Read Ebook: Harper's Round Table January 21 1896 by Various

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Harry accepted the tribute with a vague smile. He was a little puzzled, but even in his uncertain mental condition he felt reasonably sure that he had never owned any fur-lined robes. Still he was certain that any one who left fur-lined robes behind on a day like this, whether they were his own robes or those of some one else, was a very sensible person and deserving of commendation.

"I suppose you have come after the fifteen millions for the Grand Duke!" said the old gentleman.

"Not at all," said Harry, for he was seized with a fear that the old gentleman might deliver to him some other man's property, and then have him arrested for theft when the mistake was discovered.

"That's all right," said the old gentleman, reclining on the canvas bags, and nodding his head encouragingly. "You can trust me."

"But I have not come from the Grand Duke," said Harry.

"What's that?" said the old gentleman, jumping up and speaking very fiercely. Then he sat down again. "Of course you have," he said, calmly. "Otherwise how would you be here, and how would you be able to carry it away?" And Harry thought it best not to contradict him again.

"There is the lot over there," said the old gentleman, indicating another pile of canvas bags just beyond, and to Harry's left. "It isn't much of a load when you know how to carry it."

"Am I to carry all that?" asked Harry; for the bags looked as though they might weigh a ton.

"And a very light load," said the old gentleman, nodding and smiling. "Sit down." He pointed at the bags.

Harry was glad of the invitation, though an invitation to supper or to a drop of that cooling lemonade would have pleased him more. The old gentleman seemed to divine his thoughts, for he pointed at the lemonade bowl, and said, with a smack of his lips, "A little later." Then he motioned again to the pile of coin-bags. Harry threw himself down on them. Then a dreadful feeling went through him. He felt as though he were afire. The bags were hot--as hot as boiling water--so hot that he sprang from them with a scream.

"What's that?" said the old gentleman, springing up. "Then you're not the Czar's messenger. You haven't the key. You are an impostor. You are a thief."

He caught up one of the canvas bags on which he had been sitting. It burst, and the yellow gold pieces flew out in a shower on Harry's head. Each of them seemed to burn a hole where it struck. Harry fell to the floor. The old gentleman caught up another bag and poured its contents over Harry. His face had the expression of a fiend now. More and more gold he poured on Harry's prostrate form, until all but his head was quite hidden from view. Each gold piece burned, and burned, and burned. The heat was intolerable. Harry screamed with the pain of it.

"What's the matter with you, Holt?" said a voice in his ear. The chinking of the gold pieces as they fell seemed like some old familiar sound. Some one took hold of his shoulder, and the voice said again, "Here, what's the matter with you!" The chinking now was like the clicking of the telegraph instruments in the operating-room. Harry opened his eyes and looked about him. The old gentleman was gone; the bags of gold were gone. The old desk was under his arm, and the chief operator was bending over him.

"Your time's up, Harry," he said. "I thought you were in a hurry to get home. This isn't a very good place to sleep on a hot night, anyhow."

The clock on the wall opposite said half past two; it was twenty-five minutes past when Harry had told the chief operator that he wanted to go. He had been asleep perhaps three minutes, and every garment on him was wet with perspiration. His hat and coat were not in his hands. He looked for them, and then he remembered. They were still in the closet. He got them, and walked slowly down the four flights of stairs. When he came out on Fifteenth Street his footsteps turned instinctively in the direction of the Treasury building. But Harry resolutely turned them the other way.

"I don't want any more dreamland riches," he said, as he thought of the old gentleman and his red-hot coin.

In the lull following upon the activity of football, and preceding track athletics and baseball, I shall devote as much space as possible in this Department to comment on seasonable sports, and on the methods for training and preparation for spring work. So many letters come each week asking for suggestions about training, especially for the running events, and requesting information on the various outdoor sports for ice and snow, that it seems advisable to award to these subjects the preference, for the next few weeks at least. Concerning training for field sports, I shall endeavor to treat of putting the shot in an early number of the ROUND TABLE, and soon afterward we shall have hints and advice on training for the sprints and the middle distances. This week I want to devote almost all available space to the prime winter sport of curling, about which I have been asked for a description by a number of correspondents in the Northern and Western States and Canada.

Curling is essentially a Scottish game, and one over which the stolid Scotsmen manage to work up considerable enthusiasm and excitement. It has been imported into this country, and especially in Canada have American curlers become almost as proficient as any in the world. Few games afford better sport and exercise, and a certain amount of muscular strength is demanded of the players. The game is played on ice, of course, and the space marked out for playing is called a "rink." This is usually a strip of ice on a pond or a stream, forty-two yards long and eight or nine yards wide, swept clear of snow. A "tee," or goal, is set down at each end of the rink. The tees are 39-1/2 yards apart. Seven feet behind each tee is a small circle called a "foot-circle," from which the curlers launch their stones. From each tee as a centre a circle must be drawn, with a radius of seven feet, and every stone which is not outside of this circle when it has stopped moving counts as one point in the reckoning. Outside and beyond the tee circle a line is drawn across to the rink, and the stones which pass this boundary are called dead--that is, they do not count. Seven or eight yards inside of each tee another line is drawn across the rink, and every stone that does not pass this "hog-score," as this line is called, is removed from the ice, out of the way of coming stones. The "middle line" is drawn half-way between the tees across the rink. Perhaps a better idea of this complicated delineation of a curling-rink may be gathered from the diagram at the top of the next page.

