stood close to the incline that led down to 
 the river's slope, leaning against his flea-bitten Httle 
 mule, a look of satisfaction upon his face. Thus far 
 there had been no hitch in the task to which he 
 had set himself. The spectacle before him gave 
 him a thrill of pleasure. Momentarily he forgot the 
 hardships and dangers that still might lie ahead and 
 his mind ran on to that day when he should again 
 set foot in New York and with other men and 
 women take up the consummation of the great 
 purpose which spurred him on. 
 
 Then he heard a Hght step behind him and turn- 
 ing he beheld approaching a brawny, six-foot Ethio- 
 pian whom he at once recognized as one of the chief 
 warriors of King Manek's tribe. 
 
 "What is it?" he asked, as the black dropped on 
 his knees, but noting the man's look of incomprehen- 
 sion at his English, Peter turned and called Ras 
 Jemel who stood near. 
 
 "Find out what the man wants," he said. 
 
 257 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 For several minutes a conversation, meaningless to 
 Peter, went on between the two. At last, as the 
 messenger with a final wave of his hands, softly 
 withdrew and disappeared below the river's bank 
 the Arab turned and exclaimed : 
 
 ''The Shal-dikus, eaters-of-men, have risen; so 
 have the Sams and the Erolus, both makers -of 
 human-sacrifice. All three tribes have joined to- 
 gether and now lie in wait in the forests for the re- 
 turn of the caravan. A terrible death threatens the 
 sahib.'' 
 
 25S 
 
XX 
 
 A JUNGLE BATTLE 
 
 The old man's words brought Peter again close to 
 the realities of his situation. 
 
 *'We will teach them a lesson, Ras Jemel. We are 
 all well armed. All the men carry guns and can 
 shoot." 
 
 The old guide threw him a respectful glance. 
 
 "You are brave, sahib, but these bushmen with 
 huge bodies and hearts that lust for blood are crafty. 
 They know the forest well, and they fight from 
 ambush; bullets seldom pierce the tough shields they 
 carry and sometimes their arrows are poisoned. 
 We will have a hard fight to drive them off. If it 
 goes against us — " he shrugged his shoulders — 
 ''they make slaves of their prisoners, or kill and de- 
 vour them." 
 
 Peter heard the last words with unbelieving ears. 
 
 "Bid the headman warn all the camel-drivers to 
 be prepared, and have Aram keep a sharp lookout 
 with the shikaris. How many in all can we count 
 on?" 
 
 "A hundred and ten, sahib. We may have to 
 fight three times that number." 
 
 259 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "To remain here will be to gain nothing. There 
 is only a single route back. If there is to be fighting, 
 it is best to have it out at once. Let us start as soon 
 as the camels are ready. '* 
 
 That night the well-guarded peace of the encamp- 
 ment was disturbed only by the snarling of a band 
 of hyenas fighting over the bones of an antelope shot 
 by Aram for the evening meal. 
 
 The stop had been made at the edge of a level 
 and grassy plateau, the last open stretch be- 
 tween tlie Metan valley and the approach to Zar's 
 domain. 
 
 Before sunrise the next morning the long line of 
 loping camels descended the incline into the Abyssin- 
 ian jungles. With the advance of the day the hard- 
 ships of the journey began to make themselves felt. 
 As the sun rose higher, at first beating well in through 
 the trees and foHage, the heat of the lowlands became 
 terrific. Swarms of bees, seroot flies and other 
 winged pests held high carnival with the caravan 
 animals. The bite of a snake, incurred by one of the 
 camel-men, caused a delay of several hours. The 
 mule carrying Peter's personal baggage stepped into 
 a hole and broke its leg, necessitating the shooting of 
 the animal and the transference of the luggage to a 
 camel. At the noon stop an ostrich, frightened at 
 feeding time, badly lacerated its body in a fruitless 
 struggle to escape, and Peter was obHged to have the 
 bird killed. 
 
 260 
 
A JUNGLE BATTLE 
 
 His spirit chafed at the delays and slow progress 
 of the march. 
 
 Anxiety over the possibility of an attack by savages 
 impaired his oversight of the care and feeding of the 
 ostriches — a task which needed his own and Ras 
 Jemel's undivided attention. 
 
 The trail at last became shut in to such a degree 
 that the sun's rays barely penetrated the arching 
 recesses. Shortly after the noon start, the line 
 reached the spot where Peter's ears had first caught 
 the lamenting cries of King Manek and his tribe. 
 No wailing now sounded in the woods. It was omi- 
 nously still. Only the chattering of a few monkeys 
 disturbed the solitudes. Riding ahead of the line 
 to where Aram and his Somalis were performing scout 
 duty, Peter learned that as yet no savages had shown 
 themselves. But he had barely turned his mule 
 back when he heard Aram riding up behind him 
 and even before the man spoke he knew that danger 
 was imminent. 
 
 *'I1 Ramad has just returned with the report that 
 the forest ahead is alive with negroes. All are armed 
 with spears and shields and some of the chief men carry 
 guns." 
 
 ^'How many are there?'* asked Peter. 
 
 **I1 Ramad saw many — ^perhaps two tribes, per- 
 haps more. They hide behind the thick wall of vines 
 beside the trail and it is impossible to count them. 
 II Ramad escaped without being observed, but it 
 
 261 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 is likely that the savages suspect the approach of the 
 sahib by this time." 
 
 *' Remain here with your men and keep close watch, 
 Aram. I will return presently." Then digging his 
 heels into the donkey's sides, Peter hastened back, 
 ordering each driver, as he went, to halt his animal 
 and wait for further orders. 
 
 Ras Jemel's lips tightened grimly when he heard 
 the news. 
 
 **I1 Ramad did well to discover them and to get 
 away unnoticed. It will be a hard fight, sahib; but 
 our men are good in battle; I know them all. Much 
 raw blood will flow before these cannibals beat us 
 back." The old man at once began ordering the 
 camel line to the rear, and in a short time Peter beheld 
 the last of the beasts trailing past the spot where he 
 sat mounted on his mule. Going forward again, he 
 beckoned to Aram and his companions and all re- 
 turned to the caravan which Ras Jemel had halted 
 in a forest clearing. 
 
 Just outside this great drove of kneeling animals 
 which were left in charge of the mule-boys and half 
 a dozen competent Somali hunters, the camel-men 
 were divided into three groups under Aram, Ras 
 Jemel and Peter and ladened with forty rounds of 
 cartridges each hunter silently crept away behind 
 his respective chief towards the spot where the 
 enemy lay. 
 
 A few minutes later a rifle-shot wakened the echoes 
 
 262 
 
A JUNGLE BATTLE 
 
 of the forest. It was instantly succeeded by an 
 ear-splitting yell as a giant negro, who had stood half- 
 exposed at the edge of a thicket, tossed his arms above 
 his head and crumpled up like a crushed egg. 
 
 The ensuing stillness lasted just long enough for 
 Peter to catch Ras Jemel's grunt of satisfaction as 
 the old man lowered his rifle. Then the din of wild 
 conflict burst forth. 
 
 The savages, skilled in the finesse of jungle fighting, 
 clung to their protecting barricade of almost impene- 
 trable vines until the daring Arabs had rushed for- 
 ward close to the wall when a horde of black forms, 
 armed with long spears and shields, poured from cleft 
 and opening, launching their weapons as they came. 
 
 The snappy rattle of large bore guns was drowned 
 in the terrific yells of the blacks. Three Arabs 
 dropped in the first encounter while more than a 
 dozen of the enemy tumbled backward or sunk down 
 as if struck from above during the brief moments 
 of this first rush. 
 
 Realizing the error of fighting at close quarters, 
 Peter shouted to his men to withdraw to the protec- 
 tion of the trees. A minute later both Ras Jemel 
 and Aram, seeing the wisdom of this move, followed 
 suit. 
 
 Now for a time the battle became more desultory. 
 Occasionally an Arab's rifle elicited a screech of terror 
 and pain as a leaden missile found its mark. Only 
 a few of the savages carried guns and these, for the 
 
 263 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 most part, proved ineffective because of the poor 
 marksmanship of the blacks. The contest bade fair 
 to test the strategy of both sides. 
 
 And now a trick of the blacks served to increase the 
 peril. Suddenly, and with cries that drowned all 
 other noises of the contest, a body of savages rushed 
 into view in front of all the lines and advanced in 
 numbers equal to the full strength of the Arab defence. 
 At the same time, through a thin opening in the vines 
 at one side, a giant satyr, scarred, pitted and minus 
 an ear, made a dash forward with fifty odd followers 
 and succeeded in cutting off Ras Jemel's force from 
 the others. 
 
 Finding his men assaulted from both sides with 
 spears and arrows driven with alarming accuracy, the 
 old guide ordered a hasty retreat. But when his 
 handful of followers endeavored to obey, it was 
 found that the force behind was too strong to be 
 overcome. 
 
 Aram and Peter grasped the situation at the same 
 time. The old sheik had only to lift his voice and 
 point out the penned- in company, to his Arabs. Peter 
 and his men were already running from tree to tree 
 toward the imperilled force, each man stopping on 
 his way only long enough to now and then push home 
 a handful of cartridges. But as these two companies 
 moved forward to the assistance of Ras Jemel, the 
 line of savages in the latter's front, reckless of danger, 
 began to rush in on the trapped Arabs. A quick 
 
 264 
 
A JUNGLE BATTLE 
 
 dash now seemed to Peter the only method of extri- 
 cating them. As he crept forward, planning how the 
 rush could best be made, a sense of danger caused 
 him to turn. A grinning black stood ten yards away 
 in the act of launching a wicked-looking spear at his 
 head. He dodged and the huge shaft buried itself 
 in a tree-trunk. Then almost before his gun spoke, 
 bringing down his assailant in his tracks, he saw a 
 horde of naked forms wriggling like snakes through 
 the wall from which his men had just turned to aid 
 Ras Jemel. 
 
 For the fraction of a second the youth paused. 
 Then warning his men of the danger in the rear he 
 levelled his rifle at another of the oncoming bush- 
 men. 
 
 It was Aram's force that for a moment stayed dis- 
 aster. With a wild Mohammedan cry, the old sheik 
 and his men sprang forward into the midst of the line 
 of blacks that barred those with Ras Jemel from 
 freedom. For a full five minutes the woods rang 
 with blood-curdling death-cries, as shot after shot 
 from the Arab rifles woke the echoes, or as some one 
 of the savages found a live target for his spear. 
 
 At last a giant black sprang from behind a tree- 
 trunk only a few feet from Ras Jemel, and with a 
 look of triumph levelled his spear at the stalwart 
 guide. As the brawny arm lunged forward, the old 
 man seemed to sense his danger and lurched back, 
 but not in time to entirely evade the weapon which 
 
 265 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 crashed through his shoulder, carrying him senseless 
 to the ground. 
 
