Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1910 — CAMEO KIRBY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CAMEO KIRBY

By Booth Tarkington AND Harry Leon Wilson

Adapted From the Play of the Same Name by W. B. M. Ferguson Copyright. 1909. by the Ainslee Mlgazina Company

CHAPTER 111. "o-* OLOXEL JACQUES GASPARD D ESC H AMPS MOREAU, to give him his full title, doing all things thoroughly, as befitted one of his honorable character, was not satisfied with, as he thought, disposing of Kirby’s physical existence, but considered it his pleasurable duty to effectually ruin whatever little reputation had survived during the other's downward career. Kirby, presumably fatally wounded, had been carried ashore by Bunce at the next landing, and, in those days shooting and stabbing affrays emanating from card games being only too common, but little attention had been paid to the affair. Cameo Kirby was notorious the length of the river, and such an abrupt and tragic termination of his career had not only been frequently and cheerfully-predicted, but was. moreover, expected of all such members as graced his questionable profession. Indeed, for them a sober and respectable death would have been considered bad form. Among the gambling profession there existed a certain code, which in a manner served to link those at the top, who, like Kirby and Bonce, wooed fortune honestly, to the Moreau type, gracing and disgracing the lowest rung in the gamblers’ social ladder. This code, if so it may be termed, was an understanding to the effect that in no instance, however great the provocation, should the law be invoked. Wrongs, fancied or authentic, were to be redressed solely by the bearers - thereof, the joint office of judge and executioner being vested in each separate and distinct individual. In view of this accepted understanding, Larkin Bunce had accordingly made no mention of the fact that a, probable murder had been committed, and, the passengers and steamship officials dismissing it as a gamblers’ quarrel. which was none of their affair, no j stigma or notoriety was attached to the good Colonel Moreau, who, claiming to be an old and valued friend of Mr. Randall, had gone to the latter’s stateroom and brazenly assumed charge of the body. Bunce’s laconic statement was too pitifully true, for the old planter had effectually ended his life. Again referring to Colonel Moreau’s happy faculty of doing all things well, it was quite characteristic that to complete his revenge against Kirby he now did not hesitate to assume charge of Mr. Randall’s body, did not hesitate to meet the son of the man for whose death he had been directly and Shamefully responsible, for young ®om Randall had ridden over to the Plaquemipe landing in order to greet his father, while over at the old homestead all was bustle and excitement in honor of the master’s homecoming. Anxiously Tom Randall waited to Bee the jovial and well known figure of his father march down the gangplank. waited to catch a glimpse of the familiar and weather beaten green portmanteau which the planter always carried. The moments passed. Other and numerous passengers stepped ashore, to be eagerly welcomed and claimed by their own, but John Randall was not among them. A curious and seemingly pregnant hush had succeeds a i... of the freight, and off Somov, h m the darkness a child whimpered shrilly. The boy's nerves were set on edge. I’erbaps his father was having a farewell talk with the captain and would come dashing out at the last moment with all his old disregard for time and place. It was time the bell was clanging, the signal for backing away, for by now the landing of passenger’s and freight appeared to be terminated. And still no John Randall. The hoy walked along the stringpiece until the Texas deck came the more prominently into view, the glow from the open windows of the port staterooms silhouetting the lean visaged pilot, absolute monarch of his realm, who now that an easy stretch of the river had been entered loafed about while his cub took the wheel. “Hello, on board the Shotwell!” shouted youug Randall, looking up at the pilothouse. “Is that you, Mr. Bixby? This is Tom Randall. Do you know if my father is on board! . We were expecting him by your boat, sir." For reply Mr. Bixby. usually the pattern of courtesy, offered a memosyllabic affirmative and turned from the window But young Randall had no time to anrse his quick resentment, for now, at last, his father had come ashore, borne on the shoulders of two roustabouts. while the captain and officers stood with bared heads and thankfully left the unwelcome task of explaining the tragedy to the amiable and willing Colonel Moreau. “My boy,’’ said the latter, now laying a fatherly hand on young Randall's heaving shoulder, “although I am a stranger to yoh, suh, I have featured to assume temporary control at this i terrible affair, foh I am a Mothers gentleman, as was Mr. Randall, and 1 feel bound to yoh all by tfca. ties at srmpatbv and country. I

