Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1912-09-12

the morrow Mr.. Jones would leave for
Port Said. Ryanne shook his head
and with his cane beat light tattoo
against the side of his shin. Abduc-
ton was rather out of his sphere of
action. And yet, the suppression Of
Percival was by all odds the most i'm
portant move to be made. He had
volunteered this service and accom-
plish 1t he must, in face of all obsta-
cles, or poof! went the whole droll
fabric. For to him 1t was droll, and
never 1t rose In his mind that he did
not chuckle saturninely. 1t was a
kind of nightmare where one hung in
m1d-air, ones toes just beyond the
flaming dragons jaws. The rewards
would be enormous, but these he
would gladly surrender for the SUI
preme satisfaction of turning the
poisoned arrow In the heart of that
canting hypocrite, that SNUG church
deacon, the sanctimonious, the sleek,
the well-fed first-born. And poor Per-
cival Algernon, for no blame of his
own, must be taken by the scruff of
his neck and thrust bodily into this
tangled web of scheme and under
scheme 1t was Infinitely humorous.
He had had vague plan regarding
Mahomed, guardian of the Holy Yhi-
ordes, but it was not possible for him
to be in Cairo at this early date That
he would eventually appear Ryanne
never doubted. He knew the Oriental
mind. Mahomed-ElGebel would cross
every barrier less effective than death.
1t was serious matter to the Mos
lem II he returned to the palace at
Bagdad, minus the rug, it would mean
free transportation to the Arabian
gulf, bereft of the most important
part of his excellent anatomy, his
head. Some day, If he lived, Ryanne
intended telling the exploit to some
clever chap who wrote; 1t would look
rather well in print
To turn Mahomed against Percival
as being the instigator would be an
adroit bit Of work; and it would rid
him of both of them. Gioconda said
that she wanted no rough work. How
like a womani Here was mans
game, desperate one: and Giocon-
da, not forgetting that it was her
inspiration, wanted it handled with
gloves! 1t was bare-hand work, and
the sooner she was made to realize
this, the better. 1t was no time for
tuning fiddles.
Mahomed out of it, there was GER
tain English bar in the Quarter Reset
ii, a place of dubious repIte Many
derelicts drifted there in search of
employment still more dubious. Dregs,
scum; the bottom and the top of the
kettle; outcasts, whose hand and
animus were directed against society;
black and brown and white men; not
soldiers of fortune, like Ryanne, but
their camp-followers. In short, it was
there land Ryanne still felt dull
shame of it) that Wallace, carrying
the final instructions of the enterprise,
| had found him, sleeping off the effects
of a shabby rout of the night before.
1t was there also that he had heard
of the history and the worth of the
Yhiordes rug and the possibility of its
theft. He laughed. To have gone upon
an adventure like that, with nothing
but the fumes of wine In his head!
For few pieces of gold he might
enroll under his shady banner three
or four shining lights who would un-
dertake the disposal of Percival. Not
that he wished the young man any
harm-no; but business was business,
and In some way or another he must
be made to vanish from the sight and
presence Of men for at least two
months.
AS for Major Callahan's unforeseen
danger, the devil could look out for
that.