 ''Crack!" the rifle of an Arab behind a nearby 
 tree emitted a tiny tongue flame and the savage 
 dropped dead. 
 
 The peril of the three companies was now great. 
 The result of Aram's heroic sortie had reunited the 
 caravan forces, but now all, instead of a single com- 
 pany, were compelled to fight the savages on two 
 sides. Realizing their advantage and superiority of 
 numbers, the negroes pressed on furiously and, in 
 spite of the slaughter wrought by the desperate 
 Arabs, at last drove the men into a closely massed 
 body. 
 
 Peter comprehended the desperate straits of all. 
 The rushes of the wily savages were growing more de- 
 termined. Deprived of the leadership of Ras Jemel, 
 who had been carried back by two Arabs, a number 
 of the old guide's men lost their heads and began to 
 shoot wildly. Several fell in the rushes. All were 
 now being pressed into the open stretch of the trail 
 where tree-trunks no longer afforded protection. It 
 had become almost a hand-to-hand fight in which the 
 weapons of the savages proved more effective than 
 the rifles. Peter's heart sank. Was all this effort 
 for nothing? Were the murderous designs of African 
 savages to thus thwart a great purpose? He beheld 
 the camel-men's resistance growing more feeble. A 
 spear whirling through the air pinned a young shikari 
 
 266 
 
A JUNGLE BATTLE 
 
 to the ground. A well-aimed shot brought down the 
 negro who had hurled the weapon, but instantly 
 two more blacks took his place. 
 
 Suddenly above the noise of the struggle, Peter's 
 ears caught the sound of a new and strange tumult. 
 Savage cries, ringing high in the woods, swelled in 
 the air from the rear. For a moment his heart stood 
 still. Was the chance of retreat, even, to be cut off 
 by an assault directly from behind? Then suddenly 
 as his eyes glanced down the trail, a mighty shout of 
 relief burst from his throat. For, as he felt the last 
 straw of hope being swept away, he saw a great force 
 of black warriors swing into view and at their head 
 marched his sworn friend, King Manek, now mar- 
 tially bellowing the battle-cry of his tribe. On they 
 dashed, leaping to join the Arab forces in the fight. 
 
 Instantly pandemonium broke loose. Arab and 
 black ally, shoulder to shoulder, tore through the 
 enemy's lines, the camel-men in many cases fighting 
 with clubbed rifles. 
 
 Step by step the cannibals gave way, at first 
 stubbornly, then wavering until, as Manek 's huge 
 warriors pouring through the jungle walls invaded 
 the last defence, panic seized many of the enemy, 
 and with wild cries of terror they fled in all directions 
 through the dense woods. 
 
 Peter, leading his Arabs side by side with Aram 
 and the battle-loving old monarch, had with difli- 
 culty clambered through a vast sweep of trailing 
 
 267 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 vines. Finally he stood with lifted rifle about to 
 take aim at three negroes crouching behind a mass of 
 imderbrush. All about in this mighty forest echoed 
 sounds of the running fight. To his right he saw 
 two Arabs each pick off one of a pair of blacks who 
 had sought to escape detection by swinging them- 
 selves into the branches of a low tree. Unnoticed by 
 the trio in front of him, Peter had brought his rifle 
 to his shoulder, when the snap of a branch above his 
 head caused him to glance quickly upward. In the 
 fraction of that instant before something smote the 
 top of his head with the force of a sledge-hammer 
 blow, he caught a glimpse of a huge arm stretched in 
 front of a devilishly grinning and scarred counte- 
 nance, from one side of which a black ear was miss- 
 ing. Then darkness engulfed him. 
 
 268 
 
XXI 
 
 AMONG THE CANNIBALS 
 
 Peter wakened to the consciousness of throbbing 
 temples, an aching and tortured body and bruised 
 limbs. Attempting to lift an arm, he discovered that 
 tightly corded thongs were cutting into both wrists 
 and ankles. Then a medley of strange noises as- 
 sailed his ears. He opened his eyes. 
 
 Two satin-skinned negroes armed with formidable 
 hippopotamus-hide whips stood facing each other 
 inside a ring of yelling savages. Dripping with per- 
 spiration, the two warriors simultaneously bent 
 forward, leaped and swimg their whips. The hide 
 thongs, as they bit into the quivering flesh, left a 
 streak of red that flowed slowly down each naked 
 waist, coloring with livid stains the loin-cloth be- 
 low. Back and forth they sprang, the shrill "aies" 
 of the women and children rending the air as the 
 duellists balanced, tiptoed in that intervening sec- 
 ond between blows, and then swung again. Not 
 for an instant was there a waning of the hideous 
 smile fixed upon each pair of thick lips. 
 
 Peter saw that each combatant wore upon his 
 right wrist the trio of gold, silver and leaden bracelets 
 
 269 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 that designated the rank of chieftain. The two 
 lashes again whistled through the air and one of the 
 men, in turning for a moment, showed a horribly 
 scarred profile minus an ear. The face was the 
 same which Peter had last looked into before he lost 
 consciousness in the forest. 
 
 The thought roused him. How long had he 
 lain senseless? Where was he now? What might 
 this brutal contest mean? With an effort he glanced 
 about. 
 
 like a meal-sack, he had been dropped on a gentle 
 inchne looking down upon an African village whose 
 hundred or more conical-shaped dwellings were the 
 background of the scene before him. The verdure of 
 towering, forest trees fringed all the clearing except 
 where a single cliff, apparently of clay or granite, 
 formed a splotch of gray. A number of rectangu- 
 lar openings in the side of this unusual bluff, indicat- 
 ing that it might be used as a temple or place of 
 habitation for the savages, momentarily stirred Peter's 
 curiosity. Then his eyes went back to the duel. 
 
 The slenderer contestant with features regular 
 and unmutilated, evidently the younger of the two, 
 was beginning to weaken. Suddenly he dropped his 
 uplifted arm, lowered his head, leaped through the 
 wild circle about him and dashed towards Peter. 
 After him sprang the whole crowd of yelling blacks. 
 
 Running easily, the pursued man reached the 
 prisoner well in advance. 
 
 270 
 
AMONG THE CANNIBALS 
 
 "Togolo come back." The man's eyes rested on 
 the face of the other for an instant. Then with mo- 
 tions as lithe as those of a panther, the lacerated 
 form disappeared in the shadows of the forest. 
 
 Past Peter now straggled the pursuers — huge- 
 limbed warriors led by the marred-faced chieftain, 
 and a mob of screeching women and children. His 
 mind was still busy with the riddle of the duel and the 
 mysterious message, when he heard the baffled cries 
 of this returning crowd. Then the feverish agony 
 of throbbing head and cramped limbs was resolved 
 into a twofold torture, when amid howls of fiendish 
 glee, a naked foot sent him helplessly rolling down 
 the incline into a briar-strewn gully below. While 
 half-naked, savage women and impish children 
 leered into his face, and with spear stocks and clubs 
 endeavored to heighten his tortures, the warriors 
 gathered close by in a circle and held a discussion, 
 which from the frequent glances cast in his direc- 
 tion, Peter knew concerned himself. 
 
 Presently a bent and emaciated black emerged 
 from a distant house. As Peter's tormentors caught 
 sight of him, a chorus of feminine screeches reinforced 
 by a mighty howling of the males swelled into a loud 
 tumult. Now ten youths rose, walked slowly toward 
 the dwelling from which the man had issued, entered 
 and presently came out again, each bearing a white- 
 robed figure in his arms. Peter knew that the funeral 
 rites of the tribe's dead battle-heroes were to occur. 
 
 271 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Amid terrific bowlings the corpses were strung 
 along the ground in the centre of the clearing. Then 
 scattering to the different dwellings, both men and 
 women presently reappeared, their bodies painted 
 in such hues as to represent different wild beasts, 
 while each wore over his features the head of whatever 
 animal he represented. Though it was still forenoon, 
 a great bonfire was now lighted and about the blaze 
 all except a few of the older persons and the children 
 threw themselves wildly into the mourning dance. 
 
 Peter's interest in these gyrations and his fore- 
 bodings of what they meant to himself quickly 
 yielded to physical suffering. Lying helpless with 
 his face upturned to the African sun during the 
 long mid-day and early afternoon hours, those 
 panting and savage forms continually whirhng — 
 whirHng with frenzied sounds — became actors in many 
 strange pictures that crowded his mind. Uncon- 
 sciously he clung to hope of rescue. Even when 
 parched and bleeding lips and swollen tongue pre- 
 vented utterance to the ravings of his agonized mind, 
 a grim tenacity of purpose, as if depths of his being 
 still fought on, shone in his blood-shot eyes. 
 
 The frenzy about the funeral pyre at last reached 
 its height. Scores of the women, spent with their 
 exertions, lay moaning on the dirt. Several men had 
 given in. Infuriated and demoniacal yells indicated 
 that madness had seized many over-drunk with the 
 powerful ''tetch." 
 
 272 
 
AMONG THE CANNIBALS 
 
 Suddenly each of the ten warriors again seized a 
 dead body, slung it upon his shoulder, hurried across 
 the plain and one after another filed into a lower 
 opening in the cliff temple previously noted by 
 Peter. 
 
 When these corpse-bearers emerged, empty-handed, 
 a new access of shouting, this time angry and men- 
 acing, swelled over the plain, and in one of his brief 
 intervals of pseudo-sanity Peter fancied himself the 
 cynosure of a thousand, sardonically-grinning, black 
 faces and leering eyes. 
 
 A brutal blow dealt his bHstered face by an ugly 
 negro elicited from him only a chortle of raucous 
 laughter. 
 
 ''Ha! Ha! The other side — the other side, Ras 
 Jemel! Pin him down! Good work!" His head 
 bumped against the ground. ''Pigs — ha — for just 
 one shot — just one. Who'd have thought the black 
 devils'd get us? We'll beat 'em — yes, Rosie, we'll 
 take good care of him. Yes. There, there — ha- 
 ha!" 
 
 The madness of his voice for a second stilled the 
 mob. Even these wild men superstitiously drew back, 
 afraid of this ''evil spirit." Then just as his senses 
 were fading the one-eared chieftain reached down 
 with a knife, slashed the thongs about his wrists and 
 ankles, and began to drag his limp form toward the 
 corpse temple. 
 
 A sense of suffocation brought Peter gasping back 
 
 273 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 to consciousness. Freed of his bonds, bodily relief 
 had stayed the delirium, but now each breath wheezed 
 dryly in his throat and every nerve and muscle in his 
 body seemed racked with pain. 
 
