Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-10-26
CHAPTER v.

Finally, as the result Of many debates,
wo resolved to abandon tho Bank Of
England matter temporarily. possibly
forever. because IL was too dangerous,
and the delay would be too great Our
new plan was To 60 to South America
ON buccaneering expedition, there be-
ing no cable in 1872, and it took, as we
ascertained. 40 days TO send letter
from Rio dc Janeiro to Europe and get
areply, so that If we executed an opera
tion boldly and we'll we might hope for
anything.
Our plan YVES, in tho main, similar to
the ono wo had lately used. with SO
much success in Germany and France.
Only in this case we proposed to use
the credit Of tho London and Westmin-
stcr bank, and therefore obtained the
documents required to carry through
such an operation successfully.
Tho steamer Lusitania of the Pacific
Steam Navigation company was adver-
tisod to sail on the lath, and we deter.
mined to go by her.
Modern buccaneers indeed were we,
engaged in n nineteenth century pirat-
ical descent upon the shores Of South
America. Instead Of the burly, much
bewcaponed pirate Of other years we
were mild hammered, soft spoken, cour-
teous youngsters. yet our steel pen and
bottle Of ink were more deadly instru-
mcnts, or mt least Of surer fire and Of
better aim, than the long toms and horse
pistols Of the piratical braves Of the sew
cnteenth century.
The Monday before we sailed for Bra
zil I called ut the bank and told the
subrnanager that was going to st. Pc
tcrsburg and ON to southern Russia for
time to inspect some work Twas doing
there, and purposed to withdraw my
account. He begged me not to- do so,
said many flattering things to me aud
urged that IL would be convenient to
have IN open account in London.
''WsG." I said. looking ut my pass
book, Il see have e2,335 to my credit.
i Twill leave the odd f35 with you." He
Instantly acquicsced. Had he said, "No,
You must leave ut least $500, rs our
rules require" ] should have said all
right and have made it $500. drew
out the ~. 800 nc once, intending to de,
post $500 before leaving London, hut
in tho haste Of our preparations neg
lectcd it, and my balance ut the bank
stood G35 for all the weeks was on
our piratical cruise to the Spanish main.
Storing most Of our baggage in Lon
don. we took the train to Liverpool, and,
purchasing tickets for Rio, we went on
board the good ship Lusitania.
Tn, Gr,,, ~ Nea~u ,,, Die Sroo tHn
most considerable in all South America,
and Macs introductions were to this
firm. The plan was for Mac to present
himself tn Mana & Co. and to draw
within ~ hours ut least SO. 900, 30 ms to
make sure of our expenses, and day or
TWO before steamer day to arrange for .
very large sum. $40, 200 or $50, 900.
Fate, providence, call it what you
will. seldom fails to upset wronRdoing,
making it rocky for the wrongdocr.
BY an irony Of fort,Sne we carried
with us that which was going to balI
all. or nearly all, our fine scheme.
In our letters Of credit in some mys.
teriors way the name Of the submana.
ger Of the London and Westminster
bank had been omitted. although this
was absolutely essential to the validity
of the letters. There was also another
error. an error Of such an extraordinary
nature-that Of spelling endorse" with
a"c"-that IL Is enough tn make any
man contemplating unlawful act de-
spair Of success, since we could bc de
fcated by 30 mysterious and unforeseen
accidents.
A few hours after our arrival Mac
called ut the bankers and was well re
ceived by the manager.
He told him Of his credits for f5, 900
to 100000 each, and that he should
want 100000 the next day. Would they
have il ready?