The Red Cloud chief., 1905-09-29

Poor old chap! He cried like Il bah.
when he asked the %youngStcr to for
give him. II was quite touching.
"Well. Costobell shook Nentnor off ut
last, with the final observation that
Anstruther's court martial has been
quashed. The next batch OF general
orders will reinstate him in the rcgi-
ment, and IL rests with him to decide
whether or not n criminal warrant
shall be issued against his lordship for
conspiracy"
what did Miss Deane do?'
"Clung to Anstruther like n weeping
angel and kissed everybody al round
when ventnor got away. Well-hands
off. I mean her father, Anstruther and
the stout uncle. Unfortunately I was
not OH in that scene. But for some rca-
son they oil nearly wrung my arm Off.
and the me were so excited that they
gave the party Il -ousing cheer as their
rickshaws went pf In Il bunch"
The next commotion arose In the no
tel when Sir Arthur DCanc seized the
first opportunity To explain the prcdic-
ament in which his company was
placed and the blow which Lord Vent
nor yet had it in his power to deal.
Mr.. William AnStruthCr was IN In.
tercsted auditor. Robert would have
spoken, but his uncle restrained him.
"Lcave this to me, lad he cN-
claimed. when | was coming here in
the Sirdar there was II lot OF talk
about Sir Arthur's scheme, aud there
should not be much difficulty in rails
ing all the brass required If half what
/ heard be true. sit You down, Sir A.
thur, and tell us all about it,
The s%hlpowncr required no second
bidding. With the skill for which he
was noted lie described his operations
in detail. telling how every far,hing OF
the first inStallmcntS of ~! two great
loans was paid up, how the earnings
of his fleet would qui,sily ovCrtake the
deficit in capital value caused by the
loss of the three ships ana how in six
months time the leading financial
houses Of London, Paris and Berlin
would be offering him more money
nan he would nccu.
To n shrewd man Of business the
project could not fail to commend It.
self, and the Yorkshire squire, though
a trile obstinate In temper. was singu-
larry clear headed In other respects.
He brought his great fist down on the
table with n whack.
"Send q cable to your company, Sir
Arthur" he cried. land tell them that
your prospective s~on-in-law will pro-
vide the 10000 you require. l will
see that his draft is honored. You can
add, If you like, that another ten will
be ready If wanted when this lot is
spent. i did my lad n deuccd bad
turn in my life. This time, l think, l
am doing him a good one"
"You are. indeed said Iris father
enthusiastically. "The unallotted CAPT
tai he Is taking up will be worth four
times its face value in two years"
"All the more reason to make his
the Yorkshireman. "But, look here.
You talk about dropping proceedings
against that precious earl whom l
saw today. Why not tell him not to
try any funny tricks until Roberts
money is safely lodged to your ac-
count? We have him In our power.
Dash it all, let us use him n bit"
Even Iris laughed at this naive sug-
gestion. 1t was delightful to think
that their arch enemy was actually
helping the b%aronet's affairs at that
very moment and would continue to
do so until he was flung aside as being
Of no further value. Although VentnOr
himself had carefully avoided any
formal commitment, the %cablegrams
awaiting the shipowner at Singapore
showed that confidence had already
been restored by the uncontradicted
use Of his lordship's name.
Robert ut last obtained a hearing.
"You two are quietly assuming the
attitude of the financial magnates of
this gathering" he said. IL must adj,
NIT that you have managed things
very well between you, and l do not
propose for one moment to interfere
with your arrangements. Nevertheless,
Iris and I are really the chief moneyed
persons present. You spoke of finan.
cial houses in England and on the con.
tinent backing up your loans six
months hence, Sir Arthur. You need
not go to them. We will be your
bankers"
The baronet laughed with a whole
hearted gayety that revealed whence
Iris got some part at least of heI
bright disposition.
"NNill you sell your island. RObert2,