 Save for an almost inappreciable crack of light at 
 his left, the place where he lay was in darkness. The 
 intense heat that had wakened him, convulsive and 
 stifling, seemed to emanate from the floor. He felt 
 little thermal waves rising round his body. Pain- 
 fully he climbed to his knees and finally staggered to 
 his feet, groping at the walls for support. Before he 
 had time to reach the orifice of light, his flesh began 
 to feel feverishly parched. He was much puzzled at 
 this. He kneeled down to place an eye to the crack 
 and the heat of the cement-like floor stung his bare 
 knees and hands. 
 
 The hght crack was an infinitesimally narrow one, 
 not an inch in length, a tiny irregularity in the edge 
 of the clay or cement casing of what was presumably 
 a door of similar material, but with much twisting of 
 his head Peter found he could get glimpses of the 
 outside. One of the native houses was within his 
 range of vision across which now and then quick 
 shadows moved. Faintly his ear caught an occa- 
 sional yell. He sucked in the air with his lips. 
 
 The heat was increasing. The floor was now pain- 
 fully hot to his feet, yet he felt that if he removed 
 his lips from the air vent he would stifle in a few 
 minutes. 
 
 274 
 
AMONG THE CANNIBALS 
 
 Terrifying fancies filled his thoughts. What was 
 this thing? He could hardly stand upon the clay 
 floor. Lines of pain furrowed his face. In a moment 
 of suspense he sensed rather than heard a soft, 
 faintly distinguishable sound of burning wood. It 
 came from beneath. He started up with a frightful 
 conviction obsessing him. Was he then in an oven — 
 baking — to be eaten? Panic seized his mind. His 
 reason toppled; he giggled. Then he struck his 
 lacerated hands against the walls and shouted — 
 hoarsely, madly — flinging himself, regardless of pain 
 or burning heat, against the solid door. His scream 
 echoed through that closed dungeon of fearful, hideous 
 death — echoed again and again — until, just as the 
 door swung inward admitting a soft rush of air and 
 the panting form of Togolo, the savage chieftain, 
 something snapped in his head and he dropped with 
 a final cry, senseless and inert. 
 
 As the young warrior dragged the unconscious body 
 of Peter through the orifice of that catacomb, his 
 eyes fell upon a scene which caused even his stoical 
 negro features to wrinkle with wonder. 
 
 Across the brow of the incline up which he had 
 fled that same day now gleamed a long line of white- 
 clad, helmeted, native soldiers, each standing armed 
 at martial attention, the sun glistening and glinting 
 upon their shining rifle barrels, while in front of this 
 
 275 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 array, mounted on the back of a milk-white mule, Zar, 
 queen of the Rhadanians, dispenser of justice among 
 scores of Abyssinian tribes, sat erect and motionless. 
 
 At the left of the queen's lines, with spears sus- 
 pended and respectful faces, stood a throng of naked 
 blacks in front of whom was old King Manek on his 
 knees, his glances divided between the queen's 
 face and a much-scarred, one-eared chieftain advanc- 
 ing alone up the hill from the basin clearing below, 
 where another cluster of warriors stood sullenly 
 glowering. 
 
 As the chief halted, Zar, lifting one hand, pointed 
 across the valley to Togolo standing outside the cliff 
 vault holding the Hmp body of Peter Rutledge in 
 his arms. Then she began to speak, addressing the 
 savage in low tense tones. 
 
 Having listened all the while in an attitude that 
 clearly spoke defiance, the negro threw back his head 
 and swung out his arms untemporizingly as the queen 
 finished. 
 
 For a moment Zar seemed to reflect, her serene 
 face studying the man closely. Then she turned and 
 nodded toward the line behind her and a group of 
 young warriors darted across the grass, seized and 
 bound the snarling savage and bore him to the rear. 
 
 When Peter again opened his eyes, he was lying 
 upon a litter borne by four blacks, each attired in cool 
 
 276 
 
AMONG THE CANNIBALS 
 
 white linen. From beneath his sheltering awning 
 he could make out the helmeted heads and shoulders 
 of many more men both in front and behind him, 
 all in the same spotless white raiment. Walls of vines, 
 flower-spangled, trailing from towering tropical trees 
 on either side, indicated the presence of a surrounding 
 forest. Great bandages swathing not only his hands, 
 but his legs, head and part of his body, and giving off 
 a pleasing odor, prevented him from rubbing his eyes 
 in surprise. 
 
 "My brother is awake at last. All then is well!" 
 Looking up, he beheld the calm, gray eyes of Zar 
 fixed upon him with affectionate interest. 
 
 "Do not talk — " as his lips feebly moved. "Thou 
 hast come through safely. The ostrich-ladened car- 
 avan is safe and waits for thee at Trebut. All is 
 ready for thy departure. In a few days the oil will 
 have soothed and healed thy wounds. Then will 
 Zar, thy sister, send thee on thy way." 
 
 She rode beside him on her handsomely caparisoned 
 mule, holding up an edge of the canopy with one hand 
 while she spoke. 
 
 "Now thou hadst best sleep, the more to lighten 
 thy sufferings and hasten the time of farewell to which 
 my heart tells me even now thou lookest forward 
 with impatience." 
 
 Three days afterwards Peter lay a convalescent 
 in an airy apartment of Zar's palace. The tall, 
 gaunt figure of Ras Jemel, his shoulder wrapped 
 
 277 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 in many bandages, was seated near the foot of the 
 bed. 
 
 ^' These cannibal dogs, sahib, in some way learned 
 the secret," the old man was explaining. *'In their 
 houses they sometimes have ovens made of this sub- 
 stance, harder than clay and capable of standing 
 great heat. But for Togolo, whose quarrel with the 
 one-eared Mentabu is of long standing, the sahib 
 would surely have been roasted to a crisp in that oven 
 of death; for beneath the floor a great shut-in fire 
 of burning coals is kept alive for three days when a 
 meal of man flesh is being prepared." 
 
 ''But what about the duel with whips?" asked 
 Peter. 
 
 ''Disputes in Abyssinia are often settled that way. 
 It is a test of the groom's bravery in marriage, too. 
 Togolo not only refused to help lead his followers, 
 but he also opposed the attack on the caravan. 
 When the sahib was later brought in stunned and 
 bound, Togolo would not consent to a cannibal feast. 
 He held out against all the tribe and Mentabu. 
 The duel was to decide which of these two head 
 fighting men should yield. The sahib owes his life to 
 the quick thought of Togolo in leading King Manek 
 to the rescue. 
 
 ''Four of our men were killed and many injured in 
 the fight, but the ostriches are safe and well cared 
 for. When will the sahib be ready to begin the 
 journey back?" 
 
 278 
 
AMONG THE CANNIBALS 
 
 ''Can't you curb your impatience until your 
 wounds heal?" asked Peter with twinkling eyes. 
 
 " This hurt— it is nothing," replied the Arab. '' All 
 will be in readiness on the second day hence." 
 
 The old man rose and with a bow withdrew, leaving 
 the younger one to sleep. A few hours later Peter 
 wakened much refreshed to find Zar standing near 
 the window looking towards him. 
 
 ''In two days my brother from across the seas is 
 going away," she said. "Triumphing over many 
 dangers and hardships, he first came to Trebut. 
 By those conscious waves of thought which, in minds 
 attuned, reach out across the spaces, flashing back 
 knowledge of events and things and presaging future 
 happenings, Zar knew her brother's coming far ahead. 
 Through that same spirit force she was apprised of 
 his danger in the forest. Again the power mysteri- 
 ously reveals its purpose. In thy going, brother, 
 Zar goes too— but not with thee. The wings of 
 evening, the silence of stars, the shadows now beckon 
 about her, presaging death." 
 
 Peter lifted his head from his pillow, raising a pro- 
 testing hand. 
 
 "It must not be so, my sister," he said. "Who 
 then would carry on your work here?" 
 
 "Zar's task is fulfilled when thou goest. My 
 people have learned to stand alone. Thou and 
 others after thee are henceforth to carry forward 
 destiny's design. We are each but the fashioner of a 
 
 279 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 link in the great chain of circumstances that one 
 day shall reunite all mankind in co-operative accord. 
 Once our work is done, the need of us ceases. Others, 
 there are always, to fill the places we vacate. 
 
 ^'And now give heed, my brother. The secret 
 of thy mission has been betrayed. A troop of French 
 soldiers ride along the border, seeking thee. Both 
 the English and the French have become suspicious. 
 Thou art known far and wide as the ^Yankee 
 poacher.' Unless thou dost slip away secretly, 
 thou wilt risk the seizure and loss of all thy birds. 
 
 *' Therefore lead thy caravan by night into the 
 desert where runs a secret trail known only to a few 
 of all the Arab tribes. Ras Jemel will guide thee. 
 Thou shalt hide at the coming of each dawn and rest 
 all day, waiting patiently until the stars glimmer and 
 the great cross creeps once again up into the sky. 
 Let Ras Jemel lead the caravan to the borders of 
 that bay ten leagues to the north of Shaliti. Then 
 go thou alone, disguised, and seek aid in that city. 
 
 ''Escape is assured thee if thou dost heed all these 
 things. 
 
 ''I see a man with sun-tanned visage, broad of 
 chest and neck, and wearing a beard thick and full. 
 When he speaks, 'tis Hke the rough west wind that 
 roareth in the mountain caves. But his deep blue 
 eyes are as gentle as a child's. Once thou hast 
 come to the coast, seek him out. He will guide thee 
 
 on." 
 
 280 
 
AMONG THE CANNIBALS 
 
 "How do you know all these things, wise sister? 
 I will not believe that you are not to live with your 
 people many years." 
 
 The pensive look returned to her eyes. 
 
 "Just as I knew of thy coming and that death 
 threatened thee, so are other events revealed. To- 
 morrow afternoon thou shalt come and see that all 
 has been rightly arranged for thy desert journey. 
 To-morrow night if thou art well enough, thou shalt 
 ride away upon my favorite camel at the head of 
 the caravan. Dost that not please thee, impatient 
 one?" she asked, and smiled at the look of eagerness 
 in Peter's eyes. 
 
 Still limping a little but with his strength ahnost 
 wholly recovered, Peter, clad in his khaki suit, 
 strode into the great square before Zar's palace the 
 next day, ready for new adventures. Before him 
 long lines of imgainly, wooden cases standing in front 
 of a row of tents, and many noisy animals and camel- 
 men, indicated the presence of the ostrich camp. 
 The spectacle gave him a feeling of profound thankful- 
 ness and joy. Once again he felt himself giving reign 
 to dehghtful imaginings. Alive after so many 
 dangers, might he not now hope to go on to the end! 
 He beheld Zar and Ras Jemel, the latter with a band- 
 aged arm, each mounted upon a mule and escorted 
 by four white-clad attendants armed with spears, 
 coming toward him. His heart swelled with gratitude 
 toward both the old man who had stood by him so 
 
 281 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 stanchly and the wonderful woman of wisdom and 
 mystery. Inexplicable though it was, Zar, whose 
 knowledge seemed to have rightly solved every per- 
 plexity of human life, had proved herself a predes- 
 tined instrument in the carrying forward of his 
 purpose. 
 
