The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-01-09

tempted to p%ersonate the dead con
spiratOT, nor that he had penetrated
my disguise at a glance; and though
the struggle which had taken place be-
tween us that evening had resulted in
his defeat, it was luck more than skill
that had constituted me the victor.
The game of chess which was being
played between myself and the Syndi-
cate Of Scoundrels was al present i'll
my favor, inasmuch as | had sue
ceeded in removing from the board "a
queen and two pawns, to wit Number
One, Number Three and Number
Seven. But as | had only one piece
to lose. and as the contest became more
difficult and more dangerous as the
number of Combatants grew less,
felt-when | knocked for the second
time at the door of the gypsy wagon
on the Leigh rOad-that | should have
to be both wide-awake and willy were
| to come out Of the business alive.
| had scarcely joined the party,
which now consisted of five, including
myself, when one of the COnspiratorS.
whom | recognized as Number Two,
held up his hand, as a sign that hc
wished to address the meeting.
Those of you who have seen the
morning paper" he said, will scarcely
need to be told that our number is
now complete. Death has removed
another member Of the council since
our last meeting. On that occasion
undertook with the assistance of Coun-
cillor Number Three to obtain possess
sion of the dynamite that was on
cealed at Fassett Square. | have kept
my promise; but | regret to say that
through some wretched bungling on
his own part, my unfortunate assist
ant lost his life. You have seen in
this mornings papers the account of a
singular occurrence which happened
last night. A man, carrying a coat over
his arm, and walking somewhat hur-
riedly, was observed to stop suddenly
AS if in alarm--and to feel in the
pockes of the coat. The next instant
he flung the coat from him and started
to run, but he had not gone three
PAGES before there was a tremendous
explosion. As the affair happened
somewhat late at night. the man carry
ing the coat was the only victim. But
according to the newspapers, he vas
blown to pieces so literally that iden-
tification is thought to be impossible.
Fellow councillors, there is every
reason to suppose that the victim OF
the explosion was our colleague Num-
her Three. | had thought 1t wise, aft
er securing the dynamite which was
concealed at Fassett Square, to make
two parcels of it, entrusting one to
my collaboration and retaining the
other myself, so that, in the event OF
either Of us falling into the hands or
the police, this council would still be
in possession of sufficient dynamite to
carry out any project which has been
formed. Number Three was to have
brought the explosive here tonight,
and why he was carting it about the
streets last night | cannot say. Tho
only supposition | can put forward is
based upon the fact that the explosion
occurred quite close to Plantagenet
Square; so | am inclined to think that
Number Three had, upon his own re-
sponsibility, decided to make an at
tempt to anticipate the decree of the
| council, and to blow up Lord Gran
thorpe's housewife what result you
already know
Except for something between a
gasp and a groan on the part of one
listener, and on the part of the others
a simultaneous sigh which bore evil
dence to the painful interest with
which they had heard the narrative.
there was a dead silence for some time
after Number Two had ceased. Then
a councillor said somewhat uneasily--
and the dynamite which you re-
tanned in your W possession
Its here" replied Number Two
| shortly. holding up-wlth what | felt
was quite misplaced and unnecessary
~cnergy-a brown leather handbag
which he had been carrying in his
hand.