Evening star., 1895-06-08

removed, allowsd the door to be opened
Opening it, Hewitt Immediately seized a
candie stuck IN bottle which stood on
shelf, pulled me n AM closed the ccor
behind us >
Wen do thissb candle light" he said.
as he struck fhatch. IF the door were
lett open 1t would be seen from the street
Keep your ears open in case anybody comes
down the yard"
The part of the shed that we stood in
was used as a coach house, and was oc-
cupied by a rather shabby tradesman's
cart, the shafts Of which rested on he
ground. From the, stall adjoining came the
sound of the shufling and trampling of
some impatient horse
We turned to the cart. On the name
board at the side were painted in worn
letters the words, Schuyler, Baker" The
address, which had been below, was paint
ed out.
Hewitt took out the pins and let down
the tailboard. Within the cart was a new
bed mattress, which covered the whole
surface of the bototm. l felt it. pressed it
from the top and saw that it was an Or
binary spring mattress. perhaps rather un-
usually soft in the springs. 1t seemed
curious thing to keep in bakers cart.
Hewitt. who had set the candle On a con-
venient shelf, plunged his arms into the
iurthermost recesses of the cart, and
brought forth a very long French loaf, and
then another. Diving again, he produced
certain ioaves of the sort known as the
plain cottage'-two sets of four each,
Sdtii set bdhtc lOSetnef III q row.
Feel this bread" said Hewitt, and
felt 1t. 1t was stale, almost hard as
wood.
Hewitt produced large pocket knife
and with what seemed to be superfuous
care ard elaboration cut into the top one
OF the cottage loaves.' Then he inserted his
hngers in the gap he had made ana firmly,
ptit Slowly, tore the hard bread into two
pieces. He pulled away the crumbs from
within. till there was nothing left but a
rather thick outer shell.
NO, ne said, rather to himself than to
me, there's nothing in that He lifted
one OF the very long French lo1veS, and
measured it against the interior of the cart.
1t had before been propped diagonally and
now 1t was noticeable that it was Just a
shade longer than the inside of the cart
was VIDE. damned in, in fact, it held
hrmly. Hewitt produced his knife again
and divided His long loaf in the center.
There was nothing but bread in that. The
horse in the stall fidgeted more than ever.
That horse hasn't been fed lately. 1
fancy Hewitt said. We'll give the poor
chap bit of this hay in the corner
KIT l said. what about this bread
What did you expect to find in it? l can't
see what you're driving at"
III tell You" Hewitt replied. I'm driv-
ing alter something l expect to find, ard
close at hard here. too. How are your
nerves today? Pretty steady? The thing
may try them.''
Before l could reply there was a sound
of footsteps in the yard outside, approach
ing Hewitt lifted his finger instantly for
silence. and whispered hurriodiy. There's
only one. If he comes here we grab him.
TIE steps came nearer and stoaced out
side the door. There was pause, and
then slight drawing in of breath as of q
person suddenly surprised: at the homent
the door was slightly shifted again, and
one eye peeped in.
Catch him. said Hewitt aloud. as We
sprarg TO the door. 'He mustn't get
away"'
l had been nearer the doorway. and was
first through it. The stranger ran down
the yard at his best. but my legs were the
longer, and half way to the street ! caught
him by the shoulder and swung HIM round.
Like lightning ne whipped out q knife, and
| flung in my left instantly on the chance
Of flooring him. 1t barely checked him.
however and the knife swung short of my
chest by no moro than two inches: but
Hewitt had hin, by the wrist and tripped
him forward ON mis- face. He struggled
like a wild beast, and Hewitt had to stand
on his forearm and force up his wrist till
the bones were near breaking before he
dropped his knife. But throughout the
struggle the man never shouted called for
help, nor, indeed made the slightest sound:
and we on our part were equally silent.
1t was quickly over. of course. for he was
on his face. and were two. We dragged
our prisoner into the stable and closed the
door behind us. So far as we had seem
nobody had witnessed the capture from
the street, though. of course, we had been
too busy 10 be certain.
There's set of harness hanging over
at the back" said Hewitt II think We'll
tie him up with the. traces and reins-noth-
ing like leather. We don't need Il gag; l
know he won't shout
While l got the straps Hewitt held the
prisoner by Il peculiar nech-anG-wrist grip
that forbade him TO move except at the
peril OF a snapped arm He had probably
never been person of pleasant aspect,
being short, strongly and squatly built,
large and ugly of feature wild an dirty of
n md he ri f..fa nl
with struggling and smeared with mud
from the stable yard his nose bleeding
and his forehead exhibiting u growing
bump. he looked particularly repellont. We
strapped his elbows together behitrl and
he sulleny ignored a demand for he
contents OF his pockets Hewitt unceremo-
niousiy turned them out. Helpless as he
was, the man struggled to prevent this
though, of course ineftectuaily. There We're
papers, tobacco. bunch Of keys ANA va
rious odds and ends. Hewitt was glancing
hastily at the papers, when, suddenly drop
ping them, he caught the prisoner by the
shoulder and pulled him away from partly
consumed hay truss which stood in a cor
ner. and toward which he mad quietly
sided
Keep him stll,' sail Hewitt 1--WE
haven't examined this place yet" And he
commenced to pull away the hay from the
corner.
Presently large piece of sacl5cloth was
revealed, and this being lifted left visible
below it another batch of loaves of the
same sort we had seen in the cart. There
were a dozen of them in one square batch,
and the only thing about them that Gf
fered from those in the cart was their posi-
ton; for the batch lay bottom side up.
That's enough, / think" Hewitt said.
Don't touch them, for heavens sake" He
picked up the papers he had dropped. That
has saved a little search" he continued.
See here, Butt. | was in the act of telling
you my suspicious when this little affair
interrupted me; If you care to look at enc
or two of these letters. you'll see what 1
should have told you: it's anarchism and
bombs, of course. I'm about as certain as
/ can be that there's a reversible dynamite
bomb inside each of those innocent loaves-
though l assure you l don't mean med
ding with them now. But, see here. VIII
you go and bring in a four wheeler? Bring
it right down the yard. There's more to
do, and we mustn't attract attention.
/ hurried away ami found the cab. The
meaning of the loayes, the cart and the
spring mattress was now plain. There was
an anarchist plot to carry out number of
explosions, probably simultaneously in diff
ferent parts of the city. | had, of course,
heard much of the terrible reversing"
bombs-those bombs which, containing a
tube of acid plugged by waddng. required
no fuse. and only needed to be inverted to
be set going to explode in a few minutes.
The loaves containing these bombs would
form an effectual blind" and they were