 He felt the weight of his debt to her; he reverenced 
 the greatness of her character; above all, he re- 
 spected her reliance upon those spiritual forces by 
 means of which in the large things she proved her- 
 self so astonishingly accurate in prophecy. But he 
 was unwilling to believe that her life was to cease 
 now that his path and hers were to divide. 
 
 He lifted his helmet and standing bareheaded in 
 the sun helped her to dismount when she stopped 
 beside him. Then together, with Ras Jemel, they 
 went the rounds on foot, visiting the wounded men 
 and making sure that the camels and ostriches were 
 all in readiness for the start. 
 
 Never, Peter thought, had the great queen appeared 
 so spiritual. Though her Hps smiled often, he felt 
 that a deep inner concentration possessed her. And 
 he knew, all during that last afternoon with her, 
 that a presentiment of her own death was in her 
 mind. 
 
 282 
 
XXII 
 DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 That night, just before the moon rose and while 
 peaceful Trebut was falling asleep, Peter, with Ras 
 Jemel and Aram as his chief advisers, set out with 
 the long line of camels and Arab drivers toward the 
 eastern horizon of the star-powdered sky. 
 
 Zar's farewell had been brief but earnest: 
 
 *'Push on without delay. Otherwise thou wilt not 
 escape with thine ostriches,'' was her warning. 
 Then: 
 
 "My heart rejoices because thou didst come. 
 My spirit shall follow thee; my hopes shall go with 
 thee. Be brave and persist. Thou shalt succeed. 
 Farewell, my brother!" Her hands for a moment 
 had pressed his. Then they were withdrawn. After- 
 wards he had mounted and ridden away. 
 
 During many days thereafter his mind reverted 
 again and again to that parting and to the events 
 that preceded it. Since his meeting with Zar, des- 
 tiny, or was it Providence, had guarded each step. 
 Circumstances, events, even human life, seemed to 
 have bent themselves that his designs might find 
 fulfilment. 
 
 283 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 For three days the march forward proved un- 
 eventful. Then, at sunset, one of the Somali guards 
 reported that a squadron of soldiers mounted on 
 camels had crossed the line of their route a few miles 
 ahead. 
 
 The caravan's course lay several leagues to the 
 north of the regular trail from lower Abyssinia to 
 the coast. Since setting out strict watch had been 
 maintained to prevent discovery of the case-ladened 
 animals by nomadic or military bands. Zar's advice 
 still guided Peter in every detail of the journey 
 though much depended upon Ras Jemel who alone 
 knew the direct route to their destination on Onota 
 Bay, a miniature arm of the sea about thirty miles 
 north of ShaHti. 
 
 Following the scout's report on the proximity of 
 soldiers, Peter delayed the evening's start until the 
 night had well settled. 
 
 Four more days passed before he was again 
 alarmed. Then, in the early dawn, sheik Aram 
 dragged before him a yellow-skinned, one-eyed spec- 
 imen of humanity whose cries of fear were mingled 
 with fervid protestations to Allah to witness his 
 good intentions. 
 
 *'A rascal," declared the sheik, gazing with scorn- 
 ful eye at the wretch, wriggling about, snake-like, in 
 the sand. *'E1 Rofu, the Somali, seized him lying 
 in the halfa grass, watching the caravan like a fox. 
 He is either a thief or a spy." 
 
 284 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 Peter looked down at the man. 
 
 "What do you wish?" he asked in Arabic. 
 
 The prisoner grimaced, rolHng his eyes toward 
 the horizon. 
 
 " O gracious eff endi, Abou Emu's lips are parched 
 with long journeying in the desert. He has travelled 
 far and found no well. If the kind effendi will but 
 give him water and permit him to proceed on his way, 
 Allah will bless effendi and all his family." 
 
 "Loose him," said Peter to the sheik. 
 
 Aram, grumbhng, seemed about to obey, when 
 suddenly his hand darted into the folds of the 
 stranger's ragged burnous and drew out a ribbon 
 bearing the impress of a yellow cross surrounded by 
 four golden stars on a background of black. 
 
 "It is the sign of the military; he is a spy/' cried 
 the old Arab, triumphantly. 
 
 Peter gazed searchingly at the man. 
 
 "We will hold him until the end of the march. 
 Keep close watch over the fellow, Aram." 
 
 On the succeeding day one of the scouts again 
 discovered a squadron of cavalry, this time on horse- 
 back, but before it had ridden near enough to detect 
 the hill-sheltered caravan, it swerved to the left, and 
 passed from sight, without suspecting the presence 
 of the ostrich bearers. 
 
 The narrowness of the escape again heightened the 
 trepidation of Peter's mind. Only when he at last 
 beheld the caravan encamped in the shade of a grove 
 
 285 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 of mimosa trees overlooking the curved line of 
 Onota Bay's silvery shore, did the thought of the 
 next step in the journey occur to him. 
 
 ^'Then go thou alone, disguised, and seek aid in 
 Shaliti." He remembered Zar's charge and likewise 
 her strange prophecy regarding the unknown, bearded 
 man who was to aid him on his journey. Hardly 
 had the animals and men been assembled in the se- 
 clusion of the woods, when he set forth on this quest, 
 mounted on a mule and accompanied by Melu. 
 
 Turbanned, burnoused and with the color of his 
 sun-tanned face deepened with the stain of berry 
 juice to an Arab brown, Peter's appearance was that 
 of an alert young Bedouin sheik rather than of a 
 white-skinned Anglo-Saxon when he finally sent 
 Melu hurrying back to the caravan with the two 
 donkeys, and himself set off on foot towards the 
 little port just now in front of him. 
 
 Avoiding the military garrison and government 
 buildings, he nonchalantly strolled through the nar- 
 row, filthy streets of the Arab quarter until the azure 
 expanse of the harbor and sky opened before him. 
 A dozen or more small fishing-boats bobbing at an- 
 chorage, a grimy side-wheeler from Suez loading dates 
 at one of the wharves and the low-lying, gray-bodied 
 hull of a cruiser just dropping out of sight over the 
 horizon's edge were the only signs of life on the 
 water. 
 
 Disappointment shadowed Peter's features. He 
 
 286 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 recalled the accuracy with which Zar had described 
 the man who was to guide him to safety. With sink- 
 ing heart he asked himself whether, after all, he had 
 not overestimated the great queen's power of predic- 
 tion. Indeed, it seemed as if good fortune had at 
 last deserted him, for, without ship or captain, how 
 was he to escape the prying eyes of authorities deter- 
 mined to forestall any attempt to export the ostrich? 
 
 Then he suddenly forgot his misgivings; the sense 
 of disappointment lifted; his pulses throbbed quickly 
 and he stood straining his eyes toward the horizon. 
 A huge, ungainly hulk, from the twin funnels of which 
 trailed a film of black smoke, was slowly materializing 
 out of the distant sky line, heading straight toward 
 the Httle gulf port where stood the excited watcher. 
 
 When he was satisfied that the steamer was bound 
 into the harbor, a motive force quite impossible of 
 analysis suddenly spurred Peter to action. Striding 
 down to the waterfront, he beckoned to a half-naked 
 fisherman who like himself had been gazing toward 
 the steamer with anticipating eyes. Holding out a 
 piece of silver, Peter said in Arabic: 
 
 ''Take me out to the ship yonder, at once." 
 
 Captain Seth MacCracken had barely finished 
 scowling with impatience at having permitted an 
 ''old woman's whim," as he called it, to lure him into 
 the out-of-the-way, flea-infested port ahead, when 
 his ear caught the sound of good New York English 
 coming up over the port quarter. 
 
 2S7 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "Ahoy, Captain! Let down your ladder. I want 
 to come on board." 
 
 With an ejaculation of surprise Captain Seth thrust 
 his whiskered chin over the bridge rail. As his eyes 
 lighted on the figure of the man who had hailed him, 
 he roared back: 
 
 "Wall, what'd ye want, anyhow?" 
 
 Peter recognized the excellence of berry stain and 
 his flowing garb, as a disguise. The captain mistook 
 him for an Arab. Snatching the turban from his 
 head, he cried: 
 
 "I'm an American looking for a captain who wants 
 a cargo." 
 
 Captain Seth squinted downward for a second. 
 Then he let out a large mouthful of tobacco juice, 
 and something akin to a bellow of astonishment 
 reached Peter's ears, as the great blades beneath the 
 stern kicked up a riot of foam and finally brought the 
 Glendower to a standstill. Flinging his Arab oars- 
 man another coin as the man brought the boat along- 
 side the steamer, Peter scrambled up the rope ladder 
 that had been dropped over the side, and shortly 
 afterward, much to the amazement of the officials at 
 Shaliti, the big tramp steamer churning up a geyser 
 of silver in the outer harbor, turned tail and steamed 
 off to the northward. 
 
 It had taken Peter only a few minutes to strike a 
 bargain with Captain MacCracken. It required the 
 full two hours before the Glendower dropped anchor 
 
 288 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 in Onota Bay for Captain Seth to reconcile the meet- 
 ing of Peter and himself with natural occurrences in 
 every-day life. 
 
 "We'd have headed for Cape Town — straight — 
 if the Deevil's own blow hadn't druv the Glendower 
 clean up into Aden Straits. Why we put into that 
 sultry little hole back there's a mystery, my lad. 
 Somethin' told me to come; 'twarn't natural. Ten 
 days ago Captain Seth MacCracken'd have called 
 the man crazy that said he'd be wild-goosin' off the 
 Araby coast takin' on ostriches for a rapscallion 
 Yankee tryin' to dodge a forrin' bluff. 
 
 "But here we air, lad. Whether it's Providence 
 or just sheer luck, I'll help ye out," and the big- 
 hearted, blue-eyed, old veteran yanked vigorously 
 at his long beard and spat tobacco juice with much 
 profusion, as he sought vainly to leaven the new 
 mystery with the salt of sea-faring common sense. 
 
 Peter's heart beat high when, a little later, he 
 saw the ladened camels being driven one by one to the 
 water's edge where, with the Glendower 's crew pressed 
 into service, the cases containing the ostriches began 
 to be loaded upon the ship's boats and transferred to 
 the steamer's deck. Hope thrilled him again. He 
 thought of the triumph of getting away with his 
 precious prizes under the very noses of prving officials. 
 
 "To-morrow at sundown will see the job cleaned 
 up," declared Captain MacCracken after watching 
 for some time the tedious process of taking aboard 
 
 289 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 the novel cargo, and Peter, going ashore, sought Ras 
 Jemel in the encampment to tell him the news. 
 
