Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-07-13

Immediately to the quarters where
he and Stocking had lived together Sc
long Something of a morbid desire to
feel its loneliness now that his only
companion was gone, actuated him.
The door stood ajar and he walked
in. The moment he was inside he
heard voices. He listened. They came
from the adjacent quarters that had
been occupied by the women. He
moved softly along the partition to the
little corridor that connected the
houses. II was dark. ave for the
light that came through an inch or
two of open door at the other end He
looked through
To his amazement he saw that the
room was filed with people, and he
knew at once that this was the final
consultation of the conspirators. Hen
bricks was there, so also were Mrs
Hendricks and Fenning The others
he did not know: he was certain he
had never seen them before. The
marked charactcro of the men convinced
him at once that they were no ordinary
schcmcrS.
Hendricks was speaking and Calicot
drew from his pocket pad of paper
and a short pencil. and listened. The
speaker was recapitulating what he
had done in the Laran from the start,
and evidently cndeavoring to convince
them that the conspiracy never could
have obtained its present momentum
if it had not had a safe and imprcgna-
BILE stronghold to mature itself in.
''To organize an army il. the teeth of
the authorities was as impossible in
America as in Russia" he said. But
| have organized TIE nucleus of
standing army the touch of which will
convert your struggling materials intc
soldiers. We are now prepared tC
strike the first blow. We have al
worked patiently to this point. Ii
three days we must be prepared to take
the field.
Everything depends upon instant
and accurate cooperation. If we are
q unit in our work we are invinci
BILE, for it will take a month for the
opposing elements to consolidate
against us and then they will be toe
late. Now let us see what our pro-
gramme is. On the morning after to-
morrow, Chicago will be in flames and
the executive and his cabinet at Wash
ington will be destroyed. Dynamite and
the torch are the signals for the grand
movement of our scattered forces to the
two centers, and at the same time ]
appear in the field with trained army
and invite the people to save them
selves by coming to the peoples ban
ner. There is no doubt in your minds
of the accomplishment of this. You
hold the signal, Garvoux, for the
work in Washington. ! believe you
have made failure impossible IL you
get back there"
my part of the work is certain"
said Garvoux. II have four agents in
the white house."
"And l." said white-haired man,
with vehemence. will have one hun
dred thousand men in Chicago, needing
only leader Every available force
of the government will be in Ten
nessee."
"And l will be in Chicago on the
night of that day virtually dictator"
said Hendricks, 'if you have paralyzed
the executive arm at Washington. Gen
tlemen, II you leave here tonight pre-
pared to carry ont our work we are
masters of the situation in four days"
Calicot leaned a moment against the
wall of the corridor. He appeared to
be faint. Then. as If making a desper
ate effort, he thrust the pad into his
pocket, and, turning, felt his way
along the passage and came out into
the arena. He cast hurried look
around The railway platform was
two hundred feet away, and a car was
ready to start with number of men.
He ran across the open space, hailed
the guard, ran up to the train and
climbed aboard. "Imight as we'll travel
as do anything else to kill time" he said
TO the guard. The man looked at him.
"Are you sick?" he asked. YES" re-
piled Calicot. "The ride will do me
good. Let me off at the rotunda. l
want to get a drink"
Once there he slipped off in the shad-
ows, and the car went off. In five min
utes IL backed up and Calicot got on
again. "Are you going straight back?"
he asked. "Yes," replied the man, last
trip but one. / wait for the COVER
nors. Some of them are going TO the
bayou tonight"
II could not have been more than ten
minutes when Calicot was back at his
quarters, and had resumed his place in
the corridor, and was listening.
The consultation was still going on.
Hendricks was speaking.
"You have seen" he said, "how
every event has justified my plans. Let
us have no mistake now and we are
masters of the situation. This is the
stage of anarchy. We go through 1t
TO victory. ! have, ! think, calculated
for every contingency"
At that moment Calicot pushed the
door open and stood white but calm
before the assembled group.
"You have overlooked one factor"
he said, deliberately.
The astonished circle started into at
titudcs of alarm. Hendricks and Fen
ming alone preserved their coolness.
"My prisoner" said the former.
"You were listening"
yes" replied Calicot, lit Is my duty
to tell you that in your plans you for
got one important element"
They looked at him with suspicion
Of danger in their faces. He appeared
in his almost ghastly calmness to be
some kind of incalculable force.
"What do you mean?" asked Hen
bricks.
Calicot put his hand upon his breast
and bowed slightly. You forgot me, ("
he said, ''and your work comes to
naught. 1t was just like you to un-
dercstimate the qualities that would
destroy you. ! have never heard that
in your diabolism there was any pro-
vision for sclf-sacrifice. Fortunately
| in my scheme there was. In three
minutes we shall all die together"
In the confusion that followed Hen
driclSs shouted: BE calm; the man has
been crazed by his confinement"
NO" said Calicot, IL am neither
crazy nor desperate. | have lit the
| slow match To your magazine. The
explosion will kill every human being
in the Laran. You will be found
here with your secrets divulged.
have saved the country. Providence,
which is on the side OF history, sent
me TO you, and you accepted the in
strumcnt Of your own destruction"
CHAPTER XIV
Lieut.. Stocking, the moment he was
in the Wash bayou and felt the elation
of freedom, met with n new blow.
81 cannot 90 to Memphis with NV
father" she said. There are reasons
that ! cannot tell you now. We must
get boat, cross the Mississippi and
| disappear.
a +. 90