was a witness, suh, to the events which preceded and prompted this outrage, and. although I am aware it is but poh satisfaction, still it is something to know that the scoundrel who was instrumental Lmcausing ydh poh father’s death has already paid foh it with his life. My name, suh, is Colonel Moreau, and if I can be of any further service to yoh all in this dark hour of tribulation pray command me. suh. As an old soldier I beg of yoh to meet this calamity with the fobtitude of a Christian gentleman.” with which admirable and pious adjuration the good colonel flourished his handkerchief and helped himself to a generous pinch of snuff. “I—l thank you/Colouel Moreau, for all you have done,” said young Randall stonily, looking on the huddled thing at his feet. “You—you say you witnessed my father’s death?” “Not exactly, suh, foh he shot himself in his stateroom. However hard to bear, I think yoh should know who and what prompted bis death. The scoundrel, suh* was the notorious Cameo Kirby, of whom, perhaps, yoh have heard.” ■

Young "Randall nodded dully, and Moreau, entering into the spirit of the tale, continued: “I fohmed an acquaintance, suh, with yoh poh father when he came aboard at New Orleans. He confided to every one that he had sold his sugar crop foh ten thousand and had the cash with him, and he was in mighty high spirits because he was on his way back home to see his chib dren. Poh gentleman! As delicately as I can I must state that he was not quite himself, and by that, suh, I mean that he had been imbibing a little too freely. I don't have to tell yoh. suh, that there are certain characters on all the big boats who keep a pretty sharp lookout foh gentlemen with money who are in the condition yoh poh father, suh, was In tonight, and I expect there was more than one river gambler on board who. would have liked to get his hands on Mr Randall. But the one who got him was the slickest and cleverest of the lot, the Cameo Kirby whom I have mentioned. This rascal, suh, Inveigled yoh poh father into a private stateroom, plied him with mob liquor and won from him not only all his money and personal effects—even Including a miniature of yoh dead mother, suh—but also a deed to his entire plantation and all his slaves, everything which he owned. I was too late to save Mr. Randall, but 1 knew Kirby by repute, and 1 was so screamingly outraged by the whole affair that I denounced him foh the low scoundrel he was. Thereupon he drew ou me, but I was the quicker and shot him down like a dog. They carried him ashore, suh, at the landing bejow this, and the river is cleaner foil his death.”

“You have taken vengeance out of my haDds,” said young Randall unsteadily. “The coward and villain! For a stranger, sir. the attitude which has been most considerate, aud 1 will never forget it. The—the hospitality of a house in mourning”— / “No, no, my boy,” interrupted Moreau, again employing his fatherly hand. _“I am sensible of the honor, but I couldn't think of it This is a time when yoh all must wish to be alone, and business calls me north. I merely stepped ashore in yoh interests as any gentleman would have done. There goes the bell, and I must run for it. Honored, suh, to have made yoh acquaintance, though of co’se I deeply deplore the necessity which occasioned it. I will venture to pay my respects to yoh family when I return south, and pray command me in any occasion yoh may have. Yoh servant, suh.” And with a magnificent bow the coloner turned and raced for the gangplank, boarding the Shotwell with a leap that shamed his fifty odd years. Meanwhile Cameo Kirby, a bullet through bis right lung, was making a desperate battle against death, fighting for the life which he had considered little better than worthless. In his efforts be was materially assisted by the crude but faithful Bunce, his gambling partner, with whom he had played up and down the Mississippi for years. For two weeks this combat raged. Kirby hovering between life and death, but at the end fie emerged triumphant as. over the gaming table when the o lds were as heavily against him. he had emerged from many a hotly contested conflict. To those w!e> judged Kirby's character Iriihi ihe evil reports which gossip bad spread concerning him and to others who. in their righteous ignorance, considered all gamblers legitimate children of the devil his remarkable recovery would ha ve been accepted merely as another proof that the evil one favors his own, that the mills of the gods grind slowly, that justice is blind