 As he approached the guide's tent, he beheld a 
 dozen shikari hunters under Aram, dashing off 
 towards the south, while Ras Jemel with a scowl on 
 his face stood near a campfire blaze staring at a 
 piece of paper which he held in his fingers. 
 
 *'What is it?" Peter felt his mind grow suddenly 
 tense with apprehension. 
 
 *'The spy has escaped. Look! The rascal dares 
 to mock the sahib." 
 
 Peter's eyes quickly deciphered the rude Arabic 
 scrawl : 
 
 *'Abou Emu forgets not," it read. 
 
 The note, the guide explained, had been found 
 sticking out from under the saddle of Peter's camel, 
 a few minutes before. 
 
 Peter silently stared for a moment at the cryptic 
 phrase. 
 
 *'How long has the man been gone?" 
 
 ^'No one seems to know, sahib. It could not have 
 been long. He has stolen the sahib's best mule. 
 Aram seeks to seize and bring him back, but the desert 
 night cloaks well the hunted." 
 
 Peter reflected: by pushing hard, the spy could 
 reach Shaliti in time to bring the French troopers 
 down on him by early dawn. If by any chance the 
 man should fall in with a stray squad before he 
 reached the town — 
 
 290 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 Peter's aggressive self wakened. Was he to be 
 beaten at this hour — when success was already 
 dawning! Hurrying on board the Glendower, he in- 
 formed Captain MacCracken of the threatening 
 danger. 
 
 *'The man will bring a company of French soldiers 
 down on me by sunrise. No law yet actually forbids 
 exportation of the birds but both the English and 
 French colonial garrisons here have been ordered 
 to block all ostrich shipments imtil the prohibitory 
 statutes are passed. That may occur any day. 
 Then it'll all be off. Of course it's mere bluff now, 
 but they'll make it mighty uncomfortable for me to 
 get the rest of my cases on board if they arrive in 
 time." 
 
 Captain Seth tugged at his beard. 
 
 ''What'll ye have me do, lad?" 
 
 *'Load in the dark. With smart work we can have 
 every case aboard by daybreak. I'll add a week's 
 pay to the wages of every hand that helps." 
 
 The older man held up a broad palm in protest. 
 
 ''Seth MacCracken'll tend to that." Then rising 
 from his arm-chair and jamming a generous pinch 
 of ''Nonesuch" into his mouth: 
 
 "Ye be a true son of Yankee Doodle, lad. There's 
 Cap'n Seth's hand on that. We'll heave every case 
 on deck by morning or know the reason why I " 
 
 Thus the first streaks of breaking dawn were light- 
 ing the last case-ladened boat off to the ship's side 
 
 291 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 when a sharp command ringing over the desert 
 notified Peter that the soldiery had arrived. 
 
 He had finished settHng his accounts and was 
 bidding farewell to Ras Jemel and Aram. A small 
 boat manned by two of the Glendower's crew waited 
 for him on the beach. Captain Seth strode to and 
 fro in the distance across the steamer's bridge, making 
 frequent inroads upon his pouch of fine cut as he 
 walked. 
 
 The murmuring voices of the tired Somali men 
 became suddenly hushed. Peter saw the troopers 
 halt and dismount. Through the soft mists of the 
 morning he beheld the figure of their chief officer, 
 still on horseback, riding toward the mimosa grove. 
 No sign of Abou Emu, the spy, was evident. Had 
 these men found the caravan by chance or had the 
 spy been left behind by the soldiers in the rush to 
 apprehend the Yankee poacher. In either case 
 Peter knew that a tiresome and undesirable in- 
 terrogation was likely to ensue. He knew that em- 
 barrassing questions would be asked about the two 
 huge cases just then vanishing over the Glendower's 
 rail. The man responsible for those cases and their 
 contents might be invited to pay a visit to the 
 French governor at Shaliti. 
 
 Many of the camel-men now grouped themselves 
 expectantly at the edge of the grove. The light 
 was still faint. About a hundred yards, partly 
 through the grove and partly across the open beach, 
 
 292 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 lay between Peter and the waiting boat. He was 
 calculating whether he might cover the distance be- 
 fore a good runner, starting from where the troopers 
 stood, could reach him, when he heard the soft voice 
 of Melu at his elbow saying: 
 
 ''If the sahib will wear the burnous of Melu, and 
 this — " pulling off his somewhat soiled, but finely 
 woven, turban and offering it to Peter — " the military 
 may mistake the sahib for one of the Somali hunters." 
 
 Instantly Peter caught at the suggestion. He 
 remembered that his face was still berry-stained. 
 
 "Melu, you're a prize," he exclaimed in English 
 to the uncomprehending, but plainly pleased youth. 
 
 Barely had he donned the head-dress and wrapped 
 the flowing garment of dirty brown about his figure 
 when he heard the voice of the ofiicer ask in Arabic: 
 
 "Where is the chief sahib of the caravan?" 
 
 Unconscious of Peter's suddenly conceived pur- 
 pose to attempt concealment by disguise, the solemn 
 faces of fourscore or more of Arabs turned in his 
 direction. In a flash Ras Jemel understood. 
 
 "The chief sahib has gone on board the great ship," 
 he cried. "Ras Jemel will send him word that the 
 officer sahib comes to speak with him," and without 
 waiting for a reply the crafty old man waved at Peter 
 a commanding hand, pointing toward the small boat 
 on the shore and the steamer beyond. 
 
 "Bring the chief sahib," he ordered authoritatively. 
 
 As Peter bowed, and, turning, began to stalk gravely 
 
 293 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 through the trees, he felt the twinkling eyes of half 
 a hundred or more loyal camel-men fixed upon him. 
 
 Would the ruse succeed? 
 
 Hindered from divining the trick both by the gloom 
 of the grove and an affection of near-sightedness, the 
 French officer settled down in his saddle to wait the 
 return of the supposed messenger. The cavalrymen, 
 attentive but likewise unsuspicious, stood a little to 
 the rear, stretching their limbs after the night's 
 tedious ride. 
 
 Meanwhile Peter walked unmolested out of the 
 grove and started across the wide stretch of beach. 
 But he had proceeded barely a dozen steps in the 
 open when the morning stillness was rent by a don- 
 key's raucous braying, instantly succeeded by a shrill 
 voice, crying out in bad French: 
 
 *' It is the white sahib! Stop him!" 
 
 Peter recognized, all too well, the familiar tones of 
 Abou Emu. The spy had arrived at last! 
 
 Without a pause the American bounded forward, 
 running with all his might. Forty, perhaps fifty, 
 yards of shelving beach lay between himself and the 
 waiting boat. Awake to the situation, the oarsmen 
 were springing into the water on each side, prepared 
 to push off the instant he arrived. He caught the 
 sound of their encouraging shout before the pande- 
 monium of hoarse cries mingling with snappy French 
 commands and Arab cheers rose from behind and at 
 his right, wakening all the echoes. Out of the tail 
 
 294 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 of his eye he perceived a full dozen uniformed men 
 on foot, racing madly toward him over the beach. 
 He squared up his shoulders a little and sucked in 
 deeper breaths between his teeth. The turban slipped 
 off exposing his thick, straight hair and Yankee profile. 
 The distance had considerably lessened between him- 
 self and the boat. He was running rapidly. He 
 would beat them all. He was almost there — another 
 second — 
 
 A little wizened, yellow, one-eyed face leering be- 
 tween the ears of an ugly donkey suddenly blocked 
 his path. For an instant Peter's heart sank. Fif- 
 teen yards away a swearing trooper was running 
 toward him. Then, almost before the bit of pointed 
 steel in Abou Emu's hand had had time to poise for 
 a lunge, the heavy, flat blade of an oaken oar in the 
 hands of a sailor struck the spy behind the ear and 
 he dropped senseless to the sand, while Peter, dodging 
 the donkey, seized the stern gunwale of the boat and 
 flung himself aboard just as the two rowers thrust 
 the craft away from the beach and dipped in with 
 strong sweeps of their oar-blades. 
 
 Again a feeling of well-won triumph swept over 
 the panting American. Standing up in the stern of 
 the boat, he cried out in French to the enraged otl&cer 
 now at the water's edge: 
 
 ^'Monsieur allows a Yankee to teach him to run?" 
 
 ^'Diable! thief! I will arrest you! Come back!" 
 The man shook his fist wildly in the air. 
 
 295 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 "Calm yourself, monsieur. It is a serious affair to 
 arrest an American without reason." 
 
 "Reason! reason! Name of a dog! Pig! Are you 
 not a thief — have you not stolen the ostriches?" and 
 drawing his revolver, he took aim and fired. 
 
 Luckily for Peter and the sailors, the bullet flew 
 wide of its mark, and before the officer had made up 
 his mind to risk possible international trouble with 
 another, better-aimed shot the boat swept alongside 
 the Glendower where Captain MacCracken stood on 
 the bridge, roaring orders and shaking his fist at the 
 now madly gesticulating company of soldiers on 
 shore. 
 
 A minute later, even before the steam windlass had 
 hove the anchor short, Peter from the ship's deck 
 beheld the French troops suddenly mount and dash 
 across the desert in the direction of the garrison at 
 ShaUti. He remembered the cruiser that he had 
 seen from the shore of the port. He remembered 
 also the antennaed arms of the wireless tower reach- 
 ing into the air over the ofiice of the governor's build- 
 ing there. In three hours' time, if the squad rode 
 hard, a message would be flashing over the gulf to 
 the captain of that speedy French cruiser, warning 
 him to watch for the Glendower. 
 
 "Ten hours and we are safe, lad," declared Cap- 
 tain MacCracken when Peter had imparted the cause 
 of his anxiety to the old sailor. "Don't ye borrow 
 trouble about this 'ere man-o'-war. The Glendower's 
 
 2q6 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 got a pair o' heels better'n half the second-rate, fuss- 
 makin' government vessels afloat." 
 
 In spite of this display of cheerful optimism, Peter 
 noted soon after that the throbbing of the great 
 engines below began to increase and he saw, too, as 
 the afternoon waned that much interest among mem- 
 bers of the crew centred about the frequent binoc- 
 ular studies of the horizon by Captain Seth from 
 the bridge. 
 
 They were heading for Mosa on the Arabian coast, 
 nearly two hundred miles from Shaliti to the north- 
 east. There all except about sixty of the precious 
 birds were to be landed and left until the successful 
 test of a long sea voyage on the smaller lot proved 
 the advisability of transporting the remainder by 
 steamer to America. There also suitable food sup- 
 plies for the birds for the long Atlantic trip were to 
 be procured. Arabia laid no taboo on the ostrich 
 trafhc. Once in Mosa Harbor, the prizes were safe 
 from the interference of jealous governments. Early 
 evening would bring into view the lighted headlands 
 of the little coast city. It was now an hour before 
 sunset. Lack of proper food, added to the intense 
 tropical heat, had harassed the caged birds until the 
 need of making port within a few hours had at last 
 become imperative. 
 