There are usually four players on a side, and each player is armed with two stones. These stones are of circular shape, with flattened sides, and must not weigh more than fifty pounds nor less than thirty pounds. Neither must they be more than thirty-six inches around, nor less in height than one-eighth of the greatest circumference. Curling enthusiasts attach great importance to their stones. They have them of various weights to suit their own fancy, and of every possible variation of form. Some players prefer flat stones, while others have a liking for high ones. As a rule, however, the favorite is that which is neither very flat nor very high, the reason for this being that such a stone is well "centred," having the centre of gravity about in the middle, and being therefore more easily handled. These stones are usually cut out of granite; they are then highly polished, and frequently fitted with very ornamental and highly expensive handles.

The players are also provided with brooms, with which they sweep off the snow and other obstacles from the rink. One point of judgment in curling is to know when to sweep the way clear for a coming stone and when not to, the sweeper knowing about how fast the stone will go for its weight, and about where it will land if allowed to travel over a rough or a smooth surface. The number of points ordinarily appointed as decisive of a curling-match is thirty-one, and the side which first scores that total is the winner. The chief aim in the game is to hurl the stone with the proper amount of strength, so that it will take its place close to the tee. Then a certain amount of generalship must be used by one side to so distribute its stones that the opponents may not be able to dislodge those nearest to the centre of the tee circle. It will be seen that curling is a sort of giant game of shuffle-board, but much more susceptible to scientific work than the latter. A close finish in curling frequently arouses both parties to the highest excitement, and many funny stories have been written about staid Scottish squires and dignified dominies who have found themselves hotly disputing with one another on a curling-rink. For those who may be interested in the sport, and who care to become more familiar with it or to learn the many rules which experience and practice have shown to be necessary, I recommend an article on curling in the volume on skating in the Badminton Library.

It is a wise provision also that any school entering a team for the baseball or football championship must play all games for which they are scheduled under penalty of fine for each game forfeited. My only criticism is that the penalty might be doubled or trebled. The championship series of football games last fall, in Brooklyn, was greatly interfered with by the continual forfeiting of games by the weaker teams. This Department spoke of the evil at the time, and I would now urge the Long Island League legislators to insert some such by-law in their code as the New Yorkers have just established.

An Interscholastic Polo League has been formed in Boston, under the auspices of the B.A.A., with the following schools as members: Melrose High, Cambridge High and Latin, Roxbury Latin, and English High. A provisional schedule has been arranged, but as the weather is an important factor in polo, it may be necessary to postpone several of the contests. The dates chosen are:

CAMBRIDGE H. AND L.

Dec. 31.--E. H. S. on Spy Pond. Jan. 17.--Roxbury Latin on Spy Pond. Jan. 25.--Melrose on Spy Pond.

ENGLISH HIGH.

Dec. 31.--Cambridge on Spy Pond. Jan. 14.--Roxbury Latin . Jan. 17.--Melrose at Melrose.

ROXBURY LATIN.

Jan. 14.--English High . Jan. 17.--Cambridge on Spy Pond. Jan. 21.--Melrose at Melrose.

MELROSE HIGH.

Jan. 17.--English High at Melrose. Jan. 21.--Roxbury Latin at Melrose. Jan. 25.--Cambridge at Spy Pond.

It is to be hoped, if the season proves a successful one and the cold weather holds out, that the winner in this Boston League will arrange for a championship game with the winner in the Connecticut League.

On account of this delay in receiving the portraits of Messrs. Carey and Lutkins, who were selected for members of the All-New-York football team, the pictures could not be reproduced until this week. Carey of the Hamilton Institute would play right half-back, and Lutkins would rank as first substitute on the All-New-York eleven, the full details of which were given in the ROUND TABLE of January 7th.

The game of basket-ball promises to become popular among the colleges and the larger schools of the country this winter. This Department will devote some space to the game at an early date, which is taking up the attention of scholastic sportsmen in Connecticut.

J. A. BAKER, B. BAY, MASSACHUSETTS.--There is no rule prohibiting tackling above the shoulders, unless Section B of Rule 27 of the Football Rules of 1895 can be construed as such. It is a matter for the umpire to decide in every case.

H. C. MORRIS, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.--There will be an article on running in this Department some time during the winter. I should advise you to use sprinting shoes without spikes to train in, but wear spikes in a contest or when running for time.

H. C. D., MERIDEN.--The arrangement of players for the game of ice polo, described briefly in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE for January 14th, is as follows:

THE GRADUATE.

A POUND OF FACTS

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