6 LULLABY. Oh. hush thee! my bonnie, my baby! The wtnil sings a soft lullaby, And the little stars peep To see It you sleep, Stealing out one by one, in the sky. The daisies have put on their night caps, And nodding is each dainty head, While I'm sure if you look, You will see In yon nook Wee panales asleep in their bed. Bir Cricket is tuning his fiddle. While Katy-did strums his guitar. And soon we shall hear Their duet loud and clear. Serenading the evening star. The twilight comes stealing so gently T« softtn the moon's silver light, And listen! I heard A dear little bird Twitter softly a sleepy "good night." The fireflies are lighting their lanterns To show little children the way To the slumber land, oh! Where gay popples grow. And dream-fairies frolic at play. Then hushaby, bonnie, my dearie. And list to the wind's lullaby. While the little stars peep To see if you sleep, And the lady moon watches on high. —Marian Phelps, In Chicago Advance. f ByCOULSONKERNAHAN 8 Aulhor of "Captain Shannon," "A Book ol 3 Strange Sins," "A Dead Man's Diary," Etc. B Ir ■ta T —rr-g-rnd" Copyright, 1899, by Herbert S. Stone & Co. CHAPTER X.—CONTINUED. The reader may be inclined to ask If it is not curious that success so often attended my little stratagems for the spoiling of the conspirators' plans, ut. I can assure him that it is sur prisingly easy to fool a knave. No one is so capable of being tricked as your trickster, fur he is so accustomed to suspecting everybody that he has long ago lost the God-given instinct which warns an honest man when to be 0.1 bis guard. I would rather any day set my wits against a knave's than against an honest man's. Your knave s so busy in fooling you that he lias eyes only lor his own plans; whereas the honest man's eyes are upon you all the time, and you get no chance to spy out the weak places in his armor. All the same, I fully realized that it ■was more than possible I might find no opportunity of effecting the change of balls —my sand and sawdust-stuffed plaything for Number Two's deadly bomb—in which case I had made up my mind to inform the police of the devilry which was hatching, and to have the villainous thing removed without an hour's delay. But, being by no means desirous of making a police commissioner my father confessor, I was determined to do my best to frustrate unaided the proposed assassination; and so long as one can keep one's nerve and one's presence of mind, It is surprisingly easy, as I have said, to induce a rogue to tumble into the trap which one has laid for him. The sound of my three raps had scarcely died away before the door •was opened by Number Two, who looked at my expanse of shirt-front and carefully tied white bow with an unconcealed sneer. "That's a nice costume to come through these crowded streets in,"he said. "Been dining with your relative, the king of Ireland? You Irishmen are all related to kings, aren't you?" "No," I replied, wondering how he had discovered my nationality, for, having been educated in England, I haven't the least suspicion of a brogue; ""it was one of your royal relatives— the king of Darkness. He sent his re membrances, and hopes soon to see you settled for good in his establish ment." He laughed, and when the door was closed said: "That's not half so press ing an invitation as you and I are go ing to send to the royal family of En gland. Come along up on the roof, and let's get to business." Up on the roof we went accordingly, and I looked upon the parapet and saw below me, in the garish glare of the illuminations, the vast and packed mul titudes, that, with elbows and shoul ders at work wedged their way along, grinning, gaping, singing, and cheering good-naturedly, in spite of their per spiring bodies and dust-choked throats. Then I lifted my head and looked up to Ihe vasier and voiceless multitude of stars above, and as I did so the whole scene seemed to me like part of some strange dream-drama. "Now, my friend, we must be very careful," said Number Two, "for if by any chance you stumbled and kicked against this tiling, or I should let it. drop, there wouldn't be enough of either of us lelt for our own mothers to identify us by at the inquest." As he spoke he put down the bag which he had been carrying, and open ing it carefully, took out with both hands the red celluloid ball which he had exhibited to us in the wagon. '"J he end of the wire rope support ing the festoons is fastened to the Ve netian