 Pausing after a wild struggle to force a refractory 
 biped back into its wooden prison, Peter was a little 
 startled at beholding an enormous cloud bank rolling 
 
 297 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 up in the steamer's wake. The heat also seemed to 
 be increasing. ''A hurricane," he thought. 
 
 A trio of sailors leaning against the forward capstan, 
 in conversation, frequently looked toward the dark- 
 ening sky. Captain MacCracken's frown deepened 
 each time he glanced at the barometer. 
 
 The old man's interest in searching the skyline 
 had plainly yielded to a study of the growing cloud 
 bank and the indubitable signs of storm, when Peter 
 saw him suddenly pause in his pacing, grasp his 
 binoculars and cast a long and searching glance to 
 port. Then he turned and roared a sharp command 
 into the engineer's speaking tube. A second later 
 the increased vibrations of the steel hull told Peter 
 that more pressure had been diverted into the great 
 cylinders below decks. 
 
 Straining his eyes he finally made out the evident 
 cause of the captain's trepidation — a gray speck be- 
 hind which streamed a cloud of black smoke, and 
 which, as Peter continued to look, visualized into the 
 outlines of a long, low hull. 
 
 "The cruiser at last! Intent on cutting us off," 
 he thought. The vessel was coming up on the 
 quarter. He glanced upward. It lacked an hour of 
 sunset — more than that of darkness. The clouds 
 astern were rolling up ominously. He heard Captain 
 MacCracken shouting new orders from above and he 
 saw the sailors, singly or in pairs, pouring from the 
 companionways. After a time the whole crew was 
 
 298 
 
DODGING THE POWERS 
 
 on deck staring at the approaching war- vessel. The 
 latter was now less than two miles away. 
 
 In attempting to cut off the Glendower, however, 
 the cruiser had fallen slightly behind, and the pursuit 
 — for it was clearly that — soon promised to become 
 a stern chase with the man-of-war well in the back- 
 ground of clouds, now stretching from horizon to 
 zenith. Yet because of the oblique course that the 
 cruiser had been obliged to take, it was at first 
 difficult to tell which of the vessels was making the 
 greater speed. In fact, as the Frenchman swung 
 more directly astern, it seemed for a few minutes as if 
 neither had the advantage of the other. Then Cap- 
 tain MacCracken's voice went bellowing through the 
 speaking-tube, a fresh tremor began to shake the 
 already overdriven frame of the Glendower, and a 
 perceptible widening of the distance between the two 
 vessels began to be apparent to everyone. 
 
 A sailor who had been sitting near the captain's 
 bridge, watching the race with eager eyes, opened his 
 mouth to cheer — but instead of shouting he gulped 
 and turned pale. Another man forward threw him- 
 self down on the deck and covered his face ; still others 
 dodged behind the Glendower's rail; an ejaculation 
 of something more than wrath escaped Captain Seth's 
 lips, while Peter could only clutch his fists together 
 and stare in consternation at what he saw. 
 
 For just as a gust of wind was wakening the dead 
 mirror of the sea, a fiame flash and a ball of woolly 
 
 299 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 smoke rose from the cruiser's forward quarter, and 
 an instant later, travelling with the speed of a swift 
 wind, the ripping, shrieking sound of a shrapnel shell 
 rose until it filled all the air, and then suddenly lost 
 itself in a geyser of churning foam that surged high out 
 of the sea, not fifteen yards ahead of the Glendower's 
 bow. 
 
 300 
 
xxin 
 
 FULFILMENT 
 
 In spite of this unexpected attack and the unques- 
 tionably good marksmanship of his pursuers, Captain 
 Seth gave no signals for slowing down. 
 
 ''Bluff," he muttered, "they wouldn't dare hit us," 
 and he again levelled his binoculars at the cruiser. 
 But owdng to the storm clouds he could barely make 
 out the group gathered about the long gun on the war- 
 ship's port quarter. 
 
 Suddenly he glanced astern. As he did so an ex- 
 pression of satisfaction escaped him: "Now we'll see, 
 consarn ye." 
 
 Just then another shell came screaming across the 
 water, this time dropping not more than five yards 
 astern. But hardly had the sound been swallowed up 
 by the sea when the squall burst with the roar of a 
 hurricane, blotting out sky and pursuer in torrents 
 of rain and a darkness like that of night. 
 
 As the captain turned back to the speaking-tube, he 
 again heard a shrapnel scream, but this time a long 
 way to starboard. After that only the whistle and 
 roar of the wind disturbed his serenity during the 
 three hours before his keen eyes made out the lights off 
 the little Arabian port toward which he was heading. 
 
 301 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Drenched though he was, Peter's relief at the 
 Glendower's escape left him in high spirits. After 
 the steamer had cautiously nosed her way in and 
 found a berth off Mosa's twinkling waterfront, he 
 had the satisfaction of seeing all his unruly charges 
 well supplied with fresh food rushed across the 
 harbor by noisy Arabs from the little town. 
 
 It was almost twelve o'clock that night when he 
 dropped into his berth in Captain Seth's cabin, 
 tired out, but inexpressibly happy. He had won. 
 Dangers lay behind him now. After the delay 
 necessary in order to send ashore part of the birds at 
 Mosa and a later brief stop at Port Said, he would 
 be on his way to New York Harbor with sixty os- 
 triches. He was sure there could be no miscarriage 
 in the transportation of the birds. And then — he 
 would hurry direct to Bloomington and launch the 
 summons for men and women to join him. All who 
 did so would help to build up a community in which 
 the principle of co-operation was to be made real 
 and perfect — an example after which all future man- 
 kind might pattern. Even while fatigue crept over 
 his senses his mind exulted in that day of great 
 achievement. With the ostriches as a commercial 
 basis for material growth, failure was impossible. 
 
 On a certain evening some time after the preceding 
 events, Peter stood before an audience of workingmen 
 
 302 
 
FULFILMENT 
 
 in the city of Williamsbarrie launching the work to 
 which he was now irrevocably pledged. 
 
 After landing in New York he had sent for a cousin 
 of whom he was very fond, and together they had 
 taken the ostriches to Bloomington, the ancestral 
 seat of both. Bloomington was the one place dearer 
 than all others to Peter because, during the happy 
 days of his childhood and youth, he had learned to 
 love many of the warm-hearted and honest people 
 who dwelt there and in the country surrounding it. 
 In Bloomington he had immediately plunged, heart 
 and soul, into the task of wakening men and women 
 to the advantages of self-help. 
 
 Then gradually the field of his work had widened. 
 His summons was now being made to people in many 
 places. That afternoon he had come to Williams- 
 barrie, a city about forty miles from Bloomington. 
 As he began to speak, an intense silence fell upon his 
 hearers. 
 
 ^'Workingmen of Williamsbarrie, '^ were his open- 
 ing words, ''you must awaken! You must organize! 
 You must think! You must put your thoughts into 
 action ! 
 
 "The world's wealth and all that goes with it- 
 education, the joys of travel, the happiness of com- 
 fort and of deserved leisure, all are yours if you will 
 but use your minds. 
 
 "It is because men have not thought but have 
 permitted their brains to grow dull and inactive 
 
 303 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 that there are millions in this country whose only 
 hope is to get food and clothes enough to allow them 
 to go on working their lives away. 
 
 *'What does this procession of the impoverished 
 and the famishing mean? What does it mean when 
 the average compensation of each one of the army of 
 workers is four hundred and seventy-three dollars a 
 year, while each produces an average of twenty-five 
 hundred dollars a year? It is because men have 
 forgotten to think. 
 
 **I call upon you now to step from the ranks of 
 thraldom and, by uniting your dollars for the erec- 
 tion of mills, factories and other enterprises — all of 
 which shall belong to you — to proclaim yourselves 
 the leaders of a new epoch-making era. 
 
 ''Only when you have taken this step — and it is 
 the only way left — can you face your wives, mothers, 
 sweethearts and children with the assurance that 
 you are free men. 
 
 "A thousand cults have been proposed for your 
 relief; a thousand schemes of philosophers and re- 
 formers have been advanced; a thousand political 
 parties, in times past, have put forward as many 
 panaceas for the betterment of all; but since the world 
 began all such efforts have failed because men have 
 not thought and acted as individuals — because the 
 many were too wilhng to pin their hopes to a faith 
 or to a political behef. Thousands in the slums of 
 London live lives lower than those of beasts because 
 
 304 
 
FULFILMENT 
 
 of the abandonment of all personal initiative. Thou- 
 sands more in the Far East are sunk in abject destitu- 
 tion because of having blindly followed inane super- 
 stitions. 
 
 ''I will leave it to you to determine how fast people 
 in your own land are marching in the same direction, 
 when it is borne in mind that because of poverty less 
 than two per cent, of the children in America reach 
 college and not five per cent, reach the first grade in 
 the high school. 
 
 "I will leave it to you to weigh the pitiful inertia 
 of the people, when it is remembered that forty per 
 cent, of the three hundred and sixty odd thousand 
 children under five years of age, who die annually, 
 could be saved with ordinarily intelligent preventive 
 measures. 
 
 ^'To-day two hundred thousand children in the 
 public schools are rated as backward because of the 
 conditions of poverty under which they have been 
 nurtured. Among the eight hundred thousand per- 
 sons living in New York's terrible East Side, one 
 person in eight is more or less dependent upon alms. 
 Thousands upon thousands of children are being 
 broken down by consumption, spinal curvature, 
 anaemia and neurasthenia because poverty forces them 
 to work in the dirt-ladened and poisonous air of over- 
 heated textile mills, factories, dye-houses, laundries, 
 paint-works, sweat-shops and other places of toil. 
 
 ^'I will leave it to you to judge whether the toll 
 
 305 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 we pay for poverty is not too high when it is borne 
 in mind that New York is now the acknowledged 
 centre of the white slave traffic of the whole world; 
 when it is agreed that the system of cadets and pro- 
 curers of innocent girls here rivals the most notorious 
 similar organizations anywhere; when it is certain 
 that tens of thousands of girls, broken by cruel social 
 pressure and lack of training, are the victims of this 
 awful system. 
 
 ^^In one of this country^s greatest cities it was 
 recently proven that ten women were offered for 
 sale every week at prices ranging from fifty to seventy- 
 five dollars each. In this same city one dealer made 
 one hundred thousand dollars in a year from this 
 horrible traffic. 
 
 "How long would little children be forced to work 
 out their lives in sweat-shops and mills; how long 
 would this grewsome white slave traffic live and 
 draw recruits from the ranks of the children of 
 poverty; how long would the strike, the lockout and 
 the bread Hne exist, if the workingman in this country 
 were to imitate the capitalist and unite his dollars 
 in self-protection? 
 
