Omaha daily bee., 1898-05-29

brother" King wilhelm of Prussia, and
when that mild-natured and sentimental old
monarch left his becabbaged estates to
chastise his bad brother" Napoleon, the
Undertakers stirred in their SAUNDERS.
The resurrection of the Undertakers was
accomplished through three circumstances
the Franco-P russian war, the will of God
and Jack Buckhurst.
Where Buekhurst came from, how he
came, why he9csmef no one knew, but in a
week he hadiall Belleville afame, clamoring
for whatever. he told it to clamor for.
He. walked into the Undertakers' one even
ing, demanded an election, got it; de-
manded the privilege of the tribune, got it.;
demanded a revision of the constitution, a
ballot for new officers, a new watchword, a
new policy, and got everything he demanded.
Then. with terrible vindictiveness, he turned
on the semi-sane minority, crushed it., and
drove it from the quarter, and when de-
nounced and accused by Carl Marx from
his exile he defed the International, and
was overwhelmingly elected president of the
Undertakers.
II the Undertakes had once been radical
even neutrality-suspicious. it was of the
Reds" reddest- All the worst elements
Of Belleville entered into its composition,
its walls rang with furious denunciations Of
all existing social order, It's motto was dis
order, destruction, death"
II Buckhurst had not been the devils own
prophet, If he had not foreseen what was to
be, If he had not known as surely as the
sun rises that the was coming,
coming inexorably after the brief war cloud
had blown clear of a Inundated nation, the
Undertakers would never have lifted a
finger to equip a battalion for the defense
of Paris. But Buckhurst saw further. He
knew that every new marching battalion
from Belleville meant for him and his a
veteran reserve in time of need. His need
would come when the came.
So when two organized battalions of the
National Guard elected Flourens their COM
mandant, Buckhurst rose in the tribune and
called for volunteers to form a third bat
talon. He knew what he was doing, he
crushed opposition and won his point, and
the Undertakers fixed a night for the
mastering in Of their battalion and a re-
ception to Major" Flourens. All this, of
course, was contrary to law, military and
civil, there was no such title as major In
the National Guard, but the government
dared not antagonize Belleville at such a
moment.
When Bourke and Hardwood entered the
hall nobody apparently paid them the
'o-'N ihNy oiiDPCd Nv
upstairs to the wooden gallery, found a
seat on the steps between two aisles, and
looked down at the tumult below. A
thick fog of tobacco smoke hung over every
thing, through which gas Jets burned with
pale, attenuated, spear-like flames. High
on the three Seats of the tribune, behind
the pulpit shaped desks. sat three men; on
the right Flourens, young, flushed, hand
some, blue eyes dilated and ~nostrlls fairly
quivering WITH impatlence; on the left sat
Mortier, all body and handy legs, with the
eyes OF a lunatiib deep set under a high,
bald. domelike forehead. In the middle
Buckhurst sat. pa e
Hardwood add Bourke leaned forward.
eyes fixed on this0incomprehensible interna-
tional criminal tie sat there, pale eyes set
in a paler faces Dman of 40, 1.-the of move
ment. well RrpPbrtioned. dainty of hand
ana loot Thf9eGwas a hardness about his
smoothly shayshss3ace yet each feature was
well night peterborough his eyes. These
were so pale ohi seolor that in the gas flare
they looked aIiasst pearly.
The hall ~waslp4tked with the Undertakers
and their friends. sitting cheek by josl
around hundreds of little iron tables. loppy
with beer dregs and the blue black lees
OF cheap wines. Everybody was smoking,
cheering screeching, hammering beer mugs
on the round iron tables. Women waved
wine glasses in the smoke-choked glare;
soldiers Of the National Guard banged on
the floor with bayonets and sword sheaths.
Red flags were draped around the hall al
ternating with hideous decorations, mostly
emblems OF death and the undertaker's pro-
~fession. In the midst OF the uproar. the
foul smoke. reeking atmosphere, and stencil
OF stale beer, half d dozen well-fed reporters
sat writing at a long table which stood
directly In front OF the base Of the tribune.
Their sleek, rudy faces. their well-groomed
persons, silk hats. iyory-handled walking
sticks, fat cigars tucked under waxed mus
taehes, presented a picture at once incon-
gruous and reassuring. Obvious to the