Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-07-18
STORY OF THE
EBONY MUSIC BOX

with dreamy eyes. Curled up on the plush
cushion. he instinctively suggested the
widest Of the four footed family. the fox.
He sat there with his legs crossed and his
arms folded. blinking and chuckling in
the most disconcerning way. All of his
features lent themselves In a startling
manner to this resemblance to the most
cunning and sagaciors of animals. 1t
could be seen In the erect, pointed ears:
in the long nose which seemed to be per-
petuaily on the scent of something; in the
sharp eyes at once observant and SUSPECT
GUS; In the shrewd countenance which in
heated not only intellectual capacity but
ingenuity and a fondness for strategy. A
reader OF character would have said that
this was a man naturally OK II timorous
disposition, yet who. II driven into a cor
ner. could exhibit a boldness bordering
on courage. The soft white hand with the
pinkish finger nails suggested efeminacy.
as nd the general makeup of this geAtle.
soft spoken. pcrfumed and bejewelled per,
son.
The talk was OF travels, and Clancy
listened with open cared establishment
whlle Barnes represented himself to the
others as the great American traveller He
said there was no part OF the civilized
globe he had not visited. and spoke glibly
or London. Paris. Madrid and st. Peters,
burg. Clancy was lost in admiration at
the cleverness with which the chief played
his part. Presently the countess begged
leave to retire for a while. Her seat was
taken by Jerome Harvey. a fellow passen-
ger who had become acquainted with the
count a short time before and who seemed
fascinated by the oily tongue of the nOble-
man. Count Valasquez voiced the general
desire to hear more of Barnes travels.
Tell us about Madrid" he said. Sure
ly something out Of the ordinary must
have occurred 20 you while there"
''1hora WnS nNthtpu v,orrAru1 to me -
replied Barnes. looking at the other out
of half closed eyes. incidentally, though,
l heard many queer Stories"
Tell us one of Them" said Harvey.
Perhaps continued Barnes. as II the
other had got spoken. the most interest
ing of these was the adventure OF the dis
tinsuished foreigner and the consignment
of Italian books"
THAT sounds interesting cried Clancy.
Give us that
Wen. Organ Barnes. pufnng away at a
perfecto. zone day the society of Mat,-id
was increased by the arrival of a stranger,
a foreigner Of distinguished appearance.
He was cultured. agreeable and made
many friends. He spoke Italian fiuently,
although that was not his native tongue.
Not many weeks had passed before he I'M
dertook to form a little class for .nstruc-
ton
"That sounds all right commented
Harvey. as Barnes paused to puff at his
cigar.
ut was all right" smiled Barnes, 'for
a while. and then. as sometimes happens
IN Span. 1t turned out to be all wrong.
There was an agitation going on in the
provinces outside of Madrid. The peas
antry. goaded to desperation by poverty,
We're holding secret meetings with a view
OF rising against the authorities. The mil
itary and police were constantly on the
nlark so th0A Al- - ~
much progress About THAI time an Eng
fish vessel arrived at one of the outlying
ports. 1t had been passed by the proper
officials and seemed perfectly regular.
Still. precaut.On is always considered i'm
portant IN Spain. and two inspectors were
sent to make a scrutiny of the newly ar
rived vessel.
They found nothing out OF the ordi-
nary. The master OF the vessel having
declared clean papers. the officials retired
ana made a report OF Their investigation.
But on the following day. after part of
the cargo had been transferred to a light
or, 1t was discovered that several cases
marked italian books had been struggled
into the hold of the vessel. The cases were
unusually heavy. They were invoiced to
the distinguished foreigner whom 1 nave
already mentioned. but whose name l can
not recall. They were landed on the
wharf and the inspectors. whose suspi-
cions mad been aroused. made immediate
report to. their super.ors. The.r first act
was to hunt up the history of the foreign-
er. 1t was found. among other things,
mat ne mad organized a class in the CAPT.
tai for the study of Italian. So that made
4 shipment of Italian books in his name
quite reasonable.
The count. who had been listening in
tently. moistened his lips with his tongue.
But continued Barnes, ..once suspi-
cion has been aroused. r~easonableness
does not count with the Spanish police.
They said IN their minds: Why does this
man smuggle in his shipment? Why does
ne need several cases of books? Why do
those books appear SO we!ghty?' Con-
trary to CUSTOM. the boxes were not seized
on the wharf. The officers resolved to
use q little strategy. They would permit
the consignment to go to the house Of the
distinguished foreigner and then be pres.
ent when the boxes were opened. AS soon
as the boxes had been delivered, two MEM
bers OF the police force. in plain clothes.
pushed their way into the house and in
FORMED the affable resident that they de-
sired to purchase some Italian books. He
glanced at the .ntruders and then at the
boxes in the hallway, and a knowing look
came into his face"
The count pulled out his handkerchief
and mopped perspiration from his brow.
1t was about DUSK said Barnes. con-
tinuinz his story, the distinguished for
eigner was IN evening dress. Before an
swerfng. ne took his hat of the rack. and
throwing his outer coat over his arm, said
with easy assurance:
".Gentlemen. I have an engagement for
q dinner party. l am already late; but
my man will open these boxes and Won
can look over the books and talk to me
o them in the m-orning-unless you
care to await my return tonight. which
Will be In about two hours.'
Gould anything be more polite or oblis-
ing: The police thought not. The man.
however wa not 30 pleasant az his
master. He growled terribly ~ h.,r.