Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-09-17

dih YOU Anlo everything tney uggeS
she complained, determined to be stub
born to the end. "They know entirely
too much"
That's all very good. my dear. but
you know quite as well as / that we
made a frightful mistake in choosing
these rooms. 1t is cooler on that side
of the house. I'm not too proud to be
comfortable. don't you know"
The next day they moved into the
west wing, and that evening they had
the Brownies to dine with them in the
banquet hall. Deppingham awoke in
the middle of the night with violent
cramps in his stomach.
Don't say a word to Lady Doping
ham," he grunted. sitting up in bed
and gazing wildly at his valet, but
I've been poisoned. The - serv-
ants-ouch!-don't you knowi Might
have known. Silly ass! See what l
mean? Get something for me-quickr'
For two hours Antoine applied hot
water bags and soothing sirups, and
his master. far from dying as he con-
tinually prophesied, dropped off into a
peaceful sleep.
The next morning Deppingham, fully
convinced that the native servants had
tried to poison him, Internationally dis
charged the entire force.
Of ourse there was a great upheay-
al. Lady Agnes came tearing down to
the servants hall, followed directly by
the Brownies and Mr. Rritt
"Stop" she cried. "Deppy, what
are you doing? Discharging them
after we've had such a time getting
them? Are you crazy?"
They're a pack of snakes-I mean
sneaks. They're assassins. They tried
to poison every one of us LAST
Britt smoothed the troubled waters
with astonishing ease. The servants
returned to their duties, but not with
out grumbling and no end of savage
glances. all of which were leveled at
the luckless Deppingham.
"Why poison?" demanded Britt.
They've got knives and guns, haven't
they?"
MY dear man, that would put them
to no end of trouble cleaning up after
us" said D~eppingham loftily.
Meanwhile 1t may be well to depict
the situation from the enemy's poir
of yiew-the enemy being the islanders
as a unit. They were prepared to
abide by the terms of the will so long
as 1t remained clear to them that fair
treatment came from the opposing in
t~erests. Rasula, the Arafat lawyer, in
Emass meeting had discussed the docu-
ment. They understood its require
ments and its restrictions: they knew
by this time that there was small
chance of the original beneficiaries
coming into the property under the
! provisions. Later came the news that
marriage between the heirs was out of
the question. Then the islanders
Al2ughed as they toiled. But they were
>tQ be caught mapping. Jacob Won
ysnenadent. -stolidaHG Ger
man that he was, saw far into the fu-
ture. 1t was he who set the native
lawyer unceremoniously aside and urg-
ed competent representation in Lon
don. The great law firm headed by
Sir John Brodney was chosen. A wide
awake representative of the distin-
guished solicitors was now on his way
to the island with the swarthy com
mittee which had created so much in
terest in the metropolis during its
brief stay.
Jacob Won Blitz came to the island
when he was twenty years old. That
was twenty years before the death OF
Tasweil Skaggs. He had worked In
the South African diamond fields and
had no difficulty In securing employ
ment with Skaggs and Wyckholme.
Won Blitz was shrewd enough to see
that the grandchildren were not COM
ing to the island for the mere pleasure
of sojourning there; their motive was
plain. 1t was he who advisedEeven
communicative horde Of servants to
desert the chateau.
He lived, with his three wives, In
the hills just above and south of the
town itself. The Englishmen who
worked in the bank and the three Boer
foremen also had houses up there,
where 1t was cooler, but Won Blitz was
the only one who practiced polygamy.
His wives were Persian womerA and
handsome after the Persian fashion.
One hot, dry afternoon about a week
after the reopening Of the chateau, the
siesta of a swarthy population was
disturbed by the shouts OF those who
kept impatient watch of the sea. Five
minutes later the whole town of Ara
tat knew that the smoke of a steamer
lay low on the horizon. No n doubt
ed that it came from the stack of the
boat that was bringing Rasula and
the English solicitor. Joy turned to
exultation when the word came down
from Won Blitz that 1t was the long
looked for steamship, the Sir Joshua.
Won Blitz stood at the landing place
to welcome Rasula and his comrades
land to be the first to clasp the hand
5bf the man from Brodney's.
At last his figure could be made out