The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-20

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mo, Davie, no. said the king, stop
ping in his march and speaking with
pleased cordially, no, I value your
advice; you are an honest man, and it
is not to be expected that the subtlety
and craftiness of these foreigners
should be as clear to- you as the sun
shine ION a, Highland hill. Speak out,
Davie, and if you give me your coun-
sci, know it will be as wholesome as
oatmeal sporridge''
well, your ma esty,, you must meet
subtlety with subtlety.n
Il am not sure that the adage holds
good, Davie,'' demurred the king. You
cannot OUTRAGE a Highland man in his
own fglen, although you may fight him
fairly in the open. Once this French
mans head is off. you stop his boiling,
pot"
THAT is quite true, your majesty but
II the French ambassador should put
in claim for his worthless carcass,
you will find yourself on the eve of gs
break with France, if you proceed to
his execution"
%But I.shall have made France throw.
off it's mask
1T is not France / am thinking
about, your majesty. Your own mobiles
have gone clean daft over this Italian.
He is their goose that lays the golden
with what breathless expectation they
weighed his experimenting. 7 am
sure your majesty, that +ithey will
stand by him, and that you will find
not only France but Scotland arrayed
against you. A moments reflection
will show you the danger. These meet
ings have been going on for months
past, yet no whisper of their progress
has reached your majesty's ears"
jC
| Davie, kept silent"
Il swore an oath of silence, and hon
estly, I did not think that this gold
making was an affair of state"
Very well. I viii act with caution.
| The breath of the money getter tar
| nishes the polish of the sword; and in
my dealings shall try to sreeollect
that / have to do with men growing
| rapidly rich, as we'll as with mobiles
| who should he too proud to accept
unearned gold from any man. Now,
Davfe, I'll need your help in this, and
| in aiding me you will assist yourself;
! thus will virtue be it's own reward, as
is preached to us. i will give you as
| many gold pieces as you need, and in
stead of paying three pieces at the en-
| trance give the man three hundred.
Urge all the mobiles to increase their
| wagers; for thus we shall, soon learn
the depths of this yellow, treasury. If
| i attempt to wiring the neck of the
goose before the eggs are laid, my fol-
lowers would be justified in saying
| that the English part of my nature
had got the better of the Scotch.
Meanwhile I will know nothing of this
mans idofngs, and hope for your sake,
Davie, that the gold mine will prove
| as prolific as my own in the ClydeS-
| dale.''
The mobiles followed the example set
| to them by the lavish Sir David. They
needed no urging from him to increase
| their stakes The fever of the gambler
was on each of them, and soon the al
! legged italian began to be embarrassed
| in keeping up the pace he had set for
/ himself. 1T required now an enormous
sum to pay even double the amount
taken at the door. The necroTnancer
announced that the meetings would be
/ held less .often, but the mobiles would
| not have 1t $50. Then his experiments
became less and less successful. One
! night the bonus amounted only to half
| the coins given to the treasurer, and
! then there were ominous grun1blings
! AT the next meeting the bare amount
paid in was given back, and the deep
| roar OF resentment which greeted this
| proclamation made the foreigner trem-
| BILE in his red robe. The ambassador
! was sending messenger after nnessen-
/ ger to France, and looked anxiously for
| their return, while the necromancer
did everything to gain time. At last
| there came an experiment which fail
| ed entirely; no gold was produced in
| the crucible. The alchemist begged for
a pestponement, but swords flashed
forth and he was compelled on the
| spot to renew his Incarnation. If gold
could be made ON one occasion why not
ON another? cried the baronS with
some show of reason. The conjurer
| had conjured up demon he could not
control; the demon of greed.
The only. man about the court who
seemed to know nothing of what was
going forward was the king himself
The French ambassador narrowly
| watched his actions, but James was
the same free hearted Tjovial, pleasure
seeking monarch he had always been.
He hunted and careused, and was the
life of any party of pleasure which
sailed forth from the castle. He dis
appeared now and then, as was his
custom, and could not be found, al
though his mobiles winked at one an
| other, while the perturbed French am
bassador looked lanxiously for the
treasure ship that never came.
| Z At last the mobiles, wfe, in spite of
their threatenings, had too much
shrewdness to kill the gold maker,
hoping HIS lapse OF power WIS OILY
temporary, forced the question to a
head and made appeal to the aston
| fshed king himself. Here was man..
they said. who could make gold and
| wouldn't. They desired mandate to
go forth, compelling him to resume the
lucrative occupation he had aban-
doned.
The king expressed his amazement
at what he heard, and summoned the
meuntebank before him. The gold
maker abandoned his robe Of scarlet
and appeared before James dressed
soberly. He confessed that he knew
the secret OF extracting gold from or
binary soil, but submitted that he was
not a Scottish citizen, and therefore
could not properly be eeerced by the
Scottish laws SO long as he infringeq
none of the statutes. The king held
that this appeal was well founded and
disclaimed any desire to coerce citi-
zen of a friendly state. At this the
charlatan frightened perceptibly, and
proportionately the gloom on the
brows of the mobiles deepened.
But if you can produce gold, as
you say, why do you refuse to do SO %
demanded the King.
81 respectfully submit to your ma
ieSty,'' pepIied the mOlnteballk, that /