Army and Navy Weekly — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

JULES VASCO THE TERRIBLE; OR, : The Strange Story of Michel Vancouver, Student. SSA SES 374% xX WCAG Xe 7 AY Ss Say HE balloon shot up from the Zoological Gar- dens at Antwerp, and many hundred pipes came from many hundred mouths, and many hundred guttural exclamations gave luck to the aeronaut. It seemed to mea commonplace exhibition enough, and when { had watched the car pass into a belt of clouds that lay low upon the city, I turned to Michel, and suggested other pastime. But there he was again, as white as the ghost of cheap romance, a very bundle of fears, and he leuned so heavily upon me that I was convinced he was going to faint, and implored him to remember where he was, as people often do when an- other man is ill or dying, and chooses a_ ridiculously public place for the performance. When we had dined together at the Hotel do \’Europe that night, I tackled Michel Vancouver in earnest. ‘¢You are the most ridiculous compound of contrasts -that ever I met with,’’ said {. ‘‘Ever since you left town you have turned the color of whitewash at the mere mention of a climb; and I expect nightly to hear * of your gcing giddy when you get upstairs to bed. Yet, in other things, I don’t know a man who can hold his own with you for pluck. It’s a paradox, Mike, and it interferes with my digestion so much that un- less you solve the riddle I shall never be able to learn. German, to say nothing of Dutch.”’ Michel puffed hard at his cigar when he had heard me out; and called for another bock. ‘‘Did I never mention anything about it to you?’” he asked, as he sipped from the long, green glass. ‘‘Never a word; probably because I ‘didn’t ask you.. Is it a very strange story then?’’ ‘*Tt’s curious, to say the least of it. When that dirty- waiter has removed himself, I’ll tell youa bit of it, and. you shall judge; but fill your glass first, and then we can have this corner to ourselves.’ I did as he told me, and waited for him. The _pres- ence of other people seemed to annoy him, and he paused until the smoking-room was almost empty be- fore ne began to tell me the story I now write for yous COnCMOOCkKS. CO