The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-30

several seconds.
Parker" he said presently, Il think
Il think you are going to be a bush
ranger"
Then Mr.. Carson relapsed into his
brown study.
Parker waited with exemplary pa
thence for a full five minutes, and then
he ventured:
is that all. sir?"
Gall what, Parker?
1t was obvious that Parker's pres
ence had been completely forgotten.
about being a bushranger, sir?
eyes, that's all for the moment"
"Beg pardon. sir; but when do we
start?' he said; and you could tell sronl
the deprecatory tone in which the ques-
\ ton was put how conscious he was or
: overstepping the freedom allowed him
by his master.
start where, Parker"
"For where they do the bushranging,
sir. I had an idea that-that-
Parker fa!tered nervously.
go on" said Mr.. Carson, encourag-
ingly.
II had an idea that b%ushranging was
only done in Australia, sir"
II believe you are correct, Parker.
B%ushranging has hitherto been confined
to Australia. Australia was the orig
inal home of the industry"
.sThen when do we start for Aus
tralia?' .
Australia? Good heavens, you don't
think l am going to Australia"
Parker was painfully abashed, for ne
was unable to deny that he had
thought so.
Beg pardon, sir; but I understood
you to say something about bush
ranging, and if we are not going to
Australia
Parker was too much fustered to
finish his sentence, and came to a sud-
den stop.
Parker" observed Mr.. Carson, in
thst pleasant drawl of his, Il have
never tried to conceal from you that
1 hold a very poor opinion of your
mental apparatus. Have ever tried
Parker"
Never, sir"
"Then l am sorry to say that the silly
remarks you have just made compel
me to rate your intelligence at even
a lower degree than formerly. Be-
cause bushranging has hitherto been
only practiced in, Australia, you as
sumo that it can never be practiced
anywhere else. Such poverty of i'm
agination strikes me as pitiful. When
things are as we know they are in the
commercial world here in England,
does it not occur to you that we are
bound not merely to support home in
dustries, but, so far as we may, to in
troduce new ones? If we engage in
the bushranging business at all, we
shall engage in it in London. You
may go, Parker"
Parker, who had long since been
anxious to get out Of the room, went
without a word.
But this conversation had very con-
siderable results.
1t confirmed Mr.. Carson in a definite
purpose which up till then had only
been a hazy idea.
He resolved to be a bushranSer at
least for one evening, and he had de-
rived the notion from his newspaper.
II.
It is impossible to say how certain
para graphs go the round of the press,
but it was reported in quite a dozen
newspapers that a number of gentle
men, who had amassed large fortunes
in the Australian gold fields, had de-
termined to dine together under such
conditions as would wildly recall to
them their early struggles in the col
onies.
These. paragraphs excited the great
est interest, and as the public were all
agog for the fullest particulars, a num-
Der Of enterprising reporters were duly
commissioned to find out all about it,
and were not long in discovering that
the locale of the dinner was to be the
Hotel Cosmopolitan.
The courteous manager very willing
" submitted to be interviewed.
yes" he said, "yOu may take it
from me that the dinner will be held
here. a substantial deposit to cover
the initial expenses has already been
paid. This was necessary because the
gentleman who is organizing the din
ner desires to remain anonymous,
The guests will be limited to twelve,
and will be representative of the larS'
est mining interests in the antlpodes
1 can't tell you their names, because
do not know them.
"These gentlemen have no desire to
obtain a cheap notoriety. They are
bent upon spending a pleasant evening
together, under circumstances which
will bring back to them the primitive
surroundings of their early colonial
life"
The reporters were, of course. disap'
pointed that they couldn't get names
but the obltging and courteous manager
was in other respects so lavish of in
formation that they could not possibly
complaint
He conducted them to the grand hal
"a spaciol us apartment on the frs
floor, and acted the part of Snowman.
This, you see, has been transformed
to reproduce as accurately as possible
an isolated cabin in a bush township Of
one of the Back Blocks. The dinner
-;ll he rohrrnd In tho % hin Thp hilI