The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-06-05

1
means of three keys. These three
keys, ran the will, would be found
in the centre of three cubes which
would be found outside the vault. To
each of his brothers he bequeathed
one of the cubes; to each, a diamond
drill, also his invention.
'The first one of them to bore
through the cube to the centre and
to extract key could open the vault
and become possessed of it's contents
absolutely and forever. No outside
assistance was to be employed.
| The work must be done at the vault
! The three brothers journey uptown
| in the same elevated train, but in
| different cars. They reached the
house within a minute or two of each
other. At the foot of the cellar steps
they found the vault and the cubes.
Without word they set to work
| and removed their coats. They bored
and bored and bored, finding much
| sad truth in the assertion of Lawyer
Van Tine anent the impenetrability
| of the metal they were trying to
pierce.
The next day they came; and the
| next, and many nexts. At the end
Of two weeks they found themselves
about half an inch further than when
they started.
From the first and without explain
alton they adopted system by which
two of them were always to be found
at the vault. Such was the measure
of their fraternal trust.
One night while Henry was at work
his drill broke. He looked up in tre-
pidation, to discover whether Joseph,
who was working at his side. had
noted the mishap. Apparently Joseph
was oblivious of all save the task be-
fore him.
So Henry sat there idle until Johns
arrival in the early morning relieved
him. Then he left, going at once to
a celebrated diamond setter to re-
place his drill.
mo use,' said the mechanic after
he had examined the broken drill.
Il cannot replace it. This is one OF
the drills made by Richard Winga!e.
an eccentric old chap who died re.
Gently. You can search the world ov-
er without finding its mate. My firm
offered him small fortune for his
formulas. He refused to divulge."
That night Henry's fertile brain con-
ceived a scheme to circumvent the
mischance that had robbed him of all
prospect of sharing in the estate. 1t
was a desperate chance, but an only
one. The next morning two penciled
notes were handed to John and Jo-
seph.
ITO whom it may concern was
what they read. "Why should we
three quarrel? After all, we are blood
kindred and if our late brother was
a fool there is no reason why we
should endeavor to emulate his i'm
becility. The interest of each of us
has become the interest of all.
while I am, of course. unwilling
to be the first to break silence and
submit to possible rebuff, am willing
that we three should become friends.
If you will speak to me l shall pro-
pose a plan which will conduce to the
best interests Of all of u.s."
Joseph took the note and tore It
up; John did the same. But fortunate
favored Henry, for that night Johns
drill broke. And two days later Jo-
seph's broke. OF course, all three
was insufferably anxious to bring
about a reconciliation.
my plan is this" said Henry. ut
has struck me as being the heigh:
OF folly for us to have three cubes
when by joining hands we can accom-
plish the same result by boring one.
Then, too, if it be satisfactory all
around, we can employ outside help.
Let us open the vault-as brothers;
let Us, as brothers, divide its con-
tents into three equal shares. What
do you say?"
B Drill-less, they agreed, and that day
they employed an expert who de-
manded a cash retainer of 5000 be-
fore he tackled the job.
At last at considerable expense
conformity borne they had the drills
repaired and the expert set to work.
At the end Of a month the cube was
opened. Inside they found the key
and a note.
Il suspect strongly" they read in
the handwriting of their beloved tes-
tator, that long before this cube has
been opened my three brothers will
have agreed upon truce. l prognos-
ticate that they will combine inter-
ests, and proceed to open one of the |