Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-05-10

thirty individuals were holding the tight
/ ly stretched string, an immense crowd
had assembled, Daere had finished his
/ pacings, his string ana TIRE careful notes
no had appeared to be making.
"Be patient gentlemen" ho said: 81
/ shall not detain you long" Then he dis.
1 appeared, only to re enter the Cafe -di
/ by the back door to watch the result. He
4 had chosen his time with considerable
/ ingenuity, for he knew that the police
/ patrol always arrived on the Piazza del
Martiri punctually at noon. 1t wanted
! two minutes of the hour. Just at that
( time the peace of Naples was much dis
turbed by political demonstrations. which
were severely put down by the authorities
The hour struck. Twenty policemen,
headed by sergeant, appeared on the
scene; of course they proceeded at once
TO arrest the thirty mysterious coEspira.
tors who were stiu innocently engaged
in holding Dacre's string, Dacre and his
friends watching the whole scene from
I the windows of the Cafe Verdi with de-
lighted merriment.
Pot the master stroke of Dacres in
senuity was the arffuIly arranged plan By
which he obtained feloniously a SUN Of
five pounds five sterling from AIR. Donald
MscIaggart, Of Leith. MacTaggHrt was
an ambitions Young fellow of small talent
who had recently arrived in Naples 80
study art.
MacTaggart was well-to-do, excessive
ly stingy, preterDaiuealy ugly and pre-.
posterousy short. He was one of the
"uGcoguld"; he wouldn't foregather with
the other students, his ways were not their
ways, and young Mr.. MacTaggart, of
Leith, was Stunned when he was not made
o butt Of
MacTaggart had one grievance against
Providence upon which he constantly
harped; it was his waste of stature. 1t was
this weakness Of the vnung Scotchmans
that the willy Cecil Dacre determined to
take advantage of, and at the same time
CRAFTY his taste for practical joking,
Cecil Dacre was in the want OF s. very
badly indeed. He was always in want of
s. bat the want at this particular time
was more than usually urgent. One day
the three young men met by accident in
the Cafe Verdi
"That American doctors a wonderful
fellow" said Dacre, in loud voice to his
friend Orlando p. Jones. II wonder
Il he's a hlmbugw
Now MacTaggart was sitting at the
table consuming a dish of macaroni with
great gu.to. "No, don't think he's
humbug,n said Jones; "they say he really
does possess the secret of permanently
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. Its very marvellous"
MaoTaggart, who had drunk in the con
versation with greedy ear, now joined in
il with manifest interest. The two young
fellows gave him host of circumstantial
details. you ought to try HIM MacTaR
CART at any rate said the crafty Dacre.
"Auy change in your appearance my
Caled0nian Apollo, would be q benefit"
/ am thinking it would be very expen
rive, aud / object to extravaganza GA
principle" said the Sootohman.
swell, you might beat him down; at all
events you could try said Dacre.
without a doot. III sleep on IT," said
Mac uaggart, and he paid Tor his breakfast
and departed.
1t TOOK a ScOtchmen whole week 20
make mp his frugal mind, and then he
screwed his courage up to the sticking
point ahd informed Dacre that he should
visit the American physician the next day.
Dye ken where be dwells, Mr., Dacre"
"Well, he lives in the same house as |
do, on the first floor. He's a benevolent
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
3, J." and then they parted.
No sooner had the unfortunate Mac
Taggart turned the corner than Cecil
Dacre triumphantly executed cellar dap
breakdown to the astOnishment of the
little crowd of Neapolitan bystanders;
then he bowed TO his audience, kissed his
finger tips to them and started off as fast
as his legs would carry him to his lodg
ings. The next day Cecil Dacre obtained
the lean OF his landlords first floor for the
day, and then he began to busy himself
in a very extraordinary manner. He Sc
cured the services of the pOrter'5 wife and
the black eyed PIppa; they
busted, they arranged and rearranged
the big disma, reception room on the frs
floor. Dacre rushed out and borrowed q
screen and purchased a small bottle of
turpentine; and then, in the bath room,
which opened from little passage which
was constructed in the corner where he
had laid the screen, he laid out at least
half dozen towels. Then ne ran over to
the costumers across the street and came
back with fur robe de chambre, long
gray beard, and close cap of black vel
vet, and pair of big green spectacles e1-
actly similar to those worn by the cele-
brated DR.. Faust in the act drst of Gou-
mods opera. Pippa, her mother and
Dacre worked with a will, and the two
women with many gestures of astonish.
ment from Pippe herself, took their de-
parture promising that every thing should
be ready at punctually 3. Dacre ran up
20 the rooms of the medical student on
the third floor and borrowed several of his
largest and most professional looking
books which he placed in a row upon the
writing table. Two grues0me looking
preparations IN spirit he also
obtained from the Italian Bob Sawyer;
With these and a human skull, procured
from the same source, he decorated the
mantel piece. Then he pot on the dress
ing gown, the long gray beard, the velvet