 ''You who are coal miners, think what it would 
 mean to each one of you, if each one were to subscribe 
 a dollar a week from his wages for the purpose of 
 self-help. There are over four hundred thousand of 
 you. 
 
 *'At the end of a single year you would have, 
 
 306 
 
FULFILMENT 
 
 collectively, over twenty millions with which to pur- 
 chase coal mines of your own. In ten years you would 
 have over two hundred million dollars which would 
 represent the price of the liberty of each one of you. 
 You would all be free men. You would have forever 
 smashed the chains that bind you to servitude. 
 
 "In the last analysis you can depend alone upon 
 no political party, no church, no society, to save you. 
 It is you yourselves who must do that. You must 
 work together, shoulder to shoulder, intelligently, 
 knowingly, sanely, with your united dollars, and in 
 the understanding that all are brothers. The ostrich 
 shall be the beginning of a great movement in America. 
 We will purchase lands and begin the establishment 
 of many enterprises. Our factories, mills, workshops, 
 banks, industrial and business institutions of all kinds, 
 shall furnish a great lesson for the world. Our success 
 will grow until its example shall attract men every- 
 where. 
 
 ''For centuries man has been looking for aid from 
 the outside. He has been asking for a loaf — and re- 
 ceiving a stone. Has he deserved any more? For 
 has he tried to help himself? 
 
 ''Many have realized the need of self-help. The 
 hearts of many have longed for the dawn of a better 
 and a brighter day, but they have remained too timid 
 and too afraid to take the initiative themselves. 
 They are waiting for a body of vaUant, true and 
 determined men to lead the way. 
 
 307 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "I ask you, my brothers, to prove yourselves such 
 men! Be the advance-guard of this mighty army 
 whose watchword is the bringing of happiness to all 
 through practical co-operation." 
 
 As Peter ceased speaking, a burst of applause filled 
 the great hall. Then almost before the noise had 
 ceased a broad-shouldered, stalwart man rose. 
 
 " You men know James Bridden," he began. " Not 
 an easy man to convince, but he tells you now, boys, 
 that here lies the salvation of the workingman. 
 WTien we move to help ourselves, our troubles will 
 settle themselves. The world to-day is what we, 
 who are in it, have made it. The rich man gets the 
 loaf because he goes after it, while we fight among 
 ourselves and lay down. United, our wealth and 
 strength will prove invincible. I beUeve that, work- 
 ing together, we can do anything; and what man 
 will not follow us when he learns that by so doing 
 he reinforces his own power to better himself 
 with the co-operative aid which men united will 
 provide? 
 
 *' As we grow, so our strength will grow. The more 
 who take part, the easier it will be for all. Let us all 
 join, and then go out and bring in others! If we 
 act, we have our chance to at once begin to rise above 
 the serfdom that our own stupidity now imposes on 
 us. It is the mightiest doctrine that has ever been 
 preached. It is above all other doctrines in the 
 world for the workingman." 
 
 308 
 
FULFILMENT 
 
 Hardly had the speaker resumed his seat amid 
 cheers, when enthusiasm burst forth on all sides. 
 Amos Beyers and Peter Caster, two leaders among 
 those present, each earnestly addressed their com- 
 panions, and they were followed by other speakers 
 of different nationaHties. At length after the nu- 
 merous speeches seconding Peter's plan, the meeting 
 closed in a general demonstration of approval as all 
 present rose and began to crowd toward the platform. 
 
 This meeting was typical of many wherein Peter 
 had begun to appeal to people everywhere. Although 
 he had been settled in Bloomington only a few 
 months, the fame of the ostrich farm and of the 
 cause it stood for had aroused great interest and 
 discussion. 
 
 As in the little hall at Williamsbarrie, so in other 
 cities and towns the slogan of co-operation drew an 
 army of courageous people to the standard of self- 
 help. Far and wide the newspapers devoted much 
 space to the growing organization with its head- 
 quarters at Bloomington. Letters from all parts of 
 the country and from across the water poured in 
 upon Peter Rutledge. 
 
 Coincident with this awakening of interest, the in- 
 creasing body of adherents began building up the 
 industries destined to supplement, in a material way, 
 the principle with which each man was imbued. 
 Hundreds were becoming interested in the practical 
 idea of self-help. 
 
 309 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 Peter's work was at last fully started, and he stood 
 one day addressing a good-sized crowd of enthusiastic 
 and happy workers who had come to Bloomington for 
 a stockholders' meeting, when a group of five persons 
 entered the offices of the association and paused to 
 listen on the outskirts of the throng present. Actu- 
 ated by the same spirit, namely, to discover at first 
 hand the meaning of the many reports concerning 
 the ostrich farm and the part that Peter was taking 
 in the enterprise, Mrs. Van Siddons, Ann Newman, 
 Max, Alicia and Fehx had taken a holiday trip to 
 Bloomington. 
 
 *'We have become the leaders in a new era of 
 progress," Peter was saying when his friends came 
 within hearing. *'Our fame has spread broadcast. 
 The unassailableness of the ostrich as a commercial 
 factor in our work has been proven already. Our 
 success is attracting men from far and wide. We 
 are beginning to disseminate the spirit of our great 
 cause. 
 
 ''How many of you are dissatisfied with the prog- 
 ress that we have made? Not one, I warrant." 
 
 ''No, no!" came the reply simultaneously from 
 many throats. 
 
 Peter, with his shoulders squared back and with his 
 sun-tanned face alight with enthusiasm, smiled from 
 where he stood upon the slightly raised platform. 
 
 "Are you all eager to go on?" 
 
 "Yes, yes!" came again from all. 
 
 MO 
 
FULFILMENT 
 
 "The first step has been taken. To-day we are 
 going to view our own industries. The union of our 
 dollars, our efforts, have created them. They are 
 ours. The ostriches that we own will go on increasing. 
 Our incomes will go on increasing. Our success will 
 go on increasing. 
 
 "It is a happy day for us all. We are not empty 
 theorists. We have built up a conquering movement 
 which has kindled new life, new hopes, new convic- 
 tions in the hearts of men. We are constructors in a 
 transition from the old system of wage-slavery to a 
 new society of brotherly co-operation." 
 
 As he ceased speaking a shout went up, filling the 
 whole room and the stockholders swarmed round the 
 speaker, shaking his hands and those of each other. 
 Happiness, good-will and joyousness were predomi- 
 nant in the tones of every voice. It was like the en- 
 thusiasm of a great religious meeting. 
 
 As his five friends stood there looking on, they were 
 deeply impressed with the profound significance 
 of the spectacle before them. Then suddenly Peter 
 caught sight of them and came elbowing his way 
 forward. 
 
 A little later when the crowd dispersed to visit the 
 farm and the mills, Peter recoimted to these friends 
 the details of his long absence, describing his meeting 
 with Queen Zar, her amazing wisdom, how he had 
 learned the secret of the ostrich's value to mankind, 
 and how he had brought home his flock of birds. 
 
 3" 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 "When I arrived, I felt that all things, even friend- 
 ship's social claims, must be made subservient to my 
 work, so I hastened here with my ostriches. Since 
 then I have not had a day that I could call mine. It 
 has been real work, and the ways of it have been in- 
 deed devious. 
 
 *' I have been searching for real men and real women 
 willing to take their places in this great movement, 
 and I have found them. Three women school- 
 teachers were the first ones to lead the way in Bloom- 
 ington. Their allegiance proved an inspiring ex- 
 ample, for enthusiasm here was weak. Many who 
 said that they wished to help fell by the wayside. 
 They were the faint-hearted and those incapable of 
 understanding. 
 
 ''But little by little others began to fall into line. 
 The doctrine of the brotherhood of man has come to 
 stay. My heart is filled with joy. Hundreds now 
 realize the importance of self-help so completely that 
 they have allied themselves with us. We are all on the 
 fighting line and every week our strength grows 
 greater." 
 
 "I am glad," his godmother remarked, "for now, 
 though you may be so absorbed by your work that 
 you neglect us, you are at least safely away from the 
 dangers of savages and jungle beasts." 
 
 Later, under Peter's guidance, his guests were 
 taken to the ostrich farm and were also given a 
 chance to view at first hand the undertakings that 
 
 312 
 
FULFIL MENT 
 
 had been started. Buildings were being constructed 
 and factories were in process of erection. He showed 
 how they were already manufacturing a complete 
 fertilizer; how Hmestone mined on their own land 
 was being reduced into merchantable products; how 
 coal needed to supply their enterprises was being 
 taken by their own dredges from the river in front 
 of the farm. He took them to see the handsome 
 snowy-plumed birds at the ostrich pens and showed 
 them the extensive fields of crops, their horses, im- 
 ported cattle and other features, all of which spoke 
 plainly of prosperity, achievement and success. 
 
 To Peter's five friends this series of accomplish- 
 ments seemed wonderful — and not less so because 
 the work was being carried on by means of the love, 
 sympathy and harmony which co-operative effort 
 makes possible. 
 
 Max Reinhart, once so skeptical of Peter's ideals, 
 was now overwhelmed at the magnitude of these 
 results. He knew at once that Peter had learned 
 the great secret of bettering humanity. Indeed, he 
 saw that his college chum was now preaching for the 
 very conditions for which formerly he had not had 
 the least sympathy. Moreover Peter was urging 
 his appeal with such earnestness that both humble 
 and great responded. Max realized that the old and 
 provenly ineffective social order was being displaced 
 by a sound one. Peter had put his theory into 
 practice. He not only demonstrated to his fellow- 
 
 3^3 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 men a great truth, but he made it possible for them 
 to act according to that truth by using the ostrich 
 as an attracting medium and a tangible thing upon 
 which to build. Max realized that the magnitude 
 of the work and what it had cost Peter was tremen- 
 dous. 
 
 Felix likewise, boy though he was, comprehended 
 clearly for the first time the power of harmonious, 
 collective effort. He who had known so much grief 
 and loneliness felt the peace and serenity of the 
 place and with all his youthful enthusiasm he pledged 
 himself to devote his life to the advancement of this 
 new work. When he found Peter free to talk it 
 over, he begged to be allowed to enlist in the cause, 
 and permission being willingly granted, the youth 
 thus began his work for humanity. 
 
 Finally obliged to leave his guests to their own 
 entertainment for a short time, Peter, on his return, 
 came upon Ann Newman alone in the apple orchard 
 at the farm, her hat lying upon the grass near her. 
 
 Only a minute before she had left the others at 
 the ostrich pens. Standing where the sunlight softly 
 kissed the wind-blown strands of her lovely hair, 
 she made a wonderful picture to Peter's eyes — a 
 picture which caused his heart to throb with joy. All 
 through the period of his journeyings he had 
 constantly carried her in his thoughts, and many 
 times he had dreamed of this day and hour, now 
 arrived. 
 
