The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-08


ready in my pocket, and showed him
off with that"
Shoot him?"
mo; what was the use. poor rogue?
He was only a paid tool earning his
dirty pay; and besides, I didn't want
to get myself into a row with the po
lice. Nice snug place to spend the
evening in, this. MoHinnie, isn't it?
Don't you think you'd better go and
sleep at the hotel, like a sane Chris
tian?"
u do. most distinctly; and I'll go if
you'll come with me-
mo, I won't, thanks. Luck on the
hotel, for one thing. And besides, I'm
going to see it out here. I'm not going
to let those scoundrels think they've
scared me. OF course, they deny all
knowledge of these outrages, and it
would be impossible to father them on
has at this moment libel suit pend
ing against me for an open letter
wrote to him on the subject But
there's not the smallest doubt that
that's what they're after"
But. my good fool they've oceans
of money, and If they go on long
enough, they're bound to bag you at
last"
my dear McHinnie, they won't go
morrow morning. That points out
that the working details of my inven-
ton are written upon paper, and be-
slowed in safe keeping elsewhere. In
the event of my death, that pithy MS
will be forwarded to Printing House
Square, and form a column of very in
teresting reading in the Times newspa-
per next morning. To every one above
the grade of costermonger,. that dis
closure would be the sensation of the
century"
Quite SO. What figure do you
charge for leaving things as they
were2p
"A pension of 100000 a year so long
as ! keep the recipe to myself. To-
morrow morning they'll know of this,
and the conditions; and they'll be
bound to accept. Tonight they don't
know. and so assassination still strikes
them as sound business. But, as I
say. tomorrow there'll be a meeting
of the available chiefs of the ring, aud
they'll snap UP my terms. I'm dirt
cheap at the price; they'll have to
screw that 1900, 900 per annun out OF
the acknowledging public for q good
many years to come yet, You see. they
wouldn't cut short the pension by slay-
ing me, because, ipso factor, they would
smash their own trade by doing it. As
a very necessary life insurance, I nat
urally stick to the publication clause
in the. newspaper on the day of my
death. So, fancy, McHinnie, I've got
that Diamond Ring as nicely on toast
as ever yet blackmailer--"
crash and a binding explosion cut
short Macdonald's sentence. The fur
ther wall of the place swept bodily to-
ward us in a whirlwind of smoke and
flames; and as the blast snote me on
the head, life appeared to tear itself
away with a jolt and a jerk.
It was by a very marvel of nlarvels
that in that moment we were not
TRANSMITTED to the clay whereof our
corporeal bodies were formed. Nothing
but the tank had saved US. But the
advancing breath of the explosion had
driven US over the brink, and tie wat
er had acted as cushion against the
shock So violent had been the power
of the bomb thrown against it, that
of the building nothing remained but
scattered mound of dusty rubble.
BY its agents the Diamond Ring had
lifted its hand against Conrad Macdon-
aid with lust to STAY, and by its agents
the same coterie drew his unconscious
form (and mine also) out of the chilly
haven of that water tank. BY curious
irony Mr.. Levenstein was the first per
son to bring us assistance. He had
Just arrived in Burton by a special
train to say that the demand for the
e200,000 annuity was agreed to: ] have
never seen an Israelite so effusively
genial and civil as Mr.. Levenstein made
himself whilst he attended to our ply
steal needs after that explosion.
The process of poisoning out into q
man of means was one did not see. as
the French were going UP to Timbukh-
Nd 7 xua FafAd n RI
with them to see whether the place
really existed, or whether 1t was only a
magnified joke. AS it turned out, the
neighborhood proved intensely Interest,"
ing so I staid there a longish time; and
when got back to England again,
Macdonald had quite settled down to
the new order of things.
That tank, the only creature comfort
of his working days was a forerunner
of what is the mans abiding place now
that he has come into enormous wealth.
On the flank of his more stable resi-
dence he had built him huge house
of bananas and palmettos and other
tropical foliage plants and ferns. There
is no method or order in their placing,
nor are there concrete walks about the
place. Some of the floor is soft short
grass, the rest water, winding in deep
narrow channels in and out of the
isletss of foliage. The temperature
stays in the SOS.
Here Conrad Macdonald, in the garb
that nature gave him. basks and swin1s
and dives for six hours of the day, and
meditates over an airship built on nat
ural principles. He studies the flights
of birds and butterflies and insects,
which skim and flutter in the warm air
around him, but till now he has made
no practical effort to put his observa-
tions into shape. Yet ! think he will