The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-01-16
Copyright, 1893, by Herber, S. Stone 8 Co.
CHAPTER IX.-CoNTINUED.

VI "a NullSNO dtclLtllllldtiO
to come to a nearer acquaintance witt
the contents of the brown bag; and
there was an u~nmistakable, If unos.
tentatious, disposition on the part Of
my colleagues to gravitate in the di-
rection of the door. One member had
in fact put a hand upon the latch
when Number Two added, with just a
suspicion Of a smile:
"And-as | don't want to join Num-
her Three just yet awhile-quite Sc
curely packed, | assure you!
Yes, gentlemen" continued Num-
her Two somewhat infatedly, that
bag contains the larger portion of the
explosive of which you commissioned
me TO obtain possession. | now leave
il to you to decide whether l have or
have not failed in accomplishing what
had undertaken"
'Oh, yes, you have scrambled
through the business" said a long
faced, rather round-shouldered man,
who was, | afterwards learned, Coun-
eillor Number Five; you have scram-
hleu luiouGh IL iISHt ehuuSH, lHouSl
at the cost of the life of a fellow coun-
cillor.'
That was not my fault" retorted
Number Two angrily. ut is due to the
fact that this council is at present
without a head. Number Three was
instructed to assist me, but was not
enjoined to obey me implicitly. Had
ii been so he would not have dared to
go beyond his instructions, as he ap-
pears to have done last night; and
then we should not have lost good
dynamite and a valuable life to no
purpose. | pointed out at the last
meeting of this council how important
it was that some member be selected
tC take the place of our late leader;
and just so long IS we remain without
a head, just so long may We expect
nothing but such unhappy tiascos as
happened last night"
THE moral of all of which Is" put
in Number Five dryly, that you are
trying to force the hand of the council
in order that you yourself may be ap-
iointed to the post about which you
are so eloquent. But there are others
who are quite as fitted to take the
Ieins."
Yourself, for instance" sneered
Number Two angrily. Il had surmised
that you were Jealous of the fact that
| am your senior on the council; but
your motives for trying to belittle what
l have done are SO apparent that the
council will know how to estimate
them at their proper worth"
mo doubt our fellow councillors are
competent to estimate your motives
and mine correctly" replied Number
Five indifferently. in the meantime,
may | inquire how our dead chiefs
bag came into your possession"
: The question had the effect of turn
ing all eyes, my own included, upon
The article referred to. | saw, to my
CONSERVATION, that it resembled in
every way the very bag which, after
Number Ones fatal fall from the train,
/ had taken from the rack where he
had placed it, and had hidden in a
hayrick before paying my first visit
to the conspirator's wagon. Before
leaving Leigh, however, | had regained
possession of the bag, and had carried
il with me to my chambers in Buck
ingham street, where | had locked it
away, in case l might want it at any
time as evidence. If Number Five
were right, and the bag which Number
Two was holding were indeed-as APP
peared to be the case-the very article
which had belonged to Number One,
1t must have been stolen from my
chambers In Buckingham street. But
this implied that one at least of the
Conspirators was aware Of the part |
had played in recent events, and was
aware, too, that | was there that e
ing as a spy, in which case a terrible
vengeance was in store for me.
Number Two's reply seemed to me
an age in coming, as stood there like
a prisoner waiting for his death SEN
tence, a cold sweat %trickling down my
forehead and into my eyes.
YES" he said, and | could have
killed him for the drawl with which
he spoke, yes, you're a keen-eyed
man, my friend, for all your jealousy.
1t is Number Ones bag, isn't it?
You recognize it, don't you?
Would you be surprised to hear
that this is the fellow to his-the dupli-
cate, don't you call it? He and /
bought a bag apiece at the same shop
and at the same time, so there's moth
ing very wonderful in the two being
of the same pattern. You were clever
at mares'-nesting, weren't you, when
you were a boy?"
| had been wrought up to such a
pitch of suspense that the relief af-
forded by Number Two's explanation
catsed mel am ashamed to say-to
burst out into a silly bleat-like hyster-
zeal laugh.
Then suddenly changing his tone to
one of business-like directness, Number
Two went on, in a hard, cold voice, in
which | thought | detected an Ameri-
can twang:
See here, my friends-I happen to
know the address to which late
chief was having his letters sent, and
l have taken the liberty, as the senior
member of this council, of obtaining
them, and bringing them along to-
night. There they are. and You will
see that there is a tidy sum, which has
TO hand in the way of subscrip-
tons, TO be shared among us. But
must point out to you that since our
leaders death this council has, so to
speak, been living On its capital. He {
was a born organizer; and when he {
died he had got the machinery of all s
the various leagues, unions, secret so |