the answer. And the answer was this: Nature
for a while forgets and forgives offenses against her, but there comes
a time when Nature ceases to forgive the mistreatment of the body and
the mind, and sends then her law of atonement, to be visited upon the
transgressor with interest compounded a hundredfold. The user of
narcotics knows it; the drunkard knows it; and this poor self-crucified
victim of his own imagination--he knew it too. The hint of it had that
day been reflected in the attitude of his neighbors, for they merely had
obeyed, without conscious realization or analysis on their part, a law
of the natural scheme of things. The direct proof of it was, by this
night-time thing, revealed and made yet plainer. He stood convicted, a
chronic violator of the immutable rule. And he knew, likewise, there was
but one way out of the coil--and took it, there in his bedroom, vividly
ringed about by the obscene and indecent circle of his lights which kept
away the blessed, cursed darkness while the suicide's soul was passing.

AN INSTRUMENT OF THE GODS[6]

By LINCOLN COLCORD

(From _The American Magazine_)

"You think the Chinese are prosaic," said Nichols from the darkness of
his corner. "I've listened to you closely. You fellows have been
discussing only superficialities. At heart, you and the Oriental are the
same. The Chinese are romantic, I tell you; they are heroic. Yes,
really. Let me tell you a tale."

Suddenly he laughed. "You won't be convinced. But strip my friend Lee Fu
Chang naked, forget about that long silken coat of his; dress him in a
cowboy's suit and locate him on the Western plains, and the game he
played with Captain Wilbur won't seem so inappropriate. You merely won't
expect a mandarin Chinaman to play it. You'll feel that China is too
civilized for what he did.

"Some of you fellows must remember the notorious case of Captain Wilbur
and the 'Speedwell;' but I'll briefly refresh your memories: He was a
well-known shipmaster of the palmy days, and his vessel was one of the
finest clippers ever launched on the shores of New England. But she was
growing old; and Wilbur had suffered serious financial reverses, though
the fact wasn't generally known.

"To make a long story short, he put the 'Speedwell' ashore in Ombay
Pass, on a voyage from Singapore to New York, and abandoned her as she
lay. Within a month after sailing, he was back again in Singapore with
his ship's company in three long bo