Henry C. Rowland

“ The track was sandy, and the heavy car slid along a few feet and came to a stop but not quite soon enough, as the radiator, which was hot, touched the fretting horse's rump.
None but a masterly horseman could have kept his seat as the startled, high-strung hunter bounded into the air. Even then it was touch and go for a moment, and Jim rather expected to see the rider in a treetop before he got his mount in hand. The girl, a little ahead, drew rein and turned when Jim saw, to his surprise, that she wore a tulle veil which, though the day was stifling, entirely hid her face. ”

“ There was no indication of shock or shrinking, which in a nurse one naturally would not expect, but neither was there the slightest hint of personal solicitude, or even that touch of gentle sympathy which Jim had so often observed in the most experienced of war nurses when caring for the wounded. She seemed to Jim to be overhauling the prostrate Colin a good deal as a person might rake over a rubbish heap to see if there was anything worth saving. ”

“ He decided to insist upon an early, if not an immediate date for their nuptials and see what Mary Wishart would say to that. At any rate, he reflected rather grimly, she had three strong assets about which there could be no question; strong, fearless good sense, a fine war record of her own and, barring possibly her facial disfigurement, as superb a feminine physical being as he had ever seen. Jim most admired the female type which could not by any possible effort disguise its sex in male attire. And there was also Donald's unqualified praise. ”

“ You know, lad, I have and share the ideas of many a wiser man than myself about the continued consciousness of those relieved from the stuffy quarters of their bodies, and I know that it would be the worst kind of impotent hell for me to see Mary in the arms of another. ”

“ Standing in the road beside the car he tried twice before able to speak, and then his voice was like the croak of a raven.
“Get down, you mucker, and take your licking,” he managed to say.
The gleam in the pale eyes was almost exultant. “Now I will just oblige ye, me lad.” Colin' slipped from his horse and handed the rein to the girl. “'Tis not often one has the pleasure of thrashin' a road hog.” He pushed back his cuffs and advanced on Jim, and he was a formidable figure of a man with his broad shoulders, deep chest, and long, powerful arms. ”

“ Now, it seems to me that an atomizer might do the trick, the volatile vapor being more within the reach of a wraith. I wish to be as cheerful a ghost as may be while waiting for promotion.
“So there you are, Jim of my heart, Captain Donald McKinloch, his last living requests: to marry Mary Wishart and make her a loving and faithful husband; to punch the head of my cousin Colin, and from time to time to give my poor old ghost a ghostly drink.
“You may show this letter to Mary if you like. She is a sensible girl and will see the reasonableness of it. ”

“ Mary Wishart rose from the ground at Colin's side and stared at him for a moment from behind the ambush of her veil, then, observing his fumbling efforts, she walked slowly over to the car.
“Is he dead?” Jim asked indifferently.
“No, but he's not far from it. I don't think that he ought to be moved. Can't you move the car ahead a little so as to shelter him?” ”

“ Both had the look of hard, out-of-door men in the full flush of their strength. Their faces were widely different in feature and expression, that of the horseman being rather long and narrow though with a heavy-angled jaw and pointed chin while Jim's was more square, with straight nose, widely spaced eyes, prominent cheek bones, and a more generous mouth. Colin's expression was one of exultant ferocity. ”

“ It was then that, for the first time, he began to think seriously of his agreement with Donald and to see in it instead of a farcical and perfunctory duty a possibly interesting adventure. He had not the slightest fear in the world that Mary Wishart, if still unmarried, would take seriously his formal offer of matrimony, but he decided to make it if only to satisfy his conscience, which was exacting about some things. ”

“ Possibly her circumstances might be such that it was highly desirable for her to marry a man so situated as he; perhaps she was ambitious or tired of spinsterhood or her facial disfigurement might be of a sort to interfere with matrimony, or all of these things. He did not believe that her farcical agreement with Donald had much to do with it, except possibly as a romantic excuse.
Well, anyhow, he had made his offer and was determined to see the business through, come what might of it. He wished that Lucy Gibbons would come up to see how he was getting on, so that he might quiz her a little. ”

“ He might have followed it with the left in a swing at the jaw which, if it had landed, would have finished the fight then and there, but the reach was lacking in his bent arm.
Then for a moment the fighting was close and vicious, both men scorning to spar and satisfied with give and take. Neither attempted to clinch. Jim was trying with a cold and unemotional doggedness to maneuver an uppercut to the chin which might let in all the force of his big subscapular muscles, and presently he achieved it, though with too short a hook to more than jar his adversary. ”

