American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-08-30

see I'm poor man, and the money was
a good round sum; and, as l told you,
my employer insisted on my seeing the
thing going right with my own eyes !;
there was a risk, of course, but the fact
is, arrangements had been made for
meeting me in this very latitude. The
man i'm the boat whom we took on board
was on the lookout for me, and it
was agreed should take me off the
ship
What! did he know about the dyn-
amite, too?' l broke out; is it possible
that there was third villain, besides
you and your Employer
"'Well, yes, Captain, I'm afraid
there was; but you can't touch him,
you know, without touching me, and
you have passed your word that l shall
not be harmed. Besides, you must re-
member that 1 could have got off and
clean away, leaving you all to bust up,
il it had not been for the extreme deli
cacy of my conscience
There was sly smile about the
fellows mouth for which / could have
wrung his neck, but for the safe conduct
had given him; his whole manner, as
well as the expression of his face, had
now he had got his way; and
instead of villain who had repented of
a great crime, he looked more like a
successful schemer.
"However, the dynamite was over
board, thank heaven, we were nearing
land, and 1 had other things to talk
about 2
"When we were still some way from
harbor we were met by a police boat,
the chief officer of i which demanded
to be taken on board to speak with
me.
as Hollo! said, when we were in
the cabin together; no extradition bus
mess, hope? There is no numbering
among my passengers, is
there?'
"'Well, no. he answered; but I've
to believe there's citizen of the
United States who would neither stick at
murder nor any thing else
''Then I thought of the dynamite, of
course, and rejoiced that the villain had
been discovered without any betrayal Of
his secret on my part.
"'You have a warrant for his appre-
hension, I concludedp'
"'Well, no, Captain; that's just my
difficulty, for don't know which man
it is; but I've an order to search the
luggage. Information has come by
wire that whole plant for forging
bank notes is being imported
by your ship; it will not be down below,
but in the mans PERSONAL lugguage in
his cabin
60 smelt rat at once, and dare say
looked pretty blank and bamboozled.
"'No one has left the ship since you
started, has therep' inquired the officer
anxiously; there has been a small boat
hanging off and on the harbor, and we
have reason to believe that this man
may have had a hint by tel
egramS - = &
"sNo, no, interrupted 1, severy body
on board that sailed with u.s. and l
might have added sand one more,' but
l thought he might just MS well find that
out for himself. Ididn't want more peo-
pie than was necessary to know that l
had been made such a fool of.
( According to my INSTRUCTIONS con-
the officer, the plant is contained
in portmanteau of bullock's hide, with
brass nails round the rim, and therefore
easily recognizable
81 nodded, for indeed myself recog-
nized the thing from his description very
readily. Had not told them to be very
careful with it, and not to knock it
against the bulwarks, and seen it drop
overheard with my own eyesP thus
making myself an accomplice in. the es-
cape from Justice of "a Yankee forger.
~ OF course, the officer didn't find the
among the personal lug
gage, Though am bound to. say he
looked for it very carefully, and scan
dalized some of my saloon passengers
not a little by, his unwelcome attention;
nor was it among the larger articles,
though they all lay exposed on the deck,
as if for especial behoof and inconveni-
ence. His impression was, he said, that
his information, as he called it, had
been Incorrect, and that the bullock hide
portmanteau must be Coming over in the
next ship, which, said, was possible
because every thing is possible, you
1 own, did not think
it very probable.
"As ID the owner of the article in
question, he contrived TO keep out of my
way, and slipped out of the ship on the
very first opportunity. His story was
so far true that he had intended to kee.
the thing in his cabin, to be got entirely
on shore, only the steward had objected
and caused it to be taken below. That
Information had been telegraphed from
England to the New York police, and
was known to his confederate, who had
come out to warn him, and they would
no doubt have saved ME all trouble by
dropping the portmanteau overheard
only it was among the other
luggage. How to get it out and dispose
Of it without discovery was the problem
hey had to solve, which they accom-
plished by means of dynamite story"