anu mat a scoundrel is difficult to kill, together with many similar ancient and redoubtable; maxims which ignorance and seif righteousness distribute ou every fitting occasion. I Among of the last mentioned attribute Eugene Kirby was regarded as a black sheep who, religiously avoiding the whitewash brush, was deemed beyond redemption, for what man worthy of the name would have acted as had the last of the Kirbys? What if he had been but fifteen when his father died a bankrupt? What if be had been left an orphan, a pauper, with no immediate relative to care how be acted? Wasn’t the heritage of an ancient and honorable name, the knowledge that some of the oldest and best blood in all the south flowed in his veins, enough to keep him straight? Most assuredly it was. There was absolutely no excuse for his drifting in with wild and dissolute companions, becoming a common river gambler and rendering notorious and obnoxious a name which bad hitherto been the synonym for honor and integrity. Kirby had been kept in ignorance of Mr. Randall’s suicide, bat when at length, be became convalescent Larkin Bunce. harking back to the events of that memorable night, informed him, and the invalid, on his part, recounted! the occurrences preceding Colonel Moreau’s precipitation of the “hono'ra’ble” combat. ‘ “The news of Mr. Randall’s death is a great shock.” be added, greatly mov-i ed. “He was piy father’s friend, Bunce, and when the devil played havoc with our affairs did all in his power to be of assistance. But for my great pride ! would have accepted his offer of guardian and, under his supervision. I hope, would have been a credit to the name instead of the disgrace 1 am" “Now. you quit these here postmortems,” remonstrated Bunce good na turedly. bur firmly. “You don't call me a disgrace, do you? And ain’t I your old side partner? Bosh, if you play the game straight I guess there's lots of worse ways of making a living than gambling. The sawbones said a lot •f rest was coming your way. so just turn over on the other side and forget it.” "No, 1 can’t, Bunce. Don't you realize the position in which I am pla ed by Mr. Randall’s death? I hold a deed to bis entire plantation, and 1 must sign a release without delay. What if it should ever be thought that I eu terod the game in earnest, with the deliberate intention of robbing Mr Randall? You know my reputation. ' he added bitterly, “and how easy it is for a dog to earn a bad Dame. Bring me pen and ink at onee. Larkin, if you

please, tor i i inmenfs peace until 1 Propped up <>;. n< pc.ov. - and supported by the si in. grumbling Bunce, he wrote the following I hereby surrender ihe absolute possession of all tlie property herein described to the child or children oi John RundalL EUGENE KIRBY. “There!" he exclaimed. "Now I feel better, and there is uo cbance of my old neighbor’s children being defrauded out of their inheritance.” “You worry a heap more about them than yourself,” observed Bunce, “and there’s no call for it. Even if they knew you had got this deed you’re reckoned as a dead man by everybody. I heard from one of the boys that Moreau had skipped to Mexico, but you know how the river calls, and he’ll answer sooner or later. When the fine old bucko does return don’t be fool enough to give him another chance at your back, for he’s a painfully modest cuss and prefers to stay in the rear. By rights he ought to get the same dose he gave you, and I’d do it for the asking.” “You know you wouldn't,” said Kirby shnply. “The moment I learn that Moreau has returned you may arrange a meeting for us. You can leave the rest to me.” Bunce nodded. “I guess there ain’t any one who could get the bettteir of you. Gene, face to face. I ain’t much of a hand at the gospel, but I’ll scare up a prayer or two for Jack Moreau’s soul.” (To be Continued.)

"THE SCOUNDREL HAS ALREADY PAID FOR IT WITH HIS LIFE.”

“I’LL SCARE UP A PRAYER OR TWO FOR JACK MOREAU'S SOUL.”