Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-01-31

An hour before I met his man 1 had
been fun of hope, and now unless I
could shake him off, 1 had not the
slightest nance Of communicating with
Anguish, n unless / did so he would
be utterly in the dark as to my where.
abouts, and might naturally imagine
that i had met with foul play. And,
indeed. at first, as / made a rapid ment-
al survey of the situation, it occurred
to me that this might easily happen;
but before / was halfway through with
my cigar / reflected that D'Orville had
made no secret of the fact that / was to
meet him-at least / knew that he had
not done so to Mr.. Courtney-and that
il / disappeared he would certainly be
Intercepted.
IL l went the length of withdrawing
from the undertaking now I should i'm
mediately become a suspect, and should
/ call in the aid of the authorities and
nave D'Orville arrested I must a
some specific charge; and the news of
his arrest and the reason thereof
would bring down upon me the veng-
eance of the remainder OF the gang.
And i felt that this would reach me, no
matter o L might be guarded; and so
/ went Oh, desperate as matters seemed,
and trusted to Providence to provide
me with some opportunity Of writing a
few lines or sending a telegram to the
address that Anguish had given me.
We too train ct Waterloo, but never
for one moment did D'Orville lose sight
of me. and as soon as we arrived at
Southampton we found a carriage
a yynitinu TIC md intn AZ hn htJprip1 ma
and we were driven away rapidly. /
was altogether in his power now.
What would he do with me? The pace
was too rapid to permit of conversation,
but as we whirled along in the waning
light I caught sight of the water, and
when this had vanished and the woods
had been on each side of us for some
space. we drove up an avenue to a
large house.
Here we are" said D'Orville. Jump
down and come with me. I shoul like
to have a few minutes hat before we
begin business"
/ followed him up a broad staircase,
and we found ourselves in a well-lit,
cheerful room.
Take that chair" said he; inc when
we had made ourselves comfortable, he
went on: 1--WE are obliged to act with
the greatest caution. The house we are
in has been taken for a fortnight, but
our occupation of 1t will be Of the
briefest. We shall be here tonight and
gone tomorrow. You are about to take
upon yourself a most solemn RESPONSE
bility and in a most solemn manner,
but that need have no terrors for you IL
you are true to IS and our heart is in
the right place."
I remembered the mummery and so
forth that he had spoken Of to the
worthy Sweeney, and however much
solemnity they might impart into the
ceremony of installation, I should put 1t
down at its own valuation.
Now" he went on, before you go
any further. tell me whether you rave
any scrples about becoming one of US.
If you have. and you wish to retire,
now is the time to do 1t. In less h a
an our 1t will be impossible. Say the
word. and the carriage that brought
you here shall take you back to South
ampton."
IT don't know why you should harp
on such a string" l said. 81 have one
so far now that you ought to know
that I intend to go through with the
matter. Let me ask you on my side,
whether you think I shall be a useless
member"
Perish the thought" he said. gaily.
And now I must leave you for a while.
You will shortly be summoned to the
Presence Follow your guide and do
exactly as you are told"
With that he left me.
Elm minutes or so might have passed
and / employed the time in examining
the place ~closely-when a figure, wrap
ped in a long cloak. and wearing a
mask solemnly stalked In, and, standing
still a few seconds, to impress me the
more. al / supposed, uttered the words,
Follow mel" in a deep, sepulchral tone.
We passed along a passage to a doo
at the far end. Three knocks were CIV
en-, and scarcely had the third sounded
when the door few open and we were
admitted.
I was left standing close by the en-
trance, while the individual who had
guided me so far slipped quietly to the
chair that was placed at the end of the
half-circle of seats. in which, wrapped
in long cloaks and a profound silence,
sat eleven other persons.
THE mystic number is made up"
said one of the twelve. In a deep voice.
W. are now thirteen. Let the rules OF
the Ragged Thirteen be read to him
who would boone one Of us, to him who
may not leave this room alive unless he
subscribes to our regulations"
And then in basso p~rofundo a rIgma-
role of laws was read to me, to not one
of which did / pay any attention,
though the penalty OF death for the in
fringement OF this. that or the other
was repeatd with tiresome iteration. /
signed a document with a pen dipped in
a fluid supposed to be blood. The lights
were lowered. The men gathered round
me, n drew the swords, which up
till now had been concealed, and as the
blades FLASHED above my head, / under
stood clearly how helpless I was, did
they mediate mischief. And when the
wild dance, that I was sure had been
improvised for my benefit, was finished,
they glided back to their chairs, and I
was informed that I was now a amber
OF the society.