 314 
 
FULFILMENT 
 
 She had spoken only a little since they had 
 met, but that pleased him, for he felt that her reti- 
 cence betokened at last a consciousness of self in his 
 presence. 
 
 Now as he approached, she was looking away across 
 the river that threaded the meadows below the farm. 
 She did not hear him until he spoke : 
 
 *'Ann, Ann, I am glad I have found you at last — 
 and alone!" 
 
 She turned, her eyes serene and smiling. 
 
 "I am glad too, Peter," she said, simply. 
 
 *'Dear," he went on abruptly, but with an ear- 
 nestness which his trembling voice did not conceal, 
 "I have done my best. Have I not succeeded? It 
 has been for others, Ann, but it has been for you, 
 too, Beloved. And now, I come to ask my reward. 
 It is a great one. I want you to marry me. I want 
 you to be my wife. I want you to go on and on, 
 always with me. I need you. From the day of my 
 great awakening in Jerusalem you have been my 
 inspiration. Will you not remain the incentive of 
 my life? Tell me that you will, my dear!" 
 
 She stood with her eyes looking into his. 
 
 ^'I love you," she said simply. Then, as he took 
 a step toward her: "Because of your unswerving 
 loyalty to the spirit of the Call of the Ages, I have 
 always been with you in heart. A power stronger 
 than all else which employed you as the instrument 
 to inaugurate this mighty work, has bound me to 
 
 315 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 you forever." Her eyes suddenly fell as his arms 
 enfolded her. 
 
 ''Sweetheart," he said, ''the pathway of duty and 
 labor for others lies ahead, but its tasks shall be 
 pleasant, for we shall pursue it hand in hand — always 
 together." 
 
 316 
 
XXIV 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The first co-operative store, opened in Rochdale 
 sixty-eight years ago, has resulted in co-operative 
 stores, banks, factories and societies everywhere. 
 The growth of co-operation has been amazing. 
 
 At a conservative estimate there are six million 
 co-operators in the world to-day, representing twenty- 
 five millions of people. 
 
 Co-operative effort, generally speaking, is divided 
 into four departments under the headings: consumer's 
 co-operation, which has been most highly developed 
 in Great Britain; credit co-operation, which finds 
 its highest development in the co-operative banks 
 and credit societies of Germany; workshop, or pro- 
 ductive co-operation, which is best typified by the 
 co-operators of France; and agricultural co-operation, 
 which is embodied in the success of the farmers in 
 Denmark. 
 
 In England the co-operative movement now has 
 a membership of over two and a half millions of people 
 and that membership is increasing at the rate of 
 from 75 to loo thousand people each year. 
 
 The sales of the co-operative societies of England 
 
 317 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 in 1910-11 amounted to over 557 million dollars, 
 an increase over the previous year of more than 13 
 millions. The profits for the year 1910-11 were over 
 60 millions. 
 
 In the same year the annual report of the Co- 
 operative Congress shows that over 48,738 people 
 were engaged in co-operative production in England 
 and that the wages which they received, exclusive 
 of their bonus, was over 13 million dollars. The 
 total production of the co-operative movement in 
 England, that is, the value of goods that were made 
 where people worked in co-operation, amounted to 
 over a hundred million dollars. 
 
 In the labor copartnership concerns the workers 
 in England receive the agreed wages of capital, then 
 they receive a dividend on their own wages, and 
 if they are purchasers of the goods which they pro- 
 duce, they receive a dividend on their purchases. 
 In England the dividend on the wages of those 
 producing co-operatively is about 25 cents on every 
 pound (about $5) which they earn. 
 
 Co-operators in England are now engaged in the 
 production of many industrial commodities, including 
 cotton, linen, silk, wool, boots, shoes, leather and 
 hardware. They also manufacture building mate- 
 rials and do printing and binding work. In 19 10 
 over three and a half million dollars were included 
 in the co-operative bakeshop production in England 
 and Scotland and over a million was represented 
 
 318 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 by the co-operative laundries of the same two 
 countries. 
 
 The co-operative retail societies in England stand 
 for an enormous financial interest, representing more 
 than fifty millions of profits annually with that sum 
 increasing every year. 
 
 The English Co-operative Union, Limited, which 
 includes a representation of about all the co-operative 
 societies in Great Britain and Ireland, expends fifty 
 thousand dollars annually in the pubfication of lit- 
 erature and in exhibitions. The Co-operative Union 
 had 17,606 students enrolled in the year 1910-11. 
 In the different schools such studies as co-operation, 
 industrial history, citizenship and economics are 
 taught by trained teachers. The co-operative em- 
 ployees are also provided with training courses which 
 include classes for apprentices, junior employees, 
 saleswomen and salesmen, general managers and high 
 executives. Besides the regular courses, the Co- 
 operative Union, Limited, provides training in other 
 ways. There are classes for teachers; there are 
 co-operative circles for young people; there are co- 
 operative trips abroad and numerous other half 
 recreative, half educational departures for young and 
 old alike. 
 
 The Raiffeison Banks and the Schulze-Delitzsch 
 Banks typify the co-operative principle as it is ex- 
 pressed in Germany. 
 
 These two forms of the co-operative bank, while 
 
 319 
 
THE OSTRICH 
 
 differing in method, both stand for what is known as 
 co-operative credit for production. 
 
 The Raiffeison banks which began to spread in 
 1880 are now counted by the thousands and exist 
 in many lands. In Germany they are federated in a 
 monster union which has a general agency and 
 also a great central bank with a capitalization of 
 two and a half million dollars. It is said that 
 since the birth of the Raiffeison bank neither any of 
 its members nor its creditors has ever lost a penny 
 through it. 
 
 Franz Hermann Schulze established his first bank 
 in DeUtzsch, Prussia, with the idea of assisting the 
 small mechanic and artisan to save money. Schulze, 
 who was a judge, induced a number of craftsmen 
 each to take a share in the bank. For these shares, 
 costing as high as from two to three hundred dol- 
 lars, only a little was paid down. The rest became 
 an obligation and an incentive to the worker. With 
 this backing, the bank proceeded to receive savings 
 and to let money out to its members only, at the 
 highest rate that could be obtained. At stated 
 times the profits were divided among the co- 
 operating shareholders. These banks to-day divide 
 dividends as high as thirty per cent, among the 
 co-operators. 
 
 There are thirty thousand co-operative credit and 
 building societies now in the world. Germany has 
 fifteen thousand local credit societies and sixty central 
 
 320 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 co-operative credit associations which lend nine hun- 
 dred million dollars a year. Italy, Austria and 
 Hungary have many of these banks. 
 
 Sixteen years ago it was estimated that 750 
 millions were being loaned in Europe on the co- 
 operative credit plan. Eight years later the sums 
 similarly loaned in Europe had swelled to a billion 
 and a quarter. 
 
 Even in Russia a central co-operative bank ex- 
 ists which is endowed with twelve and a half millions 
 of the public money. 
 
 Besides her co-operative banks, Germany is mak- 
 ing great strides in co-operative production and the 
 estabhshment of co-operative retail societies. The 
 Central Union of German Retail Societies has a 
 million and a quarter members and its total sales 
 amount to over seventy-five milHon dollars annually. 
 One of the features of this Union is a pension fund 
 to which already 5,000 co-operators have subscribed 
 and which now amounts to one and a half million 
 marks or about 375 thousand dollars. The first 
 pensions were paid in 191 1. 
 
 The Dutch Co-operative Union is represented by 
 about 55,000 co-operators, and last year the sales 
 of its wholesale department amounted to over a 
 million and a quarter dollars. 
 
 The farmers of Denmark to-day are attracting 
 the attention of the whole world by their success in 
 agricultural co-operation. From once being the 
 
 321 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 poorest people, the Danes, with the exception of the 
 English, are now the richest, in proportion to their 
 number, of any people in Europe. This extraor- 
 dinary rise in prosperity is universally attributed to 
 the success of the co-operative agricultural societies 
 in Denmark. Thirty years ago Denmark estab- 
 lished its first co-operative dairy. There are now 
 more than a thousand in the country. Four-fifths 
 of its great milk supply is gathered and distributed 
 co-operatively. Forty-five million dollars is the 
 profit on butter alone, which is divided among those 
 who supply the cream, in proportion to the amount 
 that they supply. Denmark has co-operative so- 
 cieties for managing the business of collecting and 
 sending to market eggs, bacon, fruit and honey, and 
 for purchasing fodders and manures. Sometimes a 
 single Danish farmer, in order to the better dispose 
 of his products and to get the full benefit of his 
 profits, which co-operation enables him to do, belongs 
 to as many as ten different societies. Besides 
 that, he usually belongs to one or more farmers' 
 clubs. 
 
 France has many co-operative production shops 
 which do an annual business of millions of dollars per 
 year, returning to the workman, not only his wages, 
 but the profit dividend on his wages. Through 
 co-operation 2,000 agricultural co-operative banks 
 have been estabHshed in France. Butter factories 
 and distilleries are run co-operatively and there are 
 
 322 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 co-operative associations for threshing and for the 
 sale of fruit, wine and oil. France also has, as a 
 result of her co-operative societies, 8,000 mutual 
 insurance societies. 
 
 Belgium is noted for its extensive co-operative 
 bakeries and its distributive societies, shared in by 
 thousands of co-operative workingmen. 
 
 One of the features of Italy's co-operative methods 
 is the co-operative labor gang whereby bodies of 
 workmen associate together and contract to under- 
 take great projects. Italy has 2,000 co-operative 
 societies. 
 
 In 1910 the societies alKed with the Norway 
 co-operative organization made a net profit of 
 $100,000, small when compared with the figures of 
 co-operative profit in some other countries, but 
 showing an increase of nearly a half over the amount 
 of business done the preceding year. 
 
 As in Denmark, Sweden's co-operative movement 
 is largely expressed in the agricultural co-operative 
 idea. There are about 700 co-operative retail so- 
 cieties there, however. 
 
 Switzerland showed an increase of over a million 
 dollars, or 29 per cent., in its co-operative business in 
 1 9 10 and this increase is steadily continuing. The 
 Swiss co-operators have a printing society and an 
 inquiry office, schools where teachers and managers 
 are trained and the principles of co-operation taught. 
 The Swiss co-operators also print four newspapers 
 
THE O STRICH 
 
 and are continually visiting among each other and 
 studying co-operative methods. 
 
 Japan has 7,000 co-operative societies. 
 
 Roumania is imbued with the spirit of co-opera- 
 tion. Credit banks and distributive societies by the 
 hundreds have sprung up there. 
 
 324 
 
i 
 
7V^