Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-05-11
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Scoundrels eco. |
BY COULSON KERNAHAN
Author Of Captain Shannon "A Book OF
Strange Sins. "A Dead Mans Diary" Etc.
Copyright, 1899, by Herbert S. Stone & Co,
CHAPTER XX.-COSTINITED.

Inc chle1S quite right in insisting
upon everything being above board"
said, boldly. I'VE don't want any
hOle-and-cOrner business in a concern
like this. We are all like so many
mountaineers rOped together on
mountain. If one of us makes slip
and the others aren't prepared to SET
their feet hard and meet the jerk when
it comes, the chances are that the lot
of us get pulled over the. precipice.
And mind you, friends, rope round
your body on mountain is one thing,
and rope round your neck on a scat
fold is another I've sampled one, but
l don't want to sample the other. So
think the chief is right in taking us
into his confidence as he has done.
We all hang by the one rope, so what
say is, Let us know where we're go
ing Besides, in concern like this,
which claims before all things to be
democratic, we don't want any one
man show. Here are we working to
overthrow the autocrat or aristocrat
wherever you find him, and you pro-
pose setting up one man who is to be
our pope and lead us all blindfolded by
the nose
Give us your hand, Number Seven,'
said Number Six, slapping me familiar
ly on the shoulder. Its a good job
you amt a parson, for if l heard you
preach few times, l believe you'd
convert me, and I'm damned if I could
stand that. Id no idea we'd got such
an orator among us. Anyhow, he's
convinced me; so go ahead, chief, and
let's have the details in full"
Good humor being thus restored,
Number Two continued his explana-
ton.
''The thing is to be done in this
way" he said. lubbock was once
chef at the Ishmael club, and is still
friendly with the steward and the other
walters. From one of them he has
heard little secret which is supposed
to be known only to the secretary of
the club and the committee. The Ish-
maelites are very fond of having what
l may call unrehearsed effects at the
house-dinner evenings, and the mem
Der who is in the chair often springs
surprise upon the company by pro-
viding some unexpected feature for
their entertainment The secretary
Whimsical fellow-has hit upon an
idea which he purposes to carry out
on the occasion of the princes visit.
Good fellowship being sine qua non
for election to the Ishmael, the prince
of Wales, who is, as every one knows,
the best of good fellows in the social
sense, is naturally a prime favorite
there. AS you all know, the prince is
only now recovering from serious ILL.,
ness, and as his presence at the Ish-
mael will be his first public appearance
after his cOnvalescence, the Ishmael-
ties intend to give him an ovation.
The speech of the evening will be, The
health of our guest his royal high
ness the prince Of Wales Well the
secretary has sent the ten-minute
timekeeper to Switzerland to have the
ordinary gong replaced by musical
box which shall play God Bless the
Prince of Wales The chairman, in
proposing the princes health, will pur-
pOsely Outstay his ten minutes. The
gong will strike, but instead of mere
bell it will lead off with God Bless the
Prince of Wales AS soon as the men,
bers tumble to it (for the affair is to
be kept secret from all but two or
three), the chairman will spring to his
feet and take up the air, which will
be sung, all standing, and ending up
with three times three That's just
the kind of thing to catch on with the
Ishmaelites, and l shouldn't be sur
prised if it proved an immense success
and pleased the prince into the bargain.
We'll, lubbock has contrived-in
virtue of his old connection with the
club--to get engaged as an assistant
chef for the occasion, and he also man
aged to get peep at the address on
the box that contained the gong, when
it was sent off to Switzerland to have
the inside mechanism taken out and
replaced by musical box. The adj
dress was that of well-known iustru-
ment maker in Geneva to whom Hub
book has since paid visit. Need I
tell you why? 1t was to get a dupli-
cate gong made-a duplicate, that is to
say, so far as the outside is concerned.
But it isn't duplicate inside, for in
stead of the musical box, lubbock is
getting an Internal machine made from
newly discovered explosive. 1t is an
explosive so death-dea]ing and terrible
that even the small quantity that can
be packed away inside the gong will
be sufficient to kill every one in it's
immediate vicinity, and, in fact, it is
more than probable that it will kill
every one in the room. Anyhow, the
chairman, our old enemy Lord Gran
thorpe, and the prince, who as the
guest of the evening will sit on his
right, will be as good as dead men.
The joke of it is that it will be Lord
Cranthorpe himself, who, by winding
up the gong-according to the regula-
lions of the club-when he gets upon
his legs, will with his own hand put
into motion the machinery which will
give him and biz guest, the prince,
as we'll as good many of the men,
bers, bare ten minutes more of life.
The secretary is no doubt chuckling to
himself to think of the stir that his
own ingenuity in preparing so pretty
a little surprise is likely to make. l
think that the surprise which we are
preparing for his royal highness, as
we'll as for his lordship and the other
members of the club, is likely to make
a bigger stir. That, however, we can
discuss wben the things fait accompli.
I'm getting shy of counting my chick
ems before they're Matched, since that
miserable Jubilee fasco. All the same,