Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1888-05-05

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his pacings, his string and the careful
notes he had appeared to be making.
"Be patient, gentlemen" he said, 81
shall not detain you long" Then he
disappeared, only to re-enter the Cafe
Verdi by the back door to watch the re-
suit. He had chosen his time with
considerable ingenuity, for he knew
that the police patrol always arrived Oh
the Piazza del Martiri punctually al
noon. 1t wanted two minutes of the
hour. Just at that time the peace Of
Naples was much disturbed by political
demonstrations, which were severely put
down by the authorities. The hour
struck. Twenty policemen, headed by
a sergeant, appeared upon the scene; OF
course they proceeded at once to arrest
the thirty mysterious conspirators who
were still innocently engaged in holding
Dacres string, Dacre and his friends
watching the whole scene from the win.
dows of the Cafe Verdi with delighted
merriment.
But the master stroke of Dacre's in,
genuity was tho artfully arranged plan
by which he obtained feloniously a sum
of five pounds five sterling from Mr..
Donald MacTaggart, of Leith. Mac.
Taggart was an ambitious young fellow
of small talent, who had recently ar
rived in Naples to study art.
MacTaggart was well l-to-do, excessive
ly stingy, preternaturally ugly and pre-
posterously short. He was one of the
''unco guid;" he wouldn't foregathe1
with the other students, his ways were
not their ways, and young Mr.. Mac
Taggart, of Leith, was Stunned when he
was not made butt Of.
MacTaggart had one grievance against
Providence upon which he constantly
harped, it was his want of stature. II
was this weakness of the young Scotch
mans that the willy Cecil Dacre deter
mined to take advantage of, and at the
same time crafty his taste for practical
joking. Cecil Dacre was in the want OF
f5 very badly indeed. He was always in
want of e5, but the want at this particu-
lar time was more than usually urgent.
One day the three young men met by
accident in the Cafe Verdi.
"That American doctors wonderful
fellow" said Dacre, in loud voice to
his friend, Orlando P. Jones. 81 won
der whether he is humbugl" >,
Now MacTaggart was sitting at the
table consuming dish of macaroni with
great gusto. "No, don't think he's n
humbug," said Jones; ''they say he
really does possess the secret of per
manently diminishing or increasing the
stature at will. I've noticed people who
have been to him two or three times,
and there was always an extraordinary
difference in their height. It's very
marvellous"
McTaggart, who had drunk in the the
conversation with greedy ear, now joined
in with manifest interest. The two
young fellows gave him a host of cir
cumstancial details. 'You ought to try
him, McTaggart, at any rate" said the
crafty Dacre.
"Iny change in your appearance,
my Caledonian Apollo, would be ben
eft."
81 am thinking it would be very ex-
pensive. and l object to extravaganza on
nrincipie," said the Scotchman.
"Weu, you could beat him down
now, at all events You could try" said
Dacre.
"Without a doot. I'll sleep on it, =
said McTaggart, and he paid for his
breakfast and departed.
1t took the Scotchmsn whole week
to make up his frugal mind, and then
he sc:ewed up his courage to the stick
ing point and informed Dacre that he
should visit the American physician the
next day.
"D'ye ken where he lives, MI.
Dacre?"
"Well, he lives in the same house as
I do. on the first floor. He's q beneyo-
lent old boy; you're sure to like him.
Jones here knows him very well; the
Yankees are almost as clannish as the
Scotch, You know. You are sure to find
him there at g." and they parted.
No sooner had the unfortunate Nc.
turned the corner than Cecil
Sacre triumphantly executed cellar
Sp breakdown, to the astonishment OF
nal klittle crowd of Neapolitan bystand
. one I'M he bowed to his little audience;
ai eis, a1e IS fingers to them, and started
Rfssed Hs ss faat n s his legs would carry him to
on as iasI The next day Cecil Dacrc
ms louglnSs H Uan of his landlords first
Soe%6er oor for the ie dov then he began to to
busy himself in .tbe services of the
manner. He secured N,ter the black.
porter's wife and daugSsSav arranged
eyed Pippa; they busted, tfSi secention
and rearranged the big dismal ~ Nrnshed
room on the first floor. Dacre mr.
out and borrowed screen an ne. and
chased small bottle of turpentj onsned
then, in the bathroom, which tbnilt in
from q little passage which wa screen.
the corner where he laid thu Sn towels.
he laid ont at least half q dozee eeer's across
Then he ran over to the costum a fur robe
the street and came back WITH !sard. and a
de eham5re, . long gray bf