masts —not to the house, after sill, he said. "But I watched my time a couple of nights ago when no one was passing, and tossed a ball of stout black thread—the end of which I se cured here—over the middle of that farther festoon. Then I went out in to the road and tossed the ball round and round the festoons several times, till it was firmly caught in the deco rations. and then I chucked the ball up on'this roof again. It took me a long time to arrange it, for people were constantly passing, but by waich- Ing my opportunity I managed the business all right. So now we have a line direct from here to the center of the festoon, so that 1 can cut the threa.l and let. the bomb down when the oid lady passes without disturbing the rest of the decorations. "The end of the thread is tied to that rail. Will you go and untie it.and hold the thread ready for me to string on? But don't let go when you have it undone, or everything will be spoilt. There will be people passing in the street the whole of to-night, and 1 should get no chance of fixing up an other line." For an instant 1 hesitated. Should I untie the thread and let the cord, slip from my hand, as if by accident, and so balk him of his murderous pur pose? Another moment's thought, however, convinced me that so clumsy and transparent an artifice was not ad visable. It would, in the first place, arouse Number Two's suspicions, and might not, after all, avert the catas trophe 1 feared; for he was a man of resource, who would not be at a loss to devise some other method for carrying out his devilry. So, under the pretense of trying to undo the fastening, I pulled it into an inextricable knot, at which I fumbled so long that, as I had hoped, Number Two lost patience. "Confound it all!" he growled. "if I had thought you were so clumsy a fool, I'd have had that other man to help me, after all. Here, come out of the way and let me do it! The thing's easy enough, if you only go about it the right way." This was the sequel which I had been leading up to and hoping for, so I stepped back accordingly, and took my place. As 1 had intended, he found the task a teaser. "You have made a mess of it and no mistake!" he snarled between his set teeth, as he bent over the tangle in a vain attempt to loosen the knot, at which I had tugged to such good purpose. No sooner was his back turned than I took the sand and sawdust-stuffed ball out of the pocket that was hidden in my cape, and placing il noiselessly 011 the ground, transferred the bomb to my pocket. "Have you got a knife?" inquired Number Two a few seconds after I had effected the exchange. "Yes," I said. "Do you want it?" "Yes. Open it and cut the string just above my hand wltile I hold onto it« That's right. Now bring that ball —Carefully, for God's sake! and we'll string her on. Hold hard. Don't let go until I tell you. That's all right. There it goes—sliding down the string like a good 'un. You see, it's stopped just over the center of the road, ready to drop in and make a morning call 011 her majesty when she's passing. Now I'll fasten the thread to tHe rail again. Then all will be in order for to-morrow, and you can go back and pay another visit to your royal rela tives." CHAPTER XI. IIOW A GREAT NATIONAL CATAS TROPHE WAS AVERTED ON JUBI LEE LAY. Being desirous of seeing the play out, I had secured —at a reasonable enough price—a front seat in the top window of the house exactly opposite to that from the roof of which Number Two hoped, with one snip of his "abhorred shears," to "slit the thin-spun life" of the royal family of England. The morning of the jubilee saw mo take my place—not this time in my councillor's disguise—in my allotted seat, whence I watched with no little curiosity for the fim.l act in what was meant to be a tragedy, but which I had been the means of transforming into a farce. Number Two was not astir as early as I was, and did not putin an appear ance on the roof until the tail of the great procession was in sight. Mean while 1 sat looking down on the stal wart fellows who went swinging along at quick march on foot, or upon the stately pacing and prancing of the cav alry that passed, clattering and jing ling, in pursuing lines. My enjoyment of the pageant was, however, considerably marred by the constant growling of a man sitting near me, whose natural moroseness of disposition was accentuated by the fact that he was dissatisfied with his seat. "Who wants to see a lot