The herald., 1894-05-04

haa hardly uctGrcI tho words when
heavy hand was. laid on my shoulder,
and turning round to sec the cause of
such familiarity / found myself face to
face with gendarme
"What is the matter with yore" 7
asked in amazement.
Matter enough, " replied the man in
ajeering tone, tightening his hold "You
will seep'
Behind the gendarme came two rail
way officials They stopped over mr.
trunk solemnly, turned their heads as i
listening, then stood up and exchanged
glance, which plainly said, There is
no doubt Of it. !"
"They arc crazy, thought, but then
ahorrible conviction flashed through my
brain.
Whether the men were sane or not,
one thing was sure, it was 40 minutes
past II.
At all hazards must make my escape
shook myself free Of tho gendarme's
grasp, and knock lg over two or three
people in my fight dashed madly away,
but was stopped by two custom house
officers, who seized me by the collar.
was dragged protesting and gesticulat
ing, back to where my trunk stood.
There was evidently a mistake some
where.
''Let me 60" l cried, "let mo go
And swear l will come back in an
hour
The gendarme's lips described q smile
behind his thick mustache as he took
possession of me again, this time with
both hands.
Come, now, don't try that" said
one of the railway officials. 'You may
as well confess You arrived from New
York in great haste and under suspi-
cious circumstances. Who are you?
What have you in this trunk?"
Clothes, nothing but my clothes, I
answered, speaking worse French than
usual in my agitation.
"No explosives?' insisted tho official
Explosives What for? am not
pyrotechnist nor a chemist. "
''Then what is the meaning of this
strange noise? Inside your trunk there
is sound of machinery-in short, an
internal machine Yesterday the London
police arrested four American anarchists
who had similar articles in their posses
sion. You are known to be one of the
gang.
listened in speechless wonder to his
words. looked at my trunk, and my
wonder increased to stupefaction as
heard a metallic ticktack inside. Sud
denly there was loud report, like sig
nal for an explosion.
Beware the bomb!' shrieked some
one. Officers and porters scattered i'll all
directions. and even the gendarme moved
away. / alone remained, like hero. 1
tore open the trunk and pulled out the
clothes in feverish haste. All at once 1
felt something hard inside a nightshirt,
and the next moment drew out and ex-
posed to view little clock!
l had unknowingly packed up the ho-
tel keepers property, and it was strik-
ing the alarm six hours behind time
"Confound the old tu1nip!' cried,
throwing it down furiously. 1 was
answered by loud peal of laughter from
the spectators.
Then, putting my head down, like
wild boar that scents the hounds,
dashed toward the cab again and sprang
in, shouting to the driver:
''Ill give you louis if you get me
to Place de la Bourse before noon.
Seven minutes and half later the cab
was tearing up to the Stock Exchange.
! jumped out, flew up stairs to The
Semaphore office, burst into the room
like a hurricane and remarked in a stem
torian tone:
Here l am, gentlemen
The next instant the first stroke of
noon sounded from the exchange clock
Translated From the French For Ro-
nance.