“ We don't want to leave any more loose ends or interests that need watching, and will keep us hanging around tormented and unhappy because there's no longer anything we can do about it. I reckon a chap that's been a good soldier—or a good civilian for that matter—and played the game won't have to wait long for his promotion, but, all the same, he might want to turn it down and rot around indefinitely if he happened to be worried about somebody that was still limbered up to impedimenta of the flesh. ”

“ The elderly butler had served for a span of years in an English family in which were five young sons with sportsmanlike tastes, and he proved himself so expert as a face restorer that the doctor was dispensed with. Much can be done with a face when the raw material is good, and Jim's was both raw and good.
To Parker, Jim explained the nature of the conflict, leaving out Donald's part of it, and the butler's gratification was extreme. “Mr. McKinloch appeared a ver'ry 'aughty man, sir,” said he, “and a good grueling can do 'im no 'arm. ”

“ Jim had his car brought around from the garage, then dismissed the chauffeur and drove out alone. He had formed the habit of doing everything for himself which he could decently accomplish, and, although a bit awkward for him to drive a car, which he had bought shortly before the war and had scarcely made acquaintance with, he managed fairly well. Immediately on starting he found that his brakes were working badly, the hand brake gripping and that of the foot too loose, making its control particularly difficult and even painful owing to his damaged heel. ”

“ There is nothing to be in the least excited about. All that happened was that Jim brushed Colin's horse with his car, and Colin slashed Jim over the head with his crop, so they both got down and fought it out, and I rode into Jim and Colin tried to take advantage of it, but Donald's ghost stepped in between, and Jim knocked Colin senseless for half an hour, and Colin came to and went back to town in the car you sent, and Jim has asked me to marry him and I've accepted, so we're open to congratulations— ”

“ Put a mug on him that not even the best face restorer of the army medical corps could plastic surger into the faintest semblance of a human phiz. I will be near by enjoying the fulfillment of my second behest. 'Twill be no easy job, as Colin is physically a man of my own build and has it over you by some two stone, and enjoys the use of his fists, but you will manage it. It was avarice, not cowardice, that kept him out of the war, and he is in constant training from his outdoor life, but I know the bunch of barbed wire and toluol you are inside, Jimmy, and I have no fears. ”

“ Wherefore with a sigh he decided that the only way to be sure would be to follow out the injunctions to the letter, and upon this he passed a resolution which was lightened by the reflection that, by the time he was in a position to act upon it, Mary would, no doubt, be married to Colin and Donald ordered to some higher plane. Jim did not believe that so fine a man and good a soldier as his chum would be left very long to wander unassigned. ”

“ Now as my investigations have seemed to indicate that a man of strong, earthly appetites does not lose them all at once on being torn roughly from his mortal envelope, and as it may be that I shall have to rot around here for some while, I would request, old top, that when you are by way of taking a drink in private you might put a little in an atomizer and spray the circumambient ether, thinking of me the time. ”

“ The big car was by no means under perfect control, and ordinarily Jim would have driven directly to the garage and had the brakes adjusted, but he had been late in starting, and the low barometer and sweltering heat threatened some sort of violent eruption, so he held on his way without stopping and with the exercise of greater care than made driving a pleasure. ”

“ The Gibbons estate was a large one and, after skirting Roslyn, Jim, who had been out there several times before, happened to remember a short cut which would cut out a hill and take him in the back way. This was scarcely more than a lane winding between a thick growth of scrub pines and, coming to it presently, Jim turned in regardless of a small sign which said, “Private Way. Motor Cars Forbidden.” ”

“ You see, major, we have come to crave the violent and unexpected.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “The limousine is not following. It is likely that Colin has told the driver to take him back to town. He has just come East on business, and Lucy asked him out for the week's end. He is a proud man and would not wish to face the folk in such a state. Donald would have made a joke of it.” She sighed.
“Donald would never have done such a beastly thing,” Jim said. ”

“ When it comes to the depiction of a contest over a woman, you all know that Rowland has no superior, and in setting forth feminine charm he is likewise at his best. But there are features to this that he has not touched upon in his many other fine contributions to the literature of American life of to-day.
(A Novelette)
ALTHOUGH deeply grieved, Jim Davies was not surprised to learn that his chum Donald McKinloch had been killed in action. ”

“ They Are Not Far
By Henry C. Rowland
Author of “The Shaming of Andy McGill,” “Utopia,” Etc.
Doctor Rowland dips into spiritualism a bit in this story of rivalry in love and the desire of a departed warrior to aid his best friend in earthly affairs. ”