of court flunkeys riding in double rows or driv ing in carriages?" he grumbled. "'I hat's what most of 'em are, you know. It's bad enough for the nation to 'ave to pay for their keep—royal keep too —and pay 'em big salaries for doing nothing, without our 'aving 'em stuck up on a 'orse or in a fine carriage for us to 'ave to pay to see 'em go by. II you and me were dressed up in those fine uniforms and 'a said, thinking it wiser to agree with him than to add fuel to the tire of his grievance by a dispute. "All the si>nie," putin a man of con ciliatory countenance who sat behind me, "all the same, you can't deny that it's an imposing sight." "It's imposing enough as a 'ole," admitted the iconoclast, "but if you look at it separa t e-like, it's only a lot of 'uman beings like you and me dressed up in uniforms and riding by OD 'orses. But, 'I;WO! Why, I'll he jiggered if there ain" FVeddy 'Opkins —'im as married my cousin—a-riding by in the Lancers! That's 'im on tho white 'orse with the black mustache. Fred—O! Fred 'Opkins! How are you, Freddy? See, 'e's a-looklng this way. What yer Fred! How goes it, sonny? See 'im nod? He looked up and nodded, 'e did. Now 'e is what 1 call a fine-looking chap. Fancy 'is being 'ere too! Well, I'm jiggered! I must tell 'em at 'ome as 1 see Fred 'Opkins in the percession, and that 'e looked up and nodded—not a bit proud - J ike." Just at this moment the sound of dis tant cheering from the west increased perceptibly in volume. It was no longer mere cheering, but the almost frenzied shout of a multitude swayed by some great emotion. It was can tagious. It seemed to run along the lines like kindling fire. It grew nearer —hoarser —louder —till it was almost upon us. Leaning forward with out stretched head, I looked westward along the Strand. The great street, it self seemed palpitating with excite ment. The houses seemed to resemble avenues of trees, every leaf of which was a human being, all quivering—like the leaves of a forest in a storm —un- der some supreme agitation. And then, amid a whirling of waving hands and fluttering handkerchiefs, a string of carriages swept by. No one stayed to notice the mechanical, al most automatic, backward and forward swaying of the royal princesses. Even the prince, the ever-popular prince, was deemed scarce worthy a glance by the eager, hungry eyes that sought only the one central figure of that little lcnely old woman who sat there, queenly of mien, and none the less queenly because on that sadly smiling face, so schooled to royal self possession, the loot; of trembling won derment —almost of fear—told how deeply moved was the widowed wo man heart. "Queen! Queen! God bless her! God save her!" burst from many thou sand throats. With tho cries ringing in my ears I switched my eyes tip ward —not without an effort—and looking across at Number Two, I saw that he was in the act of cutting the thread. Something fell, harmless and unseen, or. at all events, unnoticed, amid the uproar and excitement. Once more I turned my eyes upon the street and leaned out of the window with craned head. I caught a peep of a parasol, had a glimpse of the patient and beautiful, but coldly impassive and wearied, face of the Princess of Wales, and then the cavalry closed in behind the carriages, and the great pageant was already a thing of the past. I drew in my head once more and glanced across at Number Two, who was staring blankly, even stupidly, at the spot where the ineffectual ball had fallen. Suddenly the fact that someone was looking at him —that at that moment, when every other head but his own was turned eastward for a last glimpse of the queen, one person's eyes were fixed itpon him —seemed in some way to make itself known to his conscious ness. His own eyes swept the opposite house like a searchlight, and in another moment I saw that they were fixed upon mine. As I felt their fire con centrating, so to speak, upon me, some instinct prompted me to make myself look as little like myself as possible. In the hope of masking my real per sonality and of preventing him from identifying me, I raised my shoulders almost to my ears and dropped my jaw, so as to give new character, or want of character, to my mouth. Then I drew back from his sight into the crowd. "Did he recognize me?" I said to myself. "God knows, I don't. But whether he did or not, I have at least the satisfaction of knowing that I have been instrumental in avoiding a great