6 PRESCIENCE. Love, hoar the burden of my prayer: 'Twill not be always thine to woo, And lifeless fingers have no care ttf laid therein be rose or rue. TLove, hear the burden of my prayer: Give me to-day to hear thee vow How deur my eyes, my lips, my hair. Nor wait for Death to teach theu how. Love, hear the burden of my prayer: Loek me to-day in thy embrace! Too late when striving candles Hare To rain thy kisses on my face! Love, hear the burden of my prayer: Walk with me down the days. L»'st Death come on us, unaware. And point the parting of the ways. —Hose Mills Powers, in Good Housekeep ing. MiMSMMMMk 1 Scoundrels Co. C | ByCOULSON KERNAHAN I B Author ol "Captain Shannon," "A Bonk of n J Strange Sins," "A Dead Man's Diary," Etc. jj Copyright, 1599, by Herbert S. Stone Jt Co. CHAPTER IX. — CONTINUED. I am bound to confess that the coun cil did not display the interest which might have been expected. Even so observant a member as myself was conscious of a curious disinclination to come to a nearer acquaintance with the contents of the brown bag; and there was an unmistakable, if unos tentatious, disposition on the part of my colleagues to gravitate in the di rection of the door. One member had In fact put a hand upon the latch, when Number Two added, with just a suspicion of a smile: "And —as I don't want to join Num ber Three just yet awhile—quite se curely packed, I assure you!" The man who had put his hand up on the latch, being thus relieved of his anxiety for the safety of an honored colleague, took occasion to rebuke any tendency towards timorousness on the jfjart of his fellow-conspirators, by re marking witheringly that he'd be glad if »he members would leave him room to stand up in, and would not push him against the door. And when the councillor who, upon the production ot the brown bag, had displayed most eagerness to edge towards the exit, lhafl relieved his feelings by expressing a wish that the next time "any one had anything to be afraid about he hoped they wouldn't compel him to move by treading upon his toes," and B third councillor had conceded jocose ly that he was "bound to say he'd had a bit of a start," the meeting resumed its normal aspect. "Yes. gentlemen," continued Num ber Two somewhat inflatedly, "that bag contains the larger portion of the explosive of which you commissioned zne to obtain possession. I now leave it to you to decide whether I have or have not failed in accomplishing what I had undertaken." "Oh, yes, you have scrambled through the business," said a long faced, rather round-shouldered man, •who was, I afterwards learned, Coun cillor Number Five; "you have scram bled through it right enough, though at the cost of the life of a fellow coun cillor." "That was not my fault," retorted Number Two angrily. "It is due to the fact that this council is at present ■without a head. Number Three was instructed to assist me, but was not enjoined to obey me implicitly. Had it been so he would not have dared to go beyond his instructions, as he ap pears to have done last night; and then we should not have lost good dynamite and a valuable life to no purpose. I pointed out at the last meeting of this council how important it was that some member be selected to take the place of our late leader; and just so long as we remain without a head, just so long may we expect nolhing but such unhappy fiascos as happened last night." "The moral of all of which is," put Sn Number Five dryly, "that you are trying to force the hand of the council in order that you yourself may be ap ivointed to the post about which you sre so eloquent. But there are others who are quite as fitted to take the reins." ■"Yourself, for instance," sneered Number Two angrily. "I had surmised that you were jealous of the fact that I am your senior on the council; but j our motives for trying to belittle what I have done are so apparent that the council will know how to estimate them at their proper worth." "No doubt our fellow councillors are competent, to estimate your motives and mine correctly," replied Number five indifferently. "In the meantime, may I inquire how our dead chief's hag came into your possession?" 'iihe question had the effect of turn ing all eyes, my own included, upon the article referred to. I saw, to my consternation, that it resembled in every way the very bag which, after .Number One's fatal fall from the train, S had taken from the rack where he !hadi placed it, and had hidden in a ■ftayrfefe before paying my first visit to the conspirator's wagon. Before leaving Leigh, however, I had regained possession of the bag, and had carried it with me to my chambers in Buck ingham street, where I had locked it ■away, in case I might want it at any time as evidence. If Number Five were right, and the bag which Number Two vns holding were indeed—as ap ;peared to be the case—the very article •which had belonged to Number One, :it must have been stolen from my chambers in Buckingham street But this implied that one at least of the conspirators was aware of the part I had played in recent event.?, and was I aware, too, that I was there that even | lug as a spy, in which case a terrible I vengeance was in siore for me. Number Two's reply seemed to mo ( an age in coming, as I stood there like a prisoner waiting for liis death sen tence, a cold sweat trickling down my forehead and into my eyes. "Yes," he said, and I could have killed him for the drawl with which he spoke, "yes, you're a keen-eyed man, my friend, for all your jealousy. It is Number One's bag, isn't it? You recognize it, don't you? Would you be surprised to hear that this is the fellow to his —the dupli cate, don't you call it? He and I bought a bag apiece at the same shop and at the same time, so there's noth ing very wonderful in the two being of the same pattern. You were clever at mares'-nesting, weren't you, when you were a boy?" 1 had been wrought up to such a pitch of suspense that the relief af forded by Number Two's explanation j caused me—l am ashamed to say—to I burst out into a silly bleat-like hyster- I ical lausli. Then suddenly changing his tone to j one of business-like directness. Number | Two went on, in a hard, cold voice, in which I thought I detected an Ameri can twang: "See here, my friends—l happen to know the address to which our late chief was having his letters sent, and I have taken the liberty, as the senior member of this council, of obtaining them, and bringing them along to night. There they are, and you will see that there is a tidy sum, which has come to hand in the way of subscrip tions, to be shared among us. But I must point out to you that since our leader's death this council has, so to speak, been living on its capital. He was a born organi/.er: and when he died he had got the machinery of all the various leagues, unions, secret so cieties and agitation movements, which he directed, into such excellent work ing order, that everything has gone on almost automatically ever since. It is a good thing for us that it is so, for, as you are aware, no inconsiderable portion of the money that is subscribed finds its way into our pockets. But since he died we have really done nothing in return for the 'pickings' which come our way, and if subscrip tions are to keep on coming in—and on that one point at least we are not likely to disagree—it is high time to do something to let our subscribers feel that they are getting their money's worth. Whatever that something is, it ought to be big—something that shall strike at the throne of En gland itself, and set every other throne in Europe trembling; some thing that will delight our friends and terrify our enemies, and set all the rest of the silly world agape like a pack of geese. And I think I've got it. Listen! This jubilee, that is so soon to come off, has done our cause incalcuable damage; it has sent sweep ing to the very ends of the world such a wave of loyalty to the throne as per haps has never passed over our planet before. Even that unutterable monkey on a stick, and poser of posers, who so loves to play at soldiers, and have his portrait taken in uniform —the em peror of Germany—sits securer on his throne to-day because of the jubilee in England. It has strengthened the po sition of monarchism immensely, and has put back the day of democracy by a good 50 years. The picturesqueness of the thing and the sentiment of it— the queen's being a woman and a widow, and all that —have turned the heads of even thoughtful people, and it wouldn't surprise me if jubilee day saw even the staid members of this council waving their hats and yelling themselves hoarse with the rest of the populace. "Well, gentlemen, to come to busi ness. The Strand, as some of you know, is to be decorated with festoons of colored celluloid balls stretched across the road. This will look pretty in daylight, and prettier at night, as each ball is really an electric lamp, and when they are all lit up the effect will be splendid. I've taken a certain house in Ihe Strand for the occasion. I've engaged it for the night before tho jubilee and for jubilee night as well, so ihat people that are nervous about the crowd (and I expect the crowd won't be a bad second to the Day of Judgment in the point of numbers) can sleep there before and after the event, and so see the show in comfort. And if any of you want to see some thing more exciting than the show, I think I can promise it, and I shall be happy to reserve seats. I've rented the roof of the house with the rest of it, and when it is quite dark I shall go up there on the night before the jubi lee. I shall take with me a certain cel luloid ball, which looks exactly like those used for decorative purposes, but which in reality contains a deadly bomb, so constructed that the slightest concussion will explode it. One end of the wire rope supporting the festoons of celluloid balls is secured to the roof of the house I have taken. This wire rope I shall undo, and slip my own celluloid bomb ball upon it, letting the thing slide down till it reaches the slackest part of the rope, which wil'., of course, be the center, and so just over the middle of the road. There will be too much going on below for any one to notice that one of the many festoons along the Strand happens to have an extra ball; and if they do no tice it they'll only suppose that it is one .that has got out of its place. Well, when the show passes I shall be on the roof with a pair of sharp steel pincers, and at the precise moment when the queen, surrounded by the royal princes, is passing under the festoons, I snip the wire, the bomb falls, and then —well, then I guess we snuff out the entire royal family at one wipe. How's that for high, gentle men? I rather flatter myself it's pret ty. Anyhow, it'll be the biggest and the tidiest thing in tho way of a royal CAMKRON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1904 | assassination that, history can show llf you want me to put tb» thing j through, say Ihe word, and I'm your I man. I guess It'll bring the subscrip j tions in at such a rate that we shali all be able to chuck conspiracy and re- I tire into private life to spend the pieces. What do you say, gentlemen?" "There's no need for us to say any thing," sneered Councillor Number Five, who seemed determined to main tain an attitude of opposition to every thing that Number Two had proposed. "You talk big enough for a housefu yourself. Don't you think all this blowing off would sound more to the purpose after the event than before if Even a hen doesn't cackle till she's laid an egg." "If you have formed any plan for striking a blow which is more likely to startle the world and to induce sftb scriptions," replied Number Two, cold ly, "I shall be happy to withdraw my proposal." "J thought not," he went on when Number Five shook his head, "then in that case perhaps you will yourself undertake the carrying out of the plan which I have had the honor to submit to the council." He stooped as he spoke, and lifting the brown bag, ,of which mention has already been made, opened it, and tak ing out a red celluloid ball he held it at arm's length to Number Five, who backed uneasily and stood staring at the thing with anything but eyes of desire. "Won't you take it?" jeered Number Two, advancing a step. "It will be the simplest thing in the world now to carry out the arrangement. All you have to do is to slip the end of the wire through the ring at the top of the ball, and let it slide down till it reaches the slackest part. You see it is made exactly like the other colored balls they are using, and no one could tell, without opening it, that it con tained a bomb instead of an electric lamp. You are so anxious to serve the council, and so ready with your criticisms, that no doubt you will be glad to accept the responsibility of stringing that pretty bead on its neck lace, and cutting the wire at the crit ical moment. The man who under takes the business may of course lose his life in the explosion, or may be detected or arrested, as I fully recog nized when I offered to play the part of Guy Faux. But I'm quite willing to resign in your favor, since you are so eager to distinguish yourself. The post of honor is always a post of dan ger—both in war and in conspiracy— but you, no doubt, won't count the cost so long as you gain the importance you so covet. Do you accept my of fer?" "No," said Number Five. "If your plan succeeds—though I don't think such a lot of it as you do —you'll take all the credit; and if it fails, as I be lieve it will, I shall have to pay the costs. Much obliged to you! No thanks! When I play Guy Faux, as you call it, it will have to be a plot of my own—not somebody else's — planning. You're not the only man on this council with ideas, and if the other members would like me to think out a plan or two I'm ready to do it. But you've dealt out the cards in this lit tle game of yours, and now you'd best play your hand out. All the same, and to show that it isn't funk that keeps me out of it, I'm quite ready to act as your assistant in this jubilee business, and to share whatever risk you run in it." "It is quite true that I ought to have an assistant," replied Number Two, coldly. "The wire rope which I have to undo will be very heavy, and I shall need some one to hold it for me while I thread the ball; for if by any chance the thing slipped out of my hand the result would be too previous to be pleasant. But if you will pardon my saying so, I would rather that some other member than yourself volun teered to assist me. You have already expressed your disbelief in the suc cess of my project; and it does not do to have half-hearted workers in such a business. We are already half way to victory when every one con cerned is confident of success, and, conversely, we are half-way to a fail ure when one of the workers antici pates break-down. Besides, though I am not very superstitious, something tells me that your presence on the occasion would bring us ill luck. Is any other member of the council will ing to assist me in the great blow I am about to strike?" Here was my chance. "I am," I said. As I spoke I stepped forward and raised my right hand in military salute—why, I cannot think, unless the whole thing seemed to me less like real life than a melodrama in which 1 was sustaining a part. The action, how ever, appeared to please him "That's good," he said. "A soldier, too, and accustomed to act under or ders without asking questions. Your number?" "Number Seven," I replied, prompt ly, as .if on parade. "All right, Number Seven. Here's the exact address of the house in ques tion. Can I count on your calling there at nine o'clock sharp on the evening before the jubilee?" "You can, sir," I said. "All right. Remember. Nine o'clock sharp the night before the show. Give three single knocks and I'll open the door to yau myself. That's all I need say to you now, I think." Taking this as my dismissal, I sa luted in silence and stepped back. Then Number Two turned to the rest of the company again. "There is one point that I ought to bring to your notice, gentlemen," he said. "It wa3 a rule of our late chief's that the coun cil never met in the same place twice. This is the second time that this wagon has been our trysting-place, and though I have no reason to suppose it is not perfectly safe, I think we should do well to make a change. There i 3 a disused shed in some brick-fields ad- I Joining the cemetery at Tarborough. The town is fairly near London, and j there aif! three different lines of rail— I way. Let us arrange to meet thorn | the night after the jubilee. If the lit- I tie surprise packet which I have ar ; tanged for the queen and the royal j family achieves its purpose, and Ire- I ceive no personal injury and can slip away in the confusion, I shall be at the shed at midnight the day after to meet you. If I am either killed or taken you'll have read about it in the papers, and must make your arrange ments for the conduct of the business without me. One thing I can premise you—that should I be taken, your se cret will be safe with me. Wero I to be captured red-handed in an attempt to assassinate the queen on the one day of all days when the poor fools who call themselves her loyal subjects will consider her person as sacred, the chances are ten to one that I get lynched on the spot. But even if the police can prevent that, and get me .safely away, no power on earth can pave my neck from the hangman. And rest assured that I shan't try to save it by playing my comrades false. Who ever turns traitor, I shan't. We moot again, . fellow-councillors, at Tar borough, at the place I have told you of, and at midnight on the day after the jubilee. Don't, fail to turn up punctually on the night before, Num ber Seven. I shall need your assist ance. I think that's all; now we can adjourn this meeting and get to bad." CHAPTER X. DEVILRY ON A HOUSE-TOP. It was striking nine when on the night before the jubilee I knocked I KNOCKED THREE TIMES. three times at the door of the house where I had promised to meet my fel low-conspirator. I had not wasted the two or three days that intervened between the last council meeting and the great pageant, for in the wide, deep under-pocket of the cape which I wore over my even ing dress 1 was carrying a celluloid ball of the same pattern as that which had been shown to us in the gipsy wagon by Number Two. It had not been a difficult matter to discover the maker of these articles. From him I obtained one of the same color as that in the possession of Number Two, and had filled it with sawdust and sand, in the hope that 1 might find an oppor tunity for substituting it for the dead ly weapon with which Number Two intended, as he put it, to "snuff out the entire royal family at one wipe." ITo He Continued.] firnnt KIKHIMI Them Until. Will Carleton, the poet author, was speaking the other day of his last in terview with Gen. Grant. "I had seen him and met him on various occa sions," he said, "but this was the first time I had ever had him to myself for half an hour. We talked of his fa mous trip around the world, and com pared data concerning places where we had both been. Especially was he struck with Ayr, the birthplace of Burns, and with two of Burns' nieces, the Misses Begg, two elderly maiden ladies who lived in a cozy cottage a few miles from 'auld Kirk Alloway." I had happened to visit them immedi ately after Grant was there, and they were naturally enthusiastic about the great American hero. 'When ho went awa',' said one of them to me confi dentially, 'he kissed my sister good by.' But when I laughingly repeated this to the general he said quietly, "I kissed both of them.'"—N. Y. World. A Cordial Greeting*. Earl is about /our years old. He 1 went fishing recently in a small pond in the suburbs. He tied a bent pin to the end of a long string and waited for the unsus- i pecting minnow to come along and ! bite. While he was waiting the nurse- | maid wandered away to exchange j greetings with a friendly policeman, j When she returned she said: "Earl, dear, did you catch any- ' thing?" " 'Es, Maggie," he answered, "I got J a little, cunning fish, and he was so I glad to see me that he just wagged I his tail like everything."—N. Y. Mail and Express. Silver SpndeN. The spades used by the king and members of the royal family of En gland on occasions when commemora tive trees have been planted are pre served at the royal gardens at Frog more. Many of them are of silver. There are the full-sized spades used by the king and the prince of Wales, and miniature spades used by the little princes and princesses. The whole are now to be ranged in a glass case, with the date of the occasion on which each was used. The number of trees planted in commemoration of the coronation has much increased the collection.- Detroit Free Presa. Art Association, tells young women what to do to avoid pain and suffering caused by female troubles. "Dear Mrs. Pink rram :—T canconsrie itinrisly recommendLydlaE. ! Pinkham's Vegetable Compound to those of my sisters suffering with ] female weakness and the troubles which so often befall women. I suf j fered for months with general weakness, and felt so weary that I had hard work to keep up. 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