Idaho Springs siftings., 1902-09-27


friend had good news.
Artemus was fairly bubbling over
with the intelligence he had picked
up.
Such a smile upon the face of Bar
naby looked bad for Capt. Brand and
his great game; the foundations of
his Spanish castle were getting shaky,
structure must come crashing down,
engulfng him in the ruins.
Whats the word?" asked Artemus.
"All goes on serenely, so far as l
know"
Artemus shut one eye.
There's some high old fun in pros
pect"
well, yes, l suppose so; st. Pat
rick's day is always booming with
good cheer in New York"
"Ahl mean for us; for our friend
the captain"
THAT strikes closer home. Now, l
knew you were the bearer of good
news when l saw you enter"
Il always said was born under a
lucky star, and this settles it beyond
peradventure."
well, tell me your adventures, and
how good fortune attended you. All
of which shall be to the glory of our
cause, the vindication of truth and
right, and the utter Generalization of
Capt. Brand
Come over here, where comfort
and velvet chairs await us, and pre-
pare yourself for a surprise that will,
l guess, surpass anything you ever
heard"
So they settled down.
Charlie endeavored to retain his
composure and possess his soul in
patience.
He knew Artemus of old and that a
ceremony had to be gone through with
ere he would disgorge the secrets he
possessed, such as would not disgrace
the cross-questioning in one of the
higher courts.
We'll, now, you know what hopes
/ had with regard to the fellows on
the Rialto; how I built up air-castles
concerning the finding of one or more
among them who knew Macauley by
heart, and would, for a proper consid-
Grafton, take pleasure in denouncing
him to his face.
81 only ran across one man who had
played upon the boards with the
great Macauley; he declared he would
know him under any disguise; that
his mannerisms must always betray
his individuality even though he rep
resented an Arab or a heaunen
Chinee."
"Ah; that's the man we want" said
Charlie
And that's the man we won't get.
You see, he had one experience win
Macauley, and to this day he declares
the mention of the man always sends
a chill up and down his spinal column.
In a word, he fears him worse than
the devil fears holy water, and nei-
ther bribes nor pleading could in
duce him to say he would open his
batteries on Brand. The most could
get him to promise was to see the
other from a safe hiding-place and
then secretly give us his opinion, with
the iron-bound proviso that his name
would never appear in the matter"
Charlie elevated his eyebrows.
81 should say that man was a little
bashful."
HE admitted the soft impeachment
and confessed to a CHASTITY fear. No
Macauley for him, thank you A
burnt child breads the fire, you know"
1T might be some satisfaction to
us if he added the weight of his secret
testimony to our own strong convic-
tions in the matter; that is, it would
perhaps influence Lady Airline"
mo doubt, no doubt"
''Will it pay to summon him, them"
This direct method of questioning
was the best way of assisting Arte-
mus along.
1t compelled an answer, and thus
necessitated the unmasking of his
strong batteries.
Il hardly think So"
You know best, but | should like to
hear your reasons for refusing what
small favors the gods throw in our
way"
And you shall, Charlie, my boy.
In the first place, it would hardly pay
us to depend at all upon such secret
testimony. If we could inject some
alcoholic fluid into this low comedian,
to give him backbone, so that he
would face Brand and finish the game