catastrophe, and in preventing this day of national rejoicing from being turned into a day of national mourning." CHAPTER XII. EXIT COUNCILLOR NUKEER FIVE. The next meeting of the council was arranged to take place, as the reader will remember, in a disused shed that — IT WAS NOT A CHEERFUL SPOT, stood on the brickfields near the ceme tery at Tarborough. There we were to assemble at midnight, and thither I accordingly betook myself at the ap pointed hour. It was not a cheerful spot. Though fairly roomy, the building was a mere ohed. For what use it had orig inally been intended I cannot say. There was neither fireplace nor win dow. It consisted merely of four wood en walls, a roof and a clay floor. A grave could not have been barer, for from floor to ceiling there wasn't so much as a nail on which to hang one's hat. Someone had improvised a can dlestick by jabbing the sharp point of a big pocket-knife into the wall. The knife had a flat double-edge blade, upon which there stood a guttering candle-end, which was our only light. As soon as the circle was complete, Number Two, who was the last to ar rive, took up his place by the candle; perhaps that he might better see the faces of his comrades, perhaps because he fancied that nearness, even to this miserable emblem, constituted tho place of precedence in the assembly, "Fellow-councillors," he said, "I am here as promised to report progress, but I regret to say, as you must already have assumed, that there is no progress to report. Our glorious jubilee scheme lias failed, not for want of care on my part, but because there has been a traitor in our midst. The more I think of it, the more irresistibly am I forced to that conclusion. Gentle men, how did our late chief, Number One, meet his death? We took it.for granted—and I admit that. 1 took it for granted—that the irreparable loss which the society sustained by his re moval was the result of an accident. But does it not strike some of you as strange that, ever since that lamenta ble accident, things have gone wrong with us, and that some power seems to have been at work whose object ap parently is to pull the linch-pin out. of our most carefully planned projects? What about tho unaccountable occur rence in connection with the punish ment which we proposed to mete out. to Lord G'ranthorpe? Was that the re sult of another accident, or was it the deliberate foiling of our schemes by some one that knows our secrets? And now what about the jubilee fiasco? I pledge you my word, brother council lors, that the project was carried out exactly as I had planned it. The cel luloid ball, containing an explosive so deadly and so sure that, a smart rap with the finger end would have sufficed to explode it, was hung, as I promised you it should be hung, exactly over the spot where the queen was to pass. And as she went by, I, with my own hand, cut the thread and saw the ball fall to the ground, scarcely a yard be hind her carriage. What was there- Milt? A miserable failure! But why? Because the ball had been tampered with. Because we have been fooled. Instead of coming here to-night flushed with success and proud to receive your congratulations, I am here feeling like and looking like a fool. And only be cause of treachery, black, hell-damned treachery!" He stopped speechless with passion, and glared around the assembly like a madman. As for myself, the very heart of me went down into my boots. No doubt his next words would be to denounce me. If, as he said, and said rightly, lie had been fooled, and the hall had been tampered with, by whom could it have been done but by the councillor who had volunteered to as sist him —myself, the so-called and sup posed Number Seven? ITo Be Continued ] KISSED BY THE EMPEROR. I niiHiial Mark of Approval llmtoivrd b>" CliiiM-Nc ltuler on uu American Uirl. Archibald Little, the English novel ist and secretary of the Tientsu Wui, or Anti-Foot-Binding society, of Phil adelphia, gives a lively account of the return of the Chinese court to Pekin. Of the dowager empress we read that she is of"the type so well known in every land where society exists. Were she an English mother she would, one feels at once, marry all her daughters to eldest sons, irrespective of whether they were lunatics or confirmed dip somaniacs." The emperor is of an other disposition. At a party he re peatedly kissed a little American girl of seven years. How had the very idea of such a thing ever been suggest ed to him? No Chinese man through out the whole length and breadth of the vast Chinese empire ever kisses his wife or child, unless he has been taught to do so by a foreigner. No Chinese mother ever kisses her child. The nearest she gets to it is lifting her child's face to hers and, as it were, smelling of it. Yet here was the em peror of China evidently versed in the practice, so that directly he saw this loreign little girl he took her up and kissed her, as if it. were the most natural thing in the world, while to the every-day Chinaman this would be a most unnatural, and, indeed, repulsive process. Of course, this little girl who received the imperial kiss was an American. No Vacancy. The German idea that the place for women is in the house and not in the church, led recently to a curious com plication. In a small town in Pennsyl vania there is a female preacher. One afternoon she was preparing her ser mon for the following Sunday when she heard a timid knock at the parrton age door. She answered it herself ;..nj found a bashful young German stand ing on the step. He was a stranger, but the minister greeted him pleasant ly and asked him what he wished. "Dey say der minister lifed india house, lit-v?" ..tr , ~ ,- U; \es, sir. "'••• 1 "Yess? Veil, I vaiit to kit marriet." "All right: I can marry you." The German jammed his hat on his head, turned and hurried down the walk. "What is the matter?" called the PHrsouess after him. "You kits no chance mit me!" he called back. "I don't vant you; I haf got me a girl alreaty!"—Philadelphia Telegraph. MEDICAL EXAMINER Of the United States Treasury Recommends Pe-ru-na. Other Prominent Physicians Use and Endorse Pe-ru-na. DR. LLEWELLYN Jordan, Medical Examiner of the U. S. Treasury Department, graduate of Columbia Col lege, and who served three years at West Point,has tlie following to say of l'oruna: "Allow me to express my grati tude to you for the benefit derived from your wonderful remedy. One short month has brought forth a vast change and / now consider myself a well man after months of suffering. Fellow suf ferers, Peru n a will cure you. " A constantly increasing number of physicians prescribe Perunu. in tlieir practice. It, has proven its merits so thoroughly that even the doctors have overcome their prejudice against so called patent medicines and recommend it to their patients. Perunu occupies a unique position in medical science. It is the only internal systemic catarrh remedy known to the medical profession to-day. Catarrh, as everyone will admit, is the cause of one half the disease which alllicts mankind. ! Catarrh and catarrhal diseases afflict one-half of the people of United States. | Robert R. Roberts, M. D., Wash-f I ington, D. C , writes: i i "Through my own experience \ I as well as tli.it of many of my} i friends and acquaintances who * J have been cured or relieved of ca- • ! tarrh by the use of Hartman's\ i Perunu, / can confidently recom- * i mend it to those suffering from such I disorders, and have no hesitation in J ; \ prescribing it to my patients."—l | | Robert R. Roberts. j Dr. R. Robbins, Muskogee, I. T., writes: " Penttia is the best medicine I know of for coughs and to strengthen a. weak stomach ami to give appetite. Besides j prescribingi t,for oatarrli, 1 have ordered jit for weak and debilitated people, and have not had a patient'butsaid it helped him. It is an excellent medicine and it fits so many eases. "I have a large practice, and have a chance to prescribe your l'eruna. I hope you may live long to do good to the sick J and the suit'ering." Dr. M. C. Gee, writes from 513 Jones St., San Francisco, Cal.: " l'eruna has performed so many won derful cures in Sau Francisco t hat I am i convinced that it. is a valuable remedy. I have frequently advised its use for I'oor Luck. I-'isli inn. He—Do you think my mustache becom- I • I She (meditatively)— Well, it may hp cm ing, but it hasn't come yet.—Stray Stories. Arc You Go!utr to Florlaln? \\ inter Tourist Tickets are now on sale via Queen & Crescent Route, Southern Railway, and connecting lines to points, South, Southeast and Southwest, good re turning until May 31, 1904. Tickets can be purchased going to Flor ida via Lookout Mountain and Atlanta, and returning via Aslieville and the Land of the Sky, giving a variable route. For informa tion address. W. C. Rinearson, G. P. A